Using language games to improve students retention of ESP vocabulary at namdinh college of construction

Consequently, vocabulary acquisition has always been one of the fundamental activities in foreign language learning whether it is for general purposes or for specific ones because no com

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2010

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Dr Lâm Quang Đông

Hanoi, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Method of the study 2

5 Thesis Structure 2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Vocabulary in ESP 4

1.1.1 The importance of vocabulary in ESP 4

1.1.2 What it means to know words? 4

1.2 Taxonomy of ESP vocabulary 6

1.3 Factors affecting the retention of ESP vocabulary 8

1.3.1 Memory and storage systems 8

1.3.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 9

1.3.3 Learning context 10

1.3.3.1 Language input 10

1.3.3.2 Language output 11

1.4 Language games and vocabulary acquisition and retention 12

1.5 ESP vocabulary teaching – research and practice 16

CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF ESP VOCABULARY TEACHING AND

LEARNING CONTEXT AT NCC 19

2.1 The learners and their background 19

2.2 The teachers and their teaching method 19

2.3 The textbook 20

2.4 The teaching and learning conditions 20

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 21

3.1 The research hypothesis 21

3.2 Rationale for using a Quasi-experimental method 21

3.3 Variables 22

3.4 Participants and treatment 22

3.4.1 Participants 22

3.4.2 Treatment 22

3.5 Procedure of data collection 22

3.5.1 Test designing 22

3.5.2 Test administering 23

3.6 Results and discussion 24

3.6.1 Results of the pre-test scores of the two groups and discussion 24

3.6.2 Results of the progress-test of the two groups and discussion 27

3.6.3 Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the pre-test and progress-test of the two groups 30

3.6.4 Results of the post-test of the two groups and discussion 31

3.6.5 Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the progress-test and post-test of the two groups 34

PART 3: CONCLUSION 36

1 Summary of major findings 36

2 Classroom implications 36

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37

REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX 1 (tests and keys) I APPENDIX 2 (tables for analysis) X

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Results of the pre-test of the two groups p.24 Table 2: Comparison of mean scores in the pre-test of the two groups p.25 Table 3: Pre-test score frequencies of the two groups p.26 Table 4: Detailed pre-test scores of the experimental group p.X Table 5: Detailed pre-test scores of the control group p.XI Table 6: Results of the progress-test of the two groups p.27 Table 7: Comparison of mean scores in the progress-test of the two groups p.28 Table 8: Progress-test score frequencies of the two groups p.29 Table 9: Detailed progress-test scores of the experimental group p.XII Table 10: Detailed progress-test scores of the control group p.XIII Table 11: Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the pre-test and progress-

Table 12: Independent t-test for the gain in the progress-test of the two groups p.30 Table 13: Results of the post-test of the two groups p.31 Table 14: Comparison of mean scores in the post-test of the two groups p.32 Table 15: Post-test score frequencies of the two groups p.33 Table 16: Detailed post-test scores of the experimental group p.XIV Table 17: Detailed post-test scores of the control group p.XV Table 18: Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the progress-test and post-

Table 19: Independent t-test for the gain in the post-test of the two groups p.34

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Recently, the teaching methodology in General English as well as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has shifted from a focus on the linguistic competence to an interest in the communicative competence This trend in language teaching has resulted in the increasingly essential role of teaching and learning vocabulary

It is of common knowledge that vocabulary is the major part in foreign language learning Emphasizing the importance of vocabulary, Wilkins (1972, p.11) states that

“without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” McCarthy (1990, p.viii) also shares the same view when saying “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express the wide range of meaning, communication in

an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way”

According to Hutchison and Walters (1987), ESP is one branch of English Language Teaching, which is a variety of numerous kinds of language teaching Consequently, vocabulary acquisition has always been one of the fundamental activities in foreign language learning whether it is for general purposes or for specific ones because no communication is possible without words

Being an English teacher at Namdinh College of Construction, I do realize that although ESP vocabulary teaching and learning has received much attention so far, it is still far from satisfactory Many students encounter difficulty in retaining ESP words that they have learnt in previous lessons They often complain that they forget new words soon after learning them They also do not know how to learn, remember and use these words As a result, for most students, vocabulary learning in ESP lessons is boring and ineffective For the above reasons, I would like to conduct this research

entitled “Using Language Games to Improve Students’ Retention of ESP Vocabulary

at Namdinh College of Construction”

2 Aims of the study

The main aim of the study is to investigate the effect of language games on ESP vocabulary retention, or in other words, the extent to which language games help to retain ESP vocabulary for my students at the College and suggest some teaching

implications

3 Scope of the study

There are various language activities that help students to retain ESP vocabulary However, within the limit of a minor thesis, this study focuses on the impact of language games on students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary

This study was implemented among 2 groups including 100 non-English major first year students at Namdinh College of Construction whose English was at the elementary level and who are working with the course book “Nucleus English for Science and Technology: Architecture and Building Construction” by James Cumming (1996)

4 Method of the study

This research was conducted with quasi-experimental method with one class as the experimental group and one class as the control group It was quasi-experimental because the students of both groups were not randomly assigned, and therefore were not of equal proficiency levels of English The experiment lasted 10 weeks and 3 vocabulary tests were administered to measure students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary Students‟ memorization of vocabulary is also continuously monitored when the games are being in progress so as to provide further evidence of the games‟ effectiveness The results of the tests were analyzed by using Paired Samples T-test to find out the gain of each group and Independent t-test to compare the gains of two groups

5 Thesis Structure

This thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part 1, the Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope and the method of the study

Part 2 is the development which includes three chapters Chapter 1 provides theoretical background to teaching and learning vocabulary, particularly in ESP Also, it reviews

some language games which help the retention of ESP vocabulary Chapter 2 gives an overview of ESP vocabulary teaching and learning context at Namdinh College of Construction Chapter 3 presents detailed analyses of the data obtained through the pretest, progress-test and posttest

Part 3, the Conclusion, discusses the major findings and limitations of the research as well as provides suggestions for further study

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 1 Vocabulary in ESP

1.1.1 The importance of vocabulary in ESP

Recently, vocabulary has rapidly changed in status from a “neglected aspect of language learning” (Meara, 1980) to an area of growing research and publication The significance

of vocabulary in language learning has drawn numerous researchers‟ interest Zimmerman (1997, p.5) states that “Vocabulary is central to language and of crucial importance to the typical language learner.” Robinson (1991) shares the same view by saying “for many people vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is a key element of ESP” (as cited in Jahangard, 2007, p.8) Obviously, vocabulary is of great importance in foreign language learning whether it is for general purposes or for specific ones To emphasize this, Keith S Folse (2004, p.1) claims that vocabulary is the most significant aspect among numerous language learning ones such as pronunciation, writing system, syntax, pragmatics, rhetorical modes for reading and composition, culture, and spelling Carter and McCarthy (1988) also point out that the study of vocabulary is at the heart of language teaching and learning Hence, it cannot be denied that vocabulary acquisition is a

“must” for language learners especially ESP learners

1.1.2 What it means to know words?

Knowledge of a word is not only limited to knowing its single meaning but this involves comprehension of the word form, meaning, grammar and collocation… so that language learners can generate it for their need According to Penny Ur (1996), when the teacher teaches a new English word, he should, by all means, provide his learners with its pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, and word-formation

Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Therefore, when introducing new words to learners, the teacher should pay careful attention to both of these forms and provide learners with certain general guidelines which assist them in predicting the

pronunciation of new lexis However, there are so many exceptions in English pronunciation The complicated relationship between sound and spelling in English makes

it difficult for foreign language learners to deal with the pronunciation of new words Hence, together with introducing general guidelines, the teacher should also offer learners

fairly specific rules for English pronunciation

It is important to offer information about the grammar of a word to learners They need to know the grammatical function, the unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts, the regularity and irregularity, the singular and plural forms of the new word so that they can use it correctly For example, when teaching a verb, the teacher should also give its past and past participial form if it is irregular Similarly, when teaching a noun, the teacher should provide students with information about whether a word is countable or uncountable, its plural form, if it is irregular, information regarding different forms of a

word, the preposition that collocates with the words, etc

Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language It refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts Lewis (2000) asserts that 70% of English language is made up of chunks of lexicon that co-occur together in order to produce natural sounding language Thus, this is another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching When introducing words such as “to make” and “to do”, for example, the teacher may note that both words mean “to perform” but can be differentiated by the words they collocate with We often say “to make

a mistake” but never say, “to do a mistake”

Aspect of meaning consists of denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning relationship

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real word, its denotation This

meaning is found in dictionaries For example, house denotes a building for people to live

in, usually for one family

Connotation of a word is less obvious component of its meaning This is the association or positive or negative feelings the word evokes which may be not presented in dictionaries The connotative meaning of a word is varied from context to another

Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item

is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner to know that a certain word is very common or relatively rare in conversation or tends to be used in writing but not in speech

Meaning relationships can also be useful in vocabulary teaching and learning They show how the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others There are various relationships such as synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms, superordinates and translation

Vocabulary items, whether one-word or multi-word, can be broken down into their smaller components How these components are put together is useful information to learners According to Gairns and Redman (1986), there are three main forms of word building, which are characteristics of English They are affixation (the process of adding prefixes and suffixes to the base item); compounding (the formation of words from two or more separate words) and conversion (the process by which an item may be used in different parts of speech)

1.2 Taxonomy of ESP vocabulary

Vocabulary in ESP texts can be analyzed according to different points of view According

to Hutchison & Walter (1987, p.165), there are four types of vocabulary as follows:

structural (are, this, only, however, etc), general (table, run, dog, road, etc), sub-technical (engine, spring, value, acid, budge, etc) and technical (auricle, schistosome, fissure,

electrophoresis, etc) Born-Lechleitner (1992, p.67) shares the same distinction He

explains that the meaning of highly technical words tend to be exact, specific, systematic, concrete, emotionally neutral, self-explanatory, economical and transparent Sub-technical words are popularly used in general English with a specialized meaning within science or

technology Certain general language vocabulary such as note, observe, item, device, etc.,

with a low priority in general language still retains its meaning in all scientific and

technical disciplines The fourth group of words, which plays a prominent role in ESP texts, is that of structural/procedural/functional words Words like articles, conjunctions, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs amount to 50% of all words in a technical text, a frequency which is only exceeded in spoken language

Robinson (1991, as cited in Viel, 2002) classifies vocabulary of ESP into three groups in terms of their semantic ambiguity: ultra specialized vocabulary, general scientific and technological words and words are on the fringe of general English Ultra specialized vocabulary, with a unique and precise meaning in the science or technology, is never used

in communication except within the field of specialists General scientific and technological words mention situations, actions, problems, etc which are popular in most fields from research to technology Words on the fringe of general English are utilized for general purposes in any kind of communication whose frequency of use is greater in English for science and technology

In discussing the teaching of ESP, it has often been said that the teaching of technical vocabulary is not the responsibility of the ESP teacher and that priority should be given to the teaching of “semi-technical” or “sub-technical” words (Tony Dudley-Evans & Maggie-

Jo St John, 1998, p 80) Robinson also suggests an important role for semi-technical vocabulary: “course books…perhaps do not need to concentrate on the very specialized vocabulary items as students will get these from other sources Rather it is the sub-technical level which is often difficult” Inman (1978, p 246), in a study of over 100,000 words of scientific and technical prose, found that 9% of occurrences are function words, 21% technical vocabulary and 70% sub-technical vocabulary She concludes that it is “sub-technical vocabulary which should be focused on in teaching scientific and technical English Technical vocabulary …is best left to presentation through the discipline itself”

In general, the largest part of General English vocabulary is hardly or even never used in specialized fields About 80% or 90% of GE vocabulary falls outside the range of ESP However, a number of words are presented widely in both specialized and general contexts The words half way between lexis and grammar such as articles, auxiliary verbs, preposition, linking words, etc… are the backbone of the language without which no complex meaningful sentence can ever be built They naturally do not belong to the

language of ESP but are essential Besides, semi-technical or sub-technical should be given priority in teaching by ESP teacher because of its above importance

1.3 Factors affecting the retention of ESP vocabulary

1.3.1 Memory and storage systems

“Understanding how we store information in the memory and why certain chunks

of it seem to „stick‟ while others slip away is obviously a matter of concern to anyone whose work involves helping others to learn For language teachers this knowledge should help to establish classroom procedures that will promote more effective learning and retention of new language items”

(Gairns & Redman, 1986, p.86)

It is obvious that comprehending how our memory works might assist us to create more effective ways to teach vocabulary According to Gairns & Redman (1986, p.87-88), there are two types of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory Short-term memory has the limited capacity, storing things over a brief period of time Meanwhile, long-term memory can hold any number of items inexhaustibly Peet (2003) has a different classification He divides memory into three kinds: short-term memory, working memory and long term memory Short-term memory is capable of retaining limited information for

a few seconds whereas working memory stores things for up to twenty seconds Finally, long-term memory can hold items in our mind to use later This is an automatic processing procedure that ensures retrieval without effort

It seems that there are two phases in learning new items; that is storing them first in our short-term memory, and afterwards in long-term memory Although we do not take control

of this process consciously, there seem to be some important clues to consider First, retention in short-term memory is not effective if the number of chunks of information exceeds seven Therefore, this suggests that in a given class we should not aim at teaching more than this number However, our long-term memory can hold any amount of information Secondly, word frequency is another factor that affects storage, as the most frequently used items are easier to retrieve Thirdly, forgetting seems to be an inevitable process, unless learners regularly use items they have learnt Hence, recycling is vital, and ideally new words should be met again and again in different contexts one or two days

after the initial input, in different contexts so that learners can internalize them gradually After that, weekly or monthly tests can check on previously taught items

1.3.2 Vocabulary learning strategies

It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary should focus on not only teaching specific words but also providing learners with strategies necessary to develop their vocabulary knowledge

Vocabulary strategy use has been proved to have effect on vocabulary acquisition as well

as retention Cohen and Aphek (1981, as cited in Chamot, 2001) state that students who remember vocabulary by making paired mnemonic associations retain vocabulary more effectively than those who do not In another attempt, Sanaoui (1995) concludes that learners who have structured learning approach are more successful in retaining vocabulary items than those who have unstructured learning approach Schmitt (1997) and Nation (2001) also agree that vocabulary learning strategies facilitate the acquisition of new lexis

in the second/foreign language because they aid in discovering the meaning of a new word and in consolidating a word once it has been encountered Therefore, teachers are recommended to train their students in different vocabulary learning strategies because there is no utmost best strategy for all learners learning foreign language vocabulary Effectiveness of learning is not constrained to just one or two strategies A good language learner uses many different vocabulary learning strategies, then employs and individualizes the ones that are workable and applicable to them when performing specific tasks

A number of attempts have been made to develop a taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies Gu and Johnson (1996) list VLS as metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies whereas Schmitt (1997, p.207-208) distinguishes the vocabulary learning strategies as two groups: the ones to determine the meaning of new words when encountered for the first time, and the ones to consolidate meaning when encountered again In a recent attempt in ESP context, Zahra Akbari & M.H Tahririan (2009, p.57-58) classify the vocabulary learning strategies into two categories: comprehension (strategies for the discovery of a new word‟s meaning) and learning strategies (strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered) The first contains determination and

transactional strategies and the second includes the knowledge-oriented and

skill/use-oriented strategies

In short, each scholar has his/her own idea about grouping vocabulary learning strategies

basing on results of their research on a certain type of language learners However, it is

apparent that when a learner consciously chooses strategies which are suitable for his/her

learning style and the tasks, these strategies become a useful toolkit for active and

purposeful self-regulation of learning

1.3.3 Learning context

Learning context or the learning environment is the socio-cultural-political environment

where learning takes place Gu (2003) states that the learning context involves the teachers,

the peers, the classroom climate or ethos, the family support, the social, cultural tradition

of learning, the curriculum and the availability of input and output opportunities

However, in the range of this study, the author would like to focus on two factors that

directly constrain the ways learners approach learning tasks and acquire vocabulary

knowledge: language input and language output

1.3.3.1 Language input

According to Krashen (2004, p.2), learners acquire language when they understand what

they are hearing and reading That is, the input must be comprehensible in order for it to be

useful and meaningful to the learners and help with acquisition (Krashen, 1982) If learners

do not understand a sizable portion of the vocabulary in the language that they are reading

or hearing, then this language is not comprehensible and therefore cannot be useful for

acquisition (Folse, 2005, p.6)

Krashen‟s hypothesis states that it is important for the acquirer to understand language that

is a bit beyond his or her current level of competence This means that the language that

learners are exposed to should be just far enough beyond their current competence that

they can understand most of it but still is challenged to make progress He further presents

that a second language is most successfully acquired when the focus of instruction is on

meaning rather than on form and when there is sufficient opportunity to engage in

meaningful use of that language in a relatively anxiety-free environment This suggests

that the second language classroom should emphasize on something meaningful, such as

academic content, and that modification of the target language facilitates language acquisition and makes academic content accessible to second language learners

In the condition of limited natural language environment in Vietnam, the major sources of input for learners are the teacher and the textbooks These sources of input are not sufficient to guarantee successful language learning or vocabulary acquisition Therefore, it

is necessary to provide learners with opportunities and language activities to use the target language extensively through practice, games, presentations, and eloquence (Speaking) contest

1.3.3.2 Language output

It is acknowledgeable that the development of a learner‟s communicative competence does not only reply on comprehensible input; the learner‟s output has an independent and indispensable role to play, too Swain (1985) first proposed a hypothesis relating to the second language learner's production comparable to Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis termed as the Comprehensible Output Hypothesis for second language acquisition Her hypothesis suggests that learners acquire language when there is a communicative breakdown and learners are "pushed to use alternative means to get across the message precisely, coherently, and appropriately" (as cited in Krashen, 1998, p 179) Swain also offered convincing evidence that the role of learner production is independent

in many ways of the role of comprehensible input, and the comprehensible output hypothesis is also a necessary mechanism which aids second language acquisition in many ways Similarly, the results of Izumi & Bigelow‟s research (2000) on the effect of output

on L2 vocabulary indicated that participants in the with output groups outperformed the

non-output and the control groups on post-test measures

Obviously, foreign language learners do no have such submersion environment like native speakers so they have to make use of every chance to “touch” the words According to Steele (2005), words are learnt by individual but through memorable presentation, personalization tasks, and importantly, recycling Therefore, the vocabulary presentation and practice play an important role in anchoring new words into students‟ memory, especially when they do not have advantageous language environment outside the

classroom In this case, classroom practice embeds both input and output resources for the learners

1.4 Language games and vocabulary acquisition and retention

Many researchers agree that language games do have a role to play in vocabulary acquisition With the use of games, the teacher can create various contexts in which students have to use the language to communicate, exchange information and express their own ideas Stressing the role of games in vocabulary teaching and learning, Huang (1996,

p 1, as cited in Nguyen & Khuat, 2003) claims that “learning through games could encourage the operation of certain psychological and intellectual factors which could facilitate communication, heightened self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, reinforcing learning, improving intonation and building confidence.”

Language games have many advantages in vocabulary teaching and learning Firstly, games can motivate learners by bringing relaxation and fun to classes They can help lower students‟ anxiety, make them comfortable and want to learn more Uberman (1998) showed that those students who practiced vocabulary activity with games felt more motivated and interested in what they were doing Hansen (1994, p.118, as cited in Uberman, 1998) also presents that games can provide shy students with more chance to express their opinions and feeling

Secondly, games can provide language practice Lee (1995) and Marion McPherson (2006) agree that games allow the student to practice the language point being taught Sharing the same view, Wright, et al (1996, pp.3-4) adds that “games can give practice in all the skills,

in all the stages of the teaching or learning sequence and for many types of communication” Further support comes from Zdybiewska (1994, p.6), who believes games to be a good way of practicing language, for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the future

Thirdly, games can improve students‟ retention According to Wierus and Wierus (1994, p

218, as cited in Uberman, 1998), games in vocabulary help students memorize things faster and better in a comfortable environment Nguyen and Khuat (2003) also agree that games can assist students to learn more quickly and retain the learned materials better

Fourthly, games encourage learners to interact and communicate Zimmerman (1997) emphasizes that communicative and interact activities can lead to better word learning In fact, when taking part in games, learners have to talk to express or exchange their ideas with their partners Moreover, through interaction with others, they can help each other on the meaning of unfamiliar words, including new vocabulary items (Nation and Newton,

1997, p 244) This is a good opportunity for learners to have exposures to the new items during the course of activity that serves to generate better input

In summary, games are of great use and effectiveness that should be applied in vocabulary classes The use of games in vocabulary teaching makes lessons more interesting, enjoyable as well as effective However, in order to gain the most from vocabulary games,

it is necessary to choose suitable games Whenever a game is to be organized, teachers should take the factors such as students‟ level, the number of students, cultural context, timing, learning topic and the class setting into consideration (Nguyen and Khuat, 2003)

It has been suggested that there are large varieties of word games which are useful for vocabulary acquisition In my own teaching context, where students‟ English proficiency is rather low as well as the learning topic seems insufficiently interesting, the following language games are expected to get students involved in vocabulary lessons and help them recall new words more easily

a Memory game

This game can be divided into two rounds In the first one, the class will work in groups to match the words with the pictures as quickly as possible In the second round, each group will appoint one member to write all the words he/she can remember within one minute The group that wins both rounds will be the winner

b Hot seat

The class is divided into 2 teams: A & B Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, team B sits on the other side Two chairs are brought to the front of the room so that when seated, a student is facing his or her respective team and their back is to the board One member from each team sits in their team‟s chair The teacher writes a word, phrase, or sentence on the board The students in the chairs must not see what is written on the board Once the teacher yells “go”, the teams have one minute using only verbal clues,

to get their seated teammate to say the item written on the board The only rule is that they must not say the item written on the board in full or part The first student is the hot seat to utter the word scores a point for their team When the round is over, two new team players are rotated into the hot seat and a new item is written up The first team to score a certain number of points wins

c Pictionary

The class is divided into 2 teams: A & B Team A sits in a group on one side of the classroom, team B sits on the other side One member from each team goes to the board The teacher flashes them a word, phrase or expression written on a piece of paper The students have one minute to get their respective team to say the item only by drawing pictorial clues on the board Written words, verbal clues or gestures are forbidden The first team to say the word scores a point

d Scrambled letters

The teacher writes up eight words with their letters shuffled on the board When he/ she says “go”, students, individually or pair, try to arrange the letters as quickly as possible to make the words For each word, the fastest student or pair gets a point and at the end of the game, the student or pair with the most points will be the winner

e Noughts and crosses

In this game, students are divided into two groups One has the name as X (cross) and the

other was 0 (nought) They are presented with a table with 9 numbered squares For each square there is a question and if they can answer the question correctly, they can put their group‟s name (X or 0) in that square The first group to have their names in three aligned squares (either vertically or horizontally or diagonally) will be the winner of the game Usually the question is like this: “What is the cross-section of the brick?” The answer is

only one word which they studied in the previous lesson They are expected to find the

words and pronounce it correctly

f Odd man out

The class is divided into groups The teacher writes the lists of words on the board All but one item in each list must have something in common Each group discusses the lists and decides which word is the odd man out, and why For each list, the fastest group gets a point and at the end of the game, the group with the most points will be the winner

g Complete the word

The class is separated into two teams One student from each team comes forward and is given a piece of chalk The two students must face the class while the teacher writes an incomplete word on the board (twice, once for each team), e.g

h _ _ s_ h _ _ s_

Answer: house

The students can then look at the word The first one to complete the word correctly scores one point for his team At the end of the game, the team with the most points will be the winner

h Lucky numbers

This game is played with the class divided into two groups The teacher draws on the board

a table like this:

1* 2 3 4 5* 6 7 8 9 10* 11 12 13 14 15*

There is a question in each number The students take turns to choose a number and answer the questions If they can answer the question, they will get 2 points If they can not answer the question after two times guessing, they lose their chance and if the other group can make a correct answer, they will get 3 points However, number 1, 5, 10 and 15 are lucky numbers because for each of these numbers, students have a special question and if they can answer the question, they will get 5 points At the end of this game, the group with the higher score is the winner

i Hangman

The teacher thinks of a word that students will know and draws a number of dashes on the board corresponding to the number of letter in the word The students are divided into two teams and one student from each team suggests a letter in turn If the letter appears in the word, the teacher writes it in If the chosen letter is not in the word, the teacher starts to construct a gallows for that team One line is added for each wrong choice Each team can also make a guess at the word, but only when it is that team‟s turn A wrong guess means one more line on the gallows A correct guess finishes the game If a team wins by completing or guessing a word correctly a member of the team takes over as the

“hangman”

j Word chain

The students may work in groups or pairs or individually The teacher gives a word for a

start, e.g solid This word ends in -d, so the first student/ pair/ group must give a word beginning with that letter, e.g dome The next one must give a word beginning with –e

The game will go on like that within a fixed period of time Each individual/ pair/ group is given only 15-20 seconds to think of a word The last who can give a word will be the winner

1.5 ESP vocabulary teaching – research and practice

While numerous studies have been conducted in order to make improvement in the teaching of GE (General English) vocabulary, comparatively little research work has been performed in the field of ESP However, this does not mean that ESP teachers merely undertake their teaching job, following the old path of methods In fact, they are endeavoring to search for better teaching methods, techniques and tools

Various researchers have conducted studies in the field of ESP vocabulary teaching For example, Palmero (2002) has explored the phonemic side of vocabulary teaching in Language for Specific Purposes courses and come to a conclusion of placing the necessary

on pronunciation and finding the adequate balance between the teaching of academic and sustained-content vocabulary Likewise, Galina Kavaliauskienë and Violeta Janulevièienë (2001) suggest that teachers should use lexical phrases for ESP vocabulary acquisition because these phrases are context-bound and occur quite frequently, which makes them

highly memorable for learners Moreover, they are of great value to improve students‟ competence in language Another study dealing with ESP vocabulary was carried out by Ilse Born –Lechleitner (1992) He presented activities which were intended to help students come to terms with new words They ranged from simple word-games to fairly complicated tasks which provided strategies for successfully guessing the meaning of a new word by using their knowledge of the subject and the German and English languages

In recent research, Zahra Akbari and M.H Tahririan (2009) present taxonomies of vocabulary learning strategy in an ESP context as well as point out effective ways for teaching and learning vocabulary They claim that language teacher need to improve their awareness of their students‟ strategy usage and needs so as to be able to facilitate their language learning process Besides, students should be taught how to develop both breadth and depth of their vocabulary knowledge so that they would be able to use their vocabulary knowledge both receptively and productively as the need arises

A number of studies on ESP vocabulary retention have been conducted Derin Atay & Cengiz Ozbulgan (2007) investigated the effects of memory strategy instruction and learning through context on the ESP recall of Turkish EFL students The result revealed that the experimental group with memory strategy instruction had significantly better vocabulary gain scores than the control students Jahangard (2007) suggests that there is no statistically significant difference between the students‟ ability to memorize the technical and the general vocabulary In fact, memory efficiency for both types of vocabulary was found to be equal It seems that the pace of forgetting for both types of vocabulary is almost the same

It can not be denied that such results are of great use in the teaching of ESP vocabulary However, it is essential to have more and more research in this field as ESP is a large concept that covers numerous types of professional terms, words and phrases For each type, there is a need for detailed studies in order to make development in vocabulary

It is factual that little attention is emphasized on using games in context of ESP vocabulary learning and teaching in Vietnamese condition and no research has investigated strategies for ESP vocabulary retention among Vietnamese learners In NCC, the use of games in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary has never been taken seriously Consequently, the author would like to conduct a quasi-experimental research to find out whether the

application of games can improve ESP vocabulary retention among the College‟s students

or not, and what can be the most appropriate games for this particular type of ESP students

CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF ESP VOCABULARY TEACHING AND

LEARNING CONTEXT AT NCC 2.1 The learners and their background

Most students who enter NCC are male students and aged from 18 to 24 About 90 % of them failed the national entrance examination to universities They are mainly from the countryside, where there are no good opportunities for studying English Furthermore, they consider English an extra subject, so they learn English just to pass the exam Generally, the target students‟ English proficiency is still low

The typical learning style of the students at NCC is quite passive and dependent on the teachers They learn by heart vocabulary as well as grammatical rules and prefer everything being translated They would rather do written work and private reading than work in pairs or groups As a result, they pay more attention to forms than functions and meanings

Having special knowledge in Vietnamese, students at NCC do not have difficulty in understanding the construction terms; however, their major problem is the vocabulary learning The technical words are not only rarely found in their daily conversation but also longer and more difficult to pronounce than general words Consequently, they find it hard

to remember and guess the meaning of new words

2.2 The teachers and their teaching method

The English Department at NCC consists of six teachers at the age from 25 to 38 They all graduated from universities of foreign languages and two of them are taking MA courses They are enthusiastic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching However, they encounter difficulties in teaching ESP due to the lack of knowledge about the field, lack of authentic materials and lack of appropriate methodology Consequently, they do not feel confident to teach ESP although they have positive attitudes towards it

In terms of methodology, although the teachers are aware of different kinds of teaching methods such as the Direct Method, the Audio-Lingual method and the Communicative approach, they usually employ the traditional teaching method - that is Grammar-Translation In classes, explanation, translation and sentence making up exercises are the core activities The teacher plays the key role in class, explaining new words and

translating them into Vietnamese Students often listen and take notes passively The mother tongue is mainly used as a means of instruction and communication in class This method results in the shortage of motivation and few chances for students to improve their communicative competence

2.3 The textbook

The textbook for Technical English at NCC is “Nucleus English for Science and Technology: Architecture and Building Construction” compiled by James Cumming (1996) It consists of twelve units, each of which is divided into four main parts as follows: Presentation, Development, Reading and Listening The course lasts three - four months and the total number of teaching periods is 75 The periods allotted to each unit are six Three remaining periods are used for progress-test during the course

2.4 The teaching and learning conditions

All the teachers at NCC are supplied with a cassette recorder to use for their class There are some modern devices such as overhead projector and multi-media projector, but rarely can teachers and students use them because they are only reserved for Informatics classes There are also two labs equipped with 50 cabins However, they are now in bad condition,

so students find it difficult to practice listening Besides, classrooms are not suitably designed for language classes Moreover, there are few materials for reference like English books, magazines, newspapers, especially ESP books in the library In short, it can not be denied that teaching and learning facilities at NCC are poorly supported This certainly has considerable negative effects on English teaching and learning

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 3.1 The research hypothesis

The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that “Language games help improve students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary.” Thus, the null hypothesis is “Language games have no impact on students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary.” Like in any experimental research, if the result of the experimental rejects the null hypothesis, the tested hypothesis

is naturally accepted and this means that language games do have effect on students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary, and vice versa

3.2 Rationale for using a Quasi-experimental method

According to Christensen and Johnson (2000, p 255), a quasi-experimental design is “an experimental research design that does not provide for full control of potential confounding variables In most instances, the primary reason that full control is not achieved is because participants cannot be randomly assigned” Supporting that point of view, W Borg & M Borg (1988, p 680) claim that “If you want to make causal statements, you should conduct

a true experiment If you cannot use random assignment to design a true experiment, a quasi-experiment is the second best choice” Since random assignment of subjects to the experimental and control groups is not always feasible, quasi-experiments become appropriate for accomplishing the subject assignment in particular contexts

In a quasi-experimental design, the researcher can still examine the cause-effect

relationships by observing what happens, when and to whom; and by deciding what and

when to measure Moreover, the quasi-experiment is more likely to have external validity

as it is conducted under conditions closer to those normally found in educational contexts Furthermore, as this design is less intrusive and disruptive than the true-experimental design, it is easier to gain access to the subject to the population and thus more convenient

to conduct such research (Selinger & Shohamy, 1989, p 149) Consequently, it assists the researcher to save a great deal of time in grouping the participants, which was impossible under the present condition

In short, for all above reasons, the quasi-experimental design becomes the most practical and feasible for the researcher to conduct the present study

3.3 Variables

In this study, the quasi-experimental research was used as a means to explore the effect relationship between language games and students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary Two types of variables were identified for the study: the dependent variable and the independent variable The former was the students‟ scores in their vocabulary tests (their retention of ESP vocabulary) while the latter were language games The relationship between these two variables was defined through the analytical procedure using the paired-sample t-tests to compare the mean scores of the experimental group and those of the control group before and after treatment

cause-3.4 Participants and treatment

3.4.2 Treatment

Words were presented to both control and experimental groups in the same way with attention given to their forms (more attention to pronunciation with transcription), meaning, grammar and combination in common expressions and common usage For the control group, the researcher applied the popular old method of teaching vocabulary and for the experimental group, another new method was utilized with a number of language games requiring students to work together much more

3.5 Procedure of data collection

3.5.1 Test designing

Three tests used in this research were designed to measure the changes in students‟ ability

to retain ESP vocabulary (if there were any) when language games were employed in teaching and learning process These tests were constructed by the researcher to assess

students‟ ability to recall lexical items for language production Most of the vocabulary items and distracters in the tests were selected from the new lexical items in the student‟s book Although three tests had not been established formally and had not been checked yet, the scores reflected the students‟ real ability Thus, their validity and reliability could be asserted The students did the tests without any prior notice, i.e without knowing that they would have to do a test in the upcoming lesson

3.5.2 Test administering

- Pre-test

The pre-test was conducted before the treatment, which was 3 weeks after the semester had begun and after the students had completed 3 units of the course book No special techniques or language practice were applied when teaching vocabulary in these units The pre-test consisted of 3 parts In the first part, the students were expected to choose the correct answer to fill in the blank Part 2 involved word completion In each sentence there was a key word which was intentionally deleted except the first letter of the word Students were obliged to provide the missing words In the part 3, students were required to provide equivalents of the words in Vietnamese, underline the English words‟ stress as well as give their part of speech The test duration was 30 minutes

The pre-test was given to the two groups in the same week to examine their memory of important lexical items in the first three units The main purpose of this test was to evaluate students‟ ESP vocabulary size and their level of ESP vocabulary retention

- Progress-test

The progress-test was constructed in the same format applied to the pre-test and was administered 5 weeks after the pre-test This test covered lexical items that students had learnt from unit 4 to unit 7 of the course book The teacher had applied language games in teaching vocabulary to the experimental group The time allocation for the whole test was

30 minutes

The goal of this test was to measure changes in students‟ ESP vocabulary size after 5 weeks of study and to find out whether there was any difference in retention of ESP vocabulary between two groups

- Post-test

The post-test was carried out after the experimental period It had the same design as the pre-test and progress-test Part 1 and 2 checked students‟ knowledge of the meanings, form and usage of the words that they had studied; part 3 required them to supply the target hidden words in the blanks It lasted 30 minutes This test involved ESP lexical items from unit 8 to unit 12 Language games were continuously utilized in teaching vocabulary to the experimental group

The aim of this test was to assess students‟ ESP vocabulary size after 10 weeks of study as well as to make a precise comparison between two groups to see how much they acquired after the experimental process and how much progress they made after each lesson

3.6 Results and discussion

The three tests were administered to measure possible differences between the two groups

at the beginning, at the middle and at the end of the study The results of these tests were analyzed and compared using independent and paired samples t-test statistical procedures The total number of students of both groups was 100

3.6.1 Results of the pre-test scores of the two groups and discussion

The result of the pre-test scores of participants in both experimental and control group are presented in Table 1

Table 1: Results of the pre-test of the two groups

Table 2 below compares mean score and t-score of the students in the two groups:

Table 2: Comparison of mean scores in the pre-test of the two groups