Using visual aids and physical actions in teaching english vocabulary for the students at the elementary level at enci english center

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ****************** CHUNG THỊ HUYỀN USING VISUAL AIDS AND PHYSI

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

******************

CHUNG THỊ HUYỀN

USING VISUAL AIDS AND PHYSICAL ACTIONS IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR THE ELEMENTARY STUDENTS AT

ENCI ENGLISH CENTER

(Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan và động tác hình thể trong việc dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh cho những học viên ở trình độ cơ bản tại trung tâm Anh ngữ

Enci)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

Enci)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến

HANOI - 2016

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled “Using visual aids and physical actions in teaching English vocabulary for the elementary students at Enci English Center” is the achievement of my own efforts and a long time on research

without being tired in order for the fulfillment of the prerequisite for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi This study involves no material that has been written by any other researchers and accepted for any other degrees in any other universities except due reference that has been acknowledged at the end of the thesis paper

Hanoi,2016

Chung Thị Huyền

A special word of thanks goes to all the teachers of the Faculty of Post -

Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures, assistance and enthusiasm during my course Without their support and encouragement, it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Additionally, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my beloved students of GPL 100 and GPL 106 at Enci English center with their participation in and dedication to the research Without their support, the thesis would not have taken shaped

Finally, I want to show my appreciation to all the members in my family because of their help during the time I conducted my study as well as in my whole life

ABSTRACTS

This study presents an attempt to investigate visual-based techniques in vocabulary teaching and the lexical learning gains of the elementary EFL learners at Enci English Center after the course with the application of these aids The data from a range of sources including observations, questionnaires, and written tests were collected from thirty language learners at the elementary level at an English center over the period of nine weeks The analysis of data using both qualitative and quantitative techniques indicated that the participants had a significantly better performance at the end of the period of study The results offer a wealth of pedagogical implications towards vocabulary learning classrooms

Key words: visual aids, physical actions, ESL classroom, learning English vocabulary, students at the elementary level, Enci English center

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACTS iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS viii

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS Error! Bookmark not defined PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale and significance of the study 1

2 The purpose of the study……… 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 3

5 The design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 The importance of vocabulary in second language teaching and learning: 5

1.1 Definition of vocabulary 5

1.2 Definition of vocabulary teaching 5

1.3 The changing trends of vocabulary importance in second language teaching and learning 6

2 Principles of vocabulary teaching to elementary learners 7

3 Different teaching techniques and their effects on vocabulary teaching and learning 8

3.1 Translation method 8

3.2 Using synonyms and antonyms 9

3.3 Teaching words using contexts 9

3.4 Using morphological analysis in vocabulary teaching 9

3.5 Using collocation in vocabulary instruction 10

3.6 Topic-based vocabulary instruction 10

4 Visual aids and physical actions (mime) as a motivator for second language

vocabulary learning 11

4 1 Definition of visual aids 11

4.2 Types of visual techniques 12

4 2 1 Chalkboards 12

4 2 2 Pictures 12

4 2 3 Real objects 13

4 2 4 Mime (Gesture and facial expressions) 13

4 3 The existing views on using visual aids and physical actions (mime) in teaching a foreign language vocabulary 13

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 16

1 Research site 16

2 The participants 16

3 A brief description of the course book 17

4 The syllabus 17

5 Research method- Classroom action research 19

5.1 General description of individual action research 19

5.2 Action research model 19

6 Research procedures 20

6 1 1 Identifying the problem 20

6 1 2 Research hypothesis 21

6 1 3 Identifying research questions 21

6 1 4 Research plan 21

6 2 1 Classroom observation 22

6 2 1 1 The reason of choosing observation in data collection 22

6 2 1 2 The criteria of observation 22

6 2 2 Questionnaire 22

6 2 2 1 The reason of choosing questionnaire in data collection 22

6 6 2 2 2 Description of the questionnaire 23

6 2 3 Written tests 23

6 3 1 Data analysis of classroom observation 23

6 3 2 Data analysis of the questionnaire 24

6 3 2 1 Students’ demographic information 24

6 3 2 2 Data analysis of students’ questionnaire 24

6 3 2 2 1 The students' views toward the use of visual aids and physical actions in vocabulary teaching and the effectiveness of visual-based lexical instruction 24

6 3 2 2 2 The amount of vocabulary remembered by the learners after the course with visually-supported lexical instruction 25

6 3 2 2 3 The learners‟ views on the purpose of visual techniques employed in vocabulary instruction 26

6 3 2 2 4 The students‟ views toward the effects of visual techniques on their vocabulary learning 26

6 3 2 2 5 The students‟ views toward the difficulties in learning vocabulary through visual techniques 27

6 3 3 Data analysis of mid-term tests………28

6 4 1 The description of lessons to illustrate the changes that were made: 29

6 4 2 Data analysis of the questionnaire and post-tests 29

6 4 2 1 The difference in the students' attitude toward the use of visual aids and physical actions in vocabulary teaching before and after the lessons being modified 30

6 4 2 2 The difference in the amount of vocabulary remembered by the learners before and after the lessons being modified 30

6 4 2 3 The difference in the test results of the participants before and after the lessons being modified 31

6 4 2 4 The difference in the students‟ views toward their problems in vocabulary learning with visual-based techniques before and after lessons being modified 32

CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DICUSSION 33

Research question 1: What are the learners’ attitudes towards learning vocabulary through visual aids and physical movements? 33

Research question 2: To what extend do visual techniques affect the students’ vocabulary learning? How have students improved after the experience of visual techniques? 34

Research question 3: What difficulties do students have in learning vocabulary with visual-based instruction? 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 38

I Summary of the study 38

II Suggestions and recommendations 38

III Limitations and suggestions for further studies 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDIX I I APPENDIX II……… II APPENDIX III……….V APPENDIX IV………IX APPENDIX V………XII APPENDIX VI……….XVI

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS

EFL: English as Foreign Language MA: Master of Arts

L2: Second language ESL: English as Second Language GPL: Grammar, Pronunciation Low

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1: The learners‟ views toward the purpose of visual techniques employed in

vocabulary teaching…….………24 Chart 2: The learners' evaluation of the effectiveness of visual-based lexical

instruction………24 Chart 3: The amount of vocabulary remembered by the learners after visually-

supported lexical lessons……….25 Chart 4: The percentage of students with and without difficulties in learning

vocabulary through visual techniques……….27 Chart 5: The students' lexical competence in the middle of the course with visual

techniques……….28 Chart 6: The difference in the students' attitude toward the use of visual aids and

physical action in vocabulary teaching before and after lessons being modified……… 30 Chart 7: The difference in the amount of vocabulary remembered by the learners

after the first half and the second half of the course………30 Chart 8: The difference in mid-term test results of participants and their post- test

results……… 31 Chart 9: The difference in the students‟ views toward their problems in vocabulary

learning with visual-based techniques before and after lessons being

modified 32

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale and significance of the study

The globalization is being followed by various changes in the world including the dominance of foreign language learning However, the trend has exposed many people to a variety of obstacles as a result of the fact that not all of us were born to

be talented at acquiring a new language Among the complex aspects of a foreign language, vocabulary is one of the greatest problems to the learners According to Wei-Wei Shen (2003), when students learn a foreign language, many think that learning vocabulary is fundamental, important, but difficult Nevertheless, it is impossible for this aspect of language to be ignored because Wilkins (1972) insisted

that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can

be conveyed” It cannot be refused that vocabulary is extremely important in

language teaching and learning because regardless of written form or spoken form, vocabulary plays a great role in expressing thoughts and feelings McCarthy (1990)

argues: 'No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how

successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range

of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way'

All the points reveal that vocabulary is the most important thing in a language because without lexical items, no meaningful communication can be created However, to master it exposes language learners to many difficulties and takes both much time and efforts Meanwhile, almost all of the students lack patience to wait for success This requires those who work as language instructors to discover the best way to make lexical items more interesting and easier to their students How should we do in order to help our students overcome the obsession of learning a set

of new words? And how can language learners be motivated to gain the better performance in this significant aspect of language? These are puzzles towards to those who have devoted their time to the instruction of foreign languages In fact, language learners tend to pay attention to the things which catch their interests and impression Sesnan (2001) describes a good teacher as the one who does not only use a good teaching method, but also takes into consideration of how to teach

students to learn effectively by themselves and to help them to be involved in the learning process with more interest In addition, he suggests some main ways to hold students‟ interest such as: audio-visual aids including objects, flash cards, pictures, overhead projector transparency, film, video, and language activities like games, songs, story-telling, projects Of these supplementary materials, using visual aids and physical movements is commonly regarded as an effective lexical instruction method, which can create a motivating and comfortable learning environment It is the reason why in my thesis paper, I want to investigate the use of visual techniques in vocabulary teaching to the English beginners at my English center This aims to gain the knowledge of the method‟s effectiveness in vocabulary learning as well as the learners‟ attitude towards their learning experience with these aids

2 The purpose of the study

In this research, my efforts aim to investigate the effectiveness of using visual aids and physical actions in vocabulary teaching for non-major students including their attitudes towards learning vocabulary with visual techniques and some drawbacks of applying the new method, and then discuss some suggestions and implications to use visual techniques effectively in vocabulary teaching

3 Scope of the study

Within the research, my concerns are about English basic learners and the application of visual techniques to vocabulary instruction in order to investigate their effects including both advantages and disadvantages on improving the learners‟ lexical competence In addition, the study pointed out the participants‟ attitude toward the new teaching method The project was conducted over the period of nine weeks on 30 participants who were taking GPL courses at Enci English Center A set of teaching materials such as pictures, word cards, drawings, and physical movements were used as effective supporting equipments for vocabulary instruction The course book used for the research is English Vocabulary in Use- Elementary level published by Cambridge University Press including 60 units of various topics around real-life items

4 Methods of the study

The method employed in the MA thesis is classroom action research According to Ferrance (2000), action research (AR) is regarded as one of the most common research methods employed in current educational circumstances With the choice of this method, data collection techniques including observation, questionnaire and written tests are used in order to have a deep investigation into what is being studied

Firstly, observation will be done during the course of nine weeks to clarify the method‟s effectiveness as well as thirty participants‟ attitudes A set of questionnaires are carried out on all the participants to investigate their attitudes towards learning lexical items with the new teaching method twice The first is conducted after the first half of the course The second one will be offered to all the participants at the end of the course In addition, in order to collect more authentic results about the participants‟ linguistic competence and the successful level of visual-based techniques, mid-term tests and final tests on vocabulary will be provided to all the students

5 The design of the study

The paper is designed with three main parts as follows:

Part A is the introduction, which presents the background and rationale of the topic‟s choice, the aim and the scope of the study, the research questions, the methods to be employed as well as the study‟s design

Part B consists of three chapters:

Chapter I is the review of some theoretical backgrounds relevant to the purpose of the study This chapter composes of four main sub-parts

• The first concerns with the importance of vocabulary in second language teaching and learning

• The second focuses on the principles of teaching vocabulary to English beginners

• The third is about different teaching techniques and their effects on vocabulary teaching and learning

• The last discusses visual aids and physical actions as a motivator for foreign language vocabulary learning

Chapter II focuses on methodology with the description of the study‟s context and subjects, the syllabus and the course book as well as the presentation of data collection instruments and procedures, and lastly data analysis

Chapter III is findings and discussion

Part C summarizes the main points Moreover, the pedagogical implications, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further studies are also

included in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 The importance of vocabulary in second language teaching and learning:

1.1 Definition of vocabulary

Vocabulary is commonly defined as a list of words that speakers of a language

use (Hatch & Brown, 1995) or “all the words in a language, the entire vocabulary of

a language” (Barcroft, Sunderman, & Schmitt, 2011, p 571) Therefore, it is not a surprise for a person to recognize that vocabulary also includes lexical chunks, phrases of two or more words, such as “Good morning” and “Nice to meet you”, which involve more than one word but have a clear, formulaic usage and make up a significant portion of spoken or written English language usage In other words, vocabulary can be defined as the words of a language, including single items and phrases or chunks of several words which covey a particular meaning This may be different from many people‟s idea that vocabulary involves only single words; therefore, knowing a language‟s vocabulary is to learn by heart all the words without recognizing their relationship with others as well as their use in real situations

1.2 Definition of vocabulary teaching

Teaching vocabulary is defined by Moras and Carlos (2001) as follows

“traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary above elementary levels was mostly incidental, limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading or sometimes listening texts.” However, “nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus, and taught in a well-planned and regular basis.”

According to this definition, vocabulary teaching is evaluated in a complete way from both classical and modern view Especially, while vocabulary was traditionally taught as a supporting material for language skills like reading, writing, listening and speaking, nowadays this aspect of language has been regarded as one

of the most important aspects in language education It means that teaching lexical

items is now better valued than in the past Vocabulary teaching; however, depends

on the changes in vocabulary necessity in foreign language teaching and learning that is going to be discussed in the next part

1.3 The changing trends of vocabulary importance in second language teaching and learning

Traditionally, vocabulary was undervalued in contrast to the dominance of grammar in language teaching In fact, both linguists and language teachers thought that grammatical structures were more important than lexical items As a result, all the tests and exams were all designed for checking the grammatical aspect of language, which was followed by the language teachers‟ ignorance towards the lexical aspect in the classroom as well as the language learners‟ limited competence

of vocabulary In the early 1980s, there was severe criticism of the neglect of vocabulary research (Meara, 1980; 1984) In spite of little attention to research, the importance of vocabulary was not completely ignored in language pedagogy, even during the heydays of the development of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) For example, Wilkins (1972, 1974) as an early representative advocate of the Communicative Approach, clearly indicated that learning vocabulary was as important as learning grammar by the statement “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” This underlines the importance of vocabulary in language teaching, as without vocabulary, it is difficult

to communicate Allen (1983, p.5) also insisted that communication was frequently interfered by lexical troubles and could be damaged in case people used wrong words Therefore, from the late 1980s, vocabulary was an area that had attracted researchers' interest within the mainstream of the second language acquisition (Nation 1997) Researchers realized that many of learners' difficulties resulted from

an inadequate vocabulary Accompanied with the positive attitude of vocabulary importance, EFL vocabulary teaching was reformed outside Western contexts also bloomed Actually, vocabulary instruction is now seen as an effective tool for lexical items to be presented in meaningful contexts (Scrivener, 1994) Despite the

neglected aspect of in the past, its instruction and learning have been given much attention in the classroom in the last two decades (Douglas, 2000) In addition, Carter & McCarthy (1988) state that the relevance and importance of vocabulary instruction are being realized by teachers who are also conscious of their roles as facilitators and guides Therefore, teachers have paid attention to successful strategies to teach vocabulary as well

Highly valued by both language teachers and learners, vocabulary instruction has been improved through the use of various pedagogical methods However, these methods cannot be created randomly, but should be based on some principles In the next part, I will discuss the principles of vocabulary teaching to basic learners, who are the subjects of my thesis paper

2 Principles of vocabulary teaching to elementary learners

With the choice of English beginners as the study‟s subjects, it is essential to investigate the learners‟ characteristics and the main principles of teaching lexical items to them

Ratnawati (2006) and Purwoningsih (2007) propose five following principles basing on Wallace (1982) ideas

First of all, during the teaching and learning process, the objectives must be clear; the teacher should determine what goal the learner is supposed to achieve Secondly, the teacher is to make a decision about the number of vocabulary items

to be learned because too many words can make learners confused and discouraged Thirdly, during vocabulary lessons, words should be appropriately provided basing on each topic as well as the learners‟ needs Moreover, the teacher should also be an instructor to create an appropriate learning atmosphere in which the students are able to communicate the words needed

Fourthly, related to frequent exposure and repetition, it is said that during the teaching process, it is not enough for lexical items to be taught once, there is a necessity to provide students with opportunities to practice through speaking and writing as well as recall the words many times until they have mastered these items

Last, but not least is meaningful presentation According to these writers, in order for students to have a clear understanding about the meaning of words, the teacher must be a good language instructor It is also reported that lexical items should be chosen and clearly presented in contexts as well as in appropriate situations It is also important for students to recognize the suitable word used in a situation (formal or informal) or with the interlocutor

In short, with regards to the most important aspects such as the aims, quantity, needs, frequent repetition as well as meaningful presentation, the principles above have completely responded to the essential requirements of vocabulary instruction for basic learners

After these principles are considered, the decision of a suitable teaching method will be made by an instructor In the next part of the paper, I will mention a number of teaching techniques commonly used in the current vocabulary instruction

3 Different teaching techniques and their effects on vocabulary teaching

and learning

It can be said that during the long history of foreign language pedagogy in the world, there are a variety of methods applied to the teaching job with the aim to facilitate learning the target language This part will be my concerns about some common vocabulary teaching techniques

3.1 Translation method

The first method is translation method which dated back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and is now regarded as one of the most traditional techniques commonly used in most of foreign language classrooms for ages because of its popularity and simplicity to apply Translation is the method in which English teachers are supposed to introduce the meaning of an English word through the use of its translation in the mother tongue or to ask students to look up it in a dictionary Vocabulary is presented mainly through direct translation from the native language and memorization Therefore, most of the teaching work is done in the mother tongue

The second method applied to teaching words is using synonyms and antonyms

3.2 Using synonyms and antonyms

Synonyms are the words in the same part of speech with the same meaning; in

contrast, antonyms are the words in the same part of speech with the opposite

meaning According to Sanusi (2009), synonyms and antonyms have an important contribution to building new words because vocabulary can be known by learners Actually, these items are used to present the target words, recall them or find the unknown words in reading tasks relying on their given signals, which have been known by learners In reading texts, there are some signals to identify their presence

for readers For example, some signals such as or, commas, dashes, and colons are used to recognize synonyms Meanwhile, some conjunctions such as instead,

although, but, yet, and however are used for antonym identification

The next method also commonly used in current language education is teaching vocabulary from reading contexts

3.3 Teaching words using contexts

Contexts can be understood as something in which words are used Nattingger

(1988:63) claims that "guessing vocabulary from contexts is the most frequently way

of discovering the meaning of new word.” Similar to this idea, Oxford and Scarcella (1994: 236) also points out that "guessing word meaning from contexts is the most useful vocabulary learning technique.” The idea results from the belief that words taught in isolation are not retained as well as those presented in contexts Furthermore, in order for the full meaning of a word or a phrase to be gained, learners should be aware of the linguistic environment in which these lexical items appear The method mentioned in the next part is using morphological analysis in lexical instruction

3.4 Using morphological analysis in vocabulary teaching

Morphology, a word of Greek origin, combines “morphe”, meaning form, and

“ology” meaning the study of Morphology is the study of words, exactly word

formation such as how words are formed, how words are broken into smaller units

as well as how such units can be recognized Actually, the effectiveness of morphological analysis in vocabulary learning bases on its ability in enabling students to apply a morpheme to many situations As a result, students are able to recognize an unfamiliar word simply by identifying the affixes and the remaining base word or root (Carreker, 2005) In addition, according to Prince (2009), the students with the understandings of how words are formed by affix and root combination tend to possess larger vocabularies and better reading comprehension than peers without such knowledge and skills

In the current teaching condition, teaching vocabulary is not limited to simply teaching single words, but teaching phrases as well as word combination Thus, some teachers prefer teaching lexical items through the use of collocation

3.5 Using collocation in vocabulary instruction

There are two types of collocations: lexical collocations and grammatical collocations (Bahns, 1993; Carter, 1998) Lexical collocations are combinations of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs such as Verb + Noun, Adjective + Noun, Noun + Noun, Verb + Adverb Grammatical collocations are combinations of content words (nouns, adjectives or verbs) and a grammatical word such as a preposition or certain structural patterns Words are better taught in combination than in isolation Therefore, collocations are widely accepted to be a very important part of knowledge of second language acquisition and to be essential to non-native speakers of English in order to speak or write fluently and accurately (Jaén, 2007)

3.6 Topic-based vocabulary instruction

Topic-based vocabulary instruction is the method to teach lexical items basing

on topics, usually familiar topics to learners It can be said that it is the most common way both in communicative classes and other classes The main characteristic of the technique is that the teaching work, learning materials as well

as classroom activities are all organized around a particular theme As Brinton, Snow & Wesche (1989) state, its main objective is to assist the students‟ second

language competence by working on certain topic areas The greatest advantage of the method is to be put into practice with students of all ages, and to revolve around practically any area of content (Peregoy & Boyle, 2008:93) The method is considered to be practical and promote effective language learning (Brown, 2001) The next lexical instruction method, which is commonly and effectively applied to current teaching contexts and favored by most types of learners thank to the active and vivid classroom atmosphere created by it, is visual-based techniques- the centre of my research paper It is the reason why I will discuss the method in the separate part

4 Visual aids and physical actions (mime) as a motivator for second language vocabulary learning

4 1 Definition of visual aids

According to Andrew and Safia (1991), visual aids can be anything seen by the learners and used for different purposes in a language class Domin (2007) also suggests another definition that visual aids are „non-verbal‟ materials appealing to the sense of sight used in the teaching process to supply a visual stimulant for students‟ learning In addition, he clarifies this definition by making an explanation

of types of visual aids

2-dimensional aids include a wide variety of pictures and drawings, such as

all kind of pictures, posters and magazines, maps and plans, tables, charts, diagrams, graphs, mind maps and time lines, picture stories, cartoons and comic strips, film, video, television, cinema and OHP transparencies and slides

3-dimensional aids involve all teachers and students‟ body language such as

mimes, gestures, facial expression, acting a situation, puppets

Other visual aids are used to present information visually in teaching processes

These are realia such as a calendar, a clock, a mirror, toys and art (paintings, albums, sculpture) In his view, visual aids vary in types; nevertheless, shortly they can be understood as anything seen and used to visualize lexical items in the class in

order to bring an interesting and motivating learning atmosphere

4.2 Types of visual techniques

Being defined as anything that can be seen by learners in the classroom to understand, remember as well as recall lexical items, there are a lot of types of visual-based materials applied to the real EFL classrooms In this part, some common visual techniques will be discussed

4 2 1 Chalkboards

It can be said that chalkboards are commonly found in almost all the classrooms with black or green color, especially it is a teaching aid easy to use as well as to adapt In fact, with a chalkboard, the lesson can be easily designed with any type of instruction by a teacher such as writing, drawing, even organizing games In addition, the best advantage of chalkboards is that thank to their central position in the classroom, they are effective in catching the students‟ eyes as well as their attention to lessons Furthermore, it is the easiest for a teacher to control the class from this location As Cable (1977) mentions, blackboard is the most conveniently available instructional device to display lettering and diagrams, drawn

on the spot in front of the class

4 2 2 Pictures

Among the types of visual aids, pictures are considered as being easy to prepare and vivid enough to attract students, especially the younger ones Pictures are various; for example, pictures in the handouts, those on the screen Additionally, according to Bowen (1982), there are some kinds of pictures such as flash cards, sequence pictures, wall pictures and wall charts, so forth They are preferably use to show very large objects which are not easily brought into the classroom, for example: an airplane, a car,

a washing machine, a typewriter, and rare or expensive items because it is troublesome for a teacher to prepare these aids Thus, the aid is seen as a helpful tool for teachers to clarify the denotation meaning of vocabulary without much explanation as well as to assist students to bring words back to their mind Wright (1976:4) summarizes the role

of pictures in teaching vocabulary by saying “A picture can often show an action more

easily than even a talented actor can demonstrate.”

4 2 3 Real objects

As Allen (1983:24) stated, “Real objects are better than pictures whenever we have them in the classroom When there are real windows, doors, walls, floors, desks, etc in the classroom, it is foolish not to use them in our teaching.” To support this point, Harmer (1991, p.161) added “If a teacher wishes to introduce the word „ring‟ which is worn on finger, it is by far easier to show the material to the students instead of devoting time on other techniques” Therefore, the use of real objects is regarded as having greater value than pictures

4 2 4 Mime (Gesture and facial expressions)

Mime or so-called physical actions is a type of action through gestures and facial expressions According to Alton‟s definition (2002), “A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication made with a part of the body, used instead of or in combination with verb communication.” Facial expressions are also simply known

as the expression on a person's face, resulting from specific use of the facial muscles” Doff (1988:14) claims, “The use of real objects, pictures and mime for suitable vocabulary is a very effective method as it is direct, interesting, and it makes an impression on the class” Domin (2008) states that the use of mime is effective to convey the meaning of words, especially abstract ones such as feelings

4 3 The existing views on using visual aids and physical actions (mime) in teaching a foreign language vocabulary

Firstly, in the Allen, Kate & Marquez‟s view (2007), visual aids are regarded

as an interesting learning tool to create a vivid learning environment in which the learners‟ interest can be improved Moreover, through the interaction to visual aids, students can be related to the real-life experience In addition, visual approach is believed to be helpful for the learners‟ ideas or thoughts brainstormed and presented; therefore, the approach is an effective stimulus for their oral competence The researchers add that visual aids can be a “user-friendly” tool because all the participants can be offered to a chance of being involved as well as acting, even moving around the classroom, which can help create excitement Besides, with the

benefits of having learners to experience real-life situations, the learners‟ understanding and retention level can be enhanced

Secondly, Wright (1985) emphasizes the visual approach‟s effectiveness in developing both the learners‟ productive skills and their receptive skills According to his view, productive skills including speaking and writing can be improved in the same way In addition, he lists some important roles of the visual-based approach in speaking and writing skills such as to stimulate students to speak and write, to build

up contexts for language to be used, to supply some useful information for learners to deal with productive tasks, to be an instructor to spoken and written description, or narration, or dialogues and to promote students to discuss as well as to offer reference For receptive skills, visual aids are claimed to catch the learners‟ interest,

to offer the clear gist of texts and individual language items, to provide a context for both language and student activity, to provide cultural information and to seek for specific information in the text and to assist the student‟s non-verbal demonstration Thirdly, Abede & Davidson (2012) states “visuals holds the attention of the learners on meaning, and help them to make the language used in the class more real and alive.” In addition, it is also claimed that through visual aids, the learners‟ presentation, learning and group activities can be enhanced Besides, conceptualized words are made to be more meaningful with the illustration by visual techniques As a result, students can be focused on meaning, and their vocabulary knowledge can be developed The authors also add “Visual materials actually economize time; insure more effective learning of vocabulary and permanent retention than do verbal instruction.”

The next is the Hill‟s view (1990) “Visuals evoke an immediate response from learners in a class which is the vital seed of all meaningful language-learning in general and vocabulary in particular” He also believes that the use of various types

of visual materials in teaching vocabulary increases the learners‟ intrinsic motivation because with the use of visual aids, the students‟ interest in what they learn will be promoted Furthermore, it is suggested by psychologists that the

approach contributes to the efficiency, depth, and variety of learning by stimulating learners' imagination Consequently, the learning will be made to be more permanent, pleasant and enjoyable

Moreover, many other researchers reveal their ideas about the effects of visual-based techniques in foreign language pedagogy Cook (2001) states that effective acquisition of vocabulary can never be just the learning of individual words and their meanings in isolation, but it needs the use of various senses to visualize the meaning of the words Jordan (1997) points out that vocabulary development is of concern to all four language skills which can be facilitated through visual approach by associating words, remembering them and extending the networks Mayer and Sims (1994) indicate that an increasing body of research evidence supports that students' learning is affected positively by presenting words and illustrations or pictures together

Summary

Overall, as being widely used in EFL classrooms, visual techniques have been regarded positively as one of the most effective lexical teaching methods by researchers and linguists It is generally accepted that visual-based lexical instruction can help motivate vocabulary learning because they are interesting enough to attract students to lessons and to enhance their classroom activity participation Additionally, visual aids are helpful in improve the learners‟ productive and receptive skills With lexical items visualized, real-life experience and meaningful presentation can be created in vocabulary classes, which are originally boring and hard to have

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY

1 Research site

Founded on August 8th, 2009 at No 76, Giai Phong Street, Dong Da district, Hanoi city, Enci English center is surrounded with three largest Vietnamese universities such as Hanoi University of Science and Technology, National Economic University and University of Civil Engineering This center has been expanded with three current branches in the districts: Dong Da, Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan With the slogan “Study locally, work globally”, Enci has been chosen by approximately ten thousand learners for six past years with the system of well-equipped classrooms, libraries, an enthusiastic consultant staff as well as weekly English clubs The further special thing about Enci is the use of a variety of textbooks and materials by Cambridge, Oxford Longman, Macmillan, Collins Cobuild

With the experienced teaching staff, this center has been reputed for teaching English aspects such as vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, English communicative skills and TOEIC, IELTS certificates from basic to advanced levels With the aim to involve all students in an English environment, in addition to interesting hours in the classroom, Enci has provided learners with a number of weekly English clubs such as Enci Bee, Enci Cinema and Enci Radio as well as self-study hours in the library In this way, English learners are offered to a great opportunity of practicing English language in real-life contexts and mastering this language with more ease and comfort

After a long time of teaching, I want to employ this center as the research site

of the study with the choice of two GPL classes at the elementary level

2 The participants

As mentioned above, this study is conducted on thirty English beginners at Enci English center including both males and females, who come from different parts in Vietnam (rural and urban parts) Almost all of them are university students specialized in other different fields Despite having studied English for

approximately ten years at school, little knowledge of English has been left in their mind As a result, this subject has become their obsession during the years at university

3 A brief description of the course book

As mentioned above, the course book employed in the study is English vocabulary in use elementary It was created by Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell, Geraldine Mark and published by Cambridge University Press This book consists

of sixty units of vocabulary for self-study and classroom use All of the units in the book are designed suitably to the level of English beginners with a variety of topics close to our life such as clothes, animals, food and drinks and so forth Besides, practice exercises at the end of each unit are appropriately responded to lessons‟ content However, due to the limited time, GPL classes aim to teach more than 40 units with more familiar topics

4 The syllabus

A GPL class lasts ten weeks including 30 lessons (two hours for each lesson)

to teach students three language aspects: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation Each week has three lessons in which students are instructed all three different aspects Vocabulary is the first aspect taught every week on Mondays or Tuesdays Each lesson lasts two hours aiming at from two to five units of vocabulary in the book named English Vocabulary in Use- Elementary

Vocabulary lessons are scheduled as follows:

1 - Unit 1: Talking about language

- Unit 2: Learning vocabulary

- Unit 4 & 7: The verbs: Go & come

2 - Unit 3 & 10: The verbs: Have and get

- Unit 5 & 6: The verbs: Do & make

- Unit 8 & 9: The verbs: Take & bring

- Unit 11: Phrasal verbs

3 - Unit 15: Conjunctions and connecting words

- Unit 21: Common uncountable words

4 - Unit 22: Common adjectives: good and bad things

- Unit 23: Common adjectives: people

5 - Unit 30: Parts of body

- Unit 43: Food and drink

7 - Unit 44: In the kitchen

- Unit 45: In the bedroom and bathroom

- Unit 46: In the living room

- Unit 48: At school and university

5 Research method- Classroom action research

The method used in this study is classroom action research

5.1 General description of individual action research

As defined by Kemmis (1983) in Hopkins (1993: p.44),

“…action research is a form of self-reflective inquiry undertaken by participants in social (including educational) situation in order to improve the rationality and justice of (a) their own social or educational practices; (b) their understanding to these practices, and; (c) the situations in which the practices are carried out It is most rationally empowering when undertaken by participants collaboratively, though it is often undertaken by individuals and sometimes in cooperation with outsiders.…”

5.2 Action research model

The action research model consists of four steps in a spiraling process (Glantz, 1998):

Step 1: Selecting a focus

This stage includes three sub-steps:

a Identify what you want to investigate

b Develop the questions or hypotheses around the area that has been chosen

c Establish a plan or research design to answer these questions

Step 2: Collecting data

After the area of research is specified, research questions are established and these questions are planned to solve, the researcher commences to gather all the data with the use of some data collection methods The data can be collected at the beginning, at the end or during the research‟s period in order to provide an appropriate response to research hypotheses

Step 3: Analyzing and interpreting data

After having been collected, data cannot answer research questions without this step of action research- data analysis and interpretation In this stage, the researcher will code all the data gathered in terms of replying research hypotheses

Besides, the process helps reveal the strength and the weakness of the studied teaching method

Step 4: Taking action

It is the stage in which a decision can be made After the effectiveness as well

as the problems of the research area has been clarified, there are three possibilities:

a Continue the teaching program

b Disband the program

c Or modify the program in some ways

The process does not necessarily have to stop in any particular point; therefore, action research is ongoing

These steps are appropriately adapted in my action research as follows:

6 Research procedures

Step 1: Selecting a focus

6 1 1 Identifying the problem

After having graduated from university, Enci English was the first place where

I worked as a part-time teacher During the period of four years, I had a chance to meet many students who wanted to master English for their job and study‟s requirements and to teach them three language aspects: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation However, among these three aspects, vocabulary classes were the least frequently and enthusiastically attended Meanwhile, as mentioned in the literature review, the significance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning cannot be refused What causes learners not to have an appropriate attitude towards the aspect of language regardless of its importance?

Moreover, while teaching vocabulary in the class was regarded as the most important to develop the students‟ lexical competence, traditional methods failed to satisfy the students‟ needs about an effective lexical instruction method It was the reason why lexical instruction in the class and the question of which method to facilitate vocabulary learning came to my mind as the first concern, which pushed

me to conduct the study

In addition to the part-time job at Enci English center, I have been teaching English for kids for years in another center In the center, teachers are encouraged to teach vocabulary with visual aids and physical movements to motivate the students‟ participation in lessons I wondered if these aids could be effectively used in vocabulary teaching for English beginners at older ages Therefore, in my thesis paper, I decided to conduct a study on using visual-based techniques to teach basic English learners at Enci English center with the research hypothesis as follows

6 1 2 Research hypothesis

Visual aids and physical actions can be used to improve English beginners’ lexical competence

6 1 3 Identifying research questions

Basing on the research hypothesis above, the study aims to solve three research questions

1 What are the learners’ attitudes toward learning vocabulary through visual aids and physical movements?

2 To what extend do visual techniques affect the students’ vocabulary learning? How have students improved after the experience of visual techniques?

3 What difficulties do students have in learning vocabulary with visual-based instruction?

contribute to make a decision if the application of these aids to vocabulary instruction will be cycled in the second half of the course

The next step is to gather data to respond the research questions

Step 2: Collecting the data

Three instruments were used to collect the data for the study

6 2 1 Classroom observation

6 2 1 1 The reason of choosing observation in data collection

Classroom observation is conducted within nine weeks to collect the useful information of both the studied teaching method and the study‟s participants According to Richards et al (1992), observational methods are procedures and techniques based on systematic observation of events and are often used in studying language use and classroom events Therefore, this method was employed in the research‟s data collection

6 2 1 2 The criteria of observation

During the period of nine weeks, classroom observation was carried out on all the participants with the effort to clarify the effects of using a new teaching method basing on the following criteria:

 The amount of class attendance of the participants in each lesson

 The types of visual aids used in each lesson

 How the visual aids were used

 The students‟ difficulties in learning vocabulary with these aids

All the data were recorded in Observation sheet (Appendix I)

6 2 2 Questionnaire

6 2 2 1 The reason of choosing questionnaire in data collection

The second data collection instrument is questionnaire because Richard (1994) states that questionnaire is helpful in:

„…gathering information about affective dimensions of teaching and learning such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, preferences, etc, and enables a teacher to collect a large amount of information relatively quickly‟

This method aimed to understand students‟ attitudes toward their lessons with

the visual-based lexical instruction, their self-evaluation of the method‟s effectiveness as well as the troubles encountered with the experience of the new teaching technique

6 6 2 2 2 Description of the questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of twelve questions including six open-ended questions, four close-ended questions and two table questions with multiple choices (as in Appendix II) These questions can be divided into four main parts: Part I consists of four questions from the first to the fourth to seek for the learners‟ personal information; part II consists of question 5 and question 6 in order to have the understanding of the learners‟ views toward using visual techniques in vocabulary teaching and learning; Part III with four next questions investigates the participants‟ evaluation about the visual-based instruction‟s successfulness in vocabulary teaching; Part IV including two last questions is to seek for the learners‟

difficulties in mastering lexical items with the method

6 2 3 Written tests

In order to have more reliable proofs about the method‟s effects on the students‟ learning, lexical mid-term tests and post-test are offered to all the thirty students to illustrate their lexical competence after the experience of visual-based instruction method The final lexical test used in the study is English Vocabulary in Use Elementary Level Test published by Cambridge University Press (2008) (cited

in Appendix III) Fortunately, the test consists of 50 multiple-choice questions designed completely basing on the content of the units in the course book Therefore, it is helpful to check the learners‟ lexical ability after the course

Step 3: Analyzing data

6 3 1 Data analysis of classroom observation

During the period of research, an observation is conducted on thirty students

in GPL classes as follows:

Field note 1

a Classroom description

It is a small room with a capacity of approximately 20 seats and with only one entrance door and a window There are a teacher‟s desk at the top right corner and a white board in the middle of the wall next to the teacher‟s desk All the students‟ desks are randomly arranged depending on each lesson The room is equipped with two fans and two air-conditioners in addition to a computer and a speaker to serve the teaching job of teachers

b Class procedure (See Appendix V)

6 3 2 Data analysis of the questionnaire

6 3 2 1 Students’ demographic information

There are thirty students offered to take part in the questionnaire including 16 males and 14 females Their age ranges from 18 to 24 years old Most of them are students at the university and only two of them are preparing for the entrance exam

to university Nevertheless, almost all of these participants have been studying English for nearly ten years, even over ten years (from 6 to 15 years) It also means that English lexical items have been approached for a long time; however, their language level is approximately classified as beginners

6 3 2 2 Data analysis of students’ questionnaire

6 3 2 2 1 The students' views toward the use of visual aids and physical actions

in vocabulary teaching and the effectiveness of visual-based lexical instruction

Chart 1: The students' attitude toward the

use of visual aids and physical actions in

Chart 2: The learners' evaluation of the effectiveness of the visual-based

It is clarified in the first chart that almost all the learners tended to learn lexical items through visual-based vocabulary instruction with interests (87%) except four students with neutral attitude (13%) Especially, none of the participants showed negative attitude toward the experience with visual techniques such as very uninterested or uninterested

When asked about how effective the visual approach was in the students‟ vocabulary learning, as shown in Chart 2, there were 93 % of the participants with a strong belief in the method‟s successfulness to support lexical instruction Among them, there were 22 students representing 73% to think that the visual-based method

of lexical instruction was much effective in vocabulary teaching and there were six students who believed that this technique was very much effective in teaching the lexical aspect of language In contrast, there were only two students who did not think that the method was effectively used in lexical classes

6 3 2 2 2 The amount of vocabulary remembered by the learners after the course with visually-supported lexical instruction

6 3 2 2 3 The learners‟ views on the purpose of visual techniques employed

in vocabulary instruction

To present new words To help practice new words

In general, all the statistics showed that most types of visual techniques aimed

to support learners in the practice session Meanwhile, a few of these aids were commonly used for lexical presentation such as chalkboard drawings (80%) and pictures in the handouts (60%)

6 3 2 2 4 The students‟ views toward the effects of visual techniques on their vocabulary learning

The effects of visual techniques

on vocabulary learning

Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree

Strongly disagree

a Visual techniques help you

remember new words faster and longer

b Visual techniques help the class

more interesting

c Visual techniques make you more

comfortable to learn new words

d Visual techniques help you use

English more

e Visual techniques help lessons

nearer our life

Table 2: The students’ views toward the effects of visual techniques on their

vocabulary learning

It is clearly revealed that the majority of participants (more than 80%) showed positive responses to the views toward the application of the new method to the EFL classrooms A small group of students (more or less 10%) showed their neutral view toward the method‟s effects Especially, none of them revealed their disapproval to any statements The statements that visual techniques enabled learners to master vocabulary with interests and comfort were the most commonly agreed by the participants Meanwhile, the beliefs that these aids facilitated learners

to have the more frequent use of English as well as to connect between the lessons

and their life seemed to be less strongly approved

Two last questions to investigate troubles with the visual-based vocabulary teaching method were responded as in chart 4 and table 3:

6 3 2 2 5 The students‟ views toward the difficulties in learning vocabulary through visual techniques

Chart 4: The percentage of students with and without difficulties in

learning vocabulary with visual techniques

80%

20%

The percentage of students with difficulties in learning vocabulary with visual techniques

The percentage of students without difficulties in learning vocabulary with visual techniques

Troubles in vocabulary learning through

visual-based techniques

The number of students with this trouble Percentage

Table 3: The students’ views toward the difficulties in learning vocabulary through

visual techniques