Improving english vocabulary learning for students of business at hanoi university of industry (haui) through games an action research

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ LIÊN IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING FOR STUDENTS OF BU

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ LIÊN

IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING FOR STUDENTS OF BUSINESS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HAUI) THROUGH

GAMES: AN ACTION RESEARCH

Nâng cao việc học từ vựng cho sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh thương mại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội thông qua trò chơi ngôn ngữ: Nghiên cứu

hành động

MINOR M.A THESIS

FIELD FIELD CODE

: English Teaching Methodology : 8140231.01

Hanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ LIÊN

IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING FOR STUDENTS OF BUSINESS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (HAUI) THROUGH

GAMES: AN ACTION RESEARCH

Nâng cao việc học từ vựng cho sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh thương mại trường Đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội thông qua trò chơi ngôn ngữ: Nghiên cứu

hành động

MINOR M.A THESIS

FIELD FIELD CODE SUPERVISOR

: English Teaching Methodology : 8140231.01

: Assoc Prof Lâm Quang Đông, PhD

Hanoi, 2018

This research has been accomplished with the support and encouragement of many people Hence, I hereby would like to express my appreciation to all of them

In the first place, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor

- Assoc Prof Lâm Quang Đông, PhD for his valuable assistance and guidance throughout my research

Also, I am greatly indebted to all professors and staffs of the Faculty of Graduate Studies for their meaningful lessons and precious support thanks to which

Post-I was able to overcome obstacles during the time my research was carried out

Besides, I would like to give my whole-hearted thanks to students at HanoiUniversity of Industry for their enthusiastic participation in my research Withouttheir help, I would not have been able to complete this paper

Last but not least, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family whosesupport and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation that hashelped me to overcome all problems to complete my thesis

Hanoi,

Lê Thị Liên

ii

This study was carried out in the form of an action research in which students wereinstructed with the use of games in their vocabulary lessons The research aimed tofigure out whether the use of games in vocabulary teaching could help improvestudents‟ vocabulary retention In order to accomplish these purposes, 20sophomores at Hanoi University of Industry were selected to participate in thestudy, which lasted eight weeks Three data collection instruments were employed,namely pre-test/post-tests, class observation and note-takings so as to gather mostreliable findings for the research Findings from the tests, observation and note-takings revealed that students experienced an improvement in their vocabularymemorization throughout the eight weeks of study and the reason for the vocabularyretention progress was mainly attributed to the use of games in language classroom.Benefits of using games can be listed as the deeper impression of vocabulary onstudents‟ memory and a more frequent exposure to vocabulary use Results from thenote-takings and observation also reflected a completely positive attitude of studentstowards the use of games, and students claimed that games helped them have morefun and motivation in learning On this basis, useful implications for teachers‟preparation, classroom practices and future research were proposed

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT iii

CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Organization of the thesis 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1.1 Vocabulary learning 3

1.1.1.What is vocabulary? 3

1.1.2.What is involved in knowing a word? 3

1.1.3.Vocabulary learning and retention 4

1.2 Review on the use of games in vocabulary teaching 7

1.2.1.Definitions of language games 7

1.2.2.Language games and vocabulary acquisition retention 7

1.3.Relationship between games and vocabulary teaching/learning ……… .9

1.4 Previous research and their limitations 11

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 Participants and the research context 14

2.2 Research approach 15

2.2.1 Definition of action research 15

iv

2.2.2 The reasons of choosing action research for this study 15

2.3 Research stages 16

2.3.1 Pre-intervention stage 16

2.3.2 Intervention stage 16

2.3.3 Evaluation 20

2.4 Data collection procedure 23

2.4.1 The class observation using checklists & note-taking 23

2.4.2 Pre-test and post-test 23

2.5 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 25

3.1 Data analysis and discussion 25

3.1.1.Effects of using games on students‟ vocabulary retention – findings from observation and note-taking 25

3.1.2 Effects of using games on students‟ vocabulary retention – findings from pre- and post-tests 27

3.1.3 Problems in learning English vocabulary via games and possible solutions 31

3.2 Major findings and discussion 33

3.3 Implications 34

3.4 Summary 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 36

1 Conclusions 36

2 Limitations of the study 37

3 Suggestions for further study 38

REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX A II GAMES EXPLOITED FOR TEACHING VOCABULARY II APPENDIX B VI

v

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: The vocabulary teaching plan 17Table 2: Scores of pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 28Figure 2: The overall mean score of students‟ pre-test and post-test 1 29Figure 3: The overall mean score of students‟ pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2.30

vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

As a teacher of English, I recognize that although the issue of vocabulary teachingand learning is currently receiving attention from teachers and learners at ourschool, how vocabulary items can best be taught and learnt remains a big question

A vast amount of teaching time in a vocabulary lesson is spent on explaining,defining, students compiling page upon page of word lists that they rarely haveopportunity to practice Obviously, vocabulary arises in the classroom regardless ofthe chosen activity, and in spite of any conscious design on the teacher‟s part As aresult, students only think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning

of new words In addition, the students‟ ability to use English for communication isstill limited, especially for secondary school students They can have a fairly goodknowledge of grammar but hardly express themselves properly because of shortage

of vocabulary and communicative competence That is why, for most students,learning vocabulary in language lesson is a time of failure and disappointment inwhich they gradually feel bored and gradually reject the work that the teacher isdoing for them

ESP (English for Specific Purposes) is considered hard to teach for languageteachers As a teacher of English for Business English, I myself find manydifficulties in teaching vocabulary Motivated by the idea of finding stimulatingactivities to help students learn vocabulary, with the goal to create a context forvocabulary acquisition in the classroom, I believe that games may be of some help

In the field of language teaching, games have been proved to be beneficial tostudents‟ learning process and help stimulate learners with a motivatingenvironment All the above-mentioned reasons have inspired me to conduct an

action research entitled “Improving English vocabulary learning for students of

Business English at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUi) through games: An action research”.

2 Aims of the study

The major aim of the research is to justify whether the use of games in vocabularyteaching can help improve students‟ English vocabulary retention Moreover, theresearcher can find difficulties that her students have to face with, particularlydifficulties in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary via games Then possiblesolutions are offered to solve these problems so that learners can improve theirEnglish vocabulary learning and become confident when expressing their ideas

2 What are the problems that these students encounter in learning English

vocabulary via games and solutions?

4 Scope of the study

The research only focuses on a limited target population and vocabulary, includingESP vocabulary In terms of vocabulary, the study focuses on student‟s knowledge

of the meanings, forms and usage of English including business English The targetpopulation is second year students studying Business English at Hanoi University ofIndustry

5 Organization of the thesis

The thesis is composed of three parts: Part A, Part B, and Part C Part A –

Introduction introduces the rationale, aims and objectives as well research questions

of the study Part B – Development includes two chapters: Chapter 1 Literature

review presents the theoretical foundations for the whole study and Chapter 2 –Methodology elaborates on the participants, the methodology and methods, the datacollection procedure and data analysis including the tests, class observation and

note-taking Part C – Conclusion summarizes all the major points in the study, the

limitations of the study and proposes suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Vocabulary learning

1.1.1 What is vocabulary?

So far there have been a lot of definitions of vocabulary Vocabulary is defined aswords in a specific language or freestanding items of language that have meaning.Besides, vocabulary is broadly defined as knowledge of words and word meanings(Lehr et al., 2004) According to Lehr et al., vocabulary is more complicated thanthis definition suggests Words not only come in oral forms which include the wordsthat can be recognized and used in listening and speaking, but also in print forms ofreading and writing In addition, word knowledge also comes in two forms:receptive and productive Receptive vocabulary refers to words that can berecognized in reading and listening Productive vocabulary indicates words that can

be used in speaking and writing (Lehr et al., 2004) Therefore, vocabulary isunderstood as knowledge of word spelling, pronunciation, collocations andappropriateness (Nation, 1990)

As discussed above, vocabulary can be seen in many different ways Vocabularyrefers to words or a set of words in a language or knowledge of words regarding itsforms, meanings and how to use it accurately in the context In other words,vocabulary refers to the words, compounds and idioms in a language that can beused to convey and receive information in oral and written communication

1.1.2 What is involved in knowing a word?

When it comes to vocabulary, it surely is the first step toward learning a foreignlanguage A sentence is usually made up of numerous words Without any concepts

of grammar, learners may guess the meaning of a sentence if the vocabulary iscomprehensible to them Likewise, learners of a foreign language are likely to gettheir messages across by putting all the words together, even though not in agrammatical, correct order Therefore, vocabulary serves as the foundation for

language learners in communication However, mastering numerous vocabularylists to use in communication is not always easy for language learners For somestudents, vocabulary has always been one of the obstacles that hinder their Englishlearning Learners may have different problems in learning vocabulary Some arecapable of recognizing the word in reading but fail to spell it out Some are able tospell the word out in writing, yet they mispronounce the word in speaking Still,others can say the word and spell it out perfectly, but surprisingly, they may notknow the meaning of the word.

In order to know a new word, students need to take great efforts Nation (2001)pointed out that in order to know a word, many aspects are involved Nationdistinguished vocabulary knowledge into receptive and productive The formerrefers to the ability to understand a word while listening or reading The lattermeans the ability to use a word in speaking or writing Sun (2007) introduced anidea that vocabulary gaining develops along a linear continuum, and that theconcept denies the dichotomy that vocabulary knowledge is either known orunknown On both ends of the continuum is one‟s receptive vocabulary knowledge

as well as one‟s productive knowledge

1.1.3 Vocabulary learning and retention

One of the significance in vocabulary learning process is not always students‟comprehending word meaning or spelling, but vocabulary retention Retention isdefined as “the ability to retain facts and figures in memory” Vocabulary retention,

in a similar way, can be referred to as the storage of vocabulary in memory, whichbecomes available for usage when needed The efficiency of vocabulary learningcan be measured by the extent to which students can remember the words that theyhave already learned to apply in the productive or receptive language learning.Important as it is, it is worth spending time figuring out the factors that can affectstudents‟ vocabulary retention

According to different researchers, retention of vocabulary is affected by threefollowing factors: memory, language exposure and effective vocabulary learningstrategies There is a close relationship among these three factors

Nation (1990) categorized memory into short-term and long-term memory

According to this researcher, short-term memory is often referred to as the ability to process and remember information at the same time It holds a small amount of information, typically no more than 7 items in mind in an active, readily-available state for a short period of time (typically from 10 to 15 seconds, or sometimes up to

a minute)

Long-term memory is intended for storage of information over a long period oftime Unlike short-term memory, which is limited in capacity, long-term memory isseemingly inexhaustible and can accommodate any amount of new information.Despite our everyday impressions of forgetting, it seems likely that long-termmemory actually decays very little over time, and can store a seemingly unlimitedamount of information almost indefinitely

It can be seen that in order to retain knowledge as much as possible, foreignlanguage learners need all the information of the language that they learned to betransferred into long-term memory The question is how it can happen? The answer

is that short-term memories can become long-term memory through the process ofconsolidation, involving rehearsal and meaningful association Unlike short-termmemory (which relies mostly on an acoustic, and to a lesser extent a visual, code forstoring information), long-term memory encodes information for storagesemantically (i.e based on meaning and association) In other words, the main way

of transferring from short-term memory to long-term memory is by finding somepre-existing information in the long-term memory to attach the new information to.Nation (1990) proved that it is impossible to expect students to acquire a word onlyafter one or two times seeing that word, but at least 5 to 16 times of exposure isneeded to help students acquire a word In addition, Gairns and Redman (1986)have concluded that for the first time of exposure to new words, students will takethose words into their short-term memory The vocabulary will “fall into disuse if it

is not activated regularly” Thornbury (2002) also shares the same opinion, claiming

that 80% of materials are lost within 24 hours of initial learning This is true in boththe short term (e.g from lesson to lesson) and in the long term (e.g after the wholecourse) In other words, if we do not revise and practice the knowledge that welearnt, it will soon disappear Therefore, it can be concluded that after beingintroduced to students, the vocabulary can only be restored in students‟ short-termmemory, and will soon fade away if the process of consolidation, involvingrehearsal and meaningful association does not take place.

Language exposure

While the term memory more often refers to later storage and retrieval ofinformation, language exposure refers more to processes in the initial acquisition orencoding of information There are many situations that a learner can discover themeaning of a new word or phrase such as: through the written text, through hearing

it used, or through other members‟ explanations However, it can hardly be certainthat those vocabulary items and their meanings will be remembered as getting toknow the meaning of a new vocabulary item is not the same as remembering thatmeaning

Effective vocabulary learning strategies

Vocabulary learning strategies is the third factor contributing to vocabularyretention Language teachers have been placing great emphasis on teaching Englishvocabulary However, the results of mastering vocabulary are not desirable, becausewords sometimes can be forgotten very easily and won‟t last long Therefore, it is

of great necessity to adopt effective vocabulary learning strategies Like generallearning strategies, English vocabulary learning strategies include those techniquesthat help learners remember what they have learned - their storage and retention ofnew information

It is important that language teacher is well aware of the factors that affect students‟vocabulary retention and the characteristics of the teaching context so as to havesuitable teaching methods to improve it

1.2 Review on the use of games in vocabulary teaching

1.2.1 Definitions of language games

According to Toth (1995), a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element offun Games are often thought that they mean fun and enjoyable Some people mayget confused by the two notions „game‟ and „play‟ Actually, they do not reallyrefer to the same thing but that a game consists of play governed by rules In short,games are activities with certain goals or objectives, rules and contest eitherbetween players or between players and goal Moreover, games also bring fun Andthat is games in general What about language games?

In general, language games mean games related to language If games help toimprove different aspects such as intellectual ability, patience, then language gameshelp to develop language skills When playing the games, students not only have funbut can also practice English, which helps to motivate students Therefore, languagegames are both useful and enjoyable and can be regarded as an effective tool inteaching and learning languages or English in particular In order to get moreunderstand about „game‟, types of games are researched

1.2.2 Language games and vocabulary acquisition/retention

Many researchers agree that language games do have a role to play in vocabularyacquisition With the use of games, the teacher can create various contexts in whichstudents have to use the language to communicate, exchange information andexpress their own ideas Stressing the role of games in vocabulary teaching andlearning, Huang (1996, p 1, as cited in Nguyen & Khuat, 2003) claims that

“learning through games could encourage the operation of certain psychological andintellectual factors which could facilitate communication, heightened self-esteem,motivation and spontaneity, reinforcing learning, improving intonation and buildingconfidence.”

Language games have many advantages in vocabulary teaching and learning.Firstly, games can motivate learners by bringing relaxation and fun to classes Theycan help lower student‟s anxiety, make them comfortable and want to learn more

Uberman (1998) showed that those students who practiced vocabulary activity withgames felt more motivated and interested in what they are doing Hansen (1994,p.118, as cited in Uberman, 1998) also presents that games can provide shy studentswith more chance to express their opinions and feeling Secondly, games canprovide language practice Lee (1995) and Marion McPherson (2006) agree thatgames allow the students to practice the language point being taught Sharing thesame view, Wright, et al (1996, pp3-4) adds that “games can give practice in all theskills, in all the stages of the teaching and learning sequence and for many types ofcommunication” Further support comes from Zdybiewska (1994, p.6), whobelieves games to be a good way of practicing language, for they provide a model ofwhat learners will use the language for in real life in the future Thirdly, games canimprove students‟ retention According to Wierus and Wierus (1994, p.218, as cited

in Uberman, 1998), games in vocabulary teaching help students memorize wordsfaster and better in a comfortable environment Nguyen & Khuat (2003) also agreethat games can assist students to learn more quickly and retain the learned materialsbetter Next, games encourage learners to interact and communicate Zimmerman(1997) emphasizes that communicative and interact activities can lead to betterword learning In fact, when taking part in games, learners have to talk to express orexchange their ideas with their partners Moreover, through interaction with others,they can help each other on the meaning of unfamiliar works, including newvocabulary items (Nation and Newton, 1997, p 244) This is a good opportunity forlearners 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 thatshould be applied in vocabulary classes The use of games in vocabulary teachingmakes lessons more interesting, enjoyable as well as effective However, in order togain 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 asstudents‟ level, the number of students, cultural context, timing, learning topic andthe class setting into consideration (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003)

Hadfield (1996) explains two ways of classifying language games First, languagegames are divided into two types: linguistic games and communicative games.Linguistic games focus on accuracy, such as supplying the correct antonym On theother hand, communicative games focus on successful exchange of information andideas, such as two people identifying the differences between their two pictureswhich are similar to one another but not exactly alike Correct language usage,though still important, is secondary to achieving the communicative goal.

The second taxonomy that Hadfield uses to classify language games has many morecategories With the classification of games as linguistic games or communicativegames, some games will contain elements of more than one type such as sorting,ordering, arranging games, guessing games, matching games, labeling games,exchanging games

Nevertheless, as for teachers of English, games may be advisable to be used to helppractice And they would be: games for grammar, games for vocabulary, games forspelling, games for listening, games for speaking, games for pronunciation, gamesfor reading, games for writing and games for integrating skills In brief, the mostcrucial factor for the teacher is to base himself on the content of the lesson to decidewhether to incorporate games in this or that part of the lesson

1.2.3 Relationship between games and vocabulary teaching/learning

Games play a role in the classroom They familiarize students with a language.They give students a chance to feel comfortable using it, and make lessons moreenjoyable Then how games can, with all their connotations of “fun” and “play”, beput to serious pedagogic use in the language classroom?

To begin with, we must be clear what we mean when we use the word “games” Is

it a “fun” activity intended to bring a bit variety to the class and change of pace oflearning but little else? Alternatively, do games also have a more serious application

in the classroom? Hadfield (1987) has given out the relationship between games andlanguage teaching as follows:

“Games should be regarded as an integral part of the language syllabus, not as an

amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of term They provide, in manycases, as much concentrated practice as a traditional drill and, more importantly,they provide an opportunity for real communication, albeit within artificial definedlimits, and thus constitute a bridge between the classroom and the real world”(Hadfield, 1987).

This suggests that the most useful place for games is the free stage of the traditionalprogression from presentation and practice to free communication: to be used as aculmination of the lesson, as a chance for students to use the language they havelearnt freely and as a means to an end rather than an end itself They can also serve

a diagnostic tool for the teacher, who can note areas of difficulties and takeappropriate remedial action

“Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful andmeaningful” (Wright, 1992) The need for meaningfulness in language teaching hasbeen accepted for some years Games are a convenient, effective environment inorder to provide intense and meaningful practice of language Then they must beregarded as central to “a teacher‟s repertoire” They are thus not “for use solely onwet days and at the end of term” (Wright, 1992)

The writer stands for Wright (1992) about the idea that games can be used to givepractice in all the skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, in all the stages ofthe teaching – learning sequence: presentation, repetition, recombination, and freeuse of language and for many types of communication, e.g encouraging, agreeing,guessing, and explaining

This proves that language games play a necessary part in students‟ acquisition intheir learning Language games are stimulating activities to introduce new material,

to practice recently learnt language items, “to introduce or practice certain themes,

or to relax or energize a class” (Lewis and Bedson, 1999)

All in all, the application of games in language teaching is an excellent idea ofteachers and educational specialists because games are means of communicationand they require the players to use their language correctly

1.3 Previous research and their limitations

To date, globally, as seen in previous sections, different studies on the use of games

in vocabulary teaching have been conducted

In the country, however, not many of them are found Among these few, the thesis

by Do Thi Thu Ha (2010) “Using language games to improve students‟ retention ofESP vocabulary at Nam Dinh College of construction” is interesting and relevant to

my current research Her study proves the effectiveness of language games instudents‟ retention of ESP vocabulary in their short term memory However, as sheapplied the quasi-experimental method, 10 weeks seemed to be insufficient for anexperiment to produce more persuasive results Should the time budget have beenlengthened, the outcomes of subjects would be more convincing Moreover, thenumber of students in each group was too large Thus, it was difficult for theresearcher to manage the class Had the class size been smaller, the result of thestudy would have been more accurate as well In addition, in the study the authorjust listed the names of the games and the way to conduct them, but she didn‟t showthe vocabulary she taught, so there is no evidence if the games were highly suitable.Hence, students‟ excitement decreased to a certain extent, as expressed in her paper.Another drawback of this research is that the subjects were not randomly assignedsamples Yet the choice of this sampling method can be justifiied by its conveniencesince it was really not feasible to conduct a true experimental research in the context

of the college

The research on “Teaching vocabulary through language games to the 1st year English major students at Nghe An Junior Teachers Training College” (Bui ThiThuy, 2010) revealed that the benefits that vocabulary games bring about such asproviding opportunities to improve listening and speaking skills, creating relaxingand interesting atmosphere Nevertheless, in her research, she employed surveyquestionnaire Technically, this method could not lead to sufficiently convincingresults The questions focused on the following points: teachers and students‟perspectives towards using language games in teaching and learning vocabulary;

non-teacher‟s current ways of using games in teaching vocabulary Observations andinterviews were applied, but the progresses as well as students‟ long-term and shortterm memory after using games were not measured.

“Improving learning English vocabulary through games: An Action research” (VuPhuong Thao, 2011) is another thesis concerning the same topic as mine I highlyagree with the author that one of the most challenging tasks facing any languageteachers is to capture students‟ interest and therefore keep them in high learningspirit Meanwhile, vocabulary learning is a hard task which can sometimes befrustrating especially for teenagers Constant effort is required to understand,produce and manipulate the target language To realize this situation, teachers aresupposed to find out teaching ways that are responsive to students‟ needs andwants The study, in that light, showed students‟ partial improvement in learningEnglish vocabulary through language games The study is conducted in the form of

an action research using pretests, post tests and survey questionnaire to collect data.Then, the data from tests were exploited to find out the improvement in students‟vocabulary The data from survey questionnaire were used to find out students‟attitude towards language games and provide factors that should be considered byteachers when using games to teach vocabulary However, this study also containssome negative points The research was carried out over only a five week period,with thirty periods included in the five-week study During a lesson of 90 minutes,only 20 to 30 minutes was spent on vocabulary work This had been too short time

to come to a general conclusion on how to teach vocabulary effectively to year-old students Perhaps if the research process could be lengthened, the results ofthe study would be more certain and comprehensive Moreover, in the research, theauthor didn‟t mention the lists of vocabulary that she taught either, so it is hard toconclude whether the language games used were suitable and interesting

thirteen-To sum up, I highly appreciate these studies, thanks to which I can find what I can

do with this study, hoping to address the drawbacks found therein In my research,the major aim of the research is to justify whether the use of games in vocabulary

teaching can help improve students‟ English vocabulary retention Moreover, theresearcher can find difficulties that her students have to face with, particularlydifficulties in teaching and learning ESP vocabulary via games Then possiblesolutions are offered to solve these problems so that learners can improve theirEnglish vocabulary learning and become confident when expressing their ideas Theresearch only focuses on a limited target population and vocabulary, including ESPvocabulary In terms of vocabulary, the study focuses on student‟s knowledge of themeanings, forms and usage of English, including business English The targetpopulation is second year students studying Business English at Hanoi University ofIndustry.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Participants and the research context

The participants of the study were 20 students at Hanoi University of Industry.Those are the 2nd year students, who are currently studying English for SpecificPurposes (ESP) at the university They are expected to have reached the pre-intermediate level in English proficiency It is compulsory for students at HaUi tocomplete the two courses on general English in the first two terms of theirUniversity before proceeding to the ESP course The ESP course includes 30 face-to-face hours and 60 self-study hours The main focus of the course is on vocabularyrelated to student‟s major, together with the structures that can be applied tocommunicate or make presentations on the major-related issues The contentcovered in the ESP course consists of eight different themes, namely:

1 Office supplies, in which students are required to be able to define office supplies and furniture; and describe their ideal workplace;

2 Office machinery, in which students can name common office machinery anddescribe their functions;

3 Departments, in which students are expected to name department and job positions;

4 Company background, in which students are taught to describe general features related to a company;

5 Making and changing arrangements, in which students are required to be able

to make conversations to arrange and change an appointment;

6 What‟s wrong?, in which students can describe problems at work;

7 Business plan, in which students are taught to describe their future business plan;

8 Company benefits, in which students are expected to define some benefits related to a company

2.2 Research approach

2.2.1 Definition of action research

In order to reach the aims, the study was carried out with an action research method.According to Watts (1985), action research is a process in which participantsexamine their own educational practice systematically and carefully, using thetechniques of research It is based on the following assumptions:

• Teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for

themselves

• Teachers and principals become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently

• Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively

• Working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional

development

In addition, Bassey (1998:93) describes “action research as an enquiry which is carried out in order to understand, to evaluate and then to change, in order to improve educational practice” Similarly, Winter and Munn-Giddings (2001:8) assert that action research is a “study of a social situation carried out by those involved in that situation in order to improve both their practice and the quality of their understanding, captures the essence of the philosophy underlying the action research approach”.

2.2.2 The reasons of choosing action research for this study

Action research provides better practice than theory for teachers to apply into

a specific class or course; therefore, to develop the teaching and learning in aparticular class room, teachers or educational practitioners should make an actionresearch In another words, it requires teachers take an impact into their teaching tomake a positive result This result is more practical and valuable than observing oranalyzing‟s result Moreover, each class has different context with its own problemdepending on the level of the learners, the goal of the course or learners‟motivation To improve the learners‟ English ability, teachers need to study in theirown classes to find out the problems as well as suggest solutions to solve them

With that desire, the researcher has the purpose of enhancing her ownstudents‟ English vocabulary learning for students of Business English and thestudy is made to decide the effectiveness of using games in improving students‟English vocabulary learning in her class and make a decision on how to utilize themefficiently The author believes that the improvement of students in memorizingvocabulary of Business English is positive and gives pupils a motivation to learnEnglish better and love learning English than before.

2.3 Research stages

2.3.1 Pre-intervention stage

Firstly, to identify the problem, before the study is conducted, the author observedsome classes of other teachers and in her class and she took note some difficultiesthat the students had encountered when they learnt the vocabulary of BusinessEnglish As a result, the researcher found that in lessons of learning vocabularystudents often felt bored when vocabulary was taught through translation approach.With this approach, teachers wrote on the black board or read the new words, thengave them its meaning After that pupils applied the understanding of these words to

do task reading, listening and speaking Actually, students couldn‟t remember whatthey are taught after the class Hence, the author thought about motivation forstudents in lessons of learning vocabulary in her class via games Moreover, theresearcher asked students to do a pre-test which contained the knowledge of the 4first units, and then she used that result to evaluate the improvement of her studentscompared with the result of the two post-tests

Due to the fact that vocabulary is a means to help students do tasks reading,

listening, writing and speaking In this study, vocabulary was often presented within

fifteen to twenty minutes before students started reading, listening and speaking

After that, when the students finished their tasks, they might have enough time for

practice vocabulary However, they sometimes did not have enough time for

practice and this was left out Similarly, vocabulary revision or warm-up took place

on another day so that the students could activate their memory before starting

another lesson The vocabulary teaching plan was set up on the basis of the course

and briefly demonstrated as in the following table

Table 1: The vocabulary teaching plan

1 1 Memorizing WB: cloze exercise Lucky number

2 2 Slap the Board WB: cloze exercise Telephone game

3 3 Word matching WB: cloze exercise Scrambled words

6 6 Word matching WB: cloze exercise Telephone game

7 7 What and where WB: cloze exercise Scrambled words

8 8 Slap the board WB: cloze exercise Lucky number

2.3.2.1 Vocabulary games for checking

In this research, after all new words were first presented to students, and then games

new words For example, “Memorizing” game was played with the class dividedinto groups Each group had a certain time to look at a picture which was about

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games related to the new words, then pronounced the words correctly and theywould get one point The group that had the most points was the winner Anexample used as “Vocabulary checking for unit 1” is provided in Appendix 1 In

“Slap the board” game, the teacher put the new words all over the blackboard – not

in a list After that, the teacher called two students from two teams to the front of theclass and stood at equal distance from the blackboard Next, she spoke up one of thenew words The two students had to run forward and slap the word on theblackboard and spoke aloud The one who slapped the correct word first was thewinner Another game was used to check students‟ instant memory was “Wordmatching” This task was used for group work so as to motivate the students and tomake a competition in class Word-matching competition was used for vocabularychecking Students were asked to match the words or phrases with their definitions.The quickest pair or group to finish the task was chosen to be the champion of theclass An example used as “Vocabulary checking for unit 3” is provided inAppendix 1 With “What and where” game, the teacher elicited the new words tothe students but not wrote them in a list The teacher wrote each of word on theblackboard inside a circle When all the words were on the blackboard, the teacherrubbed out one of the words but did not rub out the circle Students were asked torepeat the word including the rubbed-out word by pointing at the empty circles Thistask was continued until all the circles were empty At the moment, students had toremember all the words The teacher divided class into groups and asked them tocome to the blackboard and filled in the circles with the correct words Afterpresenting or eliciting the new vocabulary and building up a list on the blackboard,the teacher used “Rub out and remember” game to check their understanding aboutthe new words She wrote down the new words on the blackboard with theirVietnamese meanings, and then asked students to close their notebooks The teacherrubbed out the new words one at a time Each time the teacher rubbed out a word inEnglish, pointed to the Vietnamese translation and asked “What‟s this in English?”When all the English words were rubbed out, the

teacher went through the Vietnamese list and got the students to call out the Englishword Lastly, the teacher called students from two teams to come to the blackboardand wrote the English words again.

2.3.2.2 Vocabulary games for practice

To practice the vocabulary that they had just learnt, students were given handoutswith cloze exercises They might be asked to work in individually, pairs or groups

in order to create a competitive atmosphere and excited attitude in learning process.The teacher could encourage those who did the task the most quickly and correctly

2.3.2.3 Vocabulary games for revision or warm-up

With the aim of making students remember and memorize the words and how to usethem, the revision was mainly tasks that reminded students of such things In thispart, students played games like Lucky Numbers, Telephone game, Scrambledwords, Stepping-stone, and Noughts and Crosses Such games and some other types

of group work brought a very exciting atmosphere in the class The “Luckynumbers” game is played with the class divided into two groups There are twentynumbers (from 1 to 20) on the slide Two groups choose the number they like inturns, and each number may be a question, a lucky number, a losing point, or anexchange point The group opens the number with a question, they have to answer

it, if the answer is correct they get 1 point, if it‟s wrong the other group have achance to get point “Lucky number” means they do not have to answer, they getone point They will lose all their points if they open the number with losing point.They can exchange their point with their opponent In the end of the game, the teamwith the most points was the winner Next, the author chose the “Telephone game tohelp her students to revise the new words This game was played with the classdivided into two groups and made two lines The teacher whispered a word in thestudents‟ ears of the two groups who was standing at the end of the lines She/hethen whispered that in the next student‟s ear and so on until the last student She/herun quickly to the board and wrote down the word to see if it was the same as theoriginal message After the game, the teacher checked their result The group with

more correct words was the winner Another game the teacher applied in her lessonwas “Scrambled words” game This game is a very popular game used for Englishlanguage teaching The teacher exploited this game for vocabulary revision withstudents working in groups, trying to rearrange the letters as quickly as possible tomake the words For each word, the faster group got a point and at the end of thegame, the group with the most points was the winner Another game was effective

in helping learners revise the vocabulary that they had learnt was “Stepping-stone”.This type of task is exploited for vocabulary revision It was designed according to

task created by W.R.Lee, in the book Language Teaching Games, second revised

edition It could be used during vocabulary revision or warm-up stage for pair workand group work, but preferably not for individual work In this task, a river (said:with full of crocodiles or other dangerous creatures) is drawn on the board and thetask is to cross it by the stepping-stones Students were required to spell the words,and then speak out For each stone a word had to be spelt If it was spelt correctly itwas printed on the stone; if incorrectly, it was not written and the team made noprogress An example quoted from “Vocabulary revision for unit 2” is provided inAppendix 1 In “Noughts and Cross” game, the class was divided into two groups.One had the name as X (cross) and the other was O (nought) They were presented

on a table with 9 numbered squares For each square there was a question and ifthey can answer the question correctly, they won put their group‟s name (X or O) inthat square The first group with their names in three aligned squares (eithervertically or horizontally or diagonally) was the winner The answer was only oneword which they study in the previous lesson

2.3.3 Evaluation

In order to answer the research question, which aims at finding out to what extentthe use of games can improve students‟ vocabulary retention; the researcheremployed the two different data collection instruments, namely the vocabulary tests,class observation and note taking

2.3.3.1 Observation & note-taking

According to Dalhberg and McCaig (2010), observation is a popular researchmethod in action research, especially in school setting in which the action andbehaviors of learners are inspected It can include the participation of the researcher

or the involvement of the independent observer who is supposed to directly witnessthe research settings

In this study, to ensure the objectivity of the data and to collect viewpoint fromvarious informants, the researcher was fortunate to have the observation done withthe participation of an independent observer who was also an English teacher atHanoi University of Industry Observation was conducted in all lessons throughoutthe eight weeks of the study and was based on a detailed checklist (See appendix AB) The checklist was designed which illustrated the specific criteria on which theobserver could base to observe students‟ vocabulary retention as a whole group aswell as their attitudes towards vocabulary learning Each of the lessons wasobserved basing on such criteria as students‟ retention of previously-learntvocabulary and immediate memorization of vocabulary, their engagement and level

of interest, etc The observer was supposed to attend the lessons from the beginninguntil the end, do the observation and take as detailed notes as possible so that theresearcher could base on that to have a precise analysis and evaluation

Normally in Vietnam, class observation occurs when there needs to be an evaluation

of students‟ learning or teacher‟s teaching The results of the observation usuallyhave either positive or negative impact on teachers if the lessons receive good orbad feedback Therefore, at the presence of an observer in class, students often feelquite tense as they are under the pressure of performing well for fear that theirperformance, if poor, may affect their teacher In order to avoid unnatural behaviors

of students when there is the presence of an observer, it was informed to students inadvance that a teacher would come to make class observation Students were alsoclarified about the purpose of the observation, which aimed to collect data to servethe purpose of doing research, and not for the aims of evaluating students‟ level orteacher‟s performance during the lesson

By observing and taking note techniques, the author could not only find thesignificant benefits of games to vocabulary learning of Business English, butdifficulties during the learning stage that students had to face The teacher wrotedown effectiveness of the games, how enthusiastic students engaged in the lessonsand after that find out how many words students could understand and rememberand especially the researcher took note the improvement of students during thecourse Besides, the researcher noted down the problems that her studentsencountered in learning Business English vocabulary via games and offer someappropriate solutions.

2.3.3.2 Pre-test and post-test

The study took place in 8 weeks and was divided into two different phases Phase 1lasted 4 weeks and phase 2 continued for another 4 weeks The reason for dividingthe study into two phases was to examine the vocabulary retention of students inboth short-term and long-term one Results after the first phase of the first fourweeks reflected students‟ short-term memorization of new words, while theretention of vocabulary was justified after the second phase, or after eight weeks.Students were required to take the three tests, one pre-test at the beginning of theinnovation, one post-test in week 4 after the first phase and the second post-test inweek 8 after the second phase

The three tests were designed to be similar to one another in terms of task types,allotted time and numbers of the tasks The pre-test was assigned to students beforethe research started The items tested in the pre-test were the vocabulary thatstudents learnt from the four previous weeks The two post-tests were conductedduring the process of the research, in which the first post-test was delivered after theresearch went for four weeks The first post-test examined students‟ memorization

of the vocabulary learnt during the first four weeks when the use of games wasapplied in teaching vocabulary The second post-test was administered to students inweek 8, the final week of the study, which tested how much vocabulary studentscould remember during the eight-week process The content of the second post-test

contained 1/2 of the new vocabulary that were learnt from week 5 to 8 and 1/2 of theitems in the test examined the vocabulary that were learnt during the first four weeks.

In order for the post-test‟s validity and reliability to be ensured, students were notgiven the answer keys of any tests Besides, they were not notified in advance thatthey would be given another test

The vocabulary tests were marked and the scores of each test were compared to seewhether there was any improvement in students‟ vocabulary acquisition Datagathered from vocabulary tests helped the researcher to answer the researchquestion of whether the use of games could help develop students‟ vocabularyretention

2.4 Data collection procedure

2.4.1 The class observation using checklists & note-taking

The class observation was conducted in all lessons during the eight weeks of thestudy with the view to finding out about students‟ progress in vocabulary retentionand students‟ attitudes towards the use of games in vocabulary lessons… At the end

of the study, there were eight observation checklists collected Each criterion ofobservation in the checklist was processed, compared and analyzed Moreover,during teaching process, the author took important notes about difficulties herstudents faced in ESP vocabulary learning and then could offer some effectiveapproaches

2.4.2 Pre-test and post-test

The pre-test was delivered in the first week of the study, then the first post-test inweek 4 and the second post-test in week 8 The three tests had the same format andtime allotment, and were delivered at the beginning of the lesson to ensure that thetests were performed in the same setting Besides, the pre-test and the first post-teststill remained the same content To guarantee the accurate results of the scoring, allthe tests were scored independently by two different raters, one was the researcherand the other was a teacher of Hanoi University of Industry Marking rubrics wereinformed to raters to make sure the grading was consistent