Using images in communicative activities to improve students’ retention of english vocabulary in architecture for students at hanoi architectural university

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

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

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111

Hanoi, 2016

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

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông

Hanoi, 2016

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 during the time I made efforts to carry out my research

Also, I would highly appreciate all professors and staffs of the Faculty of Graduate Studies for their meaningful lessons and precious support thanks to which Iwas able to overcome obstacles during the time my research was carried out

Post-Besides, I would like to give my whole-hearted thanks to students at HanoiArchitectural University 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 familywhose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation thathas helped me to ovecome all problems to complete my thesis

Hanoi,

Nguyễn Thị Hòa

This study was carried out in the form of an action research in which students wereinstructed with the use of images in their vocabulary lessons The research aimedfirst to figure out whether the use of images in vocabulary teaching could helpimprove students‟ vocabulary retention and then to investigate students‟perspectives towards the use of images in vocabulary lessons In order toaccomplish these purposes, 20 sophomores at Hanoi Architectural University wereselected to participate in the study, which last for eight weeks Three data collectioninstruments were employed, namely pre-test/post-tests, class observation andinterviews in order to have data triangulation to achieve most reliable findings forthe research Findings from the tests, observation and interviews revealed thatstudents had experienced an improvement in their vocabulary memorizationthroughout the eight weeks of study and the reason for the vocabulary retentionprogress was mainly attributed to the use of images in language classroom Benefits

of using images can be listed as the deeper impression of vocabulary on students‟memory and a more frequently exposure to vocabulary use Results from theinterviews and observation also reflected a completely positive attitude of studentstowards the use of images, claiming that visuals helped them have more fun andmotivation in learning On this basis, some implications for teachers‟ preparation,classroom practices and future research were proposed

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1.Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

3.Researchquestions 2

4.Scope of the study 2

5.The 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 retention 4

1.2 Multimodality 7

1.2.1 Multimodality and the English language teaching 7

1.2.2 The application of multimodal teaching to English vocabulary teaching 9

1.3 Review on the use of images in vocabulary teaching 10

1.3.1 The use of images as a mode of multimodality in language learning 10

1.3.2 The use of images in vocabulary teaching and its effects on vocabulary retention 11 1.3.3 Types of images used in vocabulary teaching 13

1.4 Summary 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Participants and the research context 18

2.2 Research methodology 18

2.3 Research methods 19

2.3.1 The pre-test and post-test 20

2.3.2 Class observation 21

2.3.3 Interviews 22

2.4 Data collection procedure 23

2.5 Summary 26

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 27

3.1 Data analysis and discussion 27

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

3.1.2 Effects of using images on students‟ vocabulary retention – findings from observation and interviews 30

3.1.3 Students‟ perspectives of using images in vocabulary learning – findings from observation and interviews 34

3.2 Major findings and discussion 36

3.3 Implications 37

3.4 Summary 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusions 39

2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 42

APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B

II APPENDIX C III

APPENDIX D VI APPENDIX E IX APPENDIX F XII APPENDIX G XV APPENDIX H XVII

APPENDIX I XXVI

iv

LIST OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS

FIGURES

Figure 1: Scores of pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 27Figure 2: The overall mean score of students‟ pre-test and post-test 1 28Figure 3: The overall mean score of students‟ pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 .29Figure 4: Students‟ vocabulary retention seen from class observation 31

ABBREVIATIONS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Vocabulary has always been considered the backbone of a language and the basis ofcommunication, as Hunt and Beglar (2005) put it They argue that the heart oflanguage comprehension and use is the lexicon, and clarify that the significance ofvocabulary in EFL is due to the fact that thoughts and ideas can be expressedwithout using grammar, but impossibly without words “Without grammar verylittle can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wikins,1976:111) Limited vocabulary, therefore, is likely to be a hindrance for learners intheir communication For this reason, vocabulary is highly important to anylanguage, because without enough words used appropriately and in context, peoplewould not be able to understand what others express or state what there is in theirown minds

As the importance of mastering vocabulary is evident and obvious, the teaching ofvocabulary should always receive sufficient attention It is important for teachers torealize that learning a new language is not just a memorization process or acquiringnew words; it is the connection between the words and their reality However, thetraditional vocabulary teaching techniques in such a way as presenting new words

on blackboard together with its phonics, meaning, translation and requiringstudents‟ memorization of long isolated word lists are still kept in many languageclassrooms, which leads to the inefficiency of vocabulary acquisition This urges theresearcher to conduct a study to identify an appropriate method in offering studentswith more effective vocabulary learning

2 Aims of the study

Multimodality has long been proposed by various researchers to be an approach thatinvolves different aspects in interaction, including verbal and written language,pictures, graphics, speech… (Baldry&Thibault, 2006) In the sense of languageteaching, multimodality has been proved to be beneficial to students‟ learningprocess and help stimulate learners with a motivating environment When applied to

the teaching of vocabulary as an aspect of language teaching, multimodality is oftendiscussed from the angle of using visuals in teaching such as images, pictures,graphics, etc This study, which focuses on vocabulary teaching methods, is going toinvestigate the application of multimodality to the vocabulary learning of studentsfrom the perspectives of using images in some communicative activities to enhancestudents‟ vocabulary retention The major aim of the research is to investigatewhether the use of images in vocabulary teaching can help improve students‟vocabulary retention The participants in the study are students at HanoiArchitectural University.

4 Scope of the study

This research is an investigation into the effectiveness of the use of images onstudents‟ vocabulary retention in a specific context of students at HanoiArchitectural University The participants include a group of students (n=20) whowere studying English for Specific Purposes at Hanoi Architectural University

5 The 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 as the research question 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 data collectionprocedure and data analysis including the tests, interviews and class observation 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(McCarthy, 1990) Ur (1996) defined vocabulary roughly as “the words we teach inthe foreign language” Besides, vocabulary is broadly defined as knowledge ofwords and word meanings (Lehr et al., 2004) According to Lehr et al., vocabulary

is more complicated than this definition suggests Words not only come in oralforms which include the words that can be recognized and used in listening andspeaking, but also in print forms of reading and writing In addition, wordknowledge also comes in two forms: receptive and productive Receptivevocabulary refers to words that can be recognized in reading and listening.Productive vocabulary indicates words that can be used in speaking and writing(Lehr et al., 2004) Therefore, vocabulary is understood as knowledge of wordspelling, pronunciation, collocations and appropriateness (Nation, 1990) Pyles(1970), from another perspective, confirmed that vocabulary is the focus oflanguage with its sounds and meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicatewith one another

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 is

comprehensible 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 forlanguage 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 Indeed, to learn is one thing; to know is another.

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 the both ends of the continuum are one‟s receptive vocabularyknowledge as well as one‟s productive knowledge This model assumes that for aword to be a productive one, it must be a receptive one first (Melka, 1997;Palmberg, 1987; Pigott, 1981, as cited in Sun, 2007)

1.1.3 Vocabulary 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

they‟ve 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

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 some

pre-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 only after one or two times seeing that word, but at least 5 to 16 times of exposure are needed to help students acquire a word (as cited in Xiqin, 2008) In addition, Gairns and Redman (1986) have concluded that for the first time of exposure to new words,students will take those words into their short-term memory The vocabulary will

“fall into disuse if it is not activated regularly” (as cited in Xiqin, 2008) Thorbury (2002) also shares the same opinion, claiming that 80% of materials are lost within

24 hours of initial learning This is true in both the short term (e.g from lesson to lesson) and in the long term (e.g after the whole course) In other words, if we do not revise and practice the knowledge that we learnt, it will soon disappear

Therefore, it can be concluded that after being introduced to students, the

vocabulary can only be restored in students‟ short-term memory, and will soon fade away if the process of consolidation, involving rehearsal and meaningful associationdoes not take place

Language exposure

While the term memory more often refers to later storage and retrieval of information,

language exposure refers more to processes in the initial acquisition or encoding ofinformation There are many situations that a learner can discover the meaning of a newword or phrase such as: through the written text, through hearing it used, or throughother members‟ explanations However, it can hardly be certain that those vocabularyitems and their meanings will be remembered as getting to know the meaning of a newvocabulary item is not the same as remembering that meaning

Joe et al (1996) gave out three important processes that may lead to vocabulary

being retained These processes can be viewed as attention, the process in which

learners need to be aware of needed useful language item (Schmitt and Frota, 1986,

Ellis, 1990, cited in Joe et.al, 1996); retrieval – the process after the word is noticed

and its meaning comprehended in the textual input to the task, and if that word issubsequently retrieved either receptively or productively during a task, the memory

of that word will be strengthened; and generation, the process that leads to a word

being remembered

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

Identifying effective vocabulary learning strategies is always a controversial issuethat attracts a lot of research attention Politzer and McGroarty (1995, cited inSchmitt, 1997) warn that no strategy should be considered inherently good or badbut it depends on the context in which they are used The context here is comprised

of many variables, including proficiency level, task, text, language modality,background knowledge, context of learning, target language, learner characteristicsand culture, etc

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 Multimodality

1.2.1 Multimodality and the English language teaching

Multimodality means three or more symbols are involved in the interaction,including verbal and written language, picture, graphics, space and other symbolresources which could construct meaning (Baldry&Thibault, 2006)

A new term multimodal teaching was put forward in 1996, which creates a

precedent of applying multimedia to language teaching As a new type teachingtheory, multimodal teaching is inclined to use all kinds of channels and means to

mobilize a variety of senses of students into the process of learning This kind ofteaching approach attaches great importance to students' multiliteracies.

Haijing (2015) made a comparison between traditional English teaching and themultimodal one, pointing out some benefits of multimodal one over the traditionalone He claims that a distinctive feature of traditional English teaching classroom isjust using chalk and blackboard, sometimes with a tape recorder Such a kind ofinstructional mode is quite monotonous and tedious without diversity, which willeasily lead to students' fatigue In traditional instruction, teachers are alwayspumping and hammering knowledge into students, which makes students receiveknowledge passively In reality, such a circumstance has reversed students' subjectposition and teachers' dominant position in the process of teaching and learning.Methods of imparting knowledge should not be limited to language modality butincluding non-language modality, such as gestures, postures, actions, facialexpressions and so on Turning to these symbols is conducive to receive newknowledge for students It is the appropriate modality that can enhance teachingcontents, attract students' attentions and deepen their understandings about teachingmaterials In the process of making up multimedia courseware, more and moremodalities should be involved, such as texts, pictures, colors, animations, music,videos and so on Only in this way can better results in teaching be attained.Therefore, in the process of teaching, more modalities should be adopted tosupplement teaching and stimulate students' enthusiasm so as to foster their all-round abilities

In recent years, with the advent of multimedia and information technology, Englishclass teaching is turning into Multimodal foreign language teaching from the singletraditional teaching mode With the lead of science and technology, modernclassroom goes beyond traditional textbook, chalk and blackboard Multimediacourseware is gradually taking the place of traditional blackboard and adopted by amajority of teachers, especially college English teachers Multimodal Teaching inEnglish Classroom Teaching can not only mobilize more senses of students to get

involved in teaching and learning, but also it can deepen their understandings ofnew materials and contents This will finally improve the effectiveness andefficiency of classroom teaching.

1.2.2 The application of multimodal teaching to English vocabulary teaching

Multimodal teaching is the supplement and development of traditional teaching.With the advent of a new approach of English vocabulary teaching, that isMultimodal English Vocabulary Teaching, traditional vocabulary teaching isplausibly outdated and cannot meet the needs of modern students Therefore, it is ofgreat significance for students to adopt a new way to learn English vocabulary well

It is obvious that vocabulary is of great importance However, traditional way ofvocabulary teaching is very much behind the time Traditionally, vocabularyteaching always follows such steps as: first, teachers read the new word list whilestudents listen to the teachers carefully; second, teachers begin to lead the readingwhile students read after teachers; third, teachers start to teach the new words whilestudents take notes as they listen to the teachers; last, teachers give their studentsassignments while students should do all kinds of pattern drills after class toconsolidate what teachers taught in class Students recite new words by rotelearning instead of turning to sounds, actions, pictures, colors, etc to deepen theirmemory Traditional students are lacking effective vocabulary learning strategies.Such class teaching is of great tedium, let alone to mobilize a variety of senses ofthe students taking part in teaching interactivity Multimodal English vocabularyteaching will compensate the lack of traditional English vocabulary teaching.Combining Multimodal theory with English vocabulary teaching will lead to easymemorization of new words The combination of Multimodal theory with Englishvocabulary teaching will definitely help solve some problems existing in Englishvocabulary teaching The application of Multimodal theory to English vocabularyteaching is becoming more and more popular Within the limit of this study, theapplication of multimodal vocabulary teaching will be discussed from the angle ofthe use of images

1.3 Review on the use of images in vocabulary teaching

1.3.1 The use of images as a mode of multimodality in language learning

Most language teachers seem to agree that the use of images can enhance languageteaching As they help teachers to bring the real world into the classroom, they makelearning more meaningful and more exciting (Brinton, 2000) Visual aids can be ahelpful tool in the language classroom as Mannan (2005) points out, they „help theteacher to clarify, establish, correlate and coordinate accurate concepts,interpretations and appreciations, and enable him to make learning more concrete,effective, interesting, inspirational, meaningful and vivid‟ (p.108)

According to Bamford (2003), it must be taken into account that visual literacy isthe key to obtain information, construct knowledge and build successful educationaloutcomes He asserts that this is due to the increase of the number of images in theworld (as cited in Arif and Hashim, 2009) It is important to point that studentsbring to the classroom their own background, which nowadays is associated withimages provided by mass media, videogames etc

Images or visual materials or anything used to help the student see an immediatemeaning in the language may benefit the student and the teacher by clarifying themessage, if the visuals enhance or supplement the language point, as Canning-Wilson (2000) indicates in her work These advantages suggest that visuals can helpmake a task or situation more authentic (Canning-Wilson, 1998)

Studies carried out by Mukherjee and Roy (2003) have found that the use of images

to contextualized spoken speech is a great help for students, given that they canunderstand 30% more than without the visual support Following this path,Canning-Wilson (2000) research suggests that images can be used to enhance themeaning of the message conveyed by the speakers thanks to the paralinguistic cues.Another important thing to note is that images may help in building mental models, andcommunicate relationships among content objects in a more efficient way than can wordsalone (Clark and Lyons, 2004) According to Canning-Wilson (1997) the importance ofvisual aids is highlighted when focusing on the way language is processed

These researchers have concluded that images clarify and enhance studentslearning, and that this information is recognized and remembered for longerdurations than verbal information alone.

1.3.2 The use of images in vocabulary teaching and its effects on vocabulary retention

Oxford (1990) defined using imagery as “relating new language information toconcepts in memory by means of meaningful visual imagery, either in the mind or

in an actual drawing.” In the book titled: “Vocabulary: description, acquisition and pedagogy”, Norbert Schmitt and Mc.Carthy (1997, as cited in Clark and Lyons,

2004) just wrote, “new words can be learned by studying them with pictures of theirmeaning instead of definitions.” The image can be a picture of an object, a set oflocations for remembering a sequence of words or expressions, or a mentalrepresentation of the letters of a word This strategy can be used to rememberabstract words by associating such words with a visual symbol or a picture of aconcrete object Learners can create their own mental images of a word's meaning.Imagery has been shown to be more effective than mere repetition in readingpassages and sentences, suggesting it could well be more effective for vocabularytoo New words can also be associated with a particularly vivid personal experience

of the underlying concept, for example, a learner mentally connecting the wordsnow to a memory of playing in the snow while a child.”

Students use or create an image that helps them remember information It can be assimple as a pencil drawing, or as complex as a "mental movie." An image also helpsstudents recall vocabulary without translating from their native language Compleximages can help students check their comprehension; if there are inconsistencies,then they may need to review the information Using imagery is well suited to anytask that involves vivid images or where it is useful to put abstract ideas in concreteform For instance, in order to remember idiomatic expressions, students createfunny pictures that illustrate them

Early researchers such as Adam and Chambers (1962) or Harber and Myers (1982)

seem to agree with the idea that memory for picture-word combination is superior tomemory for words alone or pictures alone (as cited in Petterson, 2004) Branch andBoom explains that memory for pictures is superior to memory for words and thiseffect has been called the Pictorial Superiority Effect (as cited in Petterson, 2004).More recent research on visuals and words has shown that memory for visual tends

to be better than memory for words (Clark and Lyons, 2004) These researchershave claimed that persuasion tends to be accomplished in both children andadolescents almost exclusively through imagery, and that those images and visualsspeak directly to us in the same way experience does: holistically and emotionally.Taking this into account, Piaget and Inhelder (2000) state that young students havelittle knowledge of the living world and developing conceptions Therefore theyneed more visual information to represent their thoughts (as cited in Arif andHashim, 2009) They also claim that human beings develop their visual languageskills before verbal language development, which serves as the foundation for thelast one

This is a possible explanation for the need of pictorial information rather thantextual among young students (Arif and Hashing 2009) They had already explainedthis with his theory based on the idea that cognitive growth is stimulated by thebalance between verbal and visual experiences in the early stages of learning Arifand Hashim (2006) research proves that pictures gained better attention than words,and among young learners, pictures became the main clue in interpreting themeaning of the words

Clark and Lyons (2004) explain that in the process of learning, two different types

of memories are involved: working memory and long-term memory The newinformation is stored in the working memory which is claimed to be the center ofactive mental work, including the learning When the visual and phoneticinformation is received then it is organized to form a cohesive idea Finally this ideamust be integrated with active prior knowledge from long-term memory As it isseen, the two memories work together in complementary ways, to form what is

called an updated mental model that will be stored in long-term memory, where itlasts indefinitely (Clark and Lyons, 2004) The virtual capacity of the workingmemory is affected by how much related the knowledge of the long-term memory iswith the domain studied The more it is related, the more is the virtual capacity.Taking into account that in a learning environment this related knowledge may not

be too much, cognitive overload can take place if the working memory cannotprocess all the new information during learning In order to avoid this cognitiveoverload the two subcomponents of the working memory should be used in theirbest way One of these subcomponents is specialized in visual input and the otherone in auditory input For example, if a graphic is explained by words presented inaudio, learning the new information is better than if the words are presented in text(Clark and Lyons, 2004,) The mental models that have been mentioned before arethe schemas stored in the long-term memory and are the basis of thinking, andimages are claimed to help build them

Visual aids help learners store information in long-term memory and make learningmore meaningful for students (McLeod, 2007) An interesting example is a study onthe use of visual art in German courses (Knapp, 2012) “For twenty-first centurystudents brought up in a society dominated by visuality, paintings provide animmediate connection, inviting them to explore linguistic structures, literary texts,and cultural constructs in memorable ways” (Knapp, 2012, p 27) Knapp quotesOrtuño's (1994) beliefs about the benefits of using visual art as part of instruction;one of which includes helping students acquire “concrete vocabulary” and helping

to illustrate “grammatical concepts” (Knapp, 2012, p.22) Furthermore, according toOrtuño (1994), as cited in Knapp (2012), introducing visual images can lowerclassroom anxiety and promote “active exploration of the language” (p.20)

1.3.3 Types of images used in vocabulary teaching

1.3.3.1 Picture flashcards

Hill (1990, as cited in Jolokva, 2009) classified pictures according to their size intothree „key‟ categories:

- “Large (20x30 cm): useful for whole-class work”

- “Medium (10x15 cm): useful for group-work”

- “Small (5x5 cm): useful for games and other group-work activities”

The large flashcards are typically used by the teacher for whole-class activities such

as presenting new language, controlled practice or as prompts for speakingactivities The small picture flashcards, on the other hands, are used by students forworking individually or for games and activities in pairs or groups

- Big picture flashcards: are very helpful tools in presenting and drilling forms ofnew words, since they draw learners‟ attention and make these often boringactivities more enjoyable Also, that is exactly what teachers need when presentingnew language – to catch their learners‟ full attention, to raise their interest in thepresented subject and hence also their motivation At the same time, flashcards (aswell as other forms of pictures and visual aids in general) enable students to link themeaning of the words with real-world images immediately When using flashcards

in presentation, it is easy to involve learners actively and to combine thepresentation with controlled practice The presentation of vocabulary withflashcards can be done in various ways, for example in telling a story or just simplybased on a set of vocabulary for a particular topic

- Small picture flashcards: plenty of variations of these cards are typically applied incommunicative activities in pairs or small groups of students, thus playing ameaningful role in reviewing and practicing vocabulary Small flashcards can be inthe form of one-side-only cards, both-sided ones and sets of pairs (antonyms orsynonyms, a picture and the corresponding word or phrase) or sets of cardsconnected e.g by their meaning Being flexible in their way of use, these cards offerteachers and their students a large amount of possibilities in applying them in anumber of activities and games such as „domino‟ or various forms of word

matching activities Moreover, they fit for a range of sorting or ordering activities,e.g creating a story These cards can also be used for games based on asking eachother questions and exchanging them while searching for sets (Wright, 1990; as

cited inJolokva, 2009).

1.3.3.2 Drawing

Drawing finds huge potential in teaching languages Simple drawings can possiblysubstitute other forms of pictures Wright (1990:203, cited in Jolokva, 2009) statedthat drawings “provide an immediately available source of pictorial material for theactivities Drawings of students and teachers also have a special quality, which lies

in their immediacy and their individuality.” The activity of drawing within theclassroom could be perhaps divided into two categories: Drawing on the boardcarried out by the teacher for example to illustrate the meaning of new language inpresentation and drawing as an activity of students in various, usually listening orreading exercises

- Drawing on the board:

It is highly flexible during presentation and therefore bears several advantages, asWright and Haleem (1996) listed among their board characteristics: “Texts and picturescan grow in front of the class”… “can be erased, added to or substituted quickly.”(Wright and Haleem 1996: 5, cited in Jolokva, 2009) This feature widens the teacher‟soptions how to present or review language in a meaningful way This is true forteaching structures as well as vocabulary For instance, in reviewing, the teacher drawsonly a piece of a picture on the board and invites students to guess what he or she isdrawing This makes students curious, they desire to know what the answer actually isand it makes them speculate and reason their opinions and so on

Wright and Haleem (1996: 8) presented another very inspiring idea of usingdrawing on the board: They suggest using it in combination with flashcards orpictures from magazines, e.g the teacher draws a scene and supplements it withindividual pictures of people, animals or things It is a wonderful tip for presentingand practicing vocabulary too, since this might put the vocabulary into context Forexample a house could be drawn and pictures of furniture could be placed inside,either by the teacher or by students This particular example can be used for thepresentation or practice of names of rooms or furniture, prepositions of place, home

activities, etc This composition is again very flexible, as the pictures might be easily moved around the board and there is a lot to talk about while doing so.

- Drawing as a students‟ activity

There are several ways of using drawing as an activity in language teaching Drawingenables vocabulary to be used in context, which is more meaningful Very favourable isthe listen-and-draw or alternatively the listen-and-colour type of activity This can beorganized either as teacher-to-class, student-to-class or as pair work

1.3.3.3 Wall-pictures

Wall pictures are another valuable visual material for language classes In the firstplace, they can be displayed in the classroom to set English (or foreign languages ingeneral) environment and then they function as another source of language to beabsorbed by students in the process of natural acquisition Furthermore, they willfind their use both in presentation of new language and controlled practice

Wall-pictures are often complex pictures, illustrating a scene and containing lots ofobjects and details They are big enough to be seen by the whole class and they can

be used instantly and repeatedly Due to their character, they are obviously suitablefor presentation of new language They put vocabulary into context and thereforemake the presentation meaningful, which is highly recommended for successfulretention of new words This is especially useful for the vocabulary teaching tostudents of architecture Teacher can collect wall pictures that contain vocabulary offrequently-used terms in architecture to hang in class so that students can see themeveryday, which helps them a lot in retention

1.3.3.4 Videos

There are normally two main uses of video: instructional video specifically created

to teach foreign languages, and authentic video materials, such as films, TV series,commercials, etc., originally created for native speakers of the language Students ofall levels can benefit from the use of video, since there are always easier videosequences, spoken at a slower rate that can match lower level students‟ needs(Sherman, 2003)

Talavan (2007) also suggested the use of video with subtitles A subtitled video clipprovides a triple connection between image, sound and text, and sound and textbeing linked by translation when standard subtitles are used This fact is relevantenough when we think about the importance of visual associations in memory forvocabulary learning and how this type of connection generally encourages greaterretention in lexical terms This mnemonic power of images is here enhanced by thepresence of sound and text together; when this text appears in the form oftranslation, the associations in memory are enhanced even further.

1.4 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter has provided the theoretical background for the wholepaper through providing definitions of key terms and significant backgroundinformation on vocabulary learning and vocabulary retention Review onmultimodality and the application of multimodality in language teaching in generaland in vocabulary teaching in particular has also been discussed Moreover, detailsabout the use of images as a mode of multimodality in vocabulary have also beendemonstrated, which help readers be clear about the specific strategies in whichimages have already been utilized in different language classrooms and see howthese techniques could fit in the specific context of this study In order to justify theefficiency of the use of images in vocabulary teaching, a study in the context ofHanoi Architectural University has been conducted with the employment of threedata collection methods, which is going to be discussed further in the next chapter

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants and the research context

The participants of the study were 20 students at Hanoi Architectural University.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 HAU 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 five different themes, namely:

1. Housing in Britain, in which students are required to be able to define and describe different types of houses;

2. The procedure of building construction, in which students can describe plans

of houses after the lesson;

3. Design of houses for tropical climate, in which students are expected to describe different climates, function of different parts of a building;

4. Building materials, in which students are taught to describe properties of different kinds of materials;

5. Water supply, in which students are required to be able to define anddescribe the function of different parts of the water system

2.2 Research methodology

With a view to investigate the efficiency of using images on learners‟ vocabularyretention in the context of Hanoi Architectural University student, an actionresearch was conducted

Watts (1985:118) defines action research as “a process in which participantsexamine their own educational practice systematically and carefully, using thetechniques of research” This is to say that action research mainly refers to a

disciplined inquiry performed by the teacher with the goal that the research willbring some information and change in his/her future practices This kind of research

is handled in the context of the teacher‟s environment, that is, with the students and

at the institution where the teacher works - on questions that deal with educationalmatters at hand

Sharing similar viewpoint, Curry (2009) also describes action research as a kind ofstudy that is carried out by a teacher in his own classroom for a purpose of seeking

an improvement in the teaching practice According to Dahlberg and McCaig(2010), action research is supposed to be “practical” and “accessible”, “aims tochange practice” and “is problem driven”, which can be inferred that if applied in acontext of a language classroom, teacher will identify a specific issue within histeaching context and come to a decision to carry out a change Action research isalso said to be different from other research approaches in which it is “accessible”,which means that the researcher can intervene to take action when necessary(Dahlberg and McCaig, 2010)

Therefore, within the context of using images to develop the vocabulary retentionfor students at Hanoi Architectural University, conducting a study employing actionresearch is an appropriate approach As the researcher in this study is also theteacher at this University, she can get directly involved in the teaching process andcan realize the problems and difficulties her students have to face, and accordingly,can think of possible solutions to deal with these problems as they arise In addition,conducting an action research enables the researcher to intervene into the researchprocess to make possible adaptation to aim at improved practice; therefore, as a role

of both a teacher and a researcher, this can be done easily

2.3 Research methods

In order to answer the research question, which aims at finding out to what extentthe use of images can improve students‟ vocabulary retention, the researcheremployed the three different data collection instruments, namely the vocabularytests, class observation, and interview

2.3.1 The pre-test and post-test

The study took place in 8 weeks and were 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 were 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 before theresearch started The items tested in the pre-test were the vocabulary that studentslearnt from the four previous weeks The two post-tests were conducted during theprocess of the research, in which the first post-test was delivered after the researchwent for four weeks The first post-test examined students‟ memorization of thevocabulary learnt during the first four weeks when the use of images was applied inteaching vocabulary The second post-test was administered to students in week 8, thefinal week of the study, which tested how much vocabulary students could rememberduring the eight-week process The content of the second post-test contained 1/2 of thenew vocabulary that were learnt from week 5 to 8 and 1/2 of the items in the testexamined 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 Data gatheredfrom vocabulary tests helped the researcher to answer the research question of whetherthe use of images could help develop students‟ vocabulary retention

2.3.2 Class observation

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 Architectural University Observation was conducted in all lessonsthroughout the eight weeks of the study and was based on a detailed checklist (Seeappendix A) The checklist was designed which illustrated the specific criteria onwhich the observer could base to observe students‟ vocabulary retention as a wholegroup as well 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 or teacher‟s performance during the lesson.

2.3.3 Interviews

The use of interview as the third research method contributed to triangulating data

by gathering information expressing the perspectives of the learners The interviewwas one of the most popular data gathering instruments in qualitative research.Interview could allow researchers to investigate phenomena that were not directlyobservable, such as learners‟ self-reported perceptions or attitudes (Gass & Mackey,2000) Thanks to the interview, the researcher could achieve data from particularindividuals by face-to-face meeting, which could assist the students by clarifyingthe questions or clearly define the students‟ responses

In this study, the list of questions in the interview focused on eliciting information about students‟ opinions about the use of images in vocabulary lessons, how they evaluated the effects of the use of images from different angles such as effects on their learning motivation, vocabulary retention, what difficulties students had when using images in learning vocabulary, etc All the 20 participants in the study were invited to the interview Each of the interview lasted about 5 minutes It was

announced to students that all the data gathered were used for research purposes only and anonymity would be ensured for all of them The students were asked the following questions:

1. In what way were you usually introduced to new words in English lessons?

2. What do you think about learning vocabulary using images? (Did you enjoy it? Did it give you any pleasure in learning English?)

3. Did the use of images do any help for you in your language learning? If yes, whatdid it help?

4. Did the use of images help you remember the new words better? If yes, what did

applied again in the next semester? What are other methods that can be used tomemorize vocabulary better?

It is customary for students in Vietnam in general not to speak frankly about theirteachers In this case, the researcher was also the teacher who instructed the readinglessons; therefore, it was highly likely that students would not be straightforward inanswering the interview questions, especially giving negative feedback on what theteacher did This is partly because students really respect and appreciate what theteacher has done for them; and partly because they fear that criticism may harm therelationship between them and their teacher They are afraid that their teacher maynot be happy or feel hurt to receive criticism Anticipating this, the researcher hadinformed the students in advance about the purpose of the interview, which aimed atfinding out problems and shortcomings so that adaptation could be made to improvethe quality of the lessons The teacher also emphasized that she was open to anykinds of feedback, including negative ones and ensured that students would beanonymously mentioned in the study

With the use of three data sources, both quantitative and qualitative, comprehensivedata were gathered and the research question was fully answered

2.4 Data collection procedure

Procedure of the image using intervention

During the eight weeks of the study, each week students had one vocabulary lessonwhich lasted 45 minutes Instead of guiding vocabulary to students in a traditionalway such as presenting new words on blackboard with meaning, pronunciation,examples, etc the teacher used images Images were utilized in a variety of ways,from posters, flashcards, drawing, semantic maps to other visual forms like shortfilms, video clips, etc Images were either prepared by the teacher or by students.Before each lesson, students were required to collect images related to the topicsthat were going to be taught to use as resources for the whole class Wordpresentation was done through the use of images, similarly to the practice stage.Different activities using images were applied to help students practice the new

words such as guessing games, matching, conversation grid, information gapactivities, etc.

A vocabulary lesson often started with about 5 to 10 minutes of vocabulary review

in which students were checked how much they could retain vocabulary fromprevious lesson(s) Activities used for vocabulary review were mainly matchinggames in which students were supposed to match pictures with words or definitions

of words The main vocabulary teaching activities followed with the main focus onthe use of images The teacher often used elicitation to activate students‟ knowledgeabout the targeted words For instance, she gave the images of targeted words andasked students what they could tell from the pictures they saw; or she showed ashort video clip about the topic with follow-up questions for students to brainstormthe upcoming-targeted words After that, the teacher listed the words withequivalent pictures to demonstrate the words, together with the definitions, part ofspeech, pronunciation and structures or examples of how the words could be used incontext For vocabulary practice, communicative activities were implemented with

a view to helping students practice the words they learnt in a meaningful way Hereare some of the frequently-used communicative activities:

- Assembling an object: Looking at a photograph of an object, a student givesstep-by-step directions to another student who attempts to assemble an object(e.g., different kinds of houses made from multiple images; or assemblingdifferent kinds of materials) The student assembling the object can askquestions to clarify the directions

- Identifying the differences: Students are given altered versions of the samephotograph or drawing They have to describe different versions of an imagethat has been slightly altered The task requires students to pay closeattention to details and to describe objects as accurately as possible in order

to locate the differences in the versions

- Drawing: A student describes an image to his or her partner who draws it asaccurately as possible Afterwards, the students compare the drawing to the

image and the class votes on the best reproduction Students switch roles and

do the same task with a different image

- Information gap: Students are given a task to accomplish, but each groupmember only has part of the necessary information The students mustcombine and synthesize their individual bits of information in order to solve

a problem or make a decision

- Comic strip: One student recounts a story based on a comic strip The listenermust arrange the comic strip images to match the chronology of the story Thetask can be made more difficult by introducing „distractors,‟ images that areunnecessary to the storyline Thus, the listener is supposed to determine whichevents (images) belong to the story and in what order they occur

An example of a lesson plan is provided in Appendix F

Procedure of data collection

- Administering the vocabulary tests

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 To guarantee the accurate results of thescoring, all the tests were scored independently by two different raters, one was theresearcher and the other was a teacher of Hanoi Architectural University Markingrubrics were informed to raters to make sure the grading was consistent

- Administering the observation using checklists

The class observation was conducted in all lessons during the eight weeks of the studywith a view to finding out students‟ progress in vocabulary retention and students‟attitudes towards the use of images in vocabulary lessons…Observation was done by anindependent observer who was a teacher at Hanoi Architectural University to ensure theobjectivity of the results At the end of the study, there were eight observation checklistscollected Each criterion of observation in the checklist was processed, compared andanalyzed Feedback from the observer was also used for data analysis

- Administering the interviews

Interviews were conducted with all the 20 participants As Day and Bamford (2004,cited in Nguyen, 2007) explained, “using the students‟ first language also meansthat the information you receive has more chance of being accurate and complete”.Therefore, the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese language so as to avoid anyunnecessary misunderstanding In addition, as students‟ English proficiency waslimited, they would feel more relaxed and comfortable to express their ideas in theirmother language Using English to ask and answer in the interview, if any, wouldwell result in the restriction in students‟ expression of their opinions

The interview with each student lasted about five minutes Students‟ responses weretaken notes by the teacher in as many details as possible for use in data analysis

2.5 Summary

The chapter has provided information about the methodology of the study in which

an action research was employed Three data collection instruments including tests,observation and interviews were conducted with the aims of finding out theefficiency of the use of images in vocabulary teaching at Hanoi ArchitecturalUniversity Data collected from each of the instruments will be presented anddiscussed in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Data analysis and discussion

3.1.1 Effects of using images on students’ vocabulary retention – findings from pre- and post-tests.

It was presented in the Methodology chapter that students participated in this studyhad to take three vocabulary tests The pre-test at the beginning of the innovationwas to determine how much vocabulary students could retain after the previousvocabulary lessons The content of the pre -test covered the vocabulary range thatstudents learnt from the four previous weeks in which a traditional method ofvocabulary teaching was applied The first post -test was delivered in the fourthweek to identify the extent to which students could retain vocabulary after fourweeks of applying images in vocabulary teaching The vocabulary range in the firstpost-test was those that students learnt during the four first weeks of the study inwhich images were utilized to teach vocabulary The second post-test wasadministered at the end of the research - after week 8 - with a view to justifying theamount of vocabulary retention that students could achieve after the whole process

of the study The results of the tests are presented in the following table:

S8 S9 S10

Figure 1: Scores of pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2

To evaluate the improvement of students‟ vocabulary retention, the researcherwould compare the results between the pre-test and the first post-test, the pre-testand the second post-test and finally all the three tests together In each group ofcomparison, the students‟ test results as a whole were analyzed first and thensignificant performance of individuals would be discussed in further details

Results of pre-test and post-test 1

The difference in scores between the pre-test and post-test 1 was presented in thefollowing chart

Overall mean score of pre-test and post-test

It is obvious from the test results that the overall mean score of the first post-testwas relatively higher than that of the pre-test, 7.08 in comparison with 6.59 Withthis upgrade in the test results, it was likely that students made some certainimprovement in their vocabulary retention.

The most significant improvement in test scores was seen in student 9, 13, 14, 16,

18 and 20 The increase in scores from the pre-test to the post-test ranged from 0.7

to 1.4 Although an increase in scores was found in the majority of participants (17out of 20 students), some other students experienced a drop in their test results Ascan be seen from Figure 1, student 2, 10 and 12 were all found having a post-testresult being lower than the pre-test one However, the drop was not significant,which ranged from 0.1 to 0.4 point

Results of pre-test and post-test 2

The difference in scores between the pre-test and the two post-tests was illustrated

in the following chart

Overall mean score of pre-test, post-test 1

Figure 3: The overall mean score of students’ pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2

Similar to what was found from the pre-test and test 1, the mean score of

post-test 2 and the pre-post-test also displayed considerable difference While the overallmean score of the pre-test was 6.59, the one of post-test 2 was 7.25 The result ofpost-test 2 was also seen to be slightly higher than that of post-test 1, which was7.25 compared with 7.08 It was apparent from Figure 3 that the results of the threetests experienced a trend of development, which may imply the improvement instudents‟ vocabulary retention towards the end of the study.

With regards to students whose scores experienced the most significantimprovement after the first post-test, from Figure 1, it can be seen that the majority

of these students have slight increase in their scores of post-test 2 compared with thepre-test This revealed that improvement continued to take place after more weeks

of using images in vocabulary teaching Among those students who experienced adrop in scores between the pre-test and post-test 1, student 2, in his/her second post-test, the result demonstrates noticeable improvement, which is 7.4 compared with 6

in post-test 1 and 6.2 in the pre-test The other two students, student 10 and 12, hadthe results of post-test 2 either the same as or slightly higher than that of the pre-test It can be seen from the figure that although some students had minor drop intheir scores of post-test 1, the score of post-test 2 after all still experienced anincrease Also, no students had the scores of post-test 2 lower than that of the pre-test

In general, despite slight fluctuation in the scores of some students, the overallresults showed that these students made certain improvement in their vocabularyretention

3.1.2 Effects of using images on students’ vocabulary retention – findings from observation and interviews

Findings from the test results show an improvement in students‟ vocabularyretention However, to justify whether the improvement in the vocabulary retentioncame from the use of images, data from class observations and interviews wereanalyzed and discussed

From class observation:

As described in the Methodology chapter, the observation was conducted with thehelp of an independent observer who evaluated students‟ vocabulary retention toanswer the research question and also examine students‟ involvement and interest

in the lesson to give suggestions to the teacher to have better implementation of thetechniques if necessary Students‟ vocabulary retention was evaluated in twoseparate parts including the retention of previously-learnt vocabulary, which wasdone through the 5 or 10-minute vocabulary review and check at the beginning ofeach lesson; and the immediate memorization of vocabulary learnt right in thatlesson, which was done through the observation of how students performed in thefollow-up activities after vocabulary was instructed These two parts illustratedstudents‟ vocabulary retention in terms of both short-term and long-term memory.For the observation, students were evaluated as a whole group, not individually Therate was given from 1 to 5 ranking from the lowest to the highest level

Retention of immediately-learnt vocab

Figure 4: Students’ vocabulary retention seen from class observation

Figure 4 shows the level to which students retained vocabulary during the eightweeks, both the retention of vocabulary learnt from previous lessons and that right