the effect of using interactive whiteboard on the fifth graders’ vocabulary achievement, vocabulary retention and learning attitudes at tran quang khai primary school

TRAN THI THUY TRANG THE EFFECT OF USING INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD ON THE FIFTH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT, VOCABULARY RETENTION AND LEARNING ATTITUDES AT TRAN QUANG KHAI PRIMARY SCHOO

TRAN THI THUY TRANG

THE EFFECT OF USING INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD ON THE FIFTH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT, VOCABULARY RETENTION AND LEARNING ATTITUDES AT TRAN QUANG KHAI

PRIMARY SCHOOL

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

TRAN THI THUY TRANG

THE EFFECT OF USING INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD ON THE FIFTH GRADERS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT, VOCABULARY RETENTION AND LEARNING ATTITUDES AT TRAN QUANG KHAI

THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc

KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC

GIẤY XÁC NHẬN

Tôi tên là: Trần Thị Thùy Trang

Ngày sinh: 28/02/1990 Nơi sinh: Long An

Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và Phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã học viên: 1581401110057

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Ký tên

(Ghi rõ họ và tên)

I certify that this thesis entitled “The Effect of Using Interactive Whiteboard on the

Fifth Graders’ Vocabulary Achievement, Vocabulary Retention and Learning Attitudes at Tran Quang Khai Primary School” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted from a thesis by which I have qualified for

or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text

of the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2019

TRAN THI THUY TRANG

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the participating teachers and students at Tran Quang Khai primary school who contributed data to this thesis Without them, the data collection for this study could not properly been carried out

ABSTRACT

As the rapid growth of technology, the Interactive Whiteboard takes priority in educational settings around the world Unlike schools in developed countries, only Vietnamese public elementary schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh cities have been newly supplied with this teaching aid since 2014, including Tran Quang Khai primary school Due to its first application, therefore, the overall aim of the study was to evaluate the success of integrating the Interactive Whiteboard into vocabulary lessons

in terms of developing the fifth graders’ vocabulary achievement, vocabulary retention and positive learning attitudes The thirteen-week quasi-experimental study was conducted on the two classes 5/1 and 5/2 with the participation of 80 fifth graders

as the control group and the experimental group, respectively The instruments included three vocabulary tests (e.g one pre-test, one post-test and one delayed post-test); and the attitude questionnaire The quantitative data obtained from these measurement tools were analyzed by SPSS version 20.0 The findings of the study indicated that the Interactive Whiteboard activities positively contributed to the fifth graders’ vocabulary performance and retention In other words, these interactive activities helped the students performed vocabulary tests better and retain the words longer Besides, the fifth graders’ level of motivation, interest, and active behavioral intentions considerably increased thanks to the Interactive Whiteboard Based on the research findings, the paper concluded with some pedagogical implications and a recommendation for further study in line of research on the Interactive Whiteboard application

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the Study 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Research Aims 3

1.4 Research Questions 3

1.5 Significance of the Study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Characteristics of Young Learners 6

2.2 Theories to Teaching to Young Learners 7

2.2.1 Social Constructivism 7

2.2.2 Zone of Proximal Development 7

2.3 Definition and Functions of the Interactive Whiteboard 9

2.4 Benefits and Challenges of the Interactive Whiteboard 11

2.5 Definitions, Roles and Aspects of Vocabulary 13

2.6 Vocabulary Instruction to Young Learners 13

2.6.1 The process of Vocabulary Acquisition 13

2.6.2 Principles of Vocabulary Instruction 14

2.6.3 Vocabulary Retention 15

2.7 Vocabulary Instruction with the Interactive Whiteboard 16

2.8 Concept of Learning Attitude 18

2.8.1 Definitions of Attitude 18

2.8.2 Constructs of Attitude 19

2.9 Previous Studies 19

2.11 Chapter summary 23

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research Design 24

3.2 Reseach Content 25

3.3 Research Participants 25

3.4 Training Procedure 27

3.4.1 Materials 27

3.4.2 Time Framework 28

3.4.3 Lesson Plans for the Experimental Group and the Control Group 29

3.5 Measurement Tools 30

3.5.1 Vocabualry Tests 31

3.5.2 Attitude Questionnaire 32

3.6 Data Analytical Configuration 35

3.6.1 Vocabulary Tests 35

3.6.2 Attitude Questionnaire 35

3.7 Reliability and Validity of the Measurement Tools 36

3.8 Chapter Summary 38

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 39

4.1 Research Question 1 39

4.1.1 Data Analysis of the Vocabulary Tests 39

4.1.1.1 Independent Samples T-Test on the Pre-Test Results between Groups……… 39

4.1.1.2 Paired Samples T-Tests on the Pre-Test and Post-Test Results within

Groups……….41

4.1.1.3 Independent Sample T-Test on the Post-Test Results between Groups……….44

Results within Groups……… 46

4.1.1.5 Independent Samples T-Test on the Delayed Post-Test Results between Groups 48

4.1.2 Discussion……… 50

4.2 Research Question 2 53

4.2.1 Data Analysis of the Attitude Questionnaire 53

4.2.1.1 Reliability Analysis 54

4.2.1.2 Data Analysis 58

4.2.2 Discussion 59

4.3 Chapter Summary 62

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 63

5.1 Conclusions 63

5.2 Overall Recap of Methodology 64

5.2.1 Strengths 64

5.2.2 Limitations 65

5.3 Recommendations 65

5.3.1 For Teachers 66

5.3.2 For Future Research 67

5.4 Chapter Summary 67

REFERENCES 68

APPENDICES 74

APPENDIX A: LESSON PLANS FOR THE CONTROL GROUP 75

APPENDIX B: LESSON PLANS FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP 84

APPENDIX C.1: PRE-TEST 94

APPENDIX C.2: POST-TEST 96

APPENDIX C.3: DELAYED POST-TEST 99

APPENDIX D.2: QUESTIONNAIRE ( VIETNAMESE VERSION) 104 APPENDIX E: TEST SCORES 106

Table 2.1: A Recap of Vocabulary Activities with the Interactive Whiteboard 17

Table 3.1: Research Design 25

Table 3.2: The Students’ Demographic Information 26

Table 3.3: Description of the Training Material 27

Table 3.4: Time Framework of the Study 28

Table 3.5: The Tie-up between Research Questions and Measurement Tools 31

Table 3.6: Sources for the Attitude Questionnaire 34

Table 3.7: Quality Justification of Measurement Tools 37

Table 4.1a: Group Statistics on the Pre-Test of the Control and Experimental Groups 40

Table 4.1b: Independent Samples T-test on the Pre-test of the Control and Experimental Groups 41

Table 4.2a: Paired Samples Statistics in the Pre-test and the Post-Test of the Control Group 42

Table 4.2b: Results of Paired Samples T-test in the Pre-test and the Post-test of the Control Group 42

Table 4.3a: Paired Samples Statistics in the Pre-Test and the Post-Test of the Experimental Group 43

Table 4.3b: Results of Paired Samples T-test in the Pre-test and the Post-test of the Experimental Group 43

Table 4.4a: Group Statistics on the Post-test of the Control and Experimental Groups 45

Table 4.4b: Independent Samples T-test on the Post-test of the Control and Experimental Groups 45

Table 4.5a: Paired Samples Satistics in the Post-test and the Delayed Post-Test of the Control 46

Table 4.5b: Results of Paired Samples T-test in the test and the Delayed Post-test of the Control Group 46

the Experimental Group 47

Table 4.6b: Results of Paired Samples T-test in the test and the Delayed Post-test of the Experimental Group 47

Table 4.7a: Group Statistics on the Delayed Post-test of the Control and Experimental Group 49

Table 4.7b: Independent Samples T-test on the Delayed Post-test of the Control and Experimental Groups 50

Table 4.8: Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire 54

Table 4.9: The Students' Affective Attitudes 55

Table 4.10: The Students’ Cognitive Attitudes 56

Table 4.11: The Students’ Behavioral Attitudes 58

Figure 2.1: An Illustration of the Interative Whiteboard 9

Chart 4.1: The Distribution of the Pre-Test Scores of Both Groups 40

Chart 4.2: The Distribution of the Post-test Scores of Both Groups 44

Chart 4.3: The Distribution of the Delayed Post-test Scores of Both Groups 48

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study

As the increasing development of technology in the 21st century, Interactive Whiteboard takes prime concern around the world Inferred from the possibility of improving positive learning attitudes such as motivation, engagement, interest among language learners (Beeland, 2002), it turns out to be an effective instructional device providing young learners with an active environment to be exposed to the language Indeed, mobility, internet connectivity, touchable screen has become salient facets of an Interactive Whiteboard that facilitates young learners’ language learning (e.g vocabulary retention) and enlargement of learning enjoyment (Khoo, Merry, Nguyen, Bennett & MacMillan, 2014) Taking these merits into concern, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has decided to employ the Interactive Whiteboard to teach English for young learners in more recent years

In the Vietnamese context, the Interactive Whiteboard has launched as a new tool, but not many provinces exploit it as a medium of language instruction As stated by Ho Chi Minh Department of Education, the core educational mission in the period 2016-

2020 is to stimulate the concatenation of technology into English language pedagogy Nevertheless, unlike schools in developed countries where its use has vastly dispersed since the 1990s, this tool has newly appeared in Vietnamese public elementary schools of big cities since 2014 due to its high cost Luckily, Tran Quang Khai primary school (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) was equipped with an Interactive Whiteboard

Regarding language acquisition, it is known that learning English vocabulary is a vital section of acquiring a foreign language (Schmitt, 2008) It accomplishes a central constituent of language proficiency to pillar language achievement (Richards & Renandya, 2002) Yet, vocabulary acquisition involves seeing, hearing and practicing words in lieu of memorizing the word forms only (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004)

According to Mai (2018), one of the technologies that enhance teachers’ vocabulary teaching quality and learners’ vocabulary outcome is using the Interactive Whiteboard

First, Vietnamese students usually feel fed up with vocabulary lessons by traditional methods In such traditional classes, the students are required to copy down words on their notebooks and they mostly relied on teacher’s explanation and authority (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003) Nguyen and Tran (2015) supplement their idea that some of teachers are not creative when teaching vocabulary to young learners Furthermore, the classroom situation in vocabulary lessons is not alive when the teachers perform their supremely dominant roles, which leads to the students’ low participation in these lessons Henceforth, teachers should use interactive learning tasks and activities to help their students to acquire the learnt vocabulary in meaningful contexts and situations (Nguyen, 2015)

Secondly, as per Luu (2012), for young learners, to consolidate and to retain the vocabulary seems to be difficult This author also reveals that young learners often express that they keep learning and forgetting Therefore, when young learners acquire new English vocabulary, they need appropriate methods to collect, and retrieve words for retention and use

Generally speaking, vocabulary classrooms for young learners need to be diverse with teaching materials, activities, and instructional tools, which can reinforce young learners’ motivation and engagement along with their vocabulary retention That being the case, this study is conducted to check if the Interactive Whiteboard activities enable the young learners at Tran Quang Khai primary school to have better vocabulary achievement, retain the learnt vocabulary longer and to develop their positive learning attitudes

1.3 Research Aims

The overall aim of the study is to evaluate the success of integrating Interactive Whiteboard into vocabulary lessons in terms of developing the fifth graders’ vocabulary retention, and to investigate if allowing these students to participate in Interactive Whiteboard activities would contribute to their positive attitudes on learning vocabulary The specific aims are:

To evaluate and compare students’ vocabulary achievement before and after the experiment by means of the pre-test and the post-test,

To check the degree of the students’ vocabulary retention after two weeks by means of the post-test and the delayed post-test;

To find out the fifth-grade students’ learning attitudes with the advent of Interactive Whiteboard activities in vocabulary lessons

1.4 Research Questions

For the aims of the present study to be accomplished, the research questions are devised as follows:

Research Question 1: To what extent does the Interactive Whiteboard enhance

the fifth graders’ vocabulary achievement and vocabulary retention?

Research Question 2: What are the fifth graders’ attitudes towards the presence

of the Interactive Whiteboard in their vocabulary learning?

1.5 Significance of the Study

First, it is hoped that the knowledge concerning the Interactive Whiteboard activities that the researcher introduced in this study can raise the teachers’ awareness of actively teaching and learning in vocabulary lessons with technology at the Vietnamese primary school contexts

Secondly, the results emerged from this study may increase the confidence of those administrators and teachers who acknowledge the importance of ICT in 21st century language education The findings will probably raise the administrators’ awareness of related issues such as teacher training, curriculum development, and material design for promoting vocabulary acquisition with any forms of technology

1.6 Structure of the Thesis

The thesis is comprised of five main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1, Introduction, provides a brief outline about the study including the

background to the study, the problem statement, the research aims and questions, and the significance of the study as well

Chapter 2, Literature Review, reviews the relevant areas of interest to the study succinctly First, background of young learners is extensively described, followed by a scrutiny of the Interactive Whiteboard tool Then, definitions, aspects of vocabulary and its teaching principles are presented Next, the notion of attitude is expounded in terms of definition, types and roles Finally, some relevant previous studies are summarized, so as

to elicit research gaps for this study

Chapter 3, Methodology, describes the methodology used for this study It is

comprised of research site, research participants, research design, data collection and analysis of research instruments, and some methodological issues

Chapter 4, Data Analysis and Discussion, presents and discuss the results of the

study emanated from the analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data

Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, contains a summary of the research

undertaken, its implications for teaching vocabulary with the Interactive Whiteboard tool, limitations to this study as well as suggestions for future research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is conducive to reviewing theoretical grounds pillaring the study It consists of background of young learners, introduction to the Interactive Whiteboard in terms of its definition, criticism, functions and activities, vocabulary instruction to young learners, as well as notion of learning attitudes Additionally, some previous studies and research gaps are included

2.1 Characteristics of Young Learners

Teaching English language to young learners holistically differs from that to adults (Harmer, 2001) Thus, English language teachers of young learners are required to capture salient features of these learners in order that they are capable of arriving at the optimal educational outcomes This section is conducive to clarifying who they are (i.e definitions), and how to teach them (i.e theories)

Young learners are those who are from five or six years old to twelve years old of age, equivalent to first-grade students to fifth-grade students in the Vietnamese context Below are some noticeable indicators of young learners

To the first trait, young learners possess good meaning decoding skills deprived of understanding the denotative meaning of the given vocabulary (Halliwell, 1992) Besides, their imagination is always ready In other words, young learners can learn both concrete and abstract vocabulary

To the second trait, Scott and Ytreberg (1990) characterize young learners that they do not like to work alone, but have tendency to work with others collectively, especially when playing or working That is to say, they can participate in pair work and group work In addition, they learn language by deploying body movement, mimics, and gestures What’s more, young learners have a very short attention span, and lose their

interest after seven to ten minutes by dint of less attractive activities (Harmer, 2001) Put

it different, they can make noise or doodle and ignore what the teachers run the lessons

To the third trait, Slattery and Willis (2001) highlight young learners are curious, imaginative, and playful Moreover, they enjoy repetitions by listening, watching, and doing things That is to say, they tend to study something actively

2.2 Theories to Teaching to Young Learners

Instructing English lessons to young learners effectively requires primary school teachers to capture distinct facets of this age group to seek the most favorable teaching practices and instructional theories In this section, Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and social constructivism are discussed based on the young learners’ traits

2.2.1 Social Constructivism

Vygotsky (1978) develops his own theory of social constructivism, in which knowledge is best formed when learners construct knowledge collaboratively; for example, they work in pairs or groups to build up their understanding of the given vocabulary items In addition, Vygotsky (1978) describes that young learners do not stop making questions while their learning process Hence, it is necessary for language teachers to set up active and collaborative learning activities which can increase learners’ engagement and achievement rather than implement the traditional Presentation-Practice-Production-Review paradigm rigidly To sum up, social constructivism stimulates young learners to engage in the lessons keenly and makes them to acquire something effectively and meaningfully Through use of the Interactive Whiteboard activities, the students can work in pairs or in groups with their classmates to construct their understandings of the given words

2.2.2 Zone of Proximal Development

With the help from well-informed adults like language teachers, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) exists, contributing to the young learners’ better language

achievement (Murray & Arroyo, 2002) Pertinent to the context of primary school class,

it seems impossible for a very young learner make efforts to get the higher learning achievement alone Thus far, language teachers’ scaffolding is fruitful to foster learning among young learners (i.e fifth-grade students) through tasks or activities In other words, teachers’ facilitating roles in language lessons are of paramount importance to young learners’ language acquisition At that time, young learners have much more responsibilities and chances for their language exposure In reality, with the presence of the Interactive Whiteboard activities, the researcher as the teacher of this experiment would play her facilitating roles in setting up pair work and group work among the students so that they can participate in Interactive Whiteboard activities collaboratively

Generally speaking, Cameron (2001) states that there are four tactics teachers need

to know when teaching English to young learners apart from their existing knowledge and skills First, teachers must capture the ways their students learn and think; for instance, they need to know that young learners are those who like a hybrid of playing and learning Secondly, they should find out what children are interested in; for example,

as the case of the present study, after the treatment of Interactive Whiteboard activities, the researcher has to discover whether the target young learners like or dislike them If the answer is yes, the researcher will continue to apply for further classes Thirdly, teachers should be fully equipped to teach their young students It means that language teachers have to carefully design lesson plans to maximize young learners’ learning outcomes Last, teacher should seek problems during their teaching practice

Besides, teachers should clarify the activities for young learners to comprehend (Philips, 1993) What’s more, the activities should be motivating and interesting so that young learners feel comfortable with what they have experienced, and achieve the pre-determined goals

2.3 Definition and Functions of the Interactive Whiteboard

As an operational definition used this study, the Interactive Whiteboard is “an interactive electronic white board, connected to a computer and to a projector which displays the image seen on the computer screen” (Al-Saleem, 2012, p 128) It means that this modern tool consists of three core constituents, including computer, projector and whiteboard Below is an illustration of this technological tool

Figure 2.1: An Illustration of the Interactive Whiteboard

The Interactive Whiteboard consists of two prominent functions, i.e display and interactivity The former function is to show up data from a variety of different sources, while the latter function is to write and move objects; written texts, audios or images as examples In addition, many functions of the Interactive Whiteboards are sought in Beauchamp and Parkinson (2005) and Mai (2018) such as

 Drag and drop: With this function, the user can move items for some purposes

such as classification or comparison;

 Hide and reveal: With this function, the users can operate appearance and

disappearance of pictures or items;

 Color and highlighting: With this function, the users of the Interactive Whiteboard

can focus on comparison between two things or give an clearer explanations;

 Multiple visualization: With this function, the users of the Interactive Whiteboard

can present or introduce a new thing by different ways such as video clips, pictures, texts, etc.;

 Multimedia presentation: With this function, the users of the Interactive

Whiteboard can activate some non-digital devices such as overhead projectors and slide projectors;

 Movement or animation: With this function, the users of the Interactive

Whiteboard can demonstrate ideas or concepts of some things alongside a comprehensive explanation

2.4 Benefits and Challenges of the Interactive Whiteboard

First, the Interactive Whiteboard is a device of technology allowing both teachers and students to operate a multitude of techniques (Farrar, 2014) In addition, Kennewell and Beauchamp (2004) reckon that this technology helps teachers to prepare lessons before attending the class, and conveniently operate the images or objects directly on the board

Secondly, the Interactive Whiteboard is instrumental for drawing the students’ participation and attention for longer periods of time (Farrar, 2014) In reality, the Interactive Whiteboard is very similar to a chalkboard, but it involves colors, images, sounds and moving images Also, teachers can present the vocabulary items on the Interactive Whiteboard and then highlight them to capture the students’ engagement

Thirdly, the Interactive Whiteboard can save time for teachers in moving from one idea to the next, from one activity to another because a plethora of resources are found in

it (Farrar, 2014) In other words, this tool enables smooth transitions between vocabulary activities and quickens the pace of the lessons

Fourthly, the use of the Interactive Whiteboard has the possibility to increase interaction between teachers and their students, and among students themselves (Al-Faki

& Khamis, 2014), to enhance engagement, interactional power and collaborative learning among students in the classroom (Shen & Chuang, 2009)

Notwithstanding a multitude of advantages of integrating Interactive Whiteboards into language classrooms, some challenges of this integration are also found First, reveal the exploitation of the technology becomes time-consuming unless teachers have enough training (Campbell & Martin, 2010) For example, if the teachers are not familiarized with the operation and installment of the Interactive Whiteboard, it can take them ten to fifteen minutes to install and operate functions of the Interactive Whiteboard Secondly, teachers usually confront difficulty in amalgamating the use of this technology device with their fossilized teaching approaches (Jang & Tsai, 2012) For example, in some educational context, teachers mostly experience with chalk and blackboard and the language class seems to be teacher-centered mode; thus, they can be stuck to the use of the Interactive Whiteboard for their lessons Finally, technical problem is deemed to be

an unavoidable thing when using the Interactive Whiteboard (Al-Faki & Khamis, 2014) such as impairment of an electric pen or failure in connecting the sensitive whiteboard to computer, etc

2.5 Definitions, Roles and Aspects of Vocabulary

Read (2000) defines vocabulary as “[…] the units of meaning from which larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs, and whole texts are form” (p 1) In addition, Ur (1996) states vocabulary is “the words we teach in a foreign language” (p 60) He clarifies that a new item of vocabulary not only contains one single word but it also includes a compound of two or three words In this study, vocabulary items and words are used interchangeably

Vocabulary is kernel to English language teaching because deprived of vocabulary students fail to express their own ideas Indeed, vocabulary is a key component of language achievement, creating materials for learners to speak, listen, read, and write (Richards & Renandya, 2002) In sum, vocabulary is considered as the most key element supporting speaking, listening, reading and writing skills

Notwithstanding vocabulary can be defined differently, but its three vital aspects are form, meaning, and use In specific, word form involves its pronunciation (spoken form), spelling (written form); word meaning refers to the way that form and meaning work together; and, word use denotes the grammatical functions of the word or phrase (Nation, 2001) In conclusion, knowing a word requires learners to capture all these aspects, including how to pronounce it (i.e spoken form), how to write it (i.e written form), what it means (i.e word meaning), and what its grammar function is (i.e word use) These three aspects can facilitate the learner’s vocabulary learning process, and then their vocabulary performance

2.6 Vocabulary Instruction to Young Learners

2.6.1 The Process of Vocabulary Acquisition

Nation (2001) mentions three constituents of the vocabulary learning process, including “noticing”, “retrieval”, and “creative use” Teachers should take these constituents into consideration when running vocabulary lessons

Noticing refers to paying attention to a particular subject; for example, noticing a new word in the vocabulary lessons According to Nation (2001), motivation and interest are indispensable conditions for the students noticing In other words, when teaching vocabulary, the teachers should help their students to pay attention to the spellings, meanings and use of the taught vocabulary items

After the word is noticed and comprehended, the word should be retrieved in the students’ memory, i.e retrieval To enhance retrieval, teachers need to provide recycling activities for the learners to revise the words In other words, repetition is important for vocabulary retention As a matter of fact, the young learners often forget the newly learnt vocabulary items if these items are not repeatedly exposed Thus, to improve vocabulary retention for young learners, the language teachers should supplement different practice tasks for their students

The last constituent of the vocabulary learning process is of creative or generative use As per Nation (2001), the words which have been learnt should be repeated several times on several tasks and activities To help develop the young learners’ productive vocabulary from their receptive vocabulary, extensive activities or tasks should be provided in the class

2.6.2 Principles of Vocabulary Instruction

There exist a number of valid principles of vocabulary instruction, especially to young learners For example, Wallace (1982) proposes such tenets to ensure the value of

a vocabulary lesson as follows

The first tenet is that teachers have to clarify teaching aims When the teachers determine teaching aims for what to teach, they can make lesson plans clearer and more meticulously At that time, they will know what to teach (knowledge), how to teach (procedure) and when to teach as well (condition)

The second tenet is that teachers have to decide on the number of vocabulary items

to be learnt In fact, if the number of the taught words is too small or too big, the lessons might not be feasible Besides, if young learners are exposed to too many vocabulary items, they can hardly remember all

The third tenet is that learners are put in a situation where they have to communicate with each other to get the words, while teachers play the role of a facilitator and an organizer As mentioned earlier, if the teachers over control the class activities and there are only student-student interactional patterns, the students become more passive Consequently, the students do lose many learning opportunities and do not get success of learning

The fourth tenet is that frequent exposure and repetition of the vocabulary items should be focused since learners can hardly remember a new word simply by hearing at the first time Once again, the teachers have to utilize different tasks and activities suitable to the young learners so that they can be exposed to the newly learnt vocabulary much in acceptable several times Their word retention, accordingly, is considerably improved

The fifth tenet is that the words must be presented in a way that their meaning is perfectly clear When introducing vocabulary items to young learners, the teachers should put them in contexts and situations in lieu of letting them stand alone In this study, the researcher relied on these tenets when making vocabulary lesson plans

2.6.3 Vocabulary Retention

It is acknowledged that in the arena of vocabulary learning, remembering the vocabulary (i.e vocabulary retention) is more challenging than learning it The term is defined as “the ability to recall or remember words after an interval of time” (Richards & Schmitt, 2002, p 457), depending on how deeply they process and recycle it (Bahrick, 1984) Therefore, meaningful activities should be infused to facilitate vocabulary retention To fulfill this aim, the researcher tried in her current study to facilitate the fifth-

grade students’ vocabulary retention by getting the learners to actively involved in much effort and deep mental manipulation through their participation in the Interactive Whiteboard activities attached to pictures, videos, sounds and games to retain new target words longer

2.7 Vocabulary Instruction with the Interactive Whiteboard

In this section, the researcher will describe some activities of the Interactive Whiteboard linked to the vocabulary teaching and learning process which consists of three constituents, i.e noticing, retrieval and creative use

The first stage is word presentation It goes without saying that different teachers may prefer to present vocabulary in their own favorable manners With the action of vocabulary presentation by the Interactive Whiteboard, teachers can offer a visual or auditory demonstration of the target words by means of pictures, moving images, cards or video clips and so on, which are stored in the Interactive Whiteboard These visual or auditory aids help students to notice meanings, pronunciation and spelling of the target vocabulary items easily and directly

The second, third and fourth stages of vocabulary instruction with Interactive Whiteboard is word practice, word production and word review stages, respectively Perhaps it is more difficult for many learners to consolidate and retain vocabulary items than to learn them for the first time If students learn vocabulary by rote memorization, the value is rarely certified However, vocabulary learning will become more interesting and effective in case the students study vocabulary collaboratively, via different kind of activities and thanks to the teachers’ guidance Henceforth, after presenting the target words for students to notice, it is imperative that teachers provide sufficient opportunities for the students to consolidate, recycle, and review these vocabulary items to improve their vocabulary retention In particular, they are useful activities for retrieval and creative use Here are some activities manipulated by the Interactive Whiteboard as follows:

Table 2.1: A Recap of Vocabulary Activities with the Interactive Whiteboard

1 Spotting

the Errors

The teacher shows a collection of words, and asks the students to work in groups to find out the errors of written form of these words by circling and re-writing

The teacher shows a collection of the jumbled sentences

The students work in group to arrange them in a correct order Afterwards, the teacher invites one member of each group to do each sentence by clicking to re-order

Written form

(Spelling)

Meaning Use

6 Free

Writing

The teacher asks students to write in group five-seven own sentences using the learnt vocabulary words The teacher will invites some students to write on the Interactive Whiteboard and correct immediately

In this study, the research used these six vocabulary activities for the students to consolidate and recycle the noticed vocabulary items to improve their vocabulary retention The number and the types of the used vocabulary activities were quite different from each unit, which is discussed in Chapter 3

2.8 Concept of Learning Attitude

Among different factors contributing to success of foreign language learning, learners’ attitude is considered as one of the key instruments in provoking the learners to master that language (Dörnyei, 2007) If the learners possess positive attitudes, they can learn it better.Given the critical role of learning attitude, definitions and constructs of this

variable are reviewed as follows

By and large, Gardner and Lambert (1972) conclude that the students’ language mastery is not only affected by their knowledge and skills, but also by their attitudes, towards the learning ways, or the teaching methods, etc Henceforth, the researcher was convinced of the value of discovering the fifth-grade students’ attitudes after they had been exposed to the Interactive Whiteboard activities

2.8.2 Constructs of Attitude

Learning process is connected to the attitudinal change in the students’ personality

in terms of the emotional, behavioral and cognitive constructs (Kara, 2009) To put it

different, they are supposed to feel, think and behave in a different way (Kara, 2009) Therefore, these three constructs of attitude concept are briefly described as follows:

Emotional attitude refers the students’ expression about whether they like or

dislike the objects The key words for this construct of attitudes can be “like”, “dislike”,

“motivate”, “interest” In this study, the researcher deliberately explored whether the fifth-grade students liked or disliked the presence of Interactive Whiteboard activities in their vocabulary learning According to Wenden (1991), we can use emotional attitudes and affective attitudes interchangeably, which are related to people’s feelings

Cognitive attitude involves the beliefs of the language learners about the value of

teaching methods, activities and other objects (Abidin, Mohammadi & Alzwari, 2012) The key words for this type of attitudes can be “good”, “effective”, “necessary” In the study, the researcher intentionally sought the fifth-grade students’ beliefs on the effectiveness of Interactive Whiteboard activities on their vocabulary retention

Behavioral attitude refers to tendency of individual to behave in particular way

towards an object (Wenden, 1991) The key words for this type of attitudes can be “prefer to”, “want”, “expect” In specific, the researcher of this experimental study would discover their behavioral tendency towards their learning vocabulary with Interactive Whiteboard activities

2.9 Previous Studies

In order to give an overall picture of the value of the Interactive Whiteboard application on vocabulary learning, some previous studies are summarized in terms of research site and participants, research instruments and findings Accordingly, some valuable lessons for the study will be sought and a research gap might also be identified Overall, the effect of the Interactive Whiteboard on the young learners’ vocabulary acquisition has been the main concern of many studies both inside and outside the Vietnamese context

Tate (2014) made an experimental study to examine the effect of the Interactive Whiteboard on the American college students’ vocabulary retention and level of attention and participation The participants were recruited for two groups, i.e a control group and

an experimental group At the end of the study, the students from the experimental group were more attentive and interested in the vocabulary than those from the control group did Strikingly, the experimental group outperformed the control group in vocabulary retention

Having the same purpose and research design as Tate (2014), Katwibun (2014) carried out an experimental group on 51 11th grade students in Thailand with the purpose

of investigating the effects of the Interactive Whiteboard board on vocabulary learning The instruments included vocabulary test, and student questionnaire The vocabulary lessons were taught in three steps, involving presentation, practice and production The results of this study indicated that the students who learnt vocabulary with the Interactive Whiteboard improved their positive attitudes and vocabulary performance

Hodge and Anderson (2007) made a survey to attest the effect of the Interactive Whiteboard on the elementary students’ attitudes This study was conducted in an elementary school in South Auckland The data were collected by handwriting journal, daily lessons and email contacts The findings showed that Interactive Whiteboard engaged these young learners in their vocabulary learning

Biro (2011) conducted a survey to examine the learning attitudes of the primary and secondary students in Debrecen, Hungary (N = 618) towards the Interactive Whiteboard The questionnaire results exhibited that these students highly approved of the use of the Interactive Whiteboard The reasons for this preference were because the lessons were exciting and comfortable to understand At the same time, rich sources from internet and software grasped their engagement and made the vocabulary class enjoyable Besides, they had chances to work closely with their classmates

In Vietnam, Mai (2018) conducted her study on 74 fifth-grade students and 3 teachers at Le Thi Hong Gam primary school to examine how they thought about vocabulary lessons with the Interactive Whiteboard Data were extensively collected through student questionnaire, teacher interview, and classroom observation The findings of the study indicated that although both teachers and learners had positive attitudes towards the influence of Interactive Whiteboard on the students’ vocabulary performance, motivation, and engagement

Nguyen, Nguyen, Pham, Nguyen, Vo and Do (2014) carried out their experimental study to find out whether or not it was significantly effective to use the Interactive Whiteboard on young learners’ English vocabulary learning at Rise English Center (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) Data were gathered by two tools, including attitude questionnaire and vocabulary test Based on of the test findings, there was a considerable improvement in the students’ achievement in vocabulary after the treatment With the questionnaire findings, the young learners’ motivation and participation level was highly increased

Some previous studies mentioned above ratified positive effects of the Interactive Whiteboard activities on enhancing primary school learners’ vocabulary performance and accelerating their positive learning attitudinal modes in the vocabulary learning process However, a few research gaps were found out from these listed studies

First of all, the correlation between the utilization of the Interactive Whiteboard and the students’ lexical development and recollection was attested by different research sites both outside Vietnam (e.g., Thailand, South Auckland, Hungary) and inside Vietnam Nevertheless, no study of this field was executed at Tran Quang Khai primary school (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Thus, it was necessarily vital to conduct

an experimental study at this site, and this correlation was verified by means of the test and the post-tests Accordingly, the first research question was constructed

pre-Secondly, the correlation between the application of the Interactive Whiteboard and the students’ learning attitude was also examined However, the reviewed previous studies failed to categorize learning attitude into different constructs Therefore, the researcher emphasized this variable on three distinct constructs of emotional, cognitive and behavioral modes Consequently, the second research question was formulated

2.10 Conceptual Framework

Based on the literature review of relevant theories and previous study, the conceptual framework for this study was constructed, which helped the researcher develop the content of research instruments and the overall methodology

Independent Variables: Interactive Whiteboard Activities

[1] Spotting the Errors, [2] Matching Spelling and Sound (Bingo), [3] Labeling Pictures/

Objects; [4] Word Association; [5] Ordering the Jumbled Sentences; [6] Free Writing

Figure 2.2: Conceptual Framework

2.11 Chapter Summary

This chapter has just reviewed some related domains of the theoretical part orienting the whole research study In specific, background of young learners was described, followed by an introduction to the Interactive Whiteboard in terms of its definition, merits and barriers, and functions Thereafter, vocabulary instruction to young learners and with the Interactive Whiteboard was analyzed, followed by an overview of learning attitudes Ultimately, some previous studies and research gaps were attached to The next chapter is to depict the methodological part of the research paper

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides a full package of methodological information of this study

It consists of research design, research context and participants, training procedure, description, collection procedure, analytical configuration of measurement tools

3.1 Research Design

Quantitative research paradigm, placing emphasis on numbers in the collection and analysis of data (Daniel, 2016), was deliberately used in this study Creswell (2012) divides this numerical paradigm into three types of research design, i.e survey, correlational and experimental designs

With the aim of examining the cause-effect relationship between the Interactive Whiteboard (i.e the independent variable) and the primary school students’ vocabulary retention (i.e the first dependent variable) as well as learning attitudes (i.e the second dependent variable), an experimental design was purposely deployed In specific, the first cause-effect relationship between the independent variable and the first dependent variable was testified by the vocabulary pre-test, the post-test and the delayed post-test, while the second cause-effect relationship between the independent variable and the second dependent variable was examined thanks to the attitude questionnaire

As a matter of fact, it was impossible for the researcher to steer the random choice

of the representative sample since at the beginning of the academic year of 2018-2019, she only was assigned to teach two classes, i.e Class 5/1 and Class 5/2 That is to say, this study was not a true experimental, but a quasi-experimental study (Creswell, 2012) Thus, the sample of this study was only all the members of these two classes, in which Class 5/1 became the control group, while the other class was treated as the experimental group More specifically, the conventional teaching way was still kept to the control group; meanwhile, the Interactive Whiteboard activities were present at the vocabulary lessons of the experimental group

In overall, the research design is succinctly depicted in Table 3.1 below:

Table 3.1: Research Design

Group Pre-test Treatment Post-test Delayed Post-test Questionnaire

This quasi-experimental study consisted of two research hypotheses:

Research Hypothesis 1: The Interactive Whiteboard has a positive effect on the

fifth-grade students’ vocabulary achievement, vocabulary retention

Research Hypothesis 2: The Interactive Whiteboard has a positive effect on the

fifth-grade students’ learning attitudes

3.2 Research Context

This study was conducted at Tran Quang Khai primary school, a public primary school situated on 68/29B Tran Quang Khai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam It was built in December 2008 and started the first academic year in September

2009 At present, there are four English teachers responsible for twelve classes The rooms are furnished with electric devices such as electric fans, microphones and sound systems Internet is connected to both rooms to serve for teaching and learning purposes

as well as regular meeting This school has two Interactive Whiteboards If want to use the Interactive Whiteboard for language lessons, the teachers have to register on Fridays

3.3 Research Participants

In the school year of 2018-2019, the researcher was appointed two fifth-grade classes, namely Class 5/1 and Class 5/2 Regarding to the quantity of the students in each class, Class 5/1 consisted of 40 students, while Class 5/2 included 40 students Accordingly, the sample of this study was 80 fifth-grade students Their demographic

information of gender, age and overall perception on learning English vocabulary is depicted in Table 3.2 as follows:

Table 3.2: The Students’ Demographic Information

of the sample liked to learn English (91.25%) Apart from the academic course at the primary school, beyond three quarters of the participants also took up some other English courses (76.25%)