USING THE WEBSITE IN TEACHING TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Moreover, in teaching and learning English language, Vocabulary is central because without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own ideas.. The study,

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I INTRODUCTION 2

1 Rationale 2

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Methods of the study 3

3.1 Participants 4

3.2 Materials 4

3.3 Method 4

4 Scope of the study 4

Chapter II 5

CONTENT 5

A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1 Vocabulary in language teaching and learning 5

1.1 Definition of vocabulary 5

1.2 Components vocabulary 6

1.3 Methods of teaching vocabulary 6

2 Web-based Instruction 9

2.1 Definition of web-based instruction (WBI) 9

2.2 Types of web-based learning activities 9

2.3 Web-based learning and vocabulary teaching 10

2.4 The Computer as a Teaching Tool 11

3 The Moodle and Gnomio Website 11

3.1 Definition of Moodle 12

3.2 Philosophy 12

3.3 Advantages of moodle 12

B TEACHING PROCESS ON GNOMIO WEBSITE FOR IMPROVING LEARNER’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY 13

1 Participants 13

2 Materials 13

3 Procedure 14

Chapter IV CONCLUSION 19

4.1 Conclusion 19

4.2 Implication 19

4.3 Limitations of the study 19

References 20

Chapter I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Since the World Wide Web’s conceptualization as a method of making research findings and scientific materials available to researchers and teachers across the globe, it has become an indispensible tool for educators Not only has the web achieved making scientific findings more accessible, but also it is now becoming the new method of teaching As this new technology grows in acceptance and use, it is essential for educator to increase their knowledge about the uses of the web in education and to stay up-to-date on the latest findings in web based education research Moreover, in teaching and learning English language, Vocabulary is central because without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own ideas I believe English language students generally would concur, yet learning vocabulary also helps students master English for their purposes The study, therefore, combines the using web based activities and teaching English vocabulary to make learners’ vocabulary improved

One of the recent ways in making texts more comprehensible to students is

to use computerized Moodle as Web-based language Learning (WBLL) approaches (Zhang, Wu, Wei & Wang, 2011

In addition, the study has many implications in the field of Education Due

to the dominance of lecture based traditional instruction in teaching, many students are loosing their interest in studies The present study will be helpful to all those students whose learning styles do not match with their instructors teaching styles Moreover, it will help to increase students’ motivations and also scholastic achievement The results of the study will inspire all the teachers to use these types

of activities in their routine teaching It is proved that web-based learning has the potential to cater diverse needs of learners The role of the teacher will shift from instructor to facilitator Students will be active partners in the whole teaching-learning process

It is of common knowledge that vocabulary is the most important component of language knowledge; it is one of the best predictors of language performance It has been found that students learn languages best when they experience it in context and use the language independently in speaking and writing This means that translating a text word-for-word or memorizing lists of words will not necessarily help students to learn new vocabulary that they can use when they speak and write in English Students need to develop strategies to guess the meaning of new words when they encounter them However, learning a new word or phrase once does not mean that the student will remember it and be able to

use it That is why students also need support in learning how to record new vocabulary and repeatedly review it If students improve their knowledge of vocabulary, they can understand their lessons more easily and will write and speak better in English That is why review of the vocabulary at home is also focused in this study

In Vietnam in general, vocabulary teaching has not been paid due attention

to as it deserves Vocabulary has not been a particular subject for students to learn but has been taught within lessons of reading, writing, speaking and listening For most of teachers the common way to communicate word meaning is translation through word list and many learners use rote strategies as their major way of vocabulary learning In my school, Dong Son 1 high school, in particular the problem of vocabulary teaching and learning is more difficult The main reason is that the classes are usually big with learners of different abilities It seems difficult for the teachers to apply the suitable way to teach these learners Another reason is the course book The number of new words in the book is rather large for learners

in my school and it makes the learners feel confused and difficult to remember all

of them Furthermore, the learners usually learn vocabulary passively through their teachers' explanation They only write words on paper with translation into Vietnamese and try to learn them by heart During the lessons learners find many new words in the text and then ask their teachers to explain the meaning and usage

As a result, the learners feel bored in vocabulary lessons and they soon forget the new words they have learnt and this affects students getting to twelfth grade with a relatively small vocabulary, which prevents them from achieving their potential in National exams Being a teacher of English in my school I want to make something significant to my students not only in English language acquisition but also in performing better in the National exam

This study, therefore, attempts to examine the effectiveness of web-based activities in the mode of online classes of Gnomio website on open source Moodle on the vocabulary learning of students in Dong Son 1 high school

2 Aims of the study

To explore the impact of using web-based activities as a classroom resource

to improve learners’ English vocabulary in the context of 10th graders at Dong Son 1 high school in Thanh Hoa Province

3 Methods of the study

3.1 Participants

The study was conducted in Dong Son 1 high school Sixty seven learners were selected in the school Fifty students were chosen based on the general test

to have similar level of English proficiency Then they were divided into two groups whose level was indicated as pre- intermediate: The treatment of

experimental group of 25 students in class 10A6 from Dong Son 1 high school The control group consists of 25 students from class 10A1 in the same school

3.2 Materials

Materials in the experimental study used 10th Grade English Textbook as the main course book However, only four units were chosen for the experiment, from unit 9 to unit 12 The lesson plans which were used in this study were designed and selected based on the course book presented in the Gnomio website of Moodle Moodle materials were extracted and adopted from the web-sites searched in the Google search engine The Moodle materials included extra glosses such as pictorial, animation, and audio-visual materials

3.3 Method

The main method is experimental research and survey questionnaires

4 Scope of the study

The study is to explore the impact of using web-based activities as a classroom resource to improve learners’ English vocabulary in the context of 10th graders at Dong Son 1 high school in Thanh Hoa Province, The study, therefore, focused on word pronunciation and meaning which is an integral part in language learning as well as in exams Other aspect of vocabulary such as: word grammar, word formation were not taken into consideration in the research The course book which the researcher used in the experimental course was 10th Grade English Textbook, published by Viet Nam Education Publishing House

The study focuses on effective ways to teach and to learn vocabulary and

on presenting some advantages of the educational application in vocabulary lessons at Dong Son 1 high school From the findings of the research, adapted tasks will be given to improve the students ‘English vocabulary

Chapter II CONTENT

A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This part reviews the theory related to pedagogical methods for vocabulary acquisition and offers an overview of the short history of web based instruction and learning vocabulary The study will discuss the learning vocabulary through web-based activities, and benefits and advantages of web-based activities for vocabulary acquisition

1 Vocabulary in language teaching and learning.

Learning vocabulary is an important aspect of language learning which in the past has been neglected In recent years, there has been a greater understanding

of the importance of vocabulary learning to the process of language learning (Lightbown 2010) Nation (1994) identified five components of vocabulary learning:

- Meeting new vocabulary for the first time

- Establishing previously met vocabulary

- Enriching previously met vocabulary

- Developing vocabulary strategies

- Developing fluency with known vocabulary

Vocabulary is of great significance in expressing thoughts and ideas in interaction activities Vocabulary acquisition is the main task of second language acquisition This section will present vocabulary teaching and learning theory in connection with the study

1.1 Definition of vocabulary

There have been different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his own definition of vocabulary Peny Ur, in his book: “A course in language teaching” defined vocabulary roughly “as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” (Ur, 1996, p.60) Pyles and Algeo also gave their idea about vocabulary They said “when most of us think about language we think first about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus

of language It is in words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” (1970, p.96) These statements indicate that vocabulary is the total number of the words of a language and it is an essential part of language, as Wilkins emphasized this with his saying: “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing conveyed”

This is all true in teaching and learning a foreign language Therefore, the teaching of vocabulary to foreign language learners has long been an area of concern to language teachers because learning vocabulary in a foreign language is much more than making form - meaning correspondences and simply filling up individual words “Knowing a word, according to Nation (2001) means knowing at least its forms, its meanings and its basic usage”

1.2 Components of vocabulary

When teaching English vocabulary, the teacher should teach some aspects of vocabulary Ur (1998) states some aspects that the learner should be mastered and the teacher should be taught in order to help the learners in mastering vocabulary They include: Form (pronunciation and spelling), Grammar, Collocation, Aspect

of meaning (Denotation, connotation, appropriateness and Meaning relationship),

Word formation

1.3 Methods of teaching vocabulary

The world in which we live is becoming increasing global Therefore, “the status of English as an international global language stresses the need for a new approach to English language teaching", (Le Van Canh, 2003) As mentioned above, foreign language teaching, especially vocabulary teaching has undergone dramatics changes during the last two decades In order to fully understand this development it is certainly worth giving a brief discussion of some major foreign language teaching approaches and their role in teaching vocabulary

1.3.1 Grammar-translation

The first approach to be under issue is the Grammar - Translation method It involves the translation of literary texts followed by explanation in the students’ native language of rules of grammar Although it dates back in the 16th century, Corder states that GTM is “the most deductive approach” (Allen & Corder 197: 13), and it may be true to say that the Grammar-Translation Method is still widely practiced This method was used in order to help and encourage students to like and appreciate literature and very little teaching is done in the target language

New words are learned through direct translation from the native language if Grammar Translation Method is used In fact, both teachers and students of English frequently find it convenient to opt for translation Teachers commonly attempt to explain a foreign word, phrase or sentence by giving a mother-tongue equivalent This means that translation has been used to learn the new words Students face difficulties in how the words are used and what emotions the words express This method has generated a great number of skilled students but only in grammar with a lot of difficulties in remembering new words and consequently using them in patterns and collocations Therefore there is no connection between recall of word meaning and use of words in context But not always exact

translation from one language to another is possible There are numerous lexical items in one language which have no equivalents in another language

1.3.2 Direct Method

The second major foreign language teaching approach is the Direct Method This method is useful for teaching vocabulary The words used are very common active and concerning everyday activities In the class - room only the target language is used to teach the students during the sessions, so it focuses on speaking and listening which enables teachers to drill students more on vocabulary Using this method teacher can introduce many concrete objects and pictures for illustration; therefore, it is particularly useful for teaching simple and specific words

The Direct Method has one very basic rule No translation is allowed In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be connected directly with the target language, without going through the process of translating into the students’ native language

The term Direct Method refers to the teaching of languages without resorting to translation and without using the native language The basic premise of the Direct Method was that second language learning should be more like first language learning The method would include lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of language, no translation between first and second languages, and little or no analysis of grammar rules So, Direct Method is the method that is used in teaching a language by using the target language without going through the translation to the native language The teacher must use pictures, gestures, pantomimes or the target language that is familiar to the students to explain a word

1.3.3 Audio lingual method

This method was developed during the World War II for military purposes There was a need for people to learn language at a satisfactory level of ability to communicate in as short time as possible It was a reason for an extreme solution The overall goal was to create communicative competence in learners in short time The way became an extensive repetition and a variety of elaboration The idea was to project linguistic patterns of the target language in a way to make responses automatic and habitual The only language used is the target language Teacher has a central and leading role They modify drills of the exercises practised All work is based on listening and responding over and over to teacher’s stimuli Students’ responses should become automatic, fixed The reaction time gets accelerated by reducing the need of thinking about the problem as students respond partly unconsciously However their answers are expected to be correct Language is presented through conversations divided into lines that are drilled and then turned into questions or negatives and drilled again Mostly teacher-student

interaction is used for it is the teacher who is supplying sentences or their parts to

be ‘learned’ by drill Learning (in ALM) means forming habits It is dependent on mimicry, memorization of phrases and over learning Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context Importance is given to pronunciation There is a great effort

to produce error-free utterances as they make bad habits Typical techniques closely associated with ALM are above all dialogue memorization and drill in many variations Teacher’s work is very demanding in accuracy, activity and control

The Audio - lingual method is very successful in improving students' comprehension and fluency in speaking the target language Here the vocabulary content is maintained at a useful minimum for students to concentrate on taking a firm control of structures When the dialogue has been learnt its adaptation with a more personal application to the students' own situation, provide more consolidation of learning and provide chances for more flexible use of the material

1.3.4 Task based learning

Tasks are central to the learning activity They are meant to be the practical part of language use compared to exercises that focus on linguistic features The idea is that students learn more effectively when their mind is occupied with a concrete task offering besides concentration on language, its structures, functions

or vocabulary also other practical experience For solving the problem students need to communicate in the target language and therefore use wide range of language items, not only particular structure, function or vocabulary group Framework for TBL suggests three main stages: Pre-task, Task cycle and Language Focus In the Pre-task stage teacher introduces the topic and task Useful words and phrases may be highlighted During the task cycle students plan solving the task and work on it When it is completed student prepare a report about their work to

be presented to the whole class In language focus stage students analyse and discuss specific features of used or produced texts or utterances, which are then practised Students fulfill the tasks, produce reports and discuss them with others What is specific for TBL is the unusual order of learning process, which is reversed: students start with a task and as lately as it is completed their attention is drawn to the language used Tasks include projects for producing posters, brochures, presentations, dramatic performances, videos etc Teacher selects tasks, encourages, facilitates, regulates and monitors

This method is very useful and works very well thanks to the above-mentioned reasons Communicative activities improving students’ ability to communicate and solving real problems are highly motivating and offer students real reasons for learning the language: to be able to communicate - receive or produce needed information A good balance between using receptive and

productive activities is applied, which is very useful Sometimes managing to keep the whole class using only the target language might be difficult, especially with low level students It is much easier when students are actually incorporated into target language community If they need to solve a problem there is no other option than to communicate with the local people Results are great Students can acquire many structures and phrases in relatively short time and such knowledge is well remembered

1.3.5 Communicative Language Teaching

All of the traditional methods above were used to teach English for a long time that made learners structure competent and communicative incompetent However, the learners of English nowadays desire to be able to communicate with others in the target language The learners' needs and aims seem to have changed and method of teaching has changed too In recent years communicative language teaching (CLT) has been applied in Vietnam and it has shown its effectiveness in teaching and learning language CLT is an approach that helps learners be more active in real life situation through means of individual, pair and group work activities It encourages learners to practice the language they learn in meaningful ways as it requires them to take part in a number of activities with different tasks This helps to improve learners' communicative competence From the brief consideration of some approaches to language teaching and their relevance to vocabulary it is obvious that each of the approaches mentioned above has its strong and weak points and their teaching procedures may sometimes overlap Many teachers use a combination of approaches that reflect different methodologies

2 Web-based Instruction

2.1 Definition of web-based instruction (WBI)

According to Khan (1997) WBI is the application of a repertoire of cognitively oriented instructional strategies implemented within a constructivist and collaborative learning environment, utilizing the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web He also defined WBI as “an innovative approach to delivering instruction to a remote audience, using the Web as the medium” (Khan,

1997, p 5) He considered that hypermedia-based instructional program that utilizes the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web to create a meaningful environment where learning is fostered and supported (Khan, 1997, p 6)

2.2 Types of web-based learning activities

The theoretical base from which are drawn to design web based activities is constructivist theory Constructivist theory has several characteristics that are easily adopted for web based activities Some of these characteristics include learner construction of meaning, social inter, action to help students learn, and student-solving in real world context There are 4 types of web-based learning

-Individual Lesson Plans

Majority of online educational resources are lesson plans that teachers download and integrate

-Online Lesson Enhancements

Most popular Teachers identify online enhancements that augment their curricular goals and extend and deepen their students’ understanding

-Completely Online Courses and Curriculum

Range from courses designed and developed from major online institutions

to individual courses delivered in traditional schools

-All-Inclusive Online Courses, Curriculum, and Online Learning Environment

Provide flexibility of choosing and adapting the resources needed

Web-based activities have great potential to enhance learning, but they are often time- consuming to develop and implement, difficult to design in ways that have substantial, positive impacts on student learning

Web-based project learning is a “student- driven, teacher facilitated approach to learning.” Students develop an inquiry based on their natural curiosity and conduct research under the teacher’s supervision (Bell, 2010)

“Web-based project learning can enhance student motivation and promote self-directed learning because the learning issues usually arise from problems that attract the interest of students”(Lam, Cheng & Ma, 2008)

2.3 Web-based learning and vocabulary teaching

Web-based learning is becoming an even more powerful interactive source that increases learners' knowledge and that guarantees quantity and quality of language input and output Added to this, the changing role of the teacher is more responsive to students' self-directed learning It has also been found that the implementation of different web-based activities develops student's skills in the use

of language Web-based activities may increase learner motivation so the resulting effects could be beneficial to both teaching-learning processes; additionally, they offer opportunities for teachers to explore content resources on the net in order to integrate them in classroom instruction at a low cost Teachers with few skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can make use of web-based activities cognitive brainstorming, identify real world activities, examine resources, define the task available on the web or adapt existing ones to their purposes

My study was based on the use of ICT as a tool to improve vocabulary I consider that vocabulary is an important element in a knowledge-based society; it involves decoding strings of letters or being able to enjoy or