Sử dụng các hoạt động và trò chơi từ vựng ngắn nhằm tăng hứng thú học đọc cho học sinh lớp 11 luận văn tốt

VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES==== ==== USING SHORT VOCABULARY GAMES AND INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG VÀ TRÒ CHƠI TỪ VỰNG NGẮN NHẰ

VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

==== ====

USING SHORT VOCABULARY GAMES AND

INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL

(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG VÀ TRÒ CHƠI TỪ VỰNG NGẮN NHẰM TĂNG

HỨNG THÚ HỌC ĐỌC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11)

GRADUATION THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Student: VŨ THỊ NGA, 48A_ENGLISH Supervisor: nguyÔn ThÞ BÝch HiÒn, M.A.

VINH, 2011

VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

==== ====

VŨ THỊ NGA

USING SHORT VOCABULARY GAMES AND

INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL

(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG VÀ TRÒ CHƠI TỪ VỰNG NGẮN NHẰM TĂNG

HỨNG THÚ HỌC ĐỌC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11)

GRADUATION THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

VINH, 2011

I would also like to give my sincere thanks to all my teachers from the Foreign Languages Department of Vinh University for their lectures and advice which are very useful for me to finish this study.

I am fully grateful to the help of all the teachers and students at Cua Lo I High School so that I could finish the survey for my study.

I also wish to thank my family and all my friends for their various kinds of help and encouragement.

Finally, I am all too aware that despite all the advice and assistance with all

my attempts, I feel that the study is far from perfect; it is my sole responsibility for any inadequacies and shortcomings that the study may be considered to have Therefore, I would like to receive any regard and comment from you on my study.

Vinh, May, 2011

Vu Thi Nga

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iv

PART I INTRODUCTION1 1 Reasons for Choosing the Study 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 2

3 Research Questions 2

4 Methods of the Study 2

5 Scope of the Study 3

6 Design of the Study 3

PART II DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4

1.1 Reading Skill 4

1.1.1 Definitions of Reading 4

1.1.2 The Importance of Reading 4

1.1.3 Principles for Teaching Reading in a Communicative Language Teaching Classroom 5

1.1.4 Stages of Teaching a Reading Text 7

1.2 Motivation 8

1.3 Vocabulary 9

1.3.1 Definitions 9

1.3.2 The Importance of Vocabulary 10

1.4 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading Skill 11

1.5 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching 13

1.5.1 Principles for Teaching Vocabulary 13

1.5.2 Steps for Teaching Vocabulary 14

1.6 Short Vocabulary Games and Activities 15

1.6.1 Definitions 15

1.6.2 Why to Use Short Vocabulary Games and Activities 16 1.6.3 Common Types of Short Vocabulary Games and Activities

Used in Reading

Lessons 16

1.7 Summary 18

CHAPTER 2: THE SURVEY 20

2.1 Overview of the Survey 20

2.1.1 Aims of the Survey 20

2.1.2 Description of the Survey 20

2.2 Survey Result and Data Analysis 21

2.2.1 What are the Attitudes of Students and Teachers at Cua Lo I High School towards English Reading Skill and Short Vocabulary Games and Activities? 21

2.2.2 What is the Real Situation of Using Short Vocabulary Games and Activities in the English Reading Lessons for the 11th Form Students at Cua Lo I High School? 26

2.3 Summary 29

CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTIONS FOR USING SHORT VOCABULARY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE 11 TH FORM STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH READING SKILL 31

3.1 Some Recommendations for Using Short Vocabulary Games and Activities in the English Reading Lessons 31

3.2 Suggested Short Vocabulary Games and Activities to Increase 11th Form Students’ Interest in Learning English Reading Skill 32

3.2.1 Lucky Picture 33

3.2.2 Letter Chains 35

3.2.3 Completing Network35

3.2.4 Crossword36 3.2.5 Pantomime 38

3.2.6 What do I Have? 39

3.2.7 Listen to a Song and Guessing the Missing Words 39

3.2.8 Finding the Differences 40

3.2.9 Finding Partner 41

PART III CONCLUSION 43

3.1 Recapitulation 43

3.2 Suggestions for Further Studies 43

REFERENCES 45

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards English and learning English 22

Table 2: The frequency of providing some short vocabulary games and activities (Result from Students) 28

Table 3: The frequency of providing some short vocabulary games and activities (Result from Teachers) 29

Figure 1: The time students spend on learning English per day 22

Figure 2: The language skills students focus on most and like most 23

Figure 3: Factors motivate students into reading lessons 23

Figure 4: Students’ idea and teachers’ idea about the level of

the students’ interests in reading lessons 24

Figure 5: Factors motivate students into reading lessons (Teachers’ idea in comparison with students’ idea) 25

Figure 6: Students’ feeling about short vocabulary games and activities 26

Figure 7: The effect of short vocabulary games and activities 26

Figure 8: The frequency of providing short vocabulary games and activities in

reading lessons according to teachers and students’ ideas 27

Figure 9: Stages in which short vocabulary games ad activities are used most 28

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for Choosing the Study

English has been the common language of the world for decades It plays animportant role in all aspects of society such as communication, science, technology,education, etc Especially, English becomes an official and effective internationalcommunicative language Therefore learning and mastering English would greatlygive advantage to the person concerned As a result, more and more people arestudying English in order not to be left behind the development of society

In education, English now is an important subject It is compulsory not only inteaching and learning but also in many examinations However, it is not easy to master

a foreign language Learning English is not an exception Learning English means thatstudents have to learn many sub-skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing

As other skills, reading is a very important skill Reading not only helps studentswiden their knowledge, but also enables them to develop other language skills Theauthor herself is fond of finding the attitudes of the teachers and the students in highschool towards reading lessons

In addition, motivation is one of the most important factors that affect thesuccess of the learning process, especially in second language acquisition So,maintaining the students’ interest during the lesson is very important Withoutmotivation, it is very difficult for students to get the best result from studying.Motivation also plays an important role in the reading lesson It raises a question forthe teacher: “How to motivate students or how to increase the students’ interest duringthe lesson?” Short vocabulary games and activities are one of good choices for thisproblem Teaching vocabulary is an important part in reading lessons In fact, the stock

of vocabulary in each lesson in general, and in reading lessons in particular is so large,but the time for vocabulary is limited Therefore, using short vocabulary games andactivities is a good way not only to teach students vocabulary or to help themunderstand more about the reading text but also help to increase their interest duringthe lessons

Last but not least, the author is trained to be a teacher of English in the nearfuture The author considers this study as a good opportunity to understand students’

attitudes towards learning English in general and reading skill in particular, to have theknowledge about short vocabulary games and activities and to know how to make thereading lesson more interesting for the students so that her dream to be a good andunderstanding teacher will come true.

For the reasons mentioned above, the author decides to choose the topic “Using

Short Vocabulary Games and Activities to Increase 11 th Form Students’ Interest in Learning English Reading Skill” as the study of her graduation thesis.

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The aims and objectives of the study are as follows:

- To provide some basic knowledge about reading skill, vocabulary and shortvocabulary games and activities

- To make an investigation into the real situation of using short vocabulary gamesand activities in English reading lessons at Cua Lo I High School

- To provide some suggested short vocabulary games and activities to partlyincrease 11th form students’ interest in English reading lessons

4 Method of the Study

To finish this study, the author has used quantitative and qualitative methods.First, the author collected and analyzed the materials which refer to ReadingSkill, Vocabulary, and Vocabulary Games and Activities in English reading classes.Then, she conducted a survey to get information about the real situation of using shortvocabulary games and activities in reading lessons at Cua Lo I High School After that,the author analyzed and synthesized the collected data Finally, the author suggested

some short vocabulary games and activities in English reading classes for the 11th formstudents.

5 Scope of the Study

Due to the limitation of a graduation thesis, the study only concerns shortvocabulary games and activities in English reading lessons The subjects of the studyare teachers and 11th form students at Cua Lo I High School in Cua Lo town, Nghe Anprovince

6 Design of the Study

Apart from Acknowledgement, Table of Content, List of Tables andAppendices, the thesis consists of three main parts

Part I is “INTRODUCTION” which consists of the author’s reasons for

choosing the study, aims, research questions, method, scope, and design of the study

Part II entitled “DEVELOPMENT” includes three chapters Chapter 1,

“Theoretical Background”, provides some background knowledge about Reading

skill In addition, the author briefly introduces Vocabulary and Vocabulary games adactivities

Chapter 2 is titled “The Survey” This chapter mainly focuses on the situation

of using short vocabulary games and activities in English reading classes for 11th formstudents at Cua Lo I High School

Chapter 3 entitled “Suggested Short Vocabulary Games and Activities to

Increase 11 th Form Students’ Interests in Learning English Reading Skill”

provides several suggestions for the teachers in using short activities and games in thereading lessons It also introduces some short activities and games in the author’sexperimental lessons

Part III is “CONCLUSION” in which the author summarizes the main points

in the study and suggests some topics for further studies

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

1.1 Reading Skill

1.1.1 Definitions of Reading

There are different ways of defining reading According to Anderson (1985:7),reading is the process of constructing meaning from written texts It is a complex skillrequiring the coordination of a number of interrelated sources of information

Silberstein (1993:12) states that reading is a complex information processingskill in which the readers interact with the text to (re)create meaningful discourse

Or “Reading skills are specific abilities which enable a reader to read the

written form as meaningful language, to read anything written with independence, comprehension and fluency, and to mentally interact with the message”.

(cited from http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/.htm)

Despite many different definitions of reading, most educators agree that themajor purpose of reading should be the construction of meaning – comprehending andactively responding to what is read From these definitions, we can see that the readersplay an important role in deducing the text in order to realize communicativefunctions Thus, it is necessary for the students to learn how to read in an effectiveway

1.1.2 The Importance of Reading

Reading is one of the main skills that a pupil must acquire in the process ofmastering a foreign language in school Reading is about understanding written texts

It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought Reading consists oftwo related processes: word recognition and comprehension Word recognition refers

to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to one’s spokenlanguage Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences andconnected text Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary,

grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help themunderstand written text Therefore, through reading in a foreign language the pupilenriches his knowledge of the world around him He gets acquainted with the countrieswhere the target language is spoken.

In addition, reading also makes a great contribution to other language skills

“Reading may contribute significantly to competence in a second language There is agood reason, in fact, to hypothesize that reading make a contribution to overallcompetence, to all four skills” (Krashen &Terrell, 1983:131) When reading a text thepupil reviews sounds and letters, vocabulary and grammar, memorizes the spelling ofwords, the meaning of words and word combinations, he also reviews grammar and, inthis way, he develops other skills in the target language The more the pupil reads, thebetter his retention of the linguistic material is If the teacher instructs his pupils ingood reading and they can read with sufficient fluency and complete comprehension

he helps them to acquire speaking, listening and writing skills as well Reading is,therefore, both an end to be attained and a means to achieve that end In order to begood language learners, it is necessary for students to master all four language skillstogether

1.1.3 Principles for Teaching Reading in a Communicative Language Teaching Classroom

As mentioned above, reading skill plays an important role in English languagelearning Therefore, it is necessary to have a set of principles that teachers of Englishmust follow when teaching reading so that they can ensure their students’understanding of the lessons

Forseth et al (1996:84-85) has pointed out principles for teaching reading asfollows:

1 State the purpose of a reading task to the students before they read.

It is obvious that people have their own purpose when reading a text Thus, it isbeneficial to state a purpose for reading the given text The teacher should tell thestudents why they are reading a text By means of this, the students can focus on thetext better for they know what information they need to get after reading

2 Prepare students to read by introducing the topic of the text.

When teaching a reading text, the teacher should introduce the topic of the textbeforehand to prepare for students with general knowledge about what they are going

to do in the text If the subject is difficult, provide students with backgroundinformation When the students are prepared carefully before reading, they willcomprehend the text more thoroughly

3 Before the students read the text, have them read questions about it beforehand to help them focus on meaning.

Normally, each reading passage in the textbook has some questions relating toits content for students to answer after reading Therefore, have students read thequestions first will guide them to what information they need to understand the text Ifquestions do not come with the text, the teacher can make up one or two which willhelp the students concentrate It is even helpful to have them try to answer thequestions before they read the text

4 Do not pre-teach vocabulary unless necessary.

We know that one of the skills readers should learn is to guess the meaning ofunknown words If all words are presented beforehand, this will prevent them frombeing able to guess from context Besides, it is very ineffective for students toremember the meaning of lists of isolating words Instead of doing in this way, theteacher should work on skills that help the students guess intelligently If a word israrely used, it is better to ignore it then

5 Have students read silently without whispering the words or moving the lips.

Reading silently will help students to read more quickly and focus on moreimportant words Moreover, the students will be able to pay attention on meaning, not

to the form of words only

6 Discuss difficult vocabulary after reading the text.

After reading, if the students are not able to understand certain words byguessing from the context, the teacher will help them by explaining the meaning of thewords

7 When discussing the answer to the comprehension questions, be sure to refer back

to the text often.

Generally, the comprehension questions are aimed at checking whether studentshave understood the contents of the reading text or not Thus, referring back to the text

will help the teacher check the students’ understanding as well as make them realizewhere in the text that information locates.

8 Focus on developing the skills of the readers.

The goal of teaching reading is not only to help the students to understand thetext for that day, but also to help them to effectively read for themselves after class Itmeans that they can apply sub-skills that are taught in the classroom to read any kind

of text in their daily life

In short, there are a number of principles that the teacher must follow whenteaching reading Depending on the features of each class and each reading lesson aswell as the level of students that the teacher can choose an appropriate one for theirreading classes

1.1.4 Stages of Teaching a Reading Text

Nguyen Thi Van Lam & Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007:59) suggested that there are 3main stages of teaching a reading text as follow:

- Introducing the text

- Presenting new vocabulary

- Giving guiding question

1.1.4.2.2 Second Reading and Comprehension

After the students have read the text for the first time and have tried tounderstand the general meaning, the teacher provides some while-reading activitiesand should be sure that the students have looked at the activities before they gothrough the text again for detailed comprehension Some of the activities are:

Post-reading activities serve several purposes:

 To obtain a sense of closure

 To personalize the main activity

 To summarize, reinforce and evaluate what was done

A post activity should last 5-10 minutes of the lesson In a reading lesson, there

is a difference between applying the activity at an earlier stage of the reading processand at the post reading stage This difference is due to the quantity and quality ofinformation possessed by the reader

1.2 Motivation

Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon Therefore,there are many concepts of learner motivation Motivation is considered as the drivingforce by which we achieve our goals According to Pintrich and Schunk (2002:10), ageneral definition of the term motivation refers to “the process whereby goal-directedactivity is instigated and sustained” Gardner (1994) states that a specific secondlanguage learning motivation is “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the

goal of learning the language” Thus, a motivation individual shows “favorableattitudes toward learning the language” Students’ motivation refers to a student’swillingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, thelearning processes.

On the other hand, motivation can be defined specifically in term of twofactors: learners’ communicative needs and learners’ attitudes (Nguyen Thi Van Lamand Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007:29) Learners’ communicative needs means learnerdesiring to fulfill professional ambitions or need to speak the second language in awide range of social situations They will perceive the communicative value of thesecond language and therefore they will be motivated to acquire proficiency in it.Learners’ attitude means learners have favorable attitudes towards the second languagecommunity; they will need to more contact with them

Motivation plays a key role is in education A teacher that implementsmotivational techniques will see an increased participation, effort, and higher grades

So, how to motivate students into learning English is the question that concerns manyteachers of English According to Crookes and Schmidt (1991, cited in Nguyen ThiVan Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007), the teacher should use forthcoming activities,interesting text, various tasks, and materials, co-operative to increase the levels ofmotivation for students And clearly, culture and age differences will determine themost appropriate way for teachers to motivate students

1.3 Vocabulary

1.3.1 Definitions

Vocabulary is broadly known as knowledge of words and word meanings

However, in education, the word vocabulary is used with varying meanings For

example, for beginning reading teachers, the word might be synonymous with “sightvocabulary,” by which they mean a set of the most common words in English thatyoung students need to be able to recognize quickly as they see them in print

However, for teachers of upper elementary and secondary school students, vocabulary

usually means the “hard” words that students encounter in content area textbook andliterature selections

According to Ur (1996: 60): “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words

we teach in the foreign language”

For example: - school, car, sky, song, etc (noun)

- beautiful, tall, big, talent, etc (adjectives)

- buy, say, go, meet, etc (verb)

However, an item of vocabulary may be more than a single word It can bemade up of two or more words but expresses a singular idea For example: golf-keeper, reading-lamp, sun flower, etc

Moreover, there are a lot of multi-word idioms whose meanings can not bededucted from the meaning of each component word, exemplified by:

- hand over hand (make great progress)

- white lie ( lie which makes no harm )

- to be on cloud nine ( very happy)

- etc

Therefore, vocabulary should be seen as items, not just words

1.3.2 The Importance of Vocabulary

When learning a language, the first thing we learn is vocabulary It can beclearly seen that vocabulary is the basic building blocks of language, the units ofmeaning from which larger structures such as sentences, paragraphs and whole textsare formed

However, teaching and learning English vocabulary seemed to be paid notenough attention as other language skills before Under the influence ofcommunicative language teaching, teaching vocabulary now is highly appreciated incomparison with other aspects, especially with grammar Wilkins refers: “The fact isthat while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing

can be conveyed”, (1972:111) For instance, when a person says: “I visit my

grandparents last week”, the listener can still catch up the information because of thepresence of the word “last week” However it is impossible without vocabulary

Vocabulary plays a very important role in English language learning A goodvocabulary can help students a lot It is a good basis for learners to acquire other skills.Without having a certain stock of vocabulary, students will encounter so manydifficulties in learning Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing and Grammar as well

For example, with poor vocabulary, students can not understand the reading text and

do the task well Or they can not know how to express their ideas in a speaking class,although they have many interesting things in their mind

It is the importance of vocabulary in a language class How about itsimportance in real life? In the thesis “Toward Teaching English Vocabulary toVietnamese Tertiary Students”, Hoang Tat Truong cited Saville and Troike’s idea:

Vocabulary is most important for understanding and knowing names for things, actions and concepts We can appeal to our common sense and experience information in making this decision about priorities Many of us have gotten along in foreign countries, even shopping, getting directions if we just knew the names of what we wanted although we had no idea how to structure grammatical utterance (1985: 87)

As a matter of fact, in many situations, only using vocabulary can help uscommunicate successfully A foreigner went to a shop to buy things He said:

- Black hat, please!

And the he knew how much it cost by just asking:

- Money?

Obviously, only simple words are used in this situation but the speaker can stillsucceed in doing communicative task Hoang Tat Truong added that non-nativespeakers need vocabulary first in order to survive In communicative languageteaching, success in communication is what teaching and learning aim at The vitalrole of vocabulary in this field can not be neglected

In addition, a good vocabulary can help speakers confident in communication.They are free to express their ideas without stopping to find words, without beingafraid of losing face when pronouncing incorrectly

In conclusion, vocabulary plays a very important role in language learning and

in communication Therefore, teaching and learning vocabulary becomes crucial partfor any language class

We have mentioned to the importance of reading and the significance ofvocabulary So what is the importance of one to the other? Or what is the relationshipbetween them?

As mentioned above, vocabulary is very important to have a successfulcommunication It is also very important to learn all skills in a language learning,especially to learn reading skill Educational researchers have found a strongcorrelation between reading and vocabulary knowledge In other words, students whohave a large vocabulary are usually good readers This is not very surprising, since thebest way to acquire a large vocabulary is to read extensively, and if you readextensively you are likely to be or become a good reader!

They have also found that there is a strong correlation between reading andacademic success In other words, a student who has a large vocabulary and is a goodreader is more likely to do well in school and pass exams than a student who is a weakreader

The graphic below illustrates the interdependence of vocabulary, reading abilityand academic success

So, how can vocabulary affect reading skill, and vice verse? This relationshipseems logical: sufficient vocabulary can help learners read effectively, and extensivereading can enhance acquiring a sufficient vocabulary To get meaning from what theyread, students need both a great many words in their vocabularies and the ability to usevarious strategies to establish the meanings of new words when they encounter them.Young students who don’t have large vocabularies or effective word-learningstrategies often struggle to achieve comprehension Their bad experiences with readingset in motion a cycle of frustration and failure that continues throughout theirschooling Because these students don’t have sufficient word knowledge to understand

what they read, they typically avoid reading Because they don’t read very much, theydon’t have the opportunity to see and learn very many new words This means that

“the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” In terms of vocabulary development,good readers read more, become better readers, and learn more words; poor readersread less, become poorer readers, and learn fewer words

In conclusion, vocabulary and reading have the strong effect on each other.Teachers and students should pay attention to teaching and learning vocabulary andreading so that students will have a good basis to learn other skills to communicatesuccessfully

1.5 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching

1.5.1 Principles for Teaching Vocabulary

Forseth et al (1996: 23-25) propose eight principles for teaching vocabulary:

1.5.1.1. Present words in context.

Regardless of what techniques are applied to present new words, words should

be introduced in context Presenting words in isolation forces students to understandmechanically As a result, they can not make use of the in authentic communication.They do not know where, when, to whom, in what context they should use whichwords From the context, we can learn more about the word by looking at thesurrounding sentences For example, in the context: “I love orange juice It is sodelicious to drink a glass of orange juice in a hot day”, student can know that “orangejuice” is a noun, it is a kind of drink and it may make people feel cool Therefore,using and presenting words in context helps students to guess at their meanings and toremember them better

1.5.1.2. Do not present too many words at once.

People can not consume a big amount of food at the same time It is similar tolearning new vocabulary Too many new words will create a mess in students’ mind It

is also one of the reasons that prevent students from learning vocabulary effectively

1.5.1.3. Remember that practicing words in context is more important than

memorizing isolated one.

We can learn many new words without being able to use them incommunication Students may be required to learn the meanings of words but theymust also be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking and writing.

1.5.1.4. Teach students skills for guessing new words, especially when reading

The meaning of words can be inferred from the different types of contexts andfrom looking at the affixes of the word Students will find them involved and moreactive if they can guess the meaning of the words For example: students have knownthe word “careful”, when teaching the word “careless”, teacher can introduce that it isopposite to “careful”, so students can guess its meaning

1.5.1.5. Avoid translation as much as possible

Translation is always considered as the last choice When presenting newwords, having words translated will separate learner from foreign languageenvironment The only case that translation should be used is when it takes too long tocommunicate in English

1.5.1.6. Avoid using the dictionary as much as possible.

When reading or listening, students should first try guessing or ignoring newwords so that they can continue without stopping Also, using a dictionary whenspeaking or listening will slow down communication

1.5.1.7. Remember that not all words are important.

This principle deals with the vocabulary selection problem in teachinglanguage As we all know, the number of items in a language’s lexis is enormous It isimpossible for learner to compile all the vocabulary Not really important wordsshould be ignored and learners should concentrate on important ones They shouldlearn practical and workable words that will help them in authentic communication infuture

1.5.1.8. If a word is necessary for understanding an activity or a passage, teach it

to the students beforehand.

If it is not so necessary or important, the teacher should let students first guess

at the meaning while they are reading or listening Teach the meaning later or not at all

1.5.2 Steps for Teaching Vocabulary

Nguyen Thi Van Lam & Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007:32) suggested that teachingvocabulary consists of such steps as follow:

1 Provide the context for the word

2. Say the word clearly and write it on the board

3. Show the meaning of the word

4. Get the class to repeat the word in chorus and individually

5. Give examples to show how the word is used

6. Ask question using the word

7. Ask students to make sentences with the word

These steps can be divided into 3 stages:

- Presentation: consists of steps 1, 2 and 3

- Practice: consists of steps 4, 5 and 6

- Production: consists of step 7

1.6 Short Vocabulary Games and Activities

Stenton & Lambert (1985) defines that a game is an activity that usually has 4properties: a particular task or objective; a set of rules; a competition between playersand communication between players by spoken or written language

In the long run, each of them has developed their own concepts of game; all theabove-mentioned definitions refer to the features of a game It is governed by rules It

is for fun and it has a goal or an objective

Similarly, there are some definitions of activity Activity is an action, ingeneral And educational activity is the activity of educating or instructing; activitiesthat impart knowledge or skill According to Harmer (1991), activity is a loose termused to give a general description of what will happen in class It is important to

realize that here we are not talking about what, general and physically, students aregoing to do.

It can be seen that there is not a clear difference between games and activities inlanguage teaching Both of them are used with the same purposes: to support theteaching and learning process and to increase students’ motivation

Short vocabulary games and activities are short games and activities used toteach vocabulary They can be used for warm-up activities, to introduce new words, topractice new words or in word-checking activities in all stages of a reading lesson

1.6.2 Why to Use Short Vocabulary Games and Activities

Short games and activities have been shown to have advantages andeffectiveness in teaching and learning English in various ways Educators can makestudents more engage and find it easier to learn through the use of short games andactivities

According to Wright et al (2006: 2), games and activities have many benefitssuch as: Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work;games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful andmeaningful; and games can provide intense and meaningful practice of language

Lee Su Kim, in “Creative Games for the Language Class” (1995: 35) suggestssome advantages of using games in the classroom:

 Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class

 They are motivating and challenging

 Learning a language requires a great deal of effort Games help students tomake and sustain the effort of learning

 Games provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing,listening and reading

 They encourage students to interact and communicate

 They create a meaningful context for language use

Therefore, the role of short vocabulary games and activities in teaching andlearning English cannot be denied However, in order to achieve the most fromvocabulary games and activities, it is essential that suitable games and activities arechosen Whenever a game or activity is to be conducted, the number of students,

proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settingsare factors that should be taken into account.

In conclusion, using short vocabulary games and activities is one effective andinteresting way that can be applied in any classrooms It is suggested that short gamesand activities are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the usefulpractice and review of the lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners'communicative competence, especially improving their reading comprehension ability

1.6.3 Common Types of Short Vocabulary Games and Activities Used in Reading Lessons

In fact, there are different short vocabulary activities and games used in readinglessons In this section, Matching Word with its Meaning, Making Sentences, andOrganizing Words into Categories, Finding Synonyms / Antonyms, Gap- Filling,Paraphrasing and Building Words are recommended because these techniques aretypical and useful for the teaching of reading

1.6.3.1 Matching Word with its Definition

This game is an excellent way for the students to remember new words andtheir definitions There are 2 columns: one contains words and the other containsdefinition with wrong order Students’ task is to find out which word goes with whichdefinition

1.6.3.2 Making Sentences

In this activity, teacher simply asks students to make sentences, usingwords they have learnt

1.6.3.3 Organizing Words into Categories

This activity is also called “Grouping and Organizing” This is a good activity

to acquaint the students with all of the vocabulary and to get them to think aboutrelationships between and among words Students use the list of vocabulary in whichwords are generally already divided into various topics (which do not count forpurposes of this activity), but there are many more categories that can be created Eachcategory must contain at least 3 words for it to legitimately be considered a category.Words may be used in more than one category Each student writes a categoryheading, underlining it, and lists all words that correspond to the category underneaththe heading Stipulate a time limit for this activity and stick to it, collecting the papers

at the end of the time limit Then, for full class follow-up, ask students what categoriesthey listed and put these on the board Once several categories are on the board, askstudents to suggest words that fit the category This activity can force each student tolook at the words and think about their meaning, as well as requiring them to write thewords multiple times.

1.6.3.4 Finding Synonyms / Antonyms

Students race to see who can find a synonym/ antonym to a given word thequickest Divide your class into three teams On your classroom chalk or dry-eraseboard, write a vocabulary word that has recently been reviewed On your mark,students work together to think of a synonym/antonym for the vocabulary word Arepresentative for the team raises his hand to indicate that the team has reached adecision The representative announces the synonym/antonym his team has selected Ifthe word is a correct synonym/antonym, the team earns a point if not, the remainingteams have an opportunity to present a word The team with the most points at the end

of the game wins

1.6.3.5 Gap- Filling

This is also a good way to test students or to make the transition betweenworking with the definitions available and recalling what the words mean on theirown Have a word bank with five vocabulary words and sentences or paragraph withblanks, and have the students decide which word goes in which blank Teacher’schallenge will be constructing sentences which only match with one word, so smallgroups of words are better These exercises are also opportunities for you to give awider scope to a word, and discuss how that word fits into a sentence that the studentsmight not have considered

1.6.3.6 Paraphrasing

Nguyen Thi Van Lam & Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007:57) suggests that in thisactivity, the teacher gives students a list of words or sentences and asks themparaphrase by writing them again, using: very similar meaning, different words ordifferent grammatical structure (when using sentences)

1.6.3.7 Crossword Puzzles

According to Benjamin & Crow (2009:118), “crossword puzzles are anexcellent way to develop the habit of thinking about the flexible meaning of words

They also reinforce spelling patterns” This activity is aimed at improving students’guessing skill by finding out the key word that relates to the topic of the lesson andarising their vocabulary as well.

1.7 Summary

In this chapter, the author has attempted to make an overview about reading: thedefinitions of reading, the importance of reading, the principles for teaching readingand stages of teaching a reading text The author has also mentioned about vocabulary,its aspects, its importance and the relationship between vocabulary and reading Inaddition, short vocabulary games and activities, the benefits of using them and somecommon games and activities used in reading lessons have been discussed in this part

Chapter II: The survey

2.1 Overview of the survey

2.1.1 Aims of the survey

This survey was aimed at searching for the attitudes of teachers and studentstowards English in general and English reading skill in particular It also tried to findout the real situation of using vocabulary games and activities in the English readinglessons for the 11th form students at Cua Lo I High School

The results from the survey questionnaires and the analysis of results helped theresearcher make some suggestions for using short vocabulary games and activities toincrease 11th form students’ interests in English reading lessons

2.1.2 Description of the Survey

This survey was conducted with 12 questions for students and 9 ones forteachers on 100 students and on 6 teachers from Cua Lo I High School in Cua Lotown, Nghe An province

2.1.2.1. Survey Questionnaire for Students

Students taking part in the survey are in grade 11 (49 students from class 11 A3and 51 students from class 11 A1) Most of them started learning English when theywere in grade 6 They, thus, have been learning English for 6 years so far

The survey questionnaire for the students mainly asks them about their attitudestowards learning English, learning reading skill and the use of short vocabulary gamesand activities in reading classes The first and second questions are conducted to knowthe students’ opinion about English and learning English Question 3 asks students

about the time they spend on learning English per day In next two questions, students’attitudes toward English language skills are mentioned Question 6 and 7 ask aboutstudents’ levels of interest in reading lessons and what factor makes them mostinterested in reading lessons For the other questions, the author wants to getinformation about the application of some kinds of short vocabulary games andactivities in reading lessons and students’ opinion about them as well.

2.1.2.2. Survey Questionnaire for Teachers

Six teachers of English from Cua Lo I High School are all young teachers Five

of them have been teaching English for 12-15 years A teacher started her teaching twoyears ago They have quite much experience of teaching but it is not such a long timethat they can easily approach new methods of teaching

Similarly, the survey questionnaire for the teachers is carried out to get someinformation from teachers about the qualification of the 11th form students in theirschool, their opinion about English in general, reading skill in particular and abouttheir students’ interest in reading lessons The second part of the survey questionnaire(from question 6 to question 9) is given to ask the teachers about the application ofshort vocabulary games and activities in English reading lessons and their effect aswell

In short, the questions in the survey questionnaire for both teachers and studentsare quite simple and clear enough for them to give the answers These questionsmainly focus on the situation of applying short vocabulary games and activities inEnglish reading lessons

The following are the results and data analysis which answer the followingresearch questions

2.2.1 What are the Attitudes of Students and Teachers at Cua Lo I High School towards English Reading Skill and Short Vocabulary Games and Activities?

Both teachers and students showed good opinions about English reading skilland short vocabulary games and activities These opinions are expressed very clearlythrough the data collected from the surveys

1 How necessary is English in your opinion?

2 What do you think about learning English?

a very interesting

b interesting

c not very interesting

d not interesting at all

3341206

Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards English and learning English

Most of students found English really necessary (87%) and learning Englishvery interesting or interesting (74%) However, a quarter of students still foundlearning English not very interesting or not interesting at all