Sử dụng các trò chơi ngôn ngữ như những hoạt động bổ trợ để dạy từ vựng tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 4 luận văn thạc sĩ giáo dục

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES    ---NGUYEN THI VAN USING LANGUAGE GAMES AS SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

  

-NGUYEN THI VAN

USING LANGUAGE GAMES AS SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY

TO THE FOURTH GRADERS (SỬ DỤNG CÁC TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ NHƯ NHỮNG HOẠT ĐỘNG

BỔ TRỢ ĐỂ DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 4)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

  

-NGUYEN THI VAN

USING LANGUAGE GAMES AS SUPPLEMENTARY ACTIVITIES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY

TO THE FOURTH GRADERS

LANGUAGE TEACHING

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI VAN LAM (M.A.)

VINH - 2011

I also would like to thank all the teachers who have taught me during the courseand have given me useful advice and favourable conditions for the completion of thethesis

Additionally, I am grateful to all teachers of English and students at Hung BinhPrimary School, Nghi Lien Primary School, Vinh Tan Primary School, Ha Huy Tap IIPrimary School and Quang TRung Primary School, who have helped me much to carryout the survey for my thesis

Finally, my thanks go to my family as well as my friends for their support andencouragement

Vinh, 2011

Nguyen Thi Van

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I declare that this dissertation represents my own work, and that it has not beenpreviously submitted to this University or to any other institutions for a degree,diploma or other qualifications

The success of learning a foreign language is much determined at the early stage

of learning that language Thus, teaching English to primary school students needs to

be considered important for this is the stage children begin familiarizing with and learnthis language For the communication purpose, one of the important things is to build

up a stock of vocabulary for children besides developing the four skills With the aims

to help primary school teachers see the positive effects of games as well as encouragethem to use games as supplementary activities to teach vocabulary to their students, theinvestigation was carried out with the support of 10 teachers and 200 fourth gradersfrom the five primary schools in Vinh city to find out the answers for the three mainissues: the attitudes of teachers and students towards the teaching and learningvocabulary, the real situation of using games in teaching vocabulary, and the effects ofusing games teaching this language element Data were collected through onequestionnaire for the teachers and two questionnaires for the students, and somefollow-up interviews The results reveal that first, although most teachers still tooseriously value the role of grammar above vocabulary for the purpose ofcommunicative competence, and the students meet difficulties in learning vocabulary,they are all aware of good effects of mastering vocabulary Secondly, games are usedwith low frequency and the ways of organizing the games are not really effective inteaching vocabulary to students Lastly, games are proved to be very useful andeffective in vocabulary learning and teaching to the students through the experimentalteaching Hence, games are highly recommended for teaching vocabulary to primaryschool students Hopefully, with the results achieved from the survey, therecommendations for using games and some samples to apply games into somespecific lesson, the dissertation will be a useful source of reference for teachers ofEnglish in improving vocabulary learning and teaching

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1: Teachers’ attitudes towards the textbooks and vocabulary items provided

in the books 49

Figure 3.2: Students’ attitudes towards English learning (Students’ questionnaire number 1) 50

Figure3.3: Students’ attitudes towards English vocabulary learning (Students’ questionnaire number 1) 51

Figure 3.4: Students’ ability of remembering new words after each lesson (Students’ questionnaire number 1) 52

Figure 3.5: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary in comparison with grammar for communication purpose 54

Figure 3.6: Teachers’ priority focus on aspects of vocabulary 55

Figure 3.7: Teachers’ frequency of using games for teaching vocabulary 56

Figure 3.8: The moments of using games of the teachers 57

Figure 3.9: The ways of organizing class of the teachers when using games 58

Figure 3.10: Students’ involvement in the games 59

(Students’ questionnaire number 1) Figure 3.11: Students’ attitudes towards the games used in the experimental vocabulary teaching (Students’ questionnaire number 2) 63

Figure 3.12: Students’ involvement in the games 63

(Students’ questionnaire number 2) Figure 3.13: Students’ attitudes towards learning English (Students’ questionnaire number 2) 64

Figure 3.14: Students’ attitudes towards English vocabulary learning (Students’ questionnaire number 2) 65

Figure 3.15: Students’ ability of remembering new words after each lesson (Students’ questionnaire number 2) 66

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: The most difficult issue to students when learning vocabulary 51 Table 3.2: Teachers’ attitudes towards the effects of mastering vocabulary 53 Table 3.3: Teachers’ frequency of using some specific games 60

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

ABSTRACT

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 5

1 Reasons for Choosing the Subject 5

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 7

3 Scope of the Study 7

4 Methods of the Study 8

5 Format of the Study 8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 Second Language Learning 10

2.1.1 First and Second Language Learning 10

2.1.2 Factors Affecting Second Language Learning 13

2.2 Characteristics of Children as Learners 16

2.2.1 Children in General 16

2.2.2 Eight to Ten - Year - Old Children in Particular 17

2.3 Motivation 17

2.3.1 Definition 17

2.3.2 Motivation in Classroom Setting 18

2.4 English Vocabulary 19

2.4.1 Definition 19

2.4.2 The Importance of Vocabulary 19

2.4.3 Aspects of Vocabulary 20

2.4.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling 20

2.4.3.2 Grammar 20

2.4.3.3 Collocation 21

2.4.3.4 Aspects of Meaning 21

2.4.3.4.1 Denotation, Connotation and Appropriateness 21

2.4.3.4.2 Meaning Relationships 22

2.4.3.5 Part of Speech 23

2.4.3.6 Word Formation 24

2.4.3.7 Word Use 25

2.4.3.8 Active and Passive Vocabulary 26

2.4.3.9 Concrete and Abstract Vocabulary 27

2.4.4 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching 27

2.4.4.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 27

2.4.4.2 Stages of Teaching Vocabulary in CLT 30

2.4.4.2.1 Presentation 30

2.4.4.2.2 Practice 30

2.4.4.2.2.1 Controlled Practice 30

2.4.4.2.2.2 Free Practice 30

2.4.4.2.3 Revision 31

2.4.5 Factors Affecting the Decision in Choosing Vocabulary Items to Teach 31

2.4.5.1 Type of Lesson 31

2.4.5.2 Purpose of Using Words 31

2.4.5.3 Lexical Syllabus 32

2.5 Games 32

2.5.1 Definition 32

2.5.2 Types of Games 33

2.5.3 The Roles of Games in Teaching Vocabulary to Primary School Students 36

2.5.4 Principles in Using Games 39

2.5.5 Moments of Using Games 41

CHAPTER 3: USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE FOURTH GRADERS 42

3.1 Research Context 42

3.1.1 The Setting of the Survey 42

3.1.2 Overview of the Textbook Let’s Learn English - Book 2 42

3.2 Research Methodology 43

3.2.1 Research Questions 43

3.2.2 Subjects of the Study 44

3.2.2.1 The Teachers 44

3.2.2.2 The Students 44

3.2.3 Research Instruments 45

3.2.3.1 The Survey Questionnaire for the Teachers 45

3.2.3.2 The Survey Questionnaires for the Students 46

3.2.3.2.1 Students’ Questionnaire Number 1 – Before the Experimental Teaching 46

3.2.3.2.2 Students’ Questionnaire Number 2 – After the Experimental Teaching 46

3.2.4 Data Collection Procedure 47

3.2.5 Data Analysis 48

3.3 Findings and Discussion 48

3.3.1 The Attitudes of the Teachers and Students towards the Teaching and Learning of English in General and English Vocabulary in Particular in Grade Four of the Primary Schools48

3.3.2 The Real Situation of Using Games in Teaching Vocabulary to the Fourth Graders55 3.3.3 The Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in Grade Four of the Primary Schools 62

CHAPTER 4: APPLICATION OF THE STUDY 69

4.1 Some Recommendations for Using Games in Teaching Vocabulary 69

4.1.1 Deciding Which Game to Use 69

4.1.2 Timing 69

4.1.3 Preparation 70

4.1.4 Giving Instructions 70

4.1.5 Class Organization 70

4.1.6 Class Management 71

4.1.7 Correction 72

4.2 Some Suggested Games for the Teaching of Vocabulary to the Fourth Graders 72

4.2.1 Conversation Chain 72

4.2.2 Simon Says 74

4.2.3 Chain Game 75

4.2.4 Bingo 76

4.2.5 Slap the Board 77

4.2.6 Pelmanism 79

4.2.7 Whisper 80

4.2.8 Word Square 82

4.2.9 Kim’s Game 83

4.2.10 Do as You Are Told 84

4.2.11 Crossword Puzzle 86

4.2.12 Noughts and Crosses 88

4.2.13 Hot Seats 89

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 91

5.1 Recapitulation 91

5.2 Suggestions for Further Researches 92

REFERENCES 93 APENDICE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for Choosing the Subject

Living in the era of globalization and information technology, knowing aforeign language is very important and necessary English has been used in all fields ofsociety and become such an international language that there are now more and morepeople learning English, and it has more second-language speakers than any otherlanguages

Accordingly, learning English in Vietnam is popular Especially, since Vietnambecame the 150th official member of World Trade Organization, English has beenmore important than ever Teaching and learning English has received the seriousattention of Vietnam’s education In recent years, not only English has been taught insecondary schools and higher levels but also in primary schools

Primary school is a very important period for learning English because this isconsidered the first stage of one’s approach with a new language Learning English atprimary schools helps students form and develop the capacity to communicate inEnglish through listening, speaking, reading and writing; or in other words, the Englishinstruction in primary school is intended to endorse the mastery and development ofthe four basic abilities and skills The relationship between the four skills andvocabulary is mutual: The four basic skills - reading, writing, speaking and listening -reflect the use of language, vocabulary items are introduced and mastered throughteaching the skills, and the master of vocabulary helps children develop the four skillsbetter As in Gower et al (2005), vocabulary is considered to be important to students,and more important than grammar for communication purposes, particularly in theearly stages when students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by inthe language Hence, in learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an importantrole It is vocabulary that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading andwriting all together In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students

should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use themaccurately The need to use various instructional media will be able to help students toincrease their English vocabulary

With the goal of communicative competence, the Communicative Approach,which is student-centered, has been applied to the teaching of English and thus studentsbecome active in their learning However, since the innovation of English teachingmethods in primary schools, teachers has been faced many difficulties in teachingchildren the skills in general and vocabulary in particular As a matter of fact, theteaching and learning of foreign languages in general and English in particular stillexists a common phenomenon is that students cannot use language to communicate,partly because students cannot master, remember and apply vocabulary they havelearned This is due to a combination of many causes Among the causes are teachingmethods of teachers and psychological characteristics of children

For students at primary schools, teaching and learning English should comefrom their interests, concerns and personal experiences Primary school students havenot been able to grasp a language systematically and analyze a language consciously,and one of their common characteristics is curiosity The way of teaching with nothingnew and active will make students get bored; therefore, the teacher needs somethingdifferent to make students interested, and something interesting which can motivatethem Thus, to motivate them, the teacher needs something new that can stimulate theircuriosity and one of the best methods to teach English to students at this age is throughactivities Games as interactive activities can meet these requirements Games, as amatter of fact, can help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work

It will be easy to understand and practice of English while children enjoy their learningthrough playing games

From the above-mentioned reality and reasons, the author has decided to

conduct the study entitled “Using Language Games as Supplementary Activities to

Teach English Vocabulary to the Fourth Graders” with the hope that the study could

make some contributions to the teaching and learning English at primary schools

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The main purposes of the author when conducting the study are:

- To investigate real situation of vocabulary teaching and learning and the use ofgames in the fourth grade of the primary schools

- To indicate the effectiveness of using games in teaching vocabulary to thefourth graders

- To give some suggestions for the improvement of teaching vocabulary to thefourth graders by using games

To fully achieve these aims, the study is to answer the following researchquestions:

- What are the attitudes of the teachers and students towards the teaching andlearning of English in general and English vocabulary in particular in grade four of theprimary schools?

- What is the real situation of using games in teaching vocabulary to the fourthgraders?

- To what extent do games work in vocabulary learning and teaching in gradefour of the primary schools?

3 Scope of the Study

The study mainly deals with a small part in using language games to teachEnglish vocabulary to students However, it is too broad to carry out the thesisdiscussing all levels of students and unable to carry out the research at all primaryschools Thus, the thesis only focuses on students in the fourth form at five primaryschools, namely Hung Binh Primary School, Quang Trung Primary School, Vinh Tan

Primary School, Ha Huy Tap 2 Primary School, and Nghi Lien Primary School, with

the textbook “Let’s learn English 2”

4 Methods of the Study

With the aim to develop the teaching and learning of English vocabulary atprimary school through the use of language games as supplementary activities, duringthe writing of the thesis, the author has used a combination of both the quantitative andqualitative approaches with the following procedure:

- Reviewing theories and collecting information associated with teaching andlearning vocabulary and games from different sources: references, books, and Internet

- Conducting a survey on the real situation at primary schools by usingquestionnaires and making interviews for both the teachers and students

- Investigating and analyzing the results gained from the survey about thecurrent situation of teaching and learning vocabulary and using games in teaching thiselement at primary schools

- Synthesizing the survey results to suggest suitable games for vocabularyteaching and learning

5 Format of the Study

The thesis consists of five main chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter provides the information about the reasons for choosing the study,the aims and objectives, the scope, the methods and the format of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

In this chapter, the author provides the concepts which related to the study,including theoretical background about vocabulary learning and teaching, games and

Chapter 3: Using Language Games to Teach English Vocabulary to the Fourth Graders

This chapter consists of three sections The first section is Research Context

which denotes the setting of the survey and an overview of the textbook applied to

teach the fourth form students The second one is Research Methodology in which

research questions, subjects of the study, research instruments, and the procedure of

collecting and analyzing data are presented The final section in this chapter - Findings

and Discussion - revolves around the three research questions of the study.

Chapter 4: Application of the Study to the Teaching of English Vocabulary

to the Fourth Graders

Some recommendations for using games in teaching and learning vocabulary areprovided in chapter 4 Also, the author suggests some games as specific examples for

some concrete lessons in Let’s learn English – Book 2 for the fourth graders.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Main points and contents of the study will be summarized based on the results

of the study The recommendations for further research will be also presented

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter in turn presents the concepts needed for the background of thestudy, namely second language learning, characteristics of children as learners,motivation, vocabulary and games

2.1 Second Language Learning

2.1.1 First and Second Language Learning

First language is the language that an individual learns first First language isalso called native language or mother tongue

Second language is defined as any language other than the first language learned

in a broader sense In a narrower sense, it is a language learned after the first language

in a context where the language is used widely in the speech community For example,Vietnamese people in England have their first language Vietnamese and their secondlanguage English

In order to explain for how language is learned Linguists and psychologistsproposed several theories, namely behaviorism, innatism, and interactionist position

● Behaviorism:

Behaviorism is considered as the earliest psychological theory in explaining firstlanguage learning Behaviorism accounts for second language acquisition (SLA) withthe same theory as for first language acquisition (FLA) Behaviorists believe thatlanguage learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback on success and habitformation They claim that all learning take place and imply to the same underlyingprocess, in spite of their form verbal and non-verbal The role of the speakers is toprovide learners with the input so that they can form so-called “associations orrelations” between words, objects or events By forming these associations, learnerscan practice While experiences are repeated, the associations become stronger

Behaviorism in explaining SLA was often associated with Contrastive AnalysisHypothesis (CAH) The CAH predicts that where there are similarities between the

first language and the target language, the learners will acquire target-langaugestructures easily, and vice versa Also, CAH denotes that first language is the mainsources of errors in second language (Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong,2007).

● Innatism

According to Chomsky (1959, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007), children are biologically programmed for language and languagedevelops in children in just the same way that other biological functions develop Theavailability of people who speak to the child acts as a basic contribution of theenvironment and the child’s biological endowment will do the rest In Chomsky (1959,cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007), children’s minds

language acquisition device was often described as an imaginary “black box” which

was believed to contain all and only the principles universal to all human languages

Another term in Chomsky’s writing is Universal Grammar that is thought to consist of

a set of principles that are common to all languages

The biologist Eric Lenneberg argued that the language acquisition device workssuccessfully only when it is stimulated at the right time called the “Critical Period”.The Critical Period Hypothesis refers to the notion that there is a specific and limitedtime period for the acquisition of language

Additionally, Krashen (1982, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) presented five “hypothesis” which constitute what he originally calledthe “Monitor Model”, namely the Acquisition-Learing Hypothesis, the MonitorHypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, and the AffectiveFilter Hypothesis The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis claims that there are twodistinctive ways of developing competence in a second or foreign language:

“acquisition” and “learning” Acquisition is the “natural” way, paralleling firstlanguage development in children Acquisition refers to an unconscious process thatinvolves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding

language and through using language for meaningful communication We acquire as

we are exposed to samples of the second language which we understand This happens

in much the same way that children pick up their first language-with no consciousattention to the form Learning, by contrast, refers to a conscious process of study andattention to form and rule learning The result of learning is the explicit knowledgeabout the form of a language and the ability to verbalize this knowledge For Krashen,acquisition is by far the more important process, and learning cannot turn intoacquisition The “affective filter” is an imaginary barrier functioning to preventlearners form acquiring language from the available input The “affect” refers to suchthings as motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states The filter is up when a learnerwho is stressed, upset, or even unmotivated (a high affective filter), which preventsacquisition from taking place The filter is down when the learner is relaxed andmotivated (a low affective filter) Therefore, it is desirable to acquire language with alow affective filter

● Interactionist Position

According to interactionist position, the complex and intricate interplay betweenthe uniquely human characteristics of the child and the environment in which the childdevelops brings about the development of first language Jean Piaget (cited in NguyenThi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007) viewed that children’s cognitivedevelopment partly determines their use of language Besides, Lev Vygotsky had thesociocultural theory of human mental processing which assumes that language

develops entirely from social interaction, and referred to the child’s zone of proximal

development.

Some interactionists have developed their ideas mainly in SLA research itself(Hatch, 1992; Pica, 1994; Long, 1983; cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) Interactionists view SLA as the process taking place throughconversational interaction and concern with the necessity of comprehensible input forlanguage acquisition Long (1983, cited in cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo

Dinh Phuong, 2007) agrees with Krashen that comprehensible input is necessary forlanguage acquisition However, he is more concerned with the question of how input ismade comprehensible He sees modified interaction as the necessary mechanism forthis to take place Long infers that modified interaction must be necessary for languageacquisition This relationship has been summarized as follows: Interactionalmodification makes input comprehensible; comprehensible input promotes acquisition.Therefore, interactional modification promotes acquisition

Hence, from the above views of the linguists, it seems that researchers andeducators who are hoping for language acquisition theories which give them insightinto language teaching practice are often frustrated by the lack of agreement among the

“experts” Research which has theory development as its goal has very important term significance for language teaching and learning, but agreement on a “complete”theory of language acquisition is probably, at best, a long way off

long-2.1.2 Factors Affecting Second Language Learning

Many beliefs based on anecdotal evidence assumed that second languagelearners must have some characteristics that foster their success in language learning

In this part, Lightbow and Spada (1999, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) see whether anecdotal evidence is supported by research findings Thefive main categories of learner characteristics listed include intelligence, aptitude,personality, learners’ preferences and motivation

Firstly, intelligence is considered affecting second language learning (SLL) Inthe past, linguistics tended to use the term intelligence referring to the performance ocertain kinds of tests that are linked to the success of learners at school Many yearspassed by, the new way of testing the relation between intelligence and secondlanguage learners’ success called IQ (intelligence quotient) came into being However,some recent findings express the view that intelligence can relatively bias to certainkinds of language abilities more strongly than to others and that intelligence measured

by verbal IQ test has a correlation with metalinguistic ability in second language, not

with oral competence

Secondly, it is aptitude that impacts the learning process of second languagelearners Aptitude is considered to be a special ability to learn a foreign languagequickly It consists of different types of abilities such as the ability to identify andmemorize new sounds; to understand the function of particular words in sentences,how words function grammatically in sentences; to figure out grammatical rules fromlanguage samples and memory for new words It should be noted that in a formalsetting, intelligence and aptitude are dominantly important in learning; meanwhile theyexert a weaker effect in an informal setting

Thirdly, personality also affects SLL There are a vast number of personalitycharacteristics such as extroversion and introversion, inhibition and risk-taking, self-esteem, anxiety, empathy, and so on However, there are some misty problems over theassociation between personality characteristics and success in SLL For example, somepeople think that learners with high-leveled extroversion (assertiveness andadventurousness) have fruitful results in language learning On the contrary, others findthat many successful language learners do not get high score on measures ofextroversion In contrast to intelligence, personality plays an important part in theacquisition of conversational skills, not in the acquisition of literacy skills

The fourth factor affecting SLL is the learners’ preferences Learning style is anindividual’s natural, habitual, and preferred way of absorbing, processing, andretaining new information and skills Two main types of learning styles related to SLLare perceptual learning style and cognitive learning style Also, all learners exert astrong belief about how their language instruction should be delivered Their beliefs arecounted on the previous learning experiences and the assumption that how theinstruction is delivered to them The learners’ preferences for learning decide the kinds

of strategies that the learners choose for learning new material

In addition, motivation and positive attitudes have effects on success of SLL.Motivation in SLL is defined in terms of learners’ communicative needs (the wants or

needs to speak the second language in a wide environment full of social situations or tofulfill professional ambitions) and the learners’ attitudes towards the second languagecommunity (favorable attitudes towards the speakers of the language and the learnerswill develop their desire for more contact with them) Also, it is noted that anindividual’s identity has a close-knit relation with the way he speaks Their identity andattitudes towards the second language community can be either positive or negative If

it is a positive attitude, learning a second language will be a source of enrichment inwhich the learners take delight in learning language and improve their knowledge Incontrast, if it is a negative attitude, the language-learning process will become a source

of resentment In this case, learners will find language learning a kind of burden due totheir absorption of no knowledge from the language Moreover, the social dynamic andpower relationship between languages is one factor that affects motivation In otherwords, a minority group member learning the language of a majority group expressesdifferent attitudes and motivation form the one who comes from a majority group andstudies a minority language

In conclusion, Lightbow and Spada have looked at the ways in whichintelligence, aptitude, personality, learners’ preferences and motivation have beenfound to influence SLL They have learned that the study of individual learnervariables is not easy ad that the results of research are not entirely satisfactory This ispartly because of the lack of clear definitions and methods for measuring the individualcharacteristics It is also doe to the fact that these learner characteristics are notindependent of one another: Learner variables interact in complex ways So far,researchers know very little about the nature of these complex interactions Thus, itremains difficult to make precise predictions about how a particular individual’scharacteristics influence his or her success as a language learner Nevertheless, in aclassroom, a sensitive teacher can create a learning environment in which virtually alllearners can be successful in learning a second language

2.2 Characteristics of Children as Learners

in their surrounding and then imitate it (children learn by doing)

- They are not able to understand grammatical rules and explanations aboutlanguage They only imitate what they are seeing and hearing

- They try to make sense of situations by making use of non-verbal clues.Children will imitate which means learning by doing

- They talk in their mother tongue about what they understand and this helps themlearn It means they use their mother tongue to understand everything

- They can generally imitate the sounds they hear quite accurately and copy theway adults speak It means they do imitation, memorization, practice and over learningwhat other people speak

- They are naturally curious They have strong willingness to know what they seeand hear in their surrounding

- They love to play and use their imagination It means they are learning whileplaying

- They are comfortable with routines and enjoy repetition It means they need tohave the habit of learning

- They have quite a short attention span and need variety Because they arelearning while playing, it is necessary that the teacher creates variety in teachingactivities to make them understand what the teacher means

2.2.2 Eight to Ten – Year - Old Children in Particular

For children at the age from eight to ten years olds, Scott and Ytreberg (2004)state the following general characteristics:

- Their basic concepts are formed They have their views of the world

- They can tell the difference between fact and fiction

- They ask questions all the time

- They rely on the spoken words as well as the physical world to convey andunderstand meaning

- They are able to make some decisions about their own learning

- They have definite views about what they like and do not like

- They have a developed sense of fairness about what happens

- They are able to work with others and learn from others

2.3 Motivation

2.3.1 Definition

Motivation in second language learning is quite a broad term that there are many

concepts of learner motivation In general, student motivation “refers to a student’s

willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning processes” (Bomia et al, 1997:1, cited in Wilder 2004)

Another concept by Pintrich and Schunk (2002) is that the term motivation

refers to “the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained”.

Moreover, Gardner (1994) states that a specific second language learning

motivation is “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the

language” Thus, a motivation individual shows “favorable attitudes toward learning the language” (Gardner, 1994)

What is more, motivation can be defined specifically in term of two factors:learners’ communicative needs and learners’ attitudes (Gardner and Lambert, 1972,Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007) Learners’ communicative needsmeans learners’ desire to fulfill professional ambitions or need to speak the second

language in a wide range of social situations They will perceive the communicativevalue of the second language and therefore they will be motivated to acquireproficiency in it Learners’ attitude means learners have favorable attitudes towards thesecond language community; they will desire more contact with them.

Some linguists develop the definition of motivation further to motivated andunmotivated language learners According to Skinner and Belmont (1991:3, cited in

Brewster and Fager, 2000), students who are motivated to engage in school “select

tasks at the border of their competencies, initiate action when given the opportunity, and exert intense effort and concentration in the implementation of learning tasks, they show generally positive emotions during ongoing action, including enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity and interest” On the other hand, less motivated or disengaged

students “are passive, do not try hard, and give up easily in the face of challenges”

(Skinner and Belmont, 1991:3, cited in Brewster and Fager, 2000)

2.3.2 Motivation in Classroom Setting

Motivated students are every teacher’s dream, thus they are willing to workhard, add their own goals to those of the classroom, focus their attention on the tasks athand, and persevere through challenges to promote students’ motivation Motivation isvery important factor affecting the success in second language learning Dornyei(1998) states that motivation can be influenced not only by the learner, but also by theenvironment and all it entails (e.g classroom, peers, textbook, teacher, and so on).Hence, it is important to make interesting, non-threatening classrooms which arerelevant to students’ age and level of ability

There is a study carried out to find several ways to increase levels of motivationfor students in classroom Dornyei (2001) laid out thirty-five motivational strategiesdivided into the pre-action, action, and post-action phases that teachers can employ togenerate, sustain and promote learners’ motivation According to Crookes and Schmidt(1991, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007), the teacher shoulduse forthcoming activities, interesting text, various tasks and materials, co-operative

goals to increase the levels of motivation for students

The teacher always plays an important role in increasing the students’motivation And clearly, cultural and age differences will determine the mostappropriate way for teachers to motivate students

2.4 English Vocabulary

2.4.1 Definition

As in Ur (1996), vocabulary can be roughly defined as the words taught in a

foreign language A new item may be either a single word, e.g book, cat, house, etc or more than a single word, e.g post office, school-yard, etc., which is made up of two or more words but expresses a single idea There are also multi-word idioms such as kick

the bucket, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the

component words

2.4.2 The Importance of Vocabulary

Until the mid-1980s, vocabulary was considered to be a “neglected aspect” tosecond language teaching and learning (Meara, 1981) After this urge in vocabularyresearch, there is a renewed interest in lexical acquisition Lexis is now recognised ascentral to any language acquisition process, native, or non-native (Laufer, 1997) Theteaching of vocabulary has gained the important status as a fundamental perspective oflanguage development (Nunan, 1999) The core role of vocabulary played in secondlanguage communication is being emphasized According to Gower et al (2005),vocabulary is important to students and more important than grammar forcommunication purposes, especially to children who are in the early stages of learningEnglish when they are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by in thelanguage Hatch (1983) states that the lexical level is the most important because it

makes basic communication possible Moreover, McCarthy (1990) claims that: “No

matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings communication

in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way.” Therefore, both teachers and

students are aware of the significance of vocabulary in second language learning.Teachers regard solid vocabulary foundation as necessary in every stage of languagelearning (Laufer, 1997)

2.4.3 Aspects of Vocabulary

When teaching vocabulary, the teacher needs to take the following aspects intoconsideration

2.4.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling

The teacher has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what itlooks like (its spelling) There are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the otherwill be perceived by the learners when encountering the item for the first time Inteaching we need to make sure that both these aspects are accurately presented andlearned Therefore, the first thing learners should notice when learning an item of

vocabulary is how to write and how to pronounce it since “part of learning a word is

learning its written and spoken form” (Harmer, 1994: 157).

2.4.3.2 Grammar

It is necessary to teach the grammar of a new item if this is not obviously

covered by general grammatical rules An item may have an unpredictable change of

form in certain grammatical contexts or may have some idiosyncratic way ofconnecting with other words in sentences; it is important to provide students with thisinformation at the same time we teach the base form

With the case of teaching a new verb, for example, we might give its past form

if this is irregular (come – came), and we might note if it is transitive or intransitive It

is also very useful for students to know the use of verb For example, we may present

verbs such as tell and say together with the objects that follow them (tell somebody,

say to some body), or the verbs want and enjoy with their following verb forms (want

to do, enjoy doing)

With regards to nouns, we may wish to distinguish between countable and

uncountable nouns A countable noun can be both singular and plural We can say one

book or two books This does not happen in an uncountable noun, thus we cannot say two chocolates or two furnitures Book when pluralized can collocate with plural verbs

whereas chocolate and furniture can only collocate with singular verbs Also, there are some countable nouns that have irregular forms of plural (woman – women, mouse –

mice)

We may also consider the matter of adjectives or verbs together with their

following prepositions (responsible for, to remind somebody of)

2.4.3.3 Collocation

The collocations typical of particular items are another factor that makes aparticular combination sound “right” or “wrong” in a given context Thus, this isanother piece of information about a new item which may be worth teaching For

example, when the words like decision and conclusion are introduced, we may note that you take or make the one, but usually come to the other; similarly, we may note

throw a ball but toss a coin

2.4.3.4 Aspects of Meaning

2.4.3.4.1 Denotation, Connotation and Appropriateness

The denotation of a word is “what it refers to in the real world” (Ur, 1996:61).

This meaning of a word is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary For

example, cat denotes a small animal with soft fur, often kept as a pet or for catching mice; mother, mum and mummy denote female parent.

A less obvious component of the meaning of an item is its connotation: theassociations, or positive or negative feelings it evokes This meaning conveys thespeaker’s attitude, emotion and opinion, and it may or may not be indicated in a

dictionary definition For example, mother, mum and mummy share the same denotation but they have different connotations While mother has the neutral meaning,

mum and mummy are more informal Another example, the word dog, as understood by

most British people, has positive connotations of friendship and loyalty; whereas the

equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most people in Arab countries, has the negative

meaning of dirt and inferiority.

Appropriateness is how we consider and decide whether a particular item is theappropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner toknow that a certain word is very common, or relatively rare, or “taboo” in politeconversation, or tends to be used writing but not in speech, or is more suitable forformal than informal discourse, or belong to a certain dialect Appropriateness isrelated to denotation and connotation Take examples of denotation first We know that

see and look (at) are semantic synonyms They both denote the action of eyes However, we use see to say that something comes to our eyes whether or not we are paying attention We use look at to talk about concentrating, paying attention, trying to see what is there You can see something without wanting to (Suddenly, I saw

something strange), but you can only look at something deliberately (I look at the photo but I didn’t see anyone I knew) Or weep virtually synonymous in denotation

with cry, but it s more formal, tends to be used in writing more than in speech, and is general much less common In terms of connotation, for example, frugal and stingy both mean careful with money Frugal is a polite word whereas stingy is not A person might like to be said frugal but never like to be said stingy.

2.4.3.4.2 Meaning Relationships

Words have meanings in relation to others And in teaching, it is very useful toshow how meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others According to Ur(1996:62) the main relationship are as follows:

- Synonyms are items that mean the same or nearly the same For example,

plain is served as a synonym of ugly; clever is a synonym of intelligent

- Antonyms are items that mean the opposite For example, rich is an antonym

of poor; good is an antonym of bad

- Hyponyms are items that serve as specific example of a general concept For

example, dog, lion, tiger, mouse, cat are hyponyms of animal Lily, rose, tulip, violet,

daisy are hyponyms of flowers

- Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates are other items that are the same kind of thing For example, red, blue, green, brown are co-hyponyms.

- Superordinates are general concepts that ‘cover’ specific items For example,

animal is the superordinate of dog, lion, tiger, mouse, cat, etc Flower is the

superordinate of lily, rose, tulip, violet, daisy.

- Translation refers to words or expression in learners’ mother tongue that ismore or less equivalent in meaning to the item to be taught

Besides, there are other, perhaps looser, ways of associating meaning that areuseful in teaching For example, it is possible to relate parts to the whole (the

relationship between arm and body); or associate items that are part of the same world context (tractor, farmer, milking and irrigate are all associated with agriculture)

real-2.4.3.5 Part of Speech

Words belong to different parts of speech Different parts of speech take updifferent places in structures and function differently For example, verbs oftenfunction as predicator in a clause; adjectives often occur before noun and modify noun

Open-class items are items belonging to a class in which they have the samegrammatical properties and structural possibilities as other member of the class Theclass is ‘open’ because we can extend it by adding or creating some items The parts ofspeech belong to open-class items are noun, adjective, adverb, and verb Learners

should know which part of speech the word he/she is learning is in order to make asuccessful production.

2.4.3.6 Word Formation

According to Hoang Tat Truong (1993:15), word formation is the process ofbuilding new words from the material already existing in the language according tocertain structural and semantic patterns and formulae

Vocabulary items, whether one word or multi-word can often be broken downinto their components “bits” And it is very useful for students, perhaps mainly foradvanced students, to know how a word is formed as they can enlarge their stock ofvocabulary themselves by forming new words

There are several ways of forming words, yet the two most popular ways areaffixation and compounding

Affixation is a process of forming new words by adding affixes to a root inorder to change its meaning or part of speech Affixation is divided in to prefixation

(unhappy, dishonest) and suffixation (teacher, portable) You may wish to teach common prefixes and suffixes For example, if students know the meaning of sub-,

un-, -able, this will help them guess the meanings of words like substandard, ungrateful and untranslatable They should, however, be warded that in many common

words, the affixes no longer have any obvious connection with their root meaning

(subject, comfortable) New combination using prefixes are not unusual, and it would

be expected by the reader or hearer to gather their meaning form an understanding oftheir components

Compounding is the process of forming new items by joining two or morewords A compound word consists of at least two root morphemes Based on parts of

speech, there are 5 types of compounds: Compound nouns (girlfriend, lady killer), Compound verbs (whitewash, team-teach), Compound adjectives (good-looking, kind-

hearted), Compound adverbs (whole-heartedly, self-confidently), Compound

prepositions (onto, into) A good knowledge of word formation enables students to

guess and retain in their memory the meaning of new words on the basis of theirmotivation or by comparing and contrasting them with the previously learnt elementsand patterns.

2.4.3.7 Word Use

The meaning of a word can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used Metaphor and idiom are the two that show us how word meaning varies by itsuse Metaphor is the transference of names based on the association of similarity ormore understandably, metaphor is a hidden comparison For instance, we know that the

word fox means “a kind of wild animal of the dog family, with reddish-brown fur, a

pointed face and a thick heavy tail” But we stretch its meaning to describe a cunning

person Idioms are set expressions, short sayings usually characterized by the fact thattheir meaning can not easily be deduced from their components (Hoang Tat Truong,

1993: 97) as exemplified in kick the bucket (= die), let the cat out of the bag (= reveal

carelessly or by mistake)

The collocations typical of particular items is another factor that makes aparticular combination sound ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in a given context That is whichwords go with each other in order to make sense Some verbs only accept limitedobjects; some adjectives can only modify some specific suitable nouns and so on For

example, we say make a mistake make an arrangement, make a cake, and do

homework, do house work, do the washing up, but we cannot say do mistake, do a cake, or make homework, make the washing up We have headache; stomachache, but

we cannot have throatache or legache Instead we have a sore throat and a pain in the

leg

When using words, learners have to notice the ‘style’ and ‘register’ they are in,

as words are often used in certain social and typical contexts When we say to a person

that we are angry, we have to choose carefully between the neutral expression I’m

angry and informal and rude expression I’m really pissed off

In short, for word use, learners need to recognize metaphorical language, need

to know how words collocate, and also need to understand what stylistic and typicalcontexts words and expressions occur in.

2.4.3.8 Active and Passive Vocabulary

Every language student has two kinds of vocabulary in their memory: active andpassive vocabulary

Active vocabulary items are the ones that a language student needs tounderstand and use effectively in communication In teaching active vocabulary, it isworth spending time giving examples and asking questions so that students can seehow the word is used Active vocabulary items are useful for productive skills(speaking, writing)

Meanwhile, passive vocabulary items are the ones that a language student canrecognize and understand when they occur in a context, but cannot produce or useeffectively in communication It is often best to present it quite quickly, with a simpleexample If it appears as a part of a text of dialogue, we can often leave students toguess the meaning of the word from the context Thus, active and passive vocabularyitems are just like productive and receptive ones

However, it is quite difficult to decide which words in students’ stock ofvocabulary are active and which ones are passive This varies from students to studentsand from lessons and lessons, and for children who are beginners of English, most ofthe words provided seems to be considered as passive Harmer (1994:159) has given hisidea about active and passive words as follows:

At beginner and elementary levels, it certainly seems a good idea toprovide sets of vocabulary which students can learn Most of these early wordswill be constantly practiced and so can presumably be considered as ‘active’.But at intermediate levels and above the situation is rather more complicated

We can assume that students have a store of words but it would be difficult tosay which are active and which are passive A word that has been ‘active’through constant use may slip back into the passive store if it is not used A word

that students have in their passive store may suddenly become active if thesituation or the context provokes its use In other words, the status of avocabulary item does not seem to be a permanent state of affairs

2.4.3.9 Concrete and Abstract Vocabulary

Concrete vocabulary denotes things, concepts that can be touched, felt, or seen,

therefore, it is quite easy to introduce a concrete item of vocabulary For example, a

watch is a concrete word We can teach this word by showing pupils a watch and

asking them what it is

Abstract vocabulary denotes things, concepts that can not be touched , felt, or

seen For example, happy, happiness, imagine, think, thought are abstract words These

words cannot be introduced by visual aids They can be only introduced by thesituation, explanation or translation This also affects the revision process

2.4.4 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching

2.4.4.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

In recent years, among the approaches and methods in learning and teaching, theCommunicate Approach, simply Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), isconsidered the most communicative one and has been used most in teaching andlearning second and foreign language The origins of CLT are to be found in thechanges in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s BeforeCLT was given, many methods and approaches were applied in teaching and learning.However, the fact is that there is a need to focus in language teaching oncommunicative proficiency rather than on the master of structures only On this issue,CLT has been created and has proven its superiority over previous methods

Hence, since its inception, CLT has been seen as the most popular approachwith two aims First, it makes communicative competence the goal of languageteaching Then, it develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills Atthe level of language theory, CLT starts from communicative view of language With

communicative view of language, language is a system for the expression of meaning,and the primary function of language is to allow interaction Moreover, the structure oflanguage reflects its functional and communicative uses At level of learning theory,learning is promoted by activities that involve real communication promote learning or

by activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks and bylanguage that is meaningful to the learner

According to Nunan (1991: 279), CLT has five basic characteristics as follows :

1 An emphasis on learning is to communicate through interaction in thetarget language

2 The introduction of authentic texts used into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus on which not only thelanguage but also the learning process itself

4 An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences can be asimportant contributing elements to classroom learning

5 An attempt is to link classroom language learning with languageactivation outside the classroom

CLT emphasizes on the process of communication rather than master oflanguage forms, and the goal of CLT is that learners will be able to use the languageappropriate to a given social context (i.e, to become communicatively competent).Consequently, in comparison with previous methods, there are changes in the roles ofboth teachers and students in CLT

According to Breen and Candlin (1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam andNgo Dinh Phuong, 2007), the teacher’s roles are described with two main roles Thefirst role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in theclassroom and between these participants and the various activities and texts Thesecond role is to act as an independent participant within the learning- teaching group

Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listeningmore, becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986).The teacher sets up the exercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, theteacher must step back and observe, sometimes acting as referee or monitor

Meanwhile, Breen and Candlin (1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam andNgo Dinh Phuong, 2007) describe the learners’ role as the negotiator between the self,the learning process and the object of learning The learner should contribute as much

as he gains and thereby learn in an interdependent way A classroom during acommunicative activity is far from quiet, however The students do most of thespeaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise isactive, with students leaving their seats to complete a task Because of the increasedresponsibility to participate, students may find themselves gaining confidence in usingthe target language in general Students are more responsible managers of their ownlearning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986)

CLT provides various types of learning and teaching activities LittleWood(1981) distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “socialinteraction activities” as major activity types in CLT Besides learning and teachingactivities, instructional materials play an important role in promoting communicativelanguage use There are three kinds of materials currently used in CLT and label thesetext-based, task-based and realia Procedure is also a considerable problem in CLT Adescription of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principle isnot feasible Finochiaro and Brumfit (1983:107-108, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam andNgo Dinh Phuong, 2007) suggest that CLT procedures are evolutionary rather thanrevolutionary From this viewpoint, traditional procedures are not rejected but arereinterpreted and extended

In conclusion, CLT appeared at the time when Situation Language Teaching andAudiolingualism were no longer felt to be appropriate methodologies As a matter of

fact, it is considered to be the best approach of language teaching and learning becausecommunicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, andbecause of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in theliterature on CLT With CLT, language learners are seen as active participants in thelanguage learning process Teachers should be aware of their role as the guidingpersons and try to do somehow to motivate learners to go ahead to master a foreignlanguage.

2.4.4.2 Stages of Teaching Vocabulary in CLT

Gower (2005) states the three stages of teaching vocabulary as follows:

2.4.4.2.1 Presentation

This is the stage of introducing new vocabulary items in different ways(pictures, objects, gestures, sounds, different text types, etc.) In this stage, it would bemuch better if the teacher introduces new vocabulary items in context with the wordsstudents know because this will help students guess the meaning of the new items atthe first time they sea and/or hear them

The teacher will help students the way of reading and writing new words Theimportant thing of this stage is that the teacher needs to pronounce and write the wordscorrectly

2.4.4.2.2 Practice

2.4.4.2.2.1 Controlled Practice

This stage comes right after the presentation stage At this phase, the teacherneeds to create a positive environment for children to use the new words under theguidance of teachers Making mistakes at this stage is also a progress that primaryschool students gradually improve, and this stage has the role to help children formstrong relationships between the meaning of words and their forms (including spokenand written form) as well as know how to use words suitably

2.4.5.2.2.2 Free Practice

Teachers should give children opportunities to experience the words freely

After the stage of controlled practice, students can more easily use what they havelearnt to express their meanings in communication This step will help childrengradually turn the knowledge they have learned into their own

2.4.4.2.3 Revision

This is the process of reactivation that helps assimilation and learning (DavidCross, 1992: 180) As in McCarten (2007), learning vocabulary is largely aboutremembering, and students generally need to see, say, and write newly learned wordsmany times before they can be said to have learned them Thus, in this stage, theteacher should have students review vocabulary as often as possible in activities thathave students actively recall words and produce them rather than merely see or hearthem The stage of revision should be done regularly during the teaching process; it can

be done during the lesson, for example when the teacher introduces the new grammarpoint or lets students do exercises themselves, but it is less direct; or reviewingvocabulary can be done in the revision lesson and also at the end of the term However,

in a lesson, it is normal that revision often takes place at the beginning It is oftenappropriate to start off the lesson by doing a short activity which revises a lexical setpresented the day before and quick vocabulary revision games are a good way to warm

up students at the beginning of the lesson (Gower, 2005)

2.4.5 Factors Affecting the Decision in Choosing Vocabulary Items to teach

Gower et al (2005:145) state the following factors for deciding what vocabulary

to teach:

2.4.5.1 Type of lesson

There is a difference between a “vocabulary lesson” (where, for example, themain objective is for the students to learn and use a number of vocabulary items), and alesson in which vocabulary comes up as part of another activity (for instance, wherethe teacher helps the students deal with vocabulary they may meet in an authenticlistening or reading text) Depending on the types of the lesson, the teacher will makedifferent decisions about what vocabulary to present

2.4.5.2 Purpose of using words

The teacher should consider whether the vocabulary items he/she has chosen to

present are for receptive or productive use For example, is it enough for the students to

be able to recognize the vocabulary when they meet it in context, or does the teacherwant them to be able to use it? If the teacher wants the students to be able to use thevocabulary, what practice activities is the teacher going to set up?

2.4.5.3 Lexical syllabus

Depending on the teaching context and the needs of the students, the teachermay also have to consider the order in which vocabulary items are introduced,particularly at low levels With General English class it is usual to introduce:

- the “easy” words before the “difficult” words

- the concrete before the abstract

- the most frequent before the uncommon

- the most generative, or “all-purpose”, before those that have a more restricted

use For example, it is better to introduce chair before armchair and highchair

The teacher needs to think about this process of grading language whenchoosing vocabulary items to teach to the class, and when considering how to deal withthe vocabulary in any authentic materials the teacher use in the lessons

2.5 Games

2.5.1 Definition

There are many different definitions of games In the Longman Dictionary ofApplied Linguistics (1985), a game is defined as an organized activity that usually hasthe four properties: a particular task or objective; a set of rules; competition betweenplayers and communication between players by spoken or written language

According to Hadfield (1990), “a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an

element of fun” As in Gibbs (1978: 60), a game is defined as an activity carried out by

cooperating or competing decision-makers seeking to achieve, within a set of rules,their objectives.

Greenall (1984) defines games as one kind of activity which is used toconsolidate language already taught or acquired, and which occurs during the free stage

of a lesson or during occasion such as English club meetings

Although linguists have their own concepts of games, all the above-mentioneddefinitions refer to typical features of a game: it is an activity which is governed byrules, has fun, has a goal itself, and contains competition and co-operation betweenplayers

such as slap the board, crossword puzzle, bingo, Simmon says, and hangman/ shark

attacks With their features, linguistic games are often used primarily to teach

vocabulary rather than enable students to experiment with the language itself freely toacquire it On the other hand, communicative games focus on the successful exchange

of information and ideas, such as two people identifying the differences between theirtwo pictures which are similar to each other but not exactly alike, or such kinds of

game like Describe and draw, find your partner In this type of games, the emphasis

falls on fluency and on successful communication rather than on correctness oflanguage Correct language usage, though still important, is secondary to achieving thecommunicative goal

The second way that Hadfield uses to classify language games has more