Using games in teaching english vocabulary to primary school students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DANG THI PHUONG THAO USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, 2

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

DANG THI PHUONG THAO

USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2017

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

DANG THI PHUONG THAO

USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Assoc.Prof.Dr.Ngo Dinh Phuong

Nghe An, 2017

ABSTRACT

The study attempted to examine effects of using games in teaching vocabulary for primary schools students It aims to find out students’s difficulties in learning this comprehensive skill, their expectations of teacher’s methodology as well as their attitude towards using games

Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology were utilized in this study The data was collected through the proficiency pretest and posttest, questionnaires, interviews The participants of the research include eighty six students, forty two females and forty four males at Vinh Univerity Pedagogical Practice School in Nghe An Province were selected and assigned into two groups

Learning is one of the primary activities of students in the classroom Successful learning is only on the right way to lead the process Good learning atmosphere and method can guide the students to learn more meaningful To accomplish such conditions, teachers must create various and attractive methods for the class.What should a teacher do if their students get bored? Using varitype games can be an alternative solution to handle this problem Games, as a matter of fact, can help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work By this paper, the writer wants to share experiences about “how effective games to teach English vocabulary”

One of the best ways of doing this is through games Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful In the whole process of teaching and learning by games, the students can take part widely and open-mindedly To win the games each student or group should competitively answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other students or groups In order to do so they must understand what the teacher or others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information The English instruction in elementary school is intended to endorse the mastery and development of the four basic abilities and skills The need to use various instructional media will be able to help students to increase their English vocabulary Teaching vocabulary is clearly more than just presenting new words It also includes a decision that words should teach the basic of how frequently they are used by speaker of the language The words are most commonly used are those a teacher should teach first But commonly and usually the way of teaching makes the students lazy and bored The teacher needs something different to make students interested, because mostly students are very easy

to get bored Therefore, teacher needs something interesting which can make motivate them

It is based on the characteristics and attitude of the children that they are curious and often

seek something that the teacher notices them and shows appreciation for what they are doing

So, to motivate them teacher needs something new that can stimulate their curiosity With the current analysis on communication in teaching language, using games appears to hold a solution for many teachers The communication activities somehow involves in a varied use

of language It had been found in many schools that teachers use games activities as their teaching-aid The students really appreciate any kind of activities which provide excitement and fun It will be easy to understand and practice English The writer chooses games as the simple illustrated media to facilitate students’ method of learning, as we know children learn while playing games

It is easy to be understood and comprehended by students However, learning English vocabulary using games has an important role for elementary teachers and students The first,

as students, they have strong and good motivation to deepen English language The second, they are easy to accept the English language because they learn by playing game The third, teaching English vocabulary using games can help teacher in teaching learning process Finally, they (teacher and students) can teach and learn English vocabulary using games

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Above of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Associate Pro.Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong for his invaluable support, patient guidance and encouragement he gave me and my research

I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the students of the classes I taught in order to experiment amd gather information for my survey questionaire and interview Without their enthusiastic contribution, this study could not have been successful

I am indebted to my friends, my classamates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragement

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family members who are always beside me, creating favorable conditions and supporting me both spiritually and materially to complete this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

ABSTRACT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale 01

2 Aims of the study 03

3 Scope of the study 03

4 Research questions 03

5 Significance of the study 03

6 The organization of the study 03

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I Introduction 05

II Literature review 05

III.Theoretical Background 07

3.1 Vocabulary 07

3.1.1.Definitions of vocabulary 08

3.2.Types of vocabulary 08

3.2.1.Listening vocabulary 08

3.2.2 Speaking vocabulary 08

3.2.3 Reading vocabulary 09

3.2.4 Writing vocabulary 09

3.2.5 Receptive vocabulary 09

3.2.6 Productive vocabulary 09

3.2.7 Active vocabulary 09

3.2.8 Passive vocabulary 10

3.3 The importance of vocaulary 10

3.4 Games to teach vocabulary in primary schools 11

3.4.1 Games 11

3.4.2 The effects of using games on English vocabulary learning 11

3.5 Psychological features of primary schools 12

3.5.1 Social and emotional development 12

3.5.2 Intellectual method 13

3.6 How to teach vocabulary in games to primary students 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 1 Introduction 16

2 Research methods 16

3 Participants 17

4 Research Instruments 17

5 Data Analysis 19

6 Data Collection Procedures 19

7 Summary 20

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 1 Introduction 21

2 Students’ interest in learning English 21

3 Teachers’ and student’s opinion toward the role of English vocabulary 21

4 Students’ and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching vocabulary 22

4.1 Students’ difficulties to memorize the new words in a lesson 23

4.2 Teachers’ opinion on the difficulties their students can face while learning vocabulary 24

4.3 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching vocabulary for primary students 24

4.4 The teachers’ and students’ opinion on currently used games in learning vocabulary 25

5 Tips applied to help learning English vocabulary 26

5.1 The ways students often apply in memorizing words 26

5.2 The tips teachers use to help their students memorize new words in class 27 6 The comparision of efficiency between games and other techniques in teaching vocabulary 28

7 Effects of games on student’s vocabulary 29

8.Some suggested games in teaching English vocabulary in primary schools in Nghe An 33

9 Pedagogical Implications 40

9 Summary 42

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the key findings 43

2 Limitation of the study 43

3 Suggestions for further research 44

REFERENCES 45

APPENDIX 49

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

No one denies the importance of English language in the present time as global language It is clear that English has become more and more dominant around the world Actually, in some countries it is used as the mother tongue and other countries learn it as second language in their schools There is no doubt that English is the language of communication between the people from different cultures Moreover, English is the language

of science and technology It is also the language of computers that help to integrate the people around the world via Internet technology and e-mail Needless to say, people who know English can deal with the Internet Therefore, the need of mastering a foreign language especially English, is becoming more and more necessary English is now taught in many primary schools all over the world and chidren from a very early age experience an English lesson as part of their daily rountine When they make an effort to use English, they need to

be encouraged so that they will enjoy the experience of communicating in this new language

Research suggests that vocabulary is enormously important to children’s development, especially in reading Research clearly indicates that children with larger vocabularies have higher school achievement in general (Smith, 1941, cited in Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002) In fact, people with larger vocabularies even have higher IQs ( Bell, Lassiter, Matthews and Hutchinson, 2001; Hodapp and Gerken, 1999)!

Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary students can not understand others or express their own ideas Wilkins (1972) wrote that “….while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Students often instinctively recognize the importance of vocabulary to their language learning As Schmitt (2010) noted, “learners carry around dictionaries and not grammar books” Teaching vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in English Voltaire purportedly said “Language is very difficult to put into words” Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to your child understanding what she hears and reads in school and to communicate sucessfullly with other people For this reason, it is very important for her to quickly build up a large store of words Research studies have shown the strong links between having an extensive vocabulary and achieving school success

Learning vocabulary through games had attained a lot of attention Donmus (2010) believed that "The value of educational games has been increasing in language education since they help to make language education entertaining "(p.1497) According to Kuzu and

Ural findings (as cited in Donmus, 2010, p.1499) "when games and education are combined,

it can be educative and education environments can be entertaining The learners who learned with the use of games, gain positive attitudes and can be more motivated while learning" This

is a review of the effects of using games on learning vocabulary in English as a foreign language (EFL).Vocabulary in English is mostly taught out of context as isolated words, the main criticism of this way of teaching is that vocabulary cannot be learnt in isolation The Effects of Using Games on English Vocabulary Learning 40 (Al Neyadi, 2007) Activities which involve learners in thinking about the words, like using games allow learners to remember the target words more easily Learning vocabulary is a hard work, so attempt is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target words Games help and encourage many learners to learn target language more easily They also help teachers to create contexts

in which the target words are useful and meaningful; they also bring fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more quickly In other words, game-based learning can create a meaningful context for language learning process After learning and practicing new vocabulary through games, students have the opportunity to use language in a nonstressful way (Uberman, 1998) Games are advantageous and effective in learning vocabulary They are motivating because they usually involve friendly competition and create cooperative learning environment, so students have an opportunity to work together They improve students’ communicative skills and they have a chance to use the target language (Sorayaie- Azar, 2012).Therefore, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way The role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games be chosen Whenever a game is to

be used, the proficiency level and cultural background of the students should be taken into account, and also it should be useful for students with lower language ability and should be easily applied in the class Many experienced textbook and methodological manual writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value (Riahipour & Saba, 2012) This paper offers the rationale for implementing games as a stress-free tool of learning words It is believed that games can have the potentiality to contextualize learning words

I have worked as a teacher at Vinh university Pedagogical Practice School for two years I found that learners face serious problems in remembering the vocabularies, they are unable to memorize them They may read the words but they can not know how to write them correctly Moreover, they find themselves confronted with a vast variety of information, grammatical structures and resources that make it extremely hard for them to pick their ways

though Consequently, if the teachers do not teach actively, the better students will develop them on their own and the worse ones will find studying very frustrating

All the aforementioned reasons urge the author to carry out the study entitled “ Using games

in teaching English vocabulary to primary school students” I hope that the results could serve as a useful source of references for those who are concerned about the subject matter

2 Aims of the study

With the presented rationale, the specific aims of the study, accordingly, are:

1) to find out the real situation of teaching and learning vocabulary at primary school 2) to find the way of learning and teaching vocabulary

3) to propose some suggestions and recommendations to improve learning vocabulary

of students at primary school

3 Scope of the study

This research focuses on investigating how games affect vocabulary at Vinh University Pedagogical practicing primary school Due to the limitation of time, and knowledge of mine is limited so this study can only focus on study some games to teach vocabulary for primary students at 2nd , 3rd grades because all most of primary schools start teaching English for these grades Some start from 1st grade but it is not popular

2) What extent does the game enhance students’ vocabulary?

5 Significance of the study

The study is expected to be a good reference for teachers and students to improve students’ vocabulary In addition, it is also hoped that the findings of this study will contribute

to further understandings of improving vocabulary Moreover, through this study, teachers, along with their students, will become more aware of the crucial role of games, and be able to use those strategies appropriately to their learning requirements

6 Organization of the study

The study includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 - Introduction - provides the rationale, the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study, and the organization of the study

Chapter 2 - Theoretical Background - presents the review of previous studies related

to the thesis and some concepts as theoretical basis for the study

Chapter 3 - Methodology - describes the research design, instruments for data collection, data collection, data analysis, and research procedures, which gives details of the research method and describes how the hypothesis of the thesis is interpreted and explained

Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussions - presents the results and discussions developed after the linguistics figures are analyzed

Chapter 5 - Conclusion - summarizes the main issues touched upon in the research, the limitations of the research and some suggestions for further studies Following the chapters are the references and appendices

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I.Introduction

“If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh”, (Harmer 1993-153)

With the aim of providing a theoretical background to this study, the chapter also provides a literature review which focuses on previous studies related to the present research This present study has been designed in view of the findings of previous studies which are reviewed in this chapter

II Literature review

The present paper intends to represent a few examples from the literature concerned with the use of vocabulary games in learning the target words As Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen and Khuat Thi Thu Nga (2013) demonstrated that they began action research which included applying games in their own classes, observing other teachers' classes, and interviewing both teachers and learners so as to elicit students' reactions, feelings and the effectiveness of games

in vocabulary learning The research shows they are effective in helping students to improve their vocabulary building skills To achieve their goal, they focused on the perception and attitudes of their students as well as what students gained through their learning with vocabulary games The plan involved conducting different kinds of games in their lessons so that they could see how students reacted to this method of learning vocabulary They also wanted to find if there were any problems that occurred during the process of teaching In addition, in line with research methodology and principles (Robertson, 2002) it was necessary

to enrich our perspectives by observing some experienced teachers' classes at HUFS, reviewing other teachers' lessonplans for games and interviewing some teachers and students

as well A simple questionnaire was designed beforehand to help students understand clearly the purpose of the survey Furthermore, experienced teachers also helped us work out different ways of conducting effective vocabulary games by their lesson plans, handouts for games and their helpful advice Further triangulation involved interviewing a student who had conducted similar research one year prior Before the game started, the teachers tried to explain the game' rules to students and gave some examples Once students understood the rules, they quickly rearranged their seats and grouped as instructed Students tried to use as many phrases and words they had learnt as possible Thus, through this kind of activity students may be able to remember their vocabulary better Their research reveals that games contribute to vocabulary learning if they give students a chance to learn, practice and

to review the English language in a pleasant atmosphere From the research, they found that

students are demanding a new way of teaching vocabulary, and they themselves are in search

of a new way of learning this subject as well

As has been shown (Riahipour & Saba, 2012), traditional activities such as memorization of long vocabulary lists, derivations, repetition of words, translation, fill-in-the-blank exercises are boring for students Scrivener (as cited in Riahipour & Saba 2012, p.1259) states that using long list of words and their translation items make no guarantee that remembering will take place By using vocabulary games, learning process is going to be more valuable, this method can make vocabulary learning more enjoyable, so it can help students to retain target words more quickly Alternatively, Aghlara and Hadidi- Tamjid (2011) conducted a study on the effects of using a digital computer game on improving Iranian children’s vocabulary learning The participants of their study were 40 six to seven year old girls with no prior knowledge of English which were divided into two groups of experimental and control; in the Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2015, 2(3) experimental group, they used the SHAIEx digital game, whereas in the control group, English vocabulary was taught through traditional methods At the end of the teaching period, they compared the participants’ performances The result of their research indicated that the mean score of the children in the experimental group was higher than that of the control group This indicated the positive effect of using digital games in teaching English vocabulary

to children; therefore, they suggested that “Using games in young learner’s class smooths their learning because the games capture their attention and motivate them” Similarly, Aslanabadi and Rasouli (2013) conducted a study on the effect of games on improvement of Iranian EFL vocabulary knowledge in kindergartens The aim of their study was to find a way

to help young EFL learners fix the novel vocabulary in their minds The study was conducted

at two kindergartens They divided the students into the experimental and control group The experimental group gives an online language teaching game and the control group gives regular teaching The result of their study revealed that Games not only bring fun for learners

to the class, but they also motivate learners and improve their confidence Moreover, Yip and Kwan (as cited in Aghlara & Hadidi- Tamjid, 2011, p.558) suggested that students who used games for their learning became more successful in learning new words compared to those who learned the same vocabulary through traditional method

DeHaan, Reed and Kuwada (2010) investigated the effect of interactivity with a music video game on second language vocabulary recall The participants of their study were divided into two groups; one of them played an English-language music video game for 20 minutes, while the other group watched the game simultaneously on another monitor After playing the game, a vocabulary recall test, an experience questionnaire, and a two week

delayed vocabulary recall test were administered The results of their study showed that both the players and the watchers of the video game recalled vocabulary from the game, but the players recalled less vocabulary than the watchers DeHaan et al (2010) argued that although

a video game that contains target language vocabulary can be enjoyable, its interactivity can prevent language acquisition process because of this players were unable to recall the game’s vocabulary as well as watchers They also argued that the players of the video game were asked to play the game and attend to the vocabulary simultaneously and these multiple foci of attention prevented them from noticing and recalling more vocabulary items than the watchers" (p.85).Their findings do not reveal that vocabulary can be acquired more effectively through non-interactive approach than interactive one, for these players Zheng, Young, Brewer and Wagner (as cited in DeHaanet al., 2010, p.74) found that "language learners’ attitude and self-efficacy towards their second language improved through the use of tools to communicate with native speakers to complete quests in a game-like virtual world"

III Theoretical Background

3 Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of learning a language

Neglected or granted only minor attention for years in favor of grammar and language skills (Coady, 1997; Oxford & Crookall, 1990; Prince, 1996), vocabulary teaching strategies have started to be of interest to researchers as the importance of vocabulary knowledge has gained recognition (Gass & Selinker, 2008; Prince, 1996; Zimmerman, 1997) Two of the problems directly related to vocabulary strategies have been the knowledge and use of these strategies This study investigates second language vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) and their frequencies of use by second language learners

This chapter discusses some theoretical issues about second language vocabulary learning that have been raised among practitioners and researchers Drawing scholars' and teachers’ attention to the importance of vocabulary teaching, Penha (2006) pointed out that no reading, writing, speaking, listening, or literature- based activity discussion can be conducted with learners without providing them with the conventional vocabulary to perform the activity It consequently goes without saying that vocabulary building is one of the most important aspects of learning a second language

3.1 Definition of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be defined as the words of a language, including single items and phrases or chunks of several words which covey a particular meaning, the way individual words do Vocabulary addresses single lexical items—words with specific meaning(s)—but it also includes lexical phrases or chunks

Vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings However , vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests First, words come in two forms: oral and print Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in reading and writing Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms, receptive and productive Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognize when we see or hear them Productive vocabulary includes words that we use when we speak or write Receptive vocabulary is typically larger than productive vocabulary and may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even

if we do not know their full definitions and connotations or even use them ourselves as we speak and write( Kamil & Hiebert, in press)

Besides, according to Webster’s Dictionary (1993- 327) “Vocabulary is a list or group

of words and phrase, usually in alphabetical order”

In general, vocabulary is a component of language that maintains all of information about meaning and using word in language( Harimurti kridalaksana 1993-27) It is one of the important factors in learning English besides sound system, grammar and culture A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with ages, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge Therefore, a person’s vocabulary is the set of words they are familiar with in a language

3.2.1 Listening Vocabulary

Listening vocabulary is the words we hear and understand Furthermore, babies are listening during all their waking hours and we continue to learn new words this way all of our lives By the time we reach adulthood, most of us will recognize and understand close to 50,000 words (Stahl, 1999; Tompkins, 2005) Children who are completely deaf do not get exposed to a listening vocabulary Instead, if they have signing models at home or school, they will be exposed to a “visual” listening vocabulary The amount of words modeled is much less than a hearing child’s incidental listening vocabulary

3.2.2 Speaking Vocabulary

Speaking vocabulary is the words we use when we speak Our speaking vocabulary is relatively limited: Most adults use a mere 5,000 to 10,000 words for all their conversations and instructions This number is much less than our listening vocabulary most likely due to ease of use

3.2.3 Reading Vocabulary

Reading vocabulary is the words we understand when we read text We can read and understand many words that we do not use in our speaking vocabulary This is the 2nd largest vocabulary IF you are a reader If you are not a reader, you can not “grow” your vocabulary

3.2.4 Writing Vocabulary

Writing vocabulary is the words we can retrieve when we write to express ourselves

We generally find it easier to explain ourselves orally, using facial expression and intonation

to help get our ideas across, then to find just the right words to communicate the same ideas in writing Our writing vocabulary is strongly influenced by the words we can spell Think about it: When reading, a child with hearing will say all the phonemes related to a word to sound it out They will then guess a word they know This is dependent upon their lexicon (mental The following information was based on information from Judy K Montgomery’s book: The Bridge of Vocabulary: Evidence Based Activities for Academic Success (NCS Pearson Inc, 2007) dictionary) Children would not guess a word they did not know Deaf students do not use auditory memory to sound out a word They mostly memorize spelling patterns Therefore, students who are deaf typically use a reduced variety of words in writing while they are learning How many words are needed for Vocabulary Knowledge? The English Language has a very large vocabulary, estimated to between 450,000 and 750,000 words (Stahl, 1999; Tompkins, 2005)

3.2.5 Receptive vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary is knowing a word involves being able to recognize it when it is heard ( what is the sound like?) or when it seen ( what does it look like?) and having an expectation of what grammatical pattern the word will occurrence This includes being able to distinguish it from word with similar form and being able to judge if the word form sounds right or look right

3.2.6 Productive vocabulary

Productive vocabulary is knowing a word involves being able to pronounce the word How to write and spell it, how to use it in grammatical pattern along with the word in usually collocates with it, it also involves not using the word too often if it typically a low frequency word and using it in a suitable situation using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable substitutes for the word if there any Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary Lee Field classified vocabulary into two terms: active vocabulary and passive vocabulary

3.2.7 Active vocabulary

Active vocabulary refers to items the learner can use appropriately in speaking or writing and it is also called as productive vocabulary, although, in fact, it is more difficult to

put into practice It means that to use productive vocabulary, the students are supposed to know how to pronounce it well, they must know and be able to use grammar of the language target They also hoped to be familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of the words This type is often used in speaking and writing skill

3.2.8 Passive vocabulary

Passive vocabulary refers to a language items that can be recognized and understood

in the context of reading or listening and also called as receptive vocabulary Passive vocabulary or comprehension consists of the words comprehended by the people, when they read and listen From the explaining above, every experts in every book is different in classifying the kinds of vocabulary, because every person has different way in showing and telling their opinion and ideas

3.3 The importance of vocabulary

All word learning tasks are not equal in difficulty A child may understand the concept behind a word, but not know the word itself For example, the word cease represents a known concept to most children; however, a young child has probably not heard this word used for stop Learning a new word that represents a known concept is not as difficult as learning a new word that represents a new concept Teachers in the primary grades introduce many new concepts, and direct instruction is necessary to build up the understanding of these concepts and the vocabulary words that represent them

When teaching vocabulary words that represent known concepts, the emphasis should always be on the context in which the word appears Discussing the meaning of the word from the context of the reading selection together with supplying a definition of the word will help

to build meaning for students If students are to acquire this word as part of their vocabulary, then they must be given repeated exposure of the word in a variety of contexts They must also have opportunities to practise using the word in conversation and/or writing

By the time children enter second grade, they are likely to know between 2,000 and 5,000 vocabulary words This amazing growth continues throughout the elementary years, as most children gain 3,000 - 4,000 new vocabulary words each year that they can read and understand (Teaching Reading in the 21st Century, 2001) By encouraging independent reading and providing both indirect and direct instruction in vocabulary, students can be helped to develop the vocabulary knowledge they will need for effective comprehension

When many people think of vocabulary, they think of it as a tedious learning process However, it is very vital to your success in our world of today It is no longer enough to just know what is happening in your neighborhood, city, or country It is equally important for you to understand what is happening on a global scale

Improving your vocabulary from an early age will allow you to become informed It will allow you to successfully convey your ideas to others, and it can also improve your career outlook Having said that, it is important for parents to focus on improving the education of their children from an early age

In general, vocabulary plays an important role in the development of each language, its importance is concluded in this list:

An extensive vocabulary aids expressions and communication

Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading comprehension

Linguistic vocabulary is synonymous with thinking vocabulary

A person may be judged by others based on his or her vocabulary

3.4 Games to teach vocabulary in primary schools

3.4.1 Games

Teaching games are the ways which are used by teachers to present information to be learned The teaching resources best suited to the students, such as the latest technology, may not be available to teachers, teachers must find the best techniques to teach the students using the resources available to them

Learning vocabulary through games had attained a lot of attention Domus(2010) believed that “The value of educational games has been increasing in language education since they help to make language education entertaining” (p.1497)

3.4.2 The effects of using games on English vocabulary learning

Methods such as using games are very occasionally used to teach and learn vocabulary They are only used for a limited time Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful Wight, Betteridge and Buck (as cited in Rohani & Pourgharib, 2013, p.3541) believe that “ With the use of games the teacher can create various contexts in which students have to use the language to communicate, exchange information and express their own opinions”

To effectively promote learning, games must include ways for students to reflect on and explain what is happening In fact, learning may not occur without time for reflection Teachers should encourage students to take advantage of games in their learning process They also need to monitor their students’ use of these vocabulary games to make sure that the structure and rules of the games do not take higher rank over learning Learning vocabulary through games is one of the effective and interesting ways that can be applied in classrooms Games help and encourage many learners to learn target language more easily They also help teachers to create contexts in which the target words are useful and meaningful; they also bring fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more quickly In other

words, game - based learning can create a meaningful context for language learning process After learning and practicing new vocabulary through games, students have the opportunity to use language in a non-stressful way (Uberman,1998)

Games are advantageous and effective in learning vocabulary They are motivating because they usually involve friendly competition and create cooperative learning enviroment,

so students have an opportunity to work together They improve sudents’s communicative skills and they have a chance to use the target language (Sorayaie- Azar, 2012) Therefore, vocabulay games bring real world context into the classroom and enhance students’ use of English in a flexible, communicative way The role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied

Games provide educator with an opportunity to engage learners in an immersive and interactive environment that requires knowledge, decision making, and information management skills However, the use of immersive learning environments can be controversial; their association with play and fun is often considered non educational Even

so, games are gaining increased cultural acceptance In the development tendency of modern education, games are studied to assist pupils‟ learning There are many types of learning games such as acting 26 games, intelligent games, art games According to the lesson content and psychology features, people will use the game suitably Game is a light teaching forms which attracts students into active learning

3.5 Psychology features of primary students

George Czapar posited that the growth of six, seven and eight-year-old-children is slow but steady They have gained control of their major muscles Most children have a good sense of balance They can stand on one foot and walk on a balance beam They enjoy performing physical tricks They enjoy testing muscle strength and skills They like to skip, run, tumble, and dance to music They can catch small balls They can manage buttons and zippers They can learn to tie their shoelaces They can print their names They can copy designs and shapes including numbers and letters They use utensils and tools correctly with supervision Older School-Age Children are very active with lots of energy Their fine motor

and large motor skills have become much better

3.5.1 Social and emotional development

They think of themselves more than others until about age seven or eight They play well in groups but may need some time to play alone Many children have a best friend and an enemy They tend to prefer playmates of the same sex Children often tell on each other This

is done for two reasons: to help them understand the rules and to get an adult's attention They

do not like criticism or failure It is best to have each child compete against himself or herself

not other children They can be helpful with small chores They have a strong need for love and attention from their parents They are beginning to care about the feelings and needs of others They may enjoy taking care of and playing with younger children To them, "good" and "bad" are what parents and teachers approve or disapprove of They are starting to develop a moral sense such as understanding honesty They begin to develop a sense of humor and may enjoy nonsense rhymes, songs, and riddles They become upset when their behavior or school work is criticized or ignored

When children are nine or ten year old, they have a strong need to feel accepted and worthwhile Smith, 1941, cited in Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002) found they show their ability to be independent by being disobedient, using back-talk and being rebellious They prefer individual achievements over competition They like encouragement and suggestions over competition They still look to adults for approval They begin to take responsibility for their own actions They like to join organized groups They prefer to be with members of their own sex They look up to and imitate older youth They are beginning to build and understand friendship They want to be accepted by the peer group

3.5.2 Intellectual development:

Katheleen Kampa(1991) found that students can tell left from right Their ability to

speak and express themselves develops rapidly This is important for success in school They talk to each other about themselves and their families During play, they practice using the

word and language they learn in school They start to understand time and days of the week

They like silly rhymes, riddles, and jokes Their attention span is longer They can follow more involved stories They are learning letters and words By six, most can read words or

combinations of words

Like the social and emotional development, there are some differences in children‟ intellectual development, they need opportunities to share thoughts and reactions They see things as either "black or white." They have interests which change often They are easily motivated and eager to try new things They usually do best when the work is done in small pieces They need guidance from adults to stay at a task to achieve their best

In conclusion, being the 1st grade student is the most important changes of children With

new environment they must concentrate in a long time between 35- 40 minutes They are not curious children like three-age-boys, moreover, they are enjoy discovering and understanding interesting things in life Primary students gradually dominate their curiosity in order to form the discipline and implement learning regulations… All these above are children’s challenges, the care and assistance of families, schools and society depending on the understanding of scientific knowledge will help children overcome these difficulties better

3.6 How to teach vocabulary in games to primary students:

Teaching English to primary school students is not an easy task for teachers since they should introduce English as a new lesson for students The students are expected to have the skills of language in simple English So the mastery of vocabulary is very important since

it is essential in conducting communication There are several principles in teaching vocabulary in order to make the teaching learning process more interesting They are as follows:

- It interests the learners

- It makes the learners give attention to the spelling, pronunciation, meaning or use of word

- It gives a chance for repetition

According to some authors, the fundamental reasons for teaching English at primary schools are longer study results in greater fluency and better pronunciation “One of the most important factors influencing the development of the language proficiency is the amount of time spent in working with the language When language learning begins earlier, can go on longer and provide more practice and experience, leading ultimately to greater fluency and effectiveness” ( Helena Anderson,1993-3) The earlier a child stars to learn a foreign language, the easier it will be for him/her to acquire better pronunciation It is proved by Krashen as quoted by Helena Anderson: “Older learners have an advantage over children in almost every area tested with a small advantage for children in the area of native like pronunciation at least in most classroom settings” (Krashen, 1982) in teaching vocabulary to children, teachers have to select suitable words to be taught in the first stage The choice of words should be based on the following consideration: Commonest words: “They are the words which are commonly used or the words that the students need” It is important to teacher to make the words list before the lesson starts Its purpose is to know what the most common words are used by the students Students’ need is a major consideration for teacher

to teach the primary students Sometimes they are interested in knowing the things around them It makes them motivated to learn

When thinking about vocabulary lesson in the first stage, the teacher of English in the primary school should have the awareness of five facts as stated by Allen:

- Foreign words for familiar objects and person are important to teach, but we can not expect most members of the class to learn them easily

-Teaching such words will require special skill because students often feel their native language words for familiar objects and person are all they really need

- Students are very likely to feel that foreign words for familiar objects are not really needed when the foreign language is not used for communication out side the language class

- When a student feels no real need to learn something, a feeling of need must be created by the teacher

- To creat in students’ minds a sense of personal need for a foreign word, it is not enough to say “ Here is the word to learn”, “Here is what the word means”, “ The word will

be very useful to you someday” Allen, 1983-3) From the quotation above, it is concluded that in order to create a personal sense of need for a foreign word, teachers have to put the students in a situation which forces them to use the English words

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

1 Introduction

In the previous chapter, contextual and theoretical background has been summarized

in order to support the study This chapter will explore the methodology to be applied in the study by discussing in detail the participants, the instruments and the procedures of data collection and analysis The purpose of this chapter is showing the attitudes and expectations

of primary students in Nghe An province toward teaching English vocabulary

2 Research methods

The study aims at investigating the effects of games on studying vocabulary of primary students Therefore, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were used for this study in order to identify the difficulties encountered by primary students in learning vocabulary based on data collected from the results of a STARTERS test, questionnaires and interview Condelli and Wrigley (2003, p.1) point out that the best research design is a mixed design that integrates qualitative and quantitative research because “by using a rigorous design, the quantitative methods can tell us what works, while the qualitative can tell us how

it works” Similarly, Bryman (1988) argued for a “best of both worlds” approach and also suggested that qualitative and quantitative should be combined Weinreich (1996) contended that the advantages of the quantitative method are that it provides the researcher with quantifiable, reliable date that is usually able to be generalized to some larger population It is most appropriate for conducting needs assessments or for evaluations comparing outcomes with baseline date Besides, qualitative method is designed to provide researcher with the perspective of target audience members through immersion in a culture or situation and direct interaction with them in the research process The quasi-experimental design which consisted

of two groups; experimental group and control group was also used The experimental group was taught using games, while control group was taught without games A pre-test before treatment was carried out for both group to ensure their equivalence on the dependent variable

of the study (students achievement in reading comprehension) as well as to identify students’ difficulties in order to apply appropriate games

The study included two variables The independent variable was the method of teaching vocabulary with games and without games The dependent variable comprised the students’ achievement on the vocabulary posttest

Using the advantages of both methods, as well as a quasi-experimental design, the researcher expects to seek the answers to the research questions so that games can be applied appropriately for primary students

3 Participants

In fact, the relationship between teachers, educational materials and students is always interdependent In addition, teaching and learning condition is also a very important factor All of those are really decisive in bringing success to lectures Because of the limitation of time, the survey questionnaires were only conducted in Vinh university Pedagogical practicing primary school in Nghe An province and found their reality The focus

of survey questionnaires depended on the characteristics of teachers, students, the teaching and I carried out this survey questionnaires with 4 English teachers and 100 students 2ndgraders at Vinh university Pedagogical Practicing primary school They took part in 14 survey questionnaires relating to teach English vocabulary

The design of every unit in English text book First Friends 2’ student book is divided into six lessons, with a review section after every unit Each lesson is identified by a colorful icon Each unit has following parts:

interactive song based on the dialogue

after every two units

4.1 Vocabulary pretest:

In this study, a vocabulary pretest at STARTERS level was held at the first week of February when nothing taught The pretest consists of 5 parts with 35 questions aimed to assess the performance of the study groups in vocabulary test as well as to identify students’s difficulties in learning vocabulary To meet the appropriate readability level for students, the pretest was chosen from Cambridge English YLE English Test This assessment helps the researcher to apply appropriate games and the pretest results were also utilized to compare with those of the posttest to confirm the effects of games on vocabulary test for young learners

4.2 Interviews

Informal interviews and discussions with students were conducted after the posttest and the questionnaire B to get further information about the effects of games From the interview, students’ motivation when learning vocabulary skills were determined and this helped the researcher to confirm the effects of games in order to improve vocabulary skills for students Newman (2002) points out that face-to-face interview may have the highest response rates Moreover, according to Nunan (1998), an unstructured interview is more like a natural conversation between the interviewer and interviewee Therefore, students were encouraged

to talk freely and truly in a formal atmosphere The researcher, by this way, could get some more reliable and specific information from students The interview was also conducted in Vietnamese so that students could understand fully and correctly the interviewer’s questions They could, therefore, find it easy and comfortable to talk and express their though and ideas The interview was done during break time at school and was recorded for later analysis

4.3 Questionnaires

According to Mc Millan and Schumacher (1993, p.238), “the questionnaires is the most widely useful technique for obtaining information from subjects” Many researchers suppose that using questionaire in language research has many advantages First, questionaire can be given to a great number of students at the same time and it is self-administered Second, to protect the privacy and keep the fairness, the subjects’ names might not be appeared on the questionaire So subjects tend to share the information more naturally, even some sensitive information Third, the data collected are more accurate because questionaire

is usually given to all the subjects at the same time Thus the survey questionnaire was intended to serve as one of the main sources of data collection It served as a valuable tool for the researcher to examine the games in teaching vocabulary There were two sets of questionnaires A and B I used survey questionnaires to get information about teaching and learning English vocabulary in Nghe An province In this survey questionnaire, two sets of questionnaire are conducted (one for students, one for teacher) Teachers and students were asked to tick the most suitable answers which correspond with their opinion The questionnaires are designed as below: For teachers: there are 7 questions to

Question 1: English teaching time of primary teachers

Question 2: Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary

Question 3+4 : The games used in teaching vocabulary and their effectiveness

Question 5+ 6: Teachers’ opinion on difficulties of teachers and students when teaching and learning vocabulary

Question 7: Teachers’ tips used to help students remember new words in class

For students: there are 7 questions conducted in order to study

Question 1+2: Students’ attitud towards learning English in general and learning vocabulary in particular

Question 3+4: Students’ difficulties when learning vocabulary

Question 5: Students’ ways in learning the meaning of words

Question 6+7: Students’ opinion on current used games and their effectiveness in teaching vocabulary

4.4 Vocabulary Posttest

The post test was taken at the last week of May; this means 11 weeks after the beginning lesson Like the pretest, the posttest was chosen from Cambridge English YLE English Test with five vocabulary parts, 35 questions Students are required to sit for this test for 60 minutes and as usual, the teacher does not forget to tell them that the results of this test will not affect the results of the test subjects The purpose of this work is the teacher’s expectation that all students do not copy each other, and help her get an accurate survey finding Both the pre and posttest are included in the appendix

4.6 Lesson Plans

The researcher designed a lesson plan for each unit, which was based on a through revision of literature about games and the teacher’s book Basing on the content of each unit and some appropriate games were used

5 Data Analysis

Based on the feedback obtained from interviews and the questionnaire, data analysis was mainly used by qualitative and quantitative approaches The results of the reading pre and posttest and the data from the questionnaire were quantitatively processed using statistical frequency based on percentage by means of tables or charts through Excel formulas The information collected from interviews were described and reported in words

6 Data Collection Procedures

The researcher collected information in the academic year 2015-2016 The procedure

of the research includes the following steps:

6.1 Gathering information and reviewing the previous research related to the study 6.2 Administrating vocabulary pre test at STARTERS MOVERS level

6.3 Collecting the data from the results of the pretest, designing questions for the questionnaire A and then delivering the questionnaire to the students

6.4 Analyzing data from the results of the pretest and the questionnaire, and then implementing a studying vocabulary program for 3 months

6.5 Administrating vocabulary posttest at STARTERS MOVERS level, designing questionnaire B and then delivering questionnaire to students

6.6 Collecting and analyzing the data from the results of the posttest and questionnaire

6.7 Conducting statistical analysis and data tabulations

6.8 Explaining and interpreting the collected data presented in tables and charts

7 Summary

A detailed description of the research approach, the subjects and participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures of the study has been presented The study was completed with the help of the students and teachers at Vinh university Pedagogical practising primary school The analysis of data collected served

as some important input for confirming effects of games in teaching and learning vocabulary

as well as improving pedagogical methods so that students can best improve their vocabulary

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

1 Introduction

This chapter deals with an analysis of data collected mainly from the results of pre- and posttest administered at Vinh University to students, the questionnaires and the informal interviews conducted with students The findings are presented with the researcher’s explanations and evaluations aiming to confirm the effects of games on vocabulary for younger students

2 Student’s interest in learning English ( Question 1, Appendix)

Chart 1: Student’s interest in learning English

This question is to find how primary students are interested in learning English The results indicate that 90% of students are fond of studying English, in which 40% of them like

it very much They say that they feel very excited when saying “hello” or “good bye” to everyone, they also like singing the alphabet song Others showed their interest in this subject, but it is not very much, because they sometimes have some difficulties in pronouncing and memorizing a word Looking at the bar chart, we see that 10% of students do not like learning English When being interviewed, they express that they find it easy to remember a new word, but quickly to forget it, so they are fed up with studying English From that point of view, teachers should have useful and workable games to attract the students’s interest in English

3 Teachers’ and students’ opinion toward the role of English vocabulary:

(Question 2, Appendix 1 and Question 2, Appendix 2)

Student's interest in learning English

Student's interest in learning English

Chart 2: Teachers’ and students’ opinion toward the role of English vocabulary

This is the first stage students get acquainted with learning English, and they get used

to English with simple words and simple sentences Although they do not clearly understand about the importance of English in the life, they can see the role of vocabulary when studying this subject We can easily find that both teachers (100%) and students (85%) agree that learning vocabulary plays an important role in mastering English However, a number of students thought that vocabulary is not important which occupies 15% This percentage is quite high, it is necessary for teachers to make out the reasons of this matter and from then teachers will find the way to make their students understand the importance of vocabulary and the useful games to attract students’s interest

4 Students’ and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching vocabulary

4.1 Students’ difficulties to memorize the new words in a lesson (Question 3, question 4, appendix 1)

Chart 3: Students’ difficulties to memorize the new words in a lesson

important (85%) very important (35%)

Teachers and student's opinion toward the role

of English vocabulary

Teachers and student's opinion toward the role of English vocabulary

Spelling (21%) Pronunciation (19%)

Mearning (60%)

Student's difficulties to memorise the new word a

lesson

Spelling (21%) Pronurciation (19%) Mearning (60%)

According to the pie chart, meaning of word is the aspect which elementary students often have some difficulties when studying vocabulary 60% of them showed that they find hard to memorize the meaning of words in a lesson, although students easily remember them, they also forget them quickly 21 % have problems with spelling of words Primary students expressed that English writing is more difficult than Vietnamese one, so they fail to write the words correctly Besides, pronunciation is the problem of 19% of students In Nghe An in general and Vinh university Pedagogical practicing primary school in particular, students often pronoun a word without final syllable In fact, with the current traditional methods, teaching English, especially teaching vocabulary cannot get good results, students still face many difficulties in learning Therefore, workable games are necessary

4.2 Teachers’ opinion on the difficulties their students can face while learning vocabulary (Question 6, appendix 2)

Difficulties Students

They can’t understand when being opposed to video and audio 25%

Table 1: Teachers’s opinion on the difficulties their students can face while

learning vocabulary

Based on the teachers’ opinion, the most popular difficulty students encounter when learning vocabulary is word’s pronunciation (25%), they are often confused with it because of the interference of local language’s characteristic However, just 30% fail to write words correctly, teachers can know this student’s problem by using spell check before a lesson Besides, 50% of teachers say that students often make mistakes on meaning of words and 25% express their students cannot understand when being opposed to video and audio visual aids In general, teachers and students share the same ideas on the difficulties of students when learning English vocabulary in terms of pronunciation, meaning and spelling of words While students feel hard to memorize meaning of words, teachers say that pronunciation is the main problem of students Teachers also pay more attention on the ability of their English listening

4.3 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching vocabulary for primary students (Question

Table 2: Teachers’ difficulties when teaching vocabulary for primary students

This question is raised to teachers to explore their opinion about the difficulties when teaching vocabulary for primary students According to data of the table above, many teachers admit that they lack of workable teaching techniques Games are often used to illustrate the information in most lessons, and they also apply funny games The workable games downloaded from internet which students can play immediately are limited because of without the assistance of high- tech equipments such as projector If these are installed, they will be useful for teaching English in particular and other subjects in general However, installing new teaching equipment must depend on financial capability of each school It means that teaching condition is one of reason make the difficulty in teachers’s teaching, 25%

of teachers cope with this problem They say that they find out many interesting games, but they can apply them into the lesson because of poor condition Students are one of the most important factors in the success of each lesson Their awareness, attention and eagerness will decide how successful a lecture is At this age, primary students are eager to find and study new knowledge However, they just focus on interesting and funny things which attract their curiosity while teacher use similar games in most their lectures, therefore they can easily memorize what are studied but they also forget them quickly Looking at the table above, student’s attention and eagerness make the disadvantages for 75% of teachers and 25% have difficulties with students’s awareness

To sum up, these questions are raised to find out the problems coped with by students and teachers in Vinh university Pedagogical primary school when English vocabulary are taught When we know what our problem is, we surely find the way to overcome it With the guidance of teachers and efforts of students, they will be more interested and involved in English lessons, and techniques to teach English vocabulary will be more and more effectives

4.4 The teachers’ and students’ opinion on currently used techniques in learning vocabulary (Question 6, appendix 1 and question 3, appendix 2)

Techniques Teachers Students

Textbook and learning

materials

However, the rate of audio-visual aids is different, 50% of teachers often apply this techniques to teach English vocabulary whereas 68% of students say they are prefer learning through songs, short stories Depending on this survey, I think that Nghe An need to invest on education to give assistance in teaching of teachers better and better, moreover, students also can access scientific teaching techniques

5 Tips are applied to help learning English vocabulary

5.1 The ways students often apply in memorizing words

Chart 4: The ways students often apply in memorizing words

A write down and learn by heart

B think about them in your mind

C read them repeatedly

D learn through pictures

According to their opinion, meaning of words is the most difficulty when learning English, so they will apply their own tips in order to easily memorize all words after each lesson However, it is surprised that write down on draft and learn by h eart is the most popular way (65%) which is not active and creative, applying this way children will be passive in learning English and also other subjects Meanwhile, just 12,5 % of them often make sentences with related words in each lesson It proves that students do not come to realize which tips are the most suitable for learning vocabulary In addition, 25% say that they can memorize meaning of words by reading it repeatedly and 22% keep thinking about what are taught in their mind, only 40% of students often learn English vocabulary through pictures From the figures, it shows a reality that primary school students need to receive the instruction about what are appropriate ways to learn English vocabulary better and better

The ways students often apply in memorise

The ways students often apply in memorise

5.2 The tips teachers use to help their students memorizing new words in class

Let students find new words in a paragraph and guess their

Let students make sentences in which using new words 25%

Require two or three students make short conversations basing the

Others (spell check on board, guess meaning of words through

Table 3: The tips teachers use to help their students memorize new words in class

When being interviewed, almost of primary teachers said that they often applied all tips in a lesson However, they usually call students to stand up and read aloud new words (occupies 85%), after that they will erase words on blackboard, then require students read them again and again Only 25% of teachers let students make sentences in which using new words They explained that primary students‟ knowledge about English

is at beginning level, therefore they sometime let students make simple sentences such

as “I am a pupil”, “ She has got three cakes” 75% suggest their students find new words in paragraph and guess their meaning According to teachers, this tip is quite effective, it also promotes students’s thinking Besides, they also require two or three students make short conversations basing the dialogue in textbook (50%) By this way students can remember both new words and content of lesson Other tips such as 25% spell check on board, guess meaning of words through explanations of teachers are also applied To sump up, with the survey questionnaires, we can clearly see the students’ attitude on learning English in general and learning vocabulary in particular Moreover,

we know about the effectiveness of adopted techniques in teaching vocabulary t hrough students’ and teachers’ opinion, and their methods when learning and teaching vocabulary