The effects of pictures in teaching cocabulary to efl young learners

The aim of the research is to find out whether teaching vocabulary using pictures is effective to the students’ achievement in word spelling, word meaning and word pronunciation.. The st

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ABSTRACT

Vocabulary is one of the important factors to success in learning a foreign language

It is very difficult to convey people’s thoughts without vocabulary Thus, to teach vocabulary efficiently to students is the desire of any teacher

The aim of the research is to find out whether teaching vocabulary using pictures is effective to the students’ achievement in word spelling, word meaning and word pronunciation It was expected that the result of the study can enrich the teacher’s strategy in teaching vocabulary through pictures especially for young learners

The study was carried out with the participation of thirty first graders from Eland English centre in Vinh city for six weeks to examine three main issues: whether pictures can help learners improve their ability to memorise word meaning; whether pictures can help them memorise word spelling; and whether pictures have an effect

in improving learners’ ability of pronunciation memorisation

To reach these goals, the students were divided into two groups – the treatment group consists of fifteen students who were taught vocabulary with the picture technique and the control group consists of fifteen students who were taught with other methods Data were collected through six tests and two scoring methods were used to measure the participants’ improvement in word meaning memorisation, word spelling memorisation and word pronunciation memorisation It was found that the two scoring methods agreed with each other The results revealed that the participants in the treatment group outperformed those in the control group in terms

of word meaning memorisation In contrast, the control group made a slightly higher increase than the treatment one in terms of word spelling memorisation though the treatment group made an improvement in remembering word spelling during the treatment The participants in the treatment group gained higher scores than those in the control one in term of word pronunciation memorisation

Hopefully, with the results achieved from the study, the recommendations for using pictures in teaching vocabulary, the dissertation will be a useful source of reference for teachers of English in teaching vocabulary to EFL young learners

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep and faithful gratitude to my supervisor,

Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for the wholehearted guidance, valuable suggestion and encouragement she gave me throughout my research, without which this work would hardly have been accomplished

I also would like to send my thanks to the colleagues and the students at Eland English Center for their advice, constructive suggestions and tremendous assistance.Without that, it would have been harder for me to finish the project

Thanks are also extended to all my friends who have encouraged me and help me to collect documents during the study

Finally, I would like to delicate this work to my family, especially my husband, who has been always beside me with help, encouragement and love

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Methodology 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Thesis design 3

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 Definition of vocabulary 5

2.2 The roles of vocabulary in language learning 6

2.3 Aspects of vocabulary 7

2.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and spelling 7

2.3.2 Grammar 8

2.3.3 Collocation 9

2.3.4 Aspects of meaning 9

2.3.4.1 Denotation, Connotation and Appropriateness 9

2.3.4.2 Meaning relationships 10

2.3.4.3 Part of speech 11

2.3.4.4 Word formation 12

2.3.4.5 Word use 13

2.3.4.6 Active and passive vocabulary 14

2.3.4.7 Concrete and abstract vocabulary 15

2.4 Techniques in teaching vocabulary 15

2.4.1 Visual techniques 16

2.4.2 Verbal techniques 17

2.4.3 Polish equivalent 18

2.5 Principles in teaching vocabulary 18

2.6 Characteristics of EFL young learners 18

2.7 Teaching English vocabulary to young learners 19

2.8 Pictures in vocabulary teaching 21

2.8.1 Pictures in EFL teaching 21

2.8.2 Types of pictures 22

2.8.2.1 Picture flashcards 23

2.8.2.2 Drawing 25

2.8.2.3 Wall-pictures and posters, compiled pictures 28

2.8.2.4 Semantic maps 29

CHAPTER III THE METHODOLOGY 31

3.1 Materials 31

3.2 Participants 33

3.3 Procedures 33

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31

4.1 Results 35

4.1.1 Results from the word meaning tests 35

4.1.1.1 The comparison of the scores on the first and the last tests made by the two groups36 4.1.1.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests made by the two groups 38

4.1.1.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests on word meaning made by the two groups 40

4.1.2 Results from the word spelling tests 42

4.1.2.1 The comparison of the scores on the first test and the last test on spelling made by the two groups 43

4.1.2.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests on spelling made by the two groups 44

4.1.2.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests

on spelling made by two groups 46

4.1.3 Results from the word pronunciation tests 48

4.1.3.1 The comparison of the scores on the first test and the last test on pronunciation made by the two groups 48

4.1.3.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests on pronunciation made by the two groups 50

4.1.3.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests on pronunciation made by two groups 51

4.2 Change patterns that the two groups made during the course 53

4.2.1 The patterns of progress on the word meaning test 58

4.2.2 The patterns of progress on the spelling test 59

4.2.3 The patterns of progress on the pronunciation test 59

4.3 Discussion 60

4.3.1 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word meaning 61

4.3.2 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word spelling 62

4.3.3 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word pronunciation63 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 65

5.1 Summary of the main findings 65

5.2 Implications 66

5.3 Limitations 66

REFERENCES 68

APPENDIX A 71

APPENDIX B 72

APPENDIX C 73

APPENDIX D 74

APPENDIX E 76

APPENDIX F 77

APPENDIX G 78

APPENDIX H 79

APPENDIX l 81

APPENDIX K 82

APPENDIX L 83

APPENDIX M 84

APPENDIX N 86

APPENDIX P 92

APPENDIX Q 97

APPENDIX S 104

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 36 Table 4.2 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on word meaning by participants from the two groups 37 Table 4.3 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test

on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 39 Table 4.4 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on word meaning by participants from the two groups 39 Table 4.5 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests

on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 41 Table 4.6 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests

on word meaning by participants from the two groups 41 Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on spelling for the treatment and control groups 43 Table 4.8 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on spelling by participants from the two groups 44 Table 4.9 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test

on spelling for the treatment and control groups 44 Table 4.10 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on spelling by participants from the two groups 45 Table 4.11 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests

on spelling for the treatment and control groups 46 Table 4.12 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests

on spelling by participants from the two groups 47 Table 4.13 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 48

Table 4.14 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on spelling by participants from the two groups 49 Table 4.15 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test

on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 50 Table 4.16 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on pronunciation by participants from the two groups 51 Table 4.17 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests

on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 51 Table 4.18 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests

on spelling by participants from the two groups 52 Table 4.19 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on word meaning tests 58 Table 4.20 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on spelling tests 59 Table 4.21 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on pronunciation tests 60

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Progress chart of participant A8 on word meaning test/ increase graph 54

Figure 4.2 Progress chart of participant B13 on word pronunciation/decrease graph54

Figure 4.3 Progress chart of participant A7on word spelling/ unchanged graph 55 Figure 4.4 Progress chart of participant A12 on word pronunciation/ gradual increase 56 Figure 4.5 Progress chart of participant A14 on word pronunciation/ plateau increase 57 Figure 4.6 Progress chart of participant B1 on word spelling/ mixed increase (gradual+plateau) 57

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Everybody knows that English is the most popular language in the world English has an important role as a media of communication in creating relationship, exchanging information and of course in interacting with other people In globalization era, Vietnamese must able to master both oral and written English They must be fluent in four basic skills of English: speaking, writing, listening and reading That is why English is essential to teach from an early age

Nowadays, English is taught in Elementary school, Junior High school, Senior High school, University and even now in the kindergarten or preschool

In English language teaching, vocabulary is very essential With a good vocabulary, students can understand well what teacher says during the learning process As a result, students can receive the material delivered better Besides, good vocabulary makes it possible for the students to make a meaningful and fluent conversation and apply it in their daily life

However, it is not an easy job to teach English to young learners because they almost have no focus in the lesson and it is very difficult for teachers to control the class In the learning process, young learners usually talk with each other, or even joke with their friends If they are being tough they do not pay attention to the teacher This problem has to be solved as soon as possible to make the learning process run effectively

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is a common language in communication in the world It plays a very important part in many fields of life In Vietnam, English is considered a key for communication in offices, companies and at schools Being a compulsory

subject, it is thought to give students and workers chances to study and work all over the world

Talking about learning a foreign language, the first thing we think about is words Vocabulary plays an essential role in acquiring a language and it is also an important tool to activate four language skills in English: listening, speaking, reading, writing Therefore, it helps us communicate successfully with people within and outside our country To think and to express our ideas, an important factor we need is words Language is the key that helps our mind to think, to plan,

to solve problems, and finally to succeed Hence, the more words we know, the more likely we are to succeed However, to acquire words is not easy at all, therefore, it is a necessary and interesting theme for any research on

Vocabulary is considered to be a basic component in learning a foreign language And children like images, so they are highly motivated to learn vocabulary and to memorize words that the children watch from pictures Furthermore, colorful pictures will make the children interested and motivated

For those reasons, it would be useful to carry out the study on using pictures to present vocabulary in order to investigate how pictures affect students’memorisation

of word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation

1.2 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to find out whether teaching vocabulary using pictures is effective to improve the students’ memory on word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation The effectiveness of two techniques for vocabulary memorizing: using pictures and using translation method were compared in the study The findings of the research will be helpful for teachers in teaching vocabulary

1.3 Research questions

In order to meet the aims of the study, the following research questions are

generated:

1 Does and to what extent if it does, using pictures help EFL young learners

to retain word meaning?

2 Does and to what extent if it does, using pictures help EFL young learners

to retain word pronunciation?

3 Does and to what extent if it does, using pictures help EFL young learners

to retain word spelling?

1.4 Methodology

The main methodology used in the project was experimental in order to find answers to the research questions The average scoring method and the last score minus the first score method were also used to measure the effects of pictures on the participants’ memory Two groups of 30 students at the ages of 5 to 7 were involved

in the study The study intended to explore how pictures affect students’ ability of remembering word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation when they are used to present vocabulary in comparison with the translation method

1.5 Scope of the study

There are, of course, varieties of ways that help students remember vocabulary However, this research focused on the effects of pictures on word meaning and spelling and word pronunciation memorisation after each lesson, The course book which the researcher used during the experimental course was the First Friend 1 by Susan Iannuzzi, published by Oxford University Press The study was conducted among students aged from 5 to 7 and limited to the area of teaching and learning vocabulary at Eland English center in Vinh city only

1.6 Thesis design

The thesis comprises five chapters

Chapter I is the introduction, which provides a brief introduction, rationale and an overview of the thesis

Chapter II is the theoretical background, in which the definition and classification

of vocabulary, the role of vocabulary in language teaching, aspects of vocabulary need to be taught, techniques and principles in teaching vocabulary, and pictures in foreign language teaching will be discussed

Chapter III presents the treatment study, which aimed to scrutinize the effects of using pictures to present vocabulary on the students’ memorisation of word meaning, spelling and pronunciation

Chapter IV, the study comes the next consisting of findings and discussion, in which the data is described and discussed

Chapter V comes last A summary of the main findings of the study, the limitations

of the study, and implication for further research are also mentioned in the last chapter

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Definition of vocabulary

Vocabulary is a central of language and of critical importance of typical language Without sufficient vocabulary, people cannot communicate effectively or express his ideas in both oral and written form To support the speaker’s interaction in communication, vocabulary becomes important because it can be used as basic foundation to construct a word into a good sequence of sentence Therefore, the students should have to obtain vocabulary mastery

According to Finnochiaro (1974, p.73) there are two kinds of vocabulary, namely active vocabulary and passive vocabulary Active vocabulary refers to the words the student understands, can pronounce correctly and use them constructively in speaking and writing On the other hand, passive vocabulary refers to the words in which the students can recognize and understand while they are reading or listening

to someone speaking, but they do not use the words in speaking or in writing

According to Lewis (1993, p.89) vocabulary “…may be individual words, or full sentences- institutionalized utterances- that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community” Or, in her book: “ A course in language teaching” defined roughly “ as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound

of two or three words or multi-word idioms” (1996, p.60) Pyles and Algeo also give their ideas about vocabulary They said “ when most of us think about language we think just about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” (1970, p.96)

According to Harmer, if language structures make up the skeleton of a language, then it is its vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh A word is a unit

of language that native speakers can identify, “words are the block from which

sentences are made” Knowing a word means being able to do thing with it: to

recognize it in connected speech or in print, to access its meaning, to pronounce it and to be able to do these things within a fraction of a second (Stahl and Fairbanks,

1986) Meanwhile, Hoang simply defined vocabulary as “words of a specific language” (Hoang, 2006, p.262)

In short, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including single words, two or three-word items expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences; or in contexts, etc

2.2 The roles of vocabulary in language learning

It is undeniable that vocabulary, like grammar and phonetics, plays an important

role in mastering a foreign language According to Wilkins (1972) " without

grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be

conveyed" Besides, Harmer (1992) shares the same idea that :"If language

structures make up the skeleton of language, then it Is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh An ability to manipulate grammatical structures does not have any potential for expressing meaning unless words are used” Concerning the

significance of vocabulary, Mc Carthy (1995, p.312) states, “Without words to

express a wide range of meanings, communication in the second language cannot happen in any meaningful way” By these statements, the researcher concludes that vocabulary is the decisive component of all uses of language

Therefore, if the learners have a wide range of vocabulary, they will have more confidence to communicate with others and vice versa They can meet many difficulties to express themselves and communicate with others

Vocabulary has much effect on other English skills: writing, speaking, listening and reading John Langan supports that by saying: “A good command of many words will make you a better writer, speaker, listener and reader" Studies like those of

Stahl and Fairbanks (1986); Beck, McKeown and Kucan ( 2002); Graves and Watts-Taffe ( 2002); McKeown and Beck (2004); Carter (2007); Frey and Fisher (2008) showed that students with a strong vocabulary and students who work to improve limited vocabulary are more successful in school and good vocabulary, more than any other factors, was common to people enjoying successful careers To make it short, vocabulary is considered a vital part of effective communication; therefore, teaching vocabulary is necessary

I S P Nation (1990) also asserts that “Giving attention to vocabulary is

unavoidable Even the most formal or communication- directed approaches to language teaching must deal with needed vocabulary in one way or another”

Such above- mentioned studies support the importance of teaching vocabulary, however, some scholars have opposite opinions For example Harris and Harris and

Snow ( 2004, p 58) suggest that " attempting to teach vocabulary is ineffective and

the time spent on vocabulary teaching and learning is often time wasted.”

This idea is so badly misleading for both teacher and learners In fact, vocabulary teaching must be directly regarded as an essential part of progress in a foreign language In conclusion, the researcher assures that vocabulary is the backbone of any language It not only enables students to decode messages while listening or reading but also helps them improve their speaking and writing

2.3 Aspects of vocabulary

When teaching vocabulary, the teacher needs to take the following aspects into consideration

2.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and spelling

The teacher has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what it looks like (its spelling) There are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the

other will be perceived by the learners when encountering the item for the first time

In teaching we need to make sure that both these aspects are accurately presented and learned 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, p.157)

2.3.2 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 of connecting with other words in sentences; it is important to provide students with this information 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)

2.3.3 Collocation

The collocations typical of particular items are another factor that makes a particular combination sound “right” or “wrong” in a given context Thus, this is another 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

2.3.4 Aspects of meaning

2.3.4.1 Denotation, Connotation and Appropriateness

The denotation of a word is “what it refers to in the real world” (Ur, 1996, p.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: the associations, or positive or negative feelings it evokes This meaning conveys the speaker’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 the appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner to know that a certain word is very common, or relatively rare, or “taboo” in polite conversation, or tends to be used writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for formal than informal discourse, or belong to a certain dialect Appropriateness is

related 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

2.3.4.2 Meaning relationships

Words have meanings in relation to others And in teaching, it is very useful to show how meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others According to Ur (1996, p.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 is more

or less equivalent in meaning to the item to be taught

Besides, there are other, perhaps looser, ways of associating meaning that are useful

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 real-world context (tractor, farmer, milking and irrigate are all associated with agriculture)

2.3.4.3 Part of speech

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

Open-class items are items belonging to a class in which they have the same grammatical properties and structural possibilities as other member of the class The class is ‘open’ because we can extend it by adding or creating some items The parts

of speech 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 a successful production

2.3.4.4 Word formation

According to Hoang Tat Truong (1993, p.15), word formation is the process of building new words from the material already existing in the language according to certain structural and semantic patterns and formulae

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

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

Affixation is a process of forming new words by adding affixes to a root in order 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 of their components

Compounding is the process of forming new items by joining two or more words 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 their motivation or by comparing and contrasting them with the previously learnt elements and patterns

2.3.4.5 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 its use Metaphor is the transference of names based on the association of similarity or more 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 that their meaning cannot easily be deduced from their components (Hoang

Tat Truong, 1993, p.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 a particular combination sound ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in a given context That is which words go with each other in order to make sense Some verbs only accept limited objects; 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 typical contexts words and expressions occur in

2.3.4.6 Active and passive vocabulary

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

Active vocabulary items are the ones that a language student needs to understand and use effectively in communication In teaching active vocabulary, it is worth spending time giving examples and asking questions so that students can see how 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 can recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but cannot produce or use effectively in communication It is often best to present it quite quickly, with a simple example If it appears as a part of a text of dialogue, we can often leave students to guess the meaning of the word from the context Thus, active and passive vocabulary items are just like productive and receptive ones

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

At beginner and elementary levels, it certainly seems a good idea to provide sets of vocabulary which students can learn Most of these early words will 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 to say 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 the situation or the context provokes its use In other words, the status of a vocabulary item does not seem to be a permanent state

of affairs

2.3.4.7 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 cannot 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 the situation, explanation or translation This also affects the revision process

2.4 Techniques in teaching vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is a very important field, and it is more than just presenting and introducing new vocabulary to the learners Knowing words is not filling papers with new words and memorizing them What students need to understand is the word meaning in context and how words are used? To achieve this, teachers should use different techniques in teaching English vocabulary to motivate the learners, enrich their vocabulary and enable them to speak English properly The selection of an

appropriate technique depends on the age of the students, their skills, and interests as well as what the teacher think will bring desirable results The following are most

commonly used techniques in presenting vocabulary items

2.4.1 Visual techniques

According to Gairns and Redman (1986) these techniques can include realia, pictures and mine, action and gesture Realia refers to the use of real objects in the classroom These objects help to make the meaning of word clear (for example: a pen, a postcard, a ball, etc) The teacher may also use classroom environment: a

chair, a table, a board Things in the classroom can also be “touched” The success

in learning depends on the number of senses involved in the learning process and, however, realia is a vital part in presenting vocabulary at the beginner level, where

pupils learn words, using concretes

Pictures may be the most useful “aids” in language teaching, since they are used in different ways There are pictures, flashcards, blackboard drawings, wall pictures, charts, photos from magazines Those “aids” are used to explain the meaning of words or to create a situation and concept

Mine, action and gesture are considered as a technique which is useful for explaining the actions and grammar items Such concepts as jumping, smoking or

the words: “from, on, to” so on are easy items to explain through performing those

actions Mime, action is a great fun for children who like acting and moving very much

All techniques introduced above are good for presenting new vocabulary to students

at the beginners’ level because they are very interesting and involving for them

2.4.2 Verbal techniques

The following several techniques can be used only with students who have some knowledge of English, for example: those at the upper-beginner level

Contrast - this technique usually shows the similarities and differences between

person’s ideas and things For example: “The major points of your plan are clear to

me, but details are still hazy” “But” introduces a clause that contrasts in meaning with the previous one and “hazy” is opposite of “clear”

Enumeration - this technique helps when any word is difficult to explain visually

We can say ‘clothes’ and explain this by enumerating or listing various items Teacher may list a number of clothes, for example: dress, a skirt, trousers etc, and then the meaning of the word will became clear The same is true of ‘vegetable’ or

‘furniture’,for example (Harmer, 1991)

Explanation - this is such a technique which is assigned to be utilized with

upper-beginners, who already have some knowledge of English It is essential for the teacher to bear in mind that while explaining certain words he should use the language that is comprehensible for the students Moreover, the information about the frequency of the word should be included

Synonyms - this technique relies on explanation of meaning of new word by giving

other word, which students know and understand, and which means nearly the same For example: little-small, huge-big etc The number of synonyms appearing in textbooks is reasonable, in this way they can be introduced rather early

Antonyms - in this technique teacher explains the meaning of new word, by giving

its opposite, if students know the word meaning contrary feature e.g warm -is not cold With saying the antonym the gesture of dent should be combined

Definition -is a suitable method for upper-beginners and relies on giving the

definition of given word It can be simple, unnecessary precise and scientific definition, given by the teacher It can be the definition from the dictionary This is

a good method in mobilization of students to the usage of dictionaries

2.4.3 Polish equivalent

In this method the teacher gives the translation of given word in the native language The translation is the quickest way of demonstrating the meaning of vocabulary items However, being often exposed to this presentation technique, the students may be discouraged from interacting with words Thus, when presenting vocabulary, the teacher is obliged to bear in mind the techniques and also the fact, that words are learnt better if introduced in groups (when one word can be associated with another) Furthermore, the lexical item, as is quoted above, must be taught in context The reason is that the meaning of many words can change, according to their use in particular sentences and particular context Although many linguists state that translation is not a good presentation technique, it is only considered dangerous for students if it becomes the only presentation technique

2.5 Principles in teaching vocabulary

There are several principles for successful teaching, which are valid for any method

According to Wallace (1988) the principles are:

a Aim: what is to be taught, which words, how many

b Need: target vocabulary should respond students’ real needs and interests

c Frequent exposure and repetition

d Meaningful presentation: clear and unambiguous denotation or reference should

be assured

2.6 Characteristics of EFL young learners

Young learners are students in kindergarten and elementary school As Philips stated, young learners mean “children from the first years of formal schooling (5 or

6 years old) to eleven or twelve years of age” (Philips, 1996, p.2)

According to Wendy A Scott and Lisbeth H Yterberg in their book Teaching

English to Children, young learner is classified into two main groups They are:

1 The five to seven years old (beginning stage)

- They can talk about what they are doing

- They can tell about what they have done

- They can plan activities

- They can use logical reasoning

- They can understand direct human interaction

2 The eight to ten years old

- They can understand abstract

- They can understand symbol (beginning with words)

- They can generalize and systematize

(Scott and Yterberg,2001, p.2)

2.7 Teaching English vocabularies to young learners

Teaching young learners is different from teaching adult It is absolutely more difficult It is due to their age that is too young In teaching them, the teacher should raise their will in joining the learning process As stated by M.Williams, “children learn better if they have a positive attitude towards what they are doing and if they are motivated or want to do it.” (Williams, 1991, p.207) Therefore, the teacher is suggested that he make an interesting learning activity to the student in order that they can understand well and the learning process can run well too

According to Brown ( 2001) , there are five factors that may help teacher to teach English to the children They are:

1 Intellectual developments

This category helps the teacher to teach children since children are skillful in an intellectual stage of what Piaget (1997) called “ Concrete Operation”

2 Attention span

It is one of the differences between children and adult The teacher should not let their students happen this span by boredom, or too difficult in learning process Moreover, the teacher had better try to make the class more productive and active

5 Authentic, meaningful language

The teacher must know that children are less willing to put up with language that does not hold immediate rewards for them So, a very special teacher who is able to teach children effectively is needed

There are several techniques of presentation according to Jeremy Harmer in his book Practice of English Language Teaching; one of this is by using pictures Pictures can be used to explain the meaning of vocabularies item Teacher can draw things on the board or bring in pictures

The main advantage of using pictures into the classroom is to make the learning experience more memorable for the learner For examples, if the teacher is going to teach vocabulary of fruit and vegetables it can be much more affective for students

if they can see the objects through pictures at the same time as hearing the new word This would appeal to a wide range of learner styles

It can be said that using pictures is aimed to make the students more active in receiving information during the learning process because the roles of the student

are also important to support the lesson It is stated by Michael McCarthy, “we concentrated on vocabulary presentation in the classroom very much from the teacher’s point of view, but success in vocabulary lesson crucially depends on the interaction between teacher and learners, and of the work the learners themselves put into the assimilation and practicing of new words.” (McCarthy, 1990, p.121)

By applying this technique, it is expected that the teaching and learning process can run better and the students can get the best result of learning process So, they can use it as the basic knowledge for their next stage of English learning

2.8 Pictures in vocabulary teaching

2.8.1 Pictures in EFL teaching

As Hill (1990) pointed out, “the standard classroom” is usually not a very suitable environment for learning languages That is why teachers search for various aids and stimuli to improve this situation Pictures are one of these valuable aids They bring

‘images of reality into the unnatural world of the language classroom’ (Hill, 1990) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can also function as a fun element in the class Sometimes it is surprising, how pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises or just to create the atmosphere

Pictures meet with a wide range of use not only in acquiring vocabulary, but also in many other aspects of foreign language teaching Wright (1990, p.4-6) demonstrated this fact on an example, where he used on a compiled picture and illustrated the possibility of use in five very different language areas His example shows employing pictures in teaching structure, vocabulary, functions, situations and all four skills Furthermore he pointed out that “potential of pictures is so great that only

a taste of their full potential can be given” in his book (Wright, 1990, p.6) To be more specific, beside lessons where pictures are in the main focus, they might be used just as a “stimulus for writing and discussion, as an illustration of something being read or talked about, as background to a topic and so on” (Hill,1990, p.2) However,

“pictures have their limitations too” (McCarthy, 1992, p.115) For example in

teaching vocabulary, pictures are not suitable or sufficient for demonstrating the meaning of all words (McCarthy, 1992, p.115; Thornbury, 2004, p.81) It is hard to illustrate the meaning of some words, especially the abstract ones such as ‘opinion’

or ‘impact’ Therefore, in some cases, other tools are used to demonstrate the meaning or alternatively pictures might be supplemented by other tools

There are many reasons for using pictures in language teaching As Wright (1990, p.2) pointed out that they are motivating and draw learners’attention Furthermore,

he refers to the fact that they provide a sense of the context of the language and give a specific reference point or stimulus Pictures, being suitable for any group of learners independently on age or level, can be used in lots of various ways As Hill (1992, p.2) stated,“What is done is limited only by the preparation time available, the visuals to hand and the imagination of the individual teacher.” Hill also listed several advantages of pictures, such as availability (one can get them in any magazines, on the internet, etc.); they are cheap, often free; they are personal (teacher selects them); flexibility - easily kept, useful for various types of activities (drilling, comparing, etc.), they are “always fresh and different”, which means they come in a variety of formats and styles and moreover the learner often wonders what comes next (Hill, 1990, p.1)

Another matter is the question of how to use pictures effectively It counts as general methodological knowledge that in learning languages, students should perceive the input through as many channels as possible Therefore it is important to include variety of stimuli in teaching It is important to find a balance and not to use pictures

or visuals only but to combine them with other techniques and different types of stimuli (movement, verbal stimuli, sound, etc) Moreover, pictures used for demonstration of the meaning should be repeatedly connected with the spoken and subsequently also written form of the word or chunk of language

2.8.2 Types of pictures

2.8.2.1 Picture flashcards

Flashcards are those with simple words or pictures, which can be held up by the teacher or given out to pupils to use in pair work and group work In general, flashcards are used for different purposes and they bring positive results Flashcard

is divided into picture flashcards and word flashcards

Hill (1990) classified pictures according to their size into three ‘key’ categories They are large, medium and small

-“Large (20x30 cm): useful for whole-class work”

-“Medium (10x15 cm): useful for group-work”

-“Small (5x5 cm): useful for games and other group-work activities”(Hill,1990, p 5)

This classification applies to picture flashcards as well I have simplified Hill’s classification and divided them into two groups only The first group covers “Big flashcards” (about 15x20cm or larger), typically used by the teacher for whole-class activities such as presenting new language, controlled practice or as prompts for speaking activities The second group then covers “small picture flashcards” (smaller then about 15x20cm), usually used by students for working individually or for games and activities in pairs or groups

Big picture flashcards are very helpful tools in presenting and drilling forms of new words, since they draw learners’ attention and make these often boring activities more enjoyable And that is exactly what teachers need when presenting new language to catch their learners’ full attention to raise their interest in the presented subject and hence also their motivation At the same time flashcards (as well as other forms of pictures and visual aids in general) enable students to link the meaning of the words with real-world images immediately When using flashcards

in presentation, it is easy to involve learners actively and to combine the presentation with controlled practice The presentation of vocabulary with flashcards can be done in lots of various ways, for example in telling a story or just

simply based on a set of vocabulary for a particular topic

Wright (1990) and Wright and Haleem (1996) listed several possibilities how to illustrate the meaning of a new word or a piece of language through pictures A single picture might often serve this purpose well enough; yet, employing several pictures might be in some cases preferable if not necessary to make sure that students get the correct idea about what aspect of the picture the teacher had in mind Displaying several different pictures with one identical feature should suffice for this purpose For example: to teach the phrase ‘to be horrified’, the teacher could show three pictures of people horrified by different things Contrasting meanings could be another possibility: The teacher works with two antonymous pictures, or similarly, compares two pictures with things very alike in their meaning, such as

‘hill’ and ‘mountain’ Yet another possibility is to employ the sense of a collective idea or to present the word as a part of a larger thing As for the first case, the verb

‘to work’ can be accompanied by pictures of different people working in various jobs; in the second case, the word ‘leaf’ can be put into context as a part of ‘a tree’(Wright 1990, p.139-144; Wright and Haleem 1996, p.51-52)

Big flashcards are suitable for vocabulary practice and testing To draw students’attention, it is advisable to reveal pictures in an interesting way Wright and Haleem (1996) presented several activities that might be modified for this purpose, such as ‘Flashing picture’, where the teacher just flashes the cards quickly and students guess or describe what they saw As another example might serve ‘The slow picture reveal’ (Wright and Haleem 1996, p.56-57) In this sense, the picture is used in a more meaningful and ‘real-life- communicative’ way than being just displayed for students to say what they can actually see This will probably have a greater impact on the retention of a piece of vocabulary again and also subsequently

on the ability to use it in communication Hill (1990) illustrated this idea on the example: “In the same way that the idea of holding up a pen and asking ‘What’s this?’, expecting the answer ‘It’s a pen’ is uncommunicative, it is uncommunicative

to hold up a picture of a pen and ask ‘What’s this?’ expecting the same answer (Hill,1990, p.17)

Small picture flashcards which has a plenty of variations These cards are typically applied in communicative activities in pairs or small groups of students, thus finding a meaningful role in reviewing and practicing vocabulary In a closer look,

we will find one-side-only cards, both-sided ones and sets of pairs (antonyms or synonyms, a picture and the corresponding word or phrase) or sets of cards connected, e.g by their meaning Being flexible in their way of use, these cards offer teachers and their students a large amount of possibilities in applying them in a number of activities and games such as ‘domino’ or various forms of word matching activities Moreover, they are fit for arange of sorting or ordering activities, e.g creating a story These cards can also be used for games based on asking each other questions and exchanging them while searching for a set On top of that, they might

be helpful in individual practice of vocabulary, e.g.looking at a picture and guessing the meaning written on the other side Both Hill (1990) and Wright (1990) considered activities with this type of visual material very useful and presented plenty of them in their books

Word flashcards are perhaps worth mentioning at this point, even though they are not actually pictures However, being used in a similar way as picture flashcards, they can often enrich the lesson On top of that, those two can be indeed combined and applied together, e.g in a matching or labelling activity

As Wright (1990, p.59) pointed out that word flashcards are most typically used in teaching reading and writing Nevertheless, they will find their use in teaching vocabulary too, offering valuable help mainly in teaching the spelling of newly learnt words, which definitely should not be neglected as it often is

2.8.2.2 Drawing

Drawing finds huge potential in teaching languages I must agree with Wright

(1990, p.203) that in the first place, simple drawings can possibly substitute other forms of pictures Although some teachers may not be exactly proficient in drawing, they are eventually bound to find a way of drawing simple pictures for classroom use Wright (1990) stated that drawings “provide an immediately available source of pictorial material for the activities Students and teachers drawings also have a special quality, which lies in their immediacy and their individuality.”(Wright,1990, p.203) The element of individuality might have a significant impact on remembering, whether it is a unique expression of the teacher or even better, the expression of students when creating the pictures themselves The activity of drawing within the classroom could be perhaps divided into two categories: Drawing on the board carried out by the teacher for example to illustrate the meaning of new language in presentation and drawing as an activity of students in various, usually listening or reading, exercises

Drawing on the board

It is highly flexible during presentation and therefore bears several advantages, as Wright and Haleem (1996) listed among their board characteristics: “Texts and pictures can grow in front of the class” or “can be erased, added to or substituted” This feature widens the teacher’s options how to present or review language in a meaningful way This is true for teaching structures as well as vocabulary For example in reviewing, the teacher draws only a piece of a picture on the board and invites students to guess what he or she is drawing This makes students curious, they desire to know what the answer actually is and it makes them speculate and reason their opinions and so on (Wright and Haleem 1996, p.6) In this sense, the picture is again used in a more meaningful way Wright and Haleem (1996, p.8) presented another very inspiring idea of using drawing on the board: They suggest using it in combination with flashcards or pictures from magazines For example, the teacher draws a scene and supplements it with individual pictures of people, animals

or things The authors presented this technique for teaching structure In my opinion

it is a wonderful tip for presenting and practicing vocabulary too, since this might

put the vocabulary into context For example a house could be drawn and pictures of furniture could be placed inside, either by the teacher or by students This particular example can be used for the presentation or practice of names of rooms or furniture, prepositions of place, home activities, together with the phrase ‘there is/are’ or perhaps the present continuous etc This composition is again very flexible, as the pictures might be easily moved around the board and there is a lot to talk about while doing so

Drawing as a students’ activity

In general students love drawing; therefore exercises with drawing are rather popular, especially among young learners Pupils can relax while doing this calming activity and the combination of fun and well-being forms a solid ground for successful learning Drawing as an activity might serve a lot of goals ( these often combined together) in learning languages It is often used to support developing particular language skills, mostly (but not only) listening and speaking Furthermore

it meets with a great benefit and usefulness in practicing or learning vocabulary, especially when talking about elementary English, since a lot of essential vocabulary here are concrete and easy-to-draw Scott and Ytreberg (1993) specify that this type of activity “is particularly useful for checking object vocabulary, prepositions, colours and numbers It is not so useful for actions, since drawing people doing things is quite difficult for most of us.” (Scott and Ytreberg 1993, p.24) They furthermore pointed out that drawing exercises might often be time-consuming and so they advise “to keep the picture simple” ( Scott and Ytreberg

1993, p.23) However, the teacher can control this into some extent by setting an exact time limit or by telling students not to concentrate too much on the artistic quality Moreover, he or she can choose things easy to draw To sum it up, if used in the right way, drawing is not wasted time at all, as it is often considered to be by some teachers There are several ways of using drawing as an activity in language teaching As was already mentioned, vocabulary is often practiced within exercises occured at the same time on other aspects of language, such as skills and structures

This enables vocabulary to be used in context, which is more meaningful Besides, vocabulary is hard to be separated from these other aspects of language anyway Very favourable is the listen-and-draw or alternatively the listen-and colour type of activity This can be organized either as teacher-to-class, student-to-class or as pair work Another useful exercise is the draw-and-describe type of activity, which is usually done in pairs Among other not so significant advantages of using pictures students draw Allen listed: “When someone has drawn a picture of a scene, he knows the meanings of the English words that the teacher will use while talking about parts of his scene The meanings are in his mind before he is given the English word (As we have noted, meanings often come before words in successful learning of vocabulary )” (Allen,1983, p.28) She had in mind students drawing pictures on the board for the teacher to subsequently work with However, a similar idea will go for other drawing activities students do When drawing a picture for the purpose of describing it afterwards him or herself, the student again knows the meaning in advance and most likely forms the language to be used in the following speaking activity during the whole time of the process of drawing Moreover, in the reverse procedure, when a word comes before the illustration of its meaning, e.g.in listen-and-draw type of activity, the retention of the word or chunk of language is reinforced by the length of the process of drawing again

Drawings “are suitable as illustrations for personal expression.” (Wright,1990, p.203) That is yet another reason why to use drawing in language teaching - the fact that it gives students the opportunity to express themselves Every piece of drawing

is unique, projecting a piece of personality of its author as well as instant mood or state of mind This fact personalizes the learning subject and makes these pictures highly memorable along with the language connected with them

2.8.2.3 Wall-pictures and posters, compiled pictures

Wall-pictures are another valuable visual material for language classes In the first place, they can be displayed in the classroom to set English (or foreign in general)