Using bingo games for revising lexical items a quasi experimental study

This is especially true o f learning vocabulary w hich is really an obstacle tow ards m any foreign language learners.. Therefore, it is essential to search m ethods to help learners acq

M IN ISTRY OF ED U CA TIO N A N D T R A IN IN G

H A N O I U N IV E R S IT Y

N G U Y EN TH I V IET HA

USING BINGO GAMES FOR REVISING LEXICAL ITEMS

A QUASI - EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

SUBMITTED EN PARTIAL FULFILMENT

o r REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE

My grateful th an k s and appreciation go to m any p eo p le w ho supported me in the fulfillm ent o f th e th esis:

First o f all, I tak e th is opportunity to show m y sin cere th an k s to all m y teachers o f the

D epartm ent o f Post - g raduate Studies, Hanoi U niversity, w h o se valuable know ledge is the foundation o f th is w ork

I w ould lik e to e x p re ss m y special thanks to m y acad em ic su p erv iso r, A sso Prof Dr

N guyen Q u an g for h is en co uragem ent, valuable and co n sid erate feedback as w ell as his suggestions to m y thesis

I feel g reatly in d eb ted to M s N guyen T hai H a, M A a n d M s T ran H ong H anh, D r for their useful ad v ice, e n th u sia sm and highly valu able assistance

I cannot fail to ack n o w led g e th e D ean and the w h o le s ta ff o f P o st-g rad u ate D epartm ent,

H anoi U n iv ersity fo r c re atin g favorable co n d itio n s th ro u g h the p ro cess o f d o in g this thesis

I w ish to th a n k th e s ta f f a n d m y children fro m L G 5 S 7 & L G 5 S 8 a t L ondon E ducation

C entre - 167, Tay S o n , D ong D a - H anoi fo r th e ir h e lp d u rin g the tim e o f the experim ent

I w ould like to sh o w m y d eep est gratitude to m y beloved m o th e r because o f her w hole­hearted care and h e lp d u rin g the past tim e W ith o u t this, I w o u ld surely not have been able to c o m p lete th is th e sis I h av e to say th at I am very g ratefu l to her

Finally, m an y th a n k s a re g iv en to m y husband for h is u n d erstan d in g , tolerance and standing besid e m e w h e n e v e r I need him

T h e pu rp o se o f th is study w as to exam ine the e ffe ct o f B ingo gam es on

v o cab u lary re te n tio n w ith the ch ild ren at th e age o f n ine to e lev e n in L ondon Education

C entre a fte r fin ish in g a th ree - m o n th E n g lish course T h is stu d y focused o n three areas: the e ffe ctiv en e ss o f B in g o gam es, the p articip an ts' a ttitu d e s to w ard s B ingo g am es and

m o tiv atio n as w ell B efore th e treatm en t o f th e study, a p re -te st w as given to the

p a rtic ip a n ts to see i f th e y w ere at the sam e level o f p ro ficien cy b efo re the experim ent

D uring th e ex p erim en t, d ata co llectio n to o ls - o b serv atio n sheet, q u estio n n aires - w ere

ex p lo ited to in v e stig ate th e p a rtic ip a n ts’ m o tiv a tio n an d a ttitu d e s to w ard s B ingo gam es

A fter th e tre a tm e n t, th e particip an ts took th e p o st-tests to fin d o u t the difference

b etw een tw o m e th o d s o f v o cab u lary revision R esu lts o f th e T -T e st reveal that effects o f

B ingo g a m es o n v o cab u lary reten tio n w ere g reater than th o se o f p ractice exercises used

in the V o c ab u la ry R ev isio n E xercises In ad d itio n , the resu lt o f o b serv atio n sheet and

q u estio n n aires in d ic a te th a t m o st o f the p articip an ts sh o w th e ir p o sitiv e attitudes

to w ard s B in g o g am es H ow ever, so m e stu den ts still sh o w th e ir n eg ativ e to w ard s B ingo gam es, d islik e th e m a n d d isb eliev e in th e ir effectiv en ess T h e y o n ly enjoy th e practice

ex ercises u sed in V o c ab u la ry R ev isio n E x ercises bccau sc o f the m ulch betw een interest and learn in g style

T h e stu d y c o n clu d e d by su m m arizin g th e m a jo r fin d in g s, suggesting the

ap p licatio n s o f B in g o gam es an d V o cab u lary R ev isio n E x ercises Finally,

re co m m en d atio n s w ere g iv en for future studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S T A T E M E N T O F A U T H O R S H IP i

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S u A B S T R A C T iii

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S iv

L IS T O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S vii

L IS T O F D IA G R A M , F IG U R E S A N D T A B L E S viii

C H A R P T E R O N E : IN T R O D U C T IO N 1

1.1 B ac k g ro u n d to th e s tu d y 1

1.1.1 T h e o re tic al b a c k g ro u n d 1

1.1.2 P ractical b a c k g ro u n d 2

1.2 A im s o f th e stu d y 4

1.3 R esearch q u e stio n s 4

1.4 Scope o f th e stu d y 4

1.5 S ig n ifican ce o f th e s tu d y 4

1.6 O u tlin e o f th e th e sis 5

C H A P T E R T W O : L IT E R A T U R E R E V IE W 6

2.1 V o c a b u la ry 6

2.2 M ain facto rs affectin g v o cabulary a c q u is itio n 8

2.2.1 A ttitu d e 8

2.2.2 M o tiv a tio n 8

2.2.3 L earning S t y l e 9

2.2.4 M e m o riz a tio n 10

2.3 V o cab u lary rev isio n ty p e s 13

2.3.1 V o cab u lary R evision E x e rc ises 13

2.3.2 B ingo G a m e s 19

2.4 S u m m a ry 24

C H A P T E R T H R E E : T H E S T U D Y 25

3.1 The e x p e rim e n t 25

3.1.1 S u b je c ts 25

3.1.2 V ariab les 26

3.2 D ata collection to o ls 28

3.2.1 Pre-test and P ost-tests 29

3.2.2 O bservation Sheet 31

3.2.3 Q u estio n n a ire s 31

3.3 E xperim ent p ro c e d u re 35

3.4 D ata analysis to o ls 36

3.5 S u m m a ry 37

C H A P T E R FO U R : RESU LTS A N D D IS C U S S IO N 38

4.1 D ata analysis and discussions 38

4.1.1 Pre-test an d post-tests re s u lts 38

4.1.2 M otivation investigation 41

4.1.3 A ttitu de investigation tow ards tw o types o f vocabulary re v is io n 45

4.2 D is c u s s io n 51

4.3 Sum m ary 54

C H A P T E R FIV E: R EC O M M EN D A TIO N S A N D C O N C L U S IO N 55

5 1 M ajo r fin d in g s 55

5.2 Suggestions fo r application o f B ingo gam es an d V R E 55

5.2.1 A p p licatio n o f B ingo g am es 55

5.2.2 A pplication o f V R E 56

5.3 L im itatio n s a n d reco m m en d atio n s 57

5.4 C o n clu sio n 58

R E F E R E N C E S 59

A P P E N D IC E S 64

A ppendix 1: B ingo activities used in the stu d y 64

A ppendix 2 A: L ist o f revised w ords in Stage O n e 66

A ppendix 2 A: L ist o f revised w ords in Stage O ne (c o n t.) 67

A ppendix 2 B: L ist o f revised w ords in Stage T w o 68

A ppendix 2 B: L ist o f revised w ords in Stage T w o (co n t.) 69

A ppendix 3 A: Sam ples o f B ingo games - R evision lesson o f U nit 8 70

A ppendix 3 B: S am ple o f V RE in LEC (U nit 8 ) 83

A ppendix 4 A: P re -te s t 84

A ppendix 4 A: A n sw er Sheet o f P re -te s t 86

A ppendix 4 B: First p ost-test ' 87

A ppendix 4 C: Second post- te s t 90

A ppendix 4 C: A nsw er Sheet o f second p o s t-te st 92

A ppendix 5: O bservation S heet 93

A ppendix 6 A: Q uestionnaire 1 (E ng lish) 94

A ppendix 6 B: Q uestionnaire 1 (V ie tn a m ese ) 95

A ppendix 7 A: Q uestionnaire 2 ( E n g lish ) 96

A ppendix 7 B: Q uestionnaire 2 (V ie tn a m e se ) 99

A ppendix 8 A: Q uestionnaire 3 (E n g lish ) 104

A ppendix 8 B: Q uestionnaire 3 (V ie tn a m ese ) 107

A ppendix 9 A: List o f M arks o f L G 5S 7 111

A ppendix 9 B: List o f M arks o f L G 5S 8 112

A ppendix 10: Pre-Test C om p ariso n 113

A ppendix 11 : Post-T ests Com parison (C =C ontrol G roup and E = Experim ental G ro u p ) 114

A ppendix 12: O bservation Sheet R esults 116

A ppendix 13: T he reliability o f O bservation Sheet 117

A ppendix 14: T-test o f Observation S h eet 118

A ppendix 15: Q uestionnaire 1 119

A ppendix 16: T - te s t o f Q uestionnaire 1 120

A ppendix 17: Frequency table o f the child ren ’s attitudes tow ards Bingo gam es (left) vs V R E (rig h t) 121

A ppendix 18 A: Q uestionnaire 2: The learners’ attitudes tow ards Bingo g am esl2 6 A ppendix 18 B: Q uestionnaire 3: The children ’s attitudes tow ards V R E 127

V!

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

VRE V ocabulary Revision Exercises

LIST OF DIAGRAM, FIGURES AND TABLES

Diagram 1: A spects o f know ing a lexical ite m 7

Table 1 : G roups in each stage o f the s tu d y 25

Table 2 : N um ber o f pupils in grades (at school) o f each g ro u p 26

Table 3: B ingo game application .27

T able 4: Test S p e c ific atio n s 31

T able 5: Sum m ary o f pre-test re su lt 38

Table 6: Paired-S am ples T-test for first post-test resu lt 39

Table 7: Paired-Sam ples T-test for second post-test re s u lt 41

t Table 8: Sum m ary o f Coefficient o f equivalent in scores betw een two o b serv ers 42

T able 9: Paired-S am ples T-test for O bservation S h e e t 43

T able 10: P aired-S am ples T-test for Q uestionnaire 1 45

Figure 1: Sum m ary o f post-test result - Stage 1 39

Figure 2: Sum m ary o f post-tcsl result - Stage 2 4U Figure 3: O bservation sh eet’s result - Stage 1 43

Figure 4: O bservation sheet’s result - Stage 2 43

Figure 5: L earner’s self-reported m otivation - Stage 1 44

Figure 6: L earn er's self-reported m otivation - Stage 2 44

Figure 7: Participants’ general feelings about Bingo g am es 46

Figure 8: P articipants’ feeling about the cooperation in Bingo g a m e s 46

Figure 9: Participants’ feeling about the com petition in Bingo g a m e s 46

Figure 10: Participants’ b elief about the effects o f Bingo g a m e s 47

Figure 11: Participants’ opinion on the use o f Bingo g a m e s 48

Figure 12: Participants’ general feelings about V RF, 48

Figure 13: Participants’ feeling about the individual w ork in V R E 49

Figure 14: P articipants’ feeling about the teacher-student interaction in VRF 49Figure 15: P articipants’ b elief about the effects o f V R E 50Figure 16: P articipants’ opinion on the use o f V R E 51

C H A R P T E R O N E: IN T R O D U C T IO N

1.1 Background to the study

In studying a foreign language, rem em bering o r retaining w hat has been taught are alw ays considered as m ost o f learners’ aspiration This is especially true o f learning vocabulary w hich is really an obstacle tow ards m any foreign language learners Therefore, it is essential to search m ethods to help learners acquire vocabulary more effectively in foreign language classes

1.1.1 Theoretical background

‘Learning is rem em bering If w e respect this axiom , the review and recycling o f new language item s w ill be critical i f they stand a ch an ce o f becom ing readily accessible in long-term memory In fact, students do th e m ajority o f their forgetting shortly after th e lesson and then the rate o f rem em bering dim inishes’(K oprow ski, 2006) Therefore, in o rder to m inim ize this, vocabulary revision can be considered as a useful strategy to h elp foreign language learners retain lexical item s effectively In addition, Oxford (1990) also affirm s that review ing w ell in a structured way is one o f useful memory strategies to aid learning A ccording to U berm an (1998), th e process o f revising aim s at helping students acquire active, productive vocabularies and learners

‘need to practice and revise regularly w hat th ey learn otherw ise the new input will gradually fade aw ay in the memory and ultim ately disappear’(G aim s & Redm an, 1992) Besides, the effectiveness o f vocabulary retention through revision activities is obvious because ‘the m ore exposures given to w ords, th e better fo r retention are’(Judd, 1978) This is true because effective vocabulary revision activities w ill be a chance for learners

to recall, recapitulate and consolidate the m ajor points th at they have learnt after finishing a long period o f studying It is the teacher that is able to com pose that possibility for his/her ow n language learners The teacher can resort to many techniques for vocabulary consolidation and revision, e.g m ultiple choice, synonym or antonym, visual aids .etc.(U berm an, 1998) H ow ever, there are m any gam es useful for practicing and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced, e.g puzzles, word squares, crossw ords .etc.(H aycraft, 1978) In addition, 'th e sim plest and m ost obvious

1

way in w hich gam es can be used to help revise is to play some gam es from tim e to time

A game w hich is liked and well-know n to the class m ay also act as a useful point o f reference R ecalling som ething that happened in a gam e m ay help a student rem em ber the language connected with it.'(Rixon, 1981) A m ong these gam es, in language teaching, B ingo gam e can be used for m any different purposes (K leeper, 2003) and considered to be a useful vocabulary consolidation technique which caters to the learners at interm ediate level and above It is an ideal tool in assessing o r teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP), such as law , business, econom ics and science, and may also be used for the sam e purpose in teaching general E nglish.’(K avaliauskiene, 2000) Sharing th e sam e point, the game is said to be a useful w ay to vocabulary teaching because it is ‘a good, fast, com petitive gam e to concentrate stu d en t’s attention

on listening to you in English (or other target language)’(M arsland, 2003) More

im portantly, it is suggested to use as an interaction activity for young learners and it is especially effective w ith children (Byrne, 1998) Finally, I f the language teach er wants

to get full participation in a very large class, using Bingo gam e is a good idea (Rixon, 1981)

1.1.2 Practical background

W ith llic im portant role em phasized above, this aspect o f language learning draws th e attention o f m any educational researchers all o ver the world Many vocabulanry revision techniques have been so far suggested, e.g translation, m atching, gap-filling, sentence building, pictures, photographs, draw ings .e tc Each o f these techniques has its ow n advantages and disadvantages so that language teacher can depend o n h is/her ow n teaching situations in order to choose the right and appropriate techniques

A t L ondon Education Centre (LEC), founded in 1998, a series o f L et’s Go

(Frazier et al., 2000) - between L e t's Go 1 and L e t's Go 6 - has been in use as an official

textbook for children program An English course for chidlren lasts three m onths and eight units in the textbook are covered for 32 periods o f learning (one period = 45 minutes) T he students who w ant to enroll for th is program are usually aged betw een 7-

12 In addition, being the students o f the C entre, they are required to pass a test (designed by the Centre, including a paper test and an oral test) It can be said that the frame o f language training program for children receives m ost positive attitudes from

English language teachers in the Centre H ow ever, it is know n that children are alw ays playful and active, they can easily rem em ber and soon forget This is also true o f the children at Let's Go classes o f the Centre in learning vocabulary Therefore, in order to help them retain m eaning o f new words in the course book, English language teachers at LED often conduct a vocabulary revision lesson after each unit through practice exercises But it has been found that there is not m uch progress in students' vocabular> retention after each level as well as their involvem ent in the activities One o f the reasons m ight be from vocabulary revision activities them selves and this may have affected the students’ m emorization Therefore, it is hoped that Bingo gam es with the inform ation m entioned in 1.1.1 will help the children im prove their lexical retention.

H ow ever, there has been a sim ilar experim ental research w hich is directly in relation to the current research K lepper (2003) carried out the research to com pare the fourth grade students’ testing scores o f a m odified Bingo G am e R eview in revising words to an Independent W orksheet Review (fill in the blank) The entire study was four w eeks long with two classes For two w eeks, C lass A served as the Control G roup while C lass B served as the Experim ental group A t the end o f this period, both groups were given th e first test For the tw o w eeks follow ing, the groups w ere switched and received th e opposite treatm ents A t the end o f th e second tw o w eek period, both groups were given th e second test The result o f the test shows that although the experimental group did achieve a higher average score, the research w as not statistically significant based o n the 05 level o f significance

It can b e said th at K leeper has m ade a g reat effort in finding effective evidences tow ards a m odified Bingo game in vocabulary teaching H er study can be seen as a useful source o f reference for any language teacher H ow ever, there is one factor that may make the study less reasonable: there were thirty-five students who fully completed the study and this figure cannot represent the entire population o f fourth grade students

at the school

W ith the sam e purpose, the researcher conducts this research with the same experim ental design o f K lepper’s study - alternating the role o f the control group and the experim ental group in two separate stages o f the experim ent - to com pare the effectiveness o f two kinds o f revision activity: a group o f children using Bingo Games and another using V ocabulary Revision Exercises (gap-filling, translation, writing sentences, m atching, m ultiple-choice) in a longer period o f tim e and with more

participants at London Education Centre In addition, all the participants’ m otivation and attitudes tow ards each types o f vocabulary revision are also investigated in the research.

1.2 Aims o f the study.

In this study, the researcher considers th e effectiveness o f vocabulary revision through Bingo G am es and V ocabulary Revision Exercises (VRE) The study is conducted to test th e hypothesis that using Bingo G am es in vocabulary revision lessons would help children retain w ords effectively as well as get them involved actively in class

1.3 Research questions.

This research attem pts to answ er the follow ing questions:

1 - C an Bingo G am es help the children o f L et’s Go 5 retain new lexical items

m ore effectively?

2 - A re th e children motivated by Bingo gam es?

3 - W hat are the children’s attitudes tow ards Bingo G am es?

1.4 Scope o f the study.

Due to the lim itation o f tim e and the length o f the study, the author only deals with the effectiveness o f using Bingo G am es com pared to V ocabulary Revision Exercises in revising lexical items Bingo G am es were applied in this study w ith the aim o f helping language students retain w ord m eaning o nly - not all aspects o f vocabulary learning: w ord meaning, use, form and grammar

1.5 Significance o f the study

The study is carried out with the expectation that its findings will be very useful for the researcher as an English language teacher in his/her teaching career The researcher hopes th at th e findings will be considered as a m odest contribution or a reference source to the teaching and learning o f foreign languages at his/her institution

as well as others

1.6 O utline of the thesis

The thesis is structured as follows:

C hapter One supplies the research background inform ation, the aim s, the research questions, the scope, and the significance o f the study as well as the outline o f the thesis

C hapter Tw o, a review o f relevant background inform ation is encom passed First, the basic know ledge relating to vocabulary is m entioned N ext, the theories o f factors that influence vocabulary acquisition are considered Following that, major theories in the field o f vocabulary revision are review ed to grasp the overall concept o f vocabulary revision techniques Finally, the understanding o f language gam es and Bingo G am es are especially concerned

C hapter T hree, th e research m ethodology is clarified including the rationale for choosing the subjects, specific o f the case selection, the instrum ents em ployed in the data collection, the description o f data collection procedure and the m ethod o f data analysis

C hapter Four, th e research findings through test results, observations and questionnaires are dem onstrated Besides, discussions o f the findings are also presented

in this chapter

C hapter Five, the study is review ed and the findings are summ arized Some lim itations o f th is research are raised and specified A dditionally, som e suggestions for further research are m entioned

A ppendices p rovide sam ples o f m aterial, tests, observation sheet, questionnaires test results a n d collected data

5

C H A P T E R T W O : L IT E R A T U R E R E V IE W

2.1 V ocabulary

V ocabulary plays a crucial role in foreign language teaching and learning It has been becom ing a serious linguistic obstacle to m any non-native English-speaking students (Z im m erm an, 1997) Thus, vocabulary teaching has attracted increasing interest in recen t years from m any language teachers (Le Thi T hu Hang, 1998)

In fact, the term ‘vocabulary’ is clarified under three types” orthographic w ord -

a w ord in w riting, a sequence o f letters bounded by spaces, pho n olo g ica l w o rd - a word

in speech, a sequence o f sounds and lexem e - a w ord in the vocabulary o f a language

(Jackson, 2002) To be m ore specific, U r (1996) thinks that vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as th e w ords w e teach in the foreign language H ow ever, a new item o f

vocabulary m a y be m ore than a single word, fo r exam ple, p o s t office and m other-in-law ,

w hich are m ade u p o f tw o or three w ords but express a single idea There are also m ulti­

w ord idiom s such as ca ll it a day, w here the m eaning o f the phrase can not be deduced

from an analysis o f the com ponent words A useful convention is to cover all such cases

by talking ab o u t vocabulary ‘item s’ rather th an ‘w o rd s’ H ow ever, am ong those,

L ew is’s vocabulary definition (1993) is believed to be th e m ost com prehensive because vocabulary is understood as a stock o f individual w ords w ith fixed m eaning and lexis, including not only the single word but also the w ord com bination that learners store in their m ental lexicon

B esides, know ing a w ord or a lexical item involves m ore than ju st know ing its

m eaning in th e source language (C arter & C arthy, 1991; N ation, 1990 & 2002; Schmitt

& Schm itt, 1995; Schm itt, 1997) The diagram below is based on the w orks by G raim s

& Redm an (1992), H arm er (1991) & U r (1996):

Diagram 1: A spects o f know ing a lexical item

The diagram shows different aspects o f a word that the teacher is expected to present to his/her students and the students are expected to k n o w

2.2 Main factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

There are m any factors affecting learner’s language acquisition generally and vocabulary acquisition particularly H ow ever, in the scope o f this study, four factors: attitude, m otivation, learning style and m em orization are m ainly referred to

2.2.1 Attitude

In Phan Thi T huan Y en’s study (2003), attitude is considered as a m ental and neutral state o f readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynam ic influence upon the individual's response to all objects and situations with which it is

related B esides, it can be the disposition to respond favorably o r unfavorably to an object, person, institution o r event (A jzen, 1988) Supporting these ideas, Colem an (1996) also thinks th at although attitudes can be m odified by experience and reflection,

because o f th e cognitive and affective com ponents, they ten d to be deep-rooted and

persistent G enerally, the term can be defined as a state o f m ind, w hich is influenced by feelings, beliefs and experiences o f the w orld (G ibb, 1998).

In P h an Thi T huan Y en’s study (2003), attitude is believed to com prise o f three com ponents: feelings, thoughts and pre-dispositions to act as one acts in relation to w hat one know s, believes and has an em otional reaction In other w ords, attitude consists o f three com ponents: an affective com ponent (feelings about and evaluation o f the object),

a cognitive com ponent (b elief about the object) and a behavioral intentions com ponent (H oang Thi X uan, 2003) In fact, language learners benefit from positive attitudes since

it can result in stu d en ts’ m otivation, w hich leads to better learning (G ibb, 1988) whilenegative attitudes m ay lead to decreased m otivation and thus to unsuccessful attainm entI

o f proficiency (B row n, 1994) This is true because depending on the learners’ attitudes, learning language can be a source o f enrichm ent or a source o f resentm ent: If the speaker’s reaso n for learning the second language is external pressure, internal

m otivation m ay be m inim al and general attitudes tow ards learning may be negative; if learners have favorable attitudes tow ards the speaker o f the language, they will desire more contact w ith them (Lightbrow n & Spada 2002)

2.2.2 Motivation

M any pieces o f research have shown that m otivation is strongly related to success in second language learning in general (Ur, 1996) and' vocabulary learning in

particular Huynh Thi Hue (2004) also affirm s that “w ithout m otivation, little can be learned’ So, w hat is m otivation? A ccording to L ightbow n & Spada (2002), m otivation

in second language learning is a com plex phenom enon w hich can be defined in term s o f two factors: learn ers' com m unicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language com m unity The authors explain slightly m ore detail ‘if learners need to speak the second language in a w ide range o f social situations o r to fulfill professional

am bitions, they w ill perceive the com m unicative value o f the second language and will therefore be m otivated to acquire proficiency in it’

There are m any opinions on types o f m otivation discussed in U r’s book (1996)

as follow ing: G ardner & Lam bert define ‘m otivation’ in term o f ‘integrative’ and

‘instrum ental’ m otivation, Brown gives the opinion on m otivation based on the distinction am ong ‘global’, ‘situational’ and 'ta s k ’ m otivation H ow ever, sharing the sam e opinion o n types o f m otivation, U r (1996) and H arm er (1991) divide m otivation into tw o m ain categories: ‘intrinsic m otivation’ w hich is th e urge to engage in the learning activity fo r its ow n sake or com e from w ithin the individual and ‘extrinsic

m otivation’ th a t is derived from external incentives o r outside factors M eanw hile,

D om yei (1994) gives a frame o f L2 m otivation including three levels: language(integration and instrum entality), learner (individual personality) and learning situation (courso-spccific, tcachcr-spcciflc and group-specific m otivational com ponents)

H ow ever, am ong those definitions, C rookes & Schm idt’s definition o f

m otivation (Peacock, 1997) is m ade use o f due to its appropriateness for this study The

two authors d efin e m otivation as “ interest in and enthusiasm for the m aterials used in class, persisten ce w ith the learning task, as indicated by levels o f attention or action for

an extended duration: and levels o f concentration and e n j o y m e n t Therefore, interest,

enthusiasm, attention, action, concentration and enjoym ent are thought over and

presented as th e key features in the study

2.2.3 Learning Style

A nother factor that exerts an influence on language learning and vocabulary acquisition is learning style A ccording to N unan (1991) ‘learning style refers to any individual’s preferred ways o f going about learning It’s generally considered that one’s learning style w ill result from personality variables, including psychological and cognitive m ake-up, socio-cultural back-ground and educational experience' A num ber

o f m odels h av e been developed to describe learning style dim ensions w hich are likely to

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be the m ost strongly associated with vocabulary learning Thus, learning styles are devided into eight styles: Visual - learns through the eyes (seeing); A uditory - learns through the ear (hearing); Kinesthetic - earns through com plete body experience: Tactile - learns through touch (hands-on); Extroverted - learns through concrete experience, co n tacts and relationships with others; Introverted - learns in individual, independent learning situations; Judging - learns by reflection, deduction analysis; Perceiving - learns through negotiation, feeling and induction (cited in Nguyen Thi Linh Lam , 2004 ).

E very learner has his/her own learning style; therefore, one teaching m ethod

m ay be good fo r so m e learners but becom e terrible w ith others The agreem ent between learning style and teaching m ethod is called th e ‘m atch’ in language acquisition A

‘m atch’ is v ery im portant because if there is no m atch (a m ism atch) between these two factors, learners ten d to be bored and inattentive, get discouraged about the course and give up ( Z henhui, 2001)

2.2.4 M emorization

It is know n th a t good m em ory has great effect on learning languages So w hat is

m em ory? It is psychological process reflecting hum an experiences by rem em bering, preserving and recallin g w hat people have had In other w ords, it reflects all o f hum an experiences including the im ages people have received, the em otions people have experienced, th e thoughts people have had and th e w ork have do n e etc.(cited in Tran Thi D an Phuong, 1998)

In fact, understanding how the m em ory w orks m ight help language teachers create m ore effective w ays to teach vocabulary (M oras, 2001) There are two types o f memory: short term m em ory and long-term m em ory (C ook, 1991; Gairns & Redm an, 1992) Short-term m em ory is the processing o f inform ation for periods o f tim e up to a few seconds, th e inform ation stored in short-term m em ory is often b rie f and usually forgotten then, especially w here some interruption is (C ook, 1991) M eyen et al (1999) explain m ore clearly that the inform ation com es in via a p erson’s sense organs and is held for only a very short time: from one to four seconds So, unless something is done

to cause attention to be on the inform ation for a longer period o f time, then information

is quickly lost In order to solve that problem , the popular solution o f repetition is

suggested (C ook, 1991; G airns & Redm an, 1992; N unan, 1991) C oncerning the same

area, M eyen et al.( 1999) add that rehearsals are necessary to retain inform ation,

therefore, two types o f rehearsals are introduced: m aintenance rehearsal (connecting the inform ation to som ething already learned) and elaborative rehearsal The author also believes th at the more the new know ledge is rehearsed in the m em ory, the m ore likely it

is to be retained in long-term memory

D ifferent from short-term m em ory, long-term m em ory is know n as the capacity for recall o f inform ation m inutes, w eeks and years after the original input It is seem ingly inexhaustible and can accom m odate any m ount o f new inform ation (Gairns

& R edm an, 1992) M eyen et al.(1999) divide long-term m em ory into three categories, one o f w hich is called as ‘labeled sem antic m em ory’ In this portion o f long-term

m em ory, tw o elem ents o f ‘factual and general’ inform ation are stored together then organized into connected ideas And this process, called as schem ata, helps learners relate new inform ation to w hat is know n and th ey will retain inform ation better The authors also advise th at w hat is taught in th e classroom m ust be connected with previously acquired know ledge, and then be retrieved w hen needed Furtherm ore, they point out that the am ount o f attention given to inform ation plays a key part in m oving inform ation from th e initial sensory register to short-term m em ory because ‘anything that d o esn ’t g et attention will disappear from o n e ’s m em ory sy stem ’

It is know n that learning new item s involve storing them first in our short-term

m em ory, and afterw ards in long-term m em ory (M oras, 2001) H ow ever, learners d o not alw ays control this process consciously and they, therefore, need to w ork much harder

to com m it inform ation to long term m em ory (G airns & R edm an, 1992)

In fact, there is a close relationship betw een w ords and other linguistic considerations, such as: pronunciation, spelling, gram m ar etc It is believed that all inform ation is stored in the brain; therefore, understanding how it is organized and

stored is necessary The mental lexicon is highly organized and efficient and that

semantic related items are stored together R egarding the factors affecting storage, word frequency and recency o f use are also concerned This is true because the m ore frequent

or lexical item s occurs, the easier they are recognized and retrieved (G airns & Redman, 1992) Gairns & Redm an (1992), also note th at it is extrem ely im probable that people

organize w ords in the brain as a dictionary d o es that is w hy learner should clarify•

associative netw orks, classify by categories o r organize the vocabulary syllabus in a

way which w ill assist the contribution o f frequency and redency o f use and other variables etc (G airns & Redm an, 1992)

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H ow ever, no m atter how hard learners try , fo r g e ttin g still happens, what is the reason? The theory o f forgetting suggests that they are decay and cue dependent

fo rg ettin g (G aim s & Redm an, 1992) D ecay theory indicates the inform ation stored in

the m em ory falls into disuse unless it is activated fairly regularly It m eans that if learner does not practice and revise frequently the inform ation will disappear in his

m em ory finally In opposition to the theory m entioned, cue dependent fo rg ettin g theory

asserts that th e inform ation persists in the m em ory but learners m ay be unable to recall

it because o f inappropriate retrieval cues F o r exam ple, i f a list contained the words

‘so fa’, ‘arm ch air’ and ‘w ardrobe’, the subjects w ould be given the super - ordinate

‘furniture’ as a cue to help them (G aim s & R edm an, 1992) A nother im portant point:

about forgetting is the rate at which learners forget It is generally believed that o f the inform ation learners forget, eighty percent is lost w ithin tw enty four hours o f initial learning (G aim s & R edm an, 1992) The rate show s th at vocabulary revision plays a crucial role in learn er’s vocabulary acquisition

M ost language teachers understand th at ‘exploiting the present know ledge o f storage system s to the full should allow learners to attem pt to speed up the learning process and facilitate’ (G aim s & Redm an, 1992) But, how can language teachers help learner rem em b er inform ation better? G aim s & R edm an (1992) m ention som e practical

im plications, e.g m eaningful tasks, im aginary, recy clin g etc In class, teachers often

m ake extensive u se o f visual im ages for illustrating m eaning V isual im ages are

believed to b e extrem ely reliable and it is rather easy to conjure up a mental image o f a concrete item such as: dog, bottle, elep h an t etc C arter (1994) em phasizes that 'the

m ore those w o rd s are analyzed o r are enriched b y im agistic and other associations, the

m ore likely it is th at they will be retained O n the other hand, two authors stress that

there is the need for m eaningful activities in the classroom since it is the need to engage learners in activ ities w hich will enable them to be m ore self-reliant M eaningful tasks

are im portant: require learners to analyze and process language deeply, help learner to com m it inform ation to long-term m em ory - a very positive effect on m emorization Last but not least, it is the im portance o f recycling or revising inform ation because

w ithout regular practice, the inform ation will be lost quickly So, il is clearly necessary that teachers should create opportunities in the classroom for students to practice what they have learnt Therefore, the learning activities will interfere with the effective retention o f new lexis

2 3 V o c a b u l a r y r e v i s i o n t y p e s

I f vocabulary teaching is considered as a perfect process including three stagessuch as presentation, practice and production, vocabulary revision is also an essentialstage to activ ate prior m ounts o f vocabulary after one period o f vocabulary learning As

N unan (1991) rightly puts ‘regular revision is im portant, and that revision w hich is distributed o v e r a period o f tim e is m ore effective than m assed practice’

2.3.1 Vocabulary Revision Exercises

'1 to have to tell you this, Mrs Jones, but your husband has

The ex am p le shows th at this type o f exercise is a recall task rather than sim ply a recognition o n e because the learners have to supply the target w ords from memory (R ead, 2001) and this exercise is used to test learners the m eanings o f new lexical item (Ur, 1996) B esides, C arter and Long (1987) indicate th at i f the procedure is used flexibly, it c a n help learners practice gap-filling exercises in order to enhance their

aw areness o f h o w collocation and structural sem antic patterns relate to the creation o f pajticu lar literary effects and also aids recognition o f the cohesive patterns m ade by gram m atical a n d lexical words

H ow ever, U r (1996) m entions one o f the shortcom ings found in this type o f lexical p ractice ‘there will be possibly acceptable item s w ritten dow n that are not in fact the origins, o r w hat teachers intended’ Sharing the sam e idea on this point, Hughes (1994) adds ‘it has at least two acceptable responses w hich w as not intended when it

w as w ritten’ Last but not least, Tran Thi T hu Huong (2004) also notes that ‘this technique also has some disadvantages; one o f the disadvantages is that it m a k e s the teaching m o re difficult and the acquisition o f vocabulary is not very effective’

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2.3.1.2 Writing sentences

For Freem an (1993), using the word in sentences o r w riting sentences 'm ean s the way students m ake up the sentences in w hich they use the provided w ord’ The author supposes that the purpose o f this activity is to discover how students com prehend

or understand the m eaning and use o f a new vocabulary item Sharing the sam e idea, Allen (1983) points out ‘this kind o f exercise is often used for finding out w hether a student know s a certain w ord’ A dditionally, U r (1996) affirm s that ‘m ost aspects o f vocabulary are tested through this’ and ‘the task can allow the learners to dem onstrate several aspects o f their vocabulary ability such as: understandng the m eaning o f the target word, know ing h o w the word functions gram m atically w ithin a sentence, its correct form, know ing how the word collocates appropriately with w ords, the ability to use th e w ord ‘productively’ in their w riting’ (R ead, 2001)

H ow ever, this task exposes the lim ited aspects because ‘spelling and pronunciation o f the items are not tested, for learners: ‘this is a bit boring to d o ’ and for teachers: ‘it is difficult to m ark objectively’(U r, 1996) In addition, A llen (1983) strbngly em phasizes that ‘this is a skill needed by teachers A language teacher should alw ays be a b le and ready to put a w ord into a n exam ple sentence B ut people w ho do not teach language have little need for that skill Students with quite satisfactory vocabularies m ay n o t be able to com pose good exam ple sentence upon request’ Going into details, th e author gives out the trouble th at a student m ay have when he/she is

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requested to m ak e a sentence w ith the w ord satisfactory and explains that ‘it’s hard to

decide w hat th e sentence shows about his understanding o f the word Suppose his

sentence is th is: y o u r p la n is satisfactory, or th is everyone likes satisfactory h o u s e s '

Finally, the author questions ‘W ould either sentence show that the student know s the

difference betw een satisfactory and interesting o r convenient? D oes either student tell the teacher he can understand satisfactory w hen he m eets it in his reading?’ D iscussing

the sam e ideas, R ead (2001) shares ‘asking learner to com pose a sentence containing a target w ord vocabulary item is not necessarily a good way to find out how well they understand th e m eaning o f the word They often produce a sem antically neutral context for the w ord w hich gives little indication o f its specific m eaning.’ Furtherm ore, the author also clarifies the shortcom ing in case a learner is asked to com pose a sentence

including the w ord p ro fo u n d for example: She sa id som ething w hich was pro fo u n d that 'w e can infer th at the learner k n o w p rojound is an adjective th at can be applied to what

people say but not m uch more than that’ Supporting this opinion Read (2001) discusses the results from M cN eill's study, w hich investigated the vocabulary Chinese trainee teachers o f English in H ongkong and Beijing, and concludes ‘there were num erous cases am ong the HongK ong subjects o f students who could produce plausible, and even quite sophisticated, sentences to illustrate the use o f a target word but, w hen they w ere asked to explain the m eaning in both English and C hinese, they revealed that they did not really understand it’ So, Read (2001) assum es that ‘it can also be a salutary exercise to try com posing one o r tw o sentences for each word yourself I f the teach er finds it difficult to w rite a suitable sentence for a particular word, the learners w ill p robably struggle even m ore’ Finally, the author concludes ‘language teachers need to be cautious about accepting a student com posed sentence as evidence

o f w ord know ledge, despite the fact that it m ay be gram m atically correct or sem antically ap p ro p riate.’

2.3.1.3 Multiple- choice

The m ultiple choice practice exercise, according to A llen (1983), is the w ay in

w hich ‘the student is asked to look at a w ord and to choose w ords from am ong three or four listed po ssib ilities’ The w ord can be recognized through synonym , antonym , definition o r context to design this type o f exercise in order to help students rem em ber thé w ord (A llen, 1983; U r, 1996 & H ughes, 1994) R egarding w hat is tested through this kind o f exercise, U r (1996) em phasizes ‘only denotative m eaning is tested ’

A ccording to N ation (2002), ‘an advantage o f m ultiple choice item s is that they can focus on particular m eaning w here words have m ore than one m eaning.’

A lthough the m ultiple choice form at is one o f the m ost w idely used m ethods o f vocabulary assessm ent, both for native speaker and for second language learners, its lim itations have been recognized for a long tim e A llen (1983) points out one o f its weaknesses that ‘gives us little helpful inform ation about a student’s actual knowledge

o f vocabulary’ U r (1996 ) seem s to hold the sam e view w hen he says that ‘the testee does not need to know the word connotations, spelling, pronunciation, gram m ar, or how they would b e used in context.’ G iving supports to this, A llen (1983) m entions some exam ples and analyzes weak points o f this vocabulary teaching: the right choice m ay be chosen because it is possible that som e o f those students have m erely made a lucky guess It is now generally accepted that learner ‘who does not know the answ er has a 25 percent chance o f being right by guessing’ (U r, 1996) This can com pletely happen

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because: the learner m ay know another m eaning for the w ord, but not the one sought, the learner m ay ch o o se the right word by a process o f elim ination and has in any case percent chance o f guessing the correct answ er in four-alternative form at, the item s may test students’ know ledge o f distractors rather than their ability to identify an exact meaning o f the target word, the learner may m iss an item either for lack o f knowledge

o f w ords or lack o f understanding o f syntax in the distractors (Read, 2001) These shortcom ings are o b vious because ‘student’s w rong choice does not tell the teachers he has failed to learn th e m eaning o f the word, ev en though the test w as intended to give us that sort o f in fo rm atio n ’ (A llen, 1983)

2.3.1.4 Translation

A ccording to G aim s and Redman (1992), this traditional technique is used popularly in language classes for vocabulary teaching C oncerning the sam e area, Kenedy & B olitho (1991) affirm s that translation - one o f the traditional techniques-

‘can be exploited in E S P vocabulary teaching especially at the early stages when both subject and linguistic content are at an elem entary level’ A dditionally, the authors adds

‘dem onstration a n d visuals can be used to present and practice w ords, through translation m ay be preferred i f the teacher is com petent in the students’ language as well

as English M oreover U r (1996) agrees that ‘translation can test all aspects o f an item ’ such as spelling, w ord form ation, grammatical stru ctu re etc

T ranslation activity is defined as the w ay in w hich students are given sentences

in the m other tongue to translate into the targ et language o r vice versa (U r, 1996) As

N ation (2002) p o in ts out ‘translation has the advantages o f being quick, sim ple and easily understood a n d its m ajor advantage is th at its use m ay encourage other use o f the first language that seriously reduces the tim e available for use o f the second language

In addition, th e au th o r also affirm s the great value o f using this technique in both teaching and assessin g vocabulary; it allows learners to respond to vocabulary item s in a way that does not draw o n second language know ledge w hich is not directly relevant to what is being tested; it provides much easier m eans o f explaining the m eaning o f second language w ord; first language translations provide a very useful m eans o f testing vocabulary', both receptively and productively, and in recall and recognition items Sharing the sam e idea, G aim s &Redman (1992) supports that ‘m ost learners find it useful to m ake conscious effort to link words betw een languages in this way and in

O n th e other hand, there are several potential disadvantages because 'th ere is the usually difficulty o f finding exact equivalent across languages’ and ‘there is no exact equivalence betw een a second language w ord and its second language definition (Ur,1996) Sim ilarly, a real object may contain any features that are not com m on to all instances o f the w ord it exem plifies’ (Nation, 2002) Sharing the sam e points o f view Tran Thi T h u H uong (2004) notices ‘this technique m ight cause som e difficulties when the m eaning o f an item in one context is identical in both languages’ and ‘it may not alw ays convey the exact sense o f an item but then neither d o English synonym s or definitions o n m any occasions’ (G aim s and R edm an, 1992) This is true because this

w ay may encourage learners to think in th eir ow n language first then the second language (D avies, 2000)

A lso, Schm itt & M cCarthy (1997) note that the traditional activity, translation, 'h as been found effective in building vocabulary in linguistically hom ogeneous advanced classes This activity doesn’t have to be a dry, non-interactive exercise’

M oreover, G aim s & R edm an (1992) state ‘there are several type form s o f translation equivalent o f w hich m ay be very straightforw ard form o f literal translation H ow ever,

m any equivalents are only partially synonym ous and teachers should be particularly sensitive to these differences i f they are using translation in the classroom for vocabulary teach in g ’ T he two authors explain ‘on the surface, som e item s seem to be sim ilar, but there are often cultural differences’ This is quite obvious because many reasons: first, som e equivalents don’t even exit in som e languages such as ‘c u p ’, ‘m ug’, and ‘bow l’ w hich do not translate into th ree separate w ords in Chinese; second, som etimes language w ill borrow w ords from each other; third, proverbs and sayings cannot be translated literally; last, the problem occurs w hen th e m eaning o f an item in one context is identical in both languages but w here there are gram m atical differences (G aim s & R edm an, 1992) In order to highlight their opinions, they m ention tw o typical examples o f the verb structure ‘to depend (on som ething/som ebody)’ and the noun

‘luggage’ a n d analyze the difficulties w hich may happen in giving equivalent translation

2.3.1.5 Matching

In th e book o f Learning V ocabulary in A nother Language, N ation (2002)

suggests som e m atching exercise types used in vocabulary teaching including w ord and

definition m atching, sentence halves m atching and collocation m atching.

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For w ord a n d definition m atching, learners are asked to match a list o f

definitions (som e could be in the form o f synonym ) with a list o f words provided (N ation, 2002) This activity has a meaningful goal: linking form and meaning The condition leading to learning are either noticing or retrieving In addition, this activity is suited to individual w ork (Nation, 2002)

N ext, sentence halves m atching which requires learners to m atch sentence

halves containing targ et word with others to m ake sensible com plete sentence (N ation, 2002) helps learners know how the words are used in sentences

Last, collocations m atching in w hich learners have two lists o f words which

they m ust m atch to result in a set o f collocations H ow ever, doing this exercise, learner

m ay m ake not only one pair but several pairs with the sam e w ords'(N ation 2002)

M oreover, in o rd er to find out how this activity is exploited best, N ation (2002) affirm s that ‘if the activity is done in pairs or groups then the content o f the discussion will provide useful clues to w hat is going o n’ and ‘i f it is done as an individual activity, then the speed w ith w h ich th e learner finds the answ ers, and any signs o f retrieval o f the answ ers m ay be useful A gain, this activity, w hen done as group w ork, m akes good use

o f learners w ith different first languages because they can use a variety o f first language parallels to p redict English collocations A lso, the author points out ‘the learning condition is recep tiv e generative use draw ing o n L I know ledge, real w orld knowledge

or previous L2 u se’

Sim ilarly, U r (1994, p 70) defines the m atching exercise types in vocabulary in

w hich learners d raw lines connecting the pairs o f opposites:

Dis form

Read (2001) thinks that the basic m atching task requires learners to m ake a connection betw een a target w ords and their synonym s or definitions In addition, it is the recognition rather than a recall task, focusing on basic w ord meaning C oncerning this point Ur (1994) considers that the purpose o f this task is to discover w hether learners are aw are o f the existence o f the com bine word and know the m eaning o f the target w ords o r not It allow s teachers to have m any m ore item s to be tested w ithin the same tim e (N ation, 2002)

H ow ever, U r (1994) doubts that even learners also know m eaning o f the target

w ord but this activity h as not given teacher m uch about that because i f the learners have all options rig h t , th e last one will becom e obvious! Sharing the same points, N ation (2002) states th at ‘a disadvantage o f the m atching form at is th a t the item s tested within the sam e b lo ck can affect each other’

2.3.2 Bingo Games

2.3.2.L Games and Language games

A gam e is a play controlled by rules (R ixion, 1981) and it is fun (Hadfied,

19y0) G am es u su ally create 'competition ’ (one person against the rest, each person individually), ‘cooperation ’ (everyone together, cooperating w ithin a group then with

other groups, w ith a team against the rest, with a partner against the rest) and

m eaningfulness am ong players (Rixon, 1981) Like ordinary gam es, language gam es

also em ploy th e sam e features and the skills exercised in ordinary games, e.g funny, com petitive, co o p erativ e etc However, there is a difference; its main purpose is to achieve language purposes, such as: m ain language skills (vocabulary, listening, reading, p ro n u n ciatio n etc.), language functions (description, ju stific a tio n .ect.) structures and gram m atical points ( past tenses, prep o sitio n s ect.) (Rixon, 1981)

A ccording to R ixon (1981), there are tw o types o f game: code-control games and com m unicative games C ode-control gam es focus on correctness o f structures, spelling, p ro n u n ciatio n etc It is noted that ‘the length o f each utterance is usually limited in th is type o f gam e-often one word only, and seldom longer than a sentence or two C orrect repetition o f a lim ited range o f language is the im portant thing in these gam es’ H ow ever, com m unicative gam es m ainly focus on com m unicative effectiveness

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In these gam es, success is judged by the outcom e o f w hat is said rather than by its form and there is alw ays m ore than one way to reach the objective C om pared to code-control games, the length o f utterances in com m unication gam es is not so limited o r predictable

In conclusion, Rixon (1981) confirm s ‘the two types o f gam es are not in co n flict' and

‘each has its place on a teaching program ’ Thanks to this, learners will be able to use the correct language prom oted by the code-control gam es in the flexible and effective way encouraged by com m unication games

M any teachers think that gam es are often used to fill in a few m inutes at the end

o f a lesson o r to occupy som e o f the faster students while the others catch up on an exercise (R ixon, 1981) H ow ever, they can be used in different stages o f teaching/learning sequence such as presentation, practice and revision providing that they are suitable to teaching purpose (R ixon, 1981; W right et al., 1981) The key o f

m aking the gam es acceptable to any group o f students is suitability; therefore, choosing the appropriate gam es for learner is necessary Teacher should consider som e factors before selecting a language gam e such as: age, abilities, p rior know ledge and self- reliance (R ixon, 1981; U berm an, 1998)

2.3.2.2 Advantages o f using games in language teaching

G a m e s c a n h e l p v a r y th e p a ttern o f in te r a c tio n in t h e c la s s r o o m : g a m e s that

organize players into different patterns o f interaction can help to break dow n thestudent’s habit in the classic teacher-to-w hole-class pattern o f interaction (Rixon, 1981).I

Furtherm ore, U berm an (1998), echoing R ichard-A m ato (1988), points out that gam es add diversion to the regular classroom activities, break the ice W hile playing games, learners can show w hat they know, w hat they are fam iliar w ith and w hat they are unable

to produce in a non-threatening w ay (H adfield, 1990) A sim ilar opinion is expressed by Uberman (1998), w ho believes gam es to be fun and can low er anxiety, thus m aking the acquisition o f input m ore likely Uberm an (1998) holds that m ost language gam es make learners use th e language instead o f thinking about learning the correct forms They enable learners to acquire new experiences w ithin a foreign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson

G am es are highly m otivating because they are im m ensely enjoyable for learners'

(Hadfield, 1990) M cG uire (2001) also argues that one o f the reasons for playing gam es

in classroom is sim ply that they are fun If the learners have fun and enjoy them selves

they will be m ore m otivated, more relaxed and m ore open to the rich language opportunities that gam es supplies Further more U berm an (1998) thinks that gam es are entertaining and can give shy students m ore opportunity to express their opinions and feelings Finally, author believes that i f a student is m otivated, he can acquire the know ledge easier and gam es may solve stu d en t’s problem because they m otivate learners, prom ote com m unicative com petence, and generate fluency.

23.2.2 Understanding o f Bingo games

2.3.2.2.1 F eatures o f the gam e

A s o n e o f language games, Bingo is used ‘to review and can be adapted to any content area for w hich teachers can devise a list o f at least tw enty-five item s to be put

on the playing cards: authors and titles, literary devices w ith definitions or exam ples, character recognition, m ythology gods and goddesses, vocabulary and definitions, and

m any elem ents o f gram m ar’ (Bjersteds, 1983, p p 71-72) A ccording to H om by (2000) Bingo is ‘a gam e in w hich each player has a card with num bers on N um bers are called out in no particular order and the first player w hose num bers are all called out, o r has a line num bers called out, w in a prize’ So, this gam e is originally created from a gam ble

w ith num bers called Bingo and it gradually is transform ed and developed to be a useful way in language teaching That is w hy Bingo gam e w ith num bers is alw ays m entioned first then o th er suggested variations in books o f language games In foreign language

teaching, ‘th e num bers can include cardinals, ordinals, fra ctio n s, decim als and so on, or there can b e p ictu res on the cards’ (R ixon, 1981) To be m ore detail, according to

W right et al (1981) the gam e o f W ords Bingo is suggested to choose a gro u p o f words

you like the language learners to revise In stead o f words, teachers can use the

definitions o f those words on the Bingo cards F urther m ore, the authors also m ention to

the game o f S entence Bingo in which sentences can be prepared by students or teachers The sentences m ay also concern actions, perhaps taken from a p ictu re or p ic tu r e s .etc.

G enerally, there are many B ingo-type gam es and they are nam ed differently

according to user’s purpose B jerstedt (1983) nam es the gam e as Bonus Bingo just because the author gives bonus p o in ts for “bingos” earned on review day W hen teacher wants to help language learner revise the time, irregular verbs, conjunctions, numbers

or words, the gam es are called as W hat’s the tim e Bingo, Irregular verbs Bingo,

C onjunction Bingo, N um ber Bingo, W ord Bingo (M arsland, 2003; Stokoe, 1998; Jones,

W95: Byrne 1998: W right et al 2002) If there are num bers, pictures on the cards with

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the caller giving out the nam es for the pictures, in which case the gam e is Vocabulary

Bingo (R ixon, 1981) If there are lists o f words in various categories such as: furniture,

languages, countries, sp o rts etc those ones can be called as C ategory Bingo (Dobson

1992) H ow ever, you can name the gam e as Picture Bingo when there are pictures

covered on the cards even though you w ant to focus on vocabulary, gram m ar or pronunciation points (Byrne, 1998) In another discussion, Rixon (1981) states that 'the pictures are o f objects that have sim ilar sounding nam es distinguished only by a

m inim al difference in sound, in this case the gam e is P ronunciation or M inim al Pair

B in g o' H aving the sam e idea, Juarez (2001) m akes a P ronunciation Bingo game which

contrasts the pronunciation o f nouns and verbs w ith the sam e spelling (use a stress mark

to show the students th at nouns are stressed in the first syllabus and verbs o n the second), for exam ple: progress-progress, present-present, protest-protest, contract-

co n tract etc Sim ilarly, Juarez (2001) affirm s that language teachers can take the use

o f Bingo gam es to teach m inimal pairs such as: sit-seat, but-bat, bought-boat, saw -so etc T h e author also rem inds that ‘w hen you nam e the cards let the students listen to the w ords but not look at th em ’ because ‘this way they w ill able to distinguish the difference’

A s presented in 2.3.2.1, all language skills can be exploited in gam es: listening, speaking, reading and w riting So can Bingo games In addition, four aspects o f language can b e m ainly focused: vocabulary, gram m ar, spelling and pronunciation (M arsland, 2003; Stokoe, 1998; Jones, 1995; B yrne, 1998; W right et al, 2002)

U nlike m any language games, m ost o f Bingo gam es are code - controlled or teacher - controlled In other w ords, the teacher has got the key role o f m anaging and controlling th e activities in Bingo games H ow ever, i f students are at the high level o f proficiency in the target language, the activities can be learner centered (K avaliauskiene, 2000) and students them selves in different groups can create Bingo Cards, Bingo M aster Cards In this situation, the teacher becom es the guide or the supporter in class

In B ingo gam es, cards are often used There are tw o kinds o f cards: Bingo

M aster C ards (fo r the teacher or controller) w hich contain the revised w ords and answers, Bingo C ards (for players) w hich contains the items that need to be revised In code - controlled Bingo games, the teacher usually prepares the cards him self/herself

m aking B ingo C ards, the m aker should provide enough variations o f these grids so each player has one that is slightly (or very) different' (Stokoe, 1998) I f the w ords on Bingo cards are the sam e, they should be put in different places (K leepper, 2003) to increase the student’s recognition and reaction.

Every gam e has w inner and so do Bingo games A player or a team becom es Bingo w inner i f h e o r it has got all his lexical items called out or in a line: vertical, diagonal, horizontal line then shout out “Bingo” and spells correctly his/its words (M arsland 2003: Stokoe, 1998; Jones 1995: Byrne 1998; W right et a!., 2002) Besides, the game w ill becom e m ore interesting and exciting if there are sm all prizes given to the

w inners (Juarez, 2001)

B ingo is a gam e o f pure chance, with a slight advantage going to people who are attentive listeners to a rapid stream o f sound Therefore, when adapting it to language teaching, the teacher can increase the amount o f skill needed, but the luck elem ent rem ains to give the gam e interest (Rixon, 1981) and try to m ake the rule o f gam e as sim ple as possible

2.3.2.2.2 The rela tio n to attitude, motivation, learning style a n d m em orization

Like m an y other activities, after participating Bingo gam es, learner will have feelings, evaluation, thoughts, belief etc about the gam es they have experienced (G ibb, 1988; H oang Thi Xuan, 2003; Phan Thi Thuan Y en, 2003) The learner’s positive or neg ativ e attitudes tow ards the gam es depends o n how he/she feels about, thinks o f activities they take part For the positive attitudes, the gam e will increase learner’s m o tiv atio n in learning activities and lead to better learning and vice versa (G ibb, 1988; B row n, 1994) However, with charateristics o f language games: com petition, fun, cooperation .etc.(R ixon, 1981), Bingo gam es tend to suit to learners w ho p refer learning through concrete experience, contacts and relationships

w ith others (extroverted learners) rather than learners who prefer learning in individual, independent learning situations (introverted learners) (cited in N guyen Thi Linh Lam, 2004)

As m etioned above, game is normally fast and Bingo is a gam e o f a pure chance therefore B ingo gam es require players with high attention and concentration to understand, reco g in ize the words refered to and get the chance to be Bingo winner

In B ingo gam es, cards are often used: the card w ith w o rd s, im ages, words definition/description, num bers etc For Bingo definition cards, lexical items are

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described and defined basing on not only inform ation in dictionary' but also factual and general inform ation which help learners relate new inform ation to w hat they have known before, therefore the words are retained better in long term memory (M eyen et al., 1999) In addition, if the m eaning o f lexical item s are illustrated through images - picture B ingo cards - they will enrich p lay ers’ im agination and increase their vocabulary retention(G aim s & Redman, 1992).

2.4 Sum m ary

In this chapter, the researcher has discussed the aspects relating to vocabulary teaching and learning in general The main factors w hich exert their influence on vocabulary acq u isitio n have been analyzed Finally, the tw o types o f vocabulary revision (V ocabulary R evision Exercises and Bingo gam es) in the study have been discussed In th e n ex t chapter, the research m ethodology is to b e presented

C H A P T E R T H R E E : T H E STUDY

In the previous chapter, the related literature to the study was reviewed and discussed: vocabulary teaching and learning, factors affecting vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary revision activities In this chapter, it begins w ith the research questions then

th e experim ent with description o f the learners w ho participated in the study and variables as w ell Lastly, it is follow ed by sections w hich specify the instrum entation, procedure o f d ata collection and data analysis tools

3.1 The experim ent

3.1.1 Subjects

T he participants in the study w ere 50 prim ary pupils enrolled in two English language classes at L ondon Education Centre (LEC ) T he study w as conducted at LEC with the participation o f two classes: LG5S7 (25 children) and LG 5S8 (25 children) In order to fin d o u t all the participants’ attitude tow ards Bingo gam es and the effectivenessI

ofjthe gam es in vocabulary revision, the study w as conducted in tw o stages w ith each group receiving two different treatm ents nam ely the Bingo gam es and V RE Therefore

t h e s e c l a s s e s t o o k tu rn to b e t h e C o n t r o l G r o u p a n d th e E x p e r im e n t a l G r o u p a t d if f e r e n t

stages as presented in the table below:

Table 1 : G roups in each stage o f the study These children were selected for this study because they w ere relatively identical

in the follow ing aspects Firstly, the participants were all aged betw een 9 and 11 years old Secondly, there were 11 boys and 14 girls in each group Thirdly, they had finished

a three m onth English course - Let s Go 4 - at the C entre before the study was carried

out Finally, they had passed the end - o f - course test o f the Qentre after finishing the course H ow ever, the two groups were slightly different: First, the participants w ere not

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only the pupils o f the centre but also o f different prim ary schools and secondary schools N ex t, the participants studied in different grades with different numbers:

C lasses

G rad e ( at schoof)x\

T ab le 2: N um ber o f pupils in grades (at school) o f each group

D uring th e tim e o f the experim ent w as conducted, the children w ent once a week

to th e E nglish class and studied the sam e textbook {L e t’s Go 5) for three periods There

w ere eight units in th e textbook and each w as tau g ht in three periods then follow ed by a vocabulary revision lesson (one period) Both classes w ere instructed by the researcher and offered the sam e content and vocabulary teaching techniques H ow ever, the difference is th at w ord m eaning w as revised through tw o different kinds o f revision activities nam ely Bingo gam es and VRE

3.1.2 Variables

3,1.2.1 Independent Variables

Independent variables are revising vocabulary through the V ocabulary Revision Exercises consisting o f gap-filling, m atching, w riting sentences, translation, m ultiple- choice (described in 2.3.1) and Bingo G am es (described in 2.3.2) and were used in teaching the groups o f the study

Bingo G am es ( S ee sam ples in Appendix 3A )

The researcher intended to m easure th e effectiveness o f using Bingo gam es in revising lexical items- covering word m eaning area This purpose was m et by m aking com parison w ith the w'ay often used in LED D ue to the tim e lim itation, there w ere six Bingo activities (see A ppendix 1) applied to rev ise 264 lexical item s in two stages (see lists o f w ords in A ppendix 2 A & 2B) The detail inform ation presented in table 3:

Type o f

Bingo

N otice for m aking

B ingo 2 U nit 1, U n it 7 Bingo cards w ith blank

grids are made.

B ingo 3 U nit 3, U n it 5 T ry to m ake variations

o f girds I f w ords on cards are the sam e, they should be put in different palces

W ords can be understood through

Unit 4 , U nit 8 Bingo cards with blank

grids are made.

Table 3: Bingo gam e application

In th e Bingo games, the lexical item s are recognized and produced through tasks: m aking sentences (w ith the lexical item s in w ritten/spoken form), m atching (spoken w ords w ith w ritten form, im ages, d efin itio n s ect), guessing (the words through spoken definitions o r description) and gap-filling (filling in the blanks with the spoken w ords)

The procedure o f each Bingo gam e w as conducted as follows:

Teacher introduced the aim o f the gam e, instructions and rules in Vietnam ese Next, the teacher w rote dow n lexical item s that needed revising on the board, rem inded the children o f the m eanings and asked them to repeat the lexical items after The game started Bingo w inner w as declared and received a small prize after being checked rightly in the game

Vocabulary R evision Exercises (See sam ple in A ppendix 3B)

The teacher applied VRE lo the Control G roup only This included the practice exercises w hich often appeared in vocabulary revision lessons at LEC: multiple-choice, gap-filling, m atching, m aking sentences and V ietnam ese - English translation In addition, the practice exercises in VRE were equivalent to Bingo activities in the follow ing w ay: gap - filling, m atching, m aking sentences - three vocabulary teaching techniques w ere used In Bingo activities, how ever, language skills such as listening, reading, speaking and w riting were exploited M eanw hile, in V R E lessons, these skills were not m uch developed through practice exercises.

The procedure o f every V R E lesson w as adm inistered as follows:

In th ese lessons, there were two w ays: the teacher prepared the sheets o f vocabulary exercises to give the children o r w rote them on the board The teacher then gave the instruction and ask the children to finish the exercises w ithin a given period o f time A fter finishing the exercises, they w ere required to give answ er at their tables orally or w ent to the board and wrote dow n the answer Feedback and error correction were conducted afterward

3.1.2.2 Dependent Variables

D ependent variables are the participant's ability to rem em ber w ords and

m aintain the w ords for a period o f tim e, their attitudes and m otivation tow ards two methods

3.2 D ata collection tools

The m eth od used in this study w as quantitative The intent o f this study was to find out the effectiveness o f using Bingo gam es in revising lexical item s for children o f

L et's Go 5 grade at LEC so that vocabulary tests (the testing techniques adopted from

Jones, 1997 - Test Your Vocabulary 1 & Test Your Vocabulary 2; G aim s & Redm an,

2001 - E nglish Vocabulary in Use) w ith pre-test (the im ages taken from L e t’s Go 4 -

w orkbook and student' book ; see A ppendix 4A ) and post-tests (the im ages taken from

L e t’s g o 5 - w orkbook and student’s book; see A ppendix 4B & 4C ) - w ere conducted

W ith the pre-test result (see A ppendix 9A & 9B ), the researcher w ould be sure about the sim ilarity o f children’s level in both groups before the tim e o f experim ent and the answ er to th e first research question would be given after com paring two groups' post­test results (see A ppendix 9A , 9B & A ppendix! 1)

B esides, with the aim o f measuring children’s attitudes tow ards the game, follow-up questionnaire surveys (adapted from Dao Thi Thanh M ai, 2004; see appendix 8A & 8B) w ere also restored of Therefore, there w ere two questionnaires for both groups in the experim ent used Both questionnaires consisted o f a num ber o f statements

o f w hich the respondents gave their opinion by m aking a cross in the provided attitude scale according to the level o f agreement

A lso, the classes were also observed by tw o experienced English language teachers T he observation (the observation sheet adapted from Peacock, 1997; See

A ppendix 5) w as considered as a useful data collection instrum ent so that the researcher was able to get the m otivation o f the overall class o f the experim ent In addition, a student’s self-reported m otivation questionnaire (adapted from Peacock, 1997; see

A ppendix 6A & 6B ) w as also exploited to confirm the inform ation collected from teacher’s observation sheet

3.2.1 Pre-test and Post-tests

In o rd e r to m easure the participants’ im provem ent after th e experim ent, a pre­test and tw o post-tests were used because “a test is seen as a natural extension o f classroom w ork, providing teacher and student w ith useful inform ation that can serve each as a b asis for im provem ent” (H arrison, 1991) So, should teachers w rite their own tests o r ad o p t ready-m ade tests? Seliger & Shoham y (1989) believe th at using ready- tests w hich can be found in published m aterials in an experim ental study is ideal because th ese tests w ere developed b y experts and therefore it w ill be well-constructed Sharing th e sam e point, H arrison (1991) m entions “good tests are produced only by experts fam iliar w ith technical concepts and statistics” H ow ever, Heaton (1997) notes that teacher should m ake sure before adapting a test that w hether the tests are sound and reliable for h is/h er purposes, the m ost appropriate level to his/her students or not That

is why both H arrison (1991) & Heaton (1997) strongly agree that the best tests for the classroom are those tests w hich the teacher w rites him self/herself

In fact, the participants in the experim ent were so young that they could not have enough vocabulary to acquire such English standard tests as the N ational English Certificate, T O E FL , IELTS Therefore, in this research, the researcher decided to make the tests w ith the follow ing vocabulary testing techniques as follows: m atching (lexical items and pictures), m ultiple-choice, gap-filling, gap-filling w ith a pool o f answers

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