e effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

INTRODUCTION

Statement of problem

There is no doubt about the importance of English in the modern age From time to time, English has become a global language and has been considered as the second language in many countries English is widely used in lots of different fields such as learning, research, business, entertainment, technology, etc Moreover, with outstanding English ability, people can have a lot of opportunities to get a good job with high salary Therefore, the number of English learners in Vietnam has also increased In particular, English is one of the main subjects to be taught in schools and more and more English centers are opened Nevertheless, learning English, especially vocabulary, is a big challenge for most Vietnamese students

It is clear that vocabulary plays an important role in any language acquisition Harmer (1991:153) stated “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh” From this view, we can see that vocabulary is the central of language learning process Without an extensive vocabulary, learners cannot understand what other people say or express their own ideas But having rich vocabulary, people can understand better when they listen or read Besides students can improve and develop their listening, speaking, reading, writing abilities Vocabulary is not only necessary for communication but also academic learning In fact, many tests require the large amount of vocabulary such as TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, etc Vocabulary is the very basic step people need to do well to improve and master in English

However, learning vocabulary has never been considered as an easy task There is a fact that when learning English, most Vietnamese students tend to spend much time in learning grammar instead of vocabulary They are unaware of how vocabulary is necessary to their learning English progress They find vocabulary boring and time-consuming to learn because there is a large amount of English vocabulary and many of them are not easy to remember; hence, their amount of vocabulary is still limited Actually, many students just try to learn vocabulary because of their exams and after that, they easily forget it Even English – majored students, sometimes, have difficulties in learning vocabulary

Up to now, how to learn English vocabulary efficiently is still a hard question Most of the learners have acquainted with traditional methods such as learning by heart, writing down new words many times until remembering, reading out loud many times, etc During studying English process, the writer has tried various ways of learning vocabulary And now, the writer recognizes that learning vocabulary by using flashcards is a useful and interesting way By using flashcards, learners can easily learn and revise vocabulary Pictures in the flashcards also helps learners remember vocabulary longer Thus, the writer decided to do the research

“The effect of learning English vocabulary by using flashcards” The writer chooses English- majored seniors to do the research because they have learn English for many years and have enough experiences in learning vocabulary to understand the research and compare to their own way The writer hopes that the research helps learners who are not only English-majored but also non English-majored have a new method which can stimulate them to learn English vocabulary more efficiently.

Aims of study

The first purpose of the research is to emphasize the crucial role of vocabulary in learning English as well as encouraging students in focusing on vocabulary learning by investigating the reality of learning vocabulary of English-majored seniors The writer also wants to find out whether the use of learning English vocabulary by using flashcard is useful and effective The last goal of this research is to help to share the method of learning English vocabulary by using flashcards to people who learn English, especially to the English-majored students at IUH to improve and widen their vocabulary.

Research questions

The research questions help the writer focus on and carry out the investigation correctly and completely So, the research is supposed to find out the answer for the following questions:

 What is the reality of learning English vocabulary of English-majored seniors?

 What are some obstacles students have to face when learning English vocabulary?

 How does learning English vocabulary by using flashcards affect the way students learn vocabulary?

The significance of study

The writer believes that the research either less or more will have significant influences on learning and teaching English of both teachers and students especially in FFL at IUH

For students, they have a deep view about vocabulary Through the research, the writer also mentions to the obstacles students have in order to help them notice and avoid those obstacles Moreover, when recognizing how much important vocabulary is, students will try their best to learn more and more vocabulary The writer is hopeful that learning English vocabulary by using flashcards would be a new, creative and flexible way which can motivate the self – study vocabulary of students With benefits of this method, students can easily apply to their learning process to enhance their amount of vocabulary and improve other macro skills better as well

For teachers, the research will help them understand more clearly about what problems students had in learning vocabulary Teachers can support and find solutions for students to overcome difficulties through their lesson Teachers can understand the effect of using flashcards and use this way in teaching, especially in teaching vocabulary They can use flashcards to introduce new vocabulary and check the previous lessons

In addition, the research will be a reliable source of reference for people who want to study language in terms of vocabulary

Finally, the writer has opportunity of doing the research The writer can gain a lot of precious experiences and valuable and useful knowledge, especially how to collect information and how to arrange everything reasonably when there are too many things to do.

The limitations of the study

The research is not only a big challenge but also a valuable experience for the writer During doing the research, the writer has encountered many difficulties

First of all, there are a lot of ways to learn English vocabulary It is hard to enumerate the effective methods because each students has their own ways Hence, the results of the study are not totally true

Second, the research is made to investigate the difficulties when learning English vocabulary of students and the effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards but the writer cannot include all the difficulties and the aspects of the method in the given questionnaire Besides, because of the limited knowledge of the writer, some ideas may not be discerning

Third, to make the process of analyzing statistic become easier and save – time, the writer just deliver the questionnaire to only English – majored seniors at IUH Therefore, the result of statistic may be true with those participants It may lack of exactness if comparing to real testing

Limited time is another obstacle that the writer had to face Because the writer had to complete the internship report and the research at the same time, the writer may make some mistakes during the research

In conclusion, the research has special meaning in the writer’s studying process Although having some mistakes, the research is undertaken with all the writer’s enthusiasm and effort.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Vocabulary in learning English

One of the most essential factors to help foreign language learners to master of a language is knowledge of vocabulary According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2010:1722), vocabulary means:

1 All the words that a person knows or uses

2 All the words in a particular language

3 The words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject

4 A list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language

From this definition, it is easily realized that vocabulary is an indispensable element of language The notion of vocabulary seems to be simple and easy to understand through the above dictionary Besides, some other definitions of vocabulary are proposed by some experts and scholars One of them is that “vocabulary is the core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read and write”, as stated by Richards and Renandya (2002: 255) It shows vocabulary is the key foundation to practice other language skills Without understanding vocabulary, learners will have troubles in develop four basic language skills

The other definition of vocabulary from Hatch and Brown (1995:1) is that vocabulary is all words which are used by language learners Sharing this view, Hornby (1995) notes that vocabulary is the total number of words in language an individual knows and those words are used as a vehicle of language to express ones thought From those explanations above, we can see that vocabulary is the total number of words existed in language that learners use It is also an integral part for every learner to be successful in both spoken and written language

Moreover, Merriam – Webster’s dictionary defines that “vocabulary is a list or collection of words and phrases usually alphabetically arranged and explained or defined Hatch and Brown (1995:1) also state that “vocabulary is the only system involved of alphabetical order” From two statements, vocabulary is a list of words that used individually or in a group arranged in order from A to Z and included meanings

Hebert and Kamil (2005:3) assume that vocabulary is the knowledge of meanings of words Likewise, Thornbury (2002:13-15) states that vocabulary is a great amount of words that contain form and meanings, should be learnt by learners in learning a language It explains that learners not only learn vocabulary but also understand the meanings and use correctly other forms of words to acquire language better

In addition, some wider definitions about the term vocabulary are defined Vocabulary is “a set of lexemes, including words, compound words and idioms” (Schmidt, 2010, p.629) According to Ur (1996), vocabulary is defined 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” (p.60) For example, swimming pool, post office, merry – go – round which are composed by more than one word but only one meaning is conveyed

Based on the Ur’s statement, there has also multi – word idioms such as walk in the park where the meaning cannot be inferred from analyzing its single parts By this way, they would like to point out that vocabulary is bigger than just the meaning of the words

In short, there are various ways to define the concept “vocabulary” However, what the definitions above about vocabulary have in common is that vocabulary is the total words exited in a certain language as a basic tool for language learners to approach a language Vocabulary is a very first and important element that the English learners must have so as to become proficient at the language skills The richer vocabulary learners have, the better they can use the language

Besides the variety in defining what vocabulary is, there are also a lot of ways to classify kinds of vocabulary

According to Haycraft, quoted by Hatch and Brown (1995), there are two types of vocabulary They are receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary Receptive words is vocabulary that learners understand meanings when listening or reading in a context but they cannot produce (Stuart Webb, 2005) In other words, receptive vocabulary is set of words for which an individual can achieve meanings when listening or reading in context but they do not use it in speaking or writing On the contrary, productive vocabulary is the words that learners understand and can pronounce correctly and use constructively in speaking and writing (Stuart Webb, 2005) This requires learners to have a large amount of vocabulary to recognize and use expertly Productive vocabulary are words that are well – known, familiar and used frequently It can be said that receptive vocabulary is considered as a passive process because language learners only receive thoughts from others whereas productive vocabulary is an active process because language learners can produce words to express their thought to others

In terms of methodology, Doff (1988) classify vocabulary into two types: active and passive vocabulary The active vocabulary is the words that learners can understand meanings, pronounce accurately without relying on the context and these words are used frequently and successfully in speaking and writing This is related to the ability to a person to produce words in both speaking and writing Nevertheless, the passive vocabulary is the words that learners meet and comprehend in context such as in reading or listening but they are not used in speaking or writing This classification is quite similar to Haycraft’s classification mentioned above

In terms of semantics, vocabulary is split into two categories (Hatch & Brown, 1995, p.218) They are function and content words Function words are words that have little clarity in meanings but tending to show grammatical relation with other words in a sentence Hence, they are also called grammatical words They not only play structural role but also indicate attitude or mood of speakers They are closed classes and include pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, and so forth Hence, function words play an important role in structure of sentences In contrast, content words take responsibility for carrying the content of a sentence Most words in English language belong to content words They are open classes and consist nouns, verbs, adjectives and most adverbs These words need to be emphasized to denote meaning or express the thoughts or ideas of learners, especially in speaking

Additionally, Montgomery (2007:1-2) classify vocabulary into types depending on four language skills Those are listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary and writing vocabulary Listening vocabulary is the words that people hear and understand while speaking vocabulary consists of the words used when they speak in their daily life Reading vocabulary includes the words found and comprehended when reading texts The last one, writing vocabulary, contains the words people use in writing essays, reports, emails, letters, etc Meanwhile, Wollacott (2013:1) summarizes these four types into only two forms, active and passive vocabulary

In summary, the classification of vocabulary can be based on the features or the fields that the researchers concern about

It is undeniable that vocabulary is an integral part of language learning Learning a language cannot be separated from vocabulary It means to master a language, learners have to know its vocabulary

Kaboody (2007) emphasizes that “vocabulary is a central aspect of language learning” It shows that vocabulary is the basic component that learners must acquire to form the ability of language uses during their study of the language Depending on vocabulary, learners can easily comprehend language skills and master that language Learners who have strong vocabulary will be more successful in the learning process than those who have less vocabulary Most of difficulties learners face come from the lack of vocabulary

Furthermore, vocabulary significantly influences on the ability to use other language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing “A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform.” (Nation, 1994, pg viii) By having a large vocabulary, learners are often able to think more easily, express themselves more clearly, and learn new area more readily According to McCarthy (1990, p.8), “without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in the second language cannot happen in any meaningful way” It implies that vocabulary is considered as a means of communication because with the wide knowledge of vocabulary, people can easily express what they think, communicate with others and understand what others say On the other hand, if learners have a limited amount of vocabulary, they will be discouraged from making use of language learning opportunities For instance, due to lack of vocabulary, language learners not only cannot communicate well but also cannot access information when reading documents or books written in English A limited vocabulary also cause learners’ bad habits It is the use of repetitive words It means learners use the common words they know repeatedly in writing and speaking They do not have lots of words to use in each context and it may lead to misunderstanding meanings

Another factor of language often compared to vocabulary is grammar Both grammar and vocabulary are necessary but the writer thinks vocabulary is much more important Some experts have provided their opinions Harmer (1991:153) indicates “if language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh” Wilkins (1972:111) also shares same idea that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” By these standpoints, it can be explained that even learners are good at grammar but it will be useless if they do not know many vocabulary Without using correct grammatical structures, people can manage to communicate and understand basically if using suitable key words However, it does not mean that grammar is not important in language learning process

Learners’ common ways

According to Nguyen Thi Bich (2016: 16 - 20), there are some common ways that students often use to learn English vocabulary

A monolingual dictionary is defined as a type of reference work in which the words of a language and its other addition information are described in the same language (Bich, 2016, p.16)

According to Thump (2004) as cited in Kung (2015), monolingual dictionary facilitates language learners’ skill in guessing the word meaning from the provided context in their second language and form the habit of thinking in the second language A monolingual dictionary provides not only definition but also other aspects of the words It also include additional meanings of a target word, more examples of how the word is used in context, and information about the lexical and grammatical forms of the word

Nevertheless, monolingual dictionaries also have their weaknesses Lew (2004) (cited in Kung, 2015) assumes that many L2 learners who are less proficient at vocabulary may not benefit much from consulting monolingual dictionaries although they help to increase learners’ L2 vocabulary knowledge It indicates that if learners have limited vocabulary, they cannot use monolingual dictionaries effectively Because all information of words like explanations or examples is provided in the target language, not translated to the first language Learners may not understand totally the basic content of words and often pass over other important information of words

In summary, monolingual dictionaries should be encouraged to use despite of some drawbacks It is considered as an essential tool for learners to master a second language

Bilingual dictionary is a type of dictionary which contains equivalent words in two languages Bilingual dictionaries are commonly used by learners at all levels, especially learners who have less vocabulary (Atkins & Varantola 1998; Baxter 1980)

Nation (2008) comments the advantage of bilingual dictionaries is that learning L2 vocabulary is faster if the meaning of the word is provided in the L1 first When looking up a new word, learners will see a direct translation for this word in the native language The meaning of the words are easy to understand without confusing than the explanation in monolingual dictionaries Folse (2004) also observes that if the words and its meanings are provided, second language learners have higher word retention proportion It implies that leaners will maintain new vocabulary longer and more effectively

On the other hand, bilingual dictionaries also have some limitations The first limitation is that the L1 translations in bilingual dictionaries might give learners L2 equivalents that are imprecise and inflexible As a result, learners may use inappropriate words in contexts and it can affect their understanding of the words While monolingual dictionaries encourage learners thinking in the target language while Bilingual dictionaries support the learners to translate the words from the first language Baxter (1980: 329 – 330) additionally argue that learners do not develop skills like paraphrasing and defining which cause problems in writing or speaking

In short, bilingual dictionary is a quick and simple tool to access new vocabulary However, bilingual dictionary should not be used due to some limitations

Books are a crucial source of knowledge in life, especially in learning language In accordance with an E-Book tilted Soft Skills Strategies for Success (April 2014), reading books is the single simple way to improve vocabulary When reading books, learners will probably find themselves exposed to many new words Moreover, learners have chance to remember the spelling as well as the use of the word Tafani (2009: 86) implies that through books, readers can access to a lot of different fields of knowledge such as education, science, culture, language and so on Reading books with various topics is an advantage of developing academic and specialized vocabulary

On the contrary, reading English books will be a difficult barrier for the person who does not have a large vocabulary (Tafani, 2009) If there are so many unknown words in books, learners would not be able to understand the content of the books successfully It takes much time to look up dictionary to find the meaning of new words Another thing is about the differences between cultures which may cause some problems for the learners To understand an English book, the learners have to acquire background knowledge about the concept of the book and then understand the author’s writing style

Reading books in English is a habit that learners should set up It helps learners get plenty of vocabulary and information despite some obstacles Learners should choose simple books with closely topics to read in advance

Music is not only a means of entertainment but also a supporting tool in the learning language process Eken (1996: 46) points out some benefits of listening to English music in learning language

Listening to music helps learners enhance their amount of vocabulary Through the lyric of the song, learners can learn new vocabulary, phrases and idioms If learners want to understand the content of the song, they have to find the meaning of new words that appear in the song When learners sing the songs many times, they can easily remember vocabulary because the memorization of the lyrics may lay in the link between the structure and the syntax of the melody and that of the language (Ahlback, 2004) Music also help learners remember the order of words and some basic structures Pronunciation is also improve when listening to music Learners pay attention to how the singer pronounce or stress the words to imitate them In addition, learners can practice linking or reduced forms by listening to the way the singer perform and sing like them

On the other hand, some learners do not usually listen to English songs so they cannot practice vocabulary regularly Another thing is not all grammar points or word use in the song are correct Listening to music also takes a lot of time because most people often listen to a list of songs not one or two songs at a time

2.2.4 Watching English films or programs

Watching movies or TV programs in English is one of popular ways to learn English Ruusunen (2011: 13) provides some advantages of watching movies or TV programs in learning vocabulary

By watching movies or TV programs, learners can improve the amount of vocabulary Learners listen to many new words and phrases, especially idioms and colloquial expression used in the movies or TV programs (Bich, 2013, p 19) Learners would find it easier to remember the new vocabulary as well as the use of them as they are put in specific context in the movies and TV programs Learner also have chance to listen to the native speakers with standard pronunciation, accent, intonation and stress Learners can improve their pronunciation, know where to put stress on words and sentences as well as acquitting with different accents

However, it is difficult for learners to understand when actors speak too fast Watching movies and TV programs with English subtitles may be better but learners cannot concentrate on the target language because they have to read the subtitles and watch the scenes at the same time Sometimes, learners are attracted by the content of the movies or TV program and forget to pick up new vocabulary from.

Flashcards

There are some definition about what flashcard is from experts and researchers

Haycraft (1978: 102) describes that flashcards are a collection of cards on which words and/or pictures are printed or drawn According to Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (2010: 587), flashcard is a card with a word and sometimes a colorful picture on it that teachers use during lesson However, flashcard is usually considered as a learning aid for students as defined by Merriam – Webster’s dictionary Based on those above description, it can be taken a general view that flashcard is a card including words and pictures on it and can be used by teachers and learners

Additionally, Edwards (2006) contributes another definition of flashcard He indicates that flashcards as a powerful memory tool to write questions on one side of the cards and the answer on the other side (p.98) In Lado’s (1964) finding, flashcard is defined quite similarly to Edward’s but more specific Flashcards are a set of cards with word or word phrase on one side and its meaning usually in translation on the other (Lado, 1964, p.197) These two linguists have provided a more detailed explanation about flashcard It can be said that flashcard has two sides It involves a new word in the target language or the second language on one side On the other side of flashcard, it has the same word in the mother tongue Sarah (2001: 69) also adds that flashcards are vocabulary cards with pictures which are an invaluable way of learning and revising vocabulary

Flashcard has various sizes The sizes of flashcards are determined by learners depending on their needs It can be a square, rectangle or smallish sheet of paper (Harmer,

Today, there are many available flashcards with fully information as a new word in both two languages – the first language and the second language, a picture, illustration as well as pronunciation in bookstores It also has example sentence for using the given word in the correct context

In closing, flashcard is a two – sided cardboard on which appears new word in the language learners’ mother tongue and the target language learners are learning, picture, illustrations, example sentence in the particular context and pronunciation It is a useful tool to learn and memorize new words

Haycraft (1978: 102-106) divides flashcards into two types They are word flashcards and picture flashcards

The first type of flashcards is word cards Nation (2001) states that learning from word card might be the simplest way of learning vocabulary Word flashcards are a set of cards on which only words have been printed or written Word flashcard usually consists of two sides

On the front of the flashcard a new word in the target language is written and its translation of the first language on the other The translation of the word may include a concise definition in the native language and an explanation of the word use if any Sometimes, the new word and its explanation can be in the same side The phonetic transcription of vocabulary should be listed on the flashcard so that learners can practice pronunciation and know phonetic components that make up the vocabulary

Another type of flashcard is picture flashcards Picture flashcards is useful for the teaching and learning vocabulary Picture flashcard has two sides and contains words and pictures It involves a new vocabulary along with its pronunciation and an example sentence for illustration on one side On the other side of picture flashcard, there has not only the meaning or the definition of the new word but also a picture which demonstrates for the word Picture flashcards are useful for practicing and revising vocabulary (Haycraft, 1978) They help learners easily visualize and remember the word longer Pictures make flashcards livelier and more attractive Most of learners prefer using flashcards with pictures than flashcards including only words The simplest picture flashcard is only a new word on one side and a picture on one side; however, this type of picture flashcard is not encouraged to be used because learners only know the spelling not other information of the word

Scott (1990: 109 – 111) also classify flashcard into three kinds including picture flashcard, word or sentence flashcard and card game However, his classification is in terms of teaching

To summarize, there are the classification of experts However, the flashcards used by the learners may differ from the ones listed above because they can design flashcards in their own way The flashcards can be added or subtracted some details as their discretion.

Using flashcards in learning vocabulary

2.4.1 How to use flashcards effectively to learn vocabulary

To make flashcards more effective when using them to learn vocabulary, there are some ideas

First, learners should use flashcards basing on the principle: one question – one answer That means a flashcard only contains one new words If there are more than a word written or printed on the same card, learners will be confused That will make the flashcard become a word list and has no effect than traditional learning: write a long list of word and study without no interest In bookstores, there are some sets of flashcards that have more than one word on a card and leaners do not choose them to learn vocabulary

Moreover, the information of vocabulary on the flashcards might be concise, accurate and not wordy, especially for those who make flashcards by themselves Writing too much information will have no positive effect and leads flashcards to be more complicated which are hard to remember Besides the new target word and its definition in the first language, the flashcard also need to include explanations and illustrated picture The explanation of the word involves pronunciation and example sentence Pronunciation helps learners know to pronounce the word and understand the components making up that word Sample sentence helps learners comprehend the context of the word, know how to use word in appropriate situation Picture is extremely important in promoting visualization of the word and allowing learners to remember words faster, harder and longer Therefore, the flashcards should be used both sides to make the information clearer One side appears a new target word with pronunciation and example sentence The other side includes an illustrated picture and the meaning of the word in the native language

According to Nation (2001), learners should cover one side of the flashcard including the native meaning of the word and test themselves to guess if they can remember what the target word means or they can do vice versa Learners will discover how well they either knew or did not know the answer Covering one side of the flashcard will motivate the brain to try to guess or recall the meaning before flipping the other side of flashcard back to check the answer From that correct answer will be encoded into learners’ knowledge By this way, the words are remembered from an active way and the ability of memorizing words will be better

Next, shuffling the order of the flashcards before reviewing Changing the order of the flashcards is to avoid the habit of remembering words in the order learners have learnt For example, the first flashcard is preserve or the second flashcard is environment Learners can realize which words they still do not remember and spend time to learn these words again

Another idea is that learners should use dictionary to practice words’ pronunciation Because pronunciation is one of important aspects of vocabulary, learners need to know how words are pronounced and try to say the words like native speakers It helps learners a lot in producing words in speaking and writing

Finally, vocabulary flashcards should be divided into different topics to learn easier Haycraft (1978) indicates that grouping vocabulary into topics helps learners make good use of words in the specific situations Learners can associate and remember other words in the same topic For example, in the topic about “city”, learners can apply related words like bustling, modern, street, shopping mall and so on

2.4.2 Benefits of using flashcards for learning vocabulary

Learning English vocabulary by using flashcards brings a lot of benefits

Firstly, according to Brown (1980) (cited in Inayah, 2010, p.24), flashcards are portable and convenient It can be taken almost everywhere because the size of flashcards are not too big Learners can carry flashcards in their bags easily Hence, learners can study or revise vocabulary whenever they has free moment, even very short like when waiting for the next class or waiting for friends to come Learners do not need to bring heavy books or dictionaries to learn vocabulary anymore

Secondly, the knowledge of vocabulary is widen quickly Learners not only learn new vocabulary but also understand other aspects of vocabulary Learners can practice structure and word use through the definition and example along with flashcards (Haycraft, 1978, p.102) With available flashcards in bookstores, learners will acquire synonym of the given word From that, learners will use vocabulary more effectively and accurately

Then, Haycraft (1978: 102) and Cross (1991: 120) points out that flashcards with pictures are very useful for learners Picture flashcards provide visual link between the target language and the first language Schmitt and McCarthy (1997: 212) state that “new word can be learnt by studying them with pictures of their meaning instead of definitions” It is obvious that learning vocabulary with picture flashcards can help learners visualize vocabulary more easily and create a mental image of the word meaning Colorful pictures make flashcards become less monotonous and more attractive Therefore, learners may remember the words longer

Another advantage of using flashcards in learning vocabulary is flashcards can be organized to create different topics of the target words Vocabulary becomes more systematic and not be confused If words are arranged into groups in some way before memorization, memorizing words will be easier (Schmitt, 2000, p.135) In addition, learners can look back on other related words in the same topic easily when they need It is really essential in writing and speaking

Next, learners can make flashcards by themselves (Harmer, 2002, p.136) They do not spend much money to buy flashcards in bookstores The procedure to make flashcards is very simple Learners can put necessary information about the words such as a new vocabulary, example sentence, an illustrated picture which can be drawn or cut from websites or newspapers and definitions of the word in either the first language or the target language Flashcards also stimulate learners’ creativity and concentration when making flashcards by themselves Learners may consult available flashcards in bookstores to design in their own ways The sizes of flashcards is depended to the need of learners Learners can use blank flashcards available in bookstores or create the sizes as they need Moreover, when learners meet or pick up new vocabulary, they can take note them and then creating flashcards with these words Learning vocabulary will not be a boring task

Lado (1964: 197) observes an advantage of using flashcards is that flashcards employ active recall That means flashcards make learners remember or think of the answer or the meaning The process engages a mental faculty called active recall To make it clearer, when learners use flashcards, they try to recall the target word meaning without looking up dictionary or reading again the material that contains the word Active recall has been proven to create stronger neuron connections for that memory trace It requires learners to stimulate memory constantly during the learning process Hence, vocabulary will be consolidated in long – term memory Haycraft (1978: 102) and Cross (1991: 120) also agree that flashcards are useful for strengthening vocabulary

In addition, flashcards are easy to memorize and summarize Because flashcards contain short information instead of wordy information as long pages in textbooks or in dictionaries which often makes learners confused (Inayah, 2010, p.24) Besides, flashcards can be used many times without much damaged Flashcards are used to learn new vocabulary in the first time and used several times later to review that vocabulary

In conclusion, flashcards are an easy tool to learn vocabulary Many experts and researchers have confirmed the positive effects of using flashcards in learning vocabulary Therefore, the writer concludes that using flashcards, especially flashcards with pictures can be an effective method for leaners to learn vocabulary

2.4.3 Disadvantages of using flashcards for learning vocabulary

Aside from so many advantages of using flashcards, there are also some limitations

The first thing is the price of flashcards are quite expensive (Inayah, 2010, p.24) Some learners do not have much time or they feel they are not artistic to make flashcards, so they decide to buy available flashcards in bookstores Available flashcards in bookstores, of course, are attractive and convenient to use but it will cost a lot of money if learners buy sets of flashcards A set of flashcards in bookstores can involve from 300 to 600 vocabulary, for instance, Flashcard Blueup, Flashcard Oxford, Flashcard Katchup, etc Learners have to buy some sets of flashcards to learn more vocabulary in different area to improve their vocabulary amount

Summary

Learning vocabulary is a very important part of language acquisition In this chapter, the writer has dealt with the theoretical background of the study with the basic but necessary knowledge Through the opinions and statements of experts and linguists in previous studies, the writer has provided an overview of English vocabulary with definitions, classifications, the importance of vocabulary as well as some of the typical difficulties of language learners

In addition, this chapter explores the matter of using flashcards to learn English vocabulary, which is the focus of the research.

METHODOLOGY

Participants

To make the research more reliable and practical, participant is one of the factors that cannot be ignored

The writer conducted her survey on students of DHAV9 at IUH The writer gave questionnaires to 112 students of DHAV9 to collect answers The object of the investigation was the English-majored seniors because of some reasons

First of all, investigating students in FFL at IUH would be more convenient for the writer than students at other school or university Secondly, the English-majored seniors, they mostly have been learning English for years so they have lots of experience in learning English in general and vocabulary learning in particular They have used different ways to learn vocabulary in their learning processes Therefore, they can have a deep look about the research and compare the way of using flashcards to their own vocabulary learning ways to realize the positive effect of this way Moreover, the English-majored seniors may have background knowledge to understand the idea in the questionnaire clearly and do it more easily and correctly They also know the importance of the thesis for graduation, they will try their best to complete the survey in order that the writer can get the accurate data As a result, in the writer’s opinion, the English-majored seniors is the best choice for the research Thanks to enthusiastic support from the teachers and the students in DHAV9, the writer can collect data easily and successfully.

Data collection instrument

Using the suitable data collection instrument helps the writer gather the valid and reliable results for the study The writer decided to carry out the study by questionnaire only

Questionnaire is “an instrument for collection of data, usually in written form, consisting of open and/or closed questions and other probes requiring a response from subjects” (Nunan, 1992, p.231) The writer chose questionnaire as the main data collection instrument because it brings a lot of advantages Firstly, a great deal of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short time Secondly, students can give their answers easily and at ease Because students just need to circle or put a tick on the answers they feel appropriate with their opinions Moreover, the writer does not ask students’ information so they can give their honest and real responses freely Thirdly, the results of the questionnaires can be easily and quickly calculated either by the writer or by a software program In addition, the answers can be analyzed more scientifically and objectively than other methods of research By questionnaires, quantitative data can be used to create new theories or test existing ones As all the reason above, questionnaire is an easy and convenient way for the writer to collect data

The questionnaire totally consists of 21 questions which include dichotomous questions, multiple-choice questions, rating scales, open-ended questions and closed-ended questions The questionnaire is divided into three main parts The first seven questions is about the reality of learning vocabulary of the English-majored seniors in IUH The question

8 will check whether students use flashcards to learn vocabulary or not The students who have used this way before will do Part 1 (from question 9 to question 15) and those students who have not used this way before will answer Part 2 (from question 16 to question 21).

Data collection procedure

Data collection process takes a large amount of time in doing research This process consists of two main stages

The first stage is to prepare the questionnaire The writer organized a number of questions about the topic of the research The content of questions were based on the outline of the thesis and the research questions It took a week to write all the questions After that, the writer read it many times and corrected them by herself Then, the writer gave the questionnaire to her supervisor The supervisor gave many useful advices and comments to modify the order and the content of the questions She also suggested the writer divide the questions into two parts to carry out more practical Thanks to the supervisor’s enthusiastic guidance, the questionnaire was corrected better The questionnaire is totally completed after being adjusting three times

Next, the writer printed the questionnaire into 112 copies to deliver to the participants in two classes of DHAV9 To conduct the investigation, the writer first asked for permission from the teachers who were teaching at that moment After being allowed to enter the classes, the writer delivered the questionnaires and explained some points that students need to notice All the participants were happy and willing to help the writer complete the investigation It took the participants about 15 minutes to do the questionnaire The writer also gave the participants some packages of candy as gratefulness for their cooperation besides saying thanks Finally, the writer collected all the questionnaires With the support of the teachers and students, the investigation was successful Before leaving, the writer said thank you again to the teachers and students.

Data analysis procedure

After collecting data from the students, the writer analyzed the results It is an important stage to provide a clearer view and prove the theories about the topic the writer is carrying out

Firstly, the writer checked all the questionnaires to identify errors or missing gaps The reasonable questionnaire is acceptable only if it has enough information and right choices in each question To guarantee the validity and reliability of the research, any questionnaire that was found to be inadequate and contradictory was rejected After selecting the questionnaires, 12 questionnaires were not accepted because of some reasons such as doing wrong the requirement of the questions and some students were absent at the time the writer investigated Hence, the write had 100 questionnaires in right form

Then, the writer counted the number of choices for each answer in each question This step was easy to do but it took a plenty of time Because there are a lot of answers to count in the questionnaire, the writer may might make mistakes This step; therefore, needs to be done carefully and accurately to have precise data For open questions, the writer took notes opinions of the students carefully and categorized them The statistic of the answers was converted into percentage The proportion of percentage will help the writer analyze and present data easier and clearer

Analyzing data is the last step in the analysis process In this step, the percentage was described in the form of charts and tables To do this step easier, the writer used the computer software program called “Microsoft Excel 2013” The charts were drawn by the help of the Excel program Many types of charts can be used like bar graph, line graph, pie chart or table to display the data The writer based on the association of the theories in chapter 2 and the charts to analyze the final result

RESULTS AND DISCUSSTION

The reality of English vocabulary learning of the English-majored seniors in

Figure 1: Students’ attitude towards the importance of vocabulary

The pie chart shows students’ attitude towards the importance of vocabulary in learning English of the English-majored seniors in FFL at IUH The percentage of participants who assumed vocabulary held a critical position in their learning language was pretty high

Up to 56% of students thought that vocabulary was extremely important in learning English 33% and 11% of participants considered that vocabulary was very important and important respectively There was no percentage indicating that vocabulary was not important at all or just rather important in learning English For those who have been learning English for a long time as the English-majored seniors, they realized the importance of learning vocabulary in language In general, most of the students agreed that vocabulary is a key part in their learning processes

Figure 2: Students’ thinking about vocabulary

The chart gives information about how students feel about vocabulary From the chart, there were 60% of students expressing their interest for learning vocabulary 28% of students thought that learning English vocabulary was boring Only 12% of students had neutral feeling about vocabulary learning Clearly, the figures found that most of the students had a positive view about learning vocabulary If the students are keen on learning vocabulary, their amount of vocabulary will be gradually enhanced Consequently, their English skills are also improved The reason that students felt uninterested in learning vocabulary was that vocabulary acquisition was difficult to achieve (Nation, 1990, p.8) Therefore, that made students feel discouraged and unwilling to learn vocabulary

Figure 3: The frequency of learning vocabulary

Everyday Once a week Twice a week

More than three times a week

The pie chart illustrates the frequency of learning vocabulary of the English-majored seniors It can be seen that the number of students who learnt vocabulary whenever they liked accounted for the highest proportion with 45% Just under a third (30%) of the students claimed that they learnt English vocabulary more than three times a week Next, 16% and 9% was the ratio of students who learnt vocabulary every day and twice a week in order

From the chart, the English-majored seniors spent time in learning vocabulary at least

2 times in a week The number of students who learn vocabulary regularly was really small They mainly learn vocabulary when they like, they have no fixed schedule for their vocabulary learning

Figure 4: The number of vocabulary that students learn each time

Besides the time students spent on learning vocabulary in general, they also estimated how many word phrases they learnt each time To be specific, nearly half of students (46%) stated that they learnt about from 6 to 10 word phrases at once Following, learning about 5 word phrases each time was chosen by 34% of students 31% of students who revealed that they learnt as many word phrases as possible The number of words they learnt was not the same each time and they did not have a specific goal when learning vocabulary Only 1 student admitted that he or she learnt more than 10 word phrases each time Through the statistics, most of the English-majored seniors often learnt from 5 to 10 word phrases each time If students learn too many vocabulary at one time, it will be hard for them to remember all the words Moreover, the students may feel to be discouraged In short, the writer believes that from 5 to 10 word phrases each time is a reasonable choice Quality is better than quantity

Figure 5: Difficulties that students have in learning vocabulary

The chart demonstrates some common problems to vocabulary that students often encounter From the Figure 5, many English-majored seniors had difficulty in choosing the appropriate of word meaning in different particular context This kind of difficulty was selected by 91% of students This is because many English words have more than one meaning Students have to understand the meaning of words well to use in the correct cases Choosing wrong words or misapprehending meaning of words will lead to misunderstand meaning of sentences The two options “the amount of vocabulary I have to learn is too large” and “some words are too long to remember” accounted for 54% and 44% of students respectively 37% of students had difficulty in pronouncing some hard words 32% of students agreed that they faced the problem of spelling They did not remember how to write the correct spelling of the words even though they knew its meaning There were 22% of students showing that they confused with its similar lexical words The difficulty which had the least proportion (21%) was the difficulty of some grammatical forms being complicated to understand

In summary, vocabulary is very important in learning language but students still have some difficulties as above The most popular difficulty was about choosing right words Besides, the amount of vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation were also barriers in learning vocabulary

Table 1: Students’ opinions about vocabulary on English skills

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree

1 When I have extensive vocabulary, I easily express my ideas to other people and understand what others say

2 Lack of vocabulary affects the quality of writing 0% 0% 78% 32%

3 Although I know that word, I cannot remember how to write it 0% 29% 57% 14%

4 I know little grammar, but I can guess the meaning of sentences if I know vocabulary

5 If there are many unknown words in reading text, it will be hard to understand

6 Having a large amount of vocabulary helps me improve listening, speaking, reading and writing skills

7 I often use the same words all the time 0% 20% 58% 22%

8 Being able to use more academic vocabulary means I’m good at English 19% 60% 21% 0%

9 I can set up more ideas for my speaking or writing 0% 0% 77% 23%

10 I can follow what the speaker says even if I do not have plenty of vocabulary

Figure 6: Students’ opinions about vocabulary on English skills

As seen from the Table 1 and the Figure 6, 66% and 34% of participants agreed and strongly agreed orderly that when they had extensive vocabulary, they could easily express their ideas to other people and understand what others say Clearly, thanks to having plenty of vocabulary, communication becomes more convenient and coherent All the participants, specifically, 78% of them agreed and 32% of them strongly agreed that lack of vocabulary affected the quality of their writing Lack of vocabulary made them got stuck when expressing ideas There were 57% of students showing that they could not remember the spelling of the words although they knew the meaning while 29% of them disagreed 22% of students disagreed that despite little grammar, they could guess the meaning of sentences if they know many vocabulary Nevertheless, 78% of students agreed with that Wilkins (1972: 111) indicates that if students use or understand correct key vocabulary, they can guess the content without being too proficient at grammar Most students including 80% of agreement and 20% strong agreement claimed that they could not understand a reading text if there were many unknown words Without knowledge of words, understanding materials is impossible (Wang,

2009) 24% and 76% of students agreed and strongly agreed respectively that having a large amount of vocabulary helped students improve their four macro skills In fact, that is obviously true Using the same words repeatedly often occurred for those who had limited vocabulary 58% and 22% of participants agreed and strongly agreed with that 21% of students considered that being able to use more academic vocabulary means they are good at English However, a large number of students (60%) opposed that idea Knowing a lot of

Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly agree academic vocabulary helps students use language better in different fields, not means that they are professional No one denied that vocabulary could help them set up more ideas for their speaking or speaking Specifically, 77% and 23% of students agreed and strongly agreed in order with that Only 10% students thought that they could keep up with what the speaker said even if they did not possess many vocabulary The rest of students disagreed and strongly disagreed If students miss some of the words or do not understand new words, it will be hard for them to know what the speaker says

To sum up, vocabulary has a great influence on improving listening, speaking, reading and writing skills

Table 2: The frequency of using learning vocabulary ways

Write down new words many times in a notebook 0% 65% 35% 0%

Talk to native speaker to pick up more vocabulary 54% 39% 7% 0%

Classify vocabulary into particular groups or themes 14% 46% 40% 0%

Pick up new words through English newspapers, magazines or books 7% 26% 59% 8%

Listen to music and pick up new vocabulary in the lyrics 0% 20% 54% 26%

Watch English films or programs 0% 13% 67% 20%

Use monolingual or bilingual dictionary 0% 40% 46% 14%

Figure 7: The frequency of using learning vocabulary ways

Through the statistics, writing down new words many times in a note book was usually used by 35% of students and sometimes used by over 60% students They wrote down new words many times to remember the spelling of the words Secondly, more than half of students never talked to native speaker to pick up more vocabulary However, there were 39% and 7% of the students sometimes and usually used this way orderly Talking with native speakers could help students learn practical use of vocabulary and improve pronunciation Nevertheless, most students, are still afraid of communicating with foreigners 46% and 40% of students sometimes and usually classified vocabulary into particular groups or themes to learn vocabulary respectively This way helps student systematize vocabulary and use the words relating to a topic easily Just 14% of the students never use this way Newspapers, magazines or books are sources that provide a lot of vocabulary That was why most students used this to learn vocabulary including 8%, 59% and 26% of them always, usually and sometimes used orderly Listening to English music and watching English films or programs were considered to be used the most with the percentage of 54% and 67% of students in order They were more interested in using these ways because they could relax when picking up new vocabulary Finally, 46% and 14% of students suggested that they usually and always used dictionary to learn vocabulary respectively

Write down new words many times in a notebook

Talk to native speaker to pick up more vocabulary

Classify vocabulary into particular groups or themes

Pick up new words through English newspapers, magazines or books

Listen to music and pick up new vocabulary in the lyrics

Watch English films or programs Use monolingual or bilingual dictionary

In conclusion, there are different frequency in using ways to learn vocabulary of students Students seem to like using media or dictionary to learn vocabulary rather than other ways

Figure 8: Students having learnt vocabulary by using flashcards before

The pie chart gives information about whether the English-majored seniors had used flashcards to learn vocabulary Among 100 participants surveyed, 66% of them had used this way to learn vocabulary There were 38% of participants who had never learnt vocabulary by using flashcards From this result, we can see that using flashcards to learn vocabulary is a pretty common way It is good for students who have never learnt vocabulary by this way to experience a new way to check whether using flashcards to learn vocabulary is effective.

The effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

4.2.1 Students who have used flashcards to learn vocabulary

66 students who have used flashcards to learn vocabulary answered Part 1 of the questionnaire (from question 9 to question 15)

Figure 9: The way that students got to know using flashcards to learn vocabulary

It can be clearly seen from the Figure 9 that a large number of students (84.8%) who said that they knew using flashcards via their friends They might see their friends use flashcards to learn vocabulary or they were instructed to learn vocabulary through flashcards by their friends 68.1% of students claimed that they knew this way through their teachers Flashcards might be used in class in some ways by teachers Another 40.9% was made up for students who stated that they knew this way thanks to TV or the Internet 33.3% of students chose books and newspapers as means which helped them know this way There were 7.6% of students who confirmed that they found this way by themselves

Overall, this way of vocabulary learning is mentioned by various means as above Most students knew using flashcards to learn English vocabulary from friends and teachers

Figure 10: The types of flashcards students like

My friends My teachers Books, newspapers

Flashcards are made by yourself

Available flashcards that include images, vocabulary and meanings printed in the bookstores

Available flashcards with words and meanings printed in the bookstores

From the chart, 68.1% of students preferred using flashcard made by themselves They explained that it was cheap and easy to use They could design flashcards in their own way and make flashcards with new vocabulary they came across 45.5% of students chose available flashcards in bookstores with images, vocabulary and meanings printed They claimed that this type of flashcards were convenient and attractive Images in the flashcards could help them remember vocabulary longer and easier Just 6.1% of the students used available flashcards with only words and meanings They stated that it would be simple to learn vocabulary

In short, students use different types of flashcards according to their preferences However, handmade flashcards are still preferred

Figure 11: The number of flashcards that students learn each time

From the figure 11, the highest percentage of students (46%) claimed that they learnt 5 flashcards at a time 33% of students who considered they learnt 6 flashcards each time More than 7 flashcards at once was chosen by only 3% of students 18% of students rest learnt as many flashcards as possible each time Overall, most students chose a small number of flashcards at once, about 5 or 6 flashcards The writer believes this was a logical choice Because students could not remember too many words at once Learning many words at a time will lead to depression or carelessness

Figure 12: Benefits of students in learning English vocabulary by using flashcards

As illustrated by the chart above, the vast majority of students (89.4%) realized that flashcards were easy for them to review vocabulary Students just flipped back flashcards to review vocabulary they had learnt Words need to be reviewed regularly to remember longer and using flashcards could be considered as a good way 83.3% of students confirmed that flashcards could be taken almost everywhere easily; hence, it was convenient to use 75.7% of students agreed that the amount of vocabulary was widen quickly when using flashcards A lower percentage of students (72.7%) said that using flashcards was less boring than other ways of vocabulary learning 68.2% of students claimed that their creativity and concentration could be stimulated when making flashcards Understanding the meaning of the word in both English and Vietnamese was an advantage of using flashcards which accounted for 59.1% of students The option “flashcards can be divided into different topics” was chosen by 48.5% of students Students could systematically arrange vocabulary and use words relating to a topic effectively 33.3% students confirmed that they could apply a lot of vocabulary in flashcards to the real situations Vocabulary would be reinforced through practical use 15.1% of students could practice grammar structure and learn synonyms through flashcards

In summary, most students who have learnt vocabulary by using flashcard got many benefits from this way Typically, flashcards are easy to review and carry and help students widen their amount of vocabulary

Figure 13: Difficulties of students in learning English vocabulary by using flashcards

From the chart, most students (87.9%) claimed that listening pronunciation was not provided on the flashcards Because there only had transcription of the word They had to look up dictionary to check the pronunciation of the word to avoid mispronouncing 58.3% of students informed that flashcards were too expensive to buy at the bookstores Students who preferred using available flashcards may find it difficult Besides buying some sets of available flashcards, they could make their own flashcards 42.4% of students had difficulties in taking much time to make flashcards Making flashcards requires learners to create and concentrate and spend time to find information about the word Moreover, for students who being not good at drawing (34.8%), they could find or cut images from websites or magazines to stick on their flashcards 22.2% of students revealed that some abstract words were not easy to be learnt Only 6.9% of them suggested the difficulty of some vocabulary spelling being hard to remember

In short, when using flashcards to learn vocabulary, students encountered some difficulties such as lack of listening pronunciation, cost of buying available flashcards and time to make flashcards

Flashcards are too expensive to buy at the bookstore.

It takes much time to make flashcards

I am not good at drawing pictures or images

Some abstract words are not easy to be learnt

Listening pronunciat ion is not provided.

Some vocabular y are hard to remember the spelling

Figure 14: Ways of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

According to the findings, most students (87.9%) learnt two sides of the flashcard Because information contains on two sides of flashcards, students have to learn both sides to understand vocabulary clearly and accurately 80.3% of students admitted that they covered one side of the flashcard and try to guess the meaning of the word It would be a good way to stimulate the brain to remember the word longer Another way was that shuffle the flashcards before reviewing This was chosen by 74.2% of students 63.9% of students chose flashcards including images and example sentences to learn It helped the students imagine and remember the word easily Besides, 59.1% of students learnt vocabulary through flashcards bought in bookstores whereas 45.5% of them made flashcards with vocabulary they met There were 34.8% of students dividing vocabulary flashcards into different topics to learn more systematic and avoid confusion The smallest percentage was 15.2% taken by students who used dictionary to practice the pronunciation and speaking skill

Of all, there are various ways to use flashcards in learning vocabulary

Figure 15: Students’ agreement about “learning vocabulary by using flashcards is an effective way”

From the figure 15, surprisingly, no one denied the effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards To be more specific, in 66 students who have used this way to learn vocabulary, 62% of them agreed and 38% of them strongly agreed that using flashcard to learn vocabulary was an effective way According to this results, we can see that using flashcards in vocabulary learning is a really effective way that has a lot of advantages for learners in learning progress

4.2.2 Students who have not used flashcards to learn vocabulary

34 students who have not used flashcards to learn vocabulary did Part 2 of the questionnaire (from question 16 to question 22)

Figure 16: The types of information that have on flashcards

The column illustrates about what information would appear on a flashcard as students think The two items that were chosen the most by students were the new word and its meaning They accounted for 85.3% and 79.4% of students respectively Students considered that new word and its meaning could be indispensable because the aim of flashcard was to learn vocabulary 67.6% of students chose picture or image They thought flashcards would be more attractive and easier to remember the new word thanks to picture or image on it 44.1% of students said that example sentence should be added on the flashcard Besides, pronunciation would be a factor of a flashcard which took the proportion of 29.4% of students They could practice pronunciation and speaking skill 14.7% of students claimed that flashcard might include all information in the options of the question

In all, most students who have not used flashcards to learn vocabulary thought that new word, meaning, illustrated picture or image are information must have on a flashcard

Figure 17: Good effects of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

According to the chart, the majority of students (85.3%) supposed that flashcards could be taken anywhere and anytime to study They thought that would be more convenient and time saving 70.6% of students expected that they would learn a huge amount of vocabulary through flashcards There were 60% of students expressing that flashcards could be arranged to topics That would be easier for students to learn vocabulary of the same topic and widen the amount of vocabulary The next effect which was selected by 52.9% of students was the ease of reviewing Vocabulary needs to be reviewed frequently to remember

90.0% longer 44.1% of students assumed that flashcards seem to be easy to design Students just arrange information on two sides of flashcards reasonably and accurately 35.3% of students thought that flashcards were not expensive They could consult the form of available flashcards in bookstores or on the websites to make their own flashcards not necessarily buy 26.5% of students hoped that flashcards could help them understand the use of word clearly

On flashcards usually have the meaning of new word in the first language to understand the word well

In conclusion, most students could find flashcards beneficial They consider that flashcards are convenient and portable and help them widen their vocabulary

Figure 18: Difficulties of students in learning English vocabulary by using flashcards

It can be seen clearly that the majority of students (82.4%) assumed that lack of listening pronunciation might be an obstacle when using flashcards Students could look up dictionary to hear how native speakers pronounce to avoid mispronouncing the word 52.9% of students said that it would cost a lot of money to buy sets of available flashcards in bookstores Students could use handmade flashcards instead of available ones However, 44.1% of students thought that making flashcards took them much time Students do not have to decorate flashcards become sophisticated but simple with the necessary information and picture or image to demonstrate 29.4% of students suggested that some words were hard to find suitable illustrated picture or image But that was really a matter They could search the Internet or find in books or magazines to pick up the best picture This way also could help

20.6% of students who admitted that they were not good at drawing Only 8.8% of students supposed that some academic words were not easy to learn and understand Overall, most students who have not used flashcards can identify some difficulties they may encounter if they have chance to use this way in learning vocabulary

Figure 19: Ways of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

According to the chart, 91.2% of students stated that two sides of the flashcards had to be learnt and no one chose to learn only one side of the flashcard Because the content is composed of both sides, students need to use both sides to understand vocabulary clearly 82.4% of students would cover one side and use the other side to guess the meaning In the figure 19, most students thought that listening pronunciation was not provided; hence, 73.5% of them would use dictionary to practice pronunciation 64.7% of students would make the flashcard with the words they would like to learn While 52.9% of students decided to divide vocabulary into different topics That would be easier and not frustrated when learning vocabulary 41.2% of students would mark flashcards with different colors to distinguish the part of speech or meaning of word 26.5% of students would apply vocabulary in the real environment because it helped them practice English skills

In all, students will choose the most appropriate way for them to use flashcard to learn vocabulary if they have chance to try

Figure 20: Students’ agreement about “learning vocabulary by using flashcards is an effective way”

The findings show that no one disagreed or strongly disagreed about the effect of using flashcards to learn vocabulary Specifically, among 34 students who have not used this way before, 73.5% of them agreed and 26.5% of them strongly agreed with that idea From this results, we can see that all of the students surveyed think that using flashcards might be an effective way to learn vocabulary

Figure 21: Students’ opinion about “applying flashcards to the learning process”

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion

The research mainly focuses on the effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards Besides, the writer mentions the reality of English vocabulary learning of the English-majored seniors From all the results and discussion obtained in the previous chapter, the writer can draw some conclusions

5.1.1 The importance of vocabulary in learning English

The importance of vocabulary in learning English is undeniable As stated in the literature review, vocabulary plays an important role in language acquisition Vocabulary is necessary for people to use the language as they want They can express their ideas and feeling both in the communication and written effectively Lack of vocabulary may cause difficulties in learning vocabulary process

Additionally, through the questionnaire, the research found out that all students who took part in the investigation were highly aware of the importance of vocabulary in learning English However, they did not spend much time and have a specific timetable to learn vocabulary They also had some difficulties when learning vocabulary such as choosing words, pronunciation and spelling

5.1.2 The effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards

The results from the questionnaire is a good demonstration for the effect of using flashcards to learn vocabulary The majority of students agreed that using flashcards is an effective way to learn vocabulary including students who have used this way before and who have not used this way For those who have experienced using flashcards, they claim this way brings a lot of advantages Flashcards are convenient and easy to use They could learn a huge amount of vocabulary Besides, they could review vocabulary easily and systematically Vocabulary could be imagined and remember longer thanks to illustrated pictures or images

In addition, flashcards stimulate students’ creativity and concentration Students who have not used flashcards also realize the benefits of using flashcards through doing questionnaire

However difficulties are unavoidable things Students encountered some problems such as lack of listening pronunciation, cost of buying available flashcards and time for making flashcards Some students consider that they are not excel in drawing But these are not really the matter The important thing is that students should think of the advantages of using flashcards and how effective of this way in learning vocabulary This research confirmed that learning vocabulary by using flashcards is an effective way.

Recommendation

Using flashcards can be a good way for teachers to use in class, especially for teaching vocabulary Flashcards will be useful because it can make a real impact on students It will make students easier to understand and remember the word meaning After doing the investigation, the writer realizes flashcards are suitable for teachers to use in Elementary, Pre- intermediate and Intermediate classes Teachers can use flashcards to introduce new words and check students’ vocabulary in the previous lessons Teachers prepare picture flashcards for the new target vocabulary in each lesson in order that students guess and understand the meaning In addition, teacher can use flashcards in some activities like memory activities, role play activities, drilling and so on It will make teaching process become more diverse and attractive Besides, flashcards should visible and is big and clear enough so that all of students can see However, flashcards may not be really suitable and effective in Advanced classes Students would have difficulty in guessing or understanding academic vocabulary or terms clearly

The writer recommends some simple activities using flashcards in class as follows:

The first one is called musical flashcards Teachers prepare some flashcards for the target vocabulary in the unit and then put them in a box Flashcards can have an English word and a picture printed or drawn on one or two sides Students pass the box to each other in turn while music is playing When the music stops, students who keep the box will go to the board, pick up a flashcard and describe to the rest of class what the word is Student who guesses the right word first will get 1 point The game ends when all flashcards are answered

The second activity is jumping cards Teacher divides the class into two groups Each group will nominate 3 to 5 students for one round There are 3 rounds Each round consists of

5 different flashcards Teacher arranges the flashcard into a row Two groups start at two directions Students jump up and read aloud the word on the flashcards If the correct answer is given, they will continue with the next flashcards, the wrong one will be eliminated and the next person in that group will continue at the position of wrong flashcard When two students meet, they play rock-paper-scissors to select the next one If anyone wins they will jump to the next flashcard Student who keep going to the last flashcard will be the winner

Firstly, vocabulary is not difficult to learn Students should spend more time and have a specific plan to learn vocabulary Students should learn and review vocabulary regularly to improve their amount of vocabulary

Secondly, there are quite a lot students who have not used flashcards in their vocabulary learning process Hence, the writer suggests that students should apply this way to learn vocabulary because of its benefits The effect of learning vocabulary is proved through this research Students may encounter some problems when using flashcards such as lack of listening pronunciation, cost of buying available flashcards and time for making flashcards

To overcome the difficulties, the writer gives some suggestions Students could look up dictionary to hear the pronunciation They could make flashcards instead of buying it A more convenient way is to use flashcard apps on smartphones Regular practice helps students solve problems easily

Thirdly, to use flashcards more effectively, the writer gives out some ideas Students should make a habit of carrying flashcards in their bags or backpacks to learn whenever they are free Students have to learn two sides of the flashcards and use flashcards on which have only one new word Students should learn about 5 or 6 flashcards at once To review vocabulary, students need to shuffle the order of the flashcards or cover one side to try ro recall the meaning Students mark the flashcards which have been memorized carefully and review them after a long period of time and spend more time for flashcards which do not remember Students also can sort flashcards in different topics to create connection between words to learn easier Students can use dictionary to practice pronunciation When meeting new words, students should take note and then make flashcards with those words

Finally, the writer suggests some basic steps for students who would like to make a flashcard Students need a blank cardboard which has enough space to write information Then, on one side of the flashcard, students write a new English word with its phonetic and example of how the word is used in context On the other side, students write Vietnamese meaning with pictures and synonyms if any A notice thing is that the content of the flashcard must be short and accurate Students can draw funny picture to remember word easily or find pictures or images on the Internet then print and stick it on the flashcard Students should choose the pictures or images correlating to the new word

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My name is Le Nguyen Thanh Huyen I’m a senior student of Faculty of Foreign Languages This questionnaire is one of the most important parts of my graduation thesis on the title “The effect of learning vocabulary by using flashcards” The questionnaire below is designed to collect data for the research The information you supply from the questions will be the valid and reliable data for me to do the research Please read the question carefully and give your answer honestly Thank you for your cooperation and assistance

1 Is vocabulary important in learning English?

2 How do you feel about vocabulary?

3 How often do you learn English vocabulary?

D More than three times a week

4 How many word phrases you learn each time?

5 What are the difficulties you have to face when learning English vocabulary?

(You can choose more than one answer)

A Some words are too long to remember

B I don’t remember how to write the correct spelling of the word

C The amount of vocabulary I have to learn is too large

D Some words are hard to pronounce

E I am confused with its similar lexical words

F The word has so many meanings to choose the appropriate ones

G Many different grammatical forms are complicated to understand

6 Put a tick  in the column that providing the answer you may feel most strongly about vocabulary (strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, agree = 3 and strongly agree

1 When I have extensive vocabulary, I easily express my ideas to other people and understand what others say

2 Lack of vocabulary affects the quality of writing

3 Although I know that word, I cannot remember how to write it

4 I know little grammar, but I can guess the meaning of sentences if I know vocabulary

5 If there are many unknown words in reading text, it will be hard to understand

6 Having a large amount of vocabulary helps me improve listening, speaking, reading and writing skills

7 I often use the same words all the time

8 Being able to use more academic vocabulary means I’m good at English

9 I can set up more ideas for my speaking or writing

10 I can follow what the speaker says even if I do not have plenty of vocabulary

7 Which ways do you often use to learn new English vocabulary? (Put a tick  on the appropriate box)

Write down new words many times in a notebook

Talk to native speaker to pick up more vocabulary

Classify vocabulary into particular groups or themes

Pick up new words through English newspapers, magazines or books

Listen to music and pick up new vocabulary in the lyrics

Watch English films or programs

Use monolingual or bilingual dictionary

Apply other ways to learn vocabulary if you have: ………

8 Have you ever learned vocabulary by using flashcards?

If you choose YES, please answer PART 1 from question 9 to question 15

If you choose NO, please answer PART 2 from question 16 to question 21

9 You know the way of learning vocabulary by using flashcards via: (you can choose more than one answer)

10 Which types of flashcards do you prefer? (you can choose more than one answer)

A Available flashcards with words and meaning printed in the bookstore

B Available flashcards that include images, vocabulary and meaning printed in the bookstore

C Flashcards are made by yourself

11 How many flashcards do you learn each time?

12 According to you, what are the benefits of learning vocabulary by using flashcards? (you can choose more than one answer)

A The amount of vocabulary is widened quickly

B It makes vocabulary learning become less boring

C It is easy to be taken almost everywhere

D I can apply a lot of vocabulary to the real situations

E I can understand clearly the meaning of the word in both English and Vietnamese language

F It can stimulate creativity and concentration by making flashcards myself

G It is easy for me to review vocabulary

H I can divide the flashcards into different topics to learn easier

I I can practice grammar structure and learn synonyms

13 According to you, what are the difficulties when learning vocabulary by using flashcards? ( you can choose more than one answer)

A Flashcards are too expensive to buy at the bookstore

B It takes much time to make flashcards

C I am not good at drawing pictures or images

D Some abstract words are not easy to be learnt

E Listening pronunciation is not provided

F Some vocabulary are hard to remember the spelling

14 How do you learn vocabulary by using flashcards? (you can choose more than one answer)

A I cover one side of the flashcard including pictures and meaning and try to guess the meaning of the word

B I learn two sides of the flashcard

C I shuffle the order of the flashcard before reviewing

D I learn vocabulary by dividing flashcard into specific topics

E I use dictionary to practice pronunciation and speaking skill

F I consult flashcards on the Internet and from apps on phone to make my own flashcard

G I learn vocabulary through flashcards bought in the bookstore

H I use flashcard with illustrated images and example sentences

I I make flashcards myself with vocabulary I would like to learn

15 Do you think that learning vocabulary by using flashcards is an effective way to learn English vocabulary?

PART 2: If you choose NO, please answer PART 2 from question 16 to question 22

16 Which information will appear on a flashcard as you think? (more than one option is accepted)

17 In your opinion, what may be good effects of learning vocabulary by using flashcards? (more than one option is accepted)

A I can take flashcards with me anywhere and anytime to study

B It helps me learn a huge amount of vocabulary

C It is easy for me to revise vocabulary

D I can arrange flashcards to topics to learn easier

E Flashcards are inexpensive because I can make them by myself

F Flashcards contain both English and Vietnamese meaning so I can understand clearly the use of the word

G It is easy to design

18 In your opinion, what may be the obstacles when learning vocabulary by using flashcards? (more than one option is accepted)

A It is not a popular way to learn vocabulary so I do not know how to learn

B Some academic words are not easy to learn and understand the explanation of meaning

C Some words are hard to find suitable illustrated pictures

D It takes much time to make flashcards

E It costs a lot of money to buy sets of available flashcards in bookstores or online

F Listening pronunciation are not provided

G I am not good at drawing

19 How would you learn vocabulary by using flashcards? (more than one option is accepted)

A I only learn one side of the flashcard

B I cover one side of the flashcard and use the other side to guess the meaning of the word

D I will divide vocabulary flashcard into small topics to learn easier

E I learn both sides of the flashcard

F I find the word I would like to learn and write in the flashcard

G I use different colors to distinguish the part of speech or meaning of the words

H I look up dictionary to practice pronunciation

I I apply vocabulary in the real environment to practice other skills