Untitled THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ************* REPORT WRITING APPLYING COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH READING USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO FIRST YEAR ENGLISH NO[.]
THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ************* REPORT WRITING APPLYING COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH READING USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO FIRST YEAR ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY (TDMU) Student name Student code Class Major Lecturer : : : : : NGUYEN THI KIM CA 18C2202010006 KBV18AV101 ENGLISH LANGUAGE NGUYEN THI HONG QUE, M.A Binh Duong, April, 2021 0 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Student full name : NGUYEN THI KIM CA Student ID: 1522202010252 Title of paper: The Use Of Songs to Teach English Vocabulary to Young Children at A Dong Language Center I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of the paper presented Where the work of others has been consulted, this is duly acknowledged in the paper’s bibliography I have also not consulted any other unnamed online sources All verbatim or referential use of the sources named in the bibliography has been specifically indicated in the text Binh Duong, 24th April 2021 Signature NGUYỄN THỊ KIM CA 0 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 The aim of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of language teaching and learning 2.1.1 Language teaching 2.1.2 Language learning 2.2 The characteristics of young learners 2.3 Teaching English to Young Learners 10 2.4 The important of Teaching Vocabulary 11 2.5 Young learners’ difficulties in learning vocabulary 12 2.6 Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners through English songs 12 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Research site 15 3.2 Participants 15 3.3 Materials 15 3.4 Research methodology 15 3.4.1 The experimental teaching 15 3.4.2 Classroom observation 16 0 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 17 4.1 Data analysis 17 4.1.1 Test results 17 4.1.2 The observation 18 4.2 Discussion 18 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 20 5.1 Conclusion 20 5.2 Suggestions 20 REFERENCES 28 0 ABSTRACT The purpose of this report is to describe the use of communicative approach using authentic materials to improve English reading to English non-majored students By using the approach combined with authentic materials, the students can understand the meaning of what they have read and have active reading behaviour Authentic materials are a motivating and enjoyable aid to learn language Reading many English authentic materials that are related to their interests could enrich the students’ vocabularies and help them build good reading habit As the result, the scores of English are increasing well 0 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Vietnam has been in the process of international integration and intensive cooperation with other countries Therefore, the demand of foreign language, especially English is becoming vital than ever before For training high quality labour force for the society in helping develop the country, Vietnamese government has decided English as a compulsory subject in most of all educational institutions Therefore, elementary school will be the first step for young learners to encounter with English learning If elementary school does well in teaching English, the students will not get significant difficulties in learning English in the future Vocabulary is a central of language teaching and learning, which means that when mastering vocabulary with grammar, students will not have much difficulty in producing sentences in spoken as well as written ones Teaching English to children of elementary schools is not an easy job because they sometimes face with problems of acquiring the language as it is a foreign language Consequently, teachers should be creative and be a good model to their students Moreover, the learning should be interesting, enjoyable, relevant active, memorable and social for them According to Medina (2000) says that music is important in growing and developing process of a child’s vocabulary mastery By singing songs, children can express their feelings, communicate and play together with their friends Using chants and songs are good ways for children to be active and repeat vocabulary and phrases The researcher is aware of the important of learning vocabulary so an investigation of the implication of using songs to teach English vocabulary to young learners was conducted The expectation of the study is seeking out an effective way to teach and improve young learners’ vocabulary 0 1.2 Statement of the problem It is important for kids to be surrounded by a variety of words as they develop The more words kids are exposed to, the stronger their vocabulary skills become, especially when they learn vocabulary in an active way As a teacher of English teaching kid classes at A Dong Language Center, I found that my students have encountered with difficulty in learning vocabulary because they just have three class meetings a week for one and a half hour per one class Students have time to learn vocabulary, and the other tasks However, with limited time for vocabulary, they cannot remember the words they have learnt Sometimes, they cannot reread the word or even remember the meaning of the words when they are asked in the following class meeting Moreover, vocabulary is mostly taught in a traditional ways; the teacher writes the words on the board, the students copy them into their notebooks They are asked to read aloud, copy many lines of the same words into their notebooks The students easily feel bored and scared of learning vocabulary 1.3 The aim of the study Due to the difficulties that young learners at A Dong Language Center, the researcher is seeking a way to teach vocabulary more effectively The research was conducted with the desire of teaching English vocabulary through songs to young learners to gain their interest in learning vocabulary The underlying consideration of the study is providing some pedagogical recommendations for using songs in teaching English vocabulary 1.4 Research questions To achieve the aim of the study, the researcher conducted the research to answer the following questions: What difficulties young learners encounter when they learn vocabulary? How does teaching English vocabulary through songs help young learners improve their vocabulary? 0 1.5 Significance of the study Enhancing learners’ English vocabulary is necessary at A Dong Language Center Its practicality contributes to the context of English learning and teaching in Vietnam nowadays Based upon the findings in the research, the researcher gives recommendations to the teachers and administrators the effectiveness in the practice of teaching English vocabulary to young learners through songs She also gives herself the self-reflection in her teaching The study, thus, does have significance to the center It convinces the teachers to employ the strategy in their own situation 0 CHAPTER LITERATURE 2.1 Definition of language teaching and learning 2.1.1 Language teaching According to Wright (1987:10) stated that “teaching is essentially social activities, implying relationship between teachers and learners, learners and learners” This means that teaching is active communication and interaction not only between teachers and learners but also between learners and learners As Brown (2000:7) states that teaching is a process of “showing or helping someone to learn how to something, giving instruction, guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge causing how to know or understand.” This means in teaching activities, teachers not only help their students in doing tasks but also guiding them in finding the mistakes and correcting them Therefore, as Halliwell (1992:7) pointed out “the language teaching should be concerned with real life”, which implies that the language teaching should be taken from the daily life in order to make the teacher can teach the materials easily and the learners can understand it well 2.1.2 Language learning Learning started when human was born until the end of their life This helps change people’s behaviours, abilities better than in the past Learning is a process not only getting lessons from the formal education but also getting knowledge from daily events happened in their life According to Nunan (1992:11), “Learning is most often figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you currently think” For that meaning, learning is seen as a process of not only getting knowledge but also giving and distributing the knowledge to other people 2.2 The characteristics of young learners Since the importance of English as an international language has been recognized, it is believed that English should be introduced since young As Suyanto (2007:15) defines “Young learners are the students of elementary school of 6-12 years old They 0 can be divided into younger group (6-8 years old) and older group (6-12 years old).” This means young learners are classified based on their age The work of Hashemi Masoud (2011) indicates that young learners share the following characteristics: (1) Language learning class for them is their first year of schooling (2) They are highly motivated and energetic (3) They are new sponges to absorb (4) They have various language back grounds (5) They are easily frustrated if corrected immediately (6) They are ready to imitate and participate (7) They love group work (8) They love independence (9) They need respect and attention (10) They easily learn from their environments (11) They are great competitors From the above characteristics, young learners are active ones, so teaching young learners should involve class activities that create physical ones 2.3 Teaching English to Young Learners There are several reasons for teaching English at primary level As Singleton (1989) states that young learners: (1) need to expose from the early age to understand foreign cultures (2) link communication to the understanding of new concepts (3) maximize learning time as the earlier they start, the more they get (4) can decrease their difficulties in learning English later 10 0 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research site The study was conducted at A Dong Language Center in Binh Duong Province A Dong Language Center is a new opened one with more than 200 students, most of whom are elementary ones The center operates with the aim of helping students improve their English skills Because the Center is newly open, the facilities for teaching and learning English are in good conditions with air-conditioners, big televisions, and green, fresh atmosphere Each student has their own seat and table to ensure the flexibility of learning activities 3.2 Participants The participants consisted of 40 students from two Starter classes, 20 students each, at A Dong Language Center whose age was at to 10 because they were arranged into the classes based on their English levels which were tested before enrolling into the classes by the staff and teachers at the center 3.3 Materials Course book for Starters level at the Center is Family and Friends written by Naomi Simmons, published by Oxford University Press Lesson plans for teaching vocabulary through songs 3.4 Research methodology 3.4.1 The experimental teaching The experimental teaching was conducted applying songs in teaching vocabulary It was carried out in weeks (6 periods/ week) It was conducted with the same 40 students in the above mentioned classes The students were divided into two classes, which had 20 students in each: one control class and one experimental class 15 0 The students had to take pre-test (see Appendix A) at the beginning of the research on week and they had to take post-test (see Appendix B) on week of the procedure The tests were the same for those two classes The teacher taking part in the experimental teaching was the researcher 3.4.2 Classroom observation The researcher was also the teacher who taught the experimental class as well as the control class so it was possible for her to observe the two classes in order to gain an insight into how songs helps improve vocabulary learning of the students She observed the classes during the period of applying songs in teaching English vocabulary to the students The observations were done using the checklist which aimed at investigating some aspects of the students’ attitude toward the lessons they had learnt 16 0 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Data analysis 4.1.1 Test results The pre-test was conducted to find out the students’ entry ability of vocabulary with the hypothesis that the students have equal entry behaviour The post-test was conducted to find out the growth of the students’ knowledge of vocabulary of the experiment process of the two different classes and two different techniques (the experimental class and the control class) The tests contained matching, unscramble words and word completion Table 4.1.1 Pre-test scores CLASS EXPERIMENT CLASS SCORE Number Of RANGE Students CONTROL CLASS Percentage Number Of Percentage Students 8.5-10 25% 30% 7.0-8.4 10 50% 45% 5.5-6.9 20% 20% 4.0-5.4 5% 5%