Using pictures as an effective means to teach english vocabulary to children age 6 11 at doan hung informatics language school in ho chi minh city a thesis submitted in partial fulfil

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURES  USING PICTURES AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO CHILDREN AGED 6-11 AT DOAN HUNG INFORMATICS LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN HO CHI MINH CITY A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Submitted by TRẦN THỊ Ý NGUYỆN Supervisor ĐOÀN HUỆ DUNG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY – AUGUST 2012 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: USING PICTURES AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO TEACH CHILDREN AGED 6-11 AT DOAN HUNG INFORMATICS LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN HO CHI MINH CITY In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, August 2012 TRẦN THỊ Ý NGUYỆN i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, TRẦN THỊ Ý NGUYỆN, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of the theses Ho Chi Minh City, August 2012 TRẦN THỊ Ý NGUYỆN ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude, first and foremost, to my supervisor, Dr Đoàn Huệ Dung, who has provided me with constant encouragement and with invaluable guidance and comments on my writing My thanks also go to all the teachers at the Doan Hung Informatics Language School who took time out of their busy schedules to complete questionnaire so that I have a trustworthy source of data for the research Without the help of all of these people, this research project would have been impossible I am extremely grateful for the advice, assistance and support I have received from my director, Mr Hà Đăng Văn at Doan Hung Informatics Language School while working on this research project Additional thanks go to my friend, Trần Thanh Phong for his great help and encouragement throughout my writing Last but not least, I would like to give my special thanks and gratitude to my family, especially for my parents, who are always by my side and help me in any difficulty throughout the years of my study iii ABSTRACT English is one of international languages, which is used widely over the world Therefore, English is considered as a means of communication by many people to deliver idea and interact in a variety of situation The acquisition of vocabulary has long been considered a crucial component of learning a foreign language Vocabulary developing skill for the students is very important to communicative through written language, the more vocabulary and pattern the students have, the more they are in mastering vocabulary and the rule of vocabulary skill In studying English students have to deal with some aspects such as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation Among them, the vocabulary is one of important aspects in learning language, as stated by Baker, Simmons, and Kameenui (1995b: p.35) “Vocabulary acquisition is crucial to academic development Not only students need a rich body of word knowledge to succeed in basic skill areas, they also need a specialized vocabulary to learn content area material.” It is therefore necessary for helping students understand of words and concepts of which they have learnt deeper To young learners, I think that using pictures as an effective means in teaching English vocabulary and it is an important instrument or media to support the achievement of learning and teaching process especially when teaching children Therefore, this thesis is done to (1) show how pictures can be employed in lessons as well as to determine the effectiveness of using pictures in increasing the student’s achievement or helping retaining the memorized words at Doan Hung Informatics Language School, and (2) understand the problems in teaching vocabulary The study first examines the effectiveness of using pictures to teach English vocabulary for children aged 6-11 It then investigates the appropriate methods and techniques that can support the teaching learning process as well iv as enhance the effectiveness of teaching English vocabulary by using pictures at Doan Hung informatics language school through a questionnaire survey covering both teachers and 40 students of two English classes at this selected institution Oral interviews, questionnaire were used useful instruments for data collection The questionnaire-based survey aims to scrutinize teachers’ common methods and techniques in using pictures to teach English vocabulary to young learners more effective and students’ ideas in vocabulary learning by pictures Oral interviews serve to collect information gathered from questionnaires and discover teachers’ and students’ opinions on how to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning English vocabulary by using pictures Finally, the researcher will give the result of study based on the findings, some conclusions and suggestions are made v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No Certificate of originality i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract iv Table of contents vi List of tables x List of charts xi Abbreviations xii Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Purpose of the study 1.3 Procedure of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Limitation of the study 1.6 The organization of the study Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The nature of vocabulary 2.1.1 What is vocabulary? 2.1.2 The types of vocabulary 2.1.3 The use of vocabulary 10 2.2 Teaching vocabulary 11 2.2.1 Principles of learning and teaching vocabulary 11 2.2.2 Stages in teaching vocabulary 12 2.2.3 Techniques used for teaching English vocabulary to children 15 2.2.3.1 Presentation 15 2.2.3.2 Practice 17 vi 2.2.3.3 Production 18 2.2.4 Techniques in using pictures to teach vocabulary to children 19 2.2.4.1 Drawing pictures on board technique 19 2.2.4.2 Using flashcards technique 20 2.3 The nature of pictures 21 2.3.1 What is picture? 21 2.3.2 The types of pictures 22 2.3.3 The use of pictures 24 2.3.4 Creating the pictures 25 2.4 Describing children 27 2.4.1 Characteristics of children 27 2.4.2 Children’ vocabulary learning strategies 28 2.5 Activities 30 2.5.1 Drawing 30 2.5.2 Using flashcards 31 2.5.3 Using game 32 2.6 A relevant study 35 2.7 Summary 36 Chapter RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 37 3.2 Research design 38 3.3 Participants 39 3.3.1 The teacher subjects 39 3.3.2 The student subjects 39 3.3.3 The researcher 39 3.4 Instruments 40 3.4.1 Questionnaire 40 3.4.2 Interviews 41 3.4.3 The software 42 3.5 Control group 42 3.6 Experimental teaching 46 vii 3.6.1 Materials 47 3.6.2 Pre-test and Post-test 48 3.7 Data collection procedure 49 Chapter RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Data collected from the teachers’ questionnaire 51 4.1.1 Role of vocabulary in teaching English 52 4.1.2 Teachers’ opinions in teaching English 53 4.1.3 Teachers’ views on students’ difficulties toward learning vocabulary 55 4.1.4 Teachers’ necessary stages to motivate learners in teaching vocabulary 56 4.1.5 Teachers’ current kinds of visual aids in teaching English vocabulary 56 4.1.6 Teachers’ motivational factors in teaching vocabulary 57 4.1.7 Teachers’ types of pictures currently used to teach vocabulary 59 4.1.8 Teachers’ current techniques in teaching English vocabulary 60 4.1.9 Teachers’ current activities for motivating students in teaching vocabulary 61 4.1.10 Teachers’ using pictures frequency to teach vocabulary for children at Doan Hung Informatics Language School 63 4.1.11 Teachers’ opinions of teaching English vocabulary through pictures 64 4.1.12 Teachers recommendations on improving the teaching of English vocabulary through pictures at DHILS 65 4.2 Data collected from the experimental teaching 65 4.2.1 Results of pre-test 66 4.2.2 Results of post-test 67 4.3 The results of interviews 69 4.3.1 The teachers’ interview 70 4.3.2 The students’ interview 71 4.4 Summary of the findings 72 viii Chapter RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 74 5.2 Suggestions 75 5.2.1 Providing students how to learn English vocabulary more effective 75 5.2.2 Increasing the time for practicing English vocabulary at class 5.2.3 Creating stimulating environment to motivate students 76 in learning vocabulary 77 5.3 Limitation of the study 78 5.4 Summary 79 REFERENCES 80 APPENDICES 83 APPENDIX 1: Lesson plans 83 APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for teachers 106 APPENDIX 3: The tests’ scores of Let’s Go 3E 111 APPENDIX 4: The tests’ scores of Let’s Go 3B 112 APPENDIX 5: Handouts (Activities) 113 APPENDIX 6: Pre - test 126 APPENDIX 7: Post - test 131 ix 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136