Using pictures to teach vocabulary to first grade students at thieu do primary school in thanh hoa

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS USING PICTURES TO TEACH VOCABULARY TO FIRST GRADE STUDENTS AT THIEU DO PRIMARY SCHOOL IN THANH HOA Student : Hoang Thi Loan Student code : 176710100053 Class : K20B – FFL – HDU Course : 2017- 2021 Supervisor : Nguyen Thi Ha, M.A Thanh Hoa, May 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT … ………………………………………… .3 ABSTRACT ……………………….………………………………………….4 LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES …………………… ………………… PART A: INTRODUCTION ……… ……………………………………….6 1.Rationale of study…………………………………………………………….6 2.Objectives of the study and research questions………………………… 3.Scope of the study ………………………………………………………… 4.Method of the study………………………………………………………… 5.Design of the study………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………… ….10 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………… .10 1.1 Understanding vocabulary ……………………………………………….10 1.1.1 The definition of vocabulary …………………………………………10 1.1.2 Types of vocabulary ………………………………………………… 10 1.2 Teaching vocabulary …… …………………………………………….11 1.2.1 The important roles of teaching vocabulary ………………………… 11 1.2.2 Teaching English Vocabulary to Young Learners …………………….12 1.2.3 Strategies for learning vocabulary successfully …………………… 13 1.2.4 The difficulties in teaching vocabulary ……………………………… 14 1.2.5 Major types of teaching vocabulary ………………………………… 16 1.3 Pictures …………………………………………………………… 17 1.3.1 Understanding pictures ……………………………………………… 17 1.3.2 The use of pictures in teaching English vocabulary ………………… 18 1.4 Review of previous studies related to the topic………………………… 19 CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTIONS AND ANALYSIS ……………….21 2.1 Subject of the study …………………………………………….… 21 2.2 The teaching staff ………………………………………………… 21 2.3 The survey questionnaire ………………………………………… 21 2.3.1 The design of the survey questionnaire …………………………….… 22 2.3.2 Interviewing …………………………………………… ………….… 23 2.3.3 The observing teaching vocabulary ……………………………… … 23 2.4 The data analysis ………………………………………………………….23 2.5 Findings and discussion ………………………………………………… 27 CHAPTER : SOME SUGESSTED ACTIVITES TO TEACH VOCABULARY THROUGH USING PICTURES FOR FIRST GRADE STUDENTS AT THIEU DO PRIMARY SCHOOL ………………………30 Activity 1: Talk about the pictures …………………………………… … 32 Activity 2: Play a matching game …………………………………… 34 Activity 3: Look and find …………………………………………………… 34 Activity 4: Play a Yes or No game…………………………………………….35 Activity 5: Which one does not belong?…………………………………… 36 Activity 6: Slap the board ………………………………………………… 37 PART C: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ……… …………… 38 I.Conclusion ………………………………………………………… 38 II Suggestions ……………………………………………………………… 40 REFERENCES…………………………………………………… 41 APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………….42 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the process of completing of this graduation paper, I have received many necessary assistance, previous ideas and timely encouragement from my teachers, friends and family First and foremost, I would like to send my deep gratitude to MA Nguyen Thi Ha, the supervisor of this research paper Her detailed comments and useful advice help me shape my ideas and realize my aims She has also provided me with many useful materials as well as encouraged and created favorable conditions for me to fulfill this research Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that this paper would have not been completed without her invaluable support Secondly, I would like to show my sincere thanks to Dr Nguyen Thi Quyetthe Dean of Faculty of Foreign Languages for giving me a chance to the thesis Also, I would like to express my particular thanks to all the lecturers of the Faculty whose lectures have enriched my academic knowledge of English during the past four years I would also like to thank students and teachers of Thieu Do Primary School in Thanh Hoa who enthusiastically help me complete the survey questionnaire Finally, I am very grateful to my family and all my friends who have helped and given me encouragement as well as supplied me with materials during the time this graduation paper was done Thanh Hoa, May, 2021 Student Hoang Thi Loan ABSTRACT Vocabulary learning is an essential part in foreign language learning as the meanings of new words are very often emphasized And The student’s brain absorbs data through images faster and takes much longer memory than words Therefore, learning English vocabulary with pictures will affect the brain much more effective than learning English in common words Not only does a picture give you the chance to reflect on what you can see, but it also represents the opportunity to develop your other senses by considering what you can hear, smell and touch This study was carried out to investigate the reality of learning and teaching vocabulary through using pictures of first grade students at Thieu Do Primary school The data used and analyzed in this study was collected through multiple choice questionnaire from first grade students, interview questions from four students and one teacher Then the author observed a first grade class Through survey, interview and observation, the author found out students’ interest in learning vocabulary through pictures and difficulties teachers during (in) using pictures in vocabulary lesson for first grade students From the real situation of teaching and learning vocabulary for first grade students at Thieu Do Primary school, some solutions, especially using pictures, have been proposed in order to help pupils learn better and improve their vocabulary LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: The result from students’ interest in learning vocabulary through pictures Chart 2: The result from students’ attitudes about pictures to learn vocabulary Chart 3: The result from student’s understanding about the meaning of the new words and pictures Chart 4: The result from student’s attitudes about using pictures study vocabulary Table 1: Activities using pictures applied by the teachers and students’ preferences Table 2: Observation the teacher’s activities when using pictures to teach vocabulary PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of study Currently, English plays an important role because it has become an international language and is used as an official language in all industries such as aviation, commerce, science, technology, and so on In Vietnam, since 1986, English has become more and more important and has put into schools from primary to college It can be said that if we consider learning English as building a house, then learning vocabulary is like building a foundation for that house There are many ways to learn vocabulary, but to have a strategy to enrich vocabulary effectively The fact shows that some vocabulary learning methods are not really effective Moreover, it is also very important to choose effective vocabulary learning methods for each age and level Specifically, the development of vocabulary for students by applying the currently commonly used visual learning methods has brought about a remarkable effect Vocabulary is critical to a child’s success for these reasons:  Vocabulary growth is directly related to school achievement  The size of a child’s vocabulary in kindergarten predicts the ability to learn to read  Vocabulary helps children to think and learn about the world  Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information A 2012 study by Meredith Rowe, an Associate Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard, discusses the ideas of quantity versus quality of speech used with infants and toddlers At early ages (between 12 and 24 months), the amount of language used is important Parents and other caregivers should speak to the child all the time and provide consistent word models Children need to hear words modeled many times before they will begin to use the words, so the more frequently they are exposed to words, the better the likelihood that they will gain that word in their vocabulary Between 24 and 36 months, it is recommended that caregivers begin to use different words, with greater variety to expand vocabulary skills Between 36 and 48 months, vocabulary begins to be more related to quality During this stage, it is important to provide a child with narratives Caregivers can speak about past and future events and provide explanations of these things Begin using more sophisticated language and provide examples so the child can learn to understand new words based on descriptions related to words they already know The important thing is to stay one step ahead of children in their development — modeling words and phrases that are slightly beyond the child’s level will help develop a stronger vocabulary It is difficult to effectively teach vocabulary to students, teaching vocabulary for children is more and more challenging Those are the reasons why I go into research into vocabulary learning methods for first grade students at Thieu Do primary school to find out the main vocabulary learning methods of student with new methods to reinforce and improve methods for future generations of students Objectives of the study and research questions The main objectives of the study are: First, to find out the ways the teachers using pictures in teaching vocabulary Second, to investigate the difficulties of teachers when teaching pictures to first grade Third, to suggest some effective activities used to teach vocabulary to students at Thieu Do Primary school to encourage them to practice and attention into the lesson All these above aims can be realized by answering the following research questions:  How does the teachers use pictures in teaching vocabulary?  What are the difficulties of teachers in using pictures in vocabulary lesson for first grade students?  What are the suggested activities that students can effectively practice new words to first grade students at Thieu Do Primary School? Scope of the study There are so many different material resources and research that require a lot of time and effort while my personal experience is limited Therefore, this study can only focus on studying some effective techniques in teaching vocabulary, especially through pictures for the students at Thieu Do Primary school I hope that this study is a good reference material to teach vocabulary for students and help them more effectively Method of the study To implement the research, we use the following research methodology groups:  Interviewing and surveying research for students: Interviewing and conducting the survey research for the first grade students at Thieu Do Primary School with a view to finding out the difficulties they encounter when teaching vocabulary  Action research: Observing teaching vocabulary in a first grade class Design of the study The study contains of three parts: Part A: The introduction is literature review, aims, scope, methods and the design of the study Part B: The development is three chapters:  The first chapter is Literature Review which provides the overview of teaching vocabulary through using pictures  The second chapter is the Survey Research for the students This chapter refers to the analysis and the findings obtained from the class observation and evaluations from students, interviewing students to find out the necessary information and the discussion of the findings from the survey  The third chapter focuses on suggested applicable techniques to teach vocabulary at Thieu Do Primary School Part C is the conclusion which summarizes all the presented information CHAPTER : SOME SUGESSTED ACTIVITES TO TEACH VOCABULARY THROUGH USING PICTURES FOR FIRST GRADE STUDENTS AT THIEU DO PRIMARY SCHOOL Pictures with a lot of colors and shapes always capture we can image many interesting things for students The 1st students are still young, inquiring and active but also lack of confidence to practice vocabulary Therefore, the picture’s color must be beautiful bright and impressive The image must be meaningfully, easily understood In fact, using pictures game can develop the imagination of students It means when students look at the pictures, they can express the pictures in their own thought Therefore, students can study vocabulary better, more fluently and natural The process of teaching English vocabularies by using pictures to the first grade students consists of four steps as follows: Warming up Warming up is the first step in the teaching process In this stage, the writer presented the new materials to the students The writer did it by asking the students some questions related to the material or the topic being discussed, for example, if the topic was about transportation, the writer would ask the students some questions as follows: Do you know what transportation are? Can you mention another kind of transportation? This activity was done to introduce the new topic to the students Presentation In the second activity, the writer began to explain the materials to the students In learning English, there are four skills, which must be mastered They were listening, speaking, writing, and reading Then, the writer taught it to the fifth grade students In this step, the teacher can use some media of teaching to help the teacher explains the material easily 30 For example, when the topic was transportation, the teacher showed some pictures of transportation and mentioned their names, and then she asked the students to repeat saying the names of objects after her For examples: Teacher : Car Students : Car Writer : Motorcycle Students : Motorcycle Writer : Helicopter Students : Helicopter The teacher used pictures to make the students interested in learning After they finished and the students knew the names of all the objects on the pictures, the writer showed the pictures again one by one and asked the students to say the names of the thing to check whether they listened to her well or not Practice Practice is the third step in teaching and learning activity This activity is used to know the students’ progress in the material that has been explained before o The teacher prepares some pictures about transportation, for example: 31 o The teacher shows the pictures one by one o Students should write the answer on the board Then they must pronounce it well o If they could answer it well, the writer gave a gift Assessment This is the last step in teaching and learning activity It is carried out to know how far the students understand the material It is also used to know the writer’s way of teaching as an input to make a better way of learning In the assessment step, the teacher asked the students to the exercise in their worksheet related to the material that have been explained If the time was not enough, the teacher asked the students to it as homework It would be checked in the next meeting Some suggested activities to teach vocabulary through using pictures for first students at Thieu Do Primary school Activity 1: Talk about the pictures - Family and friends starter- First grade - Unit 6: They’re bear 32 There are variety of pictures and ask questions to get your students talking “What animal is this?” Morover, the teacher can open question like “What animal you like?”, “What are they? or “Where does this animal live?” Type: the whole class Time : 15 minutes Procedure: Pictures or flashcards are shown to students From the picture, students answer the teacher's question correctly The teacher checks students' pronunciation and reads new words aloud through pictures In addition, the teacher expands the questions related to the topic of animals T: “ What animal is this? ST: It’s a…… T: What are they? ST: They are ……” 33 Activity 2: Play a matching game - Family and friends starter- First grade Unit 6: They’re bear Type: Group work Time: 10 minutes Procedure: Divide the class into groups Ask students to work in groups for minutes Then each group chooses one person to quickly run to the board and match the pictures with the correct word (Ask students look at the pictures and to find a match) *Answer: 1_c , 2_e , 3_a , 4_b , 5_d Activity 3: Look and find - Family and friends starter- First grade - Unit 7: Are they teachers? Leave pictures on a single sheet and give your students poker chips or another manipulative Name a picture, and have him cover it with the chip Procedure: The teacher shows the pictures on the board and gives the students the magnets Then the teacher call the name of jobs and students will choose correctly.( “ She is a vet”, “ He is a pupil” , “ He is a builder”,…) * Keys: Pupil, Teacher, Waiter, Vet, Builder 34 Activity 4: Play a Yes or No game- Family and friends starter- First grade - Unit 9: I like plums! Use one of our headers or think of your own idea Have your pupils consider the question and put each card on the appropriate side Procedure: Divide the table into columns Yes and No Give students the picture and ask the question "Do you like ?" Ask students to put each card on the appropriate side Do you like…………… ? Yes No T: “ Do you like cakes?” ST: Yes, I T: “ Do you like plums?” ST: No, I don’t Do you like…………… ? 35 Yes No Activity 5: Which one does not belong? - Family and friends starter- First grade - Unit 9: I like plums! Put four different cards in the squares Make sure that one is obviously different Three could be foods, and one could be a vehicle, for example Ask your students to name which is different, and why Or you could simply ask, “Which one is NOT something you can eat?” (Note that the mat is designed to be used with the small cards.) Procedure: After introducing students to the available vocabulary The teacher expands images related to food topics such as pizza, tomatoes, carrots, onions, sausages In addition, there are other images with the learned topic such as table, chair, red, car, so on Put flashcards and ask : Which one is Not something you can eat?” or “ Which one does NOT belong?” Students choose the word that is different from the others 36 Activity 6: Slap the board- Family and friends starter- First grade - Unit 1: What color is this? Type: Team work Time: 10 minutes Procedure: The teacher sticks pictures on the board Call two groups to the board, each group of four to five students Ask groups to stand an equal distance from the board The teacher shouts out the English word on the board One by one, students in two groups run up to the board, tapping the word they are called The student in the group that gets it right and faster will score points The group that scores more points wins 37 PART C: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS I Conclusion Based on the activities of the teaching English vocabulary through pictures at the first grade students at Thieu Do Primary school, there are some conclusions that could be drawn from this final project Those are: The process of using pictures in teaching English vocabularies consists of four steps They are: A Warming Up In this step, the writer greeted the students first Then, she introduced new materials to the students by asking some questions related to the material that will be explained Besides that, the writer gave a short explanation about the material The writer also used pictures to attract students’ attention B Presentation The second step is presentation In this step, the writer presented the materials by using pictures in order to explain the material clearly and easily to understand This activity has done by the writer because the children usually get bored in listening to the teacher’s explanation Pictures could help the students to focus the attention on the material taught C Practice Skill practice is the third step, it was used to know the students’ progress in the material that had been explained before In this step, the writer tried to involve the students by using pictures as media D Assessment To evaluate the students’ understanding about the lesson, the writer did some evaluation by giving some exercises and homework to the students The exercise given is based on the materials in the LKS These assessments are also used to evaluate the writer’s way of teaching, whether it is effective or not 38 The influences of using pictures in teaching English vocabularies to the first grade students are as follows: a Pictures could improve the students’ motivation b Pictures could attract the students’ attention c Pictures help the students to memorize the vocabularies d Pictures make the teaching and learning activities interesting Therefore, using pictures is necessary and effective in the teaching English vocabulary especially to the first grade students at Thieu Do Primary school 39 II Suggestions Based on the conclusions that have been explained previously, the writer would like to give some suggestions : The suggestion for the school is they should accommodate the teachers’ need in teaching English especially provide the teaching media The schools also should provide more training, especially to the English teachers in improving teachers’ competency as the English teacher in order to achieve the goals in the teaching and learning process of English lesson The suggestion for the English teachers in which English is a foreign language, they should improve their knowledge about teaching principals in order to achieve the goals of the teaching learning English process so that the students can interested to study English, especially in vocabulary lesson The suggestion for other researcher is this study is just one effort in improving the students’ vocabulary, the writer hopes that this final project will be useful to conduct the other research on the similar problems 40 REFERENCES Joudy B.Miller MA, CCC-SLP(2012) intergreated pediatric therapies, The importance of vocabulary Hiebert and Kamil (2005, p 3), Types of vocabulary Vol III, No / 2015/ Schmitt and Mc Carthy (1997),supported by Murcia (2001), Strategies to learn vocabularies Thornbury (2004, p 27), The difficulties in teaching vocabulary Zahro Asfiyah of English Language Education ,The Use of Picture Message to improve Students’ Vocabulary in Concrete Noun of the Second Grade of MTs Mafatihut Thullab An-Nawawy Surodadi Jepara in Academic Year of 2010/2011 Nesreen Alahmadi of Taibah University (2020), International Journal of English Language Teaching Himayatus Sholihah C.9306121(2019), teaching English vocabulary using pictures, Sebelas Maret University 41 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR FIRST GRADE STUDENTS AT THIEU DO PRIMARY SCHOOL Directions: The teacher should read aloud each survey question to the students Students should circle “Yes ” if they agree with the statement and “No they disagree I have a fun vocabulary lesson Yes No My teacher shows the pictures and new words clearly Yes No Pictures is beautiful and interesting Yes No I not understand the meaning of words through pictures Yes No Sometimes I not remember pictures and new words Yes No When I don’t understand meaning of pictures, my teacher helps me Yes No I have to think to answer correctly vocabulary through pictures Yes No I am interested in using pictures to teach vocabulary Yes No ” if My teacher brings many activities by pictures to study vocabulary Yes No INTERVIEWING FOUR STUDENTS AND A TEACHER Four students 1.Do you feel easy to learn vocabulary? Do you enjoy learning vocabulary through pictures? Does the teacher help you when you don't understand the meaning of the picture? Do you want more fun activities to teach vocabulary through pictures? A teacher 1.Are the classrooms crowded and noisy? 2.How often you use picture to teach vocabulary for first grade students? What is the most difficult about teaching vocabulary to first graders? Your comments: …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your co-operation!