A study on using games to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at thuan thanh 1 high school

Trang 1 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON USING GAMES TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR GRADE 10TH STUDENTS AT THUAN THANH 1 HIGH SCHOOLNGHI

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON USING GAMES TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR GRADE 10TH STUDENTS AT THUAN THANH HIGH SCHOOL (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN TỪ VỰNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT THUẬN THÀNH 1) Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Nam, M.A Student: Nguyen Ngoc Quynh Student number: 11317055 Hung Yen – 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON USING GAMES TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR GRADE 10TH STUDENTS AT THUAN THANH HIGH SCHOOL (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN TỪ VỰNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT THUẬN THÀNH 1) Student: Nguyen Ngoc Quynh Student number: 11317055 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Nam, M.A Hung Yen – 2021 i DECLARATION I certify that the thesis entitled “A study on using games to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at Thuan Thanh High School” is the result of my own research and the substance of this thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hung Yen, May 2021 Signature Nguyen Ngoc Quynh ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In the process of implementing my graduation paper, I have received lots of encouragement, precious ideas and experiences from my teachers, family and friends I would like to thank all my teachers in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their useful advice First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude and indebtedness to my supervisor Mrs Nguyen Thi Nam, M.A for her careful instructions and valuable advice during the conduct of my research My graduation paper would have never been completed without her instructions My deep appreciation also goes to the teachers of UTEHY for their interesting lectures that provided me a strong inspiration for this study I am grateful to the teachers and students at Thuan Thanh High School for their willingness to respond to my survey questionnaires In my study, it is inevitable that the ideas of many writers in the field are recorded and developed I also would like to offer my sincere thanks to the authors of the books, journal articles, etc listed in the reference for their ideas that have been reviewed and developed in my paper I also would like to express my special thanks to all of my readers for their constructive comments on this thesis paper Last but not least, I would like to thank my parents and friends who have encouraged and supported me a lot during the course of my graduation paper iii ABSTRACT The study aims at applying games to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at Thuan Thanh High School Qualitative and quantitative method was used to analyze and to find the solution to the problems The research was conducted at Thuan Thanh High School and the population of this study was 10D1's students There were 30 students and teachers as the subjects of this study Data were gathered by questionnaires and interviews The result of applying games to improve vocabulary showed that games were so interesting for students However, there are many difficulties related to students To deal with these issues and the desire of improving the present situation, the researcher recommended some solutions for students to be better in using games to improve vocabulary more effectively in the near future iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF CHARTS vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 An overview of vocabulary 2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 2.1.2 Types of vocabulary 2.1.3 The importance of vocabulary 2.2 Games in Language Teaching and Learning 2.2.1 What is a “Game”? 2.2.2 Types of games 2.2.3 The role of Games 2.2.4 The effectiveness of using games in terms of learning vocabulary 2.3 Summary 10 v CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 11 3.1 Introduction 11 3.2 Methodology 11 3.3 Participants of the study 11 3.3.1 Teachers 11 3.3.2 Students 11 3.4 Data analysis 12 3.4.1 The questionnaire for teachers 12 3.4.2 The questionnaire for students 18 3.4.3 The interview for students 25 3.5 Major findings 27 3.6 Summary 28 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 30 4.1 Summary of the study 29 4.2 Limitations of the study 31 4.3 Suggestions for further study 31 REFERENCES 32 APPENDIX I APPENDIX V APPENDIX IX vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education M.A: Master of art TT1 high school: Thuan Thanh High School vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES I: List of charts Chart 3.1 Teachers‟ opinions about learning vocabulary through games Chart 3.2 Teachers‟ opinions about the importance of using games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.3 Teachers‟ opinions about the effectiveness of the use of games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.4 Teachers‟ opinions about games Chart 3.5 Teachers‟ opinions about students‟ difficulties when using games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.6: Teachers‟ suggestions to help students use games to improve more effectively Chart 3.7 Students‟ opinions about learning vocabulary through games Chart 3.8 Students‟ opinions about the importance of using games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.9 Students‟ opinion about the effectiveness of the use of games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.10 Students‟ opinions about games Chart 3.11 Students‟ difficulties when using games to improve vocabulary Chart 3.12 Suggestions to help students use games to improve more effectively II: List of tables Table 3.1 Teachers‟ opinions about the benefits of using games to improve vocabulary Table 3.2 Students‟ opinions about the benefits of using games to improve vocabulary CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Nowadays, English has become popular and necessary all over the world; English also has an important role in our life This is the reason why English become the common language in the world Therefore, using English in communication is more and more necessary Vocabulary learning is an essential part of language learning It helps learners develop the four skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing Recognizing the importance of vocabulary in language learning, however, most English classrooms in Vietnam today in general and at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education where I am learning in particular, vocabulary teaching and learning has not been paid enough attention to as it deserves Vocabulary has not been taught separately but mixed with lessons of reading, speaking, writing or listening This causes many difficulties for teachers of English to apply suitable teaching methods Another problem is that even though students realize the importance of vocabulary in language learning, most Vietnamese students realize the importance of vocabulary in language learning, most Vietnamese students find it boring and learn vocabulary passively They think that it is simply an activity that teachers introduce new vocabulary and their task is just to copy down the new word and remember its meaning While studying at Thuan Thanh High School, my classmates and I were partly aware of the importance of vocabulary which is an important part of four English skills and trial exams Thus, we did our best to take any new words given by our teachers or found in our textbooks and then learned them by heart However, we forgot all of these words just several days after that And this really discouraged us In addition, many students told me that they felt bored and sleepy when they listened to the teacher's explanation for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions Furthermore, after they learned any new word, they found that they were not able to use that word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly and I have been wondering that how language learners can learn vocabulary effectively and find it an interesting activity 28 3.5.3 Students‟ difficulties when using games to improve vocabulary Although games provide students with many benefits, they still have many difficulties A very large number of students agree that they are confused when playing games, which is one of the factors that affects them a lot Their confusion makes them not focus on games, therefore the effectiveness of games is not high Moreover, they lack preparation for the topic of games And their last difficulty is “don't understand the roles of games carefully” They are three biggest difficulties that students have when using games to improve 3.5.4 Some suggestions for applying games to improve vocabulary How much vocabulary that students can learn when playing games depends on how well the method teachers motivate students when teaching and the attempt of students themselves Realizing the fact that games bring great benefits when learning vocabulary, in order to get the maximum of these benefits, some suggestions are proposed to grade 10 students at TT1 high school Both teachers and students choose the following suggestions: keeping calm when playing games, preparing the topics carefully, understanding the roles of games carefully The researcher also wants to give some recommendations for the students when using games to improve vocabulary If students want to play games more effectively, they should try their best to cultivate and improve their background knowledge after school every day by themselves The more students practice, the more vocabulary they know Moreover, before starting games, students should have intelligent strategies to be faster than their friends In order to have a better knowledge vocabulary, students should spend about 30 minutes every day learning new words In conclusion, each student have different ways of learning vocabulary which are appropriate for themselves, it is important that they should always try their best and maintain their motivation when learning vocabulary 3.6 Summary 29 In this chapter, the research shows teacher‟s and student‟s attitudes towards using games in learning vocabulary who are grade 10 students Besides, the study also finds out the effectiveness of using games in terms of learning vocabulary, student‟s difficulties when playing games and some suggestions for applying games in improving vocabulary To summary at the main contents analyzed above, the research introduces the last part as the conclusion of the study 30 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION This chapter will deal with a summary of the major findings, limitations of the study and some suggestions for further studies 4.1 Summary of the study With the hope of applying games to improve vocabulary for grade 10 students at TT1 high school The research used qualitative and quantitative methods through questionnaires and interviews of grade 10 students of TT1 high school After analyzing the data, the result of the study points out that using games in English lessons is extremely interesting and effective The majority of the teachers and grade 10 students at TT high school strongly agree that it is interesting, important and highly appreciated It is very clear from the above data analysis that both teachers and students were aware of the importance of vocabulary learning through games Both of the teachers and the students were highly interested in using games for vocabulary learning because of their advantages Firstly, games help students to remember new words quickly Teachers and students think that playing vocabulary games in English lessons plays an important role because it creates excitement for students and an enjoyable learning environment where students can learn vocabulary naturally Besides, games also increase learning motivation and stimulate students‟ strategies Lastly, thanks to games, class cooperation is increased and the competitiveness between peers is controlled well However, students still have many difficulties A very large number of students agree that they are confused when playing games, which is one of the factors that affects them a lot Moreover, they lack preparation for the topic of games And their last difficulty is “don't understand the roles of games carefully” They are three biggest difficulties that students have when using games to improve In order to use games to improve vocabulary more effectively, all the respondents totally agree that students should prepare the topics carefully before starting games Also, games can not be successful if students understand the roles of games carefully And then, students should keep calm to avoid being confused when playing games 31 4.2 Limitations of the study In the process of concluding the study, although the research has made a great effort, the mistake and shortcomings are inevitable First of all, because of the limited time and the period time of the Covid-19 virus, the questionnaires were just done with 30 students of class 10D1, teachers and interviews for students This also affects the validity and reliability of the study Secondly, due to the limitation of the scope of the study and the sampling population, the researcher only focuses on 10D1‟s students which account for a small number of grade 10 students at TT1 high school So, the result of the study cannot be generalized Although the mentioned limitation, the researcher hopes that this research will contribute to a better situation of using games to improve vocabulary at TT1 high school 4.3 Suggestions for further study This study only performs with a small scope, so the next research can expand the subject of students and teachers who take part in the survey and interviews and focus on the most effective activity for using games to learn vocabulary However, this study has been able to contribute to our knowledge in general and solutions to use games to improve vocabulary in particular in ways that will benefit both students and teachers as well However, due to unavoidable limitations, the research has been completed under the guidance of the supervisor and the author's effort 32 REFERENCES ALLEN, French, (1983) Techniques in teaching vocabulary Oxford: University Press Hadfield, J 1999.Intermediate Vocabulary Games Harlow, Essex: Longman Hamer J (1991) Practice of English Language teaching Longman Group UK limited Hamer J (1998), How to teach English England Person Education limited Hatch E and Brown C (1995), Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language Education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hubbard, Petter 1983.A Training Course for TEFL Oxford University Press Huyen, N., & Nga, K (2003) Learning Vocabulary Through Games Asian EFL Journal Lewis, G., & Bedson, G (1999) Games for children New York: Oxford University Press Nation (2001), Learning Vocabulary in Another Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 10 Richard J.C, Pland J, and Pland.H (1992), Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic Hallow: Longman 11 Richard C & Rodger S (1987) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 12 Richards, J C., Platte, J & Platte, H (1992), Dictionary of Language teaching and applied linguistics, London: Longman 13 Richard-Amato (1988) Interacting in the Language Classroom Games for All Reasons Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 14 Uberman, A (1998) The use of games for vocabulary presentation and revision Forum, 36(1), 20-27 15 Vernon, S 2009 The benefits of using Games 16 Webster M (1993), Webster's Third New International Dictionary and Seven Language Dictionary USA 17 Wierus, B., & Wierus, A (1994) Zagraj razem a nami Czesc I Jezyki obce w szkole 33 18 William Rowland Lee ( 1979) Language Teaching Games and Contests Oxford: University Press 19 Zhou, S (2010) Comparing Receptive and Productive Academic Vocabulary Knowledge of Chinese EFL Learners Asian Social Science 20 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/vocabulary?q=vocab ulary 21 https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/vocabulary I APPENDICES APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Hello! My name is Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, I am from class TAK15.1, Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hung Yen University Technology and Education This survey questionnaire is designed for my study entitled “A study on using games to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at Thuan Thanh High School” Your support in completing this survey will be appreciated Please select the answer by circling the first letter of each sentence and tick the checklist items or express your ideas in the blanks All the information provided by you is for learning purposes only and you can be confident that your identity will not be disclosed in any discussion of data Your answer will help me a lot in the research process Thanks for your help! I General information Fill in the information where appropriate Your gender: A Male B Female Your age: ………………… How long have you been studying English? …… years II Student‟s attitudes towards learning vocabulary through games Question How interesting is using games to improve vocabulary? A Very interesting B Interesting C Not very interesting II D Not interesting Question How important you think about using games to improve vocabulary? A.Very important B Important C Not very important D Not important at all Questions In your opinion, how effective is the use of games to improve vocabulary? A Very effective B Effective C Normal D Not effective III What is the effectiveness of using games to improve vocabulary? Question Do you think that through games you can learn vocabulary more interestingly than you did through other methods? A Yes B No C No idea Question In your opinion, what are the benefits of using games to improve vocabulary? (please choose your answer by ticking in the blanks) Benefits of games Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree III Helping students to remember new words quickly Creating excitement for students Helping students to consolidate vocabulary easily Creating an enjoyable learning environment Time-filling Increasing learning motivation Controlling the competitiveness between peers IV Student‟s difficulties when learning vocabulary through games Question What difficulties you have when you use games to improve vocabulary? (Please circle the answers, and you can choose more than one following options) A Don't have a good partner B Lack of preparing for topic of games C Don't understand the roles of games carefully D Don't have intelligent strategies E Be confused when playing games V Some suggested solutions to enhance the effectiveness of the use of games to improve vocabulary IV Question 7: Which options you think the students should apply to enhance the effectiveness of using games to improve vocabulary (Please circle the answers, and you can choose more than one following options) A Keep calm when playing games B Prepare the topics carefully C Understand carefully about the roles of games D Always follow the timeline E Have intelligent strategies THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! V APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Hello! My name is Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, I am from class TAK15.1, Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hung Yen University Technology and Education This survey questionnaire is designed for my study entitled “A study on using games to improve vocabulary for grade 10th students at Thuan Thanh High School” Your support in completing this survey will be appreciated Please select the answer by circling the first letter of each sentence and tick the checklist items or express your ideas in the blanks All the information provided by you is for learning purposes only and you can be confident that your identity will not be disclosed in any discussion of data Your answer will help me a lot in the research process Thanks for your help! I General information Fill in the information where appropriate Your gender: A Male B Female Your age? ………………… Teaching experience: …… years II Student‟s attitudes towards learning vocabulary through games Question How interesting is teaching vocabulary through games? A Very Interesting B Interesting C Not very interesting D Not very interesting at all Question How important you think about using games to improve vocabulary? VI A Very important B Important C Not important at all Question In your opinion, How effective is the use of games to improve vocabulary? A Very effective B Effective C Normal D Not effective III What is the effectiveness of using games to improve vocabulary? Question Do you think that through games the students can learn vocabulary more interestingly than you did through other methods? A Yes B No C No idea Question In your opinion, what are the benefits of games to improve vocabulary? (please choose your answer by ticking in the blanks) Benefits of games Strongly agree Helping students to remember new word quickly Creating excitement for learners Helping students to consolidate Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree VII vocabulary easily Time- filling Increasing learning motivation Controlling the competitiveness between peers IV Your students‟ difficulties when using games to improve vocabulary Question What difficulties your students have when you use games ? (Please circle the answers, and you can choose more than one following options) A Don't have a good partner B Lack of preparing for topic of games C Don't understand the roles of games carefully D Don't have intelligent strategies E Be confused when playing games V Suggestions for your students to enhance the effectiveness of using games to improve Question Which options you think that the students should apply to enhance the effectiveness of using games improve vocabulary? (Please circle the answers, and you can choose more than one following options) A Keep calm when playing games B Prepare the topics carefully C Understand carefully about the roles of games VIII D Always follow the timeline E Have intelligent strategies THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! IX APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS What you think about using games to improve vocabulary in English lessons? How effective is the use of games to improve vocabulary? What difficulties you have when you use games to improve vocabulary? Can you give some suggestions for increasing the students‟ abilities in using games to improve vocabulary?