A study on enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures for the first year english major students at hung yen university of technology and education

26 Chart 6: The effectiveness of using pictures for learning vocabulary of the fresh-year English major students .... Trang 11 1.2 Aims of the study This study was carried with a view to

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON ENHANCING VOCABULARY MEMORIZATION THROUGH THE USE OF PICTURES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU TĂNG CƯỜNG NHỚ TỪ VỰNG QUA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRANH ẢNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Truong Thi Huong, MA Student: Nguyen Thi Huong Student number: 11317028 Hung Yen - 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON ENHANCING VOCABULARY MEMORIZATION THROUGH THE USE OF PICTURES FOR THE FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU TĂNG CƯỜNG NHỚ TỪ VỰNG QUA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRANH ẢNH CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Truong Thi Huong, MA Student: Nguyen Thi Huong Student number: 11317028 Hung Yen - 2021 i DECLARATION I affirm that the proposition qualified ‘Enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures for the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education’ is the result of my own examination and substance of this research has not submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hung Yen, May 2021 Signature Nguyen Thi Huong ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to many people who have assisted my research work Firstly, I would like to express my profound gratefulness to my supervisor – Ms Truong Thi Huong – one of the greatest teachers of the Faculty of Foreign Languages who has been consistently prepared to provide me advice to assist me in finishing effectively my exploration This thesis could not have been completed without her scholarly instruction, insightful advice, and enthusiasm in my research and thesis writing In addition, I would like to show my profound gratitude to the teachers who helped me to conduct the questionnaire and 53 students of the English department at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education who participated in the study for sparing their time filling out the questionnaire and answering the interview Besides, I would like to dedicate my special thanks to my classmates in TAK15.1 who have supported, cooperated and provided me with valuable suggestions Last but not least, I sincerely thank my family for their love, great encouragement and unconditional support to me to fulfill this thesis iii ABSTRACT This study was carried with a view to investigating the possibility of using pictures for teaching and learning vocabulary of the teachers and the fresh-year English major students of FFL at UTEHY campus The data gathered by survey questionnaires, which delivered to 53 first-year English major students of FFL at UTEHY campus II The interview also used to collect information from teachers of FFL at UTEHY The results showed that most of the students considered enhance vocabulary extremely important during the process of learning English As a result of my research, I hope that the study will make a great contribution to solve the difficulties of the students and help them succeed in learning iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale of the Study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Scope of the Study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Design of the study 10 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 11 2.1 Overview of vocabulary 11 2.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined 2.1.2 Classification of vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined a Reading vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined b Listening vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined c Writing vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined d Speaking vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined 2.1.3 The importance of vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined 2.1.4 Teaching and Learning vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined a Learning Vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined b Teaching Vocabulary Error! Bookmark not defined v 2.2 Overview of pictures Error! Bookmark not defined 2.2.1.Definition of pictures Error! Bookmark not defined 2.2.2 Types of picture to learning English Error! Bookmark not defined 2.2.3 The effectiveness of using pictures for learning and teaching new words Error! Bookmark not defined 2.3 Summary 19 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 20 3.1 Methods of the study 20 3.1.1 Participants 20 a The teachers 20 b The students 20 3.1.2 Data collection instrument 21 3.1.3 Procedures of data collection 21 3.1.4 Summary 21 3.2 Data analysis 21 3.2.1 21 3.2.1.1 Students’ opinions on what they have obtained after using pictures for learning vocabulary 21 3.2.1.2 Problems often faced by students when learning vocabulary through using pictures 24 3.2.1.3 Students’ points of view on the effectiveness of their learning vocabulary through pictures 26 3.2.1.4 Students’ recommendations 30 3.2.2 Survey questions for teachers 31 vi 3.2.2.1 Teacher's opinion about the student’s ability on what they have obtained after using pictures for learning vocabulary 31 3.2.2.2 Teacher's opinion on what they have obtained after using pictures for learning vocabulary 31 3.2.2.3 Teachers’ Opinions on Students’ Common Difficulties when applying pictures in learning vocabulary 32 3.2.2.4 Solutions to overcome difficulties from the teachers 33 3.2.2.5 Suggestions for teacher 33 3.2.3 The interview 34 3.2.3.1 The interview for students 34 3.2.4 Findings and discussion 35 3.2.5 Implication 37 3.2.6 Summary…………………………………………… .………………………………33 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 38 4.1 Conclusion 38 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 38 4.3 Suggestion for further study 38 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX I APPENDIX IV APPENDIX VI vii LIST OF CHART AND TABLE Chart 1: The opinion of students in English vocabulary 22 Table 1: The times students often spend on learning English vocabulary through pictures 23 Chart The opinion in students’ interest in using picture for learning English vocabulary 24 Chart 4: Difficulties of students in learning vocabulary through using pictures 25 Table Students’ difficulties in the learning vocabulary through pictures 26 Chart 5: The effectiveness of your learning English vocabulary through using pictures 26 Chart 6: The effectiveness of using pictures for learning vocabulary of the fresh-year English major students 27 Chart 6: Kinds of the pictures best affect memory 28 Chart 7: Pictures applications 29 Table 3: English learning applications 29 The table Students’ recommendations 30 Table 7: The student’s ability of using pictures to enhance vocabulary memorization 31 Table 6: Benefit of pictures for teaching English vocabulary 31 Chart 8: Teachers’ opinions on students’ common difficulties when applying pictures for teaching vocabulary in class by percent 32 Chart 9: Solutions to overcome obstacles from the teachers 33 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Study English is an international language As we know that English is a way to get through international communication in the globalization era It is spoken by many people all over the world English is also a key to open doors to scientific and technical knowledge which is needed for the economic, political, social, culture, tourism, and many other fields Another fact of the importance of English is a top requirement of those seeking jobs because many occupations require people who have an English competence From the facts above, it is obvious that everybody needs English to greet the global era Nowadays in Vietnam, mastering the English language is very important for most people, especially students The skill in the English language that the students need to learn is listening, speaking, reading, and writing These skills need to be mastered by the students so that they can communicate in the spoken and written form of the language To this, the students need to master an amount of English vocabulary They cannot the activities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing if they not master a number of English words Therefore, it is important for students to increase their vocabulary of English Naturally, language teachers tend to be driven to increase and improve vocabulary knowledge among their students In other words, a teacher must be able to create a favorable condition of learning and he must be skillful to choose suitable material and techniques to stimulate the student to learn Every teacher wants to run the teaching-learning process effectively So, the use of picture is aimed to enable the students to get the lesson and give an enjoyable atmosphere in the classroom to encourage the students’ motivation and students’ interest in the lesson Pictures are very helpful media especially to avoid misunderstanding of the questions since the students can relate the questions to the pictures given Pictures have an important role in the understanding of meaning They give an illustration of something and make it clear Pictures are used to help students to understand and comprehend something clearly and easily Based on the previous explanation I decided to write a final project entitled: “Enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures for the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.” 33 they are still quite passive All of the teachers said that they did not have obstacles with lacking teaching experience, they just feeling deficient to facilitate to control all of the students in class 3.2.2.4 Solutions to overcome difficulties from the teachers 100 80 65 60 Divide into groups Assign tasks to students Student presentation on Teacher evaluate and give the theme points Chart 9: Solutions to overcome obstacles from the teachers The chart shows the solutions of the teachers to overcome their obstacles All of the teachers resorted to the ways of making the speaking tasks suitable to the students and using different ways of implementing using pictures for teaching The chart shows the teachers' solutions to overcoming their obstacles All teachers used ways of implementing speaking tasks that were appropriate for the students and used different implementations using pictures to teach The application of the above measures will reduce teachers' pressure and increase the responsibility of students, students will actively prepare and grasp the lecture before coming to class 3.2.2.5 Suggestions for teacher Through students' opinions, it can be seen that there is a close relationship between teaching methods and students' attitudes towards that subject Between the words in a book, the combination of using images brings high efficiency to their review process This way of learning helps you remember words, remember the lesson much longer than just looking at words on paper By participating in group activities, students have many opportunities to use and remember what they have learned with a lot of fun The classroom atmosphere is no longer boring with the variety of activities and students' own participation in the lesson However, how to organize lessons using 34 pictures effectively still needs a lot of attention Here are some notable suggestions for teachers when using pictures for learning English vocabulary First, one factor that makes it difficult to uses pictures for learning is students’ proficiency, students are familiar with the old method “wait and rely on teachers in class” they are still quite passive To avoid this problem, the teachers should divide into groups and assign tasks to students to prepare the topics before learning the lesson Secondly, in class, when using pictures, students should actively exchange information and stories about topics and confidently presentation in front of the group That will help all students in the group be more active and more effective, there by reinforcing their own vocabulary Finally, the teacher should have evaluations and comments after each topic of each group that has been prepared in advance From there, will increase the responsibility of students on the topic of study Students need to fulfill the teacher's requirements to use the most effective method of using pictures to learn English vocabulary in class Besides, students need to self-study vocabulary with apps that have used picture sources and materials from authentic websites on the Internet Overall, the third chapter has presented the data, which obtained from the survey questionnaire The analysis of the data is carefully done In the next chapter, findings will be discussed in detail and recommendations will be given 3.2.3 The interview 3.2.3.1 The interview for teachers The interview questions for students consist of questions From these questions, I can find information about the common learning situation of the first-year English major students, the effectiveness of the first-year English major students in enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures I have interview first-year English major students on campus 2- Pho Noi From the interviews, I have collected some information about learning vocabulary through the uses of pictures, Firstly, all of the students shared that learning vocabulary through the use of pictures is difficult, but they still feel it is interesting From learning vocabulary through the uses of pictures, their reflexes and their ability to communicate are better 35 Secondly, when asked about their difficulties in learning English vocabulary through the use of pictures, all of the students said they have trouble in pay attention to pronunciation and the meaning of pictures Besides, they must depend on the instructor in each lesson and get into the habit of logic in the theme of pictures Finally, there are 60 percentages of students who spend 15 minutes –30 minutes/day learning vocabulary through the use of pictures at home, even most students feel using pictures for learning is interesting And, others spend less than 15 minutes –30 minutes/day to 3.2.4 Findings and discussion This chapter discusses the findings of the study to answer three research questions proposed in the introduction Firstly, responses to the survey questionnaires show that a great number of students find the importance of English vocabulary The statistics collected from the survey questionnaires point out that the majority of teachers and students agree to remember the English vocabulary is very difficult Teachers’ and students’ choices may depend on not only their own experience but their good grasp of memorizing vocabulary This proved the reason why all the options were highly approved Secondly, most teachers and students realize using pictures for learning English have many effectiveness such as: the students can memorize vocabulary more easily, the student’ reflexes and their ability to communicate are better Each time they look at the pictures that help students remember that you not have to spend a lot of time to sit at the desk, it is save learning time for the students And, for the teachers using pictures, it decreases the teacher teaching time and creates exciting atmosphere for the lesson As surveying, both teachers and students find out the difficulties have been facing when using pictures for learning new words All of the students said they have trouble in pay attention to pronunciation and the meaning of pictures Moreover, lack of an ideal building-up theme and concentration are two big difficulties of the first-years English major students when they learn vocabulary; that also explains why their vocabulary is not good For the teacher, all the teachers spend a long time preparing the lesson before teaching vocabulary to students and create excitement for the lesson for the students, the teachers feeling deficient to facilitate to control all of the students in 36 class In short, after collecting data, the researcher identified students' and teachers' attitudes towards using pictures for learning and teaching new words also Basing on the above current situation of students' learning English vocabulary, the author hopes to find out the effectiveness of using pictures for teaching and learning vocabulary for the teachers and the fresh-year English major students of FFL at UTEHY to apply the lesson more and more interesting 3.2.5 Implication a The teacher From that point, I recommend some suggestions will be given to help teachers apply to use pictures for teaching vocabulary with some teacher's teaching methods doing efficiently these mentioned techniques have also been presented with the hope to give some contributions to improve the current vocabulary teaching and learning situation in FFL, UTEHY By using pictures, teachers can design a variety of activities to teach vocabulary to English learners Firstly, the teacher gives a series of pictures and then pronounces the corresponding words and lets the students practice saying it several times, then asks them to match the words with the appropriate illustrations Another activity is to use pictures during story time and the teacher should try to point to the pictures as much as possible so that the students have a chance to repeat the names of the pictures many times and remember them longer The third activity is to memorize the old words that have been taught before The teacher gives each picture one at a time in a given time, and the task of the learners is to write down the vocabulary related to the pictures above as quickly as possible Alternatively, instead of holding up pictures, teachers can also stick them on the board and read out any taught words aloud and students will high-five the picture that matches the word b The student I also recommend some suggestions will be given to help the students apply to use pictures for learning vocabulary more effective such as: Firstly, define a specific time frame for what needs to be done and make sure to focus on getting it done on time 37 Secondary, make a long-term master plan and a short-term plan on the number of words to learn corresponding to each topic, the more specific the implementation, the more convenient and effective the implementation Finally, find yourself many good friends Studying and working in groups at the school will bring many interesting and rewarding experiences for you Let's exchange together after each class and share knowledge about vocabulary topics, learn skills of friends to develop together Can live together in clubs, participate in events, seminars, soft skills to accumulate more knowledge and skills 3.2.6 Summary This chapter discusses the findings of the study in order to answer three research questions proposed in the introduction Firstly, the analysis of the data shows that both teachers and students at UTEHY have positive attitudes towards using pictures for learning and teaching new words and they are aware of the effectiveness and the importance of English vocabulary also to their teaching and learning of English 38 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Based on the description in the preceding chapter, the writer comes to the following conclusion and suggestion 4.1 Conclusion As being said in the rationale of the study, English is the most important and popular language in the world Being a student carrying out the study on "Enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures for the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education", I investigated the possibility of learning and teaching English vocabulary through using pictures From that, I pointed out some difficulties and effectiveness of using pictures in both learning and teaching of students and teachers respectively With regard to the theoretical background, in chapter one, the literature review presents the understanding of vocabulary, factors that affect the process of learning vocabulary Based on the survey findings, the researcher finds out the effectiveness of using pictures in both learning and teaching of students and teachers respectively From that point, some suggestions will be given to help students and teachers apply to use pictures for learning and teaching vocabulary These teacher's teaching methods, facilities, and resources doing efficiently these mentioned techniques have also been presented with the hope to give some contributions to improve the current listening teaching and learning situation in FFL, UTEHY 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study Although the study has certain strengths such as collection methods, namely interview, survey questionnaires for students and teachers, due to limited time, lack of sources, the researcher's ability, it is obvious that the study has got a number of drawbacks The target subject of this study is to find out the effectiveness of using pictures for enhancing English vocabulary English major students at UTEHY Besides, this research is selected from different reliable but has limited sources To get a better and more efficient study, surely the research in coming time with my further research should invite more students and teachers to participate in the studies 4.3 Suggestion for further study Of the points that I have made, I can only give an overview of FFL's first-year English majors at UTEHY campus II on the effects of using visuals to enhance memory English vocabulary Because of the limitations of the current Covid-19 pandemic situation, I only offer a few suggestions that could help improve some other research in the field If there is an opportunity for me to more in-depth research in the future I will research and interview with a larger number of students and go 39 deeper into using pictures to learn new words in speaking skill and will design as many interesting and useful activities to create more excitement and curiosity for FFT - UTEHY freshmen about how to learn vocabulary through pictures Students mainly rely on the learning plan that I have built, so I don't have much experience in designing and distributing it to more students I hope further research will focus on that 40 REFERENCES Books Lewis, M & Hill, J (1985) Practical Techniques for Language Teaching London: Commercial Colour Press Nguyen, B & Nguyen N (2002) A course in TEFL – Theory and practice II Hanoi: English Department – College of Foreign Languages- National University Richard, Platt (1992), vocabulary is “a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms.”(p 40) The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995:1331) As Wilkins (1972, p 111112) argues “without grammar, little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” West (1960) discussed about the size of vocabulary required for adequate skills West (1953) recommended the General Service List Nation, I S P (1990) Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Massachusetts Nation, I S P (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language New York: Cambridge University Press Grainger (2013), in his presentation about “Power of the image – 10 ways to use photographs” on January, 26, 2013 Burke, (1980:29), “ if a picture can save a thousand words, why not language teachers make greater use of them in their lesson? 10 Doda Bataragoa (1983:34-36) Developing Vocabulary Skill Websites https://www.tailieudaihoc.com/3doc/2373716.html http://www.En.wikipedia.org/wiki/vocabulary I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION Hello! My name is Nguyen Thi Huong, I am from class TAK15.1, Faculty of Foreign Language at Hung Yen University Technology and Education This survey questionnaire is designed for my study entitled “Enhancing vocabulary memorization through the uses of pictures for the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” 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 We look forward to your support in this research! GENERAL INFORMATION (THÔNG TIN CƠ BẢN) What is your gender? (Giới tính bạn) •Male (Nam) •Female (Nữ) How old are you? (Bạn tuổi?) ……………… Years old (tuổi) • How long have you been studying English (Bạn học tiếng Anh thời gian bao lâu?) • Dưới năm • – 11 năm • – năm • Nhiều 11 năm Question 1: What you think about vocabulary? A Boring B Interesting C Difficult II Question 2: How important you think about vocabulary? A Very important B Important C Not very important D Not important Question What is difficult you feel about using pictures to improve English vocabulary? A Lack of background knowledge B Lack of ideal building-up theme C Lack of concentration Question How much time you spend on English vocabulary through pictures? A Less than 15 minutes/day B 15 minutes – 30 minutes/day C hour – hour 30 minutes/day D More than hour 30 minutes/day E Other Question 5: How is the effectiveness of using pictures to enhance vocabulary memorization in your learning English vocabulary? A Very effective B Effective C Normally effective D Not effective Question What kinds of pictures you often use to learning English vocabulary? A Picture dictionary B The Flashcash C Infographic D Other III Question What kind of websites have pictures you often use? A Duolingo B Elsa Speak C Youtube D Other IV APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHER AT FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCTION This survey questionnaire is designed to support my study on using pictures to enhance vocabulary memorization Your assistance in completing this survey questionnaire is highly appreciated You can be sure that this questionnaire is for research only and that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Please choose the answer by circling or putting a tick in your choice and write the answer where necessary.( You can choose more than one answer for each question) Thank you very much for your cooperation! Your sex: A Male B Female Your years of teaching English: Question What you think about using pictures to improve English vocabulary memorization? A Difficult B Suitable C Interesting D Boring Question What you think about the students' ability about using pictures to improve English vocabulary memorization? A Very good B Good C Normally D Bad Question How is the benefit of pictures for teaching English vocabulary? A Very effective V B Effective C Normally effective D Not effective Question How is the difficulties when applying pictures for teaching vocabulary in class? A The teachers spend a long time preparing the lesson B Create excitement for the lesson for the students C Have many students in class and overload work D Low students’ proficiency E Other Question What is the solutions to overcome from the teachers when using pictures for enhance vocabulary memorization in the lesson? A Requires the students prepare the presentation of on the theme B Assign tasks to students C Divide into group D Teacher evaluate and give the point E Other What you recommend for the students when using pictures for enhance vocabulary memorization? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… VI APPENDIX INTERVIEW FOR STUDENT What you think about learning English vocabulary? What are common difficulties you often make when learning English vocabulary? How you solve these difficulties? Do you think about when apply pictures to enhancing English vocabulary in the lesson? Do you think these ways effective? How effective are they? What are common difficulties you often make when learning English vocabulary through pictures? How you solve these difficulties? How often you spend time learning English vocabulary through pictures?? How much time?