Trang 1 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI NHAT LE USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO ENHANCE THE MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH VOCABULARY OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS AT POPODOO
THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI NHAT LE USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO ENHANCE THE MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH VOCABULARY OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS AT POPODOO ENGLISH CENTER IN BAC NINH CITY M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN - 2023 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI NHAT LE USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO ENHANCE THE MOTIVATION TO LEARN ENGLISH VOCABULARY OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS AT POPODOO ENGLISH CENTER IN BAC NINH CITY M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: LE THI THU HUONG, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN - 2023 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYỄN THỊ NHẬT LỆ SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ ĐỂ NÂNG CAO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH TRÌNH ĐỘ SƠ CẤP TẠI TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ POPODOO THÀNH PHỐ BẮC NINH LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ (Định hướng ứng dụng) Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Cán hướng dẫn: TS Lê Thị Thu Hương THÁI NGUYÊN - 2023 DECLARATION I certify that the work presented in this research report has been performed and interpreted solely by myself I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A Degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification Thai Nguyen, March, 2023 Author’s signature Approved by SUPERVISOR Le Thi Thu Huong, Ph.D Nguyen Thi Nhat Le i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This M.A thesis could not have been accomplished without the invaluable help, encouragement, and support of a number of people whom I would like to show my sincerest gratitude and appreciation To begin with, I would like to express my greatest and deepest thankfulness to my supervisor, Lê Thị Thu Hương, PhD., for her enthusiastic and precious guidelines and advice throughout the duration of my thesis Without her instruction and supervision, this thesis could not have reached its fulfillment Moreover, my honest thanks also come to all students for taking part in this study Last but not least, I give my thanks to family and relatives who have always supported me and supplied the best conditions for me to complete this thesis ii ABSTRACT The present thesis was conducted to examine the extent to which the application of using language games enhances the motivation to learn English vocabulary of elementary students at Popodoo English center in Bac Ninh city Participants of this study were 28 students at Popodoo English center in Bac Ninh city Language games were used as a strategy to enhance students’ motivation in vocabulary learning This thesis was designed as action research The whole process of the research was divided into four steps of planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting on progress with aims to reduce the problems and to improve student’s motivation in learning vocabulary The research questions to be addressed in the thesis are: 1) How language games affect students' vocabulary learning? – 2) What are the students' attitudes towards the use of games in vocabulary learning? A survey questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and classroom observation were used as instruments to collect data for reflection throughout the research The results confirmed the positive effects of language games on enhancing their motivation in vocabulary learning as the level of motivation after the intervention increased significantly in comparison with that before the intervention In addition, the results indicated that the students had positive opinions towards the application of online games in vocabulary learning in all aspects of the ARCS model Keywords: action research, vocabulary, motivation, language games, ARCS model iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 The significance of the study 1.7 Design of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language games 2.1.1 Concept of language games .7 2.1.2 Roles of language games 2.1.3 Main types of language games 2.1.4 Advantages of language games .10 2.1.5 The Use of Language games 11 2.2 Vocabulary 11 2.2.1 Definition of the vocabulary 11 2.2.2 Types of vocabulary 12 2.2.3 Importance of vocabulary 13 2.3 Teaching vocabulary 14 2.3.1 The importance of vocabulary teaching 14 2.3.2 Process of vocabulary teaching .14 2.4 Learning vocabulary 15 2.5 Characteristics of young learners 17 2.6 Motivation 18 2.6.1 Definition of Motivation 18 2.6.2 Kinds of Motivation 19 2.6.3 Methods to enhance motivation in learning 21 2.6.4 ARCS Motivational Design Model 22 2.7 Previous studies on the impacts of using language games in English vocabulary learning 24 1.8 Summary 26 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 Action research 27 3.2 Research design 28 3.3 Participant selection 29 3.4 Materials 29 3.5 Intervention 30 3.6 Instruments: 31 3.6.1 Questionnaire and Interview 32 3.6.3 Observation 33 3.7 The study procedure 34 3.7.1 Identify the problems: 34 3.7.2 Action plan: .34 3.7.3 Evaluating the plan: 37 3.7.4 Survey questionnaire .37 3.8 Data collection procedure 40 3.9 Data analysis method and procedure 41 3.10 Summary 41 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS 42 4.1 Survey questionnaire 42 4.1.1 Questionnaire on Motivation in learning vocabulary 42 4.1.2 Questionnaire on the Use of language games 44 4.2 Semi-structured interview: 48 4.2.1 Attention 48 4.2.2 Relevance .48 4.2.3 Satisfaction 48 4.2.4 Confidence .49 4.3 Observation 49 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 53 5.1 Summary of findings 53 5.2 Implications 53 5.3 Limitations 53 5.4 Recommendations 54 5.5 Reflections 54 REFERENCES 56 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A: PRE-INTERVENTION QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX B: POST-INTERVENTION QUESTIONNAIRE II APPENDIX C: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE III APPENDIX D: OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .VI APPENDIX E: TEACHER OBSERVATION RECORD VII LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 IMMS scoring guide 39 Table 3.2 Relationship of interview questions to the ARCS model 40 Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics of students’ motivation in learning vocabulary 42 Table 4.2 Comparison of motivation between pre- and post-intervention 43 Table 4.3 Scale reliability based on Cronbach’s alpha 45 Table 4.4 Range of motivation level 45 Table 4.5 Overall mean scores of students’ evaluation 46 Table 4.6 Numbers of respondents in each level 46