Teaching and learning English vocabulary through short stories in some primary schools in Vinh=Dạy và học từ vựng tiếng Anh qua những câu chuyện ngắn trong một số trường Tiểu học ở Vinh

way how teach vocabulary to primary students in Vinh in an effective method.The study also aimed to indentify the teachers and students’ perceptions andreaction towards teaching and lear

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

(D ẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH QUA NHỮNG CÂU CHUYỆN NGẮN

TRONG MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở VINH)

MASTER thesis IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2013

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

(D ẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH QUA NHỮNG CÂU CHUYỆN NGẮN

TRONG MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở VINH)

FIELD: THEORY AND MOTHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE : 60.14.10

MASTER thesis IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Assoc.Prof.Dr TRUONG VIEN

Nghe An, 2013

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

(D ẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH QUA NHỮNG CÂU CHUYỆN NGẮN

TRONG MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở VINH)

MASTER thesis IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2013

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deep thanks to my supervisor, Dr Truong Vien, who has helped me a lot with his advice, directions, comments, criticism and encouragement for the accomplishment of this study.

I am also grateful to all teachers in the foreign languages department for their helpful advice and valuable lectures from which I benefited a lot in writing this study.

I also feel beholden to teachers and students from Le Loi primary school, Doi Cung primary school, Quang Trung primary school, Ha Huy Tap primary school, Le Mao primary school, Cua Nam primary school.

I wish to express my special thanks to Ms Dinh Thi Yen for her suggestions of the study.

I also really want to express my profound thanks to my family, my friends whose ideas, support and source of materials were great importance to me in carrying out this study.

Finally, my sincere thanks are due to all classmates who gave me some comments after reading my graduation thesis Many thanks to all of them.

I will always keep thanks!

Vinh, 2013 Tang Thi Thoa

way how teach vocabulary to primary students in Vinh in an effective method.The study also aimed to indentify the teachers and students’ perceptions andreaction towards teaching and learning new words through short stories.

The subjects of the research concluded teachers and 4th and 5th gradestudents in six primary schools in Vinh The two data collection methods used

in this study were the questionnaire and interviews The questionnaires weregiven to teachers who have taught English in Vinh primary schools Theseteachers were interviewed afterwards so as to investigate their perceptionstowards teaching and learning through short stories Students were interviewedunder the researcher’s clear instructions and assistance

Some main findings consisted teachers’ and learners’ perceptionstowards vocabulary in language learning, towards features of vocabulary,towards vocabulary teaching and consolidation techniques and towardsnecessity of teaching vocabulary through short stories Both teachers andlearners were aware of significance of vocabulary In addition, someperception on features of vocabulary were revealed, which were highly takenconsideration in teaching vocabulary Lastly, the results from thequestionnaire and interviews have show a number of teaching vocabularytechniques which excite students and produce effectiveness on rememberingvocabulary in the long run The researcher also concluded some implications

to improve the teaching and learning vocabulary in primary schools atpresent time The suggestions were put forward the benefit of teachers,administers and students

There are still a number of shortcomings in the study However, it hasbeen implemented with all my efforts, interests and inspiration

In general, the thesis has been conducted with the purpose of handingteachers and students of English some useful knowledge about vocabulary It

is hard for the author to deal with everything about them but hopefully, thethesis has introduced something new, creative and advantageous for teachingand learning vocabulary in primary school

1.1 The Reasons for choosing the study

1.2 The Aims of the Study

1.3 The Scope of the Study

1.4 The Design of the Study

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of vocabulary and its importance

2.2 Perspectives of knowing a word

2.3 Vocabulary teaching

2.3.1 The importance of teaching vocabulary

2.3.2 Teaching Vocabulary to children

2.3.3 Teaching vocabulary through short stories to children 2.3.4 The characteristics of from 8 to 12 years old

2.3.5 Aspects of vocabulary to be taugh

2.4 Vocabulary and context

2.4.1 Teaching vocabulary in context

2.4.2 Teaching guessing meaning from context

2.5 Techniques for presenting vocabulary

2.5.1 Presentation

2.5.2 Discovery techniques

2.5.3 Practice

2.6 Techniques of consolidating vocabulary

2.7 The value of short stories

3.3 Participant and research sites

3.4 Research instruments for data collection

3.4.1 The questionnaire for teachers

3.4.2 The interviews

3.5 Procedure of the study

3.5.1 Administrating the questionnaire

3.5.2 Administrating the interviews

3.6 Conclusion

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Data analysis from teacher questionnaires

4.1.1 Teachers’ perceptions towards vocabulary in language learning

4.1.2 Teachers’ perceptions towards features of vocabulary

4.1.3 Teachers’ perceptions towards vocabulary teaching and consolidation

techniques

4.1.4 Teachers’ perceptions towards necessity of teaching vocabulary through

reading short stories

4.2 Data analysis from teacher interviews

4.2.1 Teachers’ perceptions towards vocabulary in language learning

4.2.2 Teachers’ perceptions towards vocabulary teaching and consolidation

techniques as well as difficulties faced in the procedure

4.2.3 Teachers’ perceptions towards necessity of teaching vocabulary through

reading short stories

4.3 Data analysis from student interviews

4.3.1 Learners’ perception towards learning vocabulary

4.3.2 Learners’ perception towards presenting vocabulary technichques used

in language class

4.4 Discussion

4.4.1 Theoretical framework of the study

4.4.2 Discussion on the findings

4.4.2.1 Findings on the teacher s’ and learners’ perceptions towards vocabulary

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

5.1 Research questions revisited

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 The reasons for choosing the study

In the course of global integration, English has become the vital devicefor communication in all fields It is acting as a bridge which brings people fromdifferent countries in the world closer together Therefore, human beingsappreciated the role of English more and more

English has been considered to be the most necessary subject for students

in all levels of educational systems The demand of learning English is graduallyincreasing To meet the need of everybody, education is required to beimproved, how to find the most effective method in teaching English is theconcern now Open-door policy of many countries’ governments has beengiving people many chances to learn and practise English Nowadays, people allover the world learn English; therefore, English has become necessary for a lot

of people at different social positions Being aware of its importance, Ministry ofEducation and Training announced the decision that English has beenexperimented as a compulsory subject in primary schools

As a matter of fact, teaching English at the beginning level is extremelyimportant because it is seen as the foundation for the higher levels in the future.Many researchers present some reasons for teaching English at primary levelsincluding Brewster, Ellis, and Grard ( 1992 ) They say that the aim of earlyforeign language learning is to prepare young learner linguistically,psychologically, and culturally for language learning (p.23-2) The justification

of Singleton in Brumfit ( 1997 ) for this matter is “ the need for maximumlearning time for important languages the earlier you start the more time youget” (p7) In brief, teaching English language to primary students is veryessential It can give them linguistical, psychological and cultural preparationfor language learning It also increases the number of years learning foreignlanguage, the more they learn the more they get

At the beginning level, primary teachers often put emphasis upon teachingvocabulary which is viewed as the “ building blocks” of learning any language.The more they understand what they hear and the better they expressthemselves However, primary students’ vocabulary acquisition is oftenapproached through memorizing decontextualized word lists There are twoserious consequences when students learn vocabulary by the above method The

first problem relating to young learners’ characteristic, that is, they forgetsomething very quickly Writing down the correct words or group words isanother students’ trouble Learning new words by memorizing decontextualizedword lists shows a complete contrast to the concept that “most vocabulary isacquired from context” ( Sternberg,1987) In addition, children can learn wordsfrom written contexts ( Nagy et al., 1985, Mckeown, 1985) (as cited in Aist,2002).

Due to the facts above, it raises the issue how to teach and learn newwords for primary students in a contextual way In fact, short stories can help tosolve these problems because it meets the primary need: context The idea thatstudents can learn through reading short stories is attractive for many reasons.Short stories are kinds of interesting materials that help students learn andremember vocabulary in long term Moreover, because of the words are insidethe text, students can remember the way how to write down the words correctly For the reasons as above, I have decided to choose the topic : TEACHINGAND LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH SHORT STORIES IN SOMEPRIMARY SCHOOLS IN VINH

1.2 The Aims of the Study

For the reasons mentioned above, the thesis has been done with the wishthat it can contribute to the improvement in teaching English in general and inteaching vocabulary in primary schools The thesis aims to :

- Present some general knowledge about vocabulary

- Give some features of the situation of teaching and learning vocabulary inprimary school

- Help teachers and students be aware of the role of teaching and learningvocabulary

- Help students learn and remember vocabulary in long term

- Raises the issue how to teach and learn new words for primary students in

a contextual way

- Suggest some activities for teaching and learning vocabulary in primaryschool

1.3 The Scope of the Study

Investigates the necessity of teaching and learning vocabulary fromwritten contexts as well as to identify the teachers and students’ perceptions andreactions towards teaching and learning new words through short stories,entitled “TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH SHORTSTORIES IN SOME PRIMARY SCHOOL IN VINH” The research is aimed atsolving the following questions

1 What are teachers’ and students’ perceptions about using short stories

to teach and learn vocabulary in primary school?

2 How do teachers and students deal with the teaching and learning

of vocabulary through short stories in primary school?

1.4 The Design of the Study

The study consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter I Introduction

This part will introduce the problem leading to the study, purpose, scope,and organization of the study

Chapter II Literature review

Chapter III Methodology

Chapter IV Findings and discussion

Chapter V Conclusion and Implication

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of vocabulary and its importance

There are a lot of definitions of vocabulary given by linguist According

to Hatch and Brown ( 1995), vocabulary is a list or a set of words for aparticular language or set of words that individual speakers of a language mightuse (p.1) This means the only system involved here is alphabetical order indictionaries It can be concluded from Hatch and Brown’s perception onvocabulary is that vocabulary is written in alphabetical order in dictionariesbased on system or rule of foreign language

Also, Ur (1989) roughly defines vocabulary as “the words we teach in theforeign language” (p.60) It implies that vocabulary is written or spoken unit oflanguages as symbol of idea in foreign language For instance, if someonelearns new words in foreign, it means that someone learns vocabulary The

items in vocabulary may be more than a single word, for example post office mother-in-law, which expressing a single idea.

Furthermore, Mc Whorter ( 1989) states that vocabulary deals with thecompetence in recognizing individual words and in associating meaning withthe particular combination of letters that form a word (p.331) Words aresymbols, groups of letter that stand for either a physical object or an idea Then,recognising words means working its meaning or idea and how they are formed

by a combination of letters For example, the word chair in our minds a

physical reality, an object with a flat surface, supported by four legs and used to

for sitting On the other hand, the word love does not represent a physical

object It symbolises someone’s strong feeling of affection towards another Based on the three definitions above, vocabulary can be constructed as aseries of words in foreign language used to express meaning The words are thesymbol in form of groups of letters either a physical object or an idea It can beformed from a single or more than one word

The status of vocabulary within the curriculum has varied considerablyover these years During the 1950s and 1960s when audio-lingualism had adominant influence on methodology, vocabulary suffered significant neglect butmade something of a comeback during the 1970s under the influence ofcommunicative language teaching As a matter of fact, there is now generalagreement among vocabulary specialists that lexical competence is as the veryheart of communication competence, the ability to communicate successfullyand appropriately ( Coady and Huckin, 1979, cited in Decarrico, 2001, p 285)

For much of this century, the principal focus of the traditional Translation Method in ELT for years on a balanced diet of grammar andvocabulary has primarily brought about the low status of vocabulary TheAudio-Lingual Method was applied in ELT afterwards and was consideredbetter than Grammar- Translation Method in terms of using the target language.However, audio-lingualists suggested that the emphasis should be strongly onthe acquisition of the basic grammatical patterns, and then building a large

Grammar-vocabulary could come later (Nunan, 1991, p.117) It can be easily seen that therole of vocabulary in these days was inferior to that of grammar.

Only when the concept of communicative competence which focusedusing language for meaningful communication appeared and communicativeApproach was introduced in ELT, “vocabulary teaching was coming in to itsown” (Decarrico, 2001, p 286) and the status of vocabulary has beenconsiderably enhanced As cited in Nunan (1991), Hockette (1985) stated thatvocabulary was the easiest aspect of second language learning Thecomprehensive-based methods such as the Natural Approach (Krashen andTerrell, 1983) whose proponents pointed out that in the early stages of learningand using a second language one it better served by vocabulary than grammarand that one can ‘bypass’ grammar in going for meaning if one has a reasonablevocabulary use Rivers (1983) indicated that the acquisition of an adequatevocabulary was essential for successful second language use (p.125) He alsoset out the reasons including the important explanation, it was, withoutvocabulary we would be unable to use the structures and functions we may havelearnt for comprehensive communication (p 117, as cited in Nunant, 1991) These day, the consensus of opinion seems to be the growth of richvocabulary is an indispensable element in the acquisition of the second language.Since then, methodologists and linguists have increasingly been turning theirattention to vocabulary, stressing its importance in language teaching andreassessing some ways in which it is taught and learnt The problem in teachingvocabulary lie in the questions what it means to know a word and how to selectwhat word to teach English

2.2 Perspectives of knowing a word

As Hendrich informs vocabulary forms the naming part of communicativeact From the didactic point of view it is essential to count with it as with acomponent which adoption is mostly a question of memory In every casethe lexicon is a basic element of a language from both communicative andlanguage methodological point of view (Hendrich 1988:130) In action withword list the language methodological and psychological viewpoints are

applied Language methodology gives us at disposal mostly results of 10statistical researches with figures of frequency and distribution of terms bothgenerally, in speech, in written form, or in different styles These figuresserve well for basis of effective foreign language vocabulary choice andpractice Psychology gives us valuable suggestions how to acquire andremember a foreign language lexicon optimally and how to practise thevoluble use of this lexicon in communicative process

Besides, psychology teaches us the importance and utilization ofmotivation and how to overcome difficulties when acquiring a foreign language.(Hendrich 1988:130)

Hendrich divides vocabulary of an individual as both active, meaningproductive, and passive, meaning receptive This discrimination ispurposeful particularly when teaching foreign languages because words thatlearners have to acquire actively have to be served and practised differentlythan those words that are intended for receptive adoption (Hendrich1988:130)

Also Scrivener points out that the important consideration for teachersplanning vocabulary work is the distinction between productive andreceptive vocabulary He explains the disctinction between them that peopleunderstand many more words than they actually use in everyday situations,and that receptive vocabulary is the set of words that people recognize andunderstand, but tend not to use themselves (Scrivener 1994:74)

Acquiring active word list is sometimes considered to be the most difficulttask when learning a foreign language According to some methodologistsactive mastering of a foreign language subject matter is substantially moredifficult than passive mastering (Hendrich 1988:131)

According to Hendrich, vocabulary classification is possible tomaintain from different viewpoints: formal (for example word classes);mechanical (alphabeticaly, or according to the frequency); semantic, that isaccording to the relationships of language marking to off-language reality oraccording to the relationships of meaning (synonyms, antonyms, etcetera); orfrom the grammatical viewpoint, mainly paradigmatic, which is grouping wordstogether according to the same grammatical characteristics (Hendrich1988:131)

It is obvious that the various facets of knowing a word should be complete

considered Some people believe that vocabulary knowledge consists of simpletwo facets- meaning and word form But the potential knowledge can be knowabout a word is rich and complex Nation (1990:31) proposes the following list

of the different kinds of knowledge that a person must master so as to know aword.

 The meaning(s) of the word

 The written form of the word

 The spoken form of the word

 The grammatical behavior of the word

 The collocations of the word

 The register of the word

 The association of the word

 The frequency of the word Another perception on knowing a word is (1) knowing its pronunciationand stress; (2) knowing its spelling and grammatical properties; (3) knowing itsmeaning; (4) knowing how and when to use it to express the intended meaning(Wang, 2006, p.118)

In a much clearer and more detailed way, Harmer (1991, p 158)concludeds “Knowing a word” in the following way:

WORDS

What has been discussed so far is to clarify that knowing a word meansmuch more than just understanding its meaning(s), Thus, teachers somehowmust help students to understand what this knowledge implies both in generaland for certain words in particular By being aware students will be morereceptive to the contextual behavior of words when they first see them in textsand they will be better able to manipulate both the meanings and forms of theword

2.3 Vocabulary teaching

2.3.1 The importance of teaching vocabulary

"If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh" (Jeremy Harmer) An

ability to manipulate grammatical structure does not have any potential forexpressing meaning unless words are used We talk about the importance

"choosing words carefully" in certain communications, but we are less concernedabout choosing structures carefully, unless of course we are in a languageclassroom Then structural accuracy seems to be the dominant focus In real life,however, it is possible that where vocabulary is used correctly, it can cancel outstructural inaccuracy, but communication's purpose is still achieved

However, for many years in the past, the importance of vocabulary

teaching was not appreciated Vocabulary was just seen as incidental to the

INFORMATION

WORD GRAMMAR

VerbsComplementation

Style and register

Spellingandpronunciation

Adjectivesandadverbs

main purpose of language teaching - namely the acquisition of grammaticalknowledge about the language Vocabulary was necessary to give studentssomething to hang on to when learning structures, but was frequently not a mainfocus for learning itself.

Recently, in the highlight of Communicative Approach, the importance of vocabulary teaching is highly appreciated Methodologists and

linguists have increasingly been turning their attention to vocabulary, stressingits importance in the language teaching and reassessing some of the ways inwhich it is taught and learnt It is, now, clear that the acquisition of grammar -though the two are obviously interdependent - and teachers should have the samekind of expertise in the teaching of vocabulary as they do in the teaching ofstructure

2.3.2 Teaching Vocabulary to children

Though each child learns at different speeds and often in very differentways, experts, as well as many teachers, find that there are many similarities ofthe learning characteristics among certain age groups These similarities canform the basis of teaching styles and education curriculum

Teaching English to children is definitely different from that to adult.Owing to their unique characteristics, children have a greater need to bemotivated and activities to learn effectively

Because vocabulary knowledge is critical to readingcomprehension, it is important that those working with young readers help fostertheir development of a large “word bank” and effective vocabulary learningstrategies There are several effective explicit (intentional, planned instruction)and implicit (spontaneous instruction as a child comes to new words in a text).Some strategies that teacher can teach vocabulary to children

One of the most effective methods of helping children learn new

vocabulary words is to teach unfamiliar words used in a text prior to the readingexperience Teachers (either alone or with the children) should preview readingmaterials to determine which words are unfamiliar Then these words should bedefined and discussed It is important for the teachers to not only tell thechildren what the word means, but also to discuss its meaning This allows thechildren to develop an understanding of the word’s connotations as well as its

denotation Also, discussion provides the teacher with feedback about how wellthe children) understands the word After pre-teaching vocabulary words, thechildren should read the text.

It may seem common sense that the more times we are exposed to a word,the stronger our understanding becomes However, repeated exposure to newvocabulary words is often ignored Teacher often forget a person (especially achild) needs to hear and use a word several times before it truly becomes a part

of her vocabulary Providing multiple opportunities to use a new word in itswritten and spoken form helps children solidify their understanding of it

Like pre-teaching, the keyword method occurs before a child reads aparticular text In this method, unfamiliar words are introduced prior to reading.However, rather than encouraging the child to remember a definition for a newword, the teacher teaches him a “word clue” to help him understand it This

“word clue” or keyword might be a part of the definition, an illustrative example

or an image that the children connects to the word to make it easier to rememberthe meaning when reading it in context The idea behind the keyword method is

to create an easy cognitive link to the word’s meaning that the children canaccess efficiently during a reading experience

This strategy is particularly effective for helping struggling childrenimprove their vocabularies Sometimes grade level materials are inaccessible tochildren because there are too many unfamiliar words in them Teacher canrestructure the materials in several different ways to help children comprehend

them more easily A portion of the difficult words can be replaced with “easier”synonyms to help the children understand the overall text Vocabulary footnotes(definitions provided at the bottom of the page) can be added for particularlychallenging words so that the children can easily “look up” the word while stillreading the text An accompanying vocabulary guide can be provided for thetext Words that are included in the guide should be highlighted or printed inbold text to direct the children to check the vocabulary guide if the word or itsmeaning is unfamiliar.

Incidental vocabulary learning occurs all of the time when we read Based

on the way a word is used in a text we are able to determine its meaning Whileyou may not know what a specific word means, many times you can determineits meaning based on what the rest of the sentence focuses on Teachers shouldmodel this sort of incidental vocabulary learning for children to help themdevelop their own skills

Context skills are the strategies that a child uses for incidental vocabularylearning Texts are full of “clues” about the meanings of words Other words in asentence or paragraph, captions, illustrations and titles provide children withinformation about the text that they can use to determine the meanings ofunfamiliar words These features are often referred to as “context clues” becausethey are contained within the context of the piece of writing rather than outside

it Children should be taught to find and use context clues for learning newvocabulary words Teacher modeling and practice are key for helping childrendevelop this important vocabulary skill

2.3.3 Teaching vocabulary through short stories to children

The notion that the main objective of EFL teaching is to help students tocommunicate fluently in the target language cause most teachers still believe that

an EFL class should focus on mastering linguistic elements only However,recent trend in EFL teaching indicates the necessity of integrating literaturebecause its rich potential to provide an authentic model of language use Amongliterary genres, short stories seem to be the most suitable choice for this due to itspotential to help students enhance the four skills listening, speaking, reading andwriting more effectively because of the motivational benefit embedded in thestories As a teacher using a story in the classroom, there are many ways ofusing and exploiting the stories to help children understand and add to theirenjoyment

Short stories are one of suitable literary genre to use in English teaching due

to its shortness, is supported by Collie and Slater (1991: 196) when they list fouradvantages of using short stories for language teachers First, short stories arepractical as their length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two classsessions Second, short stories are not complicated for students to work with ontheir own Third, short stories have a variety of choice for different interests andtastes The use of short-story in English teaching should be aimed toencourage the students to use what they have previously learnt By doing this, thelearning process will be student-centered However, the teacher plays a greatrole She/he must choose a suitable text to use in class, and should help her/hisstudents understand the story with various activities

In using short stories to teach English, story selection is indeed one of themost important roles of the teacher Since the lengths of short-stories quite vary,choose a story short enough to handle within course hours The shortness of thetext is important for the students because they will see that they can read,understand and finish something in English, and it will give the students a feeling

of achievement and self-confidence

Vocabulary and sentence structure of the short-story to be studied must besuitable to the level of the students The short-stories with archaic, slang, foreignwords, and allusions, having sentences imitating the speech of a particularlocality or ignorant people or foreigners should be avoided if the text is intendedfor students below intermediate level Similarly, very long sentences are difficultfor students to understand As students will not understand these sentences andwords, they will get bored and not read the work Therefore, before giving theshort-story, the teacher should decide the readability of the text

In order to meet that readability criterion, using graded or simplified stories

is possibly the most practical way According to Ur (1996: 150), “… the use of the use of

‘authentic’ text with less proficient learners is often frustrating and productive” Therefore, the use of simplified text with less proficient readers ishighly suggested for the sake of suiting the texts with the level of students Spack(1985) suggests the aspect of interest to be considered According to him, it isimportant for the teacher to choose stories that would interest students that he/shemost likes to read and teach, and that have been made into film to provide visualinterpretation McKay (2001: 322) and Rivers (1968: 230) point out that studentsread and enjoy a text if the subject-matter of the text is relevant to their lifeexperience and interests.

Short stories allow teachers to teach the four skills to all levels of languageproficiency Murdoch (2002: 9) indicates that “short stories can, if selected andexploited appropriately, provide quality text content which will greatly enhanceELT courses for learners at intermediate levels of proficiency” According tohim, short stories could be very beneficial materials in ELT reinforcement byusing them in learning activities such as, discussion, writing and acting outdialogues.

2.3.4 The characteristics of children from 8 to 12 years old

As with the younger age group, 8- to 12-year-olds will still benefit mostfrom learning by seeing and doing simultaneously Their active nature meansthey are likely to absorb more information in a hands-on environment

Making vocabulary practice exciting is important for 4th and 5th graders toreinforce their regular vocabulary lessons Teaching and learning vocabularythrough short stories help cultivate students’ interest in learning by giving themthe opportunity to practice vocabulary concepts in a fun way They can practicevocabulary word lists, reinforcing the concepts of syllables, compound words,contractions, parts of speech, spelling and word meaning as well as continuing apattern of vocabulary building by learning about antonyms, synonyms andhomonyms, root words, suffixes, prefixes, homophones and word meaning The study focuses on the 4th and 5th graders who have the followingcharacteristics according to Clark(1990):

They are developing conceptually They develop their way of thinkingfrom the concrete to the abstract thing Teachers should bear in mind thedistinctiveness so as to apply in language teaching to children They aredeveloping their common skills such as turn taking and the use of body languageand they learn slowly They get bored easily so that the class activities should befun and interesting They are better mimics It will take them more confident inattempting the sound of foreign language They forget quickly Therefore,

teachers need some techniques to teach vocabulary effectively and revise themproperly ( Clark, 1990, as cited in Scott and Ytrberg, 1990, pp 6-8).

In addition, their general concepts are formed and they are learning to readand write in their own language and somehow become competent users of theirmother tongue It will be too hard to investigate the English vocabulary learning

of 6-year-old students who have just been taught the Vietnamese alphabet.Second, 4th and 5th graders are developing as thinkers, which make it easy whenthey threat a text (Slattery, M and Willis, J.,2001) Regarding to their languagedevelopment, by the end of ten, students can understand a bit abstracts,understand symbols beginning with words and generalise and systematise ( Scottand Ytrberg, 1990, pp 3-4)

It can be conclude that teachers need suitable approaches , excitingactivities and ways to motivate students based on their characteristics in teachingEnglish in general and teaching vocabulary

2.3.5 Aspects of vocabulary to be taught

When learning a new subject, the basic material must be learned before it

becomes possible to understand more complicated information The simplestinformation is how we talk about a topic, or the vocabulary needed to discuss it.Once that is mastered, it becomes easier to build upon the information to talkabout more complex ideas and think more critically about what is being taught

There is a bit different from teaching vocabulary and presenting

vocabulary Teaching vocabulary is obviously more than just presenting newwords This may have its places but there are other issues For example, there arelots of words which students have to learn during a week Some of them are usedstraight away, others are not Some words should be taught for structure practice

and so on Let us look at “ Active and passive” to get deeper understanding about

active and passive vocabulary as well as to decide which words should be taughtfor students

In teaching and learning vocabulary, it is necessary to be aware of adistinction between active or productive and passive or receptive vocabulary Different researchers have different point of views about active and passivevocabulary Wang,(2006) defines passive/ receptive vocabulary as words whichone is able to recognize and comprehend in reading and listening but unable touse automatically in speaking or writing Those words that one is not only able torecognize but also able to use in speech and writing are named as one’sactive/productive vocabulary He also states that at beginning level most newwords learnt by students have immediate practical use, so they quickly becomeone’s productive /active vocabulary However , during the long acquisition

process, “students will find that for some words they are able to use for speakingand writing but for many words they can only be recognized when encountered

in reading” (Wang, 2006, p 120)

Nation (2001) (as cited in Wang, 2006, p 120) gives thorough details aboutreceptive and productive vocabulary From his opinions, receptive/passiveknowledge involves:

(1) Being able to recognise the word when it is heard;

(2) Being familiar with its written form so that it is recognized when it ismet in reading;

(3) Recognizing that it is made up some parts and being able to relate theseparts to its meaning;

(4) Knowing that the word signals a particular meaning;

(5) Knowing what the word means in the particular context in which it hasjust occurred

(6) Knowing the concept behind the word which will allow understanding

in variety of contexts;

(7) Knowing that there some related words;

(8) Being able to recognise that the word has been used correctly in the sentence in which it occurs;

(9) Being able to recognise the typical collocations;

(10) Knowing that the word is not an uncommon one and is not apejorative word

Productive knowledge of a word includes receptive knowledge and someother abilities It involves:

(1) Being able to say it with correct pronunciation including stress;

(2) Being able to write it with correct spelling;

(3) Being able to construct it using the right word parts in their appropriateforms;

(4) Being able to produce the words to express the meaning;

(5) Being able to produce the word in different contexts to express therange of its meaning;

(6) Being able to produce synonyms and opposites for it;

(7) Being able to use the word correctly in an original sentence;

(8) Being able to produce words that commonly occur with it;

(9) Being able to decide to use or not use the word to suit the degree offormality of the situation

According to Harmer (1991), active vocabulary refers to words thatstudents have been taught or learnt and which they are expected to be able to use

He states that passive vocabulary refers to vocabulary which the students willrecognise when they meet them but which they will probably not be able toproduce (p.159).

One problem faced is that how many words students should be taught andlearnt, which will become students’ active vocabulary In general, teachersshould consider the frequency of words before making decisions That means theintended words must belong to the group of words which is frequently used bynative speakers There are around 2,500 high frequency words and other 40,000-60,000 low frequency words in English language Although the number of highfrequency words is much less than that of low frequency words, it comprises90% of all conversations Conversely, low frequency words which are mostlyrare or technical words make up the rest of an educated native speaker’svocabulary

From the definitions and clear explanations above, it is concluded thatpassive vocabulary includes the low frequency words which students can stillrecognise them in reading or listening ( productive skills) but unable to use inspeech or writing On the other hand, active vocabulary involves the highfrequency words that students can not only recognize but also automatically use

to speak or write (receptive skills) Being aware of the distinction between activeand passive vocabulary assist teachers which words should be taught to student.Indeed, teachers should focus on teaching the basic 2,500 high frequency wordswhich become the foundation for students’ language growth

2.4 Vocabulary and context

2 4.1 Teaching vocabulary in context

Traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary above elementary levels wasmostly incidental, limited to presenting new items as they appeared in reading orsometimes listening texts This indirect teaching of vocabulary assumes thatvocabulary expansion will happen through the practice of other language skills,which has been proved not enough to ensure vocabulary expansion

Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part ofthe syllabus, and taught in a well-planned and regular basis Some authors, led byLewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching,because ‘language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar’.Students might even have a receptive knowledge of a wider range of vocabulary,which means they can recognise the item and recognise its meaning.Nevertheless, their productive use of a wide range of vocabulary is normallylimited, and this is one of the areas that need greater attention At this stage weare concerned not only with students understanding the meaning of words, but

also being able to use them appropriately, taking into account factors such as oral/ written use of the language; degree of formality, style and others

One more thing that cannot be ignored in vocabulary teaching is that

“language reflects the contexts in which it is used and the purposes to which it isput” ( Nunan, 1991, p 121) As a result, language in general and vocabularyspecifically is best encountered and learnt in context Kruse (1979:209) makesfive suggestions for teaching written vocabulary in context

1 Word elements such as prefixes, suffixes and roots The ability to

recognise component parts of works, word families, and so on is probably thesingle most important vocabulary skill a student of reading in EFL can have Itsubstantially reduces the number of completely new words he will encounter andincrease his control of the English lexicon

2 Pictures, diagrams and charts These clues, so obvious to the native

speaker, must often be pointed out to the EFL student He may not connect theillustration with the item that is giving him difficultly He may also be unable to

read charts and graphs in English.

3 Clues of definitions The student must be taught to notice the many

types of highly useful definitions clues Among these are:

a) Parentheses and footnotes, which are the most obvious definition clues b) Synonyms and antonyms

4 Inferences clues from discourse, which are usually not confined to one

5 General aids, which usually do not help student with specific meaning,

narrow the possibilities These include the function of the word in question, i.e

noun, adjective, etc and the subject being discussed ( As cited in Nunan, 1991,p.121).

These suggestions for teaching in context are absolutely not fitting in allcircumstances In order to teach vocabulary in context at the elementary level,some suggestions such as finding parts of speech or teaching the suffix or prefixcan be employed in vocabulary teaching To conclude, the techniques used forteaching vocabulary to primary students must be Simple and easy to carry out.Setting up the interesting activities to stimulate students is another matter thatteachers should not make light of

2.4.2 Teaching guessing meaning from context

We should teach and encourage readers to use the guessing strategy, butnot at all times, not with all learners, not with all contexts, and certainly not asthe main means of learning vocabulary We have seen that readers use thestrategy for different reasons and in different ways, partly because differences inlevels of vocabulary knowledge affect their ability, need and willingness toconstruct context This implies that we need to be selective about who weencourage to use the strategy, and that in the early stages extensive languagelearning should not be expected to take place through reading In Eskey's (1988)words, the emphasis would be on "learning to read" as opposed to "reading tolearn."

Indeed, a large sight vocabulary has been shown to enhance guessing formcontext (Laufer, 1996) Clearly, this evidence supports active teaching ofvocabulary Although direct vocabulary teaching has been out of favor recently,there is definitely reason to reassess arguments against it and to look for effectiveways to balance vocabulary learning through direct instruction and incidentalexposure It is important to remember that not all contexts are equal Haynes(1984) found that guessing which only required reference to immediate sentencecontext was more effective than guessing which depended on textual elementsfarther away from the target word In other words, guessing using local context issuperior to guessing using global context We should also teach when not toguess Accordingly, if guessing requires global context, the guessing strategyshould be abandoned and the dictionary or other resource should be used instead.There is ample evidence in support of its effectiveness reading, especially withchildren, but research and experience show that these findings do not apply well

to adult readers

Indeed, background knowledge and schema activation can play animportant part in the guessing strategy (Barnett, 1989) Still, top-down strategiescan also lead readers to ignore words, and improper use of a schema or ofbackground know ledge can lead readers to wrong conclusions about context andword meaning (Laufer, 1996) All things considered, the case for directvocabulary teaching and against the guessing strategy is strong, at least for low-and intermediate level readers

Some guessing may be useful to teach because it encourages readers tomake and test predictions, which is a useful generalized reading skill (Liu andNation, 1985) But the evidence discussed above dictates a selective approach, bythe reader and the teacher Instruction should include training in what contextsprovide the best opportunities for successful guessing, and must avoid urging use

of the guessing strategy in all cases where readers encounter unknown words.Otherwise, guessing can easily become a strategy for frustration anddemotivation instead of for improved reading and learning

The first factor that affects the likelihood of success in guessing meaningfrom context lies in word selection Teachers have to decide which wordsstudents should learn, which words they should guess from the context andwhich words they should ignore They also should mark the words that can beguessed by simple underline them The following strategies for guessing themeaning should then be taught to students First, teachers ask students to look tosee if the word is repeated later If so, students should compare the usage in twocontexts Students should be asked to find the parts of speech of the unknownword from endings and grammar pattern and preceding auxiliaries like ‘ is’/ ‘are’

or ‘have’/ ‘has’ will denote a verb, ‘ly’ an adverb and articles or quantifiers willcome first a noun Students can be identified proper nouns by capital letters.Students should continue reading the text after the new words and studentsshould be trained to read the surrounding words carefully The rationale for this

is that most of the clues that help to guess are within 5 to 10 words forwards orbackwards from the unknown word Students should also learn how to checktheir guesses Students should do this by substituting the difficult word with asynonym or the word’s translation in Vietnamese and seeing if the text thenmakes sense

Teaching guess meaning from context to children is a debatable matter It

is a quite hard procedure to 4th and 5th graders but it is necessary for them to learnvocabulary effectively Hopefully, these steps carried out under the valuablehelps of their teachers, students are able to be gradually skilled at guessing,thereby, remembering new words longer

2.5 Techniques for presenting vocabulary

Presenting new vocabulary or reviewing previous vocabulary is a very

important part of an English language lesson Proper presentation and checking can aid students in remembering the new vocabulary and quickly understand definitions

Vocabulary is clearly seen as a significant component of language learning.

Hence, the attention which is being given by methodologists to the most effectiveways to promote the command of vocabulary among learners is obvious Thereare a variety of techniques for presenting new words Let us look at Harmer’ssuggestions including Presentation, discovery techniques and Practice (Harmer,

1991, p 161)

2.5.1 Presentation

It is assumed that the following form of presentation is the best way to

bring new words in to the classroom

 Visual

This means using a drawing or picture to introduce the new word Visualsshould always be clear and easy for students to see and understand

 Eliciting from the students

A good teacher never gives students the answer unless no student in theclass knows Students remember better and feel more a part of the lesson if theteacher is always trying to get the answer from them This is called eliciting.Presenting vocabulary is a good place to engage students in the lesson

When the teacher introduces the new vocabulary the teacher should ‘setthe scene’ or focus students on how and where the new vocabulary is used Once the word has been given (by student or teacher) the teacher shouldmodel the word, giving accurate and correct pronunciation The students thenrepeat the word as the teacher modeled it This is called a chorus The teachershould model and the students chorus the word no less than three times Then theteacher calls on several individual students to say the word, checking for accuratepronunciation When this is all done the teacher tacks the visual on the board After all of the new vocabulary has been introduced then the teacher points

at the first visual and the students say the word The teacher then writes that word

on the board in the appropriate place

 Action and gesture

It cannot always use the above ways to explain meaning of words It is thebest way to use actions to illustrate concepts like running, jumping Towards like

‘ fly a kite’, teachers mine flying a kite and ask students to guess what they aredoing

In the field of sense relation, we mention about synonyms/ antonyms andgeneral/ specific These can logically become techniques of presenting newwords

 Contrast

We use antonyms to teach meaning We can present meaning of ‘hot’ bycontrasting it with ‘cold’, ‘big’ by contrasting it with ‘small’ Presenting theseconcepts may achieve higher effectiveness by association with pictures or mine

 Enumeration

We employ the use of enumeration to teach meaning of a word Forexample, we can teach ‘furniture’ by listing its various items such as tables,chairs, beds and so on

 Explanation

At beginner and elementary levels, it is rather difficult for students tounderstand if teachers use explanation to teaching meaning of vocabulary items

This is the least effective method of introducing vocabulary to the students.While it is easy for the teachers to do, the students don’t remember the word aswell, nor are they able to understand (without further explanation or translation)how and when the word is used.

 Translation

This technique commonly used in most the classroom because translation

is a quick and easy way However, it remains some hindrances In the first place

it is not always easy to translate from English to the mother tongue, say,Vietnamese and in the second place, if possible translation occurs, it may make it

a bit too easy for students by discouraging them from interacting with the words Harmer (1991) wraps up that all of these presentation techniques either singly

or in combination are useful ways of introducing new words

2.5.2 Discovery techniques

The problem is to determine which teaching methods can beeffectively used to enhance vocabulary learning for pupils of differentages The number of vocabulary words earned determines ultimate languageproficiency The teacher is faced with finding methodologies to minimizeimpatience and boredom on the part of young learners Evidence has alreadyshown that cooperative learning is an effective device allowing students touse each other‟ potential while engaging in different communicativelearning activities We should research various specific teaching approaches,

as well as designing some creative games and activities for in-class use inorder to put the isolated vocabulary into an integrated linguistic environmentand a context meaningful to the students Hence, students will have greaterenthusiasm for the learning process as well as remembering larger numbers ofEnglish words to use in a communicative manner This will prepare and allowthe slightly older student who has built a knowledge base to participatemore effectively in cooperative learning with its communicative possibilities Let us look at a number of examples for discovery techniques from simplematching tasks to more complex understanding of connotation and context Some

of them can be adapted to teach at primary levels although most of thesetechniques allow students more involvement than a presentation led by theteachers

 Basic Functional Vocabulary

In order to understand, speak, read and write a language, the students mustacquire the basic functional vocabulary New words are carefully selected,gradually introduced, and graded to make language learning smooth and easy

 Adjectives

This kind of matching task can be suitable for primary students Studentscan be give numbered pictures and some relevant definitions Students will beasked to use their bilingual dictionaries to look up the new words Then they willmatch the definitions with the appropriate pictures.

 Parts of the body

This example is originally for intermediate students to broaden thematching of words to pictures as well as revise vocabulary they have alreadylearnt However, this kind of activity can be adapted to teach vocabulary toprimary students

 Around the house

This activity uses the ‘mind map’ technique or so-called “vocabularynetwork”

 Ways of moving

Students who are at their post-elementary level are given the text first andthen guess the meaning of the new words by filling in the table of word anddefinition

This kind of activity can be used by teachers when working with texts.This discovery activity is also practical because students learn vocabulary items

in context

2.5.3 Practice

These activities models are designed to encourage students to use words in

an involving way; though most of them are hard to bring in to play in classroom

in primary schools

2.6 Techniques of consolidating vocabulary

All word learning tasks are not equal in difficulty A child may understandthe concept behind a word, but not know the word itself .Learning a new wordthat represents a known concept is not as difficult as learning a new word thatrepresents a new concept Teachers in the primary grades introduce many newconcepts, and direct instruction is necessary to build up the understanding ofthese concepts and the vocabulary words that represent them

When teaching vocabulary words that represent known concepts, theemphasis should always be on the context in which the word appears Discussingthe meaning of the word from the context of the reading selection together withsupplying a definition of the word will help to build meaning for students Ifstudents are to acquire this word as part of their vocabulary, then they must begiven repeated exposure of the word in a variety of contexts They must also haveopportunities to practise using the word in conversation

Perhaps, it is less difficult to learn vocabulary items for the first time than

to consolidate and remember them From the researcher’s observation, primarystudents often forget what they have learnt and this may due to lack ofappropriate vocabulary consolidation techniques When students studyvocabulary individually, very often it is rote learning whose effectiveness isseldom guaranteed When they study in groups through various activities andunder the teacher’s supervision, vocabulary learning becomes more fun andeffectiveness is increased

It is very important for teachers to check after presenting vocabulary, whichnot only to check student’s understanding but also to help students memorisenew vocabulary Here are some techniques for checking vocabulary some ofthem are to check students understanding the meaning of a new vocabulary:others are to get students to recognise new vocabulary

- The students choose any five and copy them into their books

- The teacher reads out the words in any order

- Each time, the student has one of the words that the teacher reads He orshe puts a tick next to that word

- The first student to tick all five words shouts “Bingo!!!”

 Guess the pictures

Teaching goal: to get a lot students to practice saying the new words in ameaningful way

- Make A4 pictures of the new words you are going to teach

- Put the picture in a pile

- Get the students to come to the front and choose one of the pictures

- Make sure nobody else can see which picture has been chosen

- Get the rest of the class to guess which picture it is

- Students ask, “is it a …?”

- The first student to guess the picture correctly comes up to the front,chooses a new picture and the game continues

 Jumbled words

Teaching goal: to get students to practice spelling new words

- The teacher writes 5 or 6 words with jumbled letters on the board and tellsthe students the topic is

- Students write the words correctly in their books

- Students come to the board to write the correct words there to see ifeveryone agrees

 Matching

Teaching goal: to get students to match the new vocabulary withdefinitions, translations of pictures To save time, pre-teaching… the use of

- Write the new words in a list on the left hand side on the board

- Write definitions, translations, or draw pictures, on the right hand side ofthe board

- Get students to come up to the board and “match” items in the left handlist with the item in the right hand list by drawing a line between them

- Four or five students can work at the board at the same time

 Noughts and crosses

Teaching goal: to get students to put new vocabulary into sentence

- The teacher puts a grid on the board with nice new words in it

- The students work in pairs ONE of the students copies the grid in his orher book

- One student is “noughts” (“O” and the other is “X”)

- One student starts He or she chooses a word and makes a sentence with it

If the sentence incorrect, he or she puts her mark “o” or “x” in the square

- The first student to get three in a row (across, down, diagonally) wins.

 Ordering

Teaching goal: to get students recognize the pronunciation of new wordsand give them listening practice

- Teach the new words and write them on the board in wrong order

- Get the students to copy the words in their books

- Read or tell a story with the new words in it Get the students to put thewords in the correct order by numbering them

 Rub out and remenber

Teaching goal: to help students memorize new vocabulary

- Present or elicit the new vocabulary and build up a list on the blackboard

- After each word put the Vietnamese translation

- Get the trainees to copy into their books and then ask them to close theirbooks

- Rub out the new words one at a time

- Each time you rub out a word in English, point to the Vietnamese and ask

“What’s this in English?”

- When all the English words are rubbed out, go through the Vietnameselist and get the trainees to call out the English word

 Slap the board

Teaching goal: to get students recognize new vocabulary through listening

To check students understanding the meaning of new vocabulary

- Ask three or four students to be observers and ask them to follow yoursteps and say why it is a useful technique

- Put the new words all over the board – not in a list

- If you want to check understanding, put the Vietnamese translation of thenew words or pictures on the board

- Call 2 students or call 2 tams of trainees to the front of the class

- Ask them to stand at an equal distance form the blackboard

- Call out one of the new words in a loud voice

- The two students must run forward and slap the words on the blackboard.

- The one who slaps the correct word first is the winner

- If you are playing in teams, the winning team gets a mark

- Then ask two more students to come forward, etc

Notes: There are two points to remember in SLAP THE BOARD If youuse only English, learners are recognizing the words through listening However,

if you use Vietnamese translation or pictures, you can check the meaning of thenew vocabulary

 What and where

Teaching goal: To help student’s memories new vocabulary or to revisevocabulary

- Follow the same procedure as the RUB and REMEMBER and SLAP THEBOARD; choose observers

- Elicit words to do with the classroom from the students

- As the students five you the word, write it on the blackboard inside acircle

- Do not write the words in a list

- When all the words are on the blackboard, rub out one of the words but donot rub out the circle

- Get the students to repeat the word including the rubbed-out word bypointing at the empty circle

- Rub out another word but leave the circle

- Point to the words or the empty circle

- The students read or remember the words

- Continue until all the circles are empty

- The students now have to remember all the words

- Ask the students (6 or 8 at a time) to come to the blackboard and fill in thecircles with the correct words.

 Word square

Teaching goal: To get students to recognize the spelling of new words

- The teacher writes the word square on the board or makes a poster of it

- The teacher tells the students what the topic is and how many hiddenwords there are The students come to the board and circle any word theycan see

 Word storm

Teaching goal: to get students to put new vocabulary into sentence

- Get students to work in pair and brainstorm all the words they know on atopic, e.g., “vegetable”

- Students A thinks of a word and tell student B

- Both students write down the word

- Student B thinks of another word, tells student A and they both write itdown

- When they have thought of all the words they can, put two pairs together

to share their lists

- One pair reads to the other pair who ticks off the same words or adds anynew words The group with the most word is the winner

Below are some another vocabulary consolidation activities as cited inWang (2006) that can help them revise the newly learned vocabulary and get thewords in to active use

Labeling

Spot the difference

Describe and draw

Categories Using network

Using the intenet resources for more ideas (p.126)

2.7 The value of short stories

2.7.1 Concept of stories

Stories have captivated children and adults for centuries Before they werewritten down, they were passed orally from one generation to the next Indeed, asGordon Pradl stated in 1984, " Without stories, our experiences would merely

be unevaluated sensations from an undifferentiated stream of events Stories arethe repository of our collective wisdom about the world of social/culturalbehavior; they are the key mediating structures for our encounters with reality.”(Pradl, G 1984) This “mediating structure” is learned at an early age in a child’slife According to Arthur Applebee, professor at the University of Albany, achild’s idea of a story is similar to other cognitive abilities in that it isdevelopmental Applebee discovers six event-arranging developmental stages inhis research that shows how a child develops a concept of story Thedevelopmental stage begins with lists of unrelated topics, he calls "heaps", andmoves to a more complex stage called the "true narrative"

As a teacher understands the stages of story development, the teacher isbetter able to design instruction to meet the developmental needs of theindividual student Graesser, Golding and Long stated, “The conceptualfoundation of narrative rests on event sequences and experiences that once againare familiar to individuals in a culture, so there is a rich source of worldknowledge for constructing meaning.” (Graesser, Golding & Long, 1991) Thechild’s concept of story and the ability to place events into a sequence isparamount in reading

2.7.2 The benefits of using stories

There is no disagreement that vocabulary skills are critical to academicsuccess and life opportunities for every child, as well as being central tocurriculum and instruction in elementary years Those children who are in theprocess of learning English are more likely to demonstrate difficulties in literacy,particularly in comprehension and vocabulary acquisition Students are likely torely on conversational language that is inadequate to understand content andtechnical terminology, resulting in limited comprehension even as they masterdecoding skills The structure and organization of various text genres may not beobvious to these students All students benefit from a variety of opportunities topractice their vocabulary skills in purposeful contexts and a range of authenticactivities

It is obvious that vocabulary can be presented contextually Teachers canturn to texts which can give rich context and numerous benefits for languageteaching.

Short stories meet the primary need, that is, context which becomesshortcoming in current teaching vocabulary As a matter of fact, short storieshelp introduce new language in context There have been countless investigations

to support the belief about vocabulary acquisition from reading, including Saragi,Nation and Meister ( 1978), Jenkins, Stein, and Wyoski ( 1984) They said thatchildren could learn vocabulary directly in context ( as cited in Day, R., Omura,C., Hiramatsu, M, 1991, p 541) Another implication of the study of theresearchers Elshoul-Mohr and Daalen-Kapteijns, 1987 as cited in (Kuhl and St,

1988, p.122) is that children can learn vocabulary in context while reading

Second, short stories helps students revise language that they are familiarwith In fact, slattery and Willis (2002) states that short stories which is one type

of texts can help children relate new things to what they have known already(p.107)

Moreover, short stories are interesting and enjoyable enough to motivatestudents Learning with texts can be funnier than learning decontextual wordlists

In sum, it is strongly believed that short stories can give loads of plausiblereasons to teach vocabulary to children effectively

With the regulation of the ministry of education and training, the modernapproaches to teach English to children with the hope of incremental wordlearning are slowly but surely expected to substitute the old traditional methodapplied for years

The most important thing is which factors must be considered whendeciding how to threat a text There are four criteria to bear in mind wheneverhandling with texts in reading part: linguistic complexity, length, interest leveland aims

In the scope of this investigation on teaching vocabulary at primary levels,linguistic complexity of stories must be reduced to the utmost, of course, exceptfor the intended vocabulary items The second condition is the length of stories

It cannot be too long or too short The long can make students difficult tounderstand while the too short stories give nothing to learn Furthermore, degree

of interest of the stories is significant due to characteristics of young learners.They are said to be the ‘hard’ learners to teach who are likely to vary and aresusceptible to surrounding influences Hence, the stories must be attractive

including the interesting and suitable content, and fascinating pictures Finally,the aim of the stories must be clear and achieved

In brief, stories as a measure to teach vocabulary to primary students isconsidered as short paragraphs with simple structures, intended vocabularyitems, explicit aims, and interesting content in association with appealingpictures to illustrate the stories

be presented The results of the study will be shown in tables For each table,there will be an interpretation of the results and exploration of the learning andteaching vocabulary

3.1 The research questions

The study reported in this thesis is intended to address the followingresearch questions:

1 What are teachers’ and students’ perceptions about using short stories toteach and learn vocabulary in primary school?

2 How do teachers and students teaching and learning vocabulary throughshort stories in primary school?

3.2 Research design

It was carried out in six primary schools in Vinh, where English is taught as

a foreign language This research is a descriptive study to investigate thenecessity of teaching and learning vocabulary by using short stories In order toimprove the degree of validity and reliability, both quantitative and qualitative

methods were applied using questionnaire for teachers and interviews for bothteachers and students.

3.3 Participants and research sites

There are two kinds of participants involved in the investigation The firstgroup includes 18 English teachers from six primary schools in Vinh Thecommon similarity among them is experience in teaching vocabulary in readingpart, i.e., using short stories as a measure to teach new words The other groupconsists of 15 students who are at 4th and 5th grade of different primary schools.These are students who have learnt experimented sets of books “Let’s LearnEnglish” by Ministry of Education and Training for more than one school year The study was conducted at six primary schools in Vinh Three of themwere chosen to experiment the new set of books “Let’s learn English” byMinistry of Education and Training The other schools were adapted “Let’slearn English” as a complementary book for advanced classes Table 3.1below shows the number of participants from six primary schools involving inthis study

Research sites (N=6)

Number of participants Teacher

(N=18)

Students (N=15)

Table 3.1 Research sites and participants

3.4 Research instruments for data collection

The two data collection methods used in this study are the questionnaire

and interviews The questionnaire was given to teachers who have taughtEnglish in primary schools in Vinh Due to limited knowledge and conscious,primary students were interviewed so as to avoid any possiblemisunderstanding

Both of these methods are believed to be complementary for each other

to enhance level of reliability Table 3.2 illustrates how data were collected forthis study