Using language games to teach english vocabulary to the graders at nghi hung secondary school

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY DANG THI THUONG USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE EIGHTH GRADERS AT NGHI HUNG SECONDARY SCHOOL MASTER’S THESIS IN E

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

DANG THI THUONG

USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE EIGHTH GRADERS AT

NGHI HUNG SECONDARY SCHOOL

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

NGHE AN, 2015

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

DANG THI THUONG

USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE EIGHTH GRADERS AT

NGHI HUNG SECONDARY SCHOOL

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60.14.01.11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: NGO ĐINH PHUONG, Assoc Prof., Ph.D

I also would like to thank to Nghi Loc education and training department andVinh university for offering me a chance to do this thesis For it the knowledge andexperience I gained in my study is very helpful.

My sincere thanks goes to all teachers of English and students in Nghi Hungsecondary school as well as teachers of English in Nghi Dong, Nghi My, Nghi Congsecondary school who have helped me to carry out the surveys for my thesis

I am really in debt to my beloved family and my friends for their help andencouragement during the process of writing this thesis

Although the study has been done with all my attempts, my limitations ofability and knowledge may cause mistakes in the thesis Therefore, all commentsand remarks on the thesis be highly appreciated

Nghe An, 2015

Dang Thi Thuong

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Using language games to teach English

vocabulary to the 8 th graders at Nghi Hưng secondary school ” is the result of my

own work, and that the minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted

to any university or institution

Nghe An, 2015

Author’s signature

Dang Thi Thuong

In order to make the study more practical, some suggested games have beenprovided for teacher of English to apply in teaching vocabulary in the 8th form.Hopefully, this dissertation will be a useful source of reference for teachers ofEnglish in improving vocabulary learning and teaching.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CAH : Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis CLT : Communicative Language Teaching CAH : Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis EAP : English for Academic PurposeEST : English for Science and TechnologyEOP : English for Occupational PurposeEAP : English for Academic Purpose

SLA : Second language acquisition

FLA : First language acquisition

SLL : Second language learning

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 2

1.3 Research Questions 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 2

1.5 Methods of the Study 3

1.6 Format of the Study 3

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Foreign and Second Language Learning 4

2.1.1 First, Second and Foreign Language Learning 4

2.1.2 Behaviorism, innatism, and interactionist position 4

2.2 Reasons for learning a foreign/second language 7

2.2.1 School curriculum 7

2.2.2 Advancement 7

2.2.3 Target language community 8

2.2.4 English for specific purposes 8

2.2.5 Culture 9

2.2.6 Miscellaneous 9

2.3 Ability to learn 9

2.3.1 Cognitive factors 9

2.3.2 Personality 10

2.3.3 Age 10

2.5 English Vocabulary 12

2.5.1 Definition 12

2.5.2 Type of Vocabulary 12

2.5.3 Concrete and Abstract Vocabulary 13

2.5.4 The Importance of Vocabulary 13

2.6 Aspects of Vocabulary need to be taught 14

2.6.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling 14

2.6.2 Grammar 14

2.6.3 Collocation 14

2.6.4 Meaning: denotation, connotation, appropriateness/ formality 14

2.6.5 Word formation 15

2.6.6 Word Use 15

2.7 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching 16

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 16

2.8 Stages of Teaching Vocabulary in CLT 19

2.8.1 Presentation 19

2.8.2 Practice 19

2.8.3 Revision 20

2.9 Factors Affecting the Decision in Choosing Vocabulary Items to teach 20

2.9.1 Type of lesson 20

2.9.2 Purpose of using words 21

2.9.3 Lexical syllabus 21

2.10 Games 21

2.10.1 Definition 21

2.10.2 Language games 22

2.10.3 Educational games 23

2.11 Types of language Games 23

2.12 The Advantages of Games in Teaching Vocabulary 27

2.13 Principles in Using Games 32

2.14 When to use games 34

2.15 How to organize a game? 35

2.16 Teachers’ preparation 37

Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 38

3.1 Background to the study 38

3.1.2 Subject of the study 38

3.1.3 The textbook 38

3.2 Research questions 39

3.3 The instruments 40

3.2.4 Data Collection 40

3.4 Procedures and methods of data collection 41

3.2.5 Data Analysis 42

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 43

4.1 Presentation and analysis of data 43

4.1.1 Pre-task questionnaire 43

4.1.2 Post-task questionnaire 47

4.2 Some samples applied in English 8 55

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 60

5.1 Recapitulation 60

5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 61

REFERENCES 62

APPENDIXES 66

LIST OF TABLES

PagesTable 4.1 Students’ attitudes towards English learning 43Table 4.2 The most difficult issue to students when learning vocabulary 43Table 4.3 The most difficult issue to students when playing games in

learning vocabulary 45Table 4.4 Students’ preferences of teachers techniques exploited in

teaching vocabulary 46Table 4.5 Students’ feeling and attitudes towards language games

exploited by the teacher 48Table 4.6 Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of language games

used to teach vocabulary 50Table 4.7 The reasons and problems when using games in teaching

vocabulary and the solutions 53

LIST OF FIGURES

Pages

Figure 4.1 Students’ ability of remembering new words after each lesson 44

Figure 4.2 Students’ attitudes towards English vocabulary learning 44

Figure 4.3 Students’ attitudes toward English vocabulary learning 45

Figure 4.4 Students’ attitudes towards playing games 47

Figure 4.5 Students’ attitudes towards English vocabulary learning in “Tieng Anh 8” textbook 49

Figure 4.6 The effectiveness of the use of language games 49

Figure 4.7 Teachers’ frequency of using games for teaching vocabulary 51

Figure 4.8 The ways of organizing class of the teachers when using games .51

Figure 4.9 The effectiveness of the use of language games 52

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, English has been considered as a compulsory subject for students

at all levels of educational systems at most schools Students must learn Englishfrom grade 3 to grade 12, for at least 10 years Most of their parents believe thatlearning English is a good investment for the children's future because most jobsnow require the applicants to gain English language at certain levels.Therefore,educators have tried to find the most effective method in teaching English Actually,because English is new language which is different from the mother tongue,students are very afraid of learning Especially, students who live in remote andmountainous areas don’t get a lot of access to English, they hardly learn a lot ofvocabulary by heart To develop students’ ability to use English appropriately, theymust have some amount of vocabulary So, vocabulary is very important Therelationship between the four skills and vocabulary is mutual: The four basic skills -reading, writing, speaking and listening - reflect the use of language, vocabularyitems are introduced and mastered through teaching the skills, and the master ofvocabulary helps children develop the four skills better As in Gower et al (2005),vocabulary is considered to be important to students, and more important thangrammar for communication purposes, particularly in the early stages when studentsare motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by in the language.Vocabulary links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing alltogether

For ages, language games have been used as the inspiration for students tostudy This method has proved its high effectiveness especially in teachinglanguages As games provide learners with an atmosphere of relaxation and joy,they make the learning process less tense, more comfortable and fun They help tomake learning feel like playing

With games, students will enjoy themselves, be stimulated and get involved inplaying to learn As a result, they can learn new lexical items faster and rememberbetter With so many advantages, games seem to be an effective way in teachingand learning a foreign language in general.

As a teacher of English at secondary school as well as a student at Vinh

university the author has attempted to conduct the study entitled “Using language

games to teach English vocabulary to the 8 th graders at Nghi Hung secondary school” in the hope of helping teachers maintain the interests of their students and

motivate them in using English vocabulary This study is based on my knowledge

of English teaching methodology as well as my own experiences gained in thepracticum at a secondary school

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

The main purposes of the author when conducting the study are:

- To investigate real situation of vocabulary teaching and learning and the use

of games in the eighth grade of the secondary schools

- To indicate the effectiveness of using games in teaching vocabulary to theeighth graders

- To give some suggestions for the improvement of teaching vocabulary to theeighth graders by using games

1.4 Scope of the Study

Game is a large topic and teaching vocabulary only accounts for a small partper a teaching period Further more, it is too broad to carry out the thesis discussingall levels of students Thus, I only investigate using games for the 8th form to teachvocabulary in Nghi Hung secondary school where I teach English

1.5 Methods of the Study

With the aim to learn English vocabulary through games for the 8th form in thecourse of writing this thesis the author has used the quantitative and qualitative withthe following procedures:

- Collecting information about vocabulary and games

- Conducting a survey on the real situation at secondary schools by usingquestionnaires for both the teachers and students

- Investigating the survey result to suggest suitable games for teachingvocabulary

1.6 Format of the Study

The thesis consists of five main chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter provides the information about the reasons for choosing the study,the aims and objectives, the scope, the methods and the format of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

In this chapter, the author provides the concepts which related to the study,including theoretical background about vocabulary learning and teaching, gamesand others

Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter III on research methodology comes next with the responsibility forspecifying the factors for the researcher to collect and process the study data

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

The data is described and discussed Some recommendations for using games

in teaching and learning vocabulary are provided in chapter 4 Also, the authorsuggests some games as specific examples for some concrete lessons inTiếng Anh 8for the eighth graders

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Main points and contents of the study will be summarized based on the results

of the study The recommendations for further research will be also presented

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter in turn presents the concepts needed for the background of the study,namely foreign and second language learning, , vocabulary and games This part willalso provide description,summary,and critical evaluation of each work quoted

2.1 Foreign and Second Language Learning

2.1.1 First, Second and Foreign Language Learning

First language is the language that an individual learns first First language isalso called native language or mother tongue

Jack C Richards, John Platt and Heidi Platt (1992) have a brief definition ofthe two terms as follows:

A foreign language is a language which is taught as a school subject but which is notused as a medium of instruction in schools nor as a language of communication within acountry ( e.g in government, business or industry) English is described as a foreignlanguage in France, Japan, China, Vietnam, etc

A second language is a language which is not a native language (or first language L1) in a country but which is widely used as a medium of communication (e.g ineducation and in government) and which is usually used alongside another language

-or languages English is described as a second language in countries such as Fiji,Singapore, and Nigeria

According to these three authors, in both Britain and North America, the term

‘second language’ would describe a native language in a country as learned bypeople living there who have another first language English in the UK would becalled the second language of immigrants and people whose first language is Welsh

In order to explain for how language is learned Linguists and psychologists proposedseveral theories, namely behaviorism, innatism, and interactionist position

2.1.2 Behaviorism, innatism, and interactionist position

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is considered as the earliest psychological theory in explaining

first language learning Behaviorism accounts for second language acquisition(SLA) with the same theory as for first language acquisition (FLA) Behavioristsbelieve that language learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback onsuccess and habit formation They claim that all learning take place and imply to thesame underlying process, in spite of their form verbal and non-verbal The role ofthe speakers is to provide learners with the input so that they can form so-called

“associations or relations” between words, objects or events By forming theseassociations, learners can practice While experiences are repeated, the associationsbecome stronger

Behaviorism in explaining SLA was often associated with Contrastive AnalysisHypothesis (CAH) The CAH predicts that where there are similarities between the firstlanguage and the target language, the learners will acquire target-language structureseasily, and vice versa Also, CAH denotes that first language is the main sources of errors

in second language (Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007)

Innatism

According to Chomsky (1959, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007), children are biologically programmed for language and languagedevelops in children in just the same way that other biological functions develop.The availability of people who speak to the child acts as a basic contribution of theenvironment and the child’s biological endowment will do the rest In Chomsky(1959, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007), children’s

minds language acquisition device was often described as an imaginary “black box”

which was believed to contain all and only the principles universal to all human

languages Another term in Chomsky’s writing is Universal Grammar that is

thought to consist of a set of principles that are common to all languages

The biologist Eric Lenneberg argued that the language acquisition deviceworks successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time called the “CriticalPeriod” The Critical Period Hypothesis refers to the notion that there is a specificand limited time period for the acquisition of language

Additionally, Krashen (1982, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) presented five “hypotheses” which constitute what he originallycalled the “Monitor Model”, namely the Acquisition-Learing Hypothesis, theMonitor Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, and theAffective Filter Hypothesis The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis claims that thereare two distinctive ways of developing competence in a second or foreign language:

“acquisition” and “learning” Acquisition is the “natural” way, paralleling first languagedevelopment in children Acquisition refers to an unconscious process that involves thenaturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language andthrough using language for meaningful communication We acquire as we are exposed tosamples of the second language which we understand This happens in much the sameway that children pick up their first language-with no conscious attention to the form.Learning, by contrast, refers to a conscious process of study and attention to formand rule learning The result of learning is the explicit knowledge about the form of

a language and the ability to verbalize this knowledge For Krashen, acquisition is

by far the more important process, and learning cannot turn into acquisition The

“affective filter” is an imaginary barrier functioning to prevent learners formacquiring language from the available input The “affect” refers to such things asmotives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states The filter is up when a learner who

is stressed, upset, or even unmotivated (a high affective filter), which preventsacquisition from taking place The filter is down when the learner is relaxed andmotivated (a low affective filter) Therefore, it is desirable to acquire language with

a low affective filter

Interactionist Position

According to interactionist position, the complex and intricate interplaybetween the uniquely human characteristics of the child and the environment inwhich the child develops brings about the development of first language JeanPiaget (cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007) viewed thatchildren’s cognitive development partly determines their use of language Besides,

Lev Vygotsky had the sociocultural theory of human mental processing whichassumes that language develops entirely from social interaction, and referred to thechild’s zone of proximal development.

Some interactionists have developed their ideas mainly in SLA research itself(Hatch, 1992; Pica, 1994; Long, 1983; cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) Interactionists view SLA as the process taking place throughconversational interaction and concern with the necessity of comprehensible input forlanguage acquisition Long (1983, cited in cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo DinhPhuong, 2007) agrees with Krashen that comprehensible input is necessary for languageacquisition However, he is more concerned with the question of how input is madecomprehensible He sees modified interaction as the necessary mechanism for this totake place Long infers that modified interaction must be necessary for languageacquisition This relationship has been summarized as follows: Interactional modificationmakes input comprehensible; comprehensible input promotes acquisition Therefore,interactional modification promotes acquisition

Hence, from the above views of the linguists, it seems that researchers andeducators who are hoping for language acquisition theories which give them insightinto language teaching practice are often frustrated by the lack of agreement amongthe “experts” Research which has theory development as its goal has veryimportant long-term significance for language teaching and learning, but agreement

on a “complete” theory of language acquisition is probably, at best, a long way off

2.2 Reasons for learning a foreign/second language

People learn a foreign or second language for a number of reasons JeremyHarmer (1991) identifies the following reasons:

2.2.1 School curriculum

Many language students in the world may learn English because it is on theschool curriculum whether they like it or not! For many of these students English iscompulsory in the learning programme and learning it is unavoidable

2.2.2 Advancement

Thanks to their competence of English or French.Some people want to study

English or another foreign languages because they think it offers a chance foradvancement in their professional lives They will get a better job with twolanguages than if they only know their mother tongue In Vietnam at present, manypeople can look for a job easily if they have a good command of the Englishlanguage; some even get promoted.

2.2.3 Target language community

Some language students find themselves living in a target language community(either temporarily or permanently) A target language community is one where theinhabitants speak the language which the student is learning; for students of English

an English - speaking country would be a target language community The studentswould need to learn to survive in that community

2.2.4 English for specific purposes

The term English for special or specific purpose has been applied to situationswhere students have some specific reason for wanting to learn the language Forexample, air traffic controllers need English primarily to guide aircraft through theskies They may not use the language at all apart from this Business executivesneed English for international trade Waiters may need English to serve theircustomers These needs have often been referred to as EOP (English forOccupational Purpose)

Students who are going to study at a university in the USA, Great Britain,Australia or Canada, on the other hand, may need English so that thay can writereports or essays and function in seminars This is often called EAP (English forAcademic Purpose) Students of medicine or nuclear physics - or other scientificdisciplines - (studying in their own countries) need to be able to read articles andtextbooks about those subjects in English This is often referred to as EST (orEnglish for Science and Technology)

What is interesting about all these examples is that the type of English thestudents want to learn may be different: waiters may want to talk and listen,whereas scientists may want to read and write

of John Carroll and Stanley Sapon (1959), focuses on the following abilities, in the beliefthat they form part of language aptitude:

- The ability to identify and remember sounds;

- The ability to memorize words;

- The ability to recognize how words function grammatically in sentences;

- The ability to induce grammatical rules from language examples

Taken together, language aptitude and motivation are the factors which havepredicted success most regularly in the various research studies (Littlewood 1984:63)

We might note here that irrespective of actual learning ability, people with anoutgoing personality may enjoy certain advantages For example, they may becomeinvolved in more social interaction, attract more attention from their teachers, and

be less inhibited when asked to display their proficiency (e,g, in oral interviews).They may perform more confidently in communication situation, whicheverlanguage that are using

The introverts seem to prefer academic teaching that emphasizes individuallearning and language knowledge The extroverts are thought of as quiet andreserved, with tendencies toward reclusiveness

2.3.3 Age

For many people, it is almost axiomatic that children can learn a secondlanguage better than adults They refer especially to immigrant families wherechildren have learnt the language of their new community with native or learn -native proficiency, whereas the adults always show traces of foreignness Otherstudies show that the younger a person is on arrival in the new country, the moreproficient he or she is likely to become in the language

The most common explanation for these observations is that there is a ‘criticalperiod’, during which the grammatical rules and explanations about language Theyonly imitate what they are seeing and hearing

- They try to make sense of situations by making use of non-verbal brain isflexible and language learning can occur naturally and easily Since this period endsaround puberty, adolescents and adults can no longer call upon these naturallearning capacities The result is that language learning becomes an artificial,laborious process

There are explanations for younger learners in acquiring a foreign language morequickly than older ones Littlewood (1984:66) gives the following explanations:

1 Children often have more favorable learning conditions They are oftenexposed to the language for longer periods of time and receive more intensiveattention from native speakers of the language, including other children

2 They are likely to be exposed to simpler language, which is easier toprocess and understand, both from adults and from other children

3 They are less likely to hold negative attitudes towards other speechcommunities or to be aware of other factors (e.g fear of rejection) which mayproduce barriers to interaction and learning

4 The adult’s tendency to analyze and apply conscious thought to the learningexperience may obstruct some of the natural processing mechanisms through whichthe new language is internalized

However, this account has been criticized in recent years, from a number ofstandpoints (Littlewood, 1984:65) From a biological standpoint, people have questionedwhether there is any real evidence that puberty is accompanied by changes in the brainthat are so crucial to language learning Experience shows, too, that many adolescentsand adults do acquire a high level of proficiency in a second language, which wouldscarcely be possible if they lacked important learning mechanisms Many studies inrecent years show that, given more or less qual opportunities, efficiency in secondlanguage learning increases with age, and that younger learners are superior only inacquiring pronunciation skills (Littlewood, 1984:66)

As in Ur (1996), vocabulary can be roughly defined as the words taught in a

foreign language A new item may be either a single word, e.g book, cat, house,

etc or more than a single word, e.g post office, school-yard, etc., which is made up

of two or more words but expresses a single idea There are also multi-word idioms

such as kick the bucket, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an

analysis of the component words

2.5.2 Type of Vocabulary

There are many way to classify vocabulary Because of the aims of teachingvocabulary, some vocabulary will be more important to students than others Ingeneral, we can distinguish two types of vocabulary:

2.5.2.1 Active Vocabulary

Words which students will need to understand and also use themselves Wecall this active vocabulary In teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worthspending time giving examples and asking questions, so that students can really seehow the word is used

2.5.2.2 Passive Vocabulary

Words which we wants students to understand (e.g when reading a text), butwhich they will not need to use themselves We call this passive vocabulary Tosave time, it is often best to present it quite quickly, with a simple example If itappears as part of a text or dialogue, we can often leave students to guess the wordfrom the context

Emphasize that students should understand far more words than they canproduce so we should not try to treat all new words as active vocabulary

2.5.3 Concrete and Abstract Vocabulary

Concrete vocabulary denotes things, concepts that can be touched, felt, or seen,

therefore, it is quite easy to introduce a concrete item of vocabulary For example, a

watch is a concrete word We can teach this word by showing pupils a watch and

asking them what it is

Abstract vocabulary denotes things, concepts that can not be touched , felt, or

seen For example, happy, happiness, imagine, think, thought are abstract words.

These words cannot be introduced by visual aids They can be only introduced bythe situation, explanation or translation This also affects the revision process

2.5.4 The Importance of Vocabulary

In the past, vocabulary teaching and learning were often given little priority insecond language programs, but recently there has been a renewed interest in thenature of vocabulary and its role in learning and teaching There is no doubt thatvocabulary plays a very important role in learning languages There has been muchadvice given by methodologists that language learners should be highly aware ofthe importance of vocabulary and must have a high-frequent plan for studying newwords as soon as and much as possible

Until the mid-1980s, vocabulary was considered to be a “neglected aspect” tosecond language teaching and learning (Meara, 1981) After this urge in vocabularyresearch, there is a renewed interest in lexical acquisition Lexis is now recognized

as central to any language acquisition process, native, or non-native (Laufer, 1997).The teaching of vocabulary has gained the important status as a fundamentalperspective of language development (Nunan, 1999) The core role of vocabularyplayed in second language communication is being emphasized According toGower et al (2005), vocabulary is important to students and more important thangrammar for communication purposes, especially to children who are in the earlystages of learning English when they are motivated to learn the basic words theyneed to get by in the language Hatch (1983) states that the lexical level is the mostimportant because it makes basic communication possible Moreover, McCarthy

(1990) claims that: “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter

how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way.” Therefore, both teachers and students are aware of the significance of

vocabulary in second language learning Teachers regard solid vocabularyfoundation as necessary in every stage of language learning (Laufer, 1997)

2.6 Aspects of Vocabulary need to be taught

2.6.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling

The learner has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what itlooks like (its spelling) These are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the other will

be perceived by the learner when encountering the item for the first time In teaching, weneed to make sure that both these aspects are accurately presented and learned

2.6.3 Collocation

The collocation typical of particular items are another factor that makes aparticular combination sound “right” or “wrong” in a given context So this is anotherpiece of information about a new item which it may be worth teaching

Collocations are also often noted in dictionaries, either by providing the wholecollocation under one of the head - words, or by a note in parenthesis

2.6.4 Meaning: denotation, connotation, appropriateness/ formality

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, itsdenotation; this is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary

A less obvious component of the meaning of an item is its comotation: theassociations, or positive or negative feelings it evokes, which may or may not beindicated in a dictionary definition

2.6.5 Word formation

Vocabulary items, whether one-word or multi-word, can often be broken downinto their component “bits” Exactly how these bits are put together is another piece

of useful information - perhaps mainly for more advanced learners

You may wish to teach the common prefixes and suffixes: for example, if

learners know the meaning of sub, un and able, this will help them guess the meanings of the words like substandard, ungrateful and untranslatable.

Another way vocabulary items are built is by combining two words (twonouns, or a gerund and a noun, or a noun and a verb) to make one item a single

compound word, or two separate, sometimes hyphenated words (bookcase, follow

-up, swimming pool).

2.6.6 Word Use

The meaning of a word can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used Metaphor and idiom are the two that show us how word meaning varies by itsuse Metaphor is the transference of names based on the association of similarity ormore understandably, metaphor is a hidden comparison For instance, we know that

the word fox means “a kind of wild animal of the dog family, with reddish-brown

fur, a pointed face and a thick heavy tail” But we stretch its meaning to describe a

cunning person Idioms are set expressions, short sayings usually characterized bythe fact that their meaning can not easily be deduced from their components (Hoang

Tat Truong, 1993: 97) as exemplified in kick the bucket (= die), let the cat out of

the bag (= reveal carelessly or by mistake)

The collocations typical of particular items is another factor that makes aparticular combination sound ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in a given context That is whichwords go with each other in order to make sense Some verbs only accept limitedobjects; some adjectives can only modify some specific suitable nouns and so on For

example, we say make a mistake, make an arrangement, make a cake, and do

homework, do housework, do the washing up, but we cannot say do mistake, do a cake,

or make homework, make the washing up We have headache; stomachache, but we cannot have throatache or legache Instead we have a sore throat and a pain in the leg

When using words, learners have to notice the ‘style’ and ‘register’ they are in,

as words are often used in certain social and typical contexts When we say to aperson that we are angry, we have to choose carefully between the neutral

expression I’m angry and informal and rude expression I’m really pissed off.

In short, for word use, learners need to recognize metaphorical language, need

to know how words collocate, and also need to understand what stylistic and typicalcontexts words and expressions occur in

2.7 Teaching Vocabulary in Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Most learners of English nowadays desire to be able to communicate withothers in the language they learn Parallel with this change in the aims of learningEnglish, methods of teaching has to be changed For a long time, many languageteaching methodologists have constantly looked for the most appropriate way toteach English efficiently As a result, many language teaching methods andapproaches have come into being such as:

- Grammar-translation method

- The Direct method

- The Audio-lingual method

- The Audio-visual method

- Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Mackey (1965) remarks that most of the methods which have ever beendeveloped still continue to exist in one form or another as each method has itsadvantages and disadvantages For example, grammar-translation method is easy toimplement and cheap to administer, which makes it still be used in many classroomsituations

In recent years, among the approaches and methods in learning and teaching,the Communicate Approach, simply Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), isconsidered the most communicative one and has been used most in teaching andlearning second and foreign language The origins of CLT are to be found in the

changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s BeforeCLT was given, many methods and approaches were applied in teaching andlearning However, the fact is that there is a need to focus in language teaching oncommunicative proficiency rather than on the master of structures only On thisissue, CLT has been created and has proven its superiority over previous methods Hence, since its inception, CLT has been seen as the most popular approachwith two aims First, it makes communicative competence the goal of languageteaching Then, it develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills.

At the level of language theory, CLT starts from communicative view of language.With communicative view of language, language is a system for the expression ofmeaning, and the primary function of language is to allow interaction Moreover,the structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses At level oflearning theory, learning is promoted by activities that involve real communicationpromote learning or by activities in which language is used for carrying outmeaningful tasks and by language that is meaningful to the learner

According to Nunan (1991: 279), CLT has five basic characteristics as follows:

1 An emphasis on learning is to communicate through interaction in the target language

2 The introduction of authentic texts used into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus on which not only thelanguage but also the learning process itself

4 An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences can be asimportant contributing elements to classroom learning

5 An attempt is to link classroom language learning with language activationoutside the classroom

CLT emphasizes on the process of communication rather than master oflanguage forms, and the goal of CLT is that learners will be able to use the languageappropriate to a given social context (i.e, to become communicatively competent).Consequently, in comparison with previous methods, there are changes in the roles

of both teachers and students in CLT

According to Breen and Candlin (1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and NgoDinh Phuong, 2007), the teacher’s roles are described with two main roles The first role is

to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom andbetween these participants and the various activities and texts The second role is to act as

an independent participant within the learning- teaching group Teachers in communicativeclassrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more, becoming activefacilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986) The teacher sets up theexercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, the teacher must step back andobserve, sometimes acting as referee or monitor

Meanwhile, Breen and Candlin (1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam andNgo Dinh Phuong, 2007) describe the learners’ role as the negotiator between theself, the learning process and the object of learning The learner should contribute asmuch as he gains and thereby learn in an interdependent way A classroom during acommunicative activity is far from quiet, however The students do most of thespeaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise

is active, with students leaving their seats to complete a task Because of theincreased responsibility to participate, students may find themselves gainingconfidence in using the target language in general Students are more responsiblemanagers of their own learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986)

CLT provides various types of learning and teaching activities LittleWood (1981)distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “social interactionactivities” as major activity types in CLT Besides learning and teaching activities,instructional materials play an important role in promoting communicative languageuse There are three kinds of materials currently used in CLT and label these text-based, task-based and realia Procedure is also a considerable problem in CLT Adescription of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principle

is not feasible Finochiaro and Brumfit (1983:107-108, cited in Nguyen Thi VanLam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007) suggest that CLT procedures are evolutionaryrather than revolutionary From this viewpoint, traditional procedures are not rejected butare reinterpreted and extended

In conclusion, CLT appeared at the time when Situation Language Teachingand Audiolingualism were no longer felt to be appropriate methodologies As amatter of fact, it is considered to be the best approach of language teaching andlearning because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of anyskill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities andexercise types discussed in the literature on CLT With CLT, language learners areseen as active participants in the language learning process Teachers should beaware of their role as the guiding persons and try to do somehow to motivatelearners to go ahead to master a foreign language In my thesis, I only focus onCommunicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) as it is considered the currentmethodology and one of the most effective approaches to teach learners vocabulary.

2.8 Stages of Teaching Vocabulary in CLT

Gower (2005) states the three stages of teaching vocabulary as follows:

The teacher will help students the way of reading and writing new words Theimportant thing of this stage is that the teacher needs to pronounce and write thewords correctly

2.8.2 Practice

2.8.2.1 Controlled Practice

This stage comes right after the presentation stage At this phase, the teacherneeds to create a positive environment for children to use the new words under theguidance of teachers Making mistakes at this stage is also a progress that primaryschool students gradually improve, and this stage has the role to help children formstrong relationships between the meaning of words and their forms (includingspoken and written form) as well as know how to use words suitably

2.8.2.2 Free Practice

Teachers should give children opportunities to experience the words freely.After the stage of controlled practice, students can more easily use what they havelearnt to express their meanings in communication This step will help childrengradually turn the knowledge they have learned into their own

2.8.3 Revision

This is the process of reactivation that helps assimilation and learning (DavidCross, 1992: 180) As in McCarten (2007), learning vocabulary is largely aboutremembering, and students generally need to see, say, and write newly learnedwords many times before they can be said to have learned them Thus, in thisstage, the teacher should have students review vocabulary as often as possible inactivities that have students actively recall words and produce them rather thanmerely see or hear them The stage of revision should be done regularly during theteaching process; it can be done during the lesson, for example when the teacherintroduces the new grammar point or lets students do exercises themselves, but it

is less direct; or reviewing vocabulary can be done in the revision lesson and also

at the end of the term However, in a lesson, it is normal that revision often takesplace at the beginning It is often appropriate to start off the lesson by doing ashort activity which revises a lexical set presented the day before and quickvocabulary revision games are a good way to warm up students at the beginning ofthe lesson (Gower, 2005)

2.9 Factors Affecting the Decision in Choosing Vocabulary Items to teach

Gower et al (2005:145) state the following factors for deciding whatvocabulary to teach:

2.9.1 Type of lesson

There is a difference between a “vocabulary lesson” (where, for example, themain objective is for the students to learn and use a number of vocabulary items),and a lesson in which vocabulary comes up as part of another activity (for instance,where the teacher helps the students deal with vocabulary they may meet in anauthentic listening or reading text) Depending on the types of the lesson, theteacher will make different decisions about what vocabulary to present

2.9.2 Purpose of using words

The teacher should consider whether the vocabulary items he/she has chosen

to present are for receptive or productive use For example, is it enough for the

students to be able to recognize the vocabulary when they meet it in context, or doesthe teacher want them to be able to use it? If the teacher wants the students to beable to use the vocabulary, what practice activities is the teacher going to set up?

2.9.3 Lexical syllabus

Depending on the teaching context and the needs of the students, the teachermay also have to consider the order in which vocabulary items are introduced,particularly at low levels With General English class it is usual to introduce:

- The “easy” words before the “difficult” words

- The concrete before the abstract

- The most frequent before the uncommon

- The most generative, or “all-purpose”, before those that have a more restricted

use For example, it is better to introduce chair before armchair and highchair

The teacher needs to think about this process of grading language whenchoosing vocabulary items to teach to the class, and when considering how to dealwith the vocabulary in any authentic materials the teacher use in the lessons

2.10 Games

2.10.1 Definition

Many educators and researchers have done work on the use of games and each

of them has developed his/her own concepts and ideas regarding games

Rechard and Marjorie Baudains (1990, p 3) state: “Games are activitiesstudents do for their own sake, for the immediate fun, curiosity or competitiveambition aroused by games.” This definition only refers to the outside characteristics

of a normal game but not a language game in particular

According to Hadfield (1990), “a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an

element of fun” As in Gibbs (1978: 60), a game is defined as an activity carried out

by cooperating or competing decision-makers seeking to achieve, within a set ofrules, their objectives

Greenall (1984) defines games as one kind of activity which is used toconsolidate language already taught or acquired, and which occurs during the freestage of a lesson or during occasion such as English club meetings.

Rixon (1988, p.3) states that a game consists of a play governed by rules Toillustrate this idea, we can examine the example: Kicking a ball around in the park isplay: adding rules about how and where you can kick the ball and giving your efforts

an objective (like getting it between two goal posts) turn this play into a game Inaddition, he quoted Gibb’s definition (1978, p 60) of a game as follows: “…Anactivity carried out by cooperating or competing decision makers, seeking to achieve,within a set of rules, their objectives”

Therefore, games involve many factors: rules, competition, relaxation, andlearning, in particular The main focus of using games in class is to help studentslearn and have fun Besides, competition is very important because it can stimulateand encourage students to participate in the activity since naturally they want to beatothers teams (Deesri, 2002)

In conclusion, from the definitions above about language games, we can put itthat language games are activities with the rules, goals, and element of fun carried out

by the players, pupils’ cooperation or competition for the language practice

2.10.2 Language games

According to Langran and Purcell (1994), a language game is a device to create

a situation in the classroom which gives learners the opportunity to use language theyhave already learnt in a relaxing way with maximum possible free expression in order

to fulfill a simple task, solve a problem or communicate a piece of information

A language game (also called secret language) is a system of manipulating spokenwords to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear Language games are usedprimarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from others

Each of these language games involves a usually simple standardtransformation to speech, thus encoding it The languages can be easily mentallyencoded and decoded by a skilled speaker at the rate of normal speech, while thosewho either don't know the key or aren't practiced in rapid speech are left hearingnothing but gibberish

2.10.3 Educational games

Educational games are games, board and card games, including video gamesthat are designed to teach children about a certain subject, expand concepts,reinforce development, understand a historical event or culture, or assist them inlearning a skill as they play

To have deeper understanding of educational games, let’s have a look atcharacteristics of them given by Cesar Klauer (1998)

+ A game is governed by rules Playing just to pass the time will not have thesame effect To make a simple activity into a game just give a couple of rules andthat is all

+ A game has objectives One of the rules, and probably the main one, is theachievement of an objective This objective can be something like making points forcorrectness or finishing an activity first

+ A game is a closed activity Games must have a beginning and an end Itmust be easy for the players, or the teacher, to know who is about to reach the aim.+ A game needs less supervision from the teacher This must be understood aslinguistic supervision Sometimes the game is conducted by teacher who acts asjudge, scorer and / or referee

+ It is easier for students to keep going Compared with pair or group work, agame has a ludic element that other interaction patterns do not have This makes theactivity more attractive

2.11 Types of language Games

There are so many ways to classify types of language games, and classifyinggames into categories can be difficult because categories often overlap

Hadfield (1999) mentions two ways of classifying language games as follows:The first way is that language games can be divided into two types: linguisticgames and communicative games Linguistic games focus on accuracy in language

use, such as slap the board, crossword puzzle, bingo, Simmon says, and hangman/

shark attacks With their features, linguistic games are often used primarily to teach

vocabulary rather than enable students to experiment with the language itself freely

to acquire it On the other hand, communicative games focus on the successfulexchange of information and ideas, such as two people identifying the differencesbetween their two pictures which are similar to each other but not exactly alike, or

such kinds of game like Describe and draw, find your partner In this type of

games, the emphasis falls on fluency and on successful communication rather than

on correctness of language Correct language usage, though still important, issecondary to achieving the communicative goal

The second way that Hadfield uses to classify language games has morecategories As with the classification of games as linguistic games orcommunicative games, some games will contain elements of more than one type asfollows:

Sorting, ordering, or arranging games: For example, students have a set of

cards with different products on them, and they sort the cards into products found at

a grocery store and products found at a department store

Information gap games: In such games, one or more people have information

that other people need to complete a task For instance, one person might have adrawing and their partner needs to create a similar drawing by listening to theinformation given by the person with the drawing Information gap games caninvolve a one-way information gap, such as the drawing game just described, or atwo-way information gap, in which each person has unique information, such as in aSpot-the-Difference task, where each person has a slightly different picture, and thetask is to identify the differences

Guessing games: These are variations on information gap games One of the

best known examples of a guessing game is 20 Questions, in which one personthinks of a famous person, place, or thing The other participants can ask 20 Yes/Noquestions to find clues in order to guess who or what the person is thinking of

Search games: These games are other variants on two-way information gap

games, with everyone giving and seeking information Find someone who is a well

known example Students are given a grid The task is to fill in all the cells in the

grid with the name of a classmate who fits that cell For example, find someone who

is a vegetarian Students circulate, asking and answering questions to complete theirown grid and help classmates complete theirs

Matching games: In this kind of games, participants need to find a match for a

word, picture, or card For example, students place 30 word cards, composed of 15pairs facing down in random order Each person turns over two cards at a time, withthe goal of turning over a matching pair, by using their memory

Labeling games: These are forms of matching, in that participants match

labels and pictures

Exchanging games: In these games, students barter cards, other objects, or

ideas Similar are exchanging and collecting games Many card games fall into thiscategory, such as the children’s card game

Board games: Scrabble is one of the most popular board games that

specifically highlight language

Role play games: The terms role play, drama, and simulation are sometimes

used interchangeably but can be differentiated Role play can involve students playing roles that they do not play in real life, such as a dentist, while simulations

can involve students performing roles that they already play in real life or might be

likely to play, such as a customer at a restaurant Dramas are normally scripted

performances, whereas in role plays and simulations, students come up with theirown words, although preparation is often useful

According to McCallum (1980), games have been categorized as Vocabulary

games (I Packed My Bag for Alaska, Observe and Remember, You'll Never Guess!,

Animal Squares); Number games (Buzz, Take a Number, Numbered Chairs, The Power of Concentration); Structure games (Bananas, This or That, First Guess, Thousand Dollars); Spelling games (Spelling Bee, Which Is Which?, Spy Code, Ghosts); Conversation games (Don't You Remember?, Rumor, Famous Couples, Cross Questions) ; Writing games (The Story of Your Life, Short Story Nightmare,

A Through Z); Role plays and dramatics (Story in a Bag, Acting with Adverbs,

Murder, Guess What I Do?).

Moreover, Rixon (1981:2) suggested three ways of categorizing languagegames Firstly, based on the main language skill involved, he claims that there are

six types of games They are Spelling (Hang Man, How Many Words Can You

Make?, Spelling Bee); Vocabulary (The Minister's Cat, Vocabulary Bingo, Vocabulary Pelmanism, Vocabulary Snap, What's the Word?); Listening

Comprehension (If, O'Grady says, Which One is It?); Sound Discrimination (Pronunciation Bingo, Ship or Sheep?); Reading Comprehension (Do As You Are

Told); and Pronunciation (Pronunciation Find Your Partner).

Secondly, with the focus on language function needed, games are also divided

into six types: Giving and Following Instructions (Describe and Arrange, Describe

and Draw, Furnish the Room); Justification (Gifts for the Family, If, Picture Dominoes); Expressing Intension (Picture Dominoes, Gifts for the Family);

Agreement and Disagreement (If, Gifts for the Family, Picture Dominoes); Description (Describe and Draw, Find the Difference, The Lego Game); and Giving Definition (What's the Words?).

The last way to categorize types of games is on the basis of structures andgrammatical points practiced There are such types as: Question Forms and Short

Answers (I Spy, What's in the Bag?, What's My Line?); 'Is there?', 'There is' (Find

the Difference); 'Have you got ?' (Find Your Partner, Happy Families); 'A with

…' (Describe and Arrange, Find Your Partner, Which One is It?); ' What's the time…?', ' It's …o'clock' (What's the Time, Mr Wolf?); Imperatives (Describe and

Arrange, Describe and Draw, Do As You Are Told, Furnish the Room, If, O'Grady Says); Second conditional (If He Were a Flower); First and second conditional:

'Unless ' (If); Prepositions (Describe and Arrange, Furnish the Room); and Past tenses (Past Tense Bingo, Past Tense Knockout)

To sum up, there are many classifications of games However, as mentionedabove, in certain respects, it is very difficult to have clear boundaries between thecategories because of their overlapping

2.12 The Advantages of Games in Teaching Vocabulary

Games have been shown to have many advantages in learning English.According to Richard - Amato (1996), even though games are often associated withfun, we should not lose sight of their pedagogical values, particularly in secondlanguage teaching Games are effective because they provide motivation, lowerstudents' stress, create an enjoyable learning environment and give them theopportunity for real communication

The main reason why games are considered effective learning aids is that "theyspur motivation and students get very absorbed in the competitive aspects of thegames; moreover, they try harder at games than in other courses" (Avedon, 1971) It

is said that gaming in its various forms can motivate and interest learners

“Motivation and interest in play have a key role in the in maintaining a naturalmanually respected code enjoyment of discipline of control.” (Vale, 1995).Discussing this, David and Hallowell (1989) also claim “because games demand andpromote a high degree of students’ participation, they motivate to a greater extentthan conventional textbooks or worksheets” In a language class, games are animportant source of motivation, interest and a game is often considered as the firststep to draw pupils’ attention to an ELT environment It is often overlooked as amean of class control When students are having fun, learning can happen almostwithout anyone noticing “Play is an important part of the learning experience when

we enjoy learning, we learn better”, said Rose and Nichol (1999, p.63) And the role

of fun in motivation is twofold Firstly, if something is fun, learners are motivated towant to do it again Secondly, fun can motivate learners to engage in activitieswithout embarrassment or fearing of making errors Wright, Betteridge and Buckby(1984, p.1) believe that: “language learning is hard work.Effort is required at everymoment and must be maintained over a long period of time Games help andencourage many learners to sustain their interest and work.” Therefore, it is clearlythat good games can be used during a burdensome lesson Ersoz (2000) alsoconfirmed that games are motivating because they are amusing and interesting In thisatmosphere students certainly do not want to stop their lesson They will feel happierand more motivated in taking part in games

In most of the games, an element of competition between individual learners orteams is strongly motivating factor, which stimulates pupils to join the game It is themost important reason why nearly all pupils are greatly excited or attentive in playinggames Saricaban and Metin (2000) also state that play and competition that areprovided by games enhance the motivation of the students while playing games, thelearners’ attention is on the message not on the language Naturally when playinggames, students are trying to win or to beat other teams for themselves or on thebehalf of their team They are so competitive while playing and often try their best tofind out the answer first because they want to have a turn to play, to score points fortheir team and to win Therefore, being involved in the competition, players pay lessattention to forms or structures and just communicate in a more natural way In away, students acquired language unconsciously since their whole attention is engaged

by the activity when games capture students’ attention and participation, they canmotivate students to learn more The games usually involve friendly competition andthey keep learners interested These create the motivation for learners of English toget involved and participate actively in the learning activities

Motivation is one of the most important factors which seems to have a strongeffect on a student’s success or failure Success and motivation are correlated Whenthe pupil is successful, it is sure that he is more motivated to learn “Motivationmakes learning more meaningful and effective…” Byrne (1980, p.76)

The second reason why games are often used in language classes is that theylower students' stress in the classroom In conventional classrooms, there is a lot

of stress put on students trying to master the target language There is a high level

of stress in the classroom because students have to face unfamiliar or unknowngrammatical structures, words, texts and so forth Therefore, students often feeluncomfortable and unsafe in class, which certainly affects their ability to learn.Games are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students moreopportunity to express their opinions and feelings They also enable learners toacquire new experience within a foreign language, which are not always possible

during a lesson (Hansen, 1994, p118) It is believed that when students play games,they feel comfortable and have fun, and want to learn more Since students know thatthey are playing games and want to communicate effectively, they do not worry aboutmaking mistakes and do not try to correct themselves in every single sentence Next, students learn without realizing that they are learning (Schultz, 1988) Meiand Yu-jing (2000) also believe that through playing games, students can learnEnglish as the way children learn and say their mother language without being awarethey are studying; thus without stress, the students can learn a lot in learning thetarget language For instance, when playing a game called "What Would You Do If?"students will have to pick one hypothetical question from those that they have written

in a box They might get a question like "What would you do if a lion came into thisclassroom?” Next, they have to pick one answer that they have written before Theanswer they get may be "I would be a fly." Usually the question and the answer theyget do not match each other, so students have to use their own imaginations to explaintheir bizarre answer, and everyone has fun listening to it The explanation might be

"If a lion came into this classroom, I would be a fly because I am a good person, so

an angel would come and rescue me by turning me into a fly." While trying toexplain, students do not worry too much about grammar mistakes and punishment,because they want to communicate and to explain why it can happen This eases thefear of negative evaluation, the concern of being negatively judged in public andwhich is one of the main factors inhibiting language learners from using the targetlanguage in front of other people (Horwitz and Cope, 1986) In a game -orientedcontext, anxiety is reduced and speech fluency is generated, thus communicatecompetence is achieved Thus, they learn unconsciously, learn without realizing theyare learning Students stop thinking about language and begin using it in aspontaneous and natural manner within the classroom (Schutz, 1988)

Another major advantage of games is creating an enjoyable learningenvironment for students Because studying for a long time often makes students feeltired Letting them play games for sometime during the period of their learning can