The study on the use of games in teaching english vocabulary to grade 10 students at high school

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WœX A STUDY ON THE USE OF GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL B.A Thesis Field of study: Language Teaching and Testing Supervisor: Chung Thị Thanh Hằng Student: Nguyễn Văn Hoàng Anh Class: NN0652 A2 Student code: 7062936 Can Tho, April 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TÓM TẮT iv ABSTRACT .v LIST OF TABLES vi Chapter one INTRODUCTION 1 General statement of the problems .1 Statement of the aims, the research questions and the hypotheses General organization and coverage of the study .3 Chapter two REVIEW OF LITERATURE Related literatures .4 1.1 Roles of vocabulary in language learning and teaching 1.2 Effective ways to learn English vocabulary 1.3 Kinds of games which enhance vocabulary learning Related studies 10 Justification of the present study .12 Chapter three .13 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .13 Research participants 13 Research instruments and materials 13 Research design and procedure .14 Chapter four 16 RESEARCH RESULTS 16 Over view of statistical procedures 16 Description of the findings .16 2.1 Hypothesis 1: Students have a positive attitude towards the use of the language games in the classroom .16 i 2.2 Hypothesis 2: Time-consumption and limitation of vocabulary game sources are the main difficulties of English teachers at this school 17 Other findings 18 Chapter five 19 SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTION .19 Summary of research problem, method and finding 19 Discussion of the study results 19 2.1 Students’ attitude and perception about the use of games in teaching and learning vocabulary in classroom 19 2.2 Teachers’ difficulties in using games in classroom .20 Suggestions for using games in classroom 21 3.1 Ways of using vocabulary games to save time for teachers 21 3.2 Ways for teachers to get more sources of vocabulary games .22 Limitation of the study .22 Recommendations for further research 23 Conclusion 23 REFERENCES 25 APPENDIX 27 Appendix 27 Appendix 29 Appendix 31 Appendix 34 Appendix 35 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of carrying out this research, I have received much assistance and contribution from many people to all of whom I would like to acknowledge First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to Ms Chung Thi Thanh Hang, my supervisor, for providing me valuable source of material and insightful comments on my research Were not for her valuable guidance, encouragement and correction, it would not be the acomplishment of my research Second, I wish to express my deep respect and appreciation to the teaching staff of the English Education Department for their instructions at the initial steps in constructing my research Third, I am grateful to Mr Nguyen Tin Trong, my close friend, for his enthusiasm to help me type the research and his useful encouragements during the time of my practicum From the bottom of my heart, I am enormously indebted to my parents who have given me invaluable support and ordor encouragement since I entered Can tho university I also appreciate the on-going support of Ms Ngo Thi Trang Thao for her encouragement and her help me analyze the data with the SPSS program Last, but not least, I would like to thank the English teachers and the students of class 10 A1, 10 A2, and 10 C6 at Phan Van Tri High School (School year of 2009- 2010) Their cooperation no doubt plays an important element in the process of conducting my research iii TÓM TẮT Bài nghiên cứu thực với mục tiêu khảo sát việc sử dụng trò chơi dạy từ vựng cho học sinh lớp 10 trường trung học phổ thơng với hi vọng cải thiện hiệu việc sử dụng trò chơi phương pháp dạy từ vựng Nghiên cứu tiến hành để trả lời cho hai câu hỏi sau: (1) Học sinh lớp 10 có thái độ quan điểm trị chơi ngơn ngữ? (2) Những khó khăn giáo viên Anh văn trường phổ thơng gặp phải lúc tiến hành trị chơi ngơn ngữ lớp gì? Hai bảng câu hỏi dành cho 80 học sinh khối lớp 10 giáo viên Anh văn sử dụng để lấy thông tin cho nghiên cứu Những câu trả lời giáo viên học sinh phân tích phần mềm SPSS (Statistics Package for Social Science) Kết nghiên cứu cho thấy học sinh thích trị chơi ngơn ngữ lớp Tốn thời gian thiếu nguồn cung cấp trị chơi hai khó khăn mà giáo viên thường gặp Cuối cùng, vài khuyến nghị nêu nhằm giúp giáo viên Anh văn trường trung học phổ thông nâng cao hiệu việc sử dụng trò chơi dạy từ vựng iv ABSTRACT This research was conducted to investigate the students’ beliefs about games and teachers’ difficulties in vocabulary learning and teaching to grade10 students at high school with the hope to improve the effect of the use of games as a vocabulary teaching technique The research carried out with the questions “(1) What are grade 10 students’ attitudes and perceptions of the use of games in teaching and learning vocabulary? (2) What are the difficulties for the teachers in carrying out the games in class?” Two questionnaires were administered to 80 students chosen randomly at two classes of grade 10 and teachers of English at a high school to obtain the study result The teachers and students’ answers were then analyzed with SPSS (Statistics Package for Social Science) to see how much they liked the vocabulary games The result of the study showed that students enjoy using the games in classroom In addition, the discussion on the data drawn from the questionnaire for teachers pointed out that time consumption and limitation of game sources were some their obstacles of using games in class Finally, some suggestions were recommended to help English teachers at high school enhance the effect of using games in their vocabulary teaching v LIST OF TABLES Table The mean of the students’ attitudes of using games in learning vocabulary 16 Table The mean of clusters of the students’ attitude of using in learning vocabulary 17 Table The teachers’ difficulties for using games in classroom .18 Table The correlation between students’ thinking and their effectiveness of learning vocabulary 34 Table The correlation between students’ effectiveness of learning vocabulary and their interests of the games 34 Table The correlation between students’ thinking and their interests of the games 34 vi Chapter one INTRODUCTION General statement of the problems Vocabulary is a very important element of a language, including English language It is a good device to connect four major skills in Engkish such as listening, speaking, writing and reading Its importance was stated by many linguists from very early time Della & Hocking (1992) stated that if we spent most of our time studying grammar, our English would not improve very much We would see most improvement if we learned more words and expressions In addition, we could say very little with grammar, but we could say almost anything with words However, most of students at high school find it boring to learn vocabulary They often forget nearly all of the words which they have just learned for a short time The causes for being boring in learning vocabulary can be seen in the following reasons Firstly, students consider the teachers explanations boring In this case scenario, language learners have nothing to in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher Second, students only think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words Therefore, they ignore all other functions of the words Third, students usually only acquire new vocabulary through new words in their text books or when given by teacher during classroom lessons For example, learners find many new words in a text and then ask teachers to explain the meanings and usages Forth, many students not want to take risks in applying what they have learnt Students may recognize a word in a written or spoken form and think that they have already known the word, but they may not use that word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly In recent years, communicative language teaching (CLT) have been applied in our country and its effectiveness in learning and teaching has been shown to us CLT is an approach that helps students be more active in real life stituations through the means of individual, pair and group work activities It encourages students to participate activities to communicate with their classmates, using their own language Students at grade 10 must learn many subjects a day and English is one in many In English classes, they must study plenty of vocabulary on each unit However, most Statement of the aims, the research questions and the hypotheses By those opinions above, it can be concluded that games as “the teaching devices”, perceived as more time-fillers, “a break from the monotony of drilling” (Khuat & Nguyen, 2003) or playful activities The researcher recognizes that many teachers often over look the fact that in a relaxed atmosphere, real learning takes place and students use fact, they remember things faster and better With the aim of getting the picture of using games in teaching vocabulary to 10th grade students at high school, this research has been carried out with bearing in mind the questions: (1)What are grade 10 students’ attitude and perception of the use of games in teaching and learning vocabulary? (2) What are the difficulties for the teachers in carrying out the games in class?” We would like to explore the learners’ beliefs and instructors’ problems of using games in classroom Basing on the result of this study, some suggestions will be offered to increase the effectivesness of using English games at high school in the future Basing on the research questions, the researcher hypothesizes that (1) students have a positive attitude toward the use of the language games in the classroom and (2) the time-consumption and limitation of vocabulary game sources General organization and coverage of the study The research is merely concentrated on describing the real statement of using games in teaching vocabulary for grade 10 student at high school This study is carried out in weeks The organization of this study includes five chapters and some orther related pages Chapter one is a general introduction about the study The general statement of the problem and objectives of the research are main goals that we would like to obtain Chapter two is the review of literature In this chapter, some related literatures and studies of the same topic are introduced The important role of vocabulary and effective ways of learning is clearly stated The justification of the present study is introduced also Chapter three is a picture of methodology which have been used in the reseach The research participants, the design, the intruments, the materials and procedures of doing the research are suggested Chapter four is the results of the study The over view of statistical procedure are suggested The description of the findings is clearly clarified Chapter five is a summary, discussion and suggestion of the study The picture of the problem statement, the research methodology, and the findings is outlined Some findings of the study are discussed The limitation of the study has been reviewed Basing on the result, some suggestions have been offered to make the reality of using games more effective as well as help the future research get better result give attention to the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings 3.2 Ways for teachers to get more sources of vocabulary games The shortage of vocabulary games source was one of the main difficulties for English teachers at high school Eight kinds of games had been suggested to help English teachers overcome this problem Basing on these kinds of games, teachers could create a plenty of suitable games for their students Besides, the head of English teaching staff should hold a corner of exchanging experience of using vocabulary games for all English teachers At this corner, teachers might share and exchange their kinds of vocabulary games together Moreover, some contests of creating vocabulary games should be celebrated every school year These ways could help English teachers get a large reference of games Besides, the rector should invest more facilities for English language teaching For example, some modern computers and books of English vocabulary games should be well-equipped at the library Thanks to the computers and the books, English teachers could get more kinds of games from the internet and book sources Besides, the researcher might offer some kinds of books and websites which could supply some sources of vocabulary games for teacher They might give English teacher a hand to solve the problem of shortage games at high school These kinds of books and websites were available at Appendix Limitation of the study In addition to reaching the aims of the research, there still existed some considerable limitations of the study Firstly, the instruments for collecting the data were slightly limited The result of the study might be more convincing if the observation sheets and the interview were used together with the questionnaires to obtain the data for the study Besides, the shortage of time was another problem In fact, the time for using vocabulary games in the classroom during eight weeks was limited Most of the games were administered in classroom by the researcher during 10 periods The study result might be invaluable if the researcher could explore the real picture of using games in teaching vocabulary at some other high school 22 Secondly, the participants were only 80 students and teachers of English at high school The result of the study might be better if the research time was extended and more participants from different grades could be involved in the study Recommendations for further research Although the study achieved its goal to explore the attitude and perception of the learners as well as the obstacles of the instructors towards the vocabulary games, the researcher was still not happy with it The study result might be better if the researcher was allowed to have more time to use the other instruments beside questionnaires for the research More kinds of games might have also been applied to students and then, they would be a valuable collection for the researcher to prove the effectiveness of using games to audience Moreover, the collection of games might be a good reference for the further study in the future Conclusion The result of the study proved that grade-10 students have a positive attitude and perception to language games In other words, language games have a great contribution to enhance learners’ motivation First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily Second, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the learning activities Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way As a result, students prefer using language games in learning vocabulary to other ways in the classroom Beside that, the teachers’ difficulties in using games have been assessed The best ways to help teachers avoid problems have been suggested The findings of the present study are not only consistent with the theoretical background of the thesis but also supportive of previous research on using language games Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken in to account 23 In conclusion, despite the limitation of the study, the most important contribution of this study is that it provides EFL learners and teachers with a new way of learning vocabulary beside the traditional ones It shows the participant’s attitudes towards the use of language games in classroom It has been proved that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence With respect to learner’s interest and effective foreign language vocabulary learning, language games approach is promising to both research and pedagogical perspectives 24 REFERENCES Allen, V F., (1983) Techniques in teaching vocabulary Oxford: Oxford university Press Alley R., & Mangubhai B (1983) Strategies in vocabulary teaching and learning UK: Cambridge University Press Carter R., (1998) Vocabulary (2nd ed.) New York: Routledge David, H., & Squire, L (1984) Research on memory related to language Acquisition UK: Prentice Hall DeCarrico, J (2001) Vocabulary learning and teaching In Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed.), edited by M CelciaMurcia.pp 285-299 Boston: Heinle & Heinle Deci, L E., & Ryan, M (1985) Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior New York: Plenum Press Della, H., & Hocking D (1992) Innovations/Innovation Teachers’ book Language Teaching Publications Dynne J (2001) Teaching English to children UK: Longman Hadfield, J (1990) A collection of games and activities for low to midintermediate students of English Intermediate Communication Games Hong Kong: Thomus and Nelson and Nelson and Sons Ltd Harmer, J (1997) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Jacobs, C (1994) Second Language Teaching Theories New York: University Press Jung, C I (2005) Using Games to Promote Communicative Skills in Language Learning The internet TESL journal, 11(2) Kim, L.S (1995).Creative games for the language class English Teaching Forum, 33 (1), 35-36 Khuat & Nguyen (2003) Learning Vocabulary Through Games Retrieved March 28, 2010 from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/dec_03_sub.Vn.php Krashen J (1989) Teaching and learning vocabulary New York: Newbury House Lee, W.R (1979) Language teaching games and contests Oxford: Oxford University Press 25 Luyen P., P & Hoa H., X (1999) An Improvement of English Methodology Hanoi: Education Publisher Nation, I S P (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richards, J C (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching USA: Cambridge University Press Roger G., Phillips & S Walters (2005) Teaching Practice New York: Macmillan Rixon, S (1981) How to use games in language teaching London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd Toth, M (1995) Children’s games Oxford: Heinemann Publishers Uberman, A (1998) The Use of Games For Vocabulary Presentation and Revision Forum, 36 (1), January – March, p 20 Vernon, S (2006) Why children learn faster with English language games Retrieved April 5, 2010 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Children-Learn-FasterWith-English-Language-Games&id=281451 Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M (2005) Games for language learning (3rd ed.) New York: Cambridge University Press Zdybiewska, M (1994) One-hundred language games Warszawa: WSiP 26 APPENDIX Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE ON TEACHER’ DIFFICULTIES AND WAYS OF USING VOCABULARY GAMES IN CLASSROOM A Teachers’ difficulties Please, put a tick (9) in the box you choose Preparing vocabulary games takes much time Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … Preparing vocabulary games costs much money Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … The source of vocabulary games is limited Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … Vocabulary games account for much time in the lesson Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … Giving instruction of vocabulary games is a difficult task for teachers Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … Students’ activities in playing games are often out of teachers’ control Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … Playing vocabulary games affects other near-side classes Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … It is impossible for all students to play vocabulary games Strongly agree… agree… neutral… disagree… strongly disagree … B Teachers’ ways of carrying out the games Please, put a tick (9) in the box you choose Teachers let students play games in the whole class Always … Often … Sometimes … Seldom … Never … Seldom … Never … Seldom … Never … 10 Teachers let students play games in groups Always … Often … Sometimes … 11 Teachers let students play games in pairs Always … Often … Sometimes … 12 Teachers let students play games individually 27 Always … Often … Sometimes … Seldom … Never … 13 Teachers give games to students at warm-up activities of lesson Always … Often … Sometimes … Seldom … Never … 14 Teachers give games to students at pre-lesson Always … Often … Sometimes … Seldom … Never … 15 Teachers give games to students at post-lesson Always … Often … Sometimes … Seldom … Never … Extra-question: How long have you been teaching English? 1-5 year … 5-7 year … 8-10 year … Thank you very much! 28 over 10 years … Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE ON USING GAMES IN LEARNING VOCABULARY Gender: Male  Female  How you like using games in learning vocabulary? Answer the following questions to know PLEASE, CIRCLE YOUR BEST CHOICE Scale: Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree I enjoy participating in language games to review vocabulary before starting a lesson 2 Participating in language games is joyful 3 We feel comfortable when participating in language games to review vocabulary 4 Activities in the language games not help language learners to retain vocabulary 5 The language games in the warm-up stage can help us remember more words I feel tired when engaging in language games The language games at the beginning of class not attract my attention In my opinion, the best way to learn and to remember vocabulary is to actively take part in language games I retain more vocabulary when taking part in language games 10 Language games are necessary in helping remembering the words 11 Language games help me remember the words 12 Language games not help students retain the words 13 I prefer to cooperate with friends while participating language games 14 I can not remember any new words after participating language games 29 15 Cooperating with friends in playing language games is what I like to 16 I feel closer to my classmates when we are engaged in language games 17 I feel excited when the teacher starts the lesson with the language games 18 Learning foreign language by language games helps learners remember the words longer time 19 The language games are effective in helping learners to retain vocabulary 20 The psychological comfort when participating in language games helps me retain the vocabulary better Thank you very much 30 Appendix Giới tính: Nam … Nữ … BẢNG CÂU HỎI VỀ THÁI ĐỘ HỌC TẬP CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRỊ CHƠI NGƠN NGỮ ĐỂ HỌC TỪ VỰNG Trong câu hỏi đây, người viết muốn tham khảo suy nghĩ, thái độ học sinh trò chơi ngôn ngữ mà giáo viên sử dụng học lớp tính hiệu trò chơi việc giúp em học từ vựng Các em vui lòng đọc câu sau đánh dấu (9) vào có câu trả lời phù hợp với ý kiến em Mức độ Hồn Hồn STT Phát biểu tồn Đồng đồng ý Khơng có ý đồng ý kiến ý Khơng tồn khơng đồng ý 5 5 4 ngữ không giúp em ghi nhớ từ vựng 5 Các trị chơi ngơn ngữ phần Em thích tham gia vào trị chơi ngơn ngữ để ôn từ vựng trước bắt đầu học Tham gia vào trị chơi ngơn ngữ vui Em cảm thấy thoải mái tham gia trị chơi ngơn ngữ để ơn tập từ vựng Các hoạt động trị chơi ngơn 31 đầu học giúp em nhớ từ vựng lâu Em thấy mệt mỏi tham gia trị chơi ngơn ngữ 5 5 5 5 5 Các trị chơi ngơn ngữ phần đầu học khơng thu hút ý em Theo em cách để học nhớ từ vựng tốt tham gia tích cực vào trị chơi ngôn ngữ Em nhớ từ vựng nhiều tham gia trị chơi ngơn ngữ Các trị chơi ngôn ngữ cần thiết 10 để ghi nhớ từ vựng Các trị chơi ngơn ngữ hỗ trợ nhiều 11 cho việc ghi nhớ từ vựng em Các trị chơi ngơn ngữ khơng có tác dụng việc giúp học sinh ghi 12 nhớ từ vựng Em thích phối hợp với bạn bè 13 tham gia trị chơi ngơn ngữ Em thấy khơng nhớ từ vựng sau tham gia vào 14 trị chơi ngơn ngữ Hợp tác với bạn bè để giải vấn đề trị chơi ngơn ngữ 15 điều em yêu thích Em cảm thấy gần gũi với bạn bè lớp chúng em tham 16 gia vào trị chơi ngơn ngữ 32 Em cảm thấy thật hào hứng giáo viên mở đầu học trị 17 chơi ngơn ngữ 5 5 Học ngoại ngữ trị chơi ngơn ngữ giúp người học nhớ từ 18 vựng lâu Các trị chơi ngơn ngữ hiệu việc giúp người học ghi nhớ 19 từ vựng Sự thoải mái tâm lý tham gia trị chơi ngơn ngữ giúp em ghi 20 nhớ từ vựng tốt Cảm ơn bạn nhiều! 33 Appendix Table The correlation between students’ thinking and their impact of learning vocabulary Correlations S’ thinking S’ impact Students’ Pearson Correlation thinking Sig (2-tailed) 647** 000 N Students’ Pearson Correlation impact Sig (2-tailed) 80 80 647** 000 N 80 80 Table The correlation between students’ thinking and their interests of the games Correlations Students’ Pearson Correlation thinking Sig (2-tailed) N Students’ Pearson Correlation interest Sig (2-tailed) N S’thinking S’ interest 534** 000 80 80 534** 000 80 80 Table The correlation between students’ impact of learning vocabulary and their interests of the games Correlations Students’ Pearson Correlation impact Sig (2-tailed) N Students’ Pearson Correlation interest Sig (2-tailed) N 34 S’ impact S’ interest 569** 000 80 80 569** 000 80 80 Appendix Amato, R (1998) Why use a games for teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language: From Theory to Practice New York: Longman Atkinson, G, & Shiffrin, H (1968) Multi store model of memory from http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/multi-store.html Avedon, M E (1971) Learning through games and the study of games New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc: pp 315-321 Byrne, D (1995) Games for Teaching Oral English Harlow: Longman group UK Limited: pp 101-103 Deesri, A (2002) Games in the ESL and EFL class The Internet TESL Journal, 8(9) Retrieved on April, 10, 2010 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/DeesriGames.html Digby, C., & Mayers, J (1992) Making sene of vocabulary Hemel hemstead: Prentice Hall international Ersoz, A (2000) Six Games for the EFL/ESL Classroom The Internet TESL Journal, 6(6), June 2000 from http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Ersoz-Games.html Gairns, R., & Redman, S (1990) Working with words: A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Gnoinska, A (1998) English vocabulary for students of English as a second language, 36(3), July- September from http://marksesl.com/vocabulary.htm Koprowski, M (2006) Ten Good Games for Recycling Vocabulary The Internet TESL Journal, 12(7) Retrieved April, 01, 2010 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Loprowski-RecylingVocabulary.html Lewis, G., & Bedson, G (1999) Games for children – Research books for teacher Oxford: Oxford University Press McCallum, G P (1980) 101 word games: for students of English as a second or foreign language Oxford: Oxford University Press Moras, S (2001) Teaching vocabulary to advanced students: A lexical approach Retried 35 April, 10, 2010 from http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/teachingvocabulary.html Richards, J C and Renandya, W A (2002) Strategies in vocabulary teaching and learning Cambridge University Press Svantesson, I (1990) Mind mapping & memory: powerful techniques to help you make better use of your brain London: Kogan Page NJ Thornbury, S.(2002) How to teach vocabulary England: Longman 36