Some experiences in teaching english vocabulary for primary students of grade 4

In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students shouldacquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use themaccurately.. Even though students realize the import

THANH HOA EDUCATION & TRAINING DEPARTMENT

THANH HOA EDUCATION & TRAINING OFFICE

INITIATIVE

“ SOME EXPERIENCE IN TEACHING ENGLISH

VOCABULARY FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS OF GRADE 4 ”

Implementer : Mai Thị Huệ position : Teacher

school : Quang thinh Primary school Subject : English

THANH HOA , 2019

1.4 Scope and object of the research 3-4

b The tips that I have applied effectively when teaching English

1.1 Rationale

During the school year of 2017 – 2018, the Ministry of Education andTraining (MoET) implemented the model teaching of English subject to thestudents at primary schools, in accordance with the project of foreign languagesteaching in the national education system, of the period 2015 – 2020 According

to the subject, the primary English program is to be applied since grade 4, withthe familiar topics to the students All four language skills of listening, reading,speaking and writing are focused; in which, listening and speaking are settled aspriority The objectives of the project are to help the students achieving Moverslevel, in accordance with Cambridge ESOL; using a vocabulary of roughly 300

to 500 words In details, the students will be able to understand and use thesimple words and sentences, the daily expressions; they will also be able tointroduce themselves, satisfy their communication need In such a circumstance,the innovation and application of advanced teaching methods become a vitalrequirement

Vocabulary plays an important role in learning a foreign language It is oneelement that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing alltogether In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students shouldacquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use themaccurately

Even though students realize the importance of vocabulary when learning

a language, most Vietnamese students learn vocabulary passively due to severalreasons First, they find the teacher's explanation for the new words’ meaning,pronunciation, spelling or grammatical functions boring In processing learningEnglish in the class, language learners have nothing to do in a vocabularylearning section but to listen to their teacher Second, students only think ofvocabulary learning as learning the primary meaning of new words Therefore,they ignore all other functions of the words Third, students usually only learnnew words in their textbooks or those given by teachers during classroomlessons For example, learners find many new words in a text and then ask theteacher to explain their meanings and usages Forth, many Vietnamese learners

do not want to take risks in applying what they have learnt Students mayrecognize a word in a written or spoken form and think that they already "knowthe word", but they may not be able to use that word properly in differentcontexts or pronounce it correctly As the result, the class is often quiet andinactive and the lessons appear to be uninteresting Students just seat in silence,

do the exercises, and wait for the correct answers from the teachers They seem

to get bored of having the same ways of learning every day Therefore,classroom vocabulary learning activities help learners develop and use words indifferent contexts and make the lessons enjoyable

Having been teaching English to the primary students for 10 years,especially students in grade 4, I realized that in order to approach the objectivesmentioned above, the teachers must work hard, research and find out the most

effective teaching methods There are a variety of issues in the procedure ofteaching English to the primary students that need the serious concerns;however, what made me really puzzled was how to help them understand thevocabulary easily, get the words’ meaning and use them in communicating aswell as in doing exercises In order to do this work I have learnt a lot from thematerials, from friends and colleagues, and now, I would like to present my

“ Some experiences in teaching English vocabulary for primary students of grade 4”

1.2 Research

The study was designed to achieve the following goals:

1 To find out the English teachers and students’ perception and attitudetowards vocabulary and the current situation of vocabulary learning andteaching

2 To evaluate the effectiveness of the currently used classroomvocabulary learning activities in my school

3 To suggest how to use classroom vocabulary activities to improvevocabulary teaching and learning

1.3 Method of the research

In order to achieve the above-stated goals, the study was to seek answers tothe following questions:

1 What are the English teachers and students’ perception and attitude towards vocabulary learning/teaching?

2 How effective are the currently used classroom vocabulary learning activities

in my school?

1.4 Scope and object of the research

Students need lots of vocabulary to increase their ability and confidence

in communicating in English However, learning vocabulary is never easy forlearners Teachers, who motivate the students learning English, need to makelearning vocabulary a fun involving and active process In order to learn andretain new words, learners should participate in different task-based activities intheir classroom whether it is a guessing task, a describing exercise orconversation making Such activities especially focus on helping learnersdevelop and use words in different contexts by making the lesson enjoyable

Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the targetlanguage Well-chosen learning activities are invaluable as they give students abreak and at the same time allow students to practise language skills Learningactivities are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same timechallenging Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in realcontexts They also encourage and increase cooperation

There are, of course, many ways to motivate the students to learn Englisheffectively However, in this minor thesis, I would focus my research on theeffectiveness of classroom vocabulary learning activities in my school in Vinhcity The reason is that my students are too passive to learn vocabulary Theyneed to participate more actively in learning activities I hope that through someclassroom vocabulary activities, I will find the most effective learning activities

to improve students’ vocabulary learning My students have chance to use thewords productively

The scope and object of this research are aiming to the students of thegrades 4 in my school

2 SOLUTIONS

2.1 Theoretical background

It is undeniable that vocabulary, one of three components of laguages( grammar, vocabulary, phonetics), has a main function in language Actually,Michael Mc Cathy stated that: “no matter how well the student learns grammar,

no matter how successfully the sounds of the second language are mastered,without words to express a wide language of meanings, communication in thesecond language just can’t happen in any meaningful way”.(Mc Cathy M, 1992 )

In learning foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role It is one

of elements that links four skills of speaking, reading, writing and listening alltogether Richards and Renandya say “Vocabulary is a core component oflanguage proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learnersspeak, listen, read and write” So, vocabulary is a main skill which should bemastered by the students to get and understand whole English skills; receptiveskills (listening and reading ) and productive skills (speaking and writing )

Moreover, the report of the National Reading Panel (2000) concluded: “the importance of vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized in thedevelopment of reading skill” In order to communicate well in foreignlanguage, student should acquire a large number of words and should know how

to use them correctly to express their ideas more clearly and appropriately in awide range of situations

Also, Lewis (1993) highlighted the significance of vocabulary as basicfactor to communication The researchers do agree that learners do notunderstand the meaning of key word, they cannot participate in the conversation,even if they know morphology and syntax

Thus, it is important to apply some vocabulary learning strategies to buildstudents’ vocabulary in order that their vocabulary are increased and improved

2.2 The reality of the issue

As a primary teacher of English, I realize that there are some realproblems in teaching and learning English vocabulary in my school

2.2.1 Advantages

With the attention of the Board of Management to help the school, thesiblings preceded colleagues have created all conditions for teaching andlearning English is better There are sufficient textbooks and equipment such astapes, discs, robot teachers, speakers, interactive whiteboard … for teaching andlearning

I myself was involved in training program of new English textbook 4; so Imaster the syllabus, also the basic teaching methods I know how to combine theteaching techniques in order that my lessons can achieve high effectiveness

There are many changes in the structure and appearance of the textbooks,with more pictures and the topics which are more familiar to the students, sothey feel excited and very positive to learn English Especially, students areaquainted with informative technology early, they use computer, the Internet and

they get a lot of English resourses from here Moreover, they have chance totake part in many English pleasure grounds such as: English club, EnglishViolympic, Ringing golden bell… These grounds help students develop andincrease their vocabulary very much

2.2.2 Disadvantages:

Most of the students do not realize the importance of learning English.They are shy and not active, which leads to the limitation in communication.Their parents do not show a remarkable attention to the children’s learning thesubject of English since it is just an optional subject and do not affect the overalltranscript result

The ability of absorbing the second language is limited at the primarystudents for a variety of factors: the time in class for English is little while manystudents of this age still find difficult in mastering their mother language Inaddition, each class is always crowded with more than 30 students, which causesdifficulties in drilling and practicing the communication skills

Also, students often learn vocabulary by reading words in English and try

to remember that in Vietnamese, writing following teachers’ requests, not conscious his check to inculcate new words and vocabulary available Therefore,they are forgetful and easily confused with other words As a result, manystudents get bored and abandon school

self-Especially, English pronunciation is a big obstacle for students Thepronunciation in English puzzles students a lot because the same letter hasdifferent sounds For example, the letter “a ” in “ bath ” is not pronounced in thesame way of that in “ bathe” The “ou” in “ South ” is also different from “ ou ”

in “ Southern” Besides, words that can be used in a wide range of contexts willgenerally be perceived more easily than their synonyms with a narrower range.Certainly, the connotations of some words may cause problems, too

Through practical teaching of the first period of school year, I have found

that the biggest difficulty of students in communicating is the ability to reflect language This leads to their limited communicative skill.

2.3 Sollutions

2.3.1 Rules and routines

At the begining of school year, I found that my students’

communicative skill has problems, and the main reason is lack of vocabulary

So, I have gradually changed methods and formality of classroom organization.Till the fourth week, I examined vocabulary for students of class 4A, 4B, 4C inorder that I could know the quality and also clasified my students

 Result:

That result shows that students’ quality is not high The main reasons are:

- Students could not write vocabulary Most of them only imitated pronunciationbut could not write words on the paper

- Students did not know the meaning of words, so they could not manipulate inperceivable exercises

- The time to teach and practise vocabulary for students was limited They onlylearn and read through some times, there were few chances to use words incommunicative situations to create the habit of reflecting language

- I myself have changed the methods of teaching vocabulary, but could notembrace all objects, so some students were still weak

After analyzing the reasons above, I strongly adjusted overall myteaching Thanks to these adjustments, I changed my students’ quality better atthe end of first term From the class observation as well as from teaching andresearching, I acquired valuable experience that help me to improve my teachingeffectively

2.3.3 Giving introductions

a Teaching vocabualy in general

* Choose vocabulary to teach

Vocabulary is an important part of learning English, and no matter whatskills students need to have a certain vocabulary However, teachers can notteach and notice all the new words appear in an article Do not have any newwords should also be brought in to teach and teach the same When teachingvocabulary teachers need to consider:

- Active (active vocabulary): are words necessary for students to understand,recognize and use in oral and written communication In the process of fromthis, teachers need to inspire, take for example, checking to make sure studentsunderstand and recognize how to use them

- From passive (passive vocabulary): are the words that students need tounderstand and recognize when listening and reading With this kind of words

** F actors to clarify the introduction of new words:

Three basic elements of the language should be clarified: form (morphology),meaning (semantics), use (how to use) These elements are specified byintroducing corpus diagram as follows:

Introduce new semantics (meaning)

Grammatical morphology (grammatical form)

The basic steps to present words:

Introduction post, introducing topics: this is an important step in teachingvocabulary This step will determine the success of the class, it will inspirestudents to think of the school from going through all the newly introduced pointThe most important thing in introducing new words is to comply with the order:listening, speaking, reading and writing Never start from other activities but

"hear" Remember the learning process of our mother tongue, always start bylistening, imitating pronunciation and then to the other activities Please helpyour students have a new habit to learn from the best:

Step 1: In new 2-3 times, articulation About the meaning of words (written ororal) Illustrated oral repeated questions to help students understand thevocabulary quickly

Step 2: Let the class repeat a few times (from chorus to individuals)

Step 3: The teacher writes on the board and the class read in unison Thenteacher explanation is brief and easy to understand (in English or providemeaning in English.)

Step 4: Write the examples on the board for the new meaning of the wordmore clearly especially for abstract words Finally write the phrases, idiomsrelated to the new words

Step 5: Check students’ understanding

Five steps presented and introduced a new basic flexible use depending on thecontent of each article

*Tip 1: Using Visual Aids

Using visual aids such as pictures, posters, postcards, word calendars, realia,charts, graphic organizers, picture books, television, videos from Tunes, andcomputers can help students easily understand and realize the main points thatthey have learned in the classroom For each visual aid, students have differentresponses and expressions because of their different educational and culturalbackground Using visual aids can help students understand the deep meaning of

a topic and realize similarities and differences between each topic

Using visual aids can not only develop students’ literacy abilities, but alsocan develop their oral ability Visual aids allow students to have a chance tobrainstorm and present their ideas or thoughts They can create their own stories

in which there are no right or wrong answers Moreover, visual aids can involvethe students by providing a change from one activity to another, and fromhearing to seeing Because learners are more fascinated by gestures andmovement in the classroom

* Using real objects:

This method requires teachers to prepare the objects in the real life beforethe lessons Teacher raises thing, students look and know what the meaning is

This tip can apply for vocabulary related to topics of body parts, things,clothes, fruits… And if teacher prepare well, teaching vocabulary will becomeeasier and save time

* Using pictures:

If in the lesson, teacher cannot use the realia to present vocabulary, theycan also collect pictures from newspapers, magazines, down load them fromInternet or use Powerpoint

Examples:

+ In Unit 9: In my classroom – Lesson 1 ( English 4 )