Using imayes in helping students learn vocabulary

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION ………………………… ………Page Rationale for the study …………………………………… Page Purposes of the study and Research Questions ………… Page 3 Scope of the study ………………………………………… Page 4 Methods of the study ……………………………………… Page PART 2: DEVELOPMENT ……………………………………Page I Literature Review ………………………………………… Page Vocabulary learning………………………………………… Page Review on the use of images in vocabulary teaching Page II Methodology Page 1.Participants and the research context Page 2.Textbook and Reading materials Page 3.The reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at Nong Cong high school Research methodology Page 10 III FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 1.Data analysis and discussion Page 12 Major finding and discussion Page 14 PART 3: CONCLUSION Discussion of the main findings Page 19 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study It cann’t be denied that Vocabulary has always been considered the backbone of a language and the basis of communication because of the fact that thoughts and ideas can be expressed without using grammar, but impossibly without words Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed Limited vocabulary, therefore, is likely to be a hindrance for learners in their communication For this reason, vocabulary is highly important to any language, because without enough words used appropriately and in context, people would not be able to understand what others express or state what there is in their own minds Because the importance of mastering vocabulary is evident and obvious, the teaching of vocabulary should always receive sufficient attention It is important for teachers to realize that learning a new language is not just a memorization process or acquiring new words; it is the connection between the words and their reality However, the traditional vocabulary teaching techniques in such a way as presenting new words on blackboard together with its phonics, meaning, translation and requiring students’ memorization of long isolated word lists are still kept in many language classrooms, which leads to the inefficiency of vocabulary acquisition From this fact, as a teacher of English at Nong Cong No.1 upper secondary school, I myself think that it is really vital to conduct a study to find an appropriate method in offering students with more effective vocabulary learning That’s why I decided to carry out the entitled study: “Using images in helping students learn Vocabulary” Purpose of the study and research questions This study is aimed at looking into whether the use of images in vocabulary teaching can help improve students’ vocabulary retention The participants in the study are students at Nong Cong no.1 upper secondary school In an attempt to achieve the above-presented aims, the study sought to answer the following research question: To what extent can the use of images in vocabulary teaching help improve students’ retention of English vocabulary for students at Nong Cong no.1 upper secondary school? Scope of the study 2 This research is an investigation into the effectiveness of the use of images on students’ vocabulary retention in a specific context of students at Nong Cong no.1 upper secondary school? The participants include a group of students of class 10c5 Methods of the study This study using quantitative research method aimed to determine whether images are able to enhance students’ comprehension skills o r have a positive effect on the ability of students to remember vocabulary The author used data collection instrument to gather information about the students involved, monitor the progress of the students when they used images throughout the research, and determine the effectiveness of the images based on the pre-tests and post-tests and class observation The pre-tests were necessary to assess the vocabulary retention level and skills the students possessed before the intervention of the strategy and used as a baseline score The post-tests were used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy used by the students during the research process by comparing the pre-test scores to the ones taken at the end of the six lessons.Class observation is also effective in evaluating PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 1.1.1 Vocabulary learning What is vocabulary? So far there have been a lot of definitions of vocabulary Vocabulary can be seen in many different ways Vocabulary refers to words or a set of words in a language or knowledge of words regarding its forms, meanings and how to use it accurately in the context In other words, vocabulary refers to the words, compounds and idioms in a language that can be used to convey and receive information in oral and written communication 1.1.2 What is involved in knowing a word? When it comes to vocabulary, it surely is the first step toward learning a foreign language A sentence is usually made up of numerous words Without any concepts of grammar, learners may guess the meaning of a sentence if the vocabulary is comprehensible to them Likewise, learners of a foreign language are likely to get their messages across by putting all the words together, even though not in a grammatical, correct order Therefore, vocabulary serves as the foundation for language learners in communication However, mastering numerous vocabulary lists to use in communication is not always easy for language learners For some students, vocabulary has always been one of the obstacles that hinder their English learning Learners may have different problems in learning vocabulary Some are capable of recognizing the word in reading but fail to spell it out Some are able to spell the word out in writing, yet they mispronounce the word in speaking Still, others can say the word and spell it out perfectly, but surprisingly, they may not know the meaning of the word Indeed, to learn is one thing; to know is another In order to know a new word, students need to take great efforts 1.1.3 Vocabulary retention One of the significance in vocabulary learning process is not always students’ comprehending word meaning or spelling, but vocabulary retention Retention is defined as “the ability to retain facts and figures in memory” Vocabulary retention, in a similar way, can be referred to as the storage of vocabulary in memory, which becomes available for usage when needed The efficiency of vocabulary learning can be measured by the extent to which students can remember the words that 4 they’ve already learned to apply in the productive or receptive language learning Important as it is, it is worth spending time figuring out the factors that can affect students’ vocabulary retention According to different researchers, retention of vocabulary is affected by three following factors: memory, language exposure and effective vocabulary learning strategies There is a close relationship among these three factors Memory Memory can be categorized into short-term and long-term memory It can be seen that in order to retain knowledge as much as possible, foreign language learners need all the information of the language that they learned to be transferred into long-term memory The main way of transferring from short-term memory to long-term memory is by finding some pre-existing information in the long-term memory to attach the new information to Therefore, it can be concluded that after being introduced to students, the vocabulary can only be restored in students’ short-term memory, and will soon fade away if the process of consolidation, involving rehearsal and meaningful association does not take place Language exposure While the term memory more often refers to later storage and retrieval of information, language exposure refers more to processes in the initial acquisition or encoding of information Effective vocabulary learning strategies Vocabulary learning strategies is the third factor contributing to vocabulary retention Language teachers have been placing great emphasis on teaching English vocabulary However, the results of mastering vocabulary are not desirable, because words sometimes can be forgotten very easily and won’t last long Therefore, it is of great necessity to adopt effective vocabulary learning strategies Like general learning strategies, English vocabulary learning strategies include those techniques that help learners remember what they have learned - their storage and retention of new information It is important that language teacher is well aware of the factors that affect students’ vocabulary retention and the characteristics of the teaching context so as to have 5 suitable teaching methods to improve it 1.2 Review on the use of images in vocabulary teaching 1.2.1 The use of images as a mode of multimodality in language learning Most language teachers seem to agree that the use of images can enhance language teaching Some researchers have concluded that images clarify and enhance students learning, and that this information is recognized and remembered for longer durations than verbal information alone 1.2.2 The use of images in vocabulary teaching and its effects on vocabulary retention The image can be a picture of an object, a set of locations for remembering a sequence of words or expressions, or a mental representation of the letters of a word This strategy can be used to remember abstract words by associating such words with a visual symbol or a picture of a concrete object Learners can create their own mental images of a word's meaning Visual aids help learners store information in long-term memory and make learning more meaningful for students , introducing visual images can lower classroom anxiety and promote active exploration of the language Types of images used in vocabulary teaching - Picture flashcards When teaching vocabulary of Unit 9:Preserving the environment, picture 1.2.3 flashcashs can be effective For instance: - >pollution >contamination - Drawing:Teacher or students can draw pictures on board This can help understand and remember words better - Wall pictures :If it is possible , drawing pictures on the walls can help students remember words a lot - Videos: downloading videos from Internet is really effective when teaching Vocabulary 7 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants and the research context The participants were 43 students (who were divided into two smaller groups with twenty for each) of 10 C5 class from every corner of Nong Cong district, by this I mean they are both from town and rural areas Almost of them are females and they are 16 years old Most these students are generally at elementary level They learned English for at least five years at high school but this subject was not carefully taken into its consideration In their opinion, learning English means learning grammar and structures with common lexical sources Therefore, they find learning vocabulary difficult Some students can easily adapt to the new ways of learning, but most of them face challenges 2.2.Textbook and Reading materials The vocabulary materials used in the study consisted of selected texts from new English Textbook 10 (learner-centered and communicative approach with theme-based teaching) published by Education Publishing House and Pearson In the textbook, there are 10 units with diverse topics related to themes: Our lives, Our society, Our environment, Our future sections were included in one unit namely: Getting started, Language, Skills, Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project There are some samples based on the new English textbook for grade 10 in which such common organizers are appropriately applied It is hoped that English teachers will have a better insight into using images and become confident to integrate these effective tools into their learning vocabulary classroom practice The study was conducted when the participants were in the second semester when they already had had knowledge about basic structures as well as vocabulary in textbook of grade 10 Therefore, the author found that it matched with the objectives of the learning program and students’ levels of proficiency 2.3 The reality of teaching and learning vocabulary at Nong Cong high school As mentioned above, Vocabulary learning in new Tieng Anh 10 is the second of eight lessons that comprise one unit in the textbook( It is included in Language, consisting of Pronunciation, Vocabulary and Grammar) Language lessons admittedly provide language inputs such as vocabulary, structures as well as grammar related to the lesson topic The students in our school, however, have been facing numerous challenges in vocabulary lesson because of their rentation ability Some get bored with remembering words, others don’t know how to remember vocabulary long In addition, most of them have difficulty in remembering words 2.4 Research methodology With a view to investigate the efficiency of using images on learners’ vocabulary retention in the context of Nong Cong No.1 upper secondary students, an action research was conducted Within the context of using images to develop the vocabulary retention for students at Hanoi Architectural University, conducting a study employing action research is an appropriate approach As the researcher in this study is also the teacher at this school, she can get directly involved in the teaching process and can realize the problems and difficulties her students have to face, and accordingly, can think of possible solutions to deal with these problems as they arise In addition, conducting an action research enables the researcher to intervene into the research process to make possible adaptation to aim at improved practice; therefore, as a role of both a teacher and a researcher, this can be done easily In order to answer the research question, which aims at finding out to what extent the use of images can improve students’ vocabulary retention, the researcher employed the two different data collection instruments, namely the vocabulary tests, class observation 2.4.1 The pre-test and post-test The study took place in weeks and were divided into two different phases Phase lasted weeks and phase continued for another weeks The reason for dividing the study into two phases were to examine the vocabulary retention of students in both short-term and long-term one Results after the first phase of the first four weeks reflected students’ short-term memorization of new words, while the retention of vocabulary was justified after the second phase, or after eight weeks 2.4.2 Class observation In this study, to ensure the objectivity of the data and to collect viewpoint from various informants, the researcher was fortunate to have the observation done with the participation of an independent observer who was also an English teacher at Nong Cong No upper secondary school Observation was conducted in all lessons throughout the eight weeks of the study and was based on a detailed checklist In order to avoid unnatural behaviors of students when there is the presence of an observer, it was informed to students in advance that a teacher would come to make class observation Students were also clarified about the purpose of the observation, which aimed to collect data to serve the purpose of doing research, and not for the aims of evaluating students’ level or teacher’s performance during the lesson 2.5 Data collection procedure Procedure of the image using intervention During the eight weeks of the study, each week students had one vocabulary lesson which lasted 45 minutes Instead of guiding vocabulary to students in a traditional way such as presenting new words on blackboard with meaning, pronunciation, examples, etc the teacher used images Images were utilized in a variety of ways, from posters, flashcards, drawing, semantic maps to other visual forms like short films, video clips, etc Images were either prepared by the teacher or by students Before each lesson, students were required to collect images related to the topics that were going to be taught to use as resources for the whole class Word presentation was done through the use of images, similarly to the practice stage Different activities using images were applied to help students practice the new words such as guessing games, matching, conversation grid, information gap activities, etc A vocabulary lesson often started with about to 10 minutes of vocabulary review in which students were checked how much they could retain vocabulary from previous lesson(s) Activities used for vocabulary review were mainly matching games in which students were supposed to match pictures with words or definitions of words The main vocabulary teaching activities followed with the main focus on the use of images The teacher often used elicitation to activate students’ knowledge about the targeted words For instance, she gave the images of targeted words and asked students what they could tell from the pictures they saw; or she showed a short video clip about the topic with follow-up questions for students to brainstorm the upcoming-targeted words After that, the teacher listed the words with equivalent pictures to demonstrate the words, together with the definitions, part of speech, pronunciation and structures or examples of how the words could be used in context For vocabulary practice, communicative activities were implemented with a view to helping students practice the words they learnt in a meaningful way Here 10 are some of the frequently-used communicative activities: assembling an object, identifying the differences, drawing, information gap as well as comic strip 11 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 3.1 Data analysis and discussion 3.1.1 Effects of using images on students’ vocabulary retention – findings from pre- and post-tests To evaluate the improvement of students’ vocabulary retention, the researcher would compare the results between the pre-test and the first post-test, the pre-test and the second post-test and finally all the three tests together In each group of comparison, the students’ test results as a whole were analyzed first and then significant performance of individuals would be discussed in further details Students S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25 S26 S27 S28 S29 12 Test results Pre-test 5.6 6.2 6.4 6.4 5.2 7.4 5.4 5.8 6.8 7.1 5.4 6.2 7.4 6.7 8.5 5.2 7.3 7.7 6.59 5.6 6.2 6.4 6.4 5.2 7.4 5.4 Post-test 5.8 6.6 7.6 6.8 5.8 7.8 6.8 6.4 7.5 7.9 6.8 7.6 7.8 7.5 8.7 7.8 8.4 7.08 5.8 6.6 7.6 6.8 5.8 7.8 Post-test 7.4 7.6 7.2 6.4 5.8 6.4 6.8 7.6 8.3 7.8 7.8 7.5 8.6 6.2 7.6 7.9 7.25 7.4 7.6 7.2 6.4 5.8 S30 S31 S32 S33 S34 S35 S36 S37 S38 S39 S40 S41 S42 S43 5.8 6.8 7.1 5.4 6.7 6.2 6.4 6.5 6.8 6.4 7.5 7.9 6.8 7.5 6.5 6.4 6.6 8.2 6.5 6.4 6.6 7.6 8.3 6.5 8.5 8.2 It is obvious from the test results that the overall mean score of the first posttest was relatively higher than that of the pre-test With this upgrade in the test results, it was likely that students made some certain improvement in their vocabulary retention 3.1.2 Effects of using images on students’ vocabulary retention – findings from observation Findings from the test results show an improvement in students’ vocabulary retention However, to justify whether the improvement in the vocabulary retention came from the use of images, data from class observations and interviews were analyzed and discussed From class observation: Students’ vocabulary retention was evaluated in two separate parts including the retention of previously-learnt vocabulary, which was done through the or 10minute vocabulary review and check at the beginning of each lesson; and the immediate memorization of vocabulary learnt right in that lesson, which was done through the observation of how students performed in the follow-up activities after vocabulary was instructed These two parts illustrated students’ vocabulary retention in terms of both short-term and long-term memory For the observation, students were evaluated as a whole group, not individually The rate was given from to ranking from the lowest to the highest level It can be seen that overall, vocabulary 13 retention shows relatively high results For the retention of previously-learnt vocabulary, the rate ranges from to over the maximum rate of 5, in which in three weeks, students vocabulary retention reached With regards to immediate vocabulary memorization, the rate was even higher, with five weeks being rated over and only one week being rated Basing on detailed comments from the observer, it was realized that the majority of students showed their good performance during the vocabulary review session at the beginning of each lesson Most students could respond quickly and precisely by giving correct definitions of words when they were shown the images Some students were unsure about their answers; however, this number was not significant However, it can be noticed that there was a downward trend in the retention of vocabulary towards some final weeks In week 6, and 8, the rate of vocabulary retention from previous lessons was from to 4.5 This was partly explained by the fact that when the study had gone through nearly two months, the amount of vocabulary learnt was much more than those of some first weeks This led to students’ occasional forgetting of words that were already learnt Nevertheless, the rate of these final weeks was only lower compared with that of some first weeks On overall, the amount of vocabulary that students could retain still remained relatively high, accounting for 80% of the total number of words learnt Concerning students’ performance during the follow-up activities which were administered to check students’ short-term memory of vocabulary, it was found out by the observer that most students performed outstandingly well They could immediately retain the new words and could apply the words learnt in subsequent tasks in the lessons The only exception was in the final week when the rate of vocabulary memorization ranked level over This was later discovered in the interview that towards the end of the study, some students lost some interest in getting involved in activities using images and accordingly lost concentration in the lesson This was probably the reason for the not as good performance of students in comparison with that of other previous weeks Although the observation could not reflect the performance of each individual student, the assessment of students as a whole group still reflected the extent to 14 which students could retain the vocabulary Findings from the observation can be used to crosscheck with results from the tests Findings from observation reflected the unstable trend in students’ engagement and interest in the vocabulary Reasons for this had been explored through the interviews with participants Question in the interview asked students whether they liked the vocabulary lessons using images and whether the use of images was more attracting than other traditional vocabulary teaching strategies When giving their answers to this question, the majority of students said yes They also gave a variety of reasons for their answers, among which were the liveliness of the images, the practicality of the vocabulary teaching strategies, which helped them relate to real life images, the diversity of vocabulary introduction, etc For the other students, they gave a fair answer, claiming that they found both methods of teaching vocabulary to be as interesting However, they clarified that they appreciated the preparation of teacher when choosing to teach vocabulary through images as it required much more time and effort in designing and carrying out activities Students explained that they didn’t like to see pictures all the time The activities should be varied and they would prefer something different among the weeks Other reasons were also mentioned such as level of difficulty of vocabulary taught, the familiarity of topic and the assigned activities To be more specific, students claimed that if the topic and the vocabulary were too difficult, their level of interest and engagement also reduced It was clear from the findings that the use of images, to a certain extent, exerted positive influence on students’ participation and helped raise their interest in learning However, some factors might result in the stability of learners’ interest and engagement Upon realizing these factors, teacher could think of possible solutions to improve the situation 3.2 Major findings and discussion With regards to the major research question, which investigated whether the use of images helped improve students’ vocabulary retention, the triangulation of data from three sources reflected an improvement in vocabulary retention among the 15 majority of students It was found out from the tests that improvement was perceived in almost all the participants, although the extent to which improvement was made varied from student to student Similar results were also seen and confirmed basing on data from class observations, which showed that students’ vocabulary retention in terms of both vocabulary learnt right in the lesson (or shortterm memory) and vocabulary learnt from previous lessons (or longer-term memory) were relatively good It was obvious that data from tests and observation reflected positive results of students’ vocabulary retention Furthermore, the improvement in vocabulary retention was claimed by most students to be resulted from the use of images The use of images was reported to help students better their word memorization thanks to the vividness and impression that it could create on them Another reason that ensured students of better retention was that the use of images in communicative activities during the vocabulary practice session helped them use words in specific contexts, which made the learning more meaningful and create chances for them to have more frequency of language exposure This contributed to improving students’ vocabulary retention It was also found out in the study that the use of visual images did not only help improve students’ vocabulary retention but also had positive effects on students’ vocabulary learning on the whole Students expressed their stronger motivation in learning vocabulary when they claimed that the use of images helped the vocabulary learning more fun and exciting Concerning the perspectives that students had on the use of images in vocabulary lesson, data were collected and crosschecked from two sources – the observation and the interviews Similar findings were reflected in both data sources that nearly all the participants agreed that they preferred learning vocabulary with images to learning in the traditional way It was found out that students especially loved the ideas of using images in vocabulary lesson, especially during the first weeks Students were greatly engaged and interested in vocabulary learning thanks to the use of images Although the level of interest and engagement towards the final weeks did not remain as high as that during the first weeks, due to excessive level of difficulty of some topics and that students preferred more diverse application of 16 methods in vocabulary teaching, their attention and involvement throughout the study process reflected positive attitudes of students on visual usage in teaching vocabulary Basing on what was found from the study, it can be seen that vocabulary retention will be facilitated if images are used in vocabulary instruction and practice It can be regarded as an effective method for vocabulary teaching at Nong Cong No.1 upper secondary school 3.3 Implications The findings of this study support that the use of images has fruitful effects on students’ vocabulary memorization Assuming that traditional ways of teaching vocabulary not help students much with vocabulary retention, instructors need to seek for more appropriate and efficient ways to improve the situation Findings from this study prove that the use of images is an effective tool to help develop students’ vocabulary retention Images should be used in a variety of ways such as posters, flashcards, drawing and videos to ensure diversity and maintain proper levels of attention in the classroom The use of images, in addition, should not be restricted to vocabulary instructions but should also be applied in vocabulary practice with the use of communicative activities so as to create more language exposure to students to enhance vocabulary memorization In addition, from the researcher’s own experience after the study, the use of images has brought fruitful results; however, the preparation of each lesson is far more time-consuming and effort-taking than teaching using the traditional methods Therefore, it is recommended that teachers should think of solutions to deal with this difficulty Teachers can consider using students as resources for their own lesson by getting students more involved in the lesson preparation Teachers can assign students with certain tasks that require their finding and collecting images relating to the lesson at home and bring to class to share Teachers can also call for other colleagues to make preparation in a team and resources can be shared among the teacher community Lastly, although this technique is beneficial in improving students’ vocabulary 17 retention, it does not always ensure the learner’s ability of remembering the words overtime Therefore, the teacher should encourage learners to revise the new words more frequently and create more chances for students to have more frequent language exposure Homework should also be assigned to students so that they can spend time reviewing the words learnt Different communicative activities in other language lessons should also be applied to create an environment in which students can use the words learnt in specific context 3.4 Summary This chapter has reported the results of data analysis and discussion on the major findings The results confirm that the use of images in vocabulary teaching helps improve the vocabulary retention of students The use of images is proved to be more beneficial to students’ vocabulary retention and language learning than the other previous methods Therefore, the use of images is proposed to be applied widely in other language classrooms to help promote the learning and teaching of foreign languages PART C: CONCLUSION Concerned with students’ problems in retaining vocabulary when learning a foreign language, the author carried out this research to check the hypothesis that “using images in teaching vocabulary has positive impact on increasing students’ retention of vocabulary” In this last part of the initiatives and experience, the teacher18 researcher would like to summarize the major findings Also, suggestions for further study and classroom implications for teachers who want to apply this technique as a way of improving students’ vocabulary retention are provided As a means of expressing meaning and an important tool in supporting the success of communication, vocabulary is forever a vital component that needs to be carefully taught This research aimed at seeking an appropriate way to help students retain vocabulary more efficiently The use of different types of visuals was tried out within weeks of the study on 43 learners of Nong cong No.1 upper secondary school ranging from posters, flashcards, drawing to videos Images were used to instruct vocabulary and communicative activities were embedded in vocabulary practice Three data collection instruments were employed, namely pre-test/post-tests, class observation and interviews in order to achieve most reliable findings for the research A research question was raised which aimed at finding out whether the use of images could increase students’ vocabulary retention Findings from the tests, observation and interviews revealed that students had experienced improvement in their vocabulary memorization throughout the eight weeks of study and the reasons for the vocabulary retention progress was largely attributed to the use of images in language classroom Benefits of using images can be listed as the deeper impression of vocabulary on students’ memory and a more frequently exposure to vocabulary use A completely positive attitude of students towards the use of images was also reflected in the interview and observation, claiming that visuals helped them have more fun and motivation in learning Signature of Principle 19 ... appropriate method in offering students with more effective vocabulary learning That’s why I decided to carry out the entitled study: Using images in helping students learn Vocabulary Purpose... significance in vocabulary learning process is not always students comprehending word meaning or spelling, but vocabulary retention Retention is defined as “the ability to retain facts and figures in. .. out that students especially loved the ideas of using images in vocabulary lesson, especially during the first weeks Students were greatly engaged and interested in vocabulary learning thanks