Some experiences to teach vocabulary of reading lessons in textbook of grade 11 at quang xuong 1 high school

EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMEENT OF THANH HOA PROVINCE QUANG XUONG I HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE SOME EXPERIENCES TO TEACH VOCABULARY OF READING LESSONS IN TEXT BOOK OF GRADE 11 AT QUẢNG XƯƠNG HIGH SCHOOL ( MỘT SỐ KINH NGHIỆM DẠY TỪ VỰNG Ở BÀI ĐỌC TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TIẾNG ANH 11 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT QUẢNG XƯƠNG I) Written by : Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc SCHOOL YEAR : 2017 – 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I : INTRODUCTION 1.1.Reasons for choosing the topic……………………………………… 1.2 Aim of the study……….…………………………………………… 1.3 Scope of the study ……………………………………………………2 1.4.Method of the study ………………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT Theoretical background …………………… ……………………… 2.The actual situation……………………… …………………………… 3 Patterns of the study………….………………………………………… 3.1.Preparation ………………………………………………………… 3.2.Vocabulary teaching method………………………………………… 3.3 Vocabulary teaching techniques …………………………………… 3.4 Procedures of teaching vocabulary in a reading lesson…………… 3.4.1 Pre-reading ……………………………………………………… 3.4.2.While – reading ………………………………………………… 3.4.3 Post – reading …………………………………………………… 14 Effectiveness of experience initiatives for educational activities …… 15 4.1.Effectiveness of experience initiatives……………………………… 15 4.2 Compared to the amount of the initial survey …………………… 15 4.3.The effectiveness of the measures used ………………………… …16 PART III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions ……………………………………………………….… 16 Recommendations ………………………………………………… 16 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Reasons for choosing the topic English as an international language has been used for all over the world in recent years English plays an important role in people’s communication English is an compulsory subject in national exams Changing teaching methods in education is the right action of teachers and students in teaching and learning process The change is always understood by carrying out some specific forms The method of teaching is the forms and performances of teachers and students in the teaching conditions in order to achieve the purpose of teaching Vocabulary is one of five core components of reading instruction that are essential to successfully teach students how to read These core components include phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension Vocabulary knowledge is important because it encompasses all the words we must know to access our background knowledge, express our ideas and communicate effectively, and learn about new concepts Students’ word knowledge is linked strongly to academic success because students who have large vocabularies can understand new ideas and concepts more quickly than students with limited vocabularies The more words you know, the more you will be able to understand what you hear and read; and the better you will be able to say what you want to when speaking or writing However, students have some difficulties in understanding a common reading because of vocabularies Reading texts often contain many new words while their vocabulary is low When encountering new words, they often stop to look up a dictionary This habit takes a lot of time to complete a reading and makes students passive in vocabulary learning, reading comprehension, vocabulary memorization and practicing them To help students improve their vocabulary knowledge, in teaching process in English grade 11 in high school, I would like to express some ways to teach vocabulary effectively so that students can overcome difficulties in vocabulary Aim of the study In the experience of this initiative, I just want to make some ways in showing meaning of new vocabularies in a reading lesson in order to improve the quality of the lessons, help students easily understand themes and memorize new words more easily and using them effectively Teachers can use my research to help students more interested in learning English Scope of the study As we know, the vocabulary of English at Upper-Secondary School students today have to learn a lot of vocabulary so I want to focus on this topic to explore appropriate methods to help students better understand I conducted my research in the teaching vocabulary of English at the 11th Grade of Quang Xuong I Upper-Secondary School in the academic year 2017-2018 with the basic textbook of the Ministry of Education and Training Participating classes are11T1, 11C4, 11C5 Method of the study To fulfill this study, a mixed use of both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied The data are collected by means of tests PART II: DEVELOPMENT Theoretical background One of the oldest findings in educational research is the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension Word knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension and determines how well students will be able to comprehend the texts they read in high school Comprehension is far more than recognizing words and remembering their meanings However, if a student does not know the meanings of a sufficient proportion of the words in the text, comprehension is impossible Knowing at least 90 percent of the words enables the reader to get the main idea from the reading and guess correctly what many of the unfamiliar words mean, which will help them learn new words Readers who not recognize at least 90 percent of the words will not only have difficulty comprehending the text, but they will miss out on the opportunity to learn new words Studies have shown that the key to increase vocabulary is exposure the new words Vocabulary development is an attainment goal If given the opportunity to learn new words as well as effective teaching method, most students can improve their vocabulary knowledge and their comprehension The actual situations Quang Xuong high school is a school in rural of Quang Xuong English is a compulsory subject in the national high school examinations However, some of students still not really care about the subject for some reasons They only focus on their exam subjects English is a very special subject, making it difficult for them if they not really concentrate and practice it regularly Besides, they are rural students, the conditions for practicing English are not so great So the academic achievement of this subject is not high and there are still weak students Result before the research in teaching The first term of school year: 2017-2018 Class Number of Excellent- Rather Average Weak students good (%) (%) (%) (bad) (%) 11T1 47 ≈6 38 53 11C4 38 25 66 11C5 38 >3 14 74 Before investigating, proportion of weak students are high accounts for to percent and they are not interested in learning English especially learning vocabulary Pattern of the study 3.1.Preparation Before starting a new lesson, both the teacher and students have good preparation When teaching reading comprehension, the teacher should tell the students the ways to learn new words, find the family words or build sentences with some words having in the lesson Depending on the levels of each class and students, the teacher has different requests This makes students more responsible for the lesson, feel confidence, understand and apply it more effectively, and they think that studying English becomes more and more interesting 3.2 Vocabulary teaching methods Normally, a reading text always appears some new words, but it is not necessary to teach all of them and teach them in the same ways The teacher should choose words which need teaching and method to teach them effectively Choosing words to teach, the teacher has to classify into two forms of vocabulary They are active and passive vocabulary  Active words are words which students know and use in communicating or writing  Passive words are word which students only know and understand when they read a text The ways to teach two forms of these words are not the same Active words relate to basic skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing The teacher, therefore, needs to spend more time presenting and practicing, specially the ways to use the words To passive ones, however, students can only know and students don’t need to spend much time using them If the new words are very important to understand the content of the passage and suitable for the level of students, the teacher should explain vocabulary actively If the words are not important but they make the students get difficulties, the students should be taught passively- the teacher explain the new words or translate them quickly The teacher asks the students to guess the meaning of new words if the words are important and easy in the passage And the teacher can ignore if the words are difficult and strange and they are not related to the passage 3.3 Vocabulary teaching techniques If the teacher only writes and explains vocabulary following dictionary, most students cannot understand the ways to use the words in communicating and specially with active words Besides, students have to know not only the way to pronounce words, but also the way to pronounce phrases Moreover, students know the meaning of new words and how to use them a Teaching pronunciation : When students can pronounce new words well, they will write the words correctly So the teacher should teach the students the best ways to read the words exactly b Guessing meaning from the context: Context is sentences which explain or definite new words Therefore, when students want to know new words, they should read the whole context This can help students to know more about vocabulary or their part of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs… In addition, context also helps students to realize some suggestions about the meaning of new words without stopping reading to look up the dictionary, which makes students read more quickly and better c Show the meaning of new words: There are some basic ways to explain the meaning of new words: -Using real objects - Using prefixes/ suffixes, root words - Using definition forms, synonyms or antonyms, part of speech 3.4 Procedures of teaching vocabulary in a reading lesson 3.4.1 Pre-reading There are many ways used in this activity The teacher can choose each suitable way for each lesson a Open Prediction : The teacher show the topic and asks students to guess what the content of reading is  Example: Unit 6: Competitions - The teacher asks some students to put questions to other students by using yes/no questions to guess the meaning of vocabulary: + Is the word a verb? + Is it a noun? + Does it begin with “c”? + To work with weak students, the teacher should give some more suggestions: Does it have 11 letters? or Is it about an animal/ a plant…? - The students take turns to put questions and the student who gives the correct answer with the shortest time will be the winner a Jump words Dividing class into or groups, the teacher delivers hand-outs and asks students to arrange letters into the meaningful words in the reading leson For example in unit of grade 11 about Population, teacher introduce the situation of the reading passage and give some jumped words tbhir etahd chidlrne fliamy plnangni Key birth death children family planning c Ordering: The teacher shows some pictures and asks students to arrange them in correct order For example: The teacher introduce the situation of the reading passage and asks all students to look at the pictures in the unit then arrange them in correct order Key : 1.d, 2.b, 3.f, 4.e, 5.a, 6.c 3.4.2 While reading Generally, a reading lesson usually has some new words, and all of them cannot be explained in the same way The teacher needs to select and decides which words are active and others are passive a Using real objects: The teacher can use real objects in class or take some pictures, diagrams…to classroom or draw some pictures on the board Besides, the teacher can use body languages For example: To teach some new words in reading lesson of unit 15, teacher can use picture , gesture to show the meaning - Gestures: swimming, driving a car, accompanying - Pictures: Orbit (n) Weightlessness (n) Cosmonaut (n) = astronaut (n): Nhà du hành vũ trụ The teacher can show the pictures or real things to teach new words, which helps students understand and interest in learning vocabulary By this way, students can remember vocabulary for a long time and feel more attracted to study it b Using prefixes/ suffixes, root words: One method of understanding the meanings of new words is to analyze the different parts of the word and the meanings of those parts Many new words are formed by adding an affix to the beginning or end of a Latin or Greek root or root word When affixes are added to the beginning of roots or root words, they are called prefixes For example, the most common prefix is un-, which meant not or opposite of If you add un- to the word happy, the new word becomes unhappy, which means not happy When affixes are added to the end of roots or root words, they are called suffixes The most common suffixes are -s and -es, which mean more than one (or the plural) of the word Adding -es to wish, changes the meaning o the word to more than one wish So this is considered a good and easy way to teach vocabulary The teacher can use prefixes or suffixes to show the meaning of new words Common Prefixes Prefix antidedisen-, emforein-, imin-, im-, il-, irintermidmisnonoverpreresemisubsupertransun- Definition against opposite not; opposite of cause to before; front of in not between; among middle wrongly not over; too much before again half; partly; not fully under above; beyond across not; opposite of Examples anticlimax devalue discover enact, empower foreshadow, forearm income, impulse indirect, immoral, illiterate, irreverent interrupt midfield misspell nonviolent overeat preview rewrite semifinal subway superhuman transmit unusual 10 under under; too little underestimate The teacher can use suffixes to teach vocabulary Common Suffixes Suffix Definition Examples -able, -ible is; can be affordable, sensible -al, -ial having characteristics of universal, facial the dog walked, -ed past tense verbs; adjectives the walked dog -en made of golden -er, -or one who; person connected with teacher, professor -er more taller -est the most tallest -ful full of helpful -ic having characteristics of poetic -ing verb forms;present participles sleeping -ion, -tion, submission, motion, relation, act; process -ation,-tion edition -ity, -ty state of activity, society -ive, -ative, active, comparative, adjective form of noun -itive sensitive -less without hopeless -ly how something is lovely -ment state of being; act of contentment -ness state of; condition of openness -ous, -eous, riotous, courageous, having qualities of -ious gracious -s, -es more than one trains, trenches -y characterized by gloomy Furthermore, the teacher can use root words to teach vocabulary Try to use common roots with common words This way must be repeated and repeated day by day The teacher ought to it slowly and frequently Some common roots: Common root root Definition Examples 11 ambi both ambiguous, ambidextrous aqua water aquarium, aquamarine aud to hear audience, audition bene good benefactor, benevolent cent one hundred century, percent circum around circumference, circumstance contra/counter against contradict, encounter dict to say dictation, dictator duc/duct to lead conduct, induce fac to do; to make factory, manufacture form shape conform, reform fort strength fortitude, fortress fract to break fracture, fraction ject throw projection, rejection jud judge judicial, prejudice mal bad malevolent, malefactor mater mother material, maternity mit to send transmit, admit mort death mortal, mortician multi many multimedia, multiple pater father paternal, paternity port to carry portable, transportation rupt to break bankrupt, disruption scrib/scribe to write inscription, prescribe sect/sec to cut bisect, section sent to feel; to send consent, resent spect to look inspection, spectator struct to build destruction, restructure b.Using definition forms, synonyms or antonyms, part of speech The teacher can use both Vietnamese and English to show the meaning of new words The teacher can use definition forms, synonyms or antonyms  Definition For example : To teach vocabulary in Unit 6, teacher can use definition for explaining + Representative : A person chosen or appointed on behalf of another person or group + Annual : happening or done once very year + Stimulate : encourage or make something more active +Spirit : enthusiasm and energy 12 + In all : altogether or as a total + Smoothly : without difficulties or problem  Synonym: are words that have the same or a similar meaning Synonyms can provide students with variety in speech or writing, making it easy for you to avoid overusing the same word and sounding repetitive Some examples of synonyms include the following:  Enormous = huge = gigantic = massive  Injured = damaged = wounded = harmed  Intelligent, clever, brilliant, knowledgeable  Look, glance, see, gaze, stare  Loyal, faithful, ardent, devoted  Old = elderly = aged = senior  Organization = institution= management  Partner = associate = colleague = companion  Polite = courteous = gracious  Quick = fast = swift = speedy = rapid  Risky = dangerous  astronaut = spaceman  prohibit = ban For example in unit 13 of grade 11 teacher ask students to choose the word that has the closest meaning to the italicized word There are number of things I like to in my free time A leisure B precious C busy D idle My uncle, who is an accomplished guitarist, taught me how to play A unimpaired B skilled C ill-educated D unqualified Now I can play a few simple tunes A compound B plain C easy D complicated I have a modest little glass fish tank where I keep a variety of small fish A limited B excessive C conceited D moderate The most important thing is to keep yourself occupied A busy B relaxed C comfortable D free Answer keys: 1.free (a) = leisure accomplished = skilled (a) simple(a) = easy (a) 13 Modest(a) = moderate (a) occupied (a) = busy (a)  Antonym: are words that have contrasting meanings Antonyms can be used to help show contrast between two things or give clues to exactly what is meant Below are some examples of antonyms:  appear # disappear  independent # dependent  Achieve # Fail  Ancient # Modern  Complex # Simple  Compliment # Insult  Decrease # Increase  Demand # Supply  Destroy # Create  Powerful # Weak  Praise # Criticism  Problem # Solution  Professional # Amateur  Random # Specific  Simple # Complicated  Single # Married  Strength # Weakness  Tragic # Comic  Wealth # Poverty For example in unit of grade 11 teacher ask students to choose the word that has the opposite meaning to the italicized word 1.Thanh Ba Post Office has a spacious and pleasant front office A.large B beautiful c cramped D open Our well-trained staff are always courteous to customers A helpful B rude C friendly D open This speedy and secure service of transferring money can be useful A rapid B hurried C careful D slow 14 If you want to send a document and not want to lose its original shape, send it by a fax machine A unique B outdate C changed D imaginative Answer keys: spacious # cramped courteous # rude speedy # slow original # changed  part of speech A part of speech is a group of words that are used in a certain way In the English language many words are used in more than one way This means that a word can function as several different parts of speech For example, in reading lesson of unit 4, teacher ask students to complete the sentences with different part of speech of word “volunteer” 1.When she retired, she did a lot of …………………service for the Red Cross 2.She was not fired She left the company…………………… 3.She needs some…………………….to clean up the kitchen 4.Last month the company ……… to donate fifty trucks to help the flooded areas Answer keys: 1.voluntary (a) voluntarily (adv) volunteers (n) volunteered (v) In addition, the teacher can use other ways to help students guess the meaning of vocabulary - When meeting new words, students must continue to read to understand other words around new words 3.4.3 Post reading  Students will understand the meaning of vocabulary and know how to use them  Students can improve their ability to guess the meaning of new words and take form the ability to read the text themselves  There are some exercises applied to practice studying vocabulary a) Matching: Students may be required to match opposites, synonyms, or a word with its definition, as well as a picture to a word 15 For example : In reading lesson of unit 13, teacher asks students to match word in column A with words or phrases in column B to check students’ understanding and practicing vocabulary A B 1.Accomplished (adj) a Keep me busy Accompanying (gerund) b b.Thrown away Modest (adj) c c.Well-trained, skilled Avid (adj) d d.Going with a singer, using a musical instrument Discarded (adj) e e.Let yourself sth that you enjoy Indulge in (v) f f Eager, crazy, enthusiastic Keep me occupied g g.Not very large Answer keys: 1.c, 2.d, 3.g, 4.f, 5.b, 6.e, 7.a  accomplished (a) : Well-trained , skilled  Accompanying (gerund) : Going with a singer, using a musical instrument  Modest (adj) :Not very large  Avid (adj) :Eager, crazy, enthusiastic  Discarded (adj): Thrown away  Indulge in (v) : Let yourself sth that you enjoy  Keep me occupied: Keep me busy b) Blank filling Another type of exercises using to check students’ understanding and practicing vocabulary is filling each blank with a suitable word Supply students with a piece of written text with blank spaces that have to be filled in with any word that fits You may give them indications for each space, like “noun”, “adjective” or “adverb”, if they’re advanced students You can then read several out loud to compare the different words used to fill in each blank For example : In reading lesson of unit 16, teacher asks students to complete the sentences with words given mysterious ramp tomb chamber spiral wonder Last week we paid a visit to the ………(n)…………… of an unknown mandarin The movie was about a …………(n)…… …… of the world A ………(n)……….…… is needed at the exit and entrance for wheelchairs users The Queen’s private ………(n)……………… is not opened to public 16 It’s not known why Benson disappeared in …………(a)……… circumstances A nail’s shell is ……………(a)…………… in form Answer: tomb wonder ramp chamber mysterious Spiral I think that classroom will become more lively and attractive with this way Effectiveness of experience initiatives for educational activities 4.1.Effectiveness of experience initiatives Through the study of methods help students learn vocabulary effectively, and they realize that English is not boring, and hard like a long time it was thought Each lesson and each words has different ways to help students more interested, motivated and vitality And it is easy to see the effectiveness of this right in the learning outcomes of the students from the rate of excellent and good students are increasing and the rate of weak students is gone This experience initiative has good effect to the education movement in local school and it suits rural students and the facilities of the school 4.2 Compared to the amount of the initial survey Result after the research in teaching The second term of school year: 2017-2018 Class Number of Excellent- Rather Average Weak students good (%) (%) (%) (bad) (%) 11T1 47 15 55 30 11C4 38 ≈9 18 11 11C5 38 17 14 Overall we see the excellent-good students accounted from 3- percent after applying the research in teaching help students interested in increased 7% to 15%; rather students accounted from 14-38 percent increased 17-55 percent and no bad students 4.3.The effectiveness of the measures used Despite weak students to matter where the method will determine the quality, the quality of student increased markedly demonstrates that my research methods are appropriate to the level of students at Quang Xương upper-secondary school PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions Many researchers studying foreign languages indicated that languages are related to people’s behavior and personality Studying foreign languages, 17 therefore, must pay much attention to study hard with both learners’ attitudes and high spirit It is the most important to study a foreign language well Moreover, to encourage students to read faster and more interesting, the teacher needs to use some suitable ways to help students overcome difficulties in vocabulary At once, studying themselves, students will understand the new words more carefully and memorize them for a long time Then, students feel interested in the subject that they are studying Besides, students also have a good chance to improve other skills such as listening, speaking, writing… In addition, some ways to lead to the lesson: pre/while/ post, students are very excited with what they will read, which relies on students’ available knowledge Recommendations The topic “teaching vocabulary in a reading lesson grade 11” is written to share my experience in teaching vocabulary The teacher can apply different ways for different words and they depends on the teacher own ways I think that each teacher will have good ways to teach vocabulary in particular and teach English in general I hope my colleagues will give me some comments because of my shortcomings I hope the teacher will be successful REFERENCES Dale, E , & O’Rourke, J (1986) Vocabulary building Columbus, OH: Zaner Bloser Ebbers, S.M (2004) Vocabulary through morphemes: Suffixes, prefixes and roots for intermediate grades Longmont, CO: Sopris West Rupley, W.H., Logan, J.W., & Nichols, W.D (1998/1999) Vocabulary instruction in a balanced reading program The Reading Teacher, 52 (4) Scott, J.A., & Nagy W.E (1997) Understanding the definitions of unfamiliar verbs Reading Research Quarterly, 32 18 Scott, J.A & Nagy, W.E (2003) Developing word consciousness J Baumann and E Kame’enui (Eds.) Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice, New York: Guilford Publications Stahl, S.A., Richek, M.A., & Vandevier, R.J (1991) Learning meaning vocabulary through listening: A sixth grade replication In J.Zutell & S McCormick (Eds.) Learner factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy research instruction (pp.185-192) The Fortieth Yearbook of the National Reading Conference, Chicago, IL Stahl, S.A (1999) Vocabulary development Newton Upper Falls, MA: Brookline Books XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày tháng năm 2018 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết 19 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Ngọc 20 21 ... English at the 11 th Grade of Quang Xuong I Upper-Secondary School in the academic year 2 017 -2 018 with the basic textbook of the Ministry of Education and Training Participating classes are11T1, 11 C4,... teaching The second term of school year: 2 017 -2 018 Class Number of Excellent- Rather Average Weak students good (%) (%) (%) (bad) (%) 11 T1 47 15 55 30 11 C4 38 ≈9 18 11 11 C5 38 17 14 Overall we see the... research in teaching The first term of school year: 2 017 -2 018 Class Number of Excellent- Rather Average Weak students good (%) (%) (%) (bad) (%) 11 T1 47 ≈6 38 53 11 C4 38 25 66 11 C5 38 >3 14 74 Before