Using animated e stories to improve primary students’ vocabulary retention at an english center in ninh binh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ QUYÊN USING ANIMATED E-STORIES TO IMPROVE PRIMARY STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN NINH BINH (Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm Anh ngữ Ninh Bình) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Ha Noi- 2020 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ QUYÊN USING ANIMATED E-STORIES TO IMPROVE PRIMARY STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN NINH BINH (Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm Anh ngữ Ninh Bình) M.A MINOR THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Mai Thi Loan Ha Noi- 2020 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled:“Using animated e-stories to improve primary students’ vocabulary retention at an English Center in Ninh Binh”submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2020 Lê Thị Quyên Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I deeply appreciate my supervisor, Dr Mai Thi Loan due to her enlightening guidance, critical comments, invaluable suggestions and her providing various sources of references during the fulfillment of this minor thesis My sincere thanks go to all the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate at University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation Additionally, I would like to offer my thanks to the students in class 3A, 3B at Toeic Center who have actively participated in the research Finally yet importantly, I am deeply grateful to my family for their great support and assistance ii ABSTRACT The research aims at investigating the effectiveness of using animated estories to teach vocabulary to primary students On the basis of experimental research, the two third-classes 3A, 3B who are learning English at Toeic center participated in this research in the role of experimental group and control group Data were collected throughteaching diaries, questionnaire and tests, then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively Via results gathered from the questionnaire and teaching diaries, most of the students have positive attitudes towards the application of animated e-stories in vocabulary lesson Learners are interested in participating in the lessons actively and effectively through a wide range of activities and techniques in teaching stages.In addition,the results of the tests and questionnaireindicated that the experimental students achieved considerable progress in their vocabulary retention after learning vocabulary through using animated e-stories.Moreover, from the findings, the researcher gives pedagogical implications to utilize the animated e-stories as an useful teaching tool, some of which are selecting suitable animated e-stories, allocating time and frequency for using animated e-stories, combining animated e-stories with other activities, designing exciting tasks and giving clear instructions iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions .2 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Method of the study .2 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Design of the study .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Vocabulary in foreign language teaching 2.2.1 Vocabulary definition 2.2.2 Vocabulary retention 2.2.3 Vocabulary knowledge 2.2.4 Methods of teaching vocabulary .11 2.3 Young learners and language teaching 14 2.3.1 Definition of young learners 14 2.3.2 Characteristics of young learners 15 2.3.3 Teaching English to young learners .16 2.4 Animated e - stories as a teaching tool 17 2.4.1 Definition of animated e – stories 17 2.4.2 Criteria for animated e-stories selection 18 2.4.3 The benefits of animated e-stories in vocabulary teaching 18 iv 2.5 Summary 21 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Experimental Research .22 3.1.1 Definition of experimental research .22 3.1.2 Experimental research process .22 3.1.3 Experimental research designs .23 3.1.4 Rationale of using quasi-experimental method .24 3.2 Context of teaching and learning vocabulary at Toeic center 24 3.2.1 An overview of Toeic English center in Ninh Binh 24 3.2.2 An overview of the text book TIENG ANH 25 3.3 Participants 25 3.4 Data collection instruments 26 3.4.1 Teacher’s diaries .26 3.4.2 Questionnaire 27 3.4.3 Tests .28 3.5 Data collection procedure 28 3.6 Data analysis procedure .29 3.7 Summary 30 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 31 4.1 Analysis of the teacher’s diaries 31 4.2 Analysis of the questionnaire .35 4.2.1 Students’ opinions about vocabulary learning through animated e-stories 35 4.2.2 Students’ evaluation of their vocabulary retention after lessons using animated e-stories .36 4.2.3 Students’ reaction to the classroom atmosphere in vocabulary lesson using animated e-stories .37 4.2.4 Students’ opinions about the frequency of using animated e-stories in English lessons .37 4.2.5 Students’ preference of techniques in presenting new words 38 v 4.2.6 Students’ preference of activities in practicing new words through animated e-stories .39 4.2.7 Students’ preference of activities in consolidating new words through animated e-stories .39 4.3 Analysis of tests 40 4.3.1.Comparison between pretest scores of experimental group and control group 40 4.3.2 Comparison between posttest scores of experimental and control group 41 4.3.3 Comparison between pretest and posttest scores of experimental group and control group .42 4.4 Summary 43 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .44 5.1 Recapitulation 44 5.2 Concluding remarks 45 5.3 Pedagogical implications 46 5.4 Limitations of the study and suggestion for further research 47 REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1A: TEACHING DIARIES I APPENDIX 1B: CRITERIA FOR TEACHING DIARIES XIII APPENDIX 2A:QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) XIV APPENDIX 2B: QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) XVI APPENDIX 3A: PRE-TEST XVIII APPENDIX 3B: POST-TEST XX APPENDIX 4: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND MEDIAN XXIII APPENDIX 5:SAMPLE LESSON PLAN XXIX APPENDIX 6A: PHIẾU ĐỒNG THUẬN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU XXXV APPENDIX 6B: PHIẾU ĐỒNG THUẬN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU XXXVI vi LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1: What is involved in knowing a word (Nation, 2001) 10 Table 2.2: Kinds of vocabulary knowledge and the most effective kinds of learning (Nation, 2001) 11 Table 3.1: Kinds of experimental research (Nunan,1992) .23 Table 4.1: Students’ opinions about vocabulary learning through animated e-stories .35 Table 4.2: Students’ evaluation of their vocabulary retention after lessons using animated e-stories 36 Table 4.3:Students’ preference of techniques in presenting new words 38 Table 4.4: Students’ preference of activities in practicing new words through animated e-stories 39 Table 4.5: Students’ preference of activities in consolidating new words through animated e-stories 39 Table 4.6: Mean and standard deviation (Pre-test) 41 Table 4.7: Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest scores of experimental group and control group 42 Figure 4.1: Students’ reaction to the classroom atmosphere in vocabulary lesson using animated e-stories 37 Figure 4.2: Students’ opinions about the frequency of using animated e-stories in English lessons 38 Figure 4.3: Results of the pretest scores of experimental group and control group 40 Figure 4.4: Results of the posttest scores of experimental group and control group 41 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study To primary students,vocabulary is the first step to learn English.If adult learners are able to cope with abstract ideas, young learners, in contrast, need very concrete vocabulary that connects with objects they can handle or see, according to Cameron (2001:81) However, not only understanding the word meanings, the researcher finds out that the 3rd graders at Toeic center get troubles in vocabulary retention Many students encounter difficulty in retaining new words that they have learnt in previous lessons They find it harder to remember and recall vocabulary effectively As a result, vocabulary lesson is boring and ineffective for most students Some related studies which conducted in the Vietnamese context, have provided various methods of teaching vocabulary at primary schools Vu Thi Thanh Tam (2013) investigated the using stories and dramas in teaching English to the third grade students at Quan Tru primary school The research got the positive result which could enhance students’ speaking and listening skills Vu Thi Xuan (2014) introduced the using of music and animated cartoons to teach English to primary students In this thesis, the writer investigated the use of animated cartoons to teach students vocabulary with the hope of giving them more pleasure and linking learners with learning activities It can be said that there has been no study concerned with using animated e-stories in vocabulary teaching and learning so far Being aware of the key roles of vocabulary, knowing the problems that teachers and students encounter, and finding the gaps of previous studies that have not been explored yet in Viet Nam context, the writer desired to find out solutions and decided to conduct this research entitled “using animated e-stories to improve primary students’ vocabulary retention at an English center in Ninh Binh” Considering animated e-stories as a multimedia teaching tool due to its various pedagogical benefits, young children will XXII APPENDIX4: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND MEDIAN Mean  Definition: The sum of the separate scores divided by the total number of students (Heaton: 1998)  The formula: X=(∑X)/N Y= (∑Y)/N  Detail: X: mean of pre-test Y: mean of post-test N: number of scores ∑: the Greek letter sigma is the summation ∑X: the sum of pre-test score ∑Y: the sum of post-test score  Excel formula: AVERAGE (number1, number2… ) Note: Number1, number2, … are to 255 numeric arguments for which you want the average For example: calculating the mean for the pretest of class 3A Click on cell C4-the location where mean will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions/ Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on Mean in the list to bring up the function’s dialog box Highlight cells B4 to B29 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box XXIII Click OK Then, the answer 4,423076923 should appear in cell C4 the complete function= MEAN (B4:B9) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XXIV The Standard Deviation  Definition: The measure which takes account of every single score is the standard deviation The SD is a measure of how widely values are dispersed from the mean  The formula: Standard deviation uses the following formula: Where: x is the sample mean AVERAGE(number1, number2….) N is the sample size  Excel formula: STDEV(number1, number2….) Note: Number1, number2….are to 255 number arguments corresponding to a sample of a population  For example: calculating standard deviation of class 3A in pre-test Click on cell D5- the location where the standard deviation will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Function/ Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on STDEV in the list to bring up the function’s dialog box Highlight cells B5 to B30 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK The answer 1.39 should appear in cell D5 When you click on cell D5 the complete function= STDEV(B5:B30) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XXV Median  Definition: The median refers to the score gained by the middle candidate in the order of merit (Heaton: 1988) That means half the numbers have values that are greater than the median, and half the numbers have values that are less than the median  The Formula: XXVI Where: Mdn is the median L is the lower limit of the interval containing the median N is the total number of scores f0 is the sum of the frequencies or number of scores up to the interval containing the median fw is the frequency or number of scores within the interval containing the median i is the size or range of the interval  Excel formula: MEDIAN (number1,number2….) Note: Number1, number2….are to 255 numbers for which you want the median For example: calculating the median of class 3A in pre-test Click on cell E5- the location where median will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions/ Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on MEDIAN in the list to bring up the function’s dialog box Highlight cells B5 to B30 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK XXVII XXVIII APPENDIX 5:SAMPLE LESSON PLAN UNIT 19: THEY’RE IN THE PARK LESSON Class: 3A Allowed time: 45’ Topic: Weather I Objectives Language content: -Provide students some vocabularies related to weather -Enhance students’ learning and motivation by using real world context -Improving students’ vocabulary retention Key language Sentence pattern: (+)What’s the weather like ? (+) It’s rainy (+)What’s the weather like in Ho Chi Minh? (+)It’s cloudy Vocabulary: Weather, like, sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy, snowy, stormy II Teaching aids: Laptop, television Teaching materials: textbook, pictures, worksheets, animated e-story III Teaching procedure: XXIX Stages and Contents Warm up (3m) Stage 1: Presenting (15m) Aims: - to provide comprehensible input in a interesting way, and focus on students’ attention Vocabulary: Weather, like, sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy, snowy, stormy Sentence pattern: +What’s the weather like ? + It’s rainy +What’s the weather like in Ho Chi Minh? +It’s cloudy Stage 2: Practicing (20m) Aims: Practicing, memorizing and Teacher’s activities - T greets S - T has students listen and move and sing along a song “ The sun comes up” - T introduces new topic Activity 1: Guessing the meaning -T sets up the situation: T explains that the students are going to watch an animated e-story -1st playing: T plays video with sound on, vision on and asks S to guess the meaning in context Activity 2: Pre-teach vocabulary -2nd Playing: T plays video with sound on, vision on and pause at key language -T writes all key language (new words and sentence patterns) on the board and explains the meaning ( illustrated by using physical actions) -T asks S repeat the key language in chorus or in individually -T strictly corrects and focuses on accuracy of learners’ new language Activity 3: Checking vocabulary -T checks students’ understanding the meaning of new language -Rub out the words, one at a time and ask S to read out all the words again Continue till all the words are rubbed out and S can read out from memory Activity 1:Watch and label the picture with new words XXX Learners’ activities -S greet T - Stand up, listen, move and sing along the song -Watch and guess -Watch and observe the written form -Listen and repeat -Whole class work -Watch and label the picture checking activities Activity 1: (5m) New word: Sunny, rainy, windy, weather, snowy Activity 2: (5m) Activity 3: (5m) Worksheet 1: Misu: I –(1) summer Teacher: What’s the –(2) -like in summer? Misu: It’s –(3) -Ivy: and hot Worksheet 2: Teacher: What’s the weather -(4) -today? Misu: It’s windy Kofi: It’s – (5) -, too Teacher: yes, it’s fall Key: 1.like; Weather; Sunny like; Cool Activity 4: (5m) What’s the what’s the weather like? weather like in winter? what’s the - Work in individually Activity 2: -T has S listen and tick the words they hear in the worksheet Sunny cloudy weather Rainy like Stormy What’s the weather like? Activity 3: Listen and Filling the words -T has S listen again the whole story, then asks them to fill in the blank in worksheet Activity 4: Vocabulary game: watch and reassemble the story sentences What’s the XXXI -Listen and tick -Whole class work - Listen and fill the words - Individual work -Work in pairs -Whole class work weather like in spring? weather like in summer? Stage 3: Revising (20m) Aims: -In order to use language independently Task 1: Voice recording (10m) Task 2: Act-out story (10m) Aims: -to ask and answer about weather, using weather adjectives Task : Voice recording Task 2: Act-out story -T divides class into groups -T asks S using their personalized language to act-out story in very simple English XXXII -Whole class work -Work in groups -Act-out story IV: Consolidation: (1m) V: Homework: (1m) Video transcript: Topic: What’s the weather like? Teacher: Let’s talk about your favorite season Misu: I like summer Ivy: Mee too Teacher: What’s the weather like in summer? Misu: It’s sunny Ivy: and hot Kofi: I like spring Teacher : what’s the weather like in spring? Kofi: It’s warm George: I like winter Teacher: what’s the weather like in winter? George: It’s cold and snowy Teacher: What’s weather like today? Misu: It’s windy Kofi: It’s cool, too Teacher : yes, It’s fall Homework handout: Peter: My sister, Linda, in Ho Chi Minh Tony: Great, what’s the like in Ho Chi Minh city ? A Weather B Season C Time XXXIII Marry: Hi Hoa, What’s the weather like in Ha Noi today ? Hoa: It’s nice It’s cloudy and -A Windy B Sunny C Stormy Tom: Mai, the weather like in Hue today ? Mai: It’s not fine It’s today A What’s/stormy B What/Snowy C What are/ sunny XXXIV APPENDIX 6A: PHIẾU ĐỒNG THUẬN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU Họ tên: ……………………………………………… Tuổi: …………………………………………………… Tên đề tài tham gia nghiên cứu: Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm anh ngữ Ninh Bình Mục đích nghiên cứu: Nghiên cứu nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu tính hiệu việc sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử việc dạy từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học Khoảng thời gian nghiên cứu dự kiến: tuần Số học sinh tham gia nghiên cứu: 52 Phương pháp tiến hành: Bài kiểm tra, nhật ký lớp học, bảng câu hỏi khảo sát Sauk hi giải thích mục đích, quyền lợi nghĩa vụ đối tượng tham gia vào nghiên cứu “Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm anh ngữ Ninh Bình”, em đồng ý tự nguyện tham gia vào nghiên cứu Em xin tuân thủ quy định nghiên cứu Ninh Bình, ngày ….tháng… năm… ………………… Ký tên XXXV APPENDIX 6B: PHIẾU ĐỒNG THUẬN THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU Họ tên: ……………………………………………… Tuổi: …………………………………………………… Tên đề tài tham gia nghiên cứu: Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm anh ngữ Ninh Bình Mục đích nghiên cứu: Nghiên cứu nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu tính hiệu việc sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử việc dạy từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học Khoảng thời gian nghiên cứu dự kiến: tuần Số học sinh tham gia nghiên cứu: 52 Phương pháp tiến hành: Bài kiểm tra, nhật ký lớp học, bảng câu hỏi khảo sát Sauk hi giải thích mục đích, lợi ích nghiên cứu “Sử dụng truyện tranh điện tử để cải thiện việc ghi nhớ lưu giữ từ vựng cho học sinh tiểu học trung tâm anh ngữ Ninh Bình”, tơi đồng ý cho giáo viên giảng dạy lớp 3A, 3B thực nghiên cứu Ninh Bình, ngày ….tháng… năm… ………………… Ký tên XXXVI ... qualitatively according to the themes/ categories in order to investigate the students’ opinions towards using animated e- stories in vocabulary lesson and how effectively animated e- stories were 29... the primary students’ vocabulary retention Therefore, the study was designed to investigate the relationship between the independent variable (animated e- stories) and the dependent variable (the... entitled:? ?Using animated e- stories to improve primary students’ vocabulary retention at an English Center in Ninh Binh? ??submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English