Applying games in reviewing vocabulary after units in Tieng Anh 8 (experimental book) : M.A. Thesis. Thesis Linguistics: 814023101

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LE THI PHUONG GIANG APPLYING GAMES IN REVIEWING VOCABULARY AFTER UNITS IN TIENG ANH (EXPERIMENTAL TEXTBOOK) ghi c u việc ng dụ g trị chơi để tập từ vựng sau vị học tro g sách Tiế g A h sách thí điểm)) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI – 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* LE THI PHUONG GIANG APPLYING GAMES IN REVIEWING VOCABULARY AFTER UNITS IN TIENG ANH (EXPERIMENTAL TEXTBOOK) ghi c u việc ng dụ g trị chơi để tập từ vựng sau vị học tro g sách Tiế g A h sách thí điểm)) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr Tran Thanh Nhan HANOI – 2018 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at Viet Nam National University, Hanoi, University of languages and international studies, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Hanoi, 2018 Student Lê Thị Phương Giang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Tran Thanh Nhan, PhD for her wholehearted assistance Without her advice, comments, and corrections, it would have been impossible for me to fulfill the thesis Besides, students at Hoan Son secondary school are people to whom I want to send my grateful thanks Last but not least, I am willing to show my deepest thanks to my family and friends who encouraged and supported me a lot ii ABSTRACT There is no doubt that vocabulary plays an essential role in helping students reach their competence in English Therefore, there have been numerous studies of applying different techniques in teaching and learning vocabulary In this study, the author considers with applying games in reviewing vocabulary after units in Tieng Anh (experimental book) The study aimed to investigate the effects of games in reviewing vocabulary It was conducted on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative, namely tests, and reflection Tests included tests Each test of 10 questions related to vocabulary in units Reflections were carried out with after tests The result of the study showed that students’ scores after applying games were higher Also, they were excited with games iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study The objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Design of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary 1.1.3 Learning vocabulary 1.1.4 Teaching vocabulary 1.2 Games 1.2.1 Definition of games 1.2.2 Roles of games 11 1.2.3 Classification of games 12 1.2.4 How to use games in teaching vocabulary 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Restatement of the research questions 16 2.2 The setting of the study 16 2.3 Participants 16 2.4 Research types 17 iv 2.5 Implementation of the Action Research Study 17 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Research question 1: How does the use of games help students review vocabulary? 27 3.1.1 Results from tests 27 3.1.2 Results from reflections 31 3.2 Research question 2: What games should be used to review vocabulary for 8th grade students at Hoan Son secondary school? 33 3.2.1 Results from tests 33 3.2.2 Results from reflections 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Major findings of the study 37 Implications 38 2.1 Increasing the time for vocabulary 39 2.2 Frequency of using games 39 2.3 Giving instruction Error! Bookmark not defined 2.4 Using language games in a flexible and appropriate way Error! Bookmark not defined 2.5 Using variety of language games Error! Bookmark not defined 2.6 Using suitable kinds of games Error! Bookmark not defined Limitations of the study 40 Suggestions for further studies 41 REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: TESTS I APPENDIX 2: SCORES II APPENDIX 3: GAMES APPLIED IN THE PROCESS VI v LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 Sample of test 21 Table 2.2 The action plan 24 Table 3.1: Students’ rank through the mark framework 28 Table 3.2.: Average of test results 30 Table 3.3: Correlation between test and the other tests 30 Table 3.4.: Effects of applying games in reviewing vocabulary 31 Figure 2.1 The cycle of an action research………………………………….19 Figure 3.1: Students’ rank through the mark framework 29 Figure 3.2: Effects of applying games in reviewing vocabulary 32 Figure 3.3: The change in number of vocabulary 33 Figure 3.4: Kinds of games preferred 35 vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Experimental textbooks in general and Tieng Anh in particular include 12 main units Each unit has seven sections which are Getting started, A closer look 1, A closer look 2, Communication, Skills 1, Skills 2, and Looking back & Project Each section lasts 45 minutes Reviewing vocabulary belongs to Looking back & Project lesson, which is then divided into Vocabulary, Grammar, Communication and Project Compared to the traditional textbook, the experimental book contains a large number of new words, which poses a major challenge for the eighth graders Besides, the level of difficulty of the words appears beyond the students’ ability, especially those in rural schools Therefore, vocabulary poses a real challenge for them Traditionally, tests and exams focus on grammar, so teachers mostly teach grammar Learning vocabulary is usually ignored However, when the experimental book is adopted, learners have to take the speaking and listening test It is obvious that without adequate vocabulary knowledge, students cannot speak and listen effectively Last but not least, after six sections in each unit, students have a chance to review words they learned in the seventh section Nevertheless, the tasks designed not interest students; therefore, they normally not complete these tasks As a result, their vocabulary pool cannot increase and they gradually become bored with learning new words in particular and English in general It is believed that applying games in reviewing vocabulary can be a feasible solution to arouse the learners’ interest and trigger their long-term memory The reasons mentioned above lead me to my choice of the research title: Applying games in reviewing vocabulary after units in Tieng Anh (experimental book) The objectives of the study This study is carried out in order to:  investigate the effects of games on helping th grade students at Hoan Son secondary school to review vocabulary after units  make recommendations and implications on how games might be exploited to make them more enjoyable and productive to the students Research questions The research is conducted to address the following questions: How does the use of games help students at Hoan Son secondary school review vocabulary? What games should be used to review vocabulary for 8th grade students at Hoan Son secondary school? Scope of the study The study focuses on using games to review vocabulary after each unit, which means that the students have learned the words in previous sections in the unit Therefore, the types of games to be used in this study may not be applied for introducing new vocabulary or learning vocabulary in general Besides, the study concentrates on the th grade students at Hoan Son secondary school, so the games to be designed need to be tailored to the contents of the lessons and the levels of the students The results of the study, therefore, might not be applicable to all the students in other grades Design of the thesis The study is divided into three parts: Part A – The Introduction presents the rationales for the study, the aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study and the design was also only three while the whole 8th grade was five classes The three classes were taught by the researcher, and the other classes were taught by another teacher The researcher felt difficult to ask the teacher for using her two classes into the action research Therefore, if the whole students of 8th grade had been participated, the results would be more reliable In addition, there may be some other factors influencing the participants of the study which are out of my control such as the students’ mood, learning habit, physical setting, large class size and so forth In spite of these limitations, I strongly believe that my research is successful to some extent The effort of the researcher and the participants as well as serious work in data collection phases could assure the reliability and validity of the research Although it is just a small-scaled study, it may bring secondary school teachers of English some helpful suggestions in teaching vocabulary in general and in helping students reviewing vocabulary in particular Suggestions for further studies Other researchers who develop interest in the same topic may find the following recommendations useful for their future works Further researches should use more than two methods besides tests and reflection Researchers can use other methods such as interviewing or questionnaire When more methods are combined, the results can be more reliable and seen more obviously Moreover, a variety of test forms should be designed to test many other aspects of vocabulary In the study, the researcher focused on spelling; however, other aspects such as pronunciation, collocation and word form should be checked through different test forms In addition, further researches should spread its range of participants The 41 number of students can be increased All of students of a grade should be taken part in the study The researchers should not feel afraid of letting the students of other teachers into their study If the whole students are experienced, the results will become more and more reliable Also, the thing maybe challenging, but if researchers can it, the results will be better It is that they should limit the influence of other factors as much as possible The factors such as the students’ mood, learning habit, physical setting, large class size and so forth should be taken account of to avoid affecting the final results The last thing is that in my research, I only study about using games in reviewing vocabulary However, I believe that games are not only useful for revision stage but also presentation stage so other researchers can carry out research on these fields to see whether games are as effective as they to word meaning 42 REFERENCES Al Neyadi O (2007).The Effects of Using Games to Reinforce Vocabulary Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Allen, V.F (1983) Techniques in teaching vocabulary Oxford: Oxford University Press Byrne, D (1995) Games: Teaching Oral English Harlow: Longman Group UK Limited Carrier, M (1980) Games and Activities for the Language Learner Oxford: Oxford University Press Decarrico, J S (2001) Vocabulary Learning and Teaching CelceMurcia, M (ed.) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, pp 285-299 Boston: Heinle & Heinle Flanigan, K (2015) Building a better vocabulary Virginia: The Great Courses Ferrance, E (2000) Action Research: Northest and Islands Regional Education at Brown University Gairns, R., and Redman, S (1986) Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Greenall S (1990) Language games and activities Hulton educational publications Ltd, Britain 10.Hadfield, J (1984) Elementary Communication Games London: Nelson 11.Hadfield, J (1999) Beginners’ communication games Longman 12.Halliwell, S (1991) Teaching English in the Primary Classroom New York: Longman 43 13.Hansen, M (1994) Grajmy w jezyku francuskim Jezyki Obce w Szkole March-April, pp 118-121 14.Haycraft, J (1978) An introduction to English language teaching Harlow: Longman 15.Hiebert, H./Kamil, L (2005) Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 16.Hopkins, D (1985) A teacher’s guide to classroom research Open University Press 17.Jonida Lesha, PhD C (2014) Action research in education European Scientific Journal, 10(13), 1857-7881 18.Lee, W R (1979) Language Teaching Games and Contests Oxford University Press 19.Lee, W R (1991) Language teaching: Games and Contests Oxford: Oxford University Press 20.Lewin, K (1946) Action research and minority problems, in G.W Lewin (Ed.) Resolving Social Conflicts New York: Harper & Row (1948) 21 Lewis, M (1993) Lexical Approach London: Commercial Colour Press 22.Mccallum, G P (1980) 101 Word Games 1st Edition USA: Oxford University Press 23.McNiff, J (2002) Action Research: Principles and Practice London: Routledge 24.Mehta, N.K (2009) Vocabulary teaching: Effective methodologies The Internet TESL Journal Retrieved [19.09.’17] from the World Wide Web, http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Mehta-Vocabulary.html/ 25.Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen and Khuat Thị Thu Nga (2003) Learning 44 vocabulary through games Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 26.Richard-Amato, P.A (1996) Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom (2nd ed.) New York: Longman 27.Rixon, S (1981) How to use games in language teaching London: Macmillan 28.Rohani, M., and Pourgharib, B (2013) The effects of games on learning vocabulary International Research Journal of Applied and Basic Sciences, 4(11), 3540-3543 29.Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 30.Shastri, P.D (2010) Communicative Approach to the teaching of English as a second language Himalaya Publishing House 31.Singleton, D (2008) Vocabulary Learnning Strategies and Foreign Language Acquisition Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland: Multilingual Matters Ltd 32.Steve Sugar (1998) Games That Teach San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer 33.Uberman, A (1998).The use of games for vocabulary presentation and revision English Teaching Forum, 36 (1), 20–27 34.Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 35.Wierus, B and Wierus, A (1994) Zagraj razem a 45ame Czesc I Jezyki obce wszkole May-June: pp 218-222 36.Wilkins, D.A (1972) Linguistics in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 37.Wright, A, Betteridge, D and Bucky, M (1983) Games for language learning Cambridge University Press 45 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: TESTS Name: ……………………………… Class: ………………… Time allowed: minutes There are ten words, five words in English and five words in Vietnamese For English words, translate into Vietnamese, and for Vietnamese words, translate into English Test 1: 11.Nhiều màu sắc 12.Thanh bình 13.Chăn (bị) 14.Cánh đồng lúa 15.Gia súc 16.Nomadic life 17.Collect 18.Pasture 19.Vast 20 Harvest time Test 4: Incense Lantern Commemorate Cheering Hero Cốm Cầu nguyện, vái lạy Đồ cúng, dâng Đám đơng 10.Hồng đế Test 2: Costume Communal Cultural groups Diverse Ethnic Hoạt động Độc vô nhị Truyền thống Giàu 10.Nghèo Test 5: Cheerful Wicked Hare Giant Fairy Truyền thuyết Xảo quyệt Phù thủy Cổ tích 10.Hiệp sỹ I Test 3: Cái chiếu Cái khay Phá vỡ truyền thống Thờ cúng Gói, bọc Custom Host Cutlery Generation 10.Respect Test 6: Ancestor Generation Incense Cunning Preserve Trang phục Chủ nhà Thờ cúng Độc ác 10 Nghi lễ APPENDIX 2: SCORES Test Test Test Test Test Test (Unit 6) (U3U6) Name (Unit 2) (Unit 3) Student 7 6 Student 10 9 Student 4 Student 7 Student 4 Student 4 7 Student 7 Student 10 10 8 Student 10 10 10 Student 10 6 10 Student 11 2 Student 12 9 Student 13 10 10 10 Student 14 8 Student 15 9 Student 16 10 8 Student 17 5 Student 18 5 5 Student 19 II (Unit 4) (Unit 5) Student 20 3 5 Student 21 Student 22 6 8 Student 23 7 Student 24 10 9 Student 25 8 Student 26 6 Student 27 4 7 Student 28 7 Student 29 0 5 Student 30 6 10 Student 31 10 9 Student 32 5 Student 33 5 7 Student 34 10 7 Student 35 10 9 Student 36 Student 37 4 7 Student 38 8 Student 39 10 Student 40 6 5 Student 41 10 10 III Student 42 5 Student 43 6 5 Student 44 5 Student 45 10 10 9 Student 46 7 Student 47 5 7 Student 48 6 Student 49 8 Student 50 10 9 Student 51 5 6 Student 52 Student 53 6 Student 54 5 Student 55 Student 56 7 Student 57 6 Student 58 Student 59 8 9 Student 60 10 10 Student 61 6 10 Student 62 5 Student 63 10 10 10 10 IV Student 64 10 10 10 Student 65 7 7 Student 66 10 Student 67 9 10 9 Student 68 10 10 Student 69 5 Student 70 6 Student 71 Student 72 10 Student 73 Student 74 8 Student 75 8 7 Student 76 10 10 Student 77 5 Student 78 Student 79 8 7 Student 80 7 9 9 V APPENDIX 3: GAMES APPLIED IN THE PROCESS SLAP THE BOARD Time: 7-10 minutes Preparation: a list of review vocabulary words Write the words on the board in different sizes, colors and directions VI Work arrangement: Group work Vocabulary items: simple, major, costume, unique, activities, rich, poor, important, ethnic, significant, cultural groups, diverse, traditional, basic Procedures: o Divide the class into groups o Get them to make creative group names o Give the rule: Each group votes one member to go to the board T speaks a word in English or in Vietnamese Three students slap the word on the board as quick as possible The group who slap the most quickly gets one point Each turn will change members o The group with higher points wins the game HANG MAN Time: 7-10 minutes Preparation: a list of review vocabulary words Work arrangement: Group work Vocabulary items: mat, tray, break the tradition, worship, wrap, custom, host, cutlery, generation, respect Procedures: o Divide the whole class into groups o Get them to make creative group names o Give the rule: The teacher draws blank line for each letter in the words on the board Each group begins guessing which letters are in the word VII T fills in the letter in the blanks if the group guesses correctly, and draw part of the “hangman” when the group guesses wrong - First wrong answer: Draw and upside-down "L." This is the post the man hangs from - Second: Draw a small circle for the "head" underneath the horizontal line of the "L." - Third: Draw a line down from the bottom of the head for the "body." - Fourth: Draw one arm out from the middle of his body for the "arm." - Fifth: Draw the other arm - Sixth: Draw one diagonal line from the bottom of the body for the first "leg." - Seventh: Draw the other leg - Eighth: Connect the head to the post with a "noose." Once you draw the noose the players have lost the game o The group guessing a correct word gets one points o The winner is the group with more correct words BODY LANGUAGE Time: 7-10 minutes Preparation: a list of review vocabulary words Write each word on twelve pieces of paper, then fold them Work arrangement: Group work Vocabulary items: incense, lantern, commemorate, cheering, hero, green rice flakes, pray, offerings, crowds, emperor, Procedures: o Divide the whole class into groups VIII o Get them to make creative group names o Give the rule: Each group votes a member to go to the board and take one any piece of paper Then, he (she) use gestures to express the word for his (her) group If the group cannot guess, the other groups will have right to guess o The winner is the group guessing more words LUCKY NUMBER Time: 7-10 minutes Preparation: The game is designed by using PowerPoint Twelve squares are inserted with questions related to vocabulary items revised on each except squares without a question but with lucky number Work arrangement: Group work IX Vocabulary items: knight, fairy, cheerful, wicked, hare, giant, legend, fairy tale, cunning, witch, generous, cruel, fierce Procedures: o Show the game on the screen and ask students to look at it o Divide the whole class into groups o Get them to make creative group names o Give the rule: Each group in turn chooses a number If there is a question on the screen, they have to answer it and get one point for a correct answer If there is the phrase “Lucky Number” on the screen, they get one point without answering anything If any group cannot answer the question, the chance is left for another group o The group who has the higher points wins the games X