Vocabulary checking technique as a way of improving 10th graders'''' vocabulary retension = Kiểm tra từ vựng như một hình thức nâng cao khả năng lưu nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 10. M.A Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 10

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -    - NGUYỄN THỊ BÍNH VOCABULARY CHECKING TECHNIQUE AS A WAY OF IMPROVING 10TH GRADERS' VOCABULARY RETENTION (KIỂM TRA TỪ VỰNG NHƯ MỘT HÌNH THỨC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -    - NGUYỄN THỊ BÍNH VOCABULARY CHECKING TECHNIQUE AS A WAY OF IMPROVING 10TH GRADERS' VOCABULARY RETENTION (KIỂM TRA TỪ VỰNG NHƯ MỘT HÌNH THỨC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., Dr NGƠ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG Hanoi, 2010 TABLES OF CONTENTS Candidate's statement i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Tableof contents iv List of table and figures vii Abbreviation vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study .2 Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE .5 1 The importance of vocabulary in second language and teaching .5 1.1.1 Notions of vocabulary 1.1.2 Classifications of vocabulary 1.1.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme 1.1.2.2 According to the meaning 1.1.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items in a sentence 1.1.2.4 According to the use of word 1.2 Main principles in Vocabulary Teaching .7 1.2.1 Decision about the content 1.2.2 Source of vocabulary and information about vocabulary .8 1.3 Factors affecting the retention of vocabulary v 1.3.1 Theoretical aspects of Memory .9 1.3.1.1 Types of memory .9 1.3.1.2 Language exposure with respect to pedagogical implications 1.3.1.2.1 Attention .10 1.3.1.2.2 Retrieval .10 1.3.1.2.3 Generation 10 1.3.2 Effective vocabulary learning strategies .10 1.4 Using communicative activities to check vocabulary 12 1.4.1 Present new vocabulary for the first time 13 1.4.2 Establish previously met vocabulary 13 1.4.3 Enrich previously met vocabulary .13 1.4.4 Develop vocabulary strategies 14 1.4.5 Develop fluency with known vocabulary 14 1.4.6 Memory strategies in combination with communicative activities 14 1.5 Vocabulary checking techniques in combination with communicative activities 15 1.5.1 Visual techniques .15 1.5.2 Verbal techniques .16 1.5.3 Using games .16 1.5.4 Role-play 16 1.6 Summary 17 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Research question and research hypothesis 18 2.2 Participants 18 2.3 Materials 19 2.4 The course contents 19 2.5 Procedure of data collection 20 2.5.1 Test designing .21 2.5.1.1 The purposes of the test 21 2.5.1.2 Components of the test 21 Procedures 22 2.6.1 The schedules .22 2.6.2 Treatment 24 2.7 Test 25 CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 26 3.1 Data analysis 26 3.1.1 Results of the pre-test scores of the two groups and discussion 26 3.1.2 Analysis of post-test results .28 3.1.2.1 Results of the post-test scores of the two groups 28 3.1.2.2 Frequency of distribution 31 3.2 Post-test means' comparison 32 3.2.1 Choosing the correct statistic "t-test" 32 3.2.2 Statistical hypotheses 33 3.2.3 Interpretation of results 34 3.3 Findings and implications for teaching .35 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Conclusions 39 Implications 40 Limitations and recommendations for further study .41 REFERENCES .42 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: Pre-test & post-test I APPENDIX 2: Word games for experimental class I LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Lists of tables Table 2.1: The course contents Table 2.2: The detailed timetable for the two groups Table 3.1: Pe-test scores Table 3.2: Comparison of mean scores in pre-test of the two groups Table 3.3 Pre-test score frequencies of the two groups Table 3.4 Post-test score of the two groups Table 3.5 Frequency of distribution of the two groups Table 3.6 Number of students scored less from Xi Table 3.7 Statistics of % of students scored less from Xi Table 3.8 The statistics parameters of the two groups Table 3.9: Means of pre-test & post-test Lists of figures Figure 3.1: Frequency of distribution of the two groups Figure 3.2: Cumulative frequency curves of the two groups Lists of abbreviations BB: Blackboard p: Probability C: Control class s.d: Standard deviation E: Experimental class X: Mean L1: First language V: Coefficient of variation L2: Second language EFL: English as Foreign Language STM: Short-term Memory ESL: English as second language LTM: Long-term memory S2 : CLT: Communicative language Teaching Variance 10 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Vocabulary is an important language element that link four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly "When our first goal is communication, when we have little of new language at our command, it is lexicon that is crucial The words will make basic communication possible" (Hatch 1983: 74) Reality shows that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but are hardly able to express themselves properly because of their deficiency Vocabulary learning, therefore, becomes central to language acquisition, and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years Specialists now emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarrico, 2001; Nation, 1994) One of concerns in vocabulary is how to help students increase their retention of learned vocabulary items Many Vietnamese students experience considerable difficulty retaining English words that they have learnt in the previous lessons Long lists of words noted down from reading texts, listening passages, vocabulary or grammar sections in the text books are limited help to them if they not know how to learn, remember and use these words That most words which have been learned are forgotten soon and then become dead is one of the reasons for students' difficulty in communication, both in oral and written forms To ensure a good communicative task performance, the ground work is to ascertain a good lead-up and preparation or learners' intake of vocabulary So far there has been little empirical evidence about the effectiveness of meaningful practice in vocabulary retention, so whether vocabulary checking technique improves students' Vocabulary Retention during the teaching and learning process is the question that the author tries to answer Retention is defined as "an ability to recall or recognize what has been learnt or experienced; memory" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Oxford University Press, 1992:773) Although I have not founded any definition of vocabulary retention in the literature, I, for the purpose of my study, can define it as the "storage of vocabulary in the memory, which becomes available for use when needed" So retention of vocabulary is ability to recall words that have been learnt or encountered for online communication 11 Motivated by the idea of finding relevant checking techniques to help 10th students to retain vocabulary in integration with other communicative abilities in CLT approach , with the goal to create a context for vocabulary acquisition in the classroom in order to develop what referred to as communicative competence, I have chosen the topic "Vocabulary checking Technique as a way of Improving 10 th Graders' Vocabulary Retention" for my thesis with the hope that it may be of some help for learning and teaching English vocabulary Aims of the study This thesis has been carried out to implement these following purposes: First of all, I would like to experiment two different methods in vocabulary checking in two different classes name: control class and experimental class to find out the effect of each method Secondly, this minor thesis was born not beyond the wish to improve 10 th Graders’ vocabulary retention through different activities to check vocabulary Last but not last, my study also hopes to help learners, especially 10 th learners, to find the most effective ways to remember and develop their vocabulary In the brief, these aims are two answer the following research question: “Is there any significant relationship between the diffident vocabulary checking techniques and learners’ vocabulary retention?” The two methods are detailed as follows: The traditional method of vocabulary checking was applied into the control class in which vocabulary was revised by inviting learners to go to blackboard and write down the words by heart; the second method was applied into the experimental class where learners’ vocabulary retention was checked by various checking vocabulary techniques designed or chosen by their teacher as a means of consolidation Under this research, the following one-tailed hypothesis was made, using t-test of the null hypothesis The means for the experimental group is significantly higher than that for the control group 12 Scope or the study There are, of course, wide ranges of ways that help students to retain vocabulary However, in this minor thesis I would focus my research on vocabulary checking techniques as a way of improving 10th Graders’ vocabulary retention The reason is that communication is the goal of most English teaching and learning endeavors today Besides that, that English vocabulary is the building blocks of English teaching and learning process In addition, if it is noteworthy that the study is limited to the area of teaching and learning vocabulary in grade 10th learners at Ha Hay Tap High school in Nghe An Method of the study To find answers to the research questions stated in the “ aims of the study”, the researcher chose quantitative research methodology for this study for a number of reasons Firstly, this study was aimed at exploring the relationships between vocabulary checking techniques and learners’ vocabulary retention, employing a quantitative approach which is an experimental designed to test a hypothesis was appropriate because experimental method researchers for effects of contain treatment on given measures Secondly, quantitative was an essential method to find the answer to the research question as it can seek the answer to the question through experimentation and appropriate statically analyses This statement clearly show the suitability of using quantitative approach for this study because the researcher would like to find out the answer for the above research question by exploring experiment and using “t-test” as an useful statistical tool The researcher exploited quasi-experimental method since it aims to answer specific questions by rejecting specific hypothesis and quasi-experiment has proved itself an appropriate method that has been effectively applied in this research To collect data on learners’ knowledge of vocabulary, a vocabulary test was produced at the end of experimental process 13 To prove how effective vocabulary checking techniques were applied in the experimental process, the researcher gave a wide range of activities for units (from unit 11 to unit 14) at the Appendix Concerning data analysis methods, the researcher used “t-test” as an useful statistical tool to help the researcher be confident that the differences found between the two groups a result of treatment are not due to by chance Design of the study The thesis is composed of three parts: part A is the introduction which presents the justification, aim as well as the scope and methods of the study Part B is the development of the study, divided into three chapters: chapter is for literature review, covering vocabulary’s definition, main principle in vocabulary teaching, factors affecting the retention of vocabulary and checking vocabulary through communicative activities Next, chapter is the main part of the study which describes the participants and instruments for the study as well as the procedure employed to carry out the research Following it is chapter with the detailed analyses of the data given by the pre-test and posttest along with discussing the findings that the researcher found out from the data collected Lastly, part C is the conclusion of the study which summarizes the result of the experiment, voices some suggestions for teachers of English at Ha Huy Tap High school and states the limitations of the study and recommendations for further research 52  English references Alexander,F Understanding vocabulary Retrieved 20 June 2010 from http://www.content.sholastic.com./browse/article.html Angela Joe (1996) Vocabulary learning and speaking activities ELT Journal Volum 34/1 January - March Document URL available at: http: // exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol34/No1/P2.htm Baddeley, A (1990) Human memory: Theory and Practice Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Decarrico, J S (2001) Vocabulary learning and teaching In Celce-Murca (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd (pp.285 - 300) Boston MA: Heinle & Heinle Doff A (1988), Teaching English, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Grains R & Redman S , (1999) Working with words - A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hatch, E (1983) Psycholinguistics: A second Language Perceptive Rowley, MA: Newbury House Haycraft, J (1978) An introduction to English Language Teaching Harlow Longman Huckin, T., Coady J (1997), Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition, Cambridge, University Press, Cambridge 10 Huckin, T., Coady J (1999) Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: A review Studies in second Language Acquisition 11 Ladouse, GP (1987) Role play Oxford: Oxford University Press 12 Lewis, M (1993) The lexical Approach Language Teaching Publications 13 Mc Callum G P (1980), 101 Word Games, Oxford University Press, Oxford 14 Mc Carthy, M (1990) Vocabulary Oxford University Press 15 Nation L S P (1982), Beginning to learn foreign Vocabulary: a review of the Research RELC JOURNAL volume 13.No1, Regional Language Centre, Singapore 16 Nassaji H (2003), L2 Vocabulary learning from context: Strategies, Knowledge Sources, and their Relationship with Success in L2 Lexical Inferencing, TESOL QUARTERLY Vol.37, No4, Winter 2003 17 Nation, P (1994) New ways in teaching Vocabulary Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Quirk R (1987), A University Grammar of English, Longman class UK Limited, Essex 53 19 Read J (2000) Assessing Vocabulary Cambridge University Press 20 Schimitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in Language Teaching Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University www.fare Web.net 21 Ur P (1991), A course in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press ,Cambridge 22 http://www.teachingenglish.edu.vn 23 Date of retrieved: July nd, 2010 24 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/vcabtry/vocaactivities.shtm 25 Date of retrieved: July nd, 2010 26 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/student%27s-t-test 27 Date of retrieved: July nd, 2010 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST & POST-TEST WRITTEN TEST FOR GRADE 10 Time allowed: 30 minutes Name: Class: I/ Choose the best answer to complete the following sentences _ means music in traditional style of a country or community A Jazz B Rap C Rock D Folk Tourists go to Cuc Phuong National Park to look _ the 1,000 year-old tree A for B up C at D after The movies was so _ that we couldn't sleep last night A thrill B thrilled C thrilling D thriller Germany was the _ nation of the World Cup final A held B hold C host D house 54 World cup is considered the most _ sporting event in the world A interest B liking C popular D favourite II/ Match a word in column A with its meaning or definitions in column B A B rainforest a to extend over a place emotion b a film about a crime in which somebody tries to find out who the guilty person is forward c win a victory over a competition elimination d forest in the tropical region spread e widely enthusiastic and emotional about something defeat f the way that you feel at a particular time lyrical g the player whose duty is to score goals detective film h the game within a region that decides which team can go to the World Cup III/ Supply the correct form of the word in bracket He has been living in an _ since his parents died (orphan) The giant panda is an _ species (endanger) This is the most _ race that I've ever taken part in (thrill) World Cup, the _ football tournament is held every four year (nation) I like reading _ stories very much (detect) IV/ Where is the stress on each of the following words? Put the words in the correct column detective endanger musician fiction tournament announcement adventure championship volunteer competition compose communicate 55 1st syllable stressed 2nd syllable stressed 3rd syllable stressed V/ Write the word from its phonetic transcription /'intigrəl/ /'rauziɳ/ /ə'trækt/ /in'greiv/ /kik/ /di'lait/ /i'mouʃn/ /si'ri:n/ /'kæriktə/ 10 /'ʤentl/ The end APPENDIX 2: WORDS GAMES AND VOCABULARY TASKS USED DURING THE EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS COMPETITION GAME - WORD SEARCH Source Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi Purpose - Revise new words Game Set the rule: The teacher asked learners to work in groups of , then distributed the following puzzle handouts for them to in their own groups Which group finished first and has all correct answers will be the winner (Before sts work the teacher may ask if they know all the names of animals provided in the puzzle The teacher can give some Vietnamese equivalents of the words ) ANIMAL IN THE WORLD WORD SEARCH B E B E N V X Q C R A U I L E P W I O E L L L X R E A A W E L I A 56 Y R E D P R D I O B R E E I S S H G N H X B K G L R A A A F G X E N I P M T C H N I I Z O T A O A Q J O T S P M L R M L L Z I R C H L A E T U R T L E S X C L G I R A F F E U E WORD BOX: Alligator Deer llama Ape Elephant Monkey Bear Fish Pig Birds Giraffe Tiger Camel Horse Turtle Cow Lion Zebra MATCHING STRIPS Source http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/vocabtry/voca activities.shtml Purpose Revise new words Introduction Students were given trips of paper with a number of words and definition on them They had to work in groups of seven or eight and match their words and definitions with the correlative ones of their partners The group who finished matching the most quickly was the winner of the competition Game establish (v) a related to an area near a tropical area contain (v) b all the plants found in a particular country or region species (n) c a state of being polluted survival (n) d an ethnic group that is a minority within a nation or society 57 sub-tropical e the animal life of a particular region or country (a) 6.contamination f to start an organization that is intended to continue (n) for a long time orphan (v) g a group/ groups of animals or plants fauna (n) h to have something inside flora (n) i a child without parents, an animal without mother 10 ethnic k a state of continuing to live or exist minority (Np) MUSIC CROSSWORD PUZZLE Source Purpose Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi Revise new words Introduction Students worked in groups of or and work together to finish the following crossword puzzle with the definition described in the table below Which group finishes first and has all the correct answers will be the winner Game 58 Across: a person who sings a person who writes music the words of a song a collection of recordings issued as a single item Down: a person who plays a musical instrument a style of music with strong and loud beats a large group of musicians the systematic arrangement of musical sounds JOIN THE DOTS Source Hancock M (1995) Pronunciation Game Cambridge Cambridge University Press Purpose - Revise new words - Help learners get familiar with phonetic transcriptions 59 - Practice pronunciation skill Introduction Teacher divided the class into groups and told them that they had to join the dots in the order shown by the words in the list to reveal the picture To this, they had to match words and phonetic transcriptions The fastest group with correct would be the winner To find out that the cat is doing, match the phonetic transcriptions to the Game words in the picture Then join the dots by these words in the same order as the list of phonetic transcriptions /i'mouʃn/ /'fju:nə rə l/ /'ʤentl/ l integra /di'lait/ re se emotion /'intigrə l/ gentle /'mɔ :nful/ funeral /'rauziɳ/ /si'ri:n/ 10 /ə 'trækt/ g sin u o r solemn r ac att /'sɔ lə m/ ne t d el igh t V BINGO Source Purpose Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi - Revise new words 60 Introduction The teacher drew a table with squares on the board, then asked learners to make the same tables on their pieces of draft paper Learners would try their best to remember the words they studied in the previous lessons and choose one word to write in each square Then they had to make up two sentences Game using two words from their table After that the teacher told them to take turns to read aloud the sentences Each time a student heard a sentence containing a word in their table, they circled the word The one who had three circled words in a line, either horizontally or vertically or diagonally, called out "bingo" and won the game SLAP THE BOARD source purposes Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi - Revise new words - Practice listening skill Introduction Teacher wrote down some English words on BB then invited two groups consisting of learners each to join the game Both groups stood the same distance from the board Then the teacher read the Vietnamese equivalent word loudly The learners in both groups took in turn, ran to BB and slapped on the mentioned word The faster learner with the correct answer would be given mark At the end of the game the winner would be the group with higher marks LUCKY NUMBERS Source Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi 61 purposes - Revise new words - Practice pronunciation and listening skill Introduction This game was played with the class divided into two groups The teacher drew on the board a table like this: 2* 5* Set the rule: Each number has one question If sts could answer the question, they'd get points If they couldn't answer the question, they lost their chance, and the group could make a correct answer, they'd get points However, the number, were lucky numbers because for each of these numbers, the sts didn't have to answer any question but they still get points In addition, the students also needed to pronounce the word correctly, otherwise, they'd lose 0.5 point At the end of the game, the group with the higher score was the winner Q1: The music of the film is Game Q2: A film that makes you laugh is a Q3: The word of the film is Q4: A film that frightens you is a film Q5: The person who make a film is Q6: The most important actor in a film is Q7: All the people who act in a film are Q8: The story of a film is DOMINOES Source Case, D.(1991) English puzzles Oxford: Heinemann International a division of Heinemann Educational Books Ltd Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX28SEJ Purpose - Revise new words 62 Introduction This task was designed to use for group work among seven or eight students To make more interesting and motivating, it was designed as a competition between four groups to find out the quickest group In this type of task, students were required to put the domino pieces in way that the English words are nearest to their Vietnamese equivalents Work in groups and put the domino pieces together to make 12 pairs of English-Vietnamese equivalents The first one has been done for you as an example Game E.g: phim trinh thám decade phát khán giả sân cỏ spread lan truyền detective film discovery chuỗi, cảnh nhanh thriller film k giả xem truyền hình spectator rapid nhanh thriller film phim k h viƠn t-ëng nh©n vËt exist T.V viewer science fiction film tồn phim trinh thám sequence thập niên rapid phim kinh dị character AN ALL-STAR FOOTBALL TEAM Source Purpose Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi Revise new words 63 Introduction Students worked in groups of seven or eight and work together to match the following words with the positions described in the table below For each pair, the quickest group got a point and at the end of the game, the group with the most points was the winner Game winger midfielder defender forward goalkeeper captain SCRAMBLED WORDS Source Purpose Binh,C.Q (2006) Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10 Hanoi: NXB Ha Noi Revise new words Introduction Students worked in groups of seven or eight and rearrange the letter as quickly as possible to make the words For each word, the quickest group got a point and at the end of the game, the group with the most points was the winner Game E.g: MANEHT: anthem NAURNTEOTM: tournament RTCEHARA: character REURNN-PU: runner-up ONADBNA: abandon ENUIEDAC: audience MATCHING SYNONYMS Source http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/vocabtry/voca activities.shtml 64 Purpose Revise new words Introduction Students worked in groups of seven or eight and work together to match the following words and make pairs of synonyms For each pair, the quickest group got a point and at the end of the game, the group with the most points was the winner Game witn ess silent ten yea rs see e al vit ier s vie w be at ca t decad e at e e d ef ce audien n lo s so lem hu mo ve y rle ss l g te in situat es pr ex co n sti ll NOUGHTS AND CROSSES 65 Source Purpose http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/vocabtry/voca activities.shtml - Revise new words Introduction The teacher drew two grids on blackboard, filling in the squares in one grid with the following headings and left the other blank Teacher prepared or questions on each chosen heading She divided the class into two teams and set the rule: each team tries and secures a straight line of noughts or crosses on the grid; the line may be horizontal, vertical or diagonal In order to get a nought or cross in one of the square, the learners must answer a question asked by the teacher basing on the heading of their selected square If the learners couldn't answer the question, they did not get a nought in their square, but the question was not passed to another team As the team answered the question correctly, the teacher put the noughts or crosses into the empty grid Game * Grid (1) Preposition (2) past tense (3) adjectives (4) past participle (5) article (6) noun (7) spelling (8) adverb (9) pronoun (1) preposition Only 13 teams took part _ the first World Cup I'm not very keen _ horror films We were all surprised _ the ending of the film (2) Past tense What is the verb form of "attraction"? Although Rose was already engaged, she and Jack in love (fall) Cuc Phuong _160 kilometers South West of Hanoi (locate) (3) Adjective Which adjective has the same meaning with "funny" Their holiday was so _ that they didn't want to go back (enjoy) 66 HEAVY SYLLABLES Source Case, D.(1991) English puzzles Oxford: Heinemann International a division of Heinemann Educational Books Ltd Halley Court, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX28SEJ Purpose - Revise new words - Practice pronunciation and stress Introduction In this game, the teacher divided the class into four groups For each group, the teacher provided them with a sheet of paper , then asked them to put these words into the right column of stress With minutes, which group got the most correct words was the winner Game 1st syllable stressed 2nd syllable stressed 3rd syllable stressed fiction explore wilderness competition mournful musician character communicate endanger 10 volunteer