Teachers and Students’ Attitude towards Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary = Quan điểm của giáo viên và học sinh với việc sử dụng trò chơi trong dạy - học từ mới. M.A Thesis Linguistics: 60 14 01 11

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o - VŨ NGỌC LONG TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING GAMES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH VỚI VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI TRONG DẠY-HỌC TỪ MỚI M.A THESIS (MINOR) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 01 11 HANOI – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o - VŨ NGỌC LONG TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING GAMES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH VỚI VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI TRONG DẠY-HỌC TỪ MỚI M.A THESIS (MINOR) Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 01 11 Supervisor: Kiều Thị Thu Hương HANOI – 2014 i DECLARATION I hereby, certify the thesis entitled “Teachers and Students’ Attitude towards Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary” is the result of my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library can be accessible for the purposes of study and research January, 2014 Vũ Ngọc Long ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to show my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis I have sincere thanks to the Post-graduate Faculty of ULIS, VNUH for giving me permission to commence and go ahead with this M.A thesis and to use the research materials I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Dr Kiều Thị Thu Hương, Vice-Dean of the English Faculty – Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, whose encouragement, guidance and support enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject and to accomplish the final version of the thesis as expected This thesis would not be possible were it not for my lecturers in the M.A course, namely Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân, Assoc Prof Dr Lê Hùng Tiến, Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang, Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm, Dr Nguyễn Huy Kỷ, Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng, Dr Lê Văn Canh and Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn I would like to thank them for their interesting lectures, devotion, assistance and valuable hints Especially, I owe my deepest gratitude to my parents, whose endless love and encouragement helped me finish this work Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study iii ABSTRACT This study has been conducted to investigate Teachers and Students’ Attitude towards Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary The subjects of the study are thirty twelfth-grade students and thirty English teachers from different high schools in Chi Linh District in the school year 2013 – 2014 The data have been collected via questionnaires The findings exhibit that although language games enable teaching and learning vocabulary to be better, they are not often made use of in language classes The study confirms that even though vocabulary games add interests and motivate students to learn, they have not got many opportunities to get involved in those activities Although many high school teachers recognize the effectiveness of vocabulary games, the majority of them are not willing to design, or to conduct such activities for word teaching Based on the findings, the researcher proposes some recommendations for teachers and students to teach and learn new words by using language games iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv ABBRIVIATIONS vi PART A – INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem Research questions Objectives of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART B – DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An Overview of Vocabulary Teaching 1.2 An Overview of Language Games 1.2 Classification of language games 10 1.3 Reasons for using games in vocabulary teaching 11 1.4 The previous studies 11 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 13 2.1.1 Subjects 13 2.1.2 Data gathering instruments 13 2.1.3 Procedures 14 2.2 Findings and discussion 15 2.2.1 Findings 15 2.2.2 Discussion 27 2.2.3 Implications 28 PART C – CONCLUSION 29 3.1 Summary of the study 29 3.2 Limitations of the study 29 v 3.3 Suggestions for further studies 30 REFERENCES 31 APPENDIXES I APPENDIX I APPENDIX III APPENDIX V vi ABBRIVIATIONS LLs: language learners PART A – INTRODUCTION Statement of the problem Learning vocabulary is an essential activities for people who wish to study a foreign language Vocabulary enables language learners to produce what they want to say With a rich source of words, it is easier for LLs to communicate exactly what they want to convey without much explanations This is why teaching new words to student is a crucial part of language lessons However, not all teachers put emphasis on teaching These teachers believe that grammar should be focused on more than vocabulary They fear that students may make mistakes in sentence building if they learn too many words before getting familiar with basic grammar rules Some teachers even think that words would be best learned through experience, because there are not many suitable contexts for teaching words in the language classroom The beliefs mentioned above are true to a certain extent Without grammar rules, very little is communicated, but without words nothing is communicated, as Wilkins (1972, p 111-112) said The most important thing for language teachers to is to find suitable vocabulary teaching techniques In Chi Linh District, the translation method is officially applied to word teaching in high schools New words are normally delivered to students with their meanings explained by teachers, which is very time-consuming For most of the students, learning new words is a boring task What they is to listen to the words they need to learn, looking up for their meanings in the dictionary, and then write those words again and again The process is repeated until language learners remember the words, yet they find it difficult to keep these words in their long term memory It can be considered the result of a less impressive new-word learning way Vocabulary games have been proved beneficial to word teaching Language games can motivate students in the English vocabulary learning process By using vocabulary games in language classrooms, teachers can help students make use of their words to interact with other classmates, and get to know more words through oral communication Besides adding elements of fun, games can help store a long lasting word source in students’ long-term memory However, language games are quite new activities to language teachers and learners of some high schools in Chi Linh District They are not often properly exploited Some students say they seldom play language games in leaning words in classes Some teachers hardly ever design any lessons including vocabulary games Their students therefore seldom have a chance to learn new words through vocabulary games Thus, the present study has been carried out to investigate the attitudes of teachers and learners towards games for teaching and learning vocabulary Research questions The research focuses on finding the answers to the following question: What are the attitudes of teachers and learners towards using games in teaching and learning vocabulary? Objectives of the study This study has been carried out in order to discover:  the attitudes of teachers towards language games in teaching vocabulary  how teachers apply games for vocabulary teaching  the attitudes of students towards learning vocabulary by language games  how students get involved in using language games for word learning Significance of the study The aim of the study is to reveal the attitudes of both language teachers and learners towards language games for vocabulary teaching and learning on the one hand On the other hand, it provides facts for teachers to compare vocabulary games with other word-teaching activities Vocabulary games in this sense can be viewed as a positive factor contributing to making word teaching more effective Games help increase language learners’ word-retention naturally 24 Question Do you agree that language games help you learn new words more effectively? Chart 12 Students’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of vocabulary games The number of students who consider vocabulary games effective activities which can help them learn words better is exactly the same as that of those who find vocabulary games interesting (53.33 % and 53.33 %) There may be a relationship between the keenness on word games and the effectiveness of using games in learning new words Students feel like those activities and as a result this helps them learn word effectively Question In your opinion, what is the best way to learn new words among the following choices? In the chart below, the number of students who prefer learning words through language games to other activities accounts for 46.67 % It is easy for students to apply their knowledge of games to their learning activities, and this explains why they consider games the best way to learn words Vocabulary games such as completing a puzzle, find out the words based on suggestions, matching words with opposite meanings etc can get students more involved in games because those activities are challenging and appealing to them However, other way of learning 25 words such as noting down the teacher’s word list to learn or preparing new words at home are also common choices of language learners Chart 13 Students’ preference of vocabulary games compared to other activities 2.2.1.4 How language students have been involved in using games in learning vocabulary Question How often you have chance to learn new words by playing vocabulary games in your class? Chart 14 Students’ frequency of leaning new words by playing language games in class It can be understood from the chart above that just some of students have chance to learn new words by playing games frequently This account for 6.7 % of the students A bigger number of them making up 40 % of students can sometimes participate in vocabulary games About 50 % are in agreement that they never get 26 involved in any word game leaning activities Vocabulary games, as the chart shows, are just available to a small part of language learners Question Do you think you are able to join the vocabulary games introduced by your teachers? Chart 15 The number of participants who can join teachers’ vocabulary games As illustrated from the chart, the total number of participants who think they can join the word games conducted by language teachers builds up 53.34 % Meanwhile the number of students who not think they can take part in these activities accounts for 20 % and 26.66 % of the participants who have no idea whether they can take part in the vocabulary games or not Question How can you find vocabulary games to learn new words? It can be inferred from the chat that the number of students who would like to find word games to learn vocabulary accounts for more than 30 % (6.67 % and 26.67 %) These students get games from sources such as books or the Internet Other students not bother to look for those exercises because they are not interested in word games Games for learning vocabulary are, as demonstrated by the chart, still useful for 33.34 % of the participants in their learning lexis items 27 Chart 16 How language students collect vocabulary games used for learning their words 2.2.2 Discussion The study has been implemented mainly to exhibit the attitudes of language teachers and learners towards games in teaching and learning vocabulary The researcher originally thought of language games as a powerful tool to stimulate students’ interest in word learning The data and information having gained reflex a new view on different aspects of the main study question Although high school teachers have positive views on language games for teaching vocabulary, they are not willing enough to use advantage of games in teaching words The problems, which are believed to prevent language teacher from making use of games for teaching vocabulary, may include not having enough vocabulary language game sources, not getting used to performing word games in teaching, and considering games time-consuming The data collected from students’ questionnaires have shown that at least one-third of participants like games and would choose vocabulary games as good activities in learning new words Language games for word learning seem to be dominant among word learning activities The finding is not surprising to us because of learners’ keenness on games 28 In conclusion, it is proved that both teachers and students have positive attitudes towards using language games in teaching and learning vocabulary Firstly, at least one-third of language teachers agree that using games in teaching words is effective They think that games can provide word learning with meaningful contexts, they therefore want to introduce these activities in teaching vocabulary to their students Moreover, a considerable number of students love to join vocabulary games Many of them share the view that they are willing to take part in the word games offered by their teachers These positive viewpoints towards vocabulary games make it feasible to use language games to nurture students’ word learning 2.2.3 Implications Based on the results of the study, the researcher would like to make some suggestions to language teachers who are teaching English at different high schools in Chi Linh District, Hai Duong Province First of all, vocabulary games should be used in language classes more often Language games are interesting, attractive to students, they should be made use of Moreover, if language learners participate in games, they become more dynamic and hard-working, and they therefore learn new words better In addition, thanks to the interaction among students, their vocabulary knowledge will be enhanced and built up Besides, language teachers should make word games available to students to give them a change The active atmosphere is good for learning new things such as vocabulary Also, it is noticeable that language games are effective activities for students to learn words and play at the same time Finally, teachers need to realize that a considerable number of students, which account for approximately 40 %, love to learn vocabulary by playing games This reveals the possibility to be successful in using games to teach words to students The writer hopes that such personal opinions will be helpful for his colleagues and other language teachers in Chi Linh District as well 29 PART C – CONCLUSION 3.1 Summary of the study The study has been conducted in Chi Linh District, Hai Duong Province The participants are thirty English language teachers aged from twenty-seven to fiftyfour, and thirty twelfth-grade students of different high schools in Chi Linh District The questionnaires were delivered to them and the data have been analyzed after being encoded into tables and charts The study has revealed the teachers and students’ positive attitudes towards using games for teaching and learning new words Teachers need to pay more attention to language games because these activities maintain students’ interest and motivation Hence, games will somehow promote students’ word acquisition Games can normally draw the learners’ attention Teachers should be careful in finding and designing appropriate vocabulary games regarded as supplementary activities so that they can exploit to perform games within the time limit Besides, teachers’ precise instructions can help learners understand game rules, and game goals quickly The instructions should be simple, easy and clear enough for the students to understand and participate in word learning activities All the things mentioned above aim at maintaining learners’ attention to the lesson as well as their interest 3.2 Limitations of the study Although the study has achieved the objectives set at the beginning, it cannot avoid some limitations Firstly, the number of the teachers taking part in the study as the participants are limited The findings would be more useful if the researcher could have got more teacher to participate in the research Moreover, language students who joined the research were randomly chosen The results would be more detailed if the researcher could have categorized them according to different basic groups or according to their English proficiency In addition, the study is conducted within a limited scope which focuses only on teachers and students’ attitudes towards 30 language games in teaching and learning vocabulary It does not take into consideration other issues such as language games which can be applied to teaching other language skills like reading, speaking, etc 3.3 Suggestions for further studies The current study is a survey research which has used questionnaires as its main instruments This may not reflect all aspects of the study With the aim of getting more valid and reliable data, other tools can be made used of such as interviews, video-taping and audio-taping Further research into games will provide more exact results if it is carried out over a long period of time Finally, the participants taking part in the research will be classified according to their language levels, age groups and other characteristics considered important to the results of the study 31 REFERENCES Allen, V.F (1983), Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary, Oxford University Press Brown, H.D (2001), Teaching by Principles: An interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, second edition, New York, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc Cameron, L (2001), Teaching Languages to Young Learners, Cambridge University Press Camille L Z Blachowicz, Peter Fisher, (2002), Teaching Vocabulary in All Classrooms, the University of California Canh, L.V (2004), Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology, Nha xuat ban Quoc Gia Ha Noi Doff, A (1988), Teaching English, Cambridge University Press Dung N.T (2011), Teachers’ Attitudes towards Using Checking Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary at Bac Ninh Specialized High School Master thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies – Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies Gairns, R & Redman, S (1986), Working with Words, Cambridge University Press Gower, R., Phillips, D & Walter, S (2005), Teaching Practise, A handbook for Teachers in Training, MacMillan Books for Teachers, Oxford; MacMillan Publisher Limited 10 Hadfield, J (1996) Intermediate Communication Games, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, Longman 11 Harmer, J (1998), How to Teach English, Essex; Addison Wesley Longman Limited 12 Haycraft, J (1978), An Introduction to English Language Teaching, Harlow: Longman 13 John, R (2000), Assessing Vocabulary, Cambridge University Press 32 14 Lewis, M (1993), The Lexical Approach, Longman Publisher 15 Mai, L.T.T (2010), The Effects of Games on Helping High School English Learners Retain Word Meaning Master thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies – Faculty of PostGraduate Studies 16 McCarthy, M (1990), Vocabulary, New York: Oxford University Press 17 Nation, P (1994), New ways in Teaching Vocabulary¸ Bloomington: Pantagraph Printing 18 Norbert, S & Michael McCarthy (1997), Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy, Cambridge University Press 19 Nunan, D (1992), Research Methods in Language Learning, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 20 Ruth, G & Stuart, R (1999), Working with Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary, Cambridge University Press 21 Taylor, L (1990), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary, New York: Prentice Hall 22 Thao, V.P (2011), Improving Learning English Vocabulary through Games: An Action Research Master thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies – Faculty of PostGraduate Studies 23 Thornbury, S (2002), How to Teach Vocabulary, Essex, England: Pearson education limited 24 Toth, M (1995), Children’s games, Heinemann Publishers, Oxford 25 Ur, P (1996), A Course in Language Teaching: Practise and Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 26 Virginia F Allen, (1983), Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary, Oxford University Press 27 Wilkins, D.A (1972), Linguistic in Language Teaching, London, Edward Arnold I APPENDIXES APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR TEACHERS The questionnaire is designed for the study “Teachers and Students’ Attitude towards Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary.” Please CIRCLE the answer on your own idea to indicate your choices *NOTE: all the information provided by you is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! ******************* Is using language games using for teaching vocabulary more effective and more interesting than other activities? A Strongly agree B Agree C Dis agree D I have no idea Can language games provide meaningful context for vocabulary teaching? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D I have no idea Do you think that games for teaching words are time-consuming activities? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D I have no idea Do you agree that vocabulary games should be introduced when teaching new words to language learners? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D have no idea How well you think you can conduct a word game in your language class? A Quite good B good enough C Normal D not good II Which vocabulary teaching technique you often choose to teach new words to your language learners? A Games B Visual techniques C Verbal techniques D Translation How often you employ language games to teaching vocabulary? A Always B often C Rarely D Never Do you have intention of applying games for teaching vocabulary to your students in the future? A Yes B I’m not sure C No D I have no idea Thank you very much for your cooperation! III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS The questionnaire is designed for the study “Teachers and Students’ Attitude towards Using Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary.” Please CIRCLE the answer on your own idea to indicate your choices *NOTE: all the personal information provided by you is reserved for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussions of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! ******************* Do you like language games conducted by your teacher in learning words? A Very much B I like them C I don’t like them D I have no idea What are your feelings when learning new words through vocabulary games? A Funny and motivated B I don’t like word games B Normal C I have no idea Is learning vocabulary by playing language games more interesting than other ways such as writing for many times, learning by heart, etc.? A Yes B No C I have no idea Do you agree that language games help you learn new words more effectively? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D I have no idea In your opinion, what is the best way to learn new words among the following choices? A Playing language games conducted by your teacher IV B Your language teacher lists the new words on the board, explains their meanings and the usage, and helps you pronounce those words C You prepare the list of new words and learn them by yourself at home How often you have chance to learn new words by playing vocabulary games in your class? A Often B Sometimes C Never Do you think you are able to join the vocabulary games introduced by your teachers? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D I have no idea How can you find vocabulary games to learn new words? A I buy word game books B I get them from the Internet C I don’t need them D I have no idea -THE END - V APPENDIX CÂU HỎI ĐIỀU TRA DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH Bản câu hỏi thiết kế nghiên cứu “Quan điểm giáo viên học sinh việc sử dụng trò chơi dạy học từ mới.” Vui lịng KHOANH TRỊN câu trả lời bạn *GHI CHÚ: tất thông tin cá nhân bạn cung cấp lưu trữ cho việc nghiên cứu, bạn yên tâm tất thông tin không bị tiết lộ trường hợp thảo luận Xin cảm ơn cộng tác bạn! ******************* Bạn có thích học từ trò chơi từ vựng? A Rất thích B Thích C Khơng thích D Khơng có ý kiến Những cảm giác bạn học từ vựng trò chơi? A Thấy vui vẻ có động lực B bình thường C Khơng có ý kiến Học từ trị chơi có thú vị cách học khác viết nhiều lần, học thuộc lịng, v.v khơng? A Có B Khơng C Khơng có ý kiến Bạn có đồng ý trò chơi giúp bạn học từ hiệu hơn? A Hoàn toàn đồng ý B Đồng ý C Khơng đồng ý D Khơng có ý kiến Theo bạn đâu cách học từ tốt lựa chọn đây? A Chơi trò chơi hướng dẫn thày cô B Thày/cô viết từ lên bảng, giải thích nghĩa, hướng dẫn bạn cách đọc cách dùng từ C Bạn tự chuẩn bị từ tự học nhà Bạn có thường xuyên có hội học từ trị chơi lớp khơng? A Ln B thường xuyên VI D Không C Thỉnh thoảng Bạn có nghĩ bạn tham gia vào trị chơi để học từ vựng thày/cơ khơng? A Hồn tồn đồng ý B Đồng ý C Khơng đồng ý D Khơng có ý kiến Bạn timf trò chơi để học từ vựng cách nào? A Tơi mua sách trị chơi từ vựng B Tơi lấy mạng C Tơi khơng cần trị chơi từ vựng D Tơi khơng có ý kiến -HẾT -