Using language games to improve students retention of ESP vocabulary at namdinh college of construction

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES - ĐỖ THỊ THU HÀ USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ RETENTION OF ESP VOCABULARY AT NAMDINH COLLEGE OF CONSTRUCTION (SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG XÂY DỰNG NAM ĐỊNH) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES - ĐỖ THỊ THU HÀ USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ RETENTION OF ESP VOCABULARY AT NAMDINH COLLEGE OF CONSTRUCTION (SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG XÂY DỰNG NAM ĐỊNH) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr Lâm Quang Đông Hanoi, 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Thesis Structure PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary in ESP 1.1.1 The importance of vocabulary in ESP 1.1.2 What it means to know words? 1.2 Taxonomy of ESP vocabulary 1.3 Factors affecting the retention of ESP vocabulary 1.3.1 Memory and storage systems 1.3.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 1.3.3 Learning context 10 1.3.3.1 Language input 10 1.3.3.2 Language output 11 1.4 Language games and vocabulary acquisition and retention 12 1.5 ESP vocabulary teaching – research and practice 16 v CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF ESP VOCABULARY TEACHING AND LEARNING CONTEXT AT NCC 19 2.1 The learners and their background 19 2.2 The teachers and their teaching method 19 2.3 The textbook 20 2.4 The teaching and learning conditions 20 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 21 3.1 The research hypothesis 21 3.2 Rationale for using a Quasi-experimental method 21 3.3 Variables 22 3.4 Participants and treatment 22 3.4.1 Participants 22 3.4.2 Treatment 22 3.5 Procedure of data collection 22 3.5.1 Test designing 22 3.5.2 Test administering 23 3.6 Results and discussion 24 3.6.1 Results of the pre-test scores of the two groups and discussion 24 3.6.2 Results of the progress-test of the two groups and discussion 27 3.6.3 Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the pre-test and progresstest of the two groups 30 3.6.4 Results of the post-test of the two groups and discussion 31 3.6.5 Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the progress-test and posttest of the two groups 34 vi PART 3: CONCLUSION 36 Summary of major findings 36 Classroom implications 36 Limitations and suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX (tests and keys) I APPENDIX (tables for analysis) X vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Results of the pre-test of the two groups Table 2: Comparison of mean scores in the pre-test of the two groups Table 3: Pre-test score frequencies of the two groups Table 4: Detailed pre-test scores of the experimental group Table 5: Detailed pre-test scores of the control group Table 6: Results of the progress-test of the two groups Table 7: Comparison of mean scores in the progress-test of the two groups Table 8: Progress-test score frequencies of the two groups Table 9: Detailed progress-test scores of the experimental group Table 10: Detailed progress-test scores of the control group Table 11: Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the pre-test and progresstest of the groups Table 12: Independent t-test for the gain in the progress-test of the two groups Table 13: Results of the post-test of the two groups Table 14: Comparison of mean scores in the post-test of the two groups Table 15: Post-test score frequencies of the two groups Table 16: Detailed post-test scores of the experimental group Table 17: Detailed post-test scores of the control group Table 18: Comparison of mean scores and t-scores of the progress-test and posttest of the two groups Table 19: Independent t-test for the gain in the post-test of the two groups PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Recently, the teaching methodology in General English as well as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has shifted from a focus on the linguistic competence to an interest in the communicative competence This trend in language teaching has resulted in the increasingly essential role of teaching and learning vocabulary It is of common knowledge that vocabulary is the major part in foreign language learning Emphasizing the importance of vocabulary, Wilkins (1972, p.11) states that “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” McCarthy (1990, p.viii) also shares the same view when saying “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express the wide range of meaning, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way” According to Hutchison and Walters (1987), ESP is one branch of English Language Teaching, which is a variety of numerous kinds of language teaching Consequently, vocabulary acquisition has always been one of the fundamental activities in foreign language learning whether it is for general purposes or for specific ones because no communication is possible without words Being an English teacher at Namdinh College of Construction, I realize that although ESP vocabulary teaching and learning has received much attention so far, it is still far from satisfactory Many students encounter difficulty in retaining ESP words that they have learnt in previous lessons They often complain that they forget new words soon after learning them They also not know how to learn, remember and use these words As a result, for most students, vocabulary learning in ESP lessons is boring and ineffective For the above reasons, I would like to conduct this research entitled “Using Language Games to Improve Students’ Retention of ESP Vocabulary at Namdinh College of Construction” 2 Aims of the study The main aim of the study is to investigate the effect of language games on ESP vocabulary retention, or in other words, the extent to which language games help to retain ESP vocabulary for my students at the College and suggest some teaching implications Scope of the study There are various language activities that help students to retain ESP vocabulary However, within the limit of a minor thesis, this study focuses on the impact of language games on students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary This study was implemented among groups including 100 non-English major first year students at Namdinh College of Construction whose English was at the elementary level and who are working with the course book “Nucleus English for Science and Technology: Architecture and Building Construction” by James Cumming (1996) Method of the study This research was conducted with quasi-experimental method with one class as the experimental group and one class as the control group It was quasi-experimental because the students of both groups were not randomly assigned, and therefore were not of equal proficiency levels of English The experiment lasted 10 weeks and vocabulary tests were administered to measure students‟ retention of ESP vocabulary Students‟ memorization of vocabulary is also continuously monitored when the games are being in progress so as to provide further evidence of the games‟ effectiveness The results of the tests were analyzed by using Paired Samples T-test to find out the gain of each group and Independent t-test to compare the gains of two groups Thesis Structure This thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part 1, the Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the scope and the method of the study Part is the development which includes three chapters Chapter provides theoretical background to teaching and learning vocabulary, particularly in ESP Also, it reviews some language games which help the retention of ESP vocabulary Chapter gives an overview of ESP vocabulary teaching and learning context at Namdinh College of Construction Chapter presents detailed analyses of the data obtained through the pretest, progress-test and posttest Part 3, the Conclusion, discusses the major findings and limitations of the research as well as provides suggestions for further study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Vocabulary in ESP 1.1.1 The importance of vocabulary in ESP Recently, vocabulary has rapidly changed in status from a “neglected aspect of language learning” (Meara, 1980) to an area of growing research and publication The significance of vocabulary in language learning has drawn numerous researchers‟ interest Zimmerman (1997, p.5) states that “Vocabulary is central to language and of crucial importance to the typical language learner.” Robinson (1991) shares the same view by saying “for many people vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is a key element of ESP” (as cited in Jahangard, 2007, p.8) Obviously, vocabulary is of great importance in foreign language learning whether it is for general purposes or for specific ones To emphasize this, Keith S Folse (2004, p.1) claims that vocabulary is the most significant aspect among numerous language learning ones such as pronunciation, writing system, syntax, pragmatics, rhetorical modes for reading and composition, culture, and spelling Carter and McCarthy (1988) also point out that the study of vocabulary is at the heart of language teaching and learning Hence, it cannot be denied that vocabulary acquisition is a “must” for language learners especially ESP learners 1.1.2 What it means to know words? Knowledge of a word is not only limited to knowing its single meaning but this involves comprehension of the word form, meaning, grammar and collocation… so that language learners can generate it for their need According to Penny Ur (1996), when the teacher teaches a new English word, he should, by all means, provide his learners with its pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, and word-formation • Word form Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Therefore, when introducing new words to learners, the teacher should pay careful attention to both of these forms and provide learners with certain general guidelines which assist them in predicting the 49 50 XII Table 9: Detailed progress-test scores of the experimental group 20 Experimental group (Case: – 25) 21 Ss No 22 23 24 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 25 Experimental group (Case: 26 – 50) 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Part1 Ss.No 26 49 50 XIII Table 10: Detailed progress-test scores of the control group 20 Control group (Case: – 25) Ss No 21 22 23 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 24 25 Control group (Case: 26 – 50) Part1 Ss.No 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 XIV Table 16: Detailed post-test scores of the experimental group Experimental group (Case: – 25) Ss No 2 2 Experimental group (Case: 26 – 50) Part1 Ss.No 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 XV Ss.No Part1 Table 17: Detailed post-test scores of the control group 10 5 5 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 10 22 23 24 25 Notes: MS = Meaning and part of speech; WS = Word stress; Con.score = Converted score to 10-score scale ... 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