Language games in learning vocabulary of students of grade 6 at thinh duc lower secondary school in thai nguyen city

DECLARATION The writer fully declares that this research paper is composed by the writer herself, and it does not contain materials written or having been published by other people and that from other references A THESIS Language games in learning vocabulary of students of grade at Thinh Duc lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen City Submited by: Pham Thuy Nga Approved by Supervisor, Instructor 1: Dr Hoang Thi Nhung Instructor 2: Dr Phan Thi Hoa i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The thesis on “Language games in learning vocabulary of students of grade at Thinh Duc lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen City.” came to completion First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisorsDr Hoang Thi Nhung and Dr Phan Thi Hoa for their valuable guidance, critical feedback, and enormous encouragements Without their support, this thesis could not have been completed My thanks also go to all my lecturers from Thai Nguyen University, School of Foreign Languages- Postgraduate Department for their valuable lectures which help me to orient the topic I would like to express my thanks to all my classmates who were willing to help me in sharing materials and ideas when this thesis is worked on My sincere acknowledgement of all English teachers and students at Thinh Duc Lower secondary school who have helped me to carry out the survey for my research The study has been progressed with all my attempts but there have been still limitations and mistakes, Therefore, I look forward to receiving sincere comments from all of you! ii ABSTRACT This study aims at improving secondary students’ vocabulary by using language games and find out the impact of using language games on young learners’ learning English vocabulary It also describes students’ perceptions and feeling after experiencing language game method This research is action research which was conducted in Thinh Duc Lower Secondary School in Thai Nguyen City in the second term of the academic year 2018-2019 It consists of planning, implementing the action, observing, reflecting The data were gained through tests, questionnaires, and observation sheets The data attained from those instruments were analyzed using the formula to calculate the mean, target of study, questionnaire percentage The data then were interpreted descriptively The result of the study showed that language games can improve young learners’ English vocabulary during the learning process In addition, it also improved students’ marks in the learning process Furthermore, according to students, this teaching method is considered as a fun, good, stress-less method that helps them to memorize English words easily and makes their learning easier.Key words: language game, vocabulary, young learners iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLE vi LIST OF CHART vii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Limitation 1.5 The significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language games 2.1.1 Roles of language games .6 2.1.2 Main types of language games 2.1.3 Advantages of language games 2.1.4 The Use of Language games with elementary 10 2.2 Vocabulary 11 2.2.1 What is vocabulary? 11 2.2.2 Types of vocabulary 12 2.2.3 Importance of vocabulary 13 2.3 Teaching vocabulary 13 2.4 Learning vocabulary 14 2.4.1 Steps for Learning Vocabulary 15 2.4.2 Technique of learning vocabulary .16 2.5 The importance of language games in learning vocabulary 17 2.6 Characteristics of young learners 18 2.7 Previous studies on the use of language games in learning vocabulary 20 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23 3.1 Research Questions 23 iv 3.2 Method of the study 23 3.3 The study design 23 3.4 The participants 24 3.5 Materials 24 3.6 Data collection instrument 24 3.6.1 Tests 25 3.6.2 Observation .25 3.6.3 The questionnaires .25 3.7 Data collection procedure 26 3.8 Data analysis 27 3.8.1 Quantitative data 27 3.8.2 Qualitative data 28 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .30 4.1 Findings 30 4.1.1 Student’s performance in the pre-test and post-test 30 4.1.2 Results from questionnaires and observation 35 4.2 Discussions 38 4.2.1 Are there any differences in the results between learning vocabulary use language games and learning vocabulary without language games? 38 4.2.2 What is the attitude of learner when learning vocabularies through language game? 39 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 41 5.1 Conclusion 41 5.2 Suggestions 45 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX I APPENDIX XVI APPENDIX XVIII APPENDIX XXII APPENDIX XXV v LIST OF TABLE Table 1: The students’ performance under traditional vocabulary instruction and language games in the pre-test 30 Table 2: Students’ vocabulary ability in pre-test 31 Table 3: Students’ performance under the two methods in post-test 32 Table 4: Comparison between the pre-test and post-test vocabulary ability of the students taught under traditional vocabulary instruction 32 Table 5: Comparison between the pre-test and post-test vocabulary ability of the students taught with language games 34 Table 6: Comparison between the post-test vocabulary ability of students taught under the two methods 35 Table 7: Pupil’s activities in the teaching-learning process 37 vi LIST OF CHART Chart Pupils’ activities in teaching - learning process vii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the introduction of the study It is divided into five parts, including: the background of the study, the objectives of the study, the scope of the study, limitation and significance of the study and organization of the study 1.1 Background of the study Language is very important in social relationships It is a means of communication to help people interact, converse, and also share with others Each country has their mother tongues Among a large number of different languages in the world, English is considered as an international language or a second most popular language that is the reason why many people want to learn it The globalization has been motivating the demand for English It is necessary for everyone to use English to communicate with foreigners to set them free from language boundaries Being able to use English in conversation among people from different countries will bring them closer Due to the importance of English, it has been taught in all levels of education systems in Vietnam To improve human resources, the Vietnam government makes policy by introducing English as early as possible to elementary school students In Vietnam’s schools, English is learned from the kindergarten level to university or even higher To bring English closer to students’ life, many familiar topics were designed for each level with the purpose of providing the necessary knowledge for students to help them have a good preparation for important skills, especially language skills, which is necessary for their future jobs There are four skills in learning English, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing If students want to master these skills, it is extremely to have a good range of vocabulary However, in spite of highly appreciating the important role of learning vocabulary, many Vietnamese students learn vocabulary passively There are many reasons that could explain this First, they think that explanations for meaning or definition, spelling, grammatical functions, and pronunciation are boring and they are fed up with that In addition, with the traditional method, the student is not the learning center All that they have to is to listen attentively to the teacher without any activities Second, students believe that learning vocabulary means knowing the meaning of the words only and they not care about the other functions of the words Third, students are not active, they just lean what they are given from textbooks or teachers For example, learners find many new words in a text and then ask the teacher to explain the meanings and usages Therefore, they can get trouble with other skills because they may recognize a word in a written, but they not know when it is spoken Because of the passive learning habit, students will get bored during the lessons Teaching vocabulary is a challenge for all teachers at all levels, especially for young learners There remain so many requirements for the teachers to create an enjoyable and comfortable environment for the students to learn and make them an interest in learning vocabulary To stop these stressful things, language games are considered as one of the most suitable and effective methods At Thinh Duc Lower secondary school, I am also given a responsibility to teach the sixth grade in Thinh Duc Lower secondary school As a teacher, I prepared the materials for the lesson The material was Basic English The basic one is just they study the vocabularies to enrich their capabilities in learning English The most perfect way to make effective activity in learning vocabulary to the young learner is by using the game As a technique in learning vocabulary, using game is a must to get the main purpose of learning activity since students always like some fun activities It is in this context that the researcher would like to conduct the study in the hope that language games may be effective in getting the students to get involved and to participate more in lesson activities, specifically in improving their vocabulary This research attempts finding the answer to the following questions: Are there any differences in the results between learning vocabulary use language games and learning vocabulary without language games? What is the attitude of learner when learning vocabularies through language game? 1.2 Objectives of the study The purposes of the study are to improve secondary students’ vocabulary by using languages game and find out the impact of using languages game on young learners learning English vocabulary 1.3 Scope of the study In the school year 2018-2019, the researcher was designated to teach English to the sixth-grade students at Thinh Duc Secondary School in Thai Nguyen City In fact, there are many techniques and methods used to improve students’ vocabulary and there are also a variety of ways of using language games in improving other skills However, regarding her mentioned- pre-observation of students and the limit of the thesis, the researcher is going to focus on improving student’s vocabulary by using language games and describe the student’s perception and feeling after experiencing using the language game method This study will be conducted on 74 students in classes 6A and 6B of grade in the second term of the school year 2018- 2019 at Thinh Duc Lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen city 1.4 Limitation The study will be conducted in the second term of the school year 2018-2019 at Thinh Duc lower secondary school- Thai Nguyen city Language games will be used in teaching lessons (Getting started and A closer look of Unit & 9) in the English course book of grade The samples of this study are 74 students of grade 6A & 6B at Thinh Duc lower secondary school 1.5 The significance of the study The findings of the study will provide the effectiveness of using language to increase the sixth- grade students’ vocabulary in Thinh Duc Lower Secondary School It is also a strong base to carry out in other secondary schools in Thai Nguyen and other places in Viet Nam to enhance student’s vocabulary at a higher level by using language games The study is important because of several reasons First and foremost, the finding will be able to provide English teachers with a better perception of the use of a variety of language games in their classrooms It is also so that teachers are more motivated to use language games as a tool to improve their pupils’ linguistic abilities The use of language games in learning English is beneficial not only for teachers but for the pupils as well Language games are able to promote healthy competition among pupils in the classroom It also helps in creating a non- - Ss work in pairs, match the words in the box to the names of the places and give feedback P-W * Answer keys: a Asia, Africa b Sweden, the USA c Ha Noi, Nha Trang, Amsterdam, Liverpool d Ha Noi, Amsterdam e Ben Thanh market, the Louvre Note: The short, common forms of the Unites States of America area: the United States, the USA, the US America often refers to the continent 4/ Production * Game: Around the world: (8') - Choose a country then ask and answer - Model the game with the whole class first G-W - Divide Ss into big groups - Give Ss more questions - Count the correct answers to find the winning group - Play the game in groups of four - Learn by heart all the new words 5/ Homework (2') - Do Ex B1,2 P16 - Be ready for Unit 9: A closer look IV/ Evaluation + Time for lesson's enough : Yes No + Students understood the lesson: Yes No + Students knew to apply to exercises: Yes No + Other comments: XII Preparation day: Readjustment: Teaching day: 6A: 6B: 6C: Unit Cities of the world Lesson A Closer look I/ Objective: By the end of the lesson, ss will be able to use the lexical items related to the topic “Cities of the world” and pronounce the sounds / u/and /ai/ correctly in isolation and in context II/ Content: * Language focus: - Vocab: cities of the world - Grammar: Superlative of long adjectives * Skill: spoken interaction * Competence: Talk about cities of the world III/ Teaching aids: Text book, cassette, CD IV/ Procedure: Stages/Time 1/ Warm up (3') Interaction P-W Procedure *Organization: 6A: 6B: 6C: * Game: Matching word Match the words in A with the oposites in B - T gives some words and asks Ss work in pairs then give their answers - T will call some pairs to go to the board and compete Which group gives as many words as possiple in minutes that is winner XIII dangerous – safe old - new dry – wet quiet – noisy boring – exciting historic – modern clean – dirty cheap – expensive cold - hot 2/ Vocabulary: Create word webs Presentation - Ss work in groups then give out their answer (10') * Answer key: + city: beautiful, peaceful, exciting, modern, big, G-W pollute, safe, ect + people: nice, friendly, unfriendly, open, niosy, interesting, ect + food: delicious, awful, good, tasty, ect + weather: bad, rainy, hot, cold, wet,ect + building: old, modern, tall, new,ect Pronunciation: / u/and /ai/ 3/ Practice (15') * Listen and write the words you hear in the right column T–C - Model the two sounds with cold and sky Let Ss see how the sounds are formed Ask Ss to give words that have these two sounds S,S,S - Ss listen to the recording and fill in the suitable column * Answer keys: / u/ /ai/ cold sky snow exciting old high clothes fine hold flight * Listen and repeat: T-C - Ss practice reading the words in bold first then listen to the recording and repeat the sentences XIV 4/ Production Grammar: Superlative of long adjectives (15') the most + adjective * Choosing the pictures: Country - Britain - Ss have a quick look at all the pictures Work S,S,S individually to complete the fact sheet, using one of the pictures provided - Share the answer then discuss If they not agree with the answer, encourage them to give the reasons ( not give corrective feedback) * Read the article about Britain then give the correct answer - Ss look at their earlier answer ( and think about their P-W discussion) - Have Ss ask and answer questions about ghe fact using most + adjectives Eg: Which is Britain’s biggest city? * Answer keys: London Oxford University Shakespeare fish and chips tea watching TV 5/ Homework - Do ex B 1,2,3,4 ( workbook) (2) - Be ready for A closer look IV/ Evaluation + Time for lesson's enough : Yes No + Students understood the lesson: Yes No + Students knew to apply to exercises: Yes No + Other comments: XV APPENDIX STUDENT’S OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Observation Excellent (4) Good (3) Fair (2) Less (1) Paying Students pay Students pay Students pay Students not attention while attention to the attention to the attention to the pay attention the reacher teacher teacher teacher and not make explaining the explanation explanation explanation but any notation to purpose of the and are willing and their not make any the teacher study to take a note teacher order notation explanation Categories them to take a note Paying Students pay Students pay Students pay Students are attention while attention to the attention to the attention to the too busy with teacher teacher teacher teacher their own explaining the explanation explanation explanation business They material and instruction, and instruction quietly and not pay take a note and and take a note give no attention to the give responses Instead of teacher responses asking the explanation teacher, 2-3 students asking their friends Students’ The student is The student is The students is Students not activeness in asking more asking twice asking just one ask any asking than three time questions questions times Students’ The student is The student is The student is The student activeness in answering answering answering does not answering questions more questions twice questions one questions than three time times XVI answering questions at all Students’ The student The student The student The students is activeness in does his task does his task does not neglecting his working as a actively, shares and shares his actively work task and does group his opinion and opinion and with his group not participate motivates his demonstrate and sometimes in his group friends respect for makes a joke others with his friend XVII APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE Thai Nguyen University school of Foreign Languages Questionnaire to be fiiled in by the students at grade Thinh Duc Secondary School, Thai Nguyen City in the school year 2018-2019 Dear students, This questionnaire is intended to gather relevant data for study entitled “Language games in learning vocabulary of students of grade at Thinh Duc lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen City” Therefore, I kindly request you to give your genuine response to the success of the study Your response will be used only for the purpose of the study and will be kept confidential Note: You not need to write your name on the questionnaire Thank you very much for your cooperation in advance Part one: Background Information 1.1 Name of the school:……………………………………… 1.2 Class:…… 1.3 Sex: Male Female 1.4 Ethnicity:………… 1.5 Age:……… Part two: Important Information for the Research The questionnaire is distributed to gather the information about students’ perception and students’ feeling of personal enjoyment after experiencing Language games Note: Questions 1-4 tend to know about students’ perception of language games Questions 5-8 tend to know as 1= strongly disagree, 2= disagree, 3= neutral, 4= agree, 5= strongly agree Questions 1.I like to learn vocabularies through language games Learning vocabularies through language games is fun to Language games is a useful method to remember vocabularies easily XVIII Language games is an attractive learning method to improve my vocabulary I learn vocabulary through language games happily I am interested in language games because it is new for me Learning vocabularies through language games gives me many benefits I feel under pressure if I learn vocabulary through language games XIX BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT Bảng câu hỏi điều tra học sinh lớp Trường THCS Thịnh Đức, Thành phố Thái Nguyên năm học 2018-2019 Kính gửi em học sinh, Bản câu hỏi nhằm thu thập liệu liên quan cho nghiên cứu mang tên “Trị chơi ngơn ngữ việc học từ vựng học sinh lớp trường trung học sở Thịnh Đức TP Thái Nguyên” Sự trả lời khách quan em sec góp phần định thành cơng cơng trình nghiên cứu Tất câu trả lời cá nhân giữ kín, chúng tơi cơng bố kết tổng hợp Lưu ý: Các em không cần phải viết tên bảng câu hỏi Cảm ơn em nhiều hợp tác em Phần thứ nhất: Thông tin 1.1 Tên trường:…………………………………………… 1.2 Lớp học: 1.3 Giới tính: Nam Nữ 1.4 Dân tộc: 1.5 Tuổi: Phần hai: Thông tin quan trọng cho nghiên cứu Bảng câu hỏi phân phối để thu thập thông tin nhận thức em học sinh cảm nhận em học sinh thích thú cá nhân sau học từ vựng thơng qua trị chơi ngơn ngữ Lưu ý: Câu hỏi 1-4 có xu hướng biết nhận thức em phương pháp sử dụng trò chơi ngơn ngữ Câu hỏi 5-8 có xu hướng biết cảm giác em sau trải nghiệm phương pháp sử dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ Xin vui lòng cho biết mức độ đồng ý em đói với phát biểu cách đánh dấu vào ô chứa số tương ứng: Câu hỏi 1.Em thích học từ vựng thơng qua trị chơi ngơn ngữ Học từ vựng qua trị chơi ngôn ngữ thật thú vị XX Language games is a useful method to remember vocabularies easily 4.Trị chơi ngơn ngữ phương pháp bổ ích để ghi nhớ từ vựng cách dễ dàng Em học từ vựng thơng qua trị chơi ngơn ngữ cách vui vẻ Em thích thú với trị chơi ngơn ngữ lạ cho em Học từ vựng thơng qua trị chơi ngơn ngữ cho em nhiều lợi ích Em cảm thấy bị áp lực em học từ vựng qua trò chơi ngơn ngữ 1) Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý 2) Khơng đồng ý 3) Khơng có ý kiến 4) Đồng ý 5) Hoàn toàn đồng ý XXI APPENDIX TABLE OF THE TEST RESULTS Class 6A No Full name Pre-test Post-test Đỗ Đức Anh Nguyễn Tuyến Anh Nguyễn Thanh Bình Dương Quỳnh Chi 10 Hoàng Thị Ánh Chúc Trương Công Danh Nguyễn Tiến Đạt Hoàng Thị Hạnh Dung Bùi Khánh Duy 10 Nguyễn Thu Hiền 11 Bùi Quang Hiếu 12 Đinh Trần Hiếu 13 Đỗ Trịnh Minh Hiếu 8 14 Nguyễn Công Hiếu 15 Nguyễn Văn Hòa 16 Tạ Thị Ánh Hồng 17 Hoàng Ngọc Hưng 10 18 Phạm Duy Hưng 19 Vũ Ngọc Khánh 4 20 Hoàng Hiếu Kiên 21 Chu Khánh Linh 22 Vũ Thị Thùy Linh 23 Hoàng Khánh Ly 8 24 Nguyễn Phương Mai 25 Nguyễn Hồng Minh XXII 26 Hoàng Thị Trà My 10 10 27 Phạm Trà My 28 Lê Hồng Nam 29 Dương Văn Quý 6 30 Đinh Hồng Thắm 31 Dương Văn Thuận 32 Đồng Thị Mai Thương 33 Nguyễn Thanh Trà 8 34 Ngô Thị Huyền Trang 35 Phùng Thu Trang 36 Đào Ngọc Anh Tuấn 37 Đỗ Hoài Yến 38 Ngô Thị Hải Yến 6 Class 6B No Full name Pre-test Post-test Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh Nguyễn Tuấn Anh 10 Tạ Thị Ngọc Ánh Trần Nguyễn Xuân Đại Nguyễn Thị Huyền Diệu Vũ Phạm thùy Dương 10 Cao Thế Hải Phạm Thị Yến Hoa 7 Hoài Hưng 12 Đào Quỳnh Hương 13 Phan Quốc Huy 10 Luân Thúy 11 Vũ Việt Anh XXIII 14 Lê Thu Huyền 15 Nguyễn Phương Khánh 16 Đỗ Ngọc Lan 10 17 Đỗ Ngọc Loan 4 18 Nguyễn Duy Mạnh 19 Nguyễn Đức Mạnh 20 Nguyễn Thị Thúy Nga 21 Nguyễn Mạnh Thu Ngân 22 Trần Thị Ánh Ngọc 10 23 Trần Tâm Như 5 Nhung Quân 5 Sơn 27 Nguyễn Anh Thái 28 Lăng Hoài Thu 5 29 Nguyễn Tiến Tiệp 30 Bùi Văn Toản 10 10 Tùng 9 Vũ Yến 3 24 Nguyễn Thị Hồng 25 Trần Minh 26 Lê Nguyễn Hoàng 31 Trần Hưng 32 Hoàng Thanh 33 Trần 34 Đỗ Hải Nguyên 35 Chu Tiến Dũng 36 Trần Gia Huy XXIV APPENDIX TEST Thinh Duc Lower secondary school WRITTEN TEST Full name:………………………… Marks English Class: … Time allowed: 20 minutes I Fill each blank with a word/ phrase in the box twice sports jogging swimming Which doing gym aerobics games badminton racing you often play at the weekend ? My brother plays soccer a week He does it on Saturday and Sunday How often you go ? - Every morning My friend loves to swim He goes What you like every Sunday best in your free time ? on TV It’s really exciting I like to watch motor Why does your brother like going to the Last weekend I played ? - Because it is great with Mai and we had a very good time Many girls in my class like doing to keep fit 10 In Viet Nam, we play different during the break time II Match the words in column A suitable definations in column B Column A Column B Reduce a Things like gold, oil, coal, water Reuse b give something to a person and receive something from his/her Recycle c use things less charity d a wonderful natural fertilizer swop e things like cows, pigs, buffaloes creative f use things again and again compost g things like vegetables, grass, rice natural resources h.don’t throw things away; try to find another use for them XXV plants i giving things to people in need 10 animals j unique and interesting 1- 3- 5- 7- 9- 2- 4- 6- 8- 10- ANSWER KEYS I Choose the corre t answer A, B, C or D to finish the sentences sports jogging doing gym aerobics twice swimming racing badminton 10 games II Match the words in column A suitable definations in column B c h b d g f i j a 10 e XXVI ... on ? ?Language games in learning vocabulary of students of grade at Thinh Duc lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen City. ” came to completion First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude... study will be conducted on 74 students in classes 6A and 6B of grade in the second term of the school year 2018- 2019 at Thinh Duc Lower secondary school in Thai Nguyen city 1.4 Limitation The study... look of Unit & 9) in the English course book of grade The samples of this study are 74 students of grade 6A & 6B at Thinh Duc lower secondary school 1.5 The significance of the study The findings