After applying research “Designing activities for effective vocabulary instruction at a high school in Hai Duong”, the study achieved some results as follows First: Improving students ability to memorize vocabulary increased through the test survey. The results of students increased highly in the post test. This proves that the application of the method of using activities to teach vocabulary is effective and enhanced students retention of vocabulary. Second: For students vocabulary learning attitudes through the surveys of questionnaires and interviews found the activities (Repeating words, playing games, diagrams and using visual aids) were the effective activities, helped students to memorize vocabulary easily. Third: The application of action researchoriented method used vocabulary instruction activities through three main tools: test, questionnaire and interviews obtained the effectiveness in the research.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐẶNG THỊ THẬP DESIGNING ACTIVITIES FOR EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION AMONG 10th-GRADE STUDENTS - AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HAI DUONG Thiết kế hoạt động để dạy từ vựng hiệu cho học sinh lớp 10 – dự án nghiên cứu hành động trường THPT Hải Dương M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2020 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐẶNG THỊ THẬP DESIGNING ACTIVITIES FOR EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION AMONG 10th-GRADE STUDENTS - AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HAI DUONG Thiết kế hoạt động để dạy từ vựng hiệu cho học sinh lớp 10 – dự án nghiên cứu hành động trường THPT Hải Dương M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, Ph D Hanoi - 2020 DECLARATION I certify that the minor thesis entitled “ Designing activities for effective vocabulary instruction among 10th - grade students - An Action Research Project at a high school in Hai Duong” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any universities or other institutions Hanoi, 2020 Student Đặng Thị Thập i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research has been completed with the assistance and encouragement of many members So I would like to express my attitude toward them First of all, I would like to acknowledge my truthful gratitude to my supervisor, PhD Huynh Anh Tuan for his thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable guidance and precious corrections of the thesis It was his acute guidance that has enabled me to find the right way to complete this study I also would like to express my sincere thanks to all lecturers and staff of Department of Postgraduate Studies for their valuable lessons and precious help and to my students at the school, who have been willing to answer my interviews I appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the students in classes from the tenth grade at my school Without all people‟s help, I would not have been able to this thesis My special words of thanks are sent to my family, my parents, my sons, especially my husband who has been supporting me by many different ways to overcome obstacles and accomplish my research work and the last person I have to show deep grateful is my benevolent parish priest Hanoi, 2020 ii ABSTRACT The study was concerned with designing a variety of different activities to instruct vocabulary applied to forty tenth - grade students at a high school in Hai Duong The major aim of the research was to find out some effective vocabulary instruction activities to improve students‟ vocabulary retention This study was conducted by adopting classroom action research and a qualitative and quantitative analysis The data for this action research were collected through three instruments: questionnaires, vocabulary tests, and interviews The results showed that some activities brought practical benefits to the teaching and learning English vocabulary iii ABBREVIATIONS St : Student Sts : Students iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF CHARTS xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale for the research 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 The structure of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition and types of vocabulary 2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 2.1.2 Breadth of vocabulary knowledge 2.1.3 Depth of vocabulary knowledge 2.1.4 Types of vocabulary 2.2 The Importance of Vocabulary instruction 2.3 The process of vocabulary teaching 2.3.1 The role of vocabulary teaching 2.3.2 Methods and approaches of teaching vocabulary at high school 2.4 The techniques in teaching vocabulary 11 v 2.4.1 Using Objects 11 2.4.2 Drawing 12 2.4.3 Using illustrations and Pictures 12 2.4.4 Contrast 13 2.4.5 Mime, Expressions and Gestures 14 2.4.6 Translation 14 2.5 Some factors that affect vocabulary acquisition 15 2.6 Vocabulary teaching Activities 19 2.7 Previous studies 19 2.7.1 Previous studies in international context 19 2.7.2 Previous studies in Vietnamese context 22 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 23 3.1 Restatement of the research questionnaire 23 3.1.1 Research approach: Action research 23 3.1.2 The setting of the study 24 3.2 Participants 25 3.3 Data collection instruments 25 3.3.1 Tests 26 3.3.2 Questionnaires 26 3.3.3 Interview 27 3.4 Data collection procedures 27 3.4.1 Tests 28 3.4.2 Questionnaires 29 3.4.3 Interviews 29 3.5 Data analytical framework 30 3.6 Summary 31 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 32 4.1 The enhancement of the students‟ vocabulary retention 32 4.1.1 The students‟ score on the pre-test and post-test 32 vi 4.1.2 Values for testing mean‟s differences between the pre-test and post-test 33 4.2 The students‟ attitudes towards vocabulary instruction activities 35 4.2.1.The students‟ favorite activities 35 4.2.2.The students‟ vocabulary improvement 37 4.2.3 The students‟ vocabulary retention 37 4.2.4 The students‟ vocabulary acquisition 38 4.2.5 The students‟ evaluation of vocabulary instruction activities 39 4.2.6 The students‟ the most favorite things about the teaching activities 41 4.2.7 The students‟ the least favorite things about the teaching activities 41 4.3 Summary 42 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 43 5.1 Recapitulation 43 5.2 Conclusion 43 5.3 Recommendations 45 5.4 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 45 REFERENCES 47 APPENDICES 51 Appendix 51 Appendix 53 Appendix 56 Appendix 58 Appendix 59 Appendix 63 Appendix 64 Appendix 67 Appendix 68 Appendix 10 69 Appendix 11 72 vii Appendix 12 74 Appendix 13 76 Appendix 14 77 Appendix 15 78 viii 7‟ 2’ 1’ 3.Post-teach +Checking vocabulary 4.Consolidation +Summarize vocabularies times + Ask Sts to listen and repeat aloud + Ask Sts to listen again +Call some students to read new words aloud + Call on a St to read aloud and whole class repeat aloud + Call on a St to read and another listen and repeat aloud -Delele the VietNamese equivalent and asks Ss to go to the board and write all of them again Or delete English and ask Sts to write Vietnamese - Ask Sts to read them carefully -Ask students read the words again themselves -Ask Sts to read again learnt vocabularies -Recall the content of the lesson -Listen and repeat aloud -Listen again -Read aloud individually -Listen and repeat individually + Go to the board and write again + Read aloud in front of the class -Read individually -Repeat again individually -Read aloud -Listen to the teacher and take note -Stand up to summary -Ask Sts to summary the content of the II Homework + Learn by heart new lesson -Learn words words at home + Make sentences + Ask sts to learn by with those words heart vocabulary - Prepare Lesson 2: + give feedbacks Speaking XII Appendix ACTIVITY 1: REPETITION Repeating seems to merely repeat It does not prompt to reflect on what to to enable that repetition to lead to results So it is best to move away from thinking that repeating something, it will help Sts learn or retain words Instead of moving towards using language and practicing that encourage the learners to be active in front of their learning, exploring the variations, the patterns and the subtleties in any contexts and new words Before teacher asks Sts to repeat words, she should ask them to learn to listen more carefully In the case of pronunciation, so when “repeating”, teacher must be certain that they have already had a very clear auditory memory Then, by engaging in such practice, teacher need to “force” more present and to pay more attention This is more likely to promote learning and to improve understanding and unfolding awareness if teacher maintains this rigor, Sts‟ learning effectiveness will be improved As the more and more this happens, the more increasingly effective the learning will become This activity can be performed through the following steps: - Firstly, teacher writes the essential vocabularies on the board and asks Sts to write down on their notebooks - Next, teacher asks Sts to listen her/him reading carefully and take note them how to pronounce exactly, especially stress - Then, teacher asks Sts to listen and repeat some times in chorus - After that, teacher asks them to read themselves in chorus - And teacher calls them to read individually (about 10 or more students) XII - The last step, teacher checks vocabularies whether Sts can remember them or not by deleting one by one word and deleting all Then, calling Sts to read and write them on the board again Appendix ACTIVITY 2: FINDING SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS To practice and revise vocabulary, this form is made use of effective The way to as follows: Teacher guides and elicits Sts to find words which have the same or opposite meanings with the given word and then match them together in column A with a word or phrase word in column B to make a pair of synonym or antonym How to this exercise helping Sts can retain two words or phrase-word at once time There are some following examples applied this type of activity Exercise 1: Match a word in column A with a word in column B to make a pair of synonym A mystery challenge circulation emotion irritate excite Key: 1d 2a 3f B a confront b sensation c annoy d secret e stimulate f movement 4b 5c 6e Exercise 2: Match a word in column A with a word in column B to make a pair of antonyms A B remain a comfort tiny b depress bore c enormous terrify d delight XII amuse e leave horrify f excite Key: 1e 2c 3f 4a 5b 6d Appendix 10 ACTIVITY 3: PLAYING VOCABULARY GAMES Games is one of the most effective activities in vocabulary instruction because they encourage the learners in knowledge acquisition process and promote their retention From my practical experiences and many other teachers in my school and other schools recognize that games play an important role in lexical teaching Some effective games such as: Crossword Puzzle, Crossword puzzle: This game is played with whole class divided into small groups of 3-4 students Then teacher distributes the crossword puzzle handouts for Sts to in their own groups to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues, which lead to the answers In languages that are written left-to-right the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right and from top to bottom The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases Which group finished first and has all the correct answers will be the winner For example in Unit 13: Films and cinema *Cinema Crossword puzzle Across: 2: A film that makes you laugh is a…… 5: The person who makes a films All the people who act in a film The story of a film Down: The music of a film XII The word of a film A film that frightens you is a….film The most important actor in a film Key: soundtrack Comedy Script horror director star cast plot Word brick This game is played as follow: Using pieces of words on the bricks to complete the words at the bottom Sts can be divided into many small group to complete, which group finishes with the correct answers will be the winner For example, Unit 14 before teaching new words, teacher gives Sts to play game “word brick” and give 12 pieces of the words and asks Sts to complete Teacher divides Sts into groups and asks them work in groups to complete the words at the bottom Which group has the correct answers and the fastest will be the winner XII TOUR… ENT CHAMP…… SHIP COMP…….TION TR…Y HO….R JO……LY W……ER DE… T CON… ENT 10 WI… SS 11 ELI….ATION 12 M… H 1.TOURNAMENT 2.CHAMPIONSHIP 3.COMPETITION 4.TROPHY 5.HONOUR 6.JOINTLY 7.WINNER 8.DEFEAT 9.CONTINENT 10.WITNESS 11.ELIMINATION 12.MATCH Key: XII Appendix 11 ACTIVITY 4: WORD MAP A word map is a visual organizer that promotes vocabulary development It engages students in developing a definition, synonyms, antonyms, and a picture for a given vocabulary word or concept, and it also encourages students to define new vocabulary words on their own terms through writing and drawing How to use word map - Introduce the vocabulary word and the map to the students - Teach them how to use the map by putting the target word in the central box - Ask students to suggest words or phrases to put in the other boxes which answer the following questions: "What is it?" "What is it like?" and "What are some examples?" - Encourage students to use synonyms, antonyms, and a picture to help illustrate the new target word or concept - Model how to write a definition using the information on the word map For example in Unit 10, Lesson Reading, “eliminate” vocabulary word Students are divided to work in groups four or five write on the paper and assign each group with a different word Students are asked to give its definition, synonym, antonym, make sentence and draw a picture or give a visual example After one minute, representatives of groups will present in front of the class Teacher asks groups to give their comments Then teacher feed back and give marks Afterward, teacher asks students to practice in pairs about all those vocabulary words to speak about conserving forest XII XII Appendix 12 ACTIVITY 5: SPOT THE VOCABULARY This is a visual activity which helps Ss recall vocabularies in the learning process and motivate their acquisition and retention Teacher prepares a picture (this could be illustration from a book, from the wed or a photo) that relates theme of the lesson, e.g village, The mass media, conservation, music, the world cup etc Teacher holds up it so that students can not see it, and start building up interest by saying, „Hey, this picture is interesting, isn‟t it? Can‟t you see it?‟ And then teacher asks students whether they want see the picture, and turn it round for them to see just for a couple of seconds After that allow them to see it for a bit longer, teacher walks round the class for each person to see the picture for a few seconds After the first, teacher asks students to discuss in pairs in two minutes to identify and remember as many things as they can see from the picture, without writing anything down! Once the time is up, take back the pictures and ask students to write a list of everything they can remember The end, whole-class feedback can involve one of various possibilities, depending on the students‟ mood by this stage and how much more exposure to the vocabulary items the teacher feels they need Students call out vocabularies and the teacher writes them up Teacher or whole class can pick out any difficult words to practice, remember and pronounce carefully by the teacher with the aim at improving their vocabulary knowledge For example in Unit 8, teacher use the picture in the textbook of Unit And students can list a range of following words Picture of the village: XII Vocabularies: - farmers - cloud - rice - hat - mower - bamboo - harvest etc - field -sky XII Appendix 13 ACTIVITY 6: WORD-DEFINITION MATCHING This activity is considered as one of the most effective ways to teach vocabulary because it can help students revise lexical knowledge before doing other skills For example, to teach Unit 14, lesson Reading Teacher classifies students into many pairs and delivers handout Asking students to match the words in column A with their definitions in column B and asking Sts to work in two minutes Teacher tells Sts to compare and discuss their answers with other pairs And then, representatives of pairs will give their answers and teacher listens and gives comments and the end getting feedback and give marks for the pairs that give the correct responses To make Sts can retain these vocabularies, teacher should ask them to practice in the classroom many times through speaking about vocabularies which relates to the international football tournament Task page 143: The words in A in the reading passage Match them with their definitions in B A B jointly a a competition in which players compete against each the globe other in a series of games until there is a winner tournament b involving two or more people or groups host nation c the world trophy d a prize for winning a competition e a country that provides the necessary space, facilities, etc for a special event XII Appendix 14 ACTIVITY 7: JUMBLED WORDS This kind of activity is used in English language vocabulary teaching popularly It is important for word revision and students have many opportunities to work in groups (Teacher divide class into three or four teams) to practice and remember words after being exchanged and discussed together by rearranging the letters into correct and meaningful words To make Sts feel very highly enthusiastic in their work, a mark will be given for the quickest group having the exact word and finally which group achieves the most words, they are the winner Some following model examples are clear proofs in this activity Rearrange the letters to make 10 words you have learnt They begin with the first letter 1.IEVTEISAGN SKHAR TYNI TRLETU 3.JLYEL - FHSI SAEGOD PTANL GFLU UDESNREA 10 MSYTREY Key: Investigate Tiny jelly-fish Plant Undersea shark turtle Seadog Gulf 10 mystery XII Appendix 15 ACTIVITY 8: USING VISUAL AIDS The visual aid is one of the valuable instruments in vocabulary teaching and leaning The learners can be easy to guess the meanings of the words when having the real objects or imagines In particular, visuals aids for learning can have a huge impact on how students retain information While words can be abstract and hard to retain, visuals tend to be more concrete and easier to recall Visual aids for learning can also expand beyond the real of just classroom posters and presentations Here are some types of visual aids for learning that will engage students and help teachers plan and deliver lessons more effectively Pictures Pictures are great for presenting many nouns, adjectives and simple sentence patterns They are very simple and effective Realia can be used if in the textbook doesn‟t have For instance, newspapers or magazines Flashcards or picture dictionaries also work well for teaching nouns, adjectives and verbs across a wide range of themes Here are a few ideas of how to incorporate pictures into vocabulary teaching: + Use personal pictures: Whenever possible, using pictures of oneself or photos around town/school (that students would recognize) in Power Points or games This will make it much more interesting and memorable for the students, so words will stick that much easier + Include celebrities for interest: Likewise, if teachers use pictures of a well-known celebrity (whether local or global) in activities, presentations or games, students will perk up and teachers will have captured their attention more than before XII + Draw stick figures: When all else fails, or teachers need a quick solution, use the simple drawing or stick figure Stick figures take only a second to draw, they can be used to teach about anything, and Ss will certainly feel very highly enthusiastic in their work Opposites Showing a word‟s antonym or opposite is a sure-fire way to teach its meaning without a word of explanation Suppose student doesn‟t know the word “least.” Just jot down something like this on the whiteboard: Least Most Alternatively, teachers could use hand gestures: Spread out their arms for “most” and bring them in for “least.” Hand gestures are also good for opposites like: “tall short,” “long short” and “fat thin” etc Realia Realia is an incredibly effective visual aid in vocabulary classroom Realia means real-life, authentic items For example, if teachers are teaching a lesson about booking a hotel room, students will become much more engaged if they have an actual hotel brochure to look at they could use the brochure to introduce new language items, and even as the basis for a role play if teachers wish I highly recommend taking some time to build a “realia collection” for vocabulary classes Here is some “must-have” realia for teachers to start off collection with + Celebrity photos + Menus (eat-in and take-out) + Weather reports + Maps (world, country, street, train, subway) + Train/subway/bus timetables XII + Movie/concert schedules + Family trees + Car rental brochures etc And with these visual aids, teachers can teach a diverse range of structures, words and concepts with pizzazz and, best of all, very little talk time Make chance for students to practice variety of different visual-aid types in different situations This will develop students‟ vocabulary retention competence, teachers should use them every time to teach a particular lesson or topic It becomes better and better for the learners to achieve knowledge as well as possible XII ... open language learning with the resultant motivation and intrinsic interest A high level of motivation stimulates learning and success in language learning can help to maintain existing motivation... students? ?? attitudes towards the vocabulary instruction activities After that, the data was collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to obtain realistic results and recommendations... transcribing the record data, gaining deeper insights from an understanding of the data, making an interpretation of the meaning of the data, and continual reflection on the data (4) the results and