DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING VOCABULARY OF 11TH FORM STUDENTS AT TRIEU SON 5 HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME SOLUTIONS

A: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY 1- Basic of theory: It is undeniable that English is one of the major languages in the world It links people in many fields: science, technology, business, communication, education,etc Nowadays, English is popular enough to be spoken at every corner of the world Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity in every country For a long time English reading ability has been the focus of high school English teaching In the calendar year college entrance exam, read also acomplish large proportion The absence of some students to master a certain amount of vocabulary, culminating in the examination of the article that is not understood, resulting in lost of points The reason is because students in vocabulary learning have not been full attention, and the students lack the necessary capacity to train There may be the problems in their ways of revising vocabulary, but problems in teaching are undeniable It is clear that mastering the meanings, especially the use of a word has an important role in learning a foreign language in general and in leaning English particular Vocabulary learning is not an end itself A rich vocabulary makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing easier to perform For better vocabulary teaching and learning, I decided to carry out an action research to find out difficulties students encounter when learning vocabulary and to find the solutions to the difficulties I have chosen the theme for my own seminar on methodology namely: “Difficulties in learning vocabulary of 11th form students at Trieu Son High School and some solutions” I hope that this minor research can give a few benefits to teachers, students and people concerned about this field ‎‎ ‎‎ 2- Basic of practise: General situation of teaching and leaning English at high schools Thanks to the relevant policy and the implementation of specific steps, English is considered more and more important in Vietnamese schools English becomes the dominant language at present It is not only a compulsory subject at upper secondary level but is chosen as a subject for the final-exam at the highersecondary educational level However, there remain limitations of foreign language teaching and learning at schools, such as: lack of a strategic and synchronized direction; programmes are inconsistently organized Contents and teaching methods not yet concentrate on the development of communicative skills Moreover, the contingent of teachers is unqualified against the programme's requirements Many students haven’t realized the significances of Eng lish at the age of globalization Therefore, they don’t have enough motivation to learn English effectively Infrastructure and facilities for foreign language teaching remain poor and simple As far as the form of testing and assessing of foreign language qualification of pupils at present is concerned, writing test is the most common method II AIMS OF THE STUDY First of all, the research aims to find out all difficulties students meet when they learn English vocabulary and get the students to express their preferences of techniques in the process of learning vocabulary Second, the research aims to give tips for students to self-study English vocabulary Lastly, based on the students’preferences, the study aims at testing out the effectiveness of some communicative techniques to present and practise vocabulary B DEVELOPMENT I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The ‎‎importance ‎‎of ‎‎vocabulary This part can start with Scrivener’s initial conclusion of the role of vocabulary in the classroom: “Vocabulary is very important and need to be dealt with systematically in its own right; it is not simply an odd-on to grammar or skills lessons” (Scrivener 19994:75) In addition, Mac Carthy adds: “It is the experience of most language teachers that the single biggest component of any language course is vocabulary” (Mc Carthy 1990: viii) Allen contributed that: “Vocabulary is a powerful carrier of meaning and one point on which teachers and learners agree is the need of vocabulary” (Allen 1983: 1-5) These statements indicate the great importance of vocabulary A good knowledge of vocabulary will help learners develop four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing Therefore, teaching and learning vocabulary are significant in learning a foreign language, especially in the light of the communicative approach Vocabulary ‎‎ teaching ‎‎ techniques ‎‎ in ‎‎ combination ‎‎ with ‎‎ communicative activities Students of Grammar- Translation Method often learn vocabulary through the “look and remember” technique Perhaps this technique is the least effective way Based on communicative activities, students can acquire vocabulary through more effective techniques such as visual techniques, verbal techniques, games or role-play, etc II LITERATURE REVIEW Previous studies on vocabulary teaching and learning: ‎‎Previous ‎‎studies ‎‎on ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎teaching ‎‎and ‎‎learning ‎‎in ‎‎the ‎‎world: There are strong reasons for which the vocabulary component of a language course needs to be carefully planned Due to the great importance of vocabulary, up to now we can find a wide range of books and researches about it Among valuable books about teaching and learning vocabulary, we can find the most common ones such as: “New ways in teaching vocabulary” written by Paul Nation (1994), “Techniques in teaching vocabulary” written by Allen (1983), “Teaching English vocabulary to children with specific learning ” by Srivener (1994),etc Previous studies on vocabulary teaching and learning in Thanh Hoa Province: Recently, Thanhhoa Education and Training Department has focused on teaching and learning English Annually, a lot of conferences and workshops are organized to reform teaching methods Especially, the seminar on methodology is organized in order to discuss about professional knowledge In the field of researching about vocabulary, we can find a lot researches such as : “Using Microsolf Powerpoint solfware in teaching and checking English vocabulary at Phu Hai Toai secondary school, Ha Trung ” written by Pham Thi Hau or: “Some methods of practicing English vocabulary for the classes at The Educational Centre, Thanh Hoa Province” written by Nguyen Quang Huy My study, making full use of these books and researches, focuses on giving tips for students to self- study and applying effective techniques in vocabulary teaching for four skills III METHODOLOGY Research questions: To achieve the objective of the study, the following questions were raised: What typical difficulties grade 11 students have in learning vocabulary? What should teachers to help students overcome the difficulties? Participants: The research was pursued at Triệu Sơn High School in the school year 2020-2021, among 125 students with pre-intermediate/ intermediate level from grade 11 Proceduces and data collection methods: Data collection instruments: In order to collect data for the study, I used three kinds of instruments: questionaires, evaluation sheets and class observation Procedures: In order to find out the answer to the research questions, I designed a miniaction research First, I handed out a survey questionaire to my students (N=125) to get their responds of difficulties and their preferences in vocabulary learning activities Then I applied communicative techniques for teaching and leaning English vocabulary during this school year IV DATA ANALYSIS, AND DISCUSSION Results from the questionaire: Which of the following statements you agree with ? Statements The best way to remember words is learning by heart It is no use in learning vocabulary because I an not good at English I only learn vocabulary when teachers require or prepare for tests When learning English I focus on various aspects of vocabulary I only learn English seperately, not in context Percentage 80% 8% 88% 40% 64% As shown in the table, most students lack of confidence, they don’t believe in themselves, many of them learn vocabulary because they have to cope with their teachers or exams Moreover, they don’t review vocabulary regularly and lack of the necessary vocabulary leaning strategies For these reasons, I decided to give them tips for self-studying English vocabulary at home Results from tests: Following is the convey on the quality of English of classes: 11B5, 11B6, 11B7 at the beginning of the first term in school in 2020-2021 clas Q ses reading speaking Listening writing Well Badly Well Badly Well Badly Well Badly applied applied applied applied applied applied applied applied 11 B5 11 B6 11 B7 Total 40 67.5% 32.5% 55% 45% 45% 55% 57.5% 42.5% 42 59.5% 40.5% 47.6% 52.4% 38% 62% 57.1% 42.9% 43 58.1% 41.9% 48.8% 51.2% 41.9% 58.1% 55.8% 44.2% 125 61.6% 38.4% 50.4% 49.6% 41.6% 58.4% 56.8% 43.2% (Note: Q: quantity) It can be seen from the table that the rates of the students who badly applied four skills are rather high It has shown that students meet difficulties both in their learning and their teachers’ teaching method V RECOMMENDING SOME SOLUTIONS TO HELP STUDENTS WITH THEIR VOCABULARY LEARNING Giving tips for students to self- study English vocabulary Educational psycholoy research shows that, in the learning process, we must first stimulate cognitive subject (students) interest in learning in order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of students to participate in and enhance their awareness of the subject Therefore, teachers must help students to establish clear learning objectives in English, recognizing the importance of learning English and improving English vocabulary learning tips 1.1 Time ‎‎and ‎‎place ‎‎for ‎‎self- ‎‎studying: Place: try to find out a place that is quiet and spacious to concentrate on learning by heart new words Time: - It is better to learn in the early morning - Study vocabulary several time a day (5- 10 minutes at times) ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎1.2 ‎‎Use ‎‎dictations ‎‎to ‎‎help ‎‎students ‎‎memorize ‎‎spelling Make a dictation Simply follow this process: Write the words (usually no more than ten at once) on a piece of paper Use two columns: one for English and one for the translation in Vietnamese Fold in the piece of paper so that students can only see the translation in Vietnamese Take another piece of paper and write the English words that match the translated words The point is remembering by heart so try not to look at the answers When finished, compare the English words have just been written to the ones on the original paper ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎1.3 ‎‎Write ‎‎the ‎‎words ‎‎on ‎‎flashcards ‎‎and ‎‎practice ‎‎daily Vocabulary flashcards are special cards that are used to memorize the data They are called that way because the cards are flashed (shown quiclkly) to the learners There are several things students can have on a flashcard: a word in English, a word in Vietnamese, a photo or an illustration For example, students can prepare a set of cards with "food words" Write the English word on one side of the card, and on the other side put a picture, or write the translation in Vietnamese Vocabulary flashcards are good tools to use while learning a new language The bonus in using them is that students turn it into a game 1.4 ‎‎Associate ‎‎the ‎‎familiar ‎‎with ‎‎the ‎‎unfamiliar: Try to find word or phrases in Vietnamese which sound like and if possible have a similar meaning to words in English Build mental images or draw pictures based on the connections For example, the Vietnamese for the verb "cắt" is "cắt” , which sounds like “cut’’ in English This is an enjoyable method because many of the associations students think up will be silly, absurd or bizarre 1.5 ‎‎Make ‎‎up ‎‎as ‎‎many ‎‎associations ‎‎and ‎‎connections ‎‎as ‎‎possible ‎‎ Say the word aloud to activate students’ auditory memory Relate the word to words they already know Besides, it is better to find synonym, antonym, etc When learning about the word “spacious”, for example, think about the antonym “cramped” or think of a house or a space that is spacious 1.6 ‎‎Learn ‎‎words ‎‎in ‎‎context Learning long lists of unrelated words is boring, difficult and doesn't help students much when they come across those words in a different context If students focus on learning words in the context they're most likely to find them, they're more likely to recognize them when they encounter them or need to use them again When learning food words, for example, think about when students would be most likely to use them, i.e when cooking, eating, shopping, etc, and learn other words related to those situations Then try constructing sentences using the new words Good dictionaries contain examples of usage which students can use as models for their own sentences 1.7 ‎‎Practice ‎‎reading ‎‎as ‎‎much ‎‎as ‎‎possible A great way to build up students’ vocabulary is to have a go at reading books, magazines, newspapers or comics written in English Ideally look for reading material covering topics they find interesting When reading, try to guess the meanings of any words students don't know and then check them in a dictionary to see if their guesses were correct They don't have to look up every unfamiliar word as long as they can get the gist of the text Communicative techniques for teaching English vocabulary ‎‎ ‎‎2.1 ‎‎Choose ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎to ‎‎teach: According to The Comunicative Approach, vocabulary is learnt through “real life” communication in the classroom and interaction in the target language Moreover, it is learnt through an enhancement of the learners’ own experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and through an attempt to link classroom language activation outside the classroom To achieve this aim, teachers should focus on teaching “active vocabulary” rather than “passive vocabulary” ( Passive vocabulary: With passive vocabulary, students can listen and understand Hearing the vocabulary used prompts them to recall its meaning In other words, they are being made to recall it Active vocabulary: Active vocabulary, on the other hand, is vocabulary that students can recall and use at will when the situation requires it They are choosing to use the word and actively retrieving it from memory.) 2.2 ‎‎The ‎‎aspects ‎‎of ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎need ‎‎to ‎‎be ‎‎taught ‎‎ The Communicative Approach indicates that knowing a word does not mean knowing the meaning of the world only New words must be taught in combination with:  Spelling  Pronunciation  Lexical meaning  Gramatical form  Use This should be focused on in order to help students catch proper and effective use of vocabulary This is the most crucial principle that teachers should bear in mind when teaching vocabulary ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎2.3 ‎‎The ‎‎effective ‎‎techniques ‎‎of ‎‎presenting ‎‎new ‎‎vocabulary: It is communicative techniques that determine success or failure in language teaching and learning vocabulary That is the reason why teachers have to understand well about different techniques of presenting new vocabulary so that they can choose the best ones for their students There are many communicative techniques used in presenting new vocabulary such as: using visual aids, explaining vocabulary in contexts, using body language, means of verbal teachniques, etc Personal ‎‎experience: For me, the technique I use the most effectively is to combine explaining vocabulary in contexts with using body language This teachnique is easy to apply without any other teaching aids Moreover, this teachnique attract students’ attention and help them to remember vocabulary faster  For example: English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 2- Part A: Reading (page 22) To teach the phrase: “to turn round”, I give a situation: “Lan stood behind me She called me then I turned round” For explaining this phrase, I use body language showing the act of turning round Thanks to this technique, my students find its meaning easily and remember it longer For checking vocabulary, I follow two steps: Step 1: Read aloud the phrase and using body language at the same time Step 2: Using body language only and ask students to read aloud the phrase Note: This technique is often used for explaining verb phrases when other techniques are not suitable 2.4 ‎‎The ‎‎techniques ‎‎for ‎‎checking ‎‎vocabulary: Personal ‎‎experience: There are many effective techniques but three games that I often apply include: - Rub out and remember - Slap the board - Matching Game: Rub out and remember Level: pre- intermediate and intermediate Aims: to help students memorize new vocabulary Class time: – 10 minutes Preparation time: 3-5 minutes Resouces: List of words Procedure: + Build up a list on the blackboard + After each word put the Vietnamese translation + Get the students to copy into their books and then ask them to close their books + Rub out the new words one at a time + Each time teacher rubs out a word in English, point to the Vietnamese and ask “What’s this in English?” + When all the English words are rubbed out, go through the Vietnamese list and get the students to call out the English word  For example: English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 3- Part A: Reading (page 32)- Vocabulary about Party After presenting, I build up a list on the board including the following vocabulary and ask students to play the game “Rub out and remember”: Birthday cake Anniversary Candle Married couple Blow out Celebrate Present Milestone Game: Slap the board Level: pre- intermediate and intermediate Aims: To get students recognize new vocabulary through listening To check students understanding the meaning of new vocabulary Class time: 5- 10 minutes Preparation time: 3-5 minutes Resouces: List of words Procedure: + Ask three or four students to be observers and ask them to follow teacher’s steps and say why it is a useful technique + Put the new words all over the board – not in a list + If teacher wants to check understanding, put the Vietnamese translation of the new words or pictures on the board + Call students or call teams come to the front of the class + Ask them to stand at an equal distance form the blackboard + Call out one of the new words in a loud voice + The two students must run forward and slap the words on the blackboard + The one who slaps the correct word first is the winner + If students are playing in teams, the winning team gets a mark + Then ask two more students to come forward, etc  For example: English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 6- Part A: Reading (page 66)- Vocabulary about competitions After presenting, I put the following vocabulary all over the board and ask students to play the game “Slap the board”: Representative completion Annual Announce Stimulate Score Sponsor Judge Participate in 10 Award Game: Matching Level: pre- intermediate and intermediate Aims: to get students to match the new vocabulary with definitions, translations of pictures Class time: 5- minutes Preparation time: minutes Resouces: List of words, pictures Procedure: + Write the new words in a list on the left hand side on the board + Write definitions, translations, or draw pictures, on the right hand side of the board + Get students to come up to the board and “match” items in the left hand list with the item in the right hand list by drawing a line between them 10 + Four or five students can work at the board at the same time + Check answers by asking the class, “Do you agree?”  For example: English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 11, Part B- Speaking (page 127)- Vocabulary about sources of energy After presenting, I ask students to match the words with its corresponding pictures Fossil fuel Wind energy Solar energy Water power Geothermal heat Nuclear energy Picture ‎‎A ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎Picture ‎‎B ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎Picture ‎‎C Picture ‎‎D ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎Picture ‎‎E ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎Picture ‎‎F ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎1.F ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎2.B ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎3.D ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎4.C ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎5.E ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎‎6.D 2.5 The ‎‎techniques ‎‎for ‎‎practising ‎‎vocabulary: Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned from context To improve students’context skills, they should pay close attention to how words are used The following techniques are commonly used for practising vocabulary: - Jumbled words - Word square - Bingo - Guessing game - Noughts and crosses, etc Personal ‎‎experience: For practising vocabulary, I often use the game “Noughts and crosses” Game: Nought and crosses Level: pre- intermediate and intermediate 11 Aims: Practise and review vocabulary and lexical sets Class time: 15 minutes Preparation time: minutes Resouces: List of words Procedure: + Divide the class into two teams Designate one team as O and the other team asX + Draw a grid (i.e, squares in a 3x3 format) on the board and fill each space with vocabulary the students know + Demonstrate to the students that the object of the activity is for one team to put three of their team’s symbols (O or X) in the grid in straight line before the other team does the same The line can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal but must be straight Team O starts the activity by choosing a word from the grid Rather than having students just say the word to indicate which one they want, the teacher may choose to make the students say the location of the word, for example, “top left” “bottom right” When the word has been chosen, the students must create a correct sentence using the word (Set an appropriate time limit, e.g, 30 seconds) The turn then moves to Team X who tries and creates a correct sentence If the team makes an error in forming the sentence with the choosen word, the turn moves directy to Team O However, if they are correct, they automatically continue with their next turn The activity continues in this way until one team is successful in producing a straight line in the grid  For example: English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 4- Part A: Reading- (page 46) Vocabulary about volunteer work In this lesson, after representing nine following words/ phrases I ask students to practise them by using the game “Noughts and crosses” Take part in Direct Clean up Provide Give care and comfort Guide Take care of Support Help Students can create the sentences about computer using these words such as: - Student should take part in the Green Saturday Movement - Volunteers should provide education for disadvantaged children, etc Advantages: The advantages of this game are not only to creat atmostphere of excitement in class but also to help students to use linguistic data 12 2.6 Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in reading, speaking, listening and writing lessons a ‎‎Personal ‎‎experience ‎‎for ‎‎teaching ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎in ‎‎reading ‎‎lessons Choose the vocabulary to teach: A reading text of each unit in Basic curriculum is about 250 words The structure of a reading lesson shows clearly the requirement of a text including three stages: pre- reading, while- reading and post- reading The aim of pre- reading is to help students get acquaintance with the topic and content of a text as well as provide vocabulary Therefore, I tend to choose important vocabulary that can combine to show the main content of the text  For example: For teaching new vocabulary in the Reading lesson (Unit 11grade 11 (page 124, Basic Curriculum), I choose to teach following vocabulary: ‎‎Energy ‎‎Fossil ‎‎fuels ‎‎Alternative ‎‎Source ‎‎Nuclear ‎‎energy ‎‎Infinite ‎‎Geothermal ‎‎heat ‎‎Plentiful After teaching and checking vocabulary as well as completing all the tasks, I combine these vocabularies to summarize the text as following: At present, most of our energy comes from fossil ‎‎fuels However, such reserves are limited Therefore, people must develop and use alternative sources of energy One alternative source is nuclear ‎‎ energy It is infinite but dangerous Another alternative source of energy is geothermal ‎‎ heat that is plentiful but available only in a few places in the world The sun, water and wind are other sources of energy They are not only plentiful and infinite but also clean and safe People should develop and use them more and more in the future I realize that this technique help students remember vocabulary more effectively Students can remember them easilier because they are related to the content of the text b ‎‎Personal ‎‎experience ‎‎for ‎‎teaching ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎in ‎‎speaking ‎‎lessons It is common that there are three or four tasks in each speaking lesson The first task is aim at providing useful language and improving students’ specific language ability Therefore, teacher should focus on introducing context as well as making context related to students’ real lives After providing students with 13 vocabulary, teacher needs to stimulate them to practise effectively To achieve this aim, the best technique is to practising vocabulary in patterns  For example : English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 12- Part A – Reading (page 136) Vocabulary about kinds of sport Introducing vocabulary through context: First, I ask ss to list different kinds of sport that they have known in Vietnamese After that, I ask the whole class to draw each kind of sport by a symbol The next step I present new vocabulary of the lesson Checking vocabulary through the game “Rub out and remember”: After presenting new vocabulary, I apply the game “Rub out and remember” for checking them I rub out English vocabulary and leave the symbols on the board Then I ask students to repeat these vocabularies in both Vietnamese and English Practising vocabulary in patterns: In this lesson, I ask students to pratise the vocabulary about kinds of sport in the following pattern: A: What kind of sport you like? B: I like (football / basketball / aquatic sports, etc) c Personal ‎‎experience ‎‎for ‎‎teaching ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎in ‎‎listening ‎‎lessons A listening lesson includes three steps: pre-listening, while listening and post-listening The activities in the first step comprise the introduction of the main content of the tapescript as well as important vocabulary or grammartical structures that influence mainly on listening Most listening lesson of each unit in the grade 11 textbook (Basic curriculum) is provided with “listen and repeat”, an essential part for teaching vocabulary Therefore, I choose to teach these vocabularies first Besides, I teach extra vocabulary that can help students to listen better, depending on different units and different levels of students For presenting vocabulary, I apply effective techniques are commonly used such as: using teaching aids, explaining, using body language, etc… Especially, for checking vocabulary I often apply the game “Bingo”or “Slap the board” The advantages of these games are to help students listen to important words/ phrases many times 14  For example : English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 2- Part C: Listening (page 27) Because this lesson is not provided with “listen and repeat”, I choose the following words/ phrases to teach based on my students’ level: Audience Burn down Turn off Walls of fire Rush Grow up Rescue Appreciate For presenting three words/ phrases: walls of fire, audience, burn down, I use pictures to explain For presenting the word: rush and turn off, I use body language and use it in context For presenting the rest words, I translate them into Vietnamese For checking the vocabulary, I ask my students to play the game “slap the board” d ‎‎Personal ‎‎experience ‎‎for ‎‎teaching ‎‎vocabulary ‎‎in ‎‎writing ‎‎lessons The writing lesson of each unit in the grade 11 textbook (Basic curriculum) comprises from two to four tasks The first task often has a writing model The next tasks require students to study about the content, the structure and the useful languae that they need to write To help students in their writing tasks, I devide vocabulary in writing lesson into two kinds: old vocabulary and new vocabulary For revising old vocabulary, I apply the game “Slap the board” and “Matching” For teaching new vocabulary, I continue deviding them into two kinds: + New vocabulary in the writing model + New vocabulary to enrich students’ free-writing For teaching new vocabulary in the writing model, I often use the technique “Explaining vocabulary through the context” and using body language at the same time For teaching new vocabulary to enrich students’ free writing, I often use vocabulary network I write a network on the board with a topic in the centre with some suggestions After that, I ask students to enrich the network Note: In this technique, I only ask students to list vocabulary to enrich their writing (not use too much time for this activity) 15  For example : English 11 (Basic curriculum) Unit 8- Part D: Writing (page 96) Revising old vocabulary: In this lesson, I write five words/ phrases on the board: Lunar New Year, occasion, preparation, celebration, activities After that I ask students to play the game “Slap the board” by reading these vocabularies in Vietnamese and asks them to find the correspondings in English Teaching new vocabulary in the writing model: In this lesson, I write five words/ phrases on the board: description, festival, popular, purpose, feeling by explaining vocabulary through contexts combining with using body language Listing new vocabulary to enrich students’ free writing: In this lesson, I choose the topic about Lunar New Year to write the network: Time purpose (celebrate a new yar) th th (19 January and 20 February) Decorations Preparations - Cleaning, decorating - Kumquat tree, apricot, flowers - coloured lights, etc Lunar New Year houses - decorating streets - going shopping, doing shopping, etc Main Activities Food - Exchange wishes - Traditional foods - Visit friends, family - Mut, Banh chung - Go to pagoda - frozen pork - Receive lucky money - boiled chicken, etc - Take part in games - Enjoy entertainment Etc 16 VI- RESULTS: After giving tips for students to self- study English vocabulary and applying Communicative techniques for teaching English vocabulary, I have had the following results of the convey from the classes: 11B5, 11B6, 11B7 at the end of the school year 2020-2021 Results from the questionaire: Which of the following statements you agree with ? Statements The best way to remember words is learning by heart It is no use in learning vocabulary because I an not good at English I only learn vocabulary when teachers require or prepare for tests When learning English I focus on various aspects of vocabulary I only learn English seperately, not in context Percentage 44% 4% 48% 80% 40% As shown in the table, most students feel more confident, they are really fond of communicative teachniques in English teaching and learning vocabulary They involve very actively in the lesson and could self- study vocabulary at home independently Results from tests: Clas Q ses Reading speaking Listening writing Well Badly Well Badly Well Badly Well Badly applied applied applied applied applied applied applied applied 11 B5 11 B6 11 B7 Total 40 85% 15% 75% 25% 72.5% 27.5% 80% 20% 42 78.6% 21.4% 71.4% 28.6% 69% 31% 76.2% 23.8% 43 81.4% 18.6% 76.7% 23.3% 74.4% 25.6% 79% 21% 12 81.6% 18.4% 74.4% 25.6% 72% 28% 78.4% 21.6% It can be seen from the table that the qualities of the subject have changed drammatically in all skills The percentage of students well applying four skills are much higher in comparison with the table of statistics at the begining of the school year Based on the results above, we can see clearly that communicative techniques are the best ways to help both pre-intermediate and intermediate students to learn vocabulary better 17 PART C: CONCLUSION Brief summary of the study: In term of questionnaire survey and classroom practice, this mini- research has the following implications First, through questionnaire survey I found out some difficulties students meet when they learn vocabulary The main difficulties come from the lack of vocabulary learning strategies and skills as well as old techniques in teaching Based on evaluation sheets from students I recommend some solutions to help them with their vocabulary learning These solutions mainly relate to giving tips for students to self- study English vocabulary and applying communicative techniques for teaching English vocabulary The research shows that students respond very positively to communicative activities in learning vocabulary I believe that to effectively improve the ability to learn the vocabulary of high school students must first understand the difficulties of the students, for students to design the actual training programes, emphasis on the study of guidance At the same time, in the training process teachers should make the necessary adjustments In this way, the vocabulary ability of students will be able to continually improve Correspondingly, the students’ comprehension of all skills is bound to a new level Limitations: In spite of some expected results, the study has some limitations in itself The questionnaire does not cover all the difficulties in learning vocabulary Moreover, the solutions I suggested are not only ways to improve vocabulary learning Lastly, the samples were not extensive; therefore, the results cannot be over-generalized Recommendations: Within this small research, I only cover some of difficulties in learning vocabulary and provide certain solutions For further study, I would like to conduct more thorough and rigorous survey and experiments to find better principles of teaching vocabulary Leader’s confirmation Thanh Hóa, May, 19th 2021 I strongly ensure this is my own work Writer Nguyễn Thị Mai 18 REFERENCES Hoang, V (2006) “Textbook Grade 10” HaNoi: Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc “English Language Teaching Methodology” - Ministry of Education and Training - Hue University , Ha noi 2003 Srivener (1994) “Teaching Enlish Vocabulary to Children with Specific Learning” “Mac Carthy, M (1990) “Vocabulary” New York: Oxford University Press Wallace, M (1982) “Teaching vocabulary” LonDon: Heinnemann Education Books Ruth,G and Stuart, R (1986) “A guide to teaching and leaning vocabulary” Cambridge : Cambridge Univetsity Press Allen.V F (1983) “Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary” Oxford: Oxford University Press Flower, J (1994) “Build your vocabulary 3” Language Teaching Publications Mc Callum, G.P (1980) “101 Word Games” New York: Oxford University Press 10 Nation, P (1994) “New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary” Bloomington: Pantagraph Printing 19 TABLE OF CONTENTS A: INTRODUCTION: I Rationale for study II Aim of the study.…………………………………………………………… B: DEVELOPMENT:………………………………………………………… I Theoretical background……………………………………………………… II Literature Review.………………………………………………………… III Methodology.……………………………………………………………… IV.Data Analysis and Discussion:…………………………………………… V Recommending somes solutions to help students with their vocabulary learning………………………………………………………………………… Giving tips for students to self- study English vocabulary Communicative techniques for teaching English vocabulary……………… 2.1 Choose vocabulary to teach……………………………………………… 2.2 ‎‎The aspects of vocabulary need to be taught……………………………… 2.3 ‎‎The effective techniques of presenting new vocabulary ………………… 2.4 ‎‎The techniques for checking vocabulary………………………………… 2.5 ‎‎The techniques for practising vocabulary………………………………… 2.6 Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in reading, speaking, listening and writing lessons………………………………………………… a Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in reading lessons…………… b Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in speaking lessons………… c Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in listening lessons………… d Personal experience for teaching vocabulary in writing lessons…………… VI RESULTS:… …………………………………………………………… C: CONCLUSION:………………………………………………………… Summary.…………………………………………………………………… Limitations………………………………………………………………… Recommendations………………………………………………………… References…………………………………………………………………… Table of contents……………………………………………………………… 1 2 4 5 7 8 11 13 13 13 14 15 17 18 18 18 18 19 20 20 ... applied 11 B5 11 B6 11 B7 Total 40 67 .5% 32 .5% 55 % 45% 45% 55 % 57 .5% 42 .5% 42 59 .5% 40 .5% 47.6% 52 .4% 38% 62% 57 .1% 42.9% 43 58 .1% 41.9% 48.8% 51 .2% 41.9% 58 .1% 55 .8% 44.2% 1 25 61.6% 38.4% 50 .4% 49.6%... importance of vocabulary A good knowledge of vocabulary will help learners develop four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing Therefore, teaching and learning vocabulary are significant in learning. .. Stimulate Score Sponsor Judge Participate in 10 Award Game: Matching Level: pre- intermediate and intermediate Aims: to get students to match the new vocabulary with definitions, translations of