Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary to the 10th graders

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRAN TRA MY APPLYING VOCABULARY REVIEW GAMES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH GRADERS MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN, 2019 MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRAN TRA MY APPLYING VOCABULARY REVIEW GAMES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH GRADERS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 8.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Assoc Prof., Dr NGO ĐINH PHUONG Nghe An, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In order to complete the study, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my supervisor , Assoc Prof., Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong who gave me the invaluable support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback I also wish to express my sincere thanks to the english teachers and students at Do Luong and Do Luong high school who have helped me to finish gathering information for my survey questionaire and interview of the research My sincere thanks also goes to my family members and my friends for their encouragement and support during the process of my writing this thesis Though the study has been done with my great efforts, my limitations of ability and knowledge may undeniably cause mistakes in the thesis Therefore, I hope to receive comments and remarks from the teachers and friends so that I am able to carry out more researches independently to serve for my teaching career in the future Nghe An, 2019 Tran Tra My i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis entitled “Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary to the 10th graders ” is my own work, and that it has not been previously submitted to this university, or to any other institutions for a degree, diploma or other qualifications Nghe An, 2019 Author‟s signature Tran Tra My ii ABSTRACT Using games in order to increase the motivation of the Engish learners is widely believed to resulted in better performance in language learning However, not much research has been carried out about the review games in teaching vocabulary in language teaching classroom This study ustilised review games as stimuli vocabulary learning and aims to investigate the belief of teachers and students about the use of review games in teaching vocabulary for grade 10 students Data collected from questionaires and the experiment two classes yielded surprising findings This study will be of useful references for teachers and practitioners in designing stimuli for English vocabulary stage iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ABSTRACT .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iiiv LIST OF TABLES iviii LIST OF FIGURES ix Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Methods of the Study 1.6 Organization of the Study Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 English Vocabulary 2.1.1 Definition 2.1.2 Type of Vocabulary 2.1.3 The Importance of Vocabulary 2.1.4 Aspects of Vocabulary 2.1.4.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling 2.1.4.2 Grammar 2.1.4.3 Collocation 2.1.4.4 Aspects of Meaning 10 2.2 Affective factors on second language vocabulary acquisition 16 2.2.1 Attitude 17 2.2.2 Motivation 17 iv 2.2.3 Other individual affective factors 18 2.2.4 Learning mode factors on vocabulary acquisition 20 2.2.4.1 Intentional and Incidental Vocabulary Learning 20 2.2.4.2 Direct and Indirect Vocabulary Learning 21 2.2.4.3 Explicit and Implicit Vocabulary Learning 21 2.2.5 Teaching strategy factors on vocabulary acquisition 22 2.3 Stages of Teaching Vocabulary 24 2.3.1 Presenting 24 2.3.2 Practicing 25 2.3.3 Consolidating and Revising 25 2.4 Games 26 2.4.1 The definition of of Games 26 2.4.2 Teaching Vocabulary Using Games 26 2.4.3 Reasons for using Games in teaching 27 2.4.4 The importance of games in teaching vocabulary 28 2.4.5 Practical Implications of Using Games to Teach Vocabulary 29 2.4.5.1 The Implementations of Teaching Vocabulary Using Games 29 2.4.5.2 Grouping the Students 29 2.4.5.3 Giving Explanation and Instruction about the Game 29 2.4.6 Practical Challenges of Implementing Games in Teaching Vocabulary 30 2.5 Review 31 2.5.1 A Definition of “Review” 31 2.5.2 The importance of “Review” 32 2.5.3 Ways to review effectively 33 Chapter RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36 3.1 Research Context 36 3.1.1 The Setting of the Survey 36 v 3.1.2 Overview of the Textbook English 10 36 3.2 Research Methodology 37 3.2.1 Research Questions 37 3.2.2 Subjects of the Study 38 3.2.2.1 The Teachers 38 3.2.2.2 The Students 39 3.2.3 Research Instruments 39 3.2.3.1 The Survey Questionnaire for the Teachers 39 3.2.3.2 The Survey Questionnaires for the Students 40 3.2.4 Data Collection 41 3.3 Procedures and methods of data collection 41 3.4 Data Analysis 42 Chapter FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 43 4.1 The Attitudes of the Teachers and Students towards the Teaching and Learning of English and English Vocabulary in Grade Ten of the High Schools 43 4.2 The Real Situation of Using Games and Review Games in Teaching Vocabulary 48 4.3 The Effectiveness of Using Review Games in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in Grade Ten of the Primary Schools 55 4.4 Some suggested review games applied in teaching vocabulary to the tenth graders 62 4.4.1 Memory challenge 62 4.4.2 Scrambled letters 63 4.4.3 Pronounce a word 63 4.4.4 Read my lips 64 4.4.5 Word completion 65 4.4.6 Chain Game 67 vi 4.4.7 Word square 68 4.4.8 Crossword 69 4.4.9 Aska hot seat 72 4.4.10 Newspaper detective 73 Chapter CONCLUSION 75 5.1 Recapitulation 75 5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 76 REFERENCES 77 APPENDIXES 79 vii LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 4.1: Teachers’ frequency of using games to teach vocabulary, review vocabulary and use games to review vocabulary 49 Table 4.2: Students’ involvement in the games (Students’ questionnaire number before experiment) 51 Table 4.3: Teachers’ problem encountering when teaching vocabulary 52 Table 4.4: Students’ involvement in the games (Students’ questionnaire number after experiment) 57 Table 4.5: Students’ attitudes towards English vocabulary learning (Students’ questionnaire number after experiment) 58 Table 4.6: Students’ attitudes towards learning English (Students’ questionnaire number after experiment) 58 Table 4.7: Students’ ability of remembering new words after each lesson (Students’ questionnaire number after experiment) 59 Table 4.8: The effects of games in learning vocabulary to students (Students’ questionnaire number after experiment) 61 viii Ask some volunteers to go to the board to write the answer if necessary: 1.backup 2.screen 3.hacker … 4.4.9 Aska hot seat - Type: Team work - Material needed: small chairs - Objective: Review the adjectives about what your friend feel about films which students have learnt - Time: - minutes - Lesson applied: Unit 3- Listening – Films and cinema – page 135 - Procedure: Divide the class into Teams A and B One side of the classroom is team A, the other side is team B Bring two chairs to the front of the room so that when seated, a student is facing his or her respective team and their back is to the blackboard or white board 72 One representative from each team sits in their team's chair The teacher writes a word on the board The students in the chairs are not allowed to see what's written on the board Once the teacher yells 'start', the teams have times, using only verbal clues, to get their seated teammate to say the correct word written on the board The main rule is that they MUSTN'T say the item written on the board, in full or part The first student in the hot seat to say the word scores a point for their team When the round is over, two new team players are rotated into the hot seat and a new word is written up The first team to score X number of points 4.4.10 Newspaper detective - Type: group work - Material needed: one page of newspaper or magazine - Objective: Review the topic of conservation which students have learnt - Time: - minutes - Lesson applied: Unit 10- Listening – conservation – page 107 - Procedure: Divide class into groups of four students 73 wins Hang on one page of newspaper on the board or hand at least one page of the newspaper or magazine to each group The newspaper is the same among these groups Ask students to look at the picture and find out as many words as possible about the topic conservation that they have learnt The group with the most correct words will be the winner 74 Chapter CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulation In this study, the researcher has mentioned the main aspects in teaching vocabulary through using games for the eighth students at my high school With the purpose of finding one of more effective teaching technique to help improve students‟ vocabulary learning especially memorize vocabulary because vocabulary has a very important role Games have been widely used as an educational tool for a long time and have been in favour of by many teachers by their outstanding advantages Since the communicative approach became more and more popular in teaching English in Vietnam, games have helped to improve the quality of teaching vocabulary in particular and that of teaching English in general I have been intersted in the games and have invested a lot of time and efforts in studying how games especially review games are used in teaching vocabulary at high schools Before the applying of games is presented, first the study has dealt with the theoretical background about vocabulary, games and review so as to provide readers with a brief overview on vocabulary as well as its importance in language aquisition Then, with the time of conducting the investigation about the current situation of using games in teaching vocabulary, the survey aims at finding the attitudes of both the teachers and students towards the teaching and learning of English in general and of English vocabulary in particular, the reality of using games including the challenges in teaching vocabulary, and the positive effects after applying review games in vocabulary learning and teaching Review games worked really well in making the students more motivated and interested in English learning in general and English vocabulary learning in 75 particular Also, through games, the students have got a lot of positive effects for their process especially memorizing vocabulary longer Therefore, review games should be more widely used to improve the teaching and learning of vocabulary In order to make the study more practical, some suggested games have been designed for teacher of English to apply in teaching vocabulary in the 10th form Finally, the author hopes that the findings in this study will be much useful for those who are interested in games to teach students vocabulary Truly speaking, the thesis was completed with author's greatest attempt but mistakes are unavoidable and the author would be grateful to receive any suggestions, comments as well as advice on her study 5.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, it can not avoid some limitations Due to the limitation of time and the scope of the study, the study only deals with the use of review games in teaching vocabulary to grade ten students It seems to be too broad to mention all the aspects of English learning and teaching as well as the games to the language teaching Therefore, the author would love to recommend some suggestions for further studies such as: - Applying review games in teaching vocabulary to the 11th form, or the 12th form students - Applying games in teaching grammar to the 10th form - Applying games in teaching pronunciation to the 10th form - Using warm up games to motivate the 10th form Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated 76 REFERENCES Cameron, L (2001), Teaching Language to Young Learners, New York : Cambridge University Press Forseth, R & C., Ta Tien Hung & Nguyen Van Do (1996) Methodology Handbook for English Teachers in Vietnam, English Language Institute America Gardner, H (1999) Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century New York, NY: Basic Books Gower, R., Phillips, D & Walters, S (2005) Teaching Practice Handbook, New Edition Oxford: Heinemann Publishers Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching: New Edition New York: Longman Harmer, J (1994) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Harmer, J (2007) How to Teach English Pearson Education Limited Harmer, J (2008) The Practice of English Teaching England: Pearson Language Longman Huyen, N., & Nga, K (2003) Learning Vocabulary Through Games Asian EFL Journal Krashen, S D (1985) The input hypothesis: Issues and implications New York: Longman Lewis, M., & Hill, J (1992) Practical Techniques Language Teaching Publications: London Lewis, G., & Bedson, G (1999) Games for children New York: Oxford University Press Richards, J C., & Rodgers, T (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 77 Rixon, S (1981) How to use games in language teaching London: Macmillan Rixon, S (1996) How to Use Games in Language Teaching Phoenix ELT: Hertfordshire Roger, G (1993) A guide to reviewing activities Duke of Edinburgh‟s Award Scott, W A., & Ytreberg, L H (1991) Teaching English to Children Essex: Longman Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary (2nd ed), England: Pearson Education Truong, Hoang Tat (1993) Basic English Lexicology Hanoi Pedagogy University Uberman, A (1998) The use of games for vocabulary presentation and revision Forum, 36(1), 20-27 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory Cambridge, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press Vernon, S 2009 The benefits of using Games Retrieved June 20th, 2014, http://www.englishgames.com http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667305 http://reviewing.co.uk/_review.htm 78 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary to the 10th graders” This information will be collected from high school teachers to find out the usage of games and review games in teaching vocabulary at high school Your assistance in completing the following items is greatly appreciated Thank you for your assistance Part I: Personal information - Your age: ………………… - Your gender:  male  female - Your school: …………………………………………… Part II: Please complete the following items frankly Are you contented with the set of text books English 10 in general and the content provided in the book in particular that you are teaching at your school? YES: ………… Reasons:…………………………………………………………………………… …….………………………………………………………………………………… ………… NO: …………… Reasons:…………………………………………………………………………… …….………………………………………………………………………………… ………… For high school students, How important is vocabulary in your opinion? 79 A very important B important C normal D not important How often you use games to teach vocabulary? A Every section B Every unit C Every or three units D seldom How often you review vocabulary? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never How you often organize class when playing games? a Pair work b Group work c Team work d Class work How frequently you use games to review vocabulary? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Never What are the difficulties that you encounter when teaching vocabulary? ( you can choose more than one option) 80 A control the class B time limitation C preparation D students‟ level What is the biggest difficulty that your students encounter when learning vocabulary? A pronounce the words correctly B remember the meaning of the words C Use the words to develop other skills D memorize the words in long term Appendix 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE NUMBER FOR STUDENTS (Before the experimental teaching) This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary the 10th graders” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated Thank you for your assistance Part I: Personal information - Your age: ………………… - Your gender:  male  female - Your school: …………………………………………… - You class: …………………………………………… Part II: Please complete the following items frankly How you like learning English? a Very much b Much 81 c Not very much d Not at all How important is vocabulary in your opinion? A very important B important C normal D not important What you think about learning vocabulary? a Very difficult b Difficult c Not very difficult d Easy What you think about memorizing vocabulary in long term? A Very difficult B Difficult C Not very difficult D easy When learning vocabulary, which is the most difficult to you? A pronounce the words correctly B remember the meaning of the words C Use the words to develop other skills D memorize the words in long term After each lesson, How much can you remember the new words? a less than a half b more than a half Do you like your teacher to use games in the lesson? 82 A Yes B No Do you really involve in the games when the teacher organizes the games? a Yes b No How often you review the vocabulary at home? A very often B often C sometimes D never Appendix 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE NUMBER FOR STUDENTS (After the experimental teaching) This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary to the 10th graders” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated Thank you for your assistance Part I: Personal information - Your age: ………………… - Your gender:  male  female - Your school: …………………………………………… - Your class: …………………………………………… Part II: Please complete the following items frankly How much you like the games you have joined in class? a Very much b Much 83 c Not very much d Not at all What you think about learning vocabulary? a Very difficult b Difficult c Not very difficult d Easy When these games were organized in class, did you really involve in the games? a Yes b No Do you like learning English? a Very much b Much c Not very much d Not at all After the lessons, How much can you remember the new words? a less than a half b more than a half How you feel after you played the games? A very excited B helpful C bored D Not special feeling In your opinion, mastering vocabulary helps you to… ( please tick in one of the columns below) 84 Answers Very much much Not very much Not at all Improve four skills and exercises better Understand the reading text, model conversation or listening tape script better Communicate with their friends or other people better Be more confident in learning English Feel more excited, cheerful and comfortable Remember pronunciation and meaning of words better Appendix 4: QUESTIONS FOR SHORT INTERVIEWS I WITH STUDENTS Why you think that learning English vocabulary is difficult or easy? (Before the experimental lessons) What are the reasons why you like or not like learning English? (Before the experimental lessons) Why you involve or don‟t you really involve in the games which are organized by your teacher? (Before the experimental lessons) 85 Do you enjoy participating in playing games in learning English vocabulary and why? (After the experimental lessons) Why you like learning English? (After the experimental lessons) What are the effects of games in learning vocabulary? (After the experimental lessons) What are the effects of review games in learning vocabulary? (After the experimental lessons) II WITH TEACHERS Why are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the textbook you are teaching? When and how you review vocabulary in class? 86 ...MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRAN TRA MY APPLYING VOCABULARY REVIEW GAMES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH GRADERS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages... To investigate the real situation of vocabulary teaching and learning at high school - To find out the effectiveness of using review games in teaching vocabulary by the teachers to the 10th graders. .. ? ?Applying vocabulary review games in teaching vocabulary to the 10th graders? ?? reflects the scope of the study In this study, only vocabulary review games were investigated Other skills were not included