Using games in teaching english vocabulary to primary school students

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DANG THI PHUONG THAO USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DANG THI PHUONG THAO USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60 14 01 11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Assoc.Prof.Dr.Ngo Dinh Phuong Nghe An, 2017 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hearby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not published elsewhere Author Dang Thi Phuong Thao ABSTRACT The study attempted to examine effects of using games in teaching vocabulary for primary schools students It aims to find out students’s difficulties in learning this comprehensive skill, their expectations of teacher’s methodology as well as their attitude towards using games Both qualitative and quantitative research methodology were utilized in this study The data was collected through the proficiency pretest and posttest, questionnaires, interviews The participants of the research include eighty six students, forty two females and forty four males at Vinh Univerity Pedagogical Practice School in Nghe An Province were selected and assigned into two groups Learning is one of the primary activities of students in the classroom Successful learning is only on the right way to lead the process Good learning atmosphere and method can guide the students to learn more meaningful To accomplish such conditions, teachers must create various and attractive methods for the class.What should a teacher if their students get bored? Using varitype games can be an alternative solution to handle this problem Games, as a matter of fact, can help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work By this paper, the writer wants to share experiences about “how effective games to teach English vocabulary” One of the best ways of doing this is through games Games can help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful In the whole process of teaching and learning by games, the students can take part widely and open-mindedly To win the games each student or group should competitively answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other students or groups In order to so they must understand what the teacher or others are saying or have written, and they must speak or write in order to express their own point of view or give information The English instruction in elementary school is intended to endorse the mastery and development of the four basic abilities and skills The need to use various instructional media will be able to help students to increase their English vocabulary Teaching vocabulary is clearly more than just presenting new words It also includes a decision that words should teach the basic of how frequently they are used by speaker of the language The words are most commonly used are those a teacher should teach first But commonly and usually the way of teaching makes the students lazy and bored The teacher needs something different to make students interested, because mostly students are very easy to get bored Therefore, teacher needs something interesting which can make motivate them It is based on the characteristics and attitude of the children that they are curious and often seek something that the teacher notices them and shows appreciation for what they are doing So, to motivate them teacher needs something new that can stimulate their curiosity With the current analysis on communication in teaching language, using games appears to hold a solution for many teachers The communication activities somehow involves in a varied use of language It had been found in many schools that teachers use games activities as their teaching-aid The students really appreciate any kind of activities which provide excitement and fun It will be easy to understand and practice English The writer chooses games as the simple illustrated media to facilitate students’ method of learning, as we know children learn while playing games It is easy to be understood and comprehended by students However, learning English vocabulary using games has an important role for elementary teachers and students The first, as students, they have strong and good motivation to deepen English language The second, they are easy to accept the English language because they learn by playing game The third, teaching English vocabulary using games can help teacher in teaching learning process Finally, they (teacher and students) can teach and learn English vocabulary using games ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Above of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Associate Pro.Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong for his invaluable support, patient guidance and encouragement he gave me and my research I also wish to send my sincere thanks to the students of the classes I taught in order to experiment amd gather information for my survey questionaire and interview Without their enthusiastic contribution, this study could not have been successful I am indebted to my friends, my classamates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments and criticism and also for their continued interest and encouragement Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family members who are always beside me, creating favorable conditions and supporting me both spiritually and materially to complete this thesis TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale 01 Aims of the study 03 Scope of the study 03 Research questions 03 Significance of the study 03 The organization of the study 03 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I Introduction 05 II Literature review 05 III.Theoretical Background 07 3.1 Vocabulary 07 3.1.1.Definitions of vocabulary 08 3.2.Types of vocabulary 08 3.2.1.Listening vocabulary 08 3.2.2 Speaking vocabulary 08 3.2.3 Reading vocabulary 09 3.2.4 Writing vocabulary 09 3.2.5 Receptive vocabulary 09 3.2.6 Productive vocabulary 09 3.2.7 Active vocabulary 09 3.2.8 Passive vocabulary 10 3.3 The importance of vocaulary 10 3.4 Games to teach vocabulary in primary schools 11 3.4.1 Games 11 3.4.2 The effects of using games on English vocabulary learning 11 3.5 Psychological features of primary schools 12 3.5.1 Social and emotional development 12 3.5.2 Intellectual method 13 3.6 How to teach vocabulary in games to primary students 14 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY Introduction 16 Research methods 16 Participants 17 Research Instruments 17 Data Analysis 19 Data Collection Procedures 19 Summary 20 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Introduction 21 Students’ interest in learning English 21 Teachers’ and student’s opinion toward the role of English vocabulary 21 Students’ and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching vocabulary 22 4.1 Students’ difficulties to memorize the new words in a lesson 23 4.2 Teachers’ opinion on the difficulties their students can face while learning vocabulary 24 4.3 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching vocabulary for primary students 24 4.4 The teachers’ and students’ opinion on currently used games in learning vocabulary 25 Tips applied to help learning English vocabulary 26 5.1 The ways students often apply in memorizing words 26 5.2 The tips teachers use to help their students memorize new words in class 27 The comparision of efficiency between games and other techniques in teaching vocabulary 28 Effects of games on student’s vocabulary 29 8.Some suggested games in teaching English vocabulary in primary schools in Nghe An 33 Pedagogical Implications 40 Summary 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION Summary of the key findings 43 Limitation of the study 43 Suggestions for further research 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDIX 49 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Rationale No one denies the importance of English language in the present time as global language It is clear that English has become more and more dominant around the world Actually, in some countries it is used as the mother tongue and other countries learn it as second language in their schools There is no doubt that English is the language of communication between the people from different cultures Moreover, English is the language of science and technology It is also the language of computers that help to integrate the people around the world via Internet technology and e-mail Needless to say, people who know English can deal with the Internet Therefore, the need of mastering a foreign language especially English, is becoming more and more necessary English is now taught in many primary schools all over the world and chidren from a very early age experience an English lesson as part of their daily rountine When they make an effort to use English, they need to be encouraged so that they will enjoy the experience of communicating in this new language Research suggests that vocabulary is enormously important to children’s development, especially in reading Research clearly indicates that children with larger vocabularies have higher school achievement in general (Smith, 1941, cited in Beck, McKeown, and Kucan, 2002) In fact, people with larger vocabularies even have higher IQs ( Bell, Lassiter, Matthews and Hutchinson, 2001; Hodapp and Gerken, 1999)! Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary students can not understand others or express their own ideas Wilkins (1972) wrote that “….while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Students often instinctively recognize the importance of vocabulary to their language learning As Schmitt (2010) noted, “learners carry around dictionaries and not grammar books” Teaching vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in English Voltaire purportedly said “Language is very difficult to put into words” Vocabulary, much more than grammar, is the key to your child understanding what she hears and reads in school and to communicate sucessfullly with other people For this reason, it is very important for her to quickly build up a large store of words Research studies have shown the strong links between having an extensive vocabulary and achieving school success Learning vocabulary through games had attained a lot of attention Donmus (2010) believed that "The value of educational games has been increasing in language education since they help to make language education entertaining "(p.1497) According to Kuzu and Appendix 2: Vocabulary Pretest: 49 50 51 52 53 54 Appendix 3: Vocabulary posttest 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Appendix 4: Application Unit 8: Mealtime (First Friends 2) I Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will able to know some actions, the sounds of some words and how to communicate II Language contents: a Vocabulary: cheese , chicken , fish , juice , potato , rice , salad , soup b Structures: I have got………… She has got……… He has got………… III Teaching aids: Cassette player, book, pictures IV Procedures: Teacher’s activities Contents Students’ activities I/ Warm up: ( 5’) - Greeting - Greeting - Greeting - play a game “ slap the - Have students play a game - Listen the rule boad” “ Slap the board” - Play the game Teacher stick some vocabulary on the board: bed, wardrobe, pillow, blanket.2 groups will stand and listen Which group can touch the word quicker will be the winner - Show the picture in the class + Baz , Tess, and their book on page 46 on the board, ask family II/ Presentation: (28’) students some questions about + In the kitchen 1/ Listen and say: picture: + Getting their food + Who is in the picture ? + Chicken , soup , salad , +Where are they ? rice , fish ,juice - New words: : cheese , chicken , fish , juice +What are they doing ? ,potatoes,cheese , potato , rice , salad , soup + What kind of food can you see ? - Open the book Have students open their book on Yes page 46-47 - Look, listen and repeat 62 In group food , is there any food good for health ? - Introduce some food by using pictures - Repeat Transcript : - Have the class repeat: : cheese , - Listen Listen and say chicken , fish , juice , potato , rice , salad , soup Soup , salad , juice , cheese , fish, rice ,potato, chicken - Listen and point - Call some students repeat - Play the recording for students to listen all the way through - Play the rocording, pause after - Listen and repeat each word for students to point to the pictures on their books - Repeat - Replay, pause after each word for 2/ Listen and find: students to repeat - Listen and point to the Transcript : - Call some students repeat correct picture on their Listen and find book - Say these words in random: Cheese , chicken , fish , “Soup , salad , juice , cheese , fish, juice , potato , rice , salad , rice ,potato, chicken ” soup - Guide students to point to the - Listen - Listen , find and point correct picture while listening III/ Home work: ( 2’) - Play the rocording, pause after each word for students to find the pictures on their books - Review the words and - Ask students to review the words repare the next part they have just learnt, repare the next part ( page 46-47) -Practice writing new words lines -Prepare for new lesson 63 -Write in the notebook ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DANG THI PHUONG THAO USING GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of... ABSTRACT The study attempted to examine effects of using games in teaching vocabulary for primary schools students It aims to find out students? ??s difficulties in learning this comprehensive skill,... between games and other techniques in teaching vocabulary 28 Effects of games on student’s vocabulary 29 8.Some suggested games in teaching English vocabulary in primary schools in