The effects of pictures in teaching cocabulary to efl young learners

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY - LÊ THỊ HỒNG LIÊN THE EFFECTS OF PICTURES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO EFL YOUNG LEARNERS Field: Theory and Methods of Teaching English Code: 60 14 01 11 Master Thesis in Education Supervisor: Dr TRẦN THỊ NGỌC YẾN Nghệ An, 2016 ABSTRACT Vocabulary is one of the important factors to success in learning a foreign language It is very difficult to convey people’s thoughts without vocabulary Thus, to teach vocabulary efficiently to students is the desire of any teacher The aim of the research is to find out whether teaching vocabulary using pictures is effective to the students’ achievement in word spelling, word meaning and word pronunciation It was expected that the result of the study can enrich the teacher’s strategy in teaching vocabulary through pictures especially for young learners The study was carried out with the participation of thirty first graders from Eland English centre in Vinh city for six weeks to examine three main issues: whether pictures can help learners improve their ability to memorise word meaning; whether pictures can help them memorise word spelling; and whether pictures have an effect in improving learners’ ability of pronunciation memorisation To reach these goals, the students were divided into two groups – the treatment group consists of fifteen students who were taught vocabulary with the picture technique and the control group consists of fifteen students who were taught with other methods Data were collected through six tests and two scoring methods were used to measure the participants’ improvement in word meaning memorisation, word spelling memorisation and word pronunciation memorisation It was found that the two scoring methods agreed with each other The results revealed that the participants in the treatment group outperformed those in the control group in terms of word meaning memorisation In contrast, the control group made a slightly higher increase than the treatment one in terms of word spelling memorisation though the treatment group made an improvement in remembering word spelling during the treatment The participants in the treatment group gained higher scores than those in the control one in term of word pronunciation memorisation i Hopefully, with the results achieved from the study, the recommendations for using pictures in teaching vocabulary, the dissertation will be a useful source of reference for teachers of English in teaching vocabulary to EFL young learners ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep and faithful gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for the wholehearted guidance, valuable suggestion and encouragement she gave me throughout my research, without which this work would hardly have been accomplished I also would like to send my thanks to the colleagues and the students at Eland English Center for their advice, constructive suggestions and tremendous assistance.Without that, it would have been harder for me to finish the project Thanks are also extended to all my friends who have encouraged me and help me to collect documents during the study Finally, I would like to delicate this work to my family, especially my husband, who has been always beside me with help, encouragement and love iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Thesis design CHAPTER II THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Definition of vocabulary 2.2 The roles of vocabulary in language learning 2.3 Aspects of vocabulary 2.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and spelling 2.3.2 Grammar 2.3.3 Collocation 2.3.4 Aspects of meaning 2.3.4.1 Denotation, Connotation and Appropriateness 2.3.4.2 Meaning relationships 10 2.3.4.3 Part of speech 11 2.3.4.4 Word formation 12 2.3.4.5 Word use 13 2.3.4.6 Active and passive vocabulary 14 2.3.4.7 Concrete and abstract vocabulary 15 2.4 Techniques in teaching vocabulary 15 2.4.1 Visual techniques 16 iv 2.4.2 Verbal techniques 17 2.4.3 Polish equivalent 18 2.5 Principles in teaching vocabulary 18 2.6 Characteristics of EFL young learners 18 2.7 Teaching English vocabulary to young learners 19 2.8 Pictures in vocabulary teaching 21 2.8.1 Pictures in EFL teaching 21 2.8.2 Types of pictures 22 2.8.2.1 Picture flashcards 23 2.8.2.2 Drawing 25 2.8.2.3 Wall-pictures and posters, compiled pictures 28 2.8.2.4 Semantic maps 29 CHAPTER III THE METHODOLOGY 31 3.1 Materials 31 3.2 Participants 33 3.3 Procedures 33 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31 4.1 Results 35 4.1.1 Results from the word meaning tests 35 4.1.1.1 The comparison of the scores on the first and the last tests made by the two groups36 4.1.1.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests made by the two groups 38 4.1.1.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests on word meaning made by the two groups 40 4.1.2 Results from the word spelling tests 42 4.1.2.1 The comparison of the scores on the first test and the last test on spelling made by the two groups 43 4.1.2.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests on spelling made by the two groups 44 v 4.1.2.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests on spelling made by two groups 46 4.1.3 Results from the word pronunciation tests 48 4.1.3.1 The comparison of the scores on the first test and the last test on pronunciation made by the two groups 48 4.1.3.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests on pronunciation made by the two groups 50 4.1.3.3 The comparison of the scores on the first three tests and the last three tests on pronunciation made by two groups 51 4.2 Change patterns that the two groups made during the course 53 4.2.1 The patterns of progress on the word meaning test 58 4.2.2 The patterns of progress on the spelling test 59 4.2.3 The patterns of progress on the pronunciation test 59 4.3 Discussion 60 4.3.1 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word meaning 61 4.3.2 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word spelling 62 4.3.3 The effect of the picture presentation on memorising the word pronunciation63 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION 65 5.1 Summary of the main findings 65 5.2 Implications 66 5.3 Limitations 66 REFERENCES 68 APPENDIX A 71 APPENDIX B 72 APPENDIX C 73 APPENDIX D 74 APPENDIX E 76 APPENDIX F 77 APPENDIX G 78 vi APPENDIX H 79 APPENDIX l 81 APPENDIX K 82 APPENDIX L 83 APPENDIX M 84 APPENDIX N 86 APPENDIX P 92 APPENDIX Q 97 APPENDIX S 104 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 36 Table 4.2 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on word meaning by participants from the two groups 37 Table 4.3 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 39 Table 4.4 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on word meaning by participants from the two groups 39 Table 4.5 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests on word meaning for the treatment and control groups 41 Table 4.6 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests on word meaning by participants from the two groups 41 Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on spelling for the treatment and control groups 43 Table 4.8 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on spelling by participants from the two groups 44 Table 4.9 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test on spelling for the treatment and control groups 44 Table 4.10 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on spelling by participants from the two groups 45 Table 4.11 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests on spelling for the treatment and control groups 46 Table 4.12 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests on spelling by participants from the two groups 47 Table 4.13 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 48 viii Table 4.14 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on spelling by participants from the two groups 49 Table 4.15 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 50 Table 4.16 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on pronunciation by participants from the two groups 51 Table 4.17 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and last three tests on pronunciation for the treatment and control groups 51 Table 4.18 Result of score on the last three tests minus score on the first three tests on spelling by participants from the two groups 52 Table 4.19 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on word meaning tests 58 Table 4.20 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on spelling tests 59 Table 4.21 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on pronunciation tests 60 ix rubber Part - questions - Read and color Example Black Questions Red Green Blue 90 Orange Yellow 91 APPENDIX P THE PRE-TREATMENT TESTS Test 1: Match the word with its picture A B Bin Board Door Picture Window 92 Test 2: Match the word with its picture A B Robot Balloon Teddy bear Boat Car Test 3: Match the word with its picture A B Water bottle Bag 93 Pencil box Rubber Lunch box Test 4: Match the word with its picture A B Square Triangle Circle Star Rectangle 94 Test 5: Match the word with its picture A B Butterfly Goat Flower Field Donkey Test 6: Match the word with its picture A B Socks jumper 95 Shorts Skirt shoes 96 APPENDIX Q THE POST- TREATMENT TESTS I The test on word pronunciation Test 1: Read the words correctly Window, bin, board, door, picture, Test 2: Read the words correctly robot, balloon, boat, car, teddy bear Test 3: Read the words correctly lunch box, water bottle, pencil box, rubber, bag Test 4: Read the words correctly circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval Test 5: Read the words correctly butterfly, donkey, field, flower, goat Test 6: Read the words correctly Jumper, shorts, socks, shoes, skirt II: The test on word meaning Test 1: Match the word with its picture A B Bin Board Door 97 Picture Window Test 2: Match the word with its picture A B Robot Balloon Teddy bear Boat Car Test 3: Match the word with its picture 98 A B Water bottle Bag Pencil box Rubber Lunch box Test 4: Match the word with its picture A B Square Triangle 99 Circle Star Rectangle Test 5: Match the word with its picture A B Butterfly Goat Flower Field 100 Donkey Test 6: Match the word with its picture A B Socks Jumper Shorts Skirt shoes III The test on word spelling Test The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them i / b / n 101 a / r / o / b / d o / r / d / o t / r / u / i / e /p / c d / o / w / w / i / n / Test The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them o / o/ n / b / a / l / l a / o / b / t 3.a / r/ c 4.r / b/ t / o / o 5.d / e / t / d / y/ e/ r/ a/ b Test 3: The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them b/ x / o / c / n / u / l /h e / r / a / w / t / t / t / e / l / b / o e / n / c / i / l / p / o / b / x e / r / b / b / u / r g / a / b Test 4: The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them q / s / u / a / e / r i / r / c / c / e / l g / l / t / e / r / c / a / n / e r / t / i / a / n / g /e / l r / a / t / s / Test 5: The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them y / f / l / b / t / u / t / e / r y / e / k / d / o / n e / i / l / f / d 102 l / o /e / w / f / r o / a / g / t Test 6: The following jumble letters make correct words you have learnt Reorder them p / e / r / j / u / m t / r / s / h / o /s s / o / k / c / s h / s / e / o / s k / s / i / r / t 103 APPENDIX S UNITS FOR THE EXPERIMENT - Unit 2: My Classroom Window, bin, board, door, picture, -Unit 3: My toy robot, balloon, boat, car, teddy bear Unit 4: My things lunch box, water bottle, pencil box, rubber, bag - Unit 5: My colours circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval - Unit 6: My farm butterfly, donkey, field, flower, goat - Unit 7: My clothes Jumper, shorts, socks, shoes, skirt 104 ... Pictures can be used to explain the meaning of vocabularies item Teacher can draw things on the board or bring in pictures The main advantage of using pictures into the classroom is to make the. .. stingy 2.3.4.2 Meaning relationships Words have meanings in relation to others And in teaching, it is very useful to show how meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others According to. .. pointed out that word flashcards are most typically used in teaching reading and writing Nevertheless, they will find their use in teaching vocabulary too, offering valuable help mainly in teaching