Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1
Abstract
2
vocabulary. Teachers also confirmed that they have adapted specific
techniques with specific class; a combination of various ones is yet to be in
consideration. In another aspect, most of the teachers reported that they
encountered certain difficulties such as the use of too much L1,
uncooperative students, students’ small attention span. Nonetheless, most
of the difficulties can be solved, as proposed by them in one way or
another. The exploitation of combining different techniques remains rather
limited; thus, this study provides some suggestions for teachers to realize
the benefits of having available activities and games in young learners’
classroom.
3
List of tables, figures and abbreviations
List Page
1. Table 1 ....................................................................................... 16
2. Figure 1: Common techniques used in presenting new words ....................... 42
3. Figure 2: Common techniques used in practicing vocabulary items .............. 43
4. Figure 3: Common techniques used in revising vocabulary items ................ 44
5. Figure 4: Most difficult stage in teaching vocabulary to young learners ...... 47
6. Figure 5: Part of a word that is most difficult to teach .................................. 47
Abbreviations
Ila: International Language Academy
L1: first language
CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults
CELTYL: Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young
Learners
T1: First teacher in the interview
T2: Second teacher in the interview
T3: Third teacher in the interview
T4: Fourth teacher in the interview
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TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE
Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................1
Abstract ............................................................................................................2
List of tables, figures and abbreviations ..........................................................3
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Research title .............................................................................................
1.2. Rationale and Statement of the Research ..................................................8
1.3. Research questions ....................................................................................9
1.4. Aims of the Research .................................................................................9
1.5. Scope of the Research ................................................................................10
1.6. Organization of the Research ....................................................................11
5
2.3.1.2. Practicing ......................................................................24
2.3.1.3. Consolidating and Revising .........................................25
2.3.2. Techniques in teaching vocabulary .........................................25
2.3.2.1. Techniques in presenting vocabulary............................25
2.3.2.2. Techniques in practicing vocabulary ............................27
2.3.2.3. Techniques in consolidating and revising vocabulary .29
2.3.2.4. Games ...........................................................................32
2.3.3. Difficulties in teaching vocabulary .........................................32
2.4. Related Studies ........................................................................................33
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Participants ..............................................................................................36
3.2 Data collection methods ...........................................................................36
3.2.1. Survey Questionnaire .................................................................36
3.2.2. Interviews ...................................................................................37
3.2.3. Observation ................................................................................38
3.3. Data collection procedure ........................................................................38
3.4. Data analysis methods and procedure .....................................................39
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4.1.2. Difficulties in teaching vocabulary to young learners at Ila ......46
4.1.3. Recommendations made by teachers for teaching vocabulary
to young learners at Ila .........................................................................50
4.2. Pedagogical Implications .........................................................................52
4.3. Recommended games and activities ........................................................54
4.3.1. Suggested games .....................................................................54
4.3.2. Suggested activities .................................................................56
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Summary of findings ...............................................................................58
5.2. Limitations of the study ...........................................................................59
5.3. Recommendations for further studies ......................................................61
REFERENCES
APPENDIX
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1. Research title
Techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners at ILA School
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teaching vocabulary in class is was not recognized until late 1970s and
1980s when people realized the necessity of vocabulary in reading
comprehension (Allen: p.5)
At Ila Vietnam – an international school for Vietnamese learners, the
issue of teaching and learning vocabulary within context is strongly
emphasized. To be more specific, students at this school are provided
chances to stay in frequent contact with native teachers from English-
speaking countries, to absorb new vocabulary in practical and efficient
manner and to acquire new language in a most natural way. However, there
remain cases when teachers find it hard to present and practice new
language with young learners, one of the most difficult-to-handle targets at
this school. Hence, the researcher was driven to investigate into current
situation of using various techniques in teaching vocabulary to young
learners at Ila.
3. Research questions
This study is conducted in order that answers for the following
questions will be sought:
1. What techniques are often used by teachers at Ila school in teaching
vocabulary to young learners?
2. What are some difficulties and constraints as perceived by teachers
in teaching vocabulary to young learners at Ila?
3. What are some suggestions recommended by teachers in managing
vocabulary section with young learners at Ila?
9
Given that learning a new language with native speakers can provoke
learners’ motivation and boost their confidence in quickly obtaining
language step by step, native teachers, in many circumstances have to face
the obstacle of slow or misbehaved students, particularly in vocabulary
section. This study therefore was conducted, aiming at reviewing common
techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners. Thus, with a view to
enhance the quality of doing so the researcher was driven to clarify the
following objectives which are expected to be fulfilled:
- Theoretically provide teachers at ILA school an overview of young
learners’ characteristics and their manner in language classroom.
Accordingly equip them with panoramic picture of teaching vocabulary to
targeted students at this school.
- Manifest effectively used techniques in accordance with suggested
ones from the researchers. Principles in dealing with teaching vocabulary
to young learners, to a certain extent will consequently be drawn to
discussion for further assistance.
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6. Organization of the research
This study in its small scale mainly consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
In this very first chapter, academic routines required for a graduation
paper namely: Rationale and Research Statement, Aims of the Research,
Research Questions and Scope of the study are included.
In this main part of the paper, there are three main chapters and each
chapter’s title constructively discuss its main content
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Data analysis and Findings
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications
The researcher will conclude the main findings of the study.
Pedagogical implications as well as implications for further research will
be included. Final are some recommendations for games and activities in
teaching vocabulary.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Up till now, there has not been only one but a wide variety of
definitions of vocabulary. In order to find the best and most easy-to-
understand definition is such an unfeasible task. Each linguist or scholar, in
his specialized field, with his own set of criteria has found out for his own a
way to define vocabulary. However, in the most popular way, Cambridge
Advanced Learner's Dictionary Online has applied a meaning for
vocabulary as “all the words which exist in a particular language or
subject.”
2. The words that are typically used when talking about a particular
subject.
3. All the words in a particular language.
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5. A list of words with explanations of their meaning in a book for
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“without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary,
nothing can be conveyed” (page 13). Coincidentally, Dellar. H and
Hocking. D, Innovations in the same summary from Thornbury (p.13)
indicated that progress made from learning grammar most of the time
would be much less than that from learning vocabulary. To be short and
concise, when comparing the importance of grammar and vocabulary, both
mentioned statement above show that most of learner’s improvement was
created when learner himself/herself learned more words and expressions.
It was also emphasized when it came to communicate that “you can say
very little with grammar, but you can say almost anything with words”
(Thornbury, p.13).
In Teaching Practice (Gower, 2005) and co-writers came straight to
point that “vocabulary is important to students – it is more important than
grammar for communication purposes, particularly in the early stages when
students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by in the
language” (p.142). This reflects the truth that even when students have
already “done” all the rules in grammar, the lexical system is still “open”
for them to gain more vocabulary. Furthermore, this conclusion deducted
the communicative purpose in learning vocabulary as an ultimate goal for
learning a new language – learning vocabulary is better for communicating
than grammar.
This does not necessarily means lowering the importance of learning
grammar. This merely shows that learning vocabulary play an equally vital
role as grammar, which was once considered to be a superior field in
learning a new language ( Meara, 1980)
The importance or the emphasis on learning vocabulary is furthered
stressed on several course books such as: Cutting Edge Intermediate or
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New Headway English Course. On the back of each course book, readers
can be briefly provided with information about focused points of the book,
which includes:
“Strong emphasis on vocabulary, with a particular focus on high
frequency, useful words and phrases.” (Cutting Edge Intermediate).
Or:
“Well-defined vocabulary syllabus plus dictionary training and
pronunciation practice, including the use of phonetics.” (New Headway
English Course).
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them in this extensive learning requirement. Self – strategies are needed,
thus, they are motivated by how teachers can produce a motivating lessons
to raise students’ interest.
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Conceptual knowledge To use it with the Not confusing
correct meaning protractor with
compasses
Knowledge of the To hear the word and To hear and produce
spoken form: to pronounce it the endings of verb
phonological acceptably, on its own, forms, such the /n/
knowledge and in phrases and sound at the end of
sentences undertaken
Grammatical To use it in a She sang very well not
knowledge grammatically *she sang very good*.
accurate way; to know To know that is and be
grammatical are parts of the same
connections with other verb.
words
Collocational To know which other A beautiful view not *a
knowledge words can be used good-looking view*
with it
Orthographic To spell it correctly Protractor not
knowledge *protracter*
Pragmatic knowledge, To use it in the right “Would you like a
knowledge of style and situation drink?” is more
register appropriate in a formal
or semi-formal
situation than “what
can I get for you?”
Connotational To know its positive To know that slim has
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knowledge and negative positive connotation,
associations, to know when used about a
its associations with person, whereas skinny
related words is negative.
Metalinguistic To know explicitly To know that
knowledge about the word, e.g. its protractor is a noun; to
grammatical properties know that pro is a
prefix.
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2.2. Young learners
2.2.1. Definition
The term “young learners”, according to the author of the book An A-Z
of ELT, Thornbury, “is used to describe children of pre-primary and
primary school age, although it is sometimes used to include adolescents as
well” (p.250). In the same way, “young learners” as defined by Sarah
Phillips (1993) are “children of formal schooling (five or six years old) to
eleven or twelve years of age.” (p.4). Teaching English to young learners,
therefore, has a long history: in many multilingual countries, primary
school children are taught English as preparation for secondary school,
where it is the medium of instruction. In recent years, there has been a
phenomenal increase in the teaching of English to young learners, in EFL
context as well as in ESL, and in state school as well as in private ones
(Thornbury: 251).
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and naturalness, indicated by Brown can often be the envy of adults
struggling with second language.
The special characteristics of young learners and those that distinguish
them from other learners, as mentioned by Thornbury (2006) can be
grouped under three headings namely cognitive, affective and social.
In his theory, Thornbury indicated that the most relevant cognitive
factors could be seen in: “children’s relatively limited world knowledge;
the fact that they are still developing concepts and language simultaneously
and that their memory is still developing; their inability – particularly at a
very young age – to conceive of language as an abstract system, which
means they have a limited understanding of metalanguage, and do not
recognize error correction as such; a difficulty in sustaining attention for
extended periods of time; a preference for holistic as apposed to analytic
learning, and a related preference for remembering “episodes” (things that
happened) rather than facts; a greater tolerance for ambiguity – in the sense
that children don’t have to know what every word means: they are
predisposed to understand messages, even when they don’t recognize the
code.” (p.250)
Affective factors as further explained include “a lack of self-
consciousness about expressing themselves inaccurately or through
minimal means, and the need for encouragement and support. Also, young
learners are more likely to be motivated by intrinsic factors, such as the
inherent interest of an engaging task or game, than by extrinsic factors,
such as the need to pass a test. They are particularly predisposed to learning
through play.” (p.251)
Last but far from least, social differences include a lack of social skills,
especially where peer collaboration is required, and consequently a greater
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dependency on the teacher for direction and support. Their socialization
into classroom life is helped when they can recognize and rely on regular
routine.
Preferably, as young learners are subject to rapid mood changes and
often find it difficult to sit quietly, they can learn at best when they are
involved in a large variety of activities (Koce, 2009).
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• Scaffold the learners’ talk, to provide them with a conversational
framework within which they can express themselves (scaffolding)
• Establish regular routines in class, such as calling the roll, beginning
or ending each lesson with a song (routine)
• Train young learners in how to learn, by, for example, setting
learning goals, explaining reasons for doing things and asking
learners to reflect on their learning (learner training)
• Don’t over rely on pairwork or groupwork, but include plenty of
teacher-fronted activities as well.
• When doing pairwork and groupwork, monitor to make sure that
learners are on task, and intervene if necessary to ensure learners are
cooperating with one another (monitoring)
Thornbury (2005, p.250-251)
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2.3.1.1. Presenting
The title of this very first stage has indicated clearly its function in
introducing new lexical items to learners. As suggested by Thornbury, at
the very least learners need to learn both the meaning and the form of a
new word. Therefore, as he claimed, it’s worth pointing out that both these
aspects of a word should be presented in “close conjunction in order to
ensure a tight meaning-and-form fit” (p.75). If the co-writers of Teaching
Practice (p.146) immediately referred to the effectiveness of using visual
aids in presenting new words, Thornbury specifically emphasized the
importance of cutting down “the gap between the presentation of a word’s
form and its meaning” so that learners could possibly be at ease to make a
“mental connection between the two”. He also stressed some major factors,
subject to which the number of words should be presented. They could be
as following:
• The learners’ level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced)
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• Whether items are being learned for production (in speaking
and writing) or for recognition only (as in listening and reading).
Since more time will be needed for the former, the number of items
is likely to be fewer than if the aim is only recognition.
2.3.1.2. Practicing
Suggested by Gower and his co-writers, students often need a little time
for the new lexical items (or new words for short) to “sink in” (p.148).
They pointed out that learners may recognize new item but often delay
putting it into active use. In this case, the use of planned activities for
recycling and reactivate the new vocabulary is of necessity. This kind of
practice, as implied by Thornbury (2002) underlines the popular belief that
“practice makes perfect” (p.93). Additionally, he emphasized the action of
moving words from short-term memory into permanent memory. He
indicated that “new knowledge – i.e. new words – needs o be integrated
into existing knowledge – i.e. learner’s existing network of word
associations, or what is called the mental lexicon.” (p.93). This means in
order to ensure the long-term retention and recall, words or lexical items
need to be put to work, or into practice as it is often understood in many
other contexts. He proposed that vocabulary need to be placed in “working
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memory” and subjected to different operations which would be mentioned
intricately in the later part of techniques in practicing vocabulary.
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• Translation
• Real things
• Pictures
• Actions/ Gestures
• Definitions
• Situations
With a choice whether to present the word in its:
• Spoken form, or
• Written form
(Thornbury, p.77)
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• Using synonyms and/or antonyms. This depends on the familiarity
of the word that teacher is going to present in class.
• Identifying
• Selecting
27
• Matching
• Sorting
Thornbury, S. (93-94)
28
The most cognitively complex and demanding tasks in this stage are
ranking and sequencing activities. Different form sorting when
learners merely putting words into categories, in ranking tasks, they
may have to put words into unfixed order, often created by learners’
preferences themselves. One clear example can be “what to buy first for
an empty flat?” (Thornbury, p.98)
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way, learners will turn words from receptive to productive and put them
into long-term memory (p.100). For production tasks, there are two major
types that teachers may have used them very often namely: completion and
creation (both are of sentence and texts).
If text and sentence are often provided in completion tasks, they are
often created by learners in creation tasks. The tasks sound difficult;
however, this is a typical feature of those tasks. Besides, learners may not
have to produce all on their own, they are sometimes provided with a set of
words from which they would choose to use in their sentences or texts. For
creation tasks, such typical instructions are used: choose six words from the
list and write a sentence using each one; or write a short narrative
(dialogue) which includes at least five words from the list, etc.
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2.3.2.4. Games
31
into the classroom, and enhance learners’ use of English in a flexible,
communicative way.” (Nguyen & Khuat: p.3).
34
learners are to misinterpret it.” Concerning the identical subject matter of
techniques in teaching vocabulary, Akbari, O. (2008) held his interest in
experimenting teaching “vocabulary items through contextualization and
pictures.” By presenting pictures, model sentences, antonym and synonyms
into classroom, the experiment was conducted among three groups. After a
thorough procedure of testing and analyzing each group, conclusion was
eventually coined to prove the effectiveness of using pictures in teaching.
Notably that this experimental research was piloted on elementary groups,
which in the researcher’s opinion, mainly concrete lexical items were
presented and taught as a whole.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1. Participants
In order for the validity and feasibility of the research, the researcher
has decided to choose ten teachers currently teaching at ILA as the main
subject of the study. The following reasons can best explain for the
ultimate decision of the researcher.
First of all, after having been trained for both CELTA (Certificate in
English Language Teaching to Adults) and CELTYL (Certificate in
English Language Teaching to Young Learners) during three to six months,
teachers at this school have achieved recognized qualification in teaching
English and particularly in teaching young learners. Notably, most of them
have obtained intensive background knowledge from valuable experiences
in teaching English to young learners in several countries before coming to
Vietnam, which is the reason why they are, to be exact, quite well-
accustomed to the targeted students enlisted in this study. Additionally,
teachers at Ila, without doubt, are in direct and frequent contact with
learners. Therefore, they are at least well-aware of students’ needs, their
strengths and weaknesses, and more importantly, how to motivate them to
learn and acquire the new language.
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In order for the validity of the information gathered to be assured, use
of triangle methods including questionnaire, interview and observation was
carefully employed by the researcher with great consideration from the
supervisor as well.
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interviews. In using such a way, the researcher could gather most of the
information needed for the study.
3.2.2. Interviews
3.2.3. Observation
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the researcher with enriching data collected from the two previous
instruments and provide opportunity to have a closer and deeper look a
“participants’ behavior and actions within a particular context” (Mackey,
p.176). In this study, observation scheme was carefully prepared checklist
in combination with rating scale which was identical for each class being
observed.
In this study, three main phases in which each phase involves one
compatible method of study will be conducted under meticulous instruction
and revision from the researcher and the supervisor.
In the very first phase, questionnaire is prepared and designed with the
invaluable help from the supervisor. Aiming to seek details for answering
the first two research question, the questionnaire is of much help and
convenience in promoting options for participants. Herein, ten teachers at
Ila in the role of participants responses to given set of questions and
provided further information to clarify their choices.
Coming to the second phase is short interview with four teachers. Each
interview was estimated to last the maximum of 15 minutes as most of the
information has been collected through survey questionnaire. Randomly
chosen from previous questionnaire phase, each interviewee might choose
to take part in the interview or refuse to do so. In such case, a different
participant was selected. As the interview questions are semi-structured,
respondents in this phase could be at ease to express their opinion and
share precious experience as long as they are willing to. Any additional
information is all welcomed by the researcher.
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The third and also the last phase involves observing four classes, each
in two lessons. Notably that the four classes presented here are those of
four interviewees in the second phase. The researcher, since has been long
familiarized with teachers and students in those classes, will not intervene
or disrupt the continuity or flow of the lesson as it goes. Therefore, the
result gained from observations can be guaranteed and reassured.
40
In light of data presentation and analysis, statistics obtained from the
questionnaire were placed in the form different charts which could reassure
the clear cut format and facilitate the analytical task. Information from the
interviews was classified and analyzed to seek the answers for its targeted
research question. Information for observations was also synthesized to
make clear for any technique used in classroom. It is noticeable that the
compatibility and discrepancy among information in questionnaire,
interview and observation were mentioned accordingly.
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Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion
4.1. Findings
This section serves its best to answer the three research questions that
were proposed by the researcher at the beginning of this paper. Follows are
answer of each question respectively.
4.1.1. Common techniques in teaching vocabulary to young
learners at Ila
a. In presenting
80
real objects
70
60 pictures/flas
hcards
50
miming
40
examples
30
20 synonyms/a
ntonyms
10
translation
0
never rarely sometimes usually very often
b. In practicing
60 identifying
tasks
50
selecting
40 tasks
30
matching
20
10 sorting
0
never rarely sometimes usually very often ranking and
sequencing
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Teachers’ preferences in using different tasks for practicing vocabulary
items varied quite a lot in this chart. It was clearly shown that, for example,
five teachers (which equals 50%) don’t often use identifying tasks such as
“listen and tick on the options you hear”, another five appear to use this
kind of techniques frequently. Most outstanding are using matching and
sorting tasks, which accounts for 60% in terms of teaching preference each.
To be more specific, among ten teachers responded to this questionnaire-
based survey, six out of ten replied to use matching quite often and the
same number was applied for sorting tasks. As for ranking and sequencing,
one major factor that affects its popularity is the complexity required in the
task which hinders young learners in practicing vocabulary items the most
effectively. The least commonly used one falls on selecting tasks. Such
task as “choosing the odd one out” turns out to be least preferred by all
teachers at Ila. From the researcher’s perspective, the reason can be that
there are not many available materials for this kind of method. The fewer
ready-made tasks are, the smaller the frequency is. To conclude, in
practicing vocabulary items to young learners, matching and sorting tasks
are the two most preferable ways that teachers often use.
44
60
50 sentence/text
completion
40
30
sentence/text
20 creation
10
0
never rarely sometimes usually very often
From the observation, the researcher noticed that even though there are
some specifically recommended techniques using for each stage of
teaching vocabulary, teachers often used them in an interactive way. This
means they did not necessarily use each technique for each stage
separately; many techniques were mingled for a certain purpose and use.
Using flashcards, for example, could be seen commonly used in presenting
new words; however, when it came to the stage of practicing or revising,
T3 simply used flashcards for checking learner’s memory in order to make
sure they know the word. Any tasks for practicing or revising came
afterwards, which created a solid assurance for the effectiveness of the
activity. In his two lessons, T3 always started by getting his students (17 of
them, aged seven to nine) into a circle. For a lesson, he used a set of animal
flashcards, the other one was another set of sports, and then asked all the
45
students the meaning of each card. After checking their comprehension, he
used a ball, passed it around. Each time the person holding the ball had to
ask the next person one question “What animal do/don’t you like?” or
“what sports do/don’t you like?”. In such way, he accomplishedly
facilitated and recycled words for the whole class.
In the second class that the researcher observed, T4 also used animal
flashcards as a warm up activity. However, instead of checking
comprehension by using a ball with question to go around the class, he
divided the class into two teams. In a manner of a game, one student from
each team had to go up to the board, looked at the card that he/she was
shown to, then mimed the animal’s action to the rest of the team. By
combining the two most commonly-used techniques, T4 successfully
involved all the students and checked their understanding of all the
flashcards. As his class was at lower level than the first observed one, his
students were not required to write as a process of producing stage.
46
Presenting
Practicing
Revising
50 pronunciation
40 spelling
30 grammar (tense)
20 meaning
10
connotation
0
47
Connotation, for young learners apparently is a completely new term
and therefore, it is hard for any of the teachers to mention this in his lesson.
However, regarding connotation as an element in meaning-relation,
teaching words’ connotation in class contributes considerably to the
difficulty that teachers have to deal with in vocabulary section.
Exclusively, any issues in the group of meaning-related are considered to
be a tough task when they are brought into classroom to teach young
learners. Pronunciation, as a part of form-related group, presumably
regarded as another difficult part to teach does not affect much of the
lesson in comparison with the others when it only takes up 20% of the
total number.
Clearly, the matter whether to teach form-related parts or meaning-
related parts cause constant headache to many teachers. T1 shared her
experience in deciding which part to teach first in class. She said that
whether to introduce meaning or form first depended largely on the level of
learners. Examples were also given to elaborate to her point. Teaching
children aged six, for example, as they are in their early year learning a
new language, they hardly know how to write a word, the solution can only
be teaching meaning first. Gradually, when they are at higher level, when
they are able to comprehend and write down the word, spelling will be
implemented. T2 and T3 seemed to share another opinion. As they
observed their students, pronunciation was among the very first element
that they would like to teach their students in the early stage. As for them,
young Vietnamese learners at Ila often have difficulties in pronouncing
new words correctly. Consequently, getting them to work with accuracy in
pronouncing words is their preference.
48
Regarding difficulties in teaching vocabulary to young learners, T4
claimed that his students talked too much Vietnamese during each activity
he assigned them to do. “They all go crazy speaking Vietnamese whenever
I told them to work in pairs”, he said mournfully. He totally understood the
fact that as young learners, his students could hardly use English in every
sentence; however, the thing that mattered most was that even when they
were capable of using English, they didn’t do so. Asking for permission to
go out, for example, or asking friends to lend a pencil are the two easy-to-
use-English sentence that he supposed his students should have acquired.
Students’ speaking too much Vietnamese in class is the problem that not
only T4 encountered. The other three teachers also had the same problem
but each of them had, to some extent, reasonable resolution which will be
discussed in the next research question.
“It is true that many of them were not be focused at the same time as I
was presenting some thing new on board”, T2 complained. “However, this
does not happen to every class that I teach”, she added cheerfully. So it
means that the problem of unfocused students may arise in some classes,
which seldom occurs in the others. “They were too excited to stay
concentrated”, “They were often too energetic to stay still, and too busy
doing other things with their friends to pay attention” are some of T1’s
brief explanations for the reasons why young learners in her class could not
be focusing on her lesson.
One unavoidable difficulty in teaching vocabulary to young learners is
the fact that some of the students are often uncooperative. “They refused to
take part in any of the activities I asked him to” T4 stated. To partially
explain for the reason of this problem, T3 said “I think as they have to go
to school to appease their parents or they consider themselves inferior to
49
others that they are often reserved and reluctant to enthusiastically
participate in any physical activities”.
As observed by the researcher, common difficulties are not only
comprised of students’ small attention span, their using of L1, their
uncooperative attitude but also involved their misunderstanding of
teacher’s instruction. In T4’s lesson, as the level was lower, it took him
almost 5 minutes to get his students understand what they should be doing
in the activities. Instead of making all three steps: running, slapping the
right picture on the board and shouting out loud the name of the object,
most students involving in this “slap the board” game failed to do the third
step. It was until the game went halfway and he had to keep reminding
them to shout the word that his students finally remembered. By that time,
the game was nearly towards the end.
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It is worth trying any of those suggested special systems in class to
avoid not only the use of L1 but also such situation as students
misbehaving in class.
Thirdly, in order to cope with uncooperative students in class, T2
proposed an interesting way that she thought it might be useful for most
cases. In her opinion, to make students join the activities more
enthusiastically, first of all the activity must be engaging enough to attract
their attention, or in another word, appear to be appealing to their curiosity.
Secondly, for those who are uncooperative, teachers should try to use
activities that they could normally do the best, which means activities that
they often perform to the best of their ability. Furthermore, for difficult
students, teachers are encouraged to motivate them by giving them “certain
jobs” in the class. Delivering handouts, rubbing the board to write date and
time or similar things can help to make those students think they play an
important role to a certain extent in class. Gradually they may realize their
engagement in class’ activities and the amount of involvement might be
increased accordingly.
53
to creating a daily routine that learners get used to and practice without
falling in to the state of boredom.
Last but far from least, flexibility is not only helpful for teachers but
can also provoke students’ curiosity in learning. To explain for this point,
the reason is surprisingly simple, as teachers are flexible in their lesson, in
the way they teach, students (especially if they are young) can hardly
predict what might come next. As a consequence, they are motivated in a
positive way to learn more and more. This is almost true for almost all
young learners. Exceptional ones can be motivated as suggested previously
to become an important member of the class. With times, their achievement
will be attributed to the success of class community as a whole.
55
board. Once hearing the word, that member has to write down the word
he/she gets. The team with most of the correct words wins.
Spelling race: this game is useful for getting students to remember
word’s spelling. Class is divided into two teams. For each time teacher
writes a scrambled word on board and two representatives from each team
have to race to the board and write the correct spelling of the word. Each
correct word wins the team a point. The team with the most points wins.
Stop the bus: In the same way as Categories, students write labeled
column. When teacher calls out a letter, A for example, students have to
find one word which starts with letter A and belongs to provided category.
The first group to find all words shouts “Stop the bus”. The other teams
have to stop. Teacher checks accuracy and spelling.
Word Bang: This game can be used best to check students’
understanding of old vocabulary in class. Again, class stands in a circle and
teacher stands in the middle holding a set of flashcards (make sure that
students know all the cards in advance). Each time, two students compete
each other to shout out loud the name of the card that teacher shows in
front of them. The quicker is the winner. The game continues until there is
only one student left, who is also the winner of the game.
Word snap: The aim of the game is to get as many pairs of words as
possible. Divide class to work in pairs or small groups (3-4 members).
Each pair/group receives a set of words and pictures which correspond to
the words. Each time one student face up two cards, if they match he will
take them, if they don’t, he has to put them face back down. Turn goes to
the next person. The one who gets the most pairs win.
58
It is important to propose resolutions and solutions to any of the
problems encountered by teachers, which plays an essential role in the
researcher’s findings. Using a combination of various techniques along
with being flexible in changing class’ activities is one best solution to
minimize the difficulty in the first stage of teaching vocabulary. So as to
attract students’ attention at the longest time, teachers are recommended to
vary their tasks, activities and not to allow students play as long as they
like the game should be. Interestingly, some teachers suggest using special
point system or a set of rules at the beginning of every course to notify
students about their using L1 in classroom, which reduces effectively this
popular problem in language classroom. Furthermore, recommendations to
motivate uncooperative students are skillfully made to maintain the
community feature of the classroom.
Finally, this research proposes some compiled games and activities that
might be helpful for teachers’ repertoire. With a view to broaden teachers’
resources, available games and activities are of precious assistance and
help so as that every vocabulary lesson with teachers is a lesson in which
students can play with words.
61
References
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64
Appendix
Questionnaire
Hi there, I’m Nguyen Thi Kim Chi from 06.1.E1, currently a fourth-year student at
University of Language and International Studies. I am conducting a research
concerning teaching vocabulary to young learners and this survey questionnaire is
designed accordingly. Every detail you provide here will be kept confidential and will
not pose any impact on your current teaching. Your cooperation will be of much help
to the success of the research. Thank you very much.
______________________________________________________________________
65
1 2 3 4 5
a. In 1. using real objects
presenting 2. using pictures/flashcards
new words 3. using miming
4. giving examples/ specific examples
5. using synonyms/antonyms
6. using translation
Others: …………………………………………….
b. In 1. using identifying tasks (finding where the words are
consolidati- hidden/ mentioned), i.e., listen and tick the items you hear.
ng and 2. using selecting tasks (recognizing words and making
checking choice among them), i.e., choose the odd one out
vocabulary 3. matching
4. sorting (putting words into different categories), i.e., food,
animals
5. ranking and sequencing (putting words in a certain order),
i.e., “what are three things to bring with you when your house
is on fire?”
6. others: ……………………..
c. In 1. using sentence/text completion
producing Eg: gap fills, multiple choice
tasks 2. using sentence/text creation
Eg: choose 6 words >> form a sentence
Others: ……………………………………………………...
□ spelling
□ grammar (tense)
□ connotation
6. What are some obstacles coming from the students?
□ they are not focused
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