Using A Youtube Channel In Teaching Vocabulary for Standard 6 Students

Saraviswaran Narayanasamy
Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Ipoh, Malaysia

Abstract
This paper addresses the way for teachers to teach vocabulary for students using a
channel

called

Daily

Video

Vocabulary-Free

English

Lessons available

in

Youtube.com, a popular video website. Youtube can be an essential tool in teaching

vocabulary if it was accessed in the right note since it has a variety of channels to
sharpen ones skill in acquiring the knowledge of English Language. Implementing the
use of a Youtube channel in classroom can be handy in improvising and promoting
authentic vocabulary as well as stimulating the writing and reading skills by applying
the activities centred around the videos shown. As a key strategy in unlocking the
barrier in exposing the Standard 6 students learning vocabulary, one channel that is
Daily Video Vocabulary- Free English Lessons from Youtube is utilised since it is
immersive and the contents are packed with simple explanations which deals mainly
about vocabulary in a manner of easy understanding. The channel has various
episodes which a word is explained in detail and the way to use it is defined clearly.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Youtube channel, Standard 6 students.

1.0 Introduction
A person's vocabulary is the arrangement of words inside of a dialect that are
well known to that individual. Procuring a broad vocabulary is one of the biggest
difficulties in learning a second language. Receptive vocabulary refers to the words we
understand through reading and listening. Productive vocabulary refers to the words
we use to communicate through writing and speaking (Lehr, Osborn, & Hiebert, 2004).
According to Lazaro and Medalla (2004) it is believed that teaching English as a foreign
language has become a priority for educational reforms and development strategies.
One of the priority during the teaching of English is the teaching of vocabulary to
students.
Horwitz (1988) found that a substantial number of the ESL students completing
her questionnaire (ranging between 25% and 39%) either agreed or strongly agreed
that the most important part of learning a foreign language is learning vocabulary.
According to Laufer (1989, 1992), students need a vocabulary of at least 5,000 words
to cope with the demands of an English medium university degree.
Kang and Dennis (1995) write, "Any attempt to treat vocabulary learning as
learning of isolated facts certainly will not promote real vocabulary knowledge".
Students need to learn vocabulary in context and with visual clues to help them
understand.
Launched in May 2005, the resource that will be suggested to teach vocabulary
in this paper, YouTube, will be an alternative way in teaching Standard 6 students from
upper primary stage designated and aided by the contents of a channel called Daily
Video Vocabulary- Free English Lessons. This channel with a collection of several
series of video lessons explore a new word everyday and also teaches learners to
learn the correct usage of sentence in context to the word and its meaning. Example
sentences are presented at the end to explain the correct usage of grammar which
makes a rise in

2
2.0 Subject
The subject chosen for this study is Standard 6 students from 6 Delima of SJK
(T) Mak Mandin. 30 of them was chosen to represent as the subject of this study which
their ages vary from 11-12 years of age. Standard 6 students were chosen because
they are the most experienced among the upper primary stage consisting of Standard 4
and Standard 5 students as well and have the maturity to understand visual contents
easily compared to the other two. The students were mostly consisting of Indian race
since the study was taken place at a Tamil medium primary school. 30 of the subjects
were equally separated into two groups of 15 people each with both the groups
consisting a mix of boys and girls taking part. The school is located at Mak Mandin
which is an industrial estate situated at the city of Butterworth, Penang.

3
3.0 Purpose
The purpose of this study is to enable teaching vocabulary for the students
using a channel called Daily Video Vocabulary-Free English Lessons available in
Youtube. As a key strategy in unlocking the barrier in exposing the Standard 6 students
learning vocabulary, that channel is used as a tool in this study since it is immersive
and the contents are packed with simple details which deals about vocabulary in a
short and easy to catch up style. Furthermore, the purpose of the study is also to find
out whether teaching using videos are effective as per 21st century learning rather than
scribbling on blackboards or whiteboards which can be considered as the traditional
way of teaching since the past years.

4.0 Scope
The scope of the study is narrowed down to teaching vocabulary, which is a sub
component in English Language. The study is just based on the findings at SJK(T) Mak
Mandin and is not generalised for other schools to follow it and the subjects for the
study are only consisting of Standard 6 students.

5.0 Methodology
For this study, the comparative experiment way will be utilised to analyse the
studys objective of analysing the best way of teaching vocabulary to Standard 6
students. This method is effective in this study to sort out the results accordingly in a
clear and explainable manner.
30 students from 6 Delima of SJK (T) Mak Mandin were chosen to represent as
the subject. They will be separated into two groups, first group of 15 students which is
the controlled group will be shown into a room and teach them about vocabulary using
the traditional way of which is by utilising a whiteboard. Some words will be written on
the whiteboard and it will be explained verbally and the students will be asked to
explain about their understanding of the lesson.
Another group of 15 students, the treatment group will be separated into
another room which the teacher instead use the Youtube channel, Daily Video
Vocabulary- Free English Lessons to teach them. The teacher will explore the
episodes in it and expose the contents of it to the 15 students which in turn must
explain back their understanding of the words shown in the video clips.

6.0 Conclusion
Students with access to the necessary technology can make good use of
YouTube especially the educative channels available in it. Through this study, the 15
students who were exposed to the Youtube channel Daily Video Vocabulary- Free
English are expected to increase their knowledge of vocabulary through the video
exposure and gain benefits of learning the 21 st century way as well as moulding them
to be an inventive generation.

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