THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HÀ THÙY LINH THE USE OF INSTAGRAM APPLICATION TO IMPROVE GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY AT A HIGH SCHOOL LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Thái Nguyên, tháng 12 năm 2022 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES HÀ THÙY LINH THE USE OF INSTAGRAM APPLICATION TO IMPROVE GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY AT A HIGH SCHOOL Major: English teaching theories and methodology Code: 8140111 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ NGÀNH LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH Người hướng dẫn khoa học: TS. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Chuyên Thái Nguyên, tháng 12 năm 2022 i DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby affirm that this thesis is my original work, completed after registering for the MA degree at Thai Nguyen University of Education. I cited a number of sources, as shown in the references section. The information and findings in the thesis have not been revealed in any other studies.
Thai Nguyen, 2023 Student Ha Thuy Linh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I want to specifically thank everyone who helped and motivated me during the course of the study. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the administrators of the Faculty of Foreign Language of Education at Thai Nguyen University of Education for giving me the opportunity to carry out this thesis. Secondly, this endeavour would not have been possible without the assistance of Prof. Nguyen Thi Hong Chuyen, my adviser, who read through my numerous revisions and assisted in clearing up the chaos.
Next, I would like to thank my students at a high school in the Thai Nguyen province for their assistance in completing my thesis. Finally, words cannot express my gratitude to my family, their faith in my abilities has preserved my spirits and confidence high throughout this process. iii ABSTRACT The study was conceived and conducted to evaluate the current status of English vocabulary learning for 10th grade students to test whether using Instagram can enhance grade 10th students' English vocabulary retention. Research was carried out to evaluate students' progress in English vocabulary retention through learning and reviewing English vocabulary with Instagram.
The study followed action research with the number of participants being 25 students from class 10P in a northern province of Vietnam. Research subjects used Instagram to learn English vocabulary for 8 weeks. The current status of students' English vocabulary learning was clarified by questionnaire and pro-test. The students' attitudes towards the method of learning vocabulary with Instagram were captured by focus group interviews.
The author divided the class into 5 small groups to control the research subjects' learning using Instagram. After every 2 weeks, the author had a test aiming at effectively control learning. The most accurate conclusion was analyzed after the post-test results. Findings of the research confirmed that using Instagram application had positive impacts on improving grade 10th students’ vocabulary retention.
Besides, participants also showed their positive attitude forwards this way of learning. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES.
vi Chapter I: INTRODUCTION. Aims and objectives. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
8 Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW. 25 Chapter III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data collection instruments. Pre test and post-test.
Data collection procedure. 32 Chapter IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Findings of questionnaire. Results of Tests.
Results of interview questions. 40 Chapter V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 96 vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure1. Which language should children whose first language is not English be taught at school? 1 Figure 1.
Number of people using social medial platforms, 2004 to 2008 4 Picture 2. An example of looking up vocabulary 10 Figure 2. Instagram popularity among students in Vietnam 18 Picture 2. a post from tienganh.
a post from bbclearningenglish 22 Table 3. Actual teaching plan 30 Table 4. Students’ English vocabulary learning (before participating in the study 32 Figure 4. Students' purpose of using Instagram before participating in the study 34 Table 4.
Results of pre-test and post-test 35 Figure 4. Changes in English vocabulary test scores 35 Table 4. Results of observation checklist 36 Table 4. Results of test 1-4 36 Figure 4.
Changes in English vocabulary test 1-4 scores 37 1 Chapter I: INTRODUCTION The researcher introduces general information about the context of the study in this chapter. The chapter provides rationale of the study, aims and objectives, scope, research questions and significant of the study. RATIONALE Everyone knows the popularity of English, which is clearly proven by the numbers. According to Elizabeth Gration (2022), the English language is now used by approximately 1.35 billion individuals across the globe.
That equates to 17% of the world's population. 62% of UK adults believe that English is the most essential subject for non-native kids all over the planet to acquire while attending school. Besides, the English language is the official one in 75 countries, which means that English is the main language in 39% of the world's nations. The average age at which children should begin studying English in schools around the world is seven and a half.
Also from Elizabeth Gration (2022), people can see which languages are important for children to learn where English is not an official language. Which language should children whose first language is not English be taught at school? (Gration, 2022) 2 61,9 %, more than half of the survey participants, those who are asked believe English should be taught in the place where it is not the official language. The above analysis figures clearly show that English plays a huge role in human life. English is the key to help people connect with the world, increase their knowledge and develop themselves.
English vocabulary plays a significant role in mastering a language. The understanding of vocabulary has been considered a prerequisite skill that must be learned in order to improve other linguistic talents. Vocabulary is a fundamental requirement for the majority of other language abilities (Roche, 2013). Growing one's vocabulary is essential for language mastery.
A student with a little vocabulary will struggle to succeed in all aspects of language. According to Yang (1997), the reason why many college students are still having trouble with reading their English textbooks is that they are unable to read complete vocabulary. The basis of a person's language is vocabulary, which is made up of three fundamental language units: pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Grammar gives the overarching structures, and lexicon is the fundamental content used to fill in the gaps because "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (Wilkins, 1987).
Vocabulary acquisition is a gradual procedure including methods, and the prudent implementation of these tactics will accelerate vocabulary development (Nation, 2008). To summarize, vocabulary is essential as it constitutes the foundation of all languages. It is the raw material from which we can express our opinions and concepts, share information, understand others, and create personal relationships. One can communicate even if he or she only knows a few words and have no understanding of grammar.
There are so many learning media that students may utilize to increase knowledge and language proficiency (Putri & Sari, 2020) like printed books, brochures, modules, pamphlets, CD, multimedia, videos, internet (Sari, 2016), etc. Real books are one of the mediums that is recognized as a very efficient medium for pupils to boost their language understanding. Teachers can also benefit from printed 3 books while imparting content (Sasalia & Sari, 2020). In today's digital age, we may study our language through more than just books; there are plenty of online platforms and media games available to assist us in strengthening our language skills (Oktaviani & Desiarti, 2017).
Additionally, vlog is one of the mediums used to increase students' knowledge of English, which is demonstrated by Mandasari and Aminatun in 2019. There are printed and online platforms that may be utilized to instruct students utilizing the flipped classroom learning style (Mandasari & Wahyudin, 2021). As a result, mastering how to improve both written and online content in learning English is critical in order to attain the goal language. According to an article published in Our world in data (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019), MySpace was the initial social networking website to reach a million monthly active users, which it did in 2004.
This could be considered the birth of social media as humans know it. The number of user in most kinds of social network between 2004 and 2008 grew quickly, especially that the number of people being on Facebook jumped from about 100 million to 2,3 billion. For a decade, Facebook has dominated the social media market, but five other operating systems have much more than 500 million members. With over a billion users, YouTube, Instagram, and WeChat followed.
Tumblr and TikTok followed, each with over 500 million users. The youngest social network, Tiktok, also recorded significant achievements. In just one year, the number of Tiktok accounts doubled, reaching 500 million in 2018. Number of people using social medial platforms, 2004 to 2008 (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019) Initially, the social network is based on the concept of a brand, which creates a consumer's relationship to the company's reputation on a platform that provides relevant context, engagement components, and an evaluation system.
It is a popular way to reap the benefits of using social media as a form of advertising. This is the power of online communities to infuse an organization's internal culture with opportunities for cooperation, exchanging files, and information transmission (Pedamkar, n. As the demand for social networking increases, it also has to grow to allow users to share more forms of information. To attract more users, social networks must also meet essential needs, such as students' learning needs.
The Internet plays an important role, which has become a critical situation for us. The internet is a significant part of life for both entertainment and education. There is a large community that uses the internet solely for education, but there is also a large number of people, including the majority of youth and teenagers, who use the internet solely for entertainment (MahboobRabbani, 2015). The internet is a huge technological advancement, but social networks are extremely dangerous for youth because they engage in time-wasting activities.
The internet has an impact on our views on society and ethical behavior. 5 Liccardi et al. (2007) say students have social connections with one another in order to share their various educational experiences and to converse about various issues and topics. Cain (2009) stated that social media outlets could be utilized to make good decisions.
Still, they are also used for engaging in digital snapshots and information, showing security, and running online discussions because numerous additional groups within social networking websites motivate users to engage in these types of illicit behaviour. Irshad Hussain conducted a study in 2012 which demonstrated that almost all undergraduates (90%) favoured using Facebook. Social media was used to exchange educational activities and thrive on social networks all over the world by them. Besides, these platforms were also applied to share what they had learned with their peers and those around the world.
According to the findings of the study, social networking sites exerted a critical impact on promoting interaction and connection in the development of Virtual Communities around the world. Online tools are classified into 12 categories by Son in 2011 (Son, 2011). First category is learning Management Systems/ Content Management Systems (Moodle, Drupal, and Joomla, for example, are technologies for language learning planning, execution, and evaluation.) while the second one is communication to text and hold video conference (Messenger, Gmail and Skype, for instance). The next category is Live and Virtual World, which includes technologies that facilitate live meetings such as ActiveWorld, WiZiQ, and Wimba Classroom.
Social networking and bookmarking is an indispensable category which helps store and exchange information. There are a great number of social networking nowadays such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Myspace.