THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN THI KIM LIEN USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR THE PUPILS OF GRADE 4 AT QUYET THANG PRIMARY SCHOOL (Sử dụng kể chuyện nhằm tăng vốn từ vựng cho học sinh lớp 4 Trường Tiểu học Quyết Thắng) MASTER THESIS RESEARCH Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN - 2018 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN THI KIM LIEN USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR THE PUPILS OF GRADE 4 AT QUYET THANG PRIMARY SCHOOL (Sử dụng kể chuyện nhằm tăng vốn từ vựng cho học sinh lớp 4 Trường Tiểu học Quyết Thắng) MASTER THESIS RESEARCH (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Bui Thi Huong Giang THAI NGUYEN - 2018 DECLARATION The writer fully declares that this research paper is composed by the writer herself, and it does not contain materials written or having been published by other people, and that from other references. A THESIS USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE VOCABULARY FOR THE PUPILS OF GRADE 4 AT QUYET THANG PRIMARY SCHOOL Submited by: Tran Thi Kim Lien Approved by Supervisor, Dr. Bui Thi Huong Giang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The thesis on “Using Storytelling to Improve Vocabulary for the Pupils of Grade 4 at Quyet Thang Primary School” came to completion.
On this occasion, the writer would like to thank all those people who have contributed to the completion of this research report. The deepest gratitude and appreciation are extended to Dr. Bui Thi Huong Giang, the supervisor who has given her continuous guidance, helpful correction, moral support, advice and suggestion, without her valuable support it is doubtful that this thesis came into completion. The writer’s deepest thank also goes to the following: 1.
Tran Thi Sau as the principal of Quyet Thang Primary School, who has permitted and given the opportunity to the writer to carry out her study at the school. Dinh Thi Lien as a teacher of English at Luong Ngoc Quyen Primary School in Thai Nguyen City, Ms. Vu Thi Ngoc Anh as a teacher of English at Quyet Thang Primary School, who have willingly shared their time to conduct the treatment and collect some data needed for completing her study. The teachers and students at Quyet Thang Primary School, especially students in Class 4A and 4D at the academic year 2017-2018 who have participated in this study.
All of the lecturers of The English Department of School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University, who have guided and shared their knowledge during her academic years. Nguyen Thi Xuan as a teacher of English at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted, for her support, critic and guidance. Her beloved parents and her younger brother and her best friends Ha and Xuyen for their endless love, support and encouragement. ii The writer realizes that this thesis is still far from perfect.
She therefore will be glad to receive any constructive criticism and recommendation to make this thesis better. Finally, the writer expects that this thesis will be useful to the reader who wishes to learn something about teaching methods, especially using Storytelling in teaching English. Thai Nguyen, October 2018 iii ABSTRACT This study aims at improving primary pupils’ vocabulary by using storytelling and find out the impact of using storytelling on young learners’ learning English vocabulary. It also describes students’ perception and feeling after experiencing Storytelling method.
This research is action research which was conducted in Quyet Thang Primary School in Thai Nguyen City in the second term of the academic year 2017-2018. It consists of planning, implementing the action, observing and reflecting. The data were gained through tests, observation sheet, questionnaires and interviews. The data attained from those instruments were analyzed using formula to calculate mean, target of study, questionnaire percentage.
The data then were interpreted descriptively. The result of study shows that storytelling can improve young learners’ English vocabulary during teaching and learning process. In addition, it also improves students’ marks in the learning process. Furthermore, according to students, this teaching method is considered as a fun, good, stress-less method that helps them to memorize English words easily and makes their learning easier.
Key words: storytelling, vocabulary, young learners iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF CHART. viii LIST OF DIAGRAMS.
Background of the study .Objectives of the study. The scope of the study. Organization of the study. Teaching and learning a foreign language in elementary schools.
Characteristics of Young Learners. The importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning foreign languages. Storytelling in the classroom. Storytelling in teaching vocabulary.
The Steps to Implement Storytelling. Previous studies on the use of storytelling to improve vocabulary for young learners. The study design. Data collection instruments.
Indicators of Success. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The Questionnaire Findings. The Semi-structured Interview Findings.
Discussion of the Result of the Questionnaire and Interview. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION .XXVI vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Pupils’ activities in the teaching-learning process .2 Students’ grade achievement in the pre-test .3 Students’ grade achievement in the post-test .4 Pupils’ perception and pupil’s feelings of personal enjoyment after experiencing Storytelling method .37 vii LIST OF CHART Chart 4.1 Pupils’ activities in the teaching-learning process .32 viii LIST OF DIAGRAMS Graphic 4.1 The target of the study in the pre-test.2 The target of the study in the post-test .3 Storytelling is fun .4 Storytelling as a useful method .5 Storytelling as a teaching method .6 Storytelling makes happy .7 Storytelling gives benefits .8 Storytelling gives pressure .41 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter presents the introduction of the study. It is divided into five parts: the background of the study, the objectives of the study, the scope of the study, the research questions, the significance of the study and organization of the study. Background of the study Language plays a very important role in social relations among human beings.
It is a medium of communication which enables people to interact, converse, and also to share with others. The most important language in the world is English because it is considered the primary international communication. It is the reason why so many people want to study and conquer it. Learning a foreign language especially English as an international language has become more important in facing the globalization.
Everyone has to be able to communicate with foreigners because there will be no boundaries among the countries. Vietnam, that is located in a strategic area, is getting a strong effect of this phenomenon. Ordinary people especially the old generations might not feel the direct effect caused by the globalization. However, the young learners have to be ready as the next generation will be responsible for their better future to get new knowledge and facing the globalization improvement.
To be able to communicate well, people will need the selection of English words known as vocabulary. Therefore, it is important for the pupils to learn vocabulary as the basic competence to learn those four skills in English as Cameron (2001) states that vocabulary is a base to the learning of a language at the initial level. Nowadays, English is one of the compulsory subjects taught to young learners in primary schools from grade 3 in Viet Nam. Different techniques are also used by teachers for young learners, such as teaching vocabulary through lists, translation, synonyms, antonyms, contexts, and so on.
Unfortunately, the techniques above are not interesting for young learners. Those techniques are too traditional to teach young learners in this globalization era. Based on the researcher’s pre-observation 1 at the beginning of the school year 2017-2018 in Quyet Thang Primary school, it was found that the pupils got problems in learning English especially vocabulary. First, the pupils got difficulties to understand the vocabulary that was learned and the class was not fun and enjoyable since the teacher use conventional techniques like translation and memorizing vocabulary lists.
Second, to teach vocabulary, teacher’s creativities, appropriate methods, and the variation of the activities are required especially for young learners. Therefore, it is a challenge for teachers of young learners to think creatively in teaching vocabulary to find activities which provide a fun and enjoyable situation. It is agreed that if pupils are learning in a fun and enjoyable situation, it will be easier for them to understand and catch the materials. Concerning on that, the use of alternative activities is needed, and storytelling is one of the activities that can be used in teaching vocabulary to young learners.
Additionally, storytelling has proven to be very popular among young learners. Storytelling is an essential element in primary education as it appeals to children’s imagination and encourages positive attitudes towards learning languages. Cameron (2001: 159) states “Stories offer a full imaginary world, created by the language, which allows learners to enter and enjoy as they learn a language”. From the statement, it can be concluded that storytelling offers an enjoyable learning situation.
In such an enjoyable and fun situation, pupils may learn better because they will be highly motivated to be involved in teaching learning process. The researcher chose the topic using storytelling to improve vocabulary because she believes that stories are important not only in our mother tongue but also in learning foreign languages. Children enjoy listening to stories which are familiar with narrative conventions, and they can make predictions about what will happen next. Stories are an ideal introduction to the foreign language as they present language in a familiar and memorable context.
Stories could help learners in learning and it could be more fun. 2 A lot of books were written about story-telling and young learners, but the researcher would like to concentrate her work on her fourth-grade pupils at Quyet Thang Primary School because she has mostly worked with them and their beginning position still needs much attention. Besides that, because they are in the second stage beginning period of learning English, their vocabulary achievement should be more concerned. Therefore, based on the explanation above, this research was conducted in the level of the fourth-grade pupils in order not only to teach vocabulary in different techniques from the early stage but also to find out pupils’ responses toward the use of storytelling in the teaching of English vocabulary.
From the clarification above, the researcher takes the storytelling as the topic of this research. That is the reason why she chooses the title for this thesis “Using storytelling to improve vocabulary for the pupils of grade 4 at Quyet Thang Primary School” in the second term of the academic year 2017-2018.Objectives of the study The purposes of the study are to improve primary pupils’ vocabulary by using storytelling and find out the impact of using storytelling on young learners’ learning English vocabulary. Research Questions Once having determined the general topic area of research, my research questions are formulated as follows: 1. How can storytelling improve vocabulary for primary pupils? 2.
How are the student’s responses to learning vocabulary through storytelling? 1. The scope of the study In the school year 2017-2018, the researcher was designated to teach English to the fourth-grade pupils at Quyet Thang Primary in Thai Nguyen City. In facts, there are many techniques and methods used to improve pupils’ vocabulary and there are also a variety of ways of using storytelling in improving other skills. However, regarding her mentioned pre-observation of pupils and the limit of the thesis, the researcher is going to focus on improving student’s vocabulary by using storytelling and describe the student’s perception and feeling after experiencing 3 storytelling method.
This study uses action research applying in the second term of the school year 2017-2018, which consists of planning, implementing the action, observing and reflecting. The significance of the study The findings of the study will provide the effectiveness of using storytelling to increase the fourth-grade pupils’vocabulary in Quyet Thang Primary School.