MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN VÕ MINH THƯ THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING PICTURES TO TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING SUPERVISOR : LÊ NHÂN THÀNH, PhD Quy nhon, 2022 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN VÕ MINH THƯ HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HÌNH ẢNH TRONG DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. LÊ NHÂN THÀNH Quy nhon, 2022 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma at any university. I certify that my thesis contains no material, to the best of my knowledge and belief, except when specifically stated in the thesis. My thesis contains no previously published or written content by any other individual.
i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my Assoc. Doctors, colleagues, friends, and family, the successful completion of this thesis work would not have been possible. I take this chance to appreciate them for their expert advice and wise invaluable comments, and generous time. They have enriched my knowledge and made my graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life.
This paper could not have been completed without the encouragement and contributions of several individuals and groups to whom I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude during the stressful time of writing this paper. First of all, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Le Nhan Thanh, for his support, patience, and encouragement throughout my study. His technical and editorial advice was essential to the completion of this paper and has offered me several lessons and insights on how academic research works in general.
I was fortunate to have a supervisor that genuinely cared about my job. It is not my success without his valuable comments, suggestions, and corrections. Besides, I also take this opportunity to express gratitude to all the lectures who took part in the training process of the MA course at Quy Nhon University for their scholarly knowledge and experience as well as their inspirational to me which incited me to widen my research from various perspectives. This study was made achievable by the presence of the enthusiastic students at Tran Phu Secondary School, who devoted their time to taking part ii in this research.
I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating assistance, support, and management during the pilot phase. Last, but not least, I am grateful for all the support and encouragement I received from my beloved parents and my brother throughout my thesis education. Your contribution is important. Thank you all for your help and support.
iii ABSTRACT Vocabulary plays an important role in learning a foreign language. It supports students in learning other skills such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Language teachers have already employed mind mapping techniques to encourage their students to learn vocabulary. The current study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using pictures to teach grade-7 students to learn English vocabulary.
The sample of the study consisted of 40 grade-7 students at a secondary school in Ninh Thuan province. Those students were equally divided into two groups (experimental and control). The research was conducted based on mixed methods since it employed an experiment and a survey. These participants were divided into 2 groups: the control group and the experimental group.
Data were collected from three sources: (1) the pre-test and post-test to estimate the students’ vocabulary improvement, (2) the questionnaire to assess how the changes in their opinions towards vocabulary learning with pictures were, and (3) observation classroom was carried out to gather data related to students' reactions and responses in vocabulary lessons. The findings of the study reveal that pictures greatly affect EFL secondary school students’ learning of vocabulary. Secondly, an experiment was carried out to examine the impact of pictures on grade-7 students’ mastery of English vocabulary. The results of the experiment showed that there are statistically significant differences in the mean scores of the experimental and control groups in the vocabulary posttest due to the use of pictures in favor of the experimental group.
Along with the experiment. Based on the findings, the research provided suggestions that help students and teachers use pictures in learning and teaching vocabulary successfully. iv Keywords: effectiveness, pictures, school students, students’ responses, teaching English vocabulary v CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP. vi LIST OF TABLES.
ix LIST OF FIGURES. x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 1 2 Aim of the Study. 2 3 Objectives of the Study.
3 5 Scope of the Study. 3 6 Significance of the Study. 3 7 Organization of the Thesis .2 Classification of vocabulary.3 Important role of vocabulary in teaching and learning English.4 Stages in vocabulary teaching.5 Techniques in teaching English vocabulary.6 Factors affecting vocabulary retention.2 Principles of selecting a picture.3 Types of pictures.4 The use of pictures.5 The advantages and disadvantages of using pictures.6 Using pictures in vocabulary teaching activities. 29 3 Related Studies on Using Pictures to Teach Vocabulary.
35 4 Data Collection Instruments.1 Questionnaires for students.1 Administering the questionnaires.2 Administering the vocabulary tests.3 Administering the classroom observations.1 Quantitative analysis of the questionnaires.2 Quantitative analysis of the pre-test and post-test.3 Qualitative analysis of the classroom observations. 44 7 Validity and Reliability. RESULTS OF THE STUDY. 47 1 Students’ Responses to Learning New Words Through Pictures .1 Advantages of learning vocabulary with pictures.2 Disadvantages of learning vocabulary with pictures.3 Students’ intentions of future learning vocabulary with pictures.
51 2 The Effectiveness of Teaching New Words by Using Pictures .1 Findings from the two tests.2 The effectiveness of teaching new words using pictures as explored from the classroom observations. 56 3 Discussion of Findings .1 Findings from the questionaire.2 Finding from the two tests.3 Finding from the observation. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. 68 1 Summary of Key Finding of the Study.
70 4 Suggestions for Further Research. 76 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Background Information of the Participants .2 Reliability Statistics for the Questionnaire.4 Descriptive Statistics for the Pre-test and the Post-test .1 Advantages Brought About by Learning Vocabulary With Pictures.2 Disadvantages Findings From Learning Vocabulary With Pictures.3 Students’ Intentions of Future Learning Vocabulary With Pictures.4 Mean Difference in Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Within the Control Group .5 Mean Difference in Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Within the Experimental Group .6 Students’ Scores on Vocabulary Tests Between the Two Groups .7 The Number of Students Who Remember 3 and 4 Words. 57 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Summary of Participant’s Vocabulary Mastery Before and After the Study .2 The Students’ Participation in Class.3 Students in Slap the Board Game. 62 x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as Foreign Language SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences xi CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION To set the scene for the study, chapter 1 describes the rationale for the study, the research aim and objectives, and the research questions. This is followed by the scope and the significance of the study. Finally, there is an overview of the organization of the study. 1 Rationale Vocabulary plays an important role in learning a foreign language.
The extent of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to reading comprehension and overall academic success Doff (1988). If students do not have a good vocabulary, they will find it difficult to read a passage, listen to a conversation, write a paragraph, and communicate in English. As a result, they gradually lose interest in learning a language. Besides, most students in high school often have problems with learning new words.
They learn English vocabulary in an uninteresting and passive way. Teachers make a list of new words and give Vietnamese definitions, and they try to learn them by heart. As a result, students tend to copy definitions, repeat them back to their teacher and shortly forget the words altogether (Greenwood, 2002). Therefore, the teacher must apply other vocabulary teaching techniques to help students learn new words more effectively.
There are many kinds of methods and techniques to teach vocabulary to students such as teaching vocabulary by using pictures, examples, definitions, and synonyms (Nation, 1990). Among them, using pictures is one of the techniques that play a significant role in helping learners remember new words better (Nattinger, 1998). According to Nattinger (1998), words in our mental lexicon are connected not only by meaning, form, and sound but also by sight. It means that pictures are useful aids in fixing words in students’ memory.
Moreover, Gerlach (1980) also states that pictures could attract students’ attention. In short, pictures are appropriate for presenting and checking the 1 meaning of new words. From the statement, it can be seen that vocabulary functions as a cornerstone, without which any language could not exist. Speaking would be meaningless and perhaps impossible with only structures and without vocabulary.
Therefore, the English teacher has to be able to organize teaching and learning activities they have to give materials by using a suitable technique and master the lesson effectively. Especially in learning vocabulary, teachers must make students able to memorize such words in the English language and groups of new words. Maria (1987) stated that research in first and second language acquisition suggests that initial teaching priorities for language areas should be vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Therefore, the English teacher has to be able to organize teaching and learning activities, and they have to give materials by using a suitable technique and master the lesson effectively.
Especially in learning vocabulary, teachers must make students able to memorize such words in the English language and group new words. The statements above mean that vocabulary is important to teach and teachers must try to find the most effective way to help learners retain new words in long-term memory. Available literature has indicated the benefits of pictures (Joklova, 2009; Leny, 2006; Shinta, 2006). Yet, there have been few studies in a secondary school context.
Therefore, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of using pictures to teach English vocabulary to students at a secondary school in Ninh Thuan province in a two-month experimental study. It is envisaged that the outcome would add to the field of EFL teaching and learning in terms of vocabulary teaching strategies for students. 2 Aim of the Study This research aims to explore the effectiveness of using pictures in teaching English vocabulary to students at a secondary school. 2 3 Objectives of the Study To achieve this aim, the researcher tried to fulfill the following objectives: 1.
To examine students’ responses to learning new words through pictures 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching new words using pictures. What are students’ responses to learning new words through pictures? 2. How effective is teaching English vocabulary to students through pictures? 5 Scope of the Study The research was carried out with the participation of all 40 students who were learning at a secondary school in Ninh Thuan Province.
This study just focused on using pictures in teaching English vocabulary. The data was collected through questionnaires, vocabulary tests, and classroom observations. 6 Significance of the Study While much research has been conducted on the use of pictures, there are few studies to be done in Vietnam, especially in EFL secondary school context, it is significant to carry out the study because the findings of the study will provide be beneficial for teachers as they may use pictures more often in their vocabulary teaching. Besides, students will be taught how to learn vocabulary more effectively by using pictures.
Thus, it is hoped that the findings of this study would be pedagogically significant for teaching and learning vocabulary.