NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH ca. ry: S&S ` NGUYEN HOANG KHANH LINH THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LANGUAGE GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 4 STUDENTS AT HONG DUONG PRIMARY SCHOOL Nguyễn Hoang Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ENGLISH NGUYEN HOANG KHANH LINH THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LANGUAGE GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 4 STUDENTS AT HONG DUONG PRIMARY SCHOOL Hanoi, 4/2023 Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Name: Nguyen Hoang Khanh Linh Student ID: 11192898 Title of thesis: |The effectiveness of language games in teaching English vocabulary to grade 4 students at Hong Duong primary school. I hereby confirm that the presented bachelor's thesis is entirely my own work. The thesis is an original piece, with the exception of the source materials that are explicitly recognized in the bibliography and properly cited as references.
Additionally, I affirm that this thesis, or any of its parts, has not been submitted previously for the same or a different degree. Hanoi 2023 Nguyen Hoang Khanh Linh Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this study would not have been possible without the invaluable help and encouragement of numerous individuals, to whom I am grateful. I am especially thankful for the support, direction, and invaluable constructive criticism provided by my research supervisor, Nguyen Do Huong Giang, M.A, who has guided me through the methodology of this research and given me clear instructions on the progress of the study. I appreciate her care, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm.
Additionally, I express my gratitude to the management board of Hong Duong primary school for providing me with the opportunity to conduct this thesis, as the knowledge and experience I gained during the study were highly beneficial. I would also like to thank all the English teachers and students at Hong Duong primary school who assisted me in carrying out the surveys for my thesis. Lastly, I am deeply indebted to my family and friends for their support and encouragement throughout the thesis writing process. Despite my best efforts, my limited abilities and knowledge may have resulted in errors.
Therefore, all comments and remarks on the thesis be highly appreciated. Hanoi 2023 Nguyen Hoang Khanh Linh Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A conducive learning environment and effective methodology can facilitate meaningful learning for students. However, the conventional teaching approach often leads to student apathy and laziness. In such situations, teachers must adopt novel methods to spark student interest since most students tend to lose focus easily.
Teachers need to identify students’ innate curiosity and appreciation of their efforts to motivate them. One effective method of motivating students is by introducing new and exciting activities that stimulate their curiosity. One such approach is incorporating language games, which can serve as an alternative solution to the problem of student disengagement. Games can encourage sustained student interest and engagement in learning.
Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of using language games to teach vocabulary to primary school students. The study intends to identify students' learning difficulties, their expectations of teaching methodology, and their attitudes toward using language games. The study findings indicate that firstly, most students encounter challenges in acquiring vocabulary, yet they recognize the benefits of mastering it. Secondly, experimental teaching demonstrates that games are a valuable and effective tool for teaching and learning vocabulary among students.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended that language games be used in teaching English vocabulary to primary school students. To make the study more applicable, several suggested language games has been provided for English teachers to use in teaching vocabulary. Hopefully, this dissertation serves as a valuable resource for English teachers seeking to enhance their approach to teaching and learning vocabulary. Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.
Interpretation of action research spiral, Kemmis and McTaggart. 20 Figure 2: Student’s interest in learning English.--- 25 Figure 3: Aspects of English vocabulary that are most challenging for students. 26 Figure 4: Teachers’ opinions on the difficulties their students can face while learning Ï8)0154)I-1101/09710))11-10 ThạaầđđddđddđiiiẳăảẳảẳẢ. na ene ea eneeneaes 27 Figure 5: Students’ preferences of teachers’ techniques exploited in vocabulary —.
ene nent enone ents ne ne ene ea. 28 Figure 6: the game "Do the crossword puzZÌ€”.------ << ss2 34 Figure 7: the game “The Guessing game€”.--c----ccscsc ees 35 Figure 8: pre-test and post-test results of students in class 4A. 36 Figure 9: Students’ responses about language games. 38 iv Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIƠN.
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The importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning English. Games to teach English vocabulary in primary schools. The effects of using games on learning English vocabulary. Types Of (HHLCS.
SG TH HH HH nh 11 2. HOW f0 OVQANIZE A ĐHH©. Teacher% DF€D(IF@fÏOH. How to use games in teaching vocabulary to primary students.
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24 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Student’s interest in learning English ( Question 1, Appendix L4). Aspects of English vocabulary that are most challenging for students (Question 3, appendix Ï/Â). SG TH ng Hư.
Teachers’ opinions on the difficulties their students can face while learning English vocabulary (Question 5, appendix IB). Students’ preferences of teachers’ techniques exploited in vocabulary lessons (Question 6, Appendix LA). HH HH nghệ, 28 4. Findings from initial reSulÏfS.
The aim of action DÏ(TH. SG HH ng 29 4. The action plan procedure. 2Q 1n vn kg kg ngờ 30 4.
Comparison between two phases. Án HH HH HH hư. Vocabulary pre-test and post-test F€SHÏfS. Effects on students’ motivation and attitude.
Evaluation of the pr0c€dure. - - - «c5 s1 ng ng ngư 39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION. ng HH nghiệt 40 5. Summary of the key findings.
Limitations of the SfUdy.- nh HT HH HH Hư, 4I 5. Suggestions for further research.-- sàng rưy 4I vi Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A 3030300) 0 0n. 45 Appendix 1A: The survey questionnaires for grade 4 students at Hong Duong primary s€]l00).-- Án TH ng Họ 45 Appendix 1B: The survey questionnaires for teachers at Hong Duong primary RO Os C1). 46 Appendix 2: Questionnaire to assess class 4A students’ attitudes toward games.
47 Appendix 3: Interview for class 4A students to determine the impact of language games applied to motivate them in learning English vocabulary. 48 Appendix 4: Raw data of Pre-test and post-test results .-- -- 49 Appendix 5: Vocabulary Pre-f€sSf.-- Án ng ng ng kh 51 Appendix 6: Vocabulary P0sf-feS.-- SH ng 57 vii Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the introduction of the research describes the main ideas about the rationales, the scope of the study, research questions and the research method. Proposed Research Topic The effectiveness of language games in teaching English vocabulary to grade 4 students at Hong Duong primary school. Rationale Over the last few decades, Vietnam has increasingly developed to keep pace with the trend of global integration.
With the goal of step-by-step transferring to a knowledge- based economy, our country's education sector is also constantly innovating to train high-quality human resources that can meet the increasing requirements for the process of socioeconomic development. Due to the ease of communication and the reduction of communication misunderstandings afforded by speaking English well, both foreign languages in general and English, in particular, play a significant role in the integration process. The Vietnamese education sector is therefore concerned with how to enhance students' capacity and increase their foreign language capital. Since elementary school, English has been taught with the intention of exposing kids to English at an early age.
There are an increasing number of competitions held to encourage and motivate kids to learn and utilize English. In recent years, the Ministry of Education has also concentrated on renovating the English curriculum right from the primary school level. However, it is still challenging to teach students English effectively and to help them apply and improve their English communication ability. In language learning, vocabulary becomes the most crucial thing that students have to learn, especially young learners.
Mc Catty and O’Dell (2001) state that English has a very large vocabulary, which adds greatly to our opportunities to express the meaning in different styles. To be able to communicate in English requires students to have a certain vocabulary because it is considered an integral part of the language, used for Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A communication. Therefore, it’s vital to grasp the number of English words learned to apply. Without relying on the foundation of vocabulary, it is impossible for students to practice and improve four language abilities in English - listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Indeed, if pupils do not have the necessary vocabulary, they will not be able to listen, and as a result, they will not be able to speak, read and write, even if they have mastered the sentence pattern. In order to provide the groundwork for following grades, it is crucial to concentrate on developing and preparing kids with English vocabulary from elementary schools. However, primary school students are classified at the elementary level, so they are still confused about learning English vocabulary. They frequently struggle with forgetting new words and lack the motivation in learning English.
To do that well, teachers should explore and apply various methods and tricks in order to help students learn words quickly and remember them for a long time. Furthermore, the secret to making it easier for students to become fluent in English is their passion for language learning. For kids to be interested in and motivated to learn English, teachers must have an effective and appealing approach to introduce the language to them. There are several approaches to teaching English to elementary school students.
Using games is one of them. According to Hadvield (1984), “A game is an activity with rules, goal, and element of fun”. Since children like playing, applying games as a teaching tool can increase students' interest in learning English. Games are not only for fun but also for motivating students to master English fast and easily because by engaging in enjoyable activities on their own, they will find it easy to remember and easy to learn about the material which is taught by the teacher.
Based on those conditions above, the writer pursues a research direction focusing on ways to make the class more engaging for students to learn new words faster and remember words longer, finally, the writer is interested in conducting a research entitled: "THE EFFECTIVENESS OF LANGUAGE GAMES IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 4 STUDENTS AT HONG DUONG PRIMARY SCHOOL". Nguyễn Hoàng Khánh Linh — 11192898 — Business English 61A 1. Aims of the study The main purposes of the author when conducting the study are: e To investigate the real situation of vocabulary teaching and learning in the fourth grade of primary school.