VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Faculty of Post-graduate Studies LY THỊ THANH MAI THE EFFECTS OF GAMES ON HELPING HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH LEARNERS RETAIN WORD MEANING (HIỆU QUÁ CỦA TRÒ CHƠI TRONG VIỆC GIÚP HỌC SINH THPT GHI NHỞ NGHĨA TỪ VỰNG) M.A, MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Fieid: English Teaching Methodology Cede: 601410 Supervisor: Ha Cam Tam (Ph.D) HANOI, 2010 -iv- TABLE OF CONTENT Page CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i AKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT im TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 5. Organization of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5 CITAPTER |: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.
Vocabulary teaching and learning 2. What do learners need to know about word learning? 2.3, Stages in word learning 8 2. actors affecting vacabulary retention 8 2. Depth of processing 9 2.2, Teaching and learning vocabulary through games 15 2.1, Games for language teaching and learning 15 2.
Defimuon of games 1S 2.2, Advantages of games 16 2.3, Which games to use? 19 2.4, When to use games? 19 2. Word games 20 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 22 2. Design of the study 22 2. Data collection instrument 23 2.
Data collection procedures 25 2. The teaching to the experiment group 25 2. The teaching to the control group 26 2. Data Analysis and discussion 27 2.
Analysis of test results 27 2. The pre-test a7 2. The progress tests 28 23. The final test 30 2.2, Discussion and findings 31 PART C: CONCLUSION 3 1.
Limitations and recommendations for further studies 37 REFERENCES 38 APPENDICLS 1 Appendix 1: Tests 1 Appendix 2: Games applied in the experimental process xX ‘Appendix 3: Scores XIV -6- 1g. Womam = ! 1IUMAN, - MALL, ADULT äas đistinet tem 8ay whieh can he defined as + HUMAN, — MALE, - ADULT c Referential meaning is the ability to refer to objects or things (often called referent). Can you give me a hoo! Vs. I've bought a hook this afternoon Connotation: includes stylistic, affective, evaluative, and intensifiing.
It is the pragmatic communicative value of the words acquired by virtue of where, when, how, by whom, for whal. purpose and in whal contoxl it is or muy be used. This kind of meaning is rather unstable; that is they vary considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual StructuraVassociative meaning: includes rofl d meaning, collocalive meaning, associative meaning, and thematic meanmg. It is the meaning of a word acquize by virtue of its membership in a system or a set.
c Reflected meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning, when one sense of a word forms part of our response to another sense E. The 40” President of the US and the Great Communicator both refer to Ronald Reagan © Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meanings of words which tend to occur in its environment. pretty girl/boyvoman/flawer bul handsome boy/manicar‘aitliner. © Associative meaning is also the msaning which arises because of ils association with other meanings.
bad, buy vs. sell, hard vs. c Thematic meaning is the kind of meaning which is communicated by the way in which a speaker or writer orgunives the massage in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis. A man is waiting in the hall vs, There’s a man waiting mn the hall or The dog chased the cat vs.
The cat was chased by the dog. Categorial meaning: is actually one part of grammatical meaning which words derive from being a member of one category rather than another. Words fall into such categories as Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Prepositions, Conjunctions, etc. It serves as a ctassificalory basis.
Meanwhile, Jackson & Amvela (2000) divide word meaning into denotaton and connotation only. According to them, denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, -5- PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, relevanl. literature is reviewed, underlying the necessity and the Trleva of the sludy. In ofher words, background knowledge on vocabulary teaching in general and vocabulary teaching through word games in particular is looked at ctitically to set up the theoretical framework for further investigation The first scetion of this chapter is devoted to theoretical aspecis of vocabulary teaching and Jeaming and the second section of this chapter deals with the main issue, i.
teaching and Jeaming vocabulary through games 2. VOCABULARY TEACHING AND LEARNING 2. What do learners need to know about word learning? Aeeording ta Gairns & Redman (1986) when studying a word, lonmers should pay attention to two large aspects: 1) Words and their meanings (conceptual and affective meaning, style, sense relation, collocation, etc.); 2) Words and their forms (grammar, word building, pronunciation). Nation (2001) shares ths idoa with Gain & Redman bul adds one more aspect, that is word use, However, within the aims of the study, word meaning and word form will be further discussed 2424.
Word meaning In teaching and Icaming vocabulary, teachers should bear in mind the following important facts about lexical meaning that sometimes can be problematic: First, the same word can have very different meanings depending on linguistics and social context, Second, there is no one-to-one correspondence of words in any language with another, And no word is the exact synonym or antonym of another werd Nguyen Hoa (2004) distinguishes four major componionis of word moaning which include denotation, connotation, structural meaning, and categorial meaning. Denetation: includes conceptual and referential meaning. It exists by virtue of what it refers to. © Conceptual meaning is widely assumed to be the contral factor in linguistic communication and it has a complex and sophisticated organization, -4- Part B - Development: consisting of two chapters.
Chapter 1 is for literature review, which provides [he theoretical background of the study, Chapter 2 is for the study which represents the research question, describes the design of the study then presents the data analysis and discussion. Part C - Conclusion: summarizing the major findings of the experiment, voicing some implications for language teachers in teaching vocabulary and suggesting some recommendations for further studies. +- PART A; INTRODUCTION Part A — Introduction- provides the background to the study and statement of the problom, the aims, the rescarch question, the scope of the study as well as the rescarch methodology. It also outlines the organization of the thesis.
RATIONALE Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, “The knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. it cannot be denicd thal, vovabulary is onc of the vital parts in a language learning. Wilkins (1972:111) emphasized that, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”.
Cook’s (1991) conclusion is also consistent with Wilkins in that “Grammar provides the overall pattcrns, vocabulary the material to put inte those pattems”. Or some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‘language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar’, It is clear to all of us that onc cannot read, speak, listen, write, or understand a foreign Ianguage without knowing a certain number of words. How can one appreciate the depth of meaning implied in discourse or become fuent conversationalists if 1 not invalved? Vocabulary learning is obviously an essential part of language learning. Leaming words can.
considered to be the most important aspect of second language acquisition (Knight, 1994). Candlin (1988) slated thal". the study of vooabularyis at the heart of language teaching in terms of organization of syllabuses, the evaluation of learner performance, and the provision of leaming resources. " Maiguashca (1993) said that vocabulary is "perhaps the fastest growing arca of sceond language education in tenmns of research output and publication.” Thus, the importance of vocabrilary in language leaming cannot be denied.
Yet, although the issus of vocabulary teaching and Isaring is currently receiving allention of teachers and students in most of high schools in Vietnam and in my school as well, it is still far from clear how vocabulary items can be best taught and Iearned. From my own cxperiones and observation, vocabulary is offen laugh by ths grammar-translation -7- the “dictionary definition. if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will di over thal onc af ils denatative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles, having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions”, Cennotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations Thai are comected lo a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to thal word. The connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings.
The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger. Nevertheless, other linguisis, Gaims & Redinan (1986), classify the moaning of word into two types: conceptual meaning and affective meaning Conceptual meaning: According to Gairns & Kedman (1986), if a word has reference 1o an object, action or even in physical world, this can be described as conceptual meaning, which deals with the fact that the knowledge ofa word and what it refers to is not enough, but also how to conceptually separate it from words that have related meaning, for example “cup/mug”. To understand a word fully, therefore, a student must know not only what it refers to, but also where the boundaries arc that separate it from words of related meaning. Affective meaning: From Gaims & Redman’s (1986) viewpoint, this term is used to cover the attitudinal and emotional factors which can be expressed in an item of ‘vocabulary.
‘hese are often referred to as connotation. ‘hey gave an example in which “a single woman” is different from “a sprinter” because “sprinter” has a serigs of evaluative and cmotional associations which, for an English nati speaker, would wot be tru of “single woman”. These associations may include eld, isolated, on the shelf, a sad figure, ete, Wallace (1983) dofined that affective meaning is determined by cultural structure, the pattem of perception, thinking or feeling. Affective meaning reflects “people perceiving, thinking, or feeling things together in space and/or time”.
Ward form Gaims & Redman (1986) emphasize that knowing word form is as essential as knowing word meaning. Knowing word form inchides word grammar, pronunciation Giress, sound, spolling) as well as word building (affixation, compounding and conversion). +- PART A; INTRODUCTION Part A — Introduction- provides the background to the study and statement of the problom, the aims, the rescarch question, the scope of the study as well as the rescarch methodology. It also outlines the organization of the thesis.
RATIONALE Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, “The knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. it cannot be denicd thal, vovabulary is onc of the vital parts in a language learning. Wilkins (1972:111) emphasized that, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”.
Cook’s (1991) conclusion is also consistent with Wilkins in that “Grammar provides the overall pattcrns, vocabulary the material to put inte those pattems”. Or some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‘language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar’, It is clear to all of us that onc cannot read, speak, listen, write, or understand a foreign Ianguage without knowing a certain number of words. How can one appreciate the depth of meaning implied in discourse or become fuent conversationalists if 1 not invalved?