MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VÕ TRẦN THU THẢO USING FLASHCARDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN QUY NHON Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Võ Duy Đức, PhD. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VÕ TRẦN THU THẢO SỬ DỤNG THẺ TỪ VỰNG ĐỂ DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHO HỌC SINH NHỎ TUỔI TẠI MỘT TRUNG TÂM ANH NGỮ QUY NHƠN Chuyên ngành: LL & PP giảng dạy bộ môn tiếng Anh Mã số : 8140111 Người hướng dẫn: TS. Võ Duy Đức i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that the thesis titled “Using flashcards to teach vocabulary for young learners at an English center in Quy Nhon”, is entirely my own original work except where otherwise indicated. I have not used any sources other than those listed and identified as references.
I further declare that I have not submitted this thesis at any other institution in order to obtain a degree. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Võ Duy Đức, PhD, for the enthusiastic and continuous support of my thesis, for his patience, encouragement, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my research.
I would send my special thanks to all lecturers and staff of the of the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Pedagogy, Quy Nhon University for their profound knowledge and guidance during my two years of studying. I am also thankful to all the English teachers and students at IALC center for their enthusiastic participation in my research. Without their help, I would not have been able to complete this paper. Last but not least, I own a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation that has helped me to overcome all problems to complete my thesis.
iii ABSTRACT This study was carried out in the form of an action research which investigates teachers perspectives towards the use of flashcards in vocabulary lessons and then figure out whether this visual aid in vocabulary teaching could help improve students‟ vocabulary retention. In order to accomplish these purposes, five teachers and fifteen young learners at IALC center (International Active Learning Center) in Quy Nhon were selected to participate in the study, which last for eight weeks. Data collection instruments were employed, namely teachers‟ questionnaire and interview, pre-test and post-test, and class observation in order to have data to achieve most reliable findings for the research. Results from the teachers‟ questionnaire and interviews reflected a completely positive attitude of the teachers towards the use of flashcards, claiming that flashcard-based activities helped teaching procedure more effectively.
Findings from the tests and observation revealed that students had experienced an improvement in their vocabulary memorization throughout the eight weeks of study and the reason for the vocabulary retention progress was mainly attributed to the use of flashcards in language classroom. Benefits of using flashcards can be listed as the deeper impression of vocabulary on students‟ memory and a more frequently exposure to vocabulary use. On this basis, some implications for teachers‟ preparation, classroom practices and future research were proposed. iv TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1.
Research aims and objectives. Scope of the study .Significance of the study. Design of the study. Kinds of vocabulary.
Stages of Vocabulary teaching. Techniques in teaching vocabulary. Kinds of flashcards. Use of flashcards.
Flashcard as a language teaching and learning tool. Advantages and disadvantages of using flashcards. Teacher‟s roles in using flashcards. Characteristics of young learners.
Previous studies on the relationship between flashcards and vocabulary retention 26 CHAPTER 3. Data collection instruments. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers‟ perception towards the use of flashcards in teaching vocabulary.
Findings and discussion from teachers‟ questionnaire. Findings and discussion from teacher interviews. The extent to which flashcards can improve young learners‟ vocabulary retention. Results of pre-test and post-test.
Comparison between pre-test and post-test. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Limitations and suggestions for further research. 65 APPENDICES vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.
Design of the textbook “Every Body Up 4”. What Is Involved in Knowing a Word (Adapted from Nation, 2010). Procedure for data collection. Teachers‟ common techniques in teaching vocabulary .2: Teachers‟ frequency of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary.
Teachers‟ purposes of using flashcards to teach vocabulary and its frequency of use. Teachers‟ sources to get flashcards .5: Challenges faced by teachers in using flashcards to teach vocabulary .6: Scores of pre-test and post-test. 56 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3. Action research model based on Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)24 Figure 4.1: The teachers‟ view on the role of vocabulary teaching.
Teachers‟ evaluation of flashcards in general. Language games‟ availability .4: Problems encountered by teachers when using flashcards in the processing of teaching vocabulary. Results of the pre-test. Results of the post-test.
Rationale In terms of students‟ competences, English teaching has the aim at developing the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This means that the students are expected to practice these language skills through the activities given in the class. In supporting the development of the four language skills, it is necessary to learn language components, including pronunciation, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. It is believed that vocabulary is one of the language components that play a significant part in the development of the language skills.
Building up a useful vocabulary is important to the teaching and learning progress of a foreign language. Limited vocabulary; therefore, is likely to be a barrier for students in their foreign language learning. For this reason, vocabulary is highly important to any language. Whether learners are adults or young children, they need to broaden their own vocabulary.
Especially, for young learners who are at the beginning level of language learning, vocabulary will go hand in hand with them in the long journey of their language development. Insufficient vocabulary may become a long-term trouble. In fact, to learn English vocabulary, memorization is very important for the learners. In mastering English vocabulary, the students do not only need to learn a lot of English words but also to remember them (Thornbury, 2002: 23).
Accordingly, low proficiency makes students find a difficult in acquiring the language knowledge and taking part in class activities. It is clear that they could not communicate well because they lack words they need. As the importance of mastering vocabulary is obvious, the teaching of vocabulary should always receive high attention. However, the traditional 2 vocabulary teaching techniques in such a way as presenting new words on blackboard together with its phonics, meaning and requiring students to learn long word lists are still kept in many language classrooms, which lead to the inefficiency of vocabulary retention, especially to young learners.
How words should be learnt attracts a lot of discussion from many influential experts. They have suggested different ways to increase a learner‟s vocabulary which is considered as a key aspect of learning a language. There are some learning techniques that are proven effective such as extensive reading, contextualized word study, using games and visual aids, incidental learning of vocabulary and so on. Each of these ways has its own advantages and disadvantages.
One of the techniques is using flashcards in teaching and learning vocabulary which increasingly draws plenty of attention from researchers. Among them, Nation and Meara (2002) suggested that flashcards should have an important place in language learning. With advances in flashcard technology, this learning material has become much more powerful than ever before; that is the reason why teachers can make use of it to bring students success of learning a foreign language. This study aims to help the young learner to be more successful in English vocabulary retention and to investigate teachers‟ perceptions towards using flashcards to teach vocabulary.
Hence, conducting a study utilizing action research could be the suitable strategy in the context when the teacher in the study was also the researcher to examine the classroom setting, to perform the teaching technique in a particular class as well as to identify solutions for problems arising in teaching and learning English. For these purposes, it is urgent for me to do an action research on the topic, “Using flashcards to teach vocabulary for young learners at an English center in Quy Nhon”. Research aims and objectives Aims of the study The research is to provide a suggested technique in teaching English vocabulary in an English center in Quy Nhon to make students more interested in the lesson as well as to master learned knowledge of that lesson in an effective way. The major aims of the study are to point out teachers‟ attitudes towards teaching vocabulary by using flashcards and to improve young learners‟ vocabulary retention at an English center in Quy Nhon through using flashcards.
Objectives of the study To be more specific for the aim of the research, this study has been carried out to explore: - To investigate teachers‟ perceptions of teaching vocabulary through using flashcards. - To investigate the extent to which flashcards can improve young learners‟ vocabulary retention. Research questions In an attempt to achieve the above-presented aims, the study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the teachers‟ perceptions towards teaching vocabulary by using flashcards? 2.
To what extent do flashcards improve young learners‟ vocabulary retention? 1. Scope of the study The research concentrates on investigating how utilizing flashcards improves young learners‟ vocabulary retention. Due to time constraints and the length of the study, it has the participation of fifteen students from ten to twelve and five English teachers at IALC English center in Quy Nhon. The study was 4 conducted in eight weeks.
Furthermore the study was to investigate attitudes of teachers towards using flashcards and to measure students‟ ability of remembering word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation when using flashcards. Other aspect of vocabulary such as: grammar, collocation. were not taken into consideration in the research. The course book which the researcher used in this action research was “Everybody Up 4” Textbook, published by Oxford University Press.
Significance of the study It is hoped that this study may provide some insights in both theoretical and practical significance. In term of the theory, the study could contribute to the general theory of vocabulary and vocabulary retention improvement techniques to help pupils remember and recall vocabulary better and for a longer time. Practically, the study will help to improve teachers‟ teaching practices to enhance young learners‟ vocabulary retention. Furthermore, teachers can drill and perform the new words to young learners basing on the advantages and positive effectiveness of flashcards.
Design of the study The thesis consists of five chapters: Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope and the design of the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents theories related to vocabulary and flashcards. Previous studies on flashcards are also reviewed. Chapter 3, Methodology, presents the research methods, the setting of the study, the participants, the research data and the research procedures.
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, presents the findings of the study and some explanations, and comments on these findings. Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides the pedagogical implications, some limitations of the study and suggestions for future study 5 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Second language acquisition (SLA) may involve various issues. In terms of teaching young learners, it has a long history of constructing theory and practice.