MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- MAI THI HUYEN TRANG USING CHANTING IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO YOUNG LEARNERS AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN LE THUY DISTRICT MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: TRAN QUANG NGOC THUY, Ph. D HUE, 2015 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ --- MAI THỊ HUYỀN TRANG SỬ DỤNG GIAI ĐIỆU CỦA BÀI HÁT ĐỂ DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO TRẺ EM TẠI CÁC TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở HUYỆN LỆ THỦY LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TRẦN QUANG NGỌC THÚY HUẾ, 2015 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that the information reported in this paper is the result of my own work, except where due references are made. The data and findings are true and with permission from associates.
The thesis has not been submitted for any other degree or diploma or appeared in any other media. Author Mai Thị Huyền Trang iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to study teachers‟ perceptions of using chanting to teach English vocabulary to young learners, how English vocabulary is taught through chanting and teachers‟ challenges with vocabulary teaching when using chanting. The present study involved both qualitative and quantitative data. The tools of data collection were questionnaire and interview.
Thirty primary school teachers selected for the study provided responses in the questionnaire survey and continued with the in-depth interviews about using chanting to teach English vocabulary to young learners. The results of this study showed the teachers‟ positive attitude about the effect of using chanting to teach English vocabulary to young learners at primary schools. The statistical analysis displayed how teachers taught English vocabulary and some main difficulties teachers faced in teaching English vocabulary through chanting. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the help and the encouragement from many people.
Firstly, I would like to thank my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran Quang Ngoc Thuy, who has supported me throughout my thesis with her patience, enthusiasm and knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. Besides my supervisor, I am also grateful to the teachers and students at Duong Thuy Primary School and other primary schools in Le Thuy District who took part in this study.
Their enthusiasm and agreement for my data collection have helped my project be completed. I would like to thank my parents and my younger brothers for their support, both financially and emotionally. They always give me strength and encourage me during the hardest time. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, who always there cheering me up and stood by me.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims and research questions of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Organization of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Overview of vocabulary.
Definition of vocabulary. The importance of teaching vocabulary. Principles of teaching vocabulary. Definition of chants.
Effect chants on second language acquisition of young learners. Characteristics of young learners. Teaching vocabulary for young learners. Using chanting to teach vocabulary to young learners.
Guidelines for teaching chants. Possible procedures to teach vocabulary to young learners by using chanting. Challenges teachers encounter when using chanting in classrooms. Previous related studies.
26 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data Collection Procedures. 31 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers‟ perception of using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners.
Teachers‟ perception of teaching vocabulary to young learners. Teachers‟ perception of using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners. Using chants to teach vocabulary is useful. Chants are very fun and children- friendly tools in teaching second language 36 4.
Using chanting can improve learners‟ speech, rhymes, intonation and pronunciation. How teachers teach English vocabulary by using chanting. Teachers‟ use of chanting to review vocabulary. Students are encouraged to chant in groups/ pairs.
Teachers set the scene before chanting. To help students learn vocabulary by chanting, teachers choose some vocabulary and put them together with a bit of repetition. Use of clapping, gestures, actions and rhythmic instruments is particularly appropriate to teach chants to children. Teachers‟ challenges in using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners 43 4.
Summary of findings. Contributions of the study. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further studies.
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Distribution of questionnaire items .1: The reliability statistics of the questionnaires. Teachers‟ perception of using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners. Using chanting can improve learners‟ speech, rhymes, intonation and pronunciation. Mean of cluster 2 .5: The ways teachers teach English vocabulary by using chanting .6: Students are encouraged to chant in groups/ pairs .7: Teachers set the context before chanting .8: Use of clapping, gestures, actions and percussion instruments is particularly appropriate to teach chants to children .9: Teachers‟ challenges in using chants to teach English vocabulary.
Teachers were not trained to teach English for primary schools. Different levels, learning styles, characteristics of young learners cause troubles in teaching vocabulary by using chanting. Children usually pay less attention to the lesson than older, so keeping young learners‟concentration is a problem. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.Teachers‟ perception of teaching vocabulary to young learners.
Teachers‟ perception of using chanting to teach English vocabulary to young learners .3: Using chanting to teach vocabulary is useful. Using chanting to teach vocabulary creates fun and children- friendly environment for young learners in learning second language. Teachers‟ use of chanting to review vocabulary .6: To help students learn vocabulary by chanting, teachers choose some vocabulary and put them together with a bit of repetition. There are many long and difficult words, therefore it is sometimes difficult to apply chanting to teach.
46 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It cannot be denied that English is the most popular and widely used all over the world. Therefore, in recent years, English has become a compulsory subject and been taught early in elementary schools in many countries such as Italy, Turkey, Taiwan (Meclosker, Orr, & Dolitsky, 2006). Graddol (2006) stated that English learners are becoming younger.
Hu (2007) and Nunan (2003) also assumed that it is necessary to begin teaching English to young learners. In his study, Johnstone (2009) agreed that widespread of learning language in primary schools is as “possibly the world‟s biggest policy development in education” (p. In the same vein, Brewster, Ellis and Girard (2003) point out that “Educationalists all over the world have recognized the need for English language learning at primary level and are doing whatever they can to promote it .1) In addition, in 2010, the Vietnam‟s Ministry of Education and Training has made a decision that children in primary schools should study English starting at Grade 3 (Nguyen, 2011). It can be concluded that educational strategy of Vietnam is to teach English as a basic subject for the development and integration of the country in the future.
Finally, parents want their children to gain English skills to keep up with the world's development to put pressure on governments to introduce English to younger children (Moon, 2000). Kuattiningsih (2008) emphasized that primary school students need know the basic of the vocabulary, the meaning and the pronunciation of English. Therefore, teachers should maximize their roles not only in providing and giving the basic materials but also choosing the suitable ways and techniques to teach English for young learners. If elementary schools do it well, the students will not get significant difficulties in learning English in the future.
An important component of teaching and learning English is vocabulary. Nowadays, students realize the importance of learning vocabulary; however, they 1 usually learn them passively because of some reasons: teacher explains for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions tediously; learners also have nothing to do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher. What is more, most of them think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words. Thirdly, students usually only acquire new vocabulary through new words in their textbooks or when given by teachers during classroom lessons.
From the explanations above, we can conclude that learning vocabulary is important as the basic need to encounter a new language. However, Klein (2005) clearly pointed out that children‟s language acquisition is different from the adult. Young learners tend to change their mood frequently, and they find it extremely difficult to sit still. Young learners are very easy to be bored.
Vocabulary is a key to learn any language. Vocabulary is taught in many different ways and there are many kinds of techniques to teach vocabulary to young learners such as using story telling with pictures, games, cartoon video, visual aids, songs etc. However, many teachers find it difficult to improve learning and using English vocabulary of young learners because they normally love fun, actions with the short concentration. Many English teachers are making a great effort to find new and effective method to teach English vocabulary so that those children are able to absorb the language easily.
In Vietnam, more and more researches is conducted about teaching vocabulary English to young learners, especially the Vietnam‟s Ministry of Education and Training (2010) claims that by 2020 all grade 3 students have to study English. Using chanting is a new method and used as a pedagogical tool at primary schools in recent years to develop second language acquisition of young learners especially in improving effect of teaching vocabulary in classrooms. Chants may reach students‟ minds easily and help them receive an encoded message. Chants also reach children both intellectually and emotionally (Mori, 2011).
Therefore, they have strong effects on learning second language in generally and vocabulary acquisition in particularly. To satisfy all my concerns, I decided to have a study on “Using chanting in teaching English vocabulary to young learners at primary schools in Le Thuy district” These are the reasons why this study is being conducted. Aims and research questions of the study The aim of this study is to identify the teachers‟ perceptions on using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners know how teachers teach English vocabulary by using chanting and explore difficulties that the teachers have when using chanting to teach English vocabulary at primary schools. This study is conducted in order that answers to the following questions will be sought: • What perceptions do teacher hold about using chants to teach English vocabulary to young learners? • How do teachers teach vocabulary by using chanting? • What challenges do teachers encounter when using chanting to teach vocabulary to young learners? 1.
Significance of the study Teaching vocabulary is an important and problematic area for both learners and teachers in classroom, therefore this study focuses on using chanting to teach vocabulary to young learners and the its effectiveness to English teachers in term of taking the most appropriate method to apply for their classes. In addition, this study increases inspiration for further studies in domain of using chants to teach vocabulary to young learners. Moreover, it can be used as a tool for study of other learners. Scope of the study This study focuses on using chants to teach vocabulary to young learners at primary schools in Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province.
The data for this research were collected at three schools in Le Thuy district. The scope of the study is obviously small; therefore, the findings might not be generalized to other contexts.