VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ MINH THU THE APPLICATION OF TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR CHILDREN AGED 3 TO 5 AT A KINDERGATEN IN HANOI Ứng dụng phương pháp phản xạ toàn thân (TPR) trong việc dạy từ vựng cho trẻ từ 3 đến 5 tuổi tại một trường mầm non ở Hà Nội. MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI, 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ MINH THU THE APPLICATION OF TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR CHILDREN AGED 3 TO 5 AT A KINDERGATEN IN HANOI Ứng dụng phương pháp phản xạ toàn thân (TPR) trong việc dạy từ vựng cho trẻ từ 3 đến 5 tuổi tại một trường mầm non ở Hà Nội. MA MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Tran Thanh Nhan HANOI, 2018 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis submitted for the Master of Art degree at the University of Languages and International Studies is a presentation of my own research and has not been previously submitted by any other person at any other universities for any degrees.
Wherever contributions of other researchers are involved, every effort is made to indicate this clearly, with due reference to the literature, and acknowledgement of collaborative research and discussion. The work was done under the supervision of Dr. Tran Thanh Nhan, at the University of Languages and International Studies. Hanoi, June 2018 Formatted: English (U.) Do Thi Minh Thu i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my lecturer and my supervisor, Dr.
Tran Thanh Nhan for her valuable suggestions and instructions without which it would have been really challenging for me to accomplish this study. I would like to acknowledge my great appreciation to my colleagues for their effective cooperation in collecting data for completing this study. Their enthusiastic participation was indispensable to my research. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my family for all the support I received to finish this thesis.
ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Early childhood is a precious period when children get their most rapid performance in terms of emotional, physical, cognitive and language development (Crain, 2005). It is deemed to be the most valuable time to start teaching one or more languages to young children. There are various methods and techniques in teaching foreign languages; Total Physical Response (TPR) is one of the effective methods of teaching children. TPR is a method which is built around the coordination of speech and action, in other words it is to teach language through activity (Richards and Rodgers, 2001).
There would be no texts involved in the teaching environment but songs, games, and stories accompanied with actions, which attract the attention of young active learners. The purpose of this research project was to observe the impact that the application of TPR method reveals in teaching English vocabulary to children aged 3-5 at a kindergarten in Hanoi. The findings and discussion are based on the analysis of the data collected from 30 children. The results also highlight that the use of TPR can be an effective way to help young learners improve their vocabulary especially in understanding the meaning of words, pronouncing the words correctly and using them in daily life.
On the other hand, a stress-free environment allows children to be more receptive and motivated to the target language (TL) learning. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS TPR: Total Physical Response ELT: English Language Teaching EFL: English as a Foreign Language GMT: Grammar Translation Method TL: Target Language L1: First Language L2: Second language iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table 2.1: Information of the observed classes.2: Information of the Test Plan .1: Information of the Pre-Test.2: Result of the Pre-Test.3: Information of the First Cycle Test.4: Result of the First Cycle Test .5: Information of the Second Cycle Test.6: Result of the Second Cycle Test.7: Information of the Post Test .8: Result of the Post Test .9: The result of the test during the Action Research .1: The result of the tests during Action ResearchError! Bookmark not defined. Cycle of Action Research .17 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS.
iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES. Aims and objectives of the study. Aims of the study. Objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study .5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
The principles of teaching vocabulary to children. Definition vocabulary mastery. Characteristics of children. The principles of teaching vocabulary to children.
A brief history of Total Physical Response. The conception of TPR. The objectives of TPR. The teacher and learners role in TPR.
The principles of TPR. 9 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY. Setting and participants. General information about the kindergarten.
Students and English classes at the kindergarten. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure.
16 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. First Cycle Test. Second Cycle Test. Classroom observation analysis.
Students’ engagement in activities. Students’ vocabulary mastery. Their reactions towards the English Language. Findings and discussion.
Summary of major findings. Suggestions for further studies. 33 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.37 viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale The importance of English as an international language causes a phenomenon in Vietnam where English is taught to students at very young ages.
Working as an English teacher, the researcher found that young learners had problems in memorizing and mastering English vocabulary items. Therefore, it is necessary to find a proper teaching method in order to stimulate students’ interest in learning vocabulary. According to Harmer (2001: 38), young learners especially those up to the age of nine to ten learn differently from older learners, adolescents, and adults. They may easily get bored, and lose their interest after ten minutes or so.
As a result, teachers of this level need to plan a wide range of activities for a given time period, and also be flexible enough in conducting their activities in order to achieve the aims of the lesson. In teaching English to children, teachers play an important role since they not only keep students interested in learning English but also motivate them to use English in real life. There are many methods applied in teaching language to children. Total Physical Response (TPR), a method developed by James J.
Asher (1942), is one of the methods that motivate children to learn and use vocabulary as a set of language, not just a separated component. The research conducted by Wulandari (2002), has proven that there is a significant difference of the students’ achievement in mastering English vocabulary by using TPR. Therefore, in this study, the writer will focus on applying TPR in teaching English vocabulary for the very young children. Aims and objectives of the study 1.
Aims of the study As the title suggests, the overarching aim is to study the application of TPR in teaching vocabulary for children in the context of a kindergarten in Hanoi. 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Objectives of the study To achieve the above aims, the following objectives are set for exploration: a. To know how TPR can improve children’s English vocabulary.
To identify the improvement of students by using TPR methodology. To study the effectiveness of TPR approach to help children master English vocabulary. Research questions To make the task manageable, the above objectives are translated into the following research questions: 1) How can TPR improve the children‟ mastery of English vocabulary items? 2) What are the children's responses and attitudes towards TPR? 3) What are the advantages of using TPR method in teaching English vocabulary to children? 3. Scope of the study Actually, the TPR method can be used to teach listening, speaking, reading and writing, too.
However, within the framework of this minor thesis, the study only focuses on the teaching of vocabulary using the TPR method, in particular to the teaching of children aged 3-5 at a kindergarten in Hanoi. Methods of the study The researcher used action research to investigate the topic. According to Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2005: 226) “action research may be used in almost setting where a problem involving people, tasks, and procedures try out for solutions, or where some change of feature result in a more desirable outcome”. The writer carried out the study with two cycles to investigate how effective the TPR was in improving students’ vocabulary.
The study adopted qualitative and quantitative method for data collection and data analysis. Two collection instruments were employed including four tests (1 pre-tests, 2 cycle-tests, and 1 post-tests), which would contribute to quantitative 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com collection method and classroom observation which would give data for qualitative collection method. Significance of the study The findings of the present study are hoped to be useful to the following groups: a. For the teacher: English Teachers at investigated kindergarten and other kindergartens or English centers for children can make use of the findings and become aware of the effectiveness of TPR in teaching second language (L2).
They also can consider using TPR as an alternative teaching method so that they can get the best results in teaching English for the early age children. For students: Children can learn English in an interesting way and naturally enrich their vocabulary by implementing the TPR method. For researchers: Language teaching methodology researchers can conduct further studies in the area which may form other new English teaching methods and techniques that identify the appropriate way of teaching L2 for children at very young age. Organization of the study The thesis consists of three parts, namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
Part A: Introduction This part presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the method and the design of the study. Part B: Development This part consists of three chapters including Literature Review, Methodology and Analysis and Discussion. Chapter 1: Literature Review 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com This chapter provides an overview history of TPR as well as the review of related works in this topic. Chapter 2: Methodology It presents the subjects of the study, research instruments, collecting data procedure and data analysis procedure from which answers for research questions could be found.
Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion The data collected from tests (Pre-tests and Post-tests) and classroom observations are analyzed in this chapter. Also, some findings and discussion based on the analysis are presented. Part C: Conclusion In this part, the major findings, some recommendations, limitations of the research as well as suggestions for further study are presented. The appendices are the last part of the study following the reference.
4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. The principles of teaching vocabulary to children 1. Definition vocabulary mastery Vocabulary is one of the language aspects which should be learnt. In learning vocabulary automatically students have to know the meaning of words itself, how to pronounce, how to spell, and how to use them in different contexts.
The vocabulary tests will be utilized to measure the learners’ vocabulary mastery. Characteristics of children Generally, the way children learn L2 is different from the way adults do due to their characteristics. Children are willing to do any kinds of activities as long as they feel relaxed and happy.