HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
GRADUATION PAPER
Employing visual aids and translation technique in teaching
vocabulary to high school students – A comparison
Submited by: Huynh Phu & Pham Thi Lan Anh
Supervisor: Ms. Dao Xuan Phuong Trang, M.A
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in English Language Teaching
Ho Chi Minh city, April 2011
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Using visual aids and translation technique in teaching vocabulary
to high school students – A comparison
Huynh Phu
Pham Thi Lan Anh
Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy
English Department
Supervisor: Ms Dao Xuan Phuong Trang, M.A.
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Acknowledgements
This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people, to all of
whom the researchers are profoundly indebted.
The researchers wish, first and foremost, to express deep gratitude to our supervisor, Ms.
Dao Xuan Phuong Trang for her enthusiastic guidance from the beginning to the completion of
this paper. Without her valuable advice, critical comments and constant support, this research
could not have taken this shape.
Secondly, the research team also wants to send many sincere thanks to all the teachers in
the Department of English, Ho Chi Minh University of Pedagogy for giving us a chance to
implement this study. Especially, we would like to thank Ms. Dinh Tran Hanh Nguyen for
recommending Ms. Dao Xuan Phuong Trang to be our supervisor. Additionally, we are really
grateful to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung for spending his precious time giving us two classes on
research methodology. These classes are of prime importance to us as they help us review
knowledge needed for a successful and well-formatted thesis.
Thirdly, the researchers own a debt of gratitude to all the members of our class A07 for
their continual encouragement and for arranging for the two researchers to go to the same high
school to conduct the research with the best convenience.
Fourthly, we should like to thank to all the teachers and students in Hung Vuong high
school who agreed to help us carry out the experiment lessons and collect the data for the
studying purpose.
Last but not least, the researchers are truly grateful to our families, teachers and friends
who have never ceased to motivate and assist us during the time we conducted our study.
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 2
Table of contents ................................................................................................................. 3
Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 8
Background to the study ................................................................................................. 8
Aims of the study .......................................................................................................... 10
The organization of the study ....................................................................................... 11
Chapter 2:Literature review .............................................................................................. 13
The power of English .................................................................................................... 13
English in teaching and learning ................................................................................... 14
Vocabulary in daily life ................................................................................................ 15
Speaking skill ............................................................................................................ 16
Writing skill .............................................................................................................. 17
Vocabulary and reading comprehension ....................................................................... 18
Types of vocabulary...................................................................................................... 21
Active and passive vocabulary.................................................................................. 21
Concrete and abstract vocabulary ................................................................................. 21
Aspects of vocabulary ................................................................................................... 22
Form .......................................................................................................................... 22
Grammar ................................................................................................................... 23
Collocation ................................................................................................................ 24
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Aspects of meaning ....................................................................................................... 24
Word formation ......................................................................................................... 26
How to present a new vocabulary item ......................................................................... 29
Translation and Visual aids ........................................................................................... 31
Research on the effects of visual techniques ................................................................ 34
Chapter 3: Design and Method of Investigation ............................................................... 37
Research Site ................................................................................................................. 37
Participants .................................................................................................................... 38
Data collection instruments........................................................................................... 39
Questionnaire ............................................................................................................ 39
Class Observation ..................................................................................................... 40
Test ............................................................................................................................ 40
Pre-test ................................................................................................................... 40
Mini- tests .............................................................................................................. 41
Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 41
Pre - intervention....................................................................................................... 41
While - intervention .................................................................................................. 42
Post - intervention ..................................................................................................... 43
Statistic Analysis ........................................................................................................... 44
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion ................................................................................. 46
Mini-test results ............................................................................................................ 46
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Observation analysis ..................................................................................................... 48
Talking time .............................................................................................................. 49
Activity ..................................................................................................................... 52
Language use ............................................................................................................ 55
Generalization of the findings ....................................................................................... 57
Student’s questionnaires ........................................................................................... 58
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................... 73
Answers to the research questions: ............................................................................... 73
Strengths and weaknesses of the study ......................................................................... 74
Pedagogical recommendations...................................................................................... 76
Suggestions for further research ................................................................................... 78
References ......................................................................................................................... 80
Appendix A: Pre-test......................................................................................................... 85
Appendix B1: Mini-test 1 ................................................................................................. 91
Appendix B2: Mini-test 2 ................................................................................................. 92
Appendix B3: Mini-test 3 ................................................................................................. 94
Appendix B4: Mini-test 4 ................................................................................................. 96
Appendix C1: Observation sheet ...................................................................................... 98
Appendix C2: Summary of Observation results ............................................................... 99
Appendix D1: Vietnamese Questionnaire ..................................................................... 100
Appendix D2: English Questionnaire ............................................................................. 104
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Appendix E1: Vocabulary lesson #4 (Translation) ......................................................... 109
Appendix E2: Vocabulary lesson #4 (Visual aids) ......................................................... 113
Appendix F1: Raw pre-test score (class 10A19) ............................................................ 118
Appendix F2: Raw pre-test score (class 10A20) ............................................................ 126
Appendix G – Raw scores of 4 mini-tests ...................................................................... 129
Appendix I– Critical values of t ...................................................................................... 131
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Abstract
In Vietnamese high schools nowadays, translation and visuals are the major techniques
employed by English teachers when presenting new lexical items in the classroom. Each of these
techniques has both merits and defects. This brings the researchers to the idea of conducting this
study with the intention to examine the effects of using visual aids in teaching vocabulary in high
schools. The study was implemented on a sample 30 students purposefully selected from two
tenth grade classes in Hung Vuong high school. These participants were divided into two
separate groups, and both took turn to experience the two vocabulary teaching techniques which
were translation and visual aids. The researching instruments are a pre-test, 4 mini-tests, a
questionnaire and an observation sheet. The pre-test was used to select the participants for the
study. The 4 mini-tests aimed at examining the differences in the students’ performance between
the two groups going through the four-week program. The observation sheets and questionnaire
were employed to measure the students’ learning motivation as well as to establish the statistic
significance of the findings. After the experimental period, the data were elaborately calculated
and analyzed. The findings revealed that the use of visual aids did not enhance students’
performance as compared to translation technique; however, it was beneficial in creating good
motivation for students in learning. These results serve as practical evidence from which some
important pedagogical implications are drawn.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Background to the study
"Vocabulary enables us to interpret and to express. If you have a limited vocabulary, you
will also have a limited vision and a limited future." -– Jim Rohn
Vocabulary knowledge is a prerequisite for a learner’s success in mastering a second
language in general, and English in particular. This is because vocabulary is integral to every
language skill, including reading, writing, listening and speaking skill. When a person’s
vocabulary is limited, he may find himself incompetent in learning English as he cannot make
full sense of what he hears or reads, let alone express his own ideas in words. Needless to say,
vocabulary shortage leads to many serious difficulties in foreign language teaching and learning,
notably in Vietnam.
Recently, in the “English teaching and learning project of the national education system
from 2006 to 2015”, the Minister of Education and Training focused on some major problems of
foreign language education in Vietnam. He stated that a large majority of Vietnamese pupils,
students and officials have a very low English level. He also added by explaining that very few
can make effective use of English and their communication skills are substantially limited. (PTTĐ, 2006).
Also in this project, the reasons for these problems are pointed out. It is believed that
most of the problems derive from the fact that English teaching and learning in schools have not
been well-organized. Many teachers do not have eligible professional qualification. The
traditional method of teaching has still been widely used. School facilities and teaching aids
necessary for foreign language teaching and learning are inadequate and obsolete. (PT-TĐ,
2006). Out of these reasons, ineffective traditional teaching method deserves to be blamed on
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most. It is the outdated translation technique that has been deep-rooted in the education system of
our country, from rural to urban high schools.
On mentioning the preferable method used by English teachers in Vietnam, Anh (2006)
points out a troublesome fact that the teacher often reads the reading passage quickly, then writes
difficult words on the board, leaving most of the time for teaching grammar. It means that most
of the lesson is spent on grammar, not vocabulary. When introducing new vocabulary, the
teacher just explains the meanings quickly with Vietnamese equivalents and asks the students to
take notes. Although this translation technique is time-saving, it is not effective at all. The
students may find it sheer torture to stuff their pitiful heads with meaningless words and rigid
definitions.
Since teaching method determines learners’ success in learning English, it should be
updated so that every vocabulary lesson becomes more interesting and effective. In fact, more
teachers have lately begun to adapt visual techniques in presenting new vocabulary. However,
not many teachers have known how to make the best of this newly-employed technique. Some
teachers even belittle the importance of innovating teaching methodology and refuse to update or
apply new techniques to teach new words.
“Since the innovation of updated teaching approaches came into being, there have
been many more lessons conducted with communication and teacher-student interaction
considerably enhanced, which satisfies the educators. However, the reality is completely
different from that assumption. Some English teachers, from secondary to high schools,
use the new teaching method only when the lessons are observed by other teachers. As
for other classes, the traditional method is applied as usual” (Anh, 2006).
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While the traditional method is being criticized and discouraged, the new method also
demonstrates many shortcomings. It is unquestionable that the new teaching method makes a
lesson more fun and lively to both the teacher and the students. However, it can be very timeconsuming. There may be not much time left for the students to do the tasks in their textbooks
and they will not remember the main grammatical points. “The lesson cannot be effective
enough with the new method if the load of knowledge is so overwhelming while the teacher
cannot find a sensible way to arrange the time properly between revision and practice” (Anh,
2006).
Practically, the two techniques are co-existing and each has its own merits and defects.
What matters is whether visual aids – the new technique mentioned in Anh (2006) are really
beneficial to students’ vocabulary improvement as compared with translation technique.
Additionally, another question is raised, that is, whether students can be motivated with visual
teaching aids.
Aims of the study
The present study aims at assessing the effectiveness of visual aids in improving
students’ performance as compared with translation technique. Equally important, the authors
make an attempt to find out whether this approach positively contributes to creating a good
motivation for students in learning vocabulary. With the aims of the study, we try to seek the
answers to the following questions:
1. Is there any difference in high school students’ performance when learning vocabulary
with visual aids and when being taught with translation technique?
2. Are high school students motivated in vocabulary lessons that employ visual aids in
teaching?
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In accordance with the above research questions, two main hypotheses are made by the
researchers: (1) Teaching vocabulary with visual aids does positively enhance high school
students’ performance as compared with translation technique; (2) High school students are
highly motivated when visual aids are applied in vocabulary lessons.
The organization of the study
The thesis consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
In this chapter, we would present the rationale for choosing the area for studying, the
aims of the study, the research questions and the hypotheses. The organization is also included
here to serve as an outline of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter reviews the previous studies and the theories related to the issue of
vocabulary teaching. It also states the significance of the research.
Chapter 3: Design and method of investigation
This chapter describes the design and investigating method of the study, including the
descriptions of the research site, participants and data collection instruments, and the procedure
of the research.
Chapter 4: Findings and discussions:
This chapter presents the detailed analysis of the collected data, and the in-depth
discussions of the findings.
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Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations
This chapter presents the conclusion of the study based on the findings. This is followed
by the strengths and weaknesses of the study. The discussion of the pedagogical implications on
teaching and learning vocabulary are also included in this chapter. Additionally, in this
chapter,the researchers suggest some directions for further investigations.
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Chapter 2: Literature review
The power of English
The English language, indisputably, assumes prime importance in today’s world since it
has become the universal language spoken by people in every nation. “English is the fourth most
widely spoken native language in the world, and in terms of sheer number of speakers, it is the
most spoken official language in the world.” (Dutta, 2010, par. 2). In fact, English is used as a
fundamental language in global trade and commerce. It bridges the countries together and helps
build up international relationships. For that reason, this language is likened to the “lingua
franca” of the modern age (“The importance of learning the English language,” n.d., par. 2).
Moreover, “English is typically the language of latest-version applications and programs
and new freeware, shareware, peer-to-peer, social media networks and websites.” (Dutta, 2010,
par. 3) Not only online sources, but many printed sources are also in English, including the
majority of such media publications as newspapers, magazines and even world’s best selling
books.
Furthermore, numerous job opportunities are available to those who have good English skills,
especially good speaking and writing skill. The ability to communicate and express ideas well in
English helps people gain better understanding, reorganization and appreciation from others
(“Importance of learning the English language,” n.d., par. 2).
In short, it is crucial to master the English language because it is a key to open the door of
wealth and success. This accounts for the fact that people are rushing to learn English in most
countries, and Vietnam is not listed as an exception.
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English in teaching and learning
Learning a second language is challenging as a foreign language is completely different
from one’s mother tongue in terms of grammar rules, lexicon and usage. One way to overcome
obstacles in second language acquisition is to have wide vocabulary to support them one’s
understanding and producing the target language. That is the reason why vocabulary is a top
priority in teaching and learning English.
What is vocabulary?
What are the exact words to define vocabulary? “Broadly defined, vocabulary is
knowledge of words and word meanings” (Hiebert, Lehr & Osborn, n.d.). In a narrower sense,
“vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language.” There is a
commonplace assumption that vocabulary includes only such single words as “cat”, “pretty,
“flower”, “uncomfortable” and the like. Nevertheless, “a new item of vocabulary can be more
than a single word” (Hiebert et al, n.d.). In fact, as an English learner or teacher, we must be
aware of the combinatory possibilities of a word. An item of vocabulary can be a multi-word
phrase, for instance, “out of order, “up to date”. It can be a collocation, i.e. words which are
typically used together with a certain frequency, or a strategic vocabulary, i.e. words and
expressions that are used to organize and manage discourse such as “you know”, “I guess”, “I
mean” and so forth. In some other cases, it can be a grammatical pattern, an idiom or a fixed
expression, all of which are regarded as vocabulary items as they express a single idea (Ur, 2003,
as cited in Přibilová, 2006).
In other words, no matter how many words there are in a vocabulary item, only one
meaning could be recognized. We can no longer understand the meaning of a collocation or an
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idiom if it is divided into separate words. That’s why it is more appropriate to refer to vocabulary
as vocabulary items or lexical items instead of words.
Which Weighs More – Grammar or Vocabulary?
First of all, let us make a comparison between grammar and vocabulary. British linguist,
Wilkins (1972) put it this way: "while without grammar little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (p. 111). As a matter of fact, it is sometimes possible to
communicate knowing just enough vocabulary with the highest frequency and limited grammar
rules. That is because some words are so frequently used in real life that learners can grasp most
of the content of a text with a comparatively limited vocabulary. (Francis & Kucera, 1982).
In short, it’s biased to conclude that vocabulary is more important than grammar, yet it is
reasonable to say that vocabulary is extremely necessary for a learner’s success in mastering the
English language.
Vocabulary in daily life
Vocabulary is an asset of communication. Wide vocabulary and successful
communication always go hand in hand. A good way to gain fluency is through gaining a large
amount of lexicon. We need to expand our vocabulary to serve various purposes, especially to
communicate effectively. What is more, having a good command of vocabulary also enables one
to choose words with greater precision. When that person understands the words thoroughly, he
will know where, when and how to use it with the greatest effects. In other words, the larger
vocabulary one has accumulated, the easier he make his conversation simple and efficient.
Furthermore, vocabulary positively contributes to one’s chance of getting higher-status
occupations” (Marzano, 2004, as cited in Bishop, Yopp & Yopp, 2008). Equally important,
vocabulary knowledge communicates our ideas to the world, and affects people’s judgments
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about one’s smartness (Stahl, 2005, as cited in Bishop, Yopp & Yopp, 2008). That’s the reason
why students often bring dictionaries instead of grammar books when traveling (Krashen, 1987,
as cited in Zhang, 2005).
Vocabulary and language skills
Speaking skill
“No speech can be produced without vocabulary, and vocabulary is indispensable to
speaking performance” (Koizumi, n.d, p.53). Teaching speaking requires a lot of exciting
activities such as discussion, role play, interview to arouse students’ interest. Nevertheless,
teachers will soon realize the difficulties in organizing those activities due to students’ lack of
vocabulary. Without necessary vocabulary inputs, students may encounter lots of problems. They
may not tell a day in a way that makes sense or find the right words to describe something and
even misuse some common words (“Target the problem! Vocabulary,” n.d.).
Hence, no matter how interesting speaking activities are, student participation may be
discouraged by their limited words. The more words learners know and understand, the more
they can communicate. If students can make good use of new words, it is likely their vocabulary
will be improved as well as their speaking skill. That is the reason why providing vocabulary
input should precede any speaking activities.
Listening skill
Listening is integral to language learning. In recent years, more and more attention has been
paid to the importance of listening. “People who argue in favor of teaching listening say that
learners can not start using another language effectively until they have heard lots of authentic,
comprehensible examples of the language” (Jack, 2003, p.11). It means if students want to
master a second language, they need to spend time listening to native speaker’s talks or
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conversations from different sources such as movies, radios or television. However, not many
students can do it successfully, partly because their insufficient vocabulary. Case (2008) pointed
out many reasons accounting for this problem:
Apart from just being too busy thinking about other things and missing a word, common
reasons why students might not recognize a word include not distinguishing between
different sounds in English (e.g. /l/ and /r/ in "led" and "red" for many Asians), or
conversely trying to listen for differences that do not exist, e.g. not knowing words like
"there", "their" and "they're" are homophones (par. 4).
Other reasons are problems with word stress, sentence stress, and sound changes when
words in weak forms are produced in natural utterances (Case, 2008). Furthermore, lots of
unknown words may hinder students from listening to the key words or getting the overall
meaning of the tasks. Thus, in order to help students improve their listening skill, it is advisable
that teachers “provide any necessary background information and new vocabulary they will
need for the listening activity”(“How to teach English,” 2010).
Writing skill
For learners, another skill that may trouble them is writing. People may claim that writing
a good essay requires merely the act of using long and tricky words. As a matter of fact, “a good
vocabulary does not mean knowing many long or difficult words” (Kurtus, 2003). It is about
how to express the notions which are understandable to the readers. Moreover, as Serenson (n.d)
defined “a good writer has a good vocabulary — one that is both broad and deep — because a
good vocabulary is essential to clarity, power, and precision”. Good writers should have a large
stock of words in order to use the most suitable ones to transmit the meaning of the essay.
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In addition, there is a misconception that if people master grammar accuracies well, they
can certainly write good essays. Actually, a good essay may not be that good without appropriate
word choices. According to an online essay, “the acquisition of good writing skills requires not
just a good command of the grammatical system of English but a wide lexical knowledge” (“One
who is good at English?,” 2009). Thus, if students only apply grammar rules mechanically
without being aware of many vocabulary items, they may fail to deliver their intentions in an
essay. In fact, “the breadth and depth of a student's vocabulary will have a direct influence upon
the descriptiveness, accuracy, and quality of his or her writing” (Brynildssen, 2000). Students
would find it easier to convey their ideas with a number of words available in their mind. Hence,
the ability to manipulate the word choice is necessary for students’ writing.
Vocabulary and reading comprehension
“Educators and educational researchers have known for years that vocabulary knowledge
plays a significant role in reading comprehension” (Yopp, Yopp & Bishop, 2008, p. 13). In fact,
vocabulary is crucial for reading comprehension and academic achievement (Biemiller, 2006).
Students cannot understand any English reading materials without a reasonable command of
vocabulary. Especially, when the key lexical items are not understood, the comprehension of the
text may not be ensured. “Students who comprehend the most from their reading are those who
know a lot about words” (“Use words to teach words,” 2010, par. 1). The more knowledge of
vocabulary students have, the better they are in understanding the text. Furthermore, having a
profound lexical knowledge can help learners deal with unfamiliar words which usually occur in
long and sophisticated texts. Knowledge of word prefixes, suffixes, word roots, and multiple
meanings of words expands students’ vocabulary and supports students in reading
comprehension” (“Use words to teach words,” 2010).
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For those who have insufficient vocabularies, they are likely to fall behind in reading
comprehension. Reading, in this case, may be frustrating to them. Biemiller (2006) advocated
“falling behind in vocabulary leads to falling behind in reading comprehension”. Students with
limited vocabulary do not only have reading difficulties but also wasting a considerable time and
energy (Bitty, 2001). Thus, teaching vocabulary plays a vital part in reading comprehension.
To sum up the point, teaching and vocabulary are crucial to ensure students’ vocabulary
growth and language proficiency.
Vocabulary teaching and learning in Vietnam
Vietnamese teachers spend a great deal of time teaching vocabulary for students. They
assume that if students understand new words well, understanding the main ideas or specific
details will no longer be a challenge. Mastering vocabulary is a stepping stone to approach other
skills. Trần (2011), an English teacher at a high school in Vietnam, pointed out in her Ideas &
Experiences article that “students are not aware of the importance of vocabulary, which is the
reason why they become afraid of learning vocabulary, or cannot use the accumulated
vocabulary properly.” They are used to learning every single word by heart and then will soon
forget them all. This leads to the fact that even though Vietnamese students spend so much time
studying English- after finishing 7 years of studying English at schools, they still have very
limited vocabulary.
Which words to be taught?
A typical mistake that many teachers are vulnerable to is attempting to teach so many
new words to students. Undoubtedly, vocabulary becomes a big burden for students. They do
nothing but try to memorize every single word which is taught in class. Long lists of vocabulary
words and definitions to memorize rarely help students learn to actually use new words. On the
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contrary, students end up practicing rote memorization without being able to incorporate the
words into their daily speech or writing.
As a teacher, it is necessary to know how to present new vocabulary to students in order
that they can learn and use them effectively. The role of a teacher is not merely a speaking
dictionary or a provider of vocabulary’s meanings. Before teaching a new lexical item, the
teacher needs to take account of various factors, such as the number of words that need
presenting, words that should be selected and techniques of presenting those words and so on. As
a teacher, one should select key-concept words which are crucial to students’ understanding of
the text and words which can contribute to boosting students’ vocabulary growth (Cooper &
Kiger, 2008, p. 254). Moreover, it is not necessary for the teacher to waste time and energy on
presenting every new vocabulary item; some items will be more useful to students than others
(Doff, 1988). As a matter of fact, with around half a million words in English, a teacher is
certainly not going to run out of words to teach. Nevertheless, only the most useful words should
be selected to teach. For example, some reading texts in high-school textbooks are related to
specific areas of science or social science; these reading texts contain many new words that
students do not have many chances to use in real life. Also, there are some unknown words that
students can readily infer their meaning from the text. These words have little to do with
students’ comprehension of the text, so there is no need to spend too much time and effort
teaching these ones. The teacher should teach only words which are really useful for students’
comprehension of the text. Farstrup & Samuels (2008) suggested a solution for teaching
vocabulary:
“Vocabulary instruction is most effective when it is rich, deep, and extended;
however, because there are so many words to teach, there is not always enough time.
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Thus, there is a need for rich, deep, and extended instruction on some words and less
robust, introductory instruction on others” (p. 60).
Types of vocabulary
Active and passive vocabulary
Vocabulary items can be classified into two types: active and passive vocabulary.
Active vocabulary is defined as “words which students will need to understand and also
use themselves.” (Doff, 1988, p. 19). In teaching this type of vocabulary, it is necessary that
teachers spend time giving examples and asking questions to check students’ understanding.
Teachers also need to show the students the possible contexts where these words can occur so
that students know how to use them appropriately and effectively. Active vocabulary words are
vital for the productive skills such as speaking and writing.
On the other hand, passive vocabulary is characterized as “words which we want
students to understand (e.g. when reading a text), but which they will not need to use
themselves.” (Doff, 1988, p. 19). Therefore, teachers only present passive items quickly with
simple examples or leave them for the students to guess from the context. Passive vocabulary
words are especially useful for receptive skills of reading and listening.
By carefully picking out the important words to teach, teachers can improve students’
vocabulary learning ability and make students become more eager to learn new words.
Concrete and abstract vocabulary
Vocabulary can also be classified into concrete and abstract types. Concrete vocabulary
represents “the entity that can be physically perceived through the sense either in the form of
objects or in the form of events” (Mallikarjun, 2002). In other words, people can see or touch the
things. In contrast, vocabulary items representing “the entity like love, soul, and fear can be
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called abstract vocabulary” (Mallikarjun, 2002). This is because these concepts cannot be
physically perceived. People need to use their imagination to sense them mentally. In other
words, people can only feel or experience them but can not touch such concepts as real objects.
In terms of teaching, due to the diverse features of concrete and abstract words, teachers have to
apply various ways of teaching to present their meaning. For concrete ones, teachers can show
meaning visually such as using miming, realia, pictures, actions, gestures, facial expressions or
objects. Meanwhile, the meaning of abstract ones can be showed through examples, situations or
translations. Teachers have difficulty in explaining abstract words to students because they are
not physically represented in teaching environment (Igbaria, n.d). “It is easier to remember
concrete words like a chair and a dog than abstract words” (Přibilová, 2006, p. 18).
Aspects of vocabulary
As mentioned above, learning vocabulary is a big challenge for students in high school.
Students need a lot of guidance right from the very beginning. Therefore, the teacher’s role in
teaching vocabulary is very important. In addition to selecting the essential vocabulary to teach,
the teacher must know what aspects of lexis need to be taught in the classroom. Vocabulary
knowledge should include such aspects as the form of the word, its grammar, collocation,
different aspects of meaning and the word formation (Ur 1996, as cited in Sussane Flohr, 2008).
Basic dimensions of a lexical item are presented as below.
Form
The first important aspect that defines vocabulary is the form of words, consisting of
pronunciation and spelling. Pronunciation refers to the way a word is spoken. It includes word
stress, sentence stress, intonation, and word linking. “Pronunciation has been seen as the
Cinderella of language teaching due to its complexity” (Kelly, 1969, as cited in Qian-Mei Zhang,
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2009). “It is believed that only few learners can ever attain native-like pronunciation in the
foreign language, especially those who learn to speak a second language after puberty”
(Lenneberg, 1967, as cited in Qian-Mei Zhang, 2009). Generally, not every learner is capable of
sounding like a native speaker, yet it is possible to develop correct pronunciation. Bad
pronunciation often confuses the listener and sometimes causes unexpected misunderstanding.
That is why it is crucial to teach students the right pronunciation so that they will not come up
against any difficulties in expressing themselves.
Spelling is another factor contributing to a learner’s language competence. As defined by Kress
(2000), “spelling is knowing how to write words correctly” (p. 1). In fact, an English word is not
always written exactly the way that people would expect from its pronunciation. Students’
pronunciation is often confused by the spelling of a word. Hence, the solution is to introduce
spoken form before written form so that students can learn to pronounce the word correctly first.
Grammar
The next aspect that requires teacher attention is the grammar of vocabulary. As defined
in the Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, grammar is “the rules in language for changing the
form of words and joining them into sentences.” (Hornby, 2005). Grammar knowledge of a word
includes part of speech, tense and word forms. Mastering the basic rules of grammar enables
learners to know where the word stands in a phrase, a clause or a sentence, and what form of the
word to be used in different contexts. For example, when teaching a noun, the teacher has to
show its plural forms if any, i.e. goose-geese, child-children, ox-oxen, etc. Or when teaching
verbs, the teacher should present their past forms. Learners should be taught how to build the
past forms of a regular verb by adding “ed” at the end of the word or of an irregular verb by
memorizing the forms of each single verb as there is no common rules for verbs of this type.
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Collocation
Why do people say “a handsome man” and “a beautiful woman” but not “a beautiful
man” and “a handsome woman”? This is a matter of word collocation. “A collocation is a
combination of two or more words which frequently occur together” (O'Dell & McCarthy, 2008,
p. 6). For instance, it’s considered appropriate to talk of high mountains and tall trees, not tall
mountains and high trees. One can make a big or great mistake but cannot make a large or wide
mistake. Indeed, collocation is an endless list that one cannot master overnight. As a matter of
fact, most English learners have very limited ‘collocational competence’, especially high-school
students who are at an intermediate level or below. They may know the meaning of individual
words but do not know which words can go together as word partners. Thus, a teacher should
never forget to teach common and important collocations to the students. This is part of
vocabulary knowledge and cannot be ignored.
Aspects of meaning
Understanding of vocabulary also involves knowledge of different aspects of meaning.
Those aspects are denotation, connotation appropriateness and meaning relationships such as
synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms, superordinates and translation (Ur, 2006, p.23).
According to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, denotation is “the actual object or idea
to which the word refers” (Hornby, 2005). Simply put, it is the literal meaning of the word that
we can look up in the dictionary. On the other hand, connotation is the association (emotional or
otherwise) that the word evokes. For example, the words house and home all have the same
denotation, that is, the place where one lives, but the connotation of each word is very different.
The denotation of house is just an actual building used for a particular purpose while home is
associated with something cozy, loving and comfortable. Sometimes students know what the
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word denotes but are not fully aware of its connotation, which causes failure in language use.
Therefore, the teacher should teach students both of these concepts so that they can make good
use of the words they’ve learned.
Appropriateness is another aspect of vocabulary that should be covered. It concerns the
matter of politeness and formality. A learner has to know whether it is suitable to use a certain
word in a certain context. For example, when talking to a foreign stranger at the airport, it is
more polite for a person to say “Would you mind telling me the time, please?” than to say
“What’s the time?” This aspect is extremely complex, partly due to differences in culture. What
a teacher can do is to expose learners to a wide variety of language and contexts within which
that language can be used. In this way, learners do not acquire only the language itself but the
actual use of the language as well.
In addition to the aspects that have just been discussed above, there are areas of meaning
relationships that a teacher should bear in mind when teaching vocabulary. First, the teacher
should be aware of the synonym and antonym of a word. Synonyms are “items that mean the
same, or nearly the same” (Ur, 2006, p.23). For example, the synonyms of the word “sad”
includes “unhappy”, “gloomy”, “depressed” or “sorrowful”. On the other hand, antonyms are
“items that mean the opposite” (Ur, 2006, p.23). For example, honest-dishonest, wealthy-poor,
hopeful-hopeless are pairs of antonym. Word meaning also includes such aspects as hyponyms,
co-hyponyms and superordinates. Hyponyms are “items that serve as specific examples of a
general concept” (Ur, 2006, p.23). For example, scarlet, vermilion, carmine and crimson are all
hyponyms of red. In this case, scarlet, vermillion, carmine and crimson are called co-hyponyms
as these words share the same hyponym, namely “red”. Another term related to this area is
superordinates which is “red” in this case. Specifically, superordinates are defined as “general
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concepts that cover specific items” (Ur, 2006, p.24). Metaphorically, a superordinate term acts as
an “umbrella” term that includes within it the meaning of other words. The last area to be
mentioned is translations which are defined as “words or expressions in the learners” mother
tongue that are (more or less) equivalent in meaning to the item being taught” (Ur, 2006, p. 24).
Some examples of translation can be: Moon Lady - chị Hằng, moon cake – bánh trung thu, etc.
Word formation
The very last feature of vocabulary that need taking into consideration is word formation.
This refers to how words are put together into the right order in a sentence. “Teachers might also
need to teach the component parts of words and multi-words, particularly prefixes and suffixes,
so that learners can readily interpret words in context such as ‘disrespectful’, ‘ungrateful’,
‘mismatch’. (McDonough & Shaw, 2003, p. 113). Knowing the meanings of suffixes and
prefixes can help students widen their vocabulary. This knowledge helps them to guess the
meaning of some unfamiliar words and remember those words quite at ease.
Procedure of teaching vocabulary
In order to have an effective vocabulary lesson, teachers should follow a step-by-step
procedure. There are 8 basic steps that are often mentioned in literature to be involved in this
process (Doff, 1988, p.11, Flohr, 2010, p.5).
First of all, the teachers need to identify a list of words that needs presenting from the
reading text that they intend to teach. Both active and passive items should be selected. As
highlighted earlier in this chapter, the teachers have to be very careful when selecting words to
teach. In the book entitled “Literacy: Helping students construct meaning”, David, Nancy and
Kathryn (2008) suggest some techniques that a teacher can use to decide on a to-teach-list. First,
the teacher has to review the text to identify the story line(s) or main idea. Next, the teacher goes
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on starting to compile a list of words related to the story line(s) or main idea. As for words that
are adequately defined in the text and words that students can determine through the use of
prefixes, suffixes, roots words or base words, teacher does need to conduct direct teaching. Only
words that are likely to cause difficulty may require direct teaching ( Cooper & Kiger, 2008, p.
255). Actually, this is a key step because it influences other steps and determines the
effectiveness of the lesson.
After the word selection step, it is time to choose an appropriate technique to show the
meaning of the word. There is no best technique, but the techniques chosen should “help students
relate new knowledge to old knowledge, actively involve students in the process of learning, help
students thoroughly learn words and support students in the process of learning to use their own
strategies for independently inferring word meanings.” (Cooper & Kiger , 2008, p. 259). In other
words, selecting a suitable technique to present a new word should serve as a good means to
facilitate students in their vocabulary learning and enhance their language competence. Some
common techniques will be discussed later on in this section.
The next step is saying the word aloud and writing it on the board. “It is always important
that the teacher pronounces the new word before he spells it or writes it on the board” (Flohr,
2010, p. 5). This is because “the students should know how to pronounce and use the word in
spoken language before they use it in written language and write the whole texts using new
words” (Flohr, 2010, p. 5). Saying the word aloud is a useful technique as “information that is
verbally rehearsed is much more likely to be remembered.” (Manning, 1991, p. 181). “Statistics
indicate that students remember 20 percent of what they hear from the external source, 70
percent of what they themselves repeat aloud, and 90 percent if they speak aloud to themselves
about a task as they are performing the task.” (Manning, 1991, p. 181). In addition, the board is
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also considered an essential tool in this step. “Whenever a new word is introduced, it should be
written down on the board. This will help the pupils to retain the visual image of the word”
(Baruah, 1991, p. 296).
Afterwards, the teacher should moves to the step of showing the form. What matters here
is that the teachers have to distinguish between active and passive items so as to present the form
of a particular item in the right way. As for active vocabulary, the teachers should give not only
key transcription but also stress and word class. However, if the presented word is passive, the
teachers do not need to spend too much time showing its form. Only key transcription and stress
should be shown in this case.
After both the meaning and form have been shown, it is time for the teacher to give
examples in which the word is used. When the word is placed somewhere amid a sentence, its
affective meaning is clear and the word is more readily absorbed by the students. The number of
examples should be considered as well. As for a passive item, only one simple example should
be given; however, if the item is active, it is advisable to introduce two or more model sentences
so as to “provide the student with multiple exposures to the word in different contexts or
settings” (Thompson & Vaughn, 2007, p. 92)
Next, to ensure that the students have known the word clearly, the teacher should ask
questions to check the students’ comprehension. Or the teacher can give hints for the students to
make their own sentences using the newly-learnt word. Questions of this kind aims at 3
purposes: (1) to ensure students’ understanding of the word, (2) to show how the word is used in
specific contexts, and (3) to let students practice other language (Doff, 1988, p. 17). Moreover,
the teacher must bear in mind that “questions using a new word should be simple and requires
only short answers” (Doff, 1988, p. 17).
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After presenting all the new words selected, the teacher conducts repetition of the word
list and model sentences. During this stage, the students are asked to repeat the words and
examples first chorally and then individually. In the book entitled “Cognitive self-instruction for
classroom processes”, Manning (1991) describes the mechanisms by which a new word comes to
and fixes in a student’s mind when that student speaks the word aloud by himself:
As the sound waves leave the mouth and return back into the ears, the cycle stimulates
the memory capacity. The word is spoken and received. The brain is activated as the
word is spoken and heard. The spoken word semantically sets up associations of
meanings as the word is stored for retrieval. (p. 181)
This mechanism indicates that repetition is essential in a vocabulary lesson as repeating
new words and examples many times can help stick the words to the students’ mind.
“Memory clearly plays a key role in vocabulary learning and the benefits of revision and
repetition have been clearly demonstrated in studies of vocabulary learning” (Schmitt &
McCarthy, p.276). And revision could be encouraged by means of consolidation activities.
Practically speaking, there are many ways of reviewing vocabulary. Exercises of this kind may
range from multiple choice, matching, gap-filling, network, translation to sentence completion or
hidden words and more. What matters here is whether the teacher is clever enough to design
meaningful activities to help the students effectively revise new items of vocabulary.
In practice, there is no fixed procedure in teaching vocabulary. The eight-step procedure
suggested above should not be regarded as the “right” or “ideal” method that can be applied for
all teachers and students. The teachers, actually, can be flexible in their teaching process by
adding or ignoring some steps.
How to present a new vocabulary item
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A number of techniques can be adopted to present new vocabulary items. Some
techniques are more popular and more often used than others. It is the job of a teacher to and
consider the effectiveness of teaching decide which techniques should be used (Přibilová, 2006,
p. 19). By employing a variety of techniques, teachers will increase student's ability to learn and
memorize new words.
The first technique is giving a concise definition of the new word. This technique is quick
and time-saving, which is a good point. No hard work or creativity is required since the teacher
only needs to look for a simple definition of the word and asks the students to learn the definition
by heart. It is not sensible to remark that this technique is of no use in teaching vocabulary;
however, “definitions alone can lead to only a relatively superficial level of word knowledge”
(Nagy, 1988, p. 4). “Even when definitions are accurate, they do not always contain enough
information to allow a person to use the word correctly” (Nagy, 1988, p. 5).
Detail description is another common technique which demands the teacher to “describe
in detail what the word means and describe its qualities or even the appearance” (Flohr, 2010, p.
5). For example, to teach the word “squirrel”, the teacher can describe this item as “a small
animal with long furry tail that climbs trees and eats nuts.”
Teaching vocabulary through instructional contexts is also an efficacious technique.
Instructional contexts “refer to the contexts that have been developed with the intention of
providing strong clues to a word’s meaning.” (Beck, Kucan & McKeown &, 2002, p. 39). The
teacher should know how to make up a meaningful context in which the presented word occurs.
Then the students will be asked to reason out the meaning of that word based on relevant words
and phrases in the context. It is the relationship among words that helps students derive the
meaning of an unfamiliar word. “Seeing vocabulary in rich contexts provided by authentic texts,
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rather than in isolated vocabulary drills, produces robust vocabulary learning” (Diamond &
Gutlohm, 2006, p. 24)
Another common way to convey word meaning is using synonyms. At the first glance,
this technique seems to be simple and quick. However, it is not always easy to find an
appropriate synonym for a certain word. This is due to two problems existing in the English
language – firstly, there are very few exact synonyms within the language, and secondly, it is
extremely difficult to find a synonym which is simple enough to help the student. If possible, the
teacher should use only words that the students have already learnt before. Otherwise, the
students will be extremely perplexed about the word being taught and cannot derive its meaning
from the synonym given.
As it is, in some cases, when it is, problematic to find a synonym to show the meaning of
a new item, the teacher can use an antonym instead. For example, the teacher can explain the
meaning of the word “industrious” by saying “Tom was lazy while his brother Jack was
industrious. Jack worked all the time.” It is much easier to convey meaning of a new word using
antonyms since antonyms are more attainable in English.
Check whether you can use italic for your own examples or not. Remember to make these
example consistent in format throughout you paper.
Translation and Visual aids
One more way to show the meaning of a vocabulary item is through translation. Giving a
translation means giving a mother tongue equivalent of an English word. There is much
controversy over this technique. On one hand, “translating a new word is in itself a useful
technique – it is often the simplest and clearest way of showing what a word means” (Doff,
1988, p.12). Especially, for some terminology and for words which are “a kind of…”, i.e. maple
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is a kind of tree which…, translation is the only resort to get the meaning across to the students.
These benefits explains why some teachers prefer to use this technique frequently in their
teaching. Nevertheless, “since the impact of Direct Approaches and later, it is widely felt that
only a minimum of oral translation should be used for teachers’ explanations, and many teachers
feel this is a last resort” (Hinkel, 2011, p. 569). “The use of translation as a teaching technique
has long been viewed with suspicion by language teachers and many, of course, proscribe it
altogether as a matter of principle” (Widdowson, 1979, p. 101, as cited in Hinkel, 2011, p. 569).
This means that some other teachers view translation as a boring, ineffective and sometimes
impossible technique. It is boring because the students are required to do nothing but memorize
new words in an awfully mechanical way. How terrible to imagine the scene of students yawning
while their teacher is giving rigid translations of new words, asking them to repeat and take notes
– more like a way to lull them to sleep! Active students lose their interest in learning, and passive
ones become even more passive. Hence, students’ participation in the lesson is significantly
limited. In addition, translation is ineffective since “if we only give a direct translation, students
cannot see how the word is used in an English sentence” (Doff, 1988, p. 12). Besides, a suitable
mother tongue equivalent is not always available, which means it is sometimes impossible to
translate an English word into the students’ language. Like any other technique, translation does
have its benefits and defects. It is true that translation is a useful resort in some cases but not a
very good way to help the students acquire vocabulary knowledge. Learning new words through
mother tongue equivalents is a tedious experience and does very little to enhance a student’s
proficiency in the target language.
Those techniques that have been mentioned above are traditional ways of presenting
vocabulary. In practice, they are often considered more discouraging in comparison with the
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visual techniques that many teachers have recently been showing a preference for. “Visual aids
are those instructional aids that function through their visual modality in providing instructional
stimuli” (Mukalel, 2004, p. 139). “Among visual techniques we can find pictures – flashcards,
photographs and magazine pictures, wall charts, blackboard drawings, word pictures, several
realia that teachers can hold up or point to.” (Přibilová, 2006, p. 19) “The teacher does also have
the possibility to demonstrate in front of the class what the word’s meaning is by acting it out”
(Flohr, 2010, p. 5). This is known as demonstration or miming technique which use actions,
gestures or facial expressions to illustrate new words.
For most action verbs, i.e. sit, stand, open, write, and some adjectives, i.e. happy, worry,
ill, the teacher can mime to get the students infer the meaning of the words (Doff, 1988, p. 14).
The demonstration both helps to make the meaning clearer, and helps to fix the word in the
students’ mind. For example, to teach the word “yell”, the teacher can pretend to wave his hand
and shout out as if he is trying to call someone at a distance. That way, the teacher can help the
students memorize the word quite at ease with both visual and aural memories.
When it comes to teaching concrete vocabulary, the teacher can make use of realia to
show meaning. Doff (1988) characterizes realia as things that are available in the classroom or
objects that can be carried into the classroom (p. 13). For example, the teacher can simply reach
out toward the ceiling of the classroom when presenting the word “ceiling”. Then the students
can easily figure out what “ceiling” means by looking at the teacher’s action.
Visual techniques have both merits and defects. “For suitable vocabulary, it is a very
effective method; it is direct, it is interesting, and it makes an impression on the class” (Doff,
1988, p. 14). However, there are words that cannot be illustrated visually, i.e. abstract
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vocabulary. “Vocabulary should only be presented visually if it can be done quickly, easily and
clearly” (Doff, 1988, p. 14).
Research on the effects of visual techniques
As stated in an online article, “if vocabulary is taught in an uninteresting way such as by
drilling, simple repetition and learning lists, then the words are likely to be forgotten” (“Teaching
English vocabulary”, n.d). That’s why visual techniques are employed to make the vocabulary
lesson more motivating and less overcramming, thus, help retain a large amount of knowledge in
the students’ memories. So far, a number of researches have proved the value of visual
techniques in teaching vocabulary. “Psychologically, 83 percent of all learning begins through
the eyes” (Green, 1984, as cited in Kupsh & Graves, 1993, p. 7). At the University of Wisconsin,
researchers found out that learning improved up to 200 percent when visual aids were employed
in teaching vocabulary (Kupsh & Graves, 1993). Similarly, studies at Havard and Columbia
found audio-visuals improved retention from 14 to 38 percent over presentations where no
visuals were used.” (Kupsh & Graves, 1993). Additionally, it is also agreed by Mc Cormack and
Pasquarelli (2010) that “many times the easiest and most effective way of introducing a new
word is through a visual aid” (p. 76). What is more, “visual aids are key tools in learning and
development since they help increase a student's interest in a subject” (“What are the benefits of
visual aids?”, n.d., par. 4). In summary, as implied by these writers, teaching vocabulary can
become much easier and efficient with the use of visual aids.
Whereas visual techniques are rather time-consuming and requires a lot of specialized
skills on the part of the teacher, these techniques are especially helpful in making new words
acquirable and memorable to the students. They break the mundane cycle in such a learning
setting as the classroom. “Visual aids also tend to be more interactive, helping an audience
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become more engaged in their own learning” (“What are the benefits of visual aids?”, n.d., par.
4).
In practice, there are various techniques that can be adopted when presenting vocabulary.
Unquestionably, each technique shows its own benefits and drawbacks. One solution is to
combine several techniques. For example, the teachers can use both contexts and definition to
make the meaning of a word clear. This combination can be useful because “mere exposure to an
instructional context leaves introduction of word meaning incomplete” (Beck, Kucan &
McKeown, 2002, p. 40). “In one way or another, a definition or explanation of the target word
needs to be developed” (Beck et al., 2002, p. 40). Even more than 2 techniques can go together
to show the meaning of a single word. The word “smile” can be taken for example. To teach this
word, first, the teacher can draw a picture of a smiling face on board. Then the teacher uses facial
expression to demonstrate a smile before giving an example to show show how the word is used.
After that, the teacher asks one student to translate the word into the students’ first language to
make sure that everyone understands (Doff, 1988, p. 16).
Shortly, teachers can use different techniques to present different words to avoid
monotony and motivate the students. Choosing what techniques to combine depends on the
features of the word being taught and the general proficiency level of students. The effectiveness
of the lesson might be enhanced if the teacher knows how when and where to combine what
techniques to teach. One more important point is, when selecting a proper technique, the teachers
should be aware of some factors that are very likely to have impacts on the effectiveness of a
lesson such as learners’ age, interest or expectations.
As discussed above, translation and visual techniques are adopted with the same
objective, namely, to present new vocabulary to students. However, literature has agreed on the
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predominant values of visual aids and in some ways discourage the use of translation technique
in teaching vocabulary. Visuals are said to bring about more positive outcomes. Indeed, with the
support of visual aids English teachers can get students more involved in the lesson as well as
facilitate and enhance students’ vocabulary accumulation process.
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Chapter 3: Design and Method of Investigation
This chapter lays out the research design and investigating method employed in the study
process. It begins with a general description of the research site and participants. Next comes a
review of the data collection instruments. Subsequently, a presentation of the research design and
procedure is also included.
Research Site
The research was conducted in Hung Vuong public high school which is located at the
center of District 5, Ho Chi Minh city. The school came into existence in 1934, which means it
now has a long history of more than 70 years fraught with many ups and downs. It takes great
pride in being one of the most renowned high schools in the city and ranks 61 among the top 100
high schools in Vietnam. Being well-equipped with modern facilities and amenities, along with
the professional teaching staff, the school gives the students the best chance to cultivate
knowledge and improve their moral quality.
The school class system involves three basic sections. Section A majors in Mathematics,
Physics and Chemistry. Section B majors in Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry while students
of section D major in Mathematics, Literature and English. In total, there are 27 tenth grade
classes, 26 eleventh grade classes and 26 twelfth classes. For each grade, there are specialized
classes in which the students major in a single subject such as Mathematics, Physics or English.
As for grade 10, 10A27 is the English specialized class while it is 11A26 for grade 11 and
12A26 for grade 12. Other classes of Section D range from 10A19 to 10A26, 11A19 to 11A25
and 12A19 to 12A25. In these classes, the students have very good English competence and
proficiency. Many of them have won honoured titles in a lot of English contests including the
National contest for Excellent Students and the Olympic English contest.
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Participants
10A19 and 10A20 were the two classes that the researchers selected to conduct the
experiment . These were also the classes which one of the researchers was assigned to teach
during the practicum. The total number of students in class 10A19 was 41, including 11 male and
30 female ones. Meanwhile, class 10A20 had 42 students, with 12 male and 30 female students.
In fact, the two classes’ students shared the same pre-intermediate English level because they
were the two first classes, i.e. D1 and D2 among the series of Section D’s 10th grade classes.
They had the same number of English periods, that is, 8 periods each week, each of which lasted
for 45 minutes. They were following the Basic edition of the 10th grade English textbook.
Generally, most of them were nice and well-behaved, which actually facilitated the researchers
in the whole process.
In this study, 30 pre-intermediate students, i.e. 15 students from class 10A19 (defined as
group A) and 15 other ones from class 10A20 (defined as group B) were chosen as the official
participants of the study. They had very low pre-test scores falling from 2/10 to 3/10 (see
Appendix F1 and F2). The research was applied to all students of both classes, but only the
selected students’ test results were measured. During the six-week intervention, the participants
of each group had chance to experience both vocabulary teaching methods: the translation
method and the visual method. Their performance and motivation were observed and evaluated
with respect to the study purposes. Table 1 displays the number of male and female participants
in each experimental group.
Table 1.
Description of the participants
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Male
Nu
up
A
39
mber 6
B
(10A19)
Data collection
instruments
(10A20)
5
Female
%
Tota
N
%
40.0
umber9
6
15
33.3
1
0.0 6
15
0
l
6.7
Questionnaire
The aim of the questionnaire was to find out students’ opinions about the application of
two different techniques in teaching vocabulary.
30 copies of the questionnaire (in Vietnamese language) were given to the selected
participants with the intention of getting feedback about their opinions, problems, motivations or
expectations towards the use of visual aids and translation method in classroom.
There were two major sections in the questionnaire: background information and
opinions. The participants’ job was to tick the most suitable boxes in their opinion. In the
background information section, the students were required to provide the school’s name, the
class they were attending, their date of birth and gender. The second section was made up of 5
questions. The first question was about how often the given activities are carried out in a usual
vocabulary lesson in their class before the researchers’ intervention. This question required
students to rate their opinions on the table from “Always”, “Often”, “Sometimes”, “Rarely” to
“Never”. Next comes question 2, which was multiple choice type, serving as an important
turning point where students had to decide whether they enjoyed the vocabulary lessons in which
the visual techniques had been utilized. Specifically, students whose answer is “Yes” should
move on to question 3; otherwise, those who choose “Normal” or “No” will continued with
question 4. These questions explored in depth the reasons for students’ choice in question 2 and
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were designed on a scale varying from “Strongly agree”, “Agree”, “Disagree” to “Strongly
disagree”. The aim of question 4 was to find out the reasons why some students were interested
in visual vocabulary lessons. On the contrary, question 5 was targeted at the reasons for the
disapproval of some other students (if any).
In question 5, the students had to choose one of the 3 options given in order to report
their preferences, that is, what method they wanted their teacher to use in teaching vocabulary.
All questionnaires were returned to the researchers and kept for analysis later on.
Class Observation
To evaluate the students’ participation, motivation, interest and interaction in class, class
observation sheet was used. By using this instrument, the researchers were able to observe the
time students and teachers spent talking during the lesson, what activities (such as individual
work or whole class work) were used to keep the students active and excited, and which
language was preferred to use in the class. In addition, the observer could give comments at the
end of the sheet based on class activities or teacher-student interaction. (The sample observation
sheet is included in Appendix C1.)
Test
One pre pre-test and four mini tests were designed in accordance with the study purposes.
Pre-test
83 copies of the pre-test were given to students of 2 classes 10A19 and 10A29 before
applying the two diverse techniques. There were 40 questions in this test, in the form of three
different question types: matching, multiple choice and word formation ranging from easy to
difficult level. Each correct answer accounted for 0.25 point and the maximum score was 10.
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Vocabulary items were taken from four units (Unit 11, unit 12, unit 13 and unit 14 respectively)
in the Basic edition textbook. Students were required to do this test in 30 minutes. The purpose
of the pre-test was to select 30 students who performed badly on the test (15 students selected
from each class) to be the participants of the research.
Mini- tests
Four mini tests were delivered to students at the end of each vocabulary teaching lesson
in order to check students’ understanding of new words. There were only 10 questions in the test
focusing on 10 vocabulary items taught in each lesson. Students had 10 minutes to do the test. 1
point was given to each correct answer. The total score of the test was 10. Intentionally, the
researchers varied the question types used in the four mini-tests to ensure the objectivity of the
test results later on. Mini test 1 was a matching task. Mini test 2 was a multiple choice task. Mini
test 3 focused on 10 gap-filling questions while mini test 4 involved 10 word formation
questions.
Procedure
The research was carried out in 6 weeks and through three main stages: pre- application,
while-application and post- application.
Pre - intervention
This period (the first week) was used for selecting the participants, observing the
currently-used methodology in teaching vocabulary and getting to know the chosen groups. At
the same time, researchers had to prepare the data collection instruments needed for the
experiment such as the pre-test and mini-tests, observation sheet, questionnaire, lesson plans and
visual aids.
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Moreover, the pre-test on vocabulary items that researcher was going to teach were
distributed to all the students both classes, i.e. 83 students in total. Then, the researchers
collected and marked the pre-tests by hand. 30 students who were selected as participants had the
pre-test scores falling from 2/10 to 3/10. 15 students from each class were assigned to two
separate groups: group A involving 15 students from class 10A19, and group B involving other
15 students from class 10A20.
While - intervention
The next 4 weeks (from week 2 to week 5) were mainly for applying different methods
on the 2 groups.
For the first two weeks, group A was taught with translation technique while group B was
treated with visual aids.
Two week later, the researchers changed the method of teaching. Specifically, visual aids
were used to teach group A and translation technique were applied to group B.
Each week, there were 2 lessons conducted on each group. Each lesson lasted for 45
minutes. 30 minutes were spent on presenting new vocabulary. 10 minutes were spared on mini
tests and 5 minutes were on giving comments and homework. For each vocabulary lesson, only
10 items were presented.
There were 8 observation sheets used for 8 vocabulary lessons, including 4 lessons on
group A and 4 lessons on group B. During the teaching process of each lesson, 1 research was in
charge of teaching while the other researcher made an observation to find out students’ attitudes,
their participation, and other notable issues arising in the classroom when applying the two
different techniques.
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At the end of each lesson, students were demanded to do a mini test to check their
comprehension of the 10 newly-learnt vocabulary items.
Post - intervention
In the sixth week, all the data were gathered and analyzed to figure out the results.
Besides, 30 copies of questionnaires were given to students to collect their feedback on the two
teaching techniques that had been employed during the 4 weeks of conducting the experimental
vocabulary lessons. The whole schedule of the intervention process is briefly summarized in
Table 2. Research Schedule.
Table 2.
Research Schedule
Stage
Week
Pre-intervention
1
2-3
While-intervention
4-5
Post-intervention
6
Task
- General observation
- Material preparation
- Subject selection
- Pre-test implementation
- Group A: treated with
translation technique
- Group B: treated with visual aids
- Class observation in each lesson
- Mini test 1 & 2 implementation
- Group A: treated with visual aids
- Group B: treated with translation
technique
- Class observation in each lesson
- Mini test 3 & 4 implementation
- Questionnaire distribution and
collection
- Data analysis and evaluation
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Analytical framework
In this research, the data were obtained from students’ mini-tests, class observation sheets
and questionnaires for the students. They made up three sets of data, and each was analyzed
separately with different methods of analysis. In addition, there was a pre-test delivered at the
beginning of the experiment. Since this pre-test merely served as a tool to select sample for the
study, it was not put into analysis.
Mini-tests
The mini-test scores of the two experimental groups were described and analyzed through
three steps to find out the answer to the first research question. First, the researchers made a
comparison between the means and SD of two groups. Since this task did not lead to any certain
conclusion about the compared performances of the students in the two groups, a two-tailed
Independent t-test was conducted (see Brown, 2001, p. 151) to examine the statistic significance
of such sets of means. The t values were calculated by hand, using the formula below:
In the third
step, the observed t
values were
compared with its critical value in the table Critical values of t (Brown, 2001, p.152) (Appendix
K) to find out whether the difference in means between the two groups in the 4 experimental
weeks was statistically significant or not. Then the performances on vocabulary between the 2
groups were inferred. Subsequently, in order to ensure the validity of the t values calculated
manually, the researchers double-checked the results by using a t-test formula on Microsoft
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Excel. Next comes the step of calculating the p values, using the Excel formulas devised by Del
Siegle. The p values were then used to support the t-values in determining the difference in the
students’ performances between the 2 groups.
Observation sheets
During the experiment, one of the researcher was responsible for the teaching while the
other attended the lessons and observed. The data collected from 8 observation sheets were
described and analyzed in 3 main themes: talking time, activity and language use. Three charts
were drawn to illustrate the descriptive data and facilitate the analyzing process. The observation
results enabled the researchers to find out the answer to the second research question.
Questionnaire
83 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the students in the last week of the
experiment. The raw data collected were converted in to percentage. The researchers looked at
the percentage of student’s choice in each item and figured out their perception about the use of
visual aids in teaching vocabulary. The results of the observation also confirmed the validity of
the data obtained from the questionnaire.
Statistic Analysis
The scores of the mini-tests of two groups were recorded for a two-tailed mean
comparison, using the t-test (p ≤.05), to see the difference in two groups’ performances.
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Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion
This chapter presents and interprets the results obtained from the data collection process.
The collected data is analyzed in details and under three successive sections, each section reports
on the findings of a data set. The first section deals with the results of the mini-tests completed
by 30 students purposefully selected by the researchers from the two groups of students. The
second section handles the classroom observation sheets. Then the chapter moves on with the
analysis of the participants’ responses in the questionnaire.
Mini-test results
Table 1 below presents the results of 4 two-tailed t-tests corresponding to 4 lessons
conducted in 4 successive weeks.
Table 1.
Results of vocabulary mini-test scores.
As can be seen from the above parameters, the standard deviations (SD) of two groups
are rather high, ranging from 0.77 to 1.28. In the first week, the two groups share the same
standard deviation of 0.79. However, group B achieves higher standard deviations of 0. 99, 1.28
as compared to those of group B which are 0.77 and 0.92 in the second and fourth week
respectively. Differently, in the third week, the standard deviation of group B is quite lower than
that of group A which are 0.96 and 1.26 respectively.
The above comparison indicates that the means and SDs of the two groups do not
indicate any significant difference in their performance during the 4-week experiment.
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Therefore, the data were put into the following formula to calculate the observed t-value for the
fist week:
The observed t-values of the mean scores of mini-test 2, 3 and 4 were also calculated
using this formula, and the results were 0.457, 0.217, 0.325 and 0.164, respectively.
In the next step, the researchers compared these observed t value with their corresponding
critical value of 2.048 (see the table about critical values of t in Appendix I with df = 28, p ≤
0.05 and two-tailed test type). It was found out that all the 4 observed t values of the 4 weeks
were far lower than the critical value. Inferentially, the difference in the mini-test mean scores
was not statistically significant. Accordingly, the grammar knowledge of the two groups at the
outset was nearly the same.
To ensure the validity of the t values, the researchers double checked the results using the
t-test fomula on Microsoft Excel. This time, the results obtained were exactly the same as that
calculated by hand.
The p-values of the 4 mini-tests were also calculated on Del Siegle’s Excel program. The
results produced were 0.65, 0.84, 0.75 and 0.87 (see Table 1), respectively. As presented earlier,
the set p is < .05. As can be seen, the 4 t-values are all higher than the set p, which reveals that
there was no significant difference between the means of the two groups in each week.
Evidently, despite the switching of two different techniques in teaching vocabulary, the two
experimental groups showed no significant difference in their performance on the mini-tests.
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Specifically, the students who received vocabulary lessons using visual aids do not perform
better than those who were taught with translation technique. This leads the researchers to the
conclusion that the use of visual aids in vocabulary teaching does not enhance students’
performance on vocabulary as compared with the translation technique (research question 1).
Observation analysis
The information obtained from the 8 class observations revealed some interesting
findings regarding the effects of visual aids on the participants’ motivation all through 4 weeks
of experiment. (The sample observation sheets are attached in Appendix C1). As presented in
Chapter 4, there are 8 class observations, among which 4 were conducted on group A and 4 on
group B. (For detailed summary of observation results, please refer to Appendix C2).
48
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Talking time
As can be seen from Figure 1, in the classes which translation technique is used to teach
vocabulary, teacher’s talking time is longer than the student’s talking time all through the 4
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weeks (53.4%, 60%, 53.3%, 40% and 20%, 33.3%, 40%, 40% respectively). The students did not
have many chances to talk in the class. The teacher was the authority and had to work a lot. This
was because when using the translation method, the teacher was always busy giving the meaning
of new words or explaining difficult phrases. Students’ main duty was to open their notebooks
and took note of everything the teacher required. From time to time, some individual students
were asked to translate a word or an example. Some others stood up to ask the teacher for some
confusing words or for clarification. As a consequence, the teacher and the students did not have
much interaction. Generally, from week 1 to week 4, the percentage of mutual interaction was
very low (26.7%, 6.7%, 6.7% and 20%, respectively).
On the contrary, the distribution of teacher’s and student’s talking time in the classes that
were treated with visual aids did show different tendencies as compared with translation classes.
Specifically, the amount of the student’s talking time occupied a large proportion than that of the
teacher in all the 4 weeks of experiment (26.7%, 40%, 33.3% , 40% and 33.3%, 26.7%, 26.7%,
20% respectively). Moreover, there was more mutual interaction between the teacher and the
students, i.e. both the teacher and the students talked at the same time, in the 4 weeks (40%,
33.3%, 40% and 40%, respectively). The statistics imply that the students in these classes were
the centre of the lesson. They were given a free space to express their own ideas and their
contribution was recognized by the teacher. Moreover, a variety of activities were conducted to
keep the class stay active and enthusiastic. The teacher acted as the facilitator, instructor and
advisor but not a controller anymore.
As opposed to the visual technique, translation technique seemed to give students fewer
chances to speak their mind. In week 2, week 3, and week 4, the percentage of student’s talking
time in the lessons employing the translation technique and those applying visual aids were
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nearly equal (33.3%, 40%, 40% and 40%, 33.3%, 40%, respectively). Nevertheless, there is a
slight difference in week 1, that is, the students in the classes treated with visual aids were
provided with more opportunities to speak than those treated with the translation method ( 26.7%
and 20%, respectively). On the other hand, it could be seen that throughout 4 weeks, when the
teacher used translation technique in teaching vocabulary, she had a tendency to talk much more
than when she used visual aids. Especially, in week 2 the teacher’s talking time made up 60% of
the total teaching time. Similarly, teacher’s talking time was also considered long in week 1,
week 3 and week 4, which were 53.4%, 53.3% and 40%, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest
percentage of teacher’s talking time in the classes using visual aids was only 33.3% in week 1;
and the number kept falling down in the weeks that followed: 26.7% in week 2 and 3, and 20%
in week 4. As for teacher-student interaction, there was also a certain difference, comparing the
two classes in which two different techniques were introduced. Concretely, 40%, 33.3%, 40%,
and 40% were the percentage of mutual interaction observed in the classes using visual aids
while there were only 26.7%, 6.7%, 6.7% and 20% in class using translation technique.
To sum up, using visual aids in presenting vocabulary is beneficial in that it removes the
teacher’s domination in the classroom and allows the students to freely prove themselves by
sharing their opinions with the teacher and their peers by means of pairwork or groupwork. The
teacher is no longer required to work so hard as in a translation class; more work is left to the
students. Specifically, visual aids offer the students more chances to talk in the class, not only
when answering the teacher’s questions but also when working in pairs or groups and discussing
with each other. Both teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction are enhanced
with the application of visual aids. In fact, interaction is encouraged through classroom activities
that the teacher organizes. The activities help build up a bridge that reinforce the rapport between
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the teacher and the students. Some typical activities used in the 8 experimental lessons are
analyzed in the section that follows.
Activity
As
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displayed in Figure 2, when translation method was used, the percentage of whole class activity
appeared to dominate other ones such as individual work, pairwork or groupwork. The highest
percentage was reached in the first translation lesson of the first week: whole class work took up
73.33% while individual work accounted for only 13.3%, and pairwork and group work occupied
6.7%. There was a decline in week 3 (40%) but it still remained in high position more than 50%
in week 2 and 4 ( 53.3% and 53.3%, respectively). Meanwhile, individual work achieved the
lowest percentage in week 1, which was 13.3% but double to 26.7% in week 2 and week 3; then
it slightly fell down to 20% in the last week. It can be concluded that pair work and group work
were not predominant activities in the translation classes as these activities took up a very small
proportion in the last two weeks (6.7%, 26.7% and 13.3%, 20%, respectively). In general, whole
class activity was conducted with higher frequency than other ones, i.e. individual work, pair
work and group work. This can be traced from the fact that whole class activity is more timesaving and convenient, which is more suitable for the context of Vietnamese classrooms. In fact,
it is quicker to let the whole class call out the answers than to ask individual students to stand up
or come to the board. Another convenience is that the teacher does not have to spend time
designing tasks for pair work and group work, which costs a lot of time and efforts.
Nevertheless, in the classes treated with visual aids, work of pairs, groups and individuals
are substantially enhanced. Whole class activity was still implemented in classroom but it was no
longer at the top position as compared to other activities. This kind of activity took up the largest
proportion (33.3%) in week 3 and remained stable with the same proportion of 26.7% in the
other three weeks. Individual, pair work and group work are increased within 4 weeks. In week
1, individual work made up a proportion of 20%, pair work 33.3% and group work 20%. In total,
only in the first week, those kind of activities accounted for nearly 75% of the whole teaching
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time while there was only 26.7% of whole class activity. Moreover, the total percentage of these
three kind of activities was higher than whole class activity from week to week. For example,
these activities took up 73.3% ( 26.7% of individual work, 33.3% of pair work and 13.3 of group
work) of the total teaching time in week 2. The number is lower in week 3 (66.7%) with 20%
individual, 20% of pair work and 26.7% of group work. However, this percentage was still
higher than whole class activity (33.3%). Likewise, in the last week, whole class activity was
still lower than the total percentage of other three ones ( 26.7% < 73.4%).
All the figures above show that whole class activity was no longer the main activity in the
classes that used visual aids. The teacher did vary the activities from individual work to pair
work and group work in order to create positive learning motivation for the students. That way,
the students’ participation and engagement were certainly boosted.
The liveliness of the various activities resulted in students’ positive feelings in the
vocabulary lessons in which visual aids were used as teaching tools. In these lessons, the
students always felt comfortable as they had many opportunities to participate in the lesson. The
students were no longer the puppets that acted under the extensive authority of the teacher.
In short, the more activities teachers used, the more initiative the students gained. Most
importantly, visual aids enable the students to express themselves in English as often as possible.
With the presence of visual aids, the lessons become more interesting and students are more
cooperative.
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Language use
The figure above indicated that Vietnamese was used more frequently in translation
lessons than in visual aids lessons. For example, from week 1 to week 4, the percentage of
55
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Vietnamese using in translation lessons was quite high (53.3%, 46.7%, 46.7% and 53.3%,
respectively). In lessons that employed visual aids, the percentage was rather low: 13.3% in
week 1 and 3, 6.7% in week 2 and 10% in week 4. It can be said that Vietnamese is
indispensable in lessons using the translation technique. Teachers always used Vietnamese to
give meaning, explanation and instructions to students to ensure their understanding.
Furthermore, teachers tend to assume that students can most easily grasp the knowledge when
teachers speak Vietnamese. This accounts for the fact that Vietnamese has still been so widely
spoken in English classes in most Vietnamese high schools.
Conversely, English tended to be used more often in classes treated with visual aids. The
use of English achieved quite high percentage in week 1 (66.7%), and even higher in the
following week (86.7%). The percentage was only 60% in week 3, then increased to 76.7% in
the last week. Overall, English always occupied at least 60% in these classes because the teacher
in classes using visual aids expected the students to use English as much as possible in order to
better their speaking skill and help them become confident in producing the language. In
contrast, teacher seemed to avoid using English when she applied translation technique. Only
33.3% of English was used in the first two weeks. The frequency of using English increased in
week 3 and 4 (46.7% and 40%). However, it was still lower than the percentage of English used
in class of visual aids.
At times, there was a need to use both languages in order to express an idea, giving an
abstract definition, or clarifying an instruction, even in a visual aids class. Understandably, the
percentage of both language use in a class of visual aids was always lower than that in a
translation class. As shown in Figure 3, the use of both languages in classes of visual aids
occupied 13.3% in week 2 and 4, 20% in week 1 and 33.3% in week 3. On the other hand, in
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translation classes, the percentage was 20% in week 2, and even lower in the other weeks (13.3%
in week 1, and 6.7% in week 3 and 4). The statistics indicate that teacher and students rarely
spoke both languages in a class using visual aids. Meanwhile, there was more frequent switching
from one language to another in translation classes.
Generalization of the findings
As figured out in the above analysis of the observation results, the students in classes
treated with visual aids seemed to have more positive attitudes than those in translation classes.
In translation classes, the atmosphere was really passive. The students did not have many
chances to talk in the class. Some of them even got bored, yawned and fell asleep during the
lesson. Their face looked neither happy nor comfortable. As observed by one of the researchers,
many of the students did not concentrate on the lesson and some made noise by chatting with
their neighbours. Others looked out towards the door, contemplating something other than the
content of the lesson. As for the teacher, she did not vary the classroom activities, which made
the lesson monotonous and discouraging. With respect to language use, Vietnamese was more
preferable than English. The teacher did use English at times but immediately switched into
Vietnamese when it came to giving the meaning of new words.
In the visual aids classes, in the opposite, the students felt encouraged and excited
because the teacher gave them various activities and interesting visual illustrations. Most of them
worked very hard in class, and just few students lost their concentration. On the whole, the class
was really active and enthusiastic. The teacher encouraged the students to get involved in the
lesson by giving them a free space to talk and express themselves in the target language. The role
of the teacher was a facilitators or an advisor who assisted the students in their learning, not
controlling them. Vietnamese is only used when there are some difficult words or phrases which
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required translation. Even though the activities in the classes of visual aids still created much
noise, it was regarded as positive and acceptable. This showed that most students were actively
engaged in the lesson and really enjoyed the activities assigned by the teacher.
Student’s questionnaires
To address the impact of the visual aids on students’ motivation (the second research
question), the researchers used the information obtained through the questionnaire surveys
carried out in the last week of the experiment. Thirty copies of the questionnaire were sent out to
the participants of the 2 groups and all were returned to the researchers, making up 100%
response rate.
In the following subsections, the results of the questionnaire are presented in relation to
the four primary themes: the activities that teachers preferred to use in a vocabulary lesson, the
feelings of students towards the use of visual aids in teaching vocabulary, the reasons for
students’ approval or disapproval, and their expectations about the employment of vocabulary
teaching method. The descriptive statistics of students’ responses for the 5 items in the second
part of the questionnaire can be found in Appendix F. The researchers will first report the
descriptive statistics for the results, and then give comments on the statistic significance of the
data.
4.1.3.1. Activities that teachers prefer to use in a vocabulary lesson
As for item 1, the participants rated their opinions on a five-level scale. In the purpose of
assisting the researchers in the analyzing task, the following conventions are set up:
Always + Often = Frequent
Sometimes + Rarely + Never = Not frequent
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Descriptive statistics of students’ responses for item 1 are demonstrated in Table 3 below:
Table 3.
Descriptive statistics of Students’ responses for question 1
As can be seen in Table 3, a large majority of students (86.7%) reported that their teacher
always or often use Vietnamese to explain the meaning of new vocabulary. Differently, only
43.4% of the investigated students said that English is always or often used by their teacher with
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the same purpose. The former percentage is nearly twice as much as the latter one, which means
that Vietnamese was used much more frequently in teaching vocabulary than English. This
preference may be due to the limitation either in students’ ability or in teacher’s competence. On
one hand, there is a chance that students find it difficult to understand an English definition of a
word. This is especially true to weak students whose vocabulary is very limited. On the other
hand, some teachers may not be capable of making themselves understood in English.
Vietnamese is quicker to use, saving teachers lots of time and effort. This is one reason why
translation technique is still a deep-rooted in high schools today. However, it is English that
should be used as the most prevalent language in the classroom. Students should be encouraged
to express themselves in a language different from their mother tongue and try to understand
teacher’s English instructions. This way, students will be urged to activate their cognitive ability
and the lesson will be more motivating.
Twenty out of thirty students, making up 66.7% revealed that their teacher always writes
new words and meanings on board or show them on power point slides. The other 33.3% said
that their teacher often do this. Meanwhile, 40% of students answered that their teacher rarely
reads new words and meanings for them to take notes. The other 26.7% said “sometimes”, and
the rest of them (33.3%) said “never”. From these evidences, it can be concluded that the
technique of reading and note taking was not frequently utilized by high school teachers; the
board writing technique was far more preferable. This is a good sign about the vocabulary
teaching in high schools nowadays, as teachers know how to make use of the board and slides as
teaching aids. Obviously, due to the lack of school’s facilities, board writing is certainly done
more often than slide showing. In practice, board and slides are useful teaching aids which
support teachers in showing form and meaning of new words. The problems are how much time
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board writing may take and how much effort the teacher needs to spend on preparing slides,
especially those who are technically handicapped. Hence, it is a must for every English teacher
to improve their technical skills; meanwhile, using handouts is one solution for the problem of
board writing.
Drawing was not a frequent technique used by teachers in illustrating new vocabulary
because up to 83.4 % of students acknowledged that their teacher did not often make use of this
technique in teaching. There were even 5 students who said that their teacher never drew pictures
on board. This fact seems easy to justify as a teacher is not trained to be a painter. Other than
some who luckily have an artistic knack, very few teachers are good at drawing. Hence, these
teachers do not risk wasting so much time doodling on the board while students are secretly
giggling at their idiotic works.
The percentage of students who reported that their teacher always or often used gestures
and body language when presenting new words is highly considerable (80.1%). As mentioned in
the literature review, these are referred to as demonstration techniques. The above figures prove
that these techniques were used with high frequency in classroom. This is understandable since
gestures and body language are quick and easy to use, and most importantly, very effective in
helping students learn new words through the eyes. However, it should be noticed that in order to
be a good presenter, the teacher should appear very natural when making any gestures so that
students can readily imagine the word being taught and retain it in their mind longer.
70% of the students responded that their teacher used printed pictures to present new
vocabulary frequently, among which 16.7% say “Always” and 53.3% said “Often”. This
percentage outnumbers that of students who did not acknowledge the frequent use of this
technique. This means that printed pictures are favorite teaching tools of teachers in vocabulary
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teaching. With the presence of printed pictures, teachers no longer need to draw anything on the
board, which saves them a lot of time and saves their face as well.
It is surprising that up to 86.6% of students stated that their teacher did not often show
pictures on power point slides to teach new words. Only 13.3% of students recognized that this
technique was often employed. No one ticked the box “always”. This indicates that teachers
showed a tendency to avoid using power point slides in teaching, let alone teaching vocabulary.
The researchers’ assumption is that many teachers do not have good computer skills and do not
have much time to prepare a good power point lesson.
70% of students deny the frequent use of real objects by their teacher in vocabulary
teaching. Specifically, 33.3% of them say that the teacher sometimes used real objects to
illustrate a vocabulary item; other 26.7% report that real objects were rarely used. There are even
3 students who have the same opinion that their teacher never uses this technique. Meanwhile,
only 30% of the participants acknowledged that the teacher did use real objects in teaching
vocabulary. This brings the researchers to a conclusion that real objects are actually used by
teachers in teaching vocabulary, but not frequently enough. Perhaps, the teachers just make use
of the real objects that are available in the classroom and rarely bring any others there to show
students when presenting vocabulary.
From the results discussed above, it can be found that there were some techniques which
were used with high frequency by teachers when presenting vocabulary to students and some
which were not. The most frequently-used activities are using Vietnamese to explain word’
meaning, reading words and meanings for students to take notes, using printed pictures, as well
as using gestures and body language. The reason is that these techniques are quick, easy to use
and not much demanding on the part of the teacher. Translating new words into students’
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language and reading words and meanings for students to take notes are both related to
translation technique which has been proved in the literature review as tedious and boring. This
is because translation lesson is featured by teacher’s authority and students’ passiveness. As
pointed out in the analysis of the observation sheets, during such a lesson, students’ talking time,
individual work and interaction are limited. Obviously, students cannot be motivated if they are
not given many chances to participate actively in the lesson and take charge of their own
learning. As for the other two techniques: demonstrating and using printed pictures, they are
characterized as visual techniques. The frequent use of these techniques is a positive sign for the
language teaching in high schools nowadays. Besides, some other techniques which are not
much preferred are using English to explain word’ meaning, writing words and meanings on
board, drawing, showing pictures on power point slides and using real objects. All of them are
techniques of visual aids and have not been widely-used by high school teachers. In fact, the
techniques that a teacher use in teaching vocabulary do determine students’ interest in the lesson.
Here, a question is raised as regard whether the technique of visual aids can arouse
students’ interest in learning. The answer to this question is discussed in the next section based
on the students’ responses in question 2.
4.1.3.2 Students’ perception towards the use of visual aids in teaching vocabulary
Figure 1. Students’ perception towards the use of visual aids in teaching vocabulary
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3%
7%
Yes
normal
No
90%
The pie chart shows that 90% of the students feel that their interest is enhanced when
visual aids is employed in a vocabulary lesson. This high proportion indicates that visual aids are
highly effective in creating good motivation for students in learning vocabulary. In contrast, only
7% of students show a neutral attitude towards this technique, and 3% perceive this technique as
uninteresting. This means that not every student enjoys the employment of visual techniques.
Although the number is small, it is significant enough to reflect a fact whose reasons deserve
thorough investigation. Hence, question 3 and 4 aim at exploiting where these different choices
may be stemmed from.
4.1.3.3 Reasons for students’ interest in vocabulary lessons in which visual aids are
used
Descriptive statistics of students’ responses for item 1 are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of Students’ responses for question 1
NB: 1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Agree, 3 = Disagree, 4 = Strongly disagree
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As found in the table 3, 25 out of 30 students, accounting for 83.3%, agreed that the
major reason for their interest is that the lesson using visual aids is interesting. This is predictive
because visual aids can entertain the students with colorful pictures, funny videos and motivating
activities. The use of picture in teaching will make it easier to maintain the eagerness of the
students and consequently increase their chances of learning.
Chance to show more initiative comes second with approximately 80% of the students’
agreement. Class connection and lively lesson both achieve a high rate of agreement (76.6%).
73.3 % of students concurred on the fact that lesson using visual aids gave them more chances to
speak English. Additionally, 21 out of 27 students (70%) were satisfied with the comfortable
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atmosphere created through visual aids, and 20 students (66.6%) felt that the lesson was closely
related with the real life. The memory enhancement effect was least likely to be concurred in
with the choice of only 60% of the students.
As regarding the above results, the researchers strongly believe that visual aids are
tremendously effective in teaching vocabulary to high school students since they not only make
the class more lively by relating the lesson to the real outside world, but also generate a
comfortable English environment in which the students are given more initiative and are brought
closely together. More than half of the students find that visual aids assist them in memorizing
new vocabulary. This indicates one more effect of visual aids.
4.1.3.4 Reasons for students’ uninterest in vocabulary lessons in which visual aids are
used
Descriptive statistics of students’ responses for item 1 are presented in Table 4.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of Students’ responses for question 1
Out of 30 students who took part in the questionnaire survey, there are 3 students who
demonstrate a negative attitude about the use of visual aids in teaching vocabulary. As indicated
in the table 4, there are four main reasons for this. The first reason is the noise which is agreed on
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67
by all the three students (10%). Inability to concentrate on the lesson is the problem of 2
students, making up a proportion of 6.67%. The other student does not have this problem. All the
three students (10%) also agree on the third reason that visual aids waste so much time. Another
reason which is related to the teacher is that when using visual aids, the teacher cannot manage to
control the class well; no one in the 3 students disagree with this. Moreover, the same students
(10%) also frankly confess that weak students cannot follow the lesson. Nonetheless, there is no
student complaining that the lesson is not interesting.
Those results exhibit some notable problems of applying visual aids in teaching
vocabulary to high school students in Vietnam. First, the activities of visual aids class result in so
much noise. Second, some weak students find it hard to follow and concentrate on the lesson.
Third, using visual aids is time-consuming. Lastly, when organizing various activities for the
students to join during the lesson, the teacher will have trouble controlling the class. The
solutions for these problems will be discussed later in this chapter.
4.1.3.5 Students’ expectation about the technique used in teaching vocabulary
0%
translation
40%
visual aids
60%
both
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Figure 2. Students’ expectation about the technique used in teaching vocabulary
It can be seen from Figure 2 that the students who expected their teacher to teach
vocabulary with visual aids occupy the largest range (60%). Other 40% of the students showed a
preference for the combination of translation technique and visual aids. There was no student
who recommended learning vocabulary with merely translation technique. In fact, the results are
predictive since the positive effects of visual aids on students’ motivation have been proved by
the findings of the observation discussed earlier in this chapter (see Literature Review).
On the whole, what the research’s findings reveal are very interesting. On one hand, the
mini-test analysis shows that when visual aids are introduced into the teaching of vocabulary,
there will be no likely improvement in students’ performance as compared to translation lessons;
on the other hand, data collected by means of questionnaires and observation sheets all confirms
the conclusion that visual aids are powerful in fostering the students’ interest, motivation, and
participation.
Like any other ESL (English as a second language) learners, the English that Vietnamese
students are taught is academic English which lacks the authenticity and practicality.
Consequently, the vocabularies these students learn in school are sometimes impractical too.
They often lack the ability to interact in real-life social settings because they are in separate
classrooms where the translation teaching technique limits their opportunity to interact
academically or socially. One way to tackle this problem is to bring the real life into the
classroom through the use of visual aids. The following subsections further elaborate how each
visual technique has positive impacts on students’ learning motivation. However, the researchers
will only mention some techniques of visual aids which are most likely to be applicable to the
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context of Vietnamese high school classrooms: (1) board writing, (3) using realia, (4) using
pictures, (5) using videos, and (6) using gestures and mime.
The chalkboard is one kind of visual aid, and it is regarded as the traditional symbol of
the classroom. There are a number of benefits of using the board to deliver lesson content. In a
vocabulary lesson, the board enables a teacher to show the written form of a word or phrase.
According to the literature review, board writing is an essential step, as it helps the teacher make
sure that students do not make mistake with the word’s spelling. Besides, the board also allows
the teacher to write down other things that he wants his students to note such as the word’s
meaning, its example and collocation. If board writing costs much time, the teacher can make use
of the handouts. However, it is advisable for the teacher to write the word list and key
transcriptions on the board. The writing facilitates the teacher in reminding the students of
difficult sounds and in conducting repetition. In reality, some teachers even, intentionally, limit
the use of board and chalks owing to their bad handwriting. Avoiding writing on board and
preparing slides actually save teachers much energy, but it reduces the effectiveness of a
vocabulary lesson. For example, students may make mistakes when taking note of long words
without seeing the exact words on board or slides.
As for realia, they can be used for learners of all ages and levels and urge them to take an
active part in the lesson. Realia can be any object that students can see and touch. Just a small
real item can stir the imagination of the students and enlighten the class. Actually, real objects
breathe new life into new vocabulary and enhance students’ ability to memorize the presented
words. Take the word “globe” for example (see Appendix E2): by bringing a plastic terrestrial
globe into the classroom, the teacher is able to elicit the meaning of the word quickly without
wasting time giving a lengthy definition. Realia can be said to be great icebreakers, and serves as
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useful tools to prompt interaction between students, and between teacher and students as well.
Moreover, using realia is one way of encouraging creativity and imagination by involving the
senses. Specifically, realia can make a vocabulary lesson memorable by involving the senses of
seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and even tasting; Realia saves teachers some time, since
recognition of an object is immediate and does not require any further description. Nonetheless,
it should be noticed that not every single word can be illustrated by real objects. As pointed out
in the literature review, concrete words will lend themselves better to using realia than abstract
words. Teachers have to bear this point in mind before planning any elicitation with realia.
Likewise, using a picture also boost the students’ motivation in learning vocabulary. This
technique is quicker and more effective than giving a concise definition or detailed description of
a work. Most importantly, the liveliness of pictures can greatly speed students’ comprehension
and lessen teacher’s work in a vocabulary lesson. Pictures also grab students’ attention and make
their mind on the eliciting questions. Once pictures (either printed pictures or pictures on power
point slides) are introduced into the lesson, a vocabulary lesson is no longer a dull and repetitive
experience for students. In other words, pictures help generate good stimuli for students and
create an atmosphere conducive to their vocabulary learning.
In addition to using realia and pictures, teachers can employ videos in teaching
vocabulary. A video is really helpful for eliciting some vocabulary items by combining the
senses of sight and sound. As a result, elicitation becomes much easier. Particularly for higherlevel classes, movies can be a great teaching tool to foster conversation. Movies not only pique
students' interest, but also familiarize their ears with the voices of native speakers. Actually, the
native accents are always good for attracting students’ attention and keep them focus on the
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activity. Once the students’ attention is being maintained well, there is a high likelihood that
their motivation will be generated.
Using gestures and mime is also important when it comes to teaching vocabulary. This
technique helps break up the monotony of depending strictly on translation. Giving a
demonstration with gestures or facial expressions is always more effective than having students
translate every new word and memorize them like obedient parrots. In fact, miming technique
can aide the students in understanding, communicating and participating during your lessons.
The teacher can use it to elicit certain words and phrases from students. If a teacher is able to use
gestures or facial expressions creatively and appropriately, he will make his students more
attentive. Gestures and mime can bring about many positive effects in numerous classroom
situations, and one of those effects is that they motivate the students to learn.
The visual techniques mentioned above all have positive impact on the students’
motivation during a vocabulary lesson. Evidently, the students’ interest is heightened to a
statistically greater extent when visual aids are employed as proved by the percentage of their
choices. Thus, there is no reason to say that a vocabulary lesson is dull with the presence of
visual aids. Undeniably, there are several problems arising when employing this technique,
which accounts for some students’ negative attitude. No students respond that they find the
lesson using visual aids not interesting. The major reason for some students’ disapproval is their
incapability to follow the lesson. Most of the time, the teacher uses English to elicit new words,
give meaning, instruct the activities and give feedback on the students’ answers. In fact, the use
of English in the teacher’s instruction does not cause any problems to the students having good
English competence; however, it does obstruct the weak students in their acquisition of new
vocabulary during a lesson. Perhaps, the students who are not interested are among the weakest
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ones in the two groups. Moreover, when explaining their choice, these students also give their
opinions on other problems of the visual technique. First, it is the noise that annoys neighbouring
classes. Second, some activities using visual aids take up a lot of time, especially group work.
The last problem is on the part of the teacher, that is, he must try hard to calm the students down
from their excitement. Nevertheless, all those problems can be, to some extent, solved with
careful lesson planning and good class management skill. Some of the solutions will be
recommended in the subsequent chapter of this paper. Generally speaking, provided that the
teacher is competent, creative and clever enough, a lesson of visual aids will be able to provoke
the students’ interest and inspire them to learn.
In general, the research is successful in finding out the answer to its question. Though
using visual aids in teaching vocabulary is not superior to translation technique in promoting
students’ understanding of the lexical items, they are especially powerful in creating a positive
learning atmosphere in the classroom. Therefore, using visual aids in teaching vocabulary can
and should be used in the classroom as an alternative to translation technique.
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Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations
Six weeks of experiment provided the researchers with authentic data which were later
put into analysis and interpretation in order test the two hypotheses designated at the beginning
of the study. The answers to the two research questions are summarized in this chapter together
with, strengths and weaknesses of the methodology, some pedagogical implications, and
suggestions for further research. Each piece of this content will be discussed in 4 specific
sections as below.
Answers to the research questions:
1. Teaching vocabulary using visual aids does not have significant effect either in
enabling students to learn and retain new lexical items or in enhancing their performance on
vocabulary tests as compared with translation technique. The research results show that tenthgrade students who were taught with visual aids do score slightly higher vocabulary tests than
those who did not receive the same treatment; however, the score difference is not statistically
significant enough to conclude that visual aids have powerful impact on students’ vocabulary
accumulation.
2. Generally, using visual aids to teach vocabulary are substantially beneficial in
promoting students’ motivation, engagement and participation when learning the target language
in classroom. The majority of students show positive attitudes towards vocabulary lessons that
employ visual techniques. Specifically speaking, the results of questionnaires and observation
revealed that visual aids get students more involved in the lesson by bringing the outside world
into classroom, making students feel more comfortable, giving them more initiative in their own
leaning, enhancing their confidence and sticking the class together.
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Strengths and weaknesses of the study
Altogether, the research’s methodology has both strengths and weaknesses due to some
objective factors.
As regard the strengths, the methodology helps exploit the research questions in a twosided way, both on students’ performance and motivation. If students’ performance is measured
by comparing the results of the 2 groups on the 4 post-tests, student’s motivation is evaluated
through the information obtained from the questionnaires and observation. In this way, the
hypotheses are thoroughly examined.
It can be said that the results and conclusions of the study are reliable since the method as
well as instruments used to collect data had been carefully devised and reconsidered many times
before applying; more importantly, in the researching process, this method proved to be
objective and prolific. The participants were divided as group A and group B. Both groups had
chance to experience both translation and visual method. This enabled the researchers to be more
objective in observing the feelings and evaluating the performance of the participants during
each lesson. Besides, this technique switching also increased the objectivity of the students’
responses in the questionnaires. Since the students had been taught with both techniques, they
could share how they felt about each one without being interfered too much by their subjectivity.
Their performance were judged after 4 different post-tests which had been designed variably
with various types of vocabulary exercises. This made the test scores more precise since they
reflected the students’ true ability. Additionally, sufficient amount of information and statistics
was acquired to back up the researchers in achieving the aims of the study. 30 participants were
selected on purpose so that they have the same level of English manifested through their pre-test
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scores. This selection technique facilitated the researchers in observing, testing and evaluating
the participants.
Another deciding factor that makes the study successful is the enthusiastic cooperation of
the students, not to mention the helpful support of the teachers in Hung Vuong high school
where the research was conducted. All the participants were highly responsible in doing the
experimental tests and the questionnaire, which assured the authenticity of the data. The English
teacher in charge of the two selected classes were also zealous in consulting the researchers
about the students’ English proficiency and personality. That way, it would not take much time
to choose the most appropriate participants for the study. In addition, thanks to those pieces of
advice, the researchers knew how to prepare effective lessons and suitable tests to use in the
experiment. In addition, the teacher even allowed the researchers to rearrange student seating in
class in accordance with the study purposes (i.e. 15 participants of each class were told to sit at
the 3 front rows in the classroom). This, in fact, faciliated the researchers in observing the
participants during a lesson.
Moreover, the length of researching time is also one strength of the study. Although it
was carried out on a modest scale with a small number of participants (i.e. 30 students chosen
from the two classes in Hung Vuong high school), the intervention time extended to 6 weeks –
long enough to conduct 4 experimental vocabulary lessons on each group and collect data by
means of tests and a questionnaire.
Actually, the findings of the research can be generalized and applied to a majority of
public high schools in Ho Chi Minh City. All the participants are from a class of Section D in a
public high school and major in three subjects including English. However, Hung Vuong is not a
school for the gifted students and the 2 selected classes are not specialized ones. Hence, they are
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neither excellent nor bad at English. In other words, they are at pre-intermediate level, which
means that their English competence is not much different from that of the students from other
public high schools in Ho Chi Minh city. Therefore, these participants can be good
representatives for high school students in the city.
Nonetheless, the method did contain some limitations. Owing to the strict curriculum of
the school, the research could not manage to conduct the experimental lessons in a separate
classroom with only 15 participants for each class. Unwillingly, the researchers had to ask for the
permission of the teachers in charge to rearrange student seating in both classes, which made it
somehow difficult for the researchers in making precise observation or objective judgments.
Moreover, the experimental classes were carried out late in the afternoon, after 5 main
periods of the school schedule. At that time, the students were quite tired and their attention was
not maintained as well as in the previous periods. This may affect their participation in the
lessons and on the post-tests.
As presented before, the 30 participants were selected on purposes, based on the results
of the pre-test. This lack of randomization reduced the objectivity of the research and the
possibility of generalizing the results.
Pedagogical recommendations
The findings of this study serve as the foundation for many pedagogical
recommendations. This section provides some solutions for teachers to overcome the problems
arising when applying visual aids in teaching vocabulary in high schools.
First, it is important for the teacher to prepare the lesson carefully beforehand. A wellprepared lesson means it is equipped with sufficient knowledge and materials, and has clear aims
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and objectives. This demands a lot of efforts on the part of teachers as they should be
knowledgeable and creative when choosing appropriate techniques to present new vocabulary.
As a compensation, the lesson will surely be interesting and fit the time allotted.
Vocabulary teaching is part of a reading lesson. Thus, the teacher should find a way to
balance the time between vocabulary presentation and other stages such as warm-up and skill
practice. Specifically, vocabulary lesson should not take up more than 15 minutes for each
period. Within that amount of time, all the selected lexical items should be presented in the
quickest and most comprehensible manner.
More importantly, before choosing a technique, teachers should consider the interests and
expectations of students in each class, anticipate problems that can occur during the vocabulary
presentation stage. The teacher should choose suitable techniques for different students who have
different learning styles and attention spans.
In addition to traditional techniques used in high schools, visual aids can be a good
alternative in teaching vocabulary. Nonetheless, noise might be a problem of visual teaching.
Hence, it is essential for a teacher to handle the noise tactfully. There are some simple
suggestions such as closing the doors and windows or, at the beginning of the lesson, reminding
students that it is a must not to get too excited, or else they will get minus. Another solution is
that the teacher should make use of individual work to cut down the noise made by choral outcry.
In this way, the teacher can also pay more attention to weak or timid students, making them
participate more actively in the lesson.
Another recommendation is that the teacher should try to modify the content of the skill
practice in the textbook. For instance, there should be fewer and more intensive reading
comprehension tasks to save time for vocabulary presentation.
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By and large, high school students nowadays have been too familiar with the translation
method. This accounts for the fact that most of the students are shy and passive. All they do in a
vocabulary lesson is to listen, repeat and take notes. They are not motivated at all. Therefore, it is
the teacher’s duty to motivate their students, making them more active and independent in their
own learning. This objective can be fulfilled by bringing visual aids into classroom and, step by
step, familiarize students with this new method of teaching vocabulary.
If a teacher is able to apply all these recommendations successfully in classroom, they
will, for sure, get the new vocabulary across to students effectively. Consequently, students will
be benefited a lot from the teacher’s efforts and the lesson will be regarded as successful.
To sum up, there is no single ideal method of teaching vocabulary. The researchers’
strongest recommendation is that the teacher should combine both the translation and visual
techniques. Some other techniques can also be employed as long as they support the teaching
purposes. In order to have an effective lesson, the teacher should take into consideration many
different factors before planning any vocabulary lesson, those are, the nature of each lexical
item, students’ proficiency in the target language, class size, and most importantly, the teacher’s
competence.
Suggestions for further research
This research mainly aims at exploring the effects of visual aids on students’ performance
and motivation. However, the researchers have not deeply exploited the extent to which visual
aids can have positive impacts on students’ learning motivation. Additionally, other researchers
can also explore which techniques of visual aids (such as drawing, using pictures or
demonstrating) are most effective in creating learners’ motivation. What is more, further
investigations can focus on examining and comparing the effectiveness of visual aids as
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compared with other vocabulary teaching techniques, i.e. using synonym, antonym, giving a
concise definition or detailed description and so on. Those suggestions mentioned above can be
the directions for any further research concerning the issue of applying visual aids in teaching
vocabulary. In summary, particular avenues for further study of innovation should address either
of the following research questions:
1. To what extent do visual aids have positive impacts on students’ learning motivation?
2. Which techniques of visual aids are most effective in creating learners’ motivation?
3. Are visual aids more effective in boosting students’ vocabulary development than
other techniques of teaching vocabulary?
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Appendix A: Pre-test
I. Matching the words on the left with the suitable definitions on the right.
a. extremely important
1. dependant
b. a person or team that plays in the final game
2. survive
of a competition
3. abandonment
c. not very hot and not very cold
4. delight
d. not moving
5. integral
e. to discover something
6. musician
f. to give somebody a lot of pleasure
7. still
g. a person who writes music as a job
8. temperate
h. to continue to live or exist
9. detect
i. the act of leaving a person, thing or place
10. finalist
k. a person who relies on another person for
food, money, etc
l. the act of taking somebody away illegally
m. to make something brighter
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II. Choose the word or phrase – A, B, C or D – that best completes the sentence or
substitutes for the underlined word or phrase.
1. Since its ____________ two years ago, the school’s advice center has seen 50 students
a week.
A. appearance
B. emergence
C. establishment
D. existence
2. When a set of pictures were set in _____________ , they could give the feeling of
movement.
A. motion
B. movingness
C. action
D. operation
3. Oliver Twist was sent to the ____________ since his early childhood.
A. orphan
B. orphaned house
C. orphanage
D. abandonment
4. Paul plays football very well. He always dreams of becoming the greatest
_____________ in the world.
A. goal-scorer
B. winner
C. hero
D. goal-maker
5. The song was so ____________ that I want to listen again, again and again.
A. lyrical
B. lyrics
C. idyllic
D. idyll
6. A world ____________ is the top achievement for any sport or contest.
A. champion
B. championship
C. winner
D. finalist
7. The graduation ceremony is a very _____________ occasion because it marks the
transition between childhood and adulthood.
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A. solemn
B. funny
87
C. normal
D. last
8. Songs can _____________ a lot of feelings, including love, joy and sadness.
A. communicate
B. convey
C. concur
D. A and B are correct
9. Her grandmother’s life was a long _____________ of misfortunes and tragedies.
A. sequence
B. chain
C. cirlcle
D. A and B are correct
10. It is advisable that students use ______________ skill when doing multiple choice
tests.
A. removing
B. removal
C. elimination
D. eliminating
11. Kate always finds it hard to keep her _____________ inside.
A. emotions
B. characteristics
C. emission
D. temper
12. It was such a shocking ______________ that most of the audience were crying out
loud in panic.
A. scenery
B. scene
C. motion
D. manner
13. Everglades National Park ______________ a large variety of rare plants and
endangered animals.
A. contains
B. concludes
C. consists
D. concurs
14. Titanic used to be the most luxury _____________ which sank in 1912 after colliding
with an iceberg.
A. liner
B. voyage
C. sub-marine
15. Amazon is the world’s largest tropical ______________ .
D. steamboat
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A. forest
B. jungle
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C. wood
D. rainforest
III. Give the correct form of the word in the brackets.
1.
A………is a quiet and gentle song that mothers often sing to send children to sleep.
( lull)
2.
Economic and financial………………have brought a great number of benefits to
countries around the world.(global)
3.
Mr Jone, about whom I have talked to you many times, is a…………..person
(communication).
4.
Miss Universe 2011 will officially be………….. in Brazil this September.(host)
5.
The…………… need to practice as hard as they can so that they can win lots of gold
medals for their countries in The Asian Games.(competitive)
6.
Each year, millions of people are sent to the hospital because of the……………. food.
(contamination)
7.
Miss Viet Nam- Huong Giang was the ………….. in Miss Top Model World
contest.(run)
8.
Many difficult structures and vocabularies make his………….. less
interesting.(composer)
9.
Christopher Columbus was the first European………………to set foot in America.
(explore)
10.
Brazil’s national football team has won 5 glorious………………….in the history of
World Cup. (victory)
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11.
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The last one hundred years have seen a ……………………increase in population due to
a high birth rate and immigration. (rapidly)
12.
Smika was only 4 years old when she……………….on the stage for the first time.
(performance)
13.
The……………………..of the school’s basketball team disappointed many students.
(defeating)
14.
The Kingdom had…………………for nearly a century before it collapsed. (existence)
15.
“The little match-seller is a very…………………..story about a poor girl who tries to
sell matches in the street on a cold New Year's Eve. (movement)
KEYS
1. k
2. h
3. c
4. f
5. a
6. g
7. d
8. c
9. e
10. b
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II.
1. C
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. A
8. D
9. D
10. C
11. A
12. B
13. A
14. A
15. D
III.
1. Lullaby
2. globalization
3. communicative
4. hosted
5. competitors
6. contaminated
7. runner-up
8. composition
9. explorer
10. victorious
11. rapid
12. performed
13. defeat
14. existed
15. moving
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Appendix B1: Mini-test 1
Match each word with its correct definition:
1. abandon
a. to have something inside
2. contaminated
b. needing someone or something in order to exist
3. establish
c. to continue to live
4. explorer
d. someone who travels into little known regions
5. orphaned
e. to leave someone
6. survive
f. a thick forest in tropical parts of the world
7. temperate
g. polluted
8. dependent
h. not very hot or very cold
9. rainforest
i. without parents
10. contain
j. to set up an organization
KEYS
1. e
2. g
3. j
4. d
5. i
6. c
7. h
8. b
9. f
10. a
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Appendix B2: Mini-test 2
1. Beethoven is a German ____________ who is famous for his romantic classical music.
A. artist
B. composer
C. musician
D. B and C are correct
2. My elder brother often loses control of his _____________
A. emotion
B. mood
C. feelings
D. All are correct
3. The graduation ceremony is a very _____________ occasion because it marks the
transition between childhood and adulthood.
A. solemn
B. funny
C. normal
D. last
4. The song was so ____________ that I want to listen again, again and again.
A. lyrical
B. lyrics
C. idyllic
D. idyll
5.A ____________ is a quiet and gentle song that mothers often sing to send children to
sleep.
A. sleep song
B. lullaby
C. sonata
D. concerto
6. The actor was _____________ the audiences with his wit and humour.
A. delighting
B. lighting
C. enlightening
D. enjoying
7. Red colour ____________ a sense of enthusiasm, strength and affection.
A. conveys
B. contains
C. shows
D. proves
8. Leadership skills are ___________ to the postion of CEO.
A. very important
B. essential
C. integral
9. Dolphins ___________ through sounds and whistles.
D. All are correct
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A. communicate
B. talk
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C. exchange
D. cry
10. The slow, ____________ music brought back sad memories from her past.
A. happy
B. joyful
C. mournful
KEYS
1. B
2. A
3. D
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. D
8. A
9. D
10. C
D. grateful
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Appendix B3: Mini-test 3
Complete the following sentences with the words given in the box:
moving
existence
motion
quite
liner
detective
performance
rapidly
still
sequence
scenes
appearance
1. Queen Mary II is the world’s greatest ocean______________ever built.
2. The price of petrol has been increasing so ______________ in recent days.
3. He photographed a wide range of street______________ .
4. Sherlock Holmes is an important character in ______________ fictions.
5. The number _____________puzzle was so difficult that few students could solve it.
6. The young woman was standing______________on the beach at dusk.
7. To print a document, we have to set the printing machine in______________ .
8. The cartoon film Up taught me many______________lessons about life.
9. Pakistan came into______________as an independent country after the war.
10. She won a gold medal for her excellent______________in the contest.
KEYS
1.
liner
3.
scenes
2.
4.
rapidly
detective
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5.
sequence
7.
motion
9.
existence
6. still
8.
moving
10.
performan
ce
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Appendix B4: Mini-test 4
Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the words given in brackets:
1. There were competitions between the various teams to fight for the _______________
(champion)
2. Cameroon was one among 32 _________________ who won the chance to play in the final
games of the 2010 World Cup. (final)
3. Netherlands were the _______________ in the two successive World Cup Finals. (run)
4. Before entering the final round, every team must play in several _______________ games.
(eliminate)
5. The police are not always ______________ in their fight against crime. (victory)
6. Tom came first in the poetry ______________ in his city. (compete)
7. English is considered a means of ______________ communication. (globalization)
8. Raul is the greatest _______________ of Real Madrid team with 66 goals in 126 matches.
(goal)
9. Africa was chosen as the _______________ of the 2010 World Cup. (hosted)
10. Spain ______________ Germany 1-0 in the 2010 World Cup semifinal match.
(defeating)
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KEYS
1.
championship
2.
finalists
3.
runners-up
4.
elimination
4.
victorious
5.
competition
6.
held
7.
goal-scorer
8.
host
9.
defeated
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Appendix C1: Observation sheet
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Appendix C2: Summary of Observation results
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Appendix D1
Bảng khảo sát
Chúng tôi là Huỳnh Phú và Phạm Thị Lan Anh – sinh viên lớp 4A, khoa Tiếng Anh,
trường Đại học Sư Phạm TP.Hồ Chí Minh. Hiện nay chúng tôi đang thực hiện đề tài nghiên cứu
về hiệu quả của việc sử dụng các giáo cụ trực quan (visual aids) trong việc dạy và học từ vựng ở
các trường phổ thông công lập ở TP.Hồ Chí Minh. Bài khảo sát này nhằm mục đích thu thập và
ghi nhận ý kiến của các bạn về một số vấn đề liên quan đến đề tài. Rất mong nhận được sự hợp
tác nhiệt tình từ các bạn. Xin chân thành cảm ơn.
Bạn là học sinh trường: ______________________ Lớp: ________
Tuổi: _____________ Giới tính:
 Nam
 Nữ
NB: Giáo cụ trực quan (visual aids) bao gồm: bảng lớn, bảng phụ, (màn hình) máy chiếu,
tranh ảnh, bản đồ, biểu đồ, đồ vật thật,..
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Xin bạn đánh dấu () vào ô bạn cho là thích hợp nhất.
1. Những hoạt động nào thầy/cô thường áp dụng trong tiết dạy từ vựng trên lớp?
 Các hoạt động khác: __________________________________________________________
2. Sau khi được tham gia các tiết học từ vựng có sử dụng các giáo cụ trực quan (visual aids),
bạn có cảm thấy hứng thú với phương pháp dạy này không?
 Rất hứng thú
 Bình thường
 Không hề hứng thú
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Nếu bạn chọn “Rất hứng thú” hoặc “Hứng thú”, xin bạn tiếp tục trả lời câu 3. Nếu bạn
chọn “Không hứng thú lắm” hoặc “Không hề hứng thú”, xin mời bạn trả lời từ câu số 4.
3. Lý do nào khiến bạn cảm thấy hứng thú với việc học từ vựng bằng các giáo cụ trực quan?
(1 = Hoàn toàn đồng ý, 2 = Đồng ý, 3 = Không đồng ý, 4 = Hoàn toàn không đồng ý)
 Lý do khác: _________________________________________________________________
4. Lý do nào khiến bạn cảm thấy không hứng thú với các tiết dạy từ vựng có sử dụng giáo cụ
trực quan? (1 = Hoàn toàn đồng ý, 2 = Đồng ý, 3 = Không đồng ý, 4 = Hoàn toàn không
đồng ý)
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 Lý do khác: ___________________________________________________________
5. Trong các bài học tiếp theo, bạn mong muốn được thầy cô dạy từ vựng ở lớp theo phương
pháp nào?
 Phương pháp cũ
 Sử dụng các giáo cụ trực quan
 Cả hai
 Ý kiến khác: ________________________________________________________
zBÀI KHẢO SÁT ĐẾN ĐÂY LÀ HẾT.
XIN CHÂN THÀNH CẢM ƠN SỰ CỘNG TÁC CỦA CÁC BẠN.
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Appendix D2
Questionnaire
We are Huỳnh Phú and Phạm Thị Lan Anh – students of class 4A of English Department,
University of Education. We’re carrying out a research on “Using visual aids to teach vocabulary
for students in public high schools in Ho Chi Minh city”. This questionnaire serves as a source of
authentic data for us to achieve the purposes of our research. We would greatly appreciate if you
can spare just a few minutes of your time to complete this sheet. It is confirmed that your
personal identity will remain strictly confidential.
I. Respondent’s background.
1. School:________________
Class: _____________________
2. Age: __________________
Gender:
 Male
 Female
NB: Visual aids are tools that are used to support teachers in teaching a subject, including
pictures drawn on board, printed pictures, maps, wordcharts, sentence charts, flow charts, etc.
Please tick () the most appropriate boxes.
1. What are the activities that are frequently used by your English teacher when teaching
vocabulary in class?
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 Other activities: ______________________________________________________
2. After attending 4 lessons in which visual aids are employed to teach vocabulary, do you feel
interested in this method?
 Yes
 Normal
 No
If you choose “Yes”, please go on to question 3. If you choose “Normal” or “No”, please
move to question 4.
3. What are the reasons for your interest in the method of teaching vocabulary using visual aids?
(1 = Strongly agree, 2 = Agree, 3 = Disagree, 4 = Strongly disagree)
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Reason
1
2
3
4
a. You can remember new vocabulary more easily.
b. The class is more active.
c. You feel more initiative during the lesson.
d. You feel comfortable during the lesson.
e. You have more chances to speak English.
f. Real life is brought into classroom.
g. The lesson is more interesting.
h. The class is brought closely together.
 Other reason(s):________________________________________________________
4. What are the reasons for your uninterest in the method of teaching vocabulary using
visual aids?
Strongly
Reason
agree
a. The class is noisy.
b. Students cannot concentrate
well on the lesson.
Strongly
Agree
Disagree
disagree
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c. Visual aids waste so much time.
d. It is hard for the teacher to
control the class.
e. Weak students cannot follow.
f. The lesson is not interesting.
 Other reason(s): _______________________________________________________
5. In next lessons, what method do you expect your teacher to use in teaching
vocabulary?
 Translation method
 Visual method
 Both
 Other idea(s): ________________________________________________________
THIS IS THE END OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE.
THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
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Appendix E1
LESSON PLAN
Vocabulary lesson #4
Week 5
Group A
Date: March 15, 2011
Time: 5:05– 5:50 p.m.
Topic: THE WORLD CUP
Technique: Translation
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Appendix E2
LESSON PLAN
Vocabulary lesson #4
Week 5
Group B
Date: March 15, 2011
Time: 5:05– 5:50 p.m.
Topic: THE WORLD CUP
Technique: Visual aids
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Appendix F1
Raw pre-test score (Class 10A19)
Student
Score
Note
1
8
2
2
3
4
4
3
5
5
6
6
7
3
selected
8
3
selected
9
4
10
8
11
3
12
1
13
2
14
6
15
5
selected
selected
selected
selected
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16
2
selected
17
3
selected
18
4
19
9
20
3
21
5
22
2
23
7
24
2
25
6
26
4
27
3
28
8
29
6
30
4
31
1
32
2
selected
selected
selected
selected
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33
8
34
9
35
6
36
3
selected
37
2
selected
38
5
39
7
40
2
41
8
selected
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Appendix F2
Raw pre-test score (Class 10A20)
Student
Score
Note
1
2
selected
2
3
selected
3
5
4
6
5
4
6
2
7
9
8
3
9
5
10
5
11
2
12
9
13
1
14
3
15
4
selected
selected
selected
selected
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16
5
17
9
18
8
19
7
20
3
21
4
22
2
23
6
24
3
25
5
26
3
27
9
28
8
29
2
30
5
31
6
32
4
selected
selected
selected
selected
selected
selected
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33
7
34
8
35
2
36
4
37
3
38
9
39
4
40
2
41
4
42
3
selected
selected
selected
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Appendix G – Raw scores of 4 mini-tests
Studen
ts
Grou
p
Mini
test 1
Mini
test 2
Mini
test 3
Mini
test 4
1
8
8
7
9
2
9
9
7
7
3
8
9
6
7
4
7
7
8
8
5
9
9
9
9
6
8
8
10
8
7
8
8
8
9
9
8
10
9
9
7
7
9
8
10
8
8
8
10
11
9
9
10
8
12
7
9
7
8
13
9
9
7
7
14
7
7
9
7
15
8
8
8
8
8
A
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16
8
9
8
8
17
9
6
8
8
18
7
9
10
6
19
8
9
10
9
20
8
8
8
7
21
8
9
7
8
22
7
9
9
6
7
9
8
7
24
9
9
8
8
25
8
7
7
9
26
9
7
7
10
27
9
8
8
8
28
7
8
8
9
29
8
8
7
9
30
7
7
8
10
23
B
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Appendix I– Critical values of t
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