VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES& INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES -  - LUU THI THU HA AN ACTION RESEARCH ON USING THE COMIC BOOK CALVIN AND HOBBES TO MOTIVATE NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT AIC AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL TO LEARN VOCABULARY ( Nghiên cứu cách sử dụng truyện tranh Calvin and Hobbes để khuyến khích học viên khơng chun trường Quốc tế Mỹ học từ vựng) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE SUPERVISOR DO TUAN MINH (Ph.D) Hanoi, 20th May 2010 iv CONTENT TABLE CONTENTS PAGES DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES iv Chapter 1: Introduction 1-3 A Statement of Problems……………………………………………… B Purpose of the Study………………………………………………… C The Significance of the Study……………………………………… D Theoretical Frame Work …………………………………………… How Calvin and Hobbes comics help students at AIC learn vocabulary? ………………………………………………………… What are the students’ attitudes toward learning vocabulary through the comic? …………………………………………………………… What are the problems faced by students when learning vocabulary through the comic? …………………………………………………… Chapter 2: Literature Review 4-10 A Overview …………………………………………………………… B Literature Review …………………………………………………… Aspects of the vocabulary teaching ………………………………… “Motivation” in English language teaching…………………………… v The use of comic in teaching vocabulary …………………………… Background about Calvin and Hobbes comic………………………… C Conclusion………………………………………………………… Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology 10 11-13 A Design of the Research…………………………………………… 11 B The Sample………………………………………………………… 11 C Description of Instruments………………………………………… 11 D Procedure of the Observations and the Interviews………………… 12 E Pilot Testing………………………………………………………… 12 F Research Schedule……………………………………………… 12 G Methodology…………………………………………………… 13 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion 17-29 A Overview …………………………………………………… 17 B Result…………………………………………………………… 17-27 Results of Questionnaire………………………………………… 1.1 Characters………………………………………………… 1.2 Students’ Ratings of the Comic Appeal………………… 1.3 Measurement of Students’ Perceived Learning Observations Result…………………………………………… 27 Interview Result………………………………………………… 28 C Discussion……………………………………………………… 29 Chapter 5: Recommendation 32-34 A Summary of Findings……………………………………………… 32 B Recommendations………………………………………………… 33 vi Teachers should show their enthusiasm for the comic first…………………………………………………………………………… Choose Your Comic Carefully…………………………………… Be more active and creative……………………………………… C Limitation and Suggestion for Further Research…………………… 34 Chapter References A Book Source………………………………………………………… 36 B Internet Source……………………………………………………… Appendices I- XVII vii LIST OF TABLES TABLES PAGES Table 1: Student Perceptions of Comic Appeal…………………… 20 Table Text difficulty…………………………………………… 20 Table Learning activities……………………………………………… 22 Table Comic’ suitability……………………………………………… 23 Table Effectiveness of the method…………………………………… 24 Table Substitute material for teaching………………………………… 25 Table Engagement into the lesson ………………………………… 26 Table Enhance the relationship……………………………… 26 CHAPTER INTRODUCTION A Statement of Problems Learners at the American International College (AIC) study English as a foreign language Their ages fluctuate from nineteen to thirty Although they are keen on learning English, they are often off-task and not using their time effectively, or ―being stuck‖ and not knowing what to next When teaching I noticed that many of them did not have the strategies or tools they need to proceed in writing or reading While observing the students reading for details, speaking to communicate, or convey a given massage; they ask a lot about words they not know or words they need to use Therefore, I began to go through my own materials that I had collected in training sessions and look for good strategies for teaching vocabulary, writing process, and classroom management Bearing in my mind, it is important for people to take responsibility for their learning and productivity in order to be positive contributors in and outside the classroom What could I as a teacher to help students develop the skills they need to take responsibility? Comic Books took my interest in reading, and they also helped me in the subject of English Although some teachers thought that there were a lot of slang words and misspelling, comics were and still are proof read and checked for misspellings, grammar and punctuation Nevertheless, many successful English teachers say that one of the most important aspects of teaching English is making it fun and interesting Finding applicable techniques that students can relate to and have fun doing so is quite a chore The teaching could be so boring and difficult without using interesting materials Although we usually associate comics with entertainment, in fact they can have many more serious applications Everybody loves comics - as we all know from the fondness they have for the comics - so why not make this attractive medium work for teaching and learning? Comic materials have been found to be highly motivational for improving language Spector (1992) insisted that ―it is vital for reading programs to provide plenty of opportunities for that one of the most difficult aspects of students to experience life‘s comical teaching English is making it fun and nonsensical characters and events.‖ Using comic can be a part of successful teaching that may make students enjoy Comic come in a variety of forms and clearly demonstrate that a picture is often worth a thousand words Often comic contain written language, but even when they not they can provide students with numerous possible ties for learning English B Purpose of the Study The use of comic for teaching is explored more thoroughly One of the more obvious applications is to use comic to teach English and composition The students read the comic, and then discuss the plot, the characters, and the setting They then write the story of what they have done so far or their adjustment to the characters, ect As a teacher of the American International College, I regularly use comic to teach such topics as vocabulary, sentence construction, grammar, part of speech as well as speaking and translating Using comic can be a part of successful teaching, making English a real enjoyable as ―through the lesson students could learn something about skill choosing words, ability to adopt linguistic accent, repertoire of jokes, imagination so on and so forth‖ (Peter Woods, p 85) C The Significance of the Study There are many factors that are important to how a student learns These factors include the following; how the teacher teaches the students, the curriculum the teacher uses, the environment of the students, and the home-life of the students However, students are rarely asked what they think about how the type of material impacts their learning In particular, the importance of this study is to find out from the students, if they feel whether they can learn best when they use students books in class for a period of time of 100 minutes or whether they think they can learn better if they have additional material to work on This study may have value to several different groups It can be valuable to the teacher, first and foremost, because if a teacher can decide what kind of material for teaching and learning that goes on in a class, impacts a students, the teacher may be able to make modifications within the framework of the school schedule, that incorporate these ideas Secondly, it might be interesting in the future to continue this study with major students and see how the type of material they have impacts their learning? Another potential study in the future might be to interview teachers who teach the students books only and those who teach with additional materials, and see what differences exist between these two materials in terms of their effect to the teacher‘s attitude and their teaching methods D Theoretical Frame Work Learning is an extremely complex human process During my five years of teaching I have used many strategies to enhance students learning and to teach new concepts I am still not convinced that I thoroughly understand how students learn Yet, at this point, I believe students learn through experiences They build on past experiences and previous knowledge to process new concepts Students need to be actively involved in their education Interested and enthusiastic students are more willing learners, and I believe willing learners become active participants in their own instruction As students become more actively involved in their learning, they develop interest and enthusiasm for the content and/or the process that is their conduit for acquiring new knowledge During the process of conducting an action research on using Calvin and Hobbes in teaching and learning English, the following questions should be answered simultaneously: How Calvin and Hobbes comics help students at AIC learn vocabulary? What are the students’ attitudes toward learning vocabulary through the comic? What are the problems faced by students when learning vocabulary through the comic? Through this study I hoped to find that the Calvin and Hobbes comic would be the material that my students needed to acquire new knowledge, develop new concepts, and express strong understanding in general In particular, I will focus on how this comic influences the usage of vocabulary as well as how their interaction is enabled Also, the study will test the usefulness of using picture-based text in teaching English of all levels Through the attraction and varieties of the comic, I hoped to tap the enthusiasm of my students towards learning English and make them active participants in their own instruction CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW A Overview Learning is considered a serious matter in helping learners to develop, is still a need to liven the process of understanding different concepts Not only does humor offer a new type of learning, but also is known to provide learners who are learning different topics with the ability to remember different ideas at a more thorough level If you have students who are learning vocabulary, writing or reading, then using vocabulary comic is a simple way to liven the learning process Even though most consider vocabulary comic as a secondary source or addition to the learning process, many others have found that there are more to comic then meets the eye B Literature review related to the study Aspects of the vocabulary teaching ―Motivation‖ and ―attitude‖ in English language teaching The use of comic in teaching English What is the origin of Calvin and Hobbes? Its characteristics? Aspects of the vocabulary teaching Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in a sentence Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and wordlearning strategies According to Michael Graves (2000), there are four components of an effective vocabulary program:  wide or extensive independent reading to expand word knowledge  instruction in specific words to enhance comprehension of texts containing those words  instruction in independent word-learning strategies, and  word consciousness and word-play activities to motivate and enhance learning As a vocabulary teacher, we have to be focused on building the learner's 'start up' or initial vocabulary, developing the learner's understanding of what learning words means, and showing the learner how to learn the words most effectively With the comic, students can choose to study vocabulary directly through dictionary or indirectly through studying activities The ultimate aim, of course, is to develop the learners as independent word learners; and hence improving their English proficiency “Motivation” and “attitude” in English language teaching Motivation is often defined as the psychological quality that leads people to achieve a goal For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal For others, communicative competence or even basic communication skills could be a goal In linguistics, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been postulated (www.wikipedia.org) Gardner and Lambert (1972) distinguish between attitude and motivation They define ‗attitude‘ as the persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal, where as ‗motivation‘ is seen in terms of the overall goal or orientation However, attitudes are related to motivation by serving as supports of the learner‘s overall orientation Brown (1981) uses the term ‗attitudes‘ to refer to the set of beliefs that the learner holds towards members of the target language group and also towards his own culture Stern (1983:376-7) distinguishes three types of attitudes in second language learning situation : '(a) Attitudes towards the community and people who speak the L2 ( group specific attitudes), (b)Attitudes towards learning the language concerned; and (c) Attitude towards languages and language learning in general.' They may also be influenced by the particular social milieu within which the language learning process takes place Brown (1981) also makes the distinction between attitude and motivation He identifies three types of motivation (1) Global motivation that consists of a general orientation to the goal of learning a L2; (2) situational motivation, which varies according to the situation in which learning takes place and (3) task motivation, which is the motivation for performing particular learning tasks ... Literature review related to the study Aspects of the vocabulary teaching ―Motivation‖ and ―attitude‖ in English language teaching The use of comic in teaching English What is the origin of Calvin... how a student learns These factors include the following; how the teacher teaches the students, the curriculum the teacher uses, the environment of the students, and the home-life of the students... within the framework of the school schedule, that incorporate these ideas Secondly, it might be interesting in the future to continue this study with major students and see how the type of material