HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY TRẦN HƯƠNG THU THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING GAMES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING EDUCATION STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY AT HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: DO THI THANH DUNG HA NOI, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Every book has a story, and this one involves lot of helpful people I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Mrs Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A., whose insights and thoughtful comments have guided me to this work, and who has seriously directed me with her competence, generosity, and patience I am thankful to my teachers in the FLF at HPU2 for giving comments for my thesis, and thanks to Mr Le Huy Hoang for helping me to collect materials at other university I also wish to thank the students of the speaking group of K42 English Language Teaching Education for joining in my vocabulary games and responding to my questionnaires Last but not least, I‟m truly grateful to my family, my love and my friends who are always beside me for their special help during the time I was doing the research I am indebted to you all, who gave me energy, encouragement and inspiration for finishing my research Once thanks for all i ABSTRACT Vocabulary learning has always been a major concern for those who want to learn a second language One of the techniques that can be used to master vocabulary is using vocabulary games This study aims at checking the effectiveness of games in facilitating learning as well as improving vocabulary for the first year English Language Teaching Education at Hanoi Pedagogical University First, to learn about the current methods of learning vocabulary, the observation at two first weeks was done whereas the teacher used games in teaching vocabulary and the survey questionnaire about students‟ problems related to vocabulary and game technique was conducted with 25 students of K42 English Language Teaching Education Second, tests were done to evaluate the quality of vocabulary studying among these students before and after using vocabulary games during five weeks of the second semester of the 2016-2017 academic school year Last, the questionnaire also was used to find the students‟ attitudes toward using games to improve vocabulary Based on the results of this thesis, the difficulties of students in learning vocabulary have been found out as well as the game technique that was introduced received positive responds from students ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: The effectiveness of using games in teaching vocabulary for the first year English Language Teaching Education students of Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University I certify that no part of this study has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person‟s work without acknowledgements and that the study is originally written by me under serious guidance from my supervisor Date submitted: April 2017 Student Supervisor Tran Huong Thu Do Thi Thanh Dung, M.A iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L2 Second language HPU2 Hanoi Pedagogical University Number CLT Communicative language teaching P.P Pages FLF Foreign Language Faculty iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE i INTRODUCTION .1 I Rationale for the study II Aim of the study III Scope of the study IV Research Questions V Methods of the study .4 VI Significance of the study .5 VII Design of the research PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I .7 LITERATURE REVIEW An overview of Vocabulary 1.1 Definition of Vocabulary 1.2 Types of Vocabulary 1.3 The importance of vocabulary 1.4 Techniques of Vocabulary Teaching .11 1.5 Aspects of Vocabulary .12 An overview on using games in language learning .15 2.1 Definition of games 15 2.2 Advantages of using games in learning vocabulary 15 2.2.1 Games create high motivation .16 2.2.2 Games can increase student - student communication and promote active, student - centered learning 17 2.2.3 Games can act as a testing mechanism and provide immediate feedback 18 v 2.3 Teacher‟s Roles 19 2.4 Drawbacks of using games in language classes 20 2.5 Game selection and steps of applying a game 23 2.5.1 Game selection 23 2.5.2 Steps of applying a game 24 2.6 Sample games 26 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 27 Introduction of the Chapter 27 Subject of the study 27 Instruments for the thesis .27 2.1 Observation .27 2.2 Survey questionnaire 28 2.3 Tests 29 Procedure of a game - based activity 31 Data analysis methodology 32 4.1 Quantitative method 32 4.2 Qualitative method 33 Procedures for Data Collection 33 Conclusion of the Chapter .35 CHAPTER THREE 36 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 36 Survey questionnaire about learners' background information 45 Leaners‟ attitude toward vocabulary games through survey questionnaire 36 Tests .41 PART THREE 45 CONCLUSION 45 I Conclusion 45 vi II Limitations and suggestions for further study .46 Limitations 46 Suggestions for further study .46 REFERENCES .49 vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES List of figures: Figure 1: The communication between teacher and students in the traditional teacher - centred classroom……………………………………………………….20 Figure 2: The communication between teacher and students in the traditional student - centred classroom……………………………………………………….20 Figure 3: The role of organizer……………………………………………………22 Figure 4: Result of pre-tests…………………………………………………… 45 Figure 5: Result of the post-tests………………………………………………….46 List of tables: Table 1: What is involved in knowing a word…………………………………….14 Table 2: Checklist of assessing a game………………………………………… 28 Table 3: Planning of using tests in the thesis…………………………………… 36 Table 4: Survey questionnaire result on the students‟ attitude toward vocabulary games……………… 42 viii PART ONE INTRODUCTION I Rationales for the study English is an international language used by a lot of people in the world It also has a role as a mean to learn about science and technology in facing globalization era Any sources of science using English as their language, so if people not master English, difficulties will be found By mastering this language, the number of misunderstanding of communication with others can be reduced So English plays an important part in creating mutual understanding, promoting science and technology development as well as reinforcing foreign affairs among countries Therefore, there is a special need for teaching and learning English all over the world In Vietnam, English has been taught at every education level In English language learning, vocabulary is extremely important so vocabulary is always received a great deal of attention Vocabulary is one of linguistic features which influences the communicate competence Teaching vocabulary is important to make students are able to communicate by using language that learnt Learners have to master English vocabularies before improving other English skills They will be not able to express themselves clearly and effectively if they not master vocabulary before McCarthy and O‟Dell (2001:6) state that English has very large words, which adds greatly to our opportunities to express the meaning in different styles The teachers must be able to choose good technique to improve the students‟ vocabulary The students will be easy to express all in their mind if they have a very large vocabulary Therefore, vocabulary plays an important role in learning a foreign language It is one element ... using games in teaching vocabulary knowledge for the first year English Language Teaching Education students of Foreign Language Faculty at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2? ?? as the title of my thesis... from students ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: The effectiveness of using games in teaching vocabulary for the first year English Language Teaching Education students of Foreign Language Faculty. .. aims at checking the effectiveness of games in facilitating learning as well as improving vocabulary for the first year English Language Teaching Education at Hanoi Pedagogical University First,