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Over twenty years ago, probably as a result of the radical developments triggered by the lexical approach, the field of vocabulary in language learning has been getting a lot more academic recognition. Moreover, for young learners, vocabulary is the first aspect of language to be learnt and activities to teach vocabulary, therefore, have been considered in many research. Carrying forward the trend, this study throws some light on an investigation into Upper Primary 3 students’ preferences for common activities to teach vocabulary in British Council Vietnam – an international language centre in Hanoi. To be specific, the research was conducted to find out which common vocabulary activities were preferred by Vietnamese 9 to 10yearoldstudents. Initially, the first questionnaire was utilized to ask eight different British Council teachers which were the most common vocabulary activities for each of the three recognized steps for teaching vocabulary (i.e. presentation, practice and production). Next, based on the first survey’s results, the second questionnaire was designed to research which of those common activities were forty Upper Primary 3 Vietnamese students’ favourites. Afterwards, six of these young learners were chosen to undergo interviews to serve the purpose of working out students’ responses in the questionnaires in more detail, searching more personal reasons for their preferences. After that, fifteen observations in three different Upper Primary 3 classes were accomplished to confirm the students’ opinions. The explanation of the applied methodology mitigated by the findings and discussions are presented in the fourth chapter. Finally, the researcher’s pedagogical implications along with recommendations to take full advantage of the effectiveness of vocabulary activities and preferences were suggested. The research was concluded with a hope that it will be of assistance to not only researchers, teachers, and readers who are interested in the same topic, but also students who are going to carry out the related studies in the future.
ABSTRACT Over twenty years ago, probably as a result of the radical developments triggered by the lexical approach, the field of vocabulary in language learning has been getting a lot more academic recognition. Moreover, for young learners, vocabulary is the first aspect of language to be learnt and activities to teach vocabulary, therefore, have been considered in many research. Carrying forward the trend, this study throws some light on an investigation into Upper Primary 3 students’ preferences for common activities to teach vocabulary in British Council Vietnam – an international language centre in Hanoi. To be specific, the research was conducted to find out which common vocabulary activities were preferred by Vietnamese 9 to 10-year-old-students. Initially, the first questionnaire was utilized to ask eight different British Council teachers which were the most common vocabulary activities for each of the three recognized steps for teaching vocabulary (i.e. presentation, practice and production). Next, based on the first survey’s results, the second questionnaire was designed to research which of those common activities were forty Upper Primary 3 Vietnamese students’ favourites. Afterwards, six of these young learners were chosen to undergo interviews to serve the purpose of working out students’ responses in the questionnaires in more detail, searching more personal reasons for their preferences. After that, fifteen observations in three different Upper Primary 3 classes were accomplished to confirm the students’ opinions. The explanation of the applied methodology mitigated by the findings and discussions are presented in the fourth chapter. Finally, the researcher’s pedagogical implications along with recommendations to take full advantage of the effectiveness of vocabulary activities and preferences were suggested. The research was concluded with a hope that it will be of assistance to not only researchers, teachers, and readers who are interested in the same topic, but also students who are going to carry out the related studies in the future. TABLE OF CONTENT PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF FIGURES TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Research Title 1 1.2. Statement of the Problem and Rationale for the Research 1 1.3. Aims of the Research 3 1.4. Research Questions 4 1.5. Scope of the Research 4 1.6. Signification of the Research 5 1.7. Organization of the Research 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. An Overview of Vocabulary 7 2.1.1. Definition of Vocabulary 7 2.1.2. The Importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning and Teaching 7 2.1.3. How Vocabulary is Learned 8 2.2. An Overview of Young Learners 8 2.2.1. Definition of Young Learners 8 2.2.2. Characteristics of young learners 9 2.3. An Overview of Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners 11 2.3.1. Principles of Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners 11 2.3.2. The Importance of Students’ Preferences to Teaching Vocabulary 13 2.3.3. Stages and Activities for Teaching Vocabulary to Young Learners 14 2.3.3.1. Presentation 15 2.3.3.2. Practice 17 2.3.3.3. Production 20 2.4. Related Studies 20 2.4.1. In Vietnam 20 2.4.2. In the world 21 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1. Settings 22 3.2. Participants 23 3.3. Data collection methods 23 3.3.1. Questionnaires 24 3.3.2. Interview 25 3.3.3. Observation 26 3.4. Data collection procedure 26 3.5. Data analysis methods 27 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1. Research Question 1: What are the common activities currently employed by British Council teachers to teach vocabulary to Young Learners, particularly the 9 to 10-year-old-students? 28 4.1.1. At presentation stage 28 4.1.1.1. Visual techniques 28 4.1.1.2. Verbal techniques 29 4.1.2. At practice stage 29 4.1.2.1. Identifying activities 29 4.1.2.2. Selecting activities 30 4.1.2.3. Matching activities 31 4.1.2.4. Sorting activities 32 4.1.2.5. Ranking and sequencing activities 32 4.1.2.6. Games 33 4.1.3. At production stage 34 4.1.3.1. Completion tasks 34 4.1.3.2. Creation tasks 35 4.2. Research Question 2: Which activities do the students perceive to be their favourites? 36 4.2.1. At presentation stage 36 4.2.1.1. Visual techniques 36 4.2.1.2. Verbal techniques 36 4.2.2. At practice stage 37 4.2.2.1. Identifying activities 37 4.2.2.2. Selecting activities 38 4.2.2.3. Matching activities 38 4.2.2.4. Sorting activities 39 4.2.2.5. Ranking and sequencing activities 40 4.2.2.6. Games 41 4.2.3. At production stage 41 4.2.3.1. Completion tasks 42 4.2.3.2. Creation tasks 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1. Summary of findings 44 5.2. Pedagogical Implications 45 5.3. Limitations of the study 47 5.4. Recommendations for further studies 48 REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Young Learner Courses Portfolio 55 Appendix 2: Questionnaire on the Most Common Vocabulary Activities 56 Appendix 3: Questionnaire on the Most Preferred Vocabulary Activities (English version) 64 Appendix 4: Questionnaire on the Most Preferred Vocabulary Activities (Vietnamese version) 70 Appendix 5: Student Interview Scheme 76 Appendix 6: Class Observation Checklist 82 Appendix 7: Exercise 4, Kid’s Box 5 – Pupils’ Book, Page 35 83 Appendix 8: Exercise 1, Kid’s Box 5 – Pupils’ Book, Page 26 84 LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1 Junior Young Learners Courses in British Council Vietnam 22 LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 1 Common Visual Techniques 28 Table 2 Common Verbal Techniques 29 Table 3 Common Identifying Activities 30 Table 4 Common Selecting Activities 30 Table 5 Common Matching Activities 31 Table 6 Common Sorting Activities 32 Table 7 Common Ranking and Sequencing Activities 33 Table 8 Common Games 34 Table 9 Common Completion Activities 34 Table 10 Common Creation Activities 35 Table 11 Students’ Preferences for Visual Techniques 36 Table 12 Students’ Preferences for Verbal Techniques 37 Table 13 Students’ Preferences for Identifying Activities 37 Table 14 Student’s Preferences for Selecting Activities 38 Table 15 Student’s Preferences for Matching Activities 38 Table 16 Student’s Preferences for Sorting Activities 39 Table 17 Student’s Preferences for Ranking and Sequencing Activities 40 Table 18 Student’s Preferences for Games 41 Table 19 Student’s Preferences for Completion Activities 42 Table 20 Student’s Preferences for Creation Activities 43 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BC British Council CEF the Common European Framework EFL English as a First Language IWB Interactive Whiteboard JYL Junior Young Learners L1 first language L2 second language TA teaching assistant UK the United Kingdom UP Upper Primary VNU Vietnam National University YL young learner YLs young learners CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This first chapter gives a rough idea of statement of the problem and rationale for the paper together with its scope and significance. Especially, the aims are pointed out with two research questions which construct the direction for this study. Finally, the chapter summarizes with an outline of the rest of the research. 1.1. Research Title An Investigation into Young Learners’ Preferences for Common Vocabulary Activities at British Council 1.2. Statement of the Problem and Rationale for the Research Over twenty years ago, due to the development of the lexical approach to language teaching, there was a development of research focus on the vocabulary field (Li, 2008, p.100). In addition, the English Language Teaching view towards vocabulary is shifting towards McCarthy’s whereby vocabulary is now seen as “the single, biggest component of any language course” (McCarthy, 1990, p.8) which is inferred vocabulary has become more important than grammar. Moreover, research (Wexler & Cullicover, 1980; Moerk, 1992; and Clark, 2003) has proven that children learn vocabulary – particularly content words which stand for things, actions and qualities – long before grammar during their first language (L1) acquisition. Therefore, it is suggested that there could be a similarity in the way children learning their second language (L2) might assimilate language. To further corroborate this argument, Tabors (1997, p.39) points out that in the developmental sequence for L2 acquisition, children learn content words, followed by “telegraphic speech”, i.e. simple verb - noun combinations, before learning grammatical functional words to build complete sentences. Learning English in primary school is a crucial period of time for children because it is considered as the time when they start to experience English as well as the time when they seem most able to learn it. Pinker (1994) indicated that the period of 1 primary education is the best time for students to learn a new language and even suggested in his ‘Critical Age Hypothesis’ that the ability to ‘acquire’ a new language was almost lost after puberty, being replaced instead by the ability to ‘learn’ a language which is both more difficult and less effective (p.293). Moreover, in David Singleton’s book (1995), he stated that language was best learnt young since children seemed to be able to “soak up language like a sponge” (Macaro, 2009, p.278). Possibly as a result, people these days are focusing more on primary education. For instance, in the report “Bộ GD-ĐT giới thiệu đề án ngoại ngữ Quốc gia 2020” from Vietnam News Agency (2011), Ministry of Education and Training recently held a lot of conferences and workshops to improve the quality of primary English language teaching, a new curriculum has been made for English – a compulsory subject and the time allocated to English lessons has been doubled to four hours per week for grades 3, 4 & 5. A new program called the 2020 project has also been developed in the hopes of improving all teachers’ language proficiency and teaching methodology and it targets primary teachers most directly. However, despite this growing trend for primary education, there have been very few English studies conducted by Vietnamese researchers on YLs or children. Since we know that vocabulary is what children routinely try to learn first in any language and that they are instinctively motivated to do this (i.e. they do this instinctively), their preferences for vocabulary learning are certainly worth investigating. Moreover, “children are active participants in their own education” (Morrison, 2009, p.109), and therefore a deeper understanding of their preferences and motivation might lead to improved participation. And finally, since interest will drive children into knowledge acquisition which then continues to fuel interest (Bergin, 1999, p.92), it is also hoped that understanding and catering to their preferences for vocabulary learning will also lead to improved learning in all areas of English language study (e.g. grammar, reading, etc.). 2 The British Council (BC), the United Kingdom (UK)’s international educational organisation, is a reputed centre of English with recognisably qualified native teachers from all over the world. Having worked as a teaching assistant (TA) for many different teachers for three years, the researcher has seen a wide range of vocabulary activities in the English as a first language (EFL) context and each activity clearly gains a certain preference from Vietnamese YLs. And since, BC is directly involved in assisting with the development of primary teaching through training project such as the Primary Innovations program which has been running in North, Central and South Vietnam since 2008 [1] , it is assumed that conclusions drawn in this communicative context might be in some way transferable to the future national primary schooling system. Because of all the above reasons, and the researcher’s interest in teaching primary students, this research is carried out on the topic of “Young Learners’ Preferences for Vocabulary Activities at the British Council”. 1.3. Aims of the research It has been observed by the researcher that BC teachers use a variety of activities to teach vocabulary. However, the teachers (apart from their subjective observation) are not really sure if the Vietnamese students enjoy their activities or what their favourite activities are. This research therefore will be undertaken to find out preferred activities to present, practice and produce new lexical items and phrases. Thus, the researcher is driven to clarify the following objectives which are expected to be fulfilled: - The thesis provides readers with an overview of common activities that BC teachers use to present, practice and produce new lexical items and phrases. Accordingly it will equip readers with a panoramic picture of teaching vocabulary to the targeted students at this centre of English. - This research will also help the teachers and readers know which vocabulary activities the YLs (aged 9 to 10) at BC prefer for each teaching stage. 1. http://www.britishcouncil.org/accessenglish-news-vietnam-primaryinnovations.htm 3 [...]... involve both recognising words and making choices amongst them such as Odd one out This kind of task helps children to justify their choice from reviewing learnt vocabulary items c Matching activities: these require first identifying words and then pairing them with a visual representation (pictures), a definition, a synonym, an antonym or a collocation Pelmanism is a memory task which engages nothing but... Ordering items is a way of getting students to make judgements about words which seems like “brain word” activities This may involve arranging the words in a sequence such as with daily activities (wake up, get up, brush my teeth, wash my face, get dressed, have breakfast, etc.), or ranking items according to preference f Games: motivate students to extend their knowledge on the vocabulary items, so games... pronunciation errors yet They are also able to memorize ‘chunks’ of language (e.g I’m fine thank you and you?) without breaking them down into their constituent parts • be naturally curious – as mentioned before, children are instinctively motivated to learn probably because they are learning about the world around them everyday and language just naturally becomes another element • love to play and use their imagination... again some of them if necessary 4.1.1 At presentation stage 4.1.1.1 Visual techniques Activities Flashcards Images embedded in flipchart Word pictures Word charts Posters Drawing (on IWB) Realia Mime Mean 4.63 4.63 2.63 1.38 1.75 4.0 3.68 4.13 Table 1: Common Visual Techniques Among these eight visual techniques, Flashcards and Images embedded in the flipchart are the most regularly employed The reason... teachers should employ a broad range of vocabulary activities within a lesson and throughout the term in order to cater for the whole class rather than dominant individuals This applies to interests as well as ability, for instance, smaller children learn to read and write at different ages; thus, teachers favouring text based vocabulary activities would be problematic A good way to avoid problems is to... meaningful use In other words, teachers must offer them enjoyable, active roles in the learning experience with as many opportunities for them to use language purposefully as possible Fourth, since children are very good mimics of pronunciation, teachers should work extensively on this The sounds will be readily picked up and this might avoid significant problems with fossilized errors later on Teachers should... relate to visual memory, which is considered very helpful when introducing new lexical items because it is both interesting and immediate for students These techniques allow vocabulary to be handled “quickly, easily and clearly” (To, H et al, 2011) Teachers can benefit from the use of: • Images (flashcards, pictures, blackboard drawings, word pictures, word charts, posters) – these can demonstrate most... between thousands of available concepts therefore making them more memorable Being aware of how words are learned is vital for teachers to facilitate effective and efficient vocabulary teaching This is the reason why vocabulary items are frequently presented as logical ‘sets’ (e.g fruit) with a limited number (up to 8) of subordinate items 2.2 An Overview of Young Learners 2.2.1 Definition of Young Learners... Young Learners According to Thornbury (2006), Young Learners are defined as “children of preprimary and primary school age, although it is sometimes used to include adolescents as well” (p.250) The popular conception of Young Learners in British Council is also Pre- 8 school learners and Primary school learners but theoretically the term covers teenagers and Young adults as well To further clarify this,... Student A is noughts and odd numbers (2, 4, and 6) whereas Student B is crosses and even numbers (1, 3, and 5) A asks B “Where are you going?”, and B has to choose where they want to place the symbol and make a statement using the word in their chosen square e.g “I’m going to bakery to buy a cake” If correct, A wins the square Then B throws the dice and so on • Hangman – this is usually played by teams . OF CONTENT PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF FIGURES TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Research Title 1 1.2. Statement of the Problem and Rationale for the Research. based vocabulary activities would be problematic. A good way to avoid problems is to use a variety of multi-dimensional activities. For instance, with the theme “Places”, teachers can let students. Young Learners’ Preferences for Common Vocabulary Activities at British Council 1.2. Statement of the Problem and Rationale for the Research Over twenty years ago, due to the development of the