Tóm tắt luận án tiếng anh: Tổ chức hoạt động khám phá khoa học nhằm phát triển vốn từ cho trẻ mẫu giáo 3 4 tuổi.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
NGUYEN THI NGOC CHAU

ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY ACTIVITIES
TO DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR 3 – 4 YEAR OLD
PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
Specialization: Education (Early Childhood Education)
Code: 9.14.01.01

SUMMARY OF THESIS OF EDUCATION SCIENCE

HANOI - 2022
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The work was completed at:
Hanoi National University of Education

Scientific supervisors: 1. Assoc.Prof.Dr. La Thi Bac Ly
2. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thi Lam

Respondent 1: Prof.Dr. Nguyễn Thị Hoàng Yến
Education Management Academy
Respondent 2: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Trần Thị Bích Trà
Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences
Respondent 3: Assoc.Prof.Dr. Hoàng Thị Mai
Hong Duc University

The thesis will be defended before the School-level Thesis Judging
Committee meeting at Hanoi National University of Education

on …..hour…day…month… 2022
The thesis can be found at: National Library, Hanoi or the Library of
Hanoi National University of Education
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LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
BY THE AUTHOR RELATED TO THE THESIS
1. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau (2017), “The reality of vocabulary
development for 3 – 4 year old children in some preschools in Thanh
Hoa city” Education Journal, (Special issue), pp.36-39.
2. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau (2018), “developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year
old preschool children through exploring the plant world”, Education
Journal, (438), pp.23-27.
3. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau (2019), “developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year
old preschool children through exploring natural phenomena”, Journal of
Scientific, Hanoi University of Education, (64), pp.122-130.
4. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau (2020), "Several studies on organizing
scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for preschool
children", Journal of Education, (Special issue), pp.41 - 45.
5. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Chau (2021), "The reality of organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for preschool children 3 – 4
years old", Journal of Scientific, Hanoi University of Education, (66),
pp. 197 – 206.”

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INTRODUCTION
1. Reason for choosing the topic

1.1. Language is a special signal system, the most important means of
communication, contributing to the cohesion among community
members and at the same time reflecting the cultural life of the nation.
Language education is an important task in early childhood education.
Language helps children become a member of society and helps children
express their aspirations and needs, which is a condition for participating
in all social activities, thereby, forming personality. Through language
activities, children are fully developed in terms of thinking, intelligence,
aesthetics, morality, and social skills. In the tasks of language education
for children, vocabulary development is the most important task.
vocabulary development helps children expand their understanding and
awareness of the world around them to develop thinking. Children want
to express their thoughts for others and to understand others, which
depends a lot on vocabulary.
1.2. Children at the age of 3 – 4 years have strong development in all
aspects. This is considered a "golden opportunity" for language
development. At this stage, children have the need to communicate,
perceive the world around them, assert themselves and participate in
activities. These needs motivate children to explore and provide
opportunities for rapid vocabulary growth. Children's vocabulary at this
stage develops rapidly in all aspects: the number of words, the structure
of words, and the ability to understand the meaning of words...
Therefore, together with the development of other elements such as
pronunciation and model learning sentence, teaching and learning are
important tasks in the process of language education for children,
especially preschool children (preschool) 3 – 4 years old.

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1.3. In preschool, all activities can be used to educate children. Each
activity has its own advantages, in which scientific discovery is an
activity with many advantages. Through this activity, children not only
acquire knowledge about surrounding phenomena and know the names
of plants, flowers, animals, etc., but also expand their vocabulary with
improving variety, accurateness, and activeness. Children use words to
name and describe things and phenomena. When directly participating in
scientific discovery activities, children can touch, smell, hear, and feel
things as well as phenomena with their senses. Therefore, children's
acquisition of knowledge and understanding of vocabulary will be closer
to real life and become more effective.
1.4. In fact, at present, when organizing scientific discovery activities,
teachers often focus on cognitive development goals but pay little
attention to language development in general and child development in
particular. The vocabulary development has not been placed in the
system or in the combination of activities together. Children do not have
many opportunities to communicate, share and express their ideas; thus,
scientific discovery activities have not really created a positive language
environment for children. On the other hand, most teachers still have
difficulties in building methods for children's development in scientific
discovery activities. These disadvantages and difficulties need to be
studied to find remedial methods to improve the quality of language
education and language development for children.
1.5. Research on language development in general, and vocabulary
development in particular for children has been interested by many
domestic and foreign authors. However, there has not been systematical
research into the organization of scientific discovery activities as a
means of vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old preschool children.
Stemming from the above reasons, I chose the research topic
"Organizing scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 –

4 year old preschool children".
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2. Research purpose
The study proposes methods to organize scientific discovery activities to
develop preschool for 3 – 4 year old children, contributing to help
children develop language for communication and learning and improve
the quality of care and education for children at preschool.
3. Objects and research subjects
3.1. Research object
The process of vocabulary development education for 3 – 4 year old
children in preschool.
3.2. Research subjects
Methods to organize scientific discovery activities to develop
vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children in preschool.
4. Scientific hypothesis
Scientific planning activities are one of the effective means to develop
communication for children 3 - 4 years old. The organization of
scientific analysis activities to develop MG for 3-4 year old children has
had certain results, but there are still many shortcomings, and the
children's vocabulary for expression and reception is still limited. If
building and implementing measures to organize scientific research
activities for children aged 3 - 4 years old systematically, from designing
activities and operating environment according to the goals of PT.
directly explore things, phenomena and use words in a positive and
frequent way, associated with specific objects in meaningful contexts,
good coordination between family and school will help children develop
good cognitive skills.
5. Research mission

5.1. Research on the theoretical basis of organizing scientific discovery
activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children in preschool.
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5.2. Survey on the actual situation of organizing scientific discovery
activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children in preschools
in Thanh Hoa province.
5.3. Propose and experiment with methods to organize scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children in
preschool.
6. Limit the scope of research
6.1. Research subjects
Thesis research on vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old preschool
children, including receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary.
Methods to organize scientific discovery activities aimed at developing
vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children are carried out at preschool.
6.2. Objects and research area
- Survey of the situation:
+ 210 preschool teachers in 15 public preschools in Thanh Hoa province
+ 120 children 3 – 4 years old in 04 schools (out of 15 schools above)
- Experiment: 120 children 3 – 4 years old in 02 preschools (in the above
15 schools)
7. Research approach and methods
7.1. Approach
- Activities approach: Children's development is only effective if
conducted through activities suitable to children's interests, abilities and
perceptions, especially experiences and communication between
children and friends as well as adults around. In preschool, scientific
discovery activities have their own advantages in creating an

environment, creating opportunities for children to observe, experience,
accumulate and communicate. Therefore, it is necessary to choose
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activities with rich, diverse, and attractive objects suitable for 3 – 4 year
old children to help them with vocabulary development.
- Systematics approach: The process of organizing scientific discovery
activities is an integral part of the educational process in preschools.
This process includes many elements such as purposes, content,
methods, means, and evaluation. These elements have certain positions
and functions and interact with each other. The systematicity required
when instructing children on scientific discovery needs to be placed in
relation to other objective conditions that affect the process of
organization and operation such as economic and social conditions,
characteristics of the natural environment, local society, and conditions
of preschool.
- Integration approach: Applying an integrative approach, the thesis
researches the organization of scientific discovery activities for child
development with a combination of many different methods and
methods. vocabulary development for children needs to be integrated in
activities and daily activities of children. Through the organization of
scientific analysis activities, teachers create conditions for children to
directly contact objects with their senses, perceive vocabulary along
with the process of forming symbols about things and phenomena in the
surrounding world.
- development approach: Child development is a continuous process of
inheritance. Research on methods to organize scientific discovery
activities for 3 – 4 year old children based on the general development of
the child, at each stage, measures to strengthen the existing vocabulary,

help them achieve a higher level of development. On the basis of
inheriting the achieved results, the thesis is looking for ways to improve
vocabulary of children 3 – 4 years old through organizing scientific
discovery activities at preschools.
7.2. Research Methods
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- Group of theoretical research methods.
- Group of practical research methods.
- Statistical methods of data processing.
8. Defensive points
8.1. Children 3 – 4 years old can develop the spontaneous receptive
vocabulary and expressive vocabulary during the process of
participating in scientific discovery activities at preschool.
8.2. Vocabulary of 3 – 4 years old children is developed through
language experience. Scientific discovery is an activity with many
advantages in creating opportunities for children to directly interact with
objects, using language in meaningful contexts, and is a good
environment for development. Organizing scientific discovery activities
affects the development of children 3 – 4 years old.
8.3. Measures to organize scientific discovery activities have a good
impact on vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old children when they
are designed with clear goals and conducted in a favorable environment,
creating opportunities for children to experience language in a
meaningful way that is natural, positive, and regular.
9. New contributions of the thesis
9.1. Supplementing and enriching the theory of vocabulary development.
9.2. Provide information on the actual situation of organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool

children by teachers in some preschools in Thanh Hoa as a scientific
basis for researchers and managers of preschool education in the area to
advance a local preschool education development plan.
9.3. The methods to organize scientific discovery activities aimed at
developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children proposed in the thesis
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can be used as a reference for research, training and fostering of
preschool teachers in Thanh Hoa province. In addition, these methods
can be creatively applied in preschools with equivalent educational
conditions to contribute to improving the quality of children's education.
10. Thesis structure
In addition to the Introduction, Conclusions and Recommendations,
References and Appendixes, the content of the thesis consists of 4
chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview and theoretical basis of the organization of
scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children.
Chapter 2: The reality of organizing scientific discovery activities to
develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children.
Chapter 3: Measures to organize scientific discovery activities to
develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children.
Chapter 4: Pedagogical experiment.

Chapter 1
OVERVIEW AND THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE
ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY ACTIVITIES
TO DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR 3 – 4 YEAR OLD
PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

1.1. Research problem overview
1.1.1. Studies on vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old children
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First: Studies on the rate of vocabulary development of children 3 – 4
years old: In this direction, there are typical authors such as Owens;
Gard. Gilman & Gorman; Linda & Catherine; Luu Thi Lan; Nguyen
Xuan Khoa; Nguyen Thi Phuong Nga; Nguyen Thi Hien and Nguyen
Thi Tuoi. The above authors all confirmed that at the age of 3 – 4,
children have a rapid growth in vocabulary. However, each author offers
different studies on the specific number of words that children acquire
and the quality of these words.
Second: Studies on the relationship between vocabulary development
and children's cognitive and language development: In this direction,
there are typical authors such as J. Piaget; L.S. Vygotsky; E.I. Tikheeva;
Justice, L. M., Meier, J., & Walpole, S… The above authors all
established the relationship between vocabulary, language, and cognition
development of children. In Vietnamese corpus, the authors Nguyen Huy
Can and Luu Thi Lan studied the children's pronunciation
characteristics, vocabulary, ratio of the used word types, sentence
characteristics, and common errors in speech… in relation to the
children's language development at preschool age; at the same time, they
affirmed that the development of each element of language is a condition
and a premise for the development of other elements.
Third: Research on factors affecting children's vocabulary development:
Many studies have analyzed the influence of factors on children's
vocabulary development. This direction of research can mention authors
Van Kleeck, A.; Hoff E; Catherine L. Taylor, Daniel Christensen, David
Lawrence, Francis Mitrou, Stephen R. Zubrick; Hoang Thi Oanh; Luu

Thi Lan... The authors have declared that there are many factors
affecting the development of children's vocabulary such as cultural educational environment or children themselves.
Fourth: Regarding the assessment of children's vocabulary: Research
results show that the assessment of children's vocabulary should focus
on the assessment of receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary as
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well as the width (number of words) and the depth (degree of
understanding of the word's meaning). Pictures are a commonly used
vocabulary assessment tool.
Fifth: Research on methods and measures to develop vocabulary for
preschool children. There are many studies around proposing methods
and measures to organize activities to develop vocabulary for children.
Specifically, Daily communication and interaction with children to
develop vocabulary by authors Miller, P.H; Miller, P. J. & Mehler, R. A;
Penno, Wilkinson & Moore; Elaine Weitzman Zucker, Piasta &
Kaderavek, McKeown and Beck, Girolametto, Huttenlocher; Typical
methods of reading, telling stories, singing and playing games by
authors Miller, P.H; Miller, Christ, T. and Wang, C, Hoang Thi Oanh....
1.1.2. Researches on organizing scientific discovery activities for 3 – 4
year old preschool children
First: The role of scientific discovery activities in the development of 3 –
4 year old preschool children.
Research in this direction has typical authors such as Pextalodi J.H;
Worth, K, Nguyen Thi Thu Hien... These authors emphasize the great
role of the process of observation and contact with nature and society in
the acquisition of knowledge, intellectual development, and language of
children.
Second: Research on guiding the organization of scientific discovery

activities for 3 – 4 year old children. Authors Marilyn Fleer & Tim
Hardy offer approaches to teaching preschoolers to explore science;
Mary & Susan offer preschool scientific discovery activities in the form
of play. Other authors like Thomas, Bloom have considered scientific
discovery as a means of comprehensive development education for
preschool children and built a "bank" of specific scientific discovery
activities to guide preschool teachers to organize scientific discovery for

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children in a variety of ways to create opportunities for children to
participate effectively, thereby developing children's vocabulary.
1.1.3. Researches on organizing scientific discovery activities to
develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
First: Research using exercises, games, experiments... in the process of
letting children explore science to develop vocabulary. Author Tikheeva
E. I. believes that the only way to expand vocabulary of children is to
regularly observe things and phenomena. Therefore, children need to be
exposed to real objects and know its properties. This point of view is
still valid so far in enriching vocabulary, developing the content of
words, and helping children know how to use words correctly while
speaking. Therefore, we will select and apply them to organize scientific
discovery activities for 3 – 4 year old children to acquire vocabulary.
Second: Organizing experiential activities and discussing activities in
the process of scientific discovery to develop vocabulary for children,
with authors such as Smith, Lauren Lowry, Humphyryes, Luu Thi Lan,
Dinh Hong Thai, Nguyen Van Can, La Thi Bac Ly, Bui Thi Lam... The
above authors have focused on research on language development,
language development measures by using scientific discovery activities

as means for language development and then proposed some measures
to organize activities to develop language for preschool children.
In summary, there are many studies on vocabulary and developing
vocabulary for preschool children 3 – 4 years old. In particular, research
on organizing activities of scientific discovery in general and scientific
discovery to develop children's vocabulary in particular have been
interested. Studies in this direction have also guided how to organize
scientific discovery activities for the comprehensive development of
children. However, there is still a gap in the research of organizating
scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children in Vietnam. Therefore, it is necessary to study how to
organize scientific discovery activities to develop children's vocabulary
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in a methodical and systematic way, thereby building measures to
prepare scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 - 4
year old children in preschool.
1.2. Theoretical basis of the topic
1.2.1. Words and vocabulary
- Vietnamese word: According to Do Huu Chau: "Vietnamese word is
one or a number of fixed, invariant syllables, bearing certain
grammatical features, in certain structural types, all corresponding to a
certain type of meaning, the largest in Vietnamese and the smallest to
create a sentence”.
- Vocabulary: According to Le Huu Tinh, "an individual's vocabulary is
all the words and word-equivalent units of the language stored in the
individual's mind and used by that individual in communication
activities. ".
1.2.2. Developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children

- The concept of vocabulary of 3 – 4 year old preschool children: A
child's vocabulary is the total of words and equivalent word units in a
language, which are stored in the child's mind in the form of
receptiveness (understanding the meaning of words) or expressiveness
(using appropriate words).
- Vocabulary characteristics of 3 – 4 year old preschool children:
Vocabulary in terms of quantity; vocabulary in terms of word structure;
children's ability to understand word meanings.
- The word learning process of 3 – 4 year old preschool children:
Studies on the word learning process of children have shown that to
learn a word, children need to go through stages of listening #
understanding # imitating # speaking.
- Expression of vocabulary development of 3 – 4 year old preschool
children: Accumulating the number of words necessary for linguistic
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communication; creating a reasonable word structure; the ability to
understand the meaning of words and the ability to use words in
meaningful communication contexts.
- Developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children:
+ Developing vocabulary for preschool children 3 - 4 years old is a
pedagogical process with a purpose and a plan to help children increase
the number of words, understand the meaning (receptive vocabulary),
and use words (expressive vocabulary) in different communication
contexts.
+ Developing children's vocabulary includes two aspects: increasing the
children's receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary.
+ In this study, the content of vocabulary development for children
focuses on words related to the content of scientific discovery in

preschool (objects, natural phenomena, plants, animals, and parts of of
body).
1.2.3. Organize scientific discovery activities with vocabulary
development for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
1.2.3.1. The concept of scientific discovery activities
Scientific discovery activities of preschool children 3 - 4 years old is the
process where children directly participate in learning and exploring the
world around them with their senses through activities: observation,
comparison, classification, test, simple experimentation, discussion,...;
thereby acquiring the right knowledge, skills and attitudes towards these
subjects.
1.2.3.2. Characteristics of scientific discovery activities of 3 – 4 year
old preschool children
Scientific discovery activities for children 3 – 4 years old are like what
for those at any other age. However, due to the influence of age,
scientific discovery activities for children aged 3 – 4 years are less
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academic, complex and novel than scientific discovery activities for
those at older ages. Scientific discovery of 3 – 4 year old children is to
explore and discover things and phenomena in the surrounding world so
that they can recognize and name and know how to use words in specific
situations.
1.2.3.3. Advantages of scientific discovery activities for vocabulary
development for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
- Scientific discovery activities create a diverse environment for children
to interact, observe, and recognize to accumulate vocabulary
- Scientific discovery activities stimulate children to interact and
exchange to use words in sentences

- Scientific discovery activities create opportunities for children to
expand the range of words used.
1.2.3.4. The process of organizing scientific discovery activities to
develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
* Concept: Organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
children's vocabulary is the process by which teachers carry out
necessary tasks to create conditions and influence children to help them
become self-disciplined, positive, and independent in participating in
scientific discovery activities, through which children's receptive and
expressive vocabulary is increased.
*Objectives of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
children's vocabulary
- Provide opportunities for children to interact, observe and recognize
the surrounding environment.
- Create opportunities for children to interact and use language in the
process of discovery.

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- Bring newness, diversity and attractiveness of objects in the
surrounding environment to children, making them excited when
participating in scientific discovery activities.
* Content of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
children's vocabulary
Scientific discovery is one of three contents in the field of Cognitive
Development Education (besides the content "Social Discovery" and
"Getting acquainted with some elementary concepts of math"). Scientific
discovery is considered as one of the means to develop vocabulary for
preschool children. Vocabulary needs to be developed based on the

content of the preschool education program.
*Methods and measures to organize scientific discovery activities to
develop children's vocabulary
- Methods of organizing scientific discovery activities: group of visual
methods, group of verbal methods, group of practical and experiential
methods.
- Measures to organize scientific discovery activities: The method of
organizing scientific discovery activities to develop children's
vocabulary is a specific way between teachers and children working
together to carry out discovery activities to help children achieve the
development of receptive vocabulary (understanding the meaning of
words) and expressive vocabulary (using words in the right context).
The form of organizing scientific discovery activities: the form of
organizing scientific discovery activities for 3 – 4 year old children
mainly through learning, playing, and other activities (visiting,
picnicking, working...).
- Evaluation of the results of organizing scientific discovery activities:
Evaluation of the results of organizing scientific discovery activities for
3 – 4 year old preschool children at preschool should be based on
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educational goals, which includes both cognitive development and
vocabulary development goals.
- The process of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
vocabulary for preschool children 3 - 4 years old: Step 1: Design
activities. Step 2: Prepare the operating environment. Step 3: Perform
the activity. Step 4: Evaluate the activity.
1.2.4. Factors affecting the organization of scientific discovery
activities to develop vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old

There are 3 basic factors affecting the organization of scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for children 3 - 4 years old:
Developmental characteristics of children 3 - 4 years old; children’s
working environment; and pedagogical competence of teachers.
Conclusion of Chapter 1
The issue of language development for preschool children in general,
and vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old preschool children in
particular has been studied extensively in the world and in Vietnam.
Organizing scientific discovery activities has many advantages in
developing children's vocabulary. When participating in scientific
discovery activities, children have many opportunities to directly
explore, observe, practice and experience, thereby developing language
skills as well as vocabulary. Organizing scientific discovery activities
helps children to hear, understand, imitate and use words correctly.
Teacher is the person who directly organizes activities of scientific
discovery, orientation, and pedagogical impact to develop children's
vocabulary according to educational orientations and goals. Children are
the subject of the educational process. In the educational environment, it
is needed to pay attention to the social environment and communication
between objects around the child. These factors have a reciprocal
relationship with each other. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the

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above factors in the process of organizing scientific discovery activities
to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children in preschool.
Chapter 2
THE STATUS OF ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR 3 – 4 YEAR

OLD PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
2.1. Organize a situation survey
2.1.1. The purpose of the survey: To find out and evaluate the actual
situation of organizing scientific discovery activities and the level of
physical development of 3 – 4 year old preschool children as a scientific
basis for proposing measures to organize scientific discovery activities.
Learning to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children.
2.1.2. Survey object and area: 210 teachers of grades 3 – 4 years old
from 15 preschools in Thanh Hoa province. 120 children 3 – 4 years old
of 04 preschools (02 urban schools are Lam Son Kindergarten, Practice
Kindergarten - Hong Duc University, 02 rural schools are Hop Thang Trieu Son Kindergarten, Kindergarten School Luong Son - Thuong
Xuan).
2.1.3. Survey content: The reality of teachers' perceptions of the need,
goals, and tasks of vocabulary development for children 3 – 4 years old.
Reality of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop children's
vocabulary. Professional support from managers in the scientific
discovery organization. Status of 3 – 4 year old children’s vocabulary.
2.1.4. Survey methods and tools: Using polls for preschool teachers;
attend and observe scientific discovery activities; group discussion and
in-depth interview; measuring vocabulary including receptive
vocabulary and expressive vocabulary of 3 – 4 year old children using
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the tools of Pham, G., & Tipton, T. (2018); processing survey data using
SPSS and Microsoft Excel 2010.
2.1.5. Investigation period: January 2019 to April 2019.
2.1.6. Survey progress:
* Prepare for the survey: Making a poll of teachers' opinions on
organizing scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4

year old preschool children; developing content for group discussions
and in-depth interviews with teachers at preschools; building
observation sheets; organizing scientific discovery activities; preparing
scorecards and picture sets for children's vocabulary assessment tools.
* Conduct a situation survey: Distributing teacher surveys; conducting
group discussions and in-depth interviews with teachers at preschools;
studying teachers' records and books; attending activities at preschool;
using assessment tools and the scale of Pham, G., & Tipton, T. (2018) to
measure the vocabulary of children 3 – 4 years old; processing the
survey results.
2.2. Survey results
2.2.1. The reality of teachers' awareness about organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool
children.
a. About the necessity of developing vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children.
The majority of teachers think that telematics training for preschool
children 3 - 4 years old is very necessary (accounting for 92.86%), only
15/210 teachers (accounting for 7.14%) think it is necessary. No teacher
denies the necessity of vocabulary development for children 3 - 4 years
old. This further confirms that vocabulary development for 3-4 year olds
in particular and preschool children in general has a particularly
important role in the preschool education program.
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Figure 2.1: Teachers' perception of the necessity of developing
vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
b. Regarding the goal of vocabulary development for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children: Teachers believe that the goal of vocabulary

development is to help children increase the number of words with the
highest percentage (210/210, accounting for 100.00%). Next is the goal
of helping children understand the meaning of words (197/210,
accounting for 93.81%); objective helping children use words in
appropriate communication situations (181/210, accounting for 86.19%).
38.09 % of teachers believe that the goal of vocabulary development is
correct pronunciation.
c. Teachers' perception of the task of developing vocabulary for children
3 – 4 years old: 85% surveyed teachers have chosen all 4 tasks. In
particular, 100% teachers believe that increasing the number of words is
the task of developing vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old.
2.2.2. The reality of organizing scientific discovery activities by
teachers to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
a. The degree of integration of vocabulary development goals for 3 – 4
year old preschool children when organizing scientific discovery
activities: The integration of vocabulary development goals for 3 – 4
year old children when organizing scientific discovery activities is done
by teachers at the level of “frequently” or “sometimes”; there is no
teacher who does not fulfill the goal of developing vocabulary when
organizing scientific discovery activities. However, most teachers
believe that developing vocabulary through organizing scientific
discovery activities is first to achieve the goal of increasing the number
of words in children, followed by children understand the meaning of
words, then it is the last that children know how to use words in
meaningful communication situations.

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b. The content of vocabulary development for children 3 – 4 years old in

the topics of scientific discovery activities: Most teachers ensure the goal
of vocabulary development through the content of scientific discovery.
However, the content of the topic of animals is carried out by the teacher
to the highest degree of integration of vocabulary development; then in
turn, the topic of objects, plants, parts of the human body, a number of
natural phenomena.
c. Measures used by teachers in organizing scientific discovery activities
to develop vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old: The most frequently
used measures are the organization of experiential activities associated
with each discovery topic, followed by strengthening for children to
observe objects combined with using open-ended questions and using
games to develop vocabulary. Thus, teachers know how to apply
measures suitable to age characteristics and features of scientific
discovery activities.
d. About the form of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool children: Form of organizing
scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children through learning is used the most by teachers,
followed by the following form: Play activities and labor activities; The
form that is least used by teachers is activities in daily life: eating,
sleeping.
e. Regarding the advantages and disadvantages of teachers when
organizing scientific discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4
year old preschool children. Advantages: Teachers are enthusiastic,
dedicated to their profession, love children, understand children, know
how to organize activities to develop language for children. Children
enjoy when participating in KPKH activities. Abundant physical
facilities. Family education and school work closely together.
Difficulties: teachers are not flexible when using methods of organizing
scientific research activities. In addition, “work pressure of a preschool

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teacher in a day; lack of time to prepare to organize scientific analysis
activities” are the difficulties that teachers face when organizing
scientific research activities to develop science and technology for
children.
g. Regarding the factors affecting the organization of scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old preschool
children: Teachers believe that the factors that greatly affect the
development of children's vocabulary are the methods and measures of
organizing and guiding activities, which are the biggest difficulties
being followed by facilities, equipment, documents, and educational
environment at preschools; also, the cooperation between school and
families. Finally, teachers believe that the content of educational
activities is a factor that has little influence on the development of
children's vocabulary.
h. About professional support from managers in organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop gradual capital for 3 – 4 year old
preschool children. Content: offering contests on organizing scientific
discovery activities or vocabulary development for children 3 – 4 years
old accounts for the highest percentage; then turn to the following
contents: providing materials for teachers on organizing activities to
explore science or develop vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old;
creating conditions for teachers to attend inter-class, inter-school, and
inter-classroom time in organizing activities to explore science or
develop vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old; making opportunities
for teachers to participate in specialized training courses on organizing
scientific discovery activities or developing vocabulary for children 3 –
4 years old.... Contents of inviting experts to the school to train teachers

on organizing scientific discovery activities or developing vocabulary
for children 3 – 4 years old, is the issue that has received the least
attention.
2.2.3. Status of vocabulary development of children 3 – 4 years old
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Actual results on the level of vocabulary development of preschool
children 3 - 4 years old.

Comparative value
N
Vốn từ tiếp nhận
(40 vocabulary)
Vốn từ biểu đạt
(80 vocabulary)

Standar
The
The
Smalles
d
greatest average
t value
deviatio
value
value
n

120

21.00

40.00

28.55

3.86

120

37.00

59.00

47.70

5.33

The average vocabulary of 3 – 4 year old children is not high. Children's
receptive vocabulary reaches an average of 28.55/40 words. The average
expressive vocabulary of children is 47,70/ 80 words. Regarding gender:
There is a difference between the mean values of girls and boys, but it is
not significant. About the region: Children in the city have a higher
vocabulary than children in the countryside.
General assessment of the current situation of organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for children 3 - 4 years old in
preschool: Through survey, observation, time attendance, exchange and
group discussion, we found that teachers were aware of the relationship
between scientific discovery activities and the development of

vocabulary of children 3 - 4 years old; However, the integration of
scientific discovery activities into the content in order to develop
vocabulary for children is still limited. Therefore, the results of
children's receptive and expressive vocabulary are not high, especially
expressive vocabulary
Conclusion of chapter 2
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Through studying the actual situation of organizing scientific discovery
activities to develop vocabulary for children 3 – 4 years old, we found
that preschool teachers were aware of the need to develop vocabulary for
children. However, they are only aware of children's vocabulary
development mainly in terms of quantity. The survey results show that
children's receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary are not high
and uneven between urban and rural areas. Most children have better
receptive vocabulary than expressive vocabulary. The limitations in the
actual situation of organizing scientific discovery activities to develop
children's vocabulary are teachers are not flexible when organizing
scientific discovery activities, and teachers have not yet exploited the
advantages of scientific discovery activities for the development of
vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children. These limitations stem from
many reasons such as teachers have not correctly identified the goals of
developing children's vocabulary; teachers have not created many
opportunities for children to directly participate in scientific discovery
activities; and teachers lack of experience in organizing scientific
discovery activities to develop vocabulary for 3 – 4 year old children.
Chapter 3
METHODS OF ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR 3 – 4

YEAR OLD PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
3.1. Principles of building measures
- Ensure the implementation of common educational goals and
vocabulary development goals for 3 – 4 year old preschool children
- Make sure to match the characteristics of 3 – 4 year old preschool
children
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