Skkn using mind mapping technique to improve the 12th graders’ english vocabulary at luong dac bang high school

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT LƯƠNG ĐẮC BẰNG

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

TÊN ĐỀ TÀI
USING MIND-MAPPING TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE 12th GRADERS’
ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT LUONG DAC BANG HIGH SCHOOL
(BASIC BRANCH)
(Sử dụng kỹ thuật lập bản đồ tư duy để nâng cao vốn từ vựng Tiếng Anh cho học
sinh lớp 12 trường THPT Lương Đắc Bằng – Chương trình cơ bản)

Người thực hiện: Hồ Thị Minh Thái
Chức vụ: Tổ trưởng chuyên môn Tiếng Anh
Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Lương Đắc Bằng
SKKN thuộc mơn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HĨA - NĂM 2022

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. INTRODUCTION

1

1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic

1

1.2. Research purpose and objectives

1

1.3. Research questions

2

1.4. Scope of the research

2

1.5. Research methodology

2

2. CONTENTS

2

2.1. Theoretical background

2

2.2. Practical background

11

2.3. Solutions to the problems

12

2.4. Effectiveness of using mind-mapping techniques

15

2.5. Sample lessons

23

3. CONCLUSION AND PETITION

35

REFERENCES
APPENDIX

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic
In today’s global world, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored. It
has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education,
aviation, etc. It is the language of science and technology. It is the official language in a
large number of countries. English language, therefore, is believed to be used to access to
every field of life. It is English that is used to communicate internationally.
In acquiring a foreign language, vocabulary plays a crucial part. It is one element that

links the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) all together. When talking
about the importance of vocabulary, it was noted by Wilkins (1972) that: "without grammar
little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." Indeed, people need
to use words in order to express themselves in any language. In order to communicate well
in a foreign language, anyone should acquire an adequate number of words and should
know how to use them accurately.
Before 1970, little attention was paid to vocabulary teaching and learning. It means
that teaching vocabulary was just considered as an addition to teaching grammar or simply
a by-product of language teaching and communicative functions. However, some scholars
of language acquisition no longer talk about the four language skills, but nine skills. These
other five skills are vocabulary, spelling, grammar, pronunciation and study skills.
Therefore, the role of vocabulary knowledge has been recognized by theorists and
researchers since 1990.
Besides, in my experience as a teacher of English, I noticed that my students usually
find it difficult to speak English fluently. They usually consider speaking and writing
activities (productive skills) exhausting because they keep on using the same words and
expressions, so very soon their conversation is abruptly interrupted due to missing words.
For the same reason, their receptive skills (listening and reading) are not good either. The
main reason for such problems is the lack of vocabulary. Other students are faced with the
problem of forgetting the words right after the teacher has elicited their meaning or after
having looked them in the dictionary. This is also a cause of the lack of vocabulary.
Recognizing the importance of vocabulary, I myself understand that the teacher has an
essential role in helping students to improve their vocabulary.
To the best of my knowledge, there have not been any studies concerning Mindmapping technique in vocabulary teaching carried out at Luong Dac Bang high school
before. Therefore, the author of the present study, a teacher of English, has decided to
conduct a study named “Using Mind-mapping Technique to improve the 12 th Graders’
English Vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school”. The findings of the study, if done
well, would be original.
1.2. Research purpose and objectives
The purpose of the study is to improve the 12 th graders’ English vocabulary at Luong Dac

Bang high school. In order to achieve the purpose, the study is expected to reach the
objectives as follows:
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- Uncovering the 12th graders’ attitudes towards mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary
teaching.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique applied to vocabulary teaching.
1.3. Research questions
The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the research questions as follows:
- How is mind-mapping technique used in vocabulary teaching assessed by the 12 th graders
at Luong Dac Bang High School?
- What is the effectiveness of mind-mapping technique on the 12 th graders’ English
vocabulary outcome at Luong Dac Bang High School?
1.4. Scope of the research
The focus of the study is using mind-mapping technique to improve the 12 th graders’
English vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school. Hence, the study could not cover all
aspects in vocabulary teaching. It only focused on the use of mind-mapping as a technique
to help enhance the 12th graders’ vocabulary at Luong Dac Bang high school.
The subjects of the study are 90 male and female students coming from class 12A3 and
12A9. The age of those 90 students ranges from 17 to 18. They are going to be the
participants and respondents to survey questionnaires, trial lessons and tests.
The action plan was implemented in 5 months from October 2021 to February 2022,
during the academic school year (2021-2022) at Luong Dac Bang high school.
1.5. Research methodology
The purpose of this research is to find out whether mind-mapping technique has any
positive effects on the 12th graders’ improvement and retention of vocabulary and explore
the students’ attitudes toward this technique. Besides, I myself - the researcher - would like

to improve my students' learning skill and my professional performance. Therefore, it is
hoped to be a practical action research project because its purpose is to research a specific
school situation with a view toward improving practice, to focus narrowly on a specific
problem and to be undertaken by an individual teacher within a high school.
In order to address the two research questions, both qualitative and quantitative
methods are exploited in this action research. The data are collected via survey
questionnaires, interviews and tests.
2. CONTENTS
2.1. Theoretical background
2.1.1. Vocabulary Defined
According to Webster (1994), vocabulary is the list of words which is often used in
every aspect of life and words are usually arranged alphabetically with an equivalent
definition. To be more details, vocabulary is often explained or translated, depending on the
word stock at the command of an individual for the use of this person in particular work,
language or branch of subject, etc. Additionally, Lado (1994) defined vocabulary as a form
of expression with associated with the meaning and content of words. Meanwhile, it was
also defined by Scrivener (1994) that vocabulary could be considered as a powerful meaning
carrier because when a student identifies the importance of the vocabulary in
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communication and learning, they may reasonably intend to get, receive and accept a
working knowledge of a great amount of words.

Another significant thing to be considered for teachers when making work of
vocabulary is the difference between receptive and productive vocabulary. According to S.
Thornbury (2002), in general, there are several difficulties when learners access vocabulary
of a foreign language, and they are:
• Creating the accurate connection between the form and meaning of words during the
process of understanding the target language; for example, separating the meaning of the
words related to the topic.
• Using the exact word form for the intentional meaning when producing language.
In brief, there are many different points of view about vocabulary. Having mentioned
these definitions, the researcher decided to use that of Webster (1994) in this study because
this definition from this scholar is more appropriate and useful to use in the study.
2.1.2. Vocabulary Classified
According to Scrivener (1974), vocabulary can be divided into two types, including
productive (active vocabulary) and receptive (passive vocabulary). Particularly, productive
vocabulary is the group of words which are often used in spoken language, or daily
conversation. This type of vocabulary requires good pronunciation – saying the sounds and
stress of the words correctly – so that the dialogue can be carried out smoothly. Meanwhile,
receptive vocabulary is the use of words that we can identify and understand how to use; but
we do not use it intentionally in conversation or other purposes.
Additionally, it is raised by Hendrich (1988, p.131) that, vocabulary classification is
possible to maintain from different viewpoints: formal (for example word classes);
mechanical (according to the frequency); semantic, that is according to the relationships of
language marking to off-language reality or according to the relationships of meaning
(synonyms, antonyms, etcetera); or from the grammatical viewpoint, mainly paradigmatic,
which is grouping words together according to the same grammatical characteristics.
Another classification by Judy K. Montgomery (from the book: The Bridge of
Vocabulary: Evidence Based Activities for Academic Success (NCS Pearson Inc, 2007).
There are 4 types of vocabulary:
• Listening which is the words we hear and understand;
• Speaking which is the words we use when we speak;

• Reading which is the words we understand when we read text;
• Writing which is the words we can retrieve when we write to express ourselves.
The first two constitute spoken vocabulary and the last two, written vocabulary.
Children begin to acquire listening and speaking vocabularies many years before they start
to build reading and writing vocabularies. Spoken language forms the basis for written
language. Each type has a different purpose and, luckily, vocabulary development in one
type facilitates growth in another.
2.1.3. Vocabulary Tests Defined
According to Brown (2005), test, in simple term is a way of examining ability of an
individual, knowledge or performance in a given aspect. There are many published exercises
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on vocabulary. These include: Matching pictures to words; matching parts of words to other
parts; matching words of other words (synonym, opposites, sets of related words, etc.);
using prefixes and suffixes to build new words; using given words to complete a specific
task; filling in crossword, girds or diagrams; memory games. Each of them can be
interpreted in detail as follows:
• Matching pictures to words which could help a child to demonstrate their knowledge.
Activities like this can also be lessons in vocabulary, for a child matching local birds this
is also an opportunity for the child to demonstrate their knowledge in the names and
sounds of the birds.
• Matching parts of words to other parts in which the child is using their developing

memory, utilizing their ability to store, organize and retrieve information, recall
information in relation to something they have seen before.
• Matching words of other words, example: synonym, opposites, sets of related words,
etc. which can also provide the child the opportunity to further their knowledge and then
demonstrate that knowledge in a particular/specialized area of interest.
• Using prefixes and suffixes to build a new word which give the children an improvement
when they read literature, coming upon unknown words. It also helps them concisely say
or write something. They just add a prefix or suffix and eliminate the extra prepositions
or sentences needed to convey the meaning.
• Using given words to complete a specific task helps the children to train their memory
and the capability to analyze and give the most suitable choice.
• Filling in crossword, girds or diagrams force the children to look at the letter sequence of
a word which helps them learn new spelling. Filling in crosswords relies on them
spelling the word correctly and this helps them to remember words with difficult
spelling.
• Memory games bring about a wide range of benefits which include:
 improve concentration;
 train visual memory;
 increase short term memory;
 increase attention to detail;
 improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects;
 help to classify objects that are grouped by similar traits.
2.1.4. Mind-mapping Technique
Mind-mapping Technique Defined
There are many different views on the definition of mind-mapping. It is defined by
Tony, a British psychologist that “Mind-mapping technique” or “Mind-mapping” was
created and made progress in the late 1960s in an attempt to assist learners to do the notetaking more effectively. According to Buzan (1993) in the book “The Mind mapping Book”,
“Mind-mapping is a powerful graphic technique, which provides a universal key to
unlocking the potential of the brain”. Additionally, it was also noted by McGriff (2000)
about Mind-mapping that “Mind-mapping is an excellent way to help learners organize

knowledge, to empower themselves to better comprehend the key concepts and principles in
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lectures, readings or other instructional materials”. Mind-mapping is also defined by Readon
and Nourie (1999) that “Mind-mapping is a creative note-taking method, which eases us to
remember much information. Because of its visual specialty, Mind-mapping is often full of
color, pictures and symbols like a small art.

Figure 1: An example of Mind-mapping (by Paul Foreman)
In the example about Mind-mapping given in the picture above, the author
concentrates on the topic of “tennis” and the related aspects that help reader to understand
more about this sport, for example, principles, shot, scoring, tournaments or surfaces.
In general, Mind-mapping illustrates the process of forming ideas happens in our mind.
By using Mind-mapping, a great amount of information can be presented by pictures, lines,
colors or symbols. Furthermore, other components of a Mind-mapping such as arrows,
shapes will help our brain to remember information in a better way.
In the book about Mind-mapping, Buzan (2004) recommends a way to make or create
a Mind-mapping, consists of these following advices:
• Taking a blank piece of paper and beginning in the center of this sheet with turning the
paper sideways. Starting from the middle helps the brain to think freely due to numerous
creative spaces, ideas from brain can spread in all direction so that they can be expressed
in the most effective way.

• Taking pictures, photos or big shape drawn by the author for the main topic or ideas,
with the biggest for the most important and smaller for the less significant. An image or
picture put in the central of the Mind-mapping can be able to make the map to be more
intriguing and keep the author of the map concentrated on the process and stimulate the
imagination so that new ideas can be produced.
• Using colors, which are helpful to the imagination, to make the Mind-mapping to be
more vibrant, lively and energetic. Bright and impressive colors such as red, orange or
blue are highly recommended.
• Using curved lines, which are less boring and more attractive to the maker, to connect
the main ideas to the topic in the central position of the paper. When connecting ideas by
lines, it creates the structural frame to the whole map and helps the brain link ideas and
support evidence together.
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•

Using as least words as possible, the best way to convey ideas in Mind-mapping is using
one key word, which is proven to create the creativeness and flexibility to the Mindmapping and help the author to spark off novel thoughts, for each big branch, and more
details can be added in further branches.
Mind-mapping Classified
In general, Mind-mapping imitates the thinking process, namely helps us to move from
one topic to another topic back and forth, and presents the information through symbols,

pictures, emotional meaning and colors, exactly the same as our brains process it. It uses
lines, colors, arrows, branches or some ways of showing connections between ideas
generated on our mind map. Our brains can remember things better with visual, colors and
pictures and therefore remember the facts and ideas that go with them.
In fact, there are many different types of Mind-mapping; however, four types presented
below are the most popular.
Network tree
Network tree is a way of presenting ideas, concepts or information and relationships
among them in the form of branches, often vertical ones. In a network tree, information,
with examples incorporated to reinforce the meanings of the word, are regularly arranged
basing on its level of specification, in which the most general term will be at the top and
more specific items will be under the big topic. An example of a network tree is shown in
Figure 2 below:

Figure 2: An example of a network tree (by Karla Šturm)
It can be seen in the network tree example shown in Figure 2 that there are many
scientific terms presented in this diagram.
Event Chain
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In general, an event chain is a diagram which has the function of indicating the
relationships among events and how they have an influence on each other. In particular, its

chain describes the sequence of the procedure of this event.

Figure 3: An example of an event chain (by Lori Edwards)
Take Figure 3 as an example, it can be seen that there are several stages in the Order
Information Check process, and each step in the procedure has the relationship to at least
one another stage. By using the event chain, steps and stages used to complete the task can
be described in a clearer way to understand.
Cycle Concept Map
Cycle concept map could be considered a remarkable type of event chain map. In this
type of map, there is no final outcome produced after the event sequence. Instead, the last
stage in the map has a reversal effect back to the initial one.

Figure 4: An example of a cycle concept map (by Wayne Sullivan)
As can be seen in the Figure 4, which illustrates the cycle of the element of Carbon on
the Earth, all of the components involving in the process of producing CO 2 and C have the
relationship to each other; and if the diagram is analyzed carefully, there are up to three
smaller cycles described in this map.
Spider Concept Map
This is the most popular and favorite type of Mind-mapping, and this type of Mind-mapping
are still used by many students all over the world to help them study more effectively. It is
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noted by Svantesson (2004) that there are several ways of creating Mind-mapping using this
method, namely hayfork, thorn fish, cluster or variation, which are given with examples
below:

Figure 5: An example of hayfork

Figure 7: An example of cluster

Figure 8: An example of variation
Figure 6: An example of thorn
fish
2.1.5. Mind-mapping Technique in teaching and learning vocabulary
It is undeniable that memory plays an important part in learning, remembering and
acquiring a foreign language, especially in learning vocabulary, in which students hold
responsible for getting acquaintance and internalizing to the pronunciation and meaning of
the words on the purpose of using them effectively. In order to achieving the aim of
learning vocabulary efficiently, taking the advantage of the tool of Mind-mapping, which
use personal connection with a view to making the process of remembering new
information to be more easily and visualizing the thinking process, a helpful method. As a
result, Mind-mapping is considered to be a very supportive teaching technique to use the
vocabulary of a foreign language proficiently. Despite the possibility of being timeconsuming to apply the technique, eventually, at the time students recognize and understand
the way of using Mind-mapping, the learning process will be speeded up. Basing on the
viewpoint of Casco (2009), there are some applications of using Mind mapping in teaching
vocabulary, including:
• Engaging the students
When taking a look at the Mind-mapping, students can pay attention to the main topic
and recognize what the subsequent piece of information is. Additionally, Mind mapping can
supply necessary information to decrease the apprehension of the students when getting
input data.
• Activating previous background knowledge

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Mind-mapping is proven to activate prior knowledge of students because the use of
pictures, colors and keywords can foster the memorization process of students’ background
knowledge about the topic.
• Stimulating students to raise questions
In a Mind-mapping, the information is displayed and arranged in a clear way and it
shows the background knowledge of the students about the topic by the density of branches
on the Mind-mapping. Therefore, Mind-mapping can help to encourage learners to ask
because visual attracts and interrogation marks widen the range of information and urge
them to ask more to fulfill the need in the students to discover and answer unanswered
questions.
• Supporting the skills of reading, listening and speaking
Owing to offering the students a very general view of the topic, Mind-mapping is
considered a powerful method to facilitate the skills of reading and listening comprehension
of students. Accordingly, the embedded signals included in the Mind mapping prompt the
students to create the link between the ideas summarized on it and the full content of these
ideas, and in turn help them to understand. Additionally, Mind mapping also provides a
method for the students to arrange their thoughts, because the great number of ideas and
information on the Mind-mapping, which are easily connected, allowed the students to make
a discourse when using the Mind-mapping.

• Evaluating oral production
In general, the method of implementing the same Mind-mapping at different steps of
the course can be taken as an example of the process of production of the students. They can
show their level of comprehension of the new grammatical structures and lexical items by
explaining the relation among elements on the Mind-mapping. The production acquired with
the aid from the Mind-mapping will become an experience for teacher in their work in the
future.
• Supporting written production
In writing, Mind-mapping is proven to be an effective tool to form the ideas for the
writing topic, because the more branches the Mind-mapping has, the more evidence and
supporting ideas the students can have to put into their writing production.
Because of its importance, vocabulary appears in almost every aspect of the language
use, including reading, writing and speaking. According to Hofland (2007), reading is
considered “a very linear process, a typical left-brain skill.” On the other hand, linear
process is not the sole skill that the human brain is good at; it is also extremely strong in
parallel processing skill. Obviously, when a word appears in students’ mind, it usually
accompanies with related images, pictures, ideas or associations of this word, and the
connection itself is also the advantage of Mind-mapping. Leaners can take advantage of it to
use in their learning. Additionally, Mind-mapping can be very useful in learning writing,
which is considered to be the hardest skill for the students to learn because of the word
limitation and the lack of ideas to express in a writing task. With the use of Mind-mapping,
students can have a creative way to brainstorm and forming ideas for the task. Besides,
students can express their viewpoint by looking at the pictures, photos or colorful words and
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turn this opinion into sentence in the writing. Last but not least, Mind-mapping can be used
like a reminder tool for the speaking exercises. Students can prepare a Mind-mapping about
the topic that they are going to learn in the lesson. Key words and clues appear on the Mindmapping will be suggestions to them so that they will speak more naturally, fluently and
confidently.

Figure 9: A Mind-mapping about City (by Archie Archambault)
As is illustrated in the figure, the biggest topic for the lesson is “City” and there are
three most popular things can be found in the city, including transport, buildings and places,
and each word contain more than ten new words, so there are approximately 40 items of
vocabulary on just only one page of paper. Obviously, seeing this Mind mapping will help
students to remember these items more easily than looking at the monotonous list of words.
Besides using shapes and colors in the previous figure, another way to memorize the
new vocabulary is through the pictures and images, because systematically information
arranged in the form of pictures and photos can help learners a lot in the process of learning
new words.

Figure 10: A Mind-mapping about Animals (by Paul Foreman)
For instance, in figure, the topic about animals became very interesting, colorful and
lively with the appearance of images represent for each big group of animals. Some difficult
words to students such as “amphibian”, “cold-blooded” or “reptiles”, which are regularly
time-consuming to remember if students learn in traditional way, now when visualized, the
hard-to-remember words popped up automatically in the students’ minds every time they
look at it.

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2.1.6. Advantages of using Mind-mapping Technique
It is presented in previous parts that the first reason for the advent of Mind mapping
was to make the note-taking action of learners, or regularly the action of writing words
down with lots of words, which has three following disadvantages: writing down redundant
words is time-consuming and labor-consuming, missing information during the process of
writing and taking more time to read and review, to be more effective (Tony, 2004).
On the other hand, applying Mind-mapping technique has a variety of strong points.
According to De Porter and Hernacki (2008), there are four main advantages and three
disadvantages when Mind-mapping technique is applied in the class, as mention below.
• Flexibility
The Mind-mapping can help students express their ideas in a very flexible way,
because details or information can be added easily to the Mind-mapping, basing on our
viewpoints, anywhere in the Mind-mapping.
• Topic’s concentration
Because of the special position in the Mind-mapping, the topic, which is often written
in biggest and most colorful letters or pictures, can be seen by the students easily and it
helps students focus on what he or she is mentioning or talking about. Furthermore, keeping
seeing on the keywords or phrases, which are very outstanding on the Mind-mapping, can
also help students to simplify their outcome.
• Increasing in comprehension
It is proven that using Mind-mapping can make the process of understanding the
materials more easily, because Mind-mapping is a simple pattern with branches in different
directions and obviously it does not create the confusion when students learn the materials.

• Enjoyment
Because of the special characteristics of Mind-mapping, it will be very enjoyable when
designing a Mind-mapping. Imagination, beauty, words, ideas or creativity is unlimited and
it makes Mind-mapping to be interesting and exciting to make. The use of picture, image
and colors also makes the brain feeling comfortable and it will stimulate the appearance of
ideas and information.
2.2. Practical background
Luong Dac Bang High School was established in 1961. It is one of the most famous
schools in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. With about 100 teachers and officers, approximately 1549
students and 37 classes (School year 2021 - 2022), Luong Dac Bang High School is noted
for not only many experienced teachers but also many good and successful students.
The English Group consists of 10 graduate teachers with BA and MA degrees from
Vietnamese Universities. Luong Dac Bang teachers are co-operative and enthusiastic in
teaching. Most students are interested in studying nature science subjects (such as Maths,
Physics and Chemistry) rather than English. Although English is important at this school
and has been taught as a compulsory subject for all students, they only learn English as a
foreign language. Therefore, being an English teacher, I face difficulties in teaching such
skills as reading, listening, speaking and writing especially teaching vocabulary for my
students. With my students, they in particular usually feel bored with learning vocabulary
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(Even though some of them are quite good at grammar). They said that vocabulary was very

difficult to remember because they did not change their learning habits, such as writing
words on paper, trying to learn by heart or learning passively through the teacher's
explanations.
This study is carried out at Luong Dac Bang High School, Thanh Hoa Province. The
book used for the 12th-Grade students is “Tiếng Anh 12”, published by Vietnam Education
Publishing House.
Students at Luong Dac Bang High School, especially students at two experimental
classes do not have the similar competence of English. Teachers are continually faced with
the students who are not good at vocabulary skill.
Therefore, this research was aimed to find out the way of improving vocabulary skills
in learning English by using Mind Mapping technique and suggest some effective
resolutions.
2.3. Solutions to the problems
This study is conducted with two-stage sampling, which was applied through – the
cluster sampling and the individual sampling, and it is undeniable that there would be two
groups chosen through the class, in which the class of 12A3 will be the Experimental group,
and the class of 12A9 will be Control group. After gathering and dividing students in two
groups basing on their class, the researcher checks the individual sampling competence by
giving a pretest to the students from the two groups as pretested; the sampling of the study is
presented in the following table.

No.
1
2

THE SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
Number of
Number of matched
Group`
students

pairs
12A3 (Experimental)
45
45
12A9 (Control)
45
Total
90

2.3.1. Participants: Researcher and Students
The researcher of this study is also the teacher, intervener. She is a teacher with 20
years of experience and has been teaching the 12th-grade students for more than 10 years.
Thus, she knows the situation of the students clearly and she wants to find a way to help the
students to learn English, particularly learn vocabulary more effectively.
Besides, the participants of this study were 90 students from the class of 12A3 and
12A9 at Luong Dac Bang high school in the academic school year of 2021 – 2022. They
were in their final year at the Upper Secondary School and in their attempt to win a place at
universities. They would take GCSE examination (General Certificate of Secondary
Education Examination), the most important examination, when the academic school year
finishes. The researcher hopes that after participating in this study, students could find a way
to improve their vocabulary, which can help them a lot in the English test in the GCSE
examination, their further studies as well as their life in the future.
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