the practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners at vus

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<b>BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO </b>

<b>TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH --- ∞0∞--- </b>

<b>ĐỖ HUỲNH NGỌC TRÂM </b>

<b>THE PRACTICE OF USING PICTURES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR </b>

<b>YOUNG LEARNERS AT VUS </b>

<b>KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH NGƠN NGỮ ANH </b>

<b>TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH, NĂM 2020 </b>

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<b>BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO </b>

<b>TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH --- ∞0∞--- </b>

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<b>TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH </b>

Tôi tên là : Đỗ Huỳnh Ngọc Trâm

Ngày sinh:<small> 02/06/1997 </small> Nơi sinh: TP.HCM

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã học viên: 1557010254 Tơi đồng ý cung cấp tồn văn thơng tin khóa luận tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối tồn văn thơng tin khóa luận tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thơng tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.

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<b>Ý KIẾN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN </b>

<b>Giảng viên hướng dẫn: ThS. Phan Thị Thu Nga </b>

<b>Học viên thực hiện: Đỗ Huỳnh Ngọc Trâm Lớp: DH15AV01 Ngày sinh: 02/06/1997 Nơi sinh: TP.HCM </b>

<b>Tên đề tài: “The practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners at VUS” </b>

<b>Ý kiến của giáo viên hướng dẫn về việc cho phép học viên được bảo vệ khóa luận trước </b>

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<b>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS </b>

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards my supervisor, Ms. Phan Thi Thu Nga. Without her guidance and support, it would have been impossible for me to conduct this graduation paper. With her positive encouragement and valuable advice, I can make certain changes to enrich my work every day. Furthermore, it is my pleasure to attain an opportunity to be her student owing to the fact that she is a great model who inspires me to become a teacher-to-be. Thanks to her belief and devotion on my work, I am motivated to carry on not only this report but also on any tasks requiring professional knowledge, academic skills and teaching skills in my teaching job in the future.

Moreover, my grateful thanks also go to my parents who always give me a great support to complete this paper. Also, I would like to give my appreciation to Vietnamese teachers, foreign teachers, and other teaching assistants at Vietnam USA Society English Center (VUS) who have contributed their ideas to my work.

Last but not least, I would like to show my genuine appreciation to the Board of Faculty of Foreign Language of Ho Chi Minh City Open University for optimizing my opportunity to conduct this graduation paper.

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<b>TABLE OF CONTENT </b>

<b>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... III TABLE OF CONTENT ... IV ABBREVIATIONS ... VII ABSTRACT ... VIII </b>

<b>CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6 </b>

<b>2.1. Definition of volcabulary and rationales for teaching vocabulary ... 6 </b>

<i><b>2.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary ... 6 </b></i>

<i><b>2.1.2. Rationales for teaching vocabulary ... 6 </b></i>

<b>2.2. Aspects of vocabulary items ... 7 </b>

<b>2.4. Techniques for practicing vocabulary ... 10 </b>

<i><b>2.4.1. Decision making tasks ... 10 </b></i>

<i><b>2.4.2. Production tasks ... 11 </b></i>

<i><b>2.4.3. Games ... 12 </b></i>

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<b>2.5. Teaching vocabulary for young learners ... 13 </b>

<i><b>2.5.1. Definitions of young learners and their characteristics ... 13 </b></i>

<i><b>2.5.2. Young learners’ vocabulary learning strategies ... 14 </b></i>

<i><b>2.5.3. Techniques for teaching vocabulary for young learners ... 15 </b></i>

<b>CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS ... 18 </b>

<b>CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 22 </b>

<b>4.1. Results from observation... 22 </b>

<i><b>4.1.1. Teacher’s techniques ... 22 </b></i>

<i><b>4.1.2. Learners’ attitudes ... 23 </b></i>

<b>4.2. Results from questionnaire ... 23 </b>

<i><b>4.2.1. About advantages of using pictures ... 23 </b></i>

<i><b>4.2.2. About teachers’ using pictures ... 29 </b></i>

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<b>Appendix C: Pictures ... 13 </b>

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<b>ABBREVIATIONS </b>

VUS: Vietnam-USA Society English Centers ILA: International Language Academy AMA: American Academy

L1: The first language L2: The target language

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<b>ABSTRACT </b>

The aim of the study presented in this graduation paper is investigating "the practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners at VUS". The data presented in this study was collected from class observation and questionnaire. Four classes, including the smart kids level (from 4 to 6 years old) and the super kids level (from 6 to 10 years old) were observed to discover practical evidence in using pictures to teach vocabulary. Then, 22 teachers at the author’ workplace took part in answering the questionnaire to examine the advantages of using pictures in teaching vocabulary. The data from the observation was recorded in the observation sheets providing the teachers’ aims and uses of pictures in different activities of teaching vocabulary in the four classes while illustrating students’ comprehension as well as interests in learning vocabulary. Specifically, students might not remember the word definition or spelling; however, on checking their understanding by using pictures, they can confidently speak out loud the words. The findings of the data from the questionnaire analyzed by Google form indicate many advantages of using pictures to introduce new vocabulary, compared to other techniques as well as the important role of pictures to practice vocabulary. Not only do pictures act as useful prompts to help students comprehend the word meaning but also differentiate the confusing words. Besides these findings, the analysis of the collected data from the questionnaire reveals that pictures are highly frequently used by teachers to teach different types of words to young learners.

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<b>CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION </b>

<b>1.1. Background of the study </b>

Obviously, culture and language have a mutual relationship while language helps people around the world connected with each other. There are hundreds of languages around the globe such as Japanese, French, and English; however, English has been used as an official language demonstrating its crucial role among many countries. To be more specific, according to British Council, approximately 1.5 billion English speakers over the world, nearly 420 million people speak English as their first language. Thus, teaching English is necessary to sustain the connection between different nations as well as the knowledge of humans in different fields. In Vietnam, learning English is especially important because it can maximize the opportunities for learners’ pursuing higher studies and enriching many aspects of their lives. In recent years, to promote the quality of English among students, an increasing number of English centers has emerged drastically. Remarkably, almost 500 English centers have been established in Ho Chi Minh city such as VUS, ILA, APOLLO, AMA attracting millions of students per year (Binh, 2015). Thanks to these centers, students can enhance their English level in order to help them integrate with other international speakers. Indeed, there are five aspects of language development that people should consider combining phonological knowledge (sounds), semantic knowledge (word meaning and word labels), syntactic knowledge (the combination of words), morphemic knowledge (word structure), and pragmatic knowledge (conversational rules and register). It is undeniable that without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (Wilkins, 1972) (as cited in Thornbury, 2008). Seeing this significance, teaching vocabulary is prioritized not only in the international context but also in Vietnam where English has become a compulsory subject for the well-rounded education. In fact, vocabulary is held responsible for the significant means and factor to form and develop the communication skills. Language consists of not only a single word but also a multi-expression. Likewise, before concentrating on both grammar and four macro skills “reading, listening, speaking, and writing”, studying vocabulary as well as practicing it has been taken into account seriously in order to utilize language acquisition, particular in English (Nguyen, 2012). Hence, teaching vocabulary has been regarded as the most significant and there should be further investigation in this field.

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<b>1.2. Problem statements </b>

With the attempt to master as many languages as possible, language study has been my favorite field due to various reasons. As having a chance to major in teaching methodology in English, I have a great opportunity to get exposed to different methods and techniques which evoke me to analyze the best way to present the language to students. First, as a developing country, English has become a compulsory subject according to the policy of Ministry of Education in Vietnam. This has aroused a burning desire in me to be a teacher so that I can help students learn English effectively and make some adjustments for the language acquisition in Vietnamese education. Especially with the young generation, I am extremely eager to inspire them to learn English due to the benefits bringing to not only their lives but also the development of the nation. In full recognition of it, the author is keen on evaluating different methods that help students learn English in an effective way. These days, thanks to an increasing number of English centers, I have a chance to work as a teaching assistant in one of the popular centers called VUS. This has provided me a chance to perceive various techniques that teachers use in their teaching to help students understand the language. Moreover, as English has become a common second language around the globe, teaching English is bound to encourage the process of globalization in Vietnam. Thus, I have a great attempt to help students achieve language proficiency in order to be successful in their study. Hence, language learning and teaching has been regarded as my major field in this research and I will primary focus on the topic:

<i>“The practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners.” </i>

Regarding the topic, to teach vocabulary, there are two main techniques in teaching vocabulary including verbal techniques and visual techniques. However, a prime attention will be given to the visual techniques, especially pictures. Firstly, vocabulary plays a crucial role in learning English because it helps students to express their ideas by combining different words together accurately. Therefore, a lack of vocabulary can result in communication’s obstacles among learners, especially the young ones who have a limited vocabulary. In addition, as a beginning level, learning vocabulary is usually a great problem that children are to cope with. In fact, each student has a different memory ability to memorize a range of vocabulary knowledge, which needs to be taught by using different techniques to acquire the word better. Among many techniques, pictures have been considered to be useful to introduce a new vocabulary to young learners because it can bring a natural world to the standard classroom. Understanding profoundly about the

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vocabulary learning as well as the problems that students might face while studying, I have conducted a research to examine the advantages of using pictures in teaching vocabulary and how teacher use pictures to help students learn vocabulary better. Last but not least, as little work have been done on evaluation the use of pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners at VUS, I am motivated to carry out this research with the aim of offering some reliable results related to teachers’ opinions in the place that I am working at.

<b>1.3. Previous relevant research findings </b>

According to Lelawati, Dhiya, and Mailani (2008), teachers have a preference for presenting a new vocabulary by using flashcards and miming while helping students to practice the word they have learnt, teachers mostly apply matching task and identifying. Sari (2008) concluded that using pictures is more effective than translation in teaching vocabulary for elementary students for pictures can encourage a high motivation in learning vocabulary comparing to translation. Remarkably, Nguyen (2010) has proved that to teach vocabulary effectively to sophomores, using pictures is appreciated. Also, Elsy, Sofian, and Novita (2013) discovered that using picture media has a great influence on the achievement of third grade students’ vocabulary. With adult learners at elementary level, applying pictures in teaching vocabulary can not only improve students’ memory but also motivate students in learning vocabulary items (Tran, 2013). Nguyen (2014) clarified that with the support from pictures, children in Bac Ninh province could learn vocabulary better. In addition, Rohman (2016) proved that seventh grade students learn vocabulary more effectively when teachers use pictures to clarify meaning based on the experimental test from the research. However, according to Amalia’s conclusion (2019) the use of textbook, translation, and memorization are exploited more by teachers in teaching vocabulary to young learners from 6 to 7 years old while the use of pictures will be more suitable for 5-year-old learners.

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<b>1.3. Research Aims </b>

The study aims to evaluate the practice of pictures in teaching vocabulary in the English Center “Vietnam USA Society English Centers (VUS)”, especially to young learners from 6 to 10 years old and to explore teachers’ opinions about it.

<b>1.4. Research Significance </b>

This research is conducted so as to investigate the practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for children from 6 to 10 years old. Therefore, it would be beneficial for teachers who are in charge of young learners’ classes to recognize the benefits of pictures so as to apply them in their classrooms in an effective way.

First and foremost, basing on the final results of this research, teachers can perceive the crucial of pictures comparing to other techniques such as providing translation, definition, and examples (verbal techniques). This can encourage teachers to be more creative in introducing a vocabulary item by using various forms of pictures such as flashcards, cue cards, and photographs so that students can understand a new word easier. After that, a teacher can make his or her own critical evaluation on whether other techniques being used to teach vocabulary are effective or not. Hence, he or she can make a few adjustments when presenting a vocabulary.

Second, concerning the publishers of many English books, by understanding the findings’ results, they can publish more books or dictionaries along with pictures, solving children’s hardships in studying vocabulary. This can encourage students to learn the new vocabulary in an interesting and memorable way. Moreover, more teachers’ handbooks about how to use pictures in learning and teaching English for young learners will be released so that the use of pictures can be extended.

Thirdly, thanks to this study, the Ministry of Education in Vietnam can recognize the influence of pictures to students’ vocabulary memory so that they will encourage not only the English centers but also the public or private schools to apply pictures in teaching. As a result, students will no longer struggle to remember a great number of new words at the same time anymore.

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The graduation paper composed of five chapters.

Chapter 1 provides some information about the background of the study. It also reveals the problem statements, together with two research aims and three research significances. Chapter 2 consists of the review of the literature in which a definition of vocabulary, the vocabulary’s aspects, the use of pictures, and pictures’ advantages are clearly discussed. Chapter 3 introduces the methodology of this study. That means research design, research setting, participants, research questions, and research instrument and process will be clearly stated.

Chapter 4 places a strong emphasis on analyzing a data collection and discusses the findings drawn from the collected data.

Chapter 5 summarizes the main findings of the study. It also offers some recommendations and suggestions for further future research on this issue.

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<b>CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW </b>

<b>2.1. Definition of volcabulary and rationales for teaching vocabulary </b>

<i><b>2.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary </b></i>

There are various definitions of vocabulary. As defined by Hatch & Brown (1995), vocabulary plays a crucial role in building language, especially in communication. According to Hatch and Brown, (1995), there are two kinds of vocabulary including receptive vocabulary, and productive vocabulary. Similarly, Crystal (2006) states vocabulary is technically called lexis, referring to a collection of words. It is classified into two types: active vocabulary (productive vocabulary) used in speaking or writing, and passive vocabulary (receptive vocabulary) which is recognized and understood, but there is no need to be expressed. Besides, Spratt, Pulverness and Williams (2011, p.16) remarked that the meaning of words can be defined by form (prefixes, sufixes, or compounds), collocations (words occur together), fixed expression, idioms (so called a kind of fixed expression which has a different meaning, but it can be changed), synonyms, antonyms, word family, false friends (a different meaning but a similar form in two languages), homophones (a similar pronunciation but a different meaning or spelling), and hononyms (same spelling and pronunciation, but a different meaning). While Alali and Schmitt (2012) stated that vocabulary included lexical chunks, single items, and phrases (formulaic sequences) which contain two or more words, such as “Good morning” or “Nice to meet you”. However, another definition based on a holistic view is proved by Nation (1990) stated that learning vocabulary is to know a word through meaning, form (spelling), and use (grammatical function, and collocations) (as cited in Koay, 2015). In short, words have two types “productive vocabulary” and “receptive vocabulary”, which is also defined by form, collocations, fixed expression, idioms, synonyms, antonyms, word family, false

<i>friends, homophones, and homonyms. </i>

<i><b>2.1.2. Rationales for teaching vocabulary </b></i>

According to Wilkins (1972), very little can be conveyed with grammar; however, nothing can be expressed without vocabulary (as cited in Thornbury, 2008). Therefore, there are two main reasons for teaching vocabulary to young learners. First, to fulfill the demand for communication, vocabulary knowledge needs to be enhanced every day. Dellar and Hocking (Innovations, LTP) indicates that spending time on studying grammar could not help learners to improve their English, but studying vocabulary could support learners to say everything (as cited in Thornbury, 2008) . In 1970, many majors considered the role

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of vocabulary when the communicative approach arrived (Thornbury, 2008). The acknowledgement of vocabulary was the most significant that the language learners had to face (Swan, M and Walter, C, 1984). According to Shmitt (2000), vocabulary range plays a key role in communicative competence, and the acquisition of a second language. Second, a wide range of vocabulary also helps students attain the language proficiency. Therefore, teaching vocabulary means to help students improve other language skills in the target language (L2) “If language structures make up the skeleton of the language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh,” (Harmer, 1993, p.153). In order to help students enhance fluency and expression in English, vocabulary plays an inevitable role as it is a primary part of language (Harmer, 1993). Especially with reading which depends heavily on vocabulary knowledge, thereby lacking it can be the greatest hinder for L2 readers. Moreover, learning vocabulary can help students develop language skills (like listening, speaking, reading, and writing) (Nation, 2011) (as cited in Alquahtani, 2015). Therefore, vocabulary is paramount important to language teaching. In fact, with an effective instruction, most students can learn new words which will enhance their comprehension, and improve their opportunities to succeed in school and afterwards (Cynthia and Johnson, 2000). Thus, teaching vocabulary plays a significant role in

communicative advantages and language learning.

<b>2.2. Aspects of vocabulary items </b>

To teach vocabulary effectively, teachers should know what aspects of a certain item should be taught and how to do that. Thornbury (2008) states that an educated native speaker will have approximately 20,000 word families. With second language learners, it will be lucky to acquire 5,000 word families after several years of study. There are many vocabulary items that learners should learn; however, teachers should concentrate on three aspects of vocabulary item including “form, meaning and use” so as to helping students improve the vocabulary knowledge.

The most important aspect of a vocabulary item should be taught to students before encountering the meaning is its form. Gower, Phillips and Walters (1983) clarified that the form comprised part of speech (noun, verb, prepositions, and so on), spelling (regular or irregular), collocations, and pronunciation (syllables, and stress). Additionally, students would encounter the form (pronunciation and spelling) first before knowing the meaning owing to the fact that it is useless to know the word without knowing how it is pronounced and spelt (Ur, 1996).

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<i><b>2.2.2. Meaning </b></i>

A great number of words have more than one meaning (Gower, Phillips, and Walters, 1983). According to Ur (1996)’s definition, the meaning of a word includes “denotation, grammar, collocation, connotation, and meaning relationships”. To be specific, the meaning in dictionaries and in the real word is called denotation. It sometimes has a metaphorical meaning which is different from the original word. For example, foot of the mountain is retrieved from the foot as a part of body. However, there are words that have multiple meanings such as bear (the animal) and bear (tolerate). This is also called “homonyms”. In addition to form, an item might have grammatical rules and various forms in certain grammatical contexts; for instance, the past tense of irregular verbs, the –ing forms and the –to infinitive of the verbs. Next, collocations are often shown under the headword in dictionaries in order to refer to the combination of one word to other words or expressions. An inappropriate collocation might be grammatically correct but it sounds wrong. For example, we say “tell the truth” but not “say the truth”, “a tall man” but not “a tall mountain”. Moreover, connotation refers to the words with the same meaning, but they occur the positive or negative associations. For instance, “damp” and “moist” have the same meaning: slightly wet. However, when people said “a moist cake”, it means that this cake is delicious, but “a damp cake” means that this cake had been made from a wrong recipe. Similar to collocations, the connotation is not always clarified in a dictionary because the meaning of the word might be comprehended through given examples and collocations. Finally, meaning relationships are included: synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms (specific examples of general concept), co-hyponyms or coordinates (other items are same kind of things), superordinates (e.g. animal is superordinate of dog, lion, mouse, and so forth), translation (words or expressions in the students’ L1) (Ur, 1996).

To help learners use the vocabulary appropriately, teachers should differentiate which word is used as a particular style, and which one belongs to a register (formal or informal) meaning. This can be easily learnt through paying attention to how a native speaker uses the language in real life (Gower, Phillips, Walters, 1983). Also, Ur (1996) illustrates that the appropriateness of each word depends on a particular context. Therefore, learners need to know that a certain item is common or rare, formal or informal. Moreover, several words are merely suitable for writing but not for speaking; other words belong to a “taboo” in social interactions or certain varieties of English.

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<b>2.3. Techniques for presenting vocabulary </b>

There are many techniques that teachers can apply in order to teach vocabulary effectively, and these can be classified into two mains categories: visual techniques and verbal techniques.

<i><b>2.3.1. Visual techniques </b></i>

According to Sanusi (2009), the vocabulary knowledge can be enhanced by using visual techniques (realia, pictures, and mime or gestures). To illustrate meaning, the use of realia, pictures, and mime or gestures is defined in the Direct Method which rejects to provide translation to students (Thornbury, 2008). This approach is suitable to beginners and mixed ability classes. Another method is Total Physical Response (TPR) which relates to the demonstration of actions (mime or gestures), the use of real objects (realia). Then, teachers will get students to perform similar actions in response to commands (Thornbury, 2008).

Visual aids include different forms: flashcards, overhead projector, board drawings. Flashcards can be collected from magazines, or calendars which can be used to teach a lexical set such as food and drink, clothing, forms of transport and so forth. Pictures or objects can be prompts for vocabulary teaching to present and review a new item (Thornbury, 2008).

However, words frequently appear incidentally. To be honest, teachers cannot have visual aids or realia all the time. Therefore, it is significant to know various ways to convey the meaning of new words. They are known as non-visual techniques or verbal techniques (Thornbury, 2008).

<i><b>2.3.2. Verbal techniques </b></i>

Verbal techniques include providing an example situation, several example sentences, synonyms, antonyms, and a full definition (Thornbury, 2008). An example situation provides students a context so that they can deduce the meaning from it. To quickly give explanation to students, the use of synonyms and antonyms is the most appropriate to help students get the meaning. With a full definition, different types of dictionary can have various definition approaches; therefore, the meaning of the word is built up from time to time. Hence, verbal techniques have three main advantages. First, students can hear the word several times in order to increase their memory. Second, they can get exposure to a wide range of uses and typical collocations. Finally, students can get information about the form and grammar. For example, it is irregular verb or regular verb, countable noun or uncountable noun (Thornbury, 2008).

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In short, there are different techniques that help teachers to ensure the understanding of meanings. Depending on students’ levels, both visual techniques and verbal ones are useful to present the vocabulary. For example, at the elementary level, teachers should use pictures, realia, gestures, and mime (visuals) which are usually concrete words to introduce new items. Later, teachers might prefer giving examples or hints, and several sample sentences in context, using translation, definition or description to explain the vocabulary items to students (Ur, 1996).

<b>2.4. Techniques for practicing vocabulary </b>

Thornbury (2008) states that learners need to put a new vocabulary item into practice so that it can ensure a long-term memory and recall. This is called “mental lexicon”, which is the learners’ existing network of word associations. Therefore, practicing vocabulary is necessary; it might be correctly defined as “integration activities” rather than “practice activities” or “reinforcement activities”. There are two types of tasks called “decision making tasks” and “production tasks” that teachers can use to enhance learners’ vocabulary memory.

<i><b>2.4.1. Decision making tasks </b></i>

They are tasks requiring more cognitive demands, which mean that students have to make decisions about words. There are five tasks including “identifying, selecting, matching, sorting, ranking and sequencing”, which is ranked from least cognitively demanding to most demanding (Thornbury, 2008). Specifically, identifying task is related to finding words in texts where they might be hidden; for example, teachers can ask students to count how many times one word appears in the text, underline all the words with a particular prefix or suffix, and find the part of speech such as adjectives, and phrasal verbs. Moreover, listening to a certain vocabulary item in the recorded text or in a dialogue is a form of identification activity. Unscramble words and word search are also two common tasks which teachers might use to help students identify words (Thornbury, 2008). Second, recognizing words and choosing the suitable words are involved in selecting tasks which are more cognitively complicated. This task, for example, “odd one out” might base on the lexical set of a particular topic. It is important for students to rationalize their choices, not getting the right answer. At the beginning of the lesson, another useful selecting task is that students select words from their notebooks to test their classmates for the purpose of recycling vocabulary items (Thornbury, 2008). Also, recognizing words and pairing them with a visual presentation, a translation, a synonym,

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an antonym, a definition, or a collocation is an example of a verb-noun matching task. There is also a game called “pelmanism”, a memory game that students will take turns to pick up a card and search for its correct partner. It requires students to remember where individual cards are located (Thornbury, 2008). Another common decision making task is sorting task requiring students to sort words to different categories which can either be given or guessed. For instance, teachers can let learners put words into groups and decide a title for each of them, or categorize words into negative and positive groups, which are useful with adjectives (Thornbury, 2008). Last but not least, putting words into different kinds of orders is defined as a ranking and sequencing task. For example, if teachers introduce the adverbs of frequency, it will be helpful to use this activity to help students practice and understand the frequency (always, sometimes, never, usually, often). In addition, learners might be required to rank items basing on the preference, and order items chronically so that learners can express their ideas as well as judgement about words. There is no “right answer” in a ranking or sequencing task because students only have to make their choices, and compare them with their classmates, which is considered to be a good “brain work” (Thornbury, 2008).

In short, decision-making tasks are receptive on account of merely making judgement about words to comprehend them. It means that students do not produce the vocabulary. Therefore, the production tasks below can help students to practice words better through speaking or writing activity.

<i><b>2.4.2. Production tasks </b></i>

Production tasks can be divided into two main types: completion and creation of sentences and texts (Thornbury, 2008). On the one hand, with a completion of sentences and texts, it is generally defined as gap-fills with a provided context. This task has various formats, but basically there are two types of gap-fills including open and closed gap-fills which are used in test for it is easy to mark and design. There is a basic difference between the open type and closed type. With the open type, basing on a given clue, such as the first letter of the word, learners will fill in the gaps. With the closed type (Tran, 2013), the words are provided at the beginning of the exercise in order for students to decide the correct word for each gap. Also, there is a common task called a multiple choice used in many vocabulary tests (Thornbury, 2008). On the other hand, different from the

completion task, the creation one requires students to create the contexts for given words. For example, from the list of words, students can use it to write a dialogue, or a sentence

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about themselves as well as writing sentence examples to clarify the meaning of the word. Occasionally, many creation activities demand a writing task at the beginning; however, a speaking task is also considered to be useful to put vocabulary to work, especially the use of questionnaires, and teachers can use it to form question-and-answer exchanges

(Thornbury, 2008).

<i><b>2.4.3. Games </b></i>

Thornbury (2008) proves that it is wrong to state that learning vocabulary means “no play”. Language’s activities including a word game can evoke the fun factor, and help words become more memorable. There are several common word games that teachers can apply. For instance, “word clap” is a game that uses a four-beat rhythm (one, two, three, four). The idea is to take turns, clockwise, and shout out a different word from a previous lexical set on every fourth beat. Teachers will increase the pace so that any students who repeat the words or say nothing will be out. The game will continue until there is only one left. Another common game is “categories” which demands students to draw a number of columns, and each column is a particular lexical set. With a time limit, they will write as many words as possible on a piece of paper when teachers call out a letter of the alphabet (e.g. “B!”). The groups have the most correct words will win. To increase students’ interests, that a guessing game is called “coffeepot” can be applied. There will be a missing word replaced by the words “coffeepot”. Then, one learner answers yes or no questions given from the rest of the class, groups, or pairs. For example, “Can you coffeepot with your hands?” To make the game easier, teachers will show a list of verbs on the board so that students can choose one of them. Also, there is another guessing game called “back to board”; however, in this game, one student faces the class so that he or she cannot see the word while the teacher writes a recently learned word on the board. The learner has to guess the word by asking different students in class questions. To make the game easier, the chosen words can be limited in some ways (all phrasal verbs, all adjectives, and so forth). In addition, to help students practice a new vocabulary through pictures, “pictionary” will be one of suitable games that the teacher will show the student a word or phrase on a card as a cue. Then, each student will be “an artist” to draw the word with pen and paper while other students will speculate the word. This game is ideal to review idiomatic expressions (e.g. under the weather, over the moon, in the dark). At the end, students can use their drawings as pictures to recall and write down the expressions, and put them into a sentence to clarify its meaning. To draw students’ attention to a connection

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(e.g. same part of speech, synonyms or antonyms, same lexical set) between a pair of word, that “word snap” is a common game requires students to face two cards up so as for everyone to read them. In case students cannot draw out any connection due to the challenge in the game, the teacher will need to be available to make a decision. After learning a new vocabulary, “word race” is a suitable game which allows students to review as many words as possible. The teacher will say a word in students’ language, and students in each team have to write down a translation for it by using marker or chalk on the board. Instead of using translation and definition, synonyms or pictures can be provided by students. To extend the application of pictures in practicing vocabulary, “spelling race” is a game that teacher could use to show the rest of students the words by using a card, or a picture while two students from each team will face the class. The teams can spell the word, but not say it out loud. The first team to get the correct word on the board with its correct spelling earns a point. This game will continue as students will take turns to represent for their group. Hence, the useful games can encourage students to recall learned

<i>words as well as practice them through guessing, categorizing, and so forth. </i>

<b>2.5. Teaching vocabulary for young learners </b>

According to Cameron (2001), it is important to build up a useful vocabulary for elementary learners studying a foreign language. Therefore, in recent years, growing the importance of vocabulary has become a main concern in foreign language teaching (Carter and McCarthy, 1988; Coady and Huckin, 1997; Schmitt and Meara, 1997; Singleton, 1999; Read, 2000) (as cited in Cameron, 2001) owing to the fact that vocabulary learning is a fundamental step before studying and using grammar (Cameron, 2001). However, to develop children’s vocabulary, the teacher should consider carefully their first language background to anticipate problems that students might face (Cameron, 2001). Hence, it also depends on learners’ characteristics so that the teacher chooses suitable learning strategies as well as effective techniques to help young learners learn vocabulary.

<i><b>2.5.1. Definitions of young learners and their characteristics </b></i>

In this section, the term “young learners” will be defined owing to the fact that the teacher will have to choose various techniques appropriately depending on different ages. According Nunan (2011), many researchers classify young learners around 3 to 15 years of age, including 3-5 year-olds, 6-to 8-year-olds, and so forth. However, Nunan, (2011) criticizes that all children have markedly different mental and social characteristics at

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particular ages; two children at the same age can perform differently. Young learners can be described to be children, who first attend to school for couple of years. They can understand the meaningful messages but cannot recognize the language. Also, their reading and writing skills in L1, along with the awareness about the world and themselves, are limited while they have a preference for fantasy, imagination and movement.

Another crucial factor is learners’ characteristics including learners’ motivation, learning style, learning strategies, and maturity. This influences not only students’ learning styles, and attitude to a new language, but also their respondance to various teaching styles (Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams, 2011). With young learners from 3 to 15 years old, different levels of maturity will affect their learning styles in various ways.

First, as children, they are extremely energetic, which leads to a short attention span on the lesson and a lack of awareness about controlling their behaviors. Second, as having a limited experience in life, young learners usually dare to take risks and make mistakes so that they can learn through practicing and personal experience. Last but not least, their cognitive skills are developing every day; therefore, most of them concentrate on the language’s meaning and have a strong desire for communication (Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams, 2011).

<i><b>2.5.2. Young learners’ vocabulary learning strategies </b></i>

According to Cameron (2001), the actions to help learners understand and memorize the vocabulary are defined as vocabulary learning strategies. There is a difference between “discovery” strategies and “consolidate strategies”. With “discovery” ones, students look up a new word in a dictionary or guess it from the context. With “consolidate” ones, learners will learn a word list by heart and ask another to evaluate them (Cameron, 2001).

Although there are various strategies that help learners improve their study, the usefulness of them needs to be taken into account seriously. Depending on the age of students, the use of different strategies and methods can result in the successful and less successful students (Cameron, 2001). Besides, different learners suggest useful strategies that teachers can encourage them to adopt. Some common strategies, for example, guessing meaning from the picture or text, paying attention to grammatical information about words as well as their uses, highlighting the connection between the words and the L1, memorizing where the word has been encountered before and how it supports for its form and meaning (Cameron, 2001).

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In fact, different young learners need particular strategies. Depending on various learning styles, teachers present a range of strategies so that children can have available choices which suit their style (Cameron, 2001). However, to help students use strategies effectively, some explicit trainings from teachers are helpful and necessary. There are several principles that teachers can use to help students make the best use of the strategies including: modeling the use of strategies to students, or teaching learners the sub-skills to apply the strategies for their study. Moreover, classroom tasks such as predicting meanings of the new words in reading skills can be used to increase the opportunities of using strategies; independent strategy use can also be rehearsed in classrooms, and to reflect the learning process, young learners can evaluate their achievements through regular self-evaluation. This can help them to understand what and how they are learning (Cameron, 2001).

<i><b>2.5.3. Techniques for teaching vocabulary for young learners </b></i>

As mentioned, there are two main categories of techniques that teachers can use to introduce new words to students including visual techniques (pictures, realia, mine) and verbal techniques. Teaching vocabulary to young learners is not an easy task, and pictures are considered as one technique that the teacher can use to convey meaning of a lexical item. This will support students to learn, understand and utilize the vocabulary in all aspects of life.

To be specific, there are several benefits of using pictures to elicit a new vocabulary item owing to the fact that using visuals (pictures) to teach vocabulary helps language teachers to engage their students. It is irrefutable that one of the valuable aids in the standard classroom is using pictures, which brings a natural world into the language classroom (Hill, 1990). There are three main categories of pictures including:

 Large (20x30cm) “whole-class work”  Medium (10x15cm) “group-work”

 Small (5x5cm) “games and other group-work activities,” (Hill, 1990).

Wright (1990) elaborated on the great potential of pictures in teaching structure, vocabulary, functions, situations and four skills. He declared that pictures can be used as an instrument and background for writing and discussion. In terms of the advantages of using pictures, Gerlach and Elly (1980, p.277) stated that pictures were cost-effective, easy to understand and convey both message and meaning of new vocabulary while developing

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critical judgment, reading and research (as cited in Harjuno, 2008). As French (1980) stated, pictures are considered to be a useful instrument to help students understand the meaning of a word (as cited in Harjuno, 2008) In addition, Philips (1993) proved that the best way to learn a new vocabulary is through picture, an action, or a real object. Harmer (2001, p.135) additionally advocated that to review and illustrate the meaning of certain words, the picture is the most appropriate. Furthermore, Albano (2013) proved that teachers could use pictures as a teaching aid to enhance students’ vocabulary knowledge as its important role. There are many games such as pictionary, slap the pictures, and

<i>matching which are similar to guessing picture; one student will draw, and others will </i>

guess a particular word. Moreover, pictures will be used by teachers, which requires half of the students to look or watch, and remember it. After that, they will attempt to describe what they have seen to other half. This activity will strengthen their rapport with other students. At the elementary level, in so far as students might get difficult in expressing ideas, teacher should provide them with a picture, and ask them to describe what they can see. This will break the ice between students and teacher, and help students to understand the word easier since pictures is the easiest way not only to understand new words, but also for students to find , download, and learn on the internet (Albano, 2013).

It is undeniable that pictures act as a useful aid in teaching vocabulary. Thus, teachers should master how to use them effectively. Thornbury (2008, p.144) claimed that “vocabulary cannot be taught, it is presented, explained, included in all kinds of activities”. That is the reason why teachers have to arouse students’ interests in words and excitement in personal development. As a support, Gower, Phillips and Walters (1983) believed that visuals make the lesson more interesting and lively for they can be put on the wall with labels. Also, to illustrate the meaning, a matching task can be used to check understanding (e.g. matching pictures to words). Hence, teachers have occasionally used pictures to facilitate learners’ learning for pictures in many forms including: flashcards, large wall pictures, cue cards, photographs, or illustrations in textbook (Harmer, 2007, p. 134). Also, to help teachers use pictures effectively, Harmer (2007) listed the use of different forms of pictures in different ways. First, teacher can using pictures to drill a new vocabulary item to lower-level students is extremely suitable, especially flashcards (cue-response drills). Teachers will hold cards up while nominating different students to answer one by one. Flashcards are useful for not only drilling grammar items but also practicing vocabulary. Teachers can put students in pairs or groups and ask them to pick up a random cue card on the top. Then, he or she has to say a sentence with a word that the card suggests. For

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example, if a card is a picture of “a piece of cheese”, the student will look at it and say “How much cheese have you got?”, and if it is “eggs”, students will have to ask “How many eggs have you got?”. In addition, pictures are extremely useful to help students practice new words while enhancing students’ communication among their friends. For instance, with the activity “describe and draw”, one student looks at pictures and describes them while two students from each team will try to draw a picture without looking at the original one. This can be used to introduce a story as teachers can divide the class into four groups (A, B, C, D). Each group holds one picture and every member will try to study it. After that, teachers will form a new group with four members (one from group A, one from group B, one from group C, and one from group D). They will share the information they have seen together and work out the story from the given pictures. Besides, the pictures have an effective use in creative writing of young learners as they will pick at least three pictures and tell a story based on them. In addition, students can choose one picture and start to build a dialogue on it (Harmer, 2007, p.135). Another purpose of using pictures in teaching vocabulary is for ensuring students understanding. This means that pictures help teachers to present the meaning of new vocabulary. For example, with the word “aeroplane”, through listening or reading passage, teachers ask students to select the picture to ensure students’ memory of the word.

To sum up, teacher can use pictures in various ways to introduce a new item as well as to help students practice vocabulary.

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<b>CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS </b>

Literature Review in the previous chapter is utilized to construct the research methods of the presented studies. This chapter is categorized into four parts such as comprising research design, participants, instrument and procedure.

<b>3.1. Research design </b>

The design of this reseach is testing some authors’ claims related to vocabulary teaching to illustrate the practice of pictures in teaching vocabulary, and provide neccessary data to other reseachers. This study attempts to discover the advantages of pictures when teachers use them to introduce new words to young learners, especially elementary students. Moreover, the researcher’s purpose is to investigate if teachers’ combination of pictures with other techniques is effective. All information was collected carefully by both observation and survey at VUS in order to arrive the trustworthy outcomes.

<b>3.2 Research setting and participants </b>

The author observed four classes in one of VUS English centers, mainly the

<i>SMARTKIDS (from 4 to 6 years old), and SUPERKIDS (6 to 10 years old). “Super Safari </i>

<i>1, 2” and “Everybody Up” are two kinds of textbooks used by teachers and students alike, </i>

respectively.

<i>As part of teachers, there are 22 teachers of English who took part in this study at </i>

VUS. They are from 23 to 30 years old. Their learners’ ages are illustrated in this table below, and most of them are from 6 to 10 years old.

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<i>As part of learners, there are approximately 60 learners in four classes </i>

Class 1: Smart kids 3 (04/01/2019)

 Short description: there were 15 students who are from 5 to 6 years old in this class. The teacher used pictures to check students’ memory after introducing new words and phrases.

 Book: Super Safari 2

Class 2: Super kids B3 (04/01/2019)

 Short description: there were 22 students from 8 to 10 years old in this class. The teacher used flashcards to present a new vocabulary topic to students.

 Book: Everybody up 3 Class 3: Super kids A1 (13/01/2019)

 Short description: there were 18 students from 6 to 8 years old in this class. The teacher used flashcards “pen, pencil, ruler, backpack, eraser, pencil case” to introduce these new words to students at the beginning of the class.

 Book: Everybody Up 1 Class 4: Super kids A3 (14/01/2019)

 Short description: there were 16 students who were from 6 to 10 years old in this class. The teacher used pictures to help students practice the new vocabulary about “Food”  Book: Everybody Up 2

<b>3.3 Instrument </b>

<i><b>3.3.1. Observation </b></i>

The author observed four classes (students from 6 years old to 10 years old) that she was working on. Also, the writer captured activities’ images in class as well as recorded several videos, which required the support from pictures. This helps enhance the reliability of the findings of this research.

The table below illustrates the aims of using pictures in class, and teachers’ activities when eliciting new words, including the some images of each activity. (see Appendix A and C)

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the link of google form to the teachers in order to collect the data about using pictures in the classes that I observed. Owing to the fact that teachers in the English center usually use pictures to introduce new words to young learners, their ideas are very important to this research. There are 19 questions that teachers were required to read carefully before choosing the answer. The first part of the survey is based on five scales “Strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, strongly disagree”. With the second one, if the participants agree with the question, they have to tick in the small square beside the options. However, who has another idea will check to the square “Other”, and write down their opinions on the paper or on the link. (see appendix B)

<b>3.4. Procedure </b>

There are two steps to conduct this study. First, depending on the writer’s schedule when working as a teaching assistant at VUS, the observation was carried out first. This helps the author to pay attention to the interaction between teachers and students in class when teaching a new vocabulary item by using pictures. However, the author was allowed to observe four classes because not all teachers felt comfortable when being recorded. The observation mainly focused on two kinds of textbooks “Super Safari” and “Everybody Up”. The reason is that these books are compulsory in the school’s syllabus, and they have a great number of pictures for each word to arouse young learners’ interests in learning a new vocabulary item. After that, the author wrote down the observation sheets about how teachers used pictures in their activities, and the aims of them. This process is very difficult to carry on because it requires the author to support the teachers in the class as her duty while taking time to note down the necessary information. Additionally, to enhance the reliability of this research, the author recorded several videos as well as captured some pictures of teachers and students’ interaction during a lesson. As a result, all of this observation is to support the questionnaires which give more details about teachers’ opinions.

Second, the author distributed the hardcopy and a link of the questionnaires to approximately 20 teachers who work in the same campus with the author at VUS to collect their opinions about the practice of pictures in teaching a vocabulary item. They had to answer 19 questions by putting a tick to the option that they agree. Also, the first part includes 12 statements based on five scales “Strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree”. This illustrates different teachers’ opinions about the advantages of pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners. The data from

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the questionnaire was finally collected and analyzed to support the author’s theory and observation. It will be presented in the next chapter of this graduation paper.

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the practice of using pictures in teaching vocabulary for young learners at vus

<b>BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO </b>

<b>TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH --- ∞0∞--- </b>

<b>ĐỖ HUỲNH NGỌC TRÂM </b>

<b>THE PRACTICE OF USING PICTURES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR </b>

<b>YOUNG LEARNERS AT VUS </b>

<b>KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH NGƠN NGỮ ANH </b>

<b>TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH, NĂM 2020 </b>

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<b>BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO </b>

<b>TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH --- ∞0∞--- </b>

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<b>Ý KIẾN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN </b>

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<b>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS </b>

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<b>TABLE OF CONTENT </b>

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<b>ABBREVIATIONS </b>

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<b>ABSTRACT </b>

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<b>CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION </b>

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<b>CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW </b>

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<b>CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS </b>

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