Improving learning English vocabulary through games an action research= nâng cao việc học từ vựng tiếng Anh thông qua các trò chơi ngôn ngữ nghiên cứu hành động

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES








VŨ PHƯƠNG THẢO






IMPROVING LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
THROUGH GAMES: AN ACTION RESEARCH

NÂNG CAO VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH THÔNG QUA CÁC
TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG


M.A THESIS

FIELD: METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10







HANOI – 2011
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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES







VŨ PHƯƠNG THẢO

IMPROVING LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
THROUGH GAMES: AN ACTION RESEARCH

NÂNG CAO VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH THÔNG QUA CÁC
TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG




M.A THESIS





FIELD: METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: PHẠM MINH TÂM, M.Ed





HANOI – 2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CANDIDATE‟S STATEMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS………………………………
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale for the Study and Research Problem Statement ……………………
1.2 Research Aims and Research Questions…………………………………………………
1.3 Scope of the Study
1.4 Methodology of the Study
1.5 Design of the Study
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW…………
2.1 Overview of Vocabulary Teaching ……………
2.1.1 The Definitions of Vocabulary
2.1.2 Principles in Vocabulary Teaching
2.1.3 Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary
2.1.3.1 Techniques for Presenting New Vocabulary ……………………………….
2.1.3.1.1 Visual Techniques……………… … … ……………….…………
2.1.3.1.2 Verbal Techniques ………………………………………………………
2.1.3.1.3 Student-centred …………… …………………… ……… ………
2.1.3.2 Techniques for Consolidating and Checking Vocabulary………………………
2.2 Overview of Language Games
2.2.1 The Definitions of Language Games
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2.2.2 Types of Language Games
2.2.3 Perspectives on Exploiting Games in ELT…… …………
2.2.4 Reasons to Use Games in EFL Classroom …………………… ………… ….
2.3 Relationship between Games and Language Teaching ………………………… …
2.4 Common Games in Teaching Vocabulary…………………………………………….
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Context …… ………………………………………… …
3.2 Research Questions …… …………………………………………………… …
3.3 Research Approach …………………………… …………………………….…
3.4 Participants ………………………… ……………………………………… …
3.5 Research Instruments …………………………… ……………………………….
3.5.1 Pre-test and Post test…………………….……… ……………………… …
3.5.2 Vocabulary Games …………………………………………………………….
3.5.2.1 Vocabulary Games for Checking ………………………………………….
3.5.2.2 Vocabulary Games for Practice ……………………………………………

3.5.2.3 Vocabulary Games for Revision or Warm-up …………….……………….
3.5.3 Questionnaire ……………… …………………………………………… …
3.6 Data Collection Procedure …………… …………………………………… …
3.6.1 Pre-test ………………… ………………………… ……………
3.6.2 Post-test………………… …………………………… …………
3.6.3 Questionnaire………………………………… ………………………… ….
3.7 Data Analysis Procedure ……………………… ……………………………….
3.7.1 Data from pre-test and post test …………………….…………………… …
3.7.2 Data from questionnaire ……………………………………………………
3.8 Conclusive Remarks …………… ……………………………………………
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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.………………….…………… ……… ….
4.1 Findings …… …………………………………………………………………… …
4.1.1 Research question 1…………… …………………………………… ……
4.1.1.1 Results …… ……………………… …………………………………….
4.1.1.2 Discussion ………………………… …………………………………
4.1.2 Research question 2 …………………………… ……………………………
4.1.3 Research question 3 ………………………………… ………………………
4.2 Implications ………………………………… ………………………………………
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary of the study…………………………………………………………………
5.2 Limitations…………………………………………………………………………….
5.3 Suggestions for further studies ……………………………………………… ………
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Games exploited for teaching vocabulary ……… …………………………
Appendix 2: Pre-tests and post-tests…………………………………………………………
Appendix 3: Questionnaires…………………………………………………………………

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I
IV
VII








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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Major Aspects of Vocabulary
5
Table 2: Common games in teaching vocabulary
20
Table 3: The vocabulary teaching plan
28
Table 4: The test schedule
30

Table 5: Improvement in Hai‟s vocabulary
33
Table 6: Improvement in Quynh‟s vocabulary
34
Table 7: Improvement in Chi‟s learning vocabulary
34
Table 8: Improvement in Trang‟s vocabulary
34
Table 9: Improvement in Huy‟s vocabulary
35
Table 10: Improvement in Trung‟s vocabulary
35
Table 11: Improvement in Long‟s vocabulary
36
Table 12: Improvement in Hoang Anh‟s vocabulary
36
Table 13: Improvement in Thai‟s vocabulary
36
Table 14: Improvement in Linh‟s vocabulary
37
Table 15: Percentage of improvement
37
Table 16: Data collected from questions 4 and 5 of the questionnaire
38
Table 17: Data collected from questions 1, 2, 3 and 6 of the questionnaire
39
Figure 1: The students‟ attitudes towards language games
40
Figure 2: Students‟ participation in language games
41

Figure 3: The essential features of using language games
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ABBREVIATIONS

ELT: English Language Teaching
EFL: English Foreign Language
Ts: Teachers
Ss: Students
bb: blackboard
T: Test
WB: workbook














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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the Study and Research Problem Statement

In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. It is one element
that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together. In
order to communicate well in foreign language, students should acquire an adequate
number of words and should know how to use them accurately. Vocabulary is,
obviously, vital for successful communication.

As a teacher of English, I recognize that, although the issue of vocabulary teaching
and learning is currently receiving attention of teachers and learners at our school, it
is still far from how vocabulary items can best be taught and learnt. A vast amount
of teaching time in a vocabulary lesson is used by explanation, definition, students
compile page upon page of word lists that they rarely have opportunity to practice.
Obviously, vocabulary arises in the classroom regardless of the chosen activity, and
in spite of any conscious design on the teacher‟s part. As the result, students only
think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words. In
addition, the students‟ ability to use English for communication is still limited,
especially for secondary students. They can have a fairly good knowledge of
grammar but hardly express themselves properly because of shortage of vocabulary
and communicative competence. That is why, for most students, learning
vocabulary in language lesson is a time of failure and disappointment in which they
gradually feel boring and gradual rejection of the work that the teacher is doing for
them.

Motivated by the idea of finding stimulating activities to help students to learn
vocabulary, with the goal to create a context for vocabulary acquisition in the
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classroom, the writer has chosen that games may be of some help for learning and

teaching English vocabulary.

All the above-mentioned reasons have inspired the writer to conduct an action
research titled “Improving learning English vocabulary through games”.

1.2 Research Aims and Research Questions

The study is aimed to reach the specific data on the improvement in participants‟
vocabulary, to find out students‟ attitude towards language games and provide some
criteria to choose relevant games for this purpose. So as to achieve these, the
research seeks answers to the following questions:
1. To what extent does the use of games in teaching vocabulary improve the
students‟ learning vocabulary?
2. What are the students‟ attitudes towards the language games?
3. What are the essential features of using language games that can help improve the
students‟ vocabulary as perceived by the students?
1.3 Scope of the Study

The research will only focus on limited target population and a certain aspect of
vocabulary. In terms of vocabulary, the study focuses on student‟s knowledge of the
meanings, forms and usage of the words. In terms of target population, the subjects
are 10 non-English majors studying the book Pacesetter at level Elementary,
published by Oxford University Press (2000) at Sunrise school.


1.4 Methodology of the Study

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To answer these above questions, action research was conducted with a number of
pre-tests and post-tests to solve the first main question. Each test was taken by the

participants for four or five days before the beginning of the unit and after finishing
the unit to see the differences. Furthermore, a questionnaire was also used to get the
participants‟ attitudes towards the language games and the answer of the last
question - the essential features of using language games that can help improve the
students‟ vocabulary as perceived by the students.
1.5 Design of the Study

The thesis is divided into five main chapters:
Chapter 1 introduces the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the
design of the study.
Chapter 2 provides the background of the study, including the definitions and
features of some terms such as vocabulary, principles of teaching vocabulary and
types of language games.
Chapter 3 demonstrates the research methods applied in the study with details on
how and why these methods were implemented in the research. Besides, this
chapter presents the data collected from pretests and post tests as well as from the
questionnaire.
Chapter 4 demonstrates the results and discussion of the study, which answer the
three research questions and then suggests the implication of the results in reality.
Chapter 5 summarizes the main issues covered in the paper. It presents the
limitations of the study and some suggestions for further studies in the research
area.
References and Appendices are presented in the last pages of the study.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of Vocabulary Teaching
2.1.1 The Definitions of Vocabulary

The American Heritage Dictionary defines vocabulary as “the sum of words used
by, understood by, or at the command of a particular person or group.” It means that
vocabulary is all the words of a language. A person's vocabulary is the set of words
they are familiar with in a language. A vocabulary usually grows and evolves with
age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring
knowledge.
Michael Lewis (1993: 89) stated: vocabulary “ may be individual words, or full
sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic
meaning within a given community”.
However, what are the major aspects of vocabulary that can be taught to students?
Ur (1996) (as cited in To Thu Huong et al, 2009: 81) assumed that vocabulary has
eleven aspects, which are demonstrated in the table below:
Categories
Description
Example
1. Pronunciation
What a word sounds like
[ti:]
2. Spelling
What a word looks like
T-e-a
3. Grammar
Change of form (especially if it is
irregular)
Ox - Oxen
4. Collocation
Restrictions on how words can be
used together
Make trouble but Do wrong
5. Denotation

The core meaning that refers the
word to the real world
Nightfall: The close of the
day
6. Connotation
The additional meaning that shows
people‟s emotions and attitudes
towards what the word refers to
Excuse in She made an
excuse for being late has a
negative meaning.
7. Formality
Whether a word is appropriate to use
in certain contexts
Thank you – Thanks
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8. Synonym
Words that mean the same or nearly
the same
bright, clever, smart
9. Antonym
Words that mean the opposite
Rich vs. Poor
10. Hyponym
Words that serve as specific
examples of a general concept
Bus, car, lorry, van
11. Word building
How a word is created
Sink – sinkable - unsinkable

Table 1: Major Aspects of Vocabulary
For the pedagogical purposes of this paper, the researcher has chosen to use the
terms vocabulary and lexis to refer to individual words (e.g. library, school, etc.).
2.1.2 Principles of Teaching Vocabulary
Erin Lowry, Senior English Language Fellow (2009) shows that there are four
principles for teaching and learning vocabulary.
Recycling: It is vital to ensure that new vocabulary is regularly recycled/ revised,
because if students do not get the chance to put it into use they will easily begin to
forget it.
Motivation: It is also important to ensure teenagers are paying attention and
involved in their lessons and lots of ideas for practising vocabulary are fun.
Exams: An aspect of language that is judged in examinations is the range of
vocabulary that students have, so they must be able to use vocabulary they have
learnt effectively in exam situations.
Communication: In order to communicate clearly and effectively a good range of
vocabulary is needed. It enriches both spoken and written language.
Hubbard et al (1989) and Nation (2003) (as cited in To Thu Huong et al, (2009: 91)
stated other principles. First of all, teaching and practicing words in their spoken
form are given first, otherwise students will try to pronounce the words as they are
written. After that students will remember new vocabulary better if it is presented in
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a memorable way to start with and then put to regular practice. Teachers always
check their students have understood the new words, no matter how they have been
presented. Unless teachers only want their students to have a passive knowledge of
the lexical items, the teachers must put them into context and get the students to
practise them. Moreover as with teaching anything else, revision is essential;
otherwise the new words have been taught will be forgotten. Furthermore, high
frequency words should be given more teaching time and attention than low
frequency words because they are more useful. They should be fluently accessible
for both receptive and productive use and become part of learners‟ active

vocabulary. For people beginning to learn a language, a way of quickly developing
fluency is learning groups of words as units. Lastly, learners should be trained in
vocabulary learning strategies (using word cards, learning by means of word
association, guessing meaning from context, using dictionary, etc.) for effective
self-study.
Obviously, all of them affirmed that revision is essential in teaching vocabulary. If
what students learned in the last lesson is not recycled, it will be easy for them to
forget it. In addition to, communication is vital because it enriches both spoken and
written language. And, practice is indispensable. It helps learned to be trained for
effective self-study.
2.1.3 Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary is an important part of nearly any subject. Students need to develop
their vocabulary base to fully communicate and comprehend a topic. As they learn
how to use more vocabulary properly, you will see an improvement in their writing
and speaking. Unfortunately, new vocabulary is not always fun to learn. Worksheets
and home school worksheets will only go so far, and many students find them to be
tedious and boring. The default way of explaining vocabulary is to give a definition,
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but this does not always work efficiently because of the lack of context clues.
Therefore, using techniques in teaching vocabulary is very important
2.1.3.1 Techniques for Presenting New Vocabulary
Gairns and Redman (1986:73) showed the most common ways in which meaning of
new items are conveyed in a normal teaching situation.
2.1.3.1.1 Visual Techniques
Visual includes flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawing, wallcharts, and realia.
They are extensively used for conveying meaning and are particularly useful for
teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food or furniture, and certain areas of
vocabulary such as places, descriptions of people, actions and activities to practice
activities involving student interaction.
Mine and gesture are often used to supplement other ways of conveying meaning.

When teaching an item such as „to swerve‟, a teacher might build a situation to
illustrate it, making use of the blackboard and gesture to reinforce the concept.
2.1.3.1.2 Verbal Techniques
Use of illustrative situations (oral or written): This is most helpful when items
become more abstract. To ensure that students understand, teachers often make use
of more than one situation or context to check that learners have grasped the
concept.
Use of synonymy and definition: Teachers often use synonymy with low level
students, where inevitably they have to compromise and restrict the length and
complexity of their explanations. Definition alone is often inadequate as a means of
conveying meaning, and clearly contextualized examples are generally required to
clarity the limits of the item.
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Contrasts and opposites: This is a technique which students themselves use, often
asking „What‟s the opposite of ?
Scale: Once students have learnt two contrasting or related gradable items, this can
be a useful way of revising and feeding in new items.
Translation: It can save valuable time that might otherwise be spent on tortuous
and largely unsuccessful explanation in English, and it can be a very quick way to
dispose of low frequency items that may worry the students but do not warrant
significant attention.
2.1.3.1.3 Student-centred
According to Grains and Redman, this not only makes the student more responsible
for his own learning but also permits greater attention to individual needs. Recent
developments have emphasized the importance of equipping students with the
necessary strategies for dealing with skills activities. In the learning of vocabulary
this involves: asking others, using a dictionary and making use of context to deduce
meaning and guessing from the item itself.
Asking others: A student can ask the teacher or another student to explain the
meaning of an item which he has just encountered.

Using a dictionary: If the student has no teacher or peer to ask, he can still solve a
number of problems by using dictionary. This could be a dictionary specially
written for foreign students or a bilingual dictionary.
Contextual guesswork: This involves making use of the context in which the word
appears to derive an idea of its meanings or in some cases to guess from the word
itself.
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In the next part, background knowledge on games is introduced to build up an
generalization of framework for further investigation.
2.1.3.2 Techniques for Consolidating and Checking Vocabulary
Techniques for this part are mostly games which encourage, entertain, teach, and
promote fluency. There is also a large variety of word games that are “useful for
practising and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced” (Haycraft 1987).
Numerous puzzles, word squares, crosswords, jigsaw tasks, picture-describing,
orderings are useful especially for pair or group work. More clearly, games
provide a situation in which they provide a setting in which communication is
essential and therefore will become stimulating and interesting way to help students
acquire the target language without even realizing it. That is the reason why the
writer decided to choose games in teaching English vocabulary.
2.2 Overview of Language Games
2.2.1 Definitions of Language Games
According to Toth (1995), a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of
fun. Games are often thought that they mean fun and enjoyable. Some people may
get confused by the two notions „game‟ and „play‟. Actually, they do not really refer
to the same thing but that a game consists of play governed by rules. In short, games
are activities with certain goals or objectives, rules and contest either between
players or between players and goal. Moreover, games also bring fun. And that is
games in general. What about language games?
In general, language games mean games related to language. If games help to
improve different aspects such as intellectual ability, patience, then language games

help to develop language skills. When playing the games, students not only have
fun but can also practise English, which helps to motivate students. Therefore,
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language games are both useful and enjoyable and can be regarded as an effective
tool in teaching and learning languages or English in particular. In order to get more
understand about „game‟, types of games are researched.
2.2.2 Types of Language Games

Hadfield (1996) explains two ways of classifying language games. First, language
games are divided into two types: linguistic games and communicative games.
Linguistic games focus on accuracy, such as supplying the correct antonym. On the
other hand, communicative games focus on successful exchange of information and
ideas, such as two people identifying the differences between their two pictures
which are similar to one another but not exactly alike. Correct language usage,
though still important, is secondary to achieving the communicative goal.

The second taxonomy that Hadfield uses to classify language games has many more
categories. As with the classification of games as linguistic games or
communicative games, some games will contain elements of more than one type
such as sorting, ordering, arranging games, guessing games, matching games,
labeling games, exchanging games.
Nevertheless, as for teachers of English, games may be advisable to be used to help
practise. And they would be: games for grammar, games for vocabulary, games for
spelling, games for listening, games for speaking, games for pronunciation, games
for reading, games for writing and games for integrating skills.
In brief, the most crucial factor for the teacher is to base himself on the content of
the lesson to decide whether to incorporate games in this or that part of the lesson.
2.2.3 Perspectives on Exploiting Games in ELT
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For some teachers, when being discussed the use of games in language teaching, it

is really a new idea and they have no clue of whether using language games in
teaching is useful for their students or not. For those who have used or heard of
language games, they belong to two groups: one for and one against using games.
According to the first group, all learning should be serious and solemn in nature and
that if one is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not really
learning. So many teachers strongly hold this opinion. Hence, they do not want to
sue any games in the classroom particularly in the language class. They think it to
be the wastage of time in the class, or if they use games because they need them as
time-filling activities.
In fact, language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.
Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target
language. Therefore, language games, if used appropriately, are a very useful tool in
teaching English. Many teachers have used games successfully, and they belong to
the second group including those who approve of using games. Hadfield (1987)
opined „Games should be regarded as an integral part of the language syllabus, not
as an amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of term. They provide, in
many cases, as much concentrated practice as a traditional drill and, more
importantly, they provide an opportunity for real communication, albeit within
artificially defined limits, and this constitute a bridge between the classroom and the
real world.‟ This suggests that when some teachers do not succeed in using games
in their lessons, perhaps it is because the game they choose is not really suitable for
their lessons, or the lesson, or perhaps the teacher is not clear about how to use or
run the game.
To sum up, I approve the application of games in language teaching and stand for
those people using language games in class. The following part will mainly focus
on the advantages of games when used in teaching process or the possible reasons
for incorporating games in English teaching.
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2.2.4 Reasons to Use Games in EFL Classroom
Many writers have proved the usefulness of incorporating games in teaching

languages. Lewis (1999) wrote: „Games are fun and children like to play them.
Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment.‟
Games are highly motivating because they are amusing and interesting. Games help
and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work. Games also help the
teacher create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. W.R. Lee
holds that most language games make learners use the language instead of thinking
about learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as
central to the foreign language teaching program. A similar opinion is expressed by
Richard Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns against overlooking their
pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language teaching. There are many
advantages of using games; games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of
input more likely. They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give
shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings. They normally
don't want to express themselves. But through games their hidden potential can be
discovered and they feel encouraged and secure to tell their opinions. Games also
enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language, which are not
always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote Richard Amato, 'they
add diversion to the regular classroom activities, break the ice,' they do introduce
new ideas. In an easy and relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games,
students remember things faster and better. So, using games seems to be a good
medicine for teaching a language in a friendly atmosphere.

Actually, through playing games, students can learn English the way children learn
their mother‟s tongue without being aware they are studying. Even, shy students can
participate positively. But a game must be more than just fun, a game should
involve 'friendly' competition, it should keep all of the students involved and
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interested. A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather
than on the language itself. A game should give students a chance to learn, practice
or review specific language materials. The justification for using games in the

classroom has been well demonstrated as benefiting students in a variety of ways.
2.3 Relationship between Games and Teaching Vocabulary
Games play a role in the classroom. They familiarize students with a language.
They give students a chance to feel comfortable using it, and make lessons more
enjoyable. Then how games can, with all their connotations of “fun” and “play”, be
put to serious pedagogic use in the language classroom?
To begin with, we must be clear what we mean when we use the word “games”. Is it
a “fun” activity intended to bring a bit variety to the class and change of pace of
learning but little else? Alternatively, do games also have a more serious application
in the classroom? Hadfield (1987) has given out the relationship between games and
language teaching as follows:
“Games should be regarded as an integral part of the language syllabus, not as an
amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of term. They provide, in many
cases, as much concentrated practice as a traditional drill and, more importantly,
they provide an opportunity for real communication, albeit within artificial defined
limits, and thus constitute a bridge between the classroom and the real world”.
(Hadfield, 1987:5)
This suggests that the most useful place for games is the free stage of the traditional
progression from presentation and practice to free communication: to be used as a
culmination of the lesson, as a chance for students to use the language they have
learnt freely and as a means to an end rather than an end itself. They can also serve
a diagnostic tool for the teacher, who can note areas of difficulties and take
appropriate remedial action.
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“Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and
meaningful”(Wright, 1992:1). The need for meaningfulness in language teaching
has been accepted for some years. Games are a convenient, effective environment in
order to provide intense and meaningful practice of language. Then they must be
regarded as central to “a teacher‟s repertoire”. They are thus not “for use solely on
wet days and at the end of term” (Wright, 1992:1)

The writer stands for Wright (1992) about the idea that games can be used to give
practice in all the skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking, in all the stages of
the teaching – learning sequence: presentation, repetition, recombination, and free
use of language and for many types of communication, e.g. encouraging, agreeing,
guessing, explaining.
By playing games, it will be easier for students to learn something, such as new
words, new structures …. In addition, it would seem that what they have learnt will
be with them for a long time. “The more you involve all your senses in your
memory image, the more you will remember it… If you want to remember
anything, all you have to do is associate it with some known or fixed items, calling
upon your imagination throughout” (Ton That, 2000:2-4)
This proves that language games play a necessary part in students‟ acquisition in
their learning. Language games are stimulating activities to introduce new material,
to practice recently learnt language items, “to introduce or practice certain themes,
or to relax or energize a class” (Lewis and Bedson, 1999).
All in all, the application of games in language teaching is an excellent idea of
teachers and educational specialists because games are means of communication
and they require the players to use their language correctly. As what Carrier (1985)
assumes: “games provide quite extensive language practice of opportunities for both
general and specific language skills and so they should be seem as and integral part
of a teaching program.”
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2.4 Common Games in Teaching Vocabulary
Games
How to conduct
Pros and cons
Lucky
numbers

This game is played with the class divided into

two groups. The teacher sticks on the board with
cards numbered on one side from 1 to 10, other
side written with symbols such as a storm, a x2
or :2, a star and other bonus marks.
For each of the number, students have one
question. If they answer the questions in cards
numbered 2, 5, 7, 10, they will get points on the
cards. If they cannot answer the question after
two times guessing, they lost their chance and
change all turns to other group. If they choose
number 6 and can answer the question, their total
mark would be multiple. And it was the same
with number 8, their mark would be divided.
However, numbers 1, 4 are lucky numbers. For
each of these numbers, they will not have to
answer the question but still get the points. At the
end of the game, the group with the higher score
is the winner. Most of the questions are like:
“This word is a noun/ verb… it means: …….
What is it?”. The teacher adds a rule that if
students do not pronounce the words correctly,
they will lose 10 points. Therefore, they try their
best to avoid pronunciation mistakes. The game
is really fascinating and motivating.
It brings the class a
joyful and nervous
atmosphere. It helps
remember the meaning
of the words. However,
it takes time.

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Scramble
d words

This game is a very popular game used for
English language teaching. The teacher exploits
this game for vocabulary revision with students
working in groups, trying to rearrange the letters
as quickly as possible to make the words. For
each word, the faster group gets a point and at the
end of the game, the group with the most points
is the winner.
The game helps ss
understand the meaning
of the words. In
addition to, ss can write
the words correctly.
However, the
atmosphere is not
exciting. It is easy to
make ss bored if they
cannot find the words.
Noughts
and
Crosses

In this game, ss are divided into two groups. One
has the name as X (cross) and the other is O
(nought). They are presented on a table with 9
numbered squares. For each square there is a

question and if they can answer the question
correctly, they will put their group‟s name (X or
O) in that square. The first group with their
names in three aligned squares (either vertically
ore horizontally or diagonally) is the winner of
the game. The answer is only one word which
they study in the previous lesson.
After the game, ss can
remember the meaning
of the words and
pronounce them. But
the game takes a quite
short time, so ss feel
that it is not enough
and not ready to start a
new lesson.
Rub out
and
Remembe
r

After presenting or eliciting the new vocabularies
and building up a list on the bb, the teacher gives
each word put the Vietnamese translation and got
ss to copy into their notebooks and then asks
them to close their notebooks. The teacher rubs
out the new words one at a time. Each time the
teacher rubs out a word in English, point to the
Ss understand the
meaning of the words.

Moreover, the game
motivates ss to
pronounce and
memorize the words.
But ss can remember
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Vietnamese translation and ask “What‟s this in
English?”. When all the English words are
rubbed out, the teacher goes through the
Vietnamese list and gets the ss to call out the
English word. Lastly, the teacher calls ss from
two teams to come to the bb and write the
English words again.
the words in a short
term.
Telephon
e game

This game is played with the class divided into
two groups and made two lines. The teacher
whispers a word in the students‟ ears of the two
groups who is standing at the end of the lines.
He/ she then whispers that in the next student‟s
ear and so on until the last student. He/ she then
runs quickly to the board and writes down the
word to see if it is the same as the original
message. After the game, the teacher checks their
result. The group with more correct words is the
winner. This game is used for vocabulary
revision.

Telephone game keeps
class in an exciting
atmosphere at the
beginning of the
lesson. Through the
game, ss can practice
their listening,
speaking and writing.
Stepping -
stone

This type of task is exploited for vocabulary
revision. It is designed according to task created
by W.R.Lee, in the book Language Teaching
Games, second revised edition. It could be used
during vocabulary revision or warm-up stage for
pair work and group work, but preferably not for
individual work. In this task, a river (said: with
full of crocodiles or other dangerous creatures) is
drawn on the board and the task is to cross it by
The game is strange for
ss. Thus it makes ss
excited. It helps ss
revise their
pronunciation of the
words. But, its
disadvantage is the
rule. If the teacher‟s
instruction is not clear
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the stepping-stones. Ss are required to spell the
words, and then speak out. For each stone a word
has to be spelt. If it is spelt correctly it is printed
on the stone; if incorrectly, it is not written and
the team makes no progress. An example quoted
from “Vocabulary revision for unit 4” is provided
in Appendix 1.
and easy understand, ss
cannot play and get
bored.
Word-
matching
This task can be used for group work so as to
motivate the students and to make a competition
in class. Word-matching competition is used for
vocabulary checking. Students are given
handouts with pairs of words written in a
disorder. The thing they have to do is to find and
match these pairs together. The quickest pair or
group to finish the task is chosen to be the
champion of the class. An example used as
“Vocabulary checking for unit 3” is provided in
Appendix 1.
Ss can understand the
meaning of the words.
However they do not
memorize the words in
a long term.
What and
Where

The teacher elicits the new words to the students
but not write them in a list. The teacher writes
each of word on the bb inside a circle. When all
the words are on the bb, the teacher rubs out one
of the words but does not rub out the circle. Ss
are asked to repeat the word including the
rubbed-out word by pointing at the empty circles.
This task is continued until all the circles are
empty. At the moment, ss have to remember all
the words. The teacher divides class into groups
It stimulates students‟
memory. Furthermore,
ss can practice their
pronunciation when
being asked to repeat
the words. But ss will
not remember exactly
how to write the words.