Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm THPT: Making use of authentic materials to improve grade 10 students’ vocabulary

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This mini research aims to explore the effectiveness of authentic materials on vocabulary acquisition among Vietnamese EFL learners, especially grade 10 students in Ngo Quyen High School. Using authentic materials as teaching source can also ensure the feasibility of lessons.

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Nội dung Text: Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm THPT: Making use of authentic materials to improve grade 10 students’ vocabulary

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : THPT NGÔ QUYỀN _________________ Mã số: ……………… SÁNG KIẾN MAKING USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO IMPROVE GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY Người thực hiện: Đưc Tôn ́ ̀ Trần Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu:  Quản lý giáo dục Phươn phaṕ giao giao d ́ ́ ục  g Phươn phaṕ dạy học bộ Tiếng Anh  g môn: Lĩnh vực khác:  Có đính kèm:  Mô hình  Đĩa CD (DVD)  Phim ảnh  Hiện vật
khác Năm học: 20192020
SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : THPT NGÔ QUYỀN SÁNG KIẾN MAKING USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO IMPROVE GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY Người thực Trần Đưc Tôn ́ ̀ hiện: cứu: Lĩnh vực nghiên Quản lý giáo dục  Phương phap giao d ́ ́ ục  ́ ạy học bộ môn: Tiếng Anh Phương phap d  Lĩnh vực khác 
Năm học: 20192020
CONTENT INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1. Background /context ...................................................................................... 1 2. Rationale ......................................................................................................... 1 a. The importance of vocabulary .......................................................... 1 b. The prospect of authentic materials ................................................. 1 3. The scope of the research and research aims .............................................. 2 CONTENTS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................... 3 I. REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY ........... 3 II.RESEARCH CONTENT .............................................................................. 3 1. Research procedure/ definitions of terms ........................................ 3 2. Literature review ............................................................................... 5 3. Adaptation. ......................................................................................... 6 4. Merits and defects of the study ....................................................... 10 5. Evaluation of the research .............................................................. 11 a. Novelty of the research ........................................................ 11 b. Effectiveness .......................................................................... 11 c. Applicability of the research ............................................... 12 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 12 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 12 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 14 1. Student questionnaire ................................................................................. 14 2. Teacher interview ........................................................................................ 15
ABBREVIATION LIST 1. SAT: Scholastic Assessment Test 2. ELF: English As A Second Language 3. IELTS: International English Language Testing System 4. TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication 5. TOEFL: Test Of English as a Foreign Language 6. SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN 1. ́ ́ Making use of authentic materials to improve grade 10 Tên sang kiên: students’ vocabulary 2. Lĩnh vực ap d ́ Phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh ́ ụng sang kiên: ́ 3. ́ ả: Tac gi Họ và tên: Trần Đưc Tôn ́ ̀ Nam/Nữ: Nam - ̀ ộ chuyên môn: Cử nhân chuyên ngành giảng dạy tiếng Anh Trinh đ - ́ Giáo viên tiếng Anh – Trương THPT Ngô Quyên Chức vụ, đơn vị công tac: ̀ ̀ Điện thoại: 0395734914 Email: Tranducton2909@gmail.com - Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo ra sang kiên (%): ́ ́ 100%
1 MAKING USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO IMPROVE GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY INTRODUCTION 1. Background /context Instructional materials play a crucial role in enriching students’ vocabulary which is later used in different situational contexts extending from daily communication to academic career. In the scope of this study, the choice of using authentic materials is made with a view to enhancing students’ word powers and to that extend they can improve their English proficiency. If authentic materials act as a driving force behind the enhancement of students’ vocabulary acquisition, they need to be promoted in teaching practice of all grades. Keywords: instructional materials, authentic materials, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary acquisition. 2. Rationale a. The importance of vocabulary Since communication is the ultimate goal of all languages, the development of vocabulary cannot be neglected. Lewis (1993) considers vocabulary the core or heart of language. A rich vocabulary, therefore, definitely improves all aspects of communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing. Moreoever, the higher education one student gets, the more complex and sufficient vocabulary he needs for his academic purpose such as writing compositions and preparing research reports. If one Ngo Quyen high school student ever and even wants to studies overseas, this one should sit for SAT, in which he or she needs enough vocabulary to be able to write a specified report after having read an extensive text with topic ranging from aviation field to mining industry. Also, this is so true and of paramount importance for students like Ngo Quyen high school students to dig deeper in vocabulary before they enter any proficiency test like IELTS or TOEFL. Therefore, I aspire to seek for an innovative way of teaching and learning vocabulary at Ngo Quyen High School so as to enlarge my students’ vocabulary knowledege as much as possible. b. The prospect of authentic materials Ellis and Johnson (1994:157) defines authentic material as any kind of material taken from the real world and not specifically created for the purposes of
language teaching. The materials, therefore, can be anything like newspapers,
2 brochures, tickets, TV programs, live talks movies, songs, comics and so forth. Throughout the time, researchers like Rings (1986), Peacock (1997) and Gilmore (2007) have proved that authentic materials are indispensable within the classroom. From my teaching experience, even students who score quite high in the exams at school face a great number of difficulties when they read financial reports, credit contracts, advertisements, prescriptions and so on. Therefore, it is authentic materials that offer students the chances to be exposed to the real language which is used frequently by native English speakers. Once they have contact with such materials in that way, they will soon get improved with their vocabulary competence. 3. The scope of the research and research aims This mini research aims to explore the effectiveness of authentic materials on vocabulary acquisition among Vietnamese EFL learners, especially grade 10 students in Ngo Quyen High School. Using authentic materials as teaching source can also ensure the feasibility of lessons. Therefore, the following research questions are presented as follows, 1. Do authentic materials benefit students’ vocabulary acquisition ? 2. How practical are authentic materials in English classes ?
3 CONTENTS OF THE RESEARCH I. REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY Ngo Quyen High School is one of the top prestigious academic institutes in Dong Nai province. It has a rich tradition of work that focuses on education. Each year, a large number of students prove to deserve such qualification by their top academic results form the entrance examination to high school. That is to say, they are generally more capable of academic competence in comparison with others, particularly in English. Having stated this, I mean to consider keeping myself updated with the cuttingedge methodology and being able to apply the latest findings in my lessons necessary for my teaching career. I have to admit that working with such students is not an easy task in regard to the fact their course books which were first published around 2006 are almost outdated with inappropriate context. Take grade 10’s reading section of unit 5 an example, my students seem to be “forced” to learn about computers with illustrations relating to such things as old and irrelevant as floppy disks. Therefore, I often have to spend some time explaining what seems to be history to them rather than deliver a complete language lesson about computers. What is more, when they take part in speaking section of unit 10, a lesson about a seemingly “new kind of zoo”, many in my class even refer to the term “safari” a trip to see wild animals, especially in east or southern Africa. Some of them even offer special terms like hyena, a type of wild African dog, or koala with perfect pronunciation ( /haɪˈiːnə/ and /kəʊˈɑːlə/ ). Dealing with such instances, I see that it is hard to hold the interest of my students and broaden their knowledge, especially their vocabulary competence by only using the textbook. Furthermore, the teaching job demands innovations all the time. Under my encouragement, the students always seem to thirst for knowledge in that they might even have reference books with authors’ explanation, sample texts for writing section as well as scripts for listening tasks. This is good for students’ autonomy but to some extend harms the originality of such a lesson. If they start a class without perceiving anything in advance, their mind is fresh and hence, perhaps, more appreciation of the lesson. II. RESEARCH CONTENT 1. Research procedure/ definitions of terms
1.1. Research design
4 During the research, a population of 80 grade 10 students are drawn from two classes, 40 students for each, as control and experimental group. The group attending lessons with authentic materials forms the experimental group, while the other with conventional lessons forms the control group. The two groups will take a pretest to make sure that they are at the same proficiency level. At the end of the second semester, they both take the same posttest for score collection purpose. Their scores are treated as data for the research and will be analyzed to serve for the findings. With the participation of my colleagues, comparisons between the control group and the experimental group will be made to examine the effect of authentic materials on students’ vocabulary improvement. 1.2. Data collection procedure a. Posttest and pretest A pretest will be conducted in the first week. It is a vocabularybased test, serving to provide the researcher with learners’ competence in English and to make sure that the two groups are at the same level. A posttest at the end of the second term for the two will examine students’ improvement groups after 8 weeks treatment. It is noted that the students are informed about criteria and grading rubrics before the test to avoid any possible misunderstanding or ill preparation among students. b. Classroom observations 3 colleagues from the English group will participate in the class taught with authentic materials once each month. They will observe my class and take necessary notes which they later use for their observation reports. During the lesson, all teaching and learning steps are videotaped for further analysis. c. Student questionnaire A questionnaire of 5point Likert scale items will be given to the experimental group. It serves to collect the attitude of the students towards the application of authentic materials in vocabulary improvement. Necessary instructions on how and what to do with the questionnaire are given beforehand. d. Teacher interview
5 An interview is carried out with the participation of 3 teachers in my English team to identify their attitude towards improving vocabulary by using authentic materials. The set of questions which is sent to my colleagues a week beforehand is designed with close and openended sections. The whole process will be recorded for future analysis. 1.3. Data analysis a. Qualitative data analysis Reports from 3 fields (classroom observation, questionnaire and teacher interview) will be evaluated to identify trends, themes and patterns in the form of colored codes. I will use this evaluation to perfect my teaching philosophy as well as questionnaires and tests for the two groups before conclusion and suggestion are given with regard to the research topic. b. Quantitative data analysis The scores from both pretest and posttest will be processed automatically by statistical softwares. SPSS and Excel are utilized based on independent sample ttest formula. My colleagues and I will hold a meeting to analyze the results and draw a conclusion on the practicability of the method. 2. Literature review In my own teaching experience, I have learnt that vocabulary plays a very vital part in improving students’ four basic language skills. Wilkins (1972) states that without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. In agreement with Wilkins, Richards and Renandya (2002) add that the core component of language proficiency is vocabulary and it makes the basis for how well learners of a language speak, listen, read, and write. The attempt to ensure learners can acquire sufficient vocabulary, therefore, is a priority to all language teachers. Nation and Meara (2010) put that intermediate level requires around 5,000 word families, and at least 6,000 words are needed for advanced proficiency. When it comes to international English certificates, Chujo and Oghigian (2009) find out that a leaner needs a minimum vocabulary size of 4,000 words to gain 95 percent coverage on TOEIC, or a 4,500word vocabulary for TOEFL. As EFL learners, Vietnamese high school students really need to invest more in such aspect of English to gain their academic purposes successfully. From a teaching perspective, learning needs appropriate strategies for improved proficiency and greater selfconfidence ( Oxford, 1990, p.1). If the
English learners want to have proficiency in vocabulary, they should consider the
6 strategy of using authentic materials. Because authentic materials and activities are designed to “imitate the real world situations” ( Herod, 2002), the use of such sources leads to greater interest and variety in the materials that learners deal with in the classroom (Nunan, 1989). Once students are motivated, they have every reason to pursue and benefit from vocabulary learning because such sources of material helps bring the contact to life, and ultimately makes learning and using language more meaningful and easier for students (Nunan, 1989). Take reading as an example, in an investigation on the link between reading authentic novel and vocabulary acquisition, PellicerSánchez and Schmitt (2010) discover that the meaning and spelling could be recognized for 84% and 76% of the words respectively, while the meaning and word class could be recalled for 55% and 63%. However, Al Nabhani (2015) points out that the vocabulary from the chosen source might not be relevant to the student's immediate needs and above their levels. Although the use of authentic texts may prevent lower learners from responding in meaningful ways and lead them to feel frustrated, confused and de motivated ( Guariento and Morley, 2001), Miller (2005) and McNeil (1994) still argue that authentic materials can be used even with lower level learners as long as the choice of authentic materials is carried out sensitively. 3. Adaptation. Below are some lesson designs with authentic materials from both national and international sources. * Unit 5: Technology And You – Listening: Adapted from BBC news. Task 1. Listen to the conversation between the two reporters and answer the questions based on what you hear. The recording will be spoken TWICE. 1. Why is Neil annoyed? A. His smartphone stopped working. B. He didn’t finish his book. C. His laptop was not good. D. He was tired. 2. The survey has found ________ percent of executives said employees were using their own personal computing technologies for business purposes. A. 18 B. 88 C. 58 D. 98 3. What will the woman do if she has a problem with her laptops? A. She will try to repair her laptops. B. She will call IT supporters. C. She will ask her friends for help.
D. She will talk to other laptop users.
7 4. Why does the man find it hard to speak with the IT department? A. Because they use a lot of technical terms B. Because they use English a lot C. Because they don’t speak clearly D. Because they don’t explain Task 2: Listen to the conversation and fill in each of the blanks with only one word. The recording will be spoken TWICE. Feifei: So it’s not always easy, even if it’s the office computer. Neil: No, as I’m sure. You know, Feifei. There are always problems, and that’s when you need to be able to talk to your company’s IT support – that’s information (5)________. But what should you say ? Oh look, it’s Business Betty! Hi Betty, great to have you here as usual. BB: Thank you Neil. BB: Thank you Neil! Always good to be here. Now, whatever device you’re (6)________ and wherever you are, when you have a technological problem you need to explain what the problem is and (7)________ what the IT expert is saying to you. Let’s start with the problems. BB: Maybe you can’t (8)________ to the internet. So the IT support person, he or she might offer you some advice. For example: You need to install an update. Or the problem might be more (9)________ to fix. Or maybe it can’t be fixed at all. I’m afraid. Neil: BB: Hopefully it won’t ever be that bad ! They might give the (10)________ most of us have heard at one time and which seems to work very well: give your computer a reboot – turn it off and on again. Neil: Brilliant Betty, thanks. Betty: My pleasure. So if there’s nothing else, I'll be off. Bye for now. Both: Bye Betty. Task 3. Tell the class about your problem with technology. Give your explanation and feeling of technology.
* Unit 10: Conservation – Speaking: Adapted from Safari West Wildlife Preserve & African Tent Camp website. WELCOME TO THE SONOMA SERENGETI.
8 Since our founding in 1993, Safari West has been one of the premier wildlife destinations in the United States. Between our expansive wildlife collection and the natural beauty of the woods and rolling hills of Sonoma County, Safari West truly is the closest you can come to Africa without going there. For over twenty years, Safari West has existed as a place for people to meet the wonder of the wild facetoface. We have introduced animals large and small to generations of visiting guests, all with the goal of igniting wonder, curiosity, and hopefully, compassion. Our mission is to inspire wildlife advocates who will help us protect and preserve these beautiful and often endangered creatures. Safari West welcomes visitors every day in our ongoing pursuit of this mission. Our dedication to conservation, environmental education, stewardship, and individual responsibility shows in our many ongoing projects and programs. We invite you to join us in this worthy pursuit. Task 1: List out the advantages of keeping animals in this new kind of zoo. Task 2: Work in group. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of keeping keeping animals in the Safari in comparison with the Zoo. * Useful expression Giving opinion - In my opinion,… - I think (that)… - I’m of the opinion that… - From my point of view, … - I suppose that… Agreement Disagreement I agree that I disagree that I __________ agree that I don’t __________ agree that You have my full __________ that I can’t go ________ with that I’m in agreement with you that … I’m in disagreement with you that … Task 3: Make group reports, sharing your views with the rest of the class. *Unit 11: National Parks – Reading: Adapted from Bach Ma national park management website. BACH MA MOUNTAIN Bach Ma mountain is the wettest place within Vietnam with approximately