Applying total physical response (TPR) in teaching English vocabulary to grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan primary school, Bac Ninh province

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI HUYEN

APPLYING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 5 STUDENTS

AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A. THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN THI HUYEN

APPLYING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO GRADE 5 STUDENTS

AT TRAN QUOC TOAN PRIMARY SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

M.A. THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN

ÁP DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP PHẢN XẠ TOÀN THÂN

TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 5

TẠI TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC TRẦN QUỐC TOẢN, TỈNH BẮC NINH

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ

Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2020

i

DECLARATION

I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Applying Total Physical Response

(TPR) in teaching English vocabulary to grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan

Primary School, Bac Ninh province” is my own study in the fulfillment of the

requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai

Nguyen University.

Thai Nguyen, 2020.

Approved by Supervisor

Dang Thi Thu Huong, PhD

Student

Nguyen Thi Huyen

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the support of many people, this research has been completed. I

would like to start by expressing my great gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Dang Thi

Thu Huong for her valuable comments, constant support and encouragement.

I also want to give my special thanks to teachers and grade 5 students of Tran

Quoc Toan Primary School for their supports in my experiment and response to my

survey questionnaires.

Finally, I am truly grateful to my family for their wholehearted care and

supporting me during the time I conducted the research and encouraging me all the

time when I encountered difficulties in completing the thesis.

iii

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to explore the application of Total Physical

Response (TPR) method in teaching English vocabulary for grade 5 students at Tran

Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac Ninh province. The thesis began with literature

review on vocabulary teaching and TRP approach. Then quasi-experimental design

was applied to find out the improvement of students in retaining vocabulary by

using TPR method. A questionnaire was employed to 50 grade 5 students at Tran

Quoc Toan Primary School after tests and lessons with and without applying TPR

method to explore the benefits and difficulties of students in learning vocabulary

with TPR. The findings of the research show that TPR method has been used in

many subjects, and it is also applicable and effective to teach English vocabulary.

Therefore, the method was suggested to be exploited more in the context of

teaching vocabulary for grade 5 students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, Bac

Ninh province.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. iii

TABLE OF CONTENT............................................................................................ iv

LISTS OF TABLES................................................................................................. vii

LIST OF FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS...................................................... viii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION................................................................................1

1.1. Rationale of the study .......................................................................................1

1.2. Aims of the study..............................................................................................3

1.3. Scope of the study.............................................................................................3

1.4. Significance of the study ..................................................................................3

1.5 Structure of the study.........................................................................................4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................5

2.1. Vocabulary and vocabulary learning and teaching...........................................5

2.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary...........................................................................5

2.1.2. Learning vocabulary...................................................................................8

2.1.3. Teaching vocabulary ..................................................................................9

2.1.4. Difficulty of teaching and learning vocabulary........................................10

2.1.5. Vocabulary retention ................................................................................11

2.2. Total Physical Response (TPR)......................................................................12

2.2.1. Definitions of TPR ...................................................................................12

2.2.2. The characteristics of TPR .......................................................................14

2.2.3. The procedure of vocabulary teaching using TPR...................................15

2.2.4. The Design of TPR...................................................................................17

2.2.5 Techniques of TPR....................................................................................19

2.2.6. Variations of TPR.....................................................................................21

2. 2.7. The Advantages of TPR ..........................................................................23

v

2.2.8. The Disadvantages of TPR.......................................................................23

2.3 Overview of previous studies ..........................................................................24

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ..........................................................................25

3.1. Research questions..........................................................................................25

3.2. Research Methods...........................................................................................25

3.3. Participants......................................................................................................26

3.4. Data collection ................................................................................................27

3.4.1. Data collection instruments......................................................................27

3.4.2. Data collection procedure ............................................................................31

3.5. Data analysis...................................................................................................34

3.5.1. Test result analysis ...................................................................................34

3.5.2. Questionnaire analysis..............................................................................35

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ......................................................36

4.1. Test analysis....................................................................................................36

4.1.1. The students’ pre-test scores of the experimental and control group..........36

4.1.2. The students’ scores in post – test 1 ............................................................38

4.1.3. The students’ scores in post – test 2 ............................................................40

4.2 Questionnaire result analysis...........................................................................43

4.3. Discussion.......................................................................................................45

CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION..........................................47

5.1. Conclusion ......................................................................................................48

5.2. Implications ....................................................................................................49

5.3. Limitations of the study..................................................................................49

REFERENCES..........................................................................................................50

APPENDIXES ...........................................................................................................II

APPENDIX B: VOCABULARY TEST 2 (POSTTEST 1)..................................... IV

APPENDIX C: VOCABULARY TEST 3 (POSTTEST 2).......................................V

APPENDIX D .........................................................................................................VII