The effectiveness of using pictures to teaching English vocabulary to secondary school students = Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng hình ảnh trong dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh cho học sinh trung học cơ sở

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN VÕ MINH THƯ

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING PICTURES TO TEACHING

ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

SUPERVISOR : LÊ NHÂN THÀNH, PhD

Quy nhon, 2022

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BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN VÕ MINH THƯ

HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HÌNH ẢNH TRONG DẠY TỪ

VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ

CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC

MÔN TIẾNG ANH

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. LÊ NHÂN THÀNH

Quy nhon, 2022

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP

The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for

a degree or diploma at any university. I certify that my thesis contains no

material, to the best of my knowledge and belief, except when specifically

stated in the thesis. My thesis contains no previously published or written

content by any other individual.

Signed:

Date:……../………/….......

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my Assoc.

Prof. Doctors, colleagues, friends, and family, the successful completion of this

thesis work would not have been possible. I take this chance to appreciate them

for their expert advice and wise invaluable comments, and generous time. They

have enriched my knowledge and made my graduate journey a memorable

chapter in my life.

This paper could not have been completed without the encouragement

and contributions of several individuals and groups to whom I would like to

express my deep sense of gratitude during the stressful time of writing this

paper.

First of all, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Le Nhan Thanh,

for his support, patience, and encouragement throughout my study. His

technical and editorial advice was essential to the completion of this paper and

has offered me several lessons and insights on how academic research works

in general. I was fortunate to have a supervisor that genuinely cared about my

job. It is not my success without his valuable comments, suggestions, and

corrections.

Besides, I also take this opportunity to express gratitude to all the lectures

who took part in the training process of the MA course at Quy Nhon University

for their scholarly knowledge and experience as well as their inspirational to

me which incited me to widen my research from various perspectives.

This study was made achievable by the presence of the enthusiastic

students at Tran Phu Secondary School, who devoted their time to taking part

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in this research. I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating

assistance, support, and management during the pilot phase.

Last, but not least, I am grateful for all the support and encouragement I

received from my beloved parents and my brother throughout my thesis

education.

Your contribution is important. Thank you all for your help and support.

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ABSTRACT

Vocabulary plays an important role in learning a foreign language. It

supports students in learning other skills such as reading, writing, listening, and

speaking. Language teachers have already employed mind mapping techniques

to encourage their students to learn vocabulary. The current study aimed at

investigating the effectiveness of using pictures to teach grade-7 students to

learn English vocabulary. The sample of the study consisted of 40 grade-7

students at a secondary school in Ninh Thuan province. Those students were

equally divided into two groups (experimental and control). The research was

conducted based on mixed methods since it employed an experiment and a

survey. These participants were divided into 2 groups: the control group and

the experimental group. Data were collected from three sources: (1) the pre-test

and post-test to estimate the students’ vocabulary improvement, (2) the

questionnaire to assess how the changes in their opinions towards vocabulary

learning with pictures were, and (3) observation classroom was carried out to

gather data related to students' reactions and responses in vocabulary lessons.

The findings of the study reveal that pictures greatly affect EFL secondary

school students’ learning of vocabulary. Secondly, an experiment was carried

out to examine the impact of pictures on grade-7 students’ mastery of English

vocabulary. The results of the experiment showed that there are statistically

significant differences in the mean scores of the experimental and control

groups in the vocabulary posttest due to the use of pictures in favor of the

experimental group. Along with the experiment. Based on the findings, the

research provided suggestions that help students and teachers use pictures in

learning and teaching vocabulary successfully.

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Keywords: effectiveness, pictures, school students, students’ responses,

teaching English vocabulary

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CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP ...................................... i

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

ABSTRACT................................................................................................ iv

CONTENTS................................................................................................ vi

LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................... ix

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................... xi

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.............................................................. 1

1 Rationale .................................................................................................... 1

2 Aim of the Study ........................................................................................ 2

3 Objectives of the Study .............................................................................. 3

4 Research Questions.................................................................................... 3

5 Scope of the Study ..................................................................................... 3

6 Significance of the Study ........................................................................... 3

7 Organization of the Thesis......................................................................... 3

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................. 5

1 Vocabulary ................................................................................................. 5

1.1 Definitions. ...................................................................................... 5

1.2 Classification of vocabulary. ........................................................... 6

1.3 Important role of vocabulary in teaching and learning English...... 7

1.4 Stages in vocabulary teaching. ........................................................ 8

1.5 Techniques in teaching English vocabulary.................................. 11

1.6 Factors affecting vocabulary retention. ......................................... 12

2 Pictures..................................................................................................... 19

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2.1 Definition....................................................................................... 19

2.2 Principles of selecting a picture..................................................... 20

2.3 Types of pictures. .......................................................................... 20

2.4 The use of pictures......................................................................... 26

2.5 The advantages and disadvantages of using pictures. ................... 27

2.6 Using pictures in vocabulary teaching activities........................... 29

3 Related Studies on Using Pictures to Teach Vocabulary ........................ 31

CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................... 34

1 Research Design....................................................................................... 34

2 Participants............................................................................................... 34

3 The Textbook ........................................................................................... 35

4 Data Collection Instruments..................................................................... 37

4.1 Questionnaires for students. .......................................................... 37

4.2 Vocabulary tests. ........................................................................... 39

4.3 Classroom observations................................................................. 40

5 Data Collection......................................................................................... 41

5.1 Administering the questionnaires.................................................. 41

5.2 Administering the vocabulary tests. .............................................. 41

5.3 Administering the classroom observations.................................... 42

6 Data Analysis........................................................................................... 42

6.1 Quantitative analysis of the questionnaires. .................................. 42

6.2 Quantitative analysis of the pre-test and post-test......................... 43

6.3 Qualitative analysis of the classroom observations....................... 44

7 Validity and Reliability............................................................................ 44

8 Summary .................................................................................................. 46

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CHAPTER 4. RESULTS OF THE STUDY ........................................... 47

1 Students’ Responses to Learning New Words Through Pictures............ 47

1.1 Advantages of learning vocabulary with pictures. ........................ 47

1.2 Disadvantages of learning vocabulary with pictures..................... 49

1.3 Students’ intentions of future learning vocabulary with pictures. 51

2 The Effectiveness of Teaching New Words by Using Pictures............... 52

2.1 Findings from the two tests. .......................................................... 52

2.2 The effectiveness of teaching new words using pictures as explored

from the classroom observations. ............................................................ 56

3 Discussion of Findings............................................................................. 64

3.1 Findings from the questionaire...................................................... 64

3.2 Finding from the two tests............................................................. 65

3.3 Finding from the observation. ....................................................... 65

4 Summary .................................................................................................. 66

5 Chapter Summary..................................................................................... 66

CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION.............................. 68

1 Summary of Key Finding of the Study.................................................... 68

2 Pedagogical Implications......................................................................... 69

3 Limitations ............................................................................................... 70

4 Suggestions for Further Research ............................................................ 71

REFERENCES.......................................................................................... 72

APPENDICES ........................................................................................... 76