Sai Gon University

Department of Foreign Languages

RESEARCH WRITING
(Code: 813068)


Research topic:

SOME SUGGESTED GAMES

FOR VOCABULARY CONSOLIDATION
IN TEXTBOOK "FAMILY AND FRIENDS 1"
FOR STUDENTS AGED 6 TO 9
Supervisor: Mrs. Trần Quang Loan Tuyền

Group members:
1. Trương Ngọc Tường Linh
2. Nguyễn Diệu Minh
3. Nguyễn Thị Bảo Ngọc
4. Nguyễn Thu Nhi

April, 2016

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................... p.3

1. Introduction ................................................................................................ pp.3-4

2. Methods .......................................................................................................pp.5-6

3. Results .........................................................................................................pp.6-8

4. Discussion ....................................................................................................pp.8-10

References .......................................................................................................p.10

Appendices ......................................................................................................pp.11-16

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 Abstract

In this research, the effectiveness of games in consolidating vocabulary for young

learners was measured and proven in the practice of teaching English in Ho Chi Minh
City. Besides, some suggestions and notes on conducting games for textbook “Family and
Friends 1”were presented to support EFL teachers. Action research was used for the
study. A group of 14 students aged 6 to 9 years old was asked to do two tests after
reviewing vocabulary of two units in this textbook, one of which had the application of a
game, then the test results were analyzed and compared. Our findings indicated that an
appropriate game could really improve students’ memorization of lexical items, even with
written forms of words which are usually difficult for young learners. Teachers should
take into consideration all characteristics of students, classrooms, time limit and
requirements of the game itself to make the most of games.

1. Introduction

It is widely known that vocabulary is fundamentally a very important factor in learning

English, as it is the cornerstone for developing learners’ language skills, i.e. listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. This is why most teachers try their best to help students
master vocabulary as much as possible. The problem is that learners have to deal with
forgetting lexical items that they learned, especially when they have no appropriate and
effective strategies to consolidate new words. Particularly, young learners at the age
between 6 and 9 need an active and comfortable environment in class so that they might
study new words and memorize them better without boredom and unnecessary anxiety.
Thus, using games has become a popular way to teach vocabulary for beginners.

Different studies have pointed out the need for applying games to build up young
students’ vocabulary. According to British Council (2015), consolidation is a lesson stage
where new material is reviewed, and hopefully learning is reinforced. It normally occurs
at the end of the lesson. In fact, this phase might be quite monotonous and boring when
reviewing new words traditionally means learning by heart a list of words with spelling,
pronunciation, meaning, synonyms, etc., which may only lead to learners’

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discouragement because they start to forget what they learn and blame it on their poor
memory (Gnoinska, 1998, p.12). This task does not seem to be intrinsically motivating
for students, especially for young learners who have a limited attention span and easily
lose interest with the lesson after 10 minutes or so (Harmer, 2001, p.38). Hence, there
should be an engaging activity or a meaningful practice instead in order to motivate
learners and help them to memorize vocabulary more easily. Games can be found the
most effective and useful solution to this, as Lewis and Bedson (1999) stated that “Games
add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use
the target language” (p.5).

Games are defined as an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun (Lewis and
Bedson, 1999, p.5). They enable beginners to learn and have fun at the same time, which
perfectly suit their characteristics. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen and Khuat Thi Thu Nga
(2003) listed several main advantages when games are used in the classroom, for
example, they can bring relaxation and fun for students to help them learn and retain new
words more easily, involve friendly competition, keep learners interested, and create the
motivation for students to participate actively in the lesson.

In short, games have been proved as a highly appreciated tool in consolidating

vocabulary for young learners, since they can activate students’ use of vocabulary in a
flexible and enjoyable way. However, when it comes to the practice of teaching English
for young learners in Ho Chi Minh City, there seems to be few studies carried out to
measure the effectiveness when using games for vocabulary consolidation and to suggest
feasible games for each topic in a particular textbook for beginners. The purpose of this
report is to determine whether games would really enhance students’ memory of
vocabulary, then present some suggested games that can be applied to consolidate lexical
items in one of the most popular textbooks for beginners nowadays, i.e. “Family and
Friends 1” published by Oxford University Press. Hopefully, the results of this study
might serve as a useful reference for EFL teachers to carry out effective and suitable
vocabulary games in classes of beginners.

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 2. Methods

Our study of games for vocabulary consolidation was performed in the review-before-
final month with learners aged 6 to 9 years old at Mai Ly Private English Center, Phu
Nhuan district. The group of student consists of 14 children from different elementary
schools and living conditions; thus, some of them are already familiar with English, some
are totally new to the subject. However, they all have studied at the center for 10 months.
The chosen vocabulary is from Unit 3 – “This is my nose” and Unit 7 – “Are these his
pants?” with several extra words about human body and clothes. Both units have the
equivalent level of difficulty for the students.

Action research was chosen for the investigation, since this type of approach is
considered “teacher-initiated classroom investigation which seeks to increase the
teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning and to bring about change in
classroom practice” (Richards and Lockhart, 1994). The tools used in this research were
observation and testing. While students were playing the game, class procedures were
observed and learners’ behaviors were taken note of.

Students were previously taught the vocabulary of the two units. In unit 3, the traditional
approach was used to consolidate the pronunciation, the spelling and the meaning of the
vocabulary through two activities, namely Spell the words and Listen and repeat.

In unit 7, the pronunciation, the spelling and the meaning of the vocabulary were
consolidated through three activities, namely spell the words, listen and repeat, and the
game “Battle ships”. The game was adapted from the traditional “Battle ship” game. In
this game, the group of students were divided into two groups: group A and group B.
Then a table like below was drew on the black board. There were 5 ships hidden in the
table, the game ended when all the ships were found. Each group had 15 turns and the
group found the more ships would be the winner. The groups took turn to play and the
members were picked by the teacher to answer the questions from the teacher to be able
to shoot a square. Students in one group were allowed to help their friend answering the
question, but not answer it directly. When there was only one ship left, students were

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asked two, instead of one, questions to be able to shoot in order to make the game more
challenging.

A B C D E
1
2
3
4
5

After the game, students were asked to do a test in 15 minutes. The test required students
to match the pictures with the correct words, put the letters into correct orders and
pronounce the words correctly. A score of one was given for each correct answer.
Descriptive statistics such as count and percent was used to analyze the data.

3. Results

The results of the two tests given to students were compared to figure out whether this
game could improve the effectiveness of vocabulary consolidation or not.

The outcome of the two tests is presented in figure 3.1.

The provided break down gives data about the percentage of average scores depending on
correct answers in students’ tests. It was divided into 2 stages: before and after the
application of the game in consolidation stage.

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 100.00%
91.40% 92.90%
90.00%
83.67%
78.60%
80.00%

70.00%
60%
60.00%
51.40%
50.00% before

40.00%
after
30.00%

20.00%

10.00%

0.00%
meaning spelling pronunciation

Figure 1: The proportion of marks’ percentage in the same classroom

The bar chart illustrates changes in the test results of students in two stages, one with the
application of game to review new words and one not. There are three aspects tested,
namely meaning, spelling and pronunciation of the vocabulary.

Overall, it can be seen from the chart that beginners seemed to achieve higher marks in
meaning and pronunciation and had more difficulty in spelling. In terms of meaning, both
stages had pretty high results at over 90% with a very negligible increase in stage 2. The
percentage of pronunciation rose slightly from 78.60% to 83.67%. On the other hand,
though having the lowest percentage, spelling witnessed a considerable growth of 10%
after using the game in teaching.

In general, the test result obtained in the second stage is higher than the first stage with
the best improvement in spelling. This result can be explained by the application of game
in vocabulary consolidation and the types of questions the teacher used in the game. The
game seems to provide comprehensible input when learners interact with members in

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their group, which makes a stronger impression about the vocabulary in their perception
than usual. The use of this game might also have enhanced students’ motivation to
remember new words. This could be because students experienced new method of
consolidation instead of traditional ones. In addition to this, learners appeared to interact
with their peers while playing the game, which could also be a new experience for them
since they had got used to teacher-centered methods. Furthermore, the game provided a
challenge, which required students’ highest concentration as well as their best efforts if
they want to win the game. Therefore, there is a positive improvement before and after
game’s application, which has been presented completely by the chart about tests’ results.
As we can see, the ratio of correct answers in spelling was the smallest among 3 aspects
of vocabulary due to the learning habit of students. In other words, they may usually
learn by heart new words by reading them aloud instead of writing down, which can
clarify that their memory of written forms of words is not fully developed even in their
mother tongue, so they don’t have enough patient to learn new words in this way. For this
reason, pronunciation is tend to be practiced more. These results are completely in
accordance with both investigation’s theory and previous study in this field.

4. Discussion

Before this study, it was expected that a well-chosen game, which is based on students’
level and psychological characteristics as well as conditions of the class, could improve
students’ acquisition and memory of lexical items they were taught. The results seem
consistent with our hypothesis, for students was more likely to remember English words
more effectively compared with their’ ability of acquiring vocabulary without the
application of the game.

Our findings appear to be compatible with the original theory and lend support to it.
These results might be explained by assuming that games provide students with
opportunities to recall words quickly as well as enhance their motivation to learn.
Besides, students’ participation also increases significantly thanks to active and

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supportive environment created by games. The game is designed with the purpose that
students can have fun while learning, which may bring more advanced results.

Despite the positive impacts of games on vocabulary learning, the investigation has
several considerable limitations in conduction, in terms of teachers, students and timing.
As regards teachers, it might be unfair for students to play a game if the criteria of
assessment that teachers apply are not clear enough, which prevents learners from being
excited as well as participating in playing the game next time. Another issue was that
teachers may have difficulty controlling the noise in class because of the game. This can
possibly make teachers struggle to monitor the game and draw students’ attention back to
the main procedures of the consolidation activity, as well as bother other classes around,
especially in the condition of classrooms and schools in our city. In terms of students, not
concluding every of them in the game could lead to negative results. In other words,
students may feel boring or unrelated with the lesson as they have no chance to
consolidate vocabulary. Finally, timing also plays an essential role in bringing success to
the game’s application. In fact, using games to review vocabulary learned can be much
more time-consuming than traditional methods, which may lead to not having enough
time for other necessary activities.

These findings provide evidence that using games to reinforce vocabulary can improve
learners’ aptitude for memorizing vocabulary. Besides, the game may achieve optimum
efficiency when we adapt it to requiring conditions for the conduction.

After doing the research, we have some suggested solutions that EFL teachers should
take into account to make the most of games. Firstly, teachers should lay out apparent
instructions at the beginning of the game so that there is no confusion and students will
not show negative behaviors towards the game. Secondly, teachers should encourage all
of students to participate in the game and practice vocabulary they learned, as well as
make sure they all feel themselves included and valued in this activity. The solution to
the problem of time constraint is that teachers should simplify the rule of the game and let
students know what is expected from them in order to stay motivated and involve in the

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game with specific goals to win. By this way, the game may be carried out smoothly and
help students internalize vocabulary extensively in a suitable period of time.

Considering all the problems that might occur in English classes of beginners, the authors
suggest some games which can be applied to different topics in textbook “Family and
Friends 1” in Appendix E. These games were collected and adapted from those in the
studies of Hadfield (1999) and Neyadi (2007). The students in this research seem to enjoy
the following games the most, though further study should be conducted with more
careful conduction and analysis to ascertain their effectiveness in vocabulary
consolidation.

References

British Council, 2015. Teaching English. [online] Available at:

<https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/consolidation> [Accessed 20 April 2016].

Gnoinska, A., 1998. Teaching Vocabulary in Colour. English Teaching Forum, 36(3),
p.12.

Hadfield, J., 1999. Beginner’s Communication Games. London: Longman.

Harmer, J., 2001. Practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd ed. London: Longman.

Lewis, G. & Bedson, G., 1999. Games for Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen & Khuat Thi Thu Nga, 2003. LEARNING VOCABULARY
THROUGH GAMES: The Effectiveness of Learning Vocabulary Through Games. Asian
EFL Journal, 5(4). Retrieved from http://asian-efl-journal.com/dec_03_vn.pdf

Neyadi, O.S.A, 2007. The Effects of Using Games to Reinforce Vocabulary Learning.
B.Ed. Al Ain Women’s College.

Richards, J. C., & Lockhart, C., 1994. Reflective Teaching in Second Language -
Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Appendix A

TEST FOR UNIT 3: THIS IS MY NOSE

Name:......................................................................................... Marks

Date: ..........................................................................................

I- Match each word to its equivalent picture:

. . arm

. . hand

. . eye

. . nose

. . leg
II- Rearrange letters to make meaningful words:
1) A, E, C, F => ___________________________________
2) I, N, R, G, F, E => ___________________________________
3) E, R, A => ___________________________________
4) A, R, H, I => ___________________________________
5) M, T, O, U, H => ___________________________________

III- Pronounce these words:

1) Nose
2) Face
3) Mouth
4) Leg
5) Arm

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 Appendix B
TEST FOR UNIT 7: ARE THESE HIS TROUSERS?
Name:......................................................................................... Marks

Date: ..........................................................................................

I- Match each word to its equivalent picture:

. . socks

. . skirt

. . T-shirt

. . dress

. . shoes
II- Rearrange letters to make meaningful words:
1) S, I, T, R,H => ___________________________________

2) O, S, T, R, H, S => ___________________________________

3) A, P, T, N, S => ___________________________________

4) H, T, A => ___________________________________

5) J, C, A, K, T, E => ___________________________________

III- Pronounce these words:

1) Shorts
2) Dress
3) Pants
4) Shoes
5) Socks

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 Appendix C
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM
Observer: ___________________________________________
Date: _______________________ Location: ________________________________
Time: from _______ to ________ (…... minutes)

I. TEACHER’S ACTIVITY
*Observer ticks () one box for each criterion.

DEGREE OF
CRITERIA ACHIEVEMENT
Yes No
Are the instructions simple enough for students to follow?
Does the teacher check students’ understanding of the rule?
Does the teacher give students a demonstration of the game?

II. STUDENTS’ PARTICIPATION

*Observer fills in each box with the number of students who match the degree of
achievement.

DEGREE OF ACHIEVEMENT
(by number)
CRITERIA
Very
Average A little No
much
Showing excitement and interest towards the
game
Follow the rule of the game exactly

Neglect the game

Showing negative behaviors towards their

peers (tricks, violence, etc.)
Showing disrespectful behaviors towards the
teacher
Feeling unfair when playing the game
(because of unclear criteria of playing, etc.)
Have a corporative atmosphere during the
game

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 Appendix D

TEST RESULT OBSERVATION

Test for unit 3 Test for unit 7

Students’ Meaning Spelling Pronunciation Meaning Spelling Pronunciation
names score score Score score score score
1... .../5 …/5 …/5 …/5 …/5 …/5
2…
3…
4.…
Average .../5 .../5 .../5 .../5 .../5 .../5
score
Percentage …/100% …/100% …/100% …/100% …/100% …/100%
of average
score

Comment: ______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Conclusion: _____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

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 Appendix E

SOME SUGGESTED GAMES FOR TEXTBOOK “FAMILY AND FRIENDS 1”

1. For any topic

1.1 The teacher names one of the vocabulary and students have to find that vocabulary
card as fast as possible in a mess of cards (or slap the words on the board). The winner is
the one with the highest number of cards.

1.2. Teacher says a word, then students have to find the equivalent word card as fast as
possible. The students stick the card under the picture of that vocabulary, then run back to
their groups and ask a question involves with the unit. The other students in the group
have to answer the question before continuing the game.

1.3. The games require two teams and a box of present. The teacher holds up a picture
and the students who shout out the vocabulary first take one step closer to the box.
Repeat this until one of the teams has reached the present and is the winner.

1.4. Teacher puts down a number of chairs that is smaller than the number of students by
one. Print out two pairs of cards, each student holds a card. The spare students name the
vocabulary and the students with the same cards stands up and switch seats. The spare
students tries to take the empty seat too.

1.5. Print out the cards and puts in around the classroom. Teacher shouts out one
vocabulary and the student must gather at that area fast. Students chant the vocabulary,
then describe the vocabulary with gesture and body language.

1.6. Teacher writes some sentences on the back of the stickers and stick it on the
board/around the classroom. The members of the group will take turn to go read the
sentence. The members go back to the group and read it to the group

2. For topic of colors

Teacher says a color and the students have to touch an object with that color as fast as
possible.

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3. For topic of jobs

Each student keeps 5 cards. Students go around the room and ask their friends a question.
The students look at the top card and answer and ask the other students the same
question. The two students play rock, paper, scissor. The winner take the top card of the
loser. If they run out of card, go and get more. -The winner is the one with the highest
number of cards.
4. For topic of clothes

4.1. Students stare at their mates for 15 seconds, then turn away and try to describe their
mates’ clothes.

4.2. Teacher draws a person without clothes on, a fashion or clothing magazine, and a
pair of scissors. Review the clothing vocabulary that you want to cover & yell 'Go!' The
students must flip through the magazines, looking for each of the items you've asked for
cut them out & glue or tape them to the figure on the paper. The first team to fully clothe
their character is the winner, though extra points may be awarded for the most/least
fashionable, best fitting,

5. For preposition of place

5.1. Teacher shows the students some pictures arranged in columns and rows, ask them
“Where is the….?”. The fastest students to raise their hands will answer the question. If
he/she answers it right, he/she will get 1 point, if not, invites another student.

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