Practicum Report 2015

7/24/2019 Practicum Report 2015

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The Effectiveness of Using Games to Teach Vocabulary To

Year 4 Pupils

PRACTICUM REPORT

TIA3

1. REFLECTION



English is one of the languages that is important to be learned to everyone. The need of

mastering English is greater and greater and therefore English should be introduced earlier. But

teaching English to the young learners is not easy because English is not their mother tongue and

it is a ne! thing for them. The interest of students in learning English is needed as it is the "ey to

ma"e them easier in mastering English. The teacher should have a good and interesting techni#ue

to introduce English for them. $t is to ma"e sure that students !ill be interested and motivated to

learn English. $n order to master English a learner has to consider the language elements or

components such as structure pronunciation spelling and vocabulary. %s !e "no! vocabulary

is an essential means in conducting communication. $t is a "no!ledge that must be learned and

ac#uired by students to enable them to communicate in English. &o it is the basic component

!hich the students must be familiar !ith. $n addition by "no!ing English !ords and their

meanings the students !ill find it easy to master English.

$ observed that my students had problems in their vocabulary especially in their spea"ing and

!riting. 'any of my students consider the teacher(s e)planation for meaning definition

pronunciation spelling and grammatical functions boring. $n this case language learners have

nothing to do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher. &econdly $ noticed

that my students usually only ac#uire ne! vocabulary through ne! !ords in their te)tboo"s or

given by teacher during classroom lessons. *or e)ample students find many ne! !ords in a te)t

and then as" the teacher to e)plain the meaning and the usage. Thirdly my students faced

difficulties in memori+ing ne! !ords and their less interest in learning English. $ also found that

most of my students do not !ant to ta"e a ris" in applying !hat they have learnt. They !ere able

to recogni+e a !ord in a !ritten or spo"en form but they !ere not able use the !ord properly in

different conte)t or pronounce it correctly.

The most problem that $ faced !as to attract my student attention during my lessons. $ thought it

!as maybe because of the conventional method that $ had been use during my classes. $ "no!

that language learning is hard tas" !hich can sometimes be frustrating. &o effort is re#uired at

every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time. %s one saying says that ,all

!or" and no play ma"es -ac" a dull boy. The conventional method that most teachers had been

use these days no longer an effective !ay to attract students attention in class. $ thin" $ have to

use language games in my class in order to ma"e my lesson more en/oyable and meaningful for

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them. $ hope !ith this research $ am able to help my students in improving their vocabulary and

also building their confidence.

2. RESEARCH FOCUS

The focus of this research !as to determine the effectiveness of using games in teaching

vocabulary as compared to the conventional method of teaching vocabulary. 0ne of the most

important aspects of teaching English !as to enable students to learn ne! !ords and also to

understand and remember the ne! !ords that they had learnt. $t !as an approach that helps

students to practice the language they learnt in a meaningful !ays. Therefore the role of games

in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. 1earning vocabulary through games !as

one effective and interesting !ay that could be applied in any classroom. To implement games in

English class teacher should consider numerous factors. Teacher has to choose appropriate

games to a group of learners !hich depend on number of students in class level of age level of

language proficiency duration and the content and difficulties of language. $n addition teachers

should also consider ho! to implement games to class. Games help and encourage students to

sustain their interest and !or". Games are used not only for fun but more importantly for the

useful practice and revie! of language lessons thus leading to!ard the goal of improving

learners (communicative competence(.

By helping the students to improve their vocabulary students may able to improve their English

proficiency participate positively during classes and also encourage them to remember !ords

easily as opposed to /ust teaching vocabulary through lectures.

3. TARGETED GROUP

The sample of the research consisted of fourteen Year 4 students in a rural primary school in

2uching. This study involved students from Year 4 class and consisting of 3 2ada+an student

Bidayuh students and 5 $ban students. The students !ere all from the average level of English

proficiency.

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4. IMPLEMENTATION OF INNOVATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

The study !as carried out to find out the effectiveness of using games to teach English

vocabulary to Year 4 students. *irstly teacher conducts Test63 and Test67 to the students before

and after 4 lesson using games. $n this 4 lesson teacher used the method of using games to teach

vocabulary to the students. Teaching vocabulary using games utili+ed the same method as the

conventional method of teaching vocabulary e)cept that the materials used !ere games. This

meant that the teacher used games instead of using articles or passages to teach ne! !ords or

vocabulary. $n other !ords the procedures or steps in the lesson !ere the same as the

conventional method. These !ere the four steps set induction presentation controlled practice

and closure. 8o!ever the only difference !as the teacher used games as materials for the lesson

during the practice stage instead of using only printed te)ts.

$n set induction stage teacher began the lesson by greeting the students. $t !as used to ma"e the

students usual in using English greeting e)pression. Teacher also may as" about the previous

lesson by as"ing students some #uestions regarding the topic.

&econdly in presentation stage and practice stage teacher applied vocabulary games. *irstly

teacher e)plained the rules of those games and after that as"ed the students to play games based

on the rules. $t !as done to ma"e the students to be more active and to ma"e them en/oy in doing

the tas".

The last part of the teaching process is the closure !hereas in this stage teacher as"ed about the

lesson to chec" !hether they !ere understood about !hat they had learned or not.

5. REPORT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION

&everal instruments !ere used in this research namely the #uestionnaire Test63 Test67 and

observation forms. The #uestionnaire consisted of t!o parts. The first part 9&ection %: sought to

find the demographic data and the second part 9&ection B: consisted of ten #uestions !hich

sought to find out the students( motivation and perception. $n this section the samples needed to

state their opinion using the 1i"ert scale that !as strongly agree agree disagree and strongly

disagree. ;uestions 3 7 and 4 sought to find out respondents( intrinsic motivation !hile

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#uestions < 5 = > ? and 3@ sought to find out respondents( perception of English language

games. %ll the items or #uestions !ere positively structured. This meant that all items !ere

e#ually !eighted. Thus in order to find the results the fre#uency of respondents( ans!er !ere

gathered and converted into graphical representations to sho! the differences.

The ne)t instruments consisted of Test63 and Test67 forms. The Test63 !as given before the 4

lessons using language games conducted. Ahile the Test67 !as given after the fourth lessons

using language games.

The third instrument used for the study !as the observation form. 0bservations !ere carried out

during every lesson taught in order to find out observable behavior of the sample or students. The

observation form consisted of the researchers( reflection to!ards her teaching throughout the

lessons. The respondents( paralinguistic reactions such as open mouth pu++le loo"ing smiles

head nod hand rising verbal responses and so forth !ere noted. %ctive and favorable reactions

by students meant that lesson !as a success and vice6versa.

Therefore the research instruments consisted of #uestionnaires a Test63 and Test67 forms and

observations forms for lesson !ere carried out using the games.

*irstly the researcher needed to get permission to conduct the study in the school concern. 0nce

permission to conduct had been granted the researcher proceeded to identify the targeted group

for the research. %s mentioned before fourteen students !ere selected as the respondents. These

students !ere the Year *our students. The #uestionnaire !ill be given to the samples and

collected after all the information had been fill up. 0nce the information needed for the samples

had been gathered the researcher printed the forms as mentioned in the research instruments.

The purpose of this research !as to determine the effectiveness of using games to teach

vocabulary as opposed to use the conventional method to teach vocabulary. Thus the Test63 and

Test67 !ere given before and after the fourth lessons using games. The rationale for using theTest63 and Test67 mar"ing sheets !ere to analy+e the difference in the scores obtained by the

samples.

This study e)plained the e)perimental research that sought to find out the effectiveness of using

language games to teach English vocabulary in an English 1anguage classroom. % Test63 prior to

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a lesson and Test67 after the fourth lessons using games !as carried out to determine the

effectiveness of using games in a vocabulary lesson.

%fter implementing the games and activities to practice the vocabulary and after recycling !ords

through games in four lessons it seems that students( ability to memori+e the !ords has become

more efficient. Ahen the students !ere interested in learning the material they give more

attention to the lesson given. The condition gave a good chance for both the teacher and the

students. 0n the occasion the teacher could deliver the material very !ell and students could

understand !hat they had learned on that day.

%lthough the methods of using games !ere seems able to enhance students motivation to learn

vocabulary there !ere also some disadvantages occur during the teaching learning process. The

first disadvantage of applying games in teaching and learning !as by attracting students( interest

to games all of them !ere active and made noisy. &ometimes they made too much movement

and spo"e. That condition made the teacher difficult to control them. &econdly using games in

the classroom sometimes fails due to the lac" of cooperation among members of the class.

Games re#uire all students( involvement and they promote friendly competition therefore it is

very important that students have a cooperative attitude.

To summari+e it !as found that using games to practice vocabulary enhances students( ability to

memori+e !ords effectively. Games provide comprehensible input !hile learners interact in

group allo!ing students to clarify meaning of !ords in such conte)t. The used of games also

enhanced students motivation to learn vocabulary. This might be because the students have

e)perienced ne! method of teaching as they have been used only to learning the ne! languages

through drilling the vocabulary. The strategy also allo!s them to interact !ith peers !hich is

also a ne! e)perience for them since they are used to teacher6centered methods for the !hole of

their learning e)perience. The games bring in rela)ation and fun for the students thus help them

learn and retain ne! !ords easily. Vocabulary games also bring real !orld conte)ts into theclassroom and enhance students( use of English in a fle)ible communicative !ay. Therefore the

role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. 8o!ever in order to

achieve the most from vocabulary games it is essential that suitable games are chosen.

Ahenever a game is to be conducted the number of students proficiency level culture conte)t

timing learning topic and the classroom setting are factors that should be ta"en into account. To

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conclude learning a ne! language or vocabulary through games is one significant and

interesting !ay that can be applied in the vocabulary teaching and learning process.

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Documents

Practicum Report 2015