MOTIVATIONAL WAYS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Why was the research paper written?
Nowadays English has become an international language, so learning
English becomes more and more important. English helps us not to be out of
date and erase the big hole of being far from many countries all over the
world. If we have English, we have a key to open the door of the world and go
ahead without hesitation. Like any other languages, vocabulary is the basic
core for learners to master. It is the most important factor for all people to
speak and write. It is the basic element for people to communicate. Without
using words we can not understand what opposite people want to deliver and
of course do not know how to send messages to them. In teaching any
languages, vocabulary becomes a very necessary part that all teachers should
pay attention to. In this seminar on methodology, I specially and straightly
focus on motivational ways of teaching vocabulary in teaching English.
Wilkin ( 1972) wrote that: “ …while without grammar, very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed…” (p. 111- 112). This
means even we do not master grammar, or just hold a poor grammatical point,
we can communicate; but if we do not have vocabulary, we cannot express
anything in many situations. Thus, we all agree that vocabulary is very
necessary in the process of learning and teaching English.

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MOTIVATIONAL WAYS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

However, most of students do not like to learn English. One of their
reasons is that they can not remember the words. Of course there are some
lazy students who never review their lessons or learn the words after classes

make their lessons more interesting and help students understand the lessons
easily. What students should do is that just sitting, listening, doing some
exercises in the textbook and may be having a valuable chance to be invited to
stand up and say some comments. That is one of the reasons why students
consider English so boring, complex and too difficult to learn. Therefore, they
fail from the first step: learning vocabulary.
So, in my opinion, this research will help me as well as other teachers
have some new interesting ways of teaching which motivate the students to
learn vocabulary.
III.

How is the research paper organized?
This research paper has four parts:
Part A: Introduction
Part B: Development of motivating students to learn vocabulary by using
songs and writing journals.
Part C: Demonstration of some typical examples teaching vocabulary by
using songs and writing journals.
Part D: The results and the effect of the study application
Part E: Conclusion

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MOTIVATIONAL WAYS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

Although I gave a lot of effort as well as much time to write this research
paper, I really know that there are something wrong and I can hardly find
them myself. I will frankly appreciate criticisms and suggestions from the
respectable professors, the fellow-teachers, the readers to whom I will be

more words, such as Good morning and Nice to meet you, which research
suggests children and adults learn as single lexical units. Phrases like these
involve more than one word but have clear, formulaic usage and make up a
significant portion of spoken or written English language usage. Also called
formulaic sequences ( Alali & Schimitt, 2012), they are central to English
vocabulary learning and therefore worth teachers’ attention as we teach
vocabulary.
So vocabulary can be defined as the words of a language, including
single items and phrases or chunks of several words which convey a particular
meaning, the way individual words do. Vocabulary addresses single lexical
items- words with special meanings- but it also includes lexical phrases or
chunks.
2.

The importance of vocabulary

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In order to progress in a foreign language, students need to be able to
understand what they are hearing and reading. That is, the input must be
comprehensible in order for it to be useful and meaningful to the students and
help with acquisition (Krashen, 1982), but if students do not understand a
sizable portion of the vocabulary in the language that they are reading or
hearing, then this language is not comprehensible and therefore cannot be
useful for acquisition. Many argue that vocabulary is one of the most
important-if not the most important components in learning a foreign
language, and foreign language curricula must reflect this. In general, without

directing, initiating, sustaining or terminating it), and with different degrees of
expression at the level of intensity, quality and speed in which the behaviour is
carried out.
All of the above definitions are true, one could even summarize and
create a general definition saying that motivation is what drives us to perform
an action.

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However, in this thesis one should also distinguish one more definition,
concerning the foreign language learning process. Kyösti Julkunen (in 2001:
29) claims that “in the classroom context, motivation can be seen as a
continuous interaction process between the learner and the environment. [...]
Its main role is in controlling and directing an activity [...], coordinating
various operations towards an object or goal, motivation transforms a number
of separate reactions into significant action. Learners build object-directed
means-end structures [...].”
Motivation is vital in language learning process because it determines
whether the action of foreign language acquisition is undertaken by the learner
and to what extent he is ready to continue this intelectual effort. This is the
reason why so many scientists and researchers have devoted such a great deal
of attention to motivation.
Moreover, there are many ways that we can use to motivate the students
to learn vocabulary but here, I just mention to the most effective ones: using
songs and writing journals.
II. Using songs and writing journal in teaching vocabulary
1.

the main ideas of the story, the second group also listened to the spoken
version of the story but without illustrations. The third group listened to the
sung version of the story with the illustrations shown and the fourth group
listened to the sung version of the story without pictures.

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There were some pre-tests and two posttests to measure the amount of
vocabulary acquired by the students. The results of the experiment showed
that the combination of the sung version and the pictures was the most
effective one. This experiment supports the idea that songs can be beneficial
in terms of vocabulary acquisition and retrieval. Don Campbell (1997: 21-24)
states that music enhances memory, reasoning, spatial imagination and logical
thinking. This is partly because under the influence of music, which increases
the level of catecholamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters are involved in the
learning processes.
Music enhances and strengthens the process of remembering because it
stimulates the limbic system, which is the emotional centre in the brain closely
linked with learning. Music helps to integrate internal rhythm and external
cognitive activity and balances the emotional processes.
The song is a very specific kind of expression because it is an inseparable
combination of music and language. The song plays a major role in teaching
foreign languages. It allows students to develop all language skills and
understand the purpose of learning. It has a great potential as a teaching
resource in the process of learning and teaching foreign languages.
The song has the greatest value when it becomes an integral part of the
learning processes, when it is used regularly and frequently, not only for fun

by Jan Wierszyłowski (1970: 19), shows that students remember best what
truly interests them.
1.2 What kind of songs should be chosen to teach vocabulary?
There is also another thing to consider, it is the song selection. Teachers
should choose songs carefully to have a desirable effect. When choosing an
appropriate song, one should remember to especially consider the level of

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language proficiency of the students and their age. Teachers should decide
whether it should be a rock song, a pop song or something else.
Besides, the content of the songs must be clear and easy to understand.
That is terrible if students listen to the songs but they do not understand what
it is. And, teachers also should remember to choose the songs suitable to the
students. For example, the songs about the friendship, family or love can be
acceptable, but teachers can not let students listen to the songs which can lead
students to do something wrong like fighting or affect students’ spirit
negatively. Teachers should use the songs which are interesting and humorous
and sometimes meaningful to life or especially should choose ones have good
contents to help students try their best to learn or to become good people.
One more thing teachers should pay attention to when choosing songs to
teach vocabulary is that those songs must not be very hard for students. If they
listen to the song which has many difficult words or unfamiliar to them, they
will feed up with the song immediately. As the result, the activity is odd and
meaningless.
1.3 Some activities using songs to motivate students to learn
vocabulary:

more exercises related to those words. This will help students remember the
words for a long time and know what are their synonyms and what are their
antonyms.
1.3.4

Checking the spelling:

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One more exercise that teachers can use to teach vocabulary to students
is correcting the spelling of the words. For example, teachers write down some
words containing both the correct and the wrong spelling ones and students’
task is to find out the incorrect ones and give their right words.
1.4 The sources to find out the songs:
Teachers can find the songs to teach students from many sources as
books, newspapers, magazines, disks, radio and especially, internet. The
internet is considered the best source because teachers can save a lot of time
and money.
2.

Developing students’ vocabulary by writing journal.
2.1 What is journal writing?

Journal writing is a learning tool based on the ideas that students write to
learn. Students use the journals to write about topics of personal interest, to
note their observations, to imagine, to wonder and to connect new information
with things they already know.



MOTIVATIONAL WAYS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

Some teachers want their students write their journals for five minutes
at the end of the class but I totally disagree with this. I think that it is not a
suitable time for students and they do not want to be forced to do this.
Everybody does the work more effectively if they feel they like it and they are
pleased to do. So do the students in this case. The suitable place for them to do
this is at home and the time is in their free time. They see writing journals
their favourite homework.
2.4 Language students use when writing their journals?

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When students write journals, I usually ask them not to use Vietnamese
because I want them to practice thinking in English. We all know that
translating is not good in learning language because they can be stuck between
the mother language and the target one. Gradually, they have to spend much
time thinking in their mother language and then again much time will be
wasted on how to translate it into the target one. So, my students just write
what they think and if they do not know how to express in English, they can
draw pictures to illustrate their ideas. It is an acceptable way in teaching and
learning English.
2.5 How to give feedback to students’ journal writing?
One more thing to remember when teachers ask students to write journals
is that teachers should collect the journals every week and read them. Students

SOME TYPICAL EXAMPLES USING SONGS AND WRITING JOURNALS IN
TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

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I. EXAMPLES OF USING SONGS TO TEACH VOCABULARY:
Teachers can use songs to teach vocabulary at the beginning of the
lessons as warm- up activities or after the lessons like post parts to revise the
vocabulary.
Both the two ways are very good because they have their own benefits. If
teachers use the songs as warm- up part to lead into the new lessons, students
will have the time to relax with music, and they have some words prepared for
their new reading parts. And, if teachers use it as the free practice, students
can check again their vocabulary.
There are some examples that I have used to teach vocabulary by songs:
Grade 10:
Unit 12: Music
Lesson 1: Reading
Warm- up:
-First of all teacher ask students to list the kinds of music that they know.
- Then teacher collects students’ answers: pop music, folk music, rock ’n’
roll, classical music, jazz…
-

Teacher lets students listen to five different pieces of songs and asks

students to tell her what kinds of music they are.

Then teacher asks students what it is; students may know the

answer in English, that is good. But if they even do not know, they can answer
in Vietnamese.
- Teacher gets the word: Vietnam National Anthem to teach students.
- Besides, teacher can ask them more about the person who wrote this
song- Van Cao to get the word: musician.
- Then teacher leads into the new lesson.
Grade 10:
Unit 13: Films and Cinema
Lesson 4: Writing
Warm- up:
- Teacher lets students listen to the song: My heart will go on.
- Teacher asks them if they know the name of the song , then gets its
name and asks them more about the content of the film Titanic.
For example:
Is Titanic a happy or a tragic love story film?
Maybe before the teacher asks them question, they do not know what the
word “tragic” means but here they can understand that it is opposite to the
word happy and immediately choose it as their answer.
Grade 10:
Unit 14: the world cup
Lesson 1: reading
Warm- up:
- Teacher lets students listen to 4 pieces of songs :
1. World Cup Willy - Lonnie Donegan
2. Gloryland - Daryl Hall, Sounds of Blackness
3. The Cup of Life - Ricky Martin
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down the information.
-

Teacher calls students to go to the board and write down.

-

Teacher checks the answers with the whole class.

* The content of the song:
A little faith
Brightens a rainy day
Life is difficult you can't go away
Don't hide yourselves in the corner
You have my place to stay
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Sorrow is gonna say goodbye
Opens up
You'll see the happy sunshine
Keep going on with your dream
Chasing tomorrow's sunrise
The spirit can never die
Sun will shine my friend
Won't let you cry my dear
Seeing you shed a tear