Activities to Improve Vocabulary- A Task Based Language ... · Documentaries Documentaries depict...

Chapter V

Activities to Improve Vocabulary- A Task Based Language Teaching

Approach

5.1 Introduction

This Chapter starts with TBLT background then it discusses about activities that

have been used in the classroom to improve students‟ vocabulary in the broad level

as listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary and writing

vocabulary. In each level, four activities have been introduced and the researcher‟s

observation for each activity is presented in this chapter. In the last section pre and

post-test comparison of vocabulary stock has been presented followed by the Chapter

summary.

5.2 Background of TBLT

Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) proposes the notion of task as central

unit of planning and teaching. Although definitions of the task vary in TBLT,

there is a commonsensical understanding that a task is an activity or goal that is

carried out using language, such as finding a solution to a puzzle, reading a map and

giving instructions and assembling a toy.

“Tasks… are activities which have meaning as their primary focus. Success in

tasks is evaluated in terms of achievement of an outcome, and tasks generally

bear some resemblance to real life language use. So task based instruction takes a fairly

strong view of communicative language teaching.” (Skehan 1996b:20)

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Nunan (1989:10) says that “The communicative task is a piece of a classroom work

which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the

target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.

The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a

communicative act in its own right.”

Prabhu (1987: 24) define the task as “An activity which required learners to

arrive at an outcome through some process of thought, and which allowed teachers to

control and regulate the process.”

Task Based Language Teaching refers to an approach based on the use of

tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching. Engaging

learners in task work provides a better context for the activation of learning processes

than form-focused activities, and hence ultimately provides better opportunities for

language learning to take place. Language learning is believed to depend on immersing

students not merely in “comprehensible input” but in tasks that require them to

negotiate meaning and engage in naturalistic and meaningful communication.

The key assumptions of task based instruction are summarized by Feez (1998:17) as:

The focus is on process rather than product.

Basic elements are purposeful activities that emphasize communication and

meaning.

Learners learn a language by interacting communicatively and purposefully while

engaged in the activities.


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Activities and tasks can be either:

Those that learners might need to achieve in real life;

Those that have pedagogical purpose specific to the classroom.

Activities of task based syllabus are sequenced according to difficulty.

The difficulty of a task depends on a range of factors including the previous

experience of the learner, the complexity of the task, the language required to

undertake the task, and the degree of support available.

The basic elements to make up a task:

Nunan (1989, 1993), who sees tasks as consisting of six elements. The first of

these is the input data, which is the material that learners work on, for example

newspaper article or a radio broadcast. Tasks also involve one or more activities or

procedures, which is what learner actually do with the input. In addition, they include

goals, roles of teachers, roles of learners and a setting.

David (2007) asserts that “Teachers have to be careful before selecting an activity to

introduce in the classroom. They must make sure that activity will bring out the best from the

students. The focus of the activity should be breaking monotonous behavior of the class and

makes the learning highly positive”. All the activities have been selected with the active

consultation of the research supervisor, experts and fellow teachers. Based on the suggestions

certain activities have been modified. The researcher has employed totally 20 activities

with the aim of improving students‟ vocabulary stock and these activities have been divided

into five sub sections as listening based vocabulary activities, speaking based vocabulary


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activities, reading based vocabulary activities, writing based vocabulary activities and

recalling based vocabulary activities. Each section talks about four activities. All these

activities have been taught to the selected 60 students of EBET Group of Institutions after the

college hours for one semester. Researcher‟s observations have been presented after every

activity that has come out of researcher‟s own onsite observation and no specific tools have

been employed to record observations.

5.3. Listening Based Activities

Listening is the basic component of language learning and it starts right

from our mother‟s womb, and it is the first step in language learning. L1 learners

acquire their mother tongue mainly from listening. They start to listen their parents

and family members through whom they start to acquire words that are essential for

communication. Therefore, the researcher strongly hope that listening based activities

would be better to start with. The Researcher has used listening materials like songs,

movies, documentaries, and videos to design the tasks for vocabulary improvement.

The brief description about the materials has been presented.

Songs

“Songs are fun, they are motivating, they can be used to teach structures; they are

perhaps the leading reason why teenagers throughout the world become interested in English”

(Horner, 1993). Songs are good sources for the language learners to learn the language

enthusiastically. The learners can easily remember language structures in the song because of

the music that goes with the song. The motivation of the learners particularly among young

learners will be very high when the teacher uses songs in the classroom.


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Movies

Films can be used to learn the English language. For second language learners,

the film of the target language is a resource for getting to know about the culture of this

language. The film provides very interesting material for the language learners. Before

showing the film in the classroom, the teacher should read the film review. The

teacher should explain unfamiliar words, before or after the film is shown.

Through films, the learners acquire many skills of communication, they come

to know about the conversational skills like turn-taking. Many activities can be made out

of films. Movies of their own interest may have a greater appeal to students. If the

choice of the movie is left to the student, it will be more successful.

Documentaries

Documentaries depict only factual information while movies present both

factual and imaginary information. Movies meant to entertain mostly but documentaries

unearth the reality rather than imagination. The main purpose of documentaries is

to create awareness among the people about specific issues. Good documentaries

undoubtedly enthuse the students and probably language used in the documentary is

clearer than movies.

Videos

Videos are the good materials to teach language. It is easy to select content

specific videos to teach language items. It is as good as other sources like movies,

songs, and documentaries. It is possible to use amateur videos for better understanding


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Selection of Songs, Documentaries, Videos, and Movies

Basically, a song, a movie and a documentary and videos should interest the

learner; so it is better to leave the choice to the learner. The words in the

songs, movies, documentaries, and videos should be decipherable by the learners and

the words should not be drowned in the music. The teacher should avoid those songs,

films, videos and documentaries that have too many unusual words or slang. After

the selection by the learners; the teacher‟s work begins by identifying suitable

activities out of these songs, films, videos and documentaries. The following section

talks about four listening based vocabulary activities.

Listen to the Song “Always on My Mind”

Type of Activity : Individual Activity

Purpose of the Activity : Improve students‟ vocabulary through listening

Level : Upper Intermediate

Time : 45 Minutes

Preparation : Song Always on My Mind

Teachers‟ Role : Introducing different genre of

English songs in the class

Learners‟ Role : Giving 100% Listening to songs

Setting : Seminar Hall

Procedure

By this activity, the learners have been made to listen to the song carefully. The

learners have been allowed to listen the song as many times as they please, till they are


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familiar with the lines. By listening to the songs many times, they learn the proper

pronunciations of the words. They also understand the meaning of the songs and can easily

remember the structures of the language in the song. This activity is an information gap

activity to promote vocabulary through listening skills in the target language. Willie

Nelson‟s „Always on my mind‟ has been used for the present activity. Students have been

asked to fill up the missing words by listening the song in the following.

Fill up the missing words

If I made you feel second best,

I‟m sorry, I was blind.

You were always on my mind

Listen to the song and fill in the missing phrases

Maybe I didn‟t love you quite as often as I could have

And maybe I didn‟t treat you -----------------------------

If I made you fell second best.

Girl I‟m sorry, ----------------------------------------------

You were always on my mind,


And may be I didn‟t hold you all ------------------------

And I guess I never told you -----------------------------

Little things I should have said and done,


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I just never took the time



Tell me, tell me that your ---------------------------------

Give me, give me one more chance ---------------------

If I made you feel second ---------------------------------

---------------------- I was blind

You were always on my mind.

Observation

Students have shown complete interest in this activity because they wanted to

say that they listen to English songs. It has become a kind of prestigious thing for them

to tell it others. They have imitated certain lines as it came in the song. Some students

said that they had enjoyed the activity but they found difficult to understand the lyrics.

Students have enjoyed the activity due to music, but have found it difficult to grasp

the words. The sole reason for the difficulty is nil exposure to songs. Repeated playing

of the songs has brought them nearer to the lyrics. Out of 60 students, 10 students

have performed very good, 20 good, 20 average and 10 poor.

Watch the Documentary about „Earthquake‟


Purpose of the Activity : To Improve students‟ vocabulary through

documentaries


Time : 60 Minutes


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Preparation : Earthquake Documentary

Teachers‟ Role : Brief lecture about documentaries

Learners‟ Role : Watching the Documentary and taking notes


Procedure

The objective of this activity is to practice listening and getting words. The

material given under this activity was Earthquake documentary film. The questions

have been given below to test the learners‟ listening comprehension. The learners have

been asked to watch the documentary to answer the questions. The documentary has

been played twice for better understanding.

1. What are the reasons for earthquake?

2. What is the scale to measure the earthquake?

3. How can we protect ourselves from earthquake?

4. What are the earthquake zones?

5. How does the particular zone is termed as earthquake zone?

6. List out the words you have acquired from the earthquake documentary.

Observation

Students have found this activity very interesting. Compared to songs, they have

felt very comfortable in this documentary. They have mainly liked the documentary for

its vivid illustration and narration by Nashrudhin Shaw. They do not have the accent

problem to understand the language of documentary since all illustrations have


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been in Indian Accent. This activity has indicated that it is better to introduce

Indian accent based documentaries in the language classroom that will yield good

improvement among the students. Students answer for these questions have differed

and mostly have given one- word answers. Out of 60 students, 23 have performed very

good level, 16 at good level, 15 at average and the remaining at poor level.

Watch the Movie „Inspector Morse‟


Purpose of the Activity : To Improve students‟ vocabulary through movies


Time : 2 Hours

Preparation : A copy of Movie „Inspector Morse‟

Teachers‟ Role : Giving feedback about previous documentary activity

Learners‟ Role : Watching the Movie and taking notes


Procedure

Before playing the movie, brief outline of the movie has been given to the

students to make them easily understand the movie. Initially movie has been played

with subtitle and the next time without subtitle. After showing the movie, students have

been asked to answer the following questions.

1. What is the motto behind the murder?

2. Discuss the characterization of the movie.


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3. Discuss the investigation method of the movie.

4. Give your opinion about the female characters of the movie.

5. What are the basic reasons for suspect?

6. Can you compare the movie with any of your regional movie?

Observation

Students have really enjoyed the full-length movie in the language class. They have

not found it very difficult to follow the movie because all conversation in the movie has been

well understood for them. The clarity of the dialogue delivery and unambiguous accent have

assisted the students to go with the movie easily. They wanted more movies like this to be

shown in the language class. Students have noted down a lot of words from the movie and

have been able to answer all the questions. Students‟ perceptions have differed in

answering questions. For example, opinion about female characters has varied according to

individual and none of them has given similar answers. Out of 60 students, 27 answered all

the questions correct, 20 answered 4 questions correct, 13 answered 3 questions correct and

10 answered only one question correct.

Watch the Motivational Video


Purpose of the Activity : To Improve students vocabulary through videoes


Time : 45 Minutes

Preparation : Having notepad to take notes


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Teachers Role : Brief lecture about videos in the class

Learners Role : Watching the Video and taking notes


Procedure

The objective of this activity is to practice listening as well as getting the

words. The video shown under this activity has been downloaded from YouTube. The

students have been asked to watch the video and list out the words, which they have

learnt from watching the video. (A copy of this video has been given to students to

watch repeatedly to get more words.) The students have been asked to answer the

following questions.

1. Who is the person the video talk about?

2. What is the message of the video?

3. What are activities he has performed to prove his talentia?

4. What is the reason for the tears ?

5. Have you come across this kind of person in your life?

If yes means, tell about him…

Observation

Students have been inspired by this video and have started to show sincerity

in their regular work. It has served as the best motivation to the students apart from

learning vocabulary. The video has lasted only for a few minutes but its impact on

students hasbeen long lasting. It has prompted more discussions among the students.


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Responses to the questions from the students have been mixed one in which

18 students have answered all the questions correct, 19 students 4 correct answers,

13 students 3 correct answers and 10 students have answered 10 answers.

5.4 Speaking Based Activities

Students never get a chance to speak in the regular class and the present

curriculum does not emphasize much on speaking. Hence, the researcher has used four

speaking based activities with the aim of improving students‟ vocabulary.

Story Knitting

Type of Activity : Group Activity

Purpose of the Activity : To Improve Vocabulary Through Speaking

Level : Intermediate/Upper intermediate

Time : 45 Minutes

Preparation : On the spot

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may encourage by appreciation

Learners‟ Role : Effort to give creative input

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been motivated that they are going to become a storyteller. The

starting line has been given to start the story. After that, every student has been asked

to add a line to the story to get moving. The important rules are that they should

continue from the last person‟s line and same line should not be repeated. This activity


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has enabled the students to be creative, and ponder over more words, and has helped

them to elevate their confidence.

Bonus points have been given to those who had given twist and turns in the

story. At the regular intervals, the words used in the activity have been consolidated

and revised which helped them to recall the words, and strengthen the vocabulary.

Upon completion of the round, the theme of the story, the locale of the story, the

characters of the story, the genre of the story have been asked to discuss by students.

Observation

It has made them to witness their creativity. Students have shown their entire

interest in this activity and some of them have made the activity very lively by twisting

the story to an unimaginable way. Some students have repeated the same ideas

whereas a few students are unable to contribute very effectively due to lack of

creativity. A Few students have made the activity so humorous also. One important

observation is that most of their ideas have been influenced from regional movies.

Most of the students have used basic words to knit the story and few low frequency

words have been used in the activity. Among 60 students 29 students have performed at

very good level, 19 good, 8 average and 4 poor.

Picture Talk


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to get vocabulary through speaking


Time : 90 Minutes


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Preparation : Required Pictures

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may encourage by appreciation

Learners‟ Role : Speak about the picture

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

The class has been divided into Teams of 6 members each. One member from

each team has been asked to come and pick up a picture. To enthuse the students

more natural pictures have been selected. Each team has been given one picture and

five minutes has been given to discuss. They are supposed to talk using the maximum

words as they can draw from the picture. The team, which has talked using more

words related to picture has been given more points.

Observation

All the teams have actively participated in the activities and have come up with

lots of words to speak. Some teams have produced more words. Certain team members

have not involved in this activity due to disinterest. Uninterested students have been

identified and feedback has been drawn for their disliking, everyone invariably said

that they do not have many ideas to speak. It has given an important message that

teachers should be very careful in selecting picture or else activity will not yield results.

This activity has helped the learners to associate the words with picture by the way

their vocabulary status has been improved. Out of 10 teams three teams has performed

very good, two teams good, three teams average and two teams poor.


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Moods


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to acquire words by speaking

Level : Intermediate

Time : 2 Hrs


Teachers‟ Role : Giving small introduction about different moods

Learners‟ Role : Try to ponder over more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

The class has been divided into Teams of 10 members each. Each team

has been assigned with a particular mood (e.g. happy, sad). Each team has been

given10 minutes to prepare a skit after that they have been asked to perform a skit having

given mood as a central theme. It has been instructed to use more words than action in

the skit.

Observation

This activity has motivated the groups to perform well. A good interaction

among them has happened during the preparation and all the members have contributed

well for the team performance. Some students really have done very well. Some

students have not prepared well so they are unable to perform as expected level. Most

of the ideas they have drawn from regular day-to-day life and it has helped them to


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perform well using high frequency words. When one team is performing, other team

members watch their performance and learn many words from them. Though it has

been instructed to use more dialogues in the skit, few teams have concentrated more

on action than words. Some students have tried to use maximum words in their skit.

The team, which has got „happy‟ mood, used more words than other teams. Upon

completion, four teams have been very good, two good, one average, and three poor.

Speak About Your Role Model


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to use more words in speaking


Time : 3 hrs


Teachers‟ Role : Giving small introduction about role models

Learners‟ Role : Try to ponder more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been asked to speak about their role model and each student has

been given 5 minutes to prepare a talk. They have to speak in the class whereas other

students have to list out the words used in the speech. The person who has used

maximum different words in his/her speech has been identified and appreciated.


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Observation

This activity has helped the students to think about their role model and has

made them to talk reasonably well. The students those who have their mother and father

as their role model talked better than other students. It is surprising to note that some

students do not have role models. After parents, Honorable Dr.A.P.J.AbdulKalam

India‟s former president, cine actors, sports persons are among the role models. Upon

completion, ten students have been good, twenty good, 10 average and twenty poor.

5.5 Reading Based Activities

Newspaper

Mihwa Chung (2009) in her article “The Newspaper Word List: A Specialised

Vocabulary for Reading Newspapers” says that reading is one of the most common and

significant ways of learning another language for which newspaper is the important

reading material. Newspapers are often used in reading classes in order to develop

reading skills and develop vocabulary knowledge (Hwang & Nation, 1989; Klinmanee &

Sopprasong, 1997). There are several reasons for this. Firstly, newspapers are easily and

cheaply available in hard copy or online. Secondly, newspapers are authentic materials

that are commonly read by all. Thirdly, they provide a wide choice of interesting topics

from which teachers or learners can choose reading texts. Finally, reading newspapers is

considered to be not only a good way of reviewing old vocabulary learned, but also of

learning new vocabulary from context (Hwang& Nation, 1989).

It is one of the widely used materials to learn and teach English language.

It presents the contemporary use of language. Therefore, it can be exploited in many


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ways to improve students‟ communication skills especially vocabulary. According

to Hwang‟s study (1989) involving the analysis of 80 newspaper articles (a total of

26722 running words) about 80% of the words in newspaper about 10% are proper

nouns. This means that if learner know the most frequent 2000 words and all proper

nouns, they will reach about 90% coverage of newspaper texts. It endorses that

newspaper can be used in the classroom even the students in the very basic level.

Therefore, researcher has made use of newspaper based reading activities to improve

the students‟ vocabulary. General books and short stories also have been used.

Read the Letter to the Editor Column of English Newspaper


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to acquire words through reading


Time : 90 minutes

Preparation : Collecting Letter to Editor from any English Newspaper

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may analyze one sample letter before assigning

activity to them

Learners‟ Role : Active Participation and effort to find out more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been directed to bring the newspaper cutting of „letters to the editor‟

from any of English newspapers and they have been asked to note down the unknown words


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for which they have been asked to refer the dictionary for meaning. They have to read out the

new words in the class with meaning and using in the context sentence.

Observation

This activity has helped them to acquire new words and put them into the

practice immediately. It has made them to acquire vocabulary that is more

contemporary. Students have actively participated in this activity. Some students have

found almost all the words new to them. Some students do not understand the context

of the letter since they are not aware of original issue that the letter is addressing.

Contextual ignorance impeded students understanding and handicapped them to

guess. Without contextual understanding, guessing from the context is not possible. In

that sense, it might not have been useful to some students but majority are on the

positive side. Students are encouraged to read the newspaper regularly to understand

this kind of letter. It is the easiest way to make them realize the importance of reading.

Among the 60 students, 20 students have done very good, 19 good, 11 average and 10

students miserably failed in this activity due to poor knowledge of even basic

vocabulary.

Read the Newspaper Article –Spirit of Entrepreneurship


Purpose of the Activity : Making students to acquire words through reading

Level : Upper intermediate

Time : 2 hrs


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Preparation : Collecting the article “Spirit of Entrepreneurship” from

Times of India

Teachers‟ Role : Briefing how to read the article and what are the words and

points they are supposed to take down

Learners‟ Role : Selecting the interesting article and doing multiple reading

to grasp more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been asked to have the newspaper article „Spirit of Entrepreneurship‟

from Times of India newspaper and they have been asked to read the article aloud in the

class in the first reading. In the second reading, students have been asked to identify

the unknown words. Afterwards, they have been asked to identify the meaning of

unknown words using dictionary before they write summary of the article and read in the

class. All the new words from the article has to be presented with synonyms and

antonyms as subsequent activity. This activity has promoted reading since the entire

article is about successful entrepreneurs. Students have got lots of new words from the

article to apply in their day to life.

Observation

This activity has really captivated students those who wants to become

entrepreneur, as the article is about entrepreneurship. It has really motivated the

students very well because all the article has talked about successful entrepreneurs and

their success story in the industry. It has taught lots of life skills, which is worth


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knowing, and some of the article has opened a new platform of job opportunities. It also

has assisted the students to prepare them for placements also. Students have acquired

more business vocabulary in this activity. Among 60 students 5 students have done

their job fantastically because all of them want to become entrepreneurs. It shows

clearly that how interest is very essential to do an activity. 15 students have been

good, 20 average and 10 poor.

Read a Short Story




Time : 2 hrs

Preparation : Learners have to collect short story

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may tell the students how to read the Short story

Learners‟ Role : Selecting the interesting short story and doing multiple

reading to grasp more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been asked to read a short story of their interest and have been

asked to prepare a wordlist from the story that has to be presented in the class the next

day. This activity has provided more words to use in everyday communication and

has laid a platform to read novels in the next level.


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Observation

Students have been introduced to various short stories through this activity.

It has initiated book reading habit among the students. Most of the students said that

first time they are reading general books. It has sparked the pleasure of reading habit

among the students and they have started to read for pleasure. Out of 60 students 18 have

performed very well with this activity, 23 average and 19 poor.

Book Review




Time : 2 hrs

Preparation : Collecting a general book

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may tell the students about how to review a book

Learners‟ Role : Selecting the interesting book and doing reading to grasp

more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been asked to read a book of their own interest and have to

prepare a review about the book. The book review is to be read in the classroom. They

have been asked to refer other book reviews to understand the nuances of the book

review.


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Observation

Students are unable to read a book at the given duration due poor reading

habit. They have consumed longer time to complete the book. Then students have been

suggested to select very simple motivational books. However, around 10 students have

done good in this activity rest of them are all average in this activity.

5.6 Writing Based Activities

Most of the students are unable to write even a simple leave letter or any form

of the letter due to poor vocabulary. Writing vocabulary activities will assist them to

improve their writing vocabulary. The present study deals with four writing based

activities.

One Word in Different Parts of Speech


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students multiple usage of a word


Time : 30 Minutes

Preparation : Students may collect some sentences using same

word in different parts of speech

Teachers‟ Role : Giving some example usages

Learners‟ Role : Trying to give more usages of single word

Setting : Classroom


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Procedure

The class has been divided into small groups. List of words have been given

to the students and have been asked to use the particular word in different parts of speech

in the sentence of their own. A brief lecture about different parts of speech has been

given, then students have been asked to frame their own sentences.

Observation

Students considered this activity very difficult. Because of their limited

exposure to vocabulary, most of the students are unable to use the same word in

different parts of speech. Students never have learnt the multiple meaning of the

words, they have learnt only one form of meaning so they are unable use the same word

in different parts of speech. Only three teams are able to perform reasonably well and the

rest find it difficult.

Jumbled Letters

Type of Activity : Pair Activity

Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to identify the words


Time : 45 Minutes


Teachers‟ Role : Motivation by appreciation

Learners‟ Role : Producing more words

Setting : Classroom


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Procedure

The words have been given with their letters shuffled (e.g. eicscen for science).

Students have asked to coin maximum words as quickly as they can and form their own

sentence. The first pair to do so has been appreciated. It has been made sure that it is

not too difficult.

Observation

It requires certain presence of mind and wide knowledge of words. Based on

the letters they had to think of many words and one by one, they have to check up with

the letters. Limited word knowledge do not allow them to find the correct words.

Some students have struggled a lot to find out the word. This activity has helped

them to recall the words, which they have already known. Out of 60 students

25 have performed very good, 15 good, 12 average and 8 very poor.

Word Chain


Purpose of the Activity : Helping students to acquire more words


Time : 30 Minutes


Teachers‟ Role : Introducing words

Learners‟ Role : Active Participation

Setting : Classroom


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Procedure

A word has been given to the students ( e.g Engineering). Students have been

asked to coin a new word from the last letter of the given word (e.g graph) The same is

continued until the chain has broken. The students who give words without break are

appreciated. It is continued for three to four rounds.

Observation

Students have written many words as they can. It has helped them to write

more words but students has come out with very simple words. When they have been

asked to form sentences, they have committed more syntax errors. 25 students have

performed very good, 18 good, 12 average and 10 very poor in this activity.

Spot a Word


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to use the dictionary properly


Time : 20 Minutes


Teachers‟ Role : Lecture about usage of dictionary

Learners‟ Role : Using the dictionary systematically

Setting : Classroom


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Procedure

Students have been asked to bring the dictionary to the class. The researcher

has introduced the new words and the students have been asked to refer the meaning

and to mimic the example sentence from dictionary to write their own sentence. After the

end of the class, the student who gives maximum sentences is to be appreciated.

Observation

The main issue in this activity is to make the students to bring the dictionary,

because most of the students have not brought the dictionary. Without dictionary,

nothing can be done in this activity. Some students do not know how to use the

dictionary properly. It is necessary before preceding this activity to educate the students

about dictionary usage. Students using the dictionary regularly have done the activity

very quickly. Only a few students have found it difficult to identify the words. Some

students have misunderstood the words. At last, they have got the idea about how to

use the dictionary properly. 27 students have performed very well, 26 average, 7 very

poor.

5.7 Recalling and Recycling Based Activities

As we mentioned earlier (chapter 4), students receptive vocabulary is

higher than productive vocabulary. Therefore, it is very essential, before learning new

vocabulary, all the known vocabulary must be put into proper use. This can be done

by converting all the receptive vocabulary as productive vocabulary by recycling,

recalling the known vocabulary. The following activities have been used to fulfill the

purpose.


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Use Prefixes and Form Words


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to acquire words


Time : 30 Minutes



Learners‟ Role : Try to produce more words.

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Certain prefixes have been introduced to the class (Example: ultra, super, ill, un,

dis) and students have been asked to write as much as words using these prefixes.

Every correct word is noted and appreciated.

Observation

Students have performed well in this activity. It might be because, students

were well aware of these kind practices. Students have written many words stating

the given prefixes. Some students do not know that prefix can be used only with the root.

Out of 60 students 35 students have done very good, 15 good, 10 students average level.


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Think About Your Favorite Tourist Spot


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to recollect vocabulary


Time : 30 Minutes

Preparation : Recollection of experience of visiting the tourist

spot and think about related words

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may motivate the students

Learners‟ Role : Try to give as much as words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been asked to think about the tourist spots they have visited and

have been asked to recall the words and prepare a list of words related to the tourist spot.

One team has their list of words in other teams have to find out the name of the tourist

spot by associating the given words. Students enjoyed this activity because everyone

had a cherishing memory about the tourist spots they had visited so they wrote more

words.

Observation

If the learning is comfortable, the output will be very good. When this activity

has been introduced in the class invariably, it has enthralled everyone. It is quite

known that tourist spots always leave cherishing memory that can be chewed for a


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lifetime. When students are asked about the tourist spot that they have loved most, they

have described their favorite tourist spot enthusiastically. Some students are unable to

find the words to express their real feeling so then and there they have used their

mother tongue words to express their original feeling. All the students have participated

more interestingly in this activity. None as been performed badly in this activity in

terms of participation but everyone is not proficient enough to describe the tourist spot

due to lack of vocabulary. At the outset this activity has drawn a very good response.

Among 60 students 30 students performed well, 20 average level and 10 students are

poor.

Semantic Mapping

Type of Activity : Pair Activity

Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to recollect vocabulary


Time : 30 Minutes

Preparation : Learners have to recollect related words

Teachers‟ Role : Teacher may motivate the students

Learners‟ Role : Try to give as many as words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

Students have been divided into pairs, a word has been given to them, and they

have been asked to write down as many words, phrases related to the word.


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Observation

Students have found the activity useful and are able to write many words. This

activity has boosted their confidence and they have found hard to believe that they

have known many words but are unable to put into use. This activity helped them to

recall the words as well as enhance their memory power. They are able to write

minimum of 19 words for the given word. 45 students out of 60 have done extremely

well, 10 average and 5 poor.

5.7.4: English Words in Mother Tongue


Purpose of the Activity : Enabling students to identify English words in their

mother tongue


Time : 30 Minutes



Learners‟ Role : Identify more words

Setting : Classroom

Procedure

The class has been divided into 10 members each and they have been asked

to come with the list of English words used in their mother tongue. This activity has made the

students to understand how English vocabulary mixed with their mother tongue.


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Observation

Students have produced more words than expected. There is a lengthy

discussion in all the teams; every member has participated well in this activity. They

have brought many words. They are surprised to note that there are lots of English

words in their mother tongue. All the teams performed well in this activity. Out of 6

teams 4 teams were very good 2 teams performed good.

5. 8 Pre Test and Post Test Comparison

Figure 5.1

Pre Test and Post Test Comparison of Receptive Vocabulary

It is quite clear from the Figure 5.1 that students‟ performance has improved in

the post-test. Students‟ vocabulary in the 2000 level pre-test mean is 22.6 and the post-

test mean is 24 the improvement mean was 1.5. In the 3000, level pretest mean is 19.5

and the post-test mean is 21 and the difference is 1.5. In the 5000 word level pre-test

mean was 16.4 and the post-test mean 17 and the difference is 0.4. In the UWL the


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pre-test mean is 19.5 and the post-test mean is 21 and the difference is 1.5. In the

10000 word level there is no improvement. The overall mean is improved from 17.46 to

18.46.

Inferences

Students vocabulary has improved considerably in 2000, 3000, and University

Vocabulary Level, a little improvement in 5000 level and no improvement in 10000

level. It is evident from the analysis that students‟ high frequency words have improved

due to the activities. In the low frequency level, 5000 word level has very minimum and

10000 word level no improvement at all. It is mainly because activities will not deal

much about low frequency words, therefore there is no possibility of improvement in this

level. However, it is really encouraging to note that activities can help the students to

improve the high frequency words.

Figure 5.2

Pre Test and Post Test Comparison of Productive Vocabulary


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As we have seen in Receptive Vocabulary pre-test and post-test comparison,

in the Productive Level Vocabulary pre-test and post-test comparison shows the

improvement. The pre-test mean score in 2000 level is 13.5 and the post -test mean is

15 thus the improvement mean is 1.5. In the 3000 level, pretest mean is 9.6 and the post-

test mean is 11 and the difference is 1.4. In the UWL the pre -test mean is 8.1 and the

post- test mean is 10 and the difference is 1.6. In the 5000 and 10000 word

level there is no improvement. The overall mean is improved from 7.88 to 8.84.

Inferences

As in RVT, here also students‟ vocabulary have improved considerably in

2000, 3000, and University Vocabulary Level. In the receptive vocabulary, there

is a little improvement in 5000 level but in the productive vocabulary there is no

improvement. There is no improvement in 10000 level as mentioned in receptive

vocabulary level. We can infer from the analysis that students‟ high frequency words

have improved due to the activities. In the low frequency level, 5000 word level

there is very minimum improvement and 10000 word level no improvement at all.

Less. possibility of dealing low frequency words in the activities is the sole reason for

this performance. Therefore, there is no possibility of improvement in this level.

However, it is really motivating to note that activities can help the students to improve

the high frequency words. As Nation (1998) says that a minimum of 2000 to 3000

words are sufficient to understand the 90% of communication. Activities can be utilized

to teach high frequency English words to the students.


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5.9 Students‟ Feedback About the Activities

On the whole, students are very positive in their feedback and they have told

that they liked these type of teaching only. One student said that he never slept in these

classes and he is very eager to participate in all the activities since it provided

practical learning techniques. All the students wanted to have their classes as activity

based classes. They are very happy to expose themselves in all sorts of activities and

they realized considerably great improvement in their vocabulary. Some students felt that

though it has not completely helped them to develop their vocabulary, to some extend all

these activities helped them to improve their vocabulary.

5.10 Chapter Summary

This Chapter has dealt about the various activities which have been employed by

the researchers to improve the students vocabulary. The Chapter has started with

background of TBLT and then talked about various activities. A t t h e e nd of each

activity, researcher‟s observation have been recorded. The last portion of the Chapter

has presented about the pretest and posttest comparison. It has found that students‟

vocabulary has improved in both receptive and productive vocabulary in 2000, 3000,

5000, AWL and UWL levels.


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