Ahmad Jazuly English

Article Title

Technology and Change in English Language Teaching (ELT)

Author
Huw Jarvis

Biography:
Huw has over 20 years' experience of working as an EFL\ESL practitioner, teacher trainer and researcher. He is widely published in a number of leading peer-reviewed journals including: Journal of English for Academic Purposes, ReCALL and The British Journal of Education Technology and has been a featured speaker at several international conferences. He is a member of the Higher Education Research Centre at the University of Salford and a member of the editorial board of the Asian EFL Journal.

Key words: computer mediated communication (CMC), computers are impacting upon change in ELT

Abstract
This paper examines the ways in which computers are impacting upon change in ELT and argues that Asian countries are, in a sense, at the heart of this. The paper reviews and further develops a shorter forthcoming colloquium article in The British Journal of Education Technology and begins by linking the growth of English to the growth and widespread availability of computers. It briefly examines the ways in which computers have historically contributed to ELT with both pedagogical applications and by helping us understand the nature of the language; however, it is suggested that the Internet, and the resulting computer mediated communication (CMC), has now gone way beyond this to change the language itself. The implications of such change are then discussed from two perspectives. Firstly, for ELT's long established notions of English as a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL); here it is suggested that we need to shift towards a more appropriate view of English as an international or global language (EIL/EGL). Secondly, the paper considers the implications for language teaching pedagogy and argues for a shift away from traditional notions of curriculum and syllabus towards task-based approaches.

1. The growth of ELT
English Language Teaching (ELT) has been with us for many years and its significance continues to grow, fuelled, partially at least, by the Internet. Graddol's study (2000) suggests that in the year 2000 there were about a billion English learners - but a decade later, the numbers will have doubled. The forecast points to a surge in English learning, which could peak in 2010. The same study indicates that over 80% of information stored on the Internet is in English. For the first time in history there are more non-native than native users of the language and diversity of context in terms of learners' age, nationality, learning background etcetera has become a defining characteristic of ELT today. What are the implications of this? (Jarvis, forthcoming).

Technological innovations have gone hand-in-hand with the growth of English and are changing the way in which we communicate, work, trade, entertain and learn and it is non-native users of English, frequently from Asian countries, who are arguably, at the heart of this. It is fair to assert that the growth of the Internet has facilitated the growth of the English language and that this has occurred at a time when computers are no longer the exclusive domain of the dedicated few, but rather widely available to many. Warchauer (2002) has discussed this change in terms of conflicts between local identities and the globalisation of the English language; whilst Jarvis and Atsilarat (2004), in this journal, have suggested that the Internet may be a contributory factor in shifting away from a communicative towards a context-based approach to language teaching pedagogy. The notion of widespread availability requires some qualification as there are clearly important issues of a 'digital divide' and 'electronic literacy'. This issue is frequently presented as being between nations and it is clearly the case that the most powerful economies dominate Internet activity; but such a perspective explains unequal power relations purely from the influence of external factors and the picture is surely more complex than this. The same type of economic power relations also exist within nations, and divisions of social classes within are equally important here. In short, it is the middle and upper classes in virtually every country who have much greater access to computers and, significantly for this paper, it is the Asian countries which are experiencing massive growth as their economies develop and change.

Change of this magnitude clearly raises a number of issues for ELT and, it is argued, necessitates a revision of traditional definitions of what constitutes the English language as well as a move away from the established EFL\ESL classifications and towards a less culturally loaded view of English as a global or international language (EIL/EIL). This in turn has implications for language pedagogy and approaches to syllabus design.

2. Computers in ELT
To fully understand the impact that computers are currently having on ELT it is firstly necessary to step back and consider their how their role has developed.

2.1 Pre-Internet
In pre-Internet days computers in ELT could be viewed from one of two perspectives. Firstly, computer assisted language learning (CALL) developed and concerned itself with the pedagogical applications of the technology. Students used the computer to develop and practise their English. CALL is, of course, still with us today but in pre-Internet times rather limited text-based provisions were something of a novelty for both students and enthusiastic practitioners; this novelty factor has, of course, long since gone for many who use computers as part of their day-to-day life. A second perspective was in the use of computers for assisting and understanding of what constitutes the English language and how it works. Corpus linguistics and the arrival of lexis as an item to be included within the syllabus began in the 1980s with Sinclair (1987) and others, and work of this type continues today.

This statistical analysis of language, initially analysis of written language, but more recently spoken language, has allowed us to examine the frequency of words and this has informed the profession from several perspectives. It has given us insights into the most useful vocabulary to teach and facilitated the emergence of the lexical syllabus. It has also allowed us to look at form-based words and this has given us insights into the grammar that we teach. One positive outcome from all this has been the arrival of a range of publications for teachers and students - such material can now be based on how the language is actually used rather than what the traditional grammar book prescribes. The work of Biber et al. (1999) is particularly useful; they found, for example that the modal verb 'may' is hardly ever used in spoken language for permission! For students, resource publications such as McCarthy and O'Dell (1994) provide good practice of such real language.

We can see that computers have had a role in pedagogical practice and in analysing language - both these aspects have further developed with the arrival of the Internet but the point here is that in pre-Internet days the role of the computer did not fundamentally influence the language itself and it is only with the arrival of the Internet (and related technologies such as text-messaging on mobile phones) that computers began to significantly change language.

2.2 The Internet and a changing language
The Internet (of which CMC forms a major aspect) is changing the language partly because it gives rise to new vocabulary, but more importantly because the medium and its users drive the language in certain directions (Crystal, 2001). The following verbs are just one illustration of the influences on vocabulary, they all either meant different things, or did not exist, only a few year ago; to … email, text, boot, chat, surf, bookmark, e-shop, google, etcetera. More fundamentally, the Internet is changing language, a 'Netspeak' and a 'Netiquette' is emerging, the former refers to a language variant, the latter to the conventions which surround its use. This changing language is rapidly evolving and does not have a long history to inform syllabus designers and ELT practitioners. Emails do not have, and arguably do not need, to follow punctuation conventions. Typos and spelling mistakes are also, depending on context, more acceptable with this medium.

To what extent should we allow this to influence the language content of emails in our teaching? Furthermore, synchronous emails, those in real time chat forums (e.g. MSN), are a kind of unique text version of spoken English and the language generated from this, along with text messaging on mobile phones, is at times completely different to anything else that we have hitherto known. I had the fortune, or perhaps misfortune, of picking up my daughter's mobile the other day and I read some of the messages which seem to occupy so much of her time. That the content of these messages were of little substance came as no surprise, but the ways in which English was being used was revealing. As my daughter explained these incomprehensible texts and smileys to me (e.g. "c u l8r m8" for "see you later mate" and o-:) for the user being an angel), I felt as though I needed to go back to a foreign language classroom again. Except of course on this occasion it wasn't a foreign language, it was a variety of English, a 'Netspeak', from which I had previously been excluded. On a different occasion I was chatting to a Thai colleague on MSN and "555" was typed to mean "ha ha ha" (laughter) - the word five translates as "ha" in Thai!

The Internet, as these simple examples show, is clearly impacting upon the ways in which we use language and what constitutes language. And this rapid and largely uncharted evolution of language is surely set to continue unabated - like it or loathe it we all, especially as language teachers, have to come to terms with it. Should we include Netspeak and Netiquette in our classroom practice? Can we avoid not including it? (Jarvis, forthcoming).

Within a traditional approach to syllabus design we arguably need to plot these new items of language and include them in our programmes, but as we will see later, I shall argue here this in a sense futile and it will be more useful to specify a series of tasks for our learners and allow them to generate whatever appropriate language is required in order to successfully complete such tasks. But before we come to these implications for pedagogical practice, let us firstly explore the potential impact of change on our well-established notions of EFL and ESL.

3. Implications

3.1 From EFL/ESL to EIL/GL
A few years ago the long-established UK-based newspaper of the profession the EFL Gazette changed its name to the EL Gazette. In due course I would fully expect this journal to follow suit and drop the F in EFL! Why is this and in what ways might the Internet be contributing to such changes? To answer this question it would be helpful to firstly clarify what is meant by EFL and ESL. Jarvis (forthcoming) notes that, "These terms are used to describe learners and users whose native language is not English. It is a foreign language if used by non-native speakers in a non-native English-speaking country which has not adopted it as the "official" language of that country." By official I refer here to the language of government and commerce. Asian countries here would include Japan, Korea, Thailand, China and many more. Jarvis continues, "It is also a foreign language when used by a non-native speaker who is a temporary visitor to a native English-speaking country." Asian students studying in the UK, Australia or the USA would fall into this category. "It is a second language if used by a non-native speaker who migrates to a native English-speaking country." The Chinese community who have settled in the UK, Australia or the USA would be an example of this group. "It is also a second language if used by a non-native speaker where it has been adopted as the official language in their country." In Asia, Indian or Pakistani users of English would fall into such a category.

These definitions have been with the language teaching profession for half a century. However, they carry with them connotations that the language does not actually belong to the users; it is foreign (alien), or it is second (not first) - this despite the fact that today these users are now a majority. A case can be made (Phillipson, 1992) that these connotations are contributory factors in the manifestation of a linguistic imperialism. Certainly there is an implied uneven power relationship which centres on ownership. Furthermore, and of critical importance for the arguments presented here, these definitions tend to be based around the notion of learners and users in physical spaces, a notion which is very much undermined by the virtual world of the Internet. The work of Crystal (2003), McKay (2002), Burns and Coffin (2001) and others, echo a view that today it is more useful to think in terms of English as an international or global language. This new majority being non-native users has, as we have seen, been considerably facilitated by the Internet, and, it is argued, the English language today belongs just as much to this new majority as it does to the now minority native users. (Jarvis, forthcoming).

It is in this sense that it is not a foreign or second language because it is their language too - it "belongs" to all users. Every minute, hour, day, week, month and year there are millions of users of English across the Asian region and beyond; more often than not the medium for such users is the Internet. When somebody from Korea, China, or Thailand communicates with A.N. Other from Japan, Malaysia or Indonesia they are likely to do so in English and they are likely to do so primarily via the Internet. These people may well meet in person but a great deal of any communication is computer-mediated and they will use a variety of language appropriate to the medium. Given this situation, our challenge, it seems to me, is to promote a pedagogy which reflects what users are actually doing with language, rather than prescribing items to be taught. I would echo Phan Le Ha's (2005) call in this journal for a pedagogy "… in which the teaching and learning of EIL should involve valuing and nurturing the expression of other cultural voices in English… and helping learners to construct identities as owners, users, meaning makers and authorised users…"(p.43). I would suggest a task-based approach is the most appropriate framework from which to address such challenges and it is to this which we now turn.

3.2 Towards a task-based approach
Typically, a traditional ELT syllabus lists learning items in terms of structures, functions, notions and vocabulary which are then set in situations and which usually integrate a variety of skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). This dominant approach has been characterised as product-orientated because it focuses on what is to be learnt or on products (White, 1988). The problem with this approach, as Nunan (1988) has pointed out, is that input cannot be equated with output and that teaching cannot be equated with learning. In short, what the teacher teaches is not what the learner learns. It is a problem which is compounded within our proposed EIL framework.

Nunn (2005) has argued that linguistic, communicative and other kinds of competences have not been adequately addressed in relation to EIL and goes on to argue that "… international communication seems to require the ability to adjust to almost infinitely diverse intercultural communication situations" (pp. 61-62). An alternative approach can be characterised as process-orientated because it focuses not on items to be taught and learned, but on what the learner does with the language. A task-based approach is very much process-orientated because it focuses on "learning through doing" i.e. on tasks. Tasks mean different things to different people and the work of Ellis (2003) has been particularly helpful in documenting and discussing these issues. For our purposes it is useful to distinguish between pedagogic and authentic tasks. In the case of the former, students are asked to do things which are unlikely to occur outside the classroom, information gap activities or ordering scrambled sentences are examples of these. With authentic tasks students are asked to complete activities which are likely to be carried out in real life once the student has left the classroom. Working with a map to ask a classmate for directions, or listening for a departure time and gate number for a specific flight, would be examples of this. The example discussed below can be viewed as authentic, given certain assumptions about the learners. But let us firstly address a reservation by some to adopting a task-based approach.

A primary objection to task-based approaches is that they are considered unworkable and removed from every-day teaching and learning contexts. It is an argument which I have never really accepted because the approach can be implemented at various levels - it is really about encouraging learners to do useful, interesting and meaningful activities with language and this can be applied in a range of contexts. Indeed, the various levels at which task-based approaches can be delivered (even within a traditional structural syllabus) and a variety of case studies exploring how to do so is discussed in an excellent edited publication by Breen and Littlejohn (2000). This work goes a considerable way to addressing these objections. However, once computers are introduced into the ELT curriculum, and our discussion to date touches upon the case for doing so, then task-based approaches become arguably the only way to effectively take into account the changes in language that we have identified and to shift to an EIL/EGL perspective.

We have already noted the issue of the digital divide and I am addressing the discussion here at those practitioners who, along with their students, have regular access to networked computers in their teaching context. It would be undesirable and arguably quite impossible to list the variety of language generated by CMC and/or posted on web pages. It is, as we have noted, rapidly changing, subject to trend and fashion and varies in different contexts. This makes product-based approaches virtually impossible; in contrast, as we will see, task-based approaches represent a perfect match! It is very easy to devise simple, achievable tasks which encourage students to use email to communicate with each other, their tutors and the wider world; likewise it is not difficult to find useful meaningful ways in which students access and even post information on the web. The needs of the learners and the contexts in which they work will ultimately determine the most appropriate tasks.

Jarvis (2004, 2003, 2001) for example provides extensive accounts of how such ideas can be realised with English for Academic Purposes students. Similar ideas can be utilised with general English students, they might for example be asked to prepare a travel itinerary for a visitor to their country, province or city. This could involve accessing web sites to note and decide upon the best places to visit, using the web and email to arrange flight bookings to and from the city, negotiating amongst themselves (via email) on the best options etcetera. There must be literally hundreds of task-based activities of this type across the globe which involve students using computers to access information and to communicate with others. The task is specified and students generate appropriate language, with help as required. Success is measured by the extent to which the task is successfully completed and the language is viewed as the tool to achieve the ends; it is not prescribed. The learners are viewed as working with tools which belong to them as much as to anyone else.

4. Conclusions
Several key threads emerge from our discussions. Computers are, on the one hand, impacting on the way in which we define our subject matter (EFL/ESL vs. EIL/EGL) and, on the other hand, are also impacting upon the English language, upon the subject matter itself. This new age would seem to go hand in hand with task-based approaches and represents challenges for everyone involved in ELT. For practitioners, applied linguists and educators there is a changed dynamic in which computers have now become much more than a tool or a tutor for developing language skills. This traditional distinction (Levy, 1997) would no longer seem adequate. Warschauer and Healey (1998) have observed that it is now less a question of the role of computers in the language classroom and more a question of the role of the language classroom in an information technology society.

Language teaching education is clearly entering a new and largely uncharted phase and we would seem to be at a crossroads. Warchauer and Kern (2000) have identified this as a "sociocognitive phase" where, unlike in previous phases, students interact with each other and the world via the computer. A great deal of work has focused on the value of computers in learning or second language acquisition (see for example Cameron, 1999; Chambers and Davies, 2001; Chapelle, 2000; Debski and Levy, 1999; Egbert and Hanson-Smith, 1999; Zhao, 2003) but rather less, beyond resource publications (Dudeney, 2000; Sperling, 1998; Teeler, 2000; Windeatt et. al. 2000), on the implications of the content of teaching itself, i.e. the syllabus. Even less consideration seems to have been given to how we see, define or classify our learners.

We have argued that a task-based syllabus offers a way forward and practitioners will need to reflect upon what is achievable within their own contexts. In addressing these challenges we will clearly need to develop a sense in which English belongs to the students and their fellow countrymen and women just as much as anyone else and to do this we will need to avoid classifying the vast majority of users as "foreign" or "second" language learners. ELT would seem to be at a crossroads and it is heartening to see that much of the momentum for change is coming from, and driven by, practitioners and students from the Asian nations and from journals such as this one. We live in interesting times and colleagues are invited to contact me if they are interested in setting up joint-research projects to investigate and further explore such issues.

References

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Article Title

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH GAMES

The Effectiveness of Learning Vocabulary Through Games

Author

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen
Khuat Thi Thu Nga

Abstract
Vietnamese students usually feel bored in vocabulary lessons because they have not changed their learning habits, such as writing words on paper, trying to learn by heart or learning passively through the teacher's explanations. To help students find language classes, especially vocabulary lessons more interesting, and to achieve more from games, we conducted action research to find the answer to the question, "Do games help students learn vocabulary effectively, and if so, how?" Most academic reviews start from an assumption that games, bundled with other aspects of learning, e.g., CALL, are beneficial. However we singled out the component of games to study that in isolation. After reviewing academic opinions on this specifically focussed matter, of which there are relatively few, we began action research which included applying games in our own classes, observing other teachers' classes, and interviewing both teachers and learners so as to elicit students' reactions, feelings and the effectiveness of games in vocabulary learning. The research shows they are effective in helping students to improve their vocabulary building skills.

1.0 Introduction

Problem
In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. It is one element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together. In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately.
Even though students realize the importance of vocabulary when learning language, most Vietnamese students learn vocabulary passively due to several factors. First, they consider the teacher's explanation for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions boring. In this case scenario, language learners have nothing to do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher. Second, students only think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words.

Therefore, they ignore all other functions of the words. Third, students usually only acquire new vocabulary through new words in their textbooks or when given by teachers during classroom lessons. For example, learners find many new words in a text and then ask the teacher to explain the meanings and usage's. Forth, many Vietnamese learners do not want to take risks in applying what they have learnt. Students may recognize a word in a written or spoken form and think that they already "know the word", but they may not be able to use that word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly.

In recent years, communicative language teaching (CLT) has been applied in Vietnam and from our own experience, it has shown its effectiveness in teaching and learning language. CLT is an approach that helps students be more active in real life situations through the means of individual, pair and group work activities. It encourages students to practice the language they learn in meaningful ways. In a CLT classroom, playing vocabulary games is one of the activities which requires students to actively communicate with their classmates, using their own language. Thus the question we began to examine is, "Do games help students learn vocabulary effectively and if so, how?"

Literature review
Learners of English have to deal with unfamiliar vocabulary during their language acquisition. In order to learn and retain new words, learners should participate in different task-based activities in their classroom whether it is a guessing task, a describing exercise or conversation making. Such activities also include vocabulary games which especially focus on helping learners develop and use words in different contexts by making the lessons enjoyable. Therefore, it is necessary to explore whether students learn vocabulary effectively through games and how they learn it.

Traditionally, vocabulary has not been a particular subject for students to learn, but has been taught within lessons of speaking, listening, reading and writing. During the lesson, students use their own vocabulary and are introduced to new words provided by the teacher and classmates which they apply to classroom activities. For many learners of English, whenever they think of vocabulary, they think of learning a list of new words with meanings in their native language without any real context practice. A number of learners may share the same experience of looking up words in a bilingual dictionary to find their meanings or definitions when they encounter new words. They may even write down lines of new words without any idea of the real use of them in context. Working this way, after a short period of time, many learners may find out that learning vocabulary in lists does not satisfy themselves, and they think the cause for it is just their bad memorization, Gnoinska (1998:12). Research and publications have shown that this is not a very effective way to study. Decarrico (2001) states that words should not be learnt separately or by memorization without understanding. Moreover, "learning new words is a cumulative process, with words enriched and established as they are met again", Nation (2000, p.6). Therefore, the "look and remember" way of vocabulary learning seems to be not very effective for learners of the English language.

Furthermore, some other students may require teachers to give meaning and grammatical function for words that they are not familiar. Learners just wait for teachers who control the lesson to provide new forms of words then they write those words in their notebooks or complete their exercises. They may use words they learn in the exact formats as the original patterns in which those words appeared. This kind of rote verbal memorization is good to a certain extent since it helps learners learn and use the correct form of words. However, according to Decarrico (2001), the vocabulary used in such context is rather simple because grammatical and phonologic aspects are emphasized; and as a result, the lexical aspect is neglected. In other words, learners just know how to use the vocabulary in an exact form, but they do not know how to use it with different shades of meanings in real life communication.

Unlike the traditional method of learning and teaching, in a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach, learners are required to take part in a number of meaningful activities with different tasks. This is to improve learners' communicative competence by encouraging them to be a part of the lessons themselves. Newton (2001) refers to this approach as a way that can enable learners to manage their vocabulary meaning and develop their communicative skills at the same time. Many experts of language teaching methodology also agree that playing games is a good way to learn vocabulary, especially in CLT class. With the use of games, the teacher can create various contexts in which students have to use the language to communicate, exchange information and express their own opinions (Wright, Betteridge and Buckby, 1984). Huang (1996: 1) comes to a conclusion that "learning through games could encourage the operation of certain psychological and intellectual factors which could facilitate communication heightened self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, reinforcing learning, improving intonation and building confidence."

Some experts have also figured out characteristics of games that make vocabulary learning more effectively. Lee (1995:35) lists several main advantages when games are used in the classroom, including "a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class", "motivating and challenging" "effort of learning", and "language practice in the various skills." Ersoz (2000) holds that games are highly appreciated thanks to their amusement and interest. Teachers can use games to help their students practice more their skills of communication. In addition, Uberman (1998) also affirms the helpful role of games in vocabulary teaching after quoting and analyzing different opinions of experts. From her own teaching experiences, Uberman observed the enthusiasm of her students in learning through games. She considers games a way to help students not only enjoy and entertain with the language they learn, but also practice it incidentally.
In summary, games are useful and effective tools that should be applied in vocabulary classes. The use of vocabulary is a way to make the lessons more interesting, enjoyable and effective.

Method
To assess the effectiveness of learning vocabulary through games in the classroom, we want to know how students' experiences help with their learning and what progress they gain. Specifically, can we apply games as an effective means to make students feel more comfortable and interested in learning the subject of vocabulary, which, in Vietnam, is usually believed to be boring rather than enjoyable?

To achieve our goal, we focused on the perception and attitudes of our students as well as what students gained through their learning with vocabulary games. The plan involved conducting different kinds of games in our lessons so that we could see how students reacted to this method of learning vocabulary. We also wanted to find if there were any problems that occurred during the process of teaching. In addition, in line with research methodology and principles (Robertson, 2002) it was necessary to enrich our perspectives by observing some experienced teachers' classes at HUFS, reviewing other teachers' lesson plans for games and interviewing some teachers and students as well.

Over a period of two weeks we tried to apply as many games as possible in our classes at the Distance Education Center (DEC) to learn from learners' reactions whether they liked games or not and if games could help improve their existing vocabulary. Another way for us to gather data was to interview our learners at DEC orally so that we were able to better understand their expectations, problems and progress in their process of learning vocabulary. In addition, we observed the classes of CLT teachers at HUFS, and reflected back in our journals. We also conducted a small post-class survey to elicit student's feelings and their own experiences in learning vocabulary. A simple questionnaire was designed beforehand to help students understand clearly the purpose of the survey. Furthermore, experienced teachers also helped us work out different ways of conducting effective vocabulary games by their lesson plans, handouts for games and their helpful advice. Further triangulation involved interviewing a student who had conducted similar research one year prior.

Results
After collecting data by observing CLT teachers' classes, interviewing teachers and students, and from our reflections of applying games in the classes we are teaching, we have come to some findings that will be helpful for teaching and learning vocabulary. The results will be displayed in three subsections, (i) students' expectations and attitudes, (ii) students' progress and iii) unanticipated problems.

i. Students' expectations and attitudes
When being asked about the way of learning English vocabulary, most students in our classes at the Distance Education Center said they just copied new words provided by teachers or looked up words in the dictionary. Many of them marked or underlined words they did not know in their textbooks and noted the meaning in Vietnamese. Some students noted the time they had to copy lines and lines of new words in their notebooks which were forgotten soon. "It was so boring. I hated learning new words that way!". Sometimes, students asked many questions regarding learning vocabulary like "Teacher, how can I remember words and their meanings quickly and for a long time?", "How can I use words properly in different contexts?", "Can you tell me an easy and simple way to retain the vocabulary that I have learnt?" etc. (Khuat, Teaching journal, March, 2003). All of the learners expressed their wish to learn vocabulary effectively in more interesting ways than the traditional ways that they knew. What we wanted to know was whether vocabulary games worked or not.

Most of the learners (17 out of 20) were willing to join our games in groups and they tried their best to be the winners. The students especially liked such games as "Hangman" (guessing words that belong to the topic of jobs), animal squares (words puzzle) and advertisement poster competition (making an advertisement for a travel tour). Students collaborated quite actively in games that required group work, even the quiet students. They said that they liked the relaxed atmosphere, the competitiveness and the motivation that games brought to the classroom. This is because students have a chance to "use their imagination and creativity" during activities like games in the classroom; therefore they are motivated to learn, Domke (1991).

However, there were usually one or two students who seemed to isolate themselves from the activities. When asked to join their classmates, some students were reluctant to move from their seats to play games with their groups, some others just said they simply did not like to play the games. Nevertheless, 17 among 20 students expressed their satisfaction after the games and many of them wanted to play more as they said those games were fun and they found games helpful for their learning. In general, it was encouraging for us to know that most of our students showed pleasant feelings and positive attitudes towards learning vocabulary through games.

Moreover, we observed four lessons which applied games in providing and retaining students' vocabulary by two CLT teachers at HUFS. In two different classes, we watched the game-like activity called "Selling and Buying Things (in which 10 students were shopkeepers selling fruits and food to the rest of the class. The shopkeepers had to sell all food they had and the shoppers had to buy all food they needed in the shortest time) in two different classes, and we observed the same students' reaction in both classes. Before the game started, the teachers tried to explain the game' rules to students and gave some examples. Once students understood the rules, they quickly rearranged their seats and grouped as instructed. The classes became as noisy as a real market. Students tried to use as many phrases and words they had learnt as possible. Thus, through this kind of activity students may be able to remember their vocabulary better.

We had a second opportunity to observe a class again. This time, the teacher used a game called "Snakes and Ladders". Students worked in groups of five and everyone went from the start and tried to reach the finish as soon as possible by answering correctly to questions which were prepared by the teacher. After observing the game, we gave a small survey to 20 students with some questions about their feelings toward the game like; "Do you think this game is useful for you to remember words you have learnt?" and, "How can your classmates help you learn through the game ?"... From this survey, we learnt that all 20 students agreed that games help them a lot in vocabulary learning. Among them, 12 students said that said that they could answer well two-thirds of questions in the game; and only one student could always respond to all questions.

ii. Students' progress
Although our games were short activities and were applied to create a relaxed, pleasant learning atmosphere in the classrooms, we wanted games to be more than just fun. Games should also promote learning and teach students vocabulary as well. Therefore, it was important to know if our students made any progress in learning vocabulary through games. However, the action research was conducted in a limited time of two weeks, and it was hard to assess what our students had achieved because vocabulary learning is a cumulative process.

However, students in our classes are gradually progressing in English vocabulary and games help them to learn new words and phrases that appear in the games and to recall their existing vocabulary at the same time. Generally, teachers can use the first part of a lesson, warm-up activity, for checking what students remember about the previous lesson or how many words of the topic they have. For example, a CLT teacher at HUFS, conducted the game "Simon Says" to examine students' vocabulary of parts of body. In the same way, we chose the game "Hangman" with the topic of jobs to check students' memory of the vocabulary introduced in previous lessons. Our students got eleven correct answers out of twelve job cards which were passed out.

Many students were really quick at answering and their answers were all accurate; others could not guess, but they could learn from their friends' answers. Another example is the advertisement poster game. This is a game to check the students' understanding of the reading exercise about holiday tours in the U.S.A. and to see if students can use similar vocabulary and structures to create a short piece of advertising for an interesting place. Students worked in four groups and all groups in the class produced quite nice, funny posters with short sentences using vocabulary of tourism and advertising. The classroom atmosphere was exciting as students discussed and chose the best poster of the class. In addition, our students revealed that games were very useful for them to enrich their vocabulary because they could learn from their classmates.

Regarding the effectiveness of games, interviewed teachers reported that their students seemed to learn new vocabulary more quickly and retain it better when it was applied in a relaxed and comfortable environment such as while playing games. In the same way, Giang, a junior student at HUFS that we interviewed also shared that she could remember new words more quickly and also for a long time when she learnt them through games.

Through our post-game survey of one teacher's class, all students confirmed that their classmates helped them to remember words for the games. 16 out of 20 students said they could learn lots of new words from their classmates. Also, 18 questioned students said that games are one of the most effective ways of learning vocabulary. Most students agreed that their use of vocabulary was becoming better since they actively joined games.

iii. Unanticipated problems
At first, we hypothesized that if vocabulary learning became more active with activities like games, students would not face any difficulties. However, journal reflections from our own experience, observations of other teachers' classes and interviews reveal that sometimes games create problems for both students and teachers.

Games cannot be successful if the teacher does not explain the tasks and roles of students clearly in playing games. An American teacher working at HUFS once told us that sometimes she failed to make her students understand the games' rules. Her students felt embarrassed because they did not know how the games went and what procedures they had to follow. Fortunately, some of her students were able to find out what they had to do in the games and re-explained to their classmates. Since then, the games went smoothly.

Using games in the classroom sometimes fails due to the lack of cooperation among members of the class. Games require all students' involvement and they promote friendly competition, therefore, it is very important that students have a cooperative attitude. One attempt to conduct the game "Marvelous Cone Hat" (the Vietnamese television version of the American "Wheel of Fortune") in a class at the Distance Education Center was not successful. "I divided my students into three groups, each group was a team. While members of two groups were enthusiastic to join with others to win the game, members of the third group did not cooperate with each other. As a result, the third group lost the game." (Nguyen, Teaching journal, November, 2002)

Another issue related to using games for language teaching is while playing games, students usually speak in their mother tongue to discuss instead of the language they are learning. From our own experience and HUFS teachers' comments, it is hard to control the use of first language (L1) in classrooms when we use games as a tool to have students practice more their communicative skills in a foreign language. One unavoidable thing in utilizing games in English classrooms is that students, especially those who speak the same language, prefer using their first language to English. Even advanced students in our classes at the Distance Education Center still discussed with each other in L1. Note Dash (2002) suggests this approach must be allowed.

Conclusion
In Vietnam, learning vocabulary has been considered a boring subject for a long time and the traditional way of learning vocabulary by mere copying and remembering has shown to be less than effective. Meanwhile, games are also seen as a time-filling activity in most English classrooms. It is believed that games are just for fun and they have very little effect in teaching and learning. However, our research reveals that games contribute to vocabulary learning if they give students a chance to learn, practice and to review the English language in a pleasant atmosphere. From the research, we found that students are demanding a new way of teaching vocabulary, and they themselves are in search of a new way of learning this subject as well.

Under such circumstances, games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways. First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Second, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the learning activities. Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way.

Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account.

In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms. The results of this research suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence.

1. DEC, established by HUFs, is a center of English for learners who can either go to a class or learn from a distance. Students are admitted to take the DECs course, beginning at elementary level if they pass the entrance exam.