The Difficulties In Learning Vocabulary Faced By Students At Aies And Solutions

1. HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF FOOD INDUSTRY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
---------------
INTERNSHIP REPORT
THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING
VOCABULARY FACED BY STUDENTS AT AIES
AND SOLUTIONS
Student’s name: Le Pham Phu Vinh
Supervisor’s name: Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hien
HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

2. i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude by giving a special thanks to Ms. Pham Thi
Truong - The Director of American International school for giving me a great chance to
work at a reputable company. Besides, I also give a thank to Ms. Dang Thi My Cuc -
Manager of Educational Department, for helping and giving me lots of valuable advice,
comments, and encouragement throughout the whole process of the internship.
Next, the deepest thanks to the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Ho Chi Minh
City University of Food Industry for giving me the best environment to learn, to practice,
and to complete my internship report.
And the last but not least, I would like to thank Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hien for her
comments, clear instruction as well as guidance. It seems that I can not complete my
internship report without her valuable advice.

3. ii
COMMENTS OF THE COMPANY
Họ tên sinh viên: ........................................................................................................
Sinh ngày.........../......./............. Mã sinh viên:..........................................
Lớp:.................................................................................Khóa......................................
Đã thực tập tại đơn vị từ ngày ............./......./............. đến ngày.............../......../..........
Đánh giá quá trình thực tập tại đơn vị của sinh viên như sau:
STT Nội dung
Mức độ đánh giá
Ghi chú
Rất kém Kém Trung bình Tốt Rất tốt
1 Ý thức tổ chức kỷ luật
2 Kết quả thực tập
Nhận xét khác:
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
Xác nhận của cơ sở thực tập
(Ký tên, đóng dấu)

4. iii
COMMENTS OF THE SUPERVISOR
Intern Theme: The Difficulties In Learning Vocabulary Faced By Students At AIES
And Solutions
Student:................................................................................................................................
Student’s ID:........................................................................................................................
Class: ...................................................................................................................................
Comments: ..........................................................................................................................
.. ..........................................................................................................................
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INSTRUCTOR
NGUYEN THANH HIEN

5. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................i
COMMENTS OF THE COMPANY....................................................................................ii
COMMENTS OF THE SUPERVISOR ............................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: ............................................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES: .............................................................................................................vi
LIST OF FIGURES:............................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION OF AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
(AIES)...................................................................................................................................2
1.1 History of the company.............................................................................................2
1.1.1. Background Information...............................................................................2
1.1.2. List of campus.................................................................................................3
1.1.3. The development of AIES..............................................................................3
1.2 Organizational structure of the company...............................................................4
1.3. The program of AIES ..............................................................................................5
1.4 The mission of AIES .................................................................................................5
1.5 Services offered by AIES..........................................................................................6
1.6 Activities and Achievements ....................................................................................6
CHAPTER II: ACTUAL SITUATION OF LEARNING VOCABULARY OF
STUDENTS AT AIES .........................................................................................................9
2.1 Theoretical basis........................................................................................................9
2.1.1. The Definition of Vocabulary........................................................................9

6. v
2.1.2. The Importance of Vocabulary.....................................................................9
2.1.3. Strategies for learning Vocabulary ............................................................10
2.2 Teaching steps at AIES...........................................................................................11
2.3 Actual situation of learning vocabulary faced by students at AIES ..................12
2.3.1 A mini test..........................................................................................................12
2.3.2 Results................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER III: SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING
VOCABULARY OF STUDENTS AT AIES ....................................................................14
3.1 Innovation of teaching methodology.................................................................14
3.2 Applying Duolingo in teaching and learning vocabulary ...............................16
3.2.1 An overview about Duolingo.......................................................................16
3.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Duolingo..............................................17
3.2.3 The effectiveness of using Duolingo for learning vocabulary ..................17
CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................20
APPENDIXES....................................................................................................................vii
REFERENCES............................................................................................................... xviii
Bibliography................................................................................................................... xviii

7. vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS:
AIES: American Internatinal School
CEFR: Common European Framework for Reference
KET: Key English Test
PET: Preliminary English Test
IELTS: International English Language Testing System
DOET: Department of Education and Training
TPR: Total Physical Response
LIST OF TABLES:
Table 1: The AIES’s Program ..............................................................................................5
LIST OF FIGURES:
Figure 1: Organizational Structure of AIES.........................................................................4
Figure 2: Team building activities Figure 3: Sightseeing .........................7
Figure 4: Halloween Figure 5: Grammar Club ............................7
Figure 6: An Certificate from the DOET .............................................................................8
Figure 7: Ms. Pham Thi Truong – Representative of AIES received a certificate from the
DOET....................................................................................................................................8

8. 1
INTRODUCTION
An important thing about learning English is learning and mastering vocabulary. If
learners cannot master their vocabulary, they often have some difficulty to understand the
language and use it. Many researchers found that between vocabulary and grammar,
vocabulary is more important. Carter & McCarthy (2014) stated that a person who
masters vocabulary is a person who can use words and understand the meaning of them.
Vocabulary is an important part of English. It is the basis for the development of four
skills in English: Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing (UKEssays, 2016). In
learning English, learners need to know about vocabulary if they want to use it or express
their own ideas. Learners who lack vocabulary often have difficulty in learning English
and understand the meaning of words. Therefore, learners need to find a way to improve
their vocabulary.
Nowadays, students often have some difficulty in learning vocabulary. Students at
AIES is not an exception. Under the role of a teacher, it is easy for me to realize that
students at AIES in general, and my classes in particular have a big difficulty in learning
vocabulary. Besides, in the learning process, I have learned some precious knowledge
from my teachers in the field of teaching, so I decided to use my knowledge to help the
students in my classes and AIES overcome these difficulties. On the other hand, better
learning vocabulary can help students a lot in the process to achieve English as well as the
motivation to learn.

9. 2
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION OF AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
(AIES)
1.1 History of the company
1.1.1. Background Information
Company name: AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (AIES)
Address: 101/22 Dinh Bo Linh Street, Ward 26, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh
City
Logo:
Establish in April 2004
Tax code: 0305733770
Main business:
- Teaching English for students at all levels (Kids, young learners, adults)
- Revising for Cambridge test at all levels (Starters, Movers, Flyers, KET, PET)
- Revising for Informatics Certificate
- Supplying foreign teachers for schools in Ho Chi Minh city
Phone number: (028) 3511 3274 – (028) 3511 3275
Email: ngoainguquoctemy.aies@gmail.com
Website: www.ngoainguquoctemy.edu.vn

10. 3
1.1.2. List of campus
Head office: 101/16-22 Dinh Bo Linh Street, Ward 26, Binh Thanh District, HCMC.
Campus 1: 29 Lane 5, Hoang Huu Nam Street, Long Thanh My Ward. District 9,
HCMC.
Campus 2: 14 Phu Chau Street, Tam Phu Ward, Thu Duc District, HCMC.
Campus 3: 25A Street 8, Linh Xuan Ward, Thu Duc District, HCMC.
Campus 4: 16 Lane 9, Do Xuan Hop Street, Phuoc Binh Ward, District 9, HCMC.
Campus 5:1 Lane 5,Ho Bac Resident Area,Tan Kien commune, Binh Chanh
District, HCM.
Campus 6: C4/5 Bui Thanh Khiet, Tan Tuc Town, Binh Chanh District, HCMC.
1.1.3. The development of AIES
AIES was established in April, 2004.
In October 2008 AIES only has one campus located on 111A Dinh Bo Linh Street,
the number of students at that time is just 140 students. The number of employees: 3 (The
Board of Directors), 1 Director Assistant, 1 Graphic Designer, 2 Accountants, 18
Vietnamese teachers, 1 Foreign teacher, and 3 Ground Stewards. Do not have a uniform
and gifts for students. Do not have any candidates take part in the Cambridge test.
In October 2012: 1 campus with more than 1000 students. The number of
employees: 1 (The Board of Directors), 3 Academic Specialists, 3 Enrollment Specialists,
50 Vietnamese teachers, 8 Foreign teachers. Uniform for all students and gifts such as
backpack, raincoat, umbrella. At that time, AIES has more than 300 candidates take part
in the Cambridge test each year.
In October 2020: 1 Head office, 5 campuses. The number of students has increased
significantly and at the present, AIES has more than 5000 students. The number of
employees: 2 (The Board of Directors), 5 Academic Specialists, 5 Enrollment Specialists,
146 Vietnamese teachers, and 15 foreign teachers.

11. 4
1.2 Organizational structure of the company
Figure 1: Organizational Structure of AIES
At AIES, the Board of Directors is in charge of control all of the activities in the
company. The current director of AIES is Ms. Pham Thi Truong. With the help of the
vice-director – Mr. Le Quoc Anh, Ms. Pham Thi Truong takes a responsibility for
managing and guiding the staff at AIES. There are two main departments at AIES: The
academic department and The enrollment department. The academic manager deals with
problems related to teachers and students at AIES while the enrollment manager manages
full-time and part-time staffs
Director
Academic
Manager
Teachers (KID
level)
Teachers
(Young Learners)
Teachers
(IELTS,
Communication)
Enrollment
Manager
Full-time Staffs
Part-time Staffs
Vice-Director

12. 5
1.3. The program of AIES
AIES focuses on the field of teaching and training English for all ages from kids,
young learners to adults. There are eight levels in the educational program of AIES:
KINDERGARTEN Following the contents of
Vietnamese teachers, only
words, singing, dancing,
activities,…
CEFR
BASIC BEGIN 1, BEGIN 2
STARTERS S1-S5, STARTERS (1
COURSE)
PRE-A1
MOVERS M1-M4, MOVERS (1
COURES
A1
FLYERS F1-F4, FLYERS (1
COURSE)
A2
KET KET 1- KET 6, PP KET (2
COURSES)
A2
PET PET1- PET 6, PP PET (2
COURSES)
A2
IELTS IELTS 1-3 (3 COURSES) B1-B2
IELTS 4-6 (3 COURSES) C1-C2
Table 1: The AIES’s Program
1.4 The mission of AIES
AIES is a volunteer in innovating and creating strategies for teaching and learning
English in Ho Chi Minh city. AIES keeps going to approach the perfection of teaching
English for students, to equip them with useful and shiny tools in order to open their
vision and their knowledge.

13. 6
AIES focuses on the four following criteria: High quality in teaching, the course
must be fit and meet the need of learners, high-tech equipment and facilities, a safe and
useful learning environment. With the slogan “All the best for learners” AIES has
improved the teaching quality as well as the company’s reputation day by day.
1.5 Services offered by AIES
Teaching is one of the main activities at AIES. It provides teaching and training
services for students of all ages in Ho Chi Minh city. Besides, AIES with their partner
DTP (Dai Truong Phat Education Solutions Vietnam) – an independent organization, also
supply materials for learning English.
Moreover, AIES also provides training services in the field of information
technology as well as holds the examination for an informatic certificate.
1.6 Activities and Achievements
- Activities of AIES:
AIES is not only the best environment to learn English but also a good playground
for students. Annually, AIES holds lots of free-paid activities and events for students as
the following:
+ Camping
+ Sightseeing
+ Team-building activities
+ Mid-Autumn
+ Halloween
+ Tet holiday
Besides, there are other activities that students can take part in at AIES such as
Grammar Club, Speaking Club, Super Kids, Exchange Fair,…

14. 7
Figure 2: Team building activities Figure 3: Sightseeing
(Figure 2 & 3 are captured from the information table at AIES)
Figure 4: Halloween Figure 5: Grammar Club
(Figure 4 & 5 are captured from the information table at AIES)

15. 8
Study at AIES, you are not only a student but also a member of a big family called
American International School. AIES always take care of the students, listen to the wants
and needs of them.
- Achievements:
With the continuous contributions and dedication, AIES honorably got many awards
and certificates from the government, Department of Education and Training, and Ho Chi
Minh city people’s Committee.
Figure 6: An Certificate from the DOET
(Captured from information table at AIES)
Figure 7: Ms. Pham Thi Truong – Representative of AIES received a certificate from the
DOET
(Captured from information table at AIES)

16. 9
CHAPTER II: ACTUAL SITUATION OF LEARNING VOCABULARY OF
STUDENTS AT AIES
2.1 Theoretical basis
2.1.1. The Definition of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is very important in the field of learning English. Richards & Renandya
(2002) says that vocabulary is the basic elements of language. It proves for the learner’s
using language and how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Without vocabulary
and strategies to learn a new word, from making or use language learning opportunities
around them such as listening to music, reading newspapers, using the language in daily
life, or watching television (p.255). According to Nunan (1991), vocabulary is difficult to
acquire in the learning process in the classroom. Vocabulary is the core of the English
language because without vocabulary, learners cannot express their own ideas and cannot
understand others. For instance, students often get difficulties in understanding the whole
meaning of the text because they do not know the meaning of words in the text. In
speaking, it is too hard to communicate with others when students just have a few
vocabularies.
2.1.2. The Importance of Vocabulary
Learners need to master vocabulary for improving other skills in English. Wilkins
(1972) stated the importance of vocabulary that without grammar, maybe a little of
information can be conveyed but without vocabulary, convey information is impossible.
Indeed, vocabulary is very necessary and it is the starting of the English learning process.
Therefore, learners need to find a way to learn vocabulary because of the important role
of vocabulary.
Vocabulary in listening and reading skills: Students should have enough vocabulary
to understand the content which a speaker says in the conversation or understand the
meaning of the information in a text, lack of vocabulary in listening and reading often
bring to students some particular problems as well as the gap or the misunderstanding.

17. 10
Vocabulary in speaking skills: Communication is an important part of our daily life.
People communicate in almost situations. They communicate to express their ideas and to
know the ideas of others. Lack of vocabulary in speaking, students cannot convey the
information to the listeners or cause a misunderstanding for them. Then, students cannot
understand and exchange information with others.
Vocabulary in writing skills: Vocabulary also plays an important role in writing
skills. If students do not have enough vocabulary, they will not have the ability to write
full sentences. Writing is the most difficult skill in English, it requires good grammar and
vocabulary. We can say grammar and vocabulary are the compulsory conditions that
make a person good at writing.
2.1.3. Strategies for learning Vocabulary
In order to good at learning vocabulary, students need to know these following
aspects of vocabulary:
+ Meaning: At first, students need to know about the meaning of the word in their
mother language
+ Pronunciation: Students need to know how to pronounce the word
+ Spelling: Students can spell the word and write them
+ Usage: Students need to know how to use the word, and when it can be used.
Students have to use the word in a suitable way, in the right situation and it must
reasonable.
When a student can combine these aspects when they learn new words, they will
good at it soon.
Besides, there are many ways to learn vocabulary. In some traditional ways, learners
memorize the word by writing it on the piece of paper (with the definitions), on small
cards, or says the word many times and ask someone to test their speaking. Learners can
divide words into different groups, some highlight the word that they look up in the
dictionary. Today, with the spread of technology, many software, and mobile applications

18. 11
are created to help learners. Learners can learn vocabulary by watching films, videos on
music on Youtube. Moreover, using an application for learning vocabulary is also a good
idea. There are many software and mobile applications that are created for educational
purposes such as Duolingo, Elsa, Cake,….
2.2 Teaching steps at AIES
The are several steps in the process of teaching at AIES: Organization, review an old
lesson, icebreakers (for new classes), warm-up, teaching 1 (task 1,2,3…), teaching 2 (task
1,2,3,…), consolidation, homework.
Organization: Teachers organize the class, arrange the seats for students, set some
rules if necessary.
Review an old lesson: Teachers review old lessons for the students, check their
homework, and correct the answer if necessary.
Ice-breakers (Only for new classes): Teachers ask students to do some actions. For
example, ask students to introduce about themselves.
Warm-up: Teachers ask students to do some activities such as listen to a song, watch
a short video, or play some games to help the students increase their interest before
starting to learn a new lesson. Teachers also ask students some simple questions related to
the topic and then, the teacher can lead-in to the new lesson,
Teaching 1 (Task 1,2,3,…): This is the main part of the teaching process, that
depends on the content in the curriculum, it may be about teaching vocabulary, grammar,
or structures.
Consolidation: Teachers review the lesson. Then, ask students to practice and check
their level of understanding.
Homework: Teachers give student homework and ask them to do these exercises at
home.

19. 12
2.3 Actual situation of learning vocabulary faced by students at AIES
2.3.1 A mini test
To determine the difficulties in learning vocabulary that was faced by students at
AIES, I designed a mini-test that consists of four parts: Listening, Reading, Writing, and
Speaking for the students in my classes. The description of the mini test as below:
- Number of participants: 100 participants at level FLYERS (equivalent to level A2)
- The test: Suitable for level A2 (Retrieved exercises from Cambridge English Test)
There are four parts in the test:
+ Part 1: Check vocabulary in listening skills
+ Part 2: Check vocabulary in reading skills
+ Part 3: Check vocabulary in writing skills
+ Part 4: Check vocabulary in speaking skills
2.3.2 Results
The results of the test showed that students at AIES often have some difficulties in
learning vocabulary, their vocabulary is not enough to complete the test totally. The
results of the test as the details below:
+ Part 1: Listening
Most of the students can recognize the word easily by listen and look at the pictures.
They have the ability to distinguish between the two objects. Moreover, they cannot be
able to listen for the information, they can listen but a few students cannot write the
correct words.
+ Part 2: Reading
Students can write the correct word if they can read the definition of those words.
However, most of them cannot choose the correct word to fill in the blanks if the words in
the answer are multiple meaning words. Therefore, they have a big difficulty when they
have to face to face with multiple meaning words.

20. 13
+ Part 3: Writing
Students can easily write the name of the objects by looking at the pictures. Besides,
most of the students can fill the blanks with simple words. In contrast, there are some
blanks that the students cannot complete because they do not have enough vocabulary.
The students can write some simple sentences but cannot write a full paragraph.
+ Part 4: Speaking
As the same with the writing skills, students can be able to find and talk about the
differences between the two pictures with their vocabulary.
Based on the result, the difficulties that the students at AIES faced off can be drawn
as the following:
+ Difficult to remember
+ Some vocabularies are multiple meaning words
+ Difficult to use
+ Easy to forget

21. 14
CHAPTER III: SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNING
VOCABULARY OF STUDENTS AT AIES
3.1Innovation of teaching methodology
Most of the students at AIES said that they learn a new word by writing it on the
piece of paper (with the definitions), on small cards, or says the word many times and ask
someone to test their speaking. On the other hand, some students write the words on the
paper with the meaning in Vietnamese. Students can divide words into different groups,
some highlight the word that they look up in the dictionary. But all of the ways above are
not effective enough and students cannot remember the word in the long run.
Teachers at AIES often teach vocabulary for students by asking them to listen and
repeat the words after the teachers. Then, teachers write the words on the board with the
meaning in Vietnamese. It is not an effective way to teach vocabulary to students. To help
the students overcome the difficulties in learning vocabulary, teachers at AIES should
innovate their methodology for teaching vocabulary. Teachers can use these following
techniques:
- Flashcard Modelling Technique (Teaching vocabulary by using flashcards): It is
very simple if the teachers can using flashcards to teach vocabulary for students. Some
research showed that students have the ability to learn something new by looking at the
picture of these things. Flashcards are a great resource for teaching vocabulary. They are
particularly useful for the Beginner level. Flashcards provide a visual aid to learning and
can be used in various ways to enhance and reinforce vocabulary retention. Here are some
steps of teaching with flashcards:
+ Model: Teachers hold flashcards and have a clearl model (by reading aloud) five
times. Ask the students do not to repeat the words.
+ Choral drill: Teachers ask students to repeat the words three times.
+ Individual repetitions: Ask some students to repeat the words.
+ Repeat: Repeat these steps for the remaining flashcards.

22. 15
- Macrologue Technique (Teaching vocabulary by using mind maps): It is one of the
effective methods for teaching or learning vocabulary. In this technique, teachers give to
students a keyword and ask them to build on it. It is very simple and effective because it
helps the students learn new vocabulary by a group of words, so it is very easy to
understand and remember.
- Real objects: Similar to the flashcards, teaching vocabulary by using real objects is
also a good idea. Instead of showing flashcards, teachers can show the real objects of the
words they would to teach in the process of teaching. For example, teachers have to teach
about school things, they can show some real objects such as a pen, pencil, eraser,
book,….This technique makes the lesson be more realistic and exciting.
- TPR technique (Total Physical Responses): TPR is also known as one of the best
techniques for teaching a second language. Basically, TPR is an action that we use body
language or movements to describe a thing. In the field of teaching English, teachers can
use this technique to teach vocabulary for students. Teachers use their actions,
expressions, movements, body language to describe the words they would teach. It is very
effective because it helps the students pay more attention to the teachers, listen to the
teachers carefully, and try to guess the meaning of words.
- Videos and music (Audio-Visual technique): Videos and music is also precious
material for teaching English. Teachers can use this technique to teach vocabulary for the
students. At the beginning of the classes, teachers open a short video, a song related to the
topic they are going to teach. This technique helps students create a good habit when
studying a second language: listening.
- Using activities and games: Activities and games are very important. Playing a
game or joining an activity makes students be more flexible and active. In the process of
teaching in the classroom, the teacher should design a game or an activity for students to
help them review as well as discover something new. Here are some suggested activities
and games in the classroom:
+ Unscramble words

23. 16
+ Word Families
+ Student Biography Exchange
+ Find Someone Who…
+ Human Scavenger Hunt
+ Bingo
+ Crossword
3.2Applying Duolingo in teaching and learning vocabulary
Besides the innovation of teaching methodology, using an application for teaching
as well as learning vocabulary is also a good idea. With the development of technology in
the 4.0 industrial era, many software and apps are created in the market which is used for
educational purposes. Using software and apps is an effective way to help students
learning vocabulary easily and conveniently. One of the best apps is Duolingo- An
effective app for learning vocabulary. Duolingo is effective, very convenient, and easy to
learn vocabulary. Besides, learners are more motivated in learning vocabulary, help
students learn vocabulary easily with many excited topics. This study may help the
students find a suitable app to learn English in general and vocabulary in particular.
3.2.1 An overview about Duolingo
Duolingo or Multilingual is a free language learning application and website that are
created to help learners to learn a new language. It can help learners easier to identify,
understand the meaning of vocabulary, and memorize it. This app also gives learners
more motivation, makes learners happy, interest and comfortable when using. Learners
can use this app to learn English vocabulary too with many methods from flashcards to
fun-game and especially, learners can use this app in both classroom and home. Duolingo
can be used for all ages from children, teenagers to adults. Especially, there are various
languages that learners can learn from this application such as Arabic, English, Germany,
Spanish, French, Italian and Dutch In the future, Duolingo is being used in teaching
programs at some school because of its benefits and features. Gusano (2017) stated that

24. 17
learning a new language with an app is cost-saving, time-saving. Although there is plenty
of software and mobile applications are used for education purposes, some learners
cannot explore and use it for their study in general and for learning English vocabulary in
particular because most learners think this way is not a good choice. This study will show
the effectiveness of using Duolingo for learning English.
3.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Duolingo
Advantages: Duolingo has lots of advantages. It is free language learning apps that
can be used to help students improve vocabulary, motivate students to learn English with
many amazing topics and vocabulary games. Duolingo also creates exercises for students
to help them review and practice the lesson at home. Duolingo can be accessed anywhere.
Therefore, students can learn English anytime and anywhere with Duolingo.
Disadvantages: Besides the benefit Duolingo brings to students, this application also
has some disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that Duolingo is an online
application. It means that when students want to use Duolingo, they must have an internet
connection. Besides, teachers who want to use this app to teach their students in the
classroom have to use the projector.
3.2.3 The effectiveness of using Duolingo for learning vocabulary
To evaluate the effectiveness of using Duolingo for learning vocabulary of students
at AIES, I design a survey to ask the students about their experiences when using
Duolingo for their learning vocabulary. The detail of the survey as below:
+ A survey: A questionnaire consists of 10 questions that are used for 30 students at
AIES (who are using or used to use Duolingo for learning vocabulary) to answer. The
research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using Duolingo to learn vocabulary through
the result of a questionnaire.
+ Participants: The participants of the research is 30 students at AIES (All of them
in level FLYERS equivalent to level A2). They are using Duolingo for their vocabulary
learning.

25. 18
+ The questionnaire: The questionnaire consits of ten questions for 30 students at
AIES to answer. This questionnaire is used for evaluate the effectiveness of using
Duolingo to learn vocabulary. There are eight questions used for ask about student’s
interest with Duolingo. Two questions used for ask students about disadvantages of using
Duolingo to learn vocabulary. There are five options from one to five for students to
choose: Strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree and strongly agree.
+ Data analysis procedures:
Step 1: Making a questionnaire that is consists of 10 questions for 30 students at
AIES to answer
Step 2: Giving the questionnaire to 30 students to answer
Step 3: Collecting data from the questionnaire
Step 4: Analyzing data by Microsoft Excel
+ Data analysis:
+ The result of the questionnaire: The results of the questionnaire shows that nearly
85% of 30 participants said that Duolingo could help them to be more motivated, give
them more opportunities in learning vocabulary. They enjoy learning with Duolingo.
They can also practice their English in daily life. Most of students said that Duolingo has
lots of benefits. Duolingo can help students master their vocabulary, encourage them to
discover new ideas, and easy to memorize vocabulary. Besides, most of them also said
that Duolingo is not a boring application. Based on this expected result, it can be
concluded that Duolingo is an effective and interesting application for learning
vocabulary because it has many positive effects that can help students master their
vocabulary.
Based on the result and discussion, the conclusion can be drawn as the following:

26. 19
First, using Duolingo for learning vocabulary is a good idea. It can be proven by the result
of the questionnaire that 85% of students agree that Duolingo has lots of benefits, it can
help students master their vocabulary.
Second, with the implementation of this study, teachers can deciding on applying
Duolingo to teach English in the classroom. And other students who confuse about using
what method to learn vocabulary can choose Duolingo because it can help a lot.

27. 20
CONCLUSION
Students at AIES in general and students in my class in particular often have some
difficulties in learning vocabulary. These difficulties are: Difficult to remember, some
vocabularies are multiple meaning words, difficult to use, and easy to forget. Therefore,
they often have some problems when using vocabulary. The reason that leads to these
difficulties is the wrong ways to learn vocabulary.
About the teachers at AIES, a few of them tend to teach vocabulary for their
students by writing the words on the board with the definition. It is not an effective way
for them. Besides, they are not checking the understanding of their students regularly.
Therefore, it causes a big difficulty for teaching vocabulary for the students of the
teachers and in contrast, a big difficulty for learning vocabulary for the students at AIES.
After this internship report, I found some suggestions that would be beneficial for
students, teachers at AIES. Here are some suggestions:
+ For the teachers: To make the lesson in the class more effective, realistic and
exciting, besides the traditional method of teaching, teachers should use some of the
techniques in the process of teaching such as TPR, flashcards, videos, and
music,…Moreover, teachers can consider applying an application for their teaching.
Using Duolingo is a good idea for teachers. This application helps students find new
words, helps them learn new words easily, and help them understand the material, and
also helps them memorize new words better.
+ For the students: To overcome the difficulties in learning vocabulary, students
should choose an appropriate method to learn, combine the traditional ways with the
modern ways to learn vocabulary. Students can use Duolingo for their learning
vocabulary. Duolingo will help students on mastering their vocabulary. Therefore,
students should use this app for their learning because Duolingo is a free and beneficial
application. It does not only help them to learn vocabulary but also to use and practice
vocabulary in their daily life.

28. vii
APPENDIXES
Sample test:
PART 1: LISTENING
1. Listen and tick the box

29. viii
2. Listen and fill the blanks

30. ix
PART 2: READING
1. Look and read. Choose the correct words and write them on the lines.
There is one example:

31. x
2. Read the text. Choose the correct words and write them on the lines:

32. xi

33. xii
PART 3: WRITING
1. Write the words of these pictures:
...............................................................................................................................................
2. Read the diary and write the missing words. Write one word on each line:

34. xiii
3. Look at the three pictures. Write about this story. Write 20 or more words:

35. xiv
PART 4: SPEAKING
Find the differences between the two pictures:

36. xv
Questionnaire:
Do you agree with the following statements?
1. Duolingo was easy to use.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
2. The students feel more motivated to learn English by using Duolingo.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
3. Learning English by using Duolingo makes the students more skillful in
memorizing vocabulary.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
4. Learning with Duolingo provides an opportunity to be more active in
learning vocabulary.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree

37. xvi
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
5. Duolingo makes it difficult for students in understanding and practicing
vocabulary.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
6. Duolingo is less useful for learning vocabulary.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
7. Duolingo encouraged students to discover new ideas.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
8. Learning by using Duolingo get students in mastering new vocabulary.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree

38. xvii
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
9. In my opinion, using Duolingo in learning is boring.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
10. I am satisfied with Duolingo.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree

39. xviii
REFERENCES
Bibliography
1. Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2014). Vocabulary Teaching and Learning. New
York: Routledge.
2. Darlene. (2018, December 27). Ejoy. Retrieved from https://ejoy-
english.com/blog/best-english-learning-software-for-beginners-top-5-reviews/
3. Gusano, C. (2017, 6 15). Babbel Magazine. Retrieved from
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/5-advantages-of-learning-a-new-language-
with-an-app
4. Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teacher.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
5. Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching:
An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. UKEssays. (2016, December 5). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/the-importance-of-teaching-
and-learning-vocabulary-english-language-essay.php
7. Wilkins, D. A. (1972). Linguistics in Language Teaching. Cambridge: MFT Press.