Áp dụng Quizlet giúp học sinh lớp 6 cải thiện khả năng ghi nhớ từ vựng - Năm học 2022-2023

 YEN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
 HOANG HOA THAM SECONDARY SCHOOL 
 A REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES 
BÁO CÁO BIỆN PHÁP THAM GIA HỘI THI GIÁO VIÊN 
 DẠY GIỎI CẤP HUYỆN CHU KỲ 2022 - 2024 
 “APPLYING QUIZLET TO HELP GRADE 6 
 STUDENTS IMPROVE THEIR VOCABULARY 
 RETENTION, SCHOOL YEAR 2022 – 2023” 
 “ÁP DỤNG QUIZLET GIÚP HỌC SINH LỚP 6 
 CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG GHI NHỚ TỪ VỰNG 
 NĂM HỌC 2022 - 2023” 
 Full name: Triệu Thị Ngọc Diệp 
 Subject: English 
 Qualifications: Pedagogical University, Bachelor of English 
 Position: Teacher 
 School: Hoang Hoa Tham Secondary School 
 Yen The, April 15th 2023 
 2 
PART A. INTRODUCTION 
 Nowadays, in the age of information technology, the application of 
technology in all areas of life is no longer strange. And the education sector in 
general and secondary education in particular have also gradually approached 
modern technology. Currently, the application of information technology in 
teaching is most clearly shown through the websites, mobile appications, online 
learning flatforms, etc. 
 And, students are referred to as "Digital Natives" since they are comfortable 
with technology, computers, and the Internet, as well as video game. In addition, 
technology has played an essential role in English teaching and learning for many 
countries in the world. It has been used to help teachers adjust to activities in class. 
Also, learners enhance the language learning process and improve their skills in a 
short time by utilizing technology and its services. Technology could help students 
learn English productively. Besides, knowledge also could learn from technology 
more easily if they took advantage of its usability. 
 However, this work seems new to the teachers, there is no uniformity in 
terms of form. Therefore, when the teachers apply technology in teaching, there are 
many difficulties. 
 Most of the secondary school teachers find difficult to learn how to use a 
new tool or an application to design or make materials for teaching. On the other 
hand, some topics they chose to apply information technology have not been 
effective. Up to now, in the school year 2022 - 2023, I am in charge of teaching 
English 6 – I learn Smart world, I still continue to study and foster the topic of 
information technology application in teaching for these students. 
 As a teacher in charge of teaching English 6 over the past three years, and 
through observing my colleagues, I have found that technology and technological 
devices can be used to motivate and engage English language learners in the 
development of literacy and language skills (Traore & KyeiHBlankson, 2011; 
Ware, 2008). Learning a new language requires incredible patience and nerves; 
therefore, if not sufficiently motivated during the long and tedious learning 
process, learners might be discouraged to try harder. Research has shown that 
technology can help motivate students to be more engaged in reading, especially 
when they interact with the text using certain interactive technological tools. By 
utilizing various kinds of technological devices, language learners gain a “sense of 
freedom, motivation, and encouragement they need for learning” (Megan Clark, 
2013). Among several ways to integrate technology with language learning, I 3 
chose to take a closer look into the use of digital flashcards to learn vocabulary, 
more specifically the use of Quizlet for its attractiveness and intuitiveness. 
 Deriving from the real situations and the above reasons, during my teaching 
progress, I consulted professional books as well as consulted with my colleagues at 
Hoang Hoa Tham secondary school and other schools to study and apply Quizlet 
into learning vocabulary which is so vivid, effective and really interesting for 
students and how to form the students’ quality and capacity of students in each 
lesson. 
 In addition, I also learned the methods and techniques used in designs on 
google; set up a specific plan for each lesson, and assign specific tasks to the 
students in the class or the must-things they do at home so that they know what 
they have to focus on and how they achieve after each lesson. That's the target I set 
out for my research. 
 From the general concepts and strong points mentioned above, I 
strongly studied and discussed this educational initiative with my colleagues: 
“Appying Quizlet to help grade 6 students improve their vocabulary 
retention”. 
 This experiential initiative is studied on the basis of applying innovation in 
English teaching methods in secondary schools, which focuses on proposing some 
teaching methods to help students learn English well at Hoang Hoa Tham 
secondary school in the school school year 2022 - 2023. 
PART B. (PROBLEM SOLVING) 
I. Current situation of teaching and learning English at Hoang Hoa Tham 
Secondary School: 
1. Advantages: 
1.1. For the school: 
 The school year 2022-2023 is the second year of implementing the 2018 
general education program, so the school's management board is particularly 
interested in innovating teachers' teaching methods and techniques. The school 
organized training classes and required 100% of the teachers to apply the lesson 
plan design according to the correspondence No.5512 of the Ministry of Education 
and Training. Accordingly, the application of positive teaching methods have been 
focused and implemented by the majority of the teachers in the school. 
 The school's facilities have basically met the needs of teaching and learning 
the subject: well-equipped and modern facilities, computers, the Internet to help 4 
teachers quickly access to information technology and apply in the teaching 
process. The School Board also creates favorable conditions for teachers to 
participate in extra-curricular classes to improve their expertise and techonology. 
1.2. For the teachers: 
 Teachers have knowledge and qualifications in Information Technology 
(IT). Nowadays, with the fast development of IT and networks on the Internet, it is 
very convenient for the teachers to actively exploit and search for abundant 
resources of vivid images, sounds, movies to create account and design the 
online course on Quizlet for students. The content and teaching materials 
introduced to the students are real and diverse. The Quizlet also engage and 
motivates all students with curriculum-based materials, in-class activities and at-
home study tools on any topic. 
2. Disadvantages and their causes: 
2.1. For the teachers: 
 Although Quizlet was a highly rated vocabulary learning platform, at the 
same time, there were limitations in the user experience. Some of its features were 
only available on the website rather than in mobile apps. Like Wikipedia, Quizlet 
permitted everyone to make and share a study set, so there was no assurance the 
data was exact. One grammatical mistake in another person's cards could lead them 
to consider some wrong data, miss inquiries on a test, and get a poor quality they 
did not anticipate getting. 
 Furthermore, some students appeared distracted while learning vocabulary 
and were occupied with different applications like Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok and 
Facebook. Besides, if students used Quizlet's free version, ads would be displayed 
on each website page. A few advertisements were barely noticeable; however, they 
could be oppressive. Thus, if students need the best taking-in experience from 
Quizlet, they should pay for extra administrations. 
 In addition, as a young teacher I have to do a lot of work at school, prepare 
lesson and check students’ work at home as well, so I have limited time to design 
the tasks on Quizlet for students regularly. 
 Those are some disadvantages of Quizlet that students can face when using 
it to review the lesson or do the homework or assignments on Quizlet. 
 5 
2.2. For the students: 
 During my teaching of English 6, I found that the quality of the subject is 
still low; the students are often timid; the concentration is not high; they don’t 
actively participate in the activities during the lessons; they are afraid of making 
mistakes when practicing; especially there is a limitation on their their skill. The 
main reason is that some students lack the vocabulary and passively acquire the 
knowledge, which leads to weak ability, lack of flexibility, no creativity, and low 
results. Some of my students can speak and listen perfectly, but they have 
difficulties in writing a word or phrases. Because they don’t remember the spelling 
or meaning of the word or phrases. 
II. Educational initiatives: 
 In any language, vocabulary plays an important role in developing good 
fluency. That’s why lexical competence is considered as the central part of 
language learning. Furthermore, vocabulary is important factor for language 
learning because inadequate vocabulary knowledge leads the learners to encounter 
difficulties in language learning. By developing ability to use vocabulary learning 
strategies learners can significantly increase their general English level. 
 In order to improve the quality of English in general and the quality of 
English 6 in particular for the students at Hoang Hoa Tham secondary school, 
basing on the tasks of the school year: from the beginning of the school year 2022-
2023, in order to successfully implement this experiential initiative after making an 
outline of the topic, I have used some of the following measures (these measures 
were carried out during the school year starting from the September 2022 to March 
2023), details are as follows: 
 “Appying Quizlet to help grade 6 students improve their vocabulary 
 retention”. 
 1. The aims and some advantages of Quizlet: 
 During my teaching of English 6, I found that the quality of the subject is still 
low; the students are often timid; the concentration is not high; they don’t really 
actively participate in the activities during the lessons; they are afraid of making 
mistakes when practicing; especially there is a limitation on their skill. The main 
reason is that some students lack the vocabulary and passively acquire the 
knowledge, which leads to weak ability, lack of flexibility, no creativity, and low 
results. Some of my students can listen and speak perfectly, but they have 
difficulties writing a word or phrases. Because they don’t remember the spelling or 
meaning of the word or phrases. And, vocabulary, a critical aspect of learning a 6 
foreign language, is extremely important. Communication is impossible without a 
diverse vocabulary. A strong vocabulary is also required for learning to read, 
speak, write, and listen. A lack of vocabulary can be the cause of poor reading 
skills and makes learning every subject challenging. 
 Luckily this is easy to improve with the help of Quizlet. Students can quickly 
understand a wide range of words and get better grades with a great vocabulary. 
Vocabulary learning can be fun, easy, and fast with Quizlet - a software computer 
vocabulary program. A good vocabulary makes a better writer and communicator. 
 What is Quizlet? - Quizlet is a simple Website and App that allows you to 
create online flashcards and study them by playing matching games and faking 
tests over the information inputted into the app. 
 Quizlet can be a great tool to help students improve their vocabulary retention. 
Here are some steps that I have been taking to apply Quizlet to help grade 6 
students at Hoang Hoa Tham secondary school improve their vocabulary retention: 
 ✓ Interactive and engaging learning: Quizlet offers interactive and engaging 
 learning tools such as flashcards, games, and quizzes, making it more 
 interesting for students to learn new vocabulary words. 
 ✓ Spaced repetition: Quizlet's spaced repetition feature presents vocabulary 
 words at specific intervals, which helps students better remember the words 
 and retain them in their long-term memory. 
 ✓ Personalized learning: Quizlet allows students to create their own study sets 
 and customize them based on their learning style, which can help improve 
 their retention of new vocabulary. 7 
 ✓ Collaborative learning: Quizlet enables students to collaborate with their 
 peers, allowing them to learn from one another and share study sets, which 
 can make learning vocabulary more effective. 
 ✓ Accessible from anywhere: Quizlet is a web-based platform, which means 
 that students can access it from anywhere, anytime, as long as they have an 
 internet connection, making it convenient for them to practice vocabulary 
 and review their study sets. 
 ✓ Variety of study modes: Quizlet offers various study modes, such as written, 
 audio, and visual modes, which can help students better understand the 
 meaning of new vocabulary words and enhance their learning experience. 
 New vocabulary can be prepared very quickly The time it takes to prepare new 
vocabulary on Quizlet averages only 5-10 minutes when the list of words has 
already been prepared on Word. For students at grade 6, the number of new words 
per lesson is not high, only about 10 words, so the preparation time is less than 5 
minutes, including selecting the terms, defining them, and choosing images. 
 Quizlet allows for very quick importing of new words from Word, Excel, or 
Google Docs. Teachers only need to copy and paste to complete the editing 
process. Therefore, if teachers have a typed vocabulary file, converting it to 
Quizlet takes only 1-2 minutes. 
 Overall, Quizlet is a powerful tool for learning vocabulary, and it offers several 
advantages that can help students improve their vocabulary retention and overall 
language skills. 
 2. What students can do on Quizlet: 
 Students can do several things on Quizlet to enhance their learning experience 
and improve their retention of vocabulary words, including: 
 ➢ Create study sets: Students can create their own study sets by adding 
 vocabulary words and their definitions, synonyms, antonyms, or images, to 
 study and review the material later. 
 ➢ Join classes: Students can join their teacher's class or create their own class 
 to collaborate with classmates, share study sets, and participate in class 
 activities. 
 ➢ Study using flashcards: Students can use flashcards to learn new vocabulary 
 words, test their memory, and practice pronunciation. 8 
➢ Play games: Quizlet offers various games, such as Match, Gravity, and 
 Learn, that help students practice vocabulary words in an interactive and 
 engaging way. 
➢ Take quizzes: Students can take quizzes to test their knowledge of 
 vocabulary words, track their progress, and receive feedback. 
➢ Listen to audio: Quizlet offers an audio feature that allows students to listen 
 to the pronunciation of vocabulary words, helping them improve their 
 pronunciation and listening skills. 
➢ Study offline: Students can download study sets and access them offline, 
 allowing them to study even without an internet connection. 
3. How teachers and students interact by using Quizlet: 
 Quizlet provides a platform for teachers and students to interact and 
collaborate in various ways, enhancing the learning experience and improving 
students' retention of vocabulary words. Teachers and students can interact on 
Quizlet in several ways, including: 
▪ Teachers can create classes: Teachers can create classes on Quizlet and 
 invite their students to join. This allows teachers to monitor their students' 
 progress, assign study sets, and provide feedback. 
▪ Students can join classes: Students can join their teacher's class on Quizlet 
 by entering the class code or accepting an invitation. This allows them to 
 access study sets and participate in class activities. 
▪ Teachers can assign study sets: Teachers can assign study sets to their 
 students to practice and review vocabulary words. They can also set due 
 dates and monitor their students' progress. 
▪ Students can create study sets: Students can create their own study sets and 
 share them with their classmates or their teacher. This allows them to 
 collaborate and learn from one another. 
▪ Teachers can provide feedback: Teachers can provide feedback on their 
 students' study sets and quizzes, helping them improve their understanding 
 of vocabulary words. 
▪ Students can take quizzes: Students can take quizzes created by their teacher 
 or by other students in the class. This allows them to test their knowledge of 
 vocabulary words and track their progress. 
▪ Teachers can monitor progress: Teachers can monitor their students' 
 progress using Quizlet's analytics feature, which provides data on how well 9 
 students are doing, which words they are struggling with, and which study 
 sets and activities they are engaging with. 
 For in-class activity, Quizlet Live is the ideal pattern that the whole class can 
play online together: Some exciting activities that I have been using in the class 
with Quizlet: 
 3.1. Playing game: Who is faster? 
 Get students into two teams and stand in two lines face to face. Students in 
 each group take turns looking at the screen and shouting out the word 
 presented on the TV screen. Which group has more correct answers will be 
 the winner of the game. 
 3.2. Checking and revising vocabulary: 
 The teacher shows students one side of the words in Vietnamese on the TV 
 screen and asks them to write down the correct words in a limited 
 time. After that, who has the most correct words will be the winner. 
 I generally assign students between 20 and 25 vocabulary words a week and they 
get a quiz every third lesson in each unit on about 10-12 of those words. For 
example, my classes recently did the units on “Movies”; “The world around us” 
and “Houses in the future” and studied the sets that I created for them with terms in 
each topic. 
 10 
 For all of my students, this routine of having a weekly quiz along with 
 opportunities to use the vocabulary in speaking and writing activities is enough to 
 boost their study time at home using Quizlet. 
 After each reading lesson, I always summarize the vocabulary in the text and 
create a new study set for students on Quizlet. Therefore, students not only review 
the vocabulary in the lessons in class but also expand their vocabulary through 
additional reading materials. 
 3.3. Experencing Quizlet Live: 
 After quite a few comments about Quizlet, I decided to try this over the 
weekend. It’s really easy to use – it generates a multiple-choice game for your 
learners which involves working as a group. My classes have three different study 
sets at present, and we tried the Quizlet Live game with each. My students left 
class wanting to play again – it was very addictive and motivational. This is 
probably the best feature of Quizlet and I am pleased other teachers encouraged me 
to try it. 
 Quizlet can be used for students to play individually or in groups during 
online classes. Setting up a Live game is very simple, the teacher just needs to go 
to the study set, select Live => Start => Individual/Team play => Select the type of 
gameplay (Answer with the term or definition). 
 The teacher requires students to access www.quizlet.live and enter the 
corresponding code. Or students who have installed the Quizlet app on their 
phones can scan the QR code to join the game. 11 
 Here is a sample of what I say to my students while pointing to the picture 
above: 
 You play this game in teams. In this example, a student (You), Dang, and 
Minh are playing on a team and have to click the right answer. You can only click 
on the answers under “You.” Sometimes your team member has the card and you 
don’t, so be careful not click a wrong answer. If you click a wrong answer, your 
team loses all its points and must start over. Don’t worry if you lose your points, 
you’ll be able to get them back quickly! The first team to match all 12 cards is the 
winner. 
 12 
 There are also various fun ways to learn and review on Quizlet, which allows 
students to effectively study at home on their own. For each lesson, students can 
use: 
 ▪ Flashcards: Memory cards (one side displays the term, the other side 
 shows the definition). 
 ▪ Learn: Sequential learning of words. 
 ▪ Write: Writing practice to avoid rote memorization and promote writing 
 proficiency. 
 ▪ Dictate: Spelling practice that helps students recognize words by 
 listening and writing. 
 ▪ Test: A quiz section that is useful for evaluating the percentage of 
 vocabulary that students have memorized. 
The terms come with native speaker pronunciation. 
 All terms have accompanying audio pronunciation. Therefore, since Quizlet 
has been used for teaching and learning, my students (and parents) no longer have 
to worry about whether they are reading correctly or not. I also rarely hear parents' 
concerns about their children not remembering how to read anymore. Parents who 
accompany their children at home also know how to read, write, and memorize 
words with their children. 
 During the teaching process, teachers can also check the pronunciation of the 
vocabulary they are preparing. When teaching, I sometimes encounter words that I 
am quite unsure about how to pronounce. Besides looking up reliable dictionaries 
like Cambridge or Oxford, the vocabulary list on Quizlet also helps me quickly 
remember these words. 13 
 image mark 
 Term definition 
 Listen to the pronunciation 
 In addition, students can also play: 
 ▪ Gravity: A game where meteors fall to Earth and students need to enter 
 the correct word to stop them. 
 ▪ Match: Matching game (matching the term with its definition) 
 During the learning process, students can mark the words they haven't 
remembered yet. Quizlet has a feature that reminds students to review these words 
and the ones they often make mistakes on during practice. 14 
3. The effectiveness of the initiative: 
 How Quizlet has helped my students. Here are some of the ways that using 
 Quizlet can benefit students. 
 o It provides spaced repetition practice: Spaced repetition is a core concept 
 that encourages students to spread out their studying and do shorter more 
 frequent bursts of studying (rather than massed practice). By playing the 
 game regularly, students get spaced repetition practice and they can see 
 how it helps them. 
 o Quizlet allows users to create and study sets of flashcards online with a suite 
 of engaging activities. Students can use it individually or collaboratively, 
 either at home or in a classroom. It is an innovative online and mobile 
 digital vocabulary-learning game that can provide students with different 
 ways to interact with each word. For example, students can listen to a 
 pronunciation model, learn the word’s definition, spell the words they hear, 
 check their progress, play review games, and take random practice tests. 
 o Motivates to study: To do well in the game, students need to study. Since 
 students are playing in teams, there is social motivation to be prepared to 
 not let their team down. 
 o Taps into the game culture: The Quizlet Live feature is very much a game 
 and students spend an amazing amount of time playing and mastering 
 games that are quite challenging. Through gamification, motivation can be 
 added to the learning experience. 15 
PART C. EVIDENCE OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INITIATIVES 
 This educational initiative was conducted with the students of grade 6 of the 
academic school year 2021-2022 at Hoang Hoa Tham Secondary School. After the 
experimental periods between the non-experimental class and the experimental class, 
the results showed a good change. The students are interested in the lessons and have 
used the language and skills in students real life. 
 After the survey and the implementation in the experimental classes of the first 
semester and the first half of the second semester of the school year 2022 - 2023, the 
student's ability and English use in their real life has much improved. Students who do 
not want to learn English or are afraid of learning English have changed their attitude 
now. As for their attitude about English vocabulary learning, they recognized the 
importance and usefulness of English vocabulary learning. They are confident in 
themselves because they understand that they can do it by themselves without 
depending as much on their teachers and friends as before. In general, students agreed 
that Quizlet could help them improve their vocabulary. Further, students also indicated 
that they hoped to be able to use online sources to improve their English. 
 Using the app to see the vocabulary and listen to the pronunciation, in addition to 
practising reading helped my students to progress further in learning. From these 
experiences, the students’ motivation of learning vocabulary increased. The students 
felt more enthusiastic and showed high interest in learning vocabulary, in the classroom 
or independently as a self-study. I also find that Quizlet motivates the students and 
reinforces their learning, when they play the games in groups in the classroom. As a 
self-study tool, the students have many choices including flashcards, multiple choice 
quizzes, games, and spelling tests. Through these exercises students can practise aspects 
of the three language skills including listening, reading and writing. It will not only help 
teachers a lot in teaching but also bring high efficiency in acquiring the students’ 
knowledge. Moreover, they help us reduce our time in making teaching aids and these 
materials are used for a long time and replicated in the future. 16 
 Generally, the problem-solving skills in new situations have been improved, so 
 the results are clearly shown via 15-minute tests, 45-minute tests, or during practice in 
 class. 
 1. Results of the English 6 - School year 2022 - 2023 
 The 
 Good Fairy good Average Weak 
 average Number 
 School year Class score of 
 students Number % Number % Number % Number % 
 The first 
 6A1 8.20 34 22 64.71 9 26.47 3 8.82 0 0.00 
 semester 
 The second 
 mid term 6A1 8.76 34 29 85.29 5 14.71 0 0.00 0 0.00 
 semester 
2022 - 2023 
 The first 
 6A2 7.88 35 18 51.43 16 45.71 1 2.86 0 0.00 
 semester 
 The second 
 mid term 6A2 8.0 35 21 60.00 12 34.29 2 5.71 0 0.00 
 semester 
 The table shows the students’ mean scores; their first - and second midterm -test 
 results. The average score of the students increased by more one point five from the 
 their first - and second midterm -test, demonstrating a moderate gain. The results 
 suggesting that the students’ vocabulary scores significantly improved due to the 
 Quizlet treatment. 
 Figure 2 shows the reasons why students like using Quizlet to study 
 vocabulary. Most of them found Quizlet interesting and useful tool to learn 
 vocabulary. It is also help students get good marks on tests and memorize English 
 words easier. 17 
 Figure 3 shows the amount of time the students spent outside of class using 
Quizlet to study vocabulary. The majority of them spent a considerable amount of 
time in order to study vocabulary between twenty to forty minutes each week. 
 Figure 4 shows the opinion about the usefulness of quizlet in learning and 
memorizing vocabulary. Almost the students think that Quizlet is really useful for 
them to learn and memorize vocabulary. 18 
 The above results clearly show the effectiveness of the experimental 
initiative: the results are quite positive; the percentage of good and fairy good 
students has increased and the average rate has decreased significantly; therefore I 
will continue to study and keep doing this educational initiative for my teaching in 
the next school year so as to improve the quality of English teaching and learning. 
 The educational initiative’s effectiveness of the English teaching 
 Due to my continuous efforts, I have found my own path in each lesson. 
Each lesson inspires me with a passion for teaching and constant creativity. 
Making the students’ interest in each lesson is an extremely important thing in 
teaching English in schools in general and in Hoang Hoa Tham secondary school 
in particular. 
PART D. COMMITMENT 
 I undersigned hereby commit and undertake not to copy or infringe 
copyright; initiatives taken and evidence of students’ progress are truthful. I will 
take full responsibility to the School Board and the Department of Education and 
Training for the truthfulness of this commitment. 
 Phon Xương, April 15th 2023 
 TEACHER 
 (Sign and write full name) 
 Triệu Thị Ngọc Diệp 
 19 
PART E. SCHOOL REVIEWS AND COMMENTS 
1. Reviews and comments of the subject group leader: 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 Subject group leader 
 (Signature and full name) 
2. Reviews, comments and confirmation of the principal: 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 ................ 
 The Principal of School 
 (Signature and seal) 
 20