Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) is located in Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi. After many twists and turns, it is now known as the leading among the community of agriculture, forestry and fishery universities in Vietnam. It has 01 Graduate School and 13 Faculties. Students of all these faculties have one objective in common, studying English as a foreign language. This precondition seems to be challenging to most students in my university. The first rationale might be their low level before entering university. Specifically, their knowledge of English is very limited. Another reason is that almost all the students are not motivated to learn English. Owing to demotivation, students seem to be unself-conscious about learning English inside as well as outside classroom.
That students are not motivated usually occurs in almost all English classes at my university. During English lessons, very few students are really into learning English. This may result from their low proficiency level. The choice of the course book entitled New Headway Elementary (by Liz and John Soars, 2000) is primarily blamed. In this course book, a knowledge of basic grammar, common vocabulary, together with four skills is supplied; however, it seems to be of little use to my students. It is simply owing to the mismatch between the tasks performed in the book and the test format based on Toeic. The most common pre-reading activity in New Headway is discussion, which can be organized as whole-class or pair/ group work but lacks competition.
If students show little or no interest in taking part in English reading lessons, it will be difficult for both teachers and students to work effectively as well as to meet the demands and objectives of the curriculum. In addition, the literature shows positive effects of games on enhancing students’ motivation. Therefore, in this study, I would like to investigate the effects of language games adapted in reading lessons in New Headway Elementary for my non- English major students.
For more information, please contact: Nguyen Thi Lan Anh – Specialized English Department – Faculty of education and foreign languages
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