Tài liệu An investigation into how pictures are used to teach speaking to the children in han thuyen primary school

Ministry of education and training Hanoi University Le thi khue An investigation into how pictures are used to teach speaking to the children in Han Thuyen primary school Submitted in patial fulfilment of requirement of the degree of master in Tesol Hanoi November 2008 Ministry of education and training Hanoi University Le thi khue An investigation into how pictures Are used to teach speaking to the children in Han Thuyen primary school Submitted in patial fulfilment of requirement of the degree of master in Tesol Supervisor: Nguyen Thu Le hang, Ma Hanoi November 2008 Table of contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... I STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ............................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ IV ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... V LIST OF ABBREVIATION ........................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS ............................................................................. VII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 1 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................. 3 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ..................................................................................... 2 1.5 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS. ............................................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 5 2.1 CHILD LANGUAGE LEARNING ..................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 First language acquisition ................................................................................. 5 2.1.2 Second language acquisition.............................................................................. 6 2.2 SPEAKING SKILLS AND THE TEACHING OF SPEAKING SKILLS ....................................... 7 2.2.1 Definition of speaking skills ............................................................................... 7 2.2.2 Teaching speaking skills .................................................................................... 8 2.2.3 Factors affecting the development of speaking skills ......................................... 9 2.3 PICTURES AND DIFFERENT VIEWS ON THE USE OF PICTURES IN ELT ......................... 10 2.3.1 Different views on the use of pictures in ELT .................................................. 11 2.3.2 Different uses of pictures in English language teaching ................................. 15 2.3.3 Some principles for choosing, designing and using pictures in ELT ............... 18 2.3.4 Classification of pictures .................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................. 21 i 3.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS ......................................................................... 21 3.1.1 The teachers in Han Thuyen primary school ................................................... 21 3.1.2 The primary school children ............................................................................ 23 3.2. DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT............................................ 23 3.2.1 Questionnaire ................................................................................................... 23 3.2.2 Observation ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2.3 Interviews ......................................................................................................... 25 3.3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES.............................................................................. 26 3.4 PROCEDURE OF DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 28 3.5 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 29 4.1 RESEARCH QUESTION 1: HOW ARE PICTURES USED TO TEACH SPEAKING TO THE CHILDREN IN HAN THUYEN PRIMARY SCHOOL? ............................................................. 29 4.1.1 The teaching methodology ............................................................................... 29 4.1.2 The teaching procedures .................................................................................. 31 4.1.3 The teaching techniques ................................................................................... 32 4.1.4 The amount of time spent on using pictures to teach speaking ........................ 33 4.1.5 The students’ activities in the speaking lesson ................................................. 34 4.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: WHAT KINDS OF PICTURES ARE MOST FREQUENTLY USED? 36 4.3 RESEARCH QUESTION 3: WHAT ARE THE MAIN PURPOSES FOR USING PICTURES IN THE SPEAKING CLASS? .......................................................................................................... 39 4.4 RESEARCH QUESTION 4: WHAT ARE THE TEACHERS’ AND THE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THE USE OF PICTURES IN THE SPEAKING CLASS? .............................................. 44 4.4.1 The teachers’ comments on pictures in the textbook........................................ 45 4.4.2 The teachers’ problems when using pictures to teach speaking ...................... 47 4.5 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 48 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS................................................ 50 References Appendixes ii Statement of authorship Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree diploma in any other tertiary institution Date .. Le THi Khue iii Acknowledgements This study has been completed with the assistance and guidance of many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thu Le Hang, M.A for her valuable suggestions, academic guidance, critical comments and practical advice. Without her generous help this thesis cannot be completed. My sincere acknowledgements go to the teachers in Han Thuyen School who have helped me to complete the survey and proofread my thesis. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people in my family and my friends who have spared no time and efforts to help and encourage me while the thesis is written. iv Abstract Pictures have been widely used in English language teaching and learning in many countries in the world including Vietnam. But, how pictures are used to teach speaking effectively to the young learners in the primary school is a problem for many ELT teachers in Viet Nam. Basing on the theoretical frame work of child language acquisition, English language teaching methodology gained in the M.A training course and the personal experience obtained in the teaching job, the writer of this thesis hopes to make an investigation into the use of pictures to teach speaking to the young children in Han Thuyen Primary school. This action research focuses on four problems (1) the teaching methods employed when pictures are used to develop the speaking skills for the children, (2) the kind of pictures used in the speaking lesson, (3) the purposes of pictorial use in the speaking class and, (4) last but not least the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the use of pictures for English language instruction in a Vietnamese school where there is a lack of natural language environment. In this research the data were gathered using three data collection instrument namely, questionnaire, interview and observation. The collected data on the use of pictures to teach speaking to the young children in the school were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic analysis with the help of the Microsoft Excel. The research concluded that the systematic use of pictures as a supplementary teaching source has actively contributed to the successful teaching and learning of English to the young children in Han Thuyen School despite many difficulties on the part of teachers and students. v List of abbreviations In English A-L: Audio- lingual ALM: Audio-lingual Method AP: Arranging pictures A-V: Audio- visual B.A: Bachelor of Arts C-M: Communicative method DP: Describing pictures ELT: English language teaching HT: Hàn Thuyên p.: page Ph.D.: Doctor of philosophy Pra: Practice Pre: Presentation Pro: Production Q&A: Question and answer T; Teacher Three Ps: Presentation, Practice, Production. TPR: Total physical respond TV: Television program In Vietnamese NXB ĐHQG: Nhà xuất bản đại học quốc gia vi List of tables and charts Tables Table 1: Personal background of Han Thuyen teachers Table 2: The classification of teachers in Han Thuyen School Table 3: The students’ number in different groups and the amount of their learning time Table 4: Han Thuyen teachers’ teaching methodology Table 5: Han Thuyen teachers’ techniques to teach speaking skills Table 6: The amount of time spent on using pictures to teach speaking Table 7: Han Thuyen students’ activities in speaking lessons Table 8: Kinds of pictures to teach speaking Table 9: Purposes for using pictures in speaking lessons Table 10: The teachers’ evaluation of the textbook pictures Charts Chart 1: The procedures for teaching speaking skills in Han Thuyen School Chart 2: Evaluation of the children’s speaking skills in Han Thuyen School Chart 3: Children’s attitudes and reactions toward pictorial use vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background to the study Nowadays English has become one of the most popular languages in the world and it is almost considered to be the international language. It is widely used in science, technology, diplomacy, tourism, foreign trade, etc. It seems easier for people from different countries to communicate, understand, study and exchange cultural and spiritual values through English. In Vietnam since we have carried out economic reforms and open- door policies to attract foreign investment and cooperate with other countries, learning English has become more and more popular. English has been widely taught everywhere in Vietnam. Different methods have been employed but the result is still far from satisfactory. Pictures as visual supplementary teaching materials so far have been used for different teaching purposes. Pictures have been used as a story stimulus to generate writing ideas or evoke emotional expression or as an effective guided writing tool to facilitate students’ writing process and to improve their writing proficiency. Pictures are a good and useful tool for examination purposes because they encourage the learner to predict, infer, and deduce information from a variety of sources. Pictures help to bring the outside world into the classroom, thus help to make the situation more real and in turn help the learner to use appropriate associated language. Pictures have been used to present different linguistic elements. Pictures have been so widely used that textbooks are filled with pictures. However they have not been appropriately exploited to teach speaking effectively in many primary schools in Vietnam. Statistics issued by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that the quality of English language teaching and learning in Vietnamese schools has been very poor. A lot of time and money has been spent on teaching English to not only young children in the primary school but also the students in secondary schools but the result is far from desired. However, there are some schools which succeed in helping young learners to learn English effectively as a means of communication. In these schools the government- selected textbooks have been taught. Some supplementary textbooks in the training programs are the same as those used in other primary schools throughout Viet Nam. But the communicative abilities of the students in these schools are surprisingly good. Han Thuyen School is one of them. What has led to this success may be contributed to many causes, but the 1 extensive use of a lot pictures to teach speaking can be clearly seen. This has inspired the writer to investigate how pictures have been used to teach English speaking to the young children in Han Thuyen primary school. 1.2 Aims of the study The importance of English has made it a compulsory subject in not only most secondary schools, but in many primary schools as well. However, the quality of teaching and learning English is still far from desired. After years of learning English, the students can not acquire enough English to communicate effectively, because the teaching of speaking does not receive due attention. Many school teachers do not view speaking skills as important ones as the speaking skill is not included in the end of term or final tests. So it is understandable that little attention is paid to the teaching and learning of speaking skills. Basing on the theoretical basis the writer of this research intends to do an action research on how pictures are used to teach speaking to the young children in a private primary school in Hanoi. The writer not only wants to know about the kinds of pictures which have been used but the procedure and techniques which have been applied to teach speaking in the school as well. In addition the research also investigates the attitudes of the teachers and the students toward pictures in the speaking lesson and the problems faced by the teachers when using pictures. These aims may be summarized into the following research questions: 1. How are pictures used to teach speaking to the children in Han Thuyen primary school? 2. What kinds of pictures are most frequently used? 3. What are the main purposes for using pictures in the speaking class? 4. What are the teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the use of pictures in the speaking classes? 1.3 Scope of the study Pictures include many things which can be used for teaching purposes for example actions, real objects, different kinds of boards, modern equipment, etc. Due to the time limit this research only focuses on the use of pictures to teach speaking to the young children in Han Thuyen School. The use of real objects, charts, diagrams will not be taken into consideration. The study deals with the use of pictures to teach speaking to young children who study from grade 1 to grade 5 only. Older children and adult 2 learners have their own ways of learning. That is why in this study all the problems relating to them will be overlooked. Pictures which are used to teach reading, writing and listening separately are also not discussed in this minor research, either. 1.4 Significance of the study There are many ways to enhance teaching and learning speaking skills for the Vietnamese young learners in Vietnamese primary schools in general and Han Thuyen Primary School in particular. Among these ways, using pictures to teach speaking has been applied and it has proved to be effective, exciting and productive. This study will help the writer and other practicing teachers get more insight into the theory of using pictures to teach speaking to young English language learners in general and to the young children in Han Thuyen Primary School in particular. This study also sheds light on the method, procedures and teaching techniques which have been used to develop speaking skills to the young children in the primary level. Furthermore, this study reveals many problems faced by the teachers when pictures are used to teach speaking to the young children in a Vietnamese school where there is a lack of native language environment. This will be beneficial to practicing teachers. It is also hoped that this research will help school authorities and policy makers know more about the advantages and disadvantages of pictures in English language teaching in a primary school and the difficulties that the conscientious teachers have to encounter so that they can work out suitable policies to support or assist the teachers in designing and selecting pictures for ELT purposes. 1.5 Outline of the thesis. The thesis consists of 5 main chapters. Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the background, the aims of the study and the research questions. The scope, the significance and the outline of the study are also mentioned. Chapter 2, Literature review deals with the theory of child language learning and the theories which are related to the teaching of speaking skills and the use of pictures to teach speaking to young children. Chapter 3, Methodology, deals with the respondents, the data collection instruments, data collection procedures and procedure of data analysis which are used to obtain information for the research. 3 Chapter 4, Data analysis is devoted to the analysis of the data which are collected through the data collection instruments with the aim of finding out the information which helps to answer the four research questions. Chapter 5, Conclusion and suggestion deal with the finding of the research and make some suggestions for the use of pictures to teach speaking. 4 Chapter 2: Literature review In this chapter young children’s language learning and acquisition will be considered. The review of pictorial usage in English language teaching in general and in teaching speaking skill in particular is also mentioned. These considerations will lay the theoretical foundation for the study in the following chapters. 2.1 Child language learning 2.1.1 First language acquisition The marvelous capacity for acquiring competence in one’s native language within the first few years of life has been a subject of interest for many centuries. According to Brown (1987) modern research on child language acquisition dates back to the late eighteenth century when the German philosopher Dietrich Tiedemann his observations of the psychological and linguistic development of his young son … for the most part research was limited to diary like recordings of observed speech with some attempts to classify word types. Only in the second half of the century did researchers begin to analyze child language systematically and try to discover the nature of the psycholinguistic process which enables every human being to gain fluent control of an exceedingly complex system of communication. Since then hundreds of linguists and psychologists have been studying linguistic, psychological, sociological, and physiological aspects of first language acquisition. By about age three children can comprehend different linguistic behaviors and can communicate rather naturally. This fluency continues into school age as children can produce and comprehend complex structures, expand their vocabulary, and sharpen communicative speaking skills. By the time children enter primary school, they are sophisticated language users, operating a communicative system which no other creature or computer comes close to matching. The speed of acquisition for all children has led to the belief that there is some innate predisposition in the human infant to acquire language. Chomsky (1965) claims that the existence of innate properties of language to explain the child’s mastery of his native language in such a short time despite the highly abstract nature of the rules of language. This innate knowledge according to Chomsky is embodied in a “little black box” of sorts, a language acquisition device. Lenneberg (1967) also proposes that language is a species- specific behavior and that certain modes of perception, categorizing abilities, 5 and other language related mechanism are biologically determined. McNeil (1970) describes in detail the four innate linguistic properties: (1) the ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment, (2) the ability to organize linguistic events into various classes which can later be refined, (3) knowledge that a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not, (4) the ability to engage in constant evaluation construct the simplest possible of the developing linguistic system system so as to out of the linguistic data that are encountered. So far there have been many other approaches to child language acquisition. Brown (1987) is right when he evaluated the contribution of Chomsky, McNeill and their colleagues to the theory of child language acquisition. In his opinion Chomsky, McNeill and their colleagues helped us to see that the child’s language, at a given point, is a system in its own right. The child linguistic development is not a process of developing fewer and fewer incorrect structures not a language in which earlier stages have more mistakes than later stages. Rather, the child’s language at any stage is systematic in that the child is constantly forming hypotheses in speech and comprehension. As the child’s language develops these hypotheses get continually revised, reshaped, or sometimes abandoned. 2.1.2 Second language acquisition The wave of research in child language acquisition has led foreign language teachers and teacher’s trainers to study some of the general findings of such research with a view to drawing analogies between first and second language acquisition, and even to justifying certain teaching methods and techniques on the basis of first language learning principles. It is true that all children, given a normal developmental environment acquire their native language naturally, without special instruction from teachers or trainers. But there are considerable differences between first and second language learning. Ellis (1994) confirms that in the case of L2 acquisition, the silent period is not obligatory, as the learner already knows about language, having already acquired one. Yet many learners- especially children- opt for a silent period. Krashen (1982) claims that formulaic speech occurs when learners are forced to speak before they are ready and that left to their own devices, they will remain silent. But Krashen’s view seems to ignore the fact that it is perfectly natural for any language user to seek to simplify the burden of processing language- by using 6 formulas to establish islands of reliability for example. Learners, like native speakers, learn formulas because it reduces the learning burden while maximizing communicative ability. Pupils starting to learn a foreign language are often highly motivated. We can help children maintain their initial motivation by encouraging them to become more actively and personally involved in their own learning, and by helping them build up their confidence and to perceive progress. The younger the learners are, the easier it seems to learn a language. Young children who are exposed to more than one language before the age of puberty seem to acquire all the languages equally well. Learning a second language differs qualitatively from learning the first language. Psychological, physical and sociological factors are considered in addition to the linguistics structure of second language and how it differs from the first language. Individuals who are self- conscious about making mistakes often find learning second language difficult. Children are unconcerned or unaware that they are making mistakes. With the teachers’ help, children can learn from their mistakes to be better. It is clear that children acquire their first language without explicit learning. A second language is usually learned but to some degree may also be acquired or depending on the environment setting and the input received. Brown (1987) says that the plasticity of the brain prior to puberty enables children to acquire not only their first language but also a second language and that possibly it is the very accomplishment of lateralization that makes it difficult for people to be able ever again acquires fluent control of a second language. Krashen (1982) proposes a distinction between acquisitions the process by which children unconscious acquire their native language and learning by which children unconsciously acquire their native language, knowing the rules, being aware of them and being able to talk about them. ELT teachers should know about this difference so that they can help the young learners learn or acquire the second or foreign language properly and effectively. When the children are still young more attention should be paid to helping them acquire the language unconsciously through games, imitation, and real life activities and so on. 2.2 Speaking skills and the teaching of speaking skills 2.2.1 Definition of speaking skills Speaking skills are man’s ability in using language as a means of communication. When defining speaking skills, “ We do not merely know how to 7 assemble sentences in the abstract: we have to produce them and adapt them in the circumstances. This means making decisions rapidly, implementing them smoothly and adjusting our conversation as unexpected problems appeared in our path” Bygate (1987, p.3) Obviously, in the learning process, learners do not learn by heart every word; sentence and then gather them in the abstract but they learn how to speak in a particular situation. It means that speaking skills help students to learn language as a means of communication in real life. Speaking skills develop people’s ability to speak fluently, correctly and clearly and they can speak out in every situation. 2.2.2 Teaching speaking skills Rivers (1968) mentions the elements of speaking skills. She deems it necessary to have a clear understanding of the processes involved in speech. In the teaching of speaking skill, we are engaged in two processes: forging an instrument and giving the student practice in its use. Then the teaching of speaking skill involves two levels of activity. The forging of the instrument requires much practice in the arbitrary associations of the new language: lexical items, morphological and syntactical patterns, sentence types. At this stage the student is asked merely to manipulate the elements of the foreign language code, so that he can express a number of possible meanings imposed upon him by the exercise or by the teacher. When he has acquired facility in these mechanical associations he needs practice in setting in motion a number of interacting systems of a hierarchical nature. Rivers also states clearly that speaking to express a personal intention is not sequential or linear process, one item generating the next throughout the utterance; rather is it a hierarchical process. So it takes time and effort to develop this skill for the learners, especially the young ones. In English language teaching teachers must be fully aware of the main micro skills of speaking if they want to form or develop these skills for their students. Brown (1994) quotes the list of the macro skills of speaking put forward by Richards (1983) (see appendix 5). He draws the teachers’ attention to the importance of focusing on both the forms of the language as well as the functions of the language. When teaching speaking teachers are advised not to limit the student’s attention to the whole picture, even though that whole picture is important. Teachers may help students see the pieces right down to the small parts of language that make up the whole. 8 2.2.3 Factors affecting the development of speaking skills There are many factors which affect the development of the speaking skills of the young children. Below are the major ones. 2.2.3.1 Age Many researchers believe that the younger the children are the easier for them to learn English: Diller (1981), Cummins (1981), Flege (1987) assume that a critical point for second language acquisition occurs around puberty, beyond which people seem to be relatively incapable of acquiring a native like accent of the second language. Brown (1994) acknowledges that young children have many advantages in second language learning. First of all, children’s widespread success in acquiring second languages belies a tremendous subconscious effort devoted to the task and their fluency and naturalness are often the envy of adults struggling with second languages. Generally speaking, children under the age of puberty stand at excellent chance of sounding like a native if they have continued exposure in authentic contexts. These advantages of young children should be taken into consideration and made use of when ELT teachers teach young children in the primary level. 2.2.3.2 Intellectual development Brown (1994) argues that since children up to the age of about eleven are still in an intellectual stage of what is called concrete operations you need to remember their limitations. Rules, explanations and other even slightly abstract talk about language must be approached with extreme caution. Children are centered on the here and now on the functional purposes of language. They have little appreciation for our adult notions of correctness and they certainly cannot grasp the met language we use to describe and explain linguistic concepts. So instructions on language theory should be avoided and more repetition and meaningful practice ought to be given. 2.2.3.3 Attention span. Brown (1994) says that children have short attention spans; the short attention spans come up when you present the stuff which is boring, useless or too difficult. Since language lessons can at time difficult for children, your job then is one of making them interesting, lively, and fun. In order to help young teachers teach children more effectively. He makes some interesting suggestions. Because children 9 are focused on the immediate here and now, activities should be designed to capture their immediate interest. A lesson needs to have a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive. A teacher needs to be animated, lively and enthusiastic about the subject matter. Consider the classroom a stage in which you are the lead actor, your energy will be infectious to others. While you may think that you’re overdoing it, children need this exaggeration to keep spirits buoyed and minds alert. A sense of humor will go a long way to keep children laughing and learning. Since children’s humor is quite different from adults, remember to put yourself in their shoes. Children have a lot of natural curiosity. “Make sure you tap into that curiosity whenever possible and you will thereby help to maintain attention and focus” (Brown 1994, p.92) 2.2.3.4 Motivation and concern for speaking According to Brown (1987) motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. It is easy to figure that success in a task is due to the fact that someone is motivated. It is easy in second language learning to claim that a learner will be successful with the proper motivation. Such claims are of course not erroneous, for countless studies and experiments in human learning have shown that motivation is a key to learning. If that motivation and concern is high, then the necessary efforts will be expanded in pursuit of goals. Teachers can help learners to perceive or develop that motivation by showing, among other things how clarity of speech is significant in shaping their self image and ultimately, in reaching some of their higher goals. All the above factors suggest that any learners who really want to can learn to speak English clearly and comprehensively. You can assist in the process by gearing your planned and unplanned instruction towards all factors, especially motivation. 2.3 Pictures and different views on the use of pictures in ELT 2.3.1 Pictures as visual aids A picture is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a painting, drawing, sketch, etc, especially as a work of art. In the dictionary of applied linguistics, visual aids are objects, pictures, cut-outs, cards, drawings, charts, maps, etc, which are used by the teacher in the class for educational purposes. Pictures as visual aids are visual images or pictorial forms which include various types such as drawings, photos pictures, 10 paintings, posters, advertisements, stick figures, slides, flash cards, and so on. They are mainly used as supplementary teaching materials. According to Mayer& Monero (2002) pictorial forms may be static materials or dynamic materials such as video or animation. The students perceive knowledge through watching and exploiting these things following teachers’ instructions. 2.3.1 Different views on the use of pictures in ELT 2.3.1.1 Traditional points of view Rivers (1968) proves that many generations of language teachers have been influenced by the grammar- translation method to L1 or L2 language teaching and learning. This method is clearly rooted in the formal teaching of Latin and Greek which prevailed in Europe for many centuries. Latin and Greek were not learned for communicative purposes between scholars. The utility was considered at that time an inappropriate criterion to be applied to an area of advanced study. The learning of Latin and Greek was then justified as an intellectual discipline: the mind being trained, it was asserted, by logical analysis of the language, much memorization of complicated rules and paradigms, and the application of these in translation exercises. In other words, learners are taught about the language. The teaching of an ancient language for communication was not considered, the original pronunciation of which was even in doubt. The reading and translation of texts was, therefore, of great importance, as were writing exercises in imitation of these texts. Pictures were not used for language teaching purposes. If any of them were used, they were for illustrative purposes only. 2.3.1.2 Views of the direct method advocates Brown (1994) clearly stated that the basic premise of the Direct Method was similar to that of Gouin’s Series Method, namely, that second language learning should be more like first language learning- lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first and second language, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules. Later, Richards and Rodgers (1986) also summarize the principles of the Direct Method and mention the use of pictures objects and miming to make clear the meanings of concrete vocabulary. 11