Ứng dụng các trò chơi Jigsaw-Guessing trong việc dạy và học từ vựng của sinh viên không chuyên tại Đại học Lạc Hồng

Tạp chí Khoa học Lạc Hồng24
JSLHU JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
OF LAC HONG UNIVERSITY www.jslhu.edu.vn Tạp chí Khoa học Lạc Hồng 2020, , 1-6 
APPLYING JIGSAW-GUESSING GAMES FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS 
FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY AT LAC HONG 
UNIVERSITY 
ỨNG DỤNG CÁC TRÒ CHƠI JIGSAW-GUESSING TRONG VIỆC DẠY 
VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TẠI ĐẠI HỌC 
LẠC HỒNG 
Pham Thi Nghia 
Department of English Language 
nghiapham@lhu.edu.vn 
ABSTRACT. Many language teachers at Lac Hong University (LHU) were facing with the inactiveness of the students in 
their English classes. Discovering an appropriate way to stimulate their language learning and teaching is a critical question. 
An examination was carried out in some classes of non-English majors learnt with a variety of games at LHU. After the 
examination, most of students showed the wish to learn in a relaxing learning atmosphere with games. During teaching, the 
writer detected the benefits of using jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games in her teaching at LHU. Therefore, a research was 
conducted on two classes of second-year non-English majors using jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games to find out the 
effectiveness of the games as well as the students’ vocabulary retention. An action research with tests, questionnaires, and 
interviews was quantitatively and qualitatively used to help find the results. The outcomes of the study displayed that the 
jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games could improve students’ vocabulary retention and revision and involve the students in 
their studying with a relaxing classroom atmosphere (88.2%). 72.7% of her students were interested in their learning of 
English. It is believed that the implementation of games in general and jigsaw-guessing game in particular can assist the 
writer as well as other language teachers teaching English vocabulary for non-majors at LHU. 
KEYWORDS. games, jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games, vocabulary retention, classroom environment 
TÓM TẮT. Nhiều giáo viên ngôn ngữ tại Đại học Lạc Hồng (LHU) đã phải đối mặt với việc sinh viên không tích cực 
trong các lớp học ngôn ngữ của mình. Việc tìm ra một cách hay để thúc đẩy việc dạy và học ngôn ngữ là một vấn đề rất cấp 
thiết. Một khảo sát được tiến hành ở một số lớp học tiếng Anh không chuyên trường Đại học Lạc Hồng, nơi sinh viên đã 
được học ngôn ngữ với nhiều loại trò chơi khác nhau. Sau cuộc khảo sát, hầu hết các sinh viên bày tỏ mong muốn được học 
trong một môi trường học tập thoải mái với các trò chơi. Trong quá trình giảng dạy, tác giả thấy được sự hiệu quả của việc 
sử dụng các trò chơi từ vựng jigsaw-guessing trong công tác giảng dạy của mình tại LHU. Do đó, tác giả đã được thực hiện 
một nghiên cứu trên hai lớp học tiếng Anh không chuyên năm hai với việc sử dụng các trò chơi từ vựng jigsaw-guessing để 
tìm hiểu sự hiệu quả của trò chơi này cũng như khả năng ghi nhớ từ vựng của sinh viên. Tác giả dùng phương pháp nghiên 
cứu hành động một cách định lượng và định tính với các bài kiểm tra, bảng câu hỏi và phỏng vấn để giúp tìm ra kết quả. Kết 
quả nghiên cứu cho thấy các trò chơi từ vựng jigsaw-guessing có thể cải thiện khả năng ghi nhớ và ôn tập từ vựng của sinh 
viên, đồng thời lôi cuốn sinh viên vào mộ môi trường học tập đầy thư giãn (88,2%). 72,7% sinh viên thích thú học tiếng Anh. 
Tác giả tin rằng việc triển khai các trò chơi nói chung cũng như trò chơi jigsaw-guessing nói riêng có thể giúp ích cho các 
nhà nghiên cứu khác cũng như các giáo viên trong việc dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên tại LHU. 
TỪ KHÓA. trò chơi, trò chơi đoán từ vựng jigsaw, ghi nhớ từ vựng, môi trường học tập
1. INTRODUCTION 
Teaching language for non-English majors at LHU is a 
very tough work because of several reasons. First, they seem 
inactive of second language. Some say that they dislike 
learning English; moreover, some believe that English is too 
difficult for them to study. Secondly, they put more focus on 
other subjects of their majors, not English. Students tend to 
be inattentive to their language learning. They are fearful to 
join in their language learning because of deficiency of 
background knowledge. Lastly, outdated methods make 
students become inactive in their studying. Students have 
few chances to practice in class. During her teaching, she 
realized that students would like to study in a relaxing 
learning atmosphere with games. Games are also parts of the 
lessons in which students could learn some interesting things 
from games. Most of them showed that they had few chances 
to work and interact with English in their classes even they 
were in a big class (about 60). Working in groups was their 
preferred learning style. They also stated that they loved to 
learn with competition in class. This is the reason why 
learning with games were preferred in her language classes. 
This research is to prove the effectiveness of using jigsaw-
guessing vocabulary games in foreign l ... were 
controlled to the participants straightforwardly and were 
gathered right after being filled in. This guaranteed that none 
of the questionnaires were unexploited. (find the 
questionnaires in appendix 1 & 2) 
Interviews 
For profound understanding and stronger endorsement of 
what the writer consolidated from the questionnaires, 
separate interviews were carried out with the participation of 
six students who were really into the games or performed 
differently from their classmates during learning English 
with the games. Some questions in the post-questionnaire 
were picked out to ask the six subjects. Open-ended 
questions were used (appendix 3) and the numbers of the 
questions were dependent on how much the researcher 
would like to achieve from the respondents. 
3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 
In this study, all the students who took part in the jigsaw 
guessing games showed their eagerness to answer all the 
statements/questions of the quizzes. 20,9% of the students 
were very attracted in learning English with the jigsaw-
guessing games. 72,7% of them found attracted. However, 
1,8% of them felt uninterested in learning with these games 
because of lack of knowledge and vocabulary. All the 
students were working on the games in a very close and 
comfortable atmosphere. Of course, key words or terms used 
in the games were taken from what students learned from 
previous lessons. Day by day, learning with the games 
became a kind of routine in their classes, and they asked the 
teacher to play the games if the teacher did not implement 
them. Normally, the students in these classes often kept silent 
every class meeting. They depended on the teacher’s 
instruction and guidance, then they silently did the tasks. It 
seemed that the students forgot what they had learnt in the 
previous lessons. The students forgot most of the meanings 
of words as well as the key points of the previous lessons 
when the teacher reviewed them. From the individual 
interviews, the researcher found out that the engagement of 
the students and the classroom environment changed after 
21%
73%
4%
2%
0%
Students'attitudes and interests on using 
zigsaw-guessing games in class
very interested interested normal
uninterested no idea
Tạp chí Khoa học Lạc Hồng 27
Pham Thi Nghia 
using these games into class. First of all, she could take 
advantage of letting students to work in groups. Students 
realized that they got more fun and felt more interesting to 
play the jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games. 92,7% of the 
participants loved to play the games in groups. Secondly, 
because the intention of using the games was to engage 
students into classroom activities, so the shy and poor 
students found that it was not a big problem when they gave 
their ideas in their group. And they showed the ability of 
retaining the new words effortlessly. 88,2% of the students 
said that they could remember and review vocabularies more 
easily. In brief, the use of jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games 
could bring a big change in encouraging students to learn 
English and attract them into their learning. However, a 
minor group of students still neglected their learning. In the 
interview, they truly said that they were uninterested in the 
games because they found nothing new from the games, and 
that the same structures of the games made them bored. They 
did not want to play the same game every class meeting. 
Honestly, they felt keen on playing the game in the two first 
weeks; however, they gradually got bored in the next weeks. 
Some students stated that the content of the games was 
carefully-chosen to suit students’ level. Yet, 97,3% of the 
students confirmed that this kind of game should be 
employed in their English classes. 
Noticeably, the researcher witnessed the thorough 
improvement of students in retaining new words after the 
eight - week experiment on the implementation of jigsaw-
guessing vocabulary games. The experimental class showed 
their better vocabulary retention than the control class. In 
addition, students were more motivated in participating the 
lessons. They were keen on the games not only getting the 
prizes, but also challenging themselves in acquiring a 
language. Gardner (2006) argued that people have multiple 
intelligences and that the big challenge coping the 
disposition of human resources 'is how to best take advantage 
of the uniqueness conferred on us as a species exhibiting 
several intelligences'. Consequently, the classroom 
environment had been upgraded. The inactive students 
showed ‘their presence’ in class, and the lessons went 
efficiently and easily. 
It can be avoided that it was very challenging for teachers 
to manage a big group of students in the classroom. Games 
are somehow fruitful in retaining new words, but the other 
aspects of language learning could not be measured, 
especially in large classes. Too many new words to 
remember, but games only conveyed words in limit. Not only 
would all students like to join the games, but did the teacher 
have a chance to understand her own students in her 
undertaking class. However, there were still some students 
who refused the effort of the teacher in motivating her 
students. They remained quiet and did not care of what their 
classmates were doing. They contributed nothing when they 
were in groups. The study was carried out on two classes of 
pharmacy major. So, the results might be more reliable if the 
research is conducted on other majors with a larger scale. 
In conclusion, with the use of jigsaw-guessing games, 
students freely show their own ability and intelligences in 
their learning. Thanks to the games, students are happy to 
learn in a relaxing learning environment, which was proved 
in the interviews. 
4. CONCLUSION 
In fact, jigsaw-guessing games are quite new in teaching 
and learning at LHU despite the proven benefits of using 
them classroom. Many teachers might not try using them in 
their teaching because of some reasons. First of all, teachers 
at LHU have very little time for their teaching. So, they do 
not have enough time carrying out the games which are 
thought as a way of having fun and of filling time. At Lac 
Hong University, teachers have to “run” with time to 
complete the course syllabus. Games are hardly played 
because they will spend a lot of time. Secondly, preparing 
and designing these games will be very time-consuming. 
Teachers have to be very careful to design the games which 
are appropriate to the students’ level and the content of the 
lessons. Finally, the ingrained inactiveness of students seems 
to stay in every class. Students tend to expect the teachers’ 
instructions and correction. These are the reasons why the 
researcher carried out the two questionnaires which were 
delivered at the beginning of the course and at the end of the 
course to make clear the benefits of using jigsaw-guessing 
games in learning vocabulary in non-major English classes. 
Although the results of the research still contain some 
limitations, jigsaw-guessing games are certainly useful for 
teachers who are teaching English for non-majors at LHU. 
The findings have shown that games in general and jigsaw-
guessing games in particular stimulate learners to take part 
in their language learning, and thus create a motivating 
atmosphere in the classroom, making the lessons more 
exciting to learn as it used to be. It is believed that the use of 
jigsaw-guessing games can help the researcher as well as 
other teachers in teaching English for non-majors at LHU. 
5. APPENDIX 
Appendix 2 
The students’ attitudes and interests on jigsaw-guessing 
vocabulary games 
(Total of students who answered the post-questionnaire: 110) 
You are going to answer some questions about the jigsaw-
guessing vocabulary games which the teacher had employed 
in your English class. Circle ONE option for each question 
or state your own ideas (if any). You do not need to write 
your name on this paper. 
1. Did you believe that jigsaw-guessing vocabulary games 
help you learn vocabulary more easily? 
a) Yes (92/110) = 83,6% 
b) No (18/110) = 8,2% 
2. How did you feel about jigsaw-guessing games? 
a) Very interested (23/110) = 21% 
b) Interested (80/110) = 73% 
c) Normal (5/110) = 4,5 % 
d) Uninterested (2/110) = 1,8% 
e) I have no idea (0/0) = 0% 
3. Did you like learning with the games: 
a) Individually? (5/110 = 4,5%) 
b) In pairs? (8/48 = 7,3%) 
c) In groups? (97/110 = 88,2%) 
Tạp chí Khoa học Lạc Hồng28
Using jigsaw-guessing games for non-English majors in teaching and learning vocabulary at LHU 
4. What did you get from the games? (Choose TWO 
options) 
a) I learnt a lot of new words. 
b) I could review the vocabulary of previous lessons. 
(97/110 = 88,2%) 
c) I learnt some new knowledge. 
d) I felt relaxed in learning foreign language. 
(103/110 = 93,6%) 
e) I found them boring. 
f) I got nothing from the games. 
g) Other ideas: 
. 
5. Do you think that teachers could use this kind of game in 
their English classes? 
a) Yes (107/110 = 97,3%) 
b) No (0/110 = 0%) 
c) No idea (3/110 = 2,7%) 
6. Do you think that this kind of games should be improved? 
a) Yes 
b) No 
If, yes. State your own ideas:................................. 
Thanks for your contribution! 
Appendix 3 
Model of a Jigsaw-guessing vocabulary game 
JIGSAW-GUESSING QUIZ 
(Elementary level) 
Find the answers to these statements. Write the answers 
on the blanks at the end of each statement. 
Group1: 
a. The part of the body at the end of the arms, 
including the fingers and thumbs. 
 _______________ 
b. Your father’s brother. He’s your 
_______________________ 
c. No people or thing inside. It’s 
_______________________ 
d. It means “present”. _______________________ 
 Group word: Very big or very large in size or amount: 
_____________________ 
Group2: 
a. Two long sticks that connect the shoulders to the 
hands. __________________ 
b. Something is not old. It’s __________________ 
c. She does it when she’s bored. 
______________________ 
d. His family is not poor, not average, but 
________________ 
e. Something that every football player hopes to 
achieve. ____________________ 
 Group word: It means “drive someone crazy”: 
_________________ 
Group 3: 
a. This is a letter. It is also a kind of vegetable. 
_____________ 
b. ____________here! I’m going to show you 
something. 
c. It’s a color. ____________________ 
d. In English, it has 26 letters. 
______________________ 
e. I don’t know ________________ to draw. 
 Group word: A round fruit with soft red and yellow skin 
and a large rough seed in side: __________________ 
Group 4: 
a. The synonym of the word “jail”. 
_______________ 
b. You don’t want to make any noise. You use them 
to listen to music. _________________ 
c. “Like father, like _________________” 
d. You use it when it rains. 
_______________________ 
 Group word: The opposite of the word “pull”. 
_________________ 
Group 5: 
a. The number between twelve and ten. 
________________ 
b. I don’t dislike her. It means I ______________her. 
c. The time of life a person is young. 
_________________ 
d. Better ____________than never. 
 Group word: It means “to shout at”: 
__________________ 
 The final group word: feeling or showing pleasure; 
pleased 
 _________________________ 
KEYS 
Group 1: a. hands, b. uncle, c. empty, c. gift the group 
word: huge ) 
Group 2: a. arms, b. new, c. yawn, d. rich, e. goal the 
group word: angry 
Group 3: a. pea, b. come, c. yellow, d. alphabet, e. how 
the group word: peach 
Group 4: a. prison, b. headphones, c. son, d. umbrella 
the group word: push 
Group 5: a. eleven, b. like, c. youth, d. late the group 
word: yell 
 The final group word: happy 
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