THE EFFECTIVENESS OF KAHOOT! IN IMPROVING VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS: A CASE STUDY AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

Tóm tắt

This study was conducted to (1) discover the difficulties faced by firstyear students at the Faculty of English of a public university in Hanoi when learning and memorizing vocabulary, and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of using Kahoot! in improving students’ vocabulary. The participants included 161 first-year English majors. A mixed method was employed, with research instruments including a questionnaire, vocabulary tests (pre-test and post-test), and interviews. The findings revealed that participants encountered obstacles, including memorizing vocabulary in the long term, using the correct words in context, not having enough time to practice, and having low motivation. In terms of using Kahoot! for vocabulary learning, the experimental group scored higher on the post-test than the control group, demonstrating that Kahoot! is an effective resource for improving vocabulary acquisition and retention. Interviews with the experiment further confirmed that Kahoot! is engaging and beneficial. In general, the results support the integration of gamebased learning tools to improve vocabulary learning.