VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST – GRADUATE DEPARTMENT **************** ĐỖ THỊ HỒNG DIỆP TO APPLYING GAMES IN TEACHING THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE TO THE FRESHMEN AT HAIPHONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng trò chơi trong việc dạy thời Hiện tại Hoàn thành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất Đại học Y Hải Phòng ) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY,HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST – GRADUATE DEPARTMENT **************** ĐỖ THỊ HỒNG DIỆP APPLYING GAMES IN TEACHING THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE TO THE FRESHMEN AT HAIPHONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng trò chơi trong việc dạy thời Hiện tại Hoàn thành cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất Đại học Y Hải Phòng ) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Phung Thi Kim Dung, MA Hanoi - 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………….ii Table of contents ………………………………………………….iii List of abbreviations ……………………………………………………………………….vi List of tables and charts …………………………………………………………………….vi Part 1 : INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………. Aims of the study ……………………………. Scope of the study ……………………………………. Methodology of the study ……………………………………………………………3 5.
Design of the study…………………………….……………………………………3 Part 2 : DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………4 Chapter 1: Literature review …………………………………………. Grammar and its role in English teaching and learning …………. Definitions of grammar ……………………………………………………. The role of grammar in English teaching and learning …………………….
Grammar: What need to be taught? ……………………………. The Present Perfect tense and its meaning …………………………………. Present Perfect expresses indefinite past actions …………………. Present Perfect expresses state up to the present …………….9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Present Perfect expresses finished events connected to the present. Present Perfect for repeated or habitual actions ………………………. The application of games in teaching Present Perfect Tense ………………………11 1. The importance of students’ motivation in learning language ….
Definitions of game ……………………………………………………. Classifications of games ……………………………. Advantages of teaching Present Perfect tense with games ………………. Application of games …………………………………….
Which games to apply? ……………………………………………17 1. When apply games? ……………………………………………….…19 Chapter 2: Contents of the study ………………………. Background to the study …………………………………………………………. An overview of English learning and teaching at Hai Phong Medical University ………………………………………………………………………………………….
Aims and syllabus of Present Perfect teaching at Hai Phong Medical University……………………………………………………………………………. Situation of teaching and learning grammar, including the Present Perfect tense at Hai Phong Medical University …………………………………………………………22 2. Lesson plan and application of games in teaching the Present Perfect tense…………. Analyzing result of the questionnaire ………………………………………….
Questionnaire for teachers ………………………. Questionnaire for students……………………. The feedback of the freshmen in experimental lesson ……………….…35 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Result of interview ………………………………………….
Findings and discussion …………………………………………………………….1 Some suggestions in adapting and applying games………………………………… 41 3.2 Examples of the Present Perfect games in Headway textbook (elementary) ………. Summary of major findings ………………………………………………………. Limitations and suggestions for further research………………….………………………I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching PPP: Presentation – Practice- Production PPT: Present Perfect Tense HMU: Hai Phong Medical University LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: Teachers purpose of teaching grammar Chart 2: Teachers’ method to teach grammar Chart 3: Students’ Present Perfect learning Chart 4: Suggestions to improve the students’ learning Chart 5: Frequency of using games in class Chart 6: Students’ interest in PPT Chart 7: Students’ understanding of the lesson Chart 8: Students’ attitude to teaching method Chart 9: Students’ time for learning lesson at home Chart 10: Students’ understanding after the lesson Chart 11: Students’ problem with PPT Chart 12: Students’ attitude to learn PPT through games Chart 13: Students’ interest in games in the lesson Chart 14: Students’ understanding after the lesson with the games Chart 15: Students’ application structure PPT in the games Table 1: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching PPT LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com viii Table 2: Advantages of games in teaching PPT Table 3: The problems of teaching PPT through games Table 4: Teachers’ ideas to improve the approach to the PPT Table 5: Students’ activities in Present Perfect lesson Table 6: Students’ comments on teachers’ frequency of using games Table 7: The advantages when participating in the games Table 8: The difficulties when participating in the games Table 9: Students’ attitude of frequency of playing games in the lesson LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Linguists define grammar as a set of components: phonetics (the production and perception of sounds), phonology (how sounds are combined), morphology (how elements are combined to create words), syntax (how words are strung together into sentences) and semantics or meaning.
So, by definition, language does not exist without grammar. In learning a foreign language, grammar plays an important role. Many advantages of grammar study are to improve your writing, reading, thinking and speaking. Besides, it can enable you to express the knowledge that we have, in a correct and understandable format.
In the English grammar system, learners still find it difficult to master the connection between Time – Tense – Aspect. Tense and aspect are grammatical categories of the verbs which have to do with forms. While tense links the situation represented by a sentence with the time at which it is uttered, aspect represents features of the temporal structure of the situation. Tense and aspect are obligatory because whenever we encode an event through a finite clause, we select one or another tense, one or another aspectual distinction.
In fact, tense and aspect can combine in various ways, giving different types, such as: the Present Progressive tense, the Present Perfect tense, the Past Perfect Progressive tense…Having taught at some colleges and universities for a few years, I realize that the Present Perfect tense that puzzles students most. Of all the English tenses, PPT is undoubtedly the most difficult one for students to learn and, for that reason, the most difficult one to teach. The trouble does not come from teaching the form. Students do not have much trouble with how to form PPT.
Instead, they have trouble understanding how to use PPT. Almost all elementary students know how to conjugate this verb tense correctly, but knowing when to use PPT (the functions of the tense) is often confusing. Mario Rinvolucri (1984:3) wrote that: “Grammar is perhaps so serious and central in learning another language that all ways should be searched for which will focus students energy on the task of mastering and internalizing it. One way of focusing this energy is through the release offered by games”.
Grammar games are very useful in teaching and learning; grammar games not only encourage but also improve students’ ability in using LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 English fluently. However, at my university, teaching grammar, including the PPT - a difficult item of English grammar is very boring and passive. Through my observation with two random classes – Y1K32B and Y1K32H- (see Classroom Observation Sheet in Appendix 1), I find that in the lesson plan, teacher proposes many activities for students to learn and communicate; however in practice, teacher often uses PPP approach, and even Grammar Translation Method which make students inattentive to the lessons. In some classes, few teachers use activities, technology or games to create amusement and attractiveness, but they cannot guide students to attend.
The reasons may be poor English skills or weak motivation of the students or teachers’ knowledge about activities applied in their classes or unsuitable activities to the content of the lesson, etc. Finally, teachers cannot gain the first goal and students cannot understand the lesson thoroughly and use grammar structures in oral communication. So, the teaching grammar in my university has neither developed ability, activeness and motivation of the students nor created many opportunities for them to communicate in English. Therefore, this study is necessary because using games in teaching grammar; specifically the PPT will bring many practical benefits to the students.
In consideration of these problems, as an English teacher, I really want to study the situation of teaching and learning the PPT at HMU and make a small contribution to enhancing the effectiveness in teaching this tense through games. Aims of the study to examine the effects of games on the teaching and learning of the Present Perfect tense and to explore students' attitudes, expectations and progress in their process of learning the Present Perfect tense through games. to propose several recommendations on game adaptation to make them more enjoyable and productive to the students at HMU. In order to carry out the study in this way, the following questions are put forth.
What are students’ attitudes towards games in the Present Perfect lesson? 2. How does the use of games help students learn Present Perfect Tense more effectively? 3. What games should be used to teach The Present Perfect Tense more effectively for the freshmen at Hai Phong Medical University? LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study Given the rationale and the aims of the study, it is necessary to limit the study to the areas which are manageable.
Benefits of application of games in teaching the PPT create the effectiveness of students’ learning which focuses on two factors: developing students’ motivation and understanding of the lesson. The study focuses on the first-year students at HMU, so the results of the study are not applied for all students of all universities. Methodology This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative method helps to provide the quantified background data.
The collected data and information lay the foundation for the study. Comments, remarks, assumptions and conclusions of the study are based on data analysis. Data collection for analysis in the study come from the lecturers and students in HMU by: - Class observation - Survey questionnaires - Interviews and discussion 5. Design of the study This minor thesis includes three parts.
The first part – Introduction – provides the motivation for the research, identifies the aims, scope, methods and research questions. The second part – Development – consists of three chapters. Chapter 1- Literature review - gives an overview of theories of the study. Chapter 2 – Contents of the study – investigates the current situation of learning and teaching the PPT at HMU through class observation, interviews and questionnaires, then carries out data analysis, comparison, findings and discussion.
Chapter 3 – Suggestions – provides or suggestions to overcome difficulties when using Present Perfect games in class and examples of games to teach the Present Perfect tense in Headway textbook (elementary). The last part of the study is the conclusion which gives a summary of the study and recommendations for further study. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1. Grammar and its role in English teaching and learning 1.
Definitions of grammar Ur (1991: 4) defines grammar as “the way language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning.” This definition is quite close to the common understanding of what grammar is. The main difference is that it tells us how the rules of language actually work – they arrange and shape words. Nevertheless, knowing what these rules do is not a very motivating factor alone. Crystal (2004) says: “Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves.
The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language. It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English. Additionally, it can help everyone, not only teachers of English, but teachers of anything for all teaching grammar is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning.