VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LAI THI HIEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS IN TEACHING GRAMMAR FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN IN A UNIVERSITY IN NAM DINII CITY (Nghién citu việc sử dụng ngữ cảnh tình buông vào giảng lạy ngữ. pháp cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiắng “Inh năm thứ nhất tại một trường dại học ở thành phố Nưa Định) M. MINOR PROGRAMME TIIESIS inglish Teaching Mcthadology : 6.111 HANOL - 2014 'VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSTTY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES, LẠI THỊ HIỄN AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS IN TEACHING GRAMMAR FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN IN A UNIVERSITY IN NAM DINH CITY (Nghiên cứu việc xử dung ngit ciink tinh huéng vào giững day ngit pháp cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất tại một trường đại học Ø thành phố Nam Dink) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.
Ha Cam Tam TIANOI - 2014 DECLARATION Thereby certify that the thesis entitled. AN INVESTIGATION INITIO USING SITUATIONAL CONTEXTS IN TEACIIING GRAMMAR FOR N-ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN IN A UNIVERSITY TN NAM DLNH CITY Is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at University of Languages and International Studies, [lanoi National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at uny olber upper secondary schools. Hanoi, August 20", 2008 Lai Thi Mien TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION. Ratlonale oÊthe study.
Objectives of the study. The research questions 2 A, The scope of the study c. The significance of the study 3 6. Methods of the gt0dy,.
cài n0 Họ HH HH. Organization of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER1; LITERATURE REVLBW. Thoorctical background about grammar. DeBnitions of grammar.
The importance of grammar in second language teaching 6 1. Approaches in grammar teaching. The deductive approach — rale-driven learning - - 7 1. The inductive approach — the mule-discovery path.
Functional-Notional Approach. Techniques in grammar teaching - 10 1.1, Teaching grammar in situational contexts - 10 1. 'Teaching gramrnar thưough teXks. Teaching prammar through stories - - " 1.
Teaching grammmar thưough songs and thyme. Context and situadional context in granamar teaching. Bituational context in teacbing graRMĐ8T,. son non nai 13 1.
What is a situational context? B TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION. Ratlonale oÊthe study. Objectives of the study. The research questions 2 A, The scope of the study c.
The significance of the study 3 6. Methods of the gt0dy,. cài n0 Họ HH HH. Organization of the study 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER1; LITERATURE REVLBW.
Thoorctical background about grammar. DeBnitions of grammar. The importance of grammar in second language teaching 6 1. Approaches in grammar teaching.
The deductive approach — rale-driven learning - - 7 1. The inductive approach — the mule-discovery path. Functional-Notional Approach. Techniques in grammar teaching - 10 1.1, Teaching grammar in situational contexts - 10 1.
'Teaching gramrnar thưough teXks. Teaching prammar through stories - - " 1. Teaching grammmar thưough songs and thyme. Context and situadional context in granamar teaching.
Bituational context in teacbing graRMĐ8T,. son non nai 13 1. What is a situational context? B ABSTRACT In order to be fluency in English, grammar is considered to be the basis to develop other four skills. However, when teaching grammar to first-year students at University of Economics and Technical Industry, the author of Unis research found out thal studenis were not interested in learning grammar.
Hence, they did not focus on the lesson and ignored doing exercises resulting in bad marks in the testa and exams. Thanks lo the yeasons above, the researcher decided to use situational contexts to teach grammar for students. The aims of carrying out this research were to find out students’ interest in gramunar lessons which apply situational contexts and measure whelher students can complete grammar exercises better after practicing with situational contexts. In order to do this research, the researcher first makes plans for the study by preparing situational contexts and decidiryg how they are applicd in the classroom.
Then, the aclion sage takes place. All the situational contexts are put into practice. The teacher gives them to students and they have to make preseration aboul those situational contexts. Durng this stage, all things happened in the class are observed and taken notes.
At the same time, after each try-out lesson, there is a test given at the end of the lesson in order to measure students’ progress. Last bul nol least, the action is evaluated by analyzing and comparing the results of the test and summarizing and discussing the observation notes. In the end, the researcher gives comments and conclusions about the study. iii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the study In times of globalization, English language is becoming more and more important worldwide. Many people hold a belie! that English can help them lo be casily accessed lo job opportunities and connect people from all over the world together. ‘his contributes to a significant change im school education system im Vietnam. From kindsygarton to university, English has become a compulsory subject in teaching and leaming’s curriculum.
Although the four skills including writing, listening, speaking and reading stil plays a very important role in teaching and earning English, it is underiable that English grammar also hold an inevitable position. Without grammar competence, people cannot generate ideas into grammatical sentences to write an essay or paragraph as well as understand and be understood m vommumeating with others. However, i University of Eoonomic and Technical Industry (UNITI), grammar teaching encounters lots of difficulties. More specifically, Iscturers there still prefer the traditional method of teaching grammar.
Therefore, some of them often explains new words and grammar structures, ask students to learn by heart and make sentences, which makes them passive and bored. One more problem tics in students’ participation im grammar lesson. The boring atmosphere and lots of written exercises makes students lose their interest in leaming grammar at all. Liqually important, it is clear that teachers in UNETI do not emphasize the role of communication in teaching grammar, so very few communicative activities explored in grammar teaching result in students’ little chances to approach, be exposed to and practice grammatical items in real-life situations.
The reason is that they are afraid of the noise students make, and it is difficult for them to control the class. Last but not least, in the course book used for first-year non-major students (New Ileadway Pre-itermediate by Lix and John Soars), lots of situational contexts are provided, but teachers do not take the most advantages of them. The advantages and disadvantages of teaching grammar in situational contexts. Application of tational contexts in leaching grammar.
Review ofprevious siudies. Definitions of action researeh. Steps to conduct an action research. The sefing of the siuổy,.
The research context 2. The course book.ccsesesseen snes sssieetnsen sent seouneenteetveecee 33. Data collection and analysis a 2441. à cọ nọ eneeeere 2 Implieations for more effeotive grammar lessons.
Limitations and suggestions for further research. co Heeoeeerree ¬ APPENDICES. Rationale of the study In times of globalization, English language is becoming more and more important worldwide. Many people hold a belie! that English can help them lo be casily accessed lo job opportunities and connect people from all over the world together.
‘his contributes to a significant change im school education system im Vietnam. From kindsygarton to university, English has become a compulsory subject in teaching and leaming’s curriculum. Although the four skills including writing, listening, speaking and reading stil plays a very important role in teaching and earning English, it is underiable that English grammar also hold an inevitable position. Without grammar competence, people cannot generate ideas into grammatical sentences to write an essay or paragraph as well as understand and be understood m vommumeating with others.
However, i University of Eoonomic and Technical Industry (UNITI), grammar teaching encounters lots of difficulties. More specifically, Iscturers there still prefer the traditional method of teaching grammar. Therefore, some of them often explains new words and grammar structures, ask students to learn by heart and make sentences, which makes them passive and bored. One more problem tics in students’ participation im grammar lesson.
The boring atmosphere and lots of written exercises makes students lose their interest in leaming grammar at all. Liqually important, it is clear that teachers in UNETI do not emphasize the role of communication in teaching grammar, so very few communicative activities explored in grammar teaching result in students’ little chances to approach, be exposed to and practice grammatical items in real-life situations. The reason is that they are afraid of the noise students make, and it is difficult for them to control the class. Last but not least, in the course book used for first-year non-major students (New Ileadway Pre-itermediate by Lix and John Soars), lots of situational contexts are provided, but teachers do not take the most advantages of them.
As Harmer (2007:57) stated, “students need to get an idea of how the new language is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to present language in context” Therefore, the role of silualicnal coulext in English teaching and learning in general and. in English grammar teaching in particular are proved to be very essential. All of the factors mentioned above urge me to conduct a study on situational comext in teaching gramunar with an aim to find out students’ and teachers’ difficultics when applying this method in their teaching and learning. It is entitled “An investigation into using situational contexts in (caching grammar for non-English major freshmen im a university in Nam Dinh city”.
Objectives of the study The objectives of the study are as follows: ® To find out if students are more interested in practicing grammar through situational conlexls. © To measure whether students can complete grammar exercises better after practicing with situational contexts. The research questions This study is imtended to address the following two research questions: Ql; Are students more interested in practicing granunar through situational contexts? Q2: Can students do grammar exercises better after their practices with situational context? 4. ‘The scope of the study As could be seen from the title of the study, this paper strongly focuses on finding out the effectiveness of using situational contexts in increasing students’ interest in practicing grammar and the ability whether siudents can complete grammar exercises better afler 2 1.
The advantages and disadvantages of teaching grammar in situational contexts. Application of tational contexts in leaching grammar. Review ofprevious siudies. Definitions of action researeh.
Steps to conduct an action research. The sefing of the siuổy,. The research context 2. The course book.ccsesesseen snes sssieetnsen sent seouneenteetveecee 33.
Data collection and analysis a 2441. à cọ nọ eneeeere 2 Implieations for more effeotive grammar lessons. Limitations and suggestions for further research. co Heeoeeerree ¬ APPENDICES.
I As Harmer (2007:57) stated, “students need to get an idea of how the new language is used by native speakers and the best way of doing this is to present language in context” Therefore, the role of silualicnal coulext in English teaching and learning in general and. in English grammar teaching in particular are proved to be very essential. All of the factors mentioned above urge me to conduct a study on situational comext in teaching gramunar with an aim to find out students’ and teachers’ difficultics when applying this method in their teaching and learning. It is entitled “An investigation into using situational contexts in (caching grammar for non-English major freshmen im a university in Nam Dinh city”.
Objectives of the study The objectives of the study are as follows: ® To find out if students are more interested in practicing grammar through situational conlexls. © To measure whether students can complete grammar exercises better after practicing with situational contexts.