1 L;VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHÙNG THỊ HUÊ THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE FOCUS PERIODS IN THE NEW “ENGLISH 10” (BASIC STREAM) AT DOI CAN HIGH SCHOOL IN VINH PHUC NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC NGỮ PHÁP TRONG CÁC TIẾT “LANGUAGE FOCUS” TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA MỚI “TIẾNG ANH 10” (BAN CƠ BẢN) TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỘI CẤN, VĨNH PHÚC M. Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi - 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** PHÙNG THỊ HUÊ THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE FOCUS PERIODS IN THE NEW “ENGLISH 10” (BASIC STREAM) AT DOI CAN HIGH SCHOOL IN VINH PHUC NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG DẠY VÀ HỌC NGỮ PHÁP TRONG CÁC TIẾT “LANGUAGE FOCUS” TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA MỚI “TIẾNG ANH 10” (BAN CƠ BẢN) TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỘI CẤN, VĨNH PHÚC M. Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi - 2010 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION …………………………………………………………………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………….iv LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………….…vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………….viii PART I: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………1 1. Rationale of the study……………………………………………………………….
Aims of the study……………………………………. Scope of the study……………………………………………………. Significance of the study……………………………………………………………3 6. Method of the study…………………………………………………………………3 7.
Design of the study………………………………………………………………….4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………….5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………. Definitions of grammar………………………………………………. Role of grammar in English language teaching and learning……. For-grammar perspectives …………………………………………….
Against-grammar perspectives ……………………………………………. Explicit and Implicit approaches to grammar teaching…………………………. Deductive and Inductive approaches to grammar instruction ………………. Grammar teaching in the major teaching methods……………………………….……14 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……………….
Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 7 at Doi Can High School. The school context ………………………………………………………. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its Language Focus section………………………………. Subjects of the study ………………………………………………………17 2.
Data collection instruments……………………………………. Data collection procedure…………………………………………………. Data analysis procedure……………………………………………………20 2.21 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………………………………22 3. Findings from questionnaires for the teachers and the students ………….
The teachers‟ and the students‟ perceptions on the importance of grammar teaching and learning…………………………………………22 3. The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about the grammar parts in the new English textbook…………………………………. The teachers‟ methods of teaching grammar in the Language Focus lessons……………………………………………24 3. The students‟ ways of learning grammar in the language focus lessons …………………………………………….
Difficulties in teaching and learning grammar in the Language Focus lessons as perceived by the teachers and the students ……………. Findings from class observations ………………………………. Findings from interviews…………………………………………………………. Findings from interviews with the teachers ………………………….
Findings from interviews with the students ………………. Discussion of the findings ……………………………………………………….35 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.37 PART III: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………. Summary of the study ……………. Limitations of the study …………………………………………………………….
Suggestions for further study………………………………………………….I Appendix 1: Grammar items in the Language Focus sections in the new textbook English 10 …………………………………………….I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the teachers ………………………………….…III Appendix 3: Survey questionnaire for the students ………………………………….VII Appendix 4: Class observation transcripts 1-4 …………………………………………X Appendix 5: Interview questions ………………………………………….………XXV Appendix 6: Interview transcripts ……………………………………….XXVI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 9 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on the importance of grammar English teaching and learning Table 2: The teachers‟ and the students‟ opinions about grammar parts in the new English 10 textbook Table 3: The level of difficulty of the grammar exercises to the students as perceived by the teachers and the students Table 4: Teachers‟ methods of presenting grammar Table 5: Teachers‟ ways of giving grammar instructions Table 6: Teachers‟ grammar practice activities – Frequency of use Table 7: The teachers‟ techniques of dealing with students‟ errors Table 8: Factors Influencing the way the teachers teach grammar Table 9: Students‟ level of understanding of grammar structures presented in the Language Focus lessons Table 10: The students‟ impressions of grammar lessons Table 11: Students‟ preference for the teachers‟ grammar presentation methods Table 12: Students‟ favourite grammar practice activities in the Language Focus lessons Table 13: the teachers‟ difficulties in teaching grammar in the language focus lessons Table 14: the students‟ difficulties in learning grammar in the language focus lessons TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 10 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET: Ministry of Education and Training CLT: Communicative Language Teaching TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 11 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It cannot be denied that English has nowadays become a common means of communication of human being all over the world. Integrating into that trend of the global integration, Vietnam has been more and more active to train active and dynamic Vietnamese, who can use English fluently for communicative purposes. That is the reason why in 2002, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has set out new aims for English language teaching for secondary education as well as introduced new series of English textbooks from grade 6 to grade 12.
The new English textbooks for high school students are divided into two sets: the advanced and the standard. They are claimed to adopt the latest teaching and learning approaches: communicative approach and learner-centered approach and aim at developing both language skills and language knowledge for students. Each unit in the new English textbooks consists of five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus, among which the Language Focus sections are to consolidate students‟ pronunciation and grammar. Since their nation-wide implementation in the school year 2006-2007, a great deal of research have been carried out to evaluate these new textbooks as well as to find out how these textbooks are actually implemented or the difficulties that teachers and students at high schools have to face when teaching and learning by the new textbooks.
However, most of these studies have dealt with the teaching and learning of the four language skills which are believed to be new for both teachers and students. There is still a lack of research on the teaching and learning of language elements in the Language Focus part. More importantly, the question whether teachers actually teach grammar communicatively or in the traditional methods has not been answered yet. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out more research on how teachers and students teach and learn grammar in the actual classroom.
Moreover, after two years of teaching English by the new English textbooks at Doi Can High School, the researcher observed that the teachers and learners there faced a TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 12 number of difficulties not only in teaching and learning the four language skills but also in teaching and learning grammar during the Language Focus lessons. Stimulated by the above reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct this study. It is hoped that this study will discover the reality of teaching and learning grammar in Language Focus lessons at Doi Can high school in order to contribute some immediate solutions. Aims of the study The aim of this study is to examine the current teaching and learning of grammar in Language Focus lessons in the new standard textbook English10 at Doi Can High School.
In order to achieve the aim, the study seeks to find out: (1) The teachers‟ and students‟ perceptions on the importance of grammar teaching and learning (2) How the teachers and the students deal with grammar in the Language Focus lessons (3) Whether the teaching and learning of grammar correspond with the new teaching method underlying the new textbook (4) The teachers‟ and students‟ perceived difficulties in teaching and learning grammar in the Language Focus lessons 3. Research questions: To achieve the aim and objectives of the study, the following research questions were proposed: 1. How do the teachers and the students at Doi Can High School perceive the importance of grammar teaching and learning? 2. How do the teachers teach and the students learn grammar in the Language Focus lessons? 3.
Does the teaching and learning of grammar in the Language Focus lessons match the new teaching methodology underlying the new textbook? 4. What are the difficulties in teaching and learning grammar in the Language Focus lessons as perceived by the teachers and students? TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Scope of the study As mentioned earlier, there are two sets of the new English textbooks for grade 10: the advanced and the standard sets. This study is only aimed at investigating the reality of teaching and learning grammar in Language Focus lessons in the standard set.
This study is limited to the teaching and learning reality with regard to teaching and learning grammar in Language Focus lessons. The investigation of teaching and learning language skills and pronunciation will be beyond the scope of this study. This study is a detailed survey at Doi Can High School in Vinh Phuc. Therefore, the findings of the study are not intended to be generalized to other school contexts.
Indeed the findings may not apply beyond the actual participants in this particular study. Significance of the study This study helps to identify the problems and suggests ways of improving them; therefore, it is hoped that this study will be beneficial in many ways. First, participants in the study (the teachers and the learners at Doi Can High School) will benefit immediately from the experience of reflection. Secondly, the findings of the study will contribute information to textbook writers and educators to determine curricula and program direction.
Method of the study The study was designed to use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Then, various instruments were used to collect the data for the study from different sources: - survey questionnaires to investigate the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards grammar, their teaching and learning habits and their difficulties in teaching and learning grammar in Language Focus lessons. - class observations to get information about both the teachers‟ methods of teaching and students‟ ways of learning grammar in the classroom. - interviews with the teachers and students to get in-depth information about the teachers‟ and the students‟ suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of grammar in the Language Focus lessons in the new English 10 - the standard textbook.
TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The Introduction presents an overview of the study including the rationale, aims, scope, significance, methodology and design of the study. The major part of the study, the Development, is divided into three chapters.
Chapter one provides theoretical background for the study. Chapter two presents the methodology of the study and the last chapter is devoted to analyzing and discussing the findings of the study. The Conclusion part provides a brief summary of the findings in correspondence with the four proposed research questions as well as offering some recommendations for better grammar teaching and learning. The limitations of and suggestions for further study are also discussed in this chapter.
Besides, the survey questionnaire for the teachers and students, the classroom observation transcripts and the interview transcripts are included in the Appendices. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 15 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definitions of grammar Concerning the terms “grammar”, several researchers have attempted to define it. Apparently, depending on one‟s theoretical orientation, different people define grammar differently.
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (as cited in Harmer, 1987, p.1) defines grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences.” There are two basic elements in this definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules. Here grammar constitutes a subset of rules relating to word formation (morphology) and sentence formation (syntax).