THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI THUY VAN TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR PET CANDIDATES (Dạy ngữ pháp theo ngữ cảnh để cải thiện kỹ năng nói của các thí sinh làm bài thi PET) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI THUY VAN TEACHING GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR PET CANDIDATES (Dạy ngữ pháp theo ngữ cảnh để cải thiện kỹ năng nói của các thí sinh làm bài thi PET) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Phung Thi Thu Ha THAI NGUYEN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS. i LIST OF TABLES. iii LIST OF CHARTDECLARATION .vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definitions of grammar. Definition of context. Teaching grammar in context. The roles of teaching grammar.
The necessity of teaching grammar. Different approaches of teaching grammar. Why we should teach grammar in context. Preliminary English Test (PET).
Some previous studies. 12 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Method of the study. The study setting.
15 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection instrument. Pretest and posttest. Applying the technqiue of teaching grammar in context for PET candidates.
Data collection procedure. Data analytical method. 19 CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION. Results from questionnaires.
Students’ attitude towards the technique of teaching grammar in context. Students’ viewpoint about the technique of teaching grammar in context. Results from pre and post speaking tests. Data from the pre speaking test.
Data from the post speaking test. To what extend the technqiue of teaching grammar in context has effects on the PET candidates’ speaking competence. The students’ attitude towards the technqiue of teaching grammar in context 35 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION. Suggestions for further studies.
40 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Speaking topics and Grammar patterns .2 Cambridge English scale score. Students’ attitude towards the technique teaching grammar in context .2: Students’ viewpoint about the technique teaching grammar in context. The Control group’s pre speaking test score. The Experimental group’s pre speaking test score.
The results of the Control group’s post speaking test. The results of the Experimental group’s post speaking test. 29 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF CHART Chart 4.1: The average scores of both groups. The proportion of the Control group’s post speaking test.
The proportion of the Experimental group’s post speaking test.2: Grammar assessment in the pre and post speakign test of the Control group. Grammar assessment in the pre and post speakign test of the Experimental group. 33 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION The writer fully declares that the study entitled “Teaching grammar in context to improve speaking skills for PET candidates” is carried out by herself with the purpose of fulfilling the requirement for the Master Degree of English Language at School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the process of doing this study, I have been so lucky to get much support, guidance, encouragement and assistance from many people.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mrs. Phung Thi Thu Ha who has kindly given me enormous encouragement, critical feedback and suggestion. Without her guidance, I could not complete my study. In addition, I also want to send my thanks to all the lectures from Thai Nguyen university, School of Foreign Languages, Postgraduate Department.
They have given meaningful lessons to help me orient my topic and supported me much. My thanks also go to all my colleagues and students at the EEG center for their assistance during the process of collecting the data for the study. I also want to send my sincere thanks to my family and friends who always love, motivate and support me in the process of writing this thesis. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Speaking is one of the most important skills in learning a foreign language, which has a great effect on your failure or success.
There are many aspect affected the speaking skill and one of those is grammar. Grammar is one of the most important criteria to assess speaking skill of the PET. In an attempt to increase the band score for the PET candidates’ speaking skill at the EEG center, the researcher did this thesis with the purpose of finding out the effects of the technique teaching grammar in context. To find out the effects of this technique, an experimental research was carried out through some steps, using a two data collection instruments, including questionnaires, and pre and post speaking tests.
The results showed that all of the students have a positive attitude toward this technique and they think this technique helps them learn grammar better. In addition, it also helps the students to improve the score of the PET speaking skill for the student at the EEG center. Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to help students improve their speaking skill and teachers have more techniques to make their grammatical lessons become more interesting. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale In this day and age, English has become one of the most widely used languages all over the world. In terms of the number of native speakers, it does not own the largest number, but the widest reach of language spoken. This language was considered as an international language, which is the official language of more than 50 countries in the world and acts as the working language of almost all international organizations. In addition, it is the most used language of the internet.
Due to the popularity of English, a multitude of people in different countries learns English to serve their work or study. In Vietnam, there is a huge number of people at different ranges of age learning English. It is one of the core subjects at all school levels. Vietnamese students start learning English quite early.
In some major cities, such as Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Thai Nguyen, etc, children have become accustomed to this subject, when they are from 4 to 5 years old or even younger. Almost all students at Vietnamese universities have to achieve an English certificate to graduate. There are many test types for them to choose, such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, PET and so on. In Thai Nguyen, most students learning at EEG center want to get the B1 level to serve their jobs and study.
They opted for the Preliminary English Test (PET) as an English certificate. To reach the B1 level, EEG center students who do not major in English have faced to many difficulties and speaking is one of the challenging skills for them. One of the problems that they had is grammar mistakes. They often used English grammar incorrectly when they spoke; therefore, they were not confident in their speaking.
Being afraid of making grammar mistakes confused them to express their idea and affected their fluency. Because of these problems, in order to help students improve their speaking score for the PET, it is necessary to apply effective techniques to teach speaking skills. One of those is teaching grammar in context. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com These reasons urged the researcher to do this study “Teaching grammar in context to improve speaking skills for PET candidates”.
I hope that this study provides the English teachers an effective technique to teach grammar for PET candidates to help them improve their speaking score. Aims of the study This study aimed at: - Evaluating whether the technique of teaching grammar in context improves the speaking competence of PET candidates at EEG center. - Finding out students’ attitude towards this technique. Scope of the study This study investigated the improvement of the PET candidates’ speaking skills at EEG center by using the technique of teaching grammar in context, who wants to achieve level B1.
The preliminary English Test consists of 4 skills, but due to time limitation, this study focused only on how teaching grammar in context affects PET speaking skills. The other skills with other techniques were not the concern of this study. To what extend does the technique of teaching grammar in context have effects on the PET candidates’ speaking competence? 2. What is the student’s attitude towards the technique of teaching grammar in context? 1.
Significance of the study “Teaching grammar in context to improve speaking skills for PET candidates” is a research that is expected to bring benefits to readers, learners and teachers. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com For teachers, this study can provide a deeper understanding about the technique of teaching grammar in context, which can be applied in teaching speaking skills for PET candidates. For learners, contextual grammar lessons can help students have deeper understanding about structures to use correctly and improve their speaking competence. For readers, this study can be a reference source for those who want to conduct a research related to contextual grammar teaching, especially for the PET candidates.
Research design This study includes 5 chapters as following: Chapter I, Introduction, consists of the rationale, the aims, the scope, the research questions, the significance and the research design. Chapter II, Literature review, covers the theoretical basis, including some definitions, the role of teaching grammar, why we should teach grammar in context, Preliminary English Test (PET) and some previous studies. Chapter III, Methodology, presents the methods used to collect and analyze the date. It includes the participants, instruments for data collection, and data analysis.
Chapter IV, Finding and discussion, illustrates the findings of this research and then, discusses the findings. Chapter V, Conclusion, gives a summary of the research findings and suggestions for further research. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the related theoretical background to support for the study. There are four sections, including some definitions, the role of teaching grammar, why we should teach grammar in context, Preliminary English Test (PET) and some previous studies.
Definitions of grammar Grammar can be defined in many ways. In 1999, Thornbury suggested that “Grammar is partly the study of what forms (or structures) are possible in a language”. From his perspective, grammar is seen as a field to study all possible cases of a language. He considered it as “a description of the rules that govern how language’s sentences are formed”.