VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IIANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES. TRAN THI THU HIEN USING ORAL ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY TO FIRST YEAR NOX ENGLISIT MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE (VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT DỘNG NÓI ĐÉ DẠY NGỮ PHÁP THEO DƯỜNG HƯỚNG KIIAO TIẾP CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẬT KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI) MLA. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: G41 HA NOI, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IIANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDIES TRAN TH] THU HIEN USING ORAL ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY TO FIRST YEAR NON ENGLISII MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE WTEC SW DUNG CAC TIOAT BONG NOI DE DAY NGI PHẢP TIEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIÁO TIẾP CHO SINH VIÊN RĂM THU NAT KHÔNG CHUYÊN THÊNG ANIL TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠT) MLA. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodulogy Code: 601410 Supervisor: Nguyén Thu Lé Hang, M.
TIẢ NỘI, 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: - - i ABSTRACT. „HÍ ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS: Iv LIST OF TARLES - - vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study 2 3.
Seupe of the study. Method af the sludy 3 6. Design of the study 3 PART Li DEVELOPMENT - coed CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of grammar - - 4 1.
Roles of grammar in language teaching. Approaches to grammar teaching 6 1.1, The Grammar Translation Meathod. Communicativs Language Tsaching (CLI). Applying CLT tơ teaching granuuar.4, Oal agÄEVifi8s.1, Detinition of oral activities.
The roles of using oral activities in granunar tcaching. Characteristics ofa successful oral activity - 16 1. The solccien of appropriate oral activities 17 6. Design af the study ‘The study consists of three main parts ‘The first pari, Introduction, provides an overview of the study in which the reasons for choosing the study wilk be focuscd.
Tt also includes the aim, rescarch questions, rescarch methods, scope and design of the study, ‘The second part, Development, consists of two chapters Chapler one, Literature Review, provides the theoretical background for the thesi This chapter includes three main points, The first point deals with the general view on grammar and grammar teaching approaches. The second point discusses the problems. Finally, the third point discusscs the nocd for applying oral activitics to grammar teaching. Chapter twa, The Study, ais lo doseribs background information about the cmrenL teaching and leaming of grammar at VCU and presents the methodology underlying the research including data collection instruments, procedures.
A detailed data analysis and discussions are alsa given. ‘The last part, Conclusion, gives a summary and a recommendation for further sturly 2 and to identify strategies used by teachers to stimulate students’ communicative competence in granunar learning and the factors bringing about difficulties for the leachers and students in their application of oral activities. One additional aim is to compare teachers’ practice with students’ expectation. Based om the findings, the research firther sccks to suggest practical recommendations for the possibility of using speaking activities in grammar lessons of 1* year non English major students at VCU.
Scope of the study ‘Though oral activities are usually applied in the speaking skill, I have chosen to focus on grammar lessons for the fact that grammar is the first thing that learners leam on the first day of an English lesson for non English major departments. Moreover, the purpose of studying English of English on English major students at VCU is to gain an international certificate in communication, for instance, the TOEIC test. ‘Therefore, this research tends to invosligal the use of oral activities in the grammar lesson, Also, dug to the time constraints, this study only invelves a small number of VCU teachers and Economics, Finance and Banking students m their first year 4, Research questions In order to achieve the set goals, the research seeks to answer the following research questions: - To what degree have oral activities been applied in teaching grammar communicatively fo first year non English majors in Vielnarn University of Commerce? - What problams do teachers mect when using oral activities to leach grammar communicatively to first year non English major in VCU? ~ What arc the possible solutions to these problems as sugested by the teachers af WCU? 5. Method of the study The main method of the study was survey questionnaizc, in which two types of questionnaire are designed and distributed to the learners and the teachers.
Furthermore, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested approach, the wziter collected some information based on her informal interviews lo make sure thal the data is more aceuraia and reliable. A combination of different methods above will provide rcliable data, based on which the conclusions and suggestions will be made in the next parts L PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1, Rationale of the study Over the past few years, the application of the Communicative Language ‘leaching method has been widely adopted. This markcd the beginning of a mayor change in the language teaching and leanung at VCU. And students” grammar as well as communicative ability ‘has been improved remarkably.
VCU Faculty of English has been newly established for 4 years. Almost all of the teachers wore irained aboul CLT approach at the University and thoy fully understood the importance of communicative grammar lessons among students, Therefore, they made all their effort to apply many kinds of activities in grammar lessons to encourage students to communicate in studying grammar in classroom. Asa lcacher in the Faculty of English at VCU, from ny own observations and expericnee, I have noticed that there are many ways to motivate the first year non-major students in grammar lessons. Among them, the use of oral or speaking activities has been received snore emphasis, Nevertheless, both teachers and stadents have faced a lot of challenges in implementing and managing oral activities in grammar lessons, Kor example, the classraom is loo noisy, teachers sometimes lose control of the class or students tend ta switch to use theix mother tongue when not under the teacher’s eyes and so on, Moreover, the teachers’ procedure in organizing speaking activities in prammar lessons is not very effective.
The above mentioned situation has uwged me to conduct a study 1o investigate teachers’ and students’ difficultics in implementing oral activitics, teachers’ oral activities organization procedure, and teachers’ strategies to foster students’ English grammar. As a result, 1 have decided to carry out the research into “Using oral activities te teach Branimar commumicatively for first year non Finglish majar students in Vietnam University of Commerce". This study is intended to make a niodest contribution to an inereased ‘undersianding of using oral activities in the grammar lesson at VCLI 2, Aims of the study ‘the purpose of this study is to explore the reality of the use of speaking activities in the grammar lesson of 1 year students of Economics, ‘nance and Banking at VCU where the Tesearel is serving. More specifically, this sindy aticmpts to dlarify Ibe procedures af organizing speaking activities in the grammar lesson of 1* year non English major students 1.
Definition of oral activities ‘A grammar lesson consists of different stages which are suggested differently by different xuethodolagisls. Ur (1996) organizes grammar teaching inlo four stages: presentation, isolation and explanation, practice and test, whereas according to Celce-Murcia and Hilles, a grammar lesson goes through four following phases: presentation, practice and testing. ‘Thus, however difforont, such suggestions are, practice as a stage is always proscnl, iL comes after the initial presentation and explanation when leamers have taken knowledge into short term memory but have not really mastered it yet. Practice may be defined as any kind of engaging with the language on the part of the leamers, usually under the teachers” suparvision, whose primary objective is te consolidale Leaning, Practice involves both spoken and written practice (Ur, 1996:11).
The roles of using oral activities in grammar teaching ‘Nunan (2007) agrees that oral grammar practice gives leamers increasing opportunities and motivation to interact with other communicators, to raise their awareness of the forms and functions of English grammar, Grammatical paticrns are matched to particular communicative meanings so leamers can see connection between form and function. Learners leam how to choose the right pattern to express different communicative earings. They will incorporate various grammatical structures in their performance Students, for successitl language use, need not only to be exposed to the stiuetures and functions of commnmication but also to practice applying grammatical knowledge in real contexts. To Teach the goals, the application of grammar in the classroom should be mora creative and open-ended.
Creative language activities provide more opportunities for the Jeamers to use language more flexibility than receptive languags tasks. Creative language use involves toamers in recombining familiar words, phrases and structwas in new and familiar ways. When students have cnough time and cnough opportunitics communicate and to receive feedback on attempts at producing meaningfid language, errors will gradually diminish (Corder, 1981; Setinker, 1972, 1992). Thanks to that students wifi leam grammar better.
Characteristics ofa successful oral activity 1. Definition of oral activities ‘A grammar lesson consists of different stages which are suggested differently by different xuethodolagisls. Ur (1996) organizes grammar teaching inlo four stages: presentation, isolation and explanation, practice and test, whereas according to Celce-Murcia and Hilles, a grammar lesson goes through four following phases: presentation, practice and testing. ‘Thus, however difforont, such suggestions are, practice as a stage is always proscnl, iL comes after the initial presentation and explanation when leamers have taken knowledge into short term memory but have not really mastered it yet.
Practice may be defined as any kind of engaging with the language on the part of the leamers, usually under the teachers” suparvision, whose primary objective is te consolidale Leaning, Practice involves both spoken and written practice (Ur, 1996:11). The roles of using oral activities in grammar teaching ‘Nunan (2007) agrees that oral grammar practice gives leamers increasing opportunities and motivation to interact with other communicators, to raise their awareness of the forms and functions of English grammar, Grammatical paticrns are matched to particular communicative meanings so leamers can see connection between form and function. Learners leam how to choose the right pattern to express different communicative earings. They will incorporate various grammatical structures in their performance Students, for successitl language use, need not only to be exposed to the stiuetures and functions of commnmication but also to practice applying grammatical knowledge in real contexts.
To Teach the goals, the application of grammar in the classroom should be mora creative and open-ended. Creative language activities provide more opportunities for the Jeamers to use language more flexibility than receptive languags tasks. Creative language use involves toamers in recombining familiar words, phrases and structwas in new and familiar ways. When students have cnough time and cnough opportunitics communicate and to receive feedback on attempts at producing meaningfid language, errors will gradually diminish (Corder, 1981; Setinker, 1972, 1992).
Thanks to that students wifi leam grammar better. Characteristics ofa successful oral activity 4 PARI WO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW ‘This chapter aims to explore a general view on grammar, grammar teaching in some English leaching approaches, problams in teaching grammer at VCU, and oral activities application to grammar teaching. Definitions of grammar In the foreign language teaching context, grammar is the first thing that learners leam on the first day of an English lesson. Grammar is often defined as the study of how words and their component parts combine to form sentences.
However, that is only the way traditional grammarians see grammar. Other linguistic schools have their own definitions basing on their different interest, Structural linguistic might see grammar as the sum total of sentence patierns in which the words of a particular language are arranged, In addition, grammar is regarded as our innate knowledge of the structure of language by cognitive linguistres.
