MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VÕ THỊ NGỌC LỄ A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING GRAMMAR TO GRADE 9 STUDENTS BASED ON DEDUCTIVE APPROACH VERSUS INDUCTIVE APPROACH: A CASE STUDY AT TU MO RONG SECONDARY SCHOOL Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: TRUONG VAN DINH, PhD Binh Dinh - 2023 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VÕ THỊ NGỌC LỄ NGHIÊN CỨU HIỆU QUẢ SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP DIỄN DỊCH VÀ QUY NẠP TRONG GIẢNG DẠY NGỮ PHÁP CHO HỌC SINH LỚP CHÍN - NGHIÊN CỨU CỤ THỂ TẠI TRƯỜNG THCS TU MƠ RÔNG Ngành: Lí luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Người hướng dẫn: TS. Trương Văn Định BÌNH ĐỊNH - 2023 i DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ‘A study on the effects of teaching Grammar to Grade 9 students based on deductive approach versus inductive approach: A case study at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School’ is the result of my own research in the fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts. I have not utilized any sources other than those cited in the references. Furthermore, I affirm that this thesis has not been submitted in any other institution to obtain a degree.
Binh Dinh, 2023 Researcher Vo Thi Ngoc Le ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my supervisor, colleagues, friends and family, the successful completion of this study work would not have been possible. I take this chance to appreciate them for their useful advice and invaluable comments, and time. They have always been by my side and helped me enriched my knowledge and made my master thesis graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life. First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Ph.
Truong Van Dinh, for his amazing supervision. His knowledge and profession teaching- related expertise inspired me greatly during my M. course at Quy Nhon University, and he opened new horizons for me in every field. I profoundly appreciate his accommodating guidelines and suggestions, great patience, and strong management skills in helping me resolve the obstacles whenever I had difficulties in my study.
I am very lucky to have had him support me for my work. Next, I would like to acknowledge all my teachers at Department of Foreign Languages, Quy Nhon University, Binh Dinh, for their interesting lectures which enable me to gain a great deal of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. I am also indebted to all the students and teachers at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School for their cooperation and participation in this study. Last but not least, my heart-felt gratitude goes to my family for their encouragement and support, without which I might face obstacles during the process of implementing the study and completing my thesis.
iii ABSTRACT An instructional approach that has been proved to be effective in one teaching context might not be appropriate in other pedagogical settings. This stresses the vitality of research on instructional strategies and approaches regardless of an abundance of well-established ones. With an endeavor to seek an effective approach to teach English grammar in Vietnamese contexts, this thesis reports the results of an empirical study in which the inductive and deductive approach was applied to teach the English present perfect tense to Vietnamese 9th graders in Tu Mo Rong Secondary School, a secondary in Kon Tum province. The study employed a quantitative design in which the two approaches were used to teach two different groups of students (a control group and an experiment group) and a pre-test and a post-test were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the two teaching approaches.
The findings from the participants’ test-based scores revealed that those taught with the deductive approach outperformed their counterparts who were exposed to the inductive approach. Besides, no major differences were found with respect to males and female participants’ achievement of the present perfect tense after their learning experience. These findings suggest that the deductive approach to grammar teaching can be more productive in a Vietnamese EFL context in comparison with the inductive approach. Considering this study’s context, sample size and participants’ characteristics, suggestions for applying its findings into other similar pedagogical settings are elucidated.
Besides, the limitations of the study are also discussed, from which suggestions for further studies are provided. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vi LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES. Aim and Objectives of the Study. Aim of the Study. Objectives of the Study.
Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study. Organisation of the Study. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW.
Grammar and Language Learning. Roles of Grammar in Language Learning. Present Perfect Tense. Meaning and Uses.
Ups and Downs of Grammar Teaching. Approaches to Grammar Teaching. English Teaching and Learning at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School. English 9 Textbook and Grammar Teaching.
Materials Development and Teaching Procedures. Data Collection and Analysis. Pre-test and Post-test. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.
Effects of teaching PPT Inductively versus Deductively on Student Learning. Effects of Two Teaching Approaches on Student Learning By Gender 49 4. Which Instructional Approach Is Better: Deductive or Inductive?. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.
Limitations of the Study. Suggestion for Further Research. 67 APPENDICES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a foreign language PPT Present perfect tense CLT Communicative language teaching TPR Total Physical Response L1 First language/mother tongue L2 Second/foreign language vii LISTS OF FIGURES AND TABLES FIGURES Figure 1. Teaching Activities for Simple Past in English 9 Textbook.
Position of PPT in English 9 Textbook. Uses of PPT. Uses of PPT. Uses of PPT.
Sequence of a Grammar Activity. Inductive versus Deductive Approaches. Teaching Activities for PPT in English 9 Textbook. Comparison of Results of Pre-test and First Part of Post-test.
Comparison of Mean Values of Pre-test and First Part of Post-test. Description of Results of Pre-test and First Part of Post-test. Range of Test-based Scores of First Part of Post-test of the Two Groups. Comparison of Results of Second Part of the Post-test.
Description of Results of Second Part of Post-test. Range of Test-based Scores of Second Part of Post-test of the Two Groups. Comparison of Results of First Part of Post-test Between Male and Female Participants. Description of Results of First Part of Post-test Between Male and Female Participants.
Range of Test-based Score of First Part of Post-test Between Male and Female Participants. Comparison of Results of Second Part of Post-test Between Male and Female Participants. Description of Results of Second Part of Post-test Between Male and Female Participants. Range of Test-based Score of First Part of the Post-test Between Male and Female Participants.
Overall Comparison of Participants’ Achievements Between Two Groups. Overall Description of Participants’ Achievements Between Two Groups. Overall Comparison of Participants’ Achievements Between Male and Female Participants. Overall Description of Participants’ Achievements Between Male and Female Participants.
Students’ Grammar Test Results at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School. Materials Development and Teaching Procedures. Question Items in Pre-test and Post-test. INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the rationale underlying this current study.
The chapter comprises six parts: rationale, aim and objectives, research questions, scope, significance and organization of the Study. Rationale Undoubtedly, teaching grammar holds a crucial role in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), as without good command of grammar, the language use will be constrained. Despite the changes in the significance attributed to grammar instruction, most of which attach to a particular language teaching method, it is undeniable that grammar instruction leads to high levels of linguistic competence. In the case of grammar, apparently, different teachers might have appropriate methods for teaching grammar based on their experience.
Some can conduct it inductively whereas others do it deductively. Ellis (2006) states that: Grammar teaching involves any instructional technique that draws learners’ attention to some specific grammatical form in such a way that it helps them either to understand it meta linguistically and/or process it in comprehension and/or production so that they can internalize it. 84) Nevertheless, it can be seen that English in both teaching and learning has traditionally been dominated by a Grammar-Translation method. Though, very little research has been conducted with regard to teachers’ observation and actual practices regarding grammar, especially at the secondary or high schools where English is one of the compulsory subjects and grammar is a must in language classrooms.
Hence, it comes to be an indispensable issue to do research. Besides, these two Inductive and Deductive approaches seem to 2 be more associated with the communicative approach, which has currently been advocated in Vietnam. As an essential and indispensable component of language teaching and learning, formal instruction of grammar is still prevalent in language classrooms (Borg, 2003). So is this in teaching and learning English at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School; however, its teaching and learning of the English grammar seems not to be really effective as expected.
This is clearly clarified in Table 1, which presents Tu Mo Rong Secondary School students’ grammar test results in the most three recent years.1 Students’ Grammar Test Results at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School Grade (Fairly) Good Average Poor Academic Year 2021-2022 15% 75% 10% 2020-2021 10% 65% 25% 2019-2020 5% 60% 30% (Source: Tu Mo Rong Secondary School) Teaching grammar via the mainly inductive approaches, which have been practised and promoted in Britain, Australasia, and North America (Mallia, 2014), has gained great prestige worldwide, as opposed to the mainly deductive approaches used in other countries, possibly because greater learner motivation and better understanding and retention of language have been said to be linked to it (Gollin, 1998). In actuality, there may be a disconnect between what Western teachers perceive to be the most appropriate model of teaching, and the preferred and most effective ways in which the learning of English takes place. Therefore, Mallia (2014) warned that because the 3 inductive approach for grammar instruction has been often unquestioningly considered to be superior for ages, teaching materials and methodologies are therefore often similar and used these teaching approaches indiscriminately worldwide. This warning is worth considering because there are substantial differences among learning and teaching situations around the world (Swan, 2006), and time constraints, local cultural perceptions on language learning, class sizes and exam-culture mentality may seriously impact on grammar teaching (Mallia, 2014).
This practice actually occurs in Vietnam, where the textbooks using language classrooms are mainly inductive. For example, in Unit 1-A Visit from a Pen Pal, English 9 Textbook (p.11), which is currently used at Tu Mo Rong Secondary School, the simple past tense is suggested to be taught inductively as follows: Figure 1.1 Teaching Activities for Simple Past in English 9 Textbook (Source: Nguyen et al.11) 4 A sizable number of corpus-based studies have noted that the present perfect tense (PPT) enjoys a wider range of uses in the English language (e., Lessness, 2009; Hundt & Smith 2009) in various text types (Yao & Collins, 2012). This popularity of PPT is also reflected in English 9 Textbook. Figure 1 presents the position of PPT in this textbook, with the bold unit being where the tense is the main focus of the lesson and the others being where the tense appears, or where students need the knowledge of PPT in their learning process.2 Position of PPT in English 9 Textbook Listen and Read read (p.25) Read Listen and (p.19) Unit 3 Unit 2 Unit 4 Read (p.11) Unit 1 Language Unit 5 focus (p.45) PRESENT Listen PERFECT (p.86) Unit 10 Unit 6 Listen and Listen and Unit 7 read (p.88) Write Listen and Getting (p.