MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ NGUYEN THI MY NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO YOUNG LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HUE, 2014 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ---------- NGUYEN THI MY NHUNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO YOUNG LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. TRUONG VIEN HUE, 2014 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------ NGUYỄN THỊ MỸ NHUNG NGHIÊN CỨU DẠY NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH CHO TRẺ EM TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC Ở TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. TRƯƠNG VIÊN HUẾ, 2014 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Nhung iii ABSTRACT This study focused on how grammar has been taught at some primary schools in Thu Thien Hue province. The researcher provides us with the understanding of teachers‟ perceptions regarding teaching English grammar to children, and the necessity, approaches, methods, practice of teaching as well as the difficulties of teachers. In order to obtain reliable results both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Major data collection tools included questionnaires, interview checklist and class observation sheet.
The findings from both quantitative and qualitative data showed that most teachers had rather positive attitude towards teaching English grammar to children in their schools, approaches, methods and techniques teachers have been applied, a number of problems that faced EFL teachers, involving in teaching methods, classroom facilities and lack of support and time constraints. Another finding is that encouragements for administrators such as facilities and training were suggested by teachers to improve teaching condition. It is recommended from the findings that teachers should apply technology in teaching. Moreover, a combination of various methods, techniques in teaching process should be taken into consideration.
In another aspect of teaching grammar there are some certain difficulties teachers encountered, including short attention span, crowded classes and others but these troubles can be solved by teachers. Importantly, the study suggests possible ways to enhance the effectiveness of teaching English to young learners. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without the assistance of following people, and my heartfelt thanks go out to them. All above, I am deeply indebted to my supervisor, Assoc.
Truong Vien, for his precious knowledge and experience, the enthusiastic and helpful instructions and for his expert guidance and patience throughout every stage of the development of this research. I am grateful thankful to all teachers as well as pupils at Phu Tan, Thuan An, Duong No, Phu Cat, Kim Long, Phu Binh, Truong An, Phu Thuan, Thuan Thanh, Thuan Loc, An Cuu and Hue Star primary schools in Thua Thien Hue Province who enthusiastically spent their time on my interview and questionnaires to be conducted. Last but not least, I would like to express my deep thanks to my family and friends for their tireless support and belief in me to complete this research. Hue, August, 2014 v TABLE OF CONTENT Page Statement of authorship.
V Table of content. VI List of abbreviations. IX List of tables and charts. Back ground of the study.
Rationale of the study. Scope of the study. Aims of the study. Significance of the study.
Organization of the study. Review of previous studies. Teaching English as a Foreign Language to young learners. Teaching English grammar to young learners.
Characteristics of young learners. How children learn language. Helpful ideas for teaching English to children. Some views of grammar.
Overview of grammar teaching approaches and methods. Procedures for teaching grammar. The process of teaching grammar to young learners. Instruments and procedures of data collection.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Data quantitative analysis teachers from questionnaires. The necessity of teaching English grammar to young learners. Approaches and methods in teaching English grammar.
Practice of teaching grammar. Difficulties teachers often encounter when teaching English grammar to young learners. Data analysis from teachers‟ interviews. The necessity of teaching English grammar to young learners.
Approaches and methods in teaching English grammar. Practice of teaching grammar. Difficulties teachers often encounter when teaching English grammar to young learners. Data analysis from pupils‟ interviews.
The necessity of teaching English grammar to young learners. Practise in teaching English grammar. Data analysis from class observation. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.
Summary of findings. What perceptions do English teachers hold about teaching English grammar to young learners in some primary schools in Thua Thien Hue province?. How has grammar been taught in English classes to young learners?. Limitation of the study.
Recommendation for future research. Teacher interview questions. Bảng câu hỏi (dành cho học sinh). The realibility of the Questionnaire-pilot.
The realibility of the questionnaire .Lesson 2 – Present simple negative. Lesson 3 – There is / There are .92 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a foreign language YLs Young Learners TEYL Teaching English to Young Learners SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences ix LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS A. LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Summary of instruments .2: Summary of the questionnaire .3: The Reliability Statistics of the questionnaire .1: The reliability statistics of the questionnaire .2: The necessity of teaching English grammar to young learners .3: Difference in the level of agreement between Q1 and Q5 as compared to Q3 and Q4 .4: Approaches and methods in teaching English grammar .4: Methods in teaching grammar .5: Practice of teaching grammar .6: Difficulties teachers often encounter when teaching English grammar to young learners .1: The outcomes of grammar teaching in class observation. LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Teachers‟ perceptions of teaching English grammar to young learners .2: Teaching English to young learners .3: Two main approaches to grammar teaching .5: Procedure of teaching grammar .6: Teaching the meanings of grammar points .7: Mixing two approaches of grammar teaching.8: Teaching grammar in situational context .9: Teaching grammar through texts .10: Teaching grammar through songs and rhymes .11: Using practice activities .12: Using games or play activities .14: Difficulties in teaching .15: Obstacles from students .51 xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.
Back ground of the study “English learners are getting younger. Across the world… English is being introduced in primary schools, with greater compulsion, and at a steadily lowering age.88) “Educationalists all over the world have recognized the need for English language learning at primary level and are doing whatever they can to promote it….” (Brewster, et al, 2003, p.1) The two quotations above show the emerging trend in the world to teach English to young learners. In recent years, English has become a compulsory subject in elementary school. It is being taught from the first to the fifth year.
Many countries have required English in primary schools, including Taiwan, Italy, Turkey, and many others (Meclosker et al. The Vietnam‟s Ministry of Education and Training (2010) has come to the decision that children in primary schools should study English starting at Grade 3 (Nguyen, 2011). It can be concluded that this plan clearly shows the educational strategy in Vietnam that is to teach English as a focus subject for the development and integration of the country in the future. That is the reason why it is very important to have appropriate methods to each age, level, and target in order to reach a satisfactory outcome.
This is especially true for children because the way they acquire a language can be different from adults as mentioned in Klein‟s study (2005). He clearly points out that teaching young learners is different from teaching adults. Young children tend to change their mood very frequently, and they find it extremely difficult to sit still. As far as teaching and learning foreign languages are concerned, it cannot be realized presenting grammar.
Many learners consider grammar to be stressful and boring but the fact remains that grammar is one part of foreign languages that is necessary for learners to master to be able to communicate intelligibly. There are many opinions discussed in this field, including Cameron‟s (2001, p.96), who states 1 that grammar certainly has a place in children‟s foreign language learning, and that it can be useful if it is taught correctly. Words on their own are not enough if learners want to express a more complex meaning, if they want to communicate effectively with others. Sharing the same idea, (Scrivener, 2003, p.2) contends that “we use grammar to „fine-tune‟ a meaning, to make it more precise.” Based on the explanation above, it shows that English grammar is very important and it is an inseparable part of learning a foreign language.
For this reason, it is imperative that English grammar be taught to every English learner, including young learners at elementary level. However, one thing English teachers should take into consideration is that teaching English to young leaners requires a different process than that used when teaching adults. If these issues are well figured out, there partly appears a successful outcome in terms of teaching English to young children. Rationale of the study It can be presumed that teaching English to young learners in general and grammar in particular requires an extensive knowledge of a great number of issues.
Not only is it crucial to be aware of various teaching methods and approaches but also it is fundamental to be familiar with the principles of development of children‟s intelligence. However, not many English teachers put this perception into high consideration in their teaching process. Many teachers find it difficult to present grammar to young learners. As it is usually not possible to avoid explaining the theory of grammar, it is a challenging task to find ways that enable young learners to internalize the new pieces of information and encourage them to use the new skills and knowledge in practice.
Excluding those common ways in grammar teaching what are the others are used by teachers. It is high time that the current situation of teaching English grammar should be improved so that an overall picture of young language learners can be deeply understood. It may help English teachers themselves broaden their teaching experience, and help others to realize difficulties and challenges teachers face, and to make some change to help teachers better their teaching process. More crucially, the researcher has an intention to know what 2 teachers think about teaching English grammar to young learners‟ language because this will inform what teachers can do to better grammar teaching to children and help them learn effectively.
These are the reasons why this study is being conducted. Scope of the study This study investigates English teaching to young learners (8 to 10 years old), particularly focusing on how grammar has been taught. The study is also confined to teachers‟ beliefs regarding teaching grammar to young learners at some primary schools in Hue. Aims of the study The aim of the study is to explore how English grammar has been taught to children who are learning English as a second language at primary level.
Through the survey, this research would like to find out teachers‟ perceptions regarding teaching English grammar. What perceptions do English teachers hold about teaching English grammar to young learners in some primary schools in Thua Thien Hue province? 2. How has grammar been taught in English classes to young learners? 1. Significance of the study 1.