STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere. Author: Phan Thi Thanh Thuy 1 ABSTRACT This study investigates “Using Communicative Activities in Teaching English Grammar to Freshman Students at Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City”. The study aims at identifying the teachers’ and students’ perception of using CAs in teaching English grammar, exploring the reality of using CAs in teaching grammar at Ladec College, Binh Thanh Campus, Ho Chi Minh City.
Moverover, it aims at presenting some suggestions to make using CAs in teaching English grammar more effective. The data of this study were mainly collected by means of questionaires from 92 freshman students and 4 teachers with an additional 5 freshman students interviewed at Ladec College. The author uses qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse the reality of teaching and learning grammar through CAs, the teachers’ and students’ attitude and assessement to CAs as well. The findings of this study show that most of the students and teachers have positive attitude toward using CAs in teaching and learning grammar.
Most of students find it difficult to learn grammar and they are not interested in teachers’ teaching grammar much. To motivate learners, it has been proposed by the teachers that communicative activities should be used in teaching English grammar. It can be seen clearly from the findings that both teachers and students at Ladec College have good understanding of communicative activities. In addition, the study finds that most teachers and students used communicative activities in teaching and learning English and they were interested in CAs.
Using songs, using movie, act it out or board and card are among communicative activities students participated in mostly. From the findings, the study suggests some pedagogical implications for the teaching and learning of English Grammar and recommends some communicative activities from Unit One to Unit Four in Very Easy TOIEC to Freshman students at Ladec College in particular. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. TRAN VAN PHUOC, who provided detailed instructions, valuable comments, criticism and great support during my research process.
My special thanks also go to my teachers and staff of Post–graduate Department at Hue University College of Foreign Languages for the useful lectures and advice during my course to make my study possible. I would also wish to thank all my colleagues and the students of Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City who have helpfully participated as the informants of the study, without whose cooperation this thesis would hardly be conducted Finally, I would particularly like to express my sincere thanks to my family, especially my parents whose great sacrifice and enormous love encouraged me a great deal in completing the study. Hue, March 2014 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. AIMS OF THE STUDY.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY. 2 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. Definition of Grammar Teaching.
Approaches to Teach Grammar. Overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Definition of CLT. Description of CLT.
The Role of Grammar in CLT. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE CURRENT TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT LADEC COLLEGE. The Real Situation at Ladec College, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. The Reality of Teaching and Learning of English at Ladec College, Binh Thanh Campus.
Teaching Material at Ladec College. THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY. Procedure of Data Collection. Data analysis Method.
21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Teaching English Grammar Using CAs. The Role of English Grammar in Teaching and Learning.
Difficulty Degree on Teaching and Learning English Grammar.Methods to Teach English Grammar at Ladec College. Feeling about Teachers’ and Students' Grammar Performance .Teachers’ and Students’ Understanding about CAs .The Reality of Using CAs in Teaching English Grammar at Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City .The Frequency of Using CAs in Teaching and Learning Grammar .Type of CAs Teachers Used and Students Participated in Grammar Classes. Teachers’ and Students' Interest in Teaching and Learning Grammar by Using CAs .What CAs Help Students in Learning English Grammar. Students’ Improvement of English Ability Through Using CAs.
Teachers and Students’ Agreement on the Factor Preventing Students from Participating into CAs in Grammar Classes. Suggestions to Improve Using CAs in Teaching English Grammar at Ladec College.Teachers’ Preparation of Using Communicative Activities in Teaching Grammar. Students’ Preparation of Using Communicative Activities in Learning Grammar. Facility to Teach Grammar Using Communicative Activities.
39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. To the Freshman Students at Ladec College. To English Teachers at Ladec College. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH. 46 APPENDICES 6 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEF: Common European Framework CLT: Communicative Language Teaching CAs: Communicative Activities %: Percent 7 LIST OF TABLES Table 3. The lay – out of Times and Units in Two Semesters for Freshman Students. The Methods to Teach English Grammar.
Teachers’ and Students’ Understanding about CAs. Types of CAs Teachers Used and Students Participated in. What CAs help Students in Learning English Grammar. 32 8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: The Role of Grammar in Teaching and Learning English .2: Difficulty Degree on Teaching and Learning English .3: Feeling about Teachers' and Students' Grammar Performance .4: Frequency of Using CAs in Teaching and Learning Grammar of Teachers and Students .5: Teachers’ and Students’ Interest in Teaching and Learning English Grammar by Using CAs .6: Students’ Improvement of English Ability Through Using CAs in Learning Grammar .7: Teachers' and Students’ Agreement on the English Ability Preventing Students from Participating in CAs at English Grammar Classes.
Rationale English has become one of the important subjects through all the levels of education system in Viet Nam. Learning English, students learn not only listening, speaking, reading, writing but also grammar.7) points out that grammar and structure is the heart of language. No one can deny that understanding of grammar is extremely necessary for mastery of a language and helps learners to be competent at communicating. Therefore, teaching grammar plays an important role in communicative language teaching.
However, many students feel bored, not interested in and do not like to study grammar. Many students are very good at memorizing structure and usage of grammatical points but they keep making mistakes when they try to use language in contexts, especially in communicating in real life. What are the reasons for those issues? How can the grammar lessons attract students? How can teachers stimulate them to every English grammar lesson? How can students use grammar to communicate effectively? It is not easy for a teacher to deal with these problems.when people ask questions, it is because they do not know the answer, when they speak or write, it is because they have something to say; and when they listen or read, they do it to get information or ideas.This need, purpose, and substance are what given rise to communication in real life. Teachers should try to create real situations for real communication to happen.
Being an English teacher at Ladec College in Ho Chi Minh City, the author realizes that her students may have the same issues as above. The author also finds out from her own observation and experience that there are various ways to teach grammar, and there is no “best” way to teach all grammar but using communicative activities in grammar lessons can help much and very effectively. Therefore, the author decided to conduct “A Study on Using Communicative Activities in Teaching English Grammar to Freshman Students at Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City”. Aims of the Study This research attempts to find out the teachers’ and students’ perceptions of learning and teaching English grammar using CAs at Ladec College, reality of teaching English grammar using CAs and give some suggestion to improve using CAs in teaching English grammar for freshman students at Ladec College.
Research Questions There are three research questions raised in the study: What are students’ and teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning English grammar using CAs? How were CAs used in teaching English grammar at Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City? What suggestions should be presented to improve using CAs in teaching English grammar at Ladec College? 1. Scope of the Study The author carries out this study on 92 freshman students and 4 English teachers using communicative activities in teaching English grammar at Ladec College in Ho Chi Minh City. The Organization of the Study Besides the abstract, references and appendices, the thesis comprises of five main Chapters: - Chapter 1, “Introduction” This chapter discusses the rationale, aims, scope, methods and design of the study. - Chapter 2, “Literature Review and Theoretical Background” This chapter supplies some previous research and theoretical background for the thesis: definition of teaching grammar, the role of grammar in learning and teaching, CLT, CAs and teaching and learning English Grammar at Ladec College, Ho Chi Minh City.
11 - Chapter 3, “Methodology” This chapter formulates the methodology and procedures of the study. It describes the research methods, instruments and study participants. - Chapter 4: “Findings and Discussion” This chapter reports the findings of the study through analyzing the data collected and give some suggestions for teachers and students in using CAs in teaching and learning English at Ladec College. - Chapter 5: “Conclusion and Implications” This chapter presents a summary of the major findings of the study, draws out some implications of these results, shows some limitations of the study and suggests directions for further research.
Furthermore, the author presents some CAs for English teachers at Ladec College. 12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND This chapter firstly presents previous research, which related to, and is a basis for this study. The definitions of grammar, Communicative Language Teaching, Communicative Activities are presented in this chapter as well. Literature review The Communicative Approach emerged in the early 1970s as a result of the work of the Council of Europe experts.
After CLT was implemented, many English textbooks were designed attempting to accommodate the expectations of the communicative syllabus. Therefore, more and more researchers investigated into using CLT in teaching grammar.1) in “Communicative fluency activities for language teaching” provided 123 activities with the aims to “wish the teacher will feel confident enough to make changes so as to suit the needs of particular group of students”. The writer has thought that even publishing long time ago, this book still remains the usefulness to teachers nowadays. Jack Richard (2006) investigated into communicative language teaching.
His book brought up more useful knowledge about communicative language teaching and CAs to the readers. Not long ago, José López Rama and Gloria Luque Agulló (2012) gave the revision of how grammar has evolved in the last fifty years paying special attention to its evolving role in both communicative (CLT) and post-communicative approaches and in the CEF in their research. From this revision, some controversial issues concerning the pedagogic value of teaching grammar were raised as well, such as whether grammar is worth teaching in the classroom or not and how it should be taught. Additionally, Cathy Chiu Yin Wong and Mirta Barrea-Marlys (2012) carried out their study on The Role of Grammar in Communicative Language Teaching: An Exploration of Second Language Teachers’ Perceptions and Classroom Practices.
In 13 their research, they investigated the second language (L2) teachers’ perceptions and classroom implementations of grammar instruction with regard to communicative language teaching (CLT). Although it has been awhile since these studies were conducted, today's teachers use them as a useful teaching method guideline.