VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOANG TRUNG DUC AN ACTION RESEARCH ON THE USE OF LANGUAGE GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF NON-MAJOR ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu hành động đối với việc sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ trong giảng dạy ngữ pháp cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất tại trường đại học ở Việt Nam) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI-2020 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HOANG TRUNG DUC AN ACTION RESEARCH ON THE USE OF LANGUAGE GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF NON-MAJOR ENGLISH AT UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu hành động đối với việc sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ trong giảng dạy ngữ pháp cho sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất tại trường đại học ở Việt Nam) M. MINOR THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231. HOÀNG VĂN VÂN HANOI-2020 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS. Background to the study. The aims of the study.
The scope of the study. The significance of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. General overview of English grammar.
Definitions of grammar. The importance of grammar in teaching and learning. Grammar has the role of an enabling skill. Grammar has the role of meaning conveyance.
Grammar has the role of an instrument of sentence making. Genneral overview of language games. Definitions of language games. Types of language games in teaching English grammar.
The advantages of application of language games in teaching. Effective ways to make games work in a language class. Subjects of the study. 26 i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Definitions of action research. The precedures of action research. 27 A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN. The instruments for collecting data.
37 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The results of questionnaires’ analysis. The students’ motivation of learning English grammar. The students’ enjoyment of learning English grammar.
The students’ effort of learning English grammar. The students’ capability of learning English grammar. The role of classroom atmosphere of learning English grammar. The peer support of learning English grammar.
The lecturers’ support of learning English grammar. The classroom cohesion of learning English grammar. The importance of grammar and grammar instruction. The importance of learning English grammar.
The students’ difficulties in learning English grammar. The students’ methods of learning English grammar. The results of interviews. The students’ motivation through language games.
The classroom atmosphere through language games. The students’ suggestion through language games. Summary and conclusion. Limitations of the study:.
Suggestions for further study:. 57 ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. I APPENDIX 1: SAMPLES OF GAMES. I APPENDIX 2: PRE-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE.
V APPENDIX 3 : POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE. XIII APPENDIX 4: GAMES USED IN THE STUDY. I iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I certify that this minor thesis entitled “An action research on the use of language games in teaching grammar to first-year students of non-major English at university in Vietnam” is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts is the results of my own work, except where otherwise acknowledge and that this minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for higher degree to any other university or institution. Hanoi, August - 2020 Signature HOÀNG TRUNG ĐỨC i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor, Dr.
Hoàng Văn Vân for his invaluable advice, instructions and correction, excellent suggestions and constant encouragement while conducting this research so that I could complete my thesis effectively. Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the lecturers of the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for for their valuable lessons and precious support. Thanks to their lessons as well as needed support, I could overcome enormous obstacles of research implementation. Besides, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues and my students at Academy of Finance – Ministry of Finance who have participated in this research and many others who supported me during my study Last but not least, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my parents and relatives for the constant support and thorough understanding.
Their great encouragement and love have helped me to overcome the difficulties during my study. Without these support, assistances and encouragements, this thesis would not have been completed. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The research on the application of language games in teaching English grammar to first-year students of non-major English at Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam (AOF) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of language games in teaching English grammar. Grammar is an essential part of English proficiency.
English grammar has a significant influence on the foundation of other skills. Nevertheless, the grammar teaching at AOF revealed several issues that induced the disappointment of the learners. Learners find grammar lessons to be frustrating and do not want to study. It seems to have a negative impact on the outcome of learning and teaching as well.
If there are no changes to the teaching approach, the quality of learning English grammar will be drastically reduce. And this would weaken the reputation of educational institution in term of language teaching and learning. Through the exchange with some speacilists in linguistics and language methodology, the language games will be considered to raise the result of language teaching and learning. By raising the motivation of learning process, the effectiveness of learning will be increased.
In order to evaluate if language games could increase the effectiveness of grammar learning for first-year students of non-major English at AOF, the topic chosen is: “An action research on the use of language games in teaching grammar to first-year students of non-major English at university in Vietnam” The findings from this study indicated that language games increased the effectiveness of students’ learning English grammar. Through the enhancement of motivation, the language games raised students’ interest and attitude towards learning. Additionally, language games raised students’ cooperation in classroom having good influence on classroom atmosphere. These positive results offer suggestions for the application of language games in teaching English grammar for first-year students of non-major English at AOF.
These results bring much more opportunities for the analysis of the increase in the teaching grammar for students at universities in Vietnam. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching ULIS University of Languages and International Studies AOF Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam L2 Second Language GE Genneral English ESP English for Specific Purposes IM Intrinsic motivation EM Extrinsix motivation T Lecturer Ss Students iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS LIST OF TABLES 1. Table 1 Types of games suitable at the three stages of teaching new language 2. Table 2 The action plan in this thesis 3.
Table 3 The sample lesson plan of teaching grammar with the use of language games 4. Table 4 The questions in interview section LIST OF GRAPHS 1. Graph 1 The students’ enjoyment of learning english grammar 2. Graph 2 The students’ effort of learning english grammar 3.
Graph 3 The students’ capability of learning english grammar 4. Graph 4 The peer support of learning english grammar 5. Graph 5 The lecturers’ support of learning english grammar 6. Graph 6 The classroom cohesion of learning english grammar 7.
Graph 7 The importance of learning english grammar. Graph 8 The students’ difficulties in learning english grammar v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study Apparently, English grammar is an important composition of English proficiency. The effective English grammar learning will result in the increase of other skills’ development.
Apparently, the effective teaching of English grammar will be the important factor contributing to the learners’ success. However, English grammar is also quite a difficult field for both English learners and English lecturers. Therefore, if there are no effective learning and teaching methods of grammar, it will bring failure for both of learners and lecturers. This is the reason why the thesis focus on the methods of teaching English grammar at a university in Vietnam.
Because I have been working and studying at Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam (AOF) for a long time, I fully understand this environment. Moreover, because I have more opportunities to work with first-year students of non-major English, I decided to choose the study with first-year students of non-major Eglish at AOF. Through the exchange of experience with lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages and my own background, I realized that the teaching of English grammar at AOF was still very inadequate. The methods for teaching English grammar at AOF presents a lot of insufficiencies: a lot of sentence patterns which students have to memorize cause the depression in learning; the lack of cooperation in classroom between lecturers and students results in the lack of evaluation and feedback of teaching lesson for the improvement; the lack of cooperation between students and students results in the decrease in the effectiveness of the whole class.
These issues cause depression for students when learning foreign languages. Students from faculties of non-major English such as Public Finance, Coporate Finance aslmost dislike studying English grammar because of the extra complication In fact, when we are stressed or depressed, we have tendency of finding a way to have fun. And one way for the reduction of stress is playing games. Games contain the comptetition resulting in the creation of motivation.
Through raising the 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com motivation, the stress will be reduced significantly. And this method will be applied in teaching language with the language game application. Language games refer to a number of activities with a set of rules and regulation for the purpose of gaining specific objectives in particular section. Through the application of language games in teaching English grammar, the students’ interest in learning was increased significantly and resulted in the development in the attention of learning.
Therefore, the effectiveness of learning English grammar through language games might be raised sharply. Furthermore, the practice of preparation for attentive lesson plan will play significantly role in the success of the students’ learning. In a nutshell, grammar is quite a difficult category for both English lecturers and learners. To make grammar study simpler, one of the ways is to use language games.
To verify whether learning grammar by language games is effective or not, the author chooses the following topic: “An action research on the use of language games in teaching grammar to first-year students of non-major English at university in Vietnam” 1. The aims of the study The main aim of the study is to study whether the application of language games will raise the effectiveness of learning English grammar for first-year students of non-major English at AOF. In order to gain that aim, some of specific aims will be implemented: - The thesis will study the literature review of grammar and language games and find out the general definition of grammar and languages for the analysis. Furthermore, from the research related to grammar and language games, the thesis will point out the reason for the choice of this study in first-year students of non- major English at AOF.
- The thesis will apply the adequate method for the implementation of study and analysis the findings. Moreover, the thesis will point out some suggestion for futher studies.