VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE VŨ THỊ SÂM STUDENT’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE INTEGRATED APPROACH TO GRAMMAR TEACHING, A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS ANDTECHNOLOGY (Nghiên Cứu Thử Nghiệm Thái Độ của Sinh Viên năm thứ nhất trường Cao Đẳng Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Hà Nội đối với việc Giảng Dạy Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Anh bằng Phương Pháp Tích Hợp) M. Minor Program Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HÀ NỘI – 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDY DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE VŨ THỊ SÂM STUDENT’S ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE INTEGRATED APPROACH TO GRAMMAR TEACHING, A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT HANOI COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS ANDTECHNOLOGY (Nghiên Cứu Thử Nghiệm Thái Độ của Sinh Viên năm thứ nhất trường Cao Đẳng Kinh Tế Kỹ Thuật Hà Nội đối với việc Giảng Dạy Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Anh bằng Phương Pháp Tích Hợp) M. Minor Program Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Dr. Duong Thi Nu HÀ NỘI - 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.
Aims of the Study 2 3. Scope of the Study 3 5. Method of the Study 3 6. Organization of the Study 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1 Definitions of learning attitudes 5 1.2 The role of attitudes in language learning 5 1.
Theoretical background of grammar teaching 6 1.1 Definitions of grammar and the place of grammar in English 6 language teaching 1.2 The brief view of grammar teaching approaches 8 1.3 Stages of a grammar lesson at the current trend of ELT 12 1.3 Rational for the Integrated Approach 13 1. There is no best method 13 1. Institutional reasons for the integrated approach 14 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.1 Low level students 15 1.2 Large-size and mixed level class 15 1.3 Student’s specific learning needs 16 1.4 Practical suggestions for the application of integrated approach 17 1.4 Conclusion to the chapter 18 Chapter II: METHODOLOGY 19 2.1 The context of the study 19 2.5 Data collection instruments 21 2.6 Data collection procedure Chapter III: ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 23 3. Findings and discussions 23 3.
Teachers’ beliefs and knowledge in teaching pronunciation 23 3. Formal curricula description 23 3. Teaching pronunciation’s goal and assessment 29 3. Approaches and techniques of teaching pronunciation 32 3.
Teachers’ roles in teaching pronunciation 34 3. Teaching and learning materials 35 PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 32 3.1 Summary of major findings 32 3.2 Implications of the Study for Teaching pronunciation 33 3.1 Improving teacher’s knowledge and opinion of different approaches to TEFL 33 3.2 Enhancing and varying teacher’s roles in teaching 34 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.3 Not to depreciate the appropriate uses of L1 in the classroom 3.4 Some suggestions for the integration of approaches in grammar 35 teaching 36 3.5 Improving Facilities and Teaching/Learning Environment Conclusion to the chapter 38 4 Limitations of the Study 38 5 Suggestions for further research 39 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A Pre-treatment questionnaire I APPENDIX B Post-treatment questionnaire V APPENDIX C Pre-treatment interview and discussion VII APPENDIX D: Post-treatment interview and discussion VIII APPENDIX E: List of tables IX LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching A2 English for the second semester (Pre-Intermediate) EFL English as a Foreign Language ELT English Language Teaching ESL English as a Second Language ESP English for Special Purposes UTC University of Transport and Communications LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rational Teaching and learning grammar has been regarded as crucial to the ability to use a language. In other words, grammar gains a prominence in language teaching, as much as without a good knowledge of grammar, learners’ language development will be severely constrained. By studying grammar learners come to recognize the structure and regularity which is the foundation of language and they gain the tools to talk about the language system (Burns and de Silva Joyce, 1999, p.
This is undeniable, and can be strongly agreed by any ESL teachers, who have paid much attention to teaching grammar in their classroom. It is clear for all that, by teaching grammar, teachers not only offer learners the means to express themselves but also fulfill learners’ expectations of what learning a foreign language involves. However, how to teach grammar effectively is not easy at all. This is the big concern of any language teachers, especially those who teach English to students with practical purposes of communication and work in the future.
As a teacher at a newly born college as the Hanoi College of Economics and Technology (hereafter in referred as Hanetco), where English is considered the most dominant and essential subject, the researcher and all of her colleagues at the college have the absolute consensus that grammar is something that needs putting to the top of priority. Unfortunately, we found that there are many constraints, regarding institutional, learner perspectives, and teaching context perspective, that prevent us from teaching English grammar best communicatively. Moreover, as referred from well- known linguists, the author has an idea that many of the approaches to grammar teaching, currently popular or has been waned, all have the advantages and availability and suitability to be utilized in different teaching situations. That is why in this small research, the researcher tries to make a suggestion of an integrated approach to teaching grammar to students at Hanetco.
Learning attitudes has recently received considerable attention from both first and second language researchers. Most of the researches on the issue have concluded that learner’s attitude is an integral part of learning, and that should be, therefore, become an essential component of second language learning pedagogy. There are several reasons why research on LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 student’s attitudes towards language learning is important. First, attitudes towards learning are believed to influence behaviors (Kaballa & Crowley: 1985) (Source: Weinberg 1998) such as selecting and reading books, speaking in a foreign language.
Second, a relationship between attitudes and achievements has been shown to exist. Schibeci and Riley (1986), (Source: Weinberg 1998) report that there is support for the proposition that attitudes influence achievement, rather than achievement influencing attitudes. The reason is that attitudes influence one’s behaviors, inner mood and therefore learning. So it is clear that there is an interaction between language learning and the environmental components in which students grew up.
Both negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning. The attitudes of an individual depend heavily upon different stimuli. Stern (1983) claims that the affective component contributes at least as much and more often to language learning than the cognitive skills, and this is supported by recent researches. All studies adduce that affective variables have significant influences on language success (Eveyik, 1999; Skehan, 1989; Gardner, 1985; Spolsky, 1989).
Discovering student’s attitudes about language will help both teacher and learner in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, we have to consider the crucial role of this affective domain, attitudes.2 Aims of the study The aim of the study was to investigate what the attitudes of the students at Hanetco towards English grammar learning are and how their attitudes would change after some grammar lectures with the integrated approach. Thanks to the findings of the study, the researcher hopes to leave some suggestions for further study in this very interesting topic.3 Research questions Focusing on a case with a target on the first year non-English-major students at Hanetco, this research examined the learning of grammar before and after the experiment of the integration of approaches. To achieve this, three research questions were proposed: (1) What are the reasons for a change in approach to grammar teaching to students at Hanetco? (2) What are students’ expectations towards grammar teaching and learning? (3) What are the students’ attitudes towards the new integrated approach? LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Scope of the Study This study plays the role as a quasi-experimental study. Due to the time limit and financial constraint, the author was unable to carry out the experimental study on a larger scale. Therefore, the researcher intends to describe the student’s attitudes and beliefs towards English learning and teaching in the real context of first-year students at Hanetco. Method of the Study A qualitative and quantitative methodology was selected for this quasi-experimental research.
This involves the following instruments for data collection: (1) Survey questionnaires (pre-experiment and post-experiment questionnaire) (2) Interviews and discussions The collected data come from 138 first year students, gathering in two groups of banking faculty, interviews and discussions with random students. Then the analysis is carried out in the light of finding out the answers to the research questions and the interviews. Organization of the study The study includes three parts: - Part 1, INTRODUCTION, introduces the rational for the research, the aims of the study, the scope, the methods and the organization of the study. This part also provides a brief description of the thesis topic and information related to English grammar teaching and learning at the author’s teaching context, which is background of the study.
- Part 2, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three chapters as follows: - Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This part offers the reviews of literature related to studies on learning attitudes, the effect of attitudes on learning result, as well as the brief description of English grammar teaching histories together with the sketchy analysis of some popular approaches to grammar teaching. Those help to provide the rational for the supposed integrated approach. - Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 The actual procedures of the study are presented in this part: study design, subject of the study, data collection instruments as well as data collection analyzing process. - Chapter 3: ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS This part focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study.
- Part 3, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, summarizes some major findings, provides recommendations for a possibly applicable approach to teaching grammar, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 5 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Definitions of attitudes There have been considerable researches on attitudes towards language learning and, according to Gardner (1979), there is an undeniable mutual relationship between attitudes and motivation in language learning. There are many definitions of the term. Among them, Gardner (1985:91-93) claims that attitude is an evaluative creation to some referent or attitude objects, inferred on the basic of individual’s beliefs or opinions about the referent.
In addition to that, in Gibb’s opinion (1988), attitude is generally defined as a state of mind, which is influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief. More clearly, Hallorah (1967) states that attitude represents an individual like or dislike towards an item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an “attitude object”, i. a person, situation or event.
People can also be “ambivalent”, meaning that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitudes in question The above definitions show people’s attitudes towards certain referent object, a behavioral intentions component and a cognitive component involving belief about the object. In language learning, we can see students’ attitudes in their feelings and belief about the way of acting towards the lessons, learning style, teachers and the course books.2 The role of attitudes in language learning Attitudes and learning always go side by side.