(SKKN 2022) applying the community language teaching approach in teaching language focus lesson to improve communication skills for students at quang xuong II high school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANININGQUANG XUONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL ---o0o---TEACHING EXPERIENCE APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH IN TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LE

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANINING

QUANG XUONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL

-o0o -TEACHING EXPERIENCE

APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE

TEACHING APPROACH IN TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’COMMUNICATION

SKILL AT QUANG XUONG II HIGH SCHOOL

Written by: Nguyen Thi Thuy English Group

Quang Xuong II High School

THANH HOA, June 2022

CONTENTS PAG

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study :

In recent years,English teaching plays a vital role in the period ofmodernization and industrialization English has been one of the most importantsubjects at school For the educational innovation, many considerable changes inteaching and learning English at high schools in Vietnam have been made In oder

to develop students' communicative competence, the emphasis of English teachinghas been placed on the mastery of communicative language skills in which fourlanguage skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing have been givenbalanced weight in the national syllabus

However, the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning English inmany high schools in Vietnam in general and in Quang Xuong in particular, are notreally as good and high as expected This is resulted from many objective as well assubjective factors and one of those is that the present testing and assessment systemheavily basing on accountability and not as a learning tool sometimes depressstudents' motivation in learning English The feeling of having to do a paper-and-pen test usualy scares almost all of the students, that is not only the case at QuangXuong II High school but also at other schools in Thanh Hoa as well as in Vietnam One of the reasons that have been identified by educators is the exams which are based on grammar tests This factor leading to the abuse of the Grammar Translation Method by teachers in the teaching process to help students get better results in exams The teaching method of grammar is still biased towards writing sentences, conjugations, structures, formulas, etc Therefore, students apply

grammatical structures mechanically, without flexibility in the context, as well as not having the application of grammar points in communication every day

Therefore, the long-term consequence is that students suffer from fatigue in the learning process, and they cannot practise English effectively

Another cause of this inadequacy is due to teaching pronunciation is neglected

in the Language Focus Most teachers only teach the Pronunciation within 10 minutes of the class, so students cannot have many efforts English sounds are difficult to pronounce correctly Therefore, students are not able to apply those pronunciations to communication.Teachers must research and find out the effectivemethhods to teach Language Focus lessons so that students have the most

opportunities to practice the theories they have learned, and they can communicate with others everyday However, with the limited duration of the class, teachers also face many difficulties in carrying out the above activities

Bearing those in mind, I would like to conduct the Teaching Experience entitled :

“Applying the Communicative Language Teaching approach in teaching

Language Focus lesson to improve students’communication skill at Quang

Xuong II High school.’’with the aim of finding out some solutions for the

problem of teaching teaching grammar and pronunciation in high schools In this research , we focus on three main points:

- The first is the nature of learning a language and the role of grammar and

pronunciation when learning a new language

- The second is to review new perspectives on teaching grammar and phonics by communicative language teaching method

- Finally, we propose communication activities that can be applied in Language Focus class in the high school program

1.2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are as the follows:

- to improve communicative proficiency of all skills including reading, writing

- to engage the learners in the pragmatic and functional use of language

- to enhances the productivity of the language in scientific ways

- to appreciate the learners to engage in linguistic interaction with real-life

objectives

1.3 The scope and object of the study

To improve students’communicative competence at Quang Xuong II High school, various activities can be used and a number of things should be done Howerver, due to the limitation of time, only classes 10 A10, 11 C1, 11C2 and 11C4 were asked to participate in the study

Grammar and phonics points are included in the 10th, 11th grade of English program ( 7 years)

1.4 Research methods

- Reading reference books and documents as a theoretical basis for new

perspectives on teaching grammar and pronunciation, as well as collect good

activities from the Internet to refer to how to conduct Language Focus lesson activities according to CLT approach

- Discussing with other teachers

- Observing and drawing out experiences

- Applying in teaching and getting experience from the teaching in the class

- Practice in class and observe

- Get feedback from students

PART 2: CONTENT

2.1 Theoretical background

2.1.1 An over view of comunicative language teaching:

Communicative language teaching is a learner-centered method that mainlyfocuses on learning the language through communication Communicativelanguage teaching is one of the best and popular methods of learning a second

language.Global communication is increasing day by day and in some casesrapidly.The significant characteristics of communicative language teaching aregiven below:

Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA) , is

an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study

Learners in environments using communication to learn and practice the target language by interactions with one another and the instructor, the study of "authentictexts" (those written in the target language for purposes other than language

learning), and the use of the language both in class and outside of class

Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar to promote language skills in all types of situations That method also claims to encourage learners to incorporate their personal experiences into their language learning environment and to focus onthe learning experience, in addition to the learning of the target language

2.1.1.1 Learning a language as an autonomous system

There are two contrasting views on language learning: learning as an autonomoussystem, and socially embedded

According to this view, language is considered an abstract system, composed ofrules that interact to determine form and inner meaning Thus the system can existindependently of the social context The two most prominent linguists who supportthis view are Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) - Swiss linguist, who is considered thebeginner of modern linguistics He was the first to propose his point of view in hiswork "Cours de linguistique génerale" (Textbook of General Linguistics),published in 1916 after the death of two of his former students In this book, heclearly distinguishes two aspects: "langue" - language and "parole" - speech, toserve as a demarcation line for the study of language However, he only considered

"language" as the object of research and rejected the study of problems of speechbecause they were too complex

Similar to the above, Chomsky - American linguist argued that language can existwithout context He argued that language belongs to the mind rather than to society

It is the intellectual property of an individual person, one of the identified internal

genetic traits of the human species (Cook, 2003, p 41) In short, this view assertsthat language learning can be done systematically without the need for socialcontext.

2.1.1.2.The role of Grammar in teaching English:

Because of the many differences between teaching methods, each researcher oflinguist and language teaching method has a very different view of the importance

of grammar in the process of teaching a foreign language

In 1622, Joseph Webbe, a teacher and expert in grammar, once wrote: “No one canlearn a language fluently while being limited by the rules of grammar” (quoted inThornbury, 1999) He argued that grammar could be acquired simply bycommunicating and practicing through the skills of listening, speaking, reading,and writing Webbe was one of the first educators to question the value of teachinggrammar, but he certainly wasn't the last person argueing that

In contrast, over the past few decades, a lot of empirical evidence has shown thatgrammar instruction in the classroom actually helps learners acquire a secondlanguage more effectively This evidence comes from carefully controlled studiesthat have been performed in the classroom (Cowan, 2008) Therefore, no one cansay that the teaching of grammar is irrelevant, or that grammar is no longernecessary in teaching English As Brown (2001) stated: "No one can doubt theimportance of grammar as a rule of language organization for the performance ofcommunication"

Today, many researchers have concluded that Krashen's theory of how adultsacquire second languages has little support However, many teachers still believethat there is no benefit in teaching grammar Some teachers of English fromkindergarten through 6th grade argue that their students seem to learn withoutknowing grammar because children can acquire another language with little or noneed any guidance Children only need to be exposed to that language inmeaningful contexts In contrast, adults no longer have this ability and need to beguided to recognize and absorb the grammar rules of a second language (Cowan,2008)

2.1.1.3.The choice of grammar points to teach

We cannot teach all the rules of English grammar We have choose to teach whatstudents need to learn It is not advisable to design a lesson to teach the entiregrammar system from the start When teachers start teaching Language focuslesson, they might have difficulty to explain the knowledge for students to acquire

it perfectly

2.1.1.4.Task-based instruction

Design lecture is based on the creation of language training tasks that havetraditionally focused on semantics In the exercises that produce structure,grammatical form is purely for communication (R Ellis, 1995) One way toachieve a grammatically efficient output is to use a task that is communicativelyfocused but contains an element that forces the learner to reproduce the exactstructure of the language

2.1.1.5.Communication-based grammar teaching method

Teaching grammar is based on communicative situations is designed through theprocess of teaching grammar format on the basis of a real, expanded and simplifiedcommunication situation to provide learners with some excessive number ofillustrative examples How to use the structure of the target language, which hasbeen put into context in order to comprehend a language

In short, these new methods emphasize the need to provide learners with bothbroad and focused access to grammatical form in order to promote languageacquisition

2.1.2.The role of phonetics in teaching English

There are a number of studies have shown that there are many different views onthe role of teaching pronunciation when learning a foreign language

- The simple GTM (Grammar Translation Method) assumes that pronunciation hasnothing to do with teaching a foreign language, and mostly focuses on Reading andGrammar

- Meanwhile, the DM (Direct Method) method considers teaching pronunciation to

be extremely important and requires the teacher to model accurately – whereby a

perfect teacher must be a native speaker for the most accurate pronunciation This

is not possible with the current educational conditions in Vietnam

- Recently, CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) method has given a strongimpetus to pronunciation teaching because it has been demonstrated by Hinofotisand Bailey (1980) that there is a threshold in English pronunciation However, ifthe learner is under this level, he cannot communicate effectively, even if he isvery good at grammar and vocabulary Accordingly, if a teacher wants to helpstudents fulfill the ability to communicate in a foreign language, they must teachstudents to at least meet or exceed this pronunciation threshold So what activitiescan be used and what is the communicative method of teaching pronunciation?

2.2.Practical background

2.2.1 Phonetics:

Current pronunciation teaching methods such as controlled practice, modeling,imitating, tongue twisters, minimal pair drills, have been widely applied in highschools However, some problems arise:

- First, students learn pronunciation in controlled situations in the classroom, butthey don't know how to put it into practice using the language

- Teaching also focuses too much on pairs of sounds, words and single sentenceswithout focusing on communication situations

- Most teachers cannot express intonation and rhythm with single words and

sentences as in daily communication

2.2.2 Grammar

In both high school English programs (7 years and 10 years) grammar isalways one of the fixed parts in each unit Grammar, which is defined as "thesystem of rules that regulate the arrangement and relationships of words in asentence" (Brown, 2001), is an integral part of a language That is why teachers andstudents always focus on teaching and learning grammar Moreover, in the generalexams, besides it requires quite a lot of skills and knowledge such as reading andvocabulary, grammar points Although teaching and learning of English inVietnam has undergone amazing changes in the past few decades, grammarteaching in high schools still mainly uses the traditional teaching method, known asthe Grammar Translation Method In this method, teachers often presentgrammatical structures, students practice by speaking or writing exercises

Although traditional grammar teaching methods help students master the rules ofgrammar, students cannot use these rules flexibly and appropriately in real-lifecommunication situations.

One method that can replace the traditional grammar teaching method is the

Communicative Language Teaching approach This method requires that teaching

in general and teaching grammar in particular be based on real-life situations The process of teaching and learning grammar is done by "learning by doing", in which students are required to participate in group activities or cooperate to complete tasks that require communication between students Interaction between teacher and students should be applicable or between students and students so that students can naturally absorb and remember grammar rules

2.3 Solutions:

How to design activities of the Language Focus lesson in order to:

+ Improve the quality of English teaching and learning in high schools

+ Increase students' talking time during the main lesson in class

+ Students see the practical meaning of communication, can remember and talkabout these issues logically

+ Improve students' communicative competence

+ Promote the central role of learners

+ Developing students' linguistic thinking not only in learning English but also inlearning activities and other activities of real life

To help students have more opportunities to practice phonetics and grammar in daily contexts , I would like to suggest some activities presented as follows :

Activities that can be used in Language Focus lessons and demonstrations

throughout them

2.3.1 Activities in teaching pronunciation

2.3.1.1.Minimal pairs bingo

1 bingo board has 25 cells, teachers can use 25 words (for 12 pairs of similarsounds) By visiting https://www.eslactivities.com/bingo.php , teachers can easilycreate bingo boards Just type in the words in the table and the program willautomatically create a bingo table for teachers The game will start on an empty slot

and the student whose 5 tiles are called wins and gets to read the bingo tiles in thenext round.

Illustrated lesson :

English 10 – Unit 1,2,3

- Approximate time: 15 minutes

- After 3 units, students have learned these vowel sounds /ɪ/ - /i:/, /ɑ:/ - /ʌ/, and

- Teacher conducts the game:

- Give out the prepared cards.

- Read out each of the words, from one of the cards in random order Tick off

the words as teacher reads them so as to avoid reading them twice Ask students to cross out the words on their cards as they hear them

- When a player completes a horizontal or vertical line on the card, he or she

should shout: “Bingo” Ask this player to read back the words in the line that

they have completed to see if these words are among the ones teacher has already read out This player is the winner

- When one player has won, continue the game to give other players an

opportunity to reach second and third positions

2.3.1.2.Run and grab

The teacher writes or tags two pairs of similar-sounding words on the board, readsone of the words, and the students rush up to the board to tap the correct word Ifthe student chooses correctly, the student will read the next pair of words

Illustrated lesson : English 10 – Unit 4: /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/

- Approximate time: 5 -10 minutes

- Teacher could have their minimal pairs on flashcards or could simply write twowords at a time on the board

- Create two teams and then pair students up with a member of the opposite team

In turn, each pair goes to stand at the back of the room, looking down an aisle at theboard

- When you call one of the minimal pairs out, the pair races to the front to touch thecorrect word on the board or grab the appropriate flashcard

- Students from the winning team could have a turn at calling the words for others

to play another turn

2.3.1.3.Simple sound maze:

Students work individually or in pairs, solving a maze – a path-finding puzzle Tofind the correct path, students have to follow words with a specific sound

Illustrated lesson : English 10 – Unit 1 - /i:/

- Approximate time: 10 – 15 minutes

- Preparation: Teacher makes a copy of a maze for each student of the class

- T conducts the game:

- Give each student or each pair a maze

- Explain that the objective of the game is to find a path from the entrance in thetop left side of the maze to the exit in the bottom right.

- Point out the phonetics symbol /i:/ and example word “see” above the maze andexplain that in the game, students can only cross the square if it contains a word ofthe sound /i:/

- Students can move from one square to the next horizontally or vertically, but notdiagonally

- When students have finished, check the route together

- Ask some students to read out the words in the route

-Key: The correct path is: tea – these – meat – meet – complete – need – eat –sheep – scene – TV – feel – seat – read – please – street – me – sea – cheap – feet –bean – teach – tree – east – meal

Teachers can create their own maze, focusing on other sounds by listing about 25 words belonging to a certain sound, and then writing in the boxes so that they form

a path from the entrance to the exit of the maze Then list other words that don't contain the sound but can be pronounced closely Then write in the remaining boxes

2.3.1.4.Pronunciation journey:

Each student is given a map according to the tree diagram The starting point is thestarting point and the ending point is the names of cities around the world Eachturn, students have 2 choices: turn left or turn right, depending on the sound thestudent hears from the teacher or from the recording At the end of the game, thestudent who finishes correctly is the winner, and the teacher asks the student torepeat the words they heard

Illustrated lesson : English 10 – Unit 10: /p/ - /b/

- Teacher makes a copy of the map for each member of the class, then choose someminimal pairs /p/ and /b/

- Teach writes the word pairs in two vertical column on the board, label the list

“left” and “right”