(SKKN 2022) Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons

Theoreotical background Based on the innovation-oriented teaching methods Based on the innovation of teaching methods that help students towards active learning, against passive learning

PART A INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE

1 Theoreotical background

Based on the innovation-oriented teaching methods

Based on the innovation of teaching methods that help students towards active learning, against passive learning habits, to have the most effective, successful grammar lesson, teachers need to create a joyful atmosphere and create attractive the techniques to stimulate creative thinking

In general, learning English becomes more and more necessary and it also gets the attention of everyone, especially the students They are gradually becoming fond of this subject and more confident in all fields of English to master the knowledge, study about material and see the dialectical unity of listening skills - speaking - reading - writing

2 Practical context

It is clear that, in practical situation, many students are good at grammar and writing but that does not mean the students pronounce words well, not be confused or speak English fluently Here are the reasons for that:

2.1 The psychology of students in high school

- Ability to reflect with their awareness of language

- The ability to imagine a flexible, logical, easy to relate and compare

- The ability to memorize language and find the words out quickly

- Have not really confident, afraid wrong, afraid to speak English

- Prefer being active and self – controlled

2.2 Problems of teaching and learning English grammar

Grammar teaching is an extremely important part of foreign language teaching but there exist two universal problems One is that it is ineffective: during class, teachers explain grammar rules one by one, and students seem to understand to complete some related exercises, but when they speak and write, they still make many grammatical mistakes The other is that the students feel

that grammar teaching is very dull and boring Therefore, they have no interest

in learning Memorizing grammar rules is very hard for weak Ss and too easy for the good ones but it does not support students’ communicating skill Textbooks have gradually better renovation to meet the needs of learners Therefore, from the content of textbook, every teacher should have different approaches to create excitement and stimulate creativeness and eager the student

to learn Knowledge of grammar are usually taught in traditional methods when teachers often use their interpreting, explaining the rules of grammar As the result, students are quite passive and have fewer opportunities to practice the language in class

It is also undeniable that the Language focus periods are so depressing because of mostly grammatical knowledge So, teachers have difficulty in helping students both gain knowledge in their mind and developing communicating skills It gives us one question that which communicative techniques teachers should approach to express all the content in the classroom but still inspire the students It is strongly believed that the problem could easily

be solved if teachers use the applications of external material or practical knowledge (Authentic English) is an indispensable job Therefore, students can get acquainted with the structure already provided in their background naturally Despite a lot of problems, I still expect to promote potential students’

capacity through my study: “Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons.”

II AIMS OF THE STUDY

- Giving a brief overview of theoretical background and practical context of both teaching and learning English Grammar

- Designing activities for some sample lessons: integrating grammar into a communicative teaching lesson

- Suggesting several communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons

III RESEARCH SCOPE

In the teaching process, there are many issues to study and change the method However due to the limited amount of time and less teaching experience, this study was carried out in 2 classes grade 10 with 90 students in

my school, during the school year 2021 -2022

IV METHOD OF STUDY

1 Researching documents

This method helps the author study theoretically from the analysis of documents and related data So, I present the study through the usual channel and scientific method

This method also helps to learn about the situation and psychology of students

2.The method of investigating

- Chatting with students directly to try to know their interest in this subject and teachers’ methods stimulate Ss to use your initiative, imagination, and common sense

- Monitoring students through each lesson can help the author collect and draw the expression as well as the attitude of the student for learning this subject, specially, in the first minute of the grammar lesson

3 Statistical methods

Data is collected from 2 statistics which the author completed at the beginning and at the end of school year 2021-2022 After each lesson, teacher tried to find solutions to get better results

PART B: THE CONTENTS

I THE TRADITIONAL METHODS

“THE LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING PROCESS IS SOMEHOW “EXAM-ORIENTED” OR “EXAM-PREPARED”

In general, in many high schools our country, it is commonly seen that due to the pressure of examinations which often focus on reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, or in other words, the language learning and teaching process is somehow “exam-oriented” or “exam-prepared”, the language teaching methods are undeniably affected Generally, teachers spend most of the time in

class helping the students understand and remember rules and then apply them

to do grammar exercises As a result, it is likely that students who get very good marks in reading are not able to communicate confidently in social situations or even produce an accurate piece of conversation

II SOLUTIONS (THE NEW METHODS)

Skills and grammar topics have dialectical relationship with each other Therefore, teaching grammar, teachers should combine listening speaking -reading skills to make language learning becomes smooth, natural and most effective However, English is easy if there are the right strategic approaches English became really fun if students acquainted correct pronunciation, memory of vocabulary and large number of potential to catch up with the tenses in English automatically and easily

As a result, I must renew perspective, and find the way how to teach more effectively grammar section In the other words, grammar is not a separated anymore, but linked with different skills and used with a lot of activities, games and various documents These activities are not only fun or playful but also directly related to the lessons Therefore, students receive knowledge in a natural way to avoid restrictive, dogmatic They also realize how to learn vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation through the techniques By this way, students can learn English while listening to relax through the paper, the favorite topics, imagination or laughing while learning to bring high efficiency

1 Some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language

In this part, I am going to suggest some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language

These are some examples to illustrate the integration of grammar in CLT comes from Pekoz’s (2008) suggestion in teaching grammar

Sample 1: Application for grammar section: used to+ infinitive

(Unit 4 special education - grade 10)

1 Pre-grammar

a) The teacher discusses the topic "THE CHANGES OVER THE YEARS”

b) The teacher shows the picture as below One picture was taken some years ago and the other one is new The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures

2 While-grammar

a) This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity to notice the new grammatical structure The teacher tells them they are going to learn a new structure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the name of structure (for motivational purposes)

b) The teacher makes a transition from the context created in picture to the grammatical point by showing the same pictures and telling the picture differences with "used to" and "simple present tense" (i.e "he used to be thin, but now he isn’t, he is very fat now", or TV used to be big and thick but now it isn’t, etc)

c) The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching of grammatical point through some other picture comparisons, discussions, stories,

or reading/listening texts

d) The teacher asks some clarification check questions to ensure that the meaning is clear Some examples:

Did he often work hard in the past? Does he eat much now? was she thin in the past?/ is he fat now?

Did he have a big and thick TV in the past? Does he have a flat and modern TV now?

e) The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board for the given sentence providing help if needed

She used to be thin/ have a big and thick television.

S + Used to + V 1 …

3) Post-grammar Brainstorming

The teacher asks students to think back to when they were a child

and asks the following questions: "What are the differences and similarities

between your life then and now? Think about where you lived, your likes/dislikes, your holidays and your family, and fill in the following lines with appropriate sentences".

Your life as a child:

Your present life:

Role-play

The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be old friends meeting after a long time They are supposed to communicate and note the differences in each using either their imagination or the role play cues

Writing

The teacher asks students to write a story about the following topic

for the school magazine.“Imagine that you have been asleep from 2010 till now.

You have just woken up to be shocked about everything around you Compare your old and new lives and write your story using "used to".”

Sample 2: The application for the section “The present perfect

passive”

(Unit 5 Technology and you - grade 10)

1 Pre-grammar Stage

First, the teacher has a discussion about the new room John has moved to Some sentences as examples

“There is a TV set’

“They have handed some pictures on the wall”

………

2 While-grammar Stage

The teacher shows the picture of the room

The teacher says the following:

The bed in the middle has been bought by his mother.” “The TV set has been placed on a table”

“The pictures have been handed on the wall, near the bed.”

“The light has been turned on.”

………

=> Ask the students to pay more attention to the sentences the teacher has just said and formulate the rule on the board

Alternatively, or additionally, the context can be created through a reading text written in the present perfect passive voice

3 Post-grammar Stage

The teacher gives the following hand-out to be filled out and asks students to walk around and ask questions to the class members.

Who has been given money?

Who has been taken to a beautiful place?

Who has been met a famous person recently?

Who has been given a present?

Who has been punished by parents?

Role-play

The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be neighbors whose houses have been broken into and they tell each other about what have been stolen

Writing

The teacher asks students:

”Imagine that You have just turned back your house after a long time

living far away from it and you have been surprised about everything around you Your parents have changed some things in your house Write a letter to your close friends and tell about that, remember to use the present perfect passive voice

2 Some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons.

2.1 Using games and problem-solving activities

The latest concern of the foreign language teachers is to make the students use the target language communicatively Among the activities or techniques, games and problem solving activities are the most preferable communicative activities

Both games and problem- solving activities have a goal Games are organized according to rules, and they are enjoyable Most games require group

works, whereas problem- solving activities (though they are structured) require individual response and creative solutions Games and problem- solving activities are generally used after at the practice stage and more frequently at the production stage, because such communicative tasks can only be handled after mastering sufficient grammar and lexical points

Students are more motivated when learning through the games because of the competition in games Besides, games also reduce the stress in the classroom Games and problem- solving problems can be used at all levels When using games, of course, the teacher must be sure that students are familiar with the words and structures needed to carry out the task Quick drill should usually be done before students play games Furthermore, it is important

to design clear and easy instructions for the games or the activities These are the common games and activities usually used in grammar teaching lessons:

- Noughts and crosses

- Network

- Bingo

- Hangman

- Slap the board

- Flash cards

- Network

- Labeling the pictures

- Jumbed words

 Sample 1: Chain game Teaches students the conditional sentences type1

(The application for grammar section Unit8: The story of my village grade 10)

Application: Students work in group, taking turns to say a conditional sentence in a possible situation Another student asks what happens next, that person answers, then, they go on asking and answering Teacher can encourage students to keep going on as long as possible

e.g A – If it’s sunny, I’ll go to my homeland.

Group - What will you do if you go to your homeland?

B – If I go to my homeland, I’ll meet my grandmother and my friends.

Group – What will you do if you meet your friends?

C – If I meet them, we’ll go to the pub.

Group – What will you do if you go to the pub?

This game not only helps to practice first conditional, but also students’ reaction and creative thinking

Sample 2: Game: Quizzes to teach “Superlatives”

(The application for unit 16: historical places _ grade 10)

Teacher prepares some questions about common knowledge of Britain.

1 What is the highest mountain? (Ben Nevis – 1,343 m)

2 Who is the richest person? (The Duke of Westminster - € 8.2 billion)

3 What is the furthest country from the UK? (New Zealand)

4 What is the second biggest city? (Birmingham – 2.3 million)

5 Where is the largest lake? (Scotland, Loch Lormond – 312 km2)

- Divide the class into 3 teams

- The teams raise their hands to take the chance to answer the question and score

- The team with the most scores will be the winner

The students could continue with one team raising questions and the others answering This activity also helps to enhance students’ general knowledge, apart from English knowledge

2.2 Using songs

Songs and music always create relaxing and non-threatening atmosphere for students, who are usually unconfident when speaking English in

a formal classroom setting In any case, students find the lesson interesting from songs And a major success is breaking the traditional view of dull and boring grammar classes In grammar lesson, songs may be used both used for the presentation and practice phase

Sample: Using the song “If I were a rich man” to present the conditional sentences type 2 Unit 9: undersea world grade 10

Type of activity: individual work, pair work, whole class

Aims: present the conditional sentences type 2.

Preparation: make the copy of the handouts for each student

Procedure: - Deliver the handouts to the students

- Ask Ss to listen to the song

IF I WERE A RICH MAN.

"Dear God, you made many, many poor people

I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor

But it's no great honor either!

So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?"

If I were a rich man,

Ya ha deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum

All day long I'd biddy biddy bum

If I were a wealthy man.

I wouldn't have to work hard.

Ya ha deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum

If I were a biddy biddy rich,

Yidle-diddle-didle-didle

 let them withdraw the form, use and meaning of the conditional sentences type 2

 For an extra- activity , the teacher can ask the students to sing the song individually or the whole class

2.3 Role - play