(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) an action research on the use of language games in teaching grammar to first year students of non major english at university in vietnam

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 I

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.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

HANOI-2020

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.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Prof HOÀNG VĂN VÂN

HANOI-2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS i

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 The aims of the study 2

1.3 The scope of the study 3

1.4 Research question 3

1.5 The significance of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 General overview of English grammar 4

2.1.1 Definitions of grammar 4

2.1.2 The importance of grammar in teaching and learning 5

2.1.2.1 Grammar has the role of an enabling skill 5

2.1.2.2 Grammar has the role of meaning conveyance 7

2.1.2.2 Grammar has the role of an instrument of sentence making 8

2.2 Genneral overview of language games 9

2.2.1 Definitions of language games 9

2.2.2 Types of language games in teaching English grammar 10

2.2.3 The advantages of application of language games in teaching 13

2.2.4 Effective ways to make games work in a language class 16

2.3 Previous studies 22

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Subjects of the study 25

3.2 Research design 26

3.2.1 Definitions of action research 26

3.2.2 The precedures of action research 27

A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN 31

3.2.3 The instruments for collecting data 36

3.2.3.1 The questionnaires 36

3.2.3.2 The interview 37

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 40

4.1 The results of questionnaires’ analysis 40

4.1.1 The students’ motivation of learning English grammar 40

4.1.1.1 The students’ enjoyment of learning English grammar 40

4.1.1.2 The students’ effort of learning English grammar 41

4.1.1.3 The students’ capability of learning English grammar 42

4.1.2 The role of classroom atmosphere of learning English grammar 43

4.1.2.1 The peer support of learning English grammar 43

4.1.2.2 The lecturers’ support of learning English grammar 44

4.1.2.4 The classroom cohesion of learning English grammar 45

4.1.3 The importance of grammar and grammar instruction 46

4.1.3.1 The importance of learning English grammar 46

4.1.3.2 The students’ difficulties in learning English grammar 48

4.1.3.3 The students’ methods of learning English grammar 49

4.2 The results of interviews 50

4.2.1 The students’ motivation through language games 50

4.2.2 The classroom atmosphere through language games 51

4.2.3 The students’ suggestion through language games 52

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 53

5.1 Summary and conclusion 53

5.2 Limitations of the study: 55

5.3 Suggestions for further study: 55

REFERENCES 57

APPENDICES 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

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

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

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 thedisappointment 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

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies

LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS

LIST OF TABLES

new language

of language games

LIST OF GRAPHS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 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 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

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”

1.2 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

1.3 The scope of the study

The study will focus on the first-year students of non-major English at AOF The participants are 30 first-year students from Department of Public Finance – AOF (Code – CQ56.18.01) All of these students are non-major English students

1.4 Research question

For the reaching the aim of study, the the following question is addressed: Do

language games help increase the effectiveness of learning English grammar for first-year students of non-major English at Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam?

1.5 The significance of the study

- This thesis studied theoretical framework of English grammar and language games in teaching languages Through the reference of many scientific works on languages, thesis indicated the general understandings of grammar, language games

- This thesis studied many of scientific works related to the relation between language games and grammar teaching and learning From the research those works, the thesis pointed out the existence of those scientific works and would be completed

in this thesis

- The findings of the thesis confirmed the importance with the application of language games in teaching grammar for first-year students of non-major English at AOF The results suggested lecturers should apply language games with variety of types for the increase in the effectiveness

- The thesis will be a useful document for students, and researchers in the field

of teaching methods at language universities in Vietnam

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 General overview of English grammar

2.1.1 Definitions of grammar

Grammar is a term that has many different interpretations Some of the ways

of understanding are listed below:

According to Macquarie Dictionary: “Grammar refers to the features of a

language (sounds, words, formation and arrangement of words, etc.) considered systematically as a whole, especially with reference to their mutual contrasts and relations” (Macquarie, 1997)

According to Longman Dictionary: “Grammar refers to the rules by which

words change their forms and are combined into sentences” (Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary, 2003)

Those definition mentioned that the term grammar related to the association with verb paradigms and rules of linguistics and written language regulated by a set of sentence structures The definition of Macquarie Dictionary and Longman Dictionary indicated the connection between grammar with rules and regulation As such, learners have to master a lot of rules to learn grammar well In addition, if the grammar involves a set of rules, this reflects that these rules are fixed That is, there

is no flexibility in the grammar structure

According to Ur: “Grammar refers to a way a language manipulates and

combining words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning” (Ur,

1988)

According to Larsen-Freeman: “it is not helpful to think of grammar as a

discrete set of meaningless, decontextualized, static structures Nor is it helpful to think of grammar solely as prescriptive rules about linguistic form, such as injunctions against splitting infinitives or ending sentences with prepositions Grammatical structures not only have (morphosyntactic) form, they are also used to express meaning (semantics) in contextappropriate use (pragmatics).” (Larsen-Freeman,

2003)

According to the view of Larsen-Freeman, grammar has a range of flexible frames with interchangeable components that can be organized and manipulated in different ways By manipulating linguistic components within a grammatical frame, speakers should be able to produce a wide variety of constructions to express themselves in what would be considered an acceptable language form This orientation implies that there is not, in fact, only one correct form of the grammar of

a language but rather a range of options useful for different purposes and appropriate

in different situations

From my point of view, “Grammar refers to the collection of formal

requirements regulating the composition of natural languages of clauses, sentences and connection with the semantics and pragmatics”

2.1.2 The importance of grammar in teaching and learning

2.1.2.1 Grammar has the role of an enabling skill

One of the primary and uppermost traits grammar has is that it enables the user to process and produce correct sentences, be they spoken or written The skill

in question is an indispensible factor for the user to function properly in each of these areas (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) A decent mastery of grammar can make it easier for the person to communicate and articulate his thoughts coherently However, when the person’s mastery of grammar is not sufficient, communication is more likely to be disrupted and misconceived What follows is an attempt to demonstrate the role grammar plays in each of these areas

We know that the strength of a tree lies in its roots Similarly the strength of any spoken language lies in its grammar That it to say, grammar serves the base and foundation of all spoken languages Human interaction and communication are based on mutual understanding This requires the person to have a decent level of grammar to be able to convey the message the same way he/her has in mind

Speaking is an everyday activity and one can’t do without it Therefore, a good command of grammar is vital for effective communication More to the point, the way one expresses himself during communication gives off hints as to one’s knowledge and education Whether we like it or not, we are judged by the way we speak A correct use of grammar on all occasions will make people perceive you

as a well educated person By contrast, if one’s usage of grammar is weak, then the impression formed by others will be a very poor one and they might take you to be poorly educated

The second skill in which grammar monopolizes a great role in is writing Grammar governs the mechanisms of writing and ensures that it can be easily understood by all A person may have splendid ideas and distinctive perspectives which would make great changes in the world Nevertheless, if this person lacks the aptitude to fluently and accurately express these ideas, they wouldn’t matter at all and would not even entice others’ attention Had the greatest writers in history like Dickens or the Indian spiritual leader Gandhi been terrible users of grammar, their ideas would not have reached the world and would not have lived decades after their demise To exemplify the status grammar has in writing, syntax governs word order in a sentence Imagine reading an English sentence in which words are arbitrary placed It would clearly be impossible to understand Punctuation also helps the reader to pause or switch to a new thought So often we find errors of punctuation and syntax that change the meaning of the sentence; we then need to

go back and re-read, perhaps several times, in order to find out what the writer actually meant, a waste of time and effort

The function of grammar does not extend only to the written and spoken forms; it rather exceeds that to be also an underlying component in listening and reading The role of grammar pertains not only to one’s production but also to one’s understanding and perception When the student already knows grammar, it makes

it considerably easier for him/her to process what they hear and not dwell on it because they are not sure what it really means A lecturer, for instance, asks a

student to bring him/her the books on the desk, only to have the student bring one book because he/her didn’t hear the S sound or didn’t understand it In this case, a better grip over grammar would have improved the student’s listening This applies

to reading as well

2.1.2.2 Grammar has the role of meaning conveyance

Among the multiple functions grammar has, its ability to convey and clarify meaning is the most important A language is futile and doomed to perish if it’s ineligible of constructing meaning Communication constitutes a central part of human activities, and meaning is a pre-requisite factor for the former to occur There are many ways in which grammar determines the meaning of the sentence Each grammatical rule serves a particular purpose Conjugation to express an action

in a certain time, modals to express obligation, probability and certainty, even the intonation while speaking says a lot about what the person wants to say In addition

to this, correct grammar enables us to articulate the same thought in so many ways and in so many different structures Once the person learns how to efficiently employ these rules, he/she becomes able to use the language to convey any thought

he desires

One way in which grammar brings about meaning is the way it brings the words together Words grouped together randomly have little meaning on their own For instance, if father would like to know where his son is and the mother answers” with friends cinema go” In this instance, the father is highly unlikely to get the message and even if he somehow managed to infer the meaning of the sentence, the latter is still ambiguous and open to different interpretations Unless they occur accidentally, like in

“go study” Words may have lexical meaning at the word level, but they convey no grammatical meaning as a group However when a special order is given to these words, grammatical meaning is created because of the relationships they have to one another The subject verb agreement, or to take another example the difference between the past, present and future forms of verbs The meaning of a sentence is determined partly by the meaning of the words of which it is composed and partly by its grammatical

meaning

Punctuation is also another way in which grammar contributes to meaning When having a face-to-face conversation, we use intonation, voice patterns and body language to express exclamations or questions However, when reading, we don’t have these useful tools so we rely on the punctuation to help us figure out what the writer means Punctuation has also the capacity to change the meaning of

a sentence Making mistakes at the level of punctuation leads to ambiguity This sentence for instance: ‘A woman without her man is nothing’ This sentence could

be punctuated to have an utterly different meaning A woman: without her, man is nothing While in the first sentence, women are worth nothing without men, the second is the total opposite Punctuation is a powerful tool It helps maintain consistency and ease understanding Being punctuation a sub- branch of grammar, this shows the importance and influence grammar has over meaning in particular and language at large

To delve into more details regarding the role of grammar in conveying meaning, we must have a look at the linguistic branch that is concerned with meaning that is semantics The latter is the study of the meaning of words and sentences The discipline in question studies the interpretation of individual words People pick up the meaning of words subconsciously at first, but then as they grow more adept with language, more complex meanings emerge

2.1.2.2 Grammar has the role of an instrument of sentence making

Grammar, after all, is a description of the regularities in a language, and knowledge of these regularities provides the learner with the means to generate a potentially enormous number of original sentences A decent mastery of the grammatical rules, gives the person the potential or rather the ability to manipulate and combine a variety of basic sentence structure The goal of this practice is not

to learn how to produce longer sentences but rather how to develop more effective ones This applies to both, speaking and writing People actually grow disinterested and bored when they hear or read a set of detached individual sentences, that in

addition to the little meaning they convey Instead of creating many sentences to convey simply one idea, with the sentence combination, they can all be merged into

a one complete meaningful sentence To exemplify, ‘the exercise was not difficult The exercise was not easy The exercise was manageable’ By cutting out the needless repetition and adding a few conjunctions, we can combine these three short sentences into a single, more coherent sentence: ‘The exercise was neither difficult nor easy but manageable’ Or ‘The exam was not difficult or easy but it was manageable’ Furthermore, a systematic practice in combining and expanding sentences increases one’s repertoire of syntactic structures and may also improve the quality of sentences

All in all, grammar is an instrumental tool that not only enables the speaker

to create a wide variety of sentences but also equip him with the necessary instruction as to how combine and manipulate these sentences to best suit his purpose

2.2 Genneral overview of language games

2.2.1 Definitions of language games

There were a lot of definitions of language games raised by researchers Here are some works done by famous researchers on the use of language games as well as the concepts and ideas regarding games

According to Allery “Games refers to competitive activity with a prescribed

setting, constrained by rules and procedures The learning results from playing the game…and not from the academic content or specialist subject matter” (Allery,

2004)

According to Kevin Maroney: “A game is a form of play with goals and

structure” (Maroney, 2001) This attitude showed a slight difference from Allery’s

attitude This attitude added one more attribute to the definition of games namely goals Goals refer to game targets which eventually lead to language learning targets

According to Clark Abt: “A game is an activity among two or more

independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting

context This attitude was estimated to be the combination of the characteristics and

the objectives of the games The players should use the mental logic to make the decision based on the regulation of the game This requires the participants must think more before making the choice This is very suitable for the application in the teaching foreign language for students (Abt, 1987)

According to Rixon: “Game in general consists of playing governed by

rules” By looking at games in general as well as from games specially designed for

teaching, Rixon picks out the features that would be useful in language teaching and

to see what other features would be less useful or even a waste of time (Rixon, 1981)

According to Greenal: “Game is considered as whenever there is an element

of competition between individual students or teams in a language activity” This

attitude refers to the characteristic of competition – a remarkable characteristic of games This one will lead to the motivation resulting in the increase in the preference and satisfaction of students in learning foreign languages (Greenall, 1984)

From my point of view: “Games refer to a set of activity used for gaining

objectives Language games refer to games used in teaching and learning foreign language with suitable objectives”

2.2.2 Types of language games in teaching English grammar

According to McCallum there are seven classifications of games:Vocabulary

games, Number games, Structure games, Spelling games, Conservation games, Writing games, Role-play, Dramatics (McCallum, 1980) These kinds of games focus

on language skills and components A lecturer who understands games in this way is much more likely to choose games that are suitable for a particular purpose The purpose of this study is to enhance students’ vocabulary The language games selected in this study are necessary to focus on the vocabulary field

According to Greenall, the language games can be classified games into eight groups according to their functions and techniques in a different way (Greenall, 1984)

- Do-it-yourself simulation: It is an activity in which the students play

themselves in a situation which he/she has either experienced or can at least relate to

in some way

- Role-play: Students are required to react following the identity or the role

marked on the card Then develop the character with improvised dialogue in either

an everyday situation or a clearly defined setting

- Describing: A simple situation in which one person has a particular item of

information that he/she can only reveal by: drawing, mime, roundabout description, Yes/No answer to questions put by the others

- Matching pairs: Divide words, pictures, lines of dialogue, etc., into more

than two parts and then shuffle One part is given to each of the students who must then find his/her partner

- Jigsaw: It is similar to Matching Pairs Divide words, pictures, and lines of

dialog into more than two parts The students have to work to match them together

- Logical sequences: This technique is similar to Jigsaw, but for materials such

as strip cartoons, song lyrics, or proverbs The components can be reconstructed in the correct and logical order

- Board games: The lecturer thinks of a situation, which involves some

sequence of events Then asks students to think of several favorable and unfavorable events that might occur as the players proceed

- Discussion: Activities can be a springboard for discussion or questionnaires

According to Wright, Betteridge, and Buckby language games can be

classified into eight sections depending on each family type The family name is often

a verb summarizing the essential way, which engages learners in the game The authors state that games can take one of the following forms: (Wright, 2005)

- Care and share: Learners feel comfortable in those games when sharing

personal information with other learners

- Do: move, mine, draw, obey: The learner is expected to do something

non-verbally in response to a read or a heard text

- Identify: discriminate, guess, speculate: The learner is tested to recognize

something hard to distinguish about something, and then contrasted with the certainties

- Describe: The learner is tested to depict something to an alternate learner, by

talking or composing The other learner can do something objectively or subjectively, conveying his or her sentiments and affiliations

- Connect: compare, match, group: The learner is challenged to connect,

examine, match, or group various items of information The items can be pictures or texts He or she uses language to describe or comment on the pairs of data

- Order: The learner is challenged to put various bits of information into a

hierarchy of quality and importance, subjectively or objectively Or to put texts, pictures, objects, into a development sequence

- Remember: The learner tries to remember something and then communicate

what he or she has retained

- Create: The learner is challenged or invited to make a story, write a poem,

or produce some other kind of material using their imagination

According to Hadfield, language games can be classified into catergories: (Hadfield, 1998)

- Linguistics games: The goal of the games is linguistics accuracy, for

example, producing a correct structure or remembering right words,

- Communicative games: Carry out activities like drawing maps or matching

pictures by using language Rixon classifies games into two main groups based on correctness and communication effectiveness They are code-control games and communication games (Rixon, 1981)

- Code-control games: In these games, players have to produce language

correctly or prove that they have made a correct interpretation of a particular piece of language Repeating a limited range of language makes games similar in their functions to drills As with a drill, the other students express opinions about the correctness of responses The lecturer plays a vital role in leading or controlling these

games The lecturer also is the person who decides to award for correct answers and refuses incorrect ones

- Communication games: These games mainly focus on communication but

not absolute correctness “Firstly, the language that is too distorted by mistakes will fail to communicate anything Secondly, the range of language needs in many of these games can be limited so that students are repeating structures any time” (Hadfield, 1998)

2.2.3 The advantages of application of language games in teaching

Many experts of language teaching methodology have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value, especially in communicative language teaching class

Firstly, Language games provides meaningful practice: Games are

considered as a way to help students not only enjoy and entertain with the language they learn, but also provide intensive and meaningful practice of language With the use of meaningful practice as games, the lecturer can create various contexts in which students have to use language to communicate, exchange information and express their own opinions (Wright, 2005) The need for meaningfulness in language learning has been accepted for some years If students are amused, angered, challenged, or surprised, the context is clearly meaningful to them Thus, the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be better remembered Further support comes from Hadfield who believes that games provide as much concentrated practice as a traditional drill and more importantly, they provide an opportunity for real communication and thus constitute a bridge between classroom and the real

world (Hadfield, 1998)

Secondly, Language games create motivation: Games are highly motivating

and entertaining, and they can ‘lower anxiety’, give shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen 1994) Therefore, learners can perform what they know, what they are familiar with and what they are able to produce From the researches of Uberman (1998), Nguyen & Khuat (2005), we can realize the

enthusiasm of their students in learning through games In most of the games, an element of competition between individual learners or teams is a strong motivating factor It is the competition that stimulates students to produce required language

items as correctly as possible in order to achieve success

In addition, using language games helps reduce stress in the classroom When students have to face unfamiliar or difficult structures, words, text and even concentrate on long intensive practice without any change, there will be little benefit from learning in such an intensive way in the long run Thus, a change is always necessary in the situation While language is a hard work and effort is required every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time, games are considered one of the best ways to create relaxing and interesting learning atmosphere as a break

in order to maintain students’ motivation When students are free from worry and stress, they will study more effectively

Motivation is clearly an indispensable element in the process of students’ acquisition because it makes learning more meaningful and effective Therefore, it is understandable for the lecturer to consider games as a means of enhancing motivation Huang (1996, p.1 quoted in Nguyen & Khuat, 2005) comes to a conclusion that “learning through games could encourage the operation of certain psychological and intellectual factors which could facilitate communication, heighten self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, reinforce learning, improve intonation and build confidence”

Thirdly, Language games promote participation and cooperation: The

reason why games are more popular in language classes nowadays is that games encourage students’ participation and cooperation and can remove the inhibitions of those who feel intimidated by formal classroom situations That is true because games encourage group work or pair work To complete the task or requirement of games, players work together by sharing information and they do not worry too much about mistakes or they will be corrected by others Moreover, to each game more proficient students or less proficient ones have their own strong points so they can cooperate

with one another to get their team’s objective Therefore, games help students

increase collaboration and team-working or group-working spirit

Fourthly, Language games provide active learner-centered learning: As

mentioned above, to reach the objective of the game, students have to work in pairs, groups or in teams It means that there is communication between individuals Students have to discuss together, share information or express their own points of view before their group has a final result In this way, games bring learners chances

to communicate or to work by themselves The lecturer only keeps the role of an observer or an instructor He drops his role as director of games and becomes more

of a monitor and language format The lecturer no longer controls what learners have

to say Rixon asserts that lecturers should be there as “a source of information” to give suggestions or rephrase something to make it clearer to other players In other words, games are part of general movement away from a lecturer-dominated

classroom and promote active learner-centered learning (Rixon, 1981)

Fifthly, Language games provide immediate feedback: After lecturers present

any new language item, they want to know how much knowledge their students have achieved and how much they have missed The popular way of checking students’ acquisition is by testing However, tests always take time By using games, lecturers can receive information about their teaching, but in a quicker way To explain this

David and Hollowell (1989) state as follows: “Most overburdened lecturers have

experienced the problem of waiting too long to hand back students’ papers, to be effective, feedback must follow performance Most of the games provide almost immediate feedback to students since in most cases winning and losing will depend

on how well the students perform” (David, 1989)

By observing students work or perform their knowledge, lecturers can recognize students’ strengths and weaknesses as well as their gaps in the process of their acquisition Besides, using games in learning also facilitates various interactions

in the classroom Rixon offers different patterns of interaction through playing games: lecturer-the whole class, lecturer-group, lecturer- individual, individual-

individual, and group-group (Rixon, 1981)

In summary, games are useful and effective tools that should be applied in vocabulary and grammar lessons The use of games is a way to make the lessons more interesting, enjoyable, and effective

2.2.4 Effective ways to make games work in a language class

Presentation

Choosing games: There are many factors to consider while applying games,

one of which is the appropriation “Lecturers should be very careful about choosing

games if they want to make them profitable for the learning process” (Uberman,

1998) In order to gain the appropriation of choosing games in teaching, lecturers should take into consideration such factors as students’ ages, suitable tasks and topics, the length of the time necessary for game completion, the size of class and language level Students in university level are much mature, the games designed can be more complicated thatn students in high-school level The class with the large size will cause the situation in wich the students cause a lot of noise and affect other classes Therefore, some of the games will not be suitable for large size such as the game

“selling and buying things” Moreover, the choice of language level has significant

influence on the choice of game For beginners or non-major English students, they need to be exposed to fairly simple language which they can understand Intermediate students or students major in English, in contrast, have had some knowledge, so lecturer should give more difficult tasks which require higher proficiency (Harmer,

1998)

When to use games: Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when

there is some time left at the end of a lesson In addition, Uberman suggests “Games

also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a pleasant and entertaining way” (Uberman, 1998) However, Rixon suggests that

games can be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen (Rixon, 1981) At different stages of the lesson, the lecturer’s aims

connected with a game may vary:

- Stage of presentation Provide a good model making its meaning clear;

- Stage of controlled practice Elicit good imitation of new language and appropriate responses

- Stage of communicative practice Give students a chance to use the language Three main stages above bring students from a state in which the grammar is completely unknown to them to the ability to start using it confidently by them When using a game as a part of a lesson, it is important to make sure that the way in which

it is played- the interaction among the players and the role the lecturer plays in it- fits with the stage in the lesson that has been reached The lecturer’s aim and the techniques s/he can use at each stage are outlined in the following table:

Table 1: Types of games suitable at the three stages of teaching new language

Presentation Provide a good

model of the new language

Make its meaning clear

Check students’

understanding

Lecturer is the center of attention Students respond

to lecturer’s cue to show their understanding

Played by whole class under lecturer’s direction Competitive

Lecturer is judge of responses and scorer Responses are simple actions or yes/no answers; players do not yet produce new language themselves e.g O’Grady Says

Elicit new language as an appropriate

Lecturer cues and directs what the class does, but the interactions are more varied, e.g

lecturer- class;

lecturer-Played by whole class under lecturer’s direction Competitive

Lecturer is the judge of responses and scorer Players must produce the language correctly and

response to situation or context Help students perform

grammatical transformations on the new language

individual;

individual; group- group

individual-Lecturer corrects

as necessary

appropriately and/or do correct transformations on

it E.g Who Is It?

E.g give instructions, persuade, or solve

a problem

Lecturer steps out

of the limelight Students interact directly as, e.g., pairs, small groups

or as individual and small group Lecturer monitors groups and advises players when needed

Individual, pair or small group

Games not under direct control of lecturer

Players must use language

to achieve practice aim Cooperative and competitive

Students can judge their own success

E.g Describe and Draw, Find Your Partner

(Rixon, 1981)

Timing: The lecturer needs to estimate the time of the game The question

“what is the maximum amount of time available in the lesson?” should be raised before playing the game Lewis and Bedson suggest that games should last from five

to twenty minutes including preparation, presentation, game-playing and post- playing Thus, good preparation will enable lecturers and students to have more time

for playing games (Lewis, 1999)

Teaching aids: It is necessary to prepare carefully materials for game playing

Materials used in games must attract students, match with their interest and motivate them We can use pictures, flashcards, realia or so forth, but they should be different from what are illustrated in the textbook Pictures taken from colored and update magazines or books, flashcards or pictures drawn on cards must be clear If there are

handouts, color pencils or pens, transparencies for overhead projector, etc, used in playing games, we should make sure that individual students, pairs or groups are fully prepared If so, these important factors will stimulate students’ participation and

prepare them ready to take part in games

Organizing games

Giving and checking instructions: To be well-organized, the lecturer needs

to set up the required groups of students, see that they have all the materials they need, and above all make sure that they all understand what to do It is not enough simply to read out the rules of a new game, or to hand out a written copy of the rules Each game will need a proper instruction, which means an explanation- not just a reading- of the rules, and a short demonstration “It is a waste of time to throw students unprepared into an activity that they have not yet fully grasped: things will

go wrong very quickly, and you will then have to spend more time trying to repair the situation” (Rixon, 1981) The same idea from Harmer is that the best activity in the world is a waste of time if students do not understand what it is they are supposed

to do (Harmer, 1998) Another reason for giving a full demonstration and explanation

of a new game is to show the students exactly what language they can practice as they play it The rules for giving instructions are: try to make your demonstration and instructions as lively, simple and appealing as possible so that students want to play the game When the lecturer gives instructions, it is important to check that students have understood what they are being asked to do This can be achieved either by asking a student to explain the activity after the lecturer has given the instruction or

by getting someone to show the other people in the class how the exercise works Even if necessary, lecturers can use the native language to explain the rules of the

game to make sure every student understands and is ready to play

Class organization: The notes on each game suggest which form of class

organization is appropriate There are class, individual, pair and group work Of the four types of grouping, pair and group work are very important if each learner is to

have sufficient oral practice in the use of the language

Pair work: This is easy and fast to organize It provides opportunities for intensive listening and speaking practice

Group work: Some games require four to six players; in this case, group work

is essential Membership of groups should be constant for the sake of goodwill and efficiency If there is to be challenge between groups, they should be of mixed according to ability Many lecturers consider it advisable to have a group leader The leader would normally be one of the more able learners However, there is much to

be said for encouraging the timid learner by giving the responsibility to him/her The lecturer’ role is to ensure that the game or activity is properly organized and to act as

an intermediary between learners and lecturer Another suggestion when students work in groups is to appoint one ‘secretary’ who writes the answer or take note to report to the whole group Working in this way makes students directly involved and help one another (Lewis, 1999)

Another important factor for class organization is suitable seating arrangement Changing seating arrangement can help students interact with different people when it is suitable with each kind of activity organization If the activity is pair work, students should sit next to each other or face to face so that it is easier to interact If the activity is group work, it should be circle or horseshoe Scrivener suggests that learners can make eye contact with everyone else in the group and thus interact much more naturally in a circle or horseshoe (Scrivener, 1994)

Lecturer’s role

Lecturer as a monitor/ corrector/ an evaluator of responses: As mentioned

above, there are two types of games: code-control games and communication games

Therefore, the lecturer’ role varies from one kind of games to another In code-control

games, the lecturer is normally considered as an evaluator of responses to judge correctness Decisions should be absolutely clear and firm and made without irritation

at those students who continually get things wrong The lecturer should make a metal note about future remedial work that is needed rather than hold up the game and start teaching in the middle of it Further explanations and remedial work can be given

afterwards The lecturer also needs some clear and, if possible, dramatic way of indicating approval or rejection of an answer Silently putting another mark on the

scoreboard is not the most exciting way of accepting an answer

In communication games, although the lecturer does not act as a judge as in code- control games, there is plenty of scope for observing students’ performances and doing something about serious errors or areas of ignorance In terms of the game, the errors do not matter, but how is the lecturer to deal with them? If you stop a game completely and start teaching or revising a language point, the whole atmosphere will

be spoiled, students may even get the idea that the games have only been set to trap them into mistakes, and if this happens, they may become too self-conscious to get anything very much out of the activities There is no harm, however, in making quick corrections of some of the errors that you hear as you go from group to group You should go for major points rather than for mere slips of the tongue, and for points that

do not require a lengthy explanation When going around, the lecturer should collect information with a view to incorporating them in your lessons later on Some lecturers simply make a mental note, but others prefer to record the information more systematically It is a good idea to carry a small notepad with you as you monitor The essential things to write down are what the errors are and who is making them

Lecturer as a person who summarizes and comments: Whatever the game is,

students like to hear how well they are doing, to receive encouragement and to have any amusing incidents or clever moves commented on, as well as having errors corrected This is slightly different from formal feedback on use of language to keep

a relaxing atmosphere, to show the students that you are interested in what they are doing and to encourage them to be interested in the progress of other players It is important not to ridicule any individual Positive comments can be made about

individuals but negative comments should be kept more general

For each type of games, the lecturers also should be careful in the way of commenting In code-control games, the lecturer is the only reliable judge of what is correct and thus needs to supervise what goes on Whereas, in communication games,

the students themselves have various means of judging their own success and the lecturer’s role is less prominent

- Scientific article (2011): “Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching

The authors look into the efficiency of employing games in teaching grammar

to young learners In the study, the perceptions of 15 Turkish EFL lecturers working

in primary schools were gathered using the questionnaire method The findings revealed that the Turkish EFL lecturers acknowledged the important contribution of language games in classroom teaching They also agreed that using games as a means

of instructional approach is advantageous for teaching young learners Nonetheless, the participants only contain 15 students for the estimation of effectiveness This might reduce the validity of the results due to the small number of participants

- Scientific article (2013): “Enhancing Grammar Using Board Game” –

author: Tengku Nazatul & Rahmah

This study mentioned that one way to eliminate the fear of grammar lesson is

by using language games Language games are important to create excitement in language lessons This session reports on a study that aimed to explore the benefits

of using board game to teach grammar The study was carried out among Pre TESL students of UiTM Pahang, Kuantan Campus The data from the study were analyzed

by using frequency table, bar charts and Independent T-Test The session will present the overall results of the study, revealing the beneficial effects of using board game

in teaching grammar However, this study did not point out the further studies for researchers

- Scienntific article (2017): “An evaluation of using games in teaching English

author Lien Cam and Thi Minh Thu Tran This study aims to analyse the application

of games in teaching grammar for English majored freshmen at Dong Nai Technology University A mixture of both quantitative and qualitative methods was applied in the paper The finding indicates both advantages and disadvantages as teaching grammar through games for lecturers and students Therefore, game application is advised to

be adopted by English lecturers It also proves students’ attitude positively toward grammar lessons

- Scientific article (2020): “Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching

Grammar to Young Learners” – authors: Gülin Yolageldili and Arda Arikan

(Arikan., 2020)

The research studied the effectiveness of using games in teaching grammar to young learners from the view points of Turkish EFL lecturers working in primary schools The study suggests that while Turkish EFL lecturers accept the effectiveness

of using games in grammar teaching, they do not use games as frequently as expected

in their classrooms Moreover, questionnaires have many questions for lecturers, but few questions for learners, so the effectiveness of grammar studies will be less reflected

Despite the fact that there are a lot of research relating to the relation between language games and grammar teaching, there still don’t have the study at the level of university in the field of economics with first-year students of non-major English Most of those studies above foucused on the participants in the degree of high schools In that environment, the pressure of learning English is low, students do not have the try to find the solution the change their results Hence, the motivation of

learning English and English grammar in high school is not sufficient enough for the change in the effectiveness This thesis will study in the level of university with non-major English students in the first- year period Therefore, this thesis will not be overlapped with previous studies Moreover, with the sample of 30 students, the results of this study will reflect the validity of the results

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Subjects of the study

The study was conducted with a sample of 30 first-year students of non-major English at Department of Public Finance – AOF Most of the students learnt basic English knowledge from their high schools During the period of high school, they had the target of the register for the block A in the entrance university examination,

so they focused much on subjects in natural science and did not spend much time on learning English Therefore, their English qualification is estimated in the average level Their way for the learning English and learning English grammar is untargetable and vague The participants include 70% female students and 30% male students Although most of the participants did not find the way to learning English, they are still hard-working students These participants will have more opportunity for the improvement in English qualification if they realize the sufficient way to learn and know how to apply in reality This reality will provide lecturers with more information for the application of action plan in teaching

The Academy of Finance, Hanoi, Vietnam – AOF under the Ministry of Finance and under the state management of the Ministry of Education and Training,

is one of the top public universities in the business sector In Vietnam, the University has a strong advantage in the training of Finance - Economics in Vietnam The Department of Public Finance, formerly known as the Department of Finance and Finance, was established right from the first day of the University of Finance and Banking, now the Academy of Finance, in 1963 This department have the role of training university-level financial officers in the fields of Public Finance Management, Public Accountancy, Financial Policy Analysis and participating in training other subjects of the Academy of Finance

At university, General English (GE) is a compulsory subject for this group of students in the first-year period This subject is required to learn by all of non-major English students from all of departments except for students from faculty of foreign language If a student does not reach the required score in the final test, the student

faces the possibility that he will have to repeat the studies and can not graduate This subject is therefore treated in university as significant challenge In order to study

Genneral English, students must have the material of “Intelligent Business

Elementary”- written by Irene Barral and Nikolas Barrall GE has been taught in 2

semesters: first semester contains 7 first units and second semester contains 8 units The lessons in first semester will be taught with traditional methods and the lessons

in the second semester will be taught with the action project to realize the contrast between traditional methods and new methods Therefore, this thesis will show whether the applying of language games help with the improvement in effectiveness

in learning grammar

3.2 Research design

In the area of applied linguistics, there have been many of the research methods such as experimental method and case study Nevertheless, the action research will be chosen due to the implementation of the study in a suitable manner

to the circumstances

3.2.1 Definitions of action research

According to Kurt Lewin: “Action research is a comparative research on the

conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action” It is noteworthy that this type of research uses “a spiral step”, each of which

is “composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action” (Lewin, 1946)

According to Nunan : “Action research is a form of self-reflective inquiry

which is carried out by practitioners, aimed at solving problems, improving practice,

or enhancing understanding” (Nunan, 1992)

According to Mills : The goal of educators conducting action research as:

“gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment (and educational practices in general), and improving student outcomes and the lives of those involved” (Mills, 2014)

From my point of view: “Action research is a methodology, which has the

dual aims of action and research Action research is often referred to by different names such as participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning or contextural action research”

3.2.2 The precedures of action research

The precedures of action research is conducted by the following steps:

- Indentification of problems and the causes: Through the process of

observation and exchange information with the students and lecturer in English at AOF, I realize that teaching and learning English become the most difficult problem

in teaching English at AOF Most of the students of non-major English said that they have no motivation in learning English grammar They do not want to complete the exercise related to grammar section due to the complication of grammar construction Their results of English are quite disappointing Many English lecturers find it hard for non-major English students to learn English grammar in the classroom Frequently, they find it difficult to educate students of this kind Also, they made conclusion that non-major English students are very lazy resulting in disappointing results However, through the deep exchange with lecturers and students of non-major English with a great number of conversations, I realize that these students are not lazy and the main cause of the ineffectiveness in teaching grammar refered to the methodology The lecturers used many of methods to teach grammar including deductive – inductive method, grammar-translation method, learning through writing and diagram… Nonetheless, the method of using language games in teaching has not been applied at AOF Therefore, this thesis will have the task of implementation of checking the effectiveness of language games in teaching grammar to first-year students of non-major English at AOF

The book “Intelligent Business Elementary” – written by Irene Barral and

Nikolas Barrall has been used to teach English grammar for first-year students of major English at AOF This book has been estimated to be the book with contain the general information for teaching English Nonetheless, the knowledge related to

non-grammar has been existed with a little information of providing The amount of teaching English grammar has been evaluated to be not enough for student to gain

sufficient knowledge to apply in reality

- Collection of data and analysis of data: Data collection will be done with

the instrument of pre-questionnaires These questionnaires will be delivered to all of the participants at the first period of second semester of GE This process will have the aim of investigation of the reason for the problems with teaching English Based

on the literature review related to the issue, experience of the authors with the exchange with the specialists in methodology, the author will try to find reasons

- Planing the action: After finding out the reason, the author will make the

action plan for the improvement in the effectiveness of teaching grammar

- Implementation of action plan: The action plan was conducted for 8 weeks,

with the participation of the researcher and 30 first year non- English major students

at AOF The plan was applied in the last 7 units (unit 8-14) With the assumption that language games may increase students’ effectiveness in learning grammar in classroom activities In the action plan, the researcher tried to apply games in teaching grammar to raise students’ effectiveness in learning in grammar practice

- Collection of post-data and analysis of post-data: Post-treatment

questionnaire was delivered to students to collect data to figure out whether using games may increase students’ motivation in grammar practice The action research was evaluated based on the results collected form the initial data, action data and post data Some conclusions or recommendations for further research weremade accordingly

Table 2: The action plan in this thesis Unit Date Themes Grammatical

features

Activities Current teaching method New teaching method

problem

Past simple Prepositions of time

Stage

1

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples

Game Bingo Game Noughts and Crosses (45 minutes)

Stage

1

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples

Comparatives Superlatives

Stage

1

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples

(15 minutes)

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples

(15 minutes)

16/7/2018

Describing about work Interview for a job

Present perfect

vs Past simple

Stage

1

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples

First conditional

Stage

1

Direct and in- depth explanation of rules and examples