Using storytelling to teach english grammar in communicative approach for students at viet tri industrial high school, phu tho province

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT NGUYEN TIEN PHUONG USING STORYTELLING TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH FOR STUDENTS AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT

NGUYEN TIEN PHUONG

USING STORYTELLING TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR

IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH FOR STUDENTS AT VIET TRI

INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL, PHU THO PROVINCE

GRADUATION PAPER PROPOSAL

Field: English Linguistics

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI THU HANG, M.A

Phu Tho, 2017

I would be grateful all the lecturers who have been teaching in Foreign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, contributed to the success of the course

I would also like to thank all the teachers and the students at Viet Tri Industrial High School, who willingly participated in the study I thank them for their time, patience and willingness in completing the questionnaires, answering the questions and sharing their classrooms with me

Last but not less importantly, I owe my parents and friends whose unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, and support are valuable during my whole study

Phu Tho, May 2016

Nguyen Tien Phuong

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 3.1: The students‟ opinions about learning grammar 37 Table 3.2: How students learn English grammar structures 39 Table 3.3: The way students like to study grammar rules 42 Table 4.1: Students‟ evaluation on learning grammar with storytelling 50 Figure 3.1: Marks students got on grammar sections 41

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Previous researches 2

3 Research purpose 3

4 Research questions 4

5 Hypothesis 4

6 Research methods 4

7 The significance of the research 5

8 The scope of the research 5

9 Design of the research 5

PART B: CONTENT 7

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

1.1 Teaching approaches 7

1.1.1 The Grammar - Translation 7

1.1.2 The Direct method 8

1.1.3 The Audio - Lingual method 10

1.1.4 Communicative Language Teaching 10

1.2 Teaching grammar in communicative approach 15

1.2.1 Definition of grammar 15

1.2.2 The role of grammar 16

1.2.3 Requirements in a grammar lesson 17

1.2.4 The stages of a grammar lesson 18

1.2.5 The role of teacher and students in a grammar lesson 21

1.3 Storytelling 21

1.3.1 Definitions of storytelling 21

1.3.2 Trends of storytelling in language teaching 23

1.3.3 Storytelling models 24

1.3.4 The roles of storytelling in language classroom 26

1.3.5 Communicative Language Teaching and Storytelling 28

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 30

2.1 Research setting 30

2.2 Subject of the study 31

2.3 Participants of the study 31

2.4 Data collection instruments 32

2.4.1 Survey questionnaires 32

2.4.2 Interview 34

2.5 Research procedure 35

CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT SITUATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL 37

3.1 Results from questionnaire 37

3.2 Results from interview 43

CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS 46

4.1 Description of the experimental teaching 46

4.2 Experiment procedure 46

4.2.1 The first week 46

4.2.2 The second week 47

4.2.3 The third week 48

4.3 Results from questionnaire 50

4.4 Implications 52

4.4.1 For teachers 52

4.4.2 For students 54

PART C: CONCLUSION 55

1 Summary 55

2 Limitations of the study 56

3 Suggestions for further study 57

REFERENCES 58

APPENDIX 1 61

APPENDIX 2 64

APPENDIX 3 65

APPENDIX 4 66

APPENDIX 5 71

APPENDIX 6 76

APPENDIX 7 77

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The role of English as an international language in this globalization era is undeniable On its way of integration into the global community, Vietnam gives prominence to English acquisition in order to adapt itself to the current trend Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation

in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam

For a long time, language teaching in Vietnam was strongly influenced by the traditional structure Emphasis was placed on mastery of language structures Students have been taught how to form correct utterances and to understand the structures of the language without any consideration of language use Students have been asked to learn every single word by heart, and translate or analyze grammatically every sentence in the text The teacher has often taken up almost all the time in class explaining the form of language to students who were passive recipients

With the first teaching internship at Viet Tri Industrial High school, I found that grammar was taught in traditional way At the end of each semester, the students had to take a written test, not an oral one Therefore, most of the time were spent on grammar points because many of the students have never learnt English before and the teachers has to try to keep to the syllabus In addition, many students were too shy

to speak in class whereas most of the grammar lessons were carried out in traditional methods That is, the teachers presented new grammar verbally, and then students took turn to turn, exercises in workbooks Consequently, the students found it hard to speak out as well as to communicate in the real life naturally They could not speak English since most of tests were in written forms It may surprise me that many students cannot use English as a means of communication after several years of

learning it at school For these reasons, the researcher decided to conduct “Using

storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.”

2 Previous researches

2.1 In the world

Brian Ellis (1997) in his article “Why Tell Stories” believed that storytelling is the perfect embodiment of whole language pedagogy In addition, it teaches higher level of thinking skills, addresses the needs of students with different learning styles, and provides opportunity for cooperative learning; building social skills and most importantly storytelling have been shown to build intrinsic motivation and self-esteem, even in the students who are labeled hard to reach

Mello (2001) conducted her research by exposing her subjects to monthly storytelling sessions over the course of a full nine month school year Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with each of the participants after each of the storytelling sessions The stories presented were varied including old folk tales, hero-based stories, conformist and nonconformist character stories, and other stories selected for their ethical content as it related to specific course lessons

bi-Martin and Power‟s (1983) studied on storytelling reveal the enormous power that stories have in organizations with respect to employee commitment and trust Stories alone prove to produce an audience who is more likely to believe a message and/or commit to the values inherent in the story This also speaks well to using storytelling as a learning tool to emphasize various academic theories and other factual information and to possibly improve student motivation to learn new information and practice new skills Furthermore, the results of these experiments reveal the transformative nature of storytelling as previously discussed by Rossiter (2002), Heo (2003) and McDrury and Alterio (2003) However, Martin and Powers considers the use of storytelling as a leadership tool in organizations

because it has the potential to be abused if applied only for organizational propaganda or other unethical motives due to its influential strengths

2.2 In Vietnam

Nguyen (2005) conducted a survey on the teachers and students of the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City to identify the real situation of English grammar teaching and learning The results showed that communicative language teaching approach was rarely used and, thus, her suggestions afterwards were several communicative activities that might bring positive changes to grammar teaching and learning

Vuong (2008) studied about teachers‟ difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively for ethnic minority students at Ha Giang Medical Secondary School to find out difficulties faced by the teachers, the students

in teaching and learning grammar and their expectations and suggestions for overcoming the difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively

So far, a number of studies have been conducted to assist teachers in teaching English grammar communicatively in the Vietnamese context However, not many of them have been made in the scope of 11th students at high schools The rare study on this subject (Vu, 1998) was conducted 18 years ago, and therefore, may not provide up-to-date information to other educators and researchers who share the same interest Moreover, the studies

on using storytelling in teaching grammar in Vietnam are also very rare; mainly used in teaching speaking This has offered the researcher a chance to

conduct “Using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative

approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.”

3 Research purpose

The research aims to find out current situation in teaching and learning English grammar at Viet Tri Industrial High school, apply storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students and then basing on the results, evaluate the effectiveness of suggested activity as well

as student‟s attitudes towards teaching and learning English grammar in communicative approach with storytelling

Question 3: How is the application of storytelling to teach grammar suitable for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school?

5 Hypothesis

If the research is successful, this will help the teachers of English teach grammar more effectively and communicatively Moreover, students can use English fluently as a means of communication after learning at school

6 Research methods

In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the following methods have been used:

- Theoretical method: study the literature review in order to give background

of storytelling, help to know the importance of teaching grammar in communicative approach

- Investigating method: this method was used with the aim to investigate the

real situations of teaching English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school

- Experimental method: this method was employed an applying storytelling

to teach English grammar in communicative approach to assess the significance of using this technique

- Analysis method: this helped to process data collected for the researcher

analyze to draw out the conclusion

7 The significance of the research

Once completed, the researcher hopes that the study would bring certain plus points to teachers and students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, which could be a considerable contribution to teaching and English grammar effectively and enjoyably at Viet Tri Industrial High school

Theoretical significance of the study: the study supplied the English teachers with the understanding of language in term of types, advantages when employing them The study also suggested some ways to exploit language focus successfully during all stages in teaching grammar

Practical significance of the study: the study helped the teacher of English teach grammar more effectively, which made language focus lessons more communicative and meaningful

8 The scope of the research

This research focuses on using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach to 41 students of grade 11D1 at Viet Tri Industrial

High school, Phu Tho province

9 Design of the research

PART A: INTRODUCTION

Part A presents the overview of the thesis including the rationale for the research, research purpose, research questions, significance of the research, methodology as well as design of the study

PART B: CONTENT

Chapter 1: Literature review

This part presents theoretical background of Communicative Language Teaching, teaching grammar and storytelling

Chapter 2: Methodology

In this chapter, the researcher wants to clarify the participants, research methods, instruments used, and descriptions about how to collect information with those methods

Chapter 3: The current situation of teaching English grammar for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school

Chapter 3 analyzes statistics collected from chapter 2 in order to discuss in details and propose the major finding From the current situations, the researcher suggests the solution

Chapter 4: Experiment and results

This chapter describes experiment on using storytelling to teach grammar in communicative approach, as well as it also presents the significance of using storytelling in teaching grammar under the light of communicative approach

PART C: CONCLUSION

This part includes the summary of the study findings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

PART B: CONTENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Teaching approaches

The past century has witnessed the appearance, the development and the changes in methods of teaching foreign language Naturally, each method has its distinctive features As a result, there are different viewpoints on the teaching grammar of the target language

1.1.1 The Grammar - Translation

The Grammar - Translation method was popular in foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s It was a dominant method until the end

of the twentieth century and in its modified forms, it has continued to be used

in some places nowadays Grammar - Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by the application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language Hence, it views language learning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language (Richard and Rogers, 1986)

In this method, the teaching of grammar possesses the following features:

• Grammar is taught deductively, that is in a typical grammar – translation text, and the grammatical rules of the target language are presented

in the mother tongue and illustrated through translation activities

• Teacher‟s role is to explain grammar rules and the meaning of the words in the students‟ native language

• Students‟ role is to pay close attention to teacher‟s explanations and corrections, memorize rules and vocabulary lists, and carefully do the translation tasks

The strong points of this method can be drawn from its above features First, students taught in this method are usually good at grammar because of their great attention to it Second, this method does not require much effort from the teacher as he often overuses the mother tongue as the main means to explain the grammatical points Third, translation exercises can rule out the ambiguity or misunderstanding between the students in learning a new grammatical structure as everything is translated clearly into their mother tongue

However, this method has some shortcomings, the biggest of which is that students are considered to be passive recipients of the given knowledge They learn by absorbing the teacher‟s explanation in the mother tongue, memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary list They do not have many chances to think, learn and carry out meaningful communicative activities in the target language

Due to its weak points and inefficient outcome, this method is rarely used in learning and leaching foreign language in schools in the world nowadays Even in our country, although grammar translation method used to

be popular for a long time, the use of this method in schools has proved many drawbacks and hence needs to be changed

1.1.2 The Direct method

The direct method was a method of teaching that developed at the turn

of the 20th century This method developed as a revolution against the grammar - translation method Therefore, grammar was also taught in different ways This method stresses that the second language learning should

be more like the fist language learning with a lot of oral interactions and spontaneous responses The direct method was characterized, above all, by the use of the target language as a means of instruction and communication in the language classroom, and by the avoidance of the use of the first language (Stern, 1983)

Then, it could be seen that the teaching of grammar in this method also carries its distinctive features While prioritizing oral skills, it rejects explicit grammar teaching The students are supposed to pick up the grammar of the target language in much the same way as children do that in their mother tongue, simply by being immersed in it As a result, this method has some advantages First, it provides students more chances to speak the target language and creates a good foreign language - learning environment It also enables students to think and the language easily

Nevertheless, this method has to cope with many challenges It requires teachers who were native speakers or who had native like fluency in the foreign language It was largely dependent on the teachers‟ skill, rather than

on a text book and not all teachers were proficient enough in foreign language

to adhere to the principle of this method (Bolton, D Goodey, N 1999) This method requires the teacher to be very fluent in the target language and all the foreign language classes to be small - sized This does not prove practical and useful in the financially poor situation, as it is difficult and costly to hire all native or native like speaking teachers and to run small – sized classes in all schools In addition, as this method forces student to express himself too soon

in the target language, they can speak fast and fluently but not accurately due

to the lack of the systematic practice of the structures More importantly, as oral interaction and spontaneous reaction are given prior stress, slow –minded students will be discouraged because they often find it difficult to catch up with the fast pace of the learning process

Being the contradiction to the grammar –translation method, this has not been seen as a better one The use of this method in the situation of Vietnam schools could encounter such numerous difficulties as students‟ inability to perform the language accurately and school financial matters

1.1.3 The Audio - Lingual method

According to Stern (1983), the immergence of the audio - lingual method resulted from the increased attentions given to foreign language teaching in the United States at the end of the 1950s Then Audio lingual reached the period of most widespread use in the 1960s and it was applied both to the teaching of foreign languages in the United States and to the teaching of English as a second language in many other places

The teaching of grammar in this method has some features as follows:

- The use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language

- Emphasis on dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language, mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills

- The use of the language laboratory

The prevailing point of this method is that it gives good attention to students‟ pronunciation and promotes their successful responses, which can better their ability to communicate Moreover, much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids can facilitate the learning process of the students as this can add a lively and interesting atmosphere to foreign language classes

Nonetheless, this method also proves some drawbacks First, students vocabulary is simple and limited because most of the words are learned in a dialogue context Second, students are turned into a kind of machine through repetitive drills, mimicry and memorization of set phrases, which do not help

to promote their creativity

1.1.4 Communicative Language Teaching

1.1.4.1 Definitions

Different researchers have presented their understandings in relation to communicative language teaching Ying (2010) argued that CLT is an approach to the teaching of second languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language It is also referred

to as a “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or

simply as the “communicative approach” In relation to this, Larsen-Freeman (2000) argued that CLT aims broadly at the theoretical perspective of a communicative approach by enabling communication Communicative competence is the goal of language teaching by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication

It is clear to see that CLT here means that the language teacher uses communication as a teaching approach to enhance students‟ communicative competence In relation to this, Ellis (1997) also supported that the pedagogical rationale for the use of communicative approach in a language teaching class depends in part on the claim that they will help develop learners‟ communicative skills and in part on a claim that they will contribute incidentally to their linguistic development Here, it becomes clear that in relation to being able to communicate, language teaching not only needs the mastering of linguistic knowledge, but also communicative competence

It also states that communicative competence is the ability to understand the logical basis of linguistic competence (Finch, 2003) According to Finch, there were three kinds of logic: the first one is formal logic, which is connected with the rules which govern valid argument and gets us so far in understanding the basis of communication Then to be fully competent, we need knowledge of natural logic, which means understanding what people are trying to do through language In addition to these two logics,

we also need to understand the force of our utterance, which requires us to understand the meaning of our utterances according to its social context or particular situational settings

Therefore, when it is deliberately taught to students, the language teaching will create language appropriate for such language-use situations as ordering in restaurants, giving directions or applying for a job To summarize, communicative competence not only includes good mastery of linguistic knowledge, but also the ability to understand the logic to handle realistic

situations Furthermore, the other researchers also argue that there is considerable debate as to appropriate ways of defining CLT, and no single model of CLT is universally accepted as authoritative

1.1.4.2 Characteristic features

At the time when the previous foreign language teaching method all proved their drawbacks, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been put forth around the world as the “new” or “innovative” approach to teach English as a second language Teaching materials, course descriptions, guidelines proclaim a goal of communicative competence

Littlewood (1981) stated that one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspect of language David Nunan (1989) also offered five features to characterize CLT:

1 An emphasis on learning to communicative through interaction in the target language

2 The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the learning process itself

4 An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as an important contributing element to classroom learning

5 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom

According to Harmer, J (1987), language was more than simply a system or rules; rather it is seen as a dynamic resource for the creation of meaning In terms of learning, it is generally accepted that we need to distinguish between “learning what” and “knowing how” To some extent, that is to say, students do not simply learn the language structures and grammar rules, rather they should take part in activities such as problem

solving, writing for a purpose, and discussion on topics of genuine interest, ect Students in communicative classrooms are seen as active recipients of information provided by teachers or the textbooks Teachers are no longer viewed as the authority of the knowledge, playing a dominant role They are just in the roles of a facilitator, a participant, and a counselor to create more fascinating experiences for the students In general, the CLT helps students learn a language through authentic and meaningful communication, which involves a process of creative construction, in order to achieve fluency

Canale, M & Swain, M (1980) distinguished between the weak and the strong versions of Communicative Language Teaching The weak version stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to use English for communicative purposes and therefore attempts to integrate communicative activities into the program of language teaching As different from this, the strong version of communicative language teaching claims that language can be acquired only through communication This would mean that teaching involves not just activating an existing knowledge of the language, but stimulating the development of the language system itself It is worth noticing that while the strong version of the communicative movement pays

no attention to grammar learning in the classroom, the weak version attempts

to integrate a communicative component into a traditional setting However, whether it is the weak or the strong version, the proponents of Communicative Language Teaching have always viewed learning a second/ foreign language as acquiring the linguistic means to perform different functions

Likewise, Brown (1994) said that in CLT, grammatical structure is immersed under various categories and therefore, less attention is paid to the overt presentation and discussion over the grammatical rules In other words, CLT does not encourage the overt teaching of grammar, which provides explicit explanation of the rules of certain grammatical items when teaching,

and learning process of grammar occurs in the classroom Communicative Language Teaching principle is in accordance with the principle of meaningful learning under the cognitive school, who believes that learning becomes effective when input provided is interrelated or connected to the prior knowledge possessed by a language learner This is different from the rote learning which introduces language as discrete and separate entities Hence, in order for meaningful learning to be achieved, in CLT, input presented to the students is extracted from authentic language samples

Richards & Rodgers (1986) provided an explanation over the goal of the CLT approach as to achieve the communicative competence before arriving at the knowledge of grammatical competence A language user is perceived as communicatively competent when he or she has the knowledge

on how to use a particular language in an appropriate context by referring to the setting, participants and purpose of the communication In addition, a competent user of a language should also be able to maintain communication

by applying various communication strategies if there is any sign of communication breakdown to appear In CLT, grammatical competence is not the major concern as someone who masters the rules of certain grammatical items may not necessarily be a competent user of the language especially when engaged in meaningful communication

From the above features, we can see that this approach promotes and encourages students to communicate and interact in the target language with the orders because its uttermost goal is to help them achieve communicative competence Moreover, this approach sees authentic texts as a basic premise

in teaching and learning language aspects or skills The students do not have

to memorize all the complicated grammar rules, rather they have chance to practice the structures in meaningful situations In addition, the students in this approach are the center of the whole learning process The teacher can act

as a facilitator, an organizer, a supervisor and can help their students gain the knowledge in a more active and independent way

1.2 Teaching grammar in communicative approach

1.2.1 Definition of grammar

Grammar seems to be a very familiar term in language teaching and learning However, it is difficult to define exactly what grammar is Up to now, many attempts have been made for this

Harmer (1987) gave another definition of grammar: Grammar is the way in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences The grammar of a language is what happens to words when they become plural or negative, or what word order is used when we make questions or join two clauses to make one sentence It can be seen that the ideas of two definitions are much similar in that they both see grammar as a system consisting of the change of word forms and the combination of words into sentences

Ur (1996) gave a broader definition to grammar, which is clear and easy to understand: Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning For example, in English, the present form of the verb be in the third person has two distinct forms, one (is) being used with a singular subject and the other (are) with a plural; and if the plural are is combined with

a singular subject, the result is usually unacceptable or “ungrammatical” Thus, a sentence like: This is a book is grammatical, whereas This are a book

is not There is a set of rules, which govern how units of meaning may be constructed in any language”

In short, whatever grammar may be defined, it involves the set of rules that defines how words or words are combined together to make up meaningful units of language Moreover, it cannot be denied that students

know how to put the isolated words into meaningful sentences to serve the communicative purposes

1.2.2 The role of grammar

Teaching grammar has been a longstanding tradition in teaching a foreign language In recent years, the role of grammar in language teaching ang learning has received different interpretations Traditional method like the grammar translation one stressed the need to master grammar as the centerpiece in learning a foreign language whereas some expressed different views against the teaching grammar The study of grammar was neither necessary nor sufficient for learning a language (Brumfit and Johnson, 1979) Therefore, there has been a great controversy relating to the raised question:

“Whether should we teach grammar or not? Do we have to have grammar exercises? Isn‟t it better for students to absorb the rules intuitively through communicative activities than to be taught through special exercises?” (Ur, 1988) Some linguists have given their answer to these big questions

According to Richards, Platt, and Weber in Nunan (2005) grammar was

a description of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language From this definition, it seems that grammar plays an importance role in combining units

of language to form sentences The sentences are acceptable or grammatically

if they follow the rules of grammar Since a communicative purpose and function of language and reflected in grammar, it is a must the language students to acquire good grammar It should be admitted, good mastery in grammar will enable people easily to express information, feeling, and ideas

in their thought to others In other words, it can be said that communication failure will happen if people do not master the grammar because the purpose

of communication cannot be reached From that statement, it is clear that grammar is important to be mastered by the students in order to be able to express their feelings, emotions, and to be able to use English appropriately

Ur (1988) stressed the role of grammar in language learning and teaching He stated knowledge - implicit or explicit - of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you know how they should be put together However, he also claims the learning

of grammar should be seen in the long term as a whole, not as an end in itself

Harmer (1987) also admitted that there is now a general feeling that students do need lo learn how to perform the functions of language, but they need a grammatical base as well Modern courses often teach a grammatical structure and then get students to use it as part of a functional conversation

In conclusion, there still exist controversies about the role of grammar

in language teaching and learning However, it can be seen that the above – mentioned linguists share the same view in valuing the crucial role of grammar in language learning and teaching However, they assert that the sole mastery of grammar is not the goal of language learning The students‟ ultimate goal in learning grammar is to use it to perform communicative functions accurately, effectively and successfully Indeed, grammar offers students one of the most effective means of extending students‟ knowledge of language items in which they can use to communicate in real life and to understand what is said written in English

1.2.3 Requirements in a grammar lesson

Any teacher who teachers a grammatical item has to define his objectives by asking himself what his students have to learn According to Hubbard (1989), there were three main things that students have to acquire in

a grammar lesson First thing was the form of a grammatical structure which

is the actual words (written) of sounds (spoken) used to express something in the language, the form is often synonymous with the structure The second was the meaning of the structure It was the conventional and literal meaning

of a particular form The use of form may be described in terms of its function

or communicative purpose

While the grammar translation method and some other structural approach focus on the accuracy of the form, the communicative approach has turned its attention to the use of the language in situation Littlewood (1981) claimed the goal of foreign language teaching is to extend the range of communication situations in which the learners can perform with focus on meaning without being hindered by the attention he must pay to linguistic form Therefore, after a grammar lesson, students achieve this; two main kinds of activities need to be carried out in a grammar lesson The first on is pre- communicative activities including the presentation, then the controlled and guided practice The second is communicative activities which are considered as the free practice

In brief, the requirement for a successful grammar lesson is that after learning a certain grammatical structure, the students are able to use it in real life communication

1.2.4 The stages of a grammar lesson

The most common procedure for teaching grammar is as follow:

- The presentation stage

- The practice stage

- The production stage (Free practice)

1.2.4.1 The presentation stage

According to Harmer (1987), presentation is the stage, at which students are introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new piece of language, suggested that the presentation should include the following points:

- Build up a situational context This can be done through the use of pictures, a dialogue, a story, ect

- Elicit the new language form the students Elicitation evolves trying to encourage students to produce language that they have never been taught

- Focus students‟ attention on the marker sentence Teacher provides students with a marker sentence as the first example of the new language that students will use as a model for producing other similar sentences

- Check students‟ understanding of the meaning and form of the new item

Ur (1998) said that the aim of the presentation is to get the learners to perceive the new language structure, its form and meaning both in speech and writing in order to take it into short- term memory

1.2.4.2 The practice stage

According to Larsen, D & Freeman (1986), the aim of grammar practice is to help students learn the structure so thoroughly that they will be able to produce them correctly on the their own

With the aim of giving students the opportunity to use the newly presented language and allowing them to memorize its form and meaning fully as well as use it appropriately in real life, practice stage is claimed as one of the most important stages in grammar teaching

For the purpose of covering all aspects of the structure presented, various techniques and activities are made full use of These techniques and activities are divided into two kinds of practice: controlled practice and guided practice

a Controlled practice

The controlled practice is denoted as the stage at which learners are given intensive practice in the new structure, but their production of the language is carefully guided, controlled by the teacher so that correct form and meaning are consolidated and the possibility of error is reduced to a minimum (Hubbard, 1989) It includes some types of drills given to students These drills help students to practice the form and the use of the new grammatical items rather mechanically

b Free practice

According to Doff (1988), it is obviously more useful to give students practice in which they have to thick, in which they understand what they are saying, and in which they express meaning This kind of practice is called meaningful practice However, students‟ production of language is less controlled and partially guided by teacher Students have to think by themselves with meaningful utterance in guided contexts Moreover, the guided practice is regarded as a bridge between the pre- communicative phases to the communicative on in the learning process In order to make the practice more meaningful, Doff (1988) pointed three ways as follows:

- Getting students to say real things about themselves

- Giving situations which imply the structure, but leave the students to decide exactly what to say

- Letting them add something of their own

1.2.4.3 The production stage

Nunan, D (1995) said that it is the stage that students work more freely They are given the chance to use the structure to express their own ideas or talk about their own experiences In this stage, students‟ fluency and meaningfulness in communication are of great importance

Free practice aims at:

- Allowing students to experiment on their own and to see how much they have already understood and learnt the new materials

- Giving the teacher opportunely for checking the feedback on their teaching to see how effectively they have taught and how much students have learnt

- Giving students the opportunity to integrate the newly- learned material into previously- learnt on in a predictable linguistic contest

- Providing motivation, giving students pleasure of success and achieving goals of a foreign language

1.2.5 The role of teacher and students in a grammar lesson

According to Hubbard (1989), at the presentation stage, the teacher controls the class and does most of talking The teacher‟s main job is to serve

as a kind of an informant The teacher selects techniques and materials such

as using situation, blackboard or text, ect, and then presents grammatical structure in a way to make its meaning, form and use clear and memorable The tasks of students in this stage are to listen and try to understand what the teacher said to them

At the controlled practice stage, the teacher gives the instruction, controls students‟ activities and corrects their errors until they produce the form of the target structure correctly At this stage, student‟s talking time is equal to the teacher‟s talking time

At the guided practice, the possibility of errors is gradually reduced to minimum However, when errors occur, the teacher still corrects them The teacher reduces his control and students work more creatively and freely Students‟ talking time is greater than teacher‟s talking time

The free practice which gives students a motive and an opportunity to use the newly acquired language item freely without the intervention their teacher

The teacher might initiate the activity, but did not intervene or manage

it The teacher does not correct errors: students have to correct by themselves The teacher does not talk at all: the students do all the talking and finally the teacher does not control the subject matter apart from setting up the beginning

of the activity Ideally, students are free to say whatever they want

1.3 Storytelling

1.3.1 Definitions of storytelling

Modem day educational theorists and researchers have narrowed down

a variety of similar though somewhat varying judgments about what basic

elements constitute a definition of storytelling

In education, stories have come in the form of written texts, oral narration, and instructional media They can be presented as case-studies, role-playing and simulations Nevertheless, storytelling as defined among educational researchers is often defined on more narrow or specific terms Denning, S (2005) defined storytelling as the relating of a tale to one or more listeners, and they emphasize that it is not congruent with simply acting out a drama or reciting a story from memory or a text, but it is the creation of mental images of the elements of a story through voice and gesture to an audience And, through the telling of a story, the teller and the audience give complete attention and engage in a learning experience

Other theorists consider storytelling synonymous with and from the perspective of narrative inquiry whether is it written down or provided orally (Denning, S 2005) According to Denning, narrative inquiry involves the telling and retelling of stories as we reconstruct meaning from our experiences lived and then re-told He adds that narrative is a means of making meaning out of bridging new and previously learned information and that individuals think, interpret, and make many decisions according to narrative structures and elements Similarly, in his book, The Leaders Guide

to Storytelling, refers to stories and the telling of them to narrative whether or not they contain a plot, a turning point, or a resolution He contends that story and narrative are the same and are simply an account of a series of events that are casually related Denning states that narrative inquiry is what happens when meaning is created by establishing that something is a part of a whole and that it involves human events and actions McDrury and Alterio (2003) said that we call a story, deals with not just with facts or ideals or theories, or even dreams, fears and hopes, but in facts, theories, and dreams from the perspective of someone‟s life and in the context of someone‟s emotions

According to Caine (2005), storytelling is the primary way that people access, express, and retain information and knowledge They argue that brain

research confirms the theory that information is naturally organized in our minds according to story form Richter and Koppet (2000) share a similar view stating that stories form the foundation of how we communicate and that

we remember and integrate new information by placing them into a story format

A pervasive similarity in the analysis of the definition of storytelling among nearly all educational theorists and researchers on this topic is that storytelling is our fundamental human way of making meaning of our lives and experiences Intelligence itself appears to be grounded in the ability to comprehend the world around us and how past events and old knowledge can

be bridged to new experiences and new knowledge (Abrahamson, 1998)

1.3.2 Trends of storytelling in language teaching

Storytelling, though an ancient art and discipline, continues today as a primary means of communication and entertainment As a result, storytelling continues to have a strong presence in all human institutions (Abrahamson, 1998) It is found within religions, cultures, families, businesses and in educational organizations In present day society, stories are present in many forms; stories reach out from television, radio, email, magazines and books to name a few

Stories are often the way in which people communicate to each other to retell the day‟s events to friends or family, or as children are taught meaningful lessons for their own lives and interactions with society Moreover, educational researchers have strong evidence of the resurgence of storytelling as a teaching pedagogy and learning tool in modern- day educational institutions and business organizations (Parkin, 2004) There is also a movement toward oral storytelling in the entertainment industry as the popularity and number of storytelling guilds increases on both national and international levels

Abrahamson (1998) argued that storytelling forms the very foundation

of the teaching profession Although storytelling in education has primarily been associated with children in the lower grades, there is now greater evidence that the use of storytelling in higher education is being recognized as

a powerful teaching and learning tool and one that has proven effective across all academic disciplines with adult student learners Furthermore, storytelling

is being touted as a learning strategy to employ in online education to build a more personal learning environment and one that allows learners to make meaning and engage in genuine reflection as they bridge old knowledge with

new knowledge McDrury and Alterio (2003) authors of Learning through

Storytelling in Higher Education, contend that storytelling in education is a

highly reflective learning activity and one that approximates real-life experiences They argue that storytelling is in itself a theory of learning as a result of the deeper level of processing that stories generate and the new knowledge that this creates

Corporations and other organizations have discovered the merits of storytelling as a popular leadership tool and method for embracing organizational culture and facilitating organizational changes (Denning,

2005) Kouzes and Posner (2003) authors of Encouraging the Heart, state

that organizational stories are crucial to leading organizations into the future because they produce a sense of personal (employee) commitment and they illustrate how to do something versus simply what someone thinks should be done

1.3.3 Storytelling models

A variety of theories exist about how stories are constructed to optimize learning are offered in professional literature Morgan and Dennehy (1997) asserted that components of an effective story embrace five sequential

components:

1) The setting: a description of the time, place, characters and context so you provide something the audience can mentally image and feel a part of

2) Build up: a sequence of events that warns the listener that something (usually some type of conflict) is about to happen This creates suspense, interest and attention

3) Crisis: the climax or high point of the story This is also the place to introduce a new element and/or a turning point

4) Learning: point out what the central character(s) learned Here lies the lesson of the story

5) How change ensued in the character(s) behaviors, awareness, abilities: the storyteller focuses on the learning to be retained by the listener and is cautioned to not assume that the listener always understands the lesson of the story

Heo (2004) described a four phased approach for using storytelling in web-based learning environments to enhance student learning First, the instructor or trainer should provide an introduction where the learning objectives are described and the context explained Second, a pre-designed story is told in an interactive mode that contains the principles of the lesson Third, the concepts of the story are discussed and reviewed in text and graphic formats Fourth, learners are required to retell the story or create their own response story in writing and then in an oral format using the principles and concepts from the reviewed story Heo contends that when learners retell stories from their own similar experiences, the result is a transformative experience that enhances learning through deeper reflection

In the book, Learning Through Storytelling in Higher Education,,

McDrury and Alterio (2003) offered eight storytelling models or „pathways‟ that vary according to setting, the number of listeners and the type of stories shared They maintain that each pathway will result in varying levels of reflective learning and subsequent learner transformation or insight The eight pathways of storytelling are created through various combinations of each side of these three elements

1.3.4 The roles of storytelling in language classroom

According to McDrury & Alterio (2003), stories attracted people and have been source of inspirations and enthusiasm Over the centuries epics, myths, legends, and folk tales have excited, inspired, and entertained and storyteller have had special recognition among the people In most cultures, storytelling is considered as the most frequent joint activity between adults and children It is also the motive for longer conversation holding verbal interaction between children and adults Stories have always been the bedtime friend of the children and the extent of speech addressed to children is a predicting factor in language development So, story reading can be viewed as

a tool for language improvement In classroom, storytelling, among all different options of activities and literary material, is really helpful in learning because it appeals to learners‟ imagination, increases motivation and, above all, create a rich and meaningful context It is one of the most frequently used activities, with beginners and false beginners In most countries, storytelling

is an established part of the curriculum, and they are considered as a first-rate resource in child‟s own language teaching Based on recent studies, while four-year-old children generally can tell stories in snatches (the type of story

in which the child passes randomly from one event to another, leaving out key facts as understood), six-year-olds are able to tell stories including cause and effect relationship between different occurrences The main features of storytelling such as the location of the action in space and time, the main plot and the final outcome can be implicitly recognized by six-year-old children Growing up, children little by little will be more able to produce stories As their age increases, children‟s ability to follow and enjoy stories improves Sometimes, children‟s desire to tell a story is the best indication of how much they enjoy it

The texts based on traditional structural approaches and the newer, integrated, communicative courses are not considered efficient for the

increasing demands of the academic classes On the other hand, a motivating medium for language learning classrooms is to implement a syllabus based on authentic children‟s stories, which also helps fostering the development of the thinking skills that are needed for academic literacy In addition, stories are powerfully capable of bringing about change in language classroom by developing pupils‟ intercultural awareness while at the same time nurturing empathy, a tolerance for diversity, and emotional intelligence Children‟s stories are defined here narrowly as stories taken out from authentic sources, but simplified for the sake of teaching some grammatical points and vocabulary though the theme is tried to be as close to the real life situation as possible

Motivation, as a psychological term, usually refers to the initiation, intensity and persistence of behavior The static and dynamic conceptions of motivation were synthesized in a short definition by Dornyei (1998) is a process whereby a certain amount of instigation force arises, initiates action, and persists as long as no other force comes into play to weaken it and thereby terminate action or until the planned outcome has been reached Motivation is defined as an internal process that activates, guides, and maintains behavior over time Intensity and direction of motivation may vary though they are difficult to separate In addition to getting students engaged in learning, it is important to determine how much they will learn Motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate second or foreign language learning and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process

Dornyei (2001) classified almost all the motivational constituents of the selected models/frameworks into seven broad dimensions Human motivation

to learn is a complex phenomenon involving a number of diverse sources and conditions Some of the motivational sources are situation specific, that is, they are rooted in the student's immediate learning environment, whereas

some others appear to be more stable and generalized, stemming from a succession of the student‟s past experiences in the social world

Stories increase interactional opportunities among the students because the lively atmosphere and real life environment created by stories encourages the students to talk and discuss with each other Besides that, stories can decrease nervousness because learners who are fully attending to stories are not in stressful situation Stories are capable of bringing reality to the language classroom because children can actively take part in dramatizing the stories they hear, extending and adding more details to them (Ji, 1999) Learners come to language classroom with varying needs and it is unlikely that a single course book could address these varied needs Cameron offers using differentiated tasks, provision of remedial literacy skills, increasing learner autonomy and adopting a different approach altogether We hypothesize that introducing stories to the curriculum can create such condition and brings a different approach

1.3.5 Communicative Language Teaching and Storytelling

Richards (1986) expanded on this, arguing that CLT includes knowing:

1 How to use the language for a range of different purposes and functions

2 How to vary our use of language according to the settings and participants

3 How to produce and understand different types of texts (e.g narratives, reports, interviews, conversations)

4 How to maintain communication despite having limitations in language knowledge

The most obvious characteristic of CLT is that everything is done with

a communicative purpose (Larsen-Freeman, 1986) In a communicative classroom, students use the language and activities like role-playing, games and problem solving Usually in a CLT classroom dialogues are not memorized; rather, the focus is on communication In storytelling the words

are not memorized, but are recreated through dialogue to retell the story from students‟ understanding

In other words, the aim in CLT is for language students to be able to produce and understand what is appropriate to say, how it should be said and when it should be said (Larsen-Freeman, 1986), with an overall goal of developing communicative competence in the target language Functioning in

a communicative setting can be developed by creating classroom activities in which students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct misunderstandings, and work to avoid communication breakdowns Meaning and comprehensible pronunciation is paramount in CLT (Richards, 1986) Storytelling shares important characteristics with CLT For example, both storytelling and CLT emphasize learner-centeredness, as well as cooperative and collaborative learning In the storytelling classroom, activities are planned

to encourage students‟ writing and speaking skills through meaningful, world experiences For example, children practice writing and speaking by writing and telling stories to an audience of their classmates Similarly, during the preparation of group storytelling, students share and discuss ideas, and assign roles according to members‟ inclinations to create a story They build a spirit of teamwork and cooperation to achieve one common goal, a story Finally, storytelling encourages learners to learn to maintain communication

real-to entertain their audience (example: use of gestures) despite limitations in their language knowledge All of these characteristics may be found in descriptions of CLT, the most familiar way to enhance CLT in the language classroom is through storytelling because of its shared characteristics with everyday spoken manifestation in personal narratives, anecdotes, recounts, tall tales and other subtypes

In short, the researcher has presented different basic issues relating to some methods of teaching grammar, which serves as the theoretical framework for the study Different grammar teaching methods such as

Grammar-Translation method, Audio-lingual method have been reviewed to find out advantages and disadvantages of each method The author also has a brief look at CLT, storytelling, their characteristics, and the status of grammar

in CLT as well as the teaching of it in the light of CLT To serve the study, at the same time, the writer has paid attention to the concept of student‟s interest, factors affecting student‟s interest in class as well as the impact of CLT to students‟ interest in grammar learning In the next chapter, the report

of this study will be presented to give the answer to the proposed research questions

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research setting

The study was conducted at Viet Tri Industrial High School, a rural school of Phu Tho province The school has 21 classes with over 65 teachers

of different subjects Currently, there are 7 teachers of English and over 780 students ranged from Grade 10 to grade 12 Most of students come from communes and wards near the school in Viet Tri city

English has been taught as a compulsory subject at Viet Tri Industrial High School for a long time However, the teaching of English, especially teaching English grammar for Grade 11 has met some difficulties

The textbook chosen for teaching grammar is English 11 episode 2 According to the curriculum at the high school, the textbook is used for the eleventh students It consists of 5 units which are taught during 50 periods The students have 3 English period every week In each unit, there are interesting topics divided into each category: getting started, language, reading, speaking, listening, writing, communication and culture, project The

language section is at second of each unit The grammar part which is designed to develop the communicative skills for students includes vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar

2.2 Subject of the study

The subject of the study is using storytelling to teach English grammar

in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school

2.3 Participants of the study

Teachers

Three English teachers of 11 grades aged from 27 to 45 All of them have been teaching at school for at least two years All of them got the University Bachelor‟ Degree in English and had lots of experience in teaching However, they had few opportunities to upgrade their teaching and did not have a lot of teaching facilities and materials to help their work Their teaching methods were mainly traditional methods such as the grammar - translation or direct method Despite all these disadvantages, they are helpful, friendly and dedicated teachers Most of them wanted to devote their whole lives to teach They all have a great desire to acquire knowledge of how to teach English well as well as how to widen their English background

feared to make mistakes and lose face, and sometimes they feared to get bad marks and be paid bad attention from teachers As a result, their English was not good, especially in grammar Students‟ bad results related to the teacher who teaches them directly When the teacher gave them some good chances

to practice, they became very excited about practicing The classroom‟s atmosphere affects the results of the lessons very much

2.4 Data collection instruments

To ensure the reliability of the collected data, the researcher used the following data collection instruments such as survey questionnaires and interview:

2.4.1 Survey questionnaires

2.4.1.1 Reasons for choosing survey questionnaires

According to Richards (1986), questionnaires are useful ways of gathering information about effective dimensions of teaching and learning, such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, preferences and enable a teacher to collect a large amount of information relatively quickly To address and explore the research questions, a quantitative method, which includes questionnaires for the students in class 11D1 at Viet Tri Industrial High School Survey questionnaires were chosen because of some following

reasons:

The first reason for choosing questionnaires is that it is not consuming as it can reach a large number of people in a very short time In fact, in this study, the researcher had only two weeks to deliver the

time-questionnaires as well as to collect the data

Moreover, not only time-consuming but also data collection is relatively easy to collect summarized and reported as all participants

answered the same questions Most importantly, the questioner gave the participants opportunities to express their opinions and feelings without fear either to be embarrassed or to be spoken their mind Because the confidentiality was ensured by not mentioning participants‟ names, they were free to give impartial answer This was very important to this study since it supplied some realistic, exact and valuable information to conduct this research

Obviously, it was not a waste of money for the researcher to apply this method The collector only wasted a little money on the preparation Such a situation has helped me a lots to solve problems of finance

For those advantages, in this study the author chose to use this method

to investigate the current situation of teaching and learning grammar and evaluate the effective of storytelling in teaching grammar in communicative approach because it was easy to do, economical, time-consuming and effective

2.4.1.2 Description of survey questionnaire

This study used 2 sets of questionnaire, questionnaire 1 (see appendix 1) consists of 10 questions for collecting data from students, related to their attitude and evaluation to the learning and teaching English grammar Questionnaire 2 (see appendix 3) also have 10 questions used for students after using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach

in class 11D1 at Viet Tri Industrial High School Clear instructions were given at the beginning of the questionnaires to make sure that they could decide to respond the question honestly

a Questionnaire 1:

Questions 1 and 2 were asked to know the time students have been learning English and the students‟ attitudes towards English grammar