An investigation into teaching english grammar for high school students in the northern mountainous districts of quang nam province in the direction of competence development

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ QUẾ HƯƠNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINOUS D

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

PHẠM THỊ QUẾ HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINOUS DISTRICTS OF QUANG NAM PROVINCE IN THE DIRECTION OF COMPETENCE

This thesis has been completed at University of Foreign Language

Studies, The University of Da Nang

Supervisor: Huynh Ngoc Mai Kha, Ph.D

Examiner 1: Nguyen Quang Ngoan, Assoc Prof., Ph.D

Examiner 2: Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa, Assoc Prof., Ph.D

The thesis was be orally defended at the Examining Committee Time: 11/08/2022

Venue: University of Foreign Language Studies -The University of

Da Nang

This thesis is available for the purpose of reference at:

- The University of DaNang – The Center for Learning Information Resources and Communication

- Center for Information Technology and Learning Resources, University of Foreign Language Studies -The University of Da Nang

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Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE

In this era of globalization and integration, English has increasingly proved its significance as an international language which can connect different cultures and bridge the gap among countries In that context, English teaching and learning plays an important role at school education systems While the improvement

of four basic skills is considered more important and receives more attention from language researchers, the significance of grammar acquisition is overshadowed despite the fact that it is an essential part

of communicative process Moreover, grammar points account for over 50% content of the standardized tests such as tests at high schools and Entrance examination

This is worse when it comes to English study at high schools

in the northern mountainous districts of Quang Nam province where both teachers and students have difficulties in teaching and learning English grammar In fact, most of students in the northern mountainous districts are indigenous people and so they find it difficult to acquire English Hence, students are confused when facing English grammar rules or applying the grammar points in communication

Furthermore, the emphasis on teaching grammatical forms and written language was probably the norm in Vietnamese education system heretofore However, Gochen Jin (2008) indicated that it is widely accepted that the focus of English teaching should be on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures Therefore, how to not only achieve the grammar points in

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standardized tests but also acquire English communicative competence will be the core problem in teaching and learning English for teachers and high school students

Last but not least, in response to urgent needs of current situation, Vietnam is undertaking radical and comprehensive reform

of education and training, including the renovation of the general education programs in the direction of developing learners’ qualities and competences The new curriculum promulgated at the end of

2018 in the MoEt’s Circular 32 has been carried out for Grade 1 and Grade 6 since 2021 The strategies and requirements are to provide the learning outcomes for learners, therefore, teachers and stakeholders have to interact with students through the curriculum to achieve the standard levels in Vietnamese Language Proficiency Framework English is responsible for language communicative competency’s development in the new curriculum

The aforementioned reasons have given me the urge to carry out this research paper entitled “An investigation into teaching English grammar for high school students in the northern mountainous districts of Quang Nam province in the direction of competence development” with a case study to improve the effectiveness of teaching English grammar in general, or rather teaching English grammar for high school students in particular in the direction of competency development

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

1.2.1 Aims

This study is conducted with an aim to investigate the efficiency of applying the Communicative Language Teaching approach to teaching English grammar with a view to enhancing high

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school students’ communicative competence in the mountainous districts of Quang Nam province

2 How has CLT approach been applied as an intervention solution to the problem in question 1?

3 What progress in students’ language proficiency has been recognized after the application of CLT approach?

in the delivery and acquisition of English grammar for high school students so that they could get better results in the standard tests and improve their language communicative competence

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

In this study, the researcher focuses on English grammar instruction for 120 students in Grade 11 of three high schools in the northern mountainous districts (Tay Giang, Dong Giang and Nam Giang) of Quang Nam province They started learning English when they are in Grade 3

The interfere time is so limited; therefore, some recommended lessons of English 11 including Relative clauses, Tag questions, Cleft sentences and Passive voice will be demonstrated in the second semester

Speaking and Writing skills with format of B1 test are used to assess student’s competence

1.6 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS

This research paper consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter One – “Introduction”, presents the rationale for

choosing the area for study, aims and objectives, research questions, scope of the study The organization is also included to serve as a design for the study, making an orientation for the following chapters

Chapter Two – “Literature Review and Theoretical

Background”, lays the foundation of the study by making an overall

and brief overview of theoretical background for the research

Chapter Three - “Research Design and Methodology”,

consists of the methods and procedure of the study From aims and objectives as discussed above, the research design, method, data

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collection and analysis for carrying out the study

Chapter Four – “Findings and Discussion”, presents the

results obtained from the tests, questionnaires, interview, experiment and class observation Finally, the discussion of research questions is presented

Chapter Five – “Conclusion”, presents the summary of the

findings, implications, limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies

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Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL

BACKGROUND

2.1 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES

A variety of researchers have studied teaching and learning English grammar in history of education in Vietnam and other nations

Li Zhong-guo & Song Min-yan (2007) made a comparison between Traditional English Grammar Teaching and Communicative Language Teaching They found that in order to improve the students’ ability and gain better teaching results, the two kinds of teaching approaches should not be used respectively There is no illustration for CLT making learner’s competence development

In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Bach Yen (2010) carried out a study

on using games in teaching and learning grammar lessons in tenth- graders The result focused on the effectiveness of games which makes students interested in the lessons There is no mention of language competence development Cam.T.H Khuong (2015) analyzed teaching English grammar communicatively in Vietnam; however, this study stopped at its theories, principles and implications Therefore, there is no real reference applied in English classes Furthermore, although Pham Vu Phi Ho & Nguyen The Binh (2014) investigated evidence for the effects of the application of communicative grammar teaching, the research gave the results on students’ achievement of grammatical competence and oral performance Hence, it didn’t include in student’s qualities and

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competence development as new general education curriculum’s requirement

Based on previous studies, the researcher recognizes that English grammar instruction is considered in many aspects, however, the studies have just emphasized the role of teaching and learning English grammar in general Therefore, I decide to carry out this research to discuss extents in which CLT that can be practically implemented in mountainous areas with almost disadvantaged students of Quang Nam province in the context of helping learners not only meet the requirement of standard tests but also improve language communicative competence

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1 Definition of Grammar

2.2.3 Approaches to Teaching Grammar

2.2.4 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 2.2.5 Teaching English grammar communicatively

2.2.6 The new English curriculum in general education of the MoET

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Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 OVERVIEW

This chapter deals with justifications for methodology of the study Firstly, the research design, participants and research procedure are presented, followed by the description of the sample The data collection and analysis process are stated at the final part

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study collects information from students’ proficiency tests to explore students’ communicative competence This paper also collects data from questionnaires, interview and observation after attending grammar classes with CLT approach Therefore, the study is designed by qualitative and quantitative methods

on how effective the demo lessons are “Tiếng Anh 11” of Educational Publishers is used to teach grammar lessons

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They are willing to co-operate and take part in different kinds

of data collecting method

3.4 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

3.4.1 Data collection instruments

Data collection instruments of tests, experiment, questionnaires, interview and class observation are used for justifications as follows:

Tests

Tests were conducted to identify students’ grammar errors and communicative competence before and after experiencing grammar lessons with CLT approach in class

Experiment

The researchers designed some lesson plans with CLT approach and applied them in the classrooms Students chosen for this research joined the classes with demo lessons The model lessons were conducted not only in my classes but also in the others

of high schools in the northern mountainous districts I have mentioned above

Questionnaire and interview

Questionnaire is regard one of the most popular instruments of collecting data It is also the most suitable for research that requires a collection of detail information from a big number of informants More importantly, most informants are familiar to it In order to have

a reliable and valid question, the questionnaire was design to meet some requirements First of all, the questionnaire was designed with

a good appearance, suitable font style and liberal spacing for reading easier Moreover, it is extremely important that the questions focus

on the issues of the study and the language is simple and easy for

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participants to understand Besides, unnecessary and ambiguous words are not used

Moreover, interview questions are clear enough for participants to understand and give their answers

Observation

Direct class observation combined with field notes after each lesson confirm and further verify data and findings on tests, questionnaires and interview Moreover, results from class observation reflect the effectiveness of competency-based language teaching approach on English grammar teaching

3.4.2 Description of the samples

Tests

Participants took the test (P1) at level B1 at the beginning of the second semester and two tests which are the beginning test (P1) and the other test at the same level (P2) after they joined the demo lessons in the classrooms The first test was carried out to identify the students’ communicative competence During the second semester, they experienced the grammar lessons with CLT approach and took the second tests after that to figure out their progress Since the interfere time is short, the tests focus on two output skills such as writing and speaking and are based on format of B1 test of Cambridge

Experiment

The author designed and applied 7 grammar lessons from textbook (“English 11” of Educational Publishers) which is used to teach English at these schools in the second semester The lessons with CLT approach includes the following grammar points: Relative clauses, Passive voice, Tag questions and Cleft sentences

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Questionnaire and interview

The questionnaire and interview were designed to investigate the effectiveness of teaching English grammar with competency-based language teaching approach Questionnaire included 12 questions Informants were requested to rate each item according to their assessment of the agreement on a 5-point scale, ranking from strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree to strongly disagree Then, the author chose 25 students randomly from 3 schools to join an interview There were 5 interview questions to explore more and ensure the questionnaire result

To ensure the reliability and validity of these two questionnaires, the questionnaires items were tested as follows Ten participants were randomly chosen They, then were asked to tell in their own words what specific items mean Through this process, the researcher could identify items that may not have a clear meaning to the respondent participants, and could adjust them accordingly

Observation

The class observation was carried out in three classes – 11/1 (To Huu High School), 11C1 (Tay Giang High School) and 11C1 (Quang Trung High School) The researcher taught and observed students at Tay Giang High School Furthermore, English teachers at

To Huu High School and Quang Trung High School delivered lesson

in these schools with the same lesson plans and the author observed and took notes

3.4.3 Data analysis

Among aforementioned methods, the result of tests and questionnaire act as the chief methods of gathering data, whereas interview and Field notes served as the supplement to any other

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