It is aimed at finding out students ’attitude about the importance of grammar in English learning and the strategies they are using to learn English grammar.. The findings reveal that t
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Hoang Thi Thu *
* Division of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University of
Technology
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a study on investigating grammar learning strategies used by students at Chu Van An
high school It is aimed at finding out students ’attitude about the importance of grammar in English learning
and the strategies they are using to learn English grammar 160 students from grade 10 participated in the survey questionnaire The findings reveal that the students are aware of the importance of English grammar and that they use a variety of strategies when they learn and use grammar structures The most
frequently-used strategies belong to memory strategies and the least frequently-used ones are cognitive strategies It
is advisable for teachers to combine different teaching methods to ease the difficulty of learning grammar and encourage students to employ metacognitive strategies more often to have a deeper understanding in
grammar in order to get higher scores.
Keywords: Grammar learning strategies, English grammar.
Received: 24/1/2022; Accepted: 27/1/2022; Published: 20/2/2022
1 Introduction
One of the major focuses of teaching English
as a second language is providing students with
the abilities to understand exactly what is written
and write a correct sentence in English Therefore,
grammar plays an important role in language
learning because grammar provides learners with a
basis which helps them to construct their knowledge,
and empowers them to use a foreign language
effectively (Ellis, 2006) It is really beneficial for
one student who becomes an effective and influent
writer in another language, especially those who
want to take tests such as IELTS, TOEFL To do
so, students need to know some grammar learning
strategies They are part of languagelearningdefined
as“specific actions, behaviours, stepsor techniques,
suchas seeking out conversation partners or giving
oneself encouragement to tackleadifficult language
task, usedby students to enhance their own learning”
(Scarcella and Oxford, 1992) Grammar learning
strategies as one of themainstrategies,whichwould
help the successful learning of a new language,
possess distinctive characteristics Learners use
certain strategies when learninggrammar to enhance
their grammar learning proficiency and to make
language learning and language use easier, more effective and moreefficient as these strategies control
and facilitate the learning process (Griffiths, 2008;
Oxford et al., 2007) According to Oxford (1990), there was acomprehensive classification system of language learning strategies using the two major
groups proposed by Rubin’s (1994) model: direct (memory, cognitive and compensation strategies) and indirect (metacognitive, affective and social strategies)
Grammar is an indispensable part in English
textbooks at high school It is taught along with vocabulary, listening, reading, writing and speaking skills Grammar is tested in every English test or examination However, students usually make
mistakes related to grammatical items Therefore, they do not getgood marks Theyfindit difficult to
remember grammatical rulesanduse them correctly
in different contexts Hence, in this paper, I would like to find out the importance of grammar and grammar learning strategies to find the answers to the following question:
What is students’ attitude towards the role of grammar in learning English?
How do students apply grammar learning
strategiesduringtheirEnglishlearning process?
2 The study
The subjects
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The participantsin the study were 160 grade 10
students at Chu Van An high schoolin Thai Nguyen
They have learnt Englishatschool for seven years
The instruments
The study was conducted with the main data
collection instrument of a questionnaire
Questionnaire
The questionnaire was partly adapted from
Phuong’s study Itconsisted of twenty-fivequestions,
twenty of which were closed-ended based on four-
pointLikert scale
Data collection and analysis
The questionnaire was administered to all the
160 students via Google Form and it was returned
withinone day The data wasanalyzed through the
descriptive statisticalpercentage
3 Results
3.1 Results from the questionnaire
The findings collected from the questionnaire are
presented anddiscussed in two categories: students’
attitude towards English grammar and English
grammarlearning strategies
3.1.1 Students 'attitude towards the role of gram
mar to English learning
The results in table 1 revealed that all of the
students appreciatedthe importance of grammar in
English learning
Table 1 Students 'attitude towards grammar
3.1.2 Students ’ comment on English grammar
It can be seen from table 2 that 63.1% found
English grammar difficult while 35% thought itis so
soand only 1.9% said it is easy
Table 2 Students 'comment on English grammar
3.1.3 Students ’ English grammar learning
strategies
3.1.3.1 Cognitive strategies
According to table 3, themost commonly-used
strategy among students is strategy 4 (When I
see a new grammar structure, I use the context/
situation, the dialogue, or the picture in order to
understand its meaning) with mean = 2.79 and the least used strategy is number 8 (Idraw charts for
the grammar rules I learn) with mean =1.8
Table 3 Cognitive strategies
4 c ontextualization 160 2.79
11 Sentence making 160 1.98
12 Past context/situation 160 2.56
13 Speaking/writing 160 1.99
3.1.3.2 Metacognitive strategies
From table 4, we can see that strategy 3(1 pay attention to grammar rules when I speak or write)
is the highest with mean = 2.92, whereas strategy
2 (I examine the mistakes which myinstructorhas
marked in a written assignment, and try to correct
them) isthe lowest with mean =1.9
Table 4 Metacognitive strategies
2 Mistake correction 160 1.9
3 Rules in speaking/writing 160 2.92
3.1.3.3 Memory strategies
We can see from table 5 that the number of students choosing memory strategies is quite high
(mean = 2.86 and 2.64) Most students liketo use these strategies inlearning English grammar
Table 5 Memory strategies
1 Learning by heart 160 2.86
3.1.3.4 Social-affective strategies
In terms of social-affective strategies, table 6 shows that strategy 2 (If I do not understand my
teacher’s explanation, I ask my friends for help) is
thehighestandstrategy 1 (If I do not understand my teacher’s explanation of a new structure, I ask him/ her to repeat) isthe lowest
Table 6 Social-affective strategies
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4 Discussion and suggested implications
Students 'attitude towards English grammar
The findings showed that all of the students
taking part in thestudy were aware of the importance
of English grammar, expressing that it plays a
significant role in English learning This is easy to
understand because grammar is one of the criteria
being tested in alltests andexams, even international
ones So the problem is how to improve students’
grammar competence
English grammar learning strategies
Cognitive strategies are the ones which help
students to understand and produce new grammar
items by manipulating grammar structure to make
sense of them It is a good idea to get to know
grammar structures used in a certain context We
cannot learn grammar structures only on their own;
we have to know how to apply these structures in
similar contexts Therefore, teachers should give
students more grammar exercises used in given
contexts However, nowadays there is a tendency to
employ mindmaps in learning which students still do
not know howto drawchartsfor the grammar rules
theylearn Teachers themselves must use mindmaps
inteaching grammar rules
Metacognitive strategies are difficult tostudents
because they require students to evaluate theirown
grammarlearning pattern and coordinatethe learning
process The frequency students use these strategies
is not high The higher they study, the more they
have to use these strategies to improve their learning
of grammar to gethigh scores They needmore time
to practise these strategies
Memory strategies help learners to relate
new information to existing ones or relating one
grammaticalruleor word to anotherin order to create
association in memory but do notnecessarily involve
deep understanding Most students usually employ
thesetwo strategies in remembering grammarrules
While affective strategies help learners gain
control and regulate personal emotions, attitudes,
and values; social strategies are actions taken by
learners so as to seek support or interact with other
learnersor moreproficientspeakers of the language
Therefore, students usually ask their friends for
help when they have difficulty in understanding the
teacher’sexplanation because they find iteasy to ask
their friends and they can ask them franklywithout
worry about whattheotherpeople think about them
Teachers should chooseappropriate teaching methods
such as communicative ones to make the lessons more interesting and comprehensibleto students as
wellasimprove students’ oral communication
5 Conclusion
In the paper, a number ofstrategies related to
learning English grammar have been explored The
results show that students recognize the importance
of grammar in their learning English and students use a variety of strategies to learn according to
their competence In order to improve the quality of
grammar learning, teachers should make students aware ofthese strategies and encourage them to
use strategieswithvariety andrelevance Also,they should make use ofa wide range ofinstructional approaches to address different learning styles and
strategies of their students
References
1 Cohen, A D (1998) Strategies in Learning and Using a Foreign Language London:
Longman
2 Ellis, R (2006).Current issues in the teaching
of grammar: an SLA perspective TESOL.
3 Fekadu Mulugeta (2019) Grammar learning strategies use of preparatory school students:
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publication/342014154_Grammar_Learning_ Strategies_Use_of_Preparatory_School_Students_
Gender_in_Focus
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