English grammar teaching approaches for non-english major students in Vietnam tertiary context

The article focuses on understanding the concepts of some common grammar teaching methods at universities in Vietnam, which are PPP, TBLT and Dictogloss, and their advantages and disadvantages.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEACHING APPROACHES FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

IN VIETNAM TERTIARY CONTEXT

Đặng Phương Anh

Trường Đại học Thủ đô Hà Nội

Abstract: The article focuses on understanding the concepts of some common grammar

teaching methods at universities in Vietnam, which are PPP, TBLT and Dictogloss, and

their advantages and disadvantages It also explores the suitability of the methods

mentioned above to non-English major students in Vietnam tertiary context The article

starts with the contents that cover principles of grammar teaching methods and their

strengths and weaknesses on the theoretical basis of Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

Then in the discussion, the writer presented a critical analysis of the feasibility of PPP and

its alternatives to teaching English grammar for non-English major students in the current

context of Vietnam Some suggestions for adopting them effectively are also discussed

Keywords: English grammar teaching, teaching approach, Vietnam tertiary context, PPP,

TBLT, Dictogloss

Nhận bài ngày 2.3.2022; gửi phản biện, chỉnh sửa, duyệt đăng ngày 26.4.2022

Liên hệ tác giả: Đặng Phương Anh; Email: dpanh@daihocthudo.edu.vn

1 INTRODUCTION

English grammar teaching has undergone many ups and downs from its central position

in traditional teaching methods to an anti-grammar period because of the advent of the

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) methodology over the past few years Following

that trend, many different grammar teaching methods based on the ideas of CLT have been

put into practice, such as Task-based approach and Dictogloss However, the traditional

presentation – practice - production (PPP) model is not entirely old-fashioned but prevalent

in some contexts So how are each of these methods commonly applied to teaching English

grammar? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type? And which one is

appropriate for teaching English to non-English major students at Vietnamese universities

in the current context?

2 CONTENT

2.1 Definition of grammar

Grammar is a description of rules in a language Nunan (2013, p.63) acknowledges that

the definition includes two aspects: morphology "how words are formed", and syntax "how

words are combined to form sentences" Those aspects' rules are not static but functions as

"a dynamic system" that students can use to negotiate meanings in different situations of

communication (Larsen-Freeman, 2014, p.257) With the notions above, Larsen also draws

out three dimensions of a grammar framework that are form, meaning, and use It is also

noted that three elements need incorporating together in learning and teaching grammar

2.2 The status of grammar in language teaching

Grammar, as a collection of rules for selecting words and putting them together to make

meaning, is crucial in language instruction Language does not exist without grammar It is

also difficult for language learners to communicate effectively in English without first

knowing its grammar Thus, it is unavoidable for instructors of foreign languages to teach

grammar in formal education (Wang, 2010) However, as the history of language education

has progressed, the place of English grammar in language instruction has always been

questioned Some teachers believe that this is just to dilute the teaching of grammar through

unconscious processes when learners are exposed to input Some instructors disregard

grammar instruction because it is perceived as "dull" or "outdated." (Nassaji, 2017) Some

are even going to extremes by refusing to discuss grammar because they believe it is

detrimental to students' communication abilities As a result, grammar instruction is in “a

state of crisis” It is now vital and imperative to draw the attention of foreign language

teachers to grammar (Wang, 2010) Therefore, foreign language educators should work to

change the existing situation in which grammar teaching is neglected in English teaching,

and research more grammar instructional approaches to effectively enhance students'

English levels

2.3 An overview of current approaches to Grammar Teaching

2.3.1 PPP approach

2.3.1.1 Principles of the PPP method

PPP is a three-step teaching model: Presentation, Practice, and Production, which gives

students intensive focus on specific grammatical structures In the Presentation stage,

teachers demonstrate new items through a text, a dialogue, or a story that includes the feature

(Nassaji & Fotos, 2010) and provide explicit explanations It is followed by the Practice

stage, where learners practice items through multiple written and spoken exercises under

teachers' control In the Production stage, they have chances to use structures having learnt

to express messages spontaneously

2.3.1.2 Advantages of the PPP method

The Thee Ps is a long-lasting method that is recommended for trainee teachers from the

1960s onwards (Harmer, 2007) It has been appealing to teachers and students for a long

time due to its advantages in practice The first strength is its clarity Firstly, it generates a

clear-cut teacher responsibility in line with power relations often found in classrooms (Skehan, 2003) In PPP classroom, the teacher is mainly in charge of every activity from selecting a structure, presenting it to managing the drilling process Secondly, with PPP, each lesson has clear goals and explicit prepared content that bring the learners reassurance, and the teacher the "feeling of professionalism" (Skehan, 1998, p 94) The second advantage

of PPP is providing convenience for the teaching process According to Carless (2009), PPP gives the teacher a high control of each lesson's content and pace because he/she can adjust them flexibly to suit the lesson's conditions For example, the teacher can accelerate each stage when the class time is limited, or do less presentation, and provide students more time for practice and communication if the target structure contains complex meanings in different contexts

2.3.1.3 Disadvantages of the PPP approach

Recently, the PPP paradigm has been under sustained attack by many researchers because they realise some critical failings of this model in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theoretical basis as a grammar teaching technique

According to SLA theory, PPP sounds relatively logical, but it goes against the learners' internal developing system It is proved that learners cannot "simply acquire the language to which they are exposed" (Skehan et al., 1996, p 13) or be imposed on using a certain form (Yu, 2013) Instead, they need time to make integration, test hypothesises, make errors, restructure and refine the grammatical knowledge (Hedge, 2000) This process is not a lockstep one while PPP is too linear, accumulating one item at a time, so it is unsuccessful

in accounting for learners' stages of developmental sequence (Ellis, 2003) Moreover, it is even in contradiction to the learners' readiness With limiting exposed features in PPP, learners may refuse to learn what is taught and miss the opportunity to notice the items they are ready to acquire (Evans, 1999)

Another disadvantage of teaching grammar by PPP is its neglect of developing communicative competence - the primary purpose of the second language (L2) learning Evans (1999) argues that although the use of structure is carried out in the last stage, it is doubtful whether that purpose is achieved or not, as students are likely to concentrate on controlling the target form (rather than the meaningful use of language) in the two previous phrases Also, that students memorise a fixed rule and perform it correctly in the production stage is not employed as proof of this method's success in helping them absorb the feature They may make errors later or fail to activate the feature in spontaneous communication (Willis, 1996) In short, the Three Ps approach is indefensible by SLA researchers because

of its ignorance of students' internal developing system and its lack of facilitation for their L2 communication proficiency's development

2.3.2 Alternatives to PPP

Due to recognising the limitations of PPP, there is a growing desire among scholars to adopt alternative approaches to grammar teaching In contrast to PPP, these new ones focus

primarily on meaning and the use of language In this part, some typical approaches such as

Task-based teaching approach and Dictogloss and their characteristics will be indicated

2.3.2.1 Task-based language teaching (TBLT) TBLT is a fundamental approach derived

from CLT framework whose main idea is that students use language to complete

communicative tasks A task is "an activity in which meaning is primary, there is a problem

to solve, there is a relationship to the real world, and where there is an objective that can be

assessed in terms of an outcome" (Skehan, 1996, p 38) In a task-based classroom, forms

appearing in class are little pre-determined but learned through teachers' feedback and rule

instruction after or during the communicative activities Willis (1996) classifies TBLT

procedure into three stages: pre-task, task cycle and focus on form

2.3.2.2 Dictogloss Since being introduced by Wajnryb (1990), Dictogloss (Grammar

Dictation) have captured the considerable attention of teachers and learners in ESL/ EFL

classes as an alternative to the traditional teaching method Dictogloss is classified by Nasaji

and Fotos (2004) as the effective use of collaborative output tasks in teaching grammar

Therefore, like TBLT, Dictogloss also encourages learners to develop grammatical

competence based on problem-solving and communication In a Dictogloss classroom,

learners listen to a text, write down keywords and then work in groups to pool their fragments

and create a reconstructed version of the passage (Vasiljevic, 2010, p.41) In the standard

model proposed by Wajnryb, this process consists of four steps: Preparation, Dictation,

Reconstruction, and Analysis and correction; in which, the last two steps focus on learners'

critical grammar preference in context

2.3.2.3 Advantages of the alternatives Proposing remedy against the shortcomings of PPP,

these alternative methods bring many advantages in teaching grammar combined with

developing students' linguistic skills

Primarily, these communicative methods provide rich but comprehensible input of

original language, which stimulates grammatical noticing - the first crucial step of language

acquisition (Ellis, 1995) The input of those interactive approaches is not only fixed

structures but come from teachers' instruction, from listening to each other or task's

recordings, and from reading the texts Accordingly, students are exposed to an extensive

range of structures, collocations and lexical patterns which enhances the likelihood of

noticing and approaching items on the brink of being acquired

Furthermore, with these alternative methods, teaching grammar is no longer separated

from communicative competence; instead, both fluency and accuracy in using language are

taken into account Concerning the fluency, during the stages, students are continuously put

in situations where they can use L2 language for real interactions such as

pair/group-working As a result, their fluency in communication will develop gradually About the

accuracy, when focusing on meaning, teachers direct learners to put certain concentration

on forms, and that, according to Prabhu (1987), is the best condition to acquire them In

particular, Dictogloss imposes learners on having a precise understanding of form supporting

them complete the restructured production with correct grammar Agreeing with this, Wajnrub (1990) states that Dictogloss is a significantly effective method of enhancing a deeper understanding of grammar and consequently leading to higher accuracy in language use A further strength of these methods is increasing students' motivation when they are involved in the learning process more proactively Replacing teacher domination in PPP class, alternatives assign students a decisive role in identifying their grammar problems and having the teacher respond to their needs Their actual involvement in interactive activities can activate the lively atmosphere of the classroom (Matsumura, 2009, cited by Sato, 2010), improving their positive attitude towards learning grammar along with communication

In short, TBLT and Dictogloss have been widely supported as they go well with SLA theory and yield benefits for learners in terms of noticing, acquiring grammar combined with communication skills and participating in the learning process actively

2.3.2.4 Disadvantages of the alternatives Despite the tendency on these methods, some

drawbacks have arisen in putting into practice Because those alternatives are not cumulative models like PPP, their practical use is said being complicated in several respects Their complexity, initially, makes it more difficult for teachers So far, many teachers have neither gained a thorough understanding of new approaches nor applied them to L2 grammar lessons For example, evidence from Hong Kong (Carless, 2003) shows the uncomprehensive conceptions about TBLT among teachers Notably, the label "task-based teaching" is likely to mislead the inexperienced teacher who understands it as a "fixed set of meanings" (Littlewood, 2004) This vague understanding of TBLT may "lead to their confusion of the nature of TBLT and its implementation in the actual practices" (Phuong Thi, 2018, p 515) Besides, the class organisation is also affected by those approaches' complexity With such communication-based classes, if the number of students is too large and classroom time is limited, group work and communicative activities are challenging to

be carefully controlled For students, these student-centred methods are comparatively challenging because it requires many abilities such as communicative abilities, creative abilities, and cooperative abilities Students learn grammar but must show a high level of autonomy and independence, and a certain amount of vocabulary

2.4 Current situations on English Grammar teaching and learning for non-English major students at tertiary level in Vietnam

2.4.1 English learning context in Vietnam and the discussed learners

In recent decades, the role of English in Vietnam has been rapidly changing due to the nation's socio-economic development (Le, 2007) English has become a competitive edge for the development as well as a vital skill-set necessary for Vietnamese students to launch the global labour market successfully The increasing demand for learning English has led

to an inevitable pressure of changing tradition teaching way, which mostly focuses on language knowledge rather than communication skills (Albright, 2019) In response to that urgent need, the Vietnamese government has launched the National Foreign Project 2020

(NFP 2020), showing a high determination of enhancing the quality of teaching and learning

English at all educational levels At the tertiary level, graduates from vocational colleges

should reach level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:

Learning, Teaching, and Assessment (CEFR), university graduates B1, graduates from

language colleges should reach from B2 to C1 (Tien, 2013)

In this essay, my subjects are Vietnamese non-English major students whose graduating

proficiency standard is level B1 CEFR (i, e Intermediate) They are young adults having a

high educational background with English initial proficiency level from pre-intermediate to

intermediate Their goals of learning English are (1) to gain fluent English communication

skills, (2) to end up at level B1, (3) to use English as means to stay current with their fields

2.4.2 Feasibility of teaching grammar methods

2.4.1.1 Feasibility of PPP to teach grammar for non-English major students in Vietnam

Based on Carless (2009) beginners, not high achieving learners, probably learn better

through traditional methods, such as PPP Although my students are not beginners, they are

not yet master grammar accurate use, and they are familiar with teacher-centred classrooms

where their main activities are listening to formal instruction, memorising and practising

Consequently, PPP still can be used as a useful technique Concerning teaching grammar, as

mentioned in 4.1.2, PPP is clear-cut and convenient, and therefore what students learn is

guaranteed by the specific guidance of teachers, which are in line with their habitual learning

style Also, this approach, based on Richards and Rodgers (2001) offers teachers, especially

beginning ones, a reassurance of prepared serial steps to follow in the classroom (Richards

& Rodgers, 2001) From Indonesian context, Hafid & Nurpahmi (2019) says teachers are

advised that the "PPP model should not be fully ignored particularly to teach grammar

classes", I suppose that it is appropriate to apply to current Vietnamese context

2.4.1.2 Feasibility of TBLT and Dictogloss to teach grammar for non-English major

students in Vietnam

Since this essay's focused learners are young adults, it is reasonable to evaluate grammar

teaching methods based on guidelines for teaching grammar to adult learners Ellis (2005)

outlines 10 "principles of instructed learning" suggesting appropriate conditions for adult

second language learners, namely:

"Principle 1: Instruction needs to ensure that learners develop both a rich repertoire of

formulaic expressions and a rule-based competence

Principle 2: Instruction needs to ensure that learners focus predominantly on meaning

Principle 3: Instruction needs to ensure that learners also focus on form

Principle 4: Instruction needs to be predominantly directed at developing implicit

knowledge of the L2 while not neglecting explicit knowledge

Principle 5: Instruction needs to take into account the learner's 'built-in syllabus'

Principle 6: Successful instructed language learning requires extensive L2 input

Principle 7: Successful instructed language learning also requires opportunities for output Principle 8: The opportunity to interact in the L2 is central to developing L2 proficiency Principle 9: Instruction needs to take account of individual differences in learners Principle 10: In assessing learners' L2 proficiency, it is important to examine free as well as controlled production." (Ellis, 2005)

In the light of 10 principles above, TBLT and Dictogloss are appraised as promising grammar teaching approaches to adult ESL learners because they address many of these principles As mentioned in 2.4, during the main stages of those approaches, students immerse themselves in wide-ranging input from tasks, other learners and teachers (Principle 6) whereby several chances are given to them to learn what is ready on their developmental sequences (Principle 5) In general, all the techniques draw significant attention to communication which caters for fluency, and also concentrate on any incidental arising form which caters for accuracy (Principle 1,2 & 3) In particular, students required to discuss in English with other group members in the task cycle of TBA, reconstruction stage of Dictogloss or the text reconstitution step of DBA so that interactions are provided effectively (Principle 7&8) Compliance with Ellis's theoretical elements indicates the suitability of the above methods for being applied to teach adult students in Vietnam

Besides, the application of TBLT and Dictogloss appear as suitable selection associating with the students' purposes of learning English in tertiary education, such as achieving high communication competence and graduating with English proficiency at level B1 Due to experiencing these methods, they are encouraged to focus on expressions as well as to practice four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing which are all covered

in the final foreign language competency test

However, the adoption of TBLT and Dictogloss to Vietnam tertiary context has presented several challenges The first one is that Vietnamese teachers' understanding of those new approaches is somewhat limited, perhaps because of the complexity of these methods, as mentioned in 2.2.2.4 Traditionally, teachers tend to adhere to their conventional teaching manners, with a long-held belief that students need explicit grammatical knowledge before knowing how to communicate in L2 (Nguyen, Le & Barnard, 2015), so they may feel hesitant about the new adoption Dictogloss, for instance, is an interesting but complex and challenging method for non-English major students, so teachers need to be aware of all potential problems and actively support students in encountering them (Dunn, 1993) Also, TBLT and Dictogloss seem inappropriate to Vietnamese tertiary classes involving a large number of students In my experience of assisting in non-English major classes, I have seen English class in Vietnam including about 30 - 40 students sitting in rows of chairs which hinders interactive activities and the teachers' possibility to manage group work Regarding the time limit of each class, English instruction only takes place for roughly three to four hours per week in most universities nationwide (Vu & Burns, 2014) putting time pressure

on the teachers As a lecturer named Jenifer once shared "she fears that she may not be able

to cover what she has to cover in the TBLT class." (Yen, 2016)

With these criticisms in mind, the implementation of TBLT and Dictogloss is

appropriate with Vietnamese non-English major learners and their educational objectives

Still, a variety of challenges for stakeholders, especially lecturers in implementational

realities should be delicately considered whereby policymakers and educators can find out

the way to adapt to the particular setting It is suggested that experts should provide teachers

the insights regarding the approaches through intensive training and coaching (Van den

Branden, 2016) and school managers consider reducing the number of students in a class in

the future

3 CONCLUSION

It can be seen that both PPP and its alternative methods like TBLT and Dictogloss show

varying strengths and weaknesses Noting that there is no ideal method for every learner,

curriculum, or context, educators and course designers should take into account the pros and

cons above to figure out how best to achieve contextually embedded implementations and

how they affect students' English learning In this essay's particular case, I believe that

teaching grammar for non-English major students in the current context of Vietnam should

be a combination of TBLT, Dictogloss and PPP, but mainly ultilising the two formers With

TBLT and Dictogloss used as the primary methods, the persistent PPP presumably takes

effect in the initial phase of the course until the student and teacher are familiar with the new

method In future researches into teaching grammar methods, their feasibility in Vietnam

tertiary context and blueprints for adopting them should be carried out

REFERENCES

1 Albright, J (2019), English tertiary education in Vietnam, London: Routledge

2 Carless, D R (2003), “Factors in the implementation of task-based teaching in primary schools”,

System, 31(4), 485-500

3 Carless, D R (2009), “Revisiting the TBLT versus PPP debate: Voices from Hong Kong”, Asian

Journal of English Language Teaching, 19, 49-66

4 Dunn, A (1993), “Dictogloss-When the words get in the way”, TESOL in Context, 3(2), 21

5 Ellis, R (1995), “Interpretation tasks for grammar teaching”, TESOL Quarterly, 29 (1), 87-105

6 Ellis, R (2003), Task-based language learning and teaching, Oxford University Press

7 Ellis, R (2005), “Principles of instructed language learning”, System, 33(2), 209-224

8 Hafid, E., & Nurpahmi, S (2019), “The PPP Model to Teaching Grammar: Evidence From

Indonesian Contexts of the Effectiveness of Explicit Teaching Instructions”, The Asian EFL

Journal, 23(3.4), 415-421

9 Harmer, J (2007), The practice of English language teaching, Harlow: Pearson Longman

10 Hedge, T (2000), Teaching and learning in the language classroom, Oxford: Oxford University Press

11 Larsen-Freeman, D (2014), Teaching Grammar In M Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as

a Second or Foreign Language (4th ed.) (pp 256-270), Boston, MASS: Heinle

12 Le, V C (2007), A historical review of English language education in Vietnam (In Y H Choi &

B.Spolsky (Eds.)), English education in Asia: History and politics (pp 168-180), Seoul, Korea:

Asia TEFL

13 Littlewood, W (2004), “The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions”, ELT journal, 58(4), 319-326

14 Nassaji, H., & Fotos, S (2004), “Current developments in research on the teaching of grammar”,

Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 126-145

15 Nassaji, H (2017), “Grammar acquisition”, The Routledge handbook of instructed second language acquisition, 205, 223

16 Nguyen, V G., Le, V C., & Barnard, R (2015), “Old wine in new bottles”: Two case studies of

task-based language teaching in Vietnam (In M Thomas & H Reinders (Eds.)), Contemporary task-based language teaching in Asia (pp 68–86), London, UK: Bloomsbury

PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRONG BỐI CẢNH ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM

Tóm tắt: Bài viết tập trung tìm hiểu các khái niệm về một số phương pháp giảng dạy ngữ

pháp Tiếng Anh phổ biến tại các trường đại học ở Việt Nam, đó là PPP, TBLT và Dictogloss, và ưu nhược điểm của từng phương pháp Nó cũng khám phá sự phù hợp của các phương pháp nêu trên đối với sinh viên không chuyên Tiếng Anh trong bối cảnh đại học Việt Nam Bài viết bắt đầu với nội dung bao gồm các nguyên tắc của phương pháp giảng dạy ngữ pháp và điểm mạnh và điểm yếu của chúng trên cơ sở lý thuyết của tiếp thu ngôn ngữ thứ hai (SLA) Tác giả cũng đưa ra một phân tích quan trọng về phương pháp PPP và các giải pháp thay thế còn lại đối với việc dạy ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh cho sinh viên không chuyên tiếng Anh trong bối cảnh Việt Nam hiện nay Một số gợi ý để áp dụng chúng một cách hiệu quả cũng được thảo luận

Từ khóa: Ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh, Phương pháp giảng dạy, bối cảnh đại học Việt Nam, PPP, TBLT, Dictogloss