Using realia to teach english grammar to young learners in lets go series

There are many ways to teach the structures of grammar to young learners but this study is aimed at examining whether realia is frequently used to teach grammar to young learners and wh

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

This study was conducted at the Southeast Asian Minister of Education Organization - Regional Training Center (SEAMEO RETRAC) in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam SEAMEO has had its foundation in 1965 and aimed to promote regional development through cooperation in education, science, and culture As a subordinate body of SEAMEO, the Regional Training Center or RETRAC has been in existence since 1996 to assist all SEAMEO member countries to improve educational management Therefore, RETRAC provides training, undertakes research work, serves as an information center, and engages in other related activities within and outside the region

SEAMEO RETRAC is well equipped with over 30 spacious, air-conditioned lecture rooms, meeting rooms, a library, an audio-visual room, an advanced computer lab, a language lab, and an international hall which houses 100-150 people The library acts as an information center through the services it offers, providing high quality collections of books and media materials All SEAMEO RETRAC students, faculty, and staff can access the latest self-study materials from there There is a great collection of English language teaching and learning materials at all levels English training CD-ROMS on computer along with videos, cassettes, and simplified reading materials are provided Especially there is a room called kiddy corner where teachers and young learners can look for things they need such as toys, comic books, crayons, movies, etc Moreover, the free internet service is available for teachers and learners who want to search for more information

Kiddy programs at SEAMEO RETRAC are designed for young learners from age 5 to 14 who wish to speak English smoothly and acquired a good knowledge of

Tiny Talk, Let’s Go, and Pacesetter Tiny Talk provides young learners who have never

learned English before with basis language such as greetings, identifying objects,

coloring, etc After finishing Tiny Talk, the learners can proceed to Let’s Go series, which has six levels Young learners at SEAMEO RETRAC who take Let’s Go

courses range in age from six to twelve and are supposed to have some familiarity with English In reality, most know only a few words, and perhaps, some simple expressions of greetings It is initially difficult, therefore, for them to follow the structures of the book or understand the oral instructions of the native teachers

Pacesetter is more difficult than Let’s Go Most of the learners at this level are

teenagers

All the relevant classes in the thesis used Let’s Go series published by Oxford University Press Let’s Go Second Edition, a seven-level course, combine a carefully

controlled grammatical syllabus with functional dialogues, alphabet and phonics work,

and songs and chants by Caroline Graham Let’s Go is designed for children who start

to study English The themes and situations throughout the books are universal to children everywhere There are five basis components in each level including the Student Book, the Workbook, The Teacher’s book, the Cassette or Compact Disc, and the Picture Cards The Student Books with beautiful full-color illustrations in a clear and attractive format contain eight units The question and answer format that is used

to practice new structures and vocabulary help students learn how to ask and answer appropriate questions to get information The Workbooks provide reading and writing

practice to further reinforce the language introduced in the Student Books Let’s

Chant- Let’s Sing and Grammar & Listening were used as supplementary materials

There are six levels of instruction Level 1 focuses on the development of basis oral language through functional dialogues, question-and-answer patterns, and vocabulary work Language structures covered include the simple present tense of the

Level 2 covers the Wh- and Yes/No forms of questions and answers emphasizing on the third-person singular form, expressing abilities can or possession have, and the present continuous tense Formal reading is partly introduced Level 3 focuses on expanding the students’ ability to use grammar patterns introduced in level 2 Short

reading passages are taught gradually emphasizing the verb be and irregular verb

forms Level 4 introduces more new structures with slightly longer reading passages This level includes new language structures and high-frequency sight words It also includes new language structures such as comparatives, past continuous, future tense, infinitive form, and why – because patterns Level 5 recycles previous language content and introduces the present perfect tense Level 6 gives young learners more opportunities to use their language skills to talk about themselves, their opinions using the new language structures such as relative clauses who, modals, conditional using would, reported speech, and phrasal verbs

Each course took eighty hours of instruction aimed at speaking fluency, good listening, simple writing, and fun with English Two instructors: a native English teacher and a Vietnamese teacher were assigned to each class They functioned as co-teachers

The teachers encounter some problems At first, the children must be encouraged or coaxed into actually speaking English, and secondly there are the normal problems with concentration and comprehension of even the simplest rules of grammar As a result, it becomes a time-intensive undertaking

There are many ways to teach the structures of grammar to young learners but

this study is aimed at examining whether realia is frequently used to teach grammar

to young learners and whether it is one of the effective ways to teach grammar in

Let’s Go series Moreover, Ur (1996) stated that children have a great immediate need

to be motivated by the teacher or the materials in order to learn effectively There is

relevant to the task at hand And realia is useful for both touching and visualization Understanding the importance of realia leads to the necessity of this study

1.2 Statement of purpose

Children are at the stage of exploring the world around them Their discoveries regarding their environment are recorded and processed in their mother language But when these revelations are acquired through the medium of a foreign language the difficulties double… acquiring new knowledge, and processing it in a new language The need to understand grammar only makes tasks more complicated As cited in Thornbury 1999, a schoolmaster and textbook writer, Joseph Webbe writes that no man can run speedily to the mark of language that is shackled… with grammar precepts Grammar is important for learners who want to master their language However, teaching grammar has always been one of the most controversial and least understood aspects of language teaching (Thornbury, 1999) Grammar is a description

of the rules that govern how sentences are formed Learners, especially the younger ones, consider it an obstacle to the study of English

Moreover, children need to see and touch the language they learn and the structures of grammar seem abstract complications that confuse and discourage them

It is time, therefore, for teachers to enable their students to “touch” the grammar structures of their new language Using realia is one of ways to achieve this result Giving the importance of teaching grammar, this study will focus on the benefits and

problems of using realia to teach grammar to young learners in the Let’s Go series at

SEAMEO RETRAC

In reality, many teachers understand the need to encourage young learners in the use of English Frequently, however, it seems that they do not know how to manage the lessons effectively, and how to use visual teaching aids To this end, the

teaching grammar to young learners This study looks for potential problems in using realia and for the most effective means of employing it

1.3 Research Questions

There is one question that guides this study:

To what extent and how effective has realia been used to teach grammar to

young learners in Let’s Go series at SEAMEO RETRAC?

And three sub-questions are also aimed:

1 How often did teachers at SEAMEO RETRAC use realia to teach

grammar structures to young learners in the Let’s Go series?

2 How effective was it?

3 What is young learners’ attitude towards realia in studying grammar?

The purpose of this study is to find out whether realia has been frequently used

to teach grammar to young learners and whether realia is an effective way in teaching

grammar in Let’s Go series at SEAMEO RETRAC It was conducted by investigating

the attitude of learners towards realia and their interest in the lessons, as well as teachers’ opinions of using realia

1.4 Significance of the study

The study on the effectiveness of using realia in teaching grammar to young

learners in Let’s Go series at SEAMEO RETRAC is important for several reasons

First, understanding the attitude of children towards realia can help teachers manage grammar lessons in a more understandable and enjoyable way Second, knowing how often and how effective realia can be used in teaching grammar to children may help teaching become more effectively Third, the study concerns students and teachers at SEAMEO RETRAC, but the findings could be useful for teachers who use realia to

1.5 Definition of the term

Realia: “the technical term for any real objects that are introduced into the classroom for teaching purposes” (Thornbury, 1999)

1.6 Limitations

This study will confine itself to interviewing and observing the English teachers

at SEAMEO RETRAC In addition, the questionnaire will be delivered to learners who are old enough (from 8 to 12 years old) to minimize their reading comprehension

errors They are learners from Let’s Go 2 to Let’s Go 6

1.7 Overview of the study

The thesis is structured in five main chapters

− Chapter one introduces the entire area of the study This chapter describes the

background of the study as well as the importance of grammar in learning English and the role of realia in teaching it to young learners at SEAMEO RETRAC

− Chapter two is the theoretical background of grammar and the role of realia in teaching grammar to young learners This chapter reviews the literature relevant to the topic investigated and a brief summary of findings and studies already published

− Chapter three presents the methodology employed in the study This chapter

includes the description of the research design, objectives, participants, and data collection procedure In this chapter, data collection includes the observations from eight classes, the interviews of ten teachers, and the questionnaire from 177 samples (from children from 8 -12 years old at

− Chapter four reports the results of the study and presents discussions of the

findings

− Chapter five is for the conclusion of the study, and suggested recommendations

for the improvement of the teaching quality This chapter puts forward some implications for teaching grammar to young learners using real objects

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Teaching a foreign language to young learners requires a lot of special effort because of their age Imparting knowledge of grammar and helping the students to use

it are complex processes According to Harley et al 1995 (as cited in Cameron 2001), young children learn the grammar of the second language more slowly than older learners do, so that although they start earlier with language learning, they make slower progress, and overall gains are not straightforwardly linked to the time spent learning

Therefore, the role of teachers is how to stimulate their interests and imagination by using visual teaching aids which support their needs One of the popular means used in kiddy classrooms is realia The teachers need to understand the importance of studying grammar, their students’ abilities, and the extent to which realia can be used in teaching grammar to young learners This chapter consists of a discussion of the literature relevant to the topic

2.1 The need of studying grammar

Grammar is one of the most important parts in determining the meaning of English Cameron (2001) states in a larger discussion, that grammar is something much more than the lists of labels and rules found in grammar books, and that grammar is closely tied into meaning and use of language That is to say, grammar may be defined as system of rules for the use of language, or as a study of what is preferred and what is to be avoided in effective speech and writing (Shertzer, 1986) Therefore, studying grammar in order to use the language correctly is the only way to make one’s speech sound natural, and that good habits of speech will improve one’s writing All learners – children and adults – need to study grammar at appropriate

Moreover, Brown (1994) makes a point in his research on the principles of teaching He suggests the idea that grammar gives us the form of the structures of language themselves, but those forms are literally meaningless without a second dimension, that of meaning / semantics, and a third dimension, pragmatics Butt (as cited in James, 2003) shares the same idea that grammar is significant because we know it is the organization of meaning – of semantics

In research on learning and teaching a second language, Dunan (1999) confirms that for most of people, the essence of language lies in grammar When someone is

said to “lack skills in language”, or when the popular press decries what is sees as the

declining standard of English, they are generally referring to an actual or perceived decline in the ability of individuals to express themselves grammatically Cobbett (as cited in Nunan, 1999) wrote:

Grammar…teaches us how to make use of them to choose the words which ought to be place

We must be acquainted with certain principles and rules, and these principles and rules constitute what is called Grammar

The importance of grammar leads to the need of teaching and learning it

2.2 The needs of children in studying

Krahne (1994) states that age is more important in that young learners (4 -11 years of age) can make little use of language analysis (meta language and grammatical descriptions) They must be taught through direct methods It might also

be claimed that their attention spans are shorter, though even young children can engage in language activity for surprisingly long periods of time According to Krahne, children under the age of about 10 or 12, of course, can probably carry almost

no meta linguistic knowledge Adults can usually retain a small amount of general information about a language Therefore, understanding the needs of children is the best way to get good results in teaching According to Gerngross & Puchta (1992),

young learners seem to be more at ease with holistic methods of learning grammar in which structures are acquired subconsciously Scott &Ytreberg (1990) state that children understand the situations more quickly than they understand the language used That is to say, teachers must remember to combine form and context together (Celce &Olshtain, 2000)

As children from eight to twelve are relatively mature with an adult side and a childish side, they will have some sort of language awareness and readiness Most activities for the young learners should include movement and involve the senses (Scott & Ytreberg, 1990) Since concentration and attention spans are short, teachers need lots of variety in class It is important for language teachers to remember that young children may spend a long time absorbing language before they actually produce anything It is not a good idea to try to force them to speak in the target languages as this can create a lot of emotion stress

Reilly & Ward (1997) believe that some children say nothing at all in class but

go home and tell their parents what they have learnt Instead of trying to make them use the language, teachers should ask them to do repetitive songs, rhymes, games, and plenty of choral work Children then will be able to produce language without the stress of having to speak individually Since children are in an intellectual stage,

teachers need to remember their limitations Children are centered on the “here and

now”, on the functional purposes of language (Brown, 1994)

Moreover, there is an idea from Scott &Ytreberg (1990) that how good young learners are in a foreign language is not dependent on whether they have learnt the grammar rule or not They stated an advice:

As a teacher, you should note the structures, functions and grammar items which you want your pupils to learn as well as those they already know, but your actually teaching should only include the barest minimum of grammar taught as grammar… The best time to introduce

some sort of simple grammar is either when a pupil asks for an explanation, or when you think

a pupil will get benefit from learning some grammar (pp 6-7)

To support this idea, Cameron (2001) shows that teachers should give children

a sound basis in using the language, while encouraging curiosity and talk about metalanguage slowly and meaningfully

2.3 Realia and grammar lessons

The use of realia is well known to teachers Many writers define realia in their own ways Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988) think that realia are objects of any origin used to illustrate vocabulary and structures in the second language As Brown (1994) notes, realia are objects such as food items, cosmetics, tools, and other materials According to Dickens, Robertson, & Hofmann (1995), anything which has a purpose outside of the ESL classroom can be brought into the classroom Teachers like using realia because it adds interest and relates language to the real world (Mumford, 2005) Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988) confirm that realia and objects in the classroom are vital teaching aids, particularly for grammar points which have a structures-meaning match Real objects always add some significant reality to the classroom Realia is especially useful and important for teaching children (Brown, 1994) Realia can create

a bridge between the language world and the children’s real world According to Brown (1994), objects brought into the classroom not only liven up the context, but also provide some kinesthetic, hands-on dimension to the teaching As Berwald (1987) notes, realia “are not only a series of artifacts that describe the customs and traditions

of a culture, but they are also a set of teaching aids that facilitate the simulation of experience in the target culture” Realia provides language learners with multi-sensory impressions of the language which, as River (1983) notes is “learned partly at least through seeing, hearing, touching, and manipulating” items

Scott and Ytreberg (1990) believe that young children respond well to surroundings which are pleasant and familiar Young learners interact directly with these materials rather than with someone else’s interpretation and analysis of them Therefore, physical objects are very important to young children The writers described the importance of real objects as following:

Young children love to play, and learn best when they are enjoying themselves But they also take themselves seriously and like to think that what they are doing is “real” work… (p 3) Since the physical world is the main means of conveying meaning to young children, a wide variety of teaching aids is necessary in the foreign language classroom Lessons will be much easier and much more exciting for the children if you make full use of things and objects as well as language to get your meaning across… (p 108)

Grammar is not easy knowledge for young learners to understand Davies and Pearse (2000) suggest that for younger children, most lesson plans should consist of games, pictures, realia, songs and stories Most activities for the young learners should include movement and involve the senses Teachers will need to have plenty of objects and pictures to work with, and to make full use of the school and his/her surroundings

Moreover, in the research of Thornbury (1999), there is an idea that children are more disposed to language learning activities that incline towards acquisition rather than towards learning This means they are better at picking up language implicitly, rather than learning it as a system of explicit rules They do not benefit from formal grammar instruction, yet some focus on form can be helpful (Celce – Olshtain, 2000) Therefore, the focus is very simple and stated or illustrated in concrete forms (Brown, 1994)

Teaching grammar to children is much different from teaching adults Starting the lessons with a grammar presentation may be off-putting for young learners (Thornbury, 1999) According to Brown (1994), if too much grammar is forced on to

fluency skills At this level, grammatical focus is helpful as an occasional “zoom lens”

with which we zero in some aspect of language that is currently being practiced, but not helpful if it becomes the major focus of class work The writer also clearly shows that teachers should try to avoid rules that are stated in abstract terms like “present progressive” or “relative clause” since young learners are not conscious enough about the terms they hear Instead, some grammatical concepts, especially at upper levels of childhood, can be called to learners’ attention by showing them certain patterns and examples To support this idea, Cameron (2001) stated an example about introducing

a structure:

When introducing a new pattern, the teacher can construct a dialogue with a story-line that uses a “repetition plus contrast” pattern, to be played out by puppets… The children listen several times to the story-dialogue:

Squirrel: I wish I could swim like you, Crocodile

Crocodile: I’ll teach you to swim

S: Oh, will you?

C: Let’s start next week Shall we go swimming on Monday?

S: No, Sorry On Mondays, I clean my house

C: Shall we go swimming on Tuesday?

S: No, sorry On Tuesdays I visit my grandmother

Similar pattern for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

C: What about Sunday?

S: Yes, On Sundays I’m free

C: OK On Sunday we’ll have our first swimming lesson! (pp 114-115)

Cameron confirms, “The teacher of young learners can probably best help to develop children’s grammar in the foreign language, not be teaching grammar directly, but by being sensitive to opportunities for grammar learning that arise in the classroom” (p 122) Developments in educational theory were promoting the value of what came to be known as discovery learning The principle underlying discovery

learning is that, in the words of Pascal, several centuries earlier: “People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they themselves have discovered than by those which have come into the minds of others” (Thornbury, 1999) For young learners, it is a very direct way of dealing with meaning, and, especially where there is a problem-solving element

Realia and visual aids are useful in that they circumvent the need for translation, and they can communicate a greater range of meanings than can actions The principle operating here is that, since children develop listening competence in advance of the ability to speak, second language learners should do likewise However, the writer also states that discovery learning involves cycles of trial and error, with guidance and feedback provided by the teacher

Cameron (2001) suggests that the teacher of young learners can probably best help to develop children’s grammar in the foreign language, not by teaching grammar directly, but by being sensitive to opportunities for grammar learning that arise in the classroom The writer believes that grammar teaching can often destroy motivation and puzzle children rather than enlighten them Good learning-centered grammar teaching which will be meaningful and interesting requires active participation from learners, and will work with how children learn and with what they are capable of learning Children pick up the foreign language quickly and develop very good accents and listening skills They can achieve good results in the second language But

in terms of grammar, children taught through the second language do not develop the same levels of accuracy as native speakers and, without this attention to the form of the language, problems with basic structures continue (Lightbown and Spada, 1994)

The ways of thinking needed to cope with learning through explicit grammar rules are likely to be difficult for children Children notice patterns as they make senses of the world around them and it may be fruitful to make use of curiosity and

wide variety of real things into the classroom Davies & Pearse (2000) point out that teachers can use their own and the learners’ possessions, for example, watches, combs, food in the presentation and practice of language Using realia in the EFL classroom serves to foster a more creative and active teaching-learning environment and promotes cultural understanding There is a connection between language and culture Helping the language learners see the connection enables them to understand the meaning of language more clearly

Not all teachers have the budget, time, or inclination to prepare props for activities However, the classroom itself provides a wealth of realia to use in teaching grammar Ordinary items found in most classrooms, such as books, tables, chairs, flags, a light switch, windows, walls, and the ceiling, can be used As Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988) suggest, a set of realia can be gathered from children’s toy boxes, garage sales, and thrift stores, but virtually all classrooms come equipped with resources that we tend to overlook, not the least of which is the students themselves

Realia, combined with the physical movement, hold the students’ interest Humor also makes the input meaningful and enables students to integrate it with knowledge and experience already acquired (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988) The writers also state an example about teaching a lesson on the copula with predicate nominals using realia:

For this lesson, the teacher should bring in several items from a thrift store, garage sale, or child’s toy box, such as a blond Halloween wig, a train engineer’ s hat, a stethoscope from a toy doctor’s kit, and perhaps a doll Call five students to the front of the class, put the wig on one, and say, “She’s a movie star.” Put the hat on another student and say, “He’s an engineer.” Put the stethoscope around another’s neck and say, “She’s a doctor.” Give the doll

to the last student and explain, “He’s the father.” Very quickly students in front will get into the spirit of the lesson and enjoy demonstrating their acting skills

During his presentation, the teacher waits until the class settles down a bit and then goes back

to the student with the blond wig and asks the class, “What is he?” After a student answers

that she is a movie star, he repeat the same routine with the other “actors” in front of the room, keeping the activity light and fast-paced Although students may be more interested in the roles their classmates are playing, they are also practicing the copula…Once students seem confident, the props can be changed to illustrate the plural… (pp 88– 89)

At this point in the lesson, the class is usually very attentive but high-spirited The writers advise teachers not to be disturbed by students’ laughter, but enjoy their antics and laugh along with them This sets up a context, an experience for the grammar point: the more students enjoy the lesson, the easier it will be for them to recall it later

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

The literature on major issues relating to the needs of studying grammar and the needs of children in studying, as well as the role of realia in grammar lessons has been reviewed in Chapter Two In the study, the writer wants to know to what extent realia can be used effectively to teach grammar to young learners

This chapter discusses the design and methodology selected for the study The chapter starts with the research design, the objectives of the study, the presentation of the participants and the description of the data collection procedure

The objectives of the study are:

− Based on the Let’s Go class observation and teachers’ interview at SEAMEO

RETRAC to find out how teachers use realia, and to what extent it has been effective in the teaching of grammar to young learners

− Through the use of a questionnaire to examine the attitudes and expectations

of young learners towards realia in studying grammar

3.3 Participants

20 teachers (6 Americans and 14 Vietnamese) agreed to join the study as interviewees and observed teachers They had different backgrounds and teaching experience They had university and post-graduate degrees or internationally

centers, others were teaching at high schools and universities during the week They worked at SEAMEO RETRAC on Saturday and Sunday Their ages ranged from twenty-five to sixty They all have taught young learners for at least two years The selection was made on the basis of convenience and availability

Additionally, there were 177 young learners in 12 Let’s Go classes chosen at random to join the study in observations and answering the questionnaire about their attitude towards realia used in their class These students were from eight to twelve years old, very active, a bit naughty, but lovely and innocent Most of the students took a placement test before the course began The ages of the students were similar They sometimes had problems with their belongings such as rulers, pens, erasers, etc when they shared with their classmates and argued with each other Most of these young learners enjoyed games and moving activities They had short attention and concentration spans and found it uncomfortable to listen to teachers during a long

lesson Learners in Let’s Go classes spent 80 hours in each course They came to class

twice a week on Saturday and Sunday (two hours for each lesson) Most young learners, however, were forced to come by parents, and sometimes resented not being able to enjoy computer games or getting up late on weekends

3.4 Data collection procedure

3.4.1 Observations

The observations began in April 2005 and took place at SEAMEO RETRAC in

Let’s Go classes The total amount of observation time was 1200 minutes (20 hours)

3.4.1.1 Non-participant observations

The writer played a role as an observer in six classes in order to find out the extent to which realia was used and how effectively teachers used it to teach grammar structures to children She also wanted to ascertain the students’ attitude towards these activities

The total time for non-participant observations was 720 minutes (12 hours) including six classes There were approximately 15 students in each class To begin, the writer presented the reason for the study to the teachers and asked permission to

observe their classes for 60 minutes Let’s Go classes at SEAMEO RETRAC took

place every Saturday and Sunday Each class was observed twice on successive days

in order that the writer could check the students’ understanding of the previous lessons The children learned language with two teachers in class; one native teacher and one Vietnamese teacher, who worked as a teaching assistant

There are four parts in the Let’s Go book aimed at four skills (speaking,

listening, reading and writing) The writer made sure that the teachers were working with grammar before observing This was a time saving strategy The note-taking records were of great value for this study as they showed how the teachers used realia

to teach structures Through observations, the writer could find meaningful answers for the study The observing of activities revealed the ways in which the teachers used realia in classes as well as students’ reactions towards the activities

During the lessons, the writer took notes on the following checklist

same level – Let’s Go 2 The two classes took place in the morning

In the writer’s classes, there were two co-teachers helping each other The native teacher, for instance, taught speaking and pronunciation, while the writer did grammar, writing, corrected homework and sometimes controlled the class Therefore, the writer tried to recognize the situations and took notes as soon as she finished the lessons This was not very convenient however

This was an opportunity for the writer to self-observe her own classes as an experiment, and to search for the advantages and disadvantages in using realia The participants in these observations were the writer and her students

During the observations, the writer took notes on the checklist’s items (see the

checklist in non-participant observations)

3.4.2 Interviews with teachers

Interviews in this study are focused on ascertaining the practical perspective of teachers on the use of realia to teach grammar There were 10 teachers (9 Vietnamese and 1 foreigner) chosen at random They were teachers who had experience and had taught young learners for at least two years All of the interviews were face-to-face

and took about 25 minutes All related information was tape-recorded for later analysis

The writer took time to meet and talk to the teachers so they could share their experiences in teaching young learners The focus was on the ideas: (1) whether they used realia in class, (2) how they use realia teach grammar to young learners, and (3) how effective it was

3.4.3 Questionnaire

There were 177 students chosen at random from 10 classes who answered the questionnaire They all sent answers back Due to inexperience, a number of students did not follow instructions and checked more than one answer on some questions Rather than discard the students entire questionnaire, only the incorrectly marked questions were omitted This, of course, results in a statistical anomaly in that “N” will vary from question to question All the data was transformed into numerical values to

be analyzed with descriptive statistics

There were eight questions in the questionnaire The first two questions aimed

at searching the needs of young learners when they study in Let’s Go classes at

SEAMEO RETRAC The next two questions examined students’ attitude towards the grammar structures they had studied in class The fifth question was used to determine young learners’ problems in studying grammar The sixth question was used to investigate how realia is used in class The responses to the seventh question measured young learners’ attitudes and expectations towards the realia which their teachers used in class Finally, in the last question, young learners shared their personal opinions after every class

The results measured the young learners’ attitudes and expectations toward the realia their teachers used to explain structures In order to minimize their reading

comprehension errors, the questionnaire was written in very simple Vietnamese (see

Appendix) and was explained clearly to the learners

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter contains the results and discussion from the observations of Let’s

Go classes, the teachers’ interviews, and the responses from the young learners

4.1 Results from observations

During the observations, it was discovered that not all of the teachers used realia in class, especially for teaching grammar To clarify this problem, the study was divided into three parts: the non-participant observations, the participant observations,

and the young learners’ responses All of them are discussed as follows, together with

the results from other instruments (questionnaire and interviews) to find the answers

to the research questions

4.1.1 Non- participant observations

4.1.1.1 Difference between young and middle-aged teachers

Young teachers

(4 classes – 8 hours)

Middle-aged teachers

(2 classes – 4 hours) Kinds of

structures Time/Number of classes Percent Time/Number of

classes

Percent

Preposition 8 hours (4 classes) 100% 2 hours (1 class) 50%

Comparison 6 hours (3 classes) 75% 2 hours (1 class) 50%

Countable &

Uncountable

Nouns

Table 4.1: Difference between young teachers and middle-aged teachers

Table 4.1 illustrated a big difference between young and middle-aged

observed teachers in their teaching methods Through observations, it was shown that young teachers applied more communicative methods in class They always tried to find ways to make their class more interesting by using games, songs, stories and realia There were 100% of young teachers who I observed using realia to present

prepositions Besides, three out of four classes (75%) used realia in presenting Comparison and Countable – Uncountable Nouns The atmosphere in these classes

was noisy but exciting

It was also noisy because of students’ chatting as opposed to a quiet atmosphere in the classes controlled by the middle-aged teachers They were experienced teachers but had little activeness since they were in their early sixties From table 4.1, only 50% of the middle-aged teachers used realia in presenting

prepositions and comparison Moreover, there were 100% of them who applied

mechanical drills in teaching countable and uncountable nouns Most of the interaction

in class between students and the teacher involved asking, writing and repeating In order to present a new structure, the teachers wrote the examples on the board, explained the structures, and asked for repetition Although there were two co-teachers and one of them was young, the activities were not as exciting because of the influence of the method used by the middle-aged teacher This indicates that both of them must create the exciting atmosphere It could also be concluded that using realia

in teaching takes lots of energy from teachers, especially from the older ones

4.1.1.2 Kinds of realia used in observed classes

Percent Number

of classes

Percent Number

of classes

Table 4.2: Kinds of realia used in observed classes

Through the observations, it was shown that the middle-aged teachers did not spend much time on designing the grammar lessons with realia Only one out of two classes (50%) in which available realia in class was used Neither of them prepared realia at home nor look for realia from the kiddy corner

However, even the young teachers who had used realia in teaching took most

of the real things which were available in the classroom (100%) such as tables, chairs, the board, students, bags, pencil cases, etc They borrowed some bags from the children, for example, and called a student to the front of the class and asked, “Which bag is yours?” or asked the whole class “Which bag is his/hers?” If the lesson needed some objects that were not available in the classroom, 75% of the teachers tried to

find something at the kiddy corner such as maps, balls, globes, crayons, etc

Generally, grammar points involved easy structures like prepositions or

possessive adjectives Young learners had to learn some prepositions like in, on, by,

pen, a pencil case, a book on the table, in her bag, under the chair, near the door and told children about their places such as “The book is in my bag”, “The pencil is by the door”, “The ruler is under the chair”, etc Children did not need much time to catch the meaning They showed their understanding to their friends and teacher by explaining the meaning of these prepositions in Vietnamese

When teaching about possessive adjectives, that teacher called some students to

carry their books to the front of the class The teacher pointed to students A’s book

and said, “This is her book” Then she did the same thing with other students

T: This is his book (pointed to a boy’s book)

These are their books (pointed to books of a group of students)

This is my book (pointed to her own book)

Then she checked children’ understanding by asking the class before writing on the board

T: Whose book is it? Is it his book?

There was one out of four classes of the young teachers in which realia was

well-prepared (25%) For example, there is a grammar point in Let’s Go 5 (unit 6)

about the use of “There is” and “There are” with countable and uncountable nouns In order to explain the difference, the teachers brought a bottle of water, some cake, some cookies and some oranges She asked students to close their books, put these realia on the table in two separate parts The cake and the bottle of water were on the

T: Look at the table What are they?

S: cookies, orange, water and cake

T: That’s right Look at my left There is some water and some cake

(T said and wrote on the board)

T: Look at my right There are some cookies and some oranges

(T wrote on the board and underlined “is” and “are”)

T: Everybody, count the cookies and the oranges One, two, three cookies

One, two oranges So you would say: “There are some cookies There are some oranges.”

Now, can you count water? One? No, that is the bottle I want you to count the water

(T poured water slowly into a cup) Can you count the water? No, you

cannot

So you would say “There is some water”

T: What about the cake? It is a piece of cake, not a cake You cannot count the cake So you would say “There is some cake”

(T then collected some realia in the classroom like books, shoes, bags, money, etc and reinforced the structures with the same examples)

The children were very interested with the real objects on the table, especially because they were food and they paid attention to what the teacher said However, it was not easy for children to catch the difference at first More exercises could help them to reinforce the structures The writer checked their related homework on the successive day and determined that they made fewer errors than in the previous day

To explain complex structures like present perfect tense (Let’s Go 5 - Unit 8) or ordinal numbers (Let’s Go 4 – Unit 3), most of the teachers wrote the examples on the

However, the fact was that young learners could then use that structure fluently through repetition although neither the teachers nor the writer was sure about their consciousness of the knowledge

By observing six Let’s Go classes (12 hours), it seemed to be that most of the

teachers found it difficult to apply realia in all cases in teaching grammar structures to young learners Although the student’s final results were not bad, and using realia seemed simple, the question is whether it is a challenge for teachers to use realia as a teaching aid to explain grammar The writer hoped that the problem would be clarified in the participant observations

4.1.2 Participant observations

Understanding (by examining

students’ feedback) Kinds of

structures Kinds of realia Number of students

Prepositions Chairs, desks, doors,

Subject-Verb

Agreement

Candies, scissors, students, papers

Table 4.3: The result of using realia

In this part, the writer’s role was as a teacher who tried to use realia in all cases to explain new structures Her purpose was to see how the process and the results differed from other observed classes in which the writer had only watched and recorded what happened During 8 hours of collecting data, the writer determined that

it was not easy to apply realia to all structures Although the activities in class were planned, they sometimes failed to achieve their aims Getting students to understand

by using realia to explain simple structures like imperatives or prepositions was not a big problem (77%) However, many problems resulted in explaining complex structures with realia only

In teaching subject-verb agreement (unit 5), the writer at first could not decide

how to use realia to explain it Then she brought three candies, three pairs of scissors, and asked two students (one boy and one girl) to come to the front of the class She gave the boy, the girl and herself one candy for each and asked them to eat with her Then she said and wrote on the board:

They eat candies

The writer did the same thing with scissors She asked them to cut papers and wrote on the board

We cut papers

The writer gave more examples about the agreement of verbs and subjects By observing, the writer realized that more than half of the class did not understand They

took it for granted that there must be an “s” after the verb if the subject is he, she or it

However, they got confused when making the question “What does he eat?” Some of them asked the writer why there was no “s” after verbs in questions They made many mistakes in doing the related exercises Only 33% of students could understand and did the exercises well

The writer faced many problems which the observed teachers had previously experienced For example, in order to explain a complex structure, the observed teachers used other teaching aids like pictures, games or at least asked for students’ repetition The writer had to try to use only realia to teach grammar to see if it was possible or not It is not surprising that it was impossible to use realia in most of the complex cases because it was not suitable to apply real things to abstract concepts

It appears that everything needs to be flexible The further the writer stretched

to apply realia, the fewer students comprehended the structures The most difficult thing was how to help students distinguish the differences between tenses For example, to explain the Present Continuous tense, the writer called a student to the front of the class, gave him a marker and asked him to draw something on the board While he was drawing, the writer asked the class:

T: What is he doing?

S: He draws

T: Yes He is drawing Repeat

S: He is drawing

Then the writer gave some other examples to make sure students could use it

At first, students made mistakes which were corrected with the writer’s help However, everything seemed to fall apart when students practiced orally and did

students were confused between “what is he drawing?” and “what does he draw?” There were only 5 students (16.7%) finished the exercises correctly

While with the same structure, the observed teachers showed students a picture

of a boy eating an ice cream There was a clock in the picture

T: What is he eating?

S: He eats an ice cream

T: Yes He is eating an ice cream Repeat

T: Yes He eats a sandwich everyday

The teacher showed the first picture

T: Right now, is he eating a sandwich?

S: No, he eating an ice cream

T: Yes, he is eating an ice cream now Repeat

Everything seemed to be simpler with the pictures The observed teacher could help students to distinguish the Present Continuous tense and the Simple Present tense

as well as to use the new tense perfectly

In the experimenting classes, most of the learners are quite young (around eight years old) They have just started to study English Their knowledge and understanding are limited Therefore, realia could create interests, but not necessarily

understanding Realia in this case could not help them to compare and distinguish the differences They needed to have more time to think, practice and discover Perhaps the problem in the writer’s case could be overcome by practicing regularly in class

4.1.3 Learners’ responses

observations Participant observations

Result Number of classes

(total=6) Percent

Number of classes

Table 4.4: The effectiveness and students’ responses

Through the two types of observations, one thing was certain The children enjoyed real things, and realia was effective in explaining simple structures like

prepositions or possessive adjectives The more teachers used realia, the more interest

the students felt (100%) They got bored easily if they could not see anything in lessons because of the characteristics mentioned previously Whenever the observed teachers applied realia to teach a grammar point, the class atmosphere became interesting and the grammar concept quickly became learners’ knowledge Realia could draw attention of even the naughty children and who had no motive for coming

to English classes

However, sometimes the teachers could not afford to control the class when

actually a good signal for children’ understanding because Brown (1994) affirmed that keeping children’ laughing and learning could not be separated

Through the non-participant observations, the writer found that the younger

children enjoyed realia more than the older ones The children from Let’s Go 2 to

Let’s Go 4 always wished to see real things and liked to move during the class time

Children from Let’s Go 5 to Let’s Go 6 preferred listening and practicing Although the

older children also wanted to see real objects in class, they were old enough to be too lazy to move When learning a grammar point, the older children liked to repeat the examples many times and discovered the structures themselves while the younger ones wished to see, touch and say the examples This tendency should be considered

at relative levels

Each class was observed twice so that the writer could check children’ understanding and recollection Despite age differences, the children remembered well and had good understanding of the simple structures taught with real objects Except for some students who did not pay attention to the previous lessons, the others (66.7%) were eager and attentive when their teachers reviewed by real things

However, the results in the participant observations were different Since the writer tried to use only realia to explain all structures, it was found that the children did not understand much except for the simple structures such as prepositions and possessive adjectives More complicated structures such as verbs tenses confused the children Only 50% of the students did exercises correctly (These students had spent much time studying those structures before)

Real objects stimulated children’ imagination about a language world where they could see people, colors, things, etc Realia also encouraged children to speak their ideas in class 100% of students are more active and more likely to speak in an interesting environment Young learners also remembered the structures they

repeated many times though they were not clear about those structures they had repeated

In summary, the three-month non-participant observations show that the young teachers were more active and they used realia to explain grammar more often than the middle-aged ones However, realia they used were mostly available in class and at the kiddy corner The self-observations of the writer in two experimenting classes proved the impossibility of applying realia at all times The next part of the study will

be used to clarify this from the teachers’ perspectives

4.2 Results from the interviews

Generally speaking, the interviewees all had the same ideas about the interests and the enthusiasm of young learners They all loved to work with children When asked about their grammar teaching style as well as their thinking about realia, most

of the teachers supplied a lot of experiences and personal ideas The information from the interviews can be divided into three parts

• An overview in teaching young learners

• The fact of using realia in class

• The advantages and disadvantages of using realia

All of the ideas are proved by statistics

4.2.1 An overview in teaching young learners

− Getting learners use the knowledge

− Gaining their learning’s interest

All of the interviewees agreed that the easiest factor in teaching young learners

is the knowledge the teacher brings to class It is very simple vocabulary, structures, and information Teachers used very simple concepts which are meaningful to those learners who have very little understanding about life Moreover, since this is the stage where children absorb new things, they remember clearly everything they see seen and are taught They do not forget easily There was an idea that children are like empty papers Whatever teachers write down, they can catch very quickly Therefore, the knowledge goes deeply into their minds and stays there for a long time The reason that children learn English quickly is because memory is one of the most important factors in learning a foreign language

4.2.1.2 Difficulties

But there are also difficulties in teaching children Some subjects stated that

information coming into children’s mind is new and stayed there for a long time Making errors in teaching can cause misunderstandings that are hard to correct later The errors involve pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, intonation, etc

Additionally, all of the participants affirmed that the most serious trouble they have to face is class control Children are active and energetic They are always busy doing something, especially when they are interested They get bored easily if the lesson and teacher’s performance are not interesting enough Therefore, the teachers are also busy drawing their attention to the lessons This takes lots of time and energy

Moreover, the ultimate aim of teaching is not performing, but imparting knowledge to learners Children from 8 to 12 years old are not old enough to set a goal in learning They come to class to learn English but they are not able to recognize its importance Because language has its own meaning, the difficulty for children is actually using English This is primarily because their knowledge is incomplete

Another difficulty mentioned by the subjects is how to gain children’ interest Most young learners come to classes because of their parents and without any personal interest Children are busy with playing, eating, sleeping and doing lots of homework at their public schools Therefore, taking an extra English class on the weekends is actually a burden to them Since eagerness and interest are important to

be successful in learning and working, the rule of the thumb is that teachers must develop a creative environment in class in order that young learners change their mind and truly wish to attend

The last but not least difficulty derived from the interview is about the limited explanation When working with more advanced students, teachers can teach them something more than the topic as they are mature and their knowledge is good enough

to absorb additional material Therefore, the lessons become more interesting However, no one can apply the same rules to younger students Generally, they