A study on difficulties and solutions to improve english grammar for the second year students of the department of information technology at hung yen university of technology and education

Trang 1 DECLARATION I certify my authorship of the study report entitled “A study on difficulties and solutions to improve English grammar for the second-year students of the Department

DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the study report entitled “A study on difficulties and

solutions to improve English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.”

This graduation paper is the result of my own research and the substance of this dissertation has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution and that if this declaration is found to be false, disciplinary measures and penalties can be taken and imposed in accordance with university policies ad rules

Hung Yen, June 2021

Trinh Hai Dang

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am greatly indebted to so many people for the fulfillment of this study

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor, Mrs Hoang Thi Ngoc Lan for his enthusiastic guidance, valuable comments and suggestions on my doing thesis Without these, my thesis would not have been successfully completed

I am grateful to all the lecturers who have been teaching the K15 Faculty of Foreign Languages – UTEHY

I would also like to thank students at Faculty of Information Technology for having given me the chance to work with students participating in my study for their enthusiastic participation in the classroom observation and completing the survey questionnaire

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, my relatives and my friends for their support and encouragements during the research process

ABSTRACT

The research aims at investigating a study on difficulties and solutions to improve English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, the situation of learning English grammar, the difficulties as well as techniques for improving English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

The study gives a systematic presentation the key theories related to English grammar The aspects of English grammar and some difficulties in learning English grammar are also thoroughly discussed

In order to achieve the objectives, the researcher carried out survey questionnaires among 40 the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their perspectives Based on the analysis from above sources of data, the researcher drew some significant conclusions The results

of such research showed the difficulties and ways to overcome the English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

Finally, the findings were discussed, and some suggestions and implications for learning English grammar for tthe second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education were proposed for

students

CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Research purpose 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Research procedure 2

5 Research methods 2

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Scope of the study 3

8 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 An overview of English grammar 5

2.1.1 Definitions 5

2.1.2 The importance of English grammar 6

2.1.3 Learning English grammar 8

2.2 Difficulties in learning English grammar 9

2.2.1 Class size 9

2.2.2 Lack of understanding of grammatical pattern 9

2.2.3 Lack of vocabulary 9

2.2.4 Teaching methods 10

2.3 Suggested solutions of learning English grammar 10

2.3.1 Learn English grammar websites online 10

2.3.2 Learn grammar through mistakes 11

2.3.3 Self- studying and to do homework 11

2.4 Summary 12

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 13

3.1 Participants 13

3.2 The data collection instruments 14

3.3 Questionnaire 14

3.4 Data analysis method 14

3.5 The results 14

3.5.1 The result from questionnaire 14

3.5.1.1 Students' attitudes towards English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology 14

3.5.1.2 Students' difficulties in learning English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology 17

3.5.1.3 Students’ suggested solutions of learning English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology 19

3.5.2 The interview 20

3.6 Findings 22

3.6.1 Difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar and their expectations 22

3.6.2 Suggested solutions to enhance the efficiency of learning English grammar 22

3.7 Recommendations 23

3.8 Summary 23

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 24

4.1 The summary of the study 24

4.2 Implication of the study 24

4.3 Suggestions for the further study 25

REFERENCES 26 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENT IV

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

• List of tables

Table 1: Students’ perspective of spend time learning English grammar

Table 2: The students’ perspective of difficulties factors in their English grammar Table 3: The students’ solutions English grammar

Table 4: Students’ opinions on the best way to improve English grammar

• List of charts

Chart 1: Students’ evaluation about English grammar

Chart 2: Students’ perspective of difficulties in learning English grammar

Chart 3: The learning patterns

Chart 4: The most influential element in students

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It cannot be denied that in the whole world English has become more and more important as the international means of communication in many fields of our life such as aviation, business, service, culture, education, economy, and so on Thus, learning English has become a compulsory requirement of studying and working

Vietnam is not out of this circle, learning English has been paid more and more attention to and has begun to be used widely in education and others fields That was grammar is a useful means of providing learners with grammar structure, which is an essential component of the whole language learning process

Moreover, the English proficiency of Vietnamese students even at the university level is often less than satisfactory The reason is that English is taught as a separate subject rather than being used as the medium of communication Moreover, the formative test in most listening programs stress understanding questions, which require background knowledge, various new words, familiarity with the text topic and predicting ability

At Hung Yen University of Technology and Education , for the second-year students

of the Department of Information Technology, they cannot avoid common problems related to English grammar about the test form or some programs require grammar Therefore, it is essential for students to be fluent in English However, learning English grammar at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education still have many difficulties due to lack of effective methods that stimulate the student’s interests Therefore, it is very necessary to find out the effective methods in learning English grammar for all the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology as well

For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, the researcher would like to figure out “A

study on difficulties and solutions to improve English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.” as the title for the thesis in the hope that the researcher can

contribute a small part in helping her students and her colleagues to improve their learning and teaching English especially in learning and teaching grammar that they may need for further study, work or leisure

2 Research purpose

This study intends to find out difficulties students are facing when learning English grammar and solutions to improve English grammar, the focus will be:

• Investigating difficulties students are facing when learning English grammar

• Suggesting some solutions to those difficulties

3 Research questions

The research will find the answers for the following questions:

• What are the difficulties for the students at the Department of Information Technology when they learn English grammar?

• What are the solutions to improve English grammar for the students at the Department of Information Technology?

Finally, the study will give some suggestions to help improve and enhance the grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology

Investigative and survey methods: Questionnaires and observation

Analysis method: from data got from many different materials related to the topic, analyzing to get the final results

Systematized method: many materials related, the researcher has to systematize what she reads from materials Moreover, the research has to categorize the materials and her ideas to make study logical

6 Significance of the study

The study helps the researcher improve the knowledge about English grammar, the difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively of the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology, find out some solutions to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning English grammar at university

It will be very helpful for the teachers of English in Hung Yen University of Technology and Education as well as for English teachers to teach grammar effectively, and motivate their learners in grammar classes These suggestions also help students who learn English improve their grammar and made language focus lessons more communicative and meaningful

7 Scope of the study

As could be seen from the title of the study, this paper strongly focuses on a study on difficulties and solutions to improve English grammar for the second-year students of the Department of Information Technology at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

8 Design of the study

The study consists of 4 parts, references

- Significance of the study

- Scope of the study

- Design of the study

Chapter2: Literature

- Overview of English grammar

- Difficulties in learning English grammar

- Suggested solutions of learning English grammar Chapter3: The study

- Participants

- The data collection instruments

- Data analysis method

- The results

Chapter 4: Conclusion

- Summary of the study

- The limitations of the study

- Suggestions for further studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the knowledge of grammar, the theories, factors affecting on students’ grammar learning, and some difficulties in learning English grammar

2.1 An overview of English grammar

2.1.1 Definitions

Grammar is a linguistic term that has become popular among those who are working

in the field of language teaching in general and second/foreign language teaching in particular However, the question of what grammar is has yielded so many different answers from linguists and grammarians

According to Harmer (1983:1), grammar of the language is the description of “the ways in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences” Two

examples are also given to illustrate for this definition: the case of “walk” changes into

“walked” to indicate the past tense and the case of “not many” combines with the plural noun “oranges” to make a full sentence like “There are not many oranges on the shelf”

Such view on grammar is agreed by Ur (1988:4), Thornbury (1999:1), Crystal (1995) and Nunan (2003:143) It can be seen that all these linguists describe grammar as a set of rules that govern a language; however, they fail to work out what the “rules” are

Crystal (2002) holds a different view on grammar when he argues that grammar should be studied in two senses: in the specific sense, grammar is presented as just one branch of language structure, distinct from phonology and semantics; in the general sense, grammar subsumes phonology and semantics Thus, if viewed from a broader sense, grammar involves both form and meaning

By way of contrast, from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2009), grammar is defined as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences” Sharing the same idea, Ur (1988:4) states that

“grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bit of words) in order to form longer units of meaning” Both definitions above refer to the morphology (word formation) and syntax (sentence formation) of a language Clearly, grammar is the element which makes up all words and structures in a sentence It is a set of rules which construct meaning and form of a sentence

An alternative and more comprehensive definition of grammar is provided by Widdowson (1988:151-2) in which grammar is viewed in terms of form, meaning and function

[Grammar is] “a device for indicating the most common and recurrent aspects of meaning” [which] “formalizes the most widely applicable concepts, the highest common factors of experience: it provides for communicative economy”

This definition shows a renovation in the view of grammar: grammar can indicate meaning and grammar can communicate Larsen-Freeman (2003) shares her view on three dimensions of grammar teaching in which she insists that grammar is not simply about accuracy of form but it relates to meaningfulness and appropriateness as well She also proposes a new definition of grammar that “grammar(ing) is one of the dynamic linguistic processes of pattern formation in language, which can be used by humans for making meaning in context-appropriate ways” (Larsen-Freeman, 2003:142) Following this definition, grammar is no longer a set of static rules but a dynamic process of pattern formation which is best explored in appropriate contexts

From all above definitions, grammar is the system of structures in a language Grammar specifies rules for standard use of words and how their component parts combine

to form sentences A grammar is also a system for classifying and analyzing the elements

of language including inflections, functions, rules andrelations in the sentence

2.1.2 The importance of English grammar

No one can deny the importance of grammar in a primary medium of learning at all stages of education as well as in foreign language learning

Teaching grammar has been a longstanding tradition in teaching a foreign language

In recent years, the role of grammar in language teaching and learning has received different interpretations Traditional method like the grammar translation one stressed the need to master grammar as the centerpiece in learning foreign language whereas some expressed different against the teaching grammar: “The study of grammar is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning a language” (Brumfit and Johnson, 1978) Therefore, there has been a great controversy relating to the raised question: “Whether should we teach grammar or not? Do we have to have grammar exercises? Isn’t it better for students

to absorb the rules intuitively through communicative activities than to be taught through

special exercises?” (Ur,1988) Some linguists have given their answer to these big questions

According to Richards, Platt, and Weber in Nunan (2005:2) grammar is a description

of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language From this definition, it seems that grammar plays an importance role in combining units of language to form sentences The sentences are acceptable or grammatically if they follow the rules of grammar Since a communicative purpose and function of language and reflected in grammar, it is a must the language students to acquire good grammar It should be admitted, good mastery in grammar will enable people easily to express information, feeling, and ideas in their thought to others In other words, it can be said that communication failure will happen if people do not master the grammar because the purpose of communication cannot be reached From that statement, it is clear that grammar is important to be mastered by the students in order to be able to express their feelings, emotions, and to be able to use English appropriately

Ur (1988) stressed the importance of grammar in language learning and teaching He stated “knowledge - implicit or explicit - of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery

of a language: you cannot use words unless you know how they should be put together” However, he also claims “the learning of grammar should be seen in the long term as a whole, not as an end in itself”

Harmer (1987) also admitted that: “There is now a general feeling that students do need to learn how to perform the functions of language, but they need a grammatical base

as well Modem courses often teach a grammatical structure and then get students to use it

as part of a functional conversation”

Furthermore, as Wang (2010) mentioned, after the appearance of communicative approach, teachers often put much emphasis on “communicative competence” and neglect

“linguistic competence” This leads in the fact that students make lots of errors in oral as well as written performance because of their lack of basic knowledge of language With this tendency Hymes (1972, quoted in Wang (2010)) indicates that “communicative competence” should include “linguistic competence” and “linguistic performance” Hence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and grammatical competence are four basic aspects of this approach

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

2.1.3 Learning English grammar

Learning grammar is a much debated topic in language learning Different experts have different opinions about learning of grammar

According to some research, the language cannot be learnt without studying of grammar of the language According to Sweet (cited in Patel & Praveen, 2008, p.141),

“grammar is not a code of rules.” According to Chapman (cited in Patel & Praveen, 2008,p.141) “grammar is a study of language by specialist, made in order to establish the rules and principles which underline the correct speech and writing, rules and principles which are followed more or less unconsciously by the native speakers”

But some people say that utility of grammar is doubtful in learning English They say that the students who study grammar are very often able to solve grammar exercises but do not make correct speech

Learning of grammar has a very important place in the past It is commonly believed that to help the learners to learn English language, its grammar must be taught first It is also believed that without knowing and mastering grammatical rules of English, one cannot learn to speak and write it Slowly it is realized that correct usages go on changing from time to time And as a result, grammar teaching which was regarded as an end in itself lost its importance However, nowadays, it is believed that grammar cannot be taught

in isolation Widodo (2006, p.122) says that “grammar is thought to furnish the basis for a set of language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.” Doff (2000), Long and Richards (1987) also gives opinion about the role of grammar in learning language as follows:

By learning grammar, students can express meanings in the form of phrases, clauses and sentences

It cannot be ignored that grammar plays a central role in the four language skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks

Large classes are likely hard challenges for teachers In classes, teachers are difficult

to organize and control activities Moreover, students may get fewer opportunities to practice learning English Many students feel so shy or bored because of noisy atmosphere

In addition, students’ level also may clarify clearly In general, in large classes, there are many factors that hinder student to learn English

2.2.2 Lack of understanding of grammatical pattern

It is argued so far that learning grammar cannot be separated from learning a foreign language In fact, learning foreign language becomes difficult since the target language has different system from the native language Nunan (2003) says that it has been assumed that the learners’ first language would have a strong influence on the order in which grammatical items were required

Due to the different grammar between the mother tongue and foreign language, it is very often the students find this as an obstacle in their learning to speak English As it is known, efficient communication cannot take place without correct grammar This idea is similar to Opole’s statement (2009) He says that grammar provides students with the structure they need in order to organize and put their messages and ideas across In this sense, they will not be able to convey their ideas to their full extension without a good command of the underlying grammar patterns and structures of the language

2.2.3 Lack of vocabulary

Vocabulary has been increasingly recognized as necessary to language use Lack of vocabulary knowledge could lead to students’ difficulties in language reception and production and becomes an obstacle for them to express their ideas in English Vocabulary,

as Smith further argues, is the basic for speaking or conversational skill In this case, the more words students know, the more they can say and understand things presented, both oral and written, in English

The importance of vocabularies for students has also been argued by some theorists like Huyen and Nga, (2003) They say that in order to communicate well in a foreign language like English, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should also know how to use them accurately This means that teaching vocabulary to the students should also be accompanied by an explanation of each use of the vocabularies given This kind of opinion is also proposed by Chen (2003, in He and Chen, 2010) arguing that the knowledge of vocabulary is founded to be a causal aspect in oral communication All these show that mastering more and more vocabularies is important for students in order to speak more frequently in the English class

2.2.4 Teaching methods

Teachers have many teaching methods However, they sometimes find it hard to apply communicative language teaching into their teaching Although students (learners) are supposed to be centered in learning, teachers still talk a lot in their lessons Sometimes, teachers speak the long sentences with some new words and do not explain again Which make students be interrupted by teachers’ words

Many teachers think that they should provide students with all the language they need to complete a task In fact, teachers cannot know exactly what language the students need to use The other factors, if students make mistakes, many teachers criticize their errors and teachers rarely or never give any solution It is difficult for students to organize their ideas clearly

2.3 Suggested solutions of learning English grammar

2.3.1 Learn English grammar websites online

According to Swan, M (2012) the survey deals with the key means of studying grammar online in a foreign language learning Appropriate grammar is well recognised to

be the foundation of effective communication and language proficiency Notwithstanding great attention being paid to different educational issues and various aspects of language study, there is current need of a more detailed focus on learning language grammar online

Therefore, the purpose of the survey was to examine the main online resources for English grammar learning The key online sources for learning English grammar have been explored and defined by the by the methods of monitoring and comparative analysis of internet resources Considering the survey outcomes, further research perspectives of studying grammar online in a foreign language learning have been specified

Learning and testing go hand in hand The University of Bristol’s Faculty of Arts hosts extensive grammar learning materials on their website, which include exercises to help you practice using punctuation, discern between commonly confused words, use the subjunctive, and plenty other things

2.3.2 Learn grammar through mistakes

According to sought to review the literature on teaching English grammar encompassing an overview of grammar definitions and teaching grammar approaches, as well as definitions of games, classifications of games, the influence of using games on the language learners’ performance Prior researches on teaching English grammar through games have also been examined Key words: English grammar; grammar teaching approach; game; technology

Sridhar (1981) points out that Error Analysis has a long tradition Prior to the early 1970s, however, Error Analysis consisted of little more than impressionistic collections of

‘common’ errors and their linguistic classification (e.g French 1949) The goals of traditional Error Analysis were pedagogic errors providing information which could be used to sequence items for teaching or to devise remedial lessons

2.3.3 Self- studying and to do homework

According to Bembenutty, H (2009) Self-regulation of homework completion The article evaluates the relationship between homework and self-regulation from the elementary grades to college It reveals that quality measures of homework such as managing distractions, self-efficacy and perceived responsibility for learning, setting goals, self-reflection, managing time, and setting a place for homework completion are more effective than only measuring the amount of time spent on homework During homework completion, students engage in self-regulation by motivating themselves, inhibiting distractions, using strategies to complete homework, managing time, setting goals, self-

reflecting on their performance, and delaying gratification As a result, self-regulation and homework are related and the findings show that from elementary grades to college, skilled learners engaged in the above self-regulatory behaviors during homework activities Self-regulatory behaviors develop gradually over time with repeated practice Evidence from experimental studies shows that students can be trained to develop self-regulation skills during homework activities It is important to continue with training studies at all grade levels so that students can become aware of the relationship between homework activities and these self-regulation processes such as goals, self-efficacy, self-reflection, time management, and delay of gratification Evidence from correlational studies showed that students' self-regulation skills and motivational beliefs correlate positively with homework activities Homework assignments that are adequately challenging and interesting help struggling and at-risk students develop motivation and self-regulation skills and achieve success Teachers can help students develop these behaviors by using homework logs Data from the logs can help teachers show students their strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses

2.4 Summary

The chapter has presented the relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical can conceptual framework for graduation paper It has talked about different aspects relating to learning English grammar The following chapter will display the methodology and finding of the research under the light of all above