Luận văn a study on the impact of the communicative approach to grammar teaching on students' interest at the institute of foreign language hanoi university of agriculture

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES aaranee Pools, --—---- NGUYEN THI HIEN A STUDY ON THE IMPACT O

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

aaranee Pools, —

NGUYEN THI HIEN

A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO GRAMMAR TEACTIING ON STUDENTS’ INTEREST AT TITRE INSTITUTE

OF FORFIGN LANGUAGES- HANOT UNTVERSITY OF AGRICTLTURE

(NGHIÊN CỨU TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIÁO TIẾP FRONG VIỆC

DẠY NGỮ THÁP TIENG ANTI TOT SU WONG THU CUA SINIT VTEN TẠI

TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC NÔNG NHGIEP HA NOD

Field : English Teaching Methodology

HANOL- 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

ales -

NGUYEN THI HIEN

A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO GRAMMAR TEACTIING ON STUDENTS’ INTEREST AT TITE INSTITUTE

OF FORFIGN LANGUAGES- HANOT UNTVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

(NGHIÊN CỨU TÁC ĐỘNG CỦA ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIÁO TIẾP FRONG VIỆC

DẠY NGỮ THÁP TIẾNG ANH TỚI SỰ HỨNG THỦ

TỦA SINII VIÊN TẠI

TRUNG TÂM NGOẠI NGỮ - ĐẠI HỌC NÔNG NHGIEP HA NOD

MLA MINOR TH

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Superviser ‘in Hién Lan, M.A

IIANOI—2011

ili

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

I Aims of the study

LL Research questions

TV Scope of the study

V Methods of the study

VIL Design of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 An overview on Ianguage teaching methods In Teaching grammar LL1 The Grammar Translation Method with teaching grammar

1.1.2 The Audio — lingual Method with teaching grammar

2 Communicative language teaching (CL) in teaching grammar 1.2.1, An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT)

1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT

12.3 Status of Grammar in CLT

12.4, Teaching grammar in the light of CLT

13 Students’ interest

1.3.1 Concept of students’ interest

1.3.2 Factors affecting students’ interest in the class

1.4, The impact of CLT to grammar teaching on students’ interest

1.4.1, Grammar teaching techniques in CLT

1-3 Teachers’ persormal qualities and characlers

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

ILL Setting of the study

IL.2 Methodology

11.2.1 Subjects

1.2.2 Methods and Procedures

11.2.3 Survey Instruments

1

1.2.3.1 Questionnaires

11.2.3.2 Class observation

11.2.3.3 Interview

IL3 Data analysis and findings

11.3.1 Questionnaires

11.3.2 Class Observation

11.3.3 Interview

CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS

IIL Recommendations for Teaching

JIL2 Suggested communicative Activities for a Grammar lesson 11.2.1 Using games and problom-solving activitics

11.2.2 Using songs

11.2.3 Role play

11.2.4 Interview

1HL3.5 Telling stories

PART C: CONCLUSION

1 Summary of the study

2 Limitations of the study

3 Recommendations for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES:

PART A: INTRODUCTION

English is considered to be the most common and important language of the world today in which a great mumber of people understand and use it

In Vietnam, the economic open-doar policy pursued by the government has increased a

demand for studying Fnglish English is also scon as a necessary means for any graduate who wishes to find a good job, especially in foreign companies, In correspondence to this trend, at almost all colleges and universities, English is taught as a compulsory subject Additionally, there are many cvening English classes at forcign languages centers opened to serve the explosion in the demand for English

Howover, both (caching and learning English in Victnamn are said to be nol ofTeetive because, as a matter of fact, the traditional method of teaching is still applied in many universities in general and at Llanci University of Agriculture (IIUA) in particular, which fails

10 get students involved in the lessons, especially in grammar lessons

The questions of how to make the grammar lessons more interesting and how to make students interested in the grammar lessons have become a concer of teachers of English in general and thosa at HUA in particular

From my experience, my students are mote interested in the grammar lessons when teachers use games, songs pictues, and other communicative activities to present the new items For the above teasous, I have decided to conduct a rescarch entilled: “A stedp an the impact of the communicative approach to grammar teaching on students’ interest at IFL — Hanoi University of Agriculture”, ‘Uhis study is an attempt to look into the matter of how

Communicative Language Teaching is applied in teaching grammar al IFT - HUA and the

impact of CLT on students’ interest in grammar learning, It is believed that the insights into

these areas will help to address the matter of teaching grammar effectively at universities and

at foreign Janguage centers as well

To achieve the aims of the thesis, the following questions were proposed:

1 What ts the fact of grammar teaching and learning at IFL—ITUA?

2 Towhat extent dees CLT affect students’ interest int the context of IFL HUA?

‘The thesis consist of three parts: A- Introduction, B- Development, and C-Conclusion

ke

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

11 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar

111, The Grammar — Translation method (GIM) in teaching grammar

The Grammar-Translation method dominated from the Jat 19% century to the carly 20

century and although it has been generally acknowledged as the least effective teaching methodology, the method is still widely used in many countries including Viemam Obviously, the best point of this method is that it helps Ieaners become good translators and usc English accurately in addition, it requires few recourses and it is also easy to apply and cheap to administer That is why the method is still uscd in many classrooms where there is # great shortage of teaching and learning facilities and equpment aids, where the class is large of about 30 students, and where the teachers’ adequate speaking skill are accustomed to teaching procedures and where the exams still emphasize knowledge of grammar Nevertheless, the biggest disadvantage of this method is the leamers find it difficult to communicate in real-life situations, or their utterances are correct but inappropriate This is the

rasull of the process of Feaming form and usage, bul nol nse, and learning about the lmguage,

not using the Fanguage to leam through authentic tasks Furthermore, this method makes the leamers really passive in the process of getting knowledge They just listen to the teacher's explanation and do not participate in the exploration of new knows

11.2, The Andio— Lingual Method

‘The Audio — Lingual Method was derived from “ Army Method” during the World

War TT where there was a necil for people to loam forcign languages quickly for military purposes, It later developed into the so called Audio Lingual method, which then has had considerable influence on Linglish language teachang all over the world ‘’his method puts tista wg and speaking in the firsl place Tt uscs senlenee paltern as the hase of teaching and

tries to avoid mother tongue as in class Attention is paid to the need for mechanical practice rather than explanation about the language because the ability to use the language as a means

of communication is the mastery of the linguistic system of the targct language

L 2 Communicative language teaching (CLT) in teaching grammar

12.1 An overview of communicative language teaching (CL1)

Towards the end of the 1960s there was a growing dissatisfaction among applied

Linguists and foreign language teachers with the language theories and teaching methods

American

Linguist Noam Chomsky dzmonstraled thal the curren! standard struclural theorics of Tanguage were incapable of accounting for the fundamental characteristics of language -the creativity and uniqueness of individual sentences Then, British applied Hinguists emphasized another fundamental dimension of language that was inadequately addressed in curtent

approaches to language teaching at that time -the fimotional and communicative potential of language Conscqucnily, Ihe Isaching produced structurally compctsnl studonls who were

often communicatively incompetent Commmnicative (CLT) emerged as a response to that

judgment ‘The term CL1' covers a variety of approaches that all focuses on helping learners to communicate meaningfully in target language Brindley (1986: 11) painted out that: “the

1970°s and 1980°s could be regarded as the cra of communicative teaching.” And it is

probably the approach most used by trained teachers today (Paul Davies, 2000: 193)

1.2.2 Characteristics of C1.T

In CLT, meaning is paramount Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning, into notional and functional categories and views learning a second language as acquiring the linguistic means

obvious characteristic of CLT is that “ Almost everything that is done is done with

communicative intent” Students use the language throngh communicative activities (eg

games, Tolo-plays and problan-solving lasks)

1.2.3 Status of Grammar in CLT

Many lingnists and researchers have advocated grammar instruction in language teaching and tearning, The communicative compelenes model of Canale and Swain (1980) clearly ilustrates the significance of srammar In this model grammar is seen as one component of communicative competence Ons person cannot master a language without the Knowledge of its grammar, Thanks to grammar language partly can function as a means of communication, especially in written language In speaking, though grammatical mistakes are

sametimes acceptable, good grammar makes one’s speech better and more attractive, especially in formal situations, Referring to the importance of grammar teaching,

‘To sum up, the rationale for teaching grammar is multifaceted and grammar is acknowledged to be of importance in language study in general and in language teaching and Yearning in particular

1.24 Teaching grammar in the light of CLT

To date, teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) are still confronted with the emcial issue of choosing the best approach to improve their students' grammatical accuracy It cannot be denied that there las been a lot of progress in English language teaching since the

inlroduction of Communicative Language Tsaching (CIT) Obviously, applying CLT to

pramumat teaching is necessary in order to deal with the disadvantages of Grammar Translation method when being used to teach grammar such as the leamers’ inappropriate utterances and passive leaming style, Nunan (1991) in the section “Focus on form: the role of grammar” discusses the place of grammar in the recent language teaching Whilc grammar played a dominant role in traditional classroom, it was just of marginal importance in earlier communicative classrooms, which drow merdly on meaning valhor than form Unlike in traditional approaches, where grammatical mastery was ultimate learning objective, grammar now is important but just as a means to the end and hence, is always put into context and Tearned far the sakes of sacial funetions Communicative language classroomns, which foeus on both form and meaning, truly retlect the view of leaming grammar as both processes and

products

There ar two main approaches to leach grammar, Those are the deductive and inductive approach In deductive approach, the teachers give the rules and then students give examples In contrast, an inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some forms

of guided discov

from themselves A deductive approach offen fits into a lesson structure known as PPP

(Presentation — Practice — Production) And PPP approach is a common one to communicative

y Tho teacher gives cxampte and asks the students to find out the rules

Tanguage teaching that works through progression of threc scquontial stages,

L 3 Students’ interest

1.3.1 Concept of students’ interest

Ellis (1994) (cited in Keller, 1984) states that interest is one of the main elements of motivation and a positive response to stimulate based on existing cognitive structures in such

a way that leamers” curiosity is aroused and sustained In other words, inierest shows learners” desire ta learn the Largel language Tt ean be seen thal students who are given opportunities for communication will be interested in the lesson

13.2 Factors affecting students’ interest in the class

- Students’ learning style

Students’ learning style is one of the factors we should take into consideration to see the

particular approach by which students try Io learn, According 1o Keefe (1979-4), learning style

can be seen as cognitive, affective and physiological features that ate relatively stable

indieators of how leamers perceive, interact with and respond to the leaming environment Major factors conditioning the ways leamers think and study are the educational system, the

socio-cultural background and personality variables

- Students’ motivation

Motivation is popularly considered to play a very important role in learning In Jeremy

Harmer’s view (1991) “Motivation iy some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to

(pursue a course of action”

L4, The impact of CLT on students’ Interest in grammar learning,

CLT appearing between the 1960s and 1970s marks the beginning of major innovation within language teaching and it has been widely accepted nowadays because of its superior

principles Obviously, grammar plays an important role in FLT beeause learners carmol communicate effectively without grammar Furthermore, the understanding of grammar helps

us build up confidence in using the target language and encourages us to use the language accuratcly and appropriately Granmaris an intogral part of language, so (he more we cam find out about how erammar is leamed and used, the more effectively we will teach it, In fact, there have been many researches on grammar as well as grammar teaching The problem here is that

how to teach grammar and which approach to grammar is appropriate Nowadays, CLT, with

its foundation and on recent achievements in the field of linguistic and psychology, has been considered to be the most effective approach to grammar teaching

14.1 Grammar teaching techniques in CLT

It is obvious that different techniques create different degree of students’ participation and interest in the lesson For example, techniques which focus ơn grammatical and phonological ike choral repetition, drilling substitution, content explanation will result in leamers’ passiveness and limit their participation in leaming In contrast, the techniques that invelve students in communicative activitics such as role-play, games, problem-solving, pait and group work, discussion etc can encourage students to participate in the lesson

4.2 Teachers’ personal qualities and characters

Teachers are considered as a significant source of intrinsic motivation A teacher’s personality matters a lot because if it matches learners’ expectations, it helps build the leaming environment with good relationship between teacher and leamers, one which may increase Icaming motivation

in addition, in order to get students involved in the Jesson, teachers should be ones that studerts trast and respect Barry (1993) points oul sorse charactoristies a teacher should have

as follows; being natural, being warm and being tolerant

In this literature review, the writer has presented different basic issues relating to some methods of teaching grammar which serves as the theoretical framework for the study, Different grammar teaching methods such as Grammar-Translation method, Audio-lingual method have been reviewed to find out advantages and disadvantages of each method ‘The

author also has a bricf look af CLT, its characleristies, the status of grammar in CLT as wall as the teaching of it in the light of CLT To serve the study, at the same time, the writer has paid

attention to the concept of students’ interest factors affecting students’ interest in class as well

as the impacl of CLT ta students’ intorest in grammar learning In the next chapier, the writer reports the study for the answer to the proposed research questions,

CHAPTER TI: METTHIONOLOGY