Luận văn challenges in teaching grammar in the language focus periods with the new english textbook tieng anh 12 at viet ba high school and recommendations

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES FERS SIO IIE NGUYEN THU YEN Challenges in Teaching Grammar in the “Language Focus Periods” with the New English Textbook Tiéng Anh 12 at Viet-Ba High

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

tk kdEkckdEkeddek

NGUYEN THU YEN

Challenges in Teaching Grammar in the “Language F0cus Peri0ds``

with the New English Texthook Tiéng Anh 12 at Viet-Ba High School

and Recommendations

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG DẠY NGỮ PHAP TRONG CÁC TIẾT

“LANGUAGE FOCUS” THEO SACH GIAO KHOA TIENG ANH 12

ỞTR- ỜNG THPT VIỆT NAM-BA LAN VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP)

MA MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.14.10

HANOI - 2010

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

FERS SIO IIE

NGUYEN THU YEN

Challenges in Teaching Grammar in the “Language Focus Periods”

with the New English Textbook Tiéng Anh 12 at Viet-Ba High School

and Recommendations

(NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG DẠY NGỮ PHÁP TRONG CÁC TIẾT

“LANGUAGE FOCUS” THEO SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 12

ỞTR- ỜNG THPT VIỆT NAM-BA LAN VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP)

MA MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60.14.10

SUPERVISOR: Khoa Anh Viet

HANOI — 2010

Chapter 2: DIVIHLOPMIBNT " tttetetrtree iter rnend

2.1, LITERATURE REVIEW ccc cceceeseeesssstserenseeseenstenteeee od

2.1.1.1 Orammar qs rưÌ@s eS

ZLB, Grammar as GISCOUPSE oo oe oe oe soe oie sk son KỈ HH he su V7)

2.1.2 The role of Grammar in forcign language tcaching 8

2.1.2.1, Pro-granmdr DeTSDEClVES à à cà ác cà HH HS ee ee ee

2.1.2.2, Anti-grammar perspectives

2.1.3 Methods commonly used in teaching grammar u

2.1.3.1 Explicit grammar teaching oo eee ee et ee ee ee LL

2.1.4.1, Definition of CLT

2.1.4.2 Teaching grammar in the light of the communicative approach 15

2.2, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 0 :ceeceeceeeee cesses ene eee cen een eon IB

a What do the teachers at Viet-Ba High school perceive of the problems in

teaching Grammar to 12" form students in the “Language Focus periods”?

b What should be done ta overcome those problems al Viel-Ba High

school?

2.2.3.1, The teachers and their teaching situations and conditions oo 20

24 FINDINGS AND SOME POSSILE SOLUTIONS FOR RETTER

TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN THE “LANGUAGE Focus? TO 12"

TORM STUDENTS AT VIET-BA IHGII SCHOOL 34

2.4.1 Summaries of the major findings 34

Chapter 3: CONCLUSION cccccccececeeceeeeeee st teeeeeneeeee cneeeenaes 44

Appendix 3: Extracted transcription 0Ÿ the iIIteTVIEW, uc nh hot ok”

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT Communicative Language ‘Teaching

EEL English as Forcign Language

ESL English as Second Language

24 FINDINGS AND SOME POSSILE SOLUTIONS FOR RETTER

TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN THE “LANGUAGE Focus? TO 12"

TORM STUDENTS AT VIET-BA IHGII SCHOOL 34

2.4.1 Summaries of the major findings 34

Chapter 3: CONCLUSION cccccccececeeceeeeeee st teeeeeneeeee cneeeenaes 44

Appendix 3: Extracted transcription 0Ÿ the iIIteTVIEW, uc nh hot ok”

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT Communicative Language ‘Teaching

EEL English as Forcign Language

ESL English as Second Language

vill

MOET Mimisiry of Education and Training

SLA Seoond Language Acquisition

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: Teachers’ attitude toward grammar teaching

Chart 2: Teachers’ awareness of the role of grammar teaching

Table 1: Techniques used to teach a new grammar item

Charl 3: The ways lo teach ä new gramamar item

Page

25

2S

26

Chapter T: INTRODUCTION

11 RATIONALE:

In Vietnam English has played an important part in the development of teclnology and business nowadays It is considered as the language for international communication and as an instrument for receiving grants and aid Teaching and Icaming English have become more and more necessary and important because of the international integration process It is offered as a compulsory subject in the curriculum as well as the national high school examinations One of the main tasks assigned to English teaching at school 1s that of training students to be communicatively competent Moreover, since Vietnam entered W'IO, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of and need for spoken English Especially, sincs school year 2008-

2009 a new educational reform has been carricd out, a new National reform Curriculum has been followed in all schools in Vietnam, Ihe new textbooks “English 10,1112” have marked real renovation in English teaching and learning from the Iradiional approach —Grannnar translation method to communicative approach

In Vietnam, foreign language teaching in general and English language teaching in

particular is said to be granmur-[ocuscd For many Engtish teachers and students teaching English means teaching grammar There are many good reasons for this, The first reason for this

is the aim of the national examinations whose sole objectives is to measure candidates” linguistic

or grammatical compslence in wrillen form, Therefore, the leaching of Fnglish in secondary schools is still directed towards preparing students for such a sort of examinations Furthermore,

without learning grammar, students can not communicate well, to put it another way, the

language they produce is considered ungrarmmatienl and tmacceplable

However, how te teach and learn grammar effectively has been in question up to now, and has been considered as a challenge for many Vietnamese teachers of English in secondary schools Both teachers and students in schools arc always faced up with many diffieultics,

At Viet-Ba High school, like at many other high schools in Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in secondary curriculum for many years I myself and other English teachers hore are aware af the importance of English grammar (caching For me, finding challenges in teaching and leaming Grammar in the “Language Focus” periods is one of the ways to deal with grammar more effectively in the secondary school classrooms And this would be of great help to

auyself as well as to other teachers This is also the reason why my thesis is entitled: “Chatlenges

in Teaching Grammar in the “Language Focus periods” with the New English Textbook Tiény Anh 12 ut Viet-Ba High Schoot and some Possible Solutions”

1.2 AIMS OF THE SLUDY:

For the reasons mentioned abave, the specific aims of the study accordingly, are:

To investigate into the challenges many teachers al Vicl-Ba High school encountered in teaching grammar in the “Language Foous” periods with the New Enghsh Textbook

Tiếng Anh 12

+ To find out some possible solutions including a variety of techniques and activitics to

achieve the effectiveness in teaching grammar and in order to make grammar teaching Tore communicative

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

J What do the teachers at Vie-Ba High school perceive of the problems in teaching Grammar

to 12" form studenis in the “Language Focus periods”?

2, What should be done to overcome those problems at Viet-Ba High school?

grammar and their influcnecs on teaching and Icaining grammar

Sources of data were collected, involving the teachers in Viet-Ba High school in order to achieve the aims af ths study

% Questionnaires, Conducting a survey questionnaire to investigate teachers’ evaluative comments and their attitudes towards teaching English grammar to 12 grade as well a3 their perceived challenges

% Observation: Observing some classes to investigate how grammar was approached in the classroom by 2 different teachers

+ Imerview Interviewing 2 grade 12” teachers to gel beller insighis into the research

questions

Data collected from the questionnaires were triangulated with classroom observation and

interview All these were done at Viet-Ba High school in Hanoi.

1.5 SCOPE OF TIE STUDY:

The study is limited to the area of teaching grammar in language focus periods in 12" form

al Viel-Ba Tigh school The minor thesis is designed lo deal with ths challenges which leachers

al Viol-Ba High school cneounter during the proosss of loaching grammar and some possible

solutions will be introduced with the aim at making gramwnar lessons more communicative I

would like to do the research with only 6 teachers teaching 12!" form with their classes in order to find oul the most effective way to each grammar successfully

1.6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY:

‘The study consists of 3 main parts, which are presented as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter provides an overview of he sludy wilh specific

reference to the rationale, the aims, the methods and the scope of the study

Chapter 2 Development This chapler is divided into four main parts

2.4, LITERATURE REVIEW This part explores the theoretical background for the thesis This part mentions to four main points related to English grammar Definitions of

grammar, the role of Grammar in foreign language teaching, Methods commonly used in

teaching grammar, Grarrrnar (caching in the light of CLT

2.2, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This part presents the research questions of the

study, the snbjecis of the study, and the instruments used lo colleel the data

2.3, DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Tus part explores a detailed description of data

analysis and a discussion of the findings of the study

2.4, FINDINGS AND SOM, POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR BETTER TRACING ENGLISIT GRAMMAR in the “Language Focus” TO 12 FORM STUDENTS AT VIET-BA IIIGI SCIIOOL This

part presents the summary of the major findings ineluding some possible problems in teaching English grammar encountered by teachers in Vietnam in general and at Viel-Ba Tigh school in

particular Especially, some recommendations proposed for the administrators and for the

teachers teaching grammar in the upper secondary school are mentioned in this part Finally, the limitations of ihe study and some suggestions for further research ars presented

Chapter 3.conciusion

The first definition of grarnmar I want to mention is by “The Longnan Dictionary of Contemporary English” It defines grammar as the rules by which words change their forms and ara combined ino sentsnecs

“There are two basic clemeuts in this definition: Uy rules of grammar; and the study and

practice of the rules The ruler of grammar are about how words change and how they are pur

together into sentences The knowledge of grammar also tells the loaner what to do if he wants to put the some phrase into the sentence Gramniar should be called the way in which wouds change themselves and group together to make sentences” (Harmet, 1991, p L}

cms and pullers we use

to select and combine words By studying grammar we come to recognize the structure and

regulatity which is the foundation of language and we gain the tools to talk about the language

system (Burns, 1999, pp 4-5)

Thombury (2001, p 2) even introduces the tam “fo grammur” implying that it is a process that we do as we speak and makes the analogy between produet and process in terms of something finished like an omolellc and the process of making il, saying that il is impossible, if you only see or taste the omelette, to be able to actually make it

Ur (1998, p 1) has given a broader definition to grammar, which is clear and easy to understand: “Cranmar may be roughly defined as the way a language niamipulites and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning”

Bastone (1994) defines grammar is multi-dimensional: grammar is a formal mechanism, a functional system from signaling meanings, or a dynamic resource which both users and kearners call on in different ways at different times

Cristal (2004) gives more ideas of grammar as:

“Grammar is the structural foundarion of our ability to express ourselves The more we are

awnze of how it works, the mote we can moniter the meaning, and effectiveness of the way we

and others use language”

In this definition, he emphasizes the importance of grammar Vor him, grammar can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English And it can help everyone not only teachers of English, but also teachers of anything, for all teaching is ultimately a matter of getting to grips with meaning

Whatever grammar may be defined, it belongs to one of the aspects exploited by the linguistics such as grammar as social fiction, grammar as discourse, etc ‘This has influence on

the way lo teach and select malcrials lo teach grammar in the light of CLT Being a teachor of

English, to support my teaching I have chosen three aspects of grammar below for my discussion

2.1.1.1 Grammar as rules

‘With regard to rules, Swain (1985) coms the third cat

samy of rule: pedagogic language Tules

“By ‘pedagogre rules” I mean rules which are designed to help foreign-language leaners understand

‘pamicnlar aspects of the languages they are studying (whether these rules are addressed directly to the

Jeamers, or Lo teachers and inatorials wailers who are expected Lo pass on the rules to the Jearners in

‘one form or another, is immaterial).’

Here he refers to a collection of such rules, unoriginally, as a “pedagogic grammar” ‘This

tenn can also reasonably be applicd to a collection of rules designed for students who are learning about the structure of their own language, and much of what shall I have to say is relevant to mother-tongue language instruction

Grammar and rules are the things synonymous in the minds of many leachers and learners Tt

is obviously true because mentioning to what grammar is, many linguistics and grammarians use the words “rules” in their definitions

As defined in dictionary, grammar is the syslem of rules gaverning the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence Technically, grammar refers to sentence- level rules only, and not to rules governing the relationship among sentences, which we refer to

as discourse rules

‘A typical definition of grammar would be ‘the rules by which words change their form and are combined into sentences’ or 'a book which teaches these rules’ (dictionary definitions) but for the purposss of learning a language those definition are nol cneugh

As Bastone (1994, p 5) divides grarmmar into product: the cornponent parts or rules that make up the language, and process: the ways in which grammar is deployed fem moment ta moment in commumeation While of no doubt the rules are important to the learner, simply knowing them is a far cry from being able to formulate or interpret complicated utterances in the rush of real-time communication

Crystal (2006) also mentions to the rules defining grammar as:

Grammar is the study of all the contrasis of mearing that it is possible Lo muke wilhin sentences The ‘rules’ of grarumar tell us how By one count, there are some 3,500 such rules in English”

According to Fromkin et al (1990, p 12)

“The sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of meaning such as words and the rules to

combine them to form new sentences constitute the grammar of a langnage These rules are

internalized and subconsciously learned by native speakers”

Tn his point of view, grammar represents one's Hinguistic competence He also explains

grammar includes many aspects of linguistic knowledge: the sound system (phonolog), the

system of meaning (semantics), the rules of word formation (morphology), the rules of sentence

2.1.1.2 Grammar as meaning

Organizational competence is necessary for communication to take place, but not sufficient

to account for all production and reception im language As Larsen-Freeman pointed oul,

grammar is one of three dimensions of language that are interconnected According to hm grammar gives us the form or (he structures of language, bul hose forms are literally meaningless

withont a second dimension, thal of semantics (meaning), and a (urd dimension, pragrmaties In other words, grammar tells us how to construct a sentence; discourse rules tell us how to sting

those sentences together Semantics tells us something about the meaning(s) of words and strings

of words, (Larser-Freeman, 1991)

Since the early days of the Communicative Approach, language teachers have been told that they have ta pay attention to two kinds of meaning: the “semantic” meanings af words and structures which can be found in dictionaries and grammars, and the “pragmatic” values which these linguistic elements take on when they are used in communication In an influential paper published in the early 1970s llymes, the sociolinguist put forward the view that “communicative competence” involves knowing not orily dictionary/granmmr mening, but also the rutes which

determine the appropriacy or otherwise of ullcrancas in contexl This tine of thought was

welcomed for several reasons Language teachers al the lime were dissalisfied, as lmguage

teachers usually are, with their learners’ inability to convert their knowledge of linguistic forms

into successful language use, and the idea that they could solve the problem by teaching

something called ‘commwncative competence’ was an attractive onc $0 Hymes’ pronouncement

that there are “rides of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless” (Hymes, 1971,

jp 278) became something of a mantra for the applied linguists of the time

One of the major reasons for questioning the adequacy of grammatical syllabuses lies in the fact that even when we have described the grammatical (and lexicad) meaning of a sentence,

we have not accounted for the way it is used as an utterance Since those things that are not

conveyed by the grammar are also understood, they too must be governed by ‘nes’ which arc

known to both speaker and hearer People who speak the same language share not so much a

granmatical compelence as a communicative compelencs According to Wilkins (1976, pp 10— 11), looked at in foreign language teaching terms, this means that the learner has to learn rules of

communication as well a3 rules of grammar

Despite the difficully of clarifying what exactly might be meant by caching “rules of use”

or “nudes of communication” (Swan, 1985), the notion that teachers and learners need to concern

themselves with two levels of meaning has remained prominent in pedagogic thought and

writing, Celee-Murcia, M., & Larser-Freeman, D (1999, p 4), in a widely-used course on pedagogic grammar, explain that “Grammatical structures not only have a morphosyntactic form,

they are also used to express meaning (semartics) in context-appropriate use (pragmatics) ”

Filis (2005), dis sing the need for learners to focus on micaring, similarly dislinguis

two senses of the term: semantic and pragmatic

To sum up, according to the grammar-as-meaning view, grammar is a “process for making

a speaker or writer’s meaning clear when contextual information is lacking” (ThornBury, 1999,

Đ 4) Leamers need to leam not only what forms are possible, but what particular form will express their particular meanings 'rom this perspective, grammar is a tool for making meaning

Discourse smalysis begun to influence how Fnglish grammar is taught to non-native

speakers of English aver the past yours, Research thal is more recent is now concluding that we should teach grammar on the basis of discourse Canale & Swain (1986) claims that grammar not only consists of rules goveming form, but also grammatical knowledge consists of knowing which knows when to usc the forms to convey meanings that mateh our intentions in particular contexts, Discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which il is used (McCarthy, 1991) A discourss-oriented approach would suggest not only a greater emphasis on contexts larger than the sentence, but also a reassessment of priorities in terms of what is taught about such things as word order, articles, ellipsis, tense and aspect and some of the other categories (McCarthy, 1991)

Inthe EFL classroom, grammar is often taught at the level of sentence And such problems are often met that the students can’t relate the grammar with what they want to convey in spoken

or wrillen discourse, Furthermore, a senlenced-based view of grammar is inconsistent with the notion of grammar competence (Celce-Murcia, 2000), Hence, discourse-based approaches in grammar teaching would be strongly advocated and carried out

2.1.2 Th

role of Grammar in forcign language leaching,

In ESL and EFL grammar teaching methods are debatable Some see grammar as the backbone of languages and learners should be presented with explicit grammar courses, Others, however, think that knowing the grammar docsn’t necessarily lead lo language mastery They contend that focusing on explicit grammar teaching produces unsuccessful language users

What is the role of grammar in language teaching?

This is a question which has been asked by scveral second language rescarchers and teachers over the past few years (Brown, 1994, Celce-Murcia, 1991; Larsen-Freeman, 1991, Nunan, 1994) Historically, grammar has played a central role in language teaching often being

the only activity in Tangunge classrooms (Brown, 1994) Ci

that:

“[plrior lo 1967 and for soveral years Uberealler, however, no ome challenged Ue centrally of

Murcia (1991, p 460) points oul

grammar either as content for language teaching or as the organizing, principle for curriculum or materials development”

'The grammar translation approach, the audio-lingual approach, the cognitive code approach, the comprehension approach and the communicative approach all view the role that granunar should play in language teaching with shght variations Very ealy in the days of the

communicative compolenes movernont, Canale & Swain (1980) proposed that grammaticat

competence was an integral part, of conmmumieative carnpet Some languags Lcachers moving, into the communicative era may have reacted too quickly in assuming that grammar was not a

significant part of language teaching and thus ignored its role in the classroom Below I will

cxamine some arguments for and against grammar

2.1.2.1 Pro-grammar perspectives

Tis obvious thal the definilions of gramme make us clear thal grammar consists of certain

rules, the system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a

sentence by which we can communicate with each other ‘The teaching of grammar has been the focus of language teachers and learners for many years The main goal of grammar teaching is to

enable leamers to achieve linguistic competence; learners use grammar as a tool or resource for

comprehension, and creation of oral and written discourse efficiently, effectively, and

appropmiately dep

ling on the siluation Most grammarians give strong support to grammar teaching, In other words, teaching grammar plays an important role in foreign language teaching and leaning

Technically, grammar refers to sentence-level rules only, and not to rules governing the relationship among sentences, which we refer to as discowse rules, Grammatical competenee is a

major component of communicative competence Organizational competence is an intricate,

complex array of rules, some of which gavorn the sentence (grammar), while others govern how

we string sentences together (discourse)

Organizational competence is necessary for communication to take place, but not sufficient

to account for all production and reception in language As Larscn-Freeman pointed out, grammar is one of three dimensions of language that are interconnected, According to him, grznmar gives us the form or the structures of language, bul Ihose forms are Titerally meaningless without 8 secand dimension, (hat of semantics ‘meaning), ad a.third dimension, pragmaties In other words, grammar tells us how to construct a sentence; discourse rules tell us how to string those sentences together Semantics tells us something about the meaning(s) of words and strings

of words, (Larscn-Frecman, 1991) It is impoitant to grasp the significance of the interconnectedness of all three dimensions: no one dimension is sufficient, So, nơ one can say thal grarmmmar is irrelevant, or thal grammar is no tonger needed ina CLT framework

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Tn favor of Ihe importance of grammar, Bums (1999, pp 4-5) affirmed that grammar is

sontiatty about the systems and patterns we usc lo salect and combine word By sludying

grammar we come to recognize the structure and regularity whieh is the foundation of language and we gain the tools to talk about the language system

Ur (1998, p 4) stressed the importance of grammar in language Ivarning and teaching He stated “a knowledge-implicit or explicit — of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language: you can no use words unless you know how they should be pul logether”

In short, how important grammar is assumed obviously has an impact on the foreign language teaching and learning

2.1.2.2 Anti-grammar perspectives

In recent years, the role of grammar in language teaching and leaming has received

different interpretation Although most of linguistics and grammarians appreciate the role of

granmiar, there ar

still some people express different views against the leaching grammar, wan

to lessen its role

According to Brumfit and Johnson (1

necessary nor sufficient for learning a language ”

p 165) “The study of grammar is neither

As for Thonibury (1999), grammar is a process of making a speaker’s or writer’s meaning clear when there is a lack of contextual information Moreover, grammar means the relationship botwaan Ihree things: grammar, words, and contexts, TLincans il is necessary for students only to learn basic and fixed forms and particular forms so that they can express particular meanings

And Lx (1998, p 1) gives a controversial question’

“Whether should we teach grammar or not? Do we have to have grammar exercizes? Isn't it better for students to absorb the rules intuitively through commmnmicative activities than ta he taught

through special exercises”

To sum up, although there exist controversies about the sole of grammar in bmgusge teaching and learning, as a teacher of English at school, 1 can say that it is umportant and essential

to teach grammar in universities and especially in secondary schools 'hare are some reasons for

this Firstly, the tcaching of grammar provides students with epportunitics lo usc English in a variety of realistic situations to Fear to communicate effectively, Secondly, without being taught granmar teaching students can’t improve their grammar competence in a suitable environment

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ally, wilhoul grammatical knowledge students must have toss opperlunitics lo pass the

exams al school ar university because for them English is compulsory subject

2.1.3 Methods commonly used in teaching grammar

Over the past few decades, grammar instruction has tong been a controversial issue in the fisld of second language and foreign language acquisition It has been of great interest to researchers and teachers that whether grammar should be taught and how to teach gramunar if it is necessary Focused on these two key questions, grammar instruction has undergone its ups and

of which the necessity of grammar instruction is no longer the focus, and the explicit-implicit dimension in

downs Uhough many linguislic schools and pedagogical approaches, in the pro

granmmar leaching has received more allention, Two tajor approaches lo leaching grammar have

been identified in prior literature mainly the “explic#” grammar teaching which involves teaching formal rules of grammar, and the “implicit” grammar teaching approach which focuses

on teaching grammar through content, Many cmpirival sludics have investigated thal which method is better for grammar teaching, explicit or implicit (Scott, 1989) and whether there is an intertace between explicit grammatical knowledge and impheit grammatical There are good theoretical reasons 1o place matlers of implicit and explicit issues, inelnding implicit and explicit knowledge, learning and instruction, high on the agenda for Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research

2.1.3.1 Explicit grammar teaching

Despite the development of these various instruction approaches to SLA, there may be no

single approach to SLA appropriately applied in all contexts to the varying Lypes of learners thal

12 teachers face Instead, at the core of these different instrnotion approachss to SLA, lwo key contrasting and independent concepts have been commonly involved: explicit and implicit While these two types of approaches have raised a number of controversial issues regarding the effects

of SLA, a mmber of recent studies have taken stronger views about the advanlages of explicit

thal an explicit approach can not only help learners draw more learners! altention and exploit

pedagogical grammar in Uis rogerd bul alsc

and readily observable (Doughty & Williams, 1998) and also explicit grammar instruction can solve problems with pursly communicative driven approaches, and can provide three important

fully and clearly expressed, defined or formulated,

parts of the grammar lesson such as explicit grammar instrustion preferably at the beginning of the lesson, communicative activities containing many usages of the instructed form, and summary activities lo focus learners! allention on the grammar form they ware instructed on and then encountered communicatively However, a problem with explicit grammar teaching is that the teachers who focus on language forms presentation, explain the grammar rules and practice through drilling hold a traditional view of language teaching They equate language to grammar mastery and accurate usage and oxcate bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms

on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context

In olher words, students under this form of instruction know tot about the language bul they are unable to use the language itself appropriately in contextualized situations- these students consistently make strors when they try to use the language in context

To summarize, explicit tcaching begins very |

cher-centered with lille student responsibility

and ends with a goal of complete student independency with very little teacher involvement

2.1.3.2 Implicit grammar teaching

In the carly 20" century it is thought grammar should be sludied by examining living

speech rather than by analyzing written documents According to some linguists, by providing

grammar in context, in an implicit manner, they can expose students to substantial doses of grammar study without alicnating them to the Icarning of English or other forcign language I

also agree with this implicit approach of teaching grammar ‘The principal manner in which 1

accomplish this is by leaching short gramnnar-based s

ions inmedialely followed by additional funclion-based lessons in which the now grammar / structure is applied in contex For sludenis,

implicit leaming is “learning without conscious attention or awareness” (Brown, 2007, p 291) In

addition, implicit learning occurs “without intention to learn and without awareness of what has

been learned” (Brown, 2007, p 292)

From my teaching experience 1 believe that focus on grammar explanation and the absence of any reference lo meaning can be detrimental to language acquisition OF course

grammar is the backbone of any language Grammar knowledge can be helpful in producing

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accurate forms of limgnage and acls in monitoring ils usc But, it is wenlnvhilo noticing that ons

can communicate more or less 411

¢ with vooubulary items alone while it is impossible to do

so using grammar alone This shows that grammer alone doesn’t make the language What is more, language use can be tremendously affected by conscious language usage as this may create

a stressful cnvironment So a balanced approach to grammar teaching takes into considsration the appropriate use of language and doesn’t reject the (conscious or unconscious) internalization

of the rules, Some of the major approaches that hold this view ars the cowmmmicalive approach, the natural approach and the lexical approach

In my own teaching at school, | find that there are many different ways to implement implicit teaching methods into a classroom The basic idea is that students are given examples of

a desired topic through any medium, Any kind of topic can be taught implicitly including; grammar, vocabulary, culture, ete, Students should be aware of what the leaming objective is, Students are never taught the actual rules; they deduce their own form of rules based on the examples given For example: When presenting the use of the ending-s with verbs in the present simple tense to students, I often carry out three stages

+ Staget: I give Ihe siudents the following senten

s and ask thern to find the grammatical

pattem

- I goto school every day

- My mother works af the IBM company

- Water boils at 100C

- My fiends play tennis with me

- They ride bicycle ++ Stage 2: -the cxplanation stage: I tell the students the cxplicit grammatical rules of the present simple tense with singular form, explain the rule of use of the ending-s

4 Stage 3: Tpressiow | divide students into pairs and give therm the task

2.1.4 Grammar teaching in the light of CLT

2.1.4.1 Definition of CLT

Communicative language teaching (CIT) is an innovation in Tinglish language teaching (ELT), CLT is a new teaching approach in Britain, having been introduced in the 1970s, and it has become a popular approach in foreign language teaching since the 1980s Many researchers have helped to develop the theory and practice af CLT, among ther Brumnfit & Johnson (1979),

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Hymes (1972), und Richards & Rodgers (1986), Lo name only a few It CLT, students do nol simply learn the linguistic structures and grarmar rules They have to kar how to use the language properly, There is a “strong” version and a “weak” version of the communicative approach ‘The weak version [that] has become more or less standard practice in the last ten years, stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities 10 usc their English for communicative purposes’ (Richards & Rodgers, 1986)

Because the range of CLT is so wide, it is difficult to ideutify precisely whether a teacher

is using CLT Many researchers have discussed “communication” and CLT Widdowson (1990) holds that language is used to achieve a communicative purpose Littlewood (1981) also states that language is used as a tool for comnumication Two major points ars expressed in the studies

of CLT One is that language is leamed to cnable one to communicate The other concerns the curiculum objectives Larsen-Freeman (1986) argues thal, “the goal of the CLY is to help learners become cormunnicatively competent” According to Richards & Rogers (1986) in ander

to achieve this goal, leamers need to develop communicative abilities, such as expression, interpretation, and negotiation In order to become a communicative speaker, learners not only need to tmaster the grammatical rules of a language bul they also mised to know how to use the target language suitably in different situations The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real lif2 ‘The real-life simulations change from day to day Students” motivation to learn comes from their desire 10 commuricale in memingful ways aboul meaningful topics

Brown’s presentation (1994, p 245) of four interconnected characteristics could be used as

a defi

on of communicative language teaching (CLT)

a The language teaching goals should contain all the components in communicative competence

For example, learners, after they study the target language, should not only be able to listen to a

large part of the authentic speech utterances, speak relatively flucntly in the target language and

make themselves understand; but also be able to read printed materials of average difficulty and write relatively properly in the target language

b Learners should he engaged in the pragmatic, finctional use of language for meaningful

purposes Organizational competence is not the central focus but should be considered as a

{facilitator to accomplish those purposes This is because the emphasis of CLT is on real

communication, and in real communication, both the pragmatic, functional uss of language organivalional compelcnee cannot bs lacking

c Fluency, at times, shodd take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners

meaningfully engaged in language use Because CLT focuses on speaking the target language

with fluency and being understood by the listener, grammar teaching and structure of the

sentence are not as important as fluency It is also important that teachers do not correct students immediately when they a

speaking,

4 Students should finally use the language productwvely and receptively, in understand contexts,

‘These three sides are the most important for using language and succeeding in real communication

2.1.4.2 ‘Teaching grammar in the light of the communicative approach

Over the past several years, whether or not grammar should be taught explicitly or

About Teaching Presentation in Grammar, Larsen-Freeman (2003) suggested that a pedagogic grammar lesson should follow three parts: explicit grammar instruction,

communicative activitics, and summary activities, At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher gives students explicit grammar mules and explanation ‘hen, the teacher provides many communicative aclivilies thal conlain uses of (he instructed form Last, in the summary activities section, students will pay more allenlion on the grammar form they have just skudicd and then perform communicatively

ere is a typical grammar class following CL'' In the class the teacher uses visual aids to present the grammar structure to be taught Studcnts deduce the meaning, the form and the use of

it, The teacher checks students! understanding by asking yes/no questions focusing on form,

meaning and use The leacher gels students to practice the structure through Repetition and

Substitution Drills The teachar ties to provide maximum practice within a controlled but

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realistic and contextualized framework and to build students! confidence in using the new

language The teacher provides studemts with opportunitizs Lo use the new language in a freer and

more creative way The teacher creates activities in which students can integrate new language

with the previously learnt language and apply what they have learnt in talking about their real life activities What makes this kind of lesson different ffom the traditional ones is that the teacher tries to make the language used in the lesson real and true ‘I'he teacher creates real or close-to- real situations in which the language can be used This will better enable students Lo communicate in English not only in the classroom but also outside the classroom

We should always consider why people learn a foreign language and what they do with it when we teach a forsign language Indeed, the reasons to lsam a foreign language can vary and

we should always keep the leamers 'necds in mind People leam a language c.g, for their work, out of interest or simply because it belongs to school syllabus

Tn brief, the requirement for a successful grammar lesson following CLT is thal aller learning a certan grammatical structure, the students are able to use it in real life commmmication

The first study 1 want to mention is on the theme “Applying communicative approach to grammar teaching and learning at Tran Phu gifted high school” by the author Pham Thi Mai

Anh in October, 2007 ‘The attempts of this study are to find out the students’ and teachers”

attiindss as well as heir prellrenoes lo granumr lIcachig zmd Ícmming lowards the communicative approach, Carrying out the study, the author hopes to find out how to teach and learn grammar according to the communicative approach effectively and successflly

Another rescarch that is about grammar is named “Adapting materials for teaching grammar in the light of CLT to first year students in electric power college” by Nguyen Thi Thang i September, 2006 This stucly was conducted to seek the answers to the questions of what techniques of adapting materials should be used to teach grammar to first year students at

ay

EPC in the light of CLT Through whl, the author has done, she belicves the tcachers should know how fo combine materials of aditional approach like gap-BHing, tenses ote, with those of CLT approach In other words, they should know how to balance these materials to suit their

students’ needs and interests

“dn investigation into Vietnamese upper secondary school students’ attitudes towards grammar learning and teaching” was carried out by Nguyen ‘Thi Minh Hue in lune, 2004 The

Reing a teacher of English in a upper secondary school, T am aware of [he importance of grammar as well as of the grammar teaching in the process of teaching How to teach grammar effectively and successfully is always a big question not only to me but also to many other

teacl

focus on not only grammar teaching but also on other skills in the light of CLT The teaching of

al my school, especially nowadays new textbooks used in all schools in our coumlry

grammar in “Language focus period” is always a challenge to every one leaching grammar, the teachers encounler some certain difficutties in comparison with teaching olher skills, Being aware

of this, I have decided to choose the topic on the teachmg of grammar tor my thesis with the aim

to find out the difficulties many teachers encounter when teaching grammar in “Language focus periods” with the New English Textbook Tiêng Anh 12 and some possible solutions to these problems Furthermore, up to now there have been no studies on this topic carried out at Viet-Ba High school, the school where I am teaching now All these above mentioned reasons have inspired me to conduct the study about “Challenges in Teaching Grammar in the “Language Focus periods” with the New English Textbook Tiéng Ank 12 at Viet-Ba High School and

some Possible Solutions’ | hope this would be taken into consideration by the teachers at Viet-

Ba High school in particular and teachers of Engtish in general te mmke the “Language focus”

penods more interesting and motivating to students

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2.2, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.2.1 Introduction

Viet-Ba High School was founded in 1960, Since its foundation, it has always proved to be

a school of good teaching and leaming quality and has made contributions to the education and training course of the nation

Although Viet-Ba High school is not very large and modern, we have not bad condition for leaching especially our foreign lmguage group Tierything has changed since information Technology were widely used in teaching and leaming English at Viet-Ba High school The appearance of pictures, charts, radios, cassette players, recorders, overhead projectors (OLIPs), movies, televisions ete have changed the classroom structures and have assisted students” acquisition of knowledge, For the purposc of practicing speaking skill, the facilities like computers, overhead projector, video-player and so on are used during speaking lessons

Teaching at Viel-Ra Tigh school, the teachers have a lol of opportunities to improve knowledge and ability of teaching ftom the headmaster and the teaching stati

‘Talking about the teaching staff there are 85 experienced and competent teachers, 18 of whom arc mastzrs, The English division alone has 12 teachers All of the teackors of Engtish al

my school are well-qualified We are different tom age, background as well as living conditions, but we have @ common point: it’s the passion to teaching, the love to children, We are enthusiastic, responsible for our tasks, We always share experience from each other and help each other to make much good advance in our teaching Teachers at my school are aware of the importance of applying the new teaching method in which students are considered the center of the leaching-learnitys process

At Wiet-Ba High school, like at many other high schools in Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in secondary curriculum for many years Most of the students here come fiom village, many of them arc children of poor familics They arc obcdicnt, timid but not very good at English, Although most of my students are poor children and they have poor knowledge

of English, they have desire to master English, especially students of 12” form Thzy are molivaled 1a communicate in Tmeaningful ways about meaningful topics especially in the situations that they are likely to encounter in life, Most of them get used to working in pairs or groups, which create enough confidence for them to join in class discussion

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The textbooks used at Vict-Ba High schoot are the textbooks English 10, 11,12 thal arc

applicd in all schools in Vietnam mel, the requirements af the caurscs and suiluble lo levels in

terms of objectives, content, methodology These new textbooks have marked real renovation in

English teaching and learning ftom the traditional approach-Grammar translation method ta

communicative approach, which has led to the inercasingly important role of teaching speaking

skills

Tlowever, our school sfill encounters several drawhacks concerning foreign language

teaching and learning

‘The geographical condition and location have influence on the quality of leaming and

teaching English at my school Firstly, most of the students come from peasants’ families, so they arc timid and shy on lesson of English Furthermore, my school is far from the centre of Hanoi,

due to which my students have less chances to take the English courses in the big English clubs

in the center to improve their knowledge of English And the chance to encounter English-

speaking people for them is rare

In addition, although all of us were well trained, we are aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the Iraditional and new Leaching rethads, sometimes fecl exhausted with all

the preparation, lesson plan, marking, time constraint and research of innovation and in many cases we have to choose to use the grammar-traditional method because we feel that it is the salest way for us lo teach with the hope thal our studenls can pass the exams,

Besides, although new textbooks are welcomed by the majority of the teachers for they acknowledged the advantages of the nsw textbooks over the old ones in terms of students” communicative competence, many of us Gnd challenging to use them as they took us more time and energy to prepare the lesson while classroom conditions were not good enough for the implementation of ths new method and teaching speaking and listening skills Beside this, we find out that speaking and listcning skills arc impractical because the objectives of new textbooks provide adequate contribution to 4 language skills, but in fact, we can not find the present of such kinds of skills like speaking and listening in any exams Therefore, if we pay much attention to these skills, students may fail at finat exams which focus on intricacies of graranar

Though communicative language teaching method has been strongly advocated, the grammar translation method has still deep rooted in the classroom practice The consequence is a low

communicative language skill competence among students: what students get after caving school

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ure 3

ins basic grammar tules, timited vocsbulary and ineorreel prommuciation, This fact ealls for

4 grcator cudeavor from tsavhers® side lo bridge: the gap

4 What should be done to overcome those problems at Viet-Ba High school?

2.2.3, The participants of the study

22.3.4 The teachers and their teaching situations and conditions

The number of English teaching staff at Vict-Ba High school is 12 All of us were well- qualified, There are two male among these teachers ‘Three of them are over 40 years old, the oflters are young, aged from 27 lo 35 Amtơng them tes teachers have 20 years of leaching experience, one has 10 years and one has only one year and the rest have 4-6 years of teaching experience

We always try to enable the sludenis to develop their communicative skills irr the largel

language including listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and to create a communicative environment for students to acquire English by using it through activities in class We are always helpfit to each other in work, responsible for our duly and always share experience with each

other in teaching,

‘Teaching conditions for foreign language at Viet-Ba Lligh school is very good Syllabus and Curriculum used at Vici-Ba High school are sel by the government and are followed in all schools of the country These are the accompanying teaching plan books, workbooks and audiotapes thanks to which teachers could save time for preparing the lesson and they are mcticulously instructed how to use the books, how to organize an activity, given suggestions for teaching aids, ete, Besides, the new textbooks together with communicative tasks and activities, especially thanks to the equipments with modem technology for foreign language teaching such

as two inlernel Toons wilh 45 computers, one wultimedia classroom with different facilities for teachers and students to carry out vanous classroom activities and other facilities such as an overhead, projector, video player, etc, make the leaming process more interssting, enjoyable and motivating Especially they are clcarly and appropriately designed with vivid illustration

for inany reasons, of course, such as the skudents" language level, the clas

study, ete, But the most important is in students’ attitude on learning English They seem so quiet and lazy during English lessons, especially, for the students of grade 12 They are worried only about the National cxamination and cntrance cxams to Universitics Their focus is on grammar and vocabulary, which means they don’t pay much aftention to speaking English in class It is very difficull In make them participate in speaking aclivilies in class Purthernwre, some sludents suppose that English 1s not as important as Math, Physics and Chemistry, so they don’t pay much attention to learning it

2.23.2, The participants of the study

My study was carried out with 6 teachers fiom English tcaching staff at Vict-Ba High school who teach English to 12 grade students, All of them are female aged from twenty eight to forty five, They have experienced a long lime in working wilh syllabus and raterials for teaching

To altain the larget of the study lo investigate teachers’ perception of the challenges they are

faced with in teaching English grammar, my study used three instruments: survey questionnaire,

interview, and classroom observation to obtain data Besides, two different “Language focus”

ons, These tzachers were asked somz

lessons were carried out by lwo teachers, Afler the

interview questions

2.2.4.1, Questionnaire

To gather data for the rescarch, the survey questionnaire was administered to the teachers for evaluative information concerning their work experience and attitude as well as awareness of

English grammar teaching “Questionnaires are one of the most popular methods of conducting

scholarly research They provide a convenient way of gathering infonnation from a target population

(David 8 Walonick, Ph.D 1993.p 1) In order that the participants were not under the pressure

of time and could feel free to express their personal opinions and thought about the items raised

in the questionnaire, they were asked Lo give their responses al home

Thơ quesliormsiro consislirg of 11 questions both closed and operronded (sce Appendix 1)

were

designed lo facus on the following categories:

*Teachers’ attitude towards grammar teaching (questions 4, 8)

*Teachers’ awareness of the importance of grammar teaching (questions 3, 9)

*Tcachers’ cvaluation of the methods and techniques of grammar teaching (questions 5, 6,7)

*Leachers’ perception of difficulties in grammar teaching (question 10)

*Teachers’ suggestions Lo solve these problerns (question 11)

All the questions in the questionnaire were written in English and they were designed to focus on practical things reflecting classroom teachers’ concerns

The questionnaire was distributed to English teachers at Viet-Ba Iligh school, who teach

English as a compulsory subject and have access to the new English Textbook Tiéng Anh 12 To

ensure that all teachers filly understand the questions in the questionnaire, the researcher was wilh ther to explain anything they feel confused before questionaire was distributed In the end, findmgs gathered fiom the respondents were organized into major categories, analyzed statistically and descriptively

2.2.4.2, Classroom observation

Along wath survey questionnaire, observation was conducted not only to acess the current situation of English grammar teaching to 12° form students at Viet- Ba High school but also to test the validity of the gained information aboul teachers? altitude and awareness of grammar teaching in general as well as of the challenges in teaching Enghsh grammar that the teachers they had to face up with and their solutions ta these problems In other words, classroom observation was importantly given lo the purpose of this study because it helped to show the researcher how English grammar was being taught and also to test what challenges facing

teachers when they taught English grammar for 12" grade students According to Waxman

(2003, p 1), “Systematic classroom observalion iz a quantilalive melhod of measuring claysroom

dehaviors from direct observations that specity both the events and behaviors that are to be observed and

how they are to be recorded”

The work of observation was carricd oul in bvo “Language focus” periods in two clas:

12A1 and 12A6 at Viet-Ba High school The teachers conducting these lessons were identified to

be of different Leaching experience Furthermore, students in these classes were claimed to be in different levels of English as well as to have different aims in learning English.

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The rescarcher acted as » noreparticipant obsorver lo observe the activilios during the lessons focusing on the leachers’ activilics Especially, from this observation the rescarcher could find out the problems the teachers faced during the lessons as well as their solutions to them In the and, the data from this work was then transcribed and analyzed to assess the difficulties the teachers faced while teaching grammar

‘The rescarcher used “serni-siructnrs” interview, in which a list of questions was closcly followed but still, the researcher favilitated chances to obtain a variety of responses fiom the interviewees” (Verma & Mallick, 1999, p 124)

Two teachers were invited to take part in the interview Each of them was asked 9 interview questions (see appendix 2) The reason for thus choice is that these teachers, who were identified

to be of different teaching experience, could supply to the researcher different attitude and awaraness of teachers al Viol-Ba High school to grammar sacking, Tho rain criterion for selection was accessible because these interviewees with different teaching experience could provide different informative data which was manageable enough for the researcher to analyze

The content of the interview questions and answers ean be scen in appendix 2 and 3:

2.2.44, Procedure

The study was carried out an the foHlowing steps

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Firsl, the sumvey quosliontaire was delivered lo the participanls who Iaught English lo the

12% form students To cnsure thai thế respøndenls to (he survey quosliormaire could provide

answers with truthfulness and accuracy, the researcher explained what they were not clear before delivery Furthermore, the participants could finish their answers at home so that they would have cnough time, fieedom and consideration to give their thoughts, opinions, cte, Then the responses were collected to the researcher

Next, classroomn observation was carried oul to clarify the validity of the gained information about teachers’ attitude and awareness of grammar teaching in general as well as of the challenges they encountered while teaching grammar and their solutions to them ‘Ihe observation was conducted in two “Language focus” periods in two different classes by two teachers chosen fiom the teachers who teach English to 12” form students The teachers invited to conduet the lessons were different fiom teaching experience The researcher acted as a non-participant observer and inade some noles of the classroom procedures,

After the survey questionnaire and classroom observation, the last instrument- the interview

was employed ‘I'wo teachers were invited to participate in the interview ‘These teachers were

The dala collected from the different, sources above were calagorized inlo

~ Teachers’ attitude to English grammar teaching

‘Teachers’ awareness and evaluation of English grammar teaching

4 Teachers’ percoption of problems in English grammar tcaching and their some

suggestions to solve them

Finally, findings ftom the three sources of data were then analyzed statistically and descriptively The form of charts was used to present the quantitative data and qualitative data from open-ended questionnaire items, classroom observation, and the interview were presented

by quoting relevant responses from the participants

Tn short, this part has prosented the sescarch questions of the

study, and the instruments used to collect the data The researcher hopes to get valid and reliable data from the employment of the three different instruments mentioned above The analysis of the

study the subjects of the

data and discussion will be presented in the next part.

2.3, DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This part explores a detailed description of data analysis and a discussion of the findings of

the study

The comments and perceptions made by the teachers of English at Viet-Ba High school in

responses to the questionnaire as well as information gained through classroom observation and

interviews were consolidated, analyzed and categorized by the researcher

2.3.1 Result and discussion from the questionnaire

2.3.1.1 Teachers’ awareness of the importance of grammar teaching

2.3.1.1.1 Teachers’ attitude toward grammar teaching

[Binteresting laBoring

2.3.1.1.2 Teachers’ awareness of the role of grammar teaching

Important

#8 The most important for As important as others

Chart 2: Teachers’ awareness of the role of grammar teaching

Looking at the chart, we can see that most of the teachers were aware that teaching grammar

played the most important part in teaching English (66 7%) because they thought that without

2.3.1.2, Teachers’ cvaluation of mcthods and techniques of grammar teaching

2.3.1.2.1 Techniques used to teach a new grammar item:

Table I: Techniques used to teach «new grammar item

These five techniques conld be used by the teachers al Viel-Da Iligh school to teach a

prammar item

‘The results ftom the interview as well as the classroom observation showed that the first technique: Presenting and explaining grammar rules in detail, was still in use by some teachers (33.3%) They used this technique with the aim of making their students understand well the grammatical rules to achieve their goal of learning As the first interviewed teacher said: “T often explain graromar points in the ssroorn lo make sure my stndents understand the meaning of the

text or sentences” In the second observation, the grammar presentation was begun by the