Student’s attitudes towards the integrated approach to grammar teaching, a quasi-experimental research on the first year students at hanoi college of economics andtechnology

Duong Thi Nu Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: As at the center of concern of any EFL teachers, grammar plays a crucial role to English teaching and learning.. At the college, where most of

approach to grammar teaching, a

quasi-experimental research on the first year students

at hanoi college of economics andtechnology

Phương Pháp Tích Hợp

Vũ Thị Sâm

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Teaching Methodology; Mã Số: 60 14 10

Người hướng dẫn: Dr Duong Thi Nu

Năm bảo vệ: 2010

Abstract: As at the center of concern of any EFL teachers, grammar plays a crucial role to

English teaching and learning However, due to some institutional constraints, grammar teaching

at the Hanoi College of Economics and Technologies requires more than the application of one method to get the best result At the college, where most of the teachers prefer traditional approach to teach grammar, students seem not interested in learning and show negative attitudes towards the teaching approach as well as toward their grammar learning This study is therefore conducted with the hope to find out whether the integration of different teaching approaches helps students change their attitudes towards grammar learning.So as to reach that aim, the author conducted a quasi-experiment in 6 weeks with the hypothesis that the integrated teaching approach can change student’s attitudes towards grammar learning The data was collected from pre and post treatment questionnaires and structured interviews Findings showed that there was

a positive change in student’s attitudes towards grammar learning after 6 weeks of the experiment Students vowed that they got better absorption of grammar rules because of more creative and motivating class atmosphere and learning procedure thanks to the flexible application of integrated teaching approach Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations were derived for the application of the integrated approach to grammar teaching to low level students of English It is hoped by the author that this small study will provide an effective and interesting way to teach and to learn grammar to teachers and students

at her context in particular and in other similar teaching environments in general

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp dạy học; Ngữ pháp

Content:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rational

2 Aims of the Study

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the Study

5 Method of the Study

6 Organization of the Study

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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Learning attitudes

1.1.1 Definitions of learning attitudes

1.1.2 The role of attitudes in language learning

1.2 Theoretical background of grammar teaching

1.2.1 Definitions of grammar and the place of grammar in English

language teaching

1.2.2 The brief view of grammar teaching approaches

1.2.3 Stages of a grammar lesson at the current trend of ELT

1.3 Rational for the Integrated Approach

1.3.1 There is no best method

1.3.2 Related studies

1.3.3 Institutional reasons for the integrated approach

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1.3.3.1 Low level students

1.3.3.2 Large-size and mixed level class

1.3.3.3 Student’s specific learning needs

1.3.4 Practical suggestions for the application of integrated approach

1.4 Conclusion to the chapter

Chapter II: METHODOLOGY

2.1 The context of the study

2.2 Study design

2.3 Research questions

2.4 The participants

2.5 Data collection instruments

2.5.1 The questionnaires

2.5.2 The interviews

2.6 Data collection procedure

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Chapter III: ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

3 1 Data analysis

3.2 Findings and discussions

3.2.1 Teachers’ beliefs and knowledge in teaching pronunciation

3.2.2 Formal curricula description

3.2.3 Teaching pronunciation’s goal and assessment

3.2.4 Approaches and techniques of teaching pronunciation

3.2.5 Teachers’ roles in teaching pronunciation

3.3.6 Teaching and learning materials

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PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

3.1 Summary of major findings

3.2 Implications of the Study for Teaching pronunciation

3.2.1 Improving teacher’s knowledge and opinion of different approaches to TEFL

3.2.2 Enhancing and varying teacher’s roles in teaching

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3.2.3 Not to depreciate the appropriate uses of L1 in the classroom

3.2.4 Some suggestions for the integration of approaches in grammar teaching

3.2.5 Improving Facilities and Teaching/Learning Environment

Conclusion to the chapter

4 Limitations of the Study

5 Suggestions for further research

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A Pre-treatment questionnaire

APPENDIX B Post-treatment questionnaire

APPENDIX C Pre-treatment interview and discussion

APPENDIX D: Post-treatment interview and discussion

APPENDIX E: List of tables

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rational

Teaching and learning grammar has been regarded as crucial to the ability to use a language In other words, grammar gains a prominence in language teaching, as much as without a good knowledge of grammar, learners’ language development will be severely constrained By studying grammar learners come to recognize the structure and regularity which is the foundation of language and they gain the tools to talk about the language system (Burns and de Silva Joyce, 1999, p.4-5) This is undeniable, and can be strongly agreed by any ESL teachers, who have paid much attention to teaching grammar in their classroom It is clear for all that, by teaching grammar, teachers not only offer learners the means to express themselves but also fulfill learners’ expectations of what learning a foreign language involves

However, how to teach grammar effectively is not easy at all This is the big concern

of any language teachers, especially those who teach English to students with practical purposes of communication and work in the future As a teacher at a newly born college as the Hanoi College of Economics and Technology (hereafter in referred as Hanetco), where English is considered the most dominant and essential subject, the researcher and all of her colleagues at the college have the absolute consensus that grammar is something that needs putting to the top of priority Unfortunately, we found that there are many constraints, regarding institutional, learner perspectives, and teaching context perspective, that prevent us from teaching English grammar best communicatively Moreover, as referred from well-known linguists, the author has an idea that many of the approaches to grammar teaching, currently popular or has been waned, all have the advantages and availability and suitability to

be utilized in different teaching situations That is why in this small research, the researcher tries to make a suggestion of an integrated approach to teaching grammar to students at Hanetco

Learning attitudes has recently received considerable attention from both first and second language researchers Most of the researches on the issue have concluded that learner’s attitude is an integral part of learning, and that should be, therefore, become an essential component of second language learning pedagogy There are several reasons why research on

student’s attitudes towards language learning is important First, attitudes towards learning are believed to influence behaviors (Kaballa & Crowley: 1985) (Source: Weinberg 1998) such as selecting and reading books, speaking in a foreign language Second, a relationship between attitudes and achievements has been shown to exist Schibeci and Riley (1986), (Source: Weinberg 1998) report that there is support for the proposition that attitudes influence achievement, rather than achievement influencing attitudes The reason is that attitudes influence one’s behaviors, inner mood and therefore learning So it is clear that there is an interaction between language learning and the environmental components in which students grew up Both negative and positive attitudes have a strong impact on the success of language learning The attitudes of an individual depend heavily upon different stimuli Stern (1983) claims that the affective component contributes at least as much and more often to language learning than the cognitive skills, and this is supported by recent researches All studies adduce that affective variables have significant influences on language success (Eveyik, 1999; Skehan, 1989; Gardner, 1985; Spolsky, 1989) Discovering student’s attitudes about language will help both teacher and learner in the teaching-learning process Therefore, we have to

consider the crucial role of this affective domain, attitudes

1.2 Aims of the study

The aim of the study was to investigate what the attitudes of the students at Hanetco towards English grammar learning are and how their attitudes would change after some grammar lectures with the integrated approach Thanks to the findings of the study, the researcher hopes to leave some suggestions for further study in this very interesting topic

1.3 Research questions

Focusing on a case with a target on the first year non-English-major students at Hanetco, this research examined the learning of grammar before and after the experiment of the integration of approaches To achieve this, three research questions were proposed:

(1) What are the reasons for a change in approach to grammar teaching to students at

Hanetco?

(2) What are students’ expectations towards grammar teaching and learning?

(3) What are the students’ attitudes towards the new integrated approach?

(4) 1.4 Scope of the Study

This study plays the role as a quasi-experimental study Due to the time limit and financial constraint, the author was unable to carry out the experimental study on a larger scale Therefore, the researcher intends to describe the student’s attitudes and beliefs towards English learning and teaching in the real context of first-year students at Hanetco

1.5 Method of the Study

A qualitative and quantitative methodology was selected for this quasi-experimental research This involves the following instruments for data collection:

(1) Survey questionnaires (pre-experiment and post-experiment questionnaire)

(2) Interviews and discussions

The collected data come from 138 first year students, gathering in two groups of banking faculty, interviews and discussions with random students Then the analysis is carried out in the light of finding out the answers to the research questions and the interviews

1.6 Organization of the study

The study includes three parts:

- Part 1, INTRODUCTION, introduces the rational for the research, the aims of the study, the

scope, the methods and the organization of the study This part also provides a brief description of the thesis topic and information related to English grammar teaching and

learning at the author’s teaching context, which is background of the study

- Part 2, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three chapters as follows:

- Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This part offers the reviews of literature related to studies on learning attitudes, the effect of attitudes on learning result, as well as the brief description of English grammar teaching histories together with the sketchy analysis of some popular approaches to grammar teaching Those help to provide the rational for the supposed integrated approach

- Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

The actual procedures of the study are presented in this part: study design, subject of the study, data collection instruments as well as data collection analyzing process

- Chapter 3: ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This part focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study

- Part 3, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, summarizes some major

findings, provides recommendations for a possibly applicable approach to teaching grammar, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research

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