using powerpoint lessons for teaching grammar in a noncentered high schoo

Can Tho, June 2007 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu... Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu... Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu

Can Tho, June 2007

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A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to conclude the process of conducting my research by remembering all

of those who have helped me navigate through this dissertation I am greatly indebted to a number of people from English Department of Can Tho University for helping to make this B.A thesis possible First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to Mr Dao Minh Trung,

my supervisor, who supported and encouraged me generously throughout this research study Without his excellent academic guidance, my thesis would not have been completed

My appreciation is also extended to Mrs Vuong Le Thien Thanh and Mrs Phuong Hoang Yen who provided me with useful comments and profound insights about the topic, which accompanied me during the whole time of doing this thesis

Very special thanks are due to Mr Tran Minh Tuan for his assistance in analyzing data and statistical issues His support is greatly appreciated

I would like to sincerely thank the anonymous participants who contributed data to this study Many thanks also to Miss Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, my former teacher in Phan Van Tri high school, who kindly allowed me to involve her students in the data collection process

If there were not their outstanding cooperation, this thesis could not have been carried out

At last, but no means least, my heartfelt thanks go to my wonderful mother, who created good finance conditions for me to finish the study and encouraged me in anyway; especially my respected and loving father, whose encouragement has a tremendous impact on

me and my thesis though he has no longer been by my side Only thinking of him and his desire on my success, I could have overcome my vicissitudes, concentrated on my study, and got this far

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A BSTRACT

Applying ITC in learning and teaching is not new in the Reform in Education period One of the tendencies is using Microsoft PowerPoint in classrooms In addition, there is a need to change the way to teach English, especially to teach grammar Therefore, the main goal of the study was to examine whether PowerPoint lessons enhance the falcuty of high school students for learning grammar An experimental research design was conducted at Phan Van Tri high school locating 15 km far away from Can Tho City Three grammar points tests was administered for 92 grade 10 students devided into experimental group and control group before and after they were taught The scores collected from the pre test and the post test were then computed and analyzed through the SPSS program The major finding on overall score demontrates that there was no statistical difference between the two groups In other words, PowerPoint lessons do not enhance the faculty of students for learning grammar

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C ONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

Lists of tables and figures v

Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Statement of the problem 1

1.2 Thesis organization 2

Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Grammar 3

2.1.1 Definition 3

2.1.2 Role 4

2.1.3 Teaching Methods 4

2.1.4 Problems and Solutions 5

2.2 PowerPoint 6

2.2.1 Motivation and interest 7

2.2.2 Thinking and analytical skills 8

2.2.3 Achievement 9

Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1 Research question and hypotheses 13

3.2 Research design 13

3.3 Participants 13

3.4 Procedure 14

3.4.1 Preparation stage 14

3.4.2 Effectuation stage 14 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

3.5 Instrument 14

3.5.1 Passive voice test 14

3.5.2 If clause type III test 15

3.5.3 Wh- questions test 16

3.6 Materials 16

3.6.1 The content of the experimental group 16

3.6.2 The content of the control group 16

3.7 Scoring system for the tests 16

3.7.1 Passive voice test 16

3.7.2 If clause type III test 17

3.7.3 Wh_ question test 18

Chapter 4: Research Results 19

Chapter 5: Discussion and conclusion 5.1 Discussion 22

5.2 Limitations of the study 23

5.3 Conclusions 24

5.4 Suggestions for further research 24

References 25

Appendices 28

Appendix A – Passive voice test 28

Appendix B – If clause type III test 30

Appendix C – Wh- questions test 31

Appendix D – Passive voice lesson plan (PowerPoint) 32

Appendix E – If clause type III lesson plan (PowerPoint) 38

Appendix F – Wh-questions lesson plan (PowerPoint) 43 Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

L ISTS O F T ABLES A ND F IGURES

Table 1_ Pre-test and Post-test Result 19 Table 2_ The collected data from the pre-test and the post-test

of two groups in grammar (1) 19 Table 3_ The collected data from the pre-test and the post-test

of two groups in grammar (2) 20 Table 4_ The collected data from the pre-test and the post-test

of two groups in grammar (3) 20 Table 5_ The overall result of two groups 21

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Chapter 1:

I NTRODUCTION

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the study including reasons for conducting the thesis and outlines the structure of the thesis

1.1 Statement of the problem

Recently there are two prominent trends in Vietnamese education, especially in English Language Teaching

Firstly, there is a belief that the core of language is communication so the communicative approach has been commonly used to teach English We can see it is proved

by the Reform in Education with example of completely change of textbooks The newest one is the textbook of grade 10 Beside the four skills which have been added to enhance communicative skills of students, the grammar aspect, now called Language Focus, has been innovated to fix with the current trend Formerly, Grammar which was one of main points in teaching English in high schools was taught with grammar translation But nowadays there is

a requirement that students not only master grammar rules but also know how to use them in

a given situation Therefore, teaching English grammar has been a challenge: What is the good way to enhance the ability to learn and use grammar points? How does a grammar lesson look like in this case?

Secondly, technology is not new to the classroom; in fact, it has been brought benefits

to education The remarkable representative is emerging computer generated presentation software package that is the Microsoft PowerPoint program It is people’s feeling that presentation software can simplify the instruction of complicated topics, as well as being more visually appealing and interesting than the traditional methods like overhead transparencies and handouts In addition, presentation software can provide a variety of color, Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

clip art, text and photographs that appeal to most audiences So does it work in high school? Does it assist communicative approach in teaching grammar? Can it be the answer for the question mentioned above?

As teachers we are forced to use a variety of teaching methods to meet the needs of the varying abilities of our students To find a method that is beneficial to the students in terms of their understanding as well as one that will maintain their interest in the subject matter is a difficult task This research project was developed to determine if the lessons created with PowerPoint presentation can enhance the faculty of students for learning grammar points in compared to the traditional lessons that are designed with blackboard The investigation was also interested in identifying students’ attitude toward such kind of lesson: like or not?

1.2 Thesis organization

The thesis has five chapters The first two chapters provide a background for the research through the literature review on grammar and PowerPoint The next two chapters discuss the research methodology, with the focus on experimental method, and present findings of the experiments and questionnaire The final chapter discusses the findings in light of the research literature and set out the conclusion of the research and suggest for further studies in using PowerPoint in teaching

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Chapter 2:

L ITERATURE R EVIEW

This chapter reviews prominent studies, books and journals to support the present research The principle areas to be discussed are English grammar and its teaching, PowerPoint software and its benefits to the field of teaching and learning

2.1 GRAMMAR

2.1.1 Definition

For most of people, answering the question “What is grammar?” is not too hard, yet defining the term “grammar” exactly is not an easy work Thus in this chapter, there is a review of many different linguists’ opinion about “grammar”

First of all, Jamal Ouhalla (1999) suggested that grammar refers to the rules which govern pronunciation (phonology), word formation (morphology), and sentence formation (syntax) This assertion is somewhat supported by Peter Collins (2000) He shared his view that the description of any language could be divided into 3 major areas: grammar (comprising two sub-fields, morphology and syntax), phonology, and lexicon He also added,

“Sometimes grammar is understood to encompass all three areas” which means grammar is

the set of morphology, syntax, phonology and lexicon

Similarly but from another angle, Barry Sesnan (1997) confirmed, “grammar is the

set of rules for choosing words and putting words together to make sense.” In addition, Scott

Thornbury (1999) raised his idea about grammar that it is partly the study of what forms or

structures are permitted in a language and “the study of grammar consists of looking at the

way these forms are arranged and patterned”

Given these concepts, we can see that, in general, the set of rules governing a particular language is the grammar of that language, in another word grammar is the study of rules governing the use of the language

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2.1.2 Role

The formal study of grammar is an important part of education from a young age through advanced learning; however, grammar, historically, has been taught in a manner that leaves learners wondering why they need to learn it Hence, it is necessary to answer the question “Do we need to study grammar to earn a language? The short answer is "no" Many people in the world speak their own, native language without having studied its grammar Children start to speak before they even know the word "grammar" Nevertheless, if we are serious about learning a foreign language, the long answer is "yes, grammar can help us to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently."

In Systems in English Grammar: An Introduction for Language Teachers (1996),

Peter Master thought highly of the role of grammar “That is not to say that there is no role

for grammar in the modern classroom On the contrary, the need is as great as ever, especially when it comes to developing editing skills What we have finally realized is that grammar is a tool for expressing meaning and for this reason it can have no use until there is

a need for it.”

In short, it is thought to be so clear that grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages However, it is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well

2.1.3 Teaching Methods

Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and

"bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers

of no prestige forms

Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

them, which is called “Grammar – translation method” This results in 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 This can be proved in The Study of Language

(1996) of George Yule In his book, he described, “Long lists of words and a set of

grammatical rules have to be memorized, and the written language rather than the spoken language is emphasized… This label has actually been applied to the approach by its detractors who have pointed out that its emphasis on learning about L2 leaves students quite ignorant of how the language is used Learners leaving school… typically find themselves a loss…”

Other language teachers, influenced by another method – “Audio lingual method” –

that became popular in the 1950s, tend to teach grammar by “moving from the simple to the

more complex” (George Yule, 1996, p.193) George continued that believing that “the fluent use of a language was essentially a set of ‘habit’ which could be developed with a lot of practice”, the teachers taught their students by spending hours in a language laboratory

repeating oral drills Then he concluded “…isolated practice in drilling language patterns

bears no resemblance to the interactional nature of actual language use Moreover, it can be incredibly boring”

2.1.4 Problems and Solutions

As we can see, although teaching grammar is an important part of language teaching,

it, specifically teaching English grammar has met many problems The problems and their solutions have been taken universal interest Belinda (China) said in British Council teaching

English website, “I'm a TEFL teacher in a senior high school The biggest problem for me

right now is grammar teaching.” In addition, Zahid Hameed from Pakistan worried about the

grammar translation method “I was wondering what would be the best way to teach

grammar! Most teachers say that we should present the structure at first, but others say that

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it is better to use an inductive approach.” Juliana, a high school teacher, expressed her care

about grammar teaching methods In Grammar and Its Teaching: Challenging the Myths

(1997), Diane pointed out one of the myths was “Grammar is boring.” and proved that this

myth is derived from the impression that grammar can only be taught through repetition and other rote drills Teaching grammar does not mean asking students to repeat models in a mindless way, and it does not mean memorizing rules Such activities can be boring and do not necessarily teach grammar

The problem has been partly that teachers have not been provided the insights needed

to move the teaching of language conventions and grammar from the position of "textbook

exercise" to that of "tools of the trade" as used by professional editors and writers

Coupled with these problems have been some suggestions Liora Tamir (Israel) emphasized the importance of real situation in teaching grammar or it is advisable to let

students understand that “grammar is something ‘alive’ and not a collection of exercises.” Besides, Diana (China) highly appreciated the use of authentic materials She said “… it's

important for teachers to give the students authentic materials to practice They also need interesting teaching.” Similarly, Lyle French, Sao Paulo (Brazil) showed his agreement with

Diana “I find that the more authentic, and at times, freer the practice, the faster the students

learn the grammar.”

In brief, such findings underlined the importance of grammar and teaching grammar

in learning English as a foreign language Besides, greater awareness that was being brought

to bear on grammar was how to teach it effectively Although there were suggestions being shared by many teachers all over the world, a satisfied answer of the “how” was still a puzzle However, those teachers proposed a prompt which could lead to better solutions, that was using more authentic materials

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2.2 POWERPOINT

In recent years, many technological innovations of the 20th century have promised breakthroughs in the methods and effectiveness of teaching Some of the most promising innovations included filmstrips and motion pictures, teaching machines, and programmed instruction Two very different technologies may have far greater effects on educational practice than their predecessors that are computer and communication technology However, the revolution in computer holds out hope that all students will connect with more information and more people than ever before Innovations in the field suggest that certain barriers to learning, such as short attention spans or faulty memories, might one day be reduced by means other than the traditional reliance on sheer effort alone One of their prominent representatives is computer generated slide shows called PowerPoint software whose advantages are believed to be to inform and persuade others Yet, other benefits of

PowerPoint that take the most care is to increase the motivation and interest, the thinking and

analytical skills, and the achievement of students

2.2.1 Motivation and interest

In 1996, Reynolds and Barba suggested that one of the ways that technology contributes to the learning process is by increasing the motivations of the students They proposed that students enjoy working in a technologically enhanced learning environment (p 6)

One of the first research projects on the effectiveness of computer-generated presentations was begun in 1990 before multimedia presentation software was developed for the educational setting The study was conducted at the University of Minnesota and was

titled “Enhancing Lecture Presentations in Introductory Biology with Computer-Based

Multimedia” (Fifield & Peifer, 1994, p 235) The study has shown that the effects of

illustrations in oral presentations have increased the motivation and interest of students (p Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

235) Using this as a basis, Fifield and Peifer decided to incorporate the same idea into computer-generated presentations Based on surveys conducted in the introductory biology lecture courses from the fall of 1990 through 1993, students had very positive responses to the multimedia system Students’ comments included statements about the computer-based illustrations and animations making it easy to see the function and detail as well as making it interesting to the students One particular student’s response to the survey included the

following: “it made me more interested in the material I told people about it My friend is

taking the class because of it” (p 239) Fifield and Peifer concluded that computer-based

multimedia significantly improved the quality of the lecture courses

Sara Bushong (1998, p 9) wrote a paper on the utilization of PowerPoint presentation software in library instruction It is her feeling that presentation software can simplify the instruction of complicated topics, as well as being more visually appealing and interesting than the traditional methods like overhead transparencies and handouts In addition, presentation software can provide a variety of color, clip art, text and photographs that appeal

2.2.2 Thinking and analytical skills

According to the same surveys conducted by Fifield and Peifer, students had very positive responses to the multimedia system Students’ comments included statements about the computer-based illustrations being helpful in making the material concrete Others Trung tâm Học liệu ĐH Cần Thơ@Tài liệu học tập và nghiên cứu

commented on the animations making it easy to see the function and detail Fifield and Peifer

found that “animations are not only more realistic representation of structures and

processes, but they model thinking skills that we want our students to develop” (p.238)

Williamson and Abraham (1995, p.521) published their study on the effects of computer animation on the particulate mental models of college chemistry students The researchers found that conceptual understanding was significantly increased for students who viewed animated sequences depicting particulate behavior Students who viewed the animations had a more particulate view of matter as was evident from their drawings

In the survey given by Atkins-Sayre, Hopkins, Mohundro, and Sayre (1998, p.11) they found that a large percentage of respondents perceived PowerPoint as a cognitive aid They determined that sixty-nine percent indicated that PowerPoint assisted in their understanding of the material and sixty-eight percent thought that PowerPoint helped them retain the material

PowerPoint and other computer-generated presentation software incorporates animations and illustrations aiding students in developing a better conceptual understanding

of concepts and increasing their level of analytical thinking

presentation felt the instruction they received was more helpful in their understanding of the reference books than those who had the PowerPoint presentation Moreover, the students that viewed the PowerPoint presentation did not score statistically significantly better than those that did not on the assignment

Christine Ahmed (1998) presented a paper at a conference of the South Dakota Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation The paper was a comparison of PowerPoint versus traditional overheads to determine which is more effective for learning It was found that there was very little difference in test scores when comparing the two methods

However, in Mantei’s study (2000, p.304) the use of Internet notes and PowerPoint lecture slides resulted in higher exam scores for the students exposed to these methods Campbell and Leonard (Mantei, 2000, p.305) also found evidence that computer supported methods could increase student achievement

Except for a few of the research studies, it seems that computer-generated presentations do not significantly increase student achievement However, it has been discussed that this method does have many other advantages PowerPoint and other computer-generated presentations have the potential to increase motivation and interest They also have been linked to increase cognitive abilities as well as creating better mental models

It is possible that the achievement of students will increase

To sum up, the purpose of the review reported here is to show the vigorous support of using PowerPoint software, the advantages of which are the motivation and interest, the thinking and analytical skills, and the achievement Foreign researchers in foreign countries have warranted them, thus, there is a need to know whether PowerPoint has any impact on Vietnamese education

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In Vietnam, “electronic lesson plans” designing on PowerPoint software have been paid much attention on According to the information from Ministry of Education and Training, nearly 300 “electronic lesson plans” from Can Tho University, Ho Chi Minh Semipublic Open University, Da Nang University were gathered on January, 2nd, 2007 Many colleges and universities have adopted such a new lesson plan, in which students approach the modern technology more and more

In “Giáo Án Điện Tử” (2004), Mr Hoàng Đức Huy confirms that ‘Giáo Án Điện Tử’ built in PowerPoint is one of means that are suitable to the Reform in Education When first appearing in Vietnam, it has been welcomed by teachers and students as well

A typical example applying “electronic lesson plans” is Ngoi Sao private high school

in Ho Chi Minh City The concrete guidance viewpoint of the school is that all teachers of the school have to use computers and necessary software for designing lessons and teach with the aiding of modern technology Following it, there has been a training course being hold for the whole school As a result, most of teachers have been able to use PowerPoint incorporating with other soft wares to make their own electronic lessons

In 2003, there was a seminar “Improve Teaching Methods by Applying ITC and Modern Teaching Devices” taking place in HCMC In the workshop, there were twelve lessons designed in PowerPoint being taught, among them was an English lesson Then, attendees listened to reports about the necessity of applying ITC in teaching especially using PowerPoint software in class After the reports, everyone agreed that the reports are really convincing Mr Phan Van Xang in Binh Duong Teachers College confirmed that those

lessons are good and vivid He said “If any lesson has been applied ITC, the result of students

will be the best.”

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The review summarized above have some importance implications for a belief that PowerPoint can be one of the solutions of the problems mentioned in 2.1.4 because of its prominent effects on learning and teaching

All in all, this section has just discussed two major issues of the study, grammar and PowerPoint It is showed that there is much attention being paid on using more authentic materials for teaching grammar better It is also informed that PowerPoint with its obvious benefits to education in general can be an effective tool Correspondingly, combining such things for a good result is the matter of the research

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