How to teach grammar communicatively for grade 10 students at Thanh Ba high school Phu Tho province

English is presently considered as an international language which is used widely in the world and in almost all fields of the study. In the past decades, it has been proved to be the most valuable means for people to acquire knowledge, to entertain them and to communicate with the others. Therefore, the teaching and learning of English has become very popular and necessary. However, one aspect of teaching English is teaching grammar which has been considered as a challenge for many Vietnamese teachers of English at school. Therefore, this study was inspired by both the subjective and objective reasons. Subjectively, doing a study on methodology, especially on teaching grammar, is a very useful preparation for my future job as a teacher of English. Simultaneously, it is very practical for the teaching practice as a trainee teacher at a high school in Phu Tho. Moreover, I have chosen this subject due to the awareness of the importance of English grammar. Without learning it, students cannot communicate well, to put it another way, the language they produce which is considered ungrammatical and unacceptable. Hence, it is essential to teach grammar effectively and appropriately at the very beginning stage. The objective reason for choosing this topic comes from the current situation of teaching grammar at high schools. In a grammar lesson at high schools, most of the practices are done in the forms of writing and the teacher seldom creates activities that may help students to put what they have learnt into use. Therefore, although students have learnt numerous grammar rules, words and sentence structures, they cannot express themselves when they speak in English. It may surprise us that many students cannot use English as a means of communication after several years of learning it at school. For these reasons, the researcher decided to conduct the research on How to teach grammar communicatively for grade 10 students at Thanh Ba high school Phu Tho province. Hopefully, it will make a small contribution to the teaching and learning grammar at the high school

This thesis would not have been possible without the help andsupport of many individuals I would especially like to thank the followingpeople

Ms Ngo Thi Thanh Huyen, who has guided me to do this thesis.Without her expert guidance, insightful comments and constructivefeedback, my thesis would have still been far from completed

I would be grateful allthe lecturers who have been teaching inForeign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, contributed tothe success of the course

I would also like to thank all the teachers and the students at Thanh

Ba High School in Phu Tho, who willingly participated in the study I thankthem for their time, patience and willingness in completing thequestionnaires, answering the questions and sharing their classroomswith me

Last but not less importantly, I owe my parents and friends whoseunconditional love, understanding, encouragement, and support arevaluable during my whole study

Phu Tho, April 2016

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TGC method Teaching grammar communicatively method

LIST OF FINGURES AND TABLES

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English is presently considered as an international language which

is used widely in the world and in almost all fields of the study In the pastdecades, it has been proved to be the most valuable means for people toacquire knowledge, to entertain them and to communicate with theothers Therefore, the teaching and learning of English has become verypopular and necessary However, one aspect of teaching English isteaching grammar which has been considered as a challenge for manyVietnamese teachers of English at school

Therefore, this study was inspired by both the subjective andobjective reasons Subjectively, doing a study on methodology, especially

on teaching grammar, is a very useful preparation for my future job as ateacher of English Simultaneously, it is very practical for the teachingpractice as a trainee teacher at a high school in Phu Tho Moreover, I havechosen this subject due to the awareness of the importance of Englishgrammar Without learning it, students cannot communicate well, to put

it another way, the language they produce which is consideredungrammatical and unacceptable Hence, it is essential to teach grammareffectively and appropriately at the very beginning stage

The objective reason for choosing this topic comes from the currentsituation of teaching grammar at high schools In a grammar lesson athigh schools, most of the practices are done in the forms of writing andthe teacher seldom creates activities that may help students to put whatthey have learnt into use Therefore, although students have learntnumerous grammar rules, words and sentence structures, they cannotexpress themselves when they speak in English It may surprise us thatmany students cannot use English as a means of communication after

For these reasons, the researcher decided to conduct the research

on "How to teach grammar communicatively for grade 10 students at Thanh Ba high school- Phu Tho province" Hopefully, it will make a

small contribution to the teaching and learning grammar at the highschool

2 Research purposes

The study aims at raising the importance of grammar teaching.Moreover, it is intended to find out major difficulties that studentsencounter as well as their attitudes towards learning English grammar Inaddition, the prevalent teaching methods that are widely used to teachEnglish grammar at high schools in Phu Tho are studied on, and thentheir advantages and disadvantages are drawn out Moving on, in anotherplace, a variety of techniques and activities are suggested to achieve theeffectiveness in teaching grammar In addition, how to use thesetechniques and activities successfully is taken into consideration in theapplication for students at Thanh Ba high school

3 Research questions

The research will find the answers for the following questions:

1 What are the attitudes of the students toward teaching andlearning grammar communicatively?

2 How is the students’ grammar improved after the application ofthe treatment?

3 What suggestions should be given to the students?

4 Methodology

4.1 Research procedure

Firstly, the definitions of some terms related to the grammar wasclarified by study theory

Secondly, the current situation of learning English grammar of thestudents in class 10A and 10B at Thanh Ba high school were investigated,then some suggested solutions are given.

Thirdly, the experiment was carried out with the treatment to teachgrammar for students effectively

Fourthly, pretests and posttests was given to the students of thetwo groups (control group and experimental one); then the result of thetwo tests were compared to see whether there are any improvements inthe students’ grammar or not

Finally, from the research findings, some suggestions were given

4.2 Research methods

The theoretical background of the study is mainly based on thebook and documents written by a number of scholars on foreign languageteaching

Within the aim of finding out the current situation and gettingsome results after experiment in teaching and learning grammar in class10A and 10B at Thanh Ba high school, this study adopts quantitative,qualitative and experimental methods To identify the problems, thestudy has been carried out with the data collected from differentinstruments:

- Pre- questionnaire: This questionnaire is for the students under thisresearch and aims to obtain understandings about students’ attitudes,their motivation in grammar Students will be given this questionnairebefore the treatment The questionnaire consists of two parts:

+ Part I aims to explore the students’ attitudes toward teaching grammarcommunicatively

+ Part II aims to explore the students' participation in teaching grammarcommunicatively

- Post questionnaire: Post questionnaire was delivered to students afterteaching grammar communicatively The post questionnaire aims tomeasure the students’ attitudes and motivation after being given thetreatment to see if there is any increase of their motivation andparticipation in grammar lesson in the class Based on the findings fromthis post questionnaire, together with the result of the post test, theresearcher can go to the necessary conclusions and give suggestions.

- Pretest and posttest: The pretest and posttest are a set of questions andexercises

The pretest helped ensure the compatibility in the students’ Englishlevel to divide them into control group and experimental group.Moreover, the pretest also provides the researcher with accurateassessment on the students’ English grammar knowledge to makecomparison with their result of the posttest, so that researcher of thestudy can go to necessary conclusions about the effects of teachinggrammar communicatively on the student's grammar competence Aftercarrying out pretest, I used some treatments following:

• I used pictures, situations, and examples for presentinggrammatical structures

• I used picturesfor checking students’ understanding of whathas been presented

• I used oral drills, written exercises at the practice stage

After applying some treatments in teaching grammarcommunicatively, the posttest administered among these students Theresult of the posttest compared with the one of the pretest to see anychanges and improvements in the students and give necessarysuggestions

5 Significance of the study

Theoretical significance of the study: the study supplied the English teachers with the understanding of language in term of types, advantages when employing them The study also suggested some ways to exploit language focus successfully during all stages in teaching grammar

Practical significance of the study: the study helped the teacher of English teach grammar more effectively, which made language focus lessons more communicative and meaningful

6 Hypothesis

If the study "How to teach grammar communicatively for grade 10 students at Thanh Ba high school- Phu Tho" was successfully, this would help students in class 10A improve their level of language focus

7 Scope of the study

The research focus on some effective techniques and activities used

in grammar teaching for 40 students at grade 10A and 40 students at grade 10B, Thanh Ba high school

8 Design of the study

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

1.2 Research purpose

1.3 Research question

1.4 Research methods

1.5 Significance of the Study

1.6 Hypothesis

1.7 Scope of the study

1.8.Proposed schedules

1.9 Design of the study

Part B: MAJOR CONTENT

Chapter1: deals with the theoretical background that is relevant to thepurpose of the study: grammar, different views on English grammarteaching.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 OVERVIEW OF GRAMMAR

1.1.1 Definition of Grammar

Grammar seems to be a very familiar term in language teaching andlearning However, it is difficult to define exactly what grammar is Up tonow, many attempts have been made for this

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines that “ Grammar

is the rules in a language for changing the forms of words ang combiningthem into sentences” For example, the word “went” is the past form of theword “go” and that word combines with such words as “I, to, visit, mygrandparents, yesterday” to make a sentence: “I went to visit mygrandparents yesterday”

Harmer (1987) gave another definition of grammar: “Grammar isthe way in which words change themselves and group together to makesentences The grammar of a language is what happens to words whenthey become plural or negative, or what word order is used when wemake questions or join two clauses to make one sentence” (p.1) It can beseen that the ideas of two definitions are much similar in that they bothsee grammar as a system consisting of the change of word forms and thecombination of words into sentences

Ur (1988) has given a broader definition to grammar, which is clearand easy to understand: Grammar may be roughly defined as the way alanguage manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order toform longer units of meaning For example, in English, the present form ofthe verb be in the third person has two distinct forms, one (is) being usedwith a singular subject and the other (are) with a plural; and if the pluralare is combined with a singular subject, the result is usually unacceptable

whereas This are a book is not There is a set of rules, which govern howunits of meaning may be constructed in any language”

In short, whatever grammar may be defined, it involves the set ofrules that defines how words or words are combined together to make upmeaningful units of language Moreover, it cannot be denied that studentsknow how to put the isolated words into meaningful sentences to servethe communicative purposes

1.1.2 Grammatical Structures

Ur (1996) has shown that “A specific instance of grammar is usuallycalled a structure Examples or structures would be the past tense, nounplural, the comparisons of adjectives or adverbs, relative pronouns and soon” (p.75) However, when talking about “knowing a language”, we do notonly mean “knowing the structure of a language” This can also mean one

of the following things

First, it may refer to the unconscious ability to use the structure of alanguage to convey meaning The user of the language does not have torecall the structure rules to create sentences The mental processes heuses to produce correct sentences are hidden This stage of knowledge iscalled “unconscious knowledge”

Second, it may refer to the information that has been deliberatelyacquired through studying structural descriptions Non- native learners

of the language can know the structure of a language mainly throughstudying Then apart from understanding the rules, in meaningfulsentences Therefore, Ur (1988) pointed out that: “When we teach anyone

of these types of structures, we are or should be clear getting ourstudents quite a large number of different, though related, bits ofknowledge and skills: how to recognize the examples of structure whenspoken and written form, how to understand its meaning in context, andproduce meaningful sentences using it themselves”

1.1.3 Grammatical meaning

Ur (1996) shows that grammar does not nobly affect how units oflanguage are combined in order to "look right"; it also affects theirmeaning The teaching of grammatical meaning tends, unfortunately, to

be neglected in many textbooks in favor of an emphasis on accuracy ofform; but it is no good knowing how to perceive or construct a new tense

of a verb if teachers do not know exactly what difference it makes tomeaning when it is used It is very the meanings of the structures, whichcreate the difficulties for foreign learners mentioned above The meaning

of grammatical structures may be quite difficult to reach It is simple toexplain that the addition of a plural -s to the noun in English and Freshindicates that teachers are taking about more than one term, and thereare parallels in other language Nevertheless, how would teacher explain

to the foreigners when to use the present perfect (i have gone, forexample) in English, and when the past simple (i went)? If all teachers aregrammarians or experienced English language teachers, they may havethe answer at their fingertips, but most English speakers who have notpreviously studied this question will have to stop and think, and may find

it difficult to answer

In this research's opinion, the learners can sometimes translatewords by words from English into Vietnamese However, it is veryimportant to translate into meaningful sentences in Vietnamese.Therefore, the learners must note the way to translate words fromEnglish into Vietnamese, sometimes it is translated from the first word tothe final words as the Vietnamese, sometimes it is against

1.1.4 The importance of Grammar

Teaching grammar has been a longstanding tradition in teaching aforeign language In recent years, the role of grammar in languageteaching ang learning has received different interpretations Traditional

method like the grammar translation one stressed the need to mastergrammar as the centerpiece in learning a foreign language whereas someexpressed different views against the teaching grammar “The study ofgrammar is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning a language”(Brumfit and Johnson, 1979) Therefore, there has been a greatcontroversy relating to the raised question: “Whether should we teachgrammar or not? Do we have to have grammar exercises? Isn’t it betterfor students to absorb the rules intuitively through communicativeactivities than to be taught through special exercises?” (Ur, 1988) Somelinguists have given their answer to these big questions

According to Richards, Platt, and Weber in Nunan (2005:2)grammar is a description of a language and the way in which units such

as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in thelanguage From this definition, it seems that grammar plays animportance role in combining units of language to form sentences Thesentences are acceptable or grammatically if they follow the rules ofgrammar Since a communicative purpose and function of language andreflected in grammar, it is a must the language students to acquire goodgrammar It should be admitted, good mastery in grammar will enablepeople easily to express information, feeling, and ideas in their thought toothers In other words, it can be said that communication failure willhappen if people do not master the grammar because the purpose ofcommunication cannot be reached From that statement, it is clear thatgrammar is important to be mastered by the students in order to be able

to express their feelings, emotions, and to be able to use Englishappropriately

Ur (1988) stressed the importance of grammar in languagelearning and teaching He stated “knowledge – implicit or explicit – of

use words unless you know how they should be put together” However,

he also claims “the learning of grammar should be seen in the long term

as a whole, not as an end in itself” (1988)

Harmer (1987) also admitted that: “There is now a general feelingthat students do need lo learn how to perform the functions of language,but they need a grammatical base as well Modern courses often teach agrammatical structure and then get students to use it as part of afunctional conversation”

In conclusion, there still exist controversies about the role ofgrammar in language teaching and learning However, it can be seen thatthe above – mentioned linguists share the same view in valuing thecrucial role of grammar in language learning and teaching However, theyassert that the sole mastery of grammar is not the goal of languagelearning The students’ ultimate goal in learning grammar is to use it toperform communicative functions accurately, effectively and successfully.Indeed, grammar offers students one of the most effective means ofextending students’ knowledge of language items in which they can use tocommunicate in real life and to understand what is said written inEnglish

1.2 THE EFFECTS OF GRAMMAR PRACTICE ACTIVITIES

Similar to other activities, grammar practice activities have bothadvantages and disadvantages Beside some disadvantages of time orstudents' awareness, grammar practice activities show some itsadvantages and effect

1.2.1 Good points

Grammar practice activities can help students improve the ability

of creation because they must make brainstorm to do the tasks

These activities can also help students be clearer about structuresand their use Therefore, they can say out various sentences based on theform In addition, the students can remember structure better.

Otherwise, these activities make students be active in activities andhelp students be the centre in the class

Using grammar practice activities is one of teaching methodscontributing in making the variety of improving teaching and learningmethodology effectively Teacher can help students produce structurescorrectly on their own by some grammar practice activities

These grammar practice activities attract students to practiceproducing structures by themselves basing on available forms This isvery useful for students to remember structures carefully

1.2.2 The effect of the Method

Ur (1996) is especially interested in the effect of this method ofhelping students produce structures correctly on their own throughseven types of grammar practice activities from accuracy to fluency, theyare awareness, controlled drills, meaningful drills, guided, meaningfulpractice, (structure- based) free sentence composition, (structure- based)discourse composition, free discourse

• Type 1: Awareness

After the learners have introduced to the structure, they are givenopportunities to encounter it within some kind of discourse, and do atask that focuses their attention on its form and/ or meaning

• Type 2: Controlled drills

Learners produce examples of the structure: these examples are,however, predetermined by the teacher of textbook, and have to conform

to very clear, closed- ended cues

• Type 3: Meaningful drills

Again, the responses are very controlled, but the learners can make

a limited choice of vocabulary

• Type 4: Guided, meaningful practice

Learners form sentences of their own according to a set pattern,but exactly what vocabulary the use is up to them

• Type 5: (structure- based) free sentence composition

Learners are provided with a visual or situational cue, and invited

to compose their own responses, they are directed to use the structure

• Type 6: (structure- based) discourse composition

Learners hold a discussion or write a passage according to givertask, they are directed to use at least some examples of the structurewithin the discourse

• Type 7: Free discourse

As in type six, but the learners are given no specific direction to usethe structure, however, the task situation is such that instances of it arelikely to appear

1.3 DIFFERENT VIEWS ON GRAMMAR TEACHING

The past century has witnessed the appearance, the developmentand the changes in methods of teaching foreign language Naturally, eachmethod has its distinctive features As a result, there are differentviewpoints on the teaching grammar of the target language

1.3.1 Traditional Methods

1.3.1.1 The Grammar – Translation Method

The Grammar – Translation method was popular in foreignlanguage teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s It was a dominantmethod until the end of the twentieth century and in its modified forms,

it has continued to be used in some places nowadays Grammar –Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language

first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by theapplication of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences andtexts into and out of the target language Hence, it views languagelearning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts inorder to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of theforeign language” (Richard and Rogers, 1986).

In this method, the teaching of grammar possesses the followingfeatures:

• Grammar is taught deductively, that is in a typical grammar –translation text, and the grammatical rules of the target language arepresented in the mother tongue and illustrated through translationactivities

• Teacher’s role is to explain grammar rules and the meaning of thewords in the students’ native language

• Students’ role is to pay close attention to teacher’s explanationsand corrections, memorize rules and vocabulary lists, and carefully do thetranslation tasks

The strong points of this method can be drawn from its abovefeatures First, students taught in this method are usually good atgrammar because of their great attention to it Second, this method doesnot require much effort from the teacher as he often overuses the mothertongue as the main means to explain the grammatical points Third,translation exercises can rule out the ambiguity or misunderstandingbetween the students in learning a new grammatical structure aseverything is translated clearly into their mother tongue

However, this method has some shortcomings, the biggest of which

is that students are considered to be passive recipients of the givenknowledge They learn by absorbing the teacher’s explanation in the

not have many chances to think, learn and carry out meaningfulcommunicative activities in the target language

Due to its weak points and inefficient outcome, this method israrely used in learning and leaching foreign language in schools in theworld nowadays Even in our country, although grammar translationmethod used to be popular for a long time, the use of this method inschools has proved many drawbacks and hence needs to be changed

1.3.1.2 The Direct Method

The direct method is a method of teaching that developed at theturn of the 20th century This method developed as a revolution againstthe grammar – translation method Therefore, grammar was also taught

in different ways This method stresses that the second language learningshould be more like the fist language learning with a lot of oralinteractions and spontaneous responses The direct method ischaracterized, above all, by the use of the target language as a means ofinstruction and communication in the language classroom, and by theavoidance of the use of the first language” (H.Stern, 1983)

Then, it could be seen that the teaching of grammar in this methodalso carries its distinctive features While prioritizing oral skills, it rejectsexplicit grammar teaching The students are supposed to pick up thegrammar of the target language in much the same way as children do that

in their mother tongue, simply by being immersed in it As a result, thismethod has some advantages First, it provides students more chances tospeak the target language and creates a good foreign language – learningenvironment It also enables students to think and the language easily

Nevertheless, this method has to cope with many challenges “ itrequires teachers who were native speakers or who had native like

fluency in the foreign language It was largely dependent on the teachers’skill, rather than on a text book and not all teachers were proficientenough in foreign language to adhere to the principle of this method”(Richard and Theodore, 1991, p.10) This method requires the teacher to

be very fluent in the target language and all the foreign language classes

to be small – sized This does not prove practical and useful in thefinancially poor situation, as it is difficult and costly to hire all native ornative like speaking teachers and to run small – sized classes in allschools In addition, as this method forces student to express himself toosoon in the target language, they can speak fast and fluently but notaccurately due to the lack of the systematic practice of the structures.More importantly, as oral interaction and spontaneous reaction are givenprior stress, slow –minded students will be discouraged because theyoften find it difficult to catch up with the fast pace of the learning process

Being the contradiction to the grammar –translation method, thishas not been seen as a better one The use of this method in the situation

of Vietnam schools could encounter such numerous difficulties asstudents’ inability to perform the language accurately and schoolfinancial matters

1.3.1.3 The Audio –Lingual Method

The immergence of the audio –lingual method resulted from theincreased attentions given to foreign language teaching in the UnitedStates at the end of the 1950s Then Audiolingualism reached the period

of most widespread use in the 1960s and it was applied both to theteaching of foreign languages in the United States and to the teaching ofEnglish as a second language in many other places

The teaching of grammar in this method has some features asfollows:

• The use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting thelanguage

• Emphasis on dialogues as the chief means of presenting thelanguage, mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills

• The use of the language laboratory

(H.Stern, 1983, p.462)The prevailing point of this method is that it gives good attention tostudents’ pronunciation and promotes their successful responses, whichcan better their ability to communicate Moreover, much use of tapes,language labs and visual aids can facilitate the learning process of thestudents as this can add a lively and interesting atmosphere to foreignlanguage classes

Nonetheless, this method also proves some drawbacks First,students vocabulary is simple and limited because most of the words arelearned in a dialogue context Second, students are turned into a kind ofmachine through repetitive drills, mimicry and memorization of setphrases, which do not help to promote their creativity

1.3.2 The Communicative Approach

At the time when the previous foreign language teaching methodall proved their drawbacks, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) hasbeen put forth around the world as the “new” or “innovative” approach toteach English as a second language Teaching materials, coursedescriptions, guidelines proclaim a goal or communicative competence

According to Seidl (2005), language is more than simply a system

or rules; rather it is seen as a dynamic resource for the creation ofmeaning In terms of learning, it is generally accepted that we need todistinguish between “learning what” and “knowing how” To some extent,that is to say, students do not simply learn the language structures andgrammar rules, rather they should take part in activities such as problem

solving, writing for a purpose, and discussion on topics of genuineinterest, ect Students in communicative classrooms are seen as activerecipients of information provided by teachers or the textbooks Teachersare no longer viewed as the authority of the knowledge, playing adominant role They are just in the roles of a facilitator, a participant, and

a counselor to create more fascinating experiences for the students Ingeneral, the CLT helps students learn a language through authentic andmeaningful communication, which involves a process of creativeconstruction, in order to achieve fluency

In addition, Nunan (1991a: 279) offers five features to characterizeCLT:

• An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction inthe target language

• The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

• The provision of opportunities for learner to focus, not only onthe language but also on the learning process itself

• An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences asimportant elements to classroom learning

• An attempt to link classroom language learning with languageactivation outside the classroom

From the above features, we can see that this approach promotesand encourages students to communicate and interact in the targetlanguage with the orders because its uttermost goal is to help themachieve communicative competence Moreover, this approach seesauthentic texts as a basic premise in teaching and learning languageaspects or skills The students do not have to memorize all thecomplicated grammar rules, rather they have chance to practice thestructures in meaningful situations In addition, the students in thisapproach are the center of the whole learning process The teacher can

act as a facilitator, an organizer, a supervisor and can help their studentsgain the knowledge in a more active and independent way.

Yet, inevitably, besides the strong points, CLT also has someweaknesses It is argued that CLT provides students with supportivevocabulary for functional language use, but with little guidance abouthow to handle vocabulary According to Henner –Stanchina and Riley(1978), CLT focuses on the learner –centered approach, while in someaccounts of CLT, students bring preconception of what teaching andlearning should be like However, despite few weaknesses, CLTstill gainsits status as the most effective approach in language teaching nowadays

A glance at the strong and weak points of each foreign languageteaching method and approach has brought about some judgments aboutthe efficiency and applicability of each method in schools Using thegrammar –translation method can result in the students’ extremely poorability to communicate whereas the too early exposure to the targetlanguage in the using Similarly, the consequence of to much repetition inthe audio –lingual method cause the boredom in foreign languageteaching The communicative approach has proved many strong points;

on striking example of which is that it helps students achieve intelligiblecommunication through meaningful communicative activities As a result,the prevailing strengths of the communicative approach have helpeditself achieve the status as the most efficient foreign language teachingapproach

1.4 TEACHING GRAMMAR ACCORDING TO THE COMMUNICATIVE METHOD

1.4.1 Requirements in a Grammar Lesson

Any teacher who teachers a grammatical item has to define hisobjectives by asking himself what his students have to learn According toHubbard (1989), there are three main things that students have to

acquire in a grammar lesson First thing is the form of a grammaticalstructure which is “the actual words (written) of sounds (spoken) used toexpress something in the language, the form is often synonymous withthe structure” (1989, p.158) The second is the meaning of the structure.

It is “the conventional and literal meaning of a particular form” (1989,p.159) The use of form may be described in terms of its function orcommunicative purpose” (1989, p.160)

While the grammar translation method and some other structuralapproach focus on the accuracy of the form, the communicative approachhas turned its attention to the use of the language in situation Littlewood(1981) claimed “ the goal of foreign language teaching is to extend therange of communication situations in which the learners can performwith focus on meaning without being hindered by the attention he mustpay to linguistic form” (p.89) Therefore, after a grammar lesson, studentsachieve this; two main kinds of activities need to be carried out in agrammar lesson The first on is pre- communicative activities includingthe presentation, then the controlled and guided practice The second iscommunicative activities which are considered as the free practice

In brief, the requirement for a successful grammar lesson is thatafter learning a certain grammatical structure, the students are able touse it in real life communication

1.4.2 The Stages of Grammar Teaching

The most common procedure for teaching grammar is as follow:

• The presentation stage

• The practice stage

• The production stage (Free practice)

1.4.2.1 The presentation stage-Its features and aims

According to Harmer (1988), “presentation is the stage at whichstudents are introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new piece oflanguage” (p.7)

Spratt (1988,p.7) suggested that the presentation should includethe following points:

• Build up a situational context This can be done through the use ofpictures, a dialogue, a story, ect

• Elicit the new language form the students Elicitation evolvestrying to encourage students to produce language that they havenever been taught

• Focus students’ attention on the marker sentence Teacherprovides students with a marker sentence as the first example ofthe new language that students will use as a model for producingother similar sentences

• Check students’ understanding of the meaning and form of thenew item

Ur (1998) said that the aim of the presentation is to get thelearners to perceive the new language structure, its form and meaningboth in speech and writing in order to take it into short- term memory

1.4.2.2 The practice stage- Its features and aims

“The aim of grammar practice is to help students learn thestructure so thoroughly that they will be able to produce them correctly

on the their own” (Jonh, P.W 1995,p.83)

With the aim of giving students the opportunity to use the newlypresented language and allowing them to memorize its form andmeaning fully as well as use it appropriately in real life, practice stage isclaimed as one of the most important stages in grammar teaching

For the purpose of covering all aspects of the structure presented,various techniques and activities are made full use of These techniques

and activities are divided into two kinds of practice: controlled practiceand guided practice.

1.4.2.2.1 Controlled practice

The controlled practice is denoted as “the stage at which learnersare given intensive practice in the new structure, but their production ofthe language is carefully guided, controlled by the teacher so that correctform and meaning are consolidated and the possibility of error is reduced

to a minimum” (Hubbard, Jones, Thornton and Wheeler (1983:187) Itincludes some types of drills given to students These drills help students

to practice the form and the use of the new grammatical items rathermechanically

1.4.2.2.2 Guided practice

According to Doff (1988), “it is obviously more useful to givestudents practice in which they have to thick, in which they understandwhat they are saying, and in which they express meaning This kind ofpractice is called meaningful practice” (p.73) However, students’production of language is less controlled and partially guided by teacher.Students have to think by themselves with meaningful utterance inguided contexts Moreover, the guided practice is regarded as a bridgebetween the pre- communicative phases to the communicative on in thelearning process In order to make the practice more meaningful, Doff(1988.p.75) pointed three ways as follows:

• Getting students to say real things about themselves

• Giving situations which imply the structure, but leave thestudents to decide exactly what to say

• Letting them add something of their own

1.4.2.3 The production stage- Its features and aims

It is the stage that students work more freely They are given thechance to use the structure to express their own ideas or talk about their

own experiences In this stage, students’ fluency and meaningfulness incommunication are of great importance Free practice aims at:

• Allowing students to experiment on their own and to see how muchthey have already understood and learnt the new materials

• Giving the teacher opportunely for checking the feedback on theirteaching to see how effectively they have taught and how muchstudents have learnt

• Giving students the opportunity to integrate the newly- learnedmaterial into previously- learnt on in a predictable linguisticcontest

• Providing motivation, giving students pleasure of success andachieving goals of a foreign language

(Spratt, 1985,p.67)

1.4.3 Teacher’s role and student’s role in a grammar lesson

At the presentation stage, the teacher controls the class and doesmost of talking The teacher’s main job is to serve as a kind of aninformant The teacher selects techniques and materials such as usingsituation, blackboard or text, ect, and then presents grammaticalstructure in a way to make its meaning, form and use clear andmemorable The tasks of students in this stage are to listen and try tounderstand what the teacher said to them

At the controlled practice stage, the teacher gives the instruction,controls students’ activities and corrects their errors until they producethe form of the target structure correctly At this stage, student’s talkingtime (STT) is equal to the teacher’s talking time (TTT)

At the guided practice, the possibility of errors is gradually reduced

to minimum However, when errors occur, the teacher still corrects them.The teacher reduces his control and students work more creatively andfreely Students’ talking time is greater than teacher’s talking time

The free practice which gives students a motive and an opportunity

to use the newly acquired language item freely without the interventiontheir teacher

The teacher might initiate the activity, but did not intervene ormanage it The teacher does not correct errors: students have to correct

by themselves The teacher does not talk at all: the students do all thetalking and finally the teacher does not control the subject matter apartfrom setting up the beginning of the activity Ideally, students are free tosay whatever they want ” (Hubbard, Jones, Thornton, and Wheeler,1983,p.191,192)

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants of the study

The participants of the study are 80 students from two classes: 10Aand 10B of Thanh Ba high school They are at the age of sixteen Theyhave been learning English for 4 years All of them had finishedcompulsory English programs at secondary schools

These students were divided into two groups One group was thecontrol one (called Group A) which was taught with the conventionalteaching methods and the other was the experimental group (calledGroup B) for which the researcher applied treatments in teachinggrammar

These students were selected for this study since they haverelatively similar profile, which is important to a quasi- experimentalresearch They all shared the similar mark range in language tests of thefirst semester The number of students who got good marks (8-9), over-average mark (5-7) and below average mark (4) in the previous grammartest is similar between the two groups Thus, it could be assumed that, tosome extent, they are quite compatible in terms of English grammarstructures Moreover, the pretest for these students in this research isanother tool to ensure the compatibility of the two groups

2.2 The textbook used at Thanh Ba high school

The textbook chosen for teaching language focus is English 10.According to the curriculum at the high school, the textbook is used forthe tenth students It consists of 16 units which are taught during 105periods The students have 4 English period every week In each unit,there are interesting topics divided into each category: reading, speaking,listening, writing and language focus The language focus section is at theend of each unit The language focus part which is designed to develop

the communicative skills for students includes pronunciation, grammarand vocabulary.

2.3 Methodology

This is a methodology research in which tests and questionnaireswere used to collect necessaryinformation

2.3.1 Data collection instruments

2.3.1.1 Pretest and posttest

Pretest and posttest were used to measure students' grammar levelbefore and after the treatment

The pretest was used on the two groups at the beginning of thecourse It helped ensure the compatibility in the students' English level todivide them into control group and experimental group Moreover, theresult of the pretest also provided the researcher with information aboutthe students' English knowledge to make comparison with the result ofthe posttest, so that researcher could go to necessary conclusion aboutthe effects of teaching grammar communicatively on language focus ofthe students

The posttest was administered among the two groups after thecourse The result of the posttest was compared with the one of thepretest to see any changes and improvements in the students' grammarcompetence after the treatments Also, the posttest results of two groupswere compared to see any differences in the grammar knowledge of thecontrol group (without treatments) and the experimental group (withtreatments)

The pretest and posttest were similar in terms of format and level

of difficulty As can be seen in appendix 3 and appendix 4, the tests weredesigned according to some criteria to assess all components of the

students' grammar competence such as content, accuracy, fluency,interaction, and appropriateness.

The data of the tests was processed with the help of necessarysoftware Then, the in- group and cross- group comparison showed howteaching-grammar-communicatively method could affect the students'grammar competence

2.3.1.2 Questionnaires

The questionnaires were used to explore the students' motivation

on applying and implementing treatments in the language focus lessons.Moreover, through the questionnaires, the researcher was provided withuseful information to make necessary conclusions in how to choosesuitable treatment to the students' level, how to organize the activities inthe most effective manners and which adjustments would be better forfurther application In this study, three questionnaires were used: pre-questionnaire, post- questionnaire and quick survey questionnaire

a Pre- questionnaire (Appendix 1)

This questionnaire aims to obtain understanding about students'attitudes, their views and participation in grammar practice activities.From the data collected, the researcher could see how they weremotivated in grammar lessons through the treatments The students weregiven this questionnaire before the treatments

The questionnaire consists of nine questions Each question is toget information about one aspect of the student's motivation or theinfluences treatments can have on their grammar practicing ability

Question 1 is to explore if the students are interested in theteaching grammar communicatively method or not In order to ensure theobjectiveness of the question, there are various options for them tochoose After that, depending on their choice in question one, they areguided to go on to the suitable questions For examples, if the students

choose "interested/ very interested" for question one, they go on directly

to question 2 If the other chooses "not really interested/ hate", they go toquestion 3 For those who choose "no idea", they go on to question 4.Question 2 and 3 were designed to explore the students' interest inteaching-grammar-communicatively-method previously applied inclasses The data from these questions helped the researcher have acomprehensive look at the reasons why they like, dislike or even have noidea about teaching-grammar-communicatively-method Question 4 is toget the information about how often treatments previous used ingrammar lessons The data collected from this question helps theresearcher make necessary adjustments in the frequency of treatmentsapplication Question 5 asks the students about their assessment on howmuch teaching-grammar-communicatively-method previously usedaffected their practicing ability Question 6 and 7 aim to get informationabout the problem of using too much mother tongue language in Englishclasses and the reasons for that fact because this is a very popularproblem in classes in Vietnam Question 8 is to explore the students'perceptions of the benefit provided by teaching-grammar-communicatively-method to see in what way the treatments hadinfluences on the students Question 9 is to ask about the potentialproblems that the students anticipate facing during the treatments used

b Post- questionnaire (Appendix 2)

The post-questionnaire has the similar format with the questionnaire However, the questions were adjusted some points to besuitable to the research purpose The post-questionnaire was delivered tothe students after they finished the course with the treatments The post-questionnaire aims to measure the students' motivation after being giventhe treatments to see if there was any increase of their motivation and

pre-post-questionnaire, together with the result of the post-test, quicksurveys and motivation observation, the researcher could go to necessaryconclusions and give suggestions.

2.3.2 Research procedure

This quasi- experimental research was conducted among two intactgroups: one group (Group A) is the control group and the other (Group B)being the experimental group during 7 weeks at Thanh Ba high school

Prior to the experiment, both two groups were measured in terms

of grammar level by the pretest Before the treatment, the questionnaire was given to the students to find out their attitude towardsgrammar practicing and how they participated in grammar lessons Afterthe treatments had been applied, the post-questionnaire was delivered tosee if there were any differences in the students' opinion about teaching-grammar-communicatively-method

pre-During the experiment, these two groups used the same textbookEnglish 10 The control group worked with grammar lessons withconventional teaching ways while the experimental group conductedgrammar lessons with the teaching grammar communicatively method

After the treatments, the students of both groups wereadministered the posttest; then, the result of the posttest was comparedwith the one of the pretest to see if there is any improvement in theirgrammar competence The result of the posttest was also comparedbetween the two groups to find outthe differences in their grammarcompetence

In addition, the post-questionnaire was also administered to see ifthere are any improvements in the students' motivation and theirperceptions of teaching-grammar-communicatively-method as well astheir expectations for further employment of this method

In chapter 2, some instruments used to collect data are pictures,situations and examples These tools were used to get students'understanding about motivation and attitude.

2.4 Some useful activities to teach grammar communicatively

2.4.1 Using Pictures

One of the most useful kinds of visual aids is picture Using pictures

to present grammatical structures is regarded as an effective techniquebecause it will catch the attention from the students and make the lessonmore interesting Through pictures, the meaning and the use of thegrammatical structures can be revealed clearly and vividly

In addition to the use of pictures for presenting the meaning ofgrammatical structures, it can be used to check student's understanding

of what their teacher has presented

For example, in order to check the student's understanding of thedifferences between the past perfect and the past simple, the teacher canshow two following pictures and ask students to match the sentence withthe picture below

A He had brushed his hair when he left the house

B He brushed his hair when he had left the houseLook at the picture, we can see that the correct answer is number 1

Another example, In a similar way, the following pictures and thesentences below can check the students' understanding of differencebetween the present perfect and the present perfect continuous.

A John has painted his bedroom

B John has been painting his bedroom

Look at the picture, we can see that the correct answers are thenumber 1 match with sentence A and the number 2 match with picture B

2.4.2 Using situations

It is not always possible to show the meaning and use ofgrammatical structures visually Instead, the teacher can use situationsthat reveal the meaning of the grammatical structures They may be realand created situation The teacher chooses the one which is useful andsuitable for presenting the meaning and the use of grammaticalstructures

The teacher can take advantages of real situations that arehappening in the class For example, to teach "comparatives andsuperlatives" (unit 16, English 10), teacher can call three students ofdifferent height going to the board and then ask the whole class to make acomparison about the height among them After that, the teacher writesthose three sentences on the board and underlines the form of thegrammatical structures

Besides real situations, created ones are also helpful in that theyhelp students develop their imagination and creativity However, in order

to enable students to understand the language items easily, teachershould create the situations related to students' life and experience Forinstance, when presenting the meaning and use of the second conditional(unit9, English 10), the teacher can create a situation like this:

T: suppose that now I am in a cafe with my friends Today I get thepromotion and I want to treat them However, I cannot do that because Ileave money at home So how do I say to my friends?

S: (answer in Vietnamese)

T: I can say "If I had money now, I would treat all of you"

Or "If I did not leave money at home, I would treat all of you"

Next, teacher writes two above sentences on the board and underlinesthe form of the second conditional By this way, students can understandthe meaning, the use and the form of this structure

Similarly, teacher can also use this technique to present themeaning and the use of the third conditional (unit 11, English 10) Thesituation may be as follows:

Yesterday my friend invited me to see a film at the August cinema,but I was so busy that I couldn't go with her Today I meet her and Ican say to her that:

"If I had time, I would have gone to see a film with you"

2.4.3 Using examples

This technique can be used to teach passive voice (unit 10, English10) The teacher says the following sentences and then writes them all onthe board

• My room was cleaned

• These trees have been cut

• His car is being repaired

Teacher underlines the structures and asks students some questionsand then they will draw out the meaning and use of the passive voice

T: Did I do all the things?

S: No

T: Who did the things for me?

S: Someone else

T: Are the verbs in these sentences active or passive?

S: They are passive

T: Why they are passive?

S: (answer in Vietnamese)

T: Because we are interested in the actions, not in the people whodid them

2.4.4 Using concept- check questions

Using concept- check questions is an effective way to checkwhether students understand the meaning, the use or the form of agrammatical structure or not To make it effective, the concept- checkquestions should be simple and in the form of yes and no questions

For example, to check the understanding of the second conditional

in the sentence "If I had money, I would treat you all", the teacher can askthe following questions:

• Am I talking about the future, the present or the past?

• What tense do I use after if?

• Which word do I use in the main clause?

• Do I have money now?

Or to check students' understanding of the structure "used to" inthe sentence "he used to smoke", teacher can ask the following questions;

• What is the tense of "use"?

• What is the form of verb followed by "used to"?

2.4.5.1 Repetition

Repetition activity helps students familiarize with the structure andpractice it accurately Specially, teacher gives examples and asks them torepeat

T: We are going to enjoy good weather with lots of sunshine Everyone,repeat, please

S: We are going to enjoy good weather with lots of sunshine

B: We are going to enjoy good weather with lots of sunshine

However, this kind of activity is very mechanical and students caneasily get bored Therefore, it should move quickly

2.4.5.2 Substitution

Substitution activity, a higher level of mechanical drills, is used forpractising accuracy Teacher gives a sentence and asks students tosubstitute different items in the sentence The teacher an also give

kind of practice will make the class more active and enable students totalk about themselves For example, to practice the simple present tensewith adverbs of frequency, teacher asks students to make sentences with

"always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, never" to describe their usualhabit after 5 p.m everyday

T: A, eat dinner

A: I always eat dinner after 5 o'clock

T: B, watch TV

B: I usually watch TV after 5 o'clock

In order to make the substitution more interesting, the teacher cangive cues by using flash cards For instance, students have to ask theirfriends how often they perform the activities shown on the flashcard Theteacher shows the first flashcard and says a model sentence Then theteacher shows other flash card and students will make questions usingthe cue words given

T: (show a card of a man brushing his teeth) and call C

C: How often do you brush your teeth, D?

D: Twice a day (then call E)

T: (show another card of someone playing tennis)

E: How often do you play tennis, F?

F: I don't play it at all (then call G)

T: (show a card of a person getting on a bus)

G: How often do you go to school by bus, H?

H: Never, i always go to school by bike