SKKN The appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGTO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE THE APPROPRIATENESS OF FOCUS ON FORM INSTRUCTION IN THE LIGHT OF CLT TO 11TH GRADE STUDENTS

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

THE APPROPRIATENESS OF FOCUS ON FORM INSTRUCTION IN THE LIGHT OF CLT TO 11TH

GRADE STUDENTS AT TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL

Teacher: Hoang Thi Tan Position: Teacher - Chief Specialist Field of research: English

THANH HOA YEAR 2019

PART 1:

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and objectives of study 1

1.3 The participants 1

1.4 Research method 2

PART 2: CONTENT 2

2.1 Theoretical background 2

2.2 The reality before applying this method 4

2.3 The servey instruments 4

2.4 Findings and discussions 5

PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 13

3.1 Conclusion 13

3.2 Recommendation for further study 15

References Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been aninnovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam.Nowadays, teacher not only transfers knowledge but also guides, organizesstudents’ learning activities The aim of language teaching is to help studentsunderstand language as well as use it actively in real life; after a languagelesson, students can communicate in English In fact, at To Hien Thanh highschool, teaching English grammar in the light of communication has someproblems, such as students’ levels, teachers’ methods, facilities, textbooks, etc.Further more, students are not hard-working.They spend little time on learningEnglish In addition, they have no chance to practice English in real life or listen

to English from native speakers

In English lessons of high school, teacher almost starts from basic structuresand the simplest knowledge With the experience of 26 years working as ateacher of English and of 23 years teaching English at To Hien Thanh highschool, the author always concerns with how to help students learn Englishbetter, how to motivate them in learning English and how to reach the aim ofteaching English in the light of communication are the questions the authoralways thinks of The question of how to equip students with grammaticalcompetence so that they can use the language to communicate in any situationhas become a matter of teachers of English in general and teachers of English at

To Hien Thanh high school in particular

For the above reasons, the author intends to investigate the appropriateness

Hien Thanh high school then to give some suggestions to make English

teaching and learning activities here more communicative The author hopes thatthis study will have some contribution to improving the application of CLT inELT in general, English grammar teaching in particular at To Hien Thanh highschool

1.2 Aim and objectives of study

The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form

instruction in the light of CLT to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high

school

The objectives of study are:

First, to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of focus onform approach

Second, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach.Last, to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method so thatapplying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high schoolhas good results and effectiveness

1.3 The participants: 90 students of grades 11B6 and 11B7 They are at the age

of 17 or18 They have studied English for 6 years

1.4 Research methods

The main methods utilized in this study are Survey questionnaire for students,Classroom observation, Post-observation interviews with two teachers To carryout the study, many references were selected, read and filtered for information.The following instruments are used:

+ Questionnaire for students: to investigate students’ real situation oflearning English and to explore their expectation in learning English

+ Classroom observation: to clarify and test the validity of information aboutteaching grammar in the light of communication, the author observed two of 5teachers who are on behalf of two teaching styles

+ Post-observation interviews with two teachers: to get better insights intoteachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward teaching grammar in the light of CLT

PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background

This chapter provides definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Form

vs Focus on Forms, Contextual appropriateness of teaching methods, EFL

contexts

*Definitions of focus on forms

“Focus on forms is equated with the traditional teaching of discrete points ofgrammar in separate lessons.” (Ron Sheen – ELT Journal Volume 56/3 July2002)

Long (2000) described Focus on Forms as a traditional teaching approach inwhich teachers present the learners with preselected and sequenced linguisticitems (Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL &Applied Linguistics, 2007, Vol 7, No.1The Forum)

*Advantages of focus on forms

Focus on forms provides understanding of the grammar by a variety ofmeans: explanation in the L1, pointing out differences between the L1 andthe L2, and aural comprehension activities intended to focus students’

attention on the forms being used; it provides written and oral exercises that

entail using the grammar in both non-communicative and communicativeactivities;frequent opportunities for communicative use of the grammar topromote automatic and accurate use

*Disadvantages of focus on forms

Focus on forms makes students not pay attention to develop their spokenlanguage, not have self-confidence in communicating in English with otherpeople Teacher introduces knowledge,presents grammatical structures; studentslisten to the teacher and write down what the teacher introduces This approach

is teacher-centered

According to Long (1997), focus on forms does not identify students’communicative needs, does not ascertain their learning styles and preferences It

is an one-size-fit-all approach

*Definitions of focus on form:

According to Fotos (1998) focus on form is a context based presentation ofgrammatical forms, rather than overt teacher-led instruction

Doughty & Williams (1998) mentioned that focus on form integrates attention

to form, meaning and use

According to Long (1991) Focus on form refers to drawing students’ attention

to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overridingfocus is on meaning or communication In short, focus on form instruction isteaching grammar in the light of communication

*Advantages of focus on form

Focus on form helps learners “to recognize the properties of target structures

in context and develop their accuracy in their use” (Fotos 1998:32).

Focus on form instruction helps students learn how to use language in a waythat emulates realistic communicative scenarios More to the point, teacher-student/student-student classroom interaction, via both oral and written modes,should consume the majority of class time Likewise, evaluation centers onstudents’ abilities to actively engage in authentic communication, using theforms they have learned during interaction

As Poole (2003b) has pointed out, in many settings, the students and theteacher often share a common first (or second, or third) language and culture,and thus can easily code-switch in order to overcome communicative difficulties

or fill communicative gaps

Focus on form instruction encourages students to use language not only inorder to practice and automate structures, but also so that the teacher, as well asother learners, may be able to identify learners’ errors and form-baseddifficulties in order to help learners overcome them It also encourages students

to take responsibility for their own language skill development and helps themgain confidence in their ability to learn and use the language

*Disadvantages of focus on form

Focus on form approach refers to activities that capture learners’ attention toform while maintaining meaningful communication.Thus, meaningfulcommunication, crystallized through pedagogical tasks, was the basis of theFocus on Form treatment

Focus on form “ is also assumed that there are significant differences inthe two processes: that exposure is insufficient to enable learners to acquiremuch of the second-language grammar, and that this lack needs to becompensated for by focusing learners’ attention on grammar features” Focus

on form instruction, in Long (1991) and Long and Robinson’s (1998)conception, seems optimally suited to classrooms that are small enough toenable instructors to verbally address their students’ problematic forms,presumably via classroom discussion, Q/A sessions, and impromptu andplanned public speaking events Likewise, small classes would be neededfor students to have significant amounts of peer interaction both orally and

2.2 The reality before applying this method

The author chose students of two classes: 11B6 and 11B7 to test because the English teachers of these classes have two different methods in teaching

grammar The one teaching at 11B6 usually uses Focus on Forms She mainly starts from basic structures and the simplest knowledge Students listen to the teacher and write down what the teacher introduces They learn English

passively On the contrary, the one teaching at 11B7 usually uses Focus on Form Students learn English actively

* The following is the result the writer got from students’ 15 minute-test (Test1)Clas

2.3 The survey instruments

This study employed the quantitative method which helped to providebackground data for finding out appropriateness of focus on form instruction to

11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school In order to obtain in-depthand rich data, the writer used: questionnaire for students, classroom observationand post-observation interviews with two teachers

2.3.1 The questionnaire for students

According to Selinger and Shohamy (1989) a questionnaire is widely used insecond language acquisition research to solicit information about certainconditions and practices, in particular to collect data on phenomena which arenot easily observed, such as perceptions and attitudes It is also used to obtainbackground information about the research subjects (Koul 1984).A number oftechniques are used to collect data through questionnaires The kinds ofquestions are various, consisting of Yes/No question, Multiple choice, Rankedquestion, question in Liker scale

The questionnaire was designed for 90 students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanhhigh school (see Appendix I) It contains four multiple-choice questions.Students had four weeks to complete the questionnaire

The aim of the questionnaire is to investigate students’ ways of learningEnglish and their attitudes to learning English grammar lessons It consists offour questions

The questions for students focus on the following categories: the students’evaluation of their English grammar lessons (Question1); students’ opinionsabout the levels of effectiveness of the ways of learning grammar (Question2);the activities students like in learning grammar (Question3) and the students’opinions about grammatical mistake correction (Question4)

2.3.2 Classroom observation

Classroom observation was employed to clarify and test the validity ofinformation about teaching grammar in the light of communication The twolessons the author observed were carried out in two 11 classes: 11B6 and11B7 by two teachers being on behalf of two teaching styles Teacher Aalways tries to apply CLT in teaching grammar while teacher B always

applies two approaches: focus on form and focus on forms in teaching

grammar The purpose of the classroom observation is to evaluate whetherthe teachers would give the lessons carefully; the ways teachers motivated

as many students as possible into the learning activities; the ways thoseteachers monitored their classes; the ways they used to evolve compulsoryknowledge in 45 minutes

2.3.3 The post-observation interviews with two teachers

Selinger and Shohamy (1989) point out that the use of interview as datacollection instrument permits a level of in-depth information, free responseand flexibility that cannot be obtained by other procedures In this study,post-observation interviews consisting of four specific and defined questionswere used The post-observation interviews were conducted with two teacherswho teach grammar in two styles The interviews took place in a face-to-facesituations with the subjects The purpose of the interviews is to discuss forfurther information to have in-depth understanding of their evaluation on theappropriateness of focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanhhigh school

2.4 Findings and discussions

*Questionnaire for students

The aim of using Questionnaire for students is to investigate students’ real

situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English.Question1: What is your opinion about grammar lessons at school?

Students’ opinions Number of students percentagesBoring, difficult to understand and to

remember

28 31 %

Understanding grammar structures but

the classroom is deep 26 51 %Interesting, effervescent, lively and easy

to understand 16 18 %

Table 1: Students’ opinions about grammar lessons at school

As can be seen in the table 1, students have different attitudes to grammarlessons at school Most students (51 %) said that they understand grammarstructures but classroom is deep A lower percentage of the students (31 %) saidthat the grammar lessons are boring, difficult to understand and to remember.Only 18 % of the students said that grammar lessons are interesting,effervescent, livelyand it is easy to understand

Question2: Please tick the level(s) of effectiveness of the following ways oflearning English (in your opinions)

The ways of learning

The level of effectiveness Very

effective (%)

Not very effective (%)

Not effective (%)Learning grammar through conversations and texts 28 48 24

Listening to the teacher’s explanation of

grammar forms and uses then doing exercises in

the textbook 54 33 13 Writing down and learning by heart examples on

the board then making sentences using structures

having been learned 42 46 12 Learning by heart sentences having new

structures in concrete situations then applying

them to communicate with classmates 56 34 10 Learning grammar through exercises in the forms of

games, quiz games, songs, working in pairs / groups 60 31 9 Learning by heart grammar structures, rules then

doing exercises in the textbook 47 43 10 Learning grammar through listening, speaking,

reading, writing skills 34 55 10 The teacher spends much time training skills

The teacher only teaches grammar when you

make mistakes 27 59 14 Table2: Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of the ways of learning grammar

28 % of students said that learning grammar through conversations and texts

is very effective while a larger proportion (48 %) say that this way is not veryeffective and only 24 % say that it is not effective to learn grammar throughconversations and texts The majority of the students think that listening to theteacher’s explanation of grammar forms and uses then doing exercises in thetextbook is very effective (54 %), 33 % think that it is not very effective and 13

% think that it is totally ineffective In the way of writing down and learning byheart examples on the board then making sentences using learned structures, 42

% of the students consider that it is very effective, 46 % consider it not veryeffective, only 12 % of the students consider that it is ineffective Learning byheart sentences containing new structures in specific situations then applyingthem into communication with classmates also makes students be interested in

It is shown in the following results: 56 % of the students say that they like thisway of learning grammar For them it is very effective; 34 % say that it is not very effective and 10 % of them say that it is ineffective Besides learninggrammar by writing down and learning by heart grammar structures and rules,almost students (60 %) likes learning grammar through exercises in the forms ofgames, quiz games, songs, working in pairs / groups They believe that it is veryeffective way for them to learn and remember grammar structures However,

there are students (31 %) who do not like this way very much because for them

it is not very effective Only a small number of the students (9 %) consider thisway ineffective Almost students like learning by heart grammar structures, rulesthen doing exercises in the textbook 47 % of students find this way veryeffective; 43 % say that it is not very effective; the rest (10 %) are not satisfiedwith this way, for them it is ineffective As we know, listening, speaking,reading and writing are four skills every learner has to practice regularly whilelearning foreign language, but it is very surprisingly that the way of learninggrammar through listening, speaking, reading, writing skills does not makestudents be satisfied Over half of students (55 %) consider that this way isineffective Only 34 % think that it is very effective and 10 % say that it iseffective When being asked about the time of training skills and teachinggrammar, only 27 % of students say that they like their teacher to spend muchtime training skills, little time teaching grammar, grammar should be trainedonly when they make mistakes They believe that it is very effective way.Contrary to those students, 59 % consider that it is not very effective and 14 %say that it is ineffective

Question3: Which of the following activities do you enjoy taking part in whenlearning grammar?

Activities of studentsNumber PercentagesWork in pairs 15 15 %

- Rearranging words with the

same place of stress; the same

pronunciation(at phonetic lessons)

filling (only 15% of students).They say that it is very difficult for them to findsuitable information because they lack of vocabulary.

Question4: In what way do you want your teacher correct your mistakes?

Ways of correcting mistakes of studentsNumber PercentagesHave a detailed correction of all grammar mistakes

you make

62 62 %

Correct some mistakes you often make in writing 25 25 %Correct some mistakes you often make in speaking 19 19 %Table 4: The ways students want their teacher to correct their mistakes

In question 4 of the questionnaire, respondents are asked to say the way theywant their teacher to correct their mistakes In this question, the author givesstudents only three ways to choose From the data and findings in the table 4, wecan see that most students (62 %) want their teacher to correct all grammarmistakes they make concretely When being asked why, they say that becausethey do not want to make mistakes again To the second way of correctingmistakes given above (correct some mistakes you often make in writing), only

25 % of students preferred They explain that it is very important because all thetests for them are written and they almost do not have to take oral tests Contrary

to this, 19 % of students want their teacher to correct some mistakes they oftenmake during their speaking They say that they learn English to communicateand they want to use English to talk with friends everywhere in the World

2.4.2 The findings from classroom observation and discussions

Unlike the results obtained from the questionnaire, classroom observationgives a clearer picture about the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to

11th grade students at To Hien Thanh school The author took the observation attwo classes 11 The grammar lesson observed was part 5: language focus –Unit1-Textbook Tieng Anh 11.The author chose one unit conducted at twoclasses 11 by two teachers using two styles of teaching grammar in order tocompare and to evaluate classroom teachers about their instructional practicesand to identify examples of best practices in accordance with teaching standards.The following is the lesson observed by the author:

Unit 1: Friendship – Lesson 5: Language focus (Textbook: Tieng Anh 11)

Subjects: + Pronunciation: / dʒ/, / tʃ/

+ Grammar: Infinitive with and without to

Class size: 45 students

Time: 45 minutes

There are two parts in this lesson: Pronunciation and Grammar

* Classroom observation 1: The leson is conducted by the teacher applying

Focus on Forms Implemented procedures.

Part 1: Pronunciation

Activity1: Before the lesson, the teacher wrote two words: Jump – Cheese onthe board and asked students to read The teacher asked each student to read

aloud those words She underlined the letters J & Ch and lead into the newlesson: the pronunciation of / dʒ /, / tʃ /.

Activity2: The teacher read the given words first → students listened to theteacher then read in chorus after the teacher → each students stood up and read

→ the teacher listened to them and corrected their pronunciation mistakes

Activity3:The teacher divided the class into small groups and asked students

to practice reading aloud the given sentences → the teacher asked students to

point out the words with the sounds /dʒ / , / tʃ / (two sentences for each group)

→ the volunteer of each groups stood up and pointed out, other groups listened

(Examples: I have some letters to write ; Does she get anything to eat ?) →

the teacher asked students to comment on the use of to-infinitive through the

given examples → the teacher listened and fed back

Activity 2: Practice

The teacher asked students to do exercise1 (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 20)

→ students work in pairs then each student did one sentence in front of the class(in speaking) → the teacher listened and fed back

(2) Infinitive without to

Activity 1: Presentation

The teacher called on some students to give out some verbs followed by

infinitive without to → students listed : the verbs of perceptions such as hear,

see, watch, feel, notice…., modal verbs such as can, may, must……, make, let

→ the teacher fed back

Activity 2: Practice

The teacher asked students to do exercise 2 (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 21)

in pairs → each student did one sentence in front of the class (in speaking) →the teacher listened and fed back

Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was deep, especially in the part 2

“grammar” students worked more actively in part1 than in part 2.In general,students were not active in speaking English The teacher almost had to askedand assigned students to answer her questions or to do exercises

Lastly, the author wants to mention the methods and the activities used in thislesson: it was okay in the part 1 “pronunciation”, in part 2 “grammar”, the

teacher spent time introducing the use of infinitives and bare infinitive before asking students to do exercises in the textbook It means that she used Focus on

forms to introduce grammar It could be seen from the classroom observation

that students were interested in doing exercises but only in writing, not inspeaking The teacher asked students to work in pairs, in groups She correctedall students’ spoken and written mistakes

* Classroom observation 2: The leson is conducted by the teacher applying

Focus on Form.Implemented procedures.

Part 1: Pronunciation

Activity1: Before the lesson, the teacher showed a picture of a village and a

picture of a chair → the teacher asked students to name the things they saw in thosepictures → each student stood up and read the name of one thing → the teacherwrote those words on the board with their phonetic symbols (1 village / vilidʒ / -

2 chair / t ʃ eə /) and underlined the sounds /dʒ/& / tʃ/ → the teacher led into the

Activity3: The teacher divided the class into small groups then asked them to

point out the words with the sounds /dʒ /, / tʃ / from three third sentences → the

teacher asked each student to stand up and do, other students listened &checked →the teacher listened to them and corrected their pronunciationmistakes

Part 2: Grammar

(1) Infinitive with to

Activity 1: Presentation

The teacher wrote two sentences on the board and underlined the infinitive

with to (Examples: We go to school to learn; There is a lot of homework to do).

The teacher explained the use and the meaning of to-infinitive through theexamples → students listened to the teacher and noted down → teacher askedstudents to give examples with to-infinitive → students worked in pairs theneach student stood up and read out one sentence → others listened and checked

→ the teacher fed back

Activity 2: Practice

Exercise1(textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 20): The teacher checked if studentsunderstood the requirement of the exercise → the teacher asked student to doexercise 1in pairs (only 4 0f 8 sentences) → each student stood up and read outone sentence → the teacher called on another student to repeat the sentence done

by his/her partner → the teacher fed back

(2) Infinitive without to

Activity 1: Presentation

The teacher wrote 3 sentences on the board and underlined the pair of verbs ineach sentence (Examples: (1) I can speak English; (2) I saw them arrive homelate; (3) They made her stay there for the weekend) → the teacher askedstudents to say the use of bare-infinitive through the examples → studentsdiscuss in pairs or in groups then answered the teacher’s question→ the teacherlistened and fed back then listed the verbs followed by bare-infinitive.

Activity 2: Practice

Exercise2 (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 21): The teacher checked if studentsunderstood the requirement of the exercise → the teacher asked student to doexercise 2 in pairs (only 4 0f 8 sentences) → each student stood up and read outone sentence after discussing with a partner → the teacher called on anotherstudent to repeat the sentence done by his/her partner → the teacher fed back

Further practice: The teacher asked student to make correct sentences using

the given words:

(1) She / want/ buy some stamps ; (2) I / hear someone / talk there → studentsdiscuss in pairs or in groups → the teacher called on two students to go to theboard and write → the teacher fed back

Homework: The teacher asked students to complete exercises 1, 2 in thetextbook

Secondly, the teacher used brainstorming to attract students’ attention to the

lesson She introduced concretely the pronunciation of the sounds /dʒ /, /tʃ / in

the part pronunciation In the part grammar, she spent time introducing the use

of infinitives with to and infinitive without to before asking students to doexercises in the textbook but mainly in speaking It means that she used Focus

on form and Focus on forms to introduce grammar The teacher asked students

to work in pairs, in groups then corrected all students’ spoken and writtenmistakes

Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was effervescently It could be seen fromthe classroom observation that students took part in doing exercises actively.Fourthly, after presentation and practice parts, the teacher checked upstudents’ comprehension through further practice It gives students more chance

to practice what they have learned and teacher can evaluate how and whatstudents gain after the lesson

Lastly, from the beginning to the end of the lesson, the teacher tried to usecommunicative language teaching in teaching grammar, however it was not verysuccessful because of students’ limitation, such as, ability of communicating inEnglish, poor vocabulary and grammar, there were still students only sitting,listening and writing not participating in speaking English because they did notknow how to do those exercises, how to express in English

2.4.3 The findings from post-observation interviews and discussion