Teachers'''' attitudes towards grammar teaching in the light of communicative approach to first year non-major English student at Haiduong Medical Technical University

Post graduate department NGUYEN THI THANH LOAN TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GRAMMAR TEACHING IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG M

Post graduate department

NGUYEN THI THANH LOAN

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GRAMMAR TEACHING IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL

UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên đối với việc dạy ngữ pháp theo

đ-ờng h-ớng giao tiếp cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ nhất

tại Tr-ờng ĐHKT Y Tế Hải D-ơng)

M.A minor thesis

Field: english teaching methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2009

NGUYEN THI THANH LOAN

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS GRAMMAR TEACHING IN THE LIGHT OF COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL

UNIVERSITY (Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên đối với việc dạy ngữ pháp theo

đ-ờng h-ớng giao tiếp cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ nhất

tại Tr-ờng ĐHKT Y Tế Hải D-ơng)

M.A minor thesis

Field: english teaching methodology Code: 601410

SUPERVISOR: LE VAN CANH, M.A

Hanoi, 2009

iv

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study

3 Significance of the study

4 Scope of the study

5 Research questions

6 Methods of the study

7 Design of the study

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of attitudes

2.2 Definitions of teachers’ attitudes

2.3 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

2.4 The interplay between teachers’ attitudes and their teaching

2.5 Previous studies on teachers’ attitudes to grammar

2.6 The interplay between teachers’ attitudes and their grammar

teaching

2.7 Conclusion

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 An Overview on the Context of Study

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.2.1.3 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes towards grammar

and grammar teaching

4.2.2 Classroom observations

4.2.2.1 Communicative grammar teaching

4.2.2.2 Non-communicative grammar teaching

5.3 Limitations of the study

5.4 Suggestions for further study

English is taught as a compulsory subject in many schools and universities For many teachers of English, teaching English means teaching grammar Linguists have pointed out

a lot of methods to teach English At present, there are many different views on grammar teaching One of the most effective ways to teaching English grammar is through an approach called Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) In my workplace, Haiduong Medical Technical University, English teachers have used many teaching methods CLT is not a new approach for them to teach their students English grammar However, different teachers have different attitudes Some teachers view grammar teaching as unnecessary while some other teachers are obsessed by it Some teachers have positive attitudes, but some have negative attitudes towards grammar teaching through CLT In order to understand the reason why the teachers in my university have various attitudes, I would like to study the teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching in general and their attitudes towards grammar teaching through CLT approach with their textbook, New Headway Pre Intermediate in particular

2 Aims of the study:

The aims of the study are as follows:

- To investigate into teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching

- To find out factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching communicatively

- To find out the interplay between teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and their grammar teaching communicatively with reference to the New Headway Pre- Intermediate

3 Significance of the study:

It is hoped that this study will be of some use in understanding teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar teaching to first-year non English major students through CLT in Haiduong Medical Technical University The findings of the study will also contribute to

my understanding of how grammar should be treated communicatively in the context of

my university

4 Scope of the study:

As it has been stated above, the study is only designed to investigate the teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar teaching through communicative approach at Haiduong

Medical Technical University

5 Research questions:

What are the teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching?

What are the factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching communicatively?

What is the interplay between teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and their grammar teaching communicatively with reference to the New Headway Pre- Intermediate?

6 Methods of the study:

In order to do the research, I selected a number of reference books and articles Six teachers of English at Haiduong MTU were interviewed about their attitudes towards grammar teaching communicatively In addition, a classroom observation was carried out

to investigate how teachers dealt with grammar using the course book New Headway Pre Intermediate All the collected data were analyzed and discussed

7 Design of the study:

The minor thesis consists of 5 chapters:

Chapter I is the introduction, which presents the rationale, aims, significance, scope, methods and design of the study

Chapter II, Literature Review, is aimed at exploring theoretical background for the thesis This chapter will focus on six main points: definitions of attitudes and teachers‟ attitudes; factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes; previous studies on teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar; the interplay between teachers‟ attitudes and their teaching in general and their communicative grammar teaching in particular

Chapter III, Research Methodology, presents an overview on the context of the study, participants, instruments used to collect the data, and the procedure of data collection Chapter IV, Data Analysis and Discussion, is devoted to a detailed description of data analysis and a discussion of the findings of the study

Chapter V is the conclusion of the thesis, which concludes some major findings, gives some implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of “attitudes”

There are various definitions of “attitudes” The Oxford Advance Learners‟ Dictionary

of Current English(1995:66) defines attitudes as “…the way that you think and feel about somebody or something; the way that you behave towards somebody or something that shows how you think and feel” This definition centers mainly on how a person believes, feels and then behaves in a certain way that reflects his established belief and feeling Richardson (1996) provides comprehensive definition, which is adopted in this study, attitudes and beliefs can be used interchangeably, "Attitudes and beliefs are a subset of a group of constructs that name, define, and describe the structure and content of mental states that are thought to drive a person‟s actions" (p 102) From this definition, attitudes are defined within the framework of social psychology as a subjective or mental preparation for action Attitudes are outward and visible postures Attitudes determine what each person will see, hear, think and do Attitudes can be positive and negative According to Good (1973), attitudes are “The predisposition or tendency to react specifically towards an object, situation, or value, usually accompanied by feelings and emotions; attitudes cannot be directly observed but must be inferred from overt behavior, both verbal and nonverbal”

Lastly, Petty and Cacioppo (1986) describe attitude and behavior comprehensively as

“individuals‟ general evaluations about himself/herself, others, other objects, events and problems”

2.2 Definitions of teachers’ attitudes

It is known that attitudes have a profound impact on teacher practices and behaviors

Teachers‟ attitudes mean teachers‟ view and behaviors in school There is now agreement

in general education studies that teaching is a cognitive activity and that teachers' beliefs greatly impact their instructional decisions in the classroom (e.g., Shavelson, & Stern, 1981; Tillema, 2000) Within second language education, teaching is also now viewed as a complex cognitive activity (Borg, 2003) As Borg (2003) suggests, "teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who make instructional choices by drawing on complex practically-oriented, personalized, and context-sensitive networks of knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs" (p, 81) Indeed, research has indicated that teachers possess a vast array of complex beliefs about pedagogical issues including beliefs about students and classroom practices (Berliner, 1987; Borg, 1998, 2003; Burns, 1992; Shavelson & Stern, 1981) These

beliefs are said to form a structured set of principles and are derived from a teacher's prior experiences, school practices, and a teacher's individual personality (Borg, 2003) Furthermore, and as noted by Shavelson and Stern (1981), what teachers do in the classroom is said to be governed by what they believe and these beliefs often serve to act

as a filter through which instructional judgments and decisions are made

Johnson (1994) has suggested that teachers‟ attitudes or beliefs are neither easy to define nor study because they are not directly observable What we do know is that teachers‟ attitudes or beliefs consist of tacitly held assumptions and perceptions about teaching and learning (Kagan, 1992), that they are generally stable and that they reflect the nature of the instruction the teacher provides to students (Hampton, 1994) According to Johnson (1994: p.439), educational research on teachers' attitudes share three basic assumptions: (1) Teachers' attitudes influence perception and judgment (2) Teachers' attitudes play a role in how information on teaching is translated into classroom practices (3) Understanding teachers' attitudes is essential to improving teaching practices and teacher education programs In the area of language teaching, teachers‟ attitudes have been examined to see how personal attitudes and knowledge of the pedagogical systems of teaching have informed the instructional practices and decisions of teachers of English as a second language (e.g., Borg, 2003; Burns, 1992; Golombek, 1998)

In addition, the study of teachers‟ attitudes, as Richards, Gallo, and Renandya (2001) have pointed out that "forms part of the process of understanding how teachers conceptualize their work" (p.42.)

Finally, Ng & Farrell, ( 2003) and Yim (1993) investigate on teachers‟ attitudes and suggest that what teachers say and do in the classroom is governed by their attitudes

In conclusion, teachers‟ attitudes are teachers‟ view and behaviors in school These attitudes are implicit and unconscious, teachers‟ personal pedagogical knowledge These attitudes also include cognitive and affective components; create links between practice, experience and decisions which have to be made These attitudes greatly impact their teaching in class

2.3 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

As I have mentioned above, teachers‟ attitudes determine their actions in the classroom Different teachers can have positive and negative attitudes to their teaching because there are different factors their attitudes to teaching In this part, I only mention

factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar communicative language teaching to prove that there have been many factors affecting the teachers‟ attitudes As Karavas-Doukas (1996) stated, “one of the first factors affecting many teachers‟ attitudes is culture values” EFL teachers' attitudes and practices are related to cultural values and their practices According to Gamal and Debra, teachers are seen as knowledge holders and they might consider that if they play games with students or ask students to role-play in class, they might not be seen as doing their job This finding corresponds with Burnaby and Sun's

(1989) findings that Chinese teachers felt they were not teaching when they use CLT

activities and anticipated that the students would complain against them Ellis (1994) investigated the appropriateness of the communicative approach in Vietnam It was found that one of the basic problems in implementing a communicative approach in Vietnam was the teachers' holding on to the deep-rooted tradition This problem, according to Ellis, was compounded by two traditional practices: the cultural reluctance of the Vietnamese to challenge written words, and the focus on grammar translation in the examination system The study also reported that Vietnamese teachers believed that they did not have necessary knowledge of the target language culture Therefore, they felt CLT does not culturally fit Based on the findings of the study on Vietnamese pedagogical beliefs, Ellis (1994) concluded that CLT approach in its original form is not suitable for Vietnamese conditions and that "although there is a strong demand for communicative competence in Vietnam, it

is not matched by adequate teacher training, communicative language materials and suitable learning environments" (p 69) He has suggested that, "the ways of making communicative approach culturally acceptable to the Vietnamese are in keeping with their own cultural values embedded and reflected in their language they use" (p.71)

Another factor affecting teachers‟ attitudes is teachers' experience in English language learning As teachers practices can be affected by their own language learning experience, this may form a vicious cycle in which the pedagogic style of potential teachers are moulded by the style of their own teachers and when they become teachers, their traditional style will be passed on to the next generation of teachers As noted by Freeman (1992:3), language teachers' own language learning experience affects their future thinking and practices He states that 'the memories of instruction gained through their

"apprenticeship of observation' function as de facto guides for teachers as they approach

what they do in the classroom' Freeman (2002) puts forward that English and foreign language teaching is mediation between how the teacher conceives of, and represents, content to students ' (p.9) and the past 'becomes one more vantage point on current activity' Thus, prior experiences are likely to be integrated into the teacher's present thinking This means that the grammar learning experience of a teacher affects the teacher's belief about the value of learning and teaching grammar This view is supported by Bailey

et al (1996) who studied language teachers' own experiences as language learners and examined the potential impact these experiences had on each individual's teaching philosophy and practice They found that teachers had been witnesses to both 'good' and 'bad' teaching and these different styles of teaching influenced teachers and contributed to their beliefs about the kind of teachers they wanted to be in the future As language teachers, we usually have a 'purposeful selection of the best traits of the teachers we most admired' (p.15) Thus, teachers would adapt a grammar teaching approach that they experienced as effective in helping them to acquire grammar knowledge and tend to ignore approaches that they could not benefit from during their grammar learning stage

Johnson (1994) also found that pre-service ESL teachers' beliefs were based largely on their images of their own formal and informal language learning experiences, and such images represented their dominant model of action during their teaching practices Experiences in teachers own grammar learning play a central role in formulating teachers' images and thus affect their beliefs about and practices of grammar pedagogy

The argument that a teacher's experience in learning and teaching grammar plays a major part in formulating his own grammar pedagogic practices is supported by Borg (1998) who found that his subject's experience of her own language education played a powerful role in defining her position and her belief about grammar teaching She learnt her own LI at a time when England adopted the anti-grammar system Thus, her LI education did not involve her into detailed and formal analysis and description of the language At the same time, her foreign language learning experience also affected her greatly Her experience of learning French was meta-linguistically-rich and grammar played a central role in her French lessons It was frustrating for the subject and did not enable her to develop any communicative competence in French Such negative feelings about studying grammar limited her teaching practices to dealing with grammar only superficially and promoting the use of meta-language was not a priority in her lessons

Apart from the cultural values and the teaching experience of teachers affecting teachers‟ attitudes, there are many other factors as follows, different English proficiency and communication skills of the students, lack of resources and large-sized unequipped classrooms Many researchers find that teachers‟ attitudes have been affected by large–sized classrooms in applying CLT to teach grammar Gamal and Debra (2001) have found that the limited resources made Egyptian EFL teachers difficult prepare and present the teaching according to the CLT approach They also find that EFL teachers' lack of English proficiency and limited knowledge of CLT pedagogy as constraints

In conclusion, there are various factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes, namely, traditional culture, students‟ proficiency, teaching experience or physical facilities (lack of resources, large-sized unequipped classrooms)

2.4 The interplay between the teachers’ attitudes and their teaching

As discussed in the previous section, teachers' attitudes are affected by various factors This section is extended to the argument that teachers' attitudes affect their teaching Teachers bring their personal characteristics into the style of their teaching These characteristics include attitudes that have developed over their lifetimes, and are the result

of accumulated events and knowledge of the world These attitudes are firmly entrenched

by an individual Teachers‟ educational attitudes have an effect on their teaching styles Teachers‟ styles, and mainly their attitudes, are strong context outcomes, rooted in experience and do not become automatic routine conducts, in the sense that they are developed via very slow interactions (action/ reaction) In that sense, attitudes can be modified only by each individual

Burns (1996), Clark and Yinger (1979) believe that what teachers do is affected by what they think and the kinds of pedagogical beliefs that they hold She elaborates that thinking and beliefs teachers hold are 'fundamental in motivating classroom interactions They determine what is represented for learning and how the representation of content takes place' (p.154) She proposes that teachers' thinking coheres around interconnecting and interacting 'contextual' levels - 'the intercontextuality of teacher thinking and beliefs' (p,158) in which the second contextual level involves the personal philosophies, thinking, attitudes, beliefs and expectations that the teacher had developed about language, learning, and learners Thus, she argues that critical insights into what constitutes language teaching need to give voice to the perspectives of teachers themselves

Wray (1993) studied student-teachers' knowledge and beliefs about language and he notes that teachers' beliefs about various aspects of language and literacy might strongly influence their approaches to teaching these areas Woods (1996) holds similar views that teachers' interpretations of classroom events were greatly influenced by their beliefs Similar conclusions were drawn by Johnson (1994) and Tudor (1996) Johnson (1994) found that the pre-service teachers' images of teachers and teaching formed a model for their instructional practices and even though these pre-service teachers wanted to alter their instructional practices, their lack of alternative images in their mind limited them to make changes in a practicum environment Tudor (1996) suggested that teachers have subjective needs and perceptions of the classroom and these influence their attitudes and behaviour in the classroom Thus, teachers have their own private agendas and sets of beliefs about language teaching which they bring with them to the language classroom

It can be obvious that different factors affect either positive or negative attitudes of the teachers Baily (1992) and Golombek (1998) affirm the notion that changes in teacher‟ attitudes precede changes in their teaching practices Similarly, Hampton (1994) notes that teachers‟ beliefs or “personal construct” determine how they approach their teaching These beliefs may be general or very specific Harste, Woodword, and Burke (1984) identified that teachers‟ beliefs strongly affect the materials and activities they choose for the classroom As a result, teachers‟ attitudes have relationship with their teaching in class Teachers‟ attitudes determine their teaching, the methodology they choose for their

students in class

2.5 Previous studies on teachers’ attitudes to grammar and grammar teaching

As I have mentioned above, teachers‟ attitudes affect their teaching styles English language teachers have different attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching Some have positive attitudes, others have negative attitudes to grammar and grammar teaching Some applied linguists have argued strongly that grammar is not important and grammar teaching should be minimized

Even applied linguists have different stances to grammar and grammar teaching Some have argued that the teaching of grammar is either impossible (e.g Prabhu, 1987) or unnecessary (e.g Krashen, 1988 and Nassaji & Fotos, 2004) Others think teaching grammar is necessary (e.g Rutheford, 1987)

Prabhu (1987) has argued that grammar teaching is impossible for the knowledge used

in a language by a speaker is too complex

For Krashen (1988), grammar teaching is unnecessary as knowledge is a kind that can not be passed on with rules, but can only be acquired unconsciously through exposure to the language

Nassaji & Fotos (2004), agree with Krashen (1988), claim that language learning is not conscious, but unconscious He supports his argument with cases where speakers of different mother tongues learnt English morphemes in a similar sequence According to this result, it can be said that the same process lies behind both L1 and L2 learning Consequently, if learners do not need formal instruction to obtain L1 but can acquire it through nature exposure, they also do not require grammar lessons to learn L2

For those who support grammar teaching, grammar is “a necessary component of any

language teaching programme” (Rutheford, 1987:9), and thus plays an important role in

language teaching However, the focus on grammar in language teaching was challenged with the emergence of teaching methodologies based on different learning theories, Such a challenge influenced not only the content and the curriculum in language teaching, but also the implication for teaching grammar

According to Chandler (1988), 84% of the teachers taught some grammar, many of these said their own language learning experiences at school were their main source of grammatical knowledge (and hence, Chandler concluded, of their inevitably outdated practices) On the basis of teachers‟ responses to questions about the importance of knowing about language for their work, Chandler was also very critical of teachers‟ lack of awareness of the role of language understanding in all facets of their work, leading him to describe the attitude of the teachers in his study as one of „confident ignorance‟ (Chandler, 1988: 23)

Teachers' firm attitude of the importance of grammar is also found in the study by Burgess & Etherington (2002) who found that the majority of teachers in this study appreciated the value of grammar for their students and agreed that grammar could be viewed as a framework for the rest of the language and that grammatical accuracy is integral to language and communication Teachers also felt that explicit teaching of grammar is favored by the students because of expectations and feelings of security

In the model of communicative competence, which was proposed by Canale (1983)

and Swain (1980), the significance of grammar is clearly illustrated In this model, grammar is an essential component Without grammar, learners can communicate effectively only in a limited number of situations They may be able speak sentences with simple structures, mostly about daily life conversational sentences However, if they have

to present in formal situations, such as a graduation seminars, they will not be able to create complete sentences which they would only be able to produce until they have accumulated a certain amount of grammar knowledge In “The Place of Grammar Instruction in the Second/ Foreign Language Curriculum”, Rod Ellis points to much recent research on ESL/ EFL learning and acquisition and notes that without grammar instruction, learners frequently fail to achieve advanced level of grammatical competence He further finds that it is possible to include a grammar component in the language teaching curriculum together with the instruction centered around communicative tasks He emphasizes that research has shown that grammar instruction can improve the quality of second and foreign language learning

Some linguists take a middle point view They argue that grammar can still be taught, but less systematically, in traditional ways alongside more innovative approaches Savignon (2002:7) says " for the development of communicative ability [communication depends on grammar], research findings overwhelmingly support the integration of form-focused exercises with meaning-focused experience" Grammar is important; and learners seem to focus best on grammar when it relates to their communicative needs and experiences Disregard of grammar will virtually guarantee breakdown in communication (Savignon 1991, 2001; Thompson 1996) Savignon (2002:7) remarks that, "communicative language teaching does not necessarily mean the rejection of familiar materials [grammar]" Rivers in her famous statement strengthened Savignon's remark in that "Saying that we do not need to teach grammar is like saying that we can have a chicken walking around without bones" cited in Arnold (1994:122) Nowadays, it seems that educators accept that

an appropriate amount of class time should be devoted to grammar, but this does not mean

a simple return to a traditional treatment of rules Rather "the focus has now moved away from the teacher covering to the learners discovering grammar" (Thompson 1996:11) Regarding teachers‟ attitudes on grammar and grammar teaching was conducted by Eisenstein-Ebsworth and Schweers (1997), who used questionnaires with a total of 60 university teachers of ESL in New York and Puerto Rico, and informal interviews with

eight of these, to explore their views about conscious grammar instruction The majority of the teachers felt grammar should be taught at least sometimes, with the Puerto Rico teachers more in favor of conscious instruction than the New York group This was explained partly in terms of the more traditional approach to language teaching generally advocated in Puerto Rico; as one teacher in the latter group explained, „grammar has always been part of our language learning experience We see no reason to abandon it totally (Eisenstein-Ebsworth & Schweers, 1997: 247) Forty-one of the teachers reported having a well-defined approach to teaching grammar that they were confident in In a tone strikingly more positive than Chandler (1988), the authors report that: teachers‟ ideas regarding grammar were generally well-developed This was confirmed by their abilities to express clear and coherent rationales for their approaches to curriculum and pedagogy (Eisentein-Ebsworth & Schweers, 1997: 251)

Finally, Burgess and Etherington (2002) used a questionnaire to examine the beliefs about grammar and grammar teaching held by 48 teachers of English for academic purposes (EAP) in UK universities Overall, the teachers in this study reported positive attitudes towards formal instruction; they felt it had a contribution to make to the development of their (normally advanced) EAP students‟ proficiency and that conscious knowledge of grammar played a role in these students‟ use of language (as the authors note, the absence of detailed qualitative data precluded further insight into these views).Over 90% of the teachers in this study felt that their students expected them to present grammar points explicitly

2.6 The interplay between teachers’ attitudes and their grammar teaching

Some teachers have positive attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching They argue that there are a lot of suitable grammar teaching methods which depend on their attitudes to students‟ levels, classroom sizes, equipped materials and other things Ellis expresses that beginning students whose language base is comparatively small may not be ready for explicit grammar instruction and that exposure to structural work can begin once learners have had an opportunity to increase their lexical repertoire and language base Ellis‟ model for grammar teaching at subsequent levels can be designed to address learner problems with grammar directly by focusing on the areas that have been identified as particularly difficult to acquire He emphasizes that the primary goal of explicit and focused grammar instruction is to heighten learners‟ awareness of grammatical features

and systems, and most importantly, to promote learners “noticing” of grammar regularities

He points out that traditional ways of teaching grammar, in which rules are presented and drilled, have not been successful, but grammar instruction to enhance noticing by means of discovery tasks can lead to acquisition and automatization

Similar to Ellis‟ attitude to teaching grammar effectively through communicative tasks, Jack Richards holds a positive attitude to the effectiveness of grammar learning when students are engaged in communicative tasks He points out that in task work, noticing linguistic forms and the environments in which they occur often leads to learners‟ increases abilities to identify the grammatical systems of the second and foreign language

In addition, task work can allow students to experiment and restructure their hypothesis about the target language and stresses that the grammar gap in task work needs to be proactively addressed In his view, language instruction needs to include focused tasks to facilitate learners‟ noticing grammatical forms and to promote accuracy in communicative teaching

New Perspectives (2002:240) experts also agree that grammar should be taught

communicatively, meaningfully, and in the context of use and that it should not be treated

or taught separately from discourse Most instructors realize this to varying degrees, though they also see how tough it is to carry out the creed While both teachers and students may experience inadequate language facts to bolster all the established grammatical principles, they can also argue that a great many of language details contrive

to stand out against the unity of any such principles even with the limited learning material

at hand.

According to Thompson (1996), teachers have different attitudes towards grammar teaching because of their misconceptions of CLT One of the persistent misconceptions is that CLT means not teaching grammar although "the exclusion of explicit attention to grammar was never necessary part of CLT" (Thompson 1996:10) In CLT involvement in communicative event is seen as central to language development, and this involvement necessarily requires attention to form (structure) In fact, it is certainly understandable that there was a reaction against the heavy emphasis on structure at the expense of natural communication Nonetheless, it would seem foolish to make mistakes on the side of using communicative approach exclusively and totally disregard grammar teaching In this regard, Celce-Murcia (1991) comments:

In spite of the intuitive appeal and the anecdotal evidence supporting proposal for exclusively communicative language teaching, there is equally appealing and anecdotal evidence that a grammarless approach can lead to the development of a broken, ungrammatical, pidgenized form of the target language beyond which students rarely progress (p 462)

Positive attitudes towards communicative language teaching and positive intentions to

do it in the classroom may be influenced by factors that may be divided into two broad categories: (1) internal and (2) external constraints Internal constraints represent those factors that come from within teachers themselves, such as poor subject knowledge External constraints refer to factors that come from structural and organizational factors, which teachers have no control over like students and parents' beliefs, lack of resources or administrative obstacles The two sets of constraints are interdependent Hui (1997) classifies constraints in CLT into five: economic, administrative, cultural, population, and the teachers' academic ability By economic factors, Hui means that the unavailability of resources such as: photocopying, over-head projectors and computers, absence of enough English books, etc The influence of administrators is observed, especially when teaching performances are evaluated, the focus is on the teachers (how well they speak English, how well they use the blackboard, etc.) rather than students and their learning processes "As a result, teachers are more active than students, who simply follow their teachers rigidly and mechanically (1997:38) Anderson (1993) says the most obvious obstacle to teaching communicatively is the great demands it places upon the teacher Similarly, Maley (1993) argues that CLT is demanding to teachers in many ways, including the students‟ unfamiliarity to the approach He goes on to state that this [communicative] approach perhaps the greatest [difficulty] of all

The effect could be recognized by teachers through practices in teaching CLT does never refuse grammar teaching Some linguists and teachers always stresses grammar is necessary for communication But at the same time, others put stress on pair work However, it is an issue about how to learn grammar Perhaps the view is too simplistic that grammar is impossible to teach for it is too complex Students will learn more effectively if

they participate in communicative activities actively about what they are learning It means that the students will discover grammar not their teachers They talk at most of time under the teachers‟ guidance about the language knowledge

Richards, Gallo, and Renandya (2001) using a self – report questionnaire with participants in an in-service have found that although many stated they followed a communicative approach to teaching, "many of the respondents still hold firmly to the belief that grammar is central to language learning and direct grammar teaching is needed

by their EFL/ESL students" (p 54)

2.7 Conclusion

Teachers differ in their attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching because they are influenced by a variety of different factors First, the lack of consensus among applied linguists on the role of grammar confuses teachers about the role of grammar Second, teachers‟ limited pedagogical knowledge and the target language proficiency also influences they way they view grammar Finally, contextual constraints such as lack of resources and work pressure may make teachers resist to new options for teaching grammar

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 An overview on the context of study

Haiduong Medical Technical University was founded in 1960 The aim of the university is to train successful future medical technicians who are well-equipped with medical technical specialized knowledge In addition, English is also considered as an important subject in the training program because it is a means of international communication which is very helpful to the students after their graduation

The university has always provided good conditions for English learning and teaching Overhead projectors, videos, cassettes are available which enable the teachers and the students to perform their teaching and learning

However, there have been some problems that should be solved The classes are quite big There are more than 50 or even 65 students in each class As a result, it is too difficult for the teachers to control the class The students do not have enough time to practice English in the class Furthermore, the students in my university have various English qualifications Some of them come from the mountainous areas, in which they have never been taught any foreign languages before Some of the others studied other foreign languages like French, Russian or Chinese In addition, the students‟ communicative competence is not good They hardly have opportunities to communicate with foreigners, especially with native speakers

The final goal of English teaching program at MTU is that the students are able to communicate with foreigners both in spoken and written English at intermediate level In order to do this, the students need general knowledge of English grammar They are taught New Headway Pre Intermediate in three terms At the end of each term, the students are required to take written tests only That is why some of the teachers focus on teaching grammar in the way so that the students can pass the exams

3.2 Participants

This study was carried out with six teachers of English, aged from 25 to 50, who are working at English – Informatics Department, MTC Their experience of teaching English varies from 3 years to 27 years Of the six teachers, two are master holders; one is doing a master course at Vietnam National University The rest have graduated from universities of Foreign Languages

This is a profile of the participants:

Name Gender Age Teaching

Experience

Qualification

Mai Female 52 23 years Master

Ha Female 44 18 years Bachelor Tuan Male 46 20 years Master Trang Female 30 6 years Bachelor Huong Female 30 5 years Bachelor Thoa Female 27 2 years Bachelor

3.3 Instrumentation

This study, as indicated in Chapter one, was intended to find out the attitudes of the English language teachers in MTU towards the communicative approach to English grammar teaching For this purpose, therefore, a descriptive research method was chosen

as it is used to describe a phenomenon Interviews and classroom observations seemed to

be appropriate instruments to collect data for the study The interview was a structured one

in which the “agenda is totally predetermined by the researcher, who works through a list

of set questions in a predetermined order” (Nunan 1992: 149) According to Nunan (ibid),

“the type of interview one chooses will be determined by the nature of the research and the degree of control the interview wishes to exert” (p.149) This study was aimed at finding out the teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar teaching through CLT Therefore, I chose the interview in order to have more in-depth information Beside the interview, classroom observation was conducted to clarify and test the validity of the obtained information about the teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar teaching through CLT

3.3.2 Classroom observation

Along with the interview, classroom observation was also conducted in order to bolster the quantitative results The observation in this study was done through real teaching The observation was conducted in several English periods with different classes

of first year students who were learning New Headway Pre Intermediate at MTU

3.4 Procedures

3.4.1 The Interviews

Selinger and Shohamy (1989) point out that the use of interview as a data collection instrument permits a level of in-depth information, free response, and flexibility that can not be obtained by other procedures The interview questions were designed to elicit information about the teachers‟ attitudes regarding grammar and grammar teaching, and about the teachers‟ attitudes to the approach CLT (Q1, Q6, Q8) Other questions were aimed at obtaining information about factors affecting teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching communicatively (Q2, Q3) as well as interplays between teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and their communicative grammar teaching with reference to the New Headway Pre Intermediate (Q4, Q5, Q7) Before being interviewed, the six teachers were briefed about the aim of the interviews Then they were asked to express their opinions Each of the interviewee was asked 8 questions (see Appendix) The interview lasted from 30 – 45 minutes in length All the interviews were audio-recorded and then transcribed in written form In order to make the participants be confident and easy to express their opinions as much as possible, all the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and then translated into English

3.4.2 Classroom observation

It is true that observation has always been considered as a major data collection tool

in second language acquisition researches, because it allows the study of a phenomenon at close range with many of the contextual variables present (Selinger and Shohamy 1989; Koul 1984) Thus, the main purpose of having classroom observation was to ascertain the prevalent problems given by the teachers during the interviews This is to say that the observation was mainly done to cross-check whether the problems forwarded by teachers exist or not The observation had nothing to do with the lessons taught rather its purpose was to confirm how far the teachers‟ responses during the interview were serious enough

to affect the teaching process Six classroom lessons were observed In each lesson, one teacher (who took an interview) was observed In all the observations made, I took the

position where my presence did not disturb the class In other words, the observation was made without intervention in any way

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

In the previous parts, the subjects and instruments of the study were described In this section, the collected data were presented and interpreted Once the research data were collected using different types of data collection procedures as described in the previous chapter, the next step is to analyze those data It generally consists of presentation of the detail descriptions of the interviews and observations‟ result

4.2 Data Analysis and Discussion

4.2.1 The Interviews

4.2.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching

In order to study the teachers‟ attitudes about issues of grammar and grammar teaching, I interviewed six teachers six questions (Questions 1,2,3,4,6 and 8) For the first question about the role of grammar in learning English, all of six teachers have positive attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching They all say that grammar is very important for their students in learning English This contradicts Krashen (1988)‟s view that grammar teaching is unnecessary as knowledge is a kind that cannot be passed on with rules, but can only be required unconsciously through exposure to the language One teacher said in the interview that,

“Grammar is an important role in learning foreign language in general and

in learning English in particular In order to study well any foreign language, students must know how to use the simple structures of that language.” (Mai)

Most of the teachers participating in the interviews stated their beliefs that knowledge of grammar would help their students analyze grammatical elements of utterances and sentences Their students could make correctly grammatical sentences

“I think that grammar is important for my students Mastery of grammar helps my students analyze grammatical elements of utterances and sentences When they are good at grammar they can make sentences correctly” (Ha)

“In my opinion, grammar is very important because it helps learners speak

or write logically and grammatical correctly Grammar is especially important to my students for some reasons Firstly, all exercises are designed to test the students‟ usage of correct structures and the final