A survey on the teachers role in applying the communicative approach to esp classes at nong lam university hochiminh city

215 students of 5 ESP classes were given the questionnaire which got information about the communicative activities in their class, their teachers’ performance, and their attitude toward

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

A SURVEY ON THE TEACHERS’ ROLE

IN APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

TO ESP CLASSES AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY-

NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, SEPTEMBER 2012

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First and foremost, I owe my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D., for her enormous advice, correction, and encouragement throughout my thesis writing This thesis would have not been possible without herinvaluable support and guidance

I am sincerely grateful to my former teacher at Nong Lam University, Ms Lê Thị Ngân Vang, M.A., for her useful experience sharing at all times

My special thanks and appreciations also go to all the teachers and students of ESP classes at Nong Lam University for enthusiastically taking part in this survey

I would also like to thank my colleagues for helping me with their helpful advice on the thesis process

Last but not least, I am forever indebted to my family and my husband for their understanding, sharing and encouragement through the duration of my study

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I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

A SURVEY ON THE TEACHERS’ ROLE

IN APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

TO ESP CLASSES AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY-HOCHIMINH CITY

in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee The thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2012

LÊ THỊ TIỂU PHƯỢNG

III

I hereby state that I, LEÂ THÒ TIỂU PHƯỢNG, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention

of Master’s Theses deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, September 2012

LEÂ THÒ TIỂU PHƯỢNG

IV

Acknowledgements I Statement of originality II Retention of use III Table of contents IV List of abbreviations IX List of tables X List of charts XII Abstract XIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Assumptions 5

1.6 Scope of the study 5

1.7 Organization of the remainder of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of some related terms 7

2.2 Communicative competence 8

2.3 The Communicative Approach 9

2.3.1 Definitions of the Communicative Approach 9

2.3.2 Characteristics and principles of the Communicative Approach 10

2.3.2.1 Accuracy and fluency 10

2.3.2.2 Student-centered and teacher-centered 11

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2.3.2.4 The role of grammar in the Communicative Approach 12

2.3.3 Activities in the Communicative Approach 13

2.4 The role of the teacher in the Communicative Approach 14

2.4.1 Definition of teachers’ role 14

2.4.2 Teachers’ role in different teaching methods 16

2.4.3 Teachers’ role in the Communicative Approach 17

2.4.3.1 Teachers as facilitators 18

2.4.3.2 Teachers as needs analysts 22

2.4.3.3 Teachers as counselors 22

2.4.3.4 Teachers as group process managers 23

2.5 Teaching techniques applied in the Communicative Approach 23

2.5.1 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching listening 23

2.5.2 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching speaking 25

2.5.3 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching reading 27

2.5.4 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching writing 31

2.5.5 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching grammar 32

2.6 Factors affecting the application of the Communicative Approach 34

2.6.1 Teachers’ belief and attitude 34

2.6.2 Teachers’ quality and personality 34

2.6.3 Students’ motivation 35

2.6.4 Students’ belief and attitudes 35

2.6.5 Students’ anxiety 35

2.6.6 Classroom conditions 36

2.6.7 The use of L1 in the L2 classroom 36

2.6.8 Syllabuses and textbooks 37

2.6.9 Tests and evaluation 38

2.7 Previous studies on applying the Communicative Approach in Vietnam 38

2.8 Conceptual framework of the study 41

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2.8.2 Mistake correction 42

2.8.3 Teachers’ talking time 42

2.8.4 Teachers’ teaching language 43

2.8.5 Teachers’ position 44

2.8.6 Teachers’ behavior during class activities 44

2.8.7 Grammar teaching 45

2.8.8 The emphasis on language skills 46

2.8.9 Factors affecting the application of the Communicative Approach 47

2.9 Summary 48

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 49

3.1 Research questions 49

3.2 Research method 50

3.3 Context of the study 50

3.3.1 Institutional factors 50

3.3.2 Material factors 52

3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 53

3.4.1 Teachers 53

3.4.2 Students 54

3.5 Research instruments and data collection procedure 56

3.5.1 Survey questionnaire 56

3.5.1.1 Questionnaire for teachers 58

3.5.1.2 Questionnaire for students 59

3.5.2 Class observation 60

3.6 Data analysis 61

3.7 Summary 61

VII

4.1 Teachers’ responses to the survey questionnaire 63

4.2 Students’ responses to the survey questionnaire 79

4.2.1 Students’ personal information and previous experience 80

4.2.2 Students’ responses on teachers’ performance 82

4.3 Results from class observation 93

4.3.1 Class talking time 93

4.3.2 Teaching language 94

4.3.3 Teachers’ position 95

4.3.4 Teachers’ behavior during communicative activities 96

4.4 Summary 98

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 100

5.1 Conclusion 100

5.2 Suggestions 104

5.2.1 Training and retaining teachers about the Communicative Approach 104

5.2.2 Redefining the teachers’ role 105

5.2.3 Organizing more communicative activities 106

5.2.3.1 Role play 106

5.2.3.2 Games 108

5.2.3.3 Using pictures/clips to support the lesson 110

5.2.4 Handle errors sensitively and effectively 111

5.2.5 Reducing teachers’ talking time 111

5.2.6 Emphasizing on all four language skills and grammar 112

5.2.7 Teaching grammar communicatively 113

5.2.8 Support from the educational administrators 113

5.3 Limitation of the study 114

5.4 Recommendation for further study 114

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APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 125

APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 131

A English version 131

B Vietnamese version 136

APPENDIX C: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION FORM 142

APPENDIX D: RAW DATA OF THE TEACHERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE 144

APPENDIX E: RAW DATA OF THE STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE 150

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• ESP: English for Specific Purposes

• F: Female

• HCMC: Hochiminh city

• HUI: University of Industry

• L1: The mother tongue or the first language

• L2: The second or target language

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CHAPTER 2

Table 2.1: An overview of teachers’ role in different methods 17

Table 2.2: Describing teacher performance styles 21

CHAPTER 3 Table 3.1: Distribution of time and units in 2 English subjects 52

Table 3.2: Background information on the teacher sample 55

Table 3.3: Background information on the student sample 56

Table 3.4: Information on the observed classes 56

CHAPTER 4 Teachers’ responses to the survey questionnaire Table 4.1: Sources of teachers’ learning about the Communicative Approach 64

Table 4.2: Teachers’ understanding of the Communicative Approach 65

Table 4.3: The frequency of communicative activities in ESP classes 67

Table 4.4: How teachers conducted the communicative activities in class 71

Table 4.5: Teachers’ belief on important teaching areas 72

Table 4.6: Teachers’ belief on important areas to pass the exam 73

Table 4.7: Time spent on teaching grammar and language skills 74

Table 4.8: Difficulties in applying the Communicative Approach 76

Table 4.9: Teachers’ suggestions 77

Students’ responses to the survey questionnaire Table 4.10: Communicative activities applied in class 82

Table 4.11: How teachers conducted the communicative activities in class 87

Table 4.12: Time spent on teaching grammar and language skills 88

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Table 4.14: Difficulties preventing students from

taking part in communicative activities 90

Table 4.15: Students suggestions to improve the teaching quality 91

Class observation Table 4.16: Class talking time 93

Table 4.17: Teaching language 94

Table 4.18: Teachers’ behavior 97

APPENDIX Appendix D: Raw data of the teachers’ questionnaire Table D.1: Raw data of question 6 144

Table D.2: Raw data of question 7 145

Table D.3: Raw data of question 13 146

Table D.4: Raw data of question 14 146

Table D.5: Raw data of question 15 146

Table D.6: Raw data of question 16 148

Table D.7: Raw data of question 17 149

Appendix E: Raw data of the students’ questionnaire Table E.1: Raw data of question 4 150

Table E.2: Raw data of question 10 151

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CHAPTER 4

Teachers’ responses to the survey questionnaire

Chart 4.1: Teachers’ understanding of the Communicative Approach 66

Chart 4.2: Mistake correction 68

Chart 4.3: Teachers’ and students’ talking time 69

Chart 4.4: Teaching language 70

Chart 4.5: Teachers’ position during class communicative activities 70

Chart 4.6: Time spent on teaching grammar and language skills 75

Chart 4.7: Teachers’ suggestions on the improvement of the Communicative Approach 79

Students’ responses to the survey questionnaire Chart 4.8: The places the students come from 80

Chart 4.9: Years of study English 81

Chart 4.10: Mistake correction 83

Chart 4.11: Teachers’ and students’ talking time 84

Chart 4.12: Teaching language 85

Chart 4.13: Teachers’ position during communicative activities 86

Class observation Chart 4.14: Teachers’ position 95

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The thesis attempts to investigate the teachers’ role in applying the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at Nong Lam University (NLU) Accordingly, some solutions will be suggested to partially improve their role in the implementation of this method

215 students of 5 ESP classes were given the questionnaire which got information about the communicative activities in their class, their teachers’ performance, and their attitude towards the application of the Communicative Approach Besides, another questionnaire was distributed to 5 ESP teachers to ask about their understanding of the Communicative Approach, the communicative activities they conducted, how they corrected students’ mistakes, their role and position in the classroom, the advantages and difficulties of applying this approach, and their suggestions to improve the implementation of this method Finally, all 5 ESP classes were observed once by the researcher to check whether the teachers employed the elements of the Communicative Approach or not

The investigation revealed that the Communicative Approach was partially applied to

ESP classes at NLU though the teachers had quite clear understanding about the

principles of this approach Besides, the teachers had to face many difficulties when applying the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU

From the study finding, educational implications and recommendations were raised to partially improve the teaching quality in ESP classes at NLU Further research was suggested with the hope to investigate the teachers’ role and their difficulties in applying this teaching method at other universities

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Communicative Approach to language teaching has been considered the most popular way of teaching English in Vietnam This is due to the awareness that English has become the popular language and has been used widely in business as well as science Different from the traditional methods such as the Grammar – Translation and the Audio-lingual methods, the Communicative Approach can help students develop their communicative skills since “the purpose of language (and thus the goal of language teaching) is communication” (Celce _Murcia, 1991,pp 8,9)

In fact, the advantage of the Communicative Approach is to help students use the language in real contexts (Littlewood, 2007) Brown (2000) also points out that “In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts” (Brown, 2000, p 204) This approach encourages teaching practices that enhance communicative competence in authentic contexts (Larsen – Freeman, 2000) Thanks to the development of this new approach, many textbooks for teachers and teacher trainers are based on the nature of communicative approaches and offer techniques for a wide range of ages and purposes (Brown, 2000)

With the motivation to increase students’ communicative ability, instructors are encouraged to apply the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at Ho Chi Minh City Nong Lam University (NLU) since the 1990s ESP is the name applied to the

English non-majored classes at NLU The purpose of these classes is to teach students

at the pre-intermediate level Students are hoped to achive the communicative ability

in English at the end of the course This has been seen as the major change in the English teaching method at NLU To achieve this goal, teaching materials have been revised many times to create the authentic environment for the Communicative Approach However, despite this educational policy, it is likely that there have been many challenges to the successful application At the end of the semester, it is easy to find out that many students cannot communicate or function well in the real contexts

Consequently, it seems difficult to apply the Communicative Approach to ESP classes

at NLU Perhaps students’ lack of time practicing communicative skills could be attributed to the crowded class Moreover, in contrast to the encouragement of applying the Communicative Approach, NLU educational administrators still keep the testing system focusing on the listening, reading, writing and grammar As a result, teachers seem to face the pressure of helping their students to pass the final exam; therefore, the speaking skill might be ignored to focus on the other skills checked in the final exam It is possible that these obstacles have hindered the effective application of the Communicative Approach

Up to now, there have been many studies on the implementing of Communicative Approach in Vietnamese classroom such as the studies of Greg Bock (2000), Nguyen Thi Hoai Minh (2004), Phan Thi Hien (2007), and Nguyen Hoai Thu (2008) All of these studies point out that there are three main reasons of the failure of the complete Communicative Approach application First, the institutions play a significant role in preventing the Communicative Approach application due to the fact that the teachers have to deal with large class size and the pressure of the traditional grammar – based tests; as a consequence, the time for communicative activities is limited Second, students hesitate to take part in communicative activities in classroom because of the low proficiency of English and the purpose of studying English for passing the grammar-dominated test (Nguyen Thi Hoai Minh, 2004) In addition, the multilevel

class is one of the obstacles of successfully implementing the Communicative Approach (Phan Thi Hien, 2007) Finally, teachers’ lack of training of the Communicative Approach and reluctance to use English while teaching also makes the process of applying the Communicative Approach slow (Bock, 2000)

While there have been many researches on the other hindrances such as students’ motivation, class size, and so on, the role of teachers received little attention Indeed, most studies point out that the teacher’s problem is the lack of training and the low proficiency of English However, with the development of teacher training method and the abundance of self-study materials for teachers, it’s possible that the teachers’ lack of training accounts for a small scale in the failure of the application of the Communicative Approach Therefore, there is a need to study the real role of the teachers in the application of this approach

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

Based on the previous researches, it seems that the application of the Communicative Approach is still unsuccessful due to the teachers’ work Therefore, the aims of this research are to investigate: (1) whether the teachers apply the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU or not; (2) how the teachers’ role makes an impact

on the successful application of the Communicative Approach

The study of this issue is based on:

• A questionnaire asking ESP students about their previous learning experience, the communicative activities their teachers conduct in class, their teachers’ performance, and their attitude towards the application of the Communicative Approach

• A questionnaire asking the teachers about their teaching experience, their background of the Communicative Approach, the communicative activities they organize in class, and the difficulties of applying the Communicative Approach

• Observations in ESP classes on the class talking time, the teaching language, the teachers’ position and behavior in class

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study aims at answering the following questions:

1 To what extent is the Communicative Approach applied in ESP classes at NLU?

2 How does the teachers’ role make an impact on the application of the Communicative Approach at NLU?

In order to find the answer to research question 2, two sub-questions are formed as following:

a What do the teachers understand about the Communicative Approach?

b Are there any advantages or difficulties the teachers have in applying the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU?

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Applying the Communicative Approach to teaching English is now popular in Vietnam As a result, there are a number of researches done on the successfulness of applying this method However, most of the researches focus on the students’ attitude and the difficulties of the institution while the role of the teachers receives less attention This study is thus significant for two following reasons

First, the findings of this study, hopefully, will help teachers of English improve the teaching quality When they realize their important role in applying the Communicative Approach and understand the need of studying English communicatively, they can be more active in conducting communicative activities

In addition, this study will partially help educational administrators realize the role of the teachers in applying the Communicative Approach It is obvious that educational

administrators play a crucial role in enhancing the teaching methods in each university Upon realizing the key role of the teachers in applying the new method, they can step by step improve the teaching quality at NLU such as holding training course, seminar, changing the textbooks, and so on

1.5 ASSUMPTIONS

The study is based on the following assumptions:

• The sample students and teachers represent the majority of ESP students and teachers of NLU

• The method and procedure of data collection and analysis are reliable and appropriate to obtain the information to answer the research questions

• The students and teachers taking part in the survey are honest in their responses, and have no difficulties understanding the items of the questionnaire

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research is aimed to assess the current teaching situation at NLU, which will help

to partially improve the teaching quality here The research subjects are teachers and students of 5 ESP classes in the second semester of the academic year 2011-2012 Due to the time limit, this paper just deals with some factors relevant to the teacher’s role in applying the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU

1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE STUDY

Chapter 2 reviews the literature related to the study in three separated sections: theoretical studies, the previous related studies in Vietnam, and the conceptual framework of the study The theoretical study explains the definition of communicative competence, the key term in the Communicative Approach The

definition, principles of the Communicative Approach, the role of the teacher, the techniques applied in implementing this approach, and the factors affecting this application are also discussed Besides, the related studies in Vietnam are reviewed to have a general view of the application of the Communicative Approach in Vietnam Last, the conceptual framework is carefully designed so as to build the research criteria in chapter 3

Chapter 3 focuses on the methodology employed in the study The research involves a survey of the application of the communicative activities in ESP classes by administering questions to 215 ESP students and 5 Vietnamese teachers of English The study also includes class observation in 5 ESP classes at NLU

Chapter 4 presents and analyses the data collected in chapter 3 from the questionnaires distributed to students/teachers and the class observation The purpose

of this chapter is to (1) explore the current application of the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU, and (2) observe the teachers’ role in the application

of the Communicative Approach in class

Chapter 5 concludes the study It presents the implications of the study, makes some suggestions on how to improve the application of the Communicative Approach to ESP classes at NLU, and draws some implications for further research

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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, in order to understand the purpose and characteristics of the Communicative Approach, the definition of communicative competence will first be discussed mainly by addressing the linguistic concepts of Chomsky, Hymes, Canale and Swain Then the definition and characteristics of the Communicative Approach will be introduced The roles of teachers and the techniques needed in applying the Communicative Approach are also mentioned in this chapter Next, some factors related to the successful implementation of the Communicative Approach are introduced The recent studies of applying this method in Vietnam are also discussed

to give the general view of the situation Finally, the conceptual framework of the study is clearly stated from the theoretical framework to present the basis of this investigation

2.1 DEFINITION OF SOME RELATED TERMS:

Approach: A set of assumptions about the nature of language and the nature of

language teaching and learning (Savignon, 1983, p.103)

Grammar – Translation Method: An approach to studying a foreign language “ first

through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language.” (Richards and Rodgers, 1998, p 3)

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Method: “a set of techniques or procedures These usually follow a systematic

scheme Unlike an approach, a method need not be tied to any particular theory about language or learning, but may simply be claimed as successful in practice” (Huddard

et al, 1983,p 329)

2.2 COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Originally, the first person to distinguish the term competence and performance is Chomsky According to Chomsky, competence is “the shared knowledge of the ideal speaker-listener set in a completely homogeneous speech community” (Chomsky,

1965, p 3) Thanks to this knowledge, language users can produce and understand an infinite set of sentences out of a finite set of rules

On the contrary, performance is related to the process of applying the underlying knowledge to the actual language use, commonly stated as encoding and ecoding (Chomsky, 1965) However, because performance can never directly reflect competence except under the ideal circumstances (the ideal speaker-listener know and use language perfectly without making any mistakes), performance cannot be relevant

to a linguistic theory for descriptive linguists Therefore, according to Hymes (1972), the most important idea of performance is “that of imperfect manifestation of underlying system”

Hymes (1972) has the opinion that a linguistic theory can deal with a heterogeneous speech community, differential competence and the role of sociocultural features Hymes thinks that it is necessary to distinguish two kinds of competence: linguistic competence which helps us produce and understand grammatically correct sentences, and communicative competence helping us produce and understand sentences that are appropriate and acceptable to a particular situation Therefore, Hymes forms the term

“communicative competence” as “a knowledge of the rules for understanding and producing both the referential and social meaning of language” (Hymes, 1972)

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Later, Canale and Swain introduce a new theory of communicative competence, which includes four types: grammatical competence, strategic competence, discourse competence, and sociolinguistic competence (Canale and Swain, 1980) First, grammatical competence includes knowledge of lexical items, morphology, syntax, semantics, and phonology in a language Second, strategic competence includes verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that can be used when communication is broken because of limiting conditions in actual communication or lack of grammatical competence Next, if the language users master discourse competence, they know how to combine grammatical forms and meaning to achieve a spoken or written text Finally, sociolinguistic competence helps language users to produce and interpret the utterances appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts

2.3 THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

2.3.1 Definitions of the Communicative Approach

In his book “Principles of language learning and teaching”, Brown (2000) offers the

following four interconnected characteristics as a definition of the Communicative Approach:

1 Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence

2 Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaning full purposes Organizational language forms are not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes

3 Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use

4 In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts

(Brown, 2000, p.204)

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2.3.2 Characteristics and principles of the Communicative Approach

Applying the Communicative Approach requires a lot of efforts of teachers and students as well as changes in teaching methods Richards (2006) mentions that this new approach to teaching requires a rethinking of classroom teaching methodology It

is argued that learners learn a language through the process of communicating in it, and that communication that is meaningful to the learner provides a better opportunity for learning than through a grammar-based approach He summarizes the principles of the Communicative Approach as follows:

• Make real communication the focus of language teaching

• Provide opportunities for learners to experiment and try out what they know

• Be tolerant of learners’ errors as they indicate that the learner is building up his

or her communicative competence

• Provide opportunities for learners to develop both accuracy and fluency

• Link the different skills such as speaking, reading, and listening together, since they usually occur so in the real world

• Let students induce or discover grammar rules

2.3.2.1 Accuracy and Fluency

Richard and Rogers state that “the Communicative Approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication” (Richard and Rogers, 2001, p.159) As a result, students are encouraged to use the target language to communicate meaningfully from the very initial stage During this procedure, fluency

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is more important than accuracy In the Communicative Approach, students first must understand the message, accuracy may be achieved later

2.3.2.2 Student-centered and teacher-centered

Richards and Rodgers point out that “the emphasis in communicative language teaching on the processes of communication, rather than mastery of language forms, leads to different roles for learners from those found in more traditional second language classroom,” (Richards and Rogers, 2001, p.166) Students are now considered as active participants; consequently, the Communicative Approach changes the role of the teacher According to Breen and Candlin (1980), the teacher now has two main roles: one is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom and the other is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group (Breen and Candlin, 1980)

Due to the change in the teacher’s role, the teaching environments also changed The Communicative Approach emphasized on student-centered teaching Savignon (1991) states that “communicative language teaching has become a term for methods and curricula that embrace both the goals and the processes of classroom learning, for teaching practice that views competence in terms of social interaction” (p.263) Li (1998) also emphasizes that the design of instruction methods need to reflect the interest, styles, and goals of different individual learners

2.3.2.3 Authentic textbook

The Communicative Approach also introduces the use of authentic material in class (Karim, 2004) Littlewood (1981) explains that students will have opportunities to expose to the language actually used by native speakers if they use authentic materials Similarly, Canale and Swain (1980) state that thanks to the students’ response to genuine communicative needs in realistic second language situations, they can develop strategies to understand the language used by native speakers in reality

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2.3.2.4 The role of grammar in the Communicative Approach

Savignon (1991) states that “Communication cannot take place in the absence of structure, or grammar, a set of shared assumptions about how language works, along with a willingness of participants to cooperate in the negotiation of meaning” (Savignon, 1991) Similarly, Canale and Swain (1980) did not suggest that grammar was unimportant In fact, grammatical competence is placed in a more broadly defined communicative competence Moreover, Sagvinon points out that the teachers should not forsake grammar instruction since the self-expression focused on meaning

is an effective way to develop communicative ability with no loss of morphosyntactical accuracy Therefore, Lightbown and Spada (1993) conclude that grammar is important, and learners seem to focus best on grammar when it relates to their communicative needs and experiences

In summary, Richards (2006) provides the following ten core assumptions or variants

of the Communicative Approach:

1 When learners are engaged in interaction and meaningful communication, it is easy for them to learn a second language

2 Thanks to effective classroom learning tasks and exercises, students have opportunities to negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take part in meaningful interpersonal exchange

3 Students processing content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting, and engaging can help students grasp meaningful communication

4 Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language skills or modalities

5 Activities involving inductive or discovery learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, or language analysis and reflection can facilitate language learning

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6 Although learners often make errors during the learning process, the ultimate goal

of learning is that learners are able to use the new language both accurately and fluently

7 Learners develop their own ways to language learning, progress at different rates, and have different needs and motivations for language learning

8 Learners who can successfully learn the language can use communication strategies effectively

9 The teacher plays the role of a facilitator in a language classroom He/she creates a classroom climate conductive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning

10 Learners learn through collaboration and sharing in the classroom community

2.3.3 Activities in the Communicative Approach

Activities in the Communicative Approach typically involve students in real or realistic communication, where the successful achievement of the communicative task they are performing is at least as important as the accuracy of their language use (Harmer, 2007)

Fluency tasks are introduced through activities in which students are required to negotiate meaning, use communicative strategies, correct misunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns are introduced (Richards, 2006) According to Richards, the common activities types in the Communicative Approach are:

• Information – gap activities: students are required to communicate in order to get information they do not possess By using their linguistic and communicative resources to obtain information, students are likely to grasp more authentic communication

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• Jigsaw activities: the class is divided into groups and each group has part of the information needed to complete an activity Students must fit pieces together to complete the whole This type of activity helps students to take part in meaningful communication practice

• Task-completion activities: students are asked to use their language resources to complete tasks such as puzzles, games, map-reading and other kinds of classroom tasks

• Information-gathering activities: students are required to use their linguistic resources to collect information to complete surveys, interviews, and researches

• Opinion-sharing activities: students compare values, opinion, or beliefs with one another

• Information-transfer activities: These require students to take information that is presented in one form, and represent it in a different form; for instance, students are required to read information about a subject and then represent it as a graph

• Reasoning – gap activities: these involve deriving some new information from given information through the process of inference, practical reasoning, and so on For example, students are asked to continue the story they read before

• Role plays: students are assigned role and perform a scene or exchange based on given information or clues

2.4 THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN THE COMMUNICATVE APPROACH

2.4.1 Definition of teachers’ role

In order to understand the term “teachers’ role”, it’s necessary to give an explanation

of the key word “role” According to Wright, “Role is a complex grouping of factors which combine to produce certain type of social behavior” (Wright, 1997, p 7) More clearly, Dorneyi and Murphey give the definition of the term “role” as a technical term “which originally comes from sociology and refers to the shared expectation of

by learning to smile, to be enthusiastic and patient, and to be constantly looking for new ways getting his message across to his pupils” (Dobbyn, 1982, p 30)

Richards and Rogers (1986) and Tony Wright (1997) give a more specific role of a language teacher Richards and Rogers consider teacher roles as part of the “design” component of a method, which is related to the following issues:

• the types of function teachers are expected to fulfill,

• the degree of control the teacher has over how learning takes place,

• the degree to which is the teacher is responsible for determining the content of what is taught, and

• the interactional patterns that develop between teachers and learners

(Richards and Rogers, 1986, p 24)

More recently, Wright points out that the teachers’ primary roles are instructional and managerial (Wright, 1997, p.125) With the instructional role, the teachers transfer knowledge to learners while the managerial role helps the teachers to organize learning activities and motivate the students to the task of learning of a foreign language Wright also emphasizes that it’s difficult to separate the two main roles

2.4.2 Teachers’ role in different teaching methods

Teachers have different roles in each language teaching method In order to check what role the teachers play in the ESP classroom at NLU, it is crucial to mention the other roles of teachers in other methods This table below shows an overview of teachers’ role in four different methods based on the theory of Nunan (1989) and Larsen- Freeman (2000)

• Grammar Translation • An authority in the classroom

• Decide whether the answer is correct or not, ask students do as the teachers say so that the students can learn what the teachers know

• Audio-Lingual • Central and active teacher method

• Direct and control the language behavior of the students The teachers control direction and pace, and provide their students a good model for imitation

• Direct method • Direct the class activities

• Partner of the students in the teaching/ learning process

• The Communicative

Approach

• Facilitator of the communication process, participants’ tasks, and texts

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• Needs analyst

• Counselor

• Process manager

Table 2.1: An overview of teachers’ role in different methods

(Adapted from Nunan (1989) and Larsen-Freeman (2000))

In summary, in each language teaching method the teachers perform different roles Traditionally, Vietnamese language teachers perform the role as an authority in the classroom However, thanks to the change of language teaching policy, the role of the teachers have changed significantly with the application of the Communicative Approach

2.4.3 Teachers’ role in the Communicative Approach

The teacher needs to make a great effort in order to apply the Communicative Approach successfully In the traditional Grammar- Translation teaching method, teachers play the dominant role, mainly to provide and explain grammar rules and the meaning of words in the learners’ native language (Brown, 2001; Davies, 2000) Now the teachers have totally different roles in the class Particularly, Jacobs and Farrell (2003) show that the shift toward the Communicative Approach focuses greater attention on the role of learners Therefore, the center of attention shifts from the teacher to the student, which is generally known as the move from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered instruction

Similarly, Littlewood (1981) also points out that the teacher’s role appears to conflict with their pedagogical role According to him, the Communicative Approach involves the teachers in redefining, to some extent, this traditional role The teacher has no direct control over the class In other words, the teacher can stimulate and gives his experience that the process seems to require The reason is that whatever the teacher does to influence the course of development, the learner will attempt to follow a sequence of learning determined by his own natural processes Nevertheless, this does

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not mean that teachers are not necessary, for the classroom is not the natural environment Now, the teacher has the role of “facilitator of learning” (Littlewood, 1981), and may need to perform in a variety of the including specific roles:

• As general overseer of his students’ learning, he must aim to coordinate the activities so

that they form a coherent progression, leading towards greater communicative ability

• As classroom manager, he is responsible for grouping activities into “lessons” and for

ensuring that these are satisfactorily organized at the practical level This includes deciding on his own role within each activity

• In many activities, he may perform the familiar role of language instructor: he will

present new language, exercise direct control over the learners’ performance, evaluate and correct it, and so on

• In others, he will not intervene after initiating the proceedings, but will let learning take

place through independent activity

• While such independent activity is in progress, he may act as consultant or adviser,

helping where necessary He may also move around the classroom in order to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of the learners, as a basic for planning future learning activities

• He will sometimes wish to participate in an activity as “co- communicator” with the

learners In this role, he can stimulate and present new language, without taking the main initiative for learning away from the learners themselves

(Littlewood, 1981, p.92)

Later, Brown (2001) summarizes that the teachers have four main roles in the Communicative Approach: facilitator of the communication process, participants’ task, and text, need analyst, counselor, and group processor

2.4.3.1 Teachers as facilitators

First, in order to understand the term facilitator, Harmer (2007) gives a more detailed explanation to avoid the value judgments (Harmer, 2007, p 108) According to him, the ultimate of all roles is to facilitate students’ progress Particularly, the teacher has different roles including controller, prompter, participant, resource, tutor, organizer, performer, teaching aid, language model, and provider of comprehensible input

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a Teachers as controllers

The teacher is responsible for the activities in class and often “leading from the front” (Harmer, 2007, p.108) When acting as the controller, he/she tells students things, organizes drills, or reads aloud This ability is very familiar with the teacher who considers his/her job as the transmission of knowledge from themselves to the students However, acting like the controller in class can prevent students from experiential learning because they seem to focus everything on the teachers Moreover, students’ speaking opportunities are cut down and the classroom atmosphere may be boring

Harmer also points out that acting as a controller can make sense if the teacher gives explanations, organizes question and answer work, lectures, makes announcement or brings a class to order On the other hand, if the teacher sticks to this role as the controller, he/she can deny the students “many other possibilities and modes of learning which are good not only for learning itself, but also for our students’ enjoyment of that learning.”

b Teachers as prompters

The teacher helps the students to proceed when they are in difficulties with vocabulary or anxiety When the teacher prompt, it is necessary to do it sensitively and encouragingly with discretion In case the teacher is too adamant, he/she may take initiative away from the students On the other hand, if the teacher is too retiring, students will not receive the right amount of encouragement

c Teachers as participants

Sometimes the teacher might take part in the students’ discussions to encourage students from the inside group rather than prompt from outside the group This role can help the teacher to be more enjoyable than act as a resource as well as develop the students learning motivation

e Teachers as tutors

The teacher also combines the roles of prompter and resource to act as a tutor This role is very suitable with small groups or individual The teacher can go round the class, stay briefly with a particular group or individual, and offer general guidance to students He/she also should notice to share the time to as many groups as possible

As a result, students can have a real chance to feel supported and helped, and the teacher can enhance the classroom atmosphere significantly

f Teachers as organizers

Organizing students to do various activities is one of the most important tasks of the teacher This role requires the teacher know how to give students information, tell them how they are going to do the activity, put them into pairs or groups, and close thing down when it is time to stop

First, the teacher needs to get students involved, engaged, and ready by making it clear that something “new” is going to happen and that the activity will be enjoyable, interesting or beneficial The teacher also needs to explain the reason why the students are asked to perform Second, he/she gives any necessary instructions, explains what

of feedback

g Teachers as performers

“The teachers are all performers in the classroom at some level” (Harmer, 2007, p.112) Their performing styles depend on the situation Table 2.2 shows how the teacher might have different performance styles in different situation

1 Team game Energetically, encouragingly, clearly, fairly

2 Role-play Clearly, encouragingly, retiringly, supportively

3 Teacher reading aloud Commandingly, dramatically, interestingly

4 Whole – class listening Efficiently, clearly, supportively

Table 2.2: Describing teacher performance styles (Adapted from Harmer, 2007)

h Teachers as teaching aid

There are many ways in which the teacher can help students both hear and understand language

• Mine and gesture:

The teacher can use mine and gesture to explain the meaning of words or phrases and create the class atmosphere Using mine and gesture has many advantages when they are exaggerated because this makes their meaning clear However, when using mine and gesture, the teacher should be careful with the students’ culture Some gestures might be considered rude in some cultures

• Language model:

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Beside textbooks, reading materials, audio, and video tapes, students can get model of language from their teacher For example, the teacher can be a language model when they perform a dialogue or read aloud of a text

When he/she models dialogues, he/she should judge the appropriate speed, make sure

to deliver the natural rhythm and normal intonation Similarly, when reading aloud, the teacher can produce an extremely motivating and enjoyable atmosphere for a class, especially when students have been encouraged to predict what they are going

to hear

• Provider of comprehensible input

It is important that students should be exposed to the language as much as possible The more comprehensible input the students get, the better they are at English Therefore, the teacher can provide appropriate input since they know how to talk at just the right level so that students can understand the meaning despite their limited vocabulary As a result, the teacher talking quality is also important

2.4.3.2 Teachers as needs analysts

In the Communicative Approach, the teacher also has a responsibility for determining and responding to learner language needs This can be done informally and personally with students or formally through a needs assessment instrument Thanks to this research, the teacher can know clearly about his/ her students’ learning style, learning assets, and learning goals As a result, the teacher can plan group and individual

instruction that responds to the learners' needs (Richards and Rogers, 2001)

2.4.3.3 Teachers as counselors

Richards and Rogers (2001) state that in this role, the teacher is expected to illustrate

an effective communicator seeking to maximize the meshing of speaker intention and

hearer interpretation, through the use of paraphrase, confirmation, and feedback

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2.4.3.4 Teachers as group process managers

In the Communicative Approach, the teacher must have the less teacher-centered classroom management skills His responsibility is to organize the classroom as a setting for communicative activities (Richards and Rodgers, 2001) According to Littlewood (1981), Finochiaro and Brumfit (1983), the teacher has to monitor,

encourage, and suppress the inclination to supply gaps in lexis, grammar, and

strategy Besides, the teacher should note the gaps to give comment or practice later

At the end of the activities, the teacher points out alternatives and extensions and help the group to correct the discussion by themselves

2.5 TEACHING TECHNIQUES APPLIED IN THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

2.5.1 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching listening

According to Richards, “Communicative Language Teaching was an attempt to operationalize the concept of communicative competence and to apply it across all levels of language program design, from theory, to syllabus design, to teaching techniques” (Richards, 2002) In Brown’s words, one of the important characteristics

of the Communicative Approach is that the classroom goals are concentrated on all of the components of communicative competence (Brown, 2000) Because listening is a part of communication, Zou (2005) suggests that it can be taught in a communicative way with some guidelines below

1 Expose students to authentic or semi-authentic listening environment

According to Brown and Menasche, there are five different classes of input authenticity which are genuine, altered, adapted, and simulated minimal/ incidental authenticity (Helgesen, 2004) Based on students’ level, a teacher can choose different authenticities to help them develop their listening skill

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In order to achieve authenticity, listening materials should be created like real situations in which speakers give dialogues with intonations, tones, and even some background sounds In addition, the listening materials should use the natural speed and accent to help students understand conversations in real communication For example, students can listen to many kinds of listening materials such as radio, lectures, TV programs, face-to-face conversations, seminars and so on (Hedge, 2002) One more important point is that the topic can be diverse and related to students’ life

to raise students’ motivation and interests in listening However, the teacher needs to consider the level of difficulties carefully upon choosing listening materials, for the difficulties can influent students’ confidence in listening

2 Listening skills and strategies should be taught and applied in classes

One of students’ problems in listening is that most of them want to listen to every word; therefore, in order to increase students’ confidence, the teacher must explain that students “integrate linguistic knowledge with their existing experience and knowledge of such things as topic and culture, and do not need to hear every word” (Hedge, 2002) Moreover, when the teacher equips students with certain skills and strategies such as predicting, guessing (making inferences), focusing, taking notes, and so on, it is easier for students to listen successfully

3 Classroom activities should be carefully designed

According to David Nunan, the nature of listening involves both bottom-up and down process (Nunan, 2002) Therefore, learners’ language knowledge, personal general knowledge or life experience (content schemata), knowledge of situational routines (textual schemata) (Helgesen, 2004) and some background knowledge (formal schemata) (Hedge, 2002) should be taken into consideration before designing classroom activities

top-25

At the pre-listening stage, the teacher should grasp two simple aims The first one is

“to provide sufficient context to match what would be available in real life”, and the second one is “to create motivation (perhaps by asking learners to speculate on what they will hear)” (Field, 2002) Therefore, the teacher helps students understand clearly the purposes of listening, and activates students’ relevant schemata by using illustrations, pictures, and provides vocabulary so that students can guess what they are going to listen to Moreover, students are also asked to preview the tasks and questions before listening to know what they should focus when listening

At while-listening stage, the teacher guides students to combine top-down process with bottom-up process One more problem is that students often cannot understand when listening only once; hence, the teacher can let students listen one more time However, the teacher should pay attention and control the act of letting students listen many times since it will lose the authenticity In order to motivate students to listen, the listening tasks also must be various and differ in difficulties and forms

Last, “the post – listening activities can take students into a more intensive phase of study in which aspects of bottom-up listening are practiced” (Hedge, 2002) The teacher can require students to ask questions and respond to ideas they have get from the listening According to Hedge, post-listening work could be integrated with other skills like speaking, writing, and reading (Hedge, 2002)

2.5.2 Applying the Communicative Approach in teaching speaking

Like listening, speaking is considered one of the most important skills in the Communicative Approach In fact, listening and speaking are related to each other closely (Brown, 2000) Brown (2000) introduces some principles in teaching speaking that the teacher can apply to help students overcome difficulties in communicating

1 Use techniques that cover learner needs from accuracy to interaction, meaning, and fluency

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When the teacher introduces speaking activities in class such as jigsaw group technique, playing a game, group discussion, and so on, he/she must make sure that the tasks include techniques designed to help students use the language properly Therefore, students can capitalize grammatical points or pronunciation tips However, the teacher also needs to avoid boring students with repetitious drills Drilling must be made as meaningful as possible

2 Provide intrinsically motivating techniques

The teacher should always try to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, status, and for achieving competence When the teacher introduces new tasks in class, it is a good idea to explain the purpose of these tasks to the students Once students recognize that these tasks can benefit them, their motivation towards these activities can be raised remarkably

3 Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts

Although it is not easy to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, the teacher should try to keep up with meaningful interaction Even drills also need to be designed with a sense of authenticity

4 Provide appropriate feedback and correction

In the speaking class, students totally depend on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback The teacher should take advantage of their knowledge of English to give the kinds of corrective feedback at the appropriate moment

5 Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

It is obvious that many interactive techniques involving speaking also include listening As a consequence, the teacher should not give up the opportunities to integrate two skills because these two skills coincide and reinforce each other When students understand the use of language, they can obtain the skills in producing language

6 Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication