Effectiveness of teaching grammar with the use of dictogloss for students of k37a maths class at hanoi college of education

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---- ---- NGUYỄN THỊ HẰNG Effectiveness of Teaching Grammar wit

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN THỊ HẰNG

Effectiveness of Teaching Grammar with the Use of Dictogloss for Students of K37A Maths Class, at Hanoi

College of Education: An Action Research

Hiệu quả Dạy Ngữ pháp bằng Phương pháp Dictogloss cho Sinh viên lớp Sư phạm Toán 37A, Trường Cao đẳng Sư

phạm Hà Nội: Nghiên cứu tác động

(M.A THESIS)

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111

HANOI - 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES



NGUYỄN THỊ HẰNG

Effectiveness of Teaching Grammar with the Use of Dictogloss for Students of K37A Maths Class, at Hanoi

College of Education: An Action Research

Hiệu quả Dạy Ngữ pháp bằng Phương pháp Dictogloss cho Sinh viên lớp Sư phạm Toán 37A, Trường Cao đẳng Sư

phạm Hà Nội: Nghiên cứu tác động

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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled:

“Effectiveness of Teaching Grammar with the Use of Dictogloss for Students of K37A Maths Class, at Hanoi College of Education: An Action Research”

submitted in partially fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in English Language Teaching Methodology

Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

I wish to acknowledge the support of all students in K37A Maths class for their continuous cooperation Thanks to them, I was able to carry out my thesis and collect data

Last, much gratefulness is offered to Ms Nguyen Quynh Trang for her great enthusiasm and assistance during the very first stage as well as during the process of thesis development To Ms Nguyen Thi Bich Lien and Ms Hoang Kim Thu, two English lecturers at Hanoi College of Education, I appreciate their invaluable advice and recommendations for better implementation of Dictogloss in classroom

Non-Five instruments were employed, namely qualitative analysis of textbook,

observation, tests (entry test, a test and a post-test), questionnaires (a questionnaire and a post questionnaire), and interviews in order to gather the data The initial data indicated that the students‟ poor grammatical competence and low motivation in learning grammar may be attributed to their exposure of uninteresting and linear teaching method in the class On the basis of the findings, it was

pre-hypothesized that “Applying dictogloss which can be appropriate for the students’

level would raise the students’ interest and grammatical competence” An

evaluation of the action research study was made by comparing with the data collected by means of post-data collection instruments The analysis revealed that the use of dictogloss in the grammar lessons improves not only their grammatical competence but also their attitudes towards learning grammar

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ELT: English Language Teaching

FonF: Focus on Form

HCE: Hanoi College of Education

L2: Second Language

MA: Master of Arts

SLA:Second Language Acquisition

Ss: Students

T: Teachers

TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Basic procedure of dictogloss in class

Table 2: Target grammatical points to be taught

Table 3: Students‟ evaluation on topics

Table 4: Comparison the students‟ performance in pre-test tasks

Table 5: Students‟ responses on the importance of grammar

Table 6: Students‟ responses to traditional grammar-teaching classes

Table 7: Comparison the students‟ performance in post-test tasks

Table 8: Comparison of students‟ performance on task 5 in pre and post-test Table 9: Students‟ attitudes to dictogloss technique

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LISTS OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Action research cycle

Figure 2: Students' results of the entry test

Figure 3: Students‟ results of the pre-test

Figure 4: Teachers‟ usual way of teaching grammar in the previous semesters Figure 5: The results of the post-test

Figure 6: Comparison of pre-test‟s and post-test‟s results

Figure 7: Comparison of students‟ performance on task 1 in pre and post-test Figure 8: Comparison of students‟ performance on task 2 in pre and post-test Figure 9: Comparison of students‟ performance on task 4 in pre and post-test Figure 10: Students‟ evaluation on their grammar improvement

Figure 11: Students‟ attitudes to learning grammar

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV LISTS OF FIGURES VI

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Significance of the study 3

5 Overview of the thesis 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Theoretical background 5

1.1.1 Grammar teaching 5

1.1.1.1 Grammatical competence 5

1.1.1.2 Changing views of grammar Instruction 6

1.1.1.3 Ways of teaching grammar 9

1.1.1.4 Principles of teaching grammar 10

1.1.2 Dictogloss 12

1.1.2.1 Dictogloss and its relation with grammar teaching 12

1.1.2.2 Procedure of Dictogloss 14

1.1.2.3 Dictogloss variations 16

1.1.2.4 Factors influencing learners‟ performance on Dictogloss 19

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1.1.3 Motivation 21

1.1.3.1 Definition of motivation 21

1.1.3.2 Types of motivation 21

1.1.3.3 Roles of motivation in teaching and learning a language 22

1.1.3.4 Factors affecting motivation 22

1.2 Previous studies 23

1.3 A summary 28

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 30

2 1 Action research 30

2.1.1 Definition of action research * 30

2.1.2 Rationale for choosing action research 31

2.1.3 Process of action research 32

2.2 Participants of the study 37

2.2.1 The students 37

2 2 2 The teachers 38

2.3 Data Collection Instruments 38

2.3.1 Qualitative analysis of textbook “New English file – Pre-intermediate” 38

2.3.2 Class observation 39

2.3.3 Tests 40

2.3.4 Questionnaires 42

2.3.5 Interviews 43

2.4 Procedure of dictogloss in class 45

2.4.1 Basic procedure of dictogloss in class 45

2.4.2 Variations of dictogloss in class 46

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2.5 A Summary of Methodology 46

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 48

3.1 Initial data 48

3.1.1 Analysis of the entry test 48

3.1.2 Analysis of Text book “New English Files – Pre-intermediate” 49

3.1.3 Data from the Pre-test 51

3.1.4 Data from the pre-questionnaire 54

3.1.5 Data from the first interview for students 57

3.2 Post data 58

3.2.1 Data from the interview for teachers 58

3.2.2 Data from the Post-test 60

3.2.3 Data from the post-questionnaire 65

3.2.4 Data from the post-interview for students 69

3.2.5 Observation 71

3.3 A summary of findings 73

PART C: CONCLUSION 74

1 Conclusion 74

2 Implications for teaching 75

3 Limitations 78

4 Suggestions for further study 79

REFERENCES 80 APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION SHEET XII APPENDIXES I

By contrast, in the 1970s, the rise of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) led

to a tendency of de-emphasizing the role of grammar in classes although it is believed to be “a means to improving master of the language” (Penny Ur, 1991:78) Many teachers are more likely to orient students to such English skills as speaking and listening Unfortunately, in the absence of grammar, it is hard for learners of English to acquire accuracy in producing English (Francis J Noonan III, 2004) Teaching grammar, therefore, has become a challenging and boring task for many teachers and likewise learning grammar seems to be a burden for learners Grammar lessons often go boring in English classes and achieve less efficiency The context

of Non-English major Division, at Hanoi College of Education (HCE) is not an exception Non-English major students are assessed to be poor at grammatical competence Through long courses of grammar, they are still generally weak at producing the correct sentences using the perceived language points In addition, they appear to express low interest in pure grammar lessons Meanwhile, researchers reach a consensus that grammar is too important to be ignored; in absence of good knowledge of grammar, “learners‟ language development will be severely constrained” (Hedge, 2000) It is also widely agreed by language practitioners and theoreticians on the significance of developing learners‟

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grammatical accuracy (Dickins & Woods, 1988 cited in Storch, 2001) That is why grammar is chosen to be focused at Non-English major Division, HCE The tests for non-English major students at HCE are considerably composed of grammar items

Be aware of the situation, the researcher finds that there is a need for a teaching technique which could address the students‟ two primary problems: Poor grammatical competence and low motivation for learning grammar

Teaching grammar in an interesting and communicative way has been always given some concern by the practitioners of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in general, and even the author of this study in particular While many attempts have been given to this task, there is still room for more attention to innovative methods of grammar instruction which gives chance for learners to practice grammar via working on a combination of meaning and form which makes grammar learning more meaningful Dictogloss, one of the recently-developed techniques, is introduced as an alternative method of teaching grammar (Wajnryb, 1990) It is claimed to encourage learners to concentrate on the form of language on basis of communication (Ellis, R, 2003:156–157) This seems to be appropriate for its application into the English course at Non-English major Division, HCE because

in the textbook “New English file – pre-intermediate”, it can be observed that each file centers on grammar section, on which almost other parts are based This is the

inspiration for the researcher to carry out the research entitled “Effectiveness of Teaching Grammar with the Use of Dictogloss for Students of K37A Maths Class,

at Hanoi College of Education: An Action Research”

2 Aims of the study

First and foremost, this study is aimed at empirically assessing the effectiveness of teaching grammar in K37A Maths class with the use of Dictogloss in terms of students‟ improvement in grammatical competence and their motivation for learning grammar In light of the findings, seek possible pedagogical

2 How does it affect the students‟ motivation for learning grammar?

3 Scope of the study

First, the scope of this research is confined in its population Only one non-English major class at HCE (consisting of 28 students) is investigated

Besides, the action research only covers several files (starting with file 7C) in New English File (pre-intermediate) The last file (file 9B) is obmitted because it is not perfectly suitable for the use of dictogloss (see timetable p 47) Additionally, it is quite complex

Lastly, the effectiveness of teaching grammar using Dictogloss is measured only in terms of the improvement in students‟ grammatical competence (with the grammatical points specified in the files) and their attitudes to learning grammar All (except interviews) are measured in written form only as the researcher does not have chance to examine the effects of dictogloss in oral form (for example, speaking test)

4 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the effects of dictogloss in promoting second language grammar knowledge has been empirically examined in many studies; nonetheless, as far as the researcher is concerned, no studies, up to now, have examined the effects of such technique in teaching grammar in Vietnam‟s context Hopefully, this thesis will be a small contribution to the theory of ELT on the effectiveness of teaching grammar using dictogloss in EFL classrooms

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Practically, this study is also expected to provide the researcher as a teacher with an alternative way with the use of dictogloss) to expose the students to the more active and collaborative grammar lessons, and hopefully help students enhance their grammar acquisition, and then improve their grammatical competence as well as their attitudes to learning grammar

5 Overview of the thesis

The thesis consists of the following main parts:

PART A: INTRODUCTION - states an overview of rationale, aims of the study,

research questions, the scope, the significance and the overview of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature review - illustrates some related studies conducted by other

researchers as well as their gaps in the field which inspire the writer to conduct her study This chapter also provides background knowledge of grammar and teaching grammar, dictogloss and motivation

Chapter 2: Methodology - describes in detail the participants and describes all

instruments employed by the researcher as well as procedure to collect data

Chapter 3: Findings and discussions - analyzes gathered data from described

instruments

PART C: CONCLUSION - Presents the conclusion of the study, some further

implications for teaching, along with the limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the author lays the foundation for the research by presenting some major terms in the theoretical background as well as related previous studies

1.1 Theoretical background

1.1.1 Grammar teaching

1.1.1.1 Grammatical competence

According to Penny Ur (1991), as a starting point, grammar is generally referred as

to the set of rules which describes the way words and groups of words can be arranged to form correct sentences in a particular language Hence, it explains why the sentence “We are not at home” is grammatically true (Scott Thornbury, 2002:1) This term could also be applied to smaller units such as phrases (a handsome boy, for example, not a boy handsome), single words (for instance, the past simple tense

of go must be went, not goed), and minimal components, namely affixes In

particular, grammar can be understood in terms of structure and meaning Rules of past tense, plural, or comparison are the examples of structure meanwhile grammatical meaning is one perceived from the structure

Based on the definition of grammar, the notion of grammatical competence is raised Grammatical competence is one of four areas of the communicative competence theory which was founded by Canale and Swain (Gao, 2001) Carol J Orwig (1999) defined “Grammatical competence is the ability to recognize and produce the distinctive grammatical structures of a language and to use them effectively in communication” Hence, it can be said that grammar competence is not just limited to knowing grammar The learners should know how to apply it into real situation to communicate something The aim is to acquire knowledge of, ability to use, and forms of expression which are grammatically correct (Díaz-Rico

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& Weed, 2010) It acts to promote accuracy and fluency in second language production (Gao, 2001)

1.1.1.2 Changing views of grammar Instruction

Historically, approaches to grammar teaching have undergone many changes due to

a number of theoretical and empirical developments in the fields According to the synthesis of Nassaji, H and Fotos, S (2011), there have been the following approaches: Grammar-based approaches (traditional approaches), communication-based approaches, and recently-developed approaches

Traditional approaches

Language teaching was equated with grammar teaching for ages It was believed that language was mainly composed of grammar rules and that knowing those rules would be sufficient for learners to acquire a language There are various traditional grammar-based approaches such as the Grammar Translation Method, and other structure-based methods In spite of their differences, those methods are all based on the assumption that the primary obstacle in learning a language is acquiring its structures However, this approach is considered as a deductive and linear presentation of these rules That way, because the learners were exposed to too much mother tongue and rules, there was little chance for them to practice the target language So, this kind of instruction fails to satisfy the communicative needs of L2 learners

Communication-based approaches

Since it was widely recognized that knowing a language was more than knowing its grammar, it has shifted from “an exclusive focus on language forms to a focus on meaning and language use in communicative contexts” (Nassaji, H and Fotos, S, 2011: 6) With the rise of communicative language teaching in the 1970s, grammar teaching was seen undesirable It was believed that grammar instruction was out of date, uninteresting, and best avoided Researchers claimed that teaching grammar did not make much progress in communicative competence; The communicative

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approach indicated the purpose of language learning to be acquiring communicative competence in real life (Widdowson, 1978), not just grammatical rules; therefore, according to Krashen (1981) and other scholars (as cited in Nassaji, H and Fotos, S, 2011), it ought to be eliminated from second language classrooms

However, authors in language teaching have become more aware that the approaches with the primary focus on meaning with little attention to grammatical forms are inadequate, which was proved in several empirical research by Harley & Swain (1984), Lapkin et al., (1991), and Swain (1985) (as cited in Nassaji, H and Fotos, S , 2011) The rise of communicative approaches led to negative reactions to grammar teaching among a great many L2 teachers and educators who were encouraged to believe that their students‟ failure was mainly due to their exposure

to too much explicit grammar instruction

Recently-developed approaches – Communicative focus on form

As aforementioned, there is evidence for the significance of form-focused instruction However, current form-focused instruction refers to grammar instruction that takes place in communicative contexts This has been widely advocated in ample research

a/ Focus on form (FonF)

Recent research in second language acquisition has resulted in a reconsideration of the significance of grammar Currently, a great number of researchers believe that grammar teaching should not be ignored in second language classrooms According

to Sharwood Smith (1993), the claim that language can be acquired with little consciousness of grammar has been proved to be theoretically problematic Recent SLA research has demonstrated that instructed language learning has major effects

on second language acquisition

FonF was proposed by Long (1991) It is defined as an attempt to “overtly draw students‟ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication” Long (1991: 45–46) That is,

acquired in sequence

b/ Communicative approaches revisited

In response to the current trend, recently, many educators, even the advocates of CLT, have supported the inclusion of FonF in language learning Savignon (2001:645), concluded that “for the development of communicative ability, research findings overwhelmingly support the integration of form-focused exercises with meaning focused experience.” Many authors have developed frameworks for grammar teaching that emphasize the incorporation of a focus on grammar into meaningful communication (Ellis, R, 1995)

c/ Task-based approaches revisited

Nunan (1989:10) defined a task as “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form.” Traditional task-based approaches have been a strong form version of CLT with very little focus on grammar forms (Hossein Nassaji and Sandra Fotos, 2011) Nonetheless, a purely meaning-focused approach is often proved problematic in the foreign language context, where real-life needs for the target language seldom exist Skehan (1996) insisted on the importance of grammar focus on task-based instruction: “Learners do not simply acquire the language to which they are exposed, however carefully that exposure may be orchestrated by the teacher.” When organizing tasks, there is a need not to focus on communication but also language forms That‟s why he presented three goals for task-based pedagogy,

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namely accuracy, complexity, and fluency and it‟s the teachers‟ duties to balance the three

1.1.1.3 Ways of teaching grammar

To be aware of the importance of teaching and learning English grammar and to meet individual‟s and society‟s expectations from education as well, the educational institutions and teachers always try to seek more effective ways of teaching with a view to promoting learning outcomes In general, as presented by Thorn Bury (1999), the teaching of grammar can be done in two main ways: Deductive and inductive

a/ Deductive approach

Thorn Bury (1999:29) defined, “The deductive approach begins with the

demonstration of a rule, and is followed by examples in which the rule is applied.”

In this method, learners will be provided with the rules of a target structure first, with the teacher‟s explanations and illustrations, and then they practice its use in exercises This way leads the students straight to the point, so it can be time-saving This will allow more time for practice and application Moreover, Thorn Bury (1999:30) showed that the method “respects the intelligence and maturity of students, acknowledges the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition” and

“allows the teacher to deal with language points as they come up, rather than having

to anticipate them and prepare for them in advance.”

Unfortunately, from the negative angle, according to Benjamin Franklin (?): “Tell

me, I forgot Show me, I remember Involve me, I understand”; therefore, explanation is hardly so memorable as other forms of presentation, like demonstration Furthermore, this approach leads to the belief that learning a language is limited to knowing the rules

b/ Inductive approach

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While the deductive method is rule-driven, the inductive approach is rule-discovery

In the inductive way, first learners are exposed to a number of examples bearing the rules of structure which they have to generalize from these examples themselves or with their teacher‟s suggestions, and from these examples, they derive an understanding of the rules, and then practice using the structures

As a result, the rules discovered by learners will be “more meaningful, memorable and serviceable” (Thorn bury, 1999) Students will be more likely to be involved in the learning process, rather than being passive recipients, which gradually forms the learners‟ autonomy

However, in contrary to deductive approach, the inductive one takes a lot of time and energy, and sometimes students may “hypothesize the wrong rule”, or “their version of the rule may be either too broad or too narrow in its application (Thorn bury, 1999) The teachers may also face heavy demands in planning lessons regarding selecting and organizing the data carefully so as to guide learners to an accurate formulation of the rule

1.1.1.4 Principles of teaching grammar

Scott Thornbury (1999) illustrated several basic rules of thumbs for grammar teaching as follows:

a/ The E-Factor: This rule focuses on efficiency of the teaching Efficiency, in the

author‟s views, is broken down into three factors such as economy, ease, and efficacy If grammar is only a part of the lesson and it can only be done in limited time, teaching activities should be done as efficiently as possible

When presenting grammar, a rule of thumb is economy The shorter, the better The

author compared language teaching with the training of technical skills: For example, when learning how to drive a car, it seems that just a little prior training will be more effective than too much The more instructions are piled on students at first, the more confused the learners feel Besides, it is also advisable to be economical regarding planning and resources

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The ease factor requires the simplicity of the activities which should be easy

enough for the teachers to set up

The most important factor is efficacy As can be seen, a prerequisite for learning is

attention, so the efficacy of a grammar activity can be measured by the degree of attention aroused However, attention without understanding is likely to be a waste

of time; hence efficacy also depends on the “amount and quality of information, explanation, and checking” (Scott Thornbury, 1999) Lastly, understanding will be meaningless if learners cannot memorize anything That is why efficacy of a presentation also relies on the degree of memorization Those conditions will be considered ineffective if there is a lack of motivation It is the teachers‟ duty to prepare tasks and materials so as to engage the learners

b/ The A-factor: Appropriacy

Learners are different from each other in terms of their needs, interest, level, and goals An activity that works well for these students may not fulfill others, which is called inappropriate When determining appropriacy, it is necessary to consider the following main factors regarding the learners:

 The age and level

 The size of the group of learners

 The constitution of the group (monolingual or multilingual?)

 Their needs and interests

 The available materials and resources

 Learners‟ prior knowledge

 Cultural factors that affect their attitudes (namely, students‟

perception of the role and status of the teacher

 Educational context (for example, private school or state school?)

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In the view of Nunan (2003), for an effective grammar lesson, the teacher is encouraged to consider the following principles when teaching grammar:

 Integrating both inductive and deductive methods into the teaching:

The deductive explanation helps to clarify the grammatical points and assist learners to master the target structures In contrast, the inductive teaching gets students to work out the rules by themselves, which results in effective learning in the long run That‟s why the choice between the two will depend

on what is being taught and learners‟ learning styles

 Using tasks that make clear the relationship between grammatical form and communicative function: The teaching of grammar is not an end in

itself; grammar is a tool for communicating more effectively The solution is then to present grammar in a context that makes clear the relationship between grammatical form and communicative function For example, when teaching passive voice, we should show not only the form but also the reason why it is used (emphasis on action rather than the doer …)

 Focusing on the development of procedural rather than declarative knowledge: Declarative knowledge is limited to knowing language rules

Procedural knowledge means being able to use the knowledge for communication It is advisable that in teaching grammar the teacher should concentrate more on developing students‟ procedural knowledge by encouraging them to practice the language in communication contexts

1.1.2 Dictogloss

1.1.2.1 Dictogloss and its relation with grammar teaching

Dictation, in its simplest form, is a technique that the teacher reads a text aloud repeatedly, and then the students write down exactly what is being said word by word, followed by checking their own text with the original one and correct their errors Dictation has made its long history in language teaching and obtained a

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number of pedagogical claims for its value from methodologists Despite such claims, dictation is not widely included in language teaching programs Likewise, it has long been neglected in teacher-training programs for being criticized “old-fashioned” and “teacher-centered” by many language educators (Lightfoot, A, 2005) Due to some critical points, several variations of dictation were made to make dictation more interesting and learner-centered One of them is Dictogloss, also called Grammar dictation, developed by Wajnryb (1990), as cited in Ellis, R (2003)

“Dictogloss is a task-based procedure designed to help language-learning students towards a better understanding of how grammar works on a text basis It is designed to expose where their language-learner shortcomings (and needs) are, so that teaching can be directed more precisely towards these areas.”

(Wajnryb, 1990:6)

As can be seen, dictogloss is one kind of collaborative output task that pushes students to work in groups to produce language forms by reconstructing a text delivered to them orally In fact, dictogloss is distinct from dictation In traditional dictation, students recreate a dictated text word for word while dictogloss is defined

a technique in which “a short text is read at a normal speech” (and the learners make brief notes and then apply their own linguistic and grammatical knowledge to reconstruct the text in small groups In the final stage, various versions made by students “are subjected to close analysis and comparison” and they “refine their understanding of the language they have used” (Wajnryb, 1990:5)

Dictogloss has long been a subject in numerous studies which have supported the use of this technique since its introduction It was taken notice of in the focus-on-form literature review that has been regarded as a recent development in the theory

of grammar teaching (Wajnryb, 1990:5) For example, Swain (1995) and Qin (2008) also agreed that dictogloss activities help to enhance learners to reflect on

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their output and push acquisition along According to Van Patten, Inclezan, Salazar,

& Farley (2009), the purpose of Dictogloss is to improve students' knowledge of text structure and grammar within an authentic context (as cited in Antonacci, P A.,

& O'Callaghan, C M, 2012: 242-246) Frodesen (1991) evaluated this technique to

be "an effective way to address grammatical errors in writing that may be the result

of erroneous aural perception of English Dictation can help students to diagnose and correct these kinds of errors as well as others." Montalvan (as cited in Alkire, S, 2002) reasoned to prove Dictogloss‟s values in grammar teaching, "As students develop their aural comprehension of meaning and also of the relationship among segments of language, they are learning grammar." (1990) In his book written in

2012, Ghaderpanahi pointed out, dictogloss is not only the useful for literary English, but also encourages the students to appreciate the way of choosing words and phrasing, which familiarizes them with authentic English

to be prepared with general concepts, situations, sequences which play an important role in human information processing (Buck, 2001) The text length and content should be determined through considering the learners‟ level and grammatical and lexical needs This step is crucial to arouse the learners‟ interest and their background knowledge It also facilitates learners in the next stage, which strengthens the new linguistic input they are going to be delivered

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In step 2 – Dictation - the text should be dictated at normal speed (compared to the pace of radio or TV news) twice or three times In the first time of listening, students are not allowed to take notes or write anything They just listen to the general idea of the text The second time, they are advised to take note of the very important words from which sentences and text will be constructed Note-taking skill is introduced from the very first lesson If students still have difficulties in listening to enough keywords or revising the notes carefully, it is advisable for the teachers to allow them to listen for the third time

In step 3 – Reconstruction – students are involved in reconstructing the text as accurately as possible by working in small groups on their version of the text The group size should be small enough (four or five) for all members to contribute to the group work All the group members go together to compare their notes, which is followed by an effort to produce a coherence text as close to the original text as possible When complete, the group checks for grammar, textual cohesion, and logical sense The teacher acts a facilitator to prevent students from making minor errors and give feedbacks or language inputs In the first weeks, students could not satisfy the standard requirements of an acceptable reconstruction, but the teacher need not be too worried It is more important that students could include important details in a short summary which contains the target grammar points

In step 4 – Correction – students come up with the task of analysis and correction With the help from their teacher, learners are required to analyze the similarities and differences with the original version, and then correct their texts At first, the teacher plays the recording and pauses at the difficult parts so that students can listen again, check information, and correct their mistakes or supplement any information The teachers, then, use the blackboard or projector to illustrate the students‟ texts Analyze sentence 1 of each group before moving onto sentence 2 of each group Some teachers may prefer photocopying students‟ texts for the whole class Some select the way of show the original text on screen of the projector in front of the class sentence by sentence after students‟ versions have been examined

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In this step, teacher ought to help students to compare and discuss language choices

to identify grammatical points that they find difficult In the author‟s opinion, it is ideal that the original text should not be delivered to the learners until they have finished analyzing their texts

to the meaning and form of the original version but avoid employing the exact wording

b/ Student-Controlled Dictation

In this variation, students work directly with the teacher as they use a tape recorder

In other words, they can request the teacher to stop, rewind, and fast-forward Nonetheless, the teacher should remind the students to remember that dictogloss is

to create an appropriate reconstruction, not just copy the word identically

After the first reading the text at normal speed without students‟ note taking, the teacher delivers the text again at natural speed and keep reading to the end if there are no requests to stop Students take the responsibility for saying “stop, please” if they cannot keep pace with and “please go back to (the last word or phrase they have written).” If they appear reluctant to do that, the teacher begins reading faster

It is aimed at encouraging students to be persistent The class might set a rule that

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each student can only say “please stop” one time in order to avoid the situation that good students may control the pace meanwhile the lower proficiency students might have little room for raise their voice Another way to increase student control in the class is to ask them to bring in their own texts to use for dictation According to its author, student-controlled dictation can be fun because students like controlling the teacher

c/ Student - Student Dictation

Instead of the teacher reading the text in the standard procedure, now it is students that take turns to dictate the text This variation works best after students feel familiar with the standard dictogloss procedure This dictogloss variation involves equal participation of all group members (each member will control the activity in turn) and “positive interdependence” because group members work out the meaning and correctness together Student - Student Dictation can also be done by students bringing in the own texts rather than using a text provided by the teacher

d/ Dictogloss Summaries

If in the standard dictogloss procedure, students try to create a similar-in- length reconstruction compared to the original text, in Dictogloss Summaries, students more concentrate on the main ideas of the original text

Students work with a partner to summarize the key points of the text Like in other dictogloss variations, some visual cues (sketch, flow chart, photo, mind map) that represent elements of the story can be provided This aids comprehension and may help students structure their reconstruction In addition, students can create visuals themselves to demonstrate their reconstructions

e/ Scrambled Sentence Dictogloss

Scrambled Sentences dictogloss is quite popular for teaching a number of language skills It is employed to raise the difficulty of dictogloss and to draw students‟ attention on how texts fit together The teacher jumbles the sentences of the text

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before delivering it to students and learners first have to produce what they heard and then put it into a logical order According to the overall spirit of dictogloss, there may be more than one possible correct order

f/ Elaboration Dictogloss

In elaboration dictogloss, students are much more expected because they not only recreate a text but also to improve it To fulfill the requirements, students may be given chance to review ways to elaborate in advance, such as “adding adjectives and adverbs, examples, facts, personal experiences, and causes and effects”

After taking notes on the text read by the teacher, as in Step 3 of the standard procedure, students reconstruct the text After that, they add elaborations These can

be facts, based on what students‟ prior knowledge about the given topic, or students can make up elaborations Jacob and Small‟s study (2003:12) illustrated an example

g/ Dictogloss Opinion

In this variation, students give their personal opinions on the writers‟ ideas after reconstructing the text Those opinions can be added in the text or at the end of the text

h/ Picture Dictation

Dictation is not necessarily in written form Instead, there are other ways to do that

on basis of what they heard, such as completing a graphic organizer or drawing The teacher seeks for or make up a description of a drawing Relevant vocabulary and

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concepts should be introduced in the discussion in Step 1 of the standard dictogloss procedure After doing a drawing, students compare their drawings with their partners and with the original Alternatively, students may themselves reconstruct the text delivered by the teacher, as in standard dictogloss, and do a drawing afterwards

1.1.2.4 Factors influencing learners’ performance on Dictogloss

a/ Material selection

Research in SLA has demonstrated the effectiveness of using authentic materials in the classroom Authentic materials could be spoken narratives, conversation, interviews, speeches, advertisements, songs, stories, TV programs Nowadays, it is quite simple to find dozens of authentic audios and texts which are academic enough from the Internet and use it in the dictogloss activities in the language classroom

As suggested by David Heitler (2005), there are several criteria for choosing the authentic materials, among which these two elements are outstanding:

 Is it up-to-date? Do the students learn something new? Will they be able

to combine their knowledge of the world with the knowledge they obtain from the materials?

 Are those materials directly relevant to the students‟ requirements? Actually, the speed and complexity of the inputs have a special effect on students‟ ability to process the text; hence these two factors should be carefully considered (Huyen Trang, 2013) In several first weeks when learners are not really accustomed to the dictogloss, it is advisable to select shorter and slower texts with the familiar and interesting topics Gradually, the teacher should expose the students

to more complicated ones which may contain unfamiliar topics and more complex sentences This may demand teacher‟s patience A great many scholars agree that the texts should be at or below the students‟ current proficiency level, based on

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which the teacher could select the texts which comprise of grammatical points appropriate to their students‟ level (Jacobs & Small, 2003) Furthermore, the passages should be long enough with repeated target grammatical structure; otherwise, students find hard to have a good reconstruction and get enough feedbacks in the same lesson

Another factor for consideration lies in the explicitness of discourse markers According to L A Olsen and T N Huckin (1990), learners could grasp at all the words in the text, but understand little of the main ideas The understanding of the academic lectures is proved to depend less on the meaning of individual sentences, but more on the “inter-relatedness” and the structure of the whole text (Dunkel & David, 1994)

b/ Skill preparation

Dictogloss includes a combination of multiple skills (Wajnryb, 1990) To fulfill the task, learners need to practise listening, writing and speaking (via working in groups) and use vocabulary, grammar and discourse As defined earlier, dictogloss

is a classroom activity where learners listen to a short text, note down key words, and then build a reconstructed version of the text through taking part in the group discussion

Yang Xue-qian (2007) claimed that if the students are unfamiliar with involved skills in dictogloss, they may face big troubles in understanding the text Preparation prior to listening can greatly improve comprehension That‟s why it is very essential that learners are well-equipped with important skills in advance, especially note taking while listening

According to an article by Jones, G., & Mort, P (2010) when taking note, learners should bear in mind to recognize main ideas and then select what is relevant There

is no need to write down everything It can be a challenge for students at first Bretzing, Kulhavy & Caterino (1987) emphasized that when speed is essential, it is obligatory to shorten and reduce the information This note can be organized in

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usual linear or non-linear format such as outline, graphs, or concept map (Piolat, Olive & Kellogg, 2005) The use of symbols and abbreviations is useful for note taking in lectures

1.1.3 Motivation

1.1.3.1 Definition of motivation

It is widely accepted that motivation is essential for most fields in our life Without motivation, it is harder to make necessary efforts to achieve the goals Johnstone (1999:146), regards motivation as a stimulant for achieving a specific target According to Martin, A.J (2003), “Motivation is students‟ energy and drives to learn and achieve Motivation is learnable and changeable.” Ellis, R (1994:715) sees motivation as the efforts which learners make for learning a language because of

“their need or desire to learn it” It is closely associated with “arousal, attention, anxiety, and feedback of reinforcement” (Franken, 1994)

1.1.3.2 Types of motivation

Ryan & Deci (2000) introduced a theory as Self-Determination Theory which tells apart difference between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to the inner eagerness and interest to do and participate in

a particular activity as they find these activities enjoyable With intrinsic motivation, the student studies subject material for the sake of learning On the

other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performers Those with

extrinsic motivation are inclined to take part in activities because of the factors not

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linked to the activity itself Extrinsically motivated students study for the sake of outside influences such as getting teacher and peer praise, acquiring a good grade or some other type of reinforcement that a teacher or peer might offer

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have been well-researched, and the distinction between them has important influence on developing both mental and educational practices Most researchers and methodologist show that intrinsic motivation is especially significant for encouraging success Intrinsic motivation reflects the natural human propensity to learn meanwhile extrinsic motivation is argued to vary considerably in its relative autonomy; and thus motivation can either reflect external control or true self-regulation

(Cameron & Pierce, 1994) The focus of education should be on enhancing learners‟ intrinsic motivation to learn A student who is intrinsically motivated will be engaging in learning because

of their being motivated, rather than external rewards

1.1.3.3 Roles of motivation in teaching and learning a language

Cook (2000) claims that language acquisition is not the same in learners Moreover,

it has been proposed and recommended that there are three main factors, which concern and influence the SLA, including age, personality, and motivation He further emphasizes that among the three, motivation is the most significant in SLA, which is also agreed by Oxford and Shearin (1994)

In conclusion, the motivation for learning is personal and comes from within an individual, but can be influenced by external factors When teachers know how to generate students‟ motivation in their teaching, they will become happier and more successful in bringing it into classrooms

1.1.3.4 Factors affecting motivation

In order to motivate students effectively, it is advisable for teachers to know factors affecting to their students‟ motivation

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According to Fisher (1990) there are three major sources of motivation in learning

as follows:

- The learner‟s natural interest: intrinsic satisfaction

- The teacher institution employment: extrinsic reward

- Success in the task: combining satisfaction and reward

Also, Harmer (1991) said that “the motivation that brings students to the task of learning English can be affected and influenced by the attitude of a number of people”

- The society: Outside classroom, there are attitudes to language learning

(English language in particular) in terms of the importance of English learning

If the society respects the English language learning, students will be more interested in learning English, and vice versus

- Significant others: Students‟ attitudes are also influenced by the attitude of

the people close to them, for example, their parents, older siblings or their peers

- The teacher: The teacher‟s attitude to the language and the tasks of learning

will be crucial An obvious enthusiasm for English and English learning seems

to be prerequisites for a positive classroom atmosphere

- The method: It is vital that both teachers and students are confident in one

way of teaching and learning When either loses this confidence, motivation can be disastrously affected However, if the teacher and students are comfortable with the method being used, success in learning is more likely

1.2 Previous studies

The effectiveness of dictogloss has been studied in several fields of language teaching like listening, writing, and translation Nonetheless, it was originally introduced by Wajnryb, R (1990) as an alternative method of teaching grammar

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This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of teaching grammar with the use of this approach To lay the background for the thesis, several pre-studies are demonstrated

First, Shak (2006) conducted a 2-day experimental research published in Reflections

on English Language Teaching investigating children‟s attitudes towards

dictogloss By delivering attitude questionnaires at the end of each lessons to 78 children (from 5 classes) from three primary schools, she discovered that there was

a general trend of positive attitudes among children However, to a number of students, task complexity results in low motivation and frustration on the first day Additionally, some variations towards preference of task features existed This can

be explained by the level of difficulty of the texts or tasks assigned Proficiency also seems to affect the tasks performance of low-level students So, the students hardly make much progress There are some points for consideration First, the author, Shak, conducts his research within quite a short period – just two days, one hour each It is hard for the young students to get familiar and promptly improved Therefore, that they find the tasks challenging and not very interesting is understandable As suggested from the findings, further classroom research is necessary to find ways for teachers to adapt the focus on form (FonF) approach to their specific classes Thus, the texts chosen for this study should be modified (less dense with information but denser with recurrences of target structures) to take into account these problems

Secondly, Christopher Harwood (2008) conducted an experimental research on using dictogloss There are two groups including control and experimental class To collect the data, he employed colleague‟s observation and post lesson questionnaire (for students) to rate the four stages of the procedure for enjoyment, difficulty and usefulness It is reasonable that the researcher uses an established resource instead

of experimenting with producing his own materials as dictogloss is new to him Overall, the experiment was a success The students found dictogloss both very useful and enjoyable in spite of difficulties in listening and writing at the same time

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and vocabulary All the groups were able to identify and correct much of the lexis and grammar Nonetheless, he somehow fails to give clear difference between the result of control class and that of experimental class

Next, Dina M M Al-Sibai (2008) examines the effects of using the dictogloss task procedure whether the students better perform in grammar exams, particularly with regards to verb tense accuracy, together with their attitudes towards the activities There are three groups of 116 participants: Group A doing traditional textbook exercises only, Group B traditional textbook exercises and dictogloss tasks in pairs, and Group C traditional textbook exercises and dictogloss tasks in small-groups To collect the data, the author uses a Likert response scale questionnaire, a pre-test, and

a post-test The results showed that subjects who received dictogloss in groups displayed the most short-term improvement on the weekly post-dictogloss tests, while those receiving dictogloss in pairs had the most lasting improvements

small-on the post-test They also slightly outperformed the csmall-ontrol group From the questionnaire, experimental groups expressed positive attitudes toward the dictogloss

Similarly, Mojgan Rashtchi and Pooneh Khosroabadi (2009) compared the impacts

of explicit focus on form and Dictogloss task on learning English tenses An experimental research was conducted on 64 female EFL learner randomly assigned

to two groups receiving different kinds of instruction These subjects were selected based on the results of the placement test Apart from the placement test, data were collected via a test of 40 items on English tenses, which could be seen as a pre-test and a post test (the same as the pre-test) There were not any significant differences between the two, which implies that both instructions are effective tools for teaching target grammatical forms Strictly speaking, this research is well-constructed with proper methodology First, his participants were chosen very carefully, that is, he selected 64 students from a pool of 70 However, he didn‟t explain why all of them are female All variables such as time, duration of lessons, students‟ proficiency, and level of difficulty of tests were controlled pretty well

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during the research Using the same test for pre-test and posttest seems to be not a good idea since subjects may remember the items of the pre-test and know the answer through discussing with friends This will make the results of the post-test not reliable enough

Next, the research “Using the Dictogloss in the high school foreign language classroom: Noticing and learning new grammar” conducted at a public high

school, by Amy J Hornby Uribe (2010) aims at differentiating the amount of target grammar (demonstrative adjectives and the imperfect tense) noticed, learned and used by 56 students in the three treatment groups: Group 1 (completing a traditional Dictogloss with the last phase - a self-reflection activity), Group 2 (like Group 1, but with written texts during the first reading when still hearing the text) Group 3 (given both written text and a whole class discussion during the last stage of the Dictogloss) Instruments include student surveys and teacher interviews, pre, immediate post and delayed post-tests The findings show that although there are with-in group improvements in noticing learning the target grammar, no significance difference found between groups, which implies that addition of the written text and class discussion did not increase the amount of target grammar learned by the students The fact that many participants couldn‟t gain above-chance-level scores indicates that dictogloss is not an effective stand-alone activity for teaching target grammar

Kanmani a/p Gopal (2012) examines “The effect of Dictogloss as a language task in enhancing students’ grammatical competence” with regards to students‟

improvement of knowledge on simple past tense and their attitudes to dictogloss A quasi-experimental study was conducted in 12 weeks, one hour each week, on 30 year-five students from 2 classes, which is divided in two groups: control group (taught with traditional method) and experimental group (taught with dictogloss) Data from pretest and posttest indicates that experimental group outperforms the control group and positive attitudes towards dictogloss are also investigated by means of analysis of questionnaire The study provides language teachers with

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background on dictogloss, which assists them to use dictogloss as a teaching procedure at a primary level effectively The findings also positively advocate the use of dictogloss in the theory of language teaching However, its research questions should be reconsidered as they are predictable with yes/ no answer, like

“Does teaching grammar through traditional method and dictogloss technique result in gains in scores in a test of grammar?” Besides that, the second question

“Between the two methods, the traditional method of teaching grammar and teaching grammar through dictogloss technique, which is the most effective method

in acquisition of grammar?” seems to be problematic, and it can be evaluated as an

unsuccessful question

Kanmani‟s findings are also agreed by Alireza Akbari (2012), who seeks the answer

as to how dictogloss method enhances EFL learners‟ grammatical competence This

is an over 11-week experimental research with a pre-test post-test control group design Sixty intermediate EFL students, aged 14-16, studying English at Puyesh Language Institute, took part in the research The participants were delivered the TOEFL Barron test, which is claimed to be reliable and valid enough The author explained it was to “ensure that the two groups were at a similar proficiency level in order to minimize any effects resulting from differential proficiency level” Nonetheless, it seems that to have two similar-in-proficiency classes is not easy The author fails to point out how he selected similar participants from a pool of mixed-level students The findings from the data show that the experimental group considerably improves their grammatical competence thanks to the exposure to dictogloss Additionally, the results suggested that Dictogloss can provide learners with opportunities to use their productive grammar in the task of text creation and meaningful communication The study contributes greatly to the effects of Dictogloss in teaching grammar It claims that Dictogloss is completely applicable and utilizable in the real situation

Lastly, as a part of the studies, dictogloss was examined by two different authors, namely Richard Kidd (1992) who explores the effectiveness of teachings ESL

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grammar through dictation activities, including dictogloss (1) and Gholam-Reza Abbasian (2012) and his partner (2) who compare PI-based vs DG-oriented Instruction in Developing Grammar Ability and Motivation of EFL Learners These two studies share the same results as to the fact that DG-based grammar instruction proves to be an effective tool not only in teaching grammar but also motivating the EFL learners

Instead of grammar, Huyen Trang, T (2013) investigated the effects of dictogloss on students‟ listening comprehension skill on 35 freshmen of advanced program at University of Economics and Business, VNU By analyzing three instruments including tests, questionnaire, and interview, the researcher pointed out that the use

of dictogloss in the listening lesson not only enhanced students‟ listening comprehension but also positively influenced their attitudes toward listening lesson Though improvements in listening comprehension are seen as by-products of the method rather than its original objectives (Vasiljevic, Z, 2010), the researcher have

a contribution in investigating the effects of Dictogloss in ELT The research is quite well-structured and all questions are fully answered

1.3 A summary

In summary, this chapter has provided a review that spans English-language sources covering research from around the world judged to be relevant to dictogloss tasks in the language classroom within the FonF theory to language learning and teaching The dictogloss procedure is only one of the many modern language teaching procedures that embody the current FonF theory in SLA whereby learners‟ attention

is drawn to form in meaning-based contexts The dictogloss is of particular interest since it brings together the traditional and transitional aspects of language teaching methodology As presented, most of the studies above illustrate the effects of Dictogloss in teaching grammar, which is really needed for the researcher‟s situation However, in different environments, this technique may work differently

in the contribution to the effectiveness of teaching grammar That‟s why the

 Participants need to be gradually well-equipped with the notions of dictogloss as well as necessary skills so that they are no longer unfamiliar with the tasks

 Level of language covered in the dictogloss text ought to be compatible with the learners‟ linguistic competence