Teaching english grammar to tenth graders through speaking activities luận văn thạc sĩ giáo dục học

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ THANH PHONG Teaching English grammar to tenth graders through speaking activities Field: Theory and Methodology of English L

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH PHONG

Teaching English grammar to tenth graders

through speaking activities

Master Thesis in Education

Vinh, 2011

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH PHONG

Teaching English grammar to tenth graders

through speaking activities

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 60.14.10

Master thesis in Education

Supervisor: TRẦN BÁ TIẾN

Vinh, 2011

Candidate’s statement

I certify that the minor thesis entitle “Teaching English grammar to tenthgraders through speaking activities” submitted in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree of Master is the result of my own work

To accomplish this study, Iam indebted to many people for their thoughtful help

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thank to my supervisor,

Mr Tran Ba Tien for his valuable guidance, critical feedback and enomousencouragement without which my thesis would be far from completion

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers

at the Department of Post- graduate Studies of Vinh University as well as otherlecturers from College of foreign languages, Vietnam National University fortheir guidance and enthusiasm during my course

My sincere thanks go to all my colleagues and my students at Nghi loc 2 highschool who have helped me in answering the survey questionnaire and makingconstructive and insightful comments as well as suggestions

Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks to my friends who werewilling to help me during the course In particular, I find myself indebted to myfamily especially my husband for their love, care and tolerance when I was inthe process of writing this thesis

Abstract

This thesis aims at investigating the reality of using speaking activities inteaching and learning grammar in the light of communicative languageteaching

In order to find out the answers, the researcher uses two method of datacollection, survey and class observation which bring about both qualitative andquantitative data After analysing the collected data, some major findings havebeen revealed The first finding is that students are really interested in learninggrammar through speaking activities, and all the teachers are well aware of thebenefits of speaking activities in teaching grammar However, teachers andstudents are facing some difficulties in teaching and learning grammar Theproblems and its solutions are mentioned in the folowing chapters In practice,teachers and students have applied this method and gained some certainsuccesses

It is hoped that this thesis will be useful for all teachers and students inteaching and learning English grammar

List of abbreviations

CLT: Communicative language teaching

List of table and charts

Table 1: Personal information of students

Table 2: Students’ comments on teachers’methods

Table 3: The frequency of using speaking activities

Table 4: Teachers’ traditional method in Grammar teachingTable 5: Teachers’ assessment on students’result

Charts

Chart 1: The importance of English grammar

Chart 2: Students’ interest toward English grammar

Chart 3: Students’ difficulties in leraning English grammarChart 4: Students’ frequent errors

Chart 5: Teachers’ personal information

Chart 6: Teachers’ attitude toward English Grammar

Chart 7: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English grammarChart 8: Teachers’ adapting exercises

Chart 9: Form of interaction

Chart 10: Students’ reaction

Chart 11: Students’ progress

Table of contents

Candidate’s statement

Acknowledgements

Abstract

List of abbreviations

List of table and charts

Table of contents

Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Rationales for the thesis

1.2 Aims of the study

1.3 Research questions

1.4 Scope of the study

1.5 Design of the study

Chapter two: Theoretical background

2.1 A brief review of methods in English Grammar teaching 2.1.1 Grammar translation method

2.1.4.5 The roles of teacher and students in CLT

2.1.5 Teaching English Grammar in the lights of CLT 2.2 Teaching English Grammar

2.2.1 Definition of Grammar

2.2.2 Different views on teaching Grammar

2.2.3 The importance of Grammar in learning a foreign language

2.2.4 The Psychological characteristics of grammar skills

2.2.5 The contents of teaching Grammar

2.2.6 Some general principles of grammar teaching

2.2.7 Common stages of grammar teaching

2.2.7.1 Presentation

2.2.7.2 Practice

2.2.7.3 Production

2.2.7.4 Differences between Practice and production stages

2.2.7.5 Similarities between practice and production stages

2.2.8 Techniques for teaching English Grammar

2.3 Speaking activities

2.3.1 Types of speaking activities

2.3.1.1 One on one speaking (student – student or student – teacher)

2.3.1.2 Small group or team based oral work

2.3.1.3 Full class discussion

2.3.1.4 In class debates and delibration

2.3.1.5 Speeches and presentation

2.3.2.7 Simulation and roleplay

2.3.3 The advantages of using speaking activities in teaching English grammar 2.3.4 Games

2.3.4.1 Definition

2.3.4.2 The roles of games in teaching English Grammar

2.4 Difficulties in teaching and learning English Grammar

2.4.1 Difficulties from teacher

2.4.2 Difficulties from students

2.4.3 Difficulties from objective factors

2.4.4 Difficulties from syllabus

2.5 Overview about teaching and learning grammar

2.5.1.Teaching grammar at Vietnamese high school

2.5.2 Contents of grammar in the English 10th grade textbook

2.5.3 Description of grammar exercises and activities in the 10th grade textbook 2.5.4 Real situation of teaching and learning grammar at Nghi Loc 2 high school

2.5.4.1 Description of the school

2.5.4.2 Description of students

2.5.4.3 Description of teachers

2.5.4.4 Description of physical setting

Chapter three: Research methodology

3.1 Sample and sampling:

3.2 Instruments for collecting the data

3.2.1 Instrument 1: survey questionnaires

3.2.2 Instrument 2: Class observation

Chapter four: Data analysis and finding

4.1 Data analysis of the students’ survey questionnaire

4.2 Data analysis of the teachers’ survey questionnaire

4.3 Class observation

4.4 Post – students’survey questionnaire

Chapter five: Conclusion

Appendix

chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationales for the thesis

Nowadays, with the tendency of globalization and integration,

English plays the role of an effective international communicative language.Therefore, learning English has been considered a very important duty of manystudents One of the most important elements in learning English as well asother languages is grammar Grammar not only helps students widen theirknowledge but also enables them to develop language skills such as reading,listening, writing, and speaking Because of its importance, English is nowtaught in most of schools in our country The purpose of teaching English isthat students can communicate naturally and fluently

Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages It is also one

of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well Many people, includinglanguage teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word

forms and rules of usage Many previous language teachers focus on grammar

as a set of forms and rules They teach grammar by explaining the forms andrules and then drilling students on them This results in bored, disaffectedstudents who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently

make errors when they try to use the language in context

We can not deny that the ability to express themselves freely incommunication is of great importance, especially in modern societies wherecontacting with foreigners often occurs However, many students can write andread English well but they can not speak it correctly and fluently in real lifecommunication Especially, people are used to using translation method toteach grammar So, finding out techniques, such as games and other activities

to help students increase their interest in learning grammar is very necessaryand helpful

There has been a movement away from the traditional methods of teachingEnglish grammar through writing, rewriting and worksheets to using a moreactive approach through speaking activities The goal of grammar instruction

is to enable students to carry out their communicative purposes

Teaching grammar through speaking activities helps children not only gainknowledge but, be able to apply and use that knowledge Additionally,speaking activities have the advantages of allowing the students to “practiceand internalize vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively” They can dothis through repeated exposure to the target grammar The use of such activitiesboth increases the cooperation and competition in the classroom

And, in high school syllabus, besides teaching four skills, there is a lesson

to teach grammar (Language focus) in each unit So, it is necessary to studyhow to teach grammar effectively, and make students less boring whenlearning grammar Using speaking activities is one of the best ways to teachgrammar effectively It can motivate students in learning, increase theirinterest

Moreover, dealing with students at high school for several years, I alsofind out the fact that many students can write and read English very well butthey can not speak English fluently and correctly in communication

In my observation, students are more interested and less anxious when theytake part in games and other speaking activities Participating in a game givesstudents a chance to speak freely My colleagues assume that games and otheractivities can encourage and motivate students much in learning a language Speaking activities can help teachers to create contexts in which thelanguage is useful and meaningful Therefore, it is hoped that this study will besignificant for both teachers and students of English In addition, it will become

a good source reference to those who concern for grammar teaching.Particularly, this study is carried out with the hope to provide teachersknowledge about speaking activities which can be used to help students learn

English effectively Hopefully, it can help students to improve grammarknowledge and communicate naturally as well as the teachers to upgrade their

teaching method

These reasons have given me a desire to do a research “Teaching Englishgrammar to tenth graders through speaking activities”

1.2 Aims and objectives

- To investigate how useful speaking activities are to grammar teaching

- To study possible problems facing students and teachers when learning andteaching English grammar at high school

- To study about how to teach grammar effectively through speakingactivities

1.4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on investigating using speaking activities to teachEnglish grammar of grade 10th students of Nghi Loc 2 school

The advantages of the games and other speaking activities were found out

by interviewing, survey questionaire, recording teachers and grade 10th students

in Nghi Loc 2 secondary school

1.5 Organization

The study consists of five chapters

Chapter one provides a general introduction of the study with the specificreference to the rationales, the aims, the methods, research questions and thedesign of the study

Chapter two called “theoretical background” gives a brief view on the majormethods of English Grammar teaching, the theoretical background of CLT, andgrammar teaching, and some speaking activities It also deals with thedifficuties faced by students and teachers during the grammar teaching

Chapter three “Methodology”, gives an insight into the research methods tofind out the answers to the research questions Also, this chapter gives a briefview on the subjects, the procedure and the instruments to collect dataemployed to seek for the answers to the research questions

Chapter four, “Data presentation and discussion”, present the data collectedfrom survey questionnaires and class observation and the disciussion of thesedata

Chapter five, “Conclusion”, presents an implication, some suggestions andreview of the study ending with the suggestions for further research

Finally, the appendix presents the survey questionnaires and, design someactivities to teach grammar in English 10

Chapter two: Theoretical background

2.1 A Brief Review on the Major Methods of English Grammar Teaching 2.1.1 The Grammar Translation method

Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction oftenfocuses on the form and inflection of word Little attention is paid to the content oftexts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis Traditionally,language teaching in Vietnam was dominated by a teacher- centered, book-centered, grammar translation method and an emphasis on rote memory It places

a lot of emphasis on grammar rules and verbs conjugation Most students seeknowledge as something to be transmitted by the teacher rather than discovered bythe learners They, therefore, find it normal to engage in modes of learning whichare teacher-centered and in which they receive knowledge rather than interpret it.Students are often quiet, shy and reticent in language classroom They dislikepublic touch and overt display of opinions or emotions The teacher is theauthority in the classroom, the students do as he says so they can learn what heknows In this way, students passively receive knowledge from their teacher, alsothe teacher’s knowledge is limited to some extend, for this restriction on students’sknowledge also come together

2.1.2 The Direct Method

The direct method assumed that learning a foreign language is the same aslearning the mother tongue, that is, that exposing the student directly to the foreignlanguage impresses it perfectly upon his mind The students’role is less passive

than in the Grammar translation method Oral communication skills were built up

in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and-answerexchanges between teachers and student in small, intensive classes Grammar wastaught inductively, i.e the learner may discover the rules of grammar for himselfafter he has become acquainted with many examples Correct grammar wasemphasized

2.1.3 The Audiolingual Method

Grammar is taught essentially as follows: Some basic sentences are memorized byimitation Their meaning is given in normal expressions in the native language,and the students are not expected to translate word for word When the basicsentences have been overlearned (completely memorized so that the student canrattle them off without effort), the student reads fairly extensive descriptivegrammar statements in his native language, with examples in the target languageand native language equivalents New material is presented in dialog form.Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at atime Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills There is a little or nogrammatical explanation: grammar is taught the beginning of the innovationwithin language teaching and it has been widely accepted nowaday

2.1.4 Communicative language teaching (CLT)

Traditional teaching focuses on grammatical rules rather than meaning.Teaching a grammatical structure is believed by the traditional teachers thatlearning a foreign language is about learning to master its linguistic system and

if students know the grammar rules, they will be able to learn the languagewell The facts shows that although students can learn and remember grammarrules very well, they can not communicate in the target langue at the expectedlevel However, in the CLT class the teacher pays more attention to enabling

students to work with the target language during the lesson and communicate

in it by the end of it

“CLT views language as a system for the experession of meanings.Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaningful tasks, andusing language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect theneeds of the learners; they include functional skills as well as linguisticobjectives The learner’s role is as a negotiator The teacher’s role is as afacilitator of the communication process Materials promote communicativelanguage use” Nunan (1989: 194)

2.1.4.2 Communicative competence

According to Savignon, (1983) and River (1987), many teachers,methodologists and linguistics who work on foreign language teaching tend todefine communicative competence simply as interaction in the target language

According to Hymes, communicative competence includes not only the

linguistics forms of the language but also its social rules, the knowledge ofwhen, how and to whom it is appropriate to use these forms It means that thesocio-cultural rules for language use are also included in the teaching process

According to Canale and Swain (1980), communicative competence is the

combination of the competences in five areas: rules of grammar (grammaticalcompetence), rule of discourse (discourse competence), socio-cultural rules ofuse, probablity rules of occurrence and communication strategies

2.1.4.3 Characteristics of CLT

- CLT is aimed at (a) making communicative competence the goal oflanguage teaching and (b) developing procedures for the teaching of the fourlanguage skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language andcommunication (Le Van Canh, 2004)

- The goal of CLT is to create a realistic context for language acquisition inthe classroom to develop Hymes’s notion of communicative competence

- CLT is also associated with learner- centered and experienced basedtasks

- In communicative classes, learners communicate with each other andlearning tasks are completed by means of interaction between learners It isclear that learners’ completing a task is fore- grounded and communicatingwith each other is back-grounded This may lead to considerable use of pairwork, group work, games and other activities

- In ESL classes, teachers are facilitators and monitors, usually, withoutinterruption and then to provide feedback on the success

However, CLT is not a perfect method There are still some issues such as:its appropriateness to local contexts and cultures, its negation of rote-learning,memorization, displaying questions, teacher’s talk,ect

Inspite of these limitations, CLT is also the most widely used

2.1.4.5 The roles of teacher and students in CLT.

The emphasis in Communicative language teaching on the processes ofcommunication, rather than mastery of language forms, leads to different roles forboth learners and teacher

The role of teacher as the instructor in CLT is quite different from traditionalteaching method In the traditional classroom, the teacher is in charge of and

“control” the learning In CLT, the teacher serves as more of the facilitator,allowing students to be in charge of their own learning The teacher does not givestudents his own knowledge only by explaining, asking them questions any more

He usually talks less and listens more, gives guiding questions and observe hisstudents’ activities

When teaching method was changed and CLT is applied in English learningprocess, the role of the teacher also changes The teachers in communicativeclassroom will find themselves talking less and listening more – becoming activefacilitators of their students’ learning (Larsen – Freeman, 1986) The teacher sets

up the exercises, but because the students’ performance is a goal, the teacher muststep back and observe, sometimes acting as monitor The teacher does not have thehabit of telling students to do what he wants anymore At this time, he becomesthe initator of the activities but a co-communicator, he is a manager of classroomactivities In this role, one of his major responsibilties is to establish situationlikely to promote communication

When the teacher sets up exercises and gives direction to the class, the students,for their turns, do much more speaking activities and take more contributions than

in a traditional classroom The role of learner as a negotiator – between the self,the learning process, and the object of learning- emerges from and interacts withthe role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures

and activities which the group undertakes Because of the increased time andresponsibility to participate, the students gradually build up confidence in usingthe target language in gerneral According to Larsen- Freeman, the sudents in CLTdirectly takes part in the situation to communicate with their classmates to solvetheir own problems and express their ideas, therefore become really activeparticipants, they can do most of the activities in the classroom, and they are moreresponsible manager of their own learning and step by step become morecompetent speakers of English.

2.1.5 Teaching English Grammar in the lights of CLT

Traditional teachers often focus on grammatical rules rather than meaningwhen teaching a grammatical structure as they believe that learning a foreignlanguage is about learning to master its linguistic system and if students knowthe grammar rules, they will be able to communicate in the language The factshows that although students can learn and remember grammar rules very well,they can not communicate in the target language at all

In old method, the teacher writes down the name of the grammar point onthe board.The teacher presents the rule and structure The teacher givesexamples (in English) to illustrate the rule given The teacher gets students tomake up their own sentences using the rule they have just been given.Theteacher gets students to do some translation from L2 to L1 and vice versa Veryoften these are only at sentence level and are disconnected anddecontextualised For homework the teacher often gets students to learn thegrammar rule by heart and make some further sentences with them

During this kind of lesson the teacher controls the activities till the end ofthe lesson and s/he tries to minimize the possibility of students makingmistakes

In a CLT classroom, however, the teacher pays more attention to enablingstudents to work with the target language during the lesson and communicate

in it by the end of it

Adrian Doff (1981) gives a typical procedure of grammar lesson according

to CLT First, the teacher uses visual aids to present the grammar structure to

be taught Second, students deduce the meaning, the form and the use of it.And then the teacher checks students understanding by asking yes/ noquestions focusing on form, meaning and use Next, the teacher gets students topractise the structure through Repetition and Substitution Drills, WordPrompts, and Picture Prompts The teacher tries to provide maximum practicewithin controlled, but realistic and contextualised frameworks and to buildstudents’ confidence in using the new language At last, the teacher providesstudents with opportunities to use new language in a freer, more creative way.The teacher creates activities in which students can integrate new languagewith the previously learnt language and apply what they have learnt to talkabout their real life activities

What makes this kind of lesson different from the traditional is that theteacher tries to make the language used in the lesson real and true The teachercreates real or like-real situations in which the language can be used This willbetter enable students to communicate in English outside the classroom

2.2 Teaching English Grammar

2.2.1 Definition of Grammar.

There have been many definitions of grammar so far

According to Ur P (1998), “grammar may be roughly defined as the way alanguage manipulates and combines words (or bits of words in order to formlonger units of meaning”

For example, in English, the present form of the verb “be” in the third person hastwo distinct forms, one is being used with singular subject, and the other with aplural If the plural “are” is combined with a singular subject, the result is usuallyunacceptable or ungrammatical Thus, a sentence like “She are a teacher” isungrammatical The correct sentence is “She is a teacher”

There is a set of rules that govern how units of meaning may be constructed

in any language It is said that a learner who knows grammar is one who hasmastered and can apply these rules to express him or herself in what would beconsidered acceptable language forms

According to Oxford Advanced learner’s dictionary, grammar is defined as

“the rules in a language for changing the form of words and combining them intosentences” In other words, the field of grammar is often devided into twodomains: mophology and syntax The former focuses on the structure of words,dealing with such matter as inflectional endings and the way word can be built upout of smaller units, the latter focuses on the structure of sentences According toRichards, Platt and Webber, (2003), Grammar is a description of the structure of a

language and the way in which units such as words and phrases are combined to

produce sentences in the language

According to Harmer, (1987), Grammar is the way in which words changesthemselves and groups together to make sentences The grammar of a language iswhat happens to words then they become plural or negative, or what order is usedwhen we make questions or joins two clauses to make one sentence

According to Lưu Quý Khương (2006), grammar is sometimes defined as

“the way words are put together to make correct sentences” Thus, in English, “Iam

a teacher” is grammatical, but “I a teacher” Or, “I are a teacher” are not We can,however, apply the term “grammatical” to units smaller than a sentence A brief

phrase said or written on its own can be grammatically acceptable or unacceptable

on its own right A tall woman sounds right but a woman tall is not The same may

be true of single words: compare “went” with “goed”

Further more, the minimal components to be combined may not be wholewords, for example, the –ed suffix indicating the past tense of regular verb inEnglish, or the – s plural nouns And sometimes it is not even a question of putting

“bits” before or after other “bits”; word may actually change their spelling andpronunciation in certain grammar contexts: irregular form of the past tense, forexample, in English, and many common plural forms in Arabic

2.2.2 Different views on teaching grammar.

Language teachers often argue about teaching grammar Some teachers teach onlygrammar Others insist that teaching grammar is completely unnecessary Oneargues that knowing grammar is the same as knowing a language which anotherclaims that studying grammar can actually hinder the language learning process.Many teachers believe that grammar has a place in the language but it should not

be overemphasized

According Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007) in “Englishteaching methodology”, the goal of communicative language teaching is to uselanguage to communicate appropriately Understanding the grammar of Englishspeakers can communicate appropriately However, if grammar is emphasized toomuch, it can create new problems in language teaching

According to Thornbury S.(1999), Grammar describes the way language isorganised and patterned, particularly at the level of the sentence in order to makemeaning

He has identified at least three levels at which grammar operates:

- Level of the ordering of elements in a sentence

- Level at which these elements are made to relate to one another in orderto…

- There is a pattern grammar…

According to Grower R, Phillip D, Walters S, many people can learn alanguge more easily if they can perceive regularities or parttens Many of thepatterns that students learn are particular grammar items

He also emphasizes that language can not only be seen in terms of grammaticalform, it can also be seen in terms of “what it does” or its “function” incommunication Often, one language items can be used to perform more than onefunction in communication

E.g: Can is used to express both requesting and abilities

Can you pass the salt? (requesting)Can you swim? (ability)

According to Webb J, the grammar could be picked up through simplycommunicating, “By exercises of reading, writing and speaking… all thingsbelong to grammar, will without labour, and whether we will or no, thrustthemselve upon us”

Ur P (1988) claims that “there is no doubt that a knowledge- implicit or

explicit- of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language”

In contrast with these views, some say that teaching grammar is not necessary”grammar is not very important The majority of language has a very complexgrammar English has little grammar and consquently it is not very important tounderstand it.” (from the publicity of a London language school)

2.2.3 The Importance of Grammar in Learning a Foreign Language

There is no dout that a knowledge – implicit or explicit – of grammatical rules isessential for the mastery of language You can not use words unless you knowhow they should be put together.

Grammar may furnish the basis for a set of classroom activities during which itbecame temporarily the main learning objective But, the key word here istemporarily The learning of grammar should be seen in the long term as one ofthe means of acquiring a thorough mastery of the language as a whole, not as anend in itself Thus, although at an early stage we may ask our students to learn acertain structure through exercises that concentrate on virtually meaninglessmanipulation of language

In order to understand a language and to express oneself correctly one mustassimilate the grammar mechanism of the language studied Indeed, one mayknow all the words in a sentence and yet fail to understand it, if one does not seethe relation between the words in the given sentence And, vice versa, a sentencemay contain one, two, and more unknown words but if one has a good knowledge

of the structure of the language one can easily guess the meaning of these words or

at least find them in a dictionary

No speaking is possible without the knowledge of grammar, without the forming

of a grammar mechanism If learner has acquired such a mechanism, he canproduce correct sentences in a foreign language Grammar is something thatproduces the sentences of a language By something we mean a speaker ofEnglish If you speak English natively, you have built into your rules of Englishgrammar In a sense, you are an English grammar You possess, as an essentialpart of your being, a very complicated apparatus which enables you to produceinfinitely many sentences, all English ones, including many that you have neverspecifically learned Furthermore by applying the rule you can easily tell whether asentence that you hear a grammatical English sentence or not

A command of English as is envisaged by the school syllabus can not be ensuredwithout the study of grammar Pupils need grammar to be able to listen, speak,

read, and write in the target language Grammar is the system of the language

When teaching grammar, should we focus on rules or in communicative activities?Language teacher who teach grammar by exlaining the form and rules will notwork This results in bored, disaffected Students who can produce correct forms

on exercise and tests

The most important of teaching a language is to make students acquire and use it.All languages have their own grammar You teach English grammar to makestudents improve their English English must be taught because it promotes betterlanguage skills However, the most important is the application of them in thelanguage production (writing and speaking)

2.2.4 The Psychological characteristics of grammar skills

The grammar skill is based on the general conclusion The grammar action canand must occur only in the definite lexical limits, on the definite lexical material

If the pupil can make up his sentence frequently, accurately and correctly from thegrammatical point of view, he has got the grammar skill

Teaching grammar at school using the theoretical knowledge brought some criticaland led to confusion All the grammatical rules were considered to be evil andthere were some steps to avoid using them at school

But, when we learn grammatical items in models we use substitution and such atype of training gets rid of grammar or “neutralizes” it By the way, teaching theskills to make up sentences by analogy is a step on the way of forming grammarskills It isn't the lexical approach to grammar and it isn't neutralization of

grammar, but using basic sentences in order to use exercises by analogy and toreduce number of grammar rules when forming the reproductive grammar skills.The main difficulty of the reproductive (active) grammar skills is to correspondthe purposes of the statement, communicative approach (a question and answerand so on), words, meanings, expressed by the grammatical patterns In that case

we use basic sentences, in order to answer the definite situation The main factor

of the forming of the reproductive grammar skill is that pupils need to learn thelexis of the language They need to learn the meanings of the words and how theyare used We must be sure that our pupils are aware of the vocabulary they need attheir level and they can use the words in order to form their own sentence Eachsentence contains a grammar structure The mastering the grammar skill lets pupilssave time and strength, energy, which can give opportunity to create Learning anumber of sentences containing the same grammatical structure and a lot of wordscontaining the same grammatical form isn't rational But, the generalization of thegrammar item can relieve the work of the mental activity and let the teacher speed

up the work and the children realize creative activities

The process of creation is connected with the mastering of some speechstereotypes the grammatical substract is hidden in basic sentences Grammar ispresented as itself Such a presentation of grammar has its advantage: the grammarpatterns of the basic sentences are connected with each other But, this approachgives pupils the opportunity to realize the grammar item better The teaching must

be based on grammar explanations and grammar rules Grammar rules are to beunderstood as a special way of expressing communicative activity Thereproductive grammar skills suppose to master the grammar actions which arenecessary for expressing thoughts in oral and written forms

The automatic perception of the text supposes the reader to identify the grammarform according to the formal features of words, word combinations, sentences

which must be combined with the definite meaning One must learn the rules inorder to identify different grammatical forms Pupils should get to know theirfeatures, the ways of expressing them in the language We teach children to readand write by means of grammar It reveals the relation between words in thesentence Grammar is of great important when one teaches speaking and writing.

2.2.5 The Content of Teaching Grammar

Before speaking about the selection of grammar material it is necessary toconsider the concept “grammar”, i.e., what it meant by “grammar”

By grammar one can mean adequate comprehension and correct usage of words inthe act of communication, that is, intuitive knowledge of the grammar of thelanguage It is a set of reflexes enabling a person to communicate with hisassociates Such knowledge is acquired by a child in the mother tongue before hegoes to schools

This “grammar” functions without the individual's awareness of technicalnomenclature; in other words, he has no idea of the system of the language, and touse all the word-endings for singular and plural, for tense, and all the othergrammar rules without special grammar lessons only due to the abundance ofwriting and speaking His young mind grasps the facts and “makes simplegrammar rules” for arranging the words to express various thoughts and feelings.This is true because sometimes little children make mistakes by using a commonrule for words to which that rule can not be applied For example, a little Englishchild might be heard to say “Two mans comed” instead of “Two men come”,

because the child is using the plural “s” rule for “man” to which the rule does not

apply, and the past tense ed - rule for “come” which does not obey the ordinaryrule for the past tense formation Such mistakes are corrected as the child growsolder and learns more of his language

By “grammar”, we also mean the system of the language, the discovery anddescription of the nature of language itself It is not a natural grammar, but aconstructed one There are several constructed grammars: traditional, structural,and transformational grammars Traditional grammar studies the forms of words(morphology) and how they are put together in sentences (syntax); structuralgrammar studies structures of various levels of the language (morpheme level) andsyntactic level; transformational grammar studies basic structures andtransformation rules.

What we need is simpliest and shortest grammar that meets the requirements of theschool syllabus in foreign languages This grammar must be simple enough to begrasped and held by any pupil We cannot say that this problem has been solved

Since graduates are expected to acquire language proficiency in auralcomprehension, speaking and reading grammar material should be selected for thepurpose There exist principles of selecting grammar material both for teachingspeaking knowledge (active minimum) and for teaching reading knowledge(passive minimum), the main one is the principle of frequency, i.e, how frequentlythis or that grammar item occurs For example, the Present Simple (Indefinite) isfrequently used both in conversation and in various texts Therefore, it should beincluded in the grammar minimum

2.2.6 Some General Principles of Grammar Teaching

According to Thornbury S and Harmer J (1999) in “How to teach grammar”, the

basic principles for grammar teaching are the E- factor (economy, ease, efficacy),and the A- factor (appropriacy)

- Efficacy

Given that dealing with grammar is only a part of teachers’ activities, and giventhat classroom time is very limited, it would seem imperative that whatevergrammar teaching is done as efficiently as possible If grammar activity requires agreat deal of time to set up or a lot of material, is it the most efficient? Whenconsidering an activity for the presentation or practice of the grammar the firstquestion to ask is “How efficient is it?”

The A- factor: Appropriacy

No class of learners is the same, not only are their needs, interest, level and goalsgoing to vary, but their beliefs, attitudes and values will be different Anyclassroom activity must be evaluated not only according to creteria of efficiency,but also of appropriacy Factors to consider when determining appropriacyinclude:

- the age of the learners

- their level

- the size of the group

- the constituion of the group, e.g monolingual or multilingual

- what their needs are, e.g, to pass a public examination

- the learners’ interests

- the available materials and resources

- cultural factor

- educational context, e.g, private school or state school

- The teacher should furnish pupils with words to change the lexical (semantic)meaning of the sentence pattern so that pupils will be able to use it in differentsituations He should assimilate the grammar mechanism involved in sentencepattern and not the sentence itself

- Pupils learn a grammar item used in situations For example, the Possessive Casemay be effectively introduced in classroom situations The teacher takes or simplytouches various things and says This is Nina's pen; That is Sasha's exercise-book,and so on

The teacher should select the situations for the particular grammar item he is going

to present He should look through the textbook and other teaching materials andfind those situations which can ensure comprehension and the usage of the item

- While preparing for the lesson at which a new grammar item should beintroduced, the teacher must realize the difficulties pupils will meet in assimilatingthis new element of the English grammar They may be of three kinds: difficulties

in form, meaning, and usage The teacher thinks of the ways to overcome thesedifficulties: how to convey the meaning of the grammar item either throughsituations or with the help of the mother tongue; what rule should be used; whatexercises should be done; their types and number Then he thinks of the sequence

in which pupils should work to overcome these difficulties, i.e, from observationand comprehension through conscious imitation to usage in conversation(communicative exercises) Then the teacher considers the form in which hepresents the grammar item - orally, in writing, or in reading And, finally, theteacher plans pupils' activity while they are learning this grammar item (point):their individual work, mass work, work in unison, and work in pairs, alwaysbearing in mind that for assimilation pupils need examples of the sentence pattern

in which this grammar item occurs

- Communicative competence

Given that communicative competence is the goal of a language classroom,instruction needs to point toward all of its components: oganizational, pracmatic,strategic, and shychomotoric Communiative goal are best achieved by giving dueattention to language use and not just usage, to fluency and not just accuracy, toauthentic language and contexts, and to students eventual need to apply classroomlearning to heretofore unrehearsed contexts in the real world (H Douglas Brown)

2.2.7 Common stages of teaching grammar

According to Byrne.D.1976, a popular framework for teaching grammar based onexamples or text is P.P.P (presentation- practice- production) Presentation of thenew material can be done with rules and examples Practice of the target grammar

is done in drill exercises and more ones that are creative The result can beproduction of learners’ utterance

2.2.7.1 Presentation

Presentation provides the opportunity to realise the usefulness and relevance of anew language item, to familiarise them with sounds and spelling, to present themeaning and form and to check understanding

We usually begin presenting the class with a text in which the grammar structureappear.

Often, a story or a short dialogue is used which can appear in written form andread alound by the teacher and students As a follow up, students may read aloud,repeat, reproduce for memory, or copy out instances of the use of the structure.Where the structure is very simple, easily perceived one, the presentation may be

no more than a simple sentence or two, which serve as a model The explaination

of the new structure should focus on grammatical items themselves: what theylook like, what they mean, how they function and what rules govern them Theobjective is that the learners should understand these various aspects of the newstructure It should be illustrated by plenty of contextualised examples or visualmaterial if possible

Teacher can follow the following activities:

- Build up the situational context This can be done through the use ofpictures, a dialogue, a tape, chatting, a board story

- Elicit the new language from the students

- Focus the students’ attention on the marker sentence A marker sentence isthe first example of the new language that students focus on and use as amodel for producing other similar sentences

- Present the use or/ and the rule of the new language using the deductive orinductive approach

- Check the students’ understanding of the concept behind the new language

A teacher does concept checking to find out whether students have reallygrasped the meaning and form of the new item For example, whenteaching the past tense of regular verbs for unrepeated actions thathappened at a staged moment in the past, the teacher will need to check thatstudents understand at least the “ pastness” of the tense and the situation,and the role of the –ed suffix If the marker sentence was “ Lan arrived inLondon yesterday”, the questions may be as follow:

When did this take place?

Is “yesterday” in the past or at the present?

What tense do you think “arrived” is?

What show you it is the past tense?

How do you think we form the past tense?

or manipulate a new structure As this type of practice restricts individual’scontribution the latter is created to make the students to think and understand whatthey are saying Students need to be thinking more actively Practice should bemore difficult and more useful or in another way, to transfer from short term tolong term memory

Traditionally, this stage was dominated by teacher-led drills Recently,however it has also come to include interactive communicative activities betweenstudents, because student interaction provides greater and more authentic practicefor each student Also, communicative activities increase students’ interest,understanding and remembring of the new language A typical practice stagemight therefore follow this pattern:

- one or two brief drills to allow practice with the form of language

- one or two controlled communicative activities of the new language toprovide opportunities for real language use

The practice stage is aimed at accuracy It consists of two types of practiceactivities: mechanical practice and meaningful practice.

2.2.7.3 Production

The aim of this stage is to provide the opportunity for students to use newlanguage in freer and more creative way, and to integrate new language with theold one This step must be creative and communicative It is important because thegoal of language teaching and learning is for communication Usually, theyproduce utterances about their own experiences, their life At this stage studentshave a chance to use the language freely and incoporate it into their existinglanguage The emphasis at this stage is on use and fluency

There is a focus on what is said rather than on the language itself Thatmakes students feel that they are really using the language for their need ofcommunication

Students often follow the following activities: games, roleplay, dialogue chain,discussions

2.2.7.4 Differences between practice and production stage

- The practice stage is more controlled than production stage Sometimes theproduction stage is called “free practice”

- The teacher uses direction correction during practice and indirect or

“delayed” correction during production

- The teacher gives more cues in the practice stage than in the productionstage Students have to make their own sentences and think for themselvesmore in the production

- During practice, students concentrate on accuracy During production,students concentate on fluency

- During practice, the teacher’s role is to elicit accurate language from thestudents and give them lots of exercises so they can memorise the new

language on the new language pattern During production, the teacher hastwo roles: facilitator and analyser “Facilitator” helps and encouragesstudents to do it by themselves “Analyser” sees how well the objectiveshave been achieved and what further practice the students need.

What is important is that the teacher constructs these activities in such a waythat they promote communication and yet ensure that the new language occursunpromoted, naturally and frequently in the context of other previously learntlanguage The unguided manner in which the new language occurs is whatdistinguishes a production stage activity from practice stage activities

2.2.7.5 The similarities between practice and production stage

- The teacher has to set up activities carefully in both stages Instruction must

be clear

- The teacher must consider mixed ability in the work arragement

- Practice in both stages happens simultaneously

Practice and production are more important than presentation

2.2.8 Techniques for teaching English grammar

It is said that technique are more important than methods and approach for ateacher in teaching a foreign language Applying some techniques in teachinggrammar is the basis to create activities to teach grammar communicatively

There are many techniques to teach grammar They are used to show themeaning of grammartical structures, show the form of structures and practisestructures From these techniques, activities are created An activity may be acombination of many techniques or a technique can be integrated in variousactivities for the purposes of teaching and learning grammar

Techniques for showing the meaning of grammatical structures consist ofshowing the meaning visually, and showing the meaning through a situation

By showing the meaning visually, the meaning of a structure can be directlyshown by using things the students can see such as objects, the classroom, the

teacher, the students themselves, pictures or by using blackboard drawing This isthe easiest and simpliest way.

In the techniques of showing the meaning through situation, the teacher canthink of a situation in which the structure could be naturally used The situationcan be real or immaginary

Besides a clear presentation of the meaning and the use of the structure, it isalso important to show clearly how it is formed

To show the form of the structure, there are two ways (according to NguyenThi Van Lam and Ngo Ding Phuong in English teaching Methodology, 2007).The first way is giving a clera model and asking students to listen and repeat two

or three times The aim of this is just to give students the “feel” of the structure,and especially to make them familiar with the way it sounds It should not becontunued for too long – a few repetitions by the whole class, perhaps followed byone or two repetitions by individual students

The second way is writing the structure clearly on the board An alternativetechnique is to get the students to tell the teacher what to write The teacherquickly shows this, rubs off the example then get students to ‘dictate” it to homand write it again

In practice stage, we have controlled practice and free practice Controlledpractice consists of such techniques as repetition, subsitution, filling in the blank(with or without prompt), reordering words or sentences, combining sentences,listening and responding Free practice consists of guided practice, topical freetalk, language games These techniques can also be used in production stage

2.3 Speaking activities

2.3.1 Types of speaking activities

There are six broad types of oral communication activities that might beincorporated into curricula in many fields of study Most are conductive to either

formal or informal assignments Some are realistically possible only in smallerclasses or recitation sections, while others are appropriate for large lectures aswell

On their own, any of them can help students learn course materials or ways ofthinking (speaking to learn) Incorporated more systematically into a broadercurriculum or major, they can together help move students to become moreproficient speakers by the time they graduate (learning to speak)

2.3.1.1 One-on-One Speaking (Student-Student or Student -Teacher): Can

range from moments punctuating a lecture, where students are asked to discuss orexplain some question or problem with the person next to them, to formal studentconferences with their instructor

2.3.1.2 Small-Group or Team-Based Oral Work: Smaller-scale settings for

discussion, deliberation, and problem solving Appropriate for both large lecturesand smaller classes and allows levels of participation not possible in larger groups

2.3.1.3 Full-Class Discussions (Teacher- or Student-Led): Typically less

agonistic, argument-based, and competitive than debate and deliberation but stilldialogic in character Often times has the quality of creating an atmosphere ofcollective, out-loud thinking about some questions, ideas, problems, texts, events,

or artifacts Like deliberation and debate, full class discussion is a good way toencourage active learning

2.3.1.4 In-Class Debates and Deliberations

A structured consideration of some issues from two or more points of view,Debates typically involve participants who argue one side throughout, whiledeliberation allows for movement by individuals within the process Both featurereason-giving argument They can be applied to issues of many kinds, fromdisputed scientific facts to theories, policy questions, the meaning of a text, or thequality of an artistic production They also can range from two participants to alecture hall

2.3.1.5 Speeches and Presentations

Classically, podium speech is delivered by an individual from an outline or script.

It also includes group presentations or imprompt speaking It consists of strongelements of monologue, but dialogue can be built in with question and answer ordiscussion with the audience afterward

2.3.1.6 Oral Examinations

It can take place in small groups, or before a whole class Range from one oralquestion on an otherwise written exam to an oral defense of a written answer orpaper to an entirely oral quiz or examination It may be difficult with very largegroups, but an excellent way to determine the depth and range of studentknowledge and to stimulate high levels of preparation

2.3.2 Some speaking activities in teaching English grammar

According to Nguyen Thi Van Lam in English teaching methodology, thereare various types of activities which help to promote oral communication in theclassroom: reaching a consensus, replaying instructions, communication games,problems solving, interpersonal exchange, story construction and stimulation androle-play

2.3.2.3 Communication games

Communication games are based on principle of the information gap Students areput into situations which are “game like” and have to use all and any languagethey possess to complete the game.

For example, the game Describe and Draw

One student has the picture which the other students can not see The secondstudent had to draw an identical picture by listening to his partner’s instructions orasking questions

Stage 1: Students are told that they are going to work in pairs

Stage 2: Students in each pairs are given the letter A and B

Stage 3: Each students A is given a picture which is told not to show a student Buntil the end of the game

Stage 4: Students are told that B must draw the same picture as A, A should giveinstructions and B should ask questions where necessary

Stage 5: When B is thinking that he has completed the picture, he should comparehis work of art with the original to see how successful the activity was

The game: Find the similarities.

Students are put in pairs and given two pictures which are different but whichcontain a certain number of similarities Without looking at each other’s picturesthey must discover what these similarities are

2.3.2.4 Problem solving

Students are given some problems in real life which need solving Then they work

in pairs or groups to find out solutions to these problems

Problem – solving activities are very much like “concensus” activity Thediference is that students are faced with a problem to which there is a solution

2.3.2.5 Interpersonal exchange

The following one is the example where the stimulatus for conversation comesfrom the students themselves

Finding out