A study on using communicative games to improve grammatical competence of english tenses for the 10th graders

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI HANH A STUDY ON USING COMMUNICATIVE GAMES TO IMPROVE GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE OF ENGLISH TENSES FOR THE 10TH GRADERS MASTE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HANH

A STUDY ON USING COMMUNICATIVE GAMES TO IMPROVE GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE OF ENGLISH TENSES FOR THE

10TH GRADERS

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An - 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI HANH

A STUDY ON USING COMMUNICATIVE GAMES TO IMPROVE GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE OF ENGLISH TENSES FOR THE 10

GRADERS

Major: Teaching English to speakers of other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60140011

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR: Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh,Ph.D

Nghe An - 2019

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted for a degree to any universities or institution

Nghe An, July 19 th 2019

Nguyen Thi Hanh

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to

my supervisor, Nguyen Thị Kim Anh, for her invaluable guidance, criticism and her encouragement in the process of completing the minor thesis

I am also grateful to all lecturers and the staff of the Department of Post- Graduate Studies, Vinh University for their useful lectures and guidance during my study at the Institution

I truly wish to thank all the colleagues and the students at Cua Lo High School for their assistance and co-operation in giving me valuable information

Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my parents and my husband, whose patient love enabled me to complete this work

ABSTRACT

It is undeniable that grammar always plays a crucial role in teaching and learning English However, learning grammar is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating It also requires students to have constant effort to understand From my practical teaching, it is necessary to create students’ motivation in learning grammar

This study is concerned with the application of games in teaching tenses of English as an effective method to stimulate students’ interest and improve students’ understanding of the lesson

The benefits of using grammar games are affirmed again in this thesis through the former grammarians’ studies and the researcher’s experimental survey at high school These benefits bring considerable effectiveness to teachers and students in teaching and learning grammar This is also the main aim of the study and the researcher’s wish

In order to achieve this aim and wish, the researcher enters into consideration of the relevant literature and then carries out observing classes, interviewing closely both teachers and students after each lesson, giving questionnaires to them, etc to have necessary findings and analysis At the same time, the researcher also suggests the suitable measures to overcome difficulties in using communicative games, the tips for using games in class successfully, and the examples of games to teach tenses for the 10th graders

The thesis is divided into 5 chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction – presents the basic information including

rationale, aims, research methods, scope, and the structure of the thesis

Chapter 2: Literature Review – provides the literature concerning

communicative games, motivation in learning English grammar, the role of

students, the relationship between communicative games and 10th

graders’ grammatical competence of English tenses

Chapter 3: The study – reports the setting, the research hypothesis,

participants, instruments, data collection procedure and analysis The detailed results of the surveys and a critical comprehensive analysis on the data collected are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions – shows major findings and

discussions and offers recommendations for improving grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders through using communicative games

Chapter 5: Conclusions – is a summary of the study in which

conclusions of the study are presented It also presents the significance of using communicative games to improve the 10th graders’ grammatical competence of English tenses Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also presented in this part

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BA: Basic English

ESL: English as a Second

Language EFL: English as a

foreign language

LIST OF TABLES

Figure 1: Students’ awareness of having good grammatical competence of

English tenses

Figure 2: Students’ awareness of the importance of English tenses

Figure 3: Students’ awareness of learning English tenses

Figure 4: How interesting?

Figure 5: How difficult?

Figure 6: Students’ opinions on finding out more about grammar lessons of

English tenses

Figure 7: Students’ opinions about the methods of using communicative

games in English grammar class

Figure 8: Students’ opinions about using communicative games in

English grammar class

Figure 9: Students’ participation in communicative games

Figure 10: Students’ feeling on communicative games

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Main contents

2.2.2 Features of communicative games 9

2.3 Applying communicative games in teaching and learning

English grammar

14

2.4 Relationships between communicative games and students'

grammatical competence of English tenses

17

3.1.1 The situation of teaching and learning English grammar at

Cua Lò High School

3.3.2 Classroom observations 25

4.1.1 The 10th graders’ attitudes to improve their grammatical

competence of English tenses

4.1.2 The 10th graders’ perception of the use of communicative

games to improve their grammatical competence of English tenses

30

4.1.3 Teachers’ opinions about the use of communicative games to

improve their grammatical competence of English tenses

4.2.4 How to help the 10th graders to improve their grammatical

competence of English tenses through communicative games

41

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In Vietnam, in recent years, teaching and learning English grammar for students at high schools has gained considerable attention Grammar is not only a compulsory part in teaching English but also an extremely crucial and popular knowledge in the national exam of high school

However, there is a fact that a number of students have learnt some grammatical structures for many years but they still cannot remember and apply them Many students claim that learning grammar is a hard and daunting task So it is essential to teach grammar in an effective way that stimulates the students’ enthusiasm and attention to the lesson

Game is not only the most effective mean to arouse the students’ interest of learning; it also can make them all fully concentrate on what they are doing They also will often be enthusiastic and never feel tired Therefore, students will get deep impression of what they have learned and gain permanent memory of the content Because of this, teachers can get the best effect of outcome

Therefore, I think this study is necessary and the result of using games

in teaching grammar will bring many practical benefits to the students So, I want to use communicative games in teaching English grammar class to the tenth grade students to stimulate enthusiasm and concentration on the lesson

Working as a teacher of English at Cua Lo High School for many years, the researcher decided to choose the title “Using communicative games to improve grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders” due

to the following reasons:

Firstly, 10th graders in Cua Lo High school have low motivation in English grammar because many of them cannot understand English tense

Secondly, the researcher also realizes that communicative games are a set of well fun-design activities can stimulate students’ motivation in English classroom These games require them to take part actively in classroom by learning English tenses

More than that, students’ confidence will be automatically formed due

to its concept in building habits of learning English grammar Thus, so communicative games can be viewed as a useful tool for improving grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders

Thirdly, using communicative games to improve grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders has not been effective yet, especially that in high schools like Cua Lo High school – Nghe An province

Lastly, in consideration of these matters, as an English teacher, I really want to clarify the topic here with my knowledge and my supervisor’s guidance to analyze, understand the situation of teaching and learning English grammar for tenth grade students at Cua Lo High school as well as the application of games in teaching grammar

Thanks to it, I will find out lessons, experience for myself and make a small contribution to enhancing the effectiveness in teaching this subject Among different teaching methods, using communicative games to improve grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders is considered a useful method that is worth trying and investigating

2 Aims of the study

The major aims of the study are:

- to survey the use of communicative games to improve grammatical

competence of English tenses for the 10th graders

- to contribute a small part to the improvement of teaching and learning

English at Cua Lo High School

3 Scope of the study

The study is to explore the benefits of using communicative games to motivate the tenth grade students at Cua Lo High School Benefits of the application of games in teaching grammar create the effectiveness of students’ learning in grammar which focuses on two factors: developing students’ motivation and understanding of the lesson Besides, the target subjects that the study investigated were 40 students from 02 classes of grade 10 at this school

4 Methods of the study

This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods Quantitative method helps to provide the quantified background data The collected data and information lay the foundation for the study

Comments, remarks, assumptions and conclusion of the study are based

on data analysis

Data collections for analysis in the study come from the teachers and students in Cua Lo high school by class observation, survey questionnaires and interviews and discussion

5 Design of the study

The thesis is divided into 5 chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction – presents the basic information including

rationale, aims, research methods, scope, and the structure of the thesis

Chapter 2: Literature Review – provides the literature concerning

communicative games, motivation in learning English grammar, the role of communicative games in improving grammatical competence of English tenses for students, the relationship between communicative games and 10th

graders’ grammatical competence of English tenses

Chapter 3: The study – reports the setting, the research hypothesis,

participants, instruments, data collection procedure and analysis The detailed results of the surveys and a critical comprehensive analysis on the data collected are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions – shows major findings and

discussions and offers recommendations for improving grammatical competence of English tenses for the 10th graders through using communicative games

Chapter 5: Conclusions – is a summary of the study in which

conclusions of the study are presented It also presents the significance of using communicative games to improve the 10th graders’ grammatical competence of English tenses Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also presented in this part

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents theoretical background knowledge related grammar, communicative games, relationship between communicative games and students' grammatical competence of English tenses and the application

of communicative games in teaching and learning English grammar

2.1 Grammar

2.1.1 Definition of grammar

As the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defined, Grammar consists of the rules which change words forms to make sentences Grammar includes two basic elements: grammar rules and grammar practice Grammar rules focus on how words change and how words are put together into sentences

So, grammar can be seen as the way in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences

According to Oxford Dictionary, grammar is “the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics.” In addressing the question of “what is grammar?”, Cambridge Dictionary defines grammar as: “the rules about how words change their form and combine with other words to make sentences” Thornbury, S (1999) defined grammar as: “Grammar is partly the study of what forms (or structures) are possible in a language…

.Grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed”

Thus, we can understand that grammar is a linguistic tool including syntax, phonetics, morphology and semantics that create the rules for making sentences

2.1.2 Features of grammar

According to Harmer, J (1991), grammatical features involves the basic

linguistic elements such as number (singular, plural, dual ), person number (singular, plural, dual ), person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and tense (present, past, ) Also, as we understand, tense is a basic part of grammar

2.1.3 Grammar teaching activities

Students have different reactions to grammar lessons Some of them find grammar interesting, some find it boring and some find it useful but very difficult to learn It can be seen that students often have low motivation in learning grammar because they do not like listening to long grammar lessons and doing complex exercises

According to Celce, M (1988), there are four activities for a grammar: (1) Making presentation: the teacher introduces grammar structure with plenty

and various techniques The teacher chooses the types of grammar structure that are suitable with student’s level

(2) Doing exercises: Students are required to use specific grammar structure

in controlled exercises

(3) Taking part in communicative practice: Students are supposed to use the

learnt structures in communicative activities

(4) Giving feedback and correction: Teacher provides error’s correction

throughout the grammar lesson The first part of the grammar lesson must be corrected immediately and directly The second part, communicative activities, should not be interrupted and the teacher needs to take notes of errors

Besides, there are many other grammar teaching activities:

 Grammar activities: Can do / can't do

This is likely to lead to far more disagreement and discussion!

Procedure

- Take into the class some common everyday object, such as a paper clip, a rubber band, a match, a key, a coin, a plastic cup, etc

- Give the learners some time to think individually of as many things as possible the object could be used for Then get them to compare their suggestions in small groups – depending on the level, you might need to prime them with "You can with it",

"You can use it for –ing ” Collect suggestions from the whole class

- As an optional further stage, ask them to brainstorm in a similar way all the things that you can't do with the object in question

 Grammar activities: Don't answer back

- The aim of this warmer is for each student to give the answer to the question asked to the previous student, sounds complicated but the students pick it up quickly This warmer is a good listening activity and really makes the students concentrate on the questions

Example

1 Are you English?

2 Where are you from?

3 What color are your eyes?

4 How many people are there in your family?

5 What's the weather like today?

6 What time do you have lunch?

7 How often do you go to the cinema?

8 What are you doing?

9 When were you born?

10 Have you ever been to England?

- Write the question what’s your name? on the board Explain to the students that you are going to ask each student a question but they are going to answer the question from the student before To help explain this, get a student to ask you a question e.g have you got a dog? Don’t answer this question but tell them your name (answering the question written on the board) Then ask another student to ask you a question, again don't answer this question but tell them if you have got a dog (answering the previous question)

- Now start the game Point to the question on the board and then ask the first student question number one This student must give the answer to the question on the board

- Then ask student number two the next question, they must give the answer to the question before Don't worry them soon get the hang of it! Continue asking questions making sure all students have a go

- To make it more fun you can give each student three lives If they hesitate for too long or they tell you the wrong answer they lose a life The player or players with the most lives win

Example

Are you English?

S1 - " My name is Roberto"

Where are you from?

S2 - "No I'm not."

What color are your eyes?

S3 - "I'm from Italy"

Variations

- These questions can be adapted for different levels and can also

be used for revising specific tenses As an extra activity you could get students to write five questions for their partner and in pairs ask and answer them or you could write down some of the answers during the game, read them out loud to the class and get the students to write suitable questions for the answers

 Grammar activities: The magic element

- The aim of this activity is to work on: verb to be + name, size, color, age; has got, hasn't got, abilities, likes and dislikes

Procedure

- Ask students to think of a magic element they would like to have

- Ask one of them to start drawing it on the board but not complete, just part of it His/hers mates will have to guess what the element is by asking yes, no questions E.g.: Is it a flower? Is

it a moon? The one who is drawing will answer: No, it isn't

- While his/her mates are asking questions he/ she will continue

drawing The one who guesses will be the next to draw his/her magic element

- Before having a new element, the one who drew his/ her magic element will have to talk about it, telling his name, size, color, age, abilities, non- abilities, likes and dislikes And he/ she will draw the abilities, non- abilities, likes, and dislikes surrounding the magic element

- For example: My magic element is a kite Katy, the kite, It's big It's blue and orange, it has got two eyes It can fly, it can sing, it can dance It can't swim It likes hamburgers but it doesn't like hot dogs

- Ask them to draw their magic elements in their notebooks for their next class

 Grammar activities: Chain story

- This activity can be used for practicing conditionals, though its different variations can serve for reviewing the vocabulary as well It helps students to link sentences in one text

- This activity with intermediate students, though it may work with lower-level students Students enjoy it as it usually results in some funny story which tunes them in a good mood for the rest

- Student 1 if we have free time, we’ll go to the party

- Student 2 If we go to the party, we’ll have fun

- Student 3 If we have fun, we’ll come home late

- Student 4 If we come home late, we’ll miss our test tomorrow etc

- Students are telling a story, using only one sentence each with one word at a time, trying to make a story go smooth (You may ask them to use a certain pattern, or may let it go free)

Tip

- If a class is big, divide it into two teams and make them create their stories simultaneously, taking turns It will be more fun if both teams have the same beginning

by adding their sentence with the help of the conjunction written

on the card In this activity they are allowed to change the grammar structure of the previous sentence

 Grammar activities: Secret creatures

- Short grammar activity to practice the 2nd conditional

Procedure

- Write this model on the board:

If I were this creature, I would live

I would eat

I would (do what?)

I wouldn’t (do what?)

My colors would be

- Ask students to think of a secret creature It should be unusual: crow, octopus, grasshopper, worm, and hyena No cats or dogs - they're too easy, and not secret enough

- Students then describe what they would do if they were that creature, following the pattern on the board if need be

- They continue to describe the creature until the rest of the class is able to guess what it is

Tip

- Demonstrate the activity yourself first

Tip

- This can be done in IN THE PAST too Just change the pattern:

If, in a previous life, I had been this creature,

I would have

lived

eaten etc

2.1.4 English grammatical competence

As Harmer, J (1991) stated: central components of grammatical competence are formed by the rules of word formation, sentence formation and the ability to recognize correct sentences and organize sentences to form

texts

According to Thornbury, S., (1999), grammatical competence was defined as theoretical and practical knowledge of grammatical rules If learners have good grammar competence, they can generate an unlimited number of correct sentences

In a foreign language classroom, grammar competence is seen as a set

of theoretical knowledge and language skills which are useful and important for student to form and understand correct sentences, to control grammatical errors, to recognize right and wrong linguistic forms, and to perform language testing tasks

Willis, J., (1982) claimed that the grammatical structures consists of lexical semantics and constitute interrelated elements Thus, the development

of scientific ideas is gradually resulted from the idea of the interconnectedness

of the elements of language knowledge The fact the grammatical competence can be represented as a network of elements interacting in the intertwining connections because of the essence of the idea of connectionism with respect

to grammatical competence

In short, grammatical competence shows the ways grammar is used in communication The knowledge of grammar, lexis, morphology, syntax, semantics and morphology are included in grammatical competence Therefore, language learners are necessary to possess adequate competence in and knowledge of English grammar

As website My English grammar.com defined, tenses are forms of a

verb that show the time, continuance or completion of an action or a state that

is expressed in connection with the moment at which a statement is made about it The present, the past, and the future are the three main tenses Each tense includes four aspects: simple, continuous or progressive, perfect and perfect continuous or perfect progressive

The present tense describes something that happens or exists now The present tense can be called the present simple or simple present

The past tense indicates something that happened or existed in the past The past tense can be called the past simple or simple past

The future tense describes something that hasn’t happened at the time

of speaking The future tense makes use of the words will and shall

The continuous aspect describes an unfinished action or state of being

at the time being referred to It is formed using the relevant tense of the auxiliary verb to be and the present participle of the main verb

The perfect aspect describes a completed action in the present, past or future It is formed using the combination of the relevant tense of the auxiliary verb have and the past participle of the main verb

The perfect continuous aspect combines both aspects of continuous and perfect It refers to an action that has continued up to the present, up to a time

in the past, or up to a time in the future

2.2 Communicative games

2.2.1 Definition of communicative games

Communicative game can be defined in the two terms: communicative” and “game”

According to Rixon, S (1981), communicative indicates the

communicative approach in which on the significance of language function is emphasized by teaching-learning activity In other words, these activities will enhance students to enjoy real communication context in which students can get achievement of their communicative task which is important than the accuracy of language they use

Therefore, communicative approach is an important factor to provide students high motivation in learning a language Therefore, communicative

contexts are used in a foreign language classroom to gain positive effective atmosphere

Game is defined by Rinvolucri, M (1990) as “an activity with rules, a

goal and an element of fun” However, games are not performed in chaos Games must follow the rules and players also obey the rules before they start

the games Similarly, Kallsen, L.J (1987) states: “The term game is used

whenever there is an element of competition between individual students or teams in a language activity.” It means that a game can be understood as a competition where students play individually or work in group

Games play an important role in teaching and learning a foreign language Thus, thanks to the games, students have good opportunities to explore and apply newly acquired language skills in a fun and relaxed way

By the way, students can take part in spontaneous experimentation with the rules They can set conditions for their self-discovery and present their creative activities

Games are communicative activities that improve the learners’ overall communicative competence (Rinvolucri, M., 1990) For example: students have enough competence to use the target language in diverse settings during daily communication It means that a student who has enough communicative competence is able to produce accurate linguistic forms to get his/her message across in the target language

However, in communicative approach to language teaching, the meaningful use of real language in various contexts is focused on to promote communicative competence Games become useful tools to provide students with more funny practice Communicative activities in form of games give students an interesting context in which they can use the target language to negotiate meanings, interact with fellow classmates, and share information

However, using games in a foreign language class is not widely

welcomed by all teachers due to some reasons Games like word play seem to

go beyond mere fun and promote something more than simple play Word play shows a serious task for students to learn It creates new connections

between words and thoughts As a result, student’s imagination and creativity

are improved Due to being fun in nature, games such as word play can be an

effective way of acquiring knowledge, and language learners often experience

a fascination with manipulating words The use of games in the teaching process is not applicable restrictively to teaching languages

In addition, in the hope of using effectively communicative games in English classrooms, it is necessary to indicate that the rules of communicative games are clearly explained and well understood by the students before playing The rules of games should be well-explained Demonstrations also can be very helpful because it can help students understand the game and help them follow the rules There are many kinds of games designed for different levels as well as topics, so that students with different language proficiency levels can enjoy and gain the best results from them

To sum up, we can understand that communicative game is a set of

well- designed activities which stimulates students’ interaction in the classroom These games enhance students to work actively in activities and express their opinions As a result, students’ confidence is formed due to its concept in building habits of interaction

2.2.2 Features of communicative games

According to Rixon, S (1981), features of communicative games

can be assumed as follows:

(1) Communicative game consists a set of rules that must be followed by the players

(2) Communicative games like competitions in which one or more

players can take part in to achieve their objectives

(3) Communicative games provide the players with funny real

communicative contexts

(4) Communicative games require cooperation with other members and competition against another team or players

2.2.3 Benefits of communicative games

According to Leila Ketterlinus (2017), benefits of using communicative language games in teaching languages can be indicated as follows:

(1) Communicative games attract language learners who are interested

in learning and finding out answers Activities in a foreign language classroom promote a positive learning attitude towards language learning and encourage the learners to use their acquired linguistic knowledge to communicate

(2) Communicative games can provide the opportunity to apply the

language in a meaningful context Communicative games like role-play

attract the learners to an interesting language environment and motivate them

to share opinions and learn English grammar

(3) Communicative games provide learners with a good opportunity to practice and use the language Games can provide useful exercises of communicative language practice in a meaningful and less mechanical way to gain communication goals

(4) Communicative games provide a positive environment in which language learners do not fear public correction Thus, they can present their problem- solving abilities in different communicative situations

(5) Communicative games encourage language learners to work in pair

or groups in the environment of interpersonal communications Learners often feel more comfortable to interact with their classmates than with the teacher

As a result, games can create the process of learning and teaching and encourages social and emotional development

Using communicative games can make the grammar teaching process more fun for the teachers as well Teachers are role models and they need to demonstrate enthusiasm for whatever subject they are teaching Communicative games can be useful tools to make the classroom become fun for members involved

Communicative games are fun and can improve the learning and teaching process However, language teachers need to keep a balance and carefully consider the amount of time they allocate to using communicative games in the teaching process The use of games may negatively affect the classroom experience resulting in boredom and students’ lack of concentration

In addition, communicative games include many factors such as rules, competition, relaxation and learning The main goal of using communicative game in language class is not only to have fun but also stimulate students to learn more effectively

According to Chen, I (2005), the benefit of using communicative games in language classrooms can be summed up in nine main points as follows:

(1) Communicative games are learner-centered

(2) Communicative games integrate many various linguistic skills (3) Communicative games encourage creativity and spontaneous usage

of the language

(4) Communicative games reduce learning anxiety

(5) Communicative games construct a cooperative learning environment (6) Communicative games foster participatory attitudes of the students (7) Communicative games create a communicative competence

(8) Communicative games provide language learner with a meaningful context for learning language

(9) Communicative games provide language learners with high

learning motivation

2.2.4 Types of communicative games

As stated above, the main purpose of using games in English classes is

to practice students' different skills, especially their communicative ability Eight types of games from published sources are identified, discussed and explored by Deguang Zhu (2012) as follows:

(1) Sound games

Sound effects can create in the listeners’ mind an impression of people, places and actions There is a demand for the listener to contribute through the imagination This inevitably leads to individual interpretations which mean that the listeners can exchange their points of view and express opinions and ideas This kind of games can stimulate students' imagination and thinking, and offer them a chance to practice their listening and speaking Students can make guess at the object described by sound, or make dialogue or a story

(2) Fact-finding games

This mainly deals with general knowledge and is a very practical exercise Every day, there is something important happening, so the students can be asked what happened on a day in history? It may be a historical accident, a birthday of a famous person, or something strange or marvelous Then further details can be asked The students can discuss in pairs or groups in order to find much more information If the students have a class on 16 April, the teacher can ask the students to do the following activity Let the students sit in groups Ask the question, “Do you know who the main actor in the films “Modern Times”, “The Gold Rush” and “The Great Dictator” is? The students are sure to name Chaplin,

because the films are very famous Then the teacher tells the students that that day is his birthday and that it is necessary for the students to know something about him After that, more work can be done by drawing a typical picture of him and describing his appearance At last, the teacher can ask the students to think why Chaplin is loved by people all over the world and why his films are so popular

Now the students have had a chance to really think about what they know about the person

(3) Guessing Games

The rule of guessing game is easy for many people to take part in: one person knows something that another one wants to find out The thing to be guessed can be a word, an object, an activity or many other things which can differ greatly from game to game Students have good opportunity to practice logical thinking and asking questions in guessing games One example of a guessing game is 3-item story The story in which there are three items given

to the other members of the group is known by one person in the group The members have to ask questions to find the story depending on the three items, The “yes” or “no” answers are given by the person who holds the story The questioning skills have been used by the guessing members to get the answer

To give an example of pun: the teacher gives the students a question to explain: “Why do they tie a horse to a post before a race?” The students have

to widen their thinking instead of being occupied in a narrow way and be told

to think of more than one sense of a word or a sentence Then after a period of thinking, they are likely to find the answer: “Because they want to make the horse fast.” Here, fast has two meaning which can be firmly fixed or quick

There are many other guessing games:

 Guess the Animal

Give students an animal flashcard or have them take one from a bag They must give their classmates clues as to what animal it is: This animal lives in the jungle It eats bananas It’s brown

 Guess Who?

This guessing game is very similar to the classic game Guess Who? Use the real board game if you’ve got it or print copies of this sheet to hand out to teams of two students Separately print out strips of paper with the names Student A draws a name from the bag Student B has to guess who they are by asking questions: Do you have brown hair? Do you have blue eyes?

 Celebrity Guess Who?

This game is very similar to the above Simply use celebrity photos instead

 Guess my Job

Print out a sheet of clues like this one If students guess the profession after the first clue they get three points, if they guess after the second they get two points and after the last clue they get one point You may be using language your young learners may not use themselves, but they are capable of understanding a lot more than you think In any case, you may adapt the clues

to suit their level, and even use this point-giving strategy for any type of guessing game

 Listen up – and Guess!

A fun spin on the guessing game is playing short audio files and having students guess what it is Can your class tell the difference between a mouse squeaking and a bird chirping? How about a bear’s growl and a lion’s roar?

Find out!

 Guess the Mystery Object

This is a classic in my young learner’s classroom and one of my personal favorites Take a big cloth bag and place one item in it Students put their hands inside the bag and feel the object to guess what it is You can do this with classroom objects, animals, toys or any piece of regalia

 Language Hangman

Who hasn’t played this classic whiteboard game? But try this variation

to help students review any expressions they’ve recently learned Draw enough number of blanks to represent each letter of the words contained in the expression For example, for “thank you” you’d draw blanks like this: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ You may choose to add the first letter or the last one to get them started, o a random letter in the middle Students have to not only guess the correct expression or phrase, but also use it with a partner

 Guess What I Bought!

Tell your class you went shopping yesterday and that they must guess what you bought Describe each object in terms they can understand: It’s warm It’s brown You put it on your head (it’s a hat) If they guess correctly show them a flashcard or magazine cutout of the item

 Guessing Rhymes

Rhymes are great for practicing pronunciation I’m thinking of an insect It rhymes with sea (bee) I’m thinking of a fruit It rhymes with beach (peach)

 Riddles

Children love riddles so feel free to try some out in your ESL class ESLMOBI has a great list you can use If some are too hard for students to guess, try giving them additional clues These animal riddles are also great!

(4) Picture Games

There are several types in picture games: comparing and contrasting pictures; considering differences or similarities; considering possible relationships between pictures, such as narrative sequence; describing key features so that someone else may identify them or represent them in a similar way; making a story according to the given picture

Participants in picture games are given many opportunities to practice their communicative skills

(5) Jigsaw Games

One part of a solution, which may be a story, a factual text or a picture,

is kept by each participant in a jigsaw task The participants are equally important The participants should work together to fit their pieces together to find the solution They, therefore, improve co-operation and mutual acceptance within the group Participants in this game have to do a lot of talking before they are able to fit the pieces together in the right way

(6) Mime

Participants can do in pairs, groups or even by the whole class One side has to perform the mimes for the other side so that the answer can be found It can be an object, action or person So miming activities is a valuable language-learning situation Guessing something is linked with the real desire

to find out and thus is a true communication situation Miming trains the students' skill of observation and improvisation It emphasizes the importance

of gesture and facial expression in communication

(6) Debates

In this activity, a topic is given and two sides are set up, one supporting the idea and the other opposing it Then they argue giving their evidence The aim of this activity is to get the students to talk and stimulate their interest and competitive spirit Such activities make the students think about their values and priorities There is no doubt that this activity will improve students’ conversation and eloquence

(8) Role Plays

Role plays often consist of short scenes, which can be realistic or pure fantasy Role plays may be enacted around everyday situations as well as around topical problems One easily-obtained role play is from the text, which may be actual role play material After learning the text, students can be asked

to give a performance of it This can improve their oral performance generally and, of course, help students to understand what they have learned in an easy way Furthermore, role plays are useful for generating free expression and the feeling of spontaneity in the language classroom

Students will need a few moments to look over their characters and get into their roles for the exercise There may also be additional questions:

 Why they are doing this in character? Why did you decide to make this

a role-playing exercise?

 Students may have reservations about the character that they have been assigned or about their motives It is good for the instructor to find out about these before the actual role-play It can be very difficult for a student to begin researching an issue from a perspective very different from their own because even apparently objective data tends to be reinterpreted as support for pre-existing world-views

- With regards to environmental issues, many environmental

groups have well-written, carefully researched, and engineered websites that will provide arguments as well as information for a student assigned a character to whom protecting the environment is very important

nicely Similar websites representing the very common viewpoint of the worker, property owner, or industrialist whose future may be in conflict with environmental interests are hard to find One site, Debate Central, has constructed arguments for characters promoting property rights and wary of government intervention Their topic coverage is still limited, however A poorer alternative is to send students to the websites of companies involved in an issue to read their PR material

- Often, the best resource for understanding people is other people Model UN encourages participants to call the embassy of the country they are to represent for advice The same can be done with the PR divisions of mining firms and unions, environmental and taxpayer protection groups, etc

 If there is an inquiry component (i.e student-led research), the students may need help coming up with a research plan and finding resources Depending on the assignment, students could be writing papers or participating in a Model-UN-style summit For a presentation or interaction, props can liven up the event, but are not worth a lot of effort as they are usually not important to the educational goals of the project

2.3 Applying communicative games in teaching and learning English grammar

It is clear that learning grammar is a hard task which requires students

to make much effort By providing language learners with meaningful

contexts, communicative games enhance learners to direct their energy towards learning grammar

Therefore, teachers must know the ways to use games in their grammar teaching program, not for fun So, many descriptions proposed by various researchers about the nature of games must be come up with Rixon, S (1981), for example, describes games as “form of play governed by rules.” Likewise, Hadfield,

J (1999) describes games as “an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun.”

According to Hadfield, J (2003), “games are an agreeable way of getting a class to use its initiative in English.” However, games are described

by Rixon, S (1981), as “games are activities carried out by cooperating or competing decision makers, seeking to achieve, within a set of rules, their objectives.”

Following these descriptions, it is the fact that games involve many factors such as employing rules, fostering cooperation while making learning fun One can simply say that games are enjoyable However, in addition to being enjoyable, games refer to rules to be followed pointing at a serious instructional planning and delivery process As expressed by Lee, W R (1979), games have a very clear beginning and ending and they are governed

by rules Being associated with games, competition plays a crucial role as for the nature of games requires Competition makes learners excited because the question of who will win or lose remains unanswered until the game is over Similarly, games’ making learning easier in an enjoyable way suggests that games are full of fun which leads to successful learning Learners are required

to cooperate to achieve the goal and most learners enjoy cooperation and social interaction in many communicative games Successful learning becomes more possible if cooperation and interaction are combined with fun

To sum up, no matter how differently games are described, one cannot underestimate their pedagogical value both in teaching and learning a foreign language

If communicative games are used in grammar classroom, language teachers can get many advantages One of these advantages is that learners are motivated to learn grammar when they are in a communicative game Communicative games automatically stimulate student interest; a properly introduced game can be one of the highest motivating techniques Communicative games spur motivation and students get very absorbed in the competitive aspects of communicative games As a result, they try harder at games than in other courses In other words, communicative games enhance students to take part in classroom activities and thus, students become motivated and willing to learn grammar lessons

Another advantage associated with communicative games is that students’ anxiety towards language learning decreases as communicative games are employed In language classes, learners feel stressful because they think that they have to master the target language that is unknown to them Besides, learners become too anxious about being criticized and punished by their teachers when they make a mistake Communicative games are advantageous at this point because they reduce anxiety, increase positive feelings and improve self-confidence because learners do not afraid of punishment or criticism while practicing the target language freely

Communicative games can be seen as student-focused activities which require student to have active involvement Learners and teachers change their roles and relations through games and learners are encouraged to take active role in their learning process So, communicative games provide learners with

a chance to direct their own learning From an instructional view point, creating a meaningful context for language use is another advantage that

games present By using communicative games, teachers can create contexts which enable unconscious learning because learners’ attention is on the message, not on grammar Thus, students acquire grammar in the same way that they acquire their mother tongue, that is, without being aware of it when they completely focus on a game as an activity

Real-life situations are brought by communicative games to the confinement of the grammar classroom which provides learners with an opportunity to use grammar To state this differently, by putting learners in real life situations, games make a connection with the real usage of grammar Jones, P (1995) explains that there are many advantages of communicative games as follows:

(1) Communicative games focus students’ attention on specific structures, grammatical patterns, and vocabulary items

(2) Communicative games can function as reinforcement, review and enrichment

(3) Communicative games involve equal participation from both slow and fast learners

(4) Communicative games can be adjusted to suit the individual age and language levels of the students

(5) Communicative games contribute to an atmosphere of healthy competition, providing an outlet for the creative use of natural language

in a non-stressful situation

(6) Communicative games can be used in any language teaching

situations and with all skill areas (reading, writing, speaking or

listening)

(7) Communicative games provide immediate feedback for the teacher (8) Communicative games ensure maximum student participation for a