Teaching communicative english grammar to vietnamese high school students in vung tau city

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY TEACHING COMMlTNICATIVE ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN VUNG TAU CITY A thesis submitted in

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

TEACHING COMMlTNICATIVE ENGLISH GRAMMAR

TO VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

IN VUNG TAU CITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by KHUONG THI HONG CAM

Supervisor

Dr TUNG THANH NGUYEN

HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER, 2010

'hapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations

.5 Suggestions for further research

espite the above-mentioned limitations, it is hoped that this research will bring a mall innovation to teaching and learning English grammar in high schools Therefore, further research should consider those restraints and surmount them to create larger valuable reformations Specifically, future studies can be conducted with a whole class, and even a whole school They should also provide an achievement test to confirm the findings Further research can also explore the same topic for the two other aspects of linguistic knowledge, namely vocabulary and pronunciation

· 6.6 Chapter summary

This chapter has presented the whole process in which the research was conducted:the demand for reforming the method to teach English grammar in Vietnamese highschools, the findings to answer the research questions, the strengths and weaknesses

of the study, the recommendations for high school teachers of English, textbookdesigners and testing system, and fin�lly, the suggestions for future research

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I AIMS

., �

APPENDICES APPENDIX!

A TYPICAL LESSON PLAN

Class: 10 A3 Date: Tuesday, December 1 ih 2007

Time: 25 minutes

At the end of the lesson, the students can use reported speech to communicate

- Communicative method

III TEACHING AIDS:

- Handouts, chalk, board, cassette player and CD

IV TEACHING PROCEDURE:

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TEACHER'S ACTIVITIES

I Presentation

*Lead-in

- Distribute handouts (See appendix IA)

- Let ss listen to a piece of talk and fill in the

blanks.

- Correct the ss' answers and introduce the lesson.

- Write the title on the'b"b.

*Presenting

- Distribute reading handouts (see appendix IA)

- Let the students discover the form, meaning and

use of reported speech by asking them some

questions and let them discuss with their partners

(the changes in participants and tenses)

- Call some students to give their answers and

discuss with the whole class and explain in details

how the participants and tenses change in direct and

reported speech.

II Practice:

Task 1:

- Distribute handouts (see appendix lB)

- Give instructions (in Vietnamese if necessary):

"Each of you plays a role of one person in an

English class introducing his/her job Work with

your friends in the same table The first student

whispers the sayings to the neighbor, then the

neighbors continue to the last person The last

student says aloud the sayings so that everyone in

the group can check".

- Invite one group to report the sayings.

2 What is the purpose of the speaker in the listening text?

Task 1:

(see appendix lB)

STUDENTS' ACTIVITIES Answers:

10 knew

1 The participants and tenses change.

2 The purpose of the speaker is to report the story to another person.

Task 1: Suggested answers:

1 A said she worked as a secretary and she didn't like her job because she had to sit in front of the computer all day It was so boring and she thought she would change the job some day.

2 B said he was a teacher in a local high school and he had been teaching there for 10 years He really liked the job because his students gave him much fun.

3 C said she/he was a student, but her mother

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Is the listening task difficult?

Yes, it's hard.

Really?

Yes.

Quite hard, Madam!

Ok Now, I will give you the Reading of handout so that you can see the differences between the part which you've just listened and the reading Right, now you work in groups.

What!! Listen more??

Madam, do we ha1;e to listen any more?

No, you don't need to listen any more.

Oh Lucky us!

(Laughter)

Now, You do not need to listen anymore You just need to depend on the Reading and compare this Reading and Listening, Ok? You will find out if there is any diffences between the Reading and Listening Please, look at my wall- chart, which is on the board There are 2 questions on the blackboard Now, work in groups of 3 or 4.

Hey! Another group.

Hey! Let's join in one group!

You and he are in one group.

No, only three or four in a group.

Thuy, sit here to be one group with us.

(Discussion)

You can turn back to work with your friends behind.

(Discussion)

Ok, please answer my questions.

What are the differences between the reading text and listening text

in term of participants? A participant is "a person who participates

in something" Oh Are there any diffences? In addition, tenses, tenses means "thi " Can you find out any changes in the way the tenses were conjugated? What was the purpose of the speaker in the listening text? Look at the first text and try to guess what the purpo_se of the speaker was They said to us that what they did Now, work in group Now, discuss with your friends, please You can ask me if you have any questions You have 2 minutes for answering.

Madam, what does "bump into" mean?

Huh? "Bump into" means you meet someone accidentally, you don 't have a purpose.

Is it "gijp tinh ca"?

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Ok Listen one more time Ldn nayCo se dung lq,i cho cac bq,n diJn

At that moment we recognized each other He asked me if he knew

me from somewhere I then remembered that he was Jack's brother

We both had a good laugh and then he invited me a cup of coffee and a donut We had a great time together

Co ai, nghe ldn nua di Co!

Nghe nua di Co!

Kho qua Co ail Kho qua Co!

Ldn nua ha?

Dq,!

As he was walking down the path Tim said if he continued that diet

he would lose twentypound

Lesson 2

Today, teacher' lecture is easier for the students to understand than it was last time The listening task is clearer for us to understand more easily It is suitable for more students than the last time This time, the useful examples help students practice the language in many exercises However, the teacher should teach the grammatical item a little more deeply so that students can get a better hold of knowledge For example, in "if clause", we can use "could" to replace "would" because many students cannot realize it when teacher replaces "would" by other words However, generally speaking, today the lecture is easier for us to understand than the last lectures

Lesson 3

In the lesson today\ the teacher asks us to listen to the tape so it helps us practicelistening skill The· lesson shows us that the aim of using "passive voice" is to emphasize the fact or the action while the "active voice" is used to emphasize the agent of action She helps me apply English to daily activities The method is very interesting, appealing, and not sleepy at all It attracts us to keep track of the process in which the lesson is conducted

155

for students Although many good students take part in the activities very ebulliently, I am not confident to join the activities of teacher because I cannot understand the formula of changing from "active voice" into "passive voice" I think it is hard for many students like me to accept this method

Lesson 2

I think this lecture is more attractive and interesting than the old one The lesson today is easy to absorb with various practice tasks I can practice with friends to understand the theory deeply 1'he grammar period is not conducted with writing exercises and blackboard corrections as usual The students have chances to talk and become active The content includes various practice topics such as personality traits or community awareness The students can communicate in topics, which is much better than just repeated Jlrills with isolated sentences in textbook exercise I think I will perform well in examiniations

Lesson 4

In English learning, this field has caused many troubles to me because I cannot understand the usage of "defining clause" and "non defining clause" However, with the elaboration of the use of the two types of relative clause, I am provided with grounded knowledge and I feel interested in this field Moreover, the game not

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only elates me much but also helps me consolidate the learnt knowledge If I encounter this grammatical item in the coming tests, I will get the best results

3 Journals of two fair students (F12 & F16)

F12

Lesson 1

Today, the teacher lets us listen to the tape and play the interesting games This teaching method is very good but it is not suitable for the weak students I think she should write the structure on the board in order for students to comprehend faster I feel the listening task is too difficult Next time, please let us listen-more so that we can repeat and understand what they talk

Lesson 2

Today, I feel interested in this lesson I can listen and apply the structure in writing

It is more interesting that I have chances to talk with my friends with the interesting examples With the same grammar lesson, other teachers just talk, and we just listen and boringly do the exercises I felt very miserable with the last classes If every teacher also teaches lively like this, I think I like English so much Nevertheless, I always speak wrongly I do not know how to conjugate verbs Therefore, I suggest that the teacher should write the form of the structure clearly on the board We can look at it to talk more effectively

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