SỬ DỤNG các HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP để hỗ TRỢ CHO VIỆC GIẢNG dạy NGỮ PHÁP TRONG các lớp học BAO gồm NHIỀU TRÌNH độ ở TRƯỜNG đại học điện lực

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT ---******--- MA Minor Thesis USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT GRAMMAR TEACHING FOR LA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT -****** -

MA Minor Thesis

USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT GRAMMAR

TEACHING FOR LARGE MULTILEVEL CLASSES

AT ELECTRIC POWER UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Nguy n Thu L H ng, MA

Hanoi, 2008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis I want to thank the Post Graduate Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for giving me permission to commence this thesis in the first instance and to use departmental data

I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Nguyen Thu Le Hang, MA whose help, stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all the time of research for and writing of this thesis

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers at the Post Graduate Department at College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, whose lectures and support have laid foundation for my thesis

My colleagues from the Faculty of Fundamental Sciences and students Electric Power University supported me in my research work I want to thank them for all their help, support, interest and valuable hints

Especially, I would like to give my special thanks to my husband, my family and my friends whose patient love and continual encouragement enabled me to complete this work

The minor thesis is concerned about ‘Using communicative activities to support grammar teaching for large multilevel classes at Electric Power University”

It is aimed at finding out how grammar has been taught to multilevel classes at Electric Power University, what students of these classes like and dislike about learning grammar through communicative activities and the difficulties they meet when learning grammar through communicative activities Hence, communicative activities are designed or adapted to improve the effectiveness of teaching grammar through communicative activities to these classes

The minor thesis consists of three chapters Chapter I provides some theoretical background for the thesis Chapter II aims to describe background information about the current teaching and learning of grammar at EPU and present data analysis and discussions Chapter III proposes some suggestions on ways of using communicative activities to support grammar teaching for large multilevel classes

The study should be regarded as an attempted to find a more appropriate way to enhance grammar teaching in the light of CLT in large multilevel classes at EPU

LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS AND FIGURES

TABLES OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 RATIONALE 1

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 2

3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2

4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2

5 METHODS OF THE STUDY 3

6 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

I.1.Roles of grammar in language teaching: 4

I.1.1 Definition of grammar 4

I.1.2 Different views on grammar teaching in second language classroom 5

I.1.2.1 Anti-grammar views 5

I.1.2.2 Pro-grammar views 6

I 2 Teaching grammar in the light of CLT 8

I.3 Multilevel classes 9

I.3.1 Definition of large multilevel classes 9

I.3.2 Challenges of teaching large multilevel classes 10

I.3.3 CLT in large multilevel classes 10

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY .12

II.1.The setting of the study 12

II.1.1 Background information about the current teaching and learning of grammar at EPU .12

II.1.1.1 The current situation 12

II.1.1.2 Experimental application 13

II.2 The study on the effectiveness of using communicative activities to teach grammar in large multilevel classes at EPU ……….14

II.2.1 Description of data collection instruments and procedures 14

II.2.1.1 Subjects of the study 14

II.2.1.2 Instruments 15

II.2.1.3 Data analysis procedure ….16

II.2.2 Data analysis and discussions 16

II.2.2.1 Questionnaire 16

II.2.2.2 Interviews ……… ………30

II.2.2.3 Classroom Observation 32

CHAPTER III: THE USAGE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT GRAMMAR TEACHING FOR LARGE MULTILEVEL CLASSES AND IMPLICATION FOR CLASSROOM TEACHING 35

III.1.Using songs and verses 37

III.2.Using games and problem solving activities 40

III.3 Role play 42

III.4 Story telling 43

III.5 Picture description 44

III.6 Dialog performance 45

PART C: CONCLUSION 47

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

EPU: Electric Power University

CA: Communicative activity

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ESP: English for Specific Purposes

Table 1: Students’ profile 18

Table 2: Teachers’ profile 19

Table 3: Students’ attitude towards the position of grammar ……….…… 19

Table 4: Reasons for learning grammar 20

Table 5: Frequency of teaching grammar in large multilevel classes 20

Table 6: Frequency of learning grammar through communicative activities in a large multilevel class 21

Table 7: Frequency of communicative activity application in grammar teaching 21

Table 8: Challenges of teaching large multilevel classes 22

Table 9: Students’ opinions about learning grammar through communicative activities… 23

Table 10: Students’ interests in learning grammar through communicative activities…… … 23

Table 11: Students’ agreement to grammar teaching through communicative activities 24

Table 12: Obstacles when participating in communicative activities in large multi level classes ……… 25

Table 13: Evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities in large multilevel classes by students……… 27

Table 14: Evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities to large multilevel classes by teachers………29

1 Rationale

Nowadays English is becoming one of the most popular languages worldwide In different countries, different people at different ages learn English for their own purposes Learning to use a language freely and fully is a lengthy and effortful process In Vietnam, learning English language is interested by young people, especially students at universities for a plenty of reasons such as getting jobs in foreign companies, studying abroad and so on

However, teaching English is said to be not effective at universities in Vietnam because as a matter of fact, multilevel classes are currently popular in many universities in general and at Electric Power University (EPU) in particular, which causes many difficulties to teachers and students in language teaching

Grammar teaching plays an important role at EPU as it supplies students basic knowledge to prepare for the final exams and ESP course in the second year Many students at my university think grammar, of course, is very important Why? Very simply, words have grammar Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in any language As human beings, we can put sentences together even

as children we can all do grammar But to be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and word groups that make up sentences that is knowing about grammar People associate grammar with errors and correctness But knowing about grammar also helps us understand what makes sentences and paragraphs clear and interesting and precise Grammar can be part of literature discussions, when we and our students closely read the sentences in poetry and stories And knowing about grammar means finding out that all languages and all dialects follow grammatical patterns However, the fact that how grammar should be taught in multilevel classes in Vietnam is questioned and discussed by many experts and teachers from many countries and at the moment it is really a big challenge

The traditional method of grammar teaching is currently not appropriate in multilevel classes

in EPU because it makes students become passive recipients Therefore, teaching grammar in the light of CLT is becoming a new approach and designing suitable communicative activities to teach grammar for a multilevel class is very necessary In most classes at EPU,

using communicative activities to support grammar teaching is often conducted but according

to all teachers there, for a multilevel class it is not satisfactory

The fact has urged me to find out the answers to this question In this paper, hopefully, some communicative activities suggested to support grammar teaching in multilevel classes will help teachers cope with difficulties in a multilevel language class

2 Aims of the study

• To investigate students’ evaluation of learning grammar through communicative activities at Electric Power University

• To identify characteristics of large multilevel classes at EPU

• To suggest some communicative activities for large multilevel classes at EPU to help students acquire grammatical knowledge in a communicative way

3 The scope of the study

• Focus on evaluation of the effectiveness of using communicative activities for large multilevel classes to first-year students at Electric Power University

5 Methods of the study

To realize the aims, the study used a combination of different methods in order to ensure the accuracy and practicality

First, the data was collected from survey questionnaires done by students and teachers at Electric Power University The writer, then, worked with the data by combining different methods like analyzing, synthesizing, comparing, etc in order to draw out important findings

In addition, the writer collected some information based on her informal observation and interviews to make sure that the data is more accurate and reliable

6 Design of the study

This study is divided into 3 parts

Part A, INTRODUCTION, deals with the reasons for the research, the aims, the scope, methodology and research questions

Part B, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three chapters

Chapter I provides some theoretical background for the thesis with the focus on the main points: definitions of grammar, different views on grammar teaching, teaching grammar

in the light of CLT, multilevel classes and CLT in multilevel classes

Chapter II aims to describe background information about the current teaching and learning of grammar at EPU and present the methodology underlying the research including data collection instruments, procedures A detailed data analysis and discussions are also given

Chapter III proposes some suggestions on ways of using communicative activities to support grammar teaching for large multilevel classes

Part C, CONCLUSION gives a summary and a recommendation for further study

This chapter aims to explore the theoretical background for the thesis overviewing the following main points: definition of grammar, different views on grammar teaching, teaching grammar in the light of CLT, multilevel classes and CLT in multilevel classes

I.1 The roles of grammar in language teaching

I.1.1 Definition of grammar

There are so many definitions and ideas of grammar defined by researchers and linguists What various opinions writers on English grammar have given in answer to the question, What is grammar? may be shown by the following

According to Wikipedia, Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language The set

of rules governing a particular language is the grammar of that language; thus, each language can be said to have its own distinct grammar Grammar is part of the general study of language called linguistics Grammar is a way of thinking about language It is also added that

as the word is understood by most modern linguists, the subfields of grammar are phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics In summary, grammar is rules of

a language governing its phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics; also, a written summary of such rules English grammar is a description of the usages of the English language

From Celce-Murcia (1988:16)’s view, ‘grammar is a subset of those rules which govern the configurations that the morphology and syntax of a language assume’ Therefore, it can be said that grammar is a field of linguistics that involves all the various things that make up the rules of language Grammar teaches the laws of language, and the right method of using it in speaking and writing

Ur (1988: 4) defines that ‘grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bit of words) in order to form longer units of meaning.’ and then in 1996, he stated ‘grammar is a set of rules that define how words (or parts of words) are combined or changed to form acceptable units of meaning within a language’ Clearly, grammar makes up all the words and structures in a sentence There is a set of rules which governs how units of meaning may be constructed in any language

In short, grammar is the study of the structure and features of a language Grammar usually consists of rules and standards that are to be followed to produce acceptable writing and speaking

I.1.2 Different views on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms The role of grammar in ESL programs is currently often debated, what sorts of structures should/should not be taught at certain levels, why students can't seem to use grammar effectively in writing even when they've studied it very diligently, why so few grammar books provide enough contextualized analysis of "real usage" in spoken and written discourse, etc There are perhaps two major views on grammar teaching: anti-grammar teaching and pro-grammar teaching

I.1.2.1 Anti-grammar views

According to Thormann (1969), the first ‘anti-grammar’ was published in the seventeenth century In this book, the author explained that people did not know how to speak a language because of the poor instruction they perceived heretofore, the inefficiency of the methods used and the inadequacies of the masters Thormann also adds that rarely would the students gain the spoken mastery of the language with grammar teaching He also emphasizes that grammar has not been eliminated but it has been deemphasized and it is no longer leant by learning by heart

However, the real representatives of anti-grammarians are Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrel The Natural Approach was developed by Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen, starting in 1977 The Natural Approach is based on the following tenets: Language acquisition (an unconscious process developed through using language meaningfully) is different from language learning (consciously learning or discovering rules about a language) and language acquisition is the only way competence in a second language occurs (The acquisition/learning hypothesis)

• Conscious learning operates only as a monitor or editor that checks or repairs the output of what has been acquired (The monitor hypothesis)

• Grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order and it does little good to try

to learn them in another order.(The natural order hypothesis)

• People acquire language best from messages that are just slightly beyond their current competence (The input hypothesis)

• The learner's emotional state can act as a filter that impedes or blocks input necessary

to acquisition (The affective filter hypothesis)

Krashen draws on one set of references from Roger Brown in the early 1970’s He claims that Brown’s research on first language acquisition showed that parents tend to correct the content of children’s speech rather than their grammar Therefore, in the Natural Approach, the teacher is expected to be the provider of comprehensible input in the target language, emphasizes comprehensible and meaningful practice activities rather than production of grammatically perfect utterances and sentences

I.1.2.1 Pro-grammar views

“ There is no doubt that a knowledge-implicit or explicit-of grammatical rules is essential for the mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you know how they should be put together.” (Ur, 1999: 4) The goal of teaching grammar is to help our students speak with organized sentence structures in order to make themselves understood

Meanwhile, Hawkins (1984: 150-1) affirms the importance of grammar for effective language learning as follows “ The evidence seems to show beyond doubt that though it is by communicative use in real “speech acts” that the new language “sticks” in the learner’s mind, insight into pattern is an equal partner with communicative use in what language teachers now see as dual process of acquisition Grammar, approached as a voyage of discovery into the patterns of language rather than the learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey word.”

In fact, one cannot master a language without the knowledge of its grammar

Rutherford and Smith (1988) report that grammar teaching is beneficial to learners in the sense that it raises learners consciousness concerning the difference and similarities of L1 and L2 Thus, grammar teaching can be used as a “ linguistic map” with road signs to help students as they explore “the topography” of the new language

The list of supporters of grammar is still ongoing Hannan (1989) argues that grammar is highly valuable as an important part of the study of language He also points out that grammar reflects the power and order of human mind and besides it helps us to understand the diversity

of human culture

Lewis (1986) and Garner (1989) share the same ideas with Hannan They give strong support

to grammar teaching Garner believes that grammar gives us a means to analyze and describe our language

Palmer (1984) claims that it is grammar that makes language so essentially a human characteristic Therefore, the study of grammar has been proved to be very helpful in the detailed understanding of language

In short, grammar is acknowledged to be of importance in language study in general and in language teaching and learning in particular

Today, teaching grammar in ESL/EFL classroom poses quite a few myths and needs to be demystified However, we cannot deny the role of grammar in teaching a language and grammar is still considered one of the key components of a language One cannot master a language without the knowledge of its grammar Swain (1985) stated “Grammatical competence occupies a prominent position as a major component of communicative competence.” The fact is that at a very basic level, words on their own are often enough to communicate with someone If someone says ‘Water Please’ and look as if he is requesting something, we will understand that he/she wants us to give some food But when we want to express a more complex meaning, words on their own may not be enough Therefore, we have

to use grammar to communicate more effectively, more precisely with others That communication may be in a conversation or an essay or a notice or a hundreds of other things

We use grammar to ‘fine-tune’ a meaning, to make it more precise

I.2 Teaching grammar in the light of CLT

Teaching grammar, in a communicative classroom is proposed as a challenge for classroom practitioners in Vietnam today

The term “communicative language teaching” covers a variety of approaches that all focus on helping learners to communicate meaningfully in a target language Early approaches downplayed the importance of grammar, some even advocating the abandonment of any focus

on form More recent approaches acknowledge the centrality of grammar and try and teach learners the relationship between grammatical form and communicative meaning

Without grammar, words hang together without any real meaning or sense In order to be able

to speak a language to some degree of proficiency and to be able to say what we really want

to say, we need to have some grammatical knowledge By teaching grammar we not only give our students the means to express themselves, but we also fulfill their expectations of what learning a foreign language involves Fortunately, nowadays with the emphasis on a

communicative approach and a wealth of stimulating resources, teaching grammar does not necessarily mean endless conjugation of verbs or grammar translation

The question “Is there a place for language forms in a communicative classroom?” is posed to all classroom practitioners

The classroom goals of CLT are focused on the different components of communicative competence of which grammatical competence occupies a prominent position (Brown, 2001) The six characteristics of CLT mentioned by Brown clearly state that although

“organizational language forms is not the central focus,” they should by no means be ignored

as fluency and accuracy are both “seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques” The balance of focus between language forms and meanings is of course a matter of degree, not an all-or-nothing affair

Attention to language forms in a communicative classroom is clearly justified The questions left are how much attention should be given and in what format

I.3 Multilevel classes

I.3.1 Definition of large multilevel classes

According to Smart (2006), large multilevel classes are classes of more than 30 learners in elementary, secondary, adult or tertiary settings Also, they are classes that have been roughly arranged according to ability Furthermore, they are classes that have been arranged by age-group with no thought to language ability Multilevel classes are thought to be classes where learners vary considerably in language and literacy skills and are in need of great deal of personal attention and encouragement to make progress

Hayes (1997) defines that any class with over 40 learners can be considered a large class Teaching large classes is difficult for three reasons First, teaching large classes requires more work for the teacher as there are more learners to assist, more papers to mark, etc Second, large classes are often more difficult to control because of the number of learners Noise is greater, and discipline problems are more likely to become uncontrollable Third, many of the techniques and materials we use in smaller classes are difficult to use with larger classes If there is little classroom space, for example, arranging seats in groups can be difficult or impossible

There are two kinds of multi-level classes:

• ones in which all learners are in the same grade, yet their abilities are different All learners in a class might be officially in grade 3, but some cannot read or write Their level is really grade 1

• ones in which grade levels are actually mixed in a class - for example, putting grade 1 and grade 2 learners in the same class This kind of multi-level situation is usual in universities in Vietnam

Large classes are always multi-level Why? The more learners we put together, the more variety we will have This is why teachers of large classes must also be able to teach multi-level classes

I.3.2 Challenges of teaching large multilevel classes

Large classes are a reality in many countries and they pose particular challenges Thus, the question here is what the challenges of teaching large multilevel classes are

• It's difficult to keep good discipline going in a large class

• You have to provide for more children of different ages and different abilities, wanting

to learn different things at different speeds and in different ways

• You can't easily give each child the individual attention they need

• You may not have enough books or teaching and learning aids

Large and multi-level classes are more difficult to teach because they require more work on the part of the teacher, they include many learners with different learning styles and needs, and the potential for disruption is greater than in small classes

I.3.3 CLT in large multilevel classes

The goal of CLT is to help learners to communicate meaningfully in a target language Therefore, many teachers embrace CLT because CLT represents a modern and progressive way of language teaching and their belief is to teach students to be able to use the language However, when it comes to the level of practice, especially in large classes, teachers often encounter many difficulties Their desire to implement CLT, which is manifest through efforts

to promote common Western CLT practices such as pair work and group work, conflicts with many contextual factors These factors range from systemic constraints such as traditional examinations, large class sizes, to cultural constraints characterized by beliefs about teacher and student role, and classroom relationships, to personal constraints such as students' low motivation and unequal ability to take part in independent active learning practices, and even

to teachers' limited expertise in creating communicative activities like group work

Yang (2003) stated that ‘although teacher education programmes around the world have emphasized the use of communicative teaching with more interest in learner-centredness, novice and experienced teachers alike tend to follow the layout and suggestions of the textbook only’ Teachers who have grown up in cultures with teacher-centred classrooms, standardised examinations, prescribed textbooks, and large classes find it difficult to teach communicatively and finally give up communicative teaching together Thus, to make communicative language teaching possible, teacher should consider how to use communicative activities with wisdom at proper times to arouse learners’ interest Such activities are not necessarily group work or pair work, but should focus on task completion rather than learning the form intently In other words, Communicative Language Teaching has

to be focused, meaningful and fun

Obviously, it is a big challenge for teachers of English to teach English for large multilevel classes Thus, importantly, it requires teachers to find out what their learners are interested in beside assessing learners’ level, switching between modes of instruction and managing the classroom wisely Because according to Cheng (2004), ‘expectations of individuals are now different’ And ‘Education has failed to realize that what the society is interested in among our young people is what they could do in the future, rather than what they know at the moment’

Yang also added ‘Teaching junior students to order a Happy Meal in English in their [EFL] home country is irrelevant, unless teachers can provide [an authentic] context where English must be used’ CLT should not be treated as a package of formulaic, prescriptive classroom techniques Teachers in Vietnam or elsewhere need to make further efforts to develop and generate, within the communicative approach, classroom techniques appropriate to their conditions and also find out suitable activities to teach grammar in the light of CLT in large multilevel classes

In short, the chapter has so far conceptualized the discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study It has discussed the concepts and ideas relating to grammar, the use of CLT in teaching grammar, multilevel classes, challenges of teaching large multilevel classes

as well as CLT in large multilevel classes The following chapter will present the research methodology and findings- under the light of the above-discussed theories

II.1 THE SETTING OF THE STUDY

II.1.1 Background information about the current teaching and learning of grammar at EPU

II.1.1.1 The current situation

Electric Power University was founded in 2006, switching from Electric Power College As one of the new-born universities, it has to cope with many difficulties in teaching and learning In spite of difficulties and challenges, English is always considered of great importance by all the leaders and teachers because it equips students with additional skills to supplement and upgrade their knowledge and then find better jobs after their graduation Therefore, teachers of English at EPU are making great efforts to find out appropriate approaching methods to teach English more effectively

However, there have been existed some problems needing to be solved The classes are quite big with more than 50 students in a class Levels of students are variable: elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate There are even some students who have never learnt English before They also have different learning styles Some active students like communicating and participating in communicative activities Some are still influenced by traditional method of teaching and learning They are not aware of their language needs in term of communication in real life situations They often keep silent and are not willing

to participate in class activities As a result, it is difficult for the teacher to monitor the class and engage students in communicative activities in the class Besides, English is one of compulsory subjects at EPU but it is not the main subject and the traditional exams-written exams are being used Therefore, the attitude towards English learning is also a matter Their major is not English so they do not devote themselves to English learning Sometimes in the class, they

do not have independent habit of learning English They just want to be given exercises to practise grammar to pass the final exams Some even think that

communicative activities are not necessary and just take time, not helping them get high marks at the end of the term

II.1.1.2 Experimental situation

Most teachers of English at EPU are very young and energetic They are willing

to devote their time and enthusiasm to language teaching: researching and debating to find out an appropriate and progressive way to teach English effectively As a result, using CLT in teaching grammar has been applied in many classes at EPU for three reasons: (1) Traditional exams are based mainly

on grammar, (2) Understanding grammar is very important for EPU students as

it supplies basic knowledge for reading ESP documents, (3) CLT is a new trend which is approved by many researchers and teachers in many countries

The total time of 150 periods of English learning is divided into 2 terms of the first year at the university This means that students have 75 periods each term and the test takers have 2 final tests at the end of each term

The requirements of the 1st term is to cover 10 units from unit 1 to unit 10 in New Headway Elementary and from unit 11 to unit 8 in New Headway Pre-Intermediate Generally, students have 6 periods/ week and each period lasts 40 minutes and after

2 units they have a revision lesson

New Headway Elementary and Pre-Intermediate are recommended to be used

as the textbook for 1st year non-major students at Electric Power University It was written by Liz and John Soars and is well -known and learnt by a lot of learners from different places in the world It is said that this course book is appropriate for students who are in the first year and have the needs of improving grammar, vocabulary and English skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing New Headway presents basic structures of English and develops them through a variety of different contexts Emphasis is also placed

on enlarging the students’ knowledge of vocabulary, and on developing their ability to communicate The key features of New Headway are flexibility and coherence The grammar section presents and practices a structural area

Understanding grammar structures is one of the most important factors for year students However, there is a fact that grammar lessons seem to be separated from communicative activities and the real life, which makes learning grammar become boring and unmotivated Some grammar exercises are repetitive and boring One of the causes is the current grammar materials used for first year students at the university There were teachers complaining that exercises in the textbooks were mainly mechanical drill ones, lack of context for communication Consequently, EPU teachers have used supplementary materials or adapt materials to make grammar lesson more interesting and more authentic It makes students more active and the atmosphere in classes also seems to be more authentic thanks to communicative activities However, there

first-is one first-issue rafirst-ising from the fact that classes at EPU contain between 55 and 65 students Many teachers consider these classes are too large and that they give rise to a number of problems Another fact is that initial teacher training appears

to do little to help teachers deal with the issues raised by teaching and learning

in large classes Teachers have to cope with classes which contain 50 students or more learners are, therefore often ill-prepared to deal with the situation in which they find themselves in schools Some of activities demonstrate to be suitable but some do not The question here is that which communicative activities are more appropriate to teach in large classes and to attract students at variable level involve in activities actively and creatively

II.2 The study on the effectiveness of using communicative activities to teach grammar in large multilevel classes at EPU

II.2.1 Description of data collection instruments and procedures

II.2.1.1 Subjects of the study

The participants of this study were 117 first-year students from two classes at EPU and 15 teachers

The students are non-English majors aged from 18 to 20 All these non-English majors learnt general English in the first year, preparing for English for specific purposes in the second year

15 teachers involve in the survey aged from 23 to 54 Their experience in teaching English varies from 2 to 30 years Of these teachers, 3 are master holders, 9 are taking master courses at Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages and Hanoi University The rest graduated from other universities All of these teachers have experiences of teaching large multilevel classes

II.2.1.2 Instruments

This study employed the quantitative method which helped to provide qualified background data for finding out appropriate activities for large multilevel classes In order to obtain in-depth and rich data, the study used a variety of research instruments and sources of data: questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews

• Questionnaires

To gain data for the research, two kinds of questionnaires were designed One was designed for 117 non English major students and the other was for the teachers Some open-ended questions were also provided so that the respondents could have opportunities to express their opinions about the items raised in the questionnaires The questionnaires are enclosed in the appendices

The first questionnaire consists 3 parts Part 1 is about learners’ personal information, part 2, consisting 5 questions, is to obtain information on learning grammar and learning grammar through communicative activities, part 3, including 3 questions, is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of these communicative in a large multilevel class It was delivered to 117 non-English majors in two classes at EPU However, of 117 questionnaires delivered, 17 incompletely filled questionnaires are rejected, leaving 100 for analysis

The second questionnaire was delivered to 15 teachers of English at EPU The purpose of this questionnaire is to draw information on grammar teaching, their

evaluation to communicative activities which they experience in large multilevel classes and their suggestion to solutions in large multilevel classes

• Classroom observation

Apart from the survey questionnaires for non-English majors and teachers, classroom observation was employed to clarify and test the validity of information A large multilevel class of 63 first-year students at EPU was taught grammar through communicative activities The class observation was carried out to evaluate whether the teachers would give the lesson successfully: the way

it motivates as many students as possible into the activity, the way she monitors the class

II.2.1.3 Data analysis procedure

There were 117 survey questionnaires delivered to 2 classes consisting 64 and

53 first–year students When delivering the questionnaires, the teacher was with the students to give any explanations if necessary The students were given 45 minutes to finish their answers They, therefore, had enough time to think of the answers carefully These questionnaires were also collected by the teacher herself

In the first place, information collected from two types of questionnaires were consolidated and categorized The results were analyzed and presented in forms

of tables and figures The observation notes were jotted down to provide the findings in form of reflections Beside classroom observation, information gained through interviews was added to support the interpretation, making the collected information more reliable and valid

II.2.2 Data analysis and discussions

This part presents and discusses the findings which are resulted from the analysis of the three sources of data collected: questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews

Years of learning English before entering EPU

Table 1: Students’ profile

The total number of the students chosen in the study was 100 of which 75 were male and 25 were female The majority were aged 19 Some were 18 and the rest belongs

to the age groups of 20-24

More than a half of students have learnt English for over 5 years (56%) 19% have spent from 3 to 5 years studying this language 11 % have experience of 1-

3 years in learning English while 10 % have learnt English less than one year There are even 4 students who have no experience of learning English because

they did not have it as a compulsory subject in high schools or they studied another language such as French and Russian before

Most of the study subjects came from the countryside and provinces round Hanoi (81 students) while only 19 were from big cities Their different places of domicile led to a greatly various experience in their English language learning Students from the countryside and provinces round Hanoi were taught grammar

in traditional ways and have no opportunities to practise communicating English Therefore, it is hard for them to get acquainted with the approach of learning grammar through communicative activities

Teachers’ profile is as important as students’ profile in how grammar has been taught in large multilevel classes at EPU As can be seen from the table, the English teachers at EPU are rather young with 9 teachers aged from 25-30 2 are aged from 31-35, 4 are aged from 35 to more than 40 It shows that the English teacher group of EPU are enthusiastic and willing to acquire new methods and approaches to help their students gain the essential knowledge Also, they have a lot of experience in teaching English In fact, initial teacher training appears to do little to help the teachers deal with the issues raised by teaching and learning in large classes Therefore, it is hoped that their experience is enough to provide with useful advices for coping with large class- a very common situation at EPU at the moment

• The attitude of students at EPU towards the position of grammar The data about the attitude of students at EPU towards the position of grammar

is summarized in the table below

Answer

Questions

Very important Important Neutral

Almost unimportant Unimportant

How

important is

grammar?

Table 3: Students’ attitude towards the position of grammar

It can be seen from the table that in spite of some differences, almost students

at EPU are aware of the importance of grammar learning Maybe it is because their final tests are often in written form and focusing mostly on grammar Remarkably, 52% and 42% suppose that learning grammar is very important and important respectively Only 5% have neutral idea about the importance

of grammar learning However, 1% and 0% claim that it is almost unimportant or unimportant

• Reasons for learning grammar

grammar?

Number of students Percentage

Table 4: Reasons for learning grammar

Information obtained from the survey reveals that the largest proportion of participants find learning grammar help them improve communication skills Obviously, they have more motivations to learn grammar than other groups who learn grammar just to pass the final exams (22%) or just because learning grammar is compulsory at the university (22%) Thus, teaching grammar through communicative activities may be an appropriate way of helping them learn grammar effectively and also communicate successfully In addition, 20%

of students learn grammar for a variety of different reasons They learn grammar due to the fact that it is very necessary and useful for their further study and future jobs As it is known that reading ESP documents requires engineers grammar understanding abilities and vocabulary knowledge Some say that learning grammar provides them basic background to develop four English skills consisting of speaking, listening, reading as well as writing

• Frequency of teaching grammar in large multilevel classes

(more than 40 students)

Choices

Table 5: Frequency of teaching grammar in large multilevel classes

The results in table 5 reveal EPU teachers’ experience in grammar teaching in large multilevel classes 80% of the teachers always teach English in large multilevel classes Only 13.3% and 6.6% are usually and sometimes respectively The fact is that they usually or sometimes involve in large classes because they have just moved to EPU from other universities Obviously, just as important is the opportunities for teachers to share ideas and experience with each other In addition, the frequency enables teachers to make available to others the wealth of knowledge and experience, previously confined to individuals, which can make the process of solving things which teachers see as problems that much easier

• Frequency of learning grammar through communicative activities Table 6 shows that 69% of students think that they sometimes have chances to learn grammar through communicative activities Not many students always or usually join communicative activities.18% claim that they do not have much chance to join these activities Only 1% complain that he has never been in communicative activities

of the teachers usually employing communicative activities is equal to the one sometimes offering students communicative activities (40%) While the proportion

of the teachers who rarely use communicative activities is small (6.6%)

However, almost teachers of English at EPU always claim that they have to cope with a number of challenges when teaching in large multilevel classes

Challenges of teaching large multilevel classes No of

teachers

Percentage

We often feel out of control and trapped by the

We are frustrated by the huge amount of written

It is difficult to apply different kinds of

Getting the quiet or weak learners involved is

Table 8: Challenges of teaching large multilevel classes

Table 8 describe the problems which EPU teachers all have to face with when teaching grammar in the light of CLT in large multilevel classes According to them, the most challenging issue they have ever coped is to get the quiet or weak learners involved the communicative activities (86.6%) The teachers complain that they do not have time to help all students, only some

There is nearly the same rate of teachers (80%) interviewed find the application

of different kinds of communicative activities in teaching grammar intricate Many teachers are concerned that they are neglecting the needs of their students

as individuals

60% feel out of control and trapped by the problems of classroom management Apparently, many teachers are worried by the physical constraints imposed by large number in confined classrooms and by the discipline aspects of large classes They feel they are unable to control what is happening, and that the classes become too noisy When being interviewed, the teachers explained that

if the students are too many, the teacher cannot control them When students do activity, they make a loud noise Then the teacher cannot control the class Furthermore, it is noisy, some students who are not interested in class will

disturb the others

Being frustrated by the huge amount of written work is 33.3%

Other problems are listed by some teachers The teachers criticize that they find

it difficult because of low students’ motivation in English class Besides, they sometimes feel that the applied communicative activities are not interesting enough to attract most of the students as well as the communicative situations are not authentic In addition, many learners keep the traditional ways of learning grammar through grammar exercise in high schools They are not willing to acquire the new methods and approaches

The research question 2: What do students of multilevel classes like and dislike about learning grammar through communicative activities?

• Opinions about learning grammar through communicative activities

Do students find it is easier to understand and the

lesson more attractive when learning grammar through

Like Neutral Dislike Strongly

and for these students the lectures seem to be more attractive Clearly, learning grammar through communicative activities make the classroom atmosphere friendlier and happier so many students feel that they have no obsession of learning rules However, there still remains 8% of students who claim that learning grammar through CA is not really effective They find no motivation in this way of learning It was, thus, the teacher’s role to find ways to stimulate the students to take part in the learning in the class

According to Table 10, the biggest rate of the sample, with 66%, strongly involve in the process of learning grammar through CA and 31% have neutral opinion about this Only 3 out of 100 students answer that they do not like grammar learning through CA and no students strongly dislike it Maybe the small rate of students are not really in full a awareness of the importance of learning grammar through CA and still hold their passive learning habit which is

an obstacle preventing teachers from teaching large multilevel classes

• Students’ agreement to grammar teaching through communicative activities

2 It is easier to understand and

remember grammar structures

thanks to communicative

activities

3 I have more chance to

practise grammar through

activities

6 I have higher motivation to

learn grammar thanks to

do not fully realize the advantages of communicative activities in grammar teaching and learning or undecided about the advantages As an evidence of this, 28% are undecided the effectiveness of learning grammar through communicative activities: Is it easier to understand and remember grammar structures?; 24% are not sure if they will feel more confident after joining communicative activities and whether they have more ideas to discuss after communicative activities; 20%, 21% and 18% wonder about the active learning atmosphere which communicative activities create

Research question 3: What difficulties do students of these classes meet when learning grammar through communicative activities?

students Percentage

3 The classes are crowded and noisy so the

teacher cannot control as well as help each

5 The communicative activities are not suitable

by teachers in front of the class, being stared at or being laughed

Still, 43% of students answer that the class is too crowded and noisy As a result, the teacher cannot control the class and does not have enough time to help each student The rules being set up before carrying out the communicative activities are ignored or forgotten The communicative activities seem dim in such large multilevel classes

About a quarter of the study population find no cooperation from the partner or group friends This shows that some students are somehow passive and they rely

so much on the teacher and on the good partner Another reason is that their partners find no interest in the kind of activity

The table also reveals other difficulties students meet when participating in activities in large multilevel classes Some students complain that the class is large so they cannot listen to the teacher, thus, they sometimes do not understand the rules of the activities or the teacher’s instructions before the activities take place As a result of this, they become bored with the activities In addition, some activities are too difficult or too easy They find no motivation to join What is more? According to some other students, before the discussion, they are not prepared or provided with necessary information so they feel unconfident due to the lack of general knowledge Truly, these are precious

opinions for teachers to suggest or design supplementary materials for teaching

in general and teaching grammar in private

Only 2 % find no difficulties when participating in communicative activities in large multilevel classes It is a good point for teacher when they want to assess learners’ levels Teacher can cooperate with these students to make the activities more effective and attractive Obviously, all teachers must understand how well their learners are learning This is particular true in large classes In a class of 60 learners, for example, the teacher can be sure that at least 5-10 learners will constantly behind the others They will constantly have trouble understanding the lessons They will be discouraged if the teacher does not remedy the situation They can then become a source of disruption as well Likewise, in a class of 60 learners, the teacher can be sure that at least 5-10 learners will constantly be ahead of the others They are likely to get bored with average lessons Unless, the teacher attends their learning needs, they too can become a source of disruption In a large class, this is particular difficult In order to solve the problem, the teacher’s task is to switch the lesson or the activity to meet the needs of the slower and the faster learners as well as the rest of the class

Research Question 4: What should be done to improve the effectiveness of teaching grammar through communicative activities to these classes?

To improve the effectiveness of teaching grammar though communicative activities in large multilevel classes, evaluation of CA was carried out by both students and teachers Their evaluation are necessary in choosing, adapting and designing the communicative activities

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the communicative activities to large multilevel classes

None Little Average Much Extreme

2 Games and

Problem-solving activities

of these activities, discussion can be the most attractive to students 32 out of 58 students interviewed evaluate this kind of communicative activity very and extreme effective They suppose that they can do well with such interaction activities It is noticeable picture description, information gap activity, dialogue performance class and role play involve more than one third of students and supported by half of students participating in There is a strong possibility that group work will attract much students’ attention It is suitable to the fact that co- learning is effective than mono-learning This is due to the fact that students can help each other, share what they know and what they do not know Good students can help and encourage weak students even better than a teacher Because, several

weak students are afraid of loosing faces in front of class so they do not want to ask the teacher to explain what they do not clearly understand It is the suggestive type for designing because the greater proportion of participants and high motivation

The results also indicate that fewer students participate in such activities as cued story, story telling and oral report with only 27, 25 and 20 respectively It is true that these activities require great efforts of preparation from both teachers and students, therefore, taking time In contrast, half of students involving in these kinds of activities agree that they seem to be rather effective

For the last, when being asked to suggest other activities which are considered to

be needed, three students have been in such activities as seminar or watching a film in English They all think that it is essential to carry out these activities for students in large multilevel classes

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the communicative activities to large multilevel classes

None Little Average Much Extreme

2 Games and

Table 14 indicates the teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of

communicative activities to large multilevel classes by teachers It can be seen

that the highest rate of the teachers employ games and problems solving

activities, information gap activity as well as discussion In their opinion, these

activities seem to be rather effective This can be considered to be a good

suggestion for choosing appropriate activities for large multilevel classes The

numbers of the evaluation of the activities recommended have shown some

ways in which teachers may be helped to feel less overwhelmed when

confronted by large classes

Using songs and verse, role play, picture description and cued story are also

chosen by the majority of the teachers (11-12) However, only some of them

assume that they are very effective The rest believe that they are normal

Maybe, they have not found the appropriate approaches to apply these activities

in class the most effectively It is really important that teachers get as much as

information from students to understand what they want to learn more, what

activities are boring, what activities are interesting From that, find out what

thing teachers should adapt

Not many teachers involve in communicative activities such as story telling, oral

report, dialog performance, watch videos The numbers range from 9, 5, 7, 1

respectively Watch videos is done by a teacher and she suppose that it is very

effective However, it is so intricate to do this activities due to the university

facilities The interest of the rest of the activities is thought to be normal and

only one teacher presume they are really not effective

After evaluating the effectiveness of teaching grammar through communicative

activities in large multilevel classes, students and teachers were asked to write

down any of their suggestions to enhance the situation Thus, the last two

questions in the two questionnaires for both students and teachers were

open-ended questions