(SKKN 2022) Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons

PART A INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE Theoreotical background Based on the innovation-oriented teaching methods Based on the innovation of teaching methods that help students towards active learning, against passive learning habits, to have the most effective, successful grammar lesson, teachers need to create a joyful atmosphere and create attractive the techniques to stimulate creative thinking In general, learning English becomes more and more necessary and it also gets the attention of everyone, especially the students They are gradually becoming fond of this subject and more confident in all fields of English to master the knowledge, study about material and see the dialectical unity of listening skills - speaking - reading - writing Practical context It is clear that, in practical situation, many students are good at grammar and writing but that does not mean the students pronounce words well, not be confused or speak English fluently Here are the reasons for that: 2.1 The psychology of students in high school - Ability to reflect with their awareness of language - The ability to imagine a flexible, logical, easy to relate and compare - The ability to memorize language and find the words out quickly - Have not really confident, afraid wrong, afraid to speak English - Prefer being active and self – controlled 2.2 Problems of teaching and learning English grammar Grammar teaching is an extremely important part of foreign language teaching but there exist two universal problems One is that it is ineffective: during class, teachers explain grammar rules one by one, and students seem to understand to complete some related exercises, but when they speak and write, they still make many grammatical mistakes The other is that the students feel that grammar teaching is very dull and boring Therefore, they have no interest in learning Memorizing grammar rules is very hard for weak Ss and too easy for the good ones but it does not support students’ communicating skill Textbooks have gradually better renovation to meet the needs of learners Therefore, from the content of textbook, every teacher should have different approaches to create excitement and stimulate creativeness and eager the student to learn Knowledge of grammar are usually taught in traditional methods when teachers often use their interpreting, explaining the rules of grammar As the result, students are quite passive and have fewer opportunities to practice the language in class It is also undeniable that the Language focus periods are so depressing because of mostly grammatical knowledge So, teachers have difficulty in helping students both gain knowledge in their mind and developing communicating skills It gives us one question that which communicative techniques teachers should approach to express all the content in the classroom but still inspire the students It is strongly believed that the problem could easily be solved if teachers use the applications of external material or practical knowledge (Authentic English) is an indispensable job Therefore, students can get acquainted with the structure already provided in their background naturally Despite a lot of problems, I still expect to promote potential students’ capacity through my study: “Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons.” II AIMS OF THE STUDY - Giving a brief overview of theoretical background and practical context of both teaching and learning English Grammar - Designing activities for some sample lessons: integrating grammar into a communicative teaching lesson - Suggesting several communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons III RESEARCH SCOPE In the teaching process, there are many issues to study and change the method However due to the limited amount of time and less teaching experience, this study was carried out in classes grade 10 with 90 students in my school, during the school year 2021 -2022 IV METHOD OF STUDY Researching documents This method helps the author study theoretically from the analysis of documents and related data So, I present the study through the usual channel and scientific method This method also helps to learn about the situation and psychology of students 2.The method of investigating - Chatting with students directly to try to know their interest in this subject and teachers’ methods stimulate Ss to use your initiative, imagination, and common sense - Monitoring students through each lesson can help the author collect and draw the expression as well as the attitude of the student for learning this subject, specially, in the first minute of the grammar lesson Statistical methods Data is collected from statistics which the author completed at the beginning and at the end of school year 2021-2022 After each lesson, teacher tried to find solutions to get better results PART B: THE CONTENTS I THE TRADITIONAL METHODS “THE LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING PROCESS IS SOMEHOW “EXAM-ORIENTED” OR “EXAM-PREPARED” In general, in many high schools our country, it is commonly seen that due to the pressure of examinations which often focus on reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, or in other words, the language learning and teaching process is somehow “exam-oriented” or “exam-prepared”, the language teaching methods are undeniably affected Generally, teachers spend most of the time in class helping the students understand and remember rules and then apply them to grammar exercises As a result, it is likely that students who get very good marks in reading are not able to communicate confidently in social situations or even produce an accurate piece of conversation II SOLUTIONS (THE NEW METHODS) Skills and grammar topics have dialectical relationship with each other Therefore, teaching grammar, teachers should combine listening - speaking reading skills to make language learning becomes smooth, natural and most effective However, English is easy if there are the right strategic approaches English became really fun if students acquainted correct pronunciation, memory of vocabulary and large number of potential to catch up with the tenses in English automatically and easily As a result, I must renew perspective, and find the way how to teach more effectively grammar section In the other words, grammar is not a separated anymore, but linked with different skills and used with a lot of activities, games and various documents These activities are not only fun or playful but also directly related to the lessons Therefore, students receive knowledge in a natural way to avoid restrictive, dogmatic They also realize how to learn vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation through the techniques By this way, students can learn English while listening to relax through the paper, the favorite topics, imagination or laughing while learning to bring high efficiency Some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language In this part, I am going to suggest some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language These are some examples to illustrate the integration of grammar in CLT comes from Pekoz’s (2008) suggestion in teaching grammar •Sample 1: Application for grammar section: used to+ infinitive (Unit special education - grade 10) Pre-grammar a) The teacher discusses the topic "THE CHANGES OVER THE YEARS” b) The teacher shows the picture as below One picture was taken some years ago and the other one is new The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures While-grammar a) This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity to notice the new grammatical structure The teacher tells them they are going to learn a new structure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the name of structure (for motivational purposes) b) The teacher makes a transition from the context created in picture to the grammatical point by showing the same pictures and telling the picture differences with "used to" and "simple present tense" (i.e "he used to be thin, but now he isn’t, he is very fat now", or TV used to be big and thick but now it isn’t, etc) c) The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching of grammatical point through some other picture comparisons, discussions, stories, or reading/listening texts d) The teacher asks some clarification check questions to ensure that the meaning is clear Some examples: Did he often work hard in the past? Does he eat much now? was she thin in the past?/ is he fat now? Did he have a big and thick TV in the past? Does he have a flat and modern TV now? e) The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board for the given sentence providing help if needed She used to be thin/ have a big and thick television S + Used to + V … 3) Post-grammar Brainstorming The teacher asks students to think back to when they were a child and asks the following questions: "What are the differences and similarities between your life then and now? Think about where you lived, your likes/dislikes, your holidays and your family, and fill in the following lines with appropriate sentences" Your life as a child: Your present life: Role-play The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be old friends meeting after a long time They are supposed to communicate and note the differences in each using either their imagination or the role play cues Writing The teacher asks students to write a story about the following topic for the school magazine.“Imagine that you have been asleep from 2010 till now You have just woken up to be shocked about everything around you Compare your old and new lives and write your story using "used to".” •Sample 2: The application for the section “The present perfect passive” (Unit Technology and you - grade 10) Pre-grammar Stage First, the teacher has a discussion about the new room John has moved to Some sentences as examples “There is a TV set’ “They have handed some pictures on the wall” ………………………………………… While-grammar Stage The teacher shows the picture of the room The teacher says the following: The bed in the middle has been bought by his “The TV set has been placed on a table” “The pictures have been handed on the wall, near the bed.” “The light has been turned on.” …………………………… mother.” => Ask the students to pay more attention to the sentences the teacher has just said and formulate the rule on the board Alternatively, or additionally, the context can be created through a reading text written in the present perfect passive voice Post-grammar Stage The teacher gives the following hand-out to be filled out and asks students to walk around and ask questions to the class members Find someone Class members’ name Who has been given money? Who has been taken to a beautiful place? Who has been met a famous person recently? Who has been given a present? Who has been punished by parents? Role-play The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be neighbors whose houses have been broken into and they tell each other about what have been stolen Writing The teacher asks students: ”Imagine that You have just turned back your house after a long time living far away from it and you have been surprised about everything around you Your parents have changed some things in your house Write a letter to your close friends and tell about that, remember to use the present perfect passive voice Some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons 2.1 Using games and problem-solving activities The latest concern of the foreign language teachers is to make the students use the target language communicatively Among the activities or techniques, games and problem solving activities are the most preferable communicative activities Both games and problem- solving activities have a goal Games are organized according to rules, and they are enjoyable Most games require group works, whereas problem- solving activities (though they are structured) require individual response and creative solutions Games and problem- solving activities are generally used after at the practice stage and more frequently at the production stage, because such communicative tasks can only be handled after mastering sufficient grammar and lexical points Students are more motivated when learning through the games because of the competition in games Besides, games also reduce the stress in the classroom Games and problem- solving problems can be used at all levels When using games, of course, the teacher must be sure that students are familiar with the words and structures needed to carry out the task Quick drill should usually be done before students play games Furthermore, it is important to design clear and easy instructions for the games or the activities These are the common games and activities usually used in grammar teaching lessons: - Noughts and crosses - Slap the board - Network - Flash cards - Bingo - Network - Hangman - Labeling the pictures - Jumbed words • Sample 1: Chain game Teaches students the conditional sentences type1 (The application for grammar section Unit8: The story of my village grade 10) Application: Students work in group, taking turns to say a conditional sentence in a possible situation Another student asks what happens next, that person answers, then, they go on asking and answering Teacher can encourage students to keep going on as long as possible e.g A – If it’s sunny, I’ll go to my homeland Group - What will you if you go to your homeland? B – If I go to my homeland, I’ll meet my grandmother and my friends Group – What will you if you meet your friends? C – If I meet them, we’ll go to the pub Group – What will you if you go to the pub? This game not only helps to practice first conditional, but also students’ reaction and creative thinking •Sample 2: Game: Quizzes to teach “Superlatives” (The application for unit 16: historical places _ grade 10) Teacher prepares some questions about common knowledge of Britain What is the highest mountain? (Ben Nevis – 1,343 m) Who is the richest person? (The Duke of Westminster - € 8.2 billion) What is the furthest country from the UK? (New Zealand) What is the second biggest city? (Birmingham – 2.3 million) Where is the largest lake? (Scotland, Loch Lormond – 312 km2) - Divide the class into teams - The teams raise their hands to take the chance to answer the question and score - The team with the most scores will be the winner The students could continue with one team raising questions and the others answering This activity also helps to enhance students’ general knowledge, apart from English knowledge 2.2 Using songs Songs and music always create relaxing and non-threatening atmosphere for students, who are usually unconfident when speaking English in a formal classroom setting In any case, students find the lesson interesting from songs And a major success is breaking the traditional view of dull and boring grammar classes In grammar lesson, songs may be used both used for the presentation and practice phase Sample: Using the song “If I were a rich man” to present the conditional sentences type Unit 9: undersea world grade 10 Type of activity: individual work, pair work, whole class Aims: present the conditional sentences type Preparation: make the copy of the handouts for each student Procedure: - Deliver the handouts to the students - Ask Ss to listen to the song IF I WERE A RICH MAN "Dear God, you made many, many poor people I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor But it's no great honor either! So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?" If I were a rich man, Ya deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum All day long I'd biddy biddy bum If I were a wealthy man I wouldn't have to work hard Ya deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum If I were a biddy biddy rich, Yidle-diddle-didle-didle • let them withdraw the form, use and meaning of the conditional sentences type • For an extra- activity , the teacher can ask the students to sing the song individually or the whole class 2.3 Role - play Role play is used to refer all sorts of activities where students imagine themselves in one situation outside the classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone rather interesting than themselves, and using appropriate language on the new context For example, one student acts the father and the others play as his sons/daughters This activity is often used at the production stage Sample: Role-play to practice talking about purpose (Application for unit 12: Music – grade 10) Who wearing the hat is the father and the others are his sons/ daughters A B B: I want to get good mark A: in order to/to…get good mark, you must study harder/ you must stop playing game to get good mark ………… B: This is your newspaper A: I didn’t have time to read the newspaper 2.4 Interview Interview is also a learning activity that can be used to teach grammar Students interview each other and they can say true sentences about themselves In that way, students learn and practice the structures and they also get to know about their partners This activity makes the learning atmosphere more friendly and relaxing because they may find something in common and they can share with each other Interview is usually suitable for the production stage Sample: Interview to practice “WH-questions” Unit 12: Music – grade 10 10 * Preparation: Each student has a form applying a scholarship * Application: Students work in pairs, asking for information and putting it into the form APPLICATION FORM Full name: …………………………………………… Sex: ………………………………………………… Date of birth: ……………………………………… Pace of birth: ……………………………………… Permanent address: ………………………………… Nationality: ………………………………………… School attended: …………………………………… Certificate: ………………………………………… Foreign languages: ………………………………… Hobbies: …………………………………………… Students will have to ask various kinds of questions, such as: 11 - What’s your full name? -When were you born? - Where you live now? - Have you got any diploma - Can you speak any foreign language? 2.5 Telling stories Telling stories is suitably applied for the production stage when students are free to say what they want and what they think In that way, they can develop their imagination and self- confidence at the same time Sample:Telling stories to teach students the conditional sentence type (The application for Unit 11: National Parks – grade 10) - Teacher writes the first half of a sentence at the top of the board: If he hadn’t got up late …, and writes the other half at the bottom of the board: he wouldn’t have gone to prison - At first sight, this conditional sentence seems irrational as no one has to go to prison just because he gets up late However, this irrational situation provokes curiosity, and students are eager to find out the reason for this consequence - Students work in groups, trying to make up a logical story of the man who eventually went to prison They take notes of the events in a sequence of time and then they say full sentences with third conditional For examples: A – If he hadn’t got up late, he wouldn’t have missed the bus B – If he hadn’t missed the bus, he wouldn’t have been in a hurry C – If he hadn’t been in a hurry, he wouldn’t have taken a taxi D – If he hadn’t taken a taxi, he wouldn’t have dropped his wallet in the street A – If he hadn’t dropped his wallet in the street, he would have had the money to pay the taxi driver B – If he had had the money, the taxi driver wouldn’t have got angry… This is a very interesting and effective activity, as students can use the structure again and again, all of them have a chance to speak and they can create the story as they wish 12 2.6 Describing the pictures Depending on the purpose of the lesson, teachers may use different images for students to describe For examples:  Teach “comparatives and superlative ” In Unit 16: Historical places _grade 10 + Give each group some pictures and ask them to make comparisons orally + Students will sit in groups and practice speaking + Tools: papers, pictures + Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation" + Time: 6' - The teacher will ask Ss give their comparisons - Teachers will give students some sample sentences:  The boy standing on the right hand is the shortest person  The blue car ran the most quickly - Students will put the same question using comparisons - Some of the students to present their sentences: - Teacher encourages SS and gives them the feedback/mark/gift…  Teach “who, which , that” in Unit : Technology and you _grade 10 + Give each group a picture and ask the members to use the pronunciation to make a correct sentences + Students will sit in groups and practice speaking + Tools used: paper , paintings + Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation " + Time: 6' - The teacher will ask students to describe the activities of the people in the painting using who, which, that 13 - Teachers will give students some sample sentences:  There are four students who are playing on the ground  The little boy who is wearing a green shirt is drawing the sun - Students will make more sentences in the same way: using who, which, that - Some of the students to describe the picture: Teachers can encourage students by giving them suggested words This section will be helpful 2.7 Getting cards from teacher Teacher must prepare a number of cards for his/her purpose Ex:The application to teach Present simple and Adverbs of frequency Unit1: A day in the life of…… – grade 10 Teachers’ preparation: 15 cards with one adverb of frequency in each card e g always, occasionally, hardly ever, never, every night, once every two years, every twenty minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into teams, - Asking each team to send representatives All the 15 students stand in a horizontal line, taking turns to get one card from the teacher, turn it over, read the adverb out and immediately say a sentence containing that adverb Ex: Student A: Always → I always come home at six o’clock Student B: Every two years → I go to my homeland every two years Anyone who cannot say the sentence right away, makes a grammatical mistake or whose sentence does not make sense will be out Student C: Never →My mother never exercise in the evening Other students: Wrong! My mother never does exercise in the evening So student C will be out In the end, whichever team has the most members remaining will be the winner 14 Apart from practice using the present simple tense and adverbs of frequency, students have a chance to practice reaction in speaking, accuracy and fluency 2.8 The perfect couples Teacher classifies female students and male ones to find the perfect couple who have the best sentences when they are combined Teacher can also use this technique in some other cases For example, teaching conditional sentences (2 clauses in one sentense) And this is a example to teach “ The present perfect” and “Because of or in spite of” Unit 7: The Mass Media - grade 10 Procedure: Teacher prepares some couple pieces of paper having the number on Teacher passes the papers over spontaneously and asks SS to do: Team 1(female): Write uncompleted sentences with “because of” or” in spite of” Ex: In spite of the time, Because of the rain, ……………………………………… Team (male): Make sentences put in the present perfect tense e.g: I have gone to England Nam has drunk beer ……………………………………………… Teacher call all couples of Ss to read out their writing 15 Which couple having the most appropriate interesting sentence will be the perfect couple and get present from teacher Here are some photos to illustrate for this activity From the pictures, we have sentences to be read before the class: Sentence 1: In spite of the rain, he has drunk beer Sentence 2: Because of teachers, I has flied to England Sentence 3: In spite of illness, I have had no money Sentence 4: In spite of the illness, I have finished all my homework Sentence5: Because of the headache, Nam has worked hard Of all sentences, the girl and the boy number is the perfect couple III THE RESULTS OF APPLYING THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR Vocabulary Class Number of students Abundance of vocabulary Vocabulary is enough Lack of vocabulary 10A7 50 22 44,0% 21 42,00% 14,0% 10A8 48 20 41,66% 20 41,66% 16,68% Speaking and listening skills Number of students Class 10A7 50 Confident 10 Normal 20,00% 30 10A8 48 16,66% 25 AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR 16 Unconfident 60,00% 10 20,00% 52,08% 15 31,26% Vocabulary Class Number of students 10A7 10A8 50 48 Abundance of vocabulary Vocabulary is enough 30 25 10 19 60.00% 52,08% 20,00% 39,59% Lack of vocabulary 10,00% 8,33% Speaking and listening skills Class Number of students 10A7 50 15 30,00% 30 60,00% 10,00% 10A8 48 11 22,91% 27 56,25% 10 % Confident Normal Unconfident VI THE CONDITIONS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION Factually, when you mention about the condition and the implementation this study, you should point out some “challenges” of communicative teaching and learning English: - Huge classes (There are so many students in the class) - A lack of visual aids - The learning materials should be well designed in advance - The students are not mature and responsible; they could not be organized in small groups and given communicative tasks Regarding the issue of feasibility for applying the experiences, in my opinion, with the result of applying some techniques mentioned above, it is undeniable that teacher can get better results than teaching through traditional methods But surely, the teachers have well preparation , both English teachers and students have got suitable conditions, a better classroom environment with audio/visual aids like computer, multimedia, OHP, etc., 17 PART C: CONCLUSION From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience that needs to be taken into consideration when integrating grammar in teaching communication as follows: - Teachers should always bear in mind the language proficiency level of their students and choose appropriate activities For example, the materials chosen should neither too difficult nor too easy, should not contain vocabulary and structures that are too challenging - The materials chosen should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them Some topics that most students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education, jobs, tourism etc… - Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor Grammatical points should be used to communicate practically It may take time and effort to help students improve their communication skills - In addition, teachers should stimulate students to join class activities, especially the weak and passive students Negative comments from the teachers which threaten the students or influence the students’ participation in the class should not be used if necessary Apart from that, the training course in CLT should be held regularly to help teachers update their knowledge and exchange their teaching experience so that they can apply CLT on teaching to make their grammar lessons more effective Thank you very much! LEADER’S CONFIRMATIONS Thanh Hoa, May, 19th 2022 (Xác nhận thủ trưởng đơn vị) I strongly ensure this is my own work ………………………………………… Writer ………………………………………… ………………………………………… ………………………………………… Hoàng Thương Huyền REFERENCES 18 Van sHoang Van (2015), English textbook Educational Vietnam Press Canale, M & Swain, M (1980) Approaches to Communicative Competence SEAMEO Regional Language Cent Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman Harmer, J (1987) Teaching and Learning Grammar Longman Group UK Limited Richards, J C & Rodgers, J.S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press Lock, G (1997) Functional English Grammar: an Introduction for Second Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Pekoz, B Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language Teaching The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XIV, No 10, October 2008 Websites: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Pekoz-Grammar.html 19 ... or laughing while learning to bring high efficiency Some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language In this part, I am going to suggest some ways of integrating grammar for communicative. .. background and practical context of both teaching and learning English Grammar - Designing activities for some sample lessons: integrating grammar into a communicative teaching lesson - Suggesting several... capacity through my study: ? ?Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons. ” II AIMS OF THE STUDY - Giving a brief overview