SKKN EFFECTIVENESS OF USING GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO 10 GRADERS AT ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO NGHỆ AN TRƯỜNG PT DÂN TỘC NỘI TRÚ THPT SỐ SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM EFFECTIVENESS OF USING GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO 10 GRADERS AT ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL Môn: Tiếng Anh Tác giả: Lê Sa Tổ chuyên môn: Văn – Ngoại ngữ Năm thực hiện: 2021 – 2022 Số điện thoại: 091 607 00 26 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART INTRODUCTION RATIONALE PART II CONTENT I.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The role grammar in teaching and learning English The importance of students’ motivation The application of games in teaching grammar 3.1 Benefits of teaching grammar with games 3.2 What kinds of games work best? II SITUATION ANALYSIS Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School No.2 English teachers at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School No.2 The 10th -form students observation classes Tieng Anh 10 textbook and its grammar points III SURVEY Analyzing result of survey questionnaires 1.1 Analyzing result of survey questionnaire for teachers(see appendix 1)……… 1.2 Analyzing result of survey questionnaire for students (see appendix 2) Analyzing result of class observation 12 2.1 Using grammar games 12 2.2 Not using grammar games 14 Result of interview 15 Findings and discussion 18 4.1 Real situation of teaching and learning grammar at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 18 4.2 Effectiveness of grammar games 18 4.2.1 Effectiveness of grammar games in developing students' motivation 18 4.2.2 Effectiveness of grammar games in developing the ability of students' understanding of the lesson 19 4.3 Difficulties when using grammar games in class 19 4.3.1 For teachers 19 4.3.2 For students 20 IV FINDING SOLUTIONS 20 Measures to overcome difficulties when using grammar games in class 20 1.1 Measures for teachers 20 1.2 Measures for students 20 Tips for Using Grammar Games in Class Successfully 21 Examples of grammar games in Tieng Anh 10 textbook 22 Effectiveness of the solutions 36 The result and findings about the improvement of the students 36 PART III CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES PART INTRODUCTION RATIONALE Regarding to teaching grammar, there are a variety of techniques for presentation However, it is undeniable that most students find it difficult to remember a lexical item of grammar If teachers would like students to remember new grammar it needs to be learnt in the context, practiced and then revised to prevent students from forgetting Teachers must make sure of that students have understood the new words, which will be remembered better if introduced in a “memorable way” Therefore, teachers have to employ a variety of techniques for new grammatical presentation and revision Practically, games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is a little time left at the end of the lesson As observed, a game should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages Mr Richard suggests that games should be used at all stages of the English lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen Many factors should be taken into consideration while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy Teachers should be very careful about choosing games if they want to make them beneficial for the learning process If games are to bring desired results, they must parallel with either the students’ level, or age, or the materials that are to be introduced or practiced Not all of the games are appropriate for all students irrespective of their age Various age groups require various topics, materials and modes of games For example, children benefit most from games which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups, and the like Additionally, structural games that practice or reinforce a certain grammatical aspects of language have to relate to students’ ability and prior knowledge Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or outside the students’ experience Grammar games also help learners to recall a grammar material in a pleasant, entertaining way All researchers agree that even if the grammar games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote the communicative competence, and generate the fluency However, can they be more successful for presentation and revision than other techniques? My teaching practice proves that the answer to this question is absolutely affirmative There are many advantages of using games in grammar Firstly, games can ease anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely Secondly, games are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunities to express their opinions and feelings Moreover, they enable learners to acquire new experience within the foreign language that are not always possible during a typical lesson games Last but not least, they add diversion to the regular classroom activities, break the ice and introduce the new ideas in the easy, relaxed atmosphere Taking all the benefits of games into consideration, I decided to this research on “Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching Grammar to 10 Graders at Ethnic Boarding High School” with the hope that it can improve and even change the conventional teaching method of most English teachers and help students be motivated to memorize and apply languages in context PART II CONTENT I.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The role grammar in teaching and learning English It is quite reasonable to see the importance of grammar according to Harmer’s viewpoint(1987): “Without some understanding of Grammar, students would not be able to anything moe than utter separate items of language for separate functions The expression of functional language is only possible through the use of the Grammar ò the language” Firstly, teaching grammar helps students understand how the language works Apart from vocabulary, students need to know grammar to understand how it is written or how words are combined together to understand the prober meaning Without grammar or with a poor knowledge of grammar, they may get confused with complicated expression In other words, the teaching of grammar means providing students with opportunities to use English in a variety of realistic situation to learn to communicative effectively Appropriate grammar techniques are embedded in meaningful, communicative contexts then contribute positively to communicative goals and they also promote accuracy within fluent communicative language use Secondly, if teachers neither pay attention to grammar nor create opportunities for learners to improve grammar, learners are likely to stand the risk of fossilization or reach a point where they can cope with level of communication strategies and probably with sufficient fluency Surely, they not see the need to develop their linguistic abilities any further In favour of the importance of grammar, Larsen- Freeman (1986) affirms that grammar is regarded as a skill rather than an area of knowledge Learners not simply store knowledge about the language and its use, they need also develop an ability to something They must have a chance of learning situations to overcome the knowledge problem It is true to say that grammar is the fifth skill besides four skills reading, writing, speaking and listening Skill development as well as learning grammar takes practice Grammar might not be taught only when the students already possessed the knowledge and the ability to use the grammar item in speech, writing and listening comprehension In fact, grammar is the basic for mastering four language skills When we have concrete foundation of grammar, we feel easy to advance In general, grammar is acknowledged to be of importance in language study and in language teaching and learning in particular Grammar is acquired naturally from meaningful input and opportunities to interact in the classroom More especially, learners can improve their grammar competence in a suitable environment without conscious focus on language forms However, this partly depend on the learning circumstances As a result, grammar teaching gains its significant role in English Language Teaching because highly developed language skills are difficult to achieve without some knowledge of grammar The importance of students’ motivation Since motivation is not only a vital but also a highly complex factor determining more or less successful language learning, it is necessary to examine approaches to motivation in learning in order to bring about better insights into it Over the years there have been in number able studies on motivation in foreign and second language learning In this studies, researchers have attempted to explain what is meant by motivation Learners’ motivation can change overtime and effect on their language learning Various studies have found that motivation is strongly related to success in language learning However, most of studies on motivation in foreign and second language learning have been influenced by the work of Gardner (1985), who defines motivation as consisting of effort, plus desire to achieve the goal of learning, plus favourable attitude towards learning the language The application of games in teaching grammar There is an interesting movement towards teaching grammar with games It creates students’ movement in learning English, especially English grammar Just imagine when coming in class, the teacher announces that it’s time for a grammar lesson with games and instead of moans and whining, the teacher and the students get smiles and excitement 3.1 Benefits of teaching grammar with games Games have the advantage of allowing the students to “practice and internalize vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively” They can this through repeated to exposure to the target grammar and because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to deskwork Plus, during the game, the students are focus on the activity and up absorbing the grammar subconsciously Learning a language requires constant effort and that can be tiring, but Ersoz outline two good reasons why games should be included in the classroom: - Games that are amusing and challenging are highly motivating - Games allow meaningful use of the language in context While games are motivating for the students, probably the best reason, according to Saricoban and Metin (2000), to use games is that “Indeed games can be used to add excitement through competition or to create bonding between the students, and between the students and teacher Students may wish to play games purely for fun Teachers, however, need more convincing reasons “The teachers need to consider which games to use, when to use them, how to link them up with the syllabus, textbook or programme and how, more specially, different games will benefit students in different ways (Khan, J 1996)” The key to a successful language game is that the rules are clear, the ultimate goal is well defined and the game must be fun 3.2 What kinds of games work best? When the teacher is looking for games to use in class, don’t just pick up something to be a “time filler” that does not have any linguistic purpose These games may entertain the students, but when the teacher doesn’t have much time with them each day as it is, he/ she wants the games to double duty to get the most out of the time he/she spends playing games If the game is simply for fun and not linked to educational goals or may not be the best use of time It is possible to have a fun game that is educationally sound, however To find out if the game is educationally sound, think about these questions posed by Lin Hong (2002): - Which skills the games practice? - What type of games is it and what is its purpose? - Does the difficulty level of the game mesh with students’ ability level? - Does the game require maximum involvement by the students? - Do the students like it? Does the teacher like it? To add to these questions: - What specific vocabulary or grammar is the teacher introducing or practising with this game? - Can the teacher keep control of class and play this game? - What materials does the teacher need for the game and can obtain these easily? - What controls, if any are needed, will the teacher have in place to ensure the students are on track? - Competition is not always appropriate Is it possible to play a game for the sake of the game and in order to define winners and losers? Here are some ways play down competition: - Do not keep score all the time, make sure the teams tie, play down any” winning”, praise every one, play until everyone has finished -The winners are those who finish, not those who finish first, and everyone finishes, ect -Are the rules easy and clear? II SITUATION ANALYSIS Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School No.2 Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School No.2 ( NEBHS) which is situated in Nghe An town, Nghe An province, was established in 2010 It has for 10 years been the reliable address for minority students of all the districts in Nghe An province At present, there are 16 classes with over 500 students placed into three different grades: grade 10th, 11th and 12th The teaching staff composes of 45 teachers of 14 compulsory subjects, of who one- third is young and creative whereas the others are experienced and enthusiastic English is taught here as a compulsory subject In spite of Ethnic boarding high school, it is very famous for its tradition of good teaching and learning with the students getting many prizes in the exams of Nghe An province every year The material conditions of the school are rather well-provided, which also helps to create its success However, most of students are good at and like learning social subjects The school is trying to look for methods so that students are good at both natural subjects and social ones, especially English English teachers at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding High School No.2 If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most important factor in the teaching process In NEBHS there are teachers of English currently working Five of them are female ranking from 35 to 48 Their experience in teaching English varies from to 12 years Obviously, the age of the English teachers reveals the fact that all of them were trained in the traditional method- the Grammar- Translation One Few of them have taken retraining courses to improve their English and their teaching method All of them are enthusiastic with their career and had at least years of experience in teaching English The 10th -form students observation classes Although my school is located in Vinh city, all of students come from remote and mountainous areas of Nghe An province Therefore, there are many difficulties in the teaching and learning Most of the students at my school live far from the district center and come from comparatively poor families, so their learning condition is low In spite of the difficulties, the students are given a chance to go to school The school has 16 classes with over 500 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12 and the observation class most of them are aged from 15 to 20 Most of them have been learning English since they were at 6th form The students at NEBHS come from every part of the province and belong to different ethnic groups of Thai, Mong, Tho, Thanh, Kinh They are brought up by scholarships from national and provincial budget The Ethnic students are often lack of proper teaching and learning materials when they were at primary and secondary schools Teachers of the schools have to work harder than their colleagues at other upper secondary school in the province to help their students study effectively Because their students are struggling to catch up with general knowledge of most subjects and they have to learn about the ethnic language in order to help students understand the lessons Tieng Anh 10 textbook and its grammar points Although this is the last year we use this textbook, the researcher still choose Tieng Anh 10 textbook for general students for this study The content of this study relates to Grammar in "Language Focus", The book includes 16 units with the following grammar points are: Unit 1: The present simple; adverbs of frequency; the past simple Unit 2: Wh-questions; Gerund and to + infinitive Unit 3: The past perfect; the past perfect vs the past simple Unit 4: Used to + infinitive; which as a connector Unit 5: The present perfect; the present perfect passive; who, which, that Unit 6: The present progressive (with a future meaning); be going to Unit 7: The present perfect; because of and in spite of Unit 8: Reported speech: statements; conditional sentence type Unit 9: Should; conditional sentence type Unit 10: The passive voice Unit 11: Conditional sentence type Unit 12: to + infinitive to talk about purposes; wh-questions Unit 13: It is/was not until that ; a/an and the Unit 14: Will vs going to; will: making prediction; will: making offers Unit 15: Non-defining vs, defining relative clauses; although as a contrasting connector Unit 16: Comparatives and superlatives; making comparisons III SURVEY Analyzing result of survey questionnaires 1.1 Analyzing result of survey questionnaire for teachers Teachers' answers from survey questionnaire (see appendix 1) show that: - When giving idea about students' motivation for grammar learning, 14% of the teachers say that their students like English grammar very much, 36% of the teachers think students like it, and about half of the teachers (50% find their students like but not much, and don't like at all In summary, students' motivation is not high Sample Comparative Cards Aims: In this free comparatives card game, students link nouns together by making comparative sentences with than One student goes first and puts one of their noun cards face up on the table Lesson: Unit 16 Procedure: Divide the students into pairs Give each pair of students a set of noun cards Tell the students to shuffle the cards and deal them out evenly One student goes first and puts one of their noun cards face up on the table The students then take it in turns to put down a noun card and make a comparative sentence with 'than', linking the two nouns together, e.g 'A car is faster than a bus' 'A bus is bigger than an elephant', etc Students can put a card down either before or after the card or card chain on the table, similar to dominoes Each time a student puts down a card they must use a different comparative adjective If a student makes a grammar mistake or can't think of a way to link two noun cards together, they miss a turn This continues back and forth with students linking nouns together with different comparative adjectives The first student to get rid of all their cards wins the game When the students have finished, have the pairs write out the comparative sentences they made Students then read out their sentences to the class and feedback is given Sample Relative Clause Game Aims: In this relative clauses activity, students practice describing people, things, places and times using defining relative clauses Lesson: Unit Procedure: Give each student a card Explain that the students are going to write two words relating to each relative pronoun on their card Example: who a police officer Brad Pitt 28 Students then write their words in the 'My wordlist' column, without showing their answers to anyone Tell the students that they are now going to write descriptions of the words on their card using defining relative clauses Write the following language on the board to help them: It's a person who It's a thing which It's a time when It's a place where On a separate piece of paper, students then write a description for each word in their wordlist using relative clauses Afterwards, divide the class into groups of four Groups of three are also possible The students then take it in turns to read out a description for a word on their card to the other group members Point out that students may need to give more definitions if their group members are having a hard time guessing the word The first student to guess the word wins The student describing the word then writes the name of the person who guessed correctly in the 'Name' column next to the word This continues until all the words have been guessed Afterwards, the students add up how many times each person's name appears on their card The student who guessed the most words wins the game 29 Sample Unit 1: includes the following grammar points and time for teaching them of about 35 minutes Aims: This game is used to review: - The present simple (exercise 1, page 19) - Adverbs of frequency (exercise 2, page 21) - The past simple (exercise 3, page 21) *Game (7 minutes - to revise the present simple before practicing exercise 1): The teacher asks the students to work in groups: - Group 1: write on board the formation of the present simple - Group 2: write on board the usage of the present simple - Group 3: write on board the examples of the present simple - Group 4: write on board the notes of the present simple Then the teacher comments, gives good marks to the group which complete the task well and fastest *Game (6 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in individual in turn Each student will complete sentence (both speak and write on the board) The student who does well their task will have the right to choose the other one to continue the next sentence (Note: each student isn't chosen over twice) The teacher comments and praises the students who complete the true sentence *Game (4 minutes – to revise the adverbs of frequency before practicing exercise 2) The teacher asks the students to work in individual to arrange the given adverbs of frequency follow the order of frequency The student who completes the game well and fastest is the winner *Game (6 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in pairs to put each of the adverbs of frequency with its suitable position in the sentence The pair which completes the game well and fastest is the winner The teacher gives conclusion about the position of those adverbs *Game (6 minutes - to revise the past simple before practicing exercise 3) The teacher writes on the board about 20 verbs then asks the students to work in individual They will give the past form of each verb The student who completes the game well and fastest is the winner The teacher reminds the past simple *Game (6 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) 30 The teacher projects the passage (p.21) on the screen, 18 verbs in the blanks are completed but some of them are not true The teacher asks students to work in groups to find the mistakes and correct them The group which completes the game well and fastest is the winner Sample Unit 2: includes the following grammar points and time for teaching them of about 30 minutes Aims: This game is used to review: - Wh-questions (exercise 1, page 29) - Gerund and to + infinitive (exercises 2+3, pages 30+31) *Game l (7 minutes – to revise Wh-questions before practicing exercise 1) The teacher gives a picture of a famous person, for example: and 10 Wh-words: who, what, when, where, how , then asks the students to work in groups to say 10 Wh-questions about that person The group which completes the game well and fastest is the winner *Game (7 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in pairs Each pair will complete the question and the answer, the pair which does exactly will have right to choose the other to continue The teacher comments and praises the pairs who complete well their task *Game (8 minutes – to revise Gerund and to + infinitive before practicing exercise 3; exercise 2: students' homework) The teacher gives a list of verbs on the board, then asks the students to work in groups to find the verbs going with an -ing form, the verbs going with to + infinitive form The group which completes the game well and fastest is the winner *Game (8 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher uses the similar game as Game in Unit 31 Sample Unit 3: includes the following grammar points and time for teaching them of about 30 minutes Aims: This game is used to review: - The past perfect (exercise 1, page 39) - The past perfect vs the past simple (exercises 2+3, page 40) *Game (10 minutes – to revise The past perfect and The past perfect vs the past simple before practicing exercise + 3; exercise 2: students' homework) The teacher gives sentences and time line for each one like this: Sentence 1: This morning she went to the library after she had met me this morning now Sentence 2: He had completed all of his homework before p.m last night p.m last night now Then the teacher asks the students to work in groups They will show the activities in each sentence on the time line, define which ones use the past simple, which tense the rest activities use, and say the usage of that tense and the difference between tenses The group which completes the game well and fastest is the winner *Game (10 minutes practicing exercise through this game) The teacher uses the similar game as Game in Unit *Game (10 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher projects the passage (p.40) on the screen then asks students to work in groups to find mistakes and correct them The group which completes the game well and fastest is the winner After that the teacher uses the past simple or the past perfect to make some questions about the content of the passage and calls some students to answer The teacher praises the students who answer exactly Sample 10 Unit 4: includes the following grammar points and time for teaching them of about 30 minutes Aims: This game is used to review: - Used to + infinitive (exercise 2, page 53) - Which as a connector (exercise 3, page 53) 32 *Game (10 minutes – to revise “Used to + infinitive” before practicing exercise 2) The teacher projects some pictures on the screen, asks the students to work in groups to complete the sentences, for example: She used to He used go fishing last summer They go on a picnic He used to ………………… The group which completes the game exactly and fastest is the winner The teacher draws out the form and the usage of that grammar structure *Game (10 minutes – practicing exercise through this game) The teacher uses the similar game as Game in Unit *Game (10 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in pairs They will have to join a sentence from A with one from B in the box to make a new sentence, use which, then show or guess the role of which The pair which completes the game exactly and fastest is the winner The teacher will comment, correct the mistakes and call some students to give more examples 33 Sample 11 Unit 5: includes the following grammar points and time for teaching them about 35 minutes Aims: This game is used to review: - The present perfect (exercise 1, page 60) - The present perfect passive (exercise 2, page 61) - who, which, that (exercise 3, page 61) *Game (8 minutes - to revise The present perfect before practicing exercise 1) The teacher uses the similar game as Game in Unit *Game (7 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in pairs They will find the answers to the question of the situation which the teacher gives: What you think Tan has done before Quang comes? The pair which completes the game exactly and fastest is the winner *Game (10 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher asks the students to work in individual in turn Each student will rely on the sample in the book then complete the sentence similarly The student who does well their task will have right to choose the other one to continue the next sentence (Note: each student isn't chosen over twice) The teacher comments and praises the students who complete the true sentence The teacher draws out the form and the usage of that grammar structure, call some students to give more examples *Game (10 minutes - practicing exercise through this game) The teacher projects 10 sentences (p.61) which are completed with who, which, or that on the screen, but some of sentences use the wrong relative pronoun, then asks students to work in groups to find those mistakes, correct them and say the role of who, which, and that The group which completes well and fastest is the winner The teacher comments, explains, gives homework The games above are only some examples of the application of games in teaching grammar with reference to Tieng Anh 10 The teachers at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 invented these games thanks to studying the books of games and their creation The games below are chosen from the reference books,they can be also used to teach the grammar points in Tieng Anh 10 34 Grammar points The present simple The past simple The past perfect The present perfect Wh-questions Games Grammar draughts Mario Rinvolucri, 1984: 54 Tower block Jill Hadfield, 1990: Matchmaking Jill Hadfield, 1990: Silent sentence Mario Rinvolucri, 1984: 59 Good news, bad news Jill Hadfield, 1990: 12 Detective work Jill Hadfield, 1990: 29 Line-ups Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 40 Present perfect poem Mario Rinvolucri, 1984: 81 It wasn't me, Officer Jill Hadfield, 1990: 22 Crossed lines Jill Hadfield, 1990: 10 Board game Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 109 Gerund and to + Cocktail party infinitive Used to + infinitive School reunion who, which, that Relatively speaking Reported speech Tact 10 Will vs going to 11 Comparatives 12 Superlatives 13 Relative clauses References Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 232 Jill Hadfield, 1990: 24 Jill Hadfield, 1990: Jill Hadfield, 1990: 31 Houseparties Jill Hadfield, 1990: 26 Yuppies Jill Hadfield, 1990: 32 Comparative quiz Granger, 1980: 26 Boiled eggs Jill Hadfield, 1990: 38 Comparative quiz Granger, 1980: 27 Whatsitsname? Jill Hadfield, 1990: 35 Grammar points 14 Conditional sentence type 15 Conditional sentence type Games References Just the fact Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 310 Superstitions Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 309 Why not? Jill Hadfield, 1990: 16 16 Conditional sentence type Building around 17 The passive voice Match 18 Adverbs of frequency Ball toss Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: The adverb game Jill Hadfield, 1990: 37 19 Should Told you so! Jill Hadfield, 1990: 15 20 al an and the Memory Granger, 1980: Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 318 Suzanne W Woodward, 2003: 218 Effectiveness of the solutions It is noticeable that games are effective in teaching and practising grammar Grammar learning becomes enjoyable and permanent as a result of games’ providing learners with a meaningful context for practising grammar communicatively Most of the learners feel motivated after taking part in the games They have learned the rules of grammar lexical items naturally and based on the specific context The atmosphere in the classroom is also more comfortable and flexible As a result of this, students are likely to engage in the lesson actively and effectively The result and findings about the improvement of the students The goal of this study was to examine the use of games to enhance students’ knowledge of English grammar The data to respond to the research questions and the assumptions of this study were successfully collected by writer in the field Based on the evaluated data, the research finding showed some important points that need to be discussed The first point related to the first research question of this study, the question was about does the use of game help students learn grammar better The result showed that using games improved students’ English ability It was accordance to the result of pre-test and post-test experiment class where students’ scores were improved 36 The result of pretest which was done before I did the research CLASS TOTAL WELLACHIEVED ACHIEVED NOT ACHIEVED SL TL SL TL SL TL 10A2 42 16% 17 41% 18 43% 10C1 43 14% 15 35% 22 51% The result of post-test which was done after I did the research CLASS TOTAL WELLACHIEVED ACHIEVED NOT ACHIEVED SL TL SL TL SL TL 10A2 42 15 36% 25 60% 4% 10C1 43 14 33% 26 60% 7% Basing on the above results, we can see that the number of achieved and well- achieved students has increased nearly double, compared to the result of the pre test The numbers of not achieved students decreased to only percent in class 10A2 and 7% in class 10C1 37 PART III CONCLUSION The study has some limitation but, at least, it is a pilot study at our school and it has several implications that are possibly suitable for English teaching in general and English grammar teaching in particular In conclusion, these results point that English teachers recognize the pedagogical value of using games in their classrooms and agree that while teaching the grammar rules explicitly is still important, using games as a form of instruction is also beneficial Similarly, the participants express that using games is effective in grammar teaching especially for young learners Finally, results of this study further show that although a great majority of the participants favours the effectiveness of using games in grammar teaching, they not use games as frequently as expected Most of the participants express that this is because of the crowded classroom environments and the heavy load of the curriculum With accurate planning and information passed onto the teachers, this problem should be dealt with to secure the benefits of games in the foreign language classroom Lastly, in course books and materials, the use of games can be emphasized and by presenting alternative games, foreign language teaching can be enriched so that primary school students enjoy learning English in a robust manner The result or the aim of the study is that the application of grammar games brings benefits to the teachers and the students in teaching and learning English, especially effectiveness of students learning in grammar This is also the my wish to have suitable and interesting method in teaching grammar and help teachers and students at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 develop their ability in teaching and learning English I hopes it will be a small contribution to emphasizing the importance and necessity of English, the language considered the international one at present The measures have been given out are just from my own experiences during the process of teaching Consequently, it must contain a number of weaknesses I would like to get the comments and good idea from readers and other teachers so that the topic will become more interesting and perfect 38 REFERENCES - 10 grade textbook, Hanoi National Publisher - Canh, Le Van (2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology NXB Quốc gia Hà Nội - Ersoz, Aydan (2000) Six Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom iteslj.org/Lessons/ErsozGames.html - Granger, C and Plumb, J (1980-1981) Play games with English Teacher's Book 1, Book Thomson Litho Ltd, East Kilbridge, Scotland - Hoang et al (2006a) Đổi phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông Việt Nam Hà Nội: NXB Giáo dục - Hoang et al (2006) Tiếng Anh 10 Bộ GD & ĐT - Hong, L (2002) Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners iteslj.org/Lessons/LinUsingGames.html - Lan, Tran Hien, Hoan, Ha Thi Lien (2003) Teaching Grammar in the Light of Communicative Language Teaching British Council Conference, Hanoi - Larsen-Freeman, D (1986) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press - Littlewood, W.T (1998) "Motivation for Learning English” Foreign and Second Language Learning Cambridge: CUP - Saricoban, Arif and Esen Metin (2000) "Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching Grammar” iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html - Rinvolucri, M (1984) Grammar Games Cambridge University Press - Tuan, Nguyen Quoc et al (2007) Cẩm nang dạy học tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông NXB Giáo dục - Spada, N 1987 'Relationships between instructional differences and learning outcomes: A process-product study of communicative language teaching ' Applied Linguistics 8: 137-61 - White, L 1991 'Adverb placement in second language acquisition: some effects of positive and negative evidence in the classroom.' Second Language Research: p.133-61 - Day, E and S Shapson 1991 'Integrating formal and functional approaches to language teaching in Native language immersion: An experimental approach.' - Language Learning 41: 25—58 World Book Encyclopedia Vol.3 p.48 Chicago 1993 - Internet: http://www.tesol.org/ - various publications Internet: http://www.oxforduniversitypress.org.uk/ - various publications Internet: http://www.universityofottawa.ca/teachen glish - various publication 39 APPENDIX Questionnaire for Teachers The questionnaire aims at surveying the situation of teaching and learning grammar for 10-form students at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 and the measures to develop effectiveness of teaching and learning this subject by using grammar games I would appreciate your support in completing all the following questions Please tick () the appropriate options for your answers 1/ According to you, the students like learning English grammar? like very much like but not much like not like 2/ Do you have difficulties when teaching English grammar? (You can choose many answers)  limited time  shortage of teaching aids crowded class  passive students students at many levels other difficulties 3/ Do you often use games in your teaching grammar? usually sometimes seldom never 4/ According to you, what are the advantages of teaching grammar through games? lively class atmosphere  positive and healthy competition developing ability of using grammar structures in another context developing students’ independence and active spirit  developing students' motivation another ideas At last, please give some information about yourself: Gender:  male female Level:  B.A M.A Time of teaching:  from to years  from to 10 years  over 10 years Thank you very much for your cooperation! 40 APPENDIX Questionnaire for Students The questionnaire aims at surveying the situation of teaching and learning grammar for 10-form students at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 and the measures to develop effectiveness of teaching and learning this subject by using grammar games I would appreciate your support in completing all the following questions Please tick (V) the appropriate options for your answers 1/ In English lessons, which one you like? grammar exercises communicative skills not all of them all of lessons 2/ After grammar lessons, you understand them immediately in class? yes no sometimes 3/ What you often in grammar lessons in the class? listen to teachers attentively  join in building the lesson eagerly join in the activities teachers give write down your notebook carefully discuss with your classmates the use of new structures  make questions try to remember the structures in class 4/ Do you like the teachers' teaching method? like very much  like but not much  like not like 5/ Do you learn at home grammar which teachers taught in class?  yes no sometimes 6/ Do your teachers often use grammar game?  usually sometimes seldom never Thank you very much for your cooperation! 41 APPENDIX Feedback of 10A1-grade students in experimental lessons 1/ Do you like the games today? yes no 2/ Are the games guided by the teacher easy for you to understand? yes no 3/ When the teacher guides how to play the games, you feel interested in them and really join in? very interested  interested  interested but not much not interested not interested at all 4/ Do you apply immediately grammar structure in the game? yes  no rather difficult 5/ According to you, what are the difficulties when participating in grammar games? lacking of necessary vocabulary  not understanding the games not knowing to apply grammar structure in the games not knowing how to play another difficulties Thank you very much for your cooperation! 42 ... situation of teaching and learning grammar at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 18 4.2 Effectiveness of grammar games 18 4.2.1 Effectiveness of grammar games in developing... their motivation in the games 17 Findings and discussion 4.1 Real situation of teaching and learning grammar at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 I finds a satisfactory signal that most teachers... aims at surveying the situation of teaching and learning grammar for 10- form students at Nghe An Ethnic Boarding high school No.2 and the measures to develop effectiveness of teaching and learning