a study on students’ difficulties in learning english grammar communicatively in class 10a9 at cam khe high school and some suggested solutions

HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FACULITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI BICH HONG A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY IN CLASS 10A9 AT CAM KHE HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS B.A GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Phu Tho, 2018 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÙNG VƯƠNG KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYEN THI BICH HONG A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY IN CLASS 10A9 AT CAM KHE HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu khó khăn việc học ngữ pháp qua đường hướng giao tiếp học sinh lớp 10A4 Trường THPT Cẩm Khê đề xuất số giải pháp B.A GRADUATION PAPER Field: English Teaching Methodology Supervisor: Nguyen Thanh Long, M.A Phu Tho, 2018 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to so many people for the fulfillment of this study First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor, Mr Nguyen Thanh Long for his enthusiastic guidance, valuable comments and suggestions on my doing thesis Without these, my thesis would not have been successfully completed I am grateful to all the lecturers who have been teaching the K12 English pedagogy course ± Hung Vuong University I would also like to thank teachers at Cam Khe High school for having given me the chance to work with their students and all the students participating in my study for their enthusiastic participation in the classroom observation and completing the survey questionnaire Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, my relatives and my friends for their support and encouragements during the research process Nguy͍n Th͓ Bích H͛ng ± K12 English pedagogy ii ABSTRACT The target of the study is to investigate the difficulties in learning English grammar of the grade 10 students at Cam Khe high school The results show that students have the following difficulties: communicative grammar obstacles related to VWXGHQWV¶ORZOHYHORI(QJOLVKSURILFLHQF\VWXGHQWV¶OHDUQLQJVW\OHDQG XVLQJ PRWKHU WRQJXH SUREOHP WHDFKHU¶V LQVXIILFLHQW FRPPXQLFDWLYH FRPSHWHQFH WHDFKHU¶V PLVFRQFHSWLRQ DERXW &/7 DQG LQDSSURSULDWH PHWKRG multi-level classes, current testing system and lack of class time On the basis of the findings, some appropriate suggested solutions that can be employed to encounter this problem including: Training and retraining teachers in CLT; teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence; organizing extracurricuODU DFWLYLWLHV WR HQKDQFH VWXGHQWV¶ FRQILGHQFH DQG ZLOOLQJQHVV WR FRPPXQLFDWHLQ(QJOLVKHQFRXUDJLQJVWXGHQWV¶SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQFODVVDFWLYLWLHV LPSURYLQJVWXGHQWV¶(QJOLVKSURILFLHQF\ Nguy͍n Th͓ Bích H͛ng ± K12 English pedagogy iii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS CLT Communicative language teaching AM Audio-lingual method Nguy͍n Th͓ Bích H͛ng ± K12 English pedagogy iv CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS iii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Research purpose Research questions Previous studies 4.1 In the world 4.2 In Viet Nam Research procedure Research methods Significance of the study Scope of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of grammar 1.1.1 Definition of grammar 1.1.2 The importance of grammar 10 1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar 12 1.2.1 Deductive Approach 13 1.2.2 Inductive Approach 15 1.3 CLT on teaching grammar 18 1.3.1 Communicative competence 18 Nguy͍n Th͓ Bích H͛ng ± K12 English pedagogy v 1.3.2 Definition of CLT 18 1.3.3 Characteristics of CLT 19 1.3.4 Stages in teaching grammar communicatively 21 1.3.5 CLT techniques 23 1.4 Difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively 27 1.4.1 Difficulties in learning grammar 27 1.4.1.1 Internal Problems 27 1.4.1.2 External Problems 27 1.4.2 Difficulties in learning in CLT 28 1.4.2.1 Difficulties from teachers 28 1.4.2.2 Difficulties from students 29 1.4.3 Difficulties from objective factors 32 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 34 2.1 Participants 34 2.2 Overview of the English textbook 35 2.3 The data collection instruments 36 2.3.1 Questionnaire for the students 36 2.3.1.1 Cause of choosing questionnaire 36 2.3.1.2 Questionnaire description 36 2.3.2 The classroom observation 37 2.3.2.1 Cause of choosing class observation 37 2.3.2.2 Observation description 37 2.4 Data analysis method 38 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 39 3.1 The results 39 3.1.1 The result from questionnaire 39 3.1.2 The result from the observation 48 3.2 Discussion 49 Nguy͍n Th͓ Bích H͛ng ± K12 English pedagogy vi 3.2.1 Difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar and their expectations 49 7HDFKHU¶VUHODWHGIDFWRUVWKDWFDXVHGLIILFXOWLHVLQVWXGHQWV¶JUDPPDUOHDUQLQJ 50 3.3 Suggested solutions to enhance the efficiency of learning English grammar for grade 10 students at Cam Khe High school 52 3.3.1 Training and retraining teachers in CLT 52 3.3.2 Teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence 53 3.3.3 Organizing extra- FXUULFXODUDFWLYLWLHVWRHQKDQFHVWXGHQWV¶FRQILGHQFH and willingness to communicate in English 53 (QFRXUDJLQJVWXGHQWV¶SDUWLFLSDWLRQLQFODVVDFWLYLWLHV 54 ,PSURYLQJVWXGHQWV¶(QJOLVKproficiency 54 3.3.6 Practising and revising 55 PART C: CONCLUSION 56 Main finding 56 Implication 56 Limitations and suggestions for further study 57 $33(1',;678'(176¶6859(