Using storytelling to teach english grammar in communicative approach for students at viet tri industrial high school, phu tho province

i HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT NGUYEN TIEN PHUONG USING STORYTELLING TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH FOR STUDENTS AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL, PHU THO PROVINCE GRADUATION PAPER PROPOSAL Field: English Linguistics SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI THU HANG, M.A Phu Tho, 2017 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks go to the many people who gave so generously of their time and expertise in support of this research project First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Hang for her dedication, professional support and guidance as well as valuable comments during the research Her patience and knowledge whilst showing me an academic researcher‟s pathway went beyond the mainstream studies to see the best in me Thank you so much for simply being there You have been a constant source of motivation throughout this thesis I could not have asked for a better supervisor I would be grateful all the lecturers who have been teaching in Foreign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, contributed to the success of the course I would also like to thank all the teachers and the students at Viet Tri Industrial High School, who willingly participated in the study I thank them for their time, patience and willingness in completing the questionnaires, answering the questions and sharing their classrooms with me Last but not less importantly, I owe my parents and friends whose unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, and support are valuable during my whole study Phu Tho, May 2016 Nguyen Tien Phuong iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Communicative Language Teaching CLT English as a Foreign Language EFL iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 3.1: The students‟ opinions about learning grammar 37 Table 3.2: How students learn English grammar structures 39 Table 3.3: The way students like to study grammar rules 42 Table 4.1: Students‟ evaluation on learning grammar with storytelling 50 Figure 3.1: Marks students got on grammar sections 41 v TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Previous researches Research purpose Research questions Hypothesis Research methods The significance of the research The scope of the research Design of the research PART B: CONTENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Teaching approaches 1.1.1 The Grammar - Translation 1.1.2 The Direct method 1.1.3 The Audio - Lingual method 10 1.1.4 Communicative Language Teaching 10 1.2 Teaching grammar in communicative approach 15 1.2.1 Definition of grammar 15 1.2.2 The role of grammar 16 1.2.3 Requirements in a grammar lesson 17 1.2.4 The stages of a grammar lesson 18 vi 1.2.5 The role of teacher and students in a grammar lesson 21 1.3 Storytelling 21 1.3.1 Definitions of storytelling 21 1.3.2 Trends of storytelling in language teaching 23 1.3.3 Storytelling models 24 1.3.4 The roles of storytelling in language classroom 26 1.3.5 Communicative Language Teaching and Storytelling 28 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 30 2.1 Research setting 30 2.2 Subject of the study 31 2.3 Participants of the study 31 2.4 Data collection instruments 32 2.4.1 Survey questionnaires 32 2.4.2 Interview 34 2.5 Research procedure 35 CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT SITUATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL 37 3.1 Results from questionnaire 37 3.2 Results from interview 43 CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS 46 4.1 Description of the experimental teaching 46 4.2 Experiment procedure 46 4.2.1 The first week 46 vii 4.2.2 The second week 47 4.2.3 The third week 48 4.3 Results from questionnaire 50 4.4 Implications 52 4.4.1 For teachers 52 4.4.2 For students 54 PART C: CONCLUSION 55 Summary 55 Limitations of the study 56 Suggestions for further study 57 REFERENCES 58 APPENDIX 61 APPENDIX 64 APPENDIX 65 APPENDIX 66 APPENDIX 71 APPENDIX 76 APPENDIX 77 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale The role of English as an international language in this globalization era is undeniable On its way of integration into the global community, Vietnam gives prominence to English acquisition in order to adapt itself to the current trend Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam For a long time, language teaching in Vietnam was strongly influenced by the traditional structure Emphasis was placed on mastery of language structures Students have been taught how to form correct utterances and to understand the structures of the language without any consideration of language use Students have been asked to learn every single word by heart, and translate or analyze grammatically every sentence in the text The teacher has often taken up almost all the time in class explaining the form of language to students who were passive recipients With the first teaching internship at Viet Tri Industrial High school, I found that grammar was taught in traditional way At the end of each semester, the students had to take a written test, not an oral one Therefore, most of the time were spent on grammar points because many of the students have never learnt English before and the teachers has to try to keep to the syllabus In addition, many students were too shy to speak in class whereas most of the grammar lessons were carried out in traditional methods That is, the teachers presented new grammar verbally, and then students took turn to turn, exercises in workbooks Consequently, the students found it hard to speak out as well as to communicate in the real life naturally They could not speak English since most of tests were in written forms It may surprise me that many students cannot use English as a means of communication after several years of learning it at school For these reasons, the researcher decided to conduct “Using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.” Previous researches 2.1 In the world Brian Ellis (1997) in his article “Why Tell Stories” believed that storytelling is the perfect embodiment of whole language pedagogy In addition, it teaches higher level of thinking skills, addresses the needs of students with different learning styles, and provides opportunity for cooperative learning; building social skills and most importantly storytelling have been shown to build intrinsic motivation and self-esteem, even in the students who are labeled hard to reach Mello (2001) conducted her research by exposing her subjects to bimonthly storytelling sessions over the course of a full nine month school year Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with each of the participants after each of the storytelling sessions The stories presented were varied including old folk tales, hero-based stories, conformist and nonconformist character stories, and other stories selected for their ethical content as it related to specific course lessons Martin and Power‟s (1983) studied on storytelling reveal the enormous power that stories have in organizations with respect to employee commitment and trust Stories alone prove to produce an audience who is more likely to believe a message and/or commit to the values inherent in the story This also speaks well to using storytelling as a learning tool to emphasize various academic theories and other factual information and to possibly improve student motivation to learn new information and practice new skills Furthermore, the results of these experiments reveal the transformative nature of storytelling as previously discussed by Rossiter (2002), Heo (2003) and McDrury and Alterio (2003) However, Martin and Powers considers the use of storytelling as a leadership tool in organizations because it has the potential to be abused if applied only for organizational propaganda or other unethical motives due to its influential strengths 2.2 In Vietnam Nguyen (2005) conducted a survey on the teachers and students of the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City to identify the real situation of English grammar teaching and learning The results showed that communicative language teaching approach was rarely used and, thus, her suggestions afterwards were several communicative activities that might bring positive changes to grammar teaching and learning Vuong (2008) studied about teachers‟ difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively for ethnic minority students at Ha Giang Medical Secondary School to find out difficulties faced by the teachers, the students in teaching and learning grammar and their expectations and suggestions for overcoming the difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively So far, a number of studies have been conducted to assist teachers in teaching English grammar communicatively in the Vietnamese context However, not many of them have been made in the scope of 11th students at high schools The rare study on this subject (Vu, 1998) was conducted 18 years ago, and therefore, may not provide up-to-date information to other educators and researchers who share the same interest Moreover, the studies on using storytelling in teaching grammar in Vietnam are also very rare; mainly used in teaching speaking This has offered the researcher a chance to conduct “Using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.” Research purpose The research aims to find out current situation in teaching and learning English grammar at Viet Tri Industrial High school, apply storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students and then basing on the results, evaluate the effectiveness of suggested activity as well 66 I would like to participate in 10 future storytelling activities or other learning experiences Thank you very much for your time and support! APPENDIX 4: LESSON PLAN FOR FIRST PERIOD Date of preparing: 01/03/2017 Date of teaching: 03/03/2017 Subject: English 11 Teacher: Nguyen Tien Phuong UNIT 7: FUTHER EDUCATION Lesson 1: Present perfect tense I Objectives Knowledge: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Identify reasons why the present perfect tense is used - Sort examples and non-examples of the present perfect tense - Discuss and write captions for images using the present perfect for recent past time -Ask questions and complete modeled sentence starters Skills: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Talk about what happened in the present perfect tense fluently and accurately - Practice interviewing their partner‟s events using present perfect tense Attitude: - Students work effectively and enthusiastically on classroom activities - Students are interested in talking about their life II Teaching aids: textbook, black board, computer , projector, cards III Anticipated problems: - Students may confuse using past simple tense and present perfect tense IV Procedure Class organization (1 min) 67 Class Date of teaching Absence 11D1 03/03/2017 Checking old lesson New lesson Time Teacher’s activities - Teacher give the instructions to students, ask students to work in pairs to find out the grammar structure in the story - Presents the new language in a meaningful context, read the story contains present perfect tense and show on the projector Roger and Melinda have owned their sailboat for 10 years During that time, they sailed together many times and Presentation went to lots of places (15 mins) They sailed on the Pacific Ocean They also sailed on the Atlantic Ocean They have even sailed around the Gulf of Mexico for month However, they have never sailed on the Arctic Ocean or Indian Ocean In the last year, Roger and Melinda sailed around the Hawaiian Islands and across the Hudson Bay Roger and Melinda love to travel in their sailboat!Ask some students to answer, ask Students’ activities - Listen and answer teacher’s questions to find out the tense is used in story Suggested answer: 68 another student to give feedback and check again - After that teacher elicit the answer, highlight the form of the target language analyze the sentences, drill the target language - Teacher gives the use, meaning and form of present perfect tense Elicitation (2 minutes) - Guide the students toward the new tense and its function through the following concept questions: T: In this text, Roger and Melinda tells us about some of the things they started in the past and they are still doing in the present, and to express that she uses a new tense We call this tense the present perfect Let’s see how we use this tense Do we use the present perfect for actions that finished in the past? Listen: Roger and Melinda have owned their sailboat for 10 years Does it mean they are owing sailboat now? T: Correct So, we use it to talk about actions that started in the past and still continue in the present - Explain the use of the present perfect tense making reference to the time line to help the students grasp the concept - Draw the students‟ attention to the adverbs used with this tense: for + a period of time, since + a point of time in the past until present, always and, so far -Draw their attention to the structure of Present perfect tense - Listen teachers and take note - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions S: Yes S: Yes - Listen and answer teacher‟s 69 the tense: the auxiliary have + verb in the past participle form Practice (10 mins) Mechanical practice (5 minutes) - Use cards with past participle verbs - Choose one of the cards, and make a sentence Example: T: I have lived in Dallas for five years Have students repeat: I have lived in Dallas for five years - Then, change the time reference, for example: for two years Students have to substitute the new phrase: I have lived in Dallas for two years Then, change the verb Example: have danced salsa - Students have to substitute the new verb: I have danced salsa for two years - Give students different prompts (verbs, or time references) alternatively Communicative practice (10 minutes) - Work in pairs: Students ask one another questions to find out about what their classmates started in the past and are still doing in the present Example: S1: Have you lived in this town for a long time? S2: Yes I have lived here for ten years S1: Have you made many friends here? S2: Not really I have not made many questions - Take note - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions - Repeat after teacher said Work in pairs, find out about what their classmates started in the past and are still doing in the present 70 friends - Work in individually - The students write a paragraph in a less-controlled way using the present perfect tense with the function they have learned in this lesson - Students are encouraged to write a paragraph using the present perfect to describe actions that they have started in Production the past and they are still doing in the present It could be about their present (15 mins) hobbies, jobs, studies, etc - Then, students will pick the activity they prefer the most and share it with the class - The other students give feedback explaining if they have also done the same or not, how often they it, when they started it, etc They may use the simple past as well as the simple present if necessary Consolidation (1 min) - Write a paragraph using the present perfect to describe actions that they have started in the past and they are still doing in the present Homework - Complete the task in production stage And prepare the next lesson: 71 APPENDIX LESSON PLAN FOR SECOND PERIOD Date of preparing: 06/03/2017 Date of teaching: 10/03/2017 Subject: English 11 Teacher: Nguyen Tien Phuong UNIT 8: OUR WORLD HERITAGE SITES Lesson 2: Past simple tense I Objectives Knowledge: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: – Understand that verbs can tell about actions that happened in the past – Understand that -ed can be added to many verbs to make them tell about the past simple tense – Distinguish between present and past forms of verbs Skills: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Talk about what happened in the past fluently and accurately - Practice interviewing their partner‟s events using past simple tense Attitude: - Students work effectively and enthusiastically on classroom activities - Students are interested in talking about their life II Teaching aids: textbook, black board, computer, projector, worksheet III Anticipated problems: 72 - Students may confuse using past simple tense and present perfect tense IV Procedure Class organization (1 min) Class Date of teaching Absence 11D1 10/03/2017 Checking old lesson New lesson Time Teacher’s activities Warm up: (5 minutes) - Having shown PowerPoint slides to the class, the teacher asks students to look at pictures of different activities and randomly asks a few students to review the past simple-tense questions they learnt from a previous class For example, The teacher shows the school picture and asks T: Were you at school last Monday? Presentation T: Where were you yesterday? T: What did you there? etc (12 mins) Note: Students must answer the questions in “Past simple tense” related to the pictures that the teacher shows Lead in: Today we will review about Past Simple Tense Elicitation (7 minutes) - T draw a timeline on the board and mark “NOW”, “PAST”, “FUTURE” and, pointing at the picture, I ask “What day is it in the picture?” Then T add “Monday” after Ss Students’ activities - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions Ss: (Yes, I was / No, I wasn‟t.) Ss: (Answers must related to the place shown in the picture) 73 have answered - T elicit that the conversation is about past events by comparing it to the present progressive: T: Is Sarah watching a movie now? Ss: No T: Is she having a party now? Ss: No T: Is she sleeping now? Ss: No T: When did Sarah watch a movie? Ss: On the weekend/On Friday T: When did she have a party? Ss: On the weekend/On Saturday T: Right, on the weekend; not now (I add “weekend” to the timeline.) - T elicit the form of verbs in the past simple by comparing it to the present simple T write the following pairs of sentences on the board: a I go shopping with my friend Alice -> I went shopping with my friend Alice b I work all the time -> I worked all the time - T ask “What is different in these sentences?” and, highlighting the past simple forms in the examples, T explain that the verbs in the dialogue are in the past simple - I let Ss underline the verbs in the past simple that appear in the dialogue and let them collect them on the board (regular on one side; irregular on the other) - T present the pattern for sentences in the simple past and write them on the board: Affirmative: S + past simple form of the verb Negative: S + didn’t + base form of the verb - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions - Note down to 74 notebook Practice (15 mins) Mechanical drill (10 minutes) - Teacher give the instruction to students, ask students to work in groups in minutes to see and retell the story using past simple tense - There are groups, work in groups of 5, each group have pictures and they have to create story based on their pictures - Supply the pictures about the story Three Little Pigs (see appendix 6) to each groups with handouts - Work in groups in minutes basing on pictures to create the story using past simple tense The story started with Once upon a time,… After that, each group write the part of story in poster - Ask representatives of each group to go to board to tell the story with posters - Ask another student to give feedback and teacher checks again Communicative practice (5 minutes) - Work in pairs: T focus Ss‟ attention to the worksheet and read out and explain the instructions for the activity: - Tell your partner about things you did and things you didn‟t last week Use time expressions like on Monday/Tuesday/…/the weekend/in the morning/afternoon evening at night - Work in groups to see pictures and create the story using past simple tense Representatives of each group to go to board to tell the story with posters - Work in pairs, tell your partner about things you did and things you didn‟t last week - Listen to your partner and write down 75 Production (15 mins) - Then listen to your partner and write down what he/she did or didn‟t - T monitor the activity and provide vocabulary or other help where there is need - Freer practice in writing about past events using the past simple - T read out and explain the instructions for the activity: You are on a trip around the world Write an e-mail to a friend or your family about your trip What country/places did you visit? What did you see? What did you do? How was it? Where are you now? - Ss compose the text for themselves They may use a dictionary T monitor the activity and provide help what he/she did or didn‟t - Write an email to a friend or your family about your trip Consolidation (1 min) Homework - Complete the task in production stage and prepare the next lesson: 76 APPENDIX 6: PICTURES: THREE LITTLE PIGS GROUP 1, Three little pigs A big bad wolf a house of straw, sticks, bricks GROUP 3, a house of straw, sticks, bricks blow the house be terrified and run GROUP 5, Strong/ safe inside the chimney big pot of water GROUP 7, fall into die live happily 77 APPENDIX LESSON PLAN FOR THIRD WEEK Date of preparing: 13/03/2017 Date of teaching: 17/03/2017 Subject: English 11 Teacher: Nguyen Tien Phuong UNIT 9: CITIES OF THE FUTURE Lesson 3: Past progressive tense I Objectives Knowledge: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Identify the difference between the past simple and the past progressive - Ask and answer questions in the past progressive using listening prompts - Match sentence parts in a storyboard and put the sentences in order Skills: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - Talk about what happened in the past progressive fluently and accurately - Practice interviewing their partner‟s events using past progressive tense Attitude: - Students work effectively and enthusiastically on classroom activities - Students are interested in talking about their life II Teaching aids: textbook, black board, computer , projector, worksheet III Anticipated problems: - Students may have problem using the past simple and the past progressive IV Procedure Class organization (1 min) Class Date of teaching Absence 78 11D1 17/03/2017 Checking old lesson New lesson Time Presentation (12 mins) Teacher’s activities Warm up: (5 minutes) - Having shown PowerPoint slides to the class, the teacher asks students to look at pictures What was Happening in the Park? - Tell the class that you went to the park at 11 o'clock yesterday morning and there were a lot of people there doing different activities Project the At the Park Action Image, and ask the class to describe what was happening in the park when you arrived For example: Ben was working on the computer A baby was crying A boy was swimming Lead in: Today we will review about Past Progressive Tense Elicitation (7 minutes) - Describe an important past event and then fill in the details as a painter would fill in background details by using the past continuous form This immediately illustrates the idea that the past continuous is used to set the context of what was happening at that moment in time I'd like to tell you about the day I met my wife I was walking through the park, the birds were singing and it was raining just a little bit when I Students’ activities - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions - They should answer using the past progressive - Listen and note down to notebook 79 Practice (15 mins) saw her! She was sitting on the bench and reading a book at that moment I'll never be the same etc - Follow up these questions with a question asking what was happening when When did you leave home this morning? What was your sister doing when you left home? Where did you meet your girlfriend? - Explain that 'while' is used when two actions happen at the same time in the past It's a good idea to point out the difference between while and during, as well to help avoid future confusion Chain game (10 minutes) - Put students into one or two large groups – there should be at least 10 in each group – and have them sit in a circle The first student to start says what she or he was doing when the storm started The second student in the circle repeats what the first student was doing and adds what she or he was doing The third student repeats the first and second students‟ sentences and then adds his/her own sentence, and so on around the circle, making the chain longer and longer A: I was sitting in my garden when the storm started B: He was sitting in his garden and I was watching TV C: He was sitting in his garden, he was watching TV and I was … etc - Students can start with the picture - Listen and answer teacher‟s questions - Note down to notebook - Listen to your partner and write down what he/she did or didn‟t Answer key I was sitting in the garden when the fence fell down I was having a shower when the 80 cues they have already practiced but then add their own ideas and actions watching TV… Matching (5 minutes) Stick the set of pictures from teacher‟s resource on the board - Hand out the set of three word-cue cards from teacher‟s resource - Get students to match the word-cue consequences to the pictures and stick them on the board next to the appropriate picture - For each picture, get students to put the two sentences together in an interrupted past continuous sentence was doing …when did - Teacher gives the instruction to students, asks students to work in pair to tell a story using past progressive tense - Ask students to work in pair telling their partner what they saw the Production previous day morning start with: Yesterday, when I arrived to school (15 mins) at 6’45” a.m.,… - Students take turn to talk about their story in minutes - Ask representatives of some groups to go to board to tell the story - Ask other students to give feedback and teacher checked again Consolidation (1 min) water stopped I was doing my homework when the lights went out - Work in pairs to match the word-cue consequences to the pictures and stick them on the board next to the appropriate picture - Work in groups to tell the story using past progressive tense - Tell the story before whole class Homework - Complete the task in production stage And prepare the next lesson: ... current situation in teaching and learning English grammar at Viet Tri Industrial High school, apply storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students and then basing on... conduct ? ?Using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province. ” Research purpose The research aims to find out... communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school? Question 3: How is the application of storytelling to teach grammar suitable for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school?