The appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of clt to 11th grade students at to hien thanh high school THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL EXPERI[.]
THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE THE APPROPRIATENESS OF FOCUS ON FORM INSTRUCTION IN THE LIGHT OF CLT TO 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT TO HIEN THANH HIGH SCHOOL Teacher: Hoang Thi Tan Position: Teacher - Chief Specialist Field of research: English THANH HOA YEAR 2019 SangKienKinhNghiem.net CONTENT PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 Aim and objectives of study 1.3 The participants 1.4 Research method PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background 2.2 The reality before applying this method .4 2.3 The servey instruments 2.4 Findings and discussions PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .13 3.1 Conclusion 13 3.2 Recommendation for further study .15 References Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Appendix IV SangKienKinhNghiem.net CLT ELT GCSE L1 L2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Communicative Language Teaching English Language Teaching General Certificate of Secondary Education First Language Second Language SangKienKinhNghiem.net PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam Nowadays, teacher not only transfers knowledge but also guides, organizes students’ learning activities The aim of language teaching is to help students understand language as well as use it actively in real life; after a language lesson, students can communicate in English In fact, at To Hien Thanh high school, teaching English grammar in the light of communication has some problems, such as students’ levels, teachers’ methods, facilities, textbooks, etc Further more, students are not hard-working.They spend little time on learning English In addition, they have no chance to practice English in real life or listen to English from native speakers In English lessons of high school, teacher almost starts from basic structures and the simplest knowledge With the experience of 26 years working as a teacher of English and of 23 years teaching English at To Hien Thanh high school, the author always concerns with how to help students learn English better, how to motivate them in learning English and how to reach the aim of teaching English in the light of communication are the questions the author always thinks of The question of how to equip students with grammatical competence so that they can use the language to communicate in any situation has become a matter of teachers of English in general and teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school in particular For the above reasons, the author intends to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school then to give some suggestions to make English teaching and learning activities here more communicative The author hopes that this study will have some contribution to improving the application of CLT in ELT in general, English grammar teaching in particular at To Hien Thanh high school 1.2 Aim and objectives of study The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school The objectives of study are: First, to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of focus on form approach Second, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach Last, to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness 1.3 The participants: 90 students of grades 11B6 and 11B7 They are at the age of 17 or18 They have studied English for years SangKienKinhNghiem.net 1.4 Research methods The main methods utilized in this study are Survey questionnaire for students, Classroom observation, Post-observation interviews with two teachers To carry out the study, many references were selected, read and filtered for information The following instruments are used: + Questionnaire for students: to investigate students’ real situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English + Classroom observation: to clarify and test the validity of information about teaching grammar in the light of communication, the author observed two of teachers who are on behalf of two teaching styles + Post-observation interviews with two teachers: to get better insights into teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward teaching grammar in the light of CLT PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background This chapter provides definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Form vs Focus on Forms, Contextual appropriateness of teaching methods, EFL contexts *Definitions of focus on forms “Focus on forms is equated with the traditional teaching of discrete points of grammar in separate lessons.” (Ron Sheen – ELT Journal Volume 56/3 July 2002) Long (2000) described Focus on Forms as a traditional teaching approach in which teachers present the learners with preselected and sequenced linguistic items (Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 2007, Vol 7, No.1The Forum) *Advantages of focus on forms Focus on forms provides understanding of the grammar by a variety of means: explanation in the L1, pointing out differences between the L1 and the L2, and aural comprehension activities intended to focus students’ attention on the forms being used; it provides written and oral exercises that entail using the grammar in both non-communicative and communicative activities;frequent opportunities for communicative use of the grammar to promote automatic and accurate use *Disadvantages of focus on forms Focus on forms makes students not pay attention to develop their spoken language, not have self-confidence in communicating in English with other people Teacher introduces knowledge,presents grammatical structures; students listen to the teacher and write down what the teacher introduces This approach is teacher-centered According to Long (1997), focus on forms does not identify students’ communicative needs, does not ascertain their learning styles and preferences It is an one-size-fit-all approach *Definitions of focus on form: According to Fotos (1998) focus on form is a context based presentation of grammatical forms, rather than overt teacher-led instruction SangKienKinhNghiem.net Doughty & Williams (1998) mentioned that focus on form integrates attention to form, meaning and use According to Long (1991) Focus on form refers to drawing students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning or communication In short, focus on form instruction is teaching grammar in the light of communication *Advantages of focus on form Focus on form helps learners “to recognize the properties of target structures in context and develop their accuracy in their use” (Fotos 1998:32) Focus on form instruction helps students learn how to use language in a way that emulates realistic communicative scenarios More to the point, teacherstudent/student-student classroom interaction, via both oral and written modes, should consume the majority of class time Likewise, evaluation centers on students’ abilities to actively engage in authentic communication, using the forms they have learned during interaction As Poole (2003b) has pointed out, in many settings, the students and the teacher often share a common first (or second, or third) language and culture, and thus can easily code-switch in order to overcome communicative difficulties or fill communicative gaps Focus on form instruction encourages students to use language not only in order to practice and automate structures, but also so that the teacher, as well as other learners, may be able to identify learners’ errors and form-based difficulties in order to help learners overcome them It also encourages students to take responsibility for their own language skill development and helps them gain confidence in their ability to learn and use the language *Disadvantages of focus on form Focus on form approach refers to activities that capture learners’ attention to form while maintaining meaningful communication.Thus, meaningful communication, crystallized through pedagogical tasks, was the basis of the Focus on Form treatment Focus on form “ is also assumed that there are significant differences in the two processes: that exposure is insufficient to enable learners to acquire much of the second-language grammar, and that this lack needs to be compensated for by focusing learners’ attention on grammar features” Focus on form instruction, in Long (1991) and Long and Robinson’s (1998) conception, seems optimally suited to classrooms that are small enough to enable instructors to verbally address their students’ problematic forms, presumably via classroom discussion, Q/A sessions, and impromptu and planned public speaking events Likewise, small classes would be needed for students to have significant amounts of peer interaction both orally and in written form Focus on form instruction ignores the role of negative evidence in second language teaching, and depends too much on positive evidence Learners who learn a second language through communicative classes not gain high levels of language proficiency (Higgs and Clifford 1982) SangKienKinhNghiem.net 2.2 The reality before applying this method The author chose students of two classes: 11B6 and 11B7 to test because the English teachers of these classes have two different methods in teaching grammar The one teaching at 11B6 usually uses Focus on Forms She mainly starts from basic structures and the simplest knowledge Students listen to the teacher and write down what the teacher introduces They learn English passively On the contrary, the one teaching at 11B7 usually uses Focus on Form Students learn English actively * The following is the result the writer got from students’ 15 minute-test (Test1) Class Mark 9-10 Mark 7-8 Mark 5-6 Mark 3-4 Mark 0-2 11B6 3/45 – % /45 – 11% 18 /45 – 40 % 13/45- 29% 6/45 – 13% 11B7 8/45– 18 % 15 /45 – 33 % 18 /45 – 40 % /45- 4,5% 2/45– 4,5% It can be seen in the table that the results are different: most students get mark and mark 6; few students get marks and 10; students getting bad marks (from to 4) account for 4% -24% 2.3 The survey instruments This study employed the quantitative method which helped to provide background data for finding out appropriateness of focus on form instruction to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school In order to obtain in-depth and rich data, the writer used: questionnaire for students, classroom observation and post-observation interviews with two teachers 2.3.1 The questionnaire for students According to Selinger and Shohamy (1989) a questionnaire is widely used in second language acquisition research to solicit information about certain conditions and practices, in particular to collect data on phenomena which are not easily observed, such as perceptions and attitudes It is also used to obtain background information about the research subjects (Koul 1984).A number of techniques are used to collect data through questionnaires The kinds of questions are various, consisting of Yes/No question, Multiple choice, Ranked question, question in Liker scale The questionnaire was designed for 90 students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanh high school (see Appendix I) It contains four multiple-choice questions Students had four weeks to complete the questionnaire The aim of the questionnaire is to investigate students’ ways of learning English and their attitudes to learning English grammar lessons It consists of four questions The questions for students focus on the following categories: the students’ evaluation of their English grammar lessons (Question1); students’ opinions about the levels of effectiveness of the ways of learning grammar (Question2); the activities students like in learning grammar (Question3) and the students’ opinions about grammatical mistake correction (Question4) 2.3.2 Classroom observation Classroom observation was employed to clarify and test the validity of information about teaching grammar in the light of communication The two SangKienKinhNghiem.net lessons the author observed were carried out in two 11 classes: 11B6 and 11B7 by two teachers being on behalf of two teaching styles Teacher A always tries to apply CLT in teaching grammar while teacher B always applies two approaches: focus on form and focus on forms in teaching grammar The purpose of the classroom observation is to evaluate whether the teachers would give the lessons carefully; the ways teachers motivated as many students as possible into the learning activities; the ways those teachers monitored their classes; the ways they used to evolve compulsory knowledge in 45 minutes 2.3.3 The post-observation interviews with two teachers Selinger and Shohamy (1989) point out that the use of interview as data collection instrument permits a level of in-depth information, free response and flexibility that cannot be obtained by other procedures In this study, post-observation interviews consisting of four specific and defined questions were used The post-observation interviews were conducted with two teachers who teach grammar in two styles The interviews took place in a face-to-face situations with the subjects The purpose of the interviews is to discuss for further information to have in-depth understanding of their evaluation on the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school 2.4 Findings and discussions *Questionnaire for students The aim of using Questionnaire for students is to investigate students’ real situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English Question1: What is your opinion about grammar lessons at school? Students’ opinions Boring, difficult to understand and to remember Understanding grammar structures but the classroom is deep Interesting, effervescent, lively and easy to understand Number of students 28 percentages 31 % 26 51 % 16 18 % Table 1: Students’ opinions about grammar lessons at school As can be seen in the table 1, students have different attitudes to grammar lessons at school Most students (51 %) said that they understand grammar structures but classroom is deep A lower percentage of the students (31 %) said that the grammar lessons are boring, difficult to understand and to remember Only 18 % of the students said that grammar lessons are interesting, effervescent, lively and it is easy to understand SangKienKinhNghiem.net Question2: Please tick the level(s) of effectiveness of the following ways of learning English (in your opinions) The level of effectiveness The ways of learning Learning grammar through conversations and texts Listening to the teacher’s explanation of grammar forms and uses then doing exercises in the textbook Writing down and learning by heart examples on the board then making sentences using structures having been learned Learning by heart sentences having new structures in concrete situations then applying them to communicate with classmates Learning grammar through exercises in the forms of games, quiz games, songs, working in pairs / groups Learning by heart grammar structures, rules then doing exercises in the textbook Learning grammar through listening, speaking, reading, writing skills The teacher spends much time training skills The teacher only teaches grammar when you make mistakes Very Not very effective effective (%) (%) Not effective (%) 28 48 24 54 33 13 42 46 12 56 34 10 60 31 47 43 10 34 55 10 27 59 14 Table2: Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of the ways of learning grammar 28 % of students said that learning grammar through conversations and texts is very effective while a larger proportion (48 %) say that this way is not very effective and only 24 % say that it is not effective to learn grammar through conversations and texts The majority of the students think that listening to the teacher’s explanation of grammar forms and uses then doing exercises in the textbook is very effective (54 %), 33 % think that it is not very effective and 13 % think that it is totally ineffective In the way of writing down and learning by heart examples on the board then making sentences using learned structures, 42 % of the students consider that it is very effective, 46 % consider it not very effective, only 12 % of the students consider that it is ineffective Learning by heart sentences containing new structures in specific situations then applying them into communication with classmates also makes students be interested in It is shown in the following results: 56 % of the students say that they like this way of learning grammar For them it is very effective; 34 % say that it is not very effective and 10 % of them say that it is ineffective Besides learning grammar by writing down and learning by heart grammar structures and rules, almost students (60 %) likes learning grammar through exercises in the forms of games, quiz games, songs, working in pairs / groups They believe that it is very effective way for them to learn and remember grammar structures However, SangKienKinhNghiem.net there are students (31 %) who not like this way very much because for them it is not very effective Only a small number of the students (9 %) consider this way ineffective Almost students like learning by heart grammar structures, rules then doing exercises in the textbook 47 % of students find this way very effective; 43 % say that it is not very effective; the rest (10 %) are not satisfied with this way, for them it is ineffective As we know, listening, speaking, reading and writing are four skills every learner has to practice regularly while learning foreign language, but it is very surprisingly that the way of learning grammar through listening, speaking, reading, writing skills does not make students be satisfied Over half of students (55 %) consider that this way is ineffective Only 34 % think that it is very effective and 10 % say that it is effective When being asked about the time of training skills and teaching grammar, only 27 % of students say that they like their teacher to spend much time training skills, little time teaching grammar, grammar should be trained only when they make mistakes They believe that it is very effective way Contrary to those students, 59 % consider that it is not very effective and 14 % say that it is ineffective Question3: Which of the following activities you enjoy taking part in when learning grammar? Number Activities Percentages of students Work in pairs 15 15 % Work in groups 54 54 % Play - Information filling 15 15 % games: - Combining sentences 40 40 % - Rearranging words with the 43 43 % same place of stress; the same pronunciation(at phonetic lessons) -Rearranging words into correct 55 55 % sentences(using pieces) Table 3: The activities you enjoy taking part in when learning grammar The data in the table show that most students (54 %) enjoy working in groups They say that when they work in groups, they feel self-confident, they are not afraid of being tested by teacher, they can express their opinions, their points of view freely, especially when working in groups they can get more different opinions about the same problems Contrary to this, only 15 % of the students enjoy working in pairs On being asked about playing games, many students like taking part in playing games One of the games they enjoy most is rearranging words into correct sentences (using pieces) (55 % of students) The game rearranging words with the same place of stress and the same pronunciation (during phonetic lessons) ranks second of the four given games (43 % of students enjoy it) The game combining sentences ranks third among four given games (40 %) The game they not enjoy most is information SangKienKinhNghiem.net filling (only 15% of students).They say that it is very difficult for them to find suitable information because they lack of vocabulary Question4: In what way you want your teacher correct your mistakes? Number Percentages of students Have a detailed correction of all grammar mistakes 62 62 % you make Correct some mistakes you often make in writing 25 25 % Correct some mistakes you often make in speaking 19 19 % Table 4: The ways students want their teacher to correct their mistakes In question of the questionnaire, respondents are asked to say the way they want their teacher to correct their mistakes In this question, the author gives students only three ways to choose From the data and findings in the table 4, we can see that most students (62 %) want their teacher to correct all grammar mistakes they make concretely When being asked why, they say that because they not want to make mistakes again To the second way of correcting mistakes given above (correct some mistakes you often make in writing), only 25 % of students preferred They explain that it is very important because all the tests for them are written and they almost not have to take oral tests Contrary to this, 19 % of students want their teacher to correct some mistakes they often make during their speaking They say that they learn English to communicate and they want to use English to talk with friends everywhere in the World 2.4.2 The findings from classroom observation and discussions Unlike the results obtained from the questionnaire, classroom observation gives a clearer picture about the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh school The author took the observation at two classes 11 The grammar lesson observed was part 5: language focus – Unit1-Textbook Tieng Anh 11.The author chose one unit conducted at two classes 11 by two teachers using two styles of teaching grammar in order to compare and to evaluate classroom teachers about their instructional practices and to identify examples of best practices in accordance with teaching standards The following is the lesson observed by the author: Unit 1: Friendship – Lesson 5: Language focus (Textbook: Tieng Anh 11) Subjects: + Pronunciation: / dʒ/, / tʃ/ + Grammar: Infinitive with and without to Class size: 45 students Time: 45 minutes There are two parts in this lesson: Pronunciation and Grammar * Classroom observation 1: The leson is conducted by the teacher applying Focus on Forms Implemented procedures Part 1: Pronunciation Activity1: Before the lesson, the teacher wrote two words: Jump – Cheese on the board and asked students to read The teacher asked each student to read Ways of correcting mistakes SangKienKinhNghiem.net aloud those words She underlined the letters J & Ch and lead into the new lesson: the pronunciation of / dʒ /, / tʃ / Activity2: The teacher read the given words first → students listened to the teacher then read in chorus after the teacher → each students stood up and read → the teacher listened to them and corrected their pronunciation mistakes Activity3:The teacher divided the class into small groups and asked students to practice reading aloud the given sentences → the teacher asked students to point out the words with the sounds /dʒ / , / tʃ / (two sentences for each group) → the volunteer of each groups stood up and pointed out, other groups listened & checked Part 2: Grammar (1) Infinitive with to Activity 1: Presentation The teacher wrote two sentences on the board and underlined the infinitive with to (Examples: I have some letters to write ; Does she get anything to eat ?) → the teacher asked students to comment on the use of to-infinitive through the given examples → the teacher listened and fed back Activity 2: Practice The teacher asked students to exercise1 (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 20) → students work in pairs then each student did one sentence in front of the class (in speaking) → the teacher listened and fed back (2) Infinitive without to Activity 1: Presentation The teacher called on some students to give out some verbs followed by infinitive without to → students listed : the verbs of perceptions such as hear, see, watch, feel, notice…., modal verbs such as can, may, must……, make, let → the teacher fed back Activity 2: Practice The teacher asked students to exercise (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 21) in pairs → each student did one sentence in front of the class (in speaking) → the teacher listened and fed back Homework The teacher asked students to learn grammar by heart and exercises in the workbook * Comment on lesson During 45 minute-classroom observation, the author had the following remarks: Firstly, the teacher implemented what she had prepared in the lesson plan Secondly, the teacher let students time brainstorm in both presentation and practice parts It helped students to pay more attention to the lesson Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was deep, especially in the part “grammar” students worked more actively in part1 than in part 2.In general, students were not active in speaking English The teacher almost had to asked and assigned students to answer her questions or to exercises SangKienKinhNghiem.net Lastly, the author wants to mention the methods and the activities used in this lesson: it was okay in the part “pronunciation”, in part “grammar”, the teacher spent time introducing the use of infinitives and bare infinitive before asking students to exercises in the textbook It means that she used Focus on forms to introduce grammar It could be seen from the classroom observation that students were interested in doing exercises but only in writing, not in speaking The teacher asked students to work in pairs, in groups She corrected all students’ spoken and written mistakes * Classroom observation 2: The leson is conducted by the teacher applying Focus on Form.Implemented procedures Part 1: Pronunciation Activity1: Before the lesson, the teacher showed a picture of a village and a picture of a chair → the teacher asked students to name the things they saw in those pictures → each student stood up and read the name of one thing → the teacher wrote those words on the board with their phonetic symbols (1 village / vilidʒ / chair / tʃeə /) and underlined the sounds /dʒ/& / tʃ/ → the teacher led into the new lesson Activity2: The teacher describe how to pronounce those sounds then asked students to practice reading the given words and given sentences in part “pronunciation” → students listened to the teacher first then read in chorus after the teacher → each students stood up and read → the teacher listened to them and corrected their pronunciation mistakes Activity3: The teacher divided the class into small groups then asked them to point out the words with the sounds /dʒ /, / tʃ / from three third sentences → the teacher asked each student to stand up and do, other students listened & checked →the teacher listened to them and corrected their pronunciation mistakes Part 2: Grammar (1) Infinitive with to Activity 1: Presentation The teacher wrote two sentences on the board and underlined the infinitive with to (Examples: We go to school to learn; There is a lot of homework to do) The teacher explained the use and the meaning of to-infinitive through the examples → students listened to the teacher and noted down → teacher asked students to give examples with to-infinitive → students worked in pairs then each student stood up and read out one sentence → others listened and checked → the teacher fed back Activity 2: Practice Exercise1(textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 20): The teacher checked if students understood the requirement of the exercise → the teacher asked student to exercise 1in pairs (only 0f sentences) → each student stood up and read out one sentence → the teacher called on another student to repeat the sentence done by his/her partner → the teacher fed back (2) Infinitive without to Activity 1: Presentation 10 SangKienKinhNghiem.net The teacher wrote sentences on the board and underlined the pair of verbs in each sentence (Examples: (1) I can speak English; (2) I saw them arrive home late; (3) They made her stay there for the weekend) → the teacher asked students to say the use of bare-infinitive through the examples → students discuss in pairs or in groups then answered the teacher’s question→ the teacher listened and fed back then listed the verbs followed by bare-infinitive Activity 2: Practice Exercise2 (textbook Tieng Anh 11–page 21): The teacher checked if students understood the requirement of the exercise → the teacher asked student to exercise in pairs (only 0f sentences) → each student stood up and read out one sentence after discussing with a partner → the teacher called on another student to repeat the sentence done by his/her partner → the teacher fed back Further practice: The teacher asked student to make correct sentences using the given words: (1) She / want/ buy some stamps ; (2) I / hear someone / talk there → students discuss in pairs or in groups → the teacher called on two students to go to the board and write → the teacher fed back Homework: The teacher asked students to complete exercises 1, in the textbook * Comment on lesson From the stages the second teacher used in teaching grammar lesson above, the author had the following remarks Firstly, she implemented what she had prepared in the lesson plan and guided students to exercises given in the textbook Secondly, the teacher used brainstorming to attract students’ attention to the lesson She introduced concretely the pronunciation of the sounds /dʒ /, /tʃ / in the part pronunciation In the part grammar, she spent time introducing the use of infinitives with to and infinitive without to before asking students to exercises in the textbook but mainly in speaking It means that she used Focus on form and Focus on forms to introduce grammar The teacher asked students to work in pairs, in groups then corrected all students’ spoken and written mistakes Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was effervescently It could be seen from the classroom observation that students took part in doing exercises actively Fourthly, after presentation and practice parts, the teacher checked up students’ comprehension through further practice It gives students more chance to practice what they have learned and teacher can evaluate how and what students gain after the lesson Lastly, from the beginning to the end of the lesson, the teacher tried to use communicative language teaching in teaching grammar, however it was not very successful because of students’ limitation, such as, ability of communicating in English, poor vocabulary and grammar, there were still students only sitting, listening and writing not participating in speaking English because they did not know how to those exercises, how to express in English 2.4.3 The findings from post-observation interviews and discussion 11 SangKienKinhNghiem.net Selinger and Shohamy (1989) point out that the use of interview as data collection instrument permits a level of in-depth information, free response and flexibility that cannot be obtained by other procedures Interview is an effective tool to supplement the questionnaires The aim of the interviews is to seek for insight into the matter through face to face situation, to get deeper ideas into their understanding of the role of teaching grammar in teaching English, their attitudes to teaching grammar and the ways they teach grammar lessons To conduct interviews, the author used the same four questions to interview two teachers whose lessons had been observed by the author From the information of the interviews, the author can get clearer and deeper ideas about the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh school The post-observation interviews were conducted with two teachers who teach grammar in two styles The interviews took place in a face-to-face situations with the subjects The purpose of the interviews is to discuss for further information to have in-depth understanding of their evaluation on the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school The author gave four questions to two teachers whose lessons had been observed The questions focus on the following categories: the teachers’ attitudes towards teaching grammar (Question 1); the teachers’ opinions about teaching grammar structures and rules in teaching grammar (Question 2); the teachers’ points of view to the opinion “the best way to learn grammar is drilling English frequently.” (Question 3); the teachers’ opinions about the best way to teach grammar lessons to students at To Hien Thanh high school in general and students of grade 11 in particular (Question 4) The interviews showed that those two teachers had different opinions about teaching grammar lessons, but they had the same idea about the role of drilling grammar in learning English To the first question “Do you like teaching grammar lessons? Why?”, teacher A said that she did not like teaching grammar lessons because those lessons are boring, and there are too many grammar structures in each lesson Contrary to the teacher A, teacher B likes teaching grammar lessons, because for her grammar plays an important role in learning English To the second question “Is it necessary to teach grammar structures and rules when teaching English? Why you think so ?”, teacher A believes that teaching grammar structures and rules when teaching English is necessary, because it helps students remember easily and quickly, but the teacher B did not agree with this opinion She explained that learning English is not to be sure to pay attention only to learning grammar To the third question “Someone says that the best way to learn grammar is drilling English frequently Do you agree? Why (not)?”, both teacher A and teacher B agree that drilling English frequently is the best way to learn grammar It helps students remember grammar structures better, enlarge their English 12 SangKienKinhNghiem.net vocabulary, improve their knowledge of English and become fluent in other skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing To the last question “What is the best way to teach grammar lessons to students at our school in general and 11th grade students in particular (in your opinion)? Why you think so?”, two teachers have different points of view in teaching grammar For teacher A, giving grammar structures and rules, sentence patterns then drilling many types of exercises is the best way to teach grammar The reason she gave for this is because of students’ levels of English Furthermore after three years at high school, they have to take a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and English is one of the six optional subjects at this examination There are only written tests, not oral tests Whereas teacher B consideres that teaching grammar in the light of communication is an effective way in teaching grammar She says that she always asks students to apply the sentence patterns, grammar structures they have learned in real situations To help students practice English more easily, she gives them contexts or situations, encourages them to speak English as much as possible Thanks to applying the method above, the grammar lessons conducted by her are less boring and students especially 11th grade students usually pay attention to learn grammar The information collected above is only the teachers’ opinions To evaluate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school, the author combined all the data and the information collected from questionnaire for students, classroom observation, postclassroom observation interviews with two teachers * The following is the result of 15 minute-test conducted after applying focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to students of classes 11B6 and 11B7 Class Mark 9-10 Mark 7-8 Mark 5-6 Mark 3-4 Mark 0-2 11B6 /45 – % 10/45 – 11% 21 /45 – 40 % 4/45- 29% 1/45 – 13% 11B7 15/45–18 % 18 /45 – 33 % 12 /45 – 40 % /45- 4,5% 0/45– 4,5% The ststistics above show that applying focus on form instruction in the light of CLT is suitable and effective PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 3.1 Conclusion In short, due to the economic open-door policy by the Government of Vietnam, the demand for studying English has increased Many people are expected to be competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access modern technology Communicative competence in English language is widely recognized as an advantage of any intellectuals in this competitive era of regional and global integration Besides the aim of passing exams, getting some further studies for future life, all students have a desire to be integrated into the culture, the civilization and the people of English speaking countries They expect to have good knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or sing English songs, etc As a result, learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people Therefore, it requires teachers of English 13 SangKienKinhNghiem.net to find out suitable methods of teaching English in general, and teaching English grammar in particular, to teach students of different levels and to get the aims above As Celica-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) asserted, talking about focusing on form without also examining the meaningfulness and appropriate use of the form is an over implication Gaining grammatical knowledge is only one side of the issue, the other side is to be able to use your grammatical knowledge in appropriate context In contrast to Focus on Form, Focus on Forms entails the well-known pitfall that too much attention to form results in knowledge about language rather than the knowledge of language use Fotos (1998) stated that Focus on Form helps learners” to recognize properties of target structures in context and develop their accuracy in their use” (Fotos 1998: 302) In conclusion, the teaching of grammar in the light of CLT is by far, the most challenging task any Vietnamese teacher may face in his/her daily classroom, especially at To Hien Thanh high school The study has been completed with the great efforts to investigate to what extent focus on form instruction is used at To Hien Thanh high school; the appropriateness of focus on form in the light of CLT instruction to 11th grade students then to find out the things the English teachers here should to make applying CLT in teaching and learning English have good results and effectiveness To have those results, the writer used survey questionnaire for students; took classroom observation at two 11th classes After classroom observation, the writer conducted two post-observation interviews with two teachers whose lessons had been observed With each instrument of the study, the writer had analysis and discussion to make the data collected clearer The aims of those activities are to find out the answers to three research questions of the study: (1) To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school? (2) How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school? (3).What should teachers to make applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school have good results and effectiveness, in addition, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of teaching methods then to give some suggestions, some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness The findings reveal that both teachers and students at To Hien Thanh high school have positive attitude toward grammar teaching and learning They also point out that the biggest aim of teaching and learning grammar is for good results at examination The combination of both focus on form and focus on forms is the teachers’ common teaching method as well as the students’ favorite way of learning English grammar The data collected from questionnaires, classroom observations and postobservation interviews with two teachers were consolidated and categorized 14 SangKienKinhNghiem.net 3.2 Recommendation for further study The study sets out to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school On the basis of the findings and the limitations of the study, future studies can concentrate on whether focus on form instruction is applied properly as what teachers think In addition, how to apply focus on form instruction in teaching grammar effectively We should pay more attention to find out factors making teaching grammar in the light of communication less effective These recommendations should be accomplished with the purpose of improving English teaching at the school Finally, it is hoped that this study will provide a basis for further attempts to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students Thanh Hoa, May 2019 Confirmation of the Principal I assure that the above initiative is legally done by myself I am fully responsible for any dishonesty Author Hoang Thi Tan 15 SangKienKinhNghiem.net REFFERENCES By the free dictionary on line Canh, L.V.(2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology Hanoi National University Press Celce - Murcia, M (1988), Techniques and Resources in teaching grammar, Oxford- Oxford University Press C Doughty & J Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Fotos, S (1998) Shifting the focus from forms to form in the EFL classroom ELTJournal Higgs, T., & Clifford, R (1982) The push toward communication In T Higgs (ed.), Curriculum, competence and the foreign language teacher Skokie, IL: National Textbook Koul, L (1984) Methodology of Education Research 3rd ed NewDeli Vikas Publishing Lmt Long, M.H.1991 “Focus on form: a design feature in language teaching methodology” Long, M H (1997) Focus on Form in Task-based language teaching 10.Long, M., & Robinson, P (1998) Focus on form: Theory, research and practice C Doughty & J Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Long, M (2000) Focus on form in task-based language teaching In R D Lambert & E Shohamy (Eds.), Language policy and pedagogy: Essays in honor of A Ronald Walton Philadelphia: Benjamins 12 McElroy, Howard (1934) Selecting a basic textbook The Modern Language Journal 13 Poole, A (2003b) New Labels for Old Problems: Grammar in Communicative Language Teaching Profile 14 Richards, J 1995 Easier said than done In Getting started: Materials writers on materials writing 15 Ron Sheen – ELT Journal “Focus on form and Focus on forms” Volume 56/3 July 2002 Oxford University Press) 16 Ron Sheen – ELT Journal “Focus on form- a myth in the making” Volume 57/3 July 2003 Oxford University Press) 17 Selinger,H.W.,& E.Shohamy (1989) Second Language Research Methods Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 2007, Vol 7, No.1The Forum) 19 The reading Matrix – Vol.5.No.1, April 2005 20 The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary – quoted in Harmer; 1987) 21 Ur, P (1988) Grammar Practice Activities Cambridge University Press 22 Webster’s Dictionary 23 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia SangKienKinhNghiem.net APPENDIX I 15 MINUTE-TEST I Choose the word that has the underlined part pronounced differently A machine B change C teacher D choose A condition B option C suggestion D relation II Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentences It was so relaxing to be close friends A in B between C among D around She's made friends a little girl who lives next door A to B of C by D with The children seem to be totally capable working by themselves A on B of C in D for Your friendship should be based on trust A basic B fragile C mutual D blind The company expects from its employees A constancy B quality C interest D loyalty I've got lots of , but only a few are really good friends A close friends B acquaintances C neighbors D partners Friendship is a two-sided , it lives by give-and-take A affair B event C aspect D feature 10 Unselfishness is the very essence of friendship A romantic part B important part C difficult part D interesting part III Complete each of these sentences with a suitable preposition 11 She pointed the dog when it ran toward her 12 Are you interested practicing speaking English? 13 You should have more confidence your own abilities 14 The fire started in the kitchen because he forgot to turn the light _ 15 My parents gave me a bicycle _ my birthday KEY: 1A 2C 3C 4D 5B 6C 7D 8B 9A 10B 11 to 12 in 13 in 14 off 15 On 15 MINUTE-TEST I Choose the word that has the underlined part pronounced differently A good B gossip C game D geometry A money B notice C glance D ankle II Choose the one word or phrase that best completes the sentences Many people find it lasting friendships A difficult to make B difficulty in making C is difficult to make D difficult making You any friends if you talking like that A will win/ carry on B won't win/ carry on C wouldn't win/ carried on D would have won/ had carried on The aim of the culture festival is friendship between the two countries A promote B promoting C to promote D being promoted People he turned out to be only fair-weather friends SangKienKinhNghiem.net ... is only the teachers’ opinions To evaluate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to 11th grade students at To Hien Thanh high school, the author combined all the data and the information... school; the appropriateness of focus on form in the light of CLT instruction to 11th grade students then to find out the things the English teachers here should to make applying CLT in teaching and... interviews is to discuss for further information to have in- depth understanding of their evaluation on the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school The author