Skkn applying some communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from unit 1 to unit 5, english textbook 8

THANH HOA CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE APPLYING SOME COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS, FROM UNIT TO UNIT 5, ENGLISH TEXTBOOK Author : Nguyen Thi Hoa Position : Teacher School: Minh Khai Secondary school Subject : English skkn THANH HOA, 2022 skkn TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale .1 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Objects of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 New ideas of the study 2 CONTENTS OF THE STUDY 2.1.1 What is a communicative approach? 2.1.2 Some popular communicative approaches in teaching English grammar 2.2 Practical background 2.3 Applying some communicative approaches to motivate students in learning grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook 2.3.1 Application .7 2.3.2 Application .8 2.3.3 Application 10 2.3.4 Application 11 2.3.5 Application 12 2.4 Results of applying communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook 14 CONCLUSION 15 3.1 Conclusion 15 3.2 Suggestion 16 REFERENCE BOOKS 17 skkn INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Up to now, English which is used popularly in Vietnam is an indispensable international language English is one of the compulsory subjects at schools It has been used for Final Examinations to evaluate students’ level of knowledge Therefore, whether students are proficient at English or not Being proficient at English means students are good at both received skills – reading and listening, and productive skills – speaking and writing These four skills are integraded in a lesson to improve all these skills for the students because one certain skill can be used to improve the others But it is very hard for students to learning grammar of English Therefore, it is necessary to have good English teaching and learning methods and techniques To make students interested in a grammar lesson is very important for teachers, especially English teachers How must teachers that? This is the responsibility of all teachers! Making some techniques are the ways in which teachers can take interest, encourage the students and prepare them to learn by stimulating their minds and their bodies But how English teachers in high schools apply these approaches? Base on the innovation of teaching methods that help students towards active learning, against passive learning habits To have the most effective, successful grammar lessons, teachers need to create a joyful atmosphere and create attractive techniques to stimulate creative thinking Moreover, with the social background of opening up ASEAN integration, English language plays an important role in communication and enculturation of Viet Nam country In general, learning English becomes more and more necessary and it also gets the attention of everyone, especially the students They are gradually becoming fond of this subject and more confident in all fields of English to master the knowledge, study about material and see the dialectical unity of listening - speaking - reading - writing skills Basing on these facts, I present the theme “Applying some communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook 8” that I have applied in teaching English for many years with the aim of helping students focus on English Grammar at school 1.2 Aims of the study My theme focuses on making clear about some issues below: - What is a communicative approach? - How many popular communicative approaches are there in teaching English grammar? - How are communicative approaches applied in teaching grammar lessons from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook 1.3 Objects of the study 8th grade students in classes 8A2 and 8A4 in Minh Khai Secondary school, Thanh Hoa city are the objects chosen for my study The students are in the third year of secondary school, being cognitively immature adolescents and English is skkn not really their interest; therefore, they complete the tasks in their English text book in a passive way 1.4 Methods of the study In order to collect a number of information, compare, and then, analyse data my study is conducted by qualitative methods By using the combination of these methods, my theme will make clear the questions in this topic, and reach effectively the targets of the essay 1.5 New ideas of the study Knowledge of grammar are usually taught in traditional methods when teachers often use their interpreting, explaining the rules of grammar As the result, students are quite passive and have fewer opportunities to practice the language in class Only with some communicative approaches used in grammar lessons make students pay more attention to their lessons and, as a consequence, the lessons become more attractive and students can comprehend knowledge better CONTENTS OF THE STUDY 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 What is a communicative approach? The Communicative Approach – or Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) – is a teaching approach that highlights the importance of real communication for learning to take place In the Communicative Approach, real communication and interaction is not only the objective in learning, but also the means through which it takes place This approach started in the 70s and became prominent as it proposed an alternative to the then ubiquitous systems-oriented approaches, such as the Audiolingual method That means that, instead of focusing on the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary (grammatical/linguistic competence), the Communicative Approach aimed at developing the learner’s competence to communicate in the target language (communicative competence), with an enhanced focus on real-life situations According to Jack C Richards, a learner can develop communicative competence by: skkn This change has had a huge impact on classroom materials, course books, teaching techniques and the teacher’s role in the classroom, and still influences English language teaching and learning up to this day Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life Unlike the audiolingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses The real-life simulations change from day to day Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics Margie S Berns, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining Firth's view that "language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak)" Learning English highly depends on students’ positive attitude toward the class Consequently, learning must be stimulating and enjoyable through breaking what might cause monotony in this process and strengthening what makes tasks more interesting, as well as what increases students’ involvement The use of communicative approaches promote positive ambition and creativity of students, suitable for each class, the training courses help student have selflearning skill as well as the knowledge for practical situation students have good emotion that impacts, brings joy and excitement for them 2.1.2 Some popular communicative approaches in teaching English grammar Depending on the contents of the lessons and students, teachers should design a suitable communicative approach for each lesson Below are some techniques often used to promote students in learning grammar lessons 2.1.2.1 Describing the picture Show a picture and have students take turns saying one descriptive thing about it Beginners can make simple observations like “three cats” while advanced students can make up a story to go with the picture They aren’t allowed to repeat what someone else said, so they need to pay attention when each person speak Variation for individual: take turns with the teacher 2.1.2.2 Shark attack Teacher uses the template to present a new learning topic This activity is a variation on the popular Hangman warmer Instead of building a set of gallows and hanging the villain, a boy or a girl moves down the steps and falls into the mounth of a waiting shark skkn 2.1.2.3 Sing a song or play the music song If you’re musically inclined, or even you’re not, song can be a lively way to get everyone involved 2.1.2.4 Brainstorm race A brainstorm race is a great way to review things you’ve already covered, and have some energizing fun in the process Divide the class into two teams or more Teacher gives a topic and asks learners to think of anything related to it They will have about 30 seconds to brainstorm and list as many items as they can in a certain amount of time-without speaking Each student must write his or her ideas on the board or paper you’ve provided The team with the most ideas after the prescribed time wins that round Ask the winning team to present their ideas Ask remaining teams to add any ideas the winning missed and to correct any mistakes the winning team may have made 2.1.2.5 Networks Teacher draws a network on the board with the topic of the lesson in the middle of the network Teacher asks students to work in two or four groups to find information related to the theme 2.1.2.6 Lucky number Teacher divides the class into two teams and lets them name their team Teacher asks teams to choose the number If they choose the number that is lucky, they will not have to answer the question but they still get mark In contrast, if they choose the number that have a question, they will have to answer that question At the end of the game, the team getting the highest mark will be a winner skkn 2.1.2.7 Chatting Teacher asks students questions relating to the content of the new lesson Students give their ideas From this information, teacher leads to the new lesson 2.1.2.8 Kim’s game This is the memory game It helps students find out the information for the lesson Teacher divides the class into two teams Let students see a picture with objects or 8-10 words, word phrases related to the topic of the lesson in 20 seconds Students must remember them without writing After that, students go to the board and write down all the objects or the words, word phrases they can remember The team which has the most objects or the words, word phrases is the winner skkn 2.1.2.9 Matching Teacher asks students to match words in column A with their meanings in column B, words in column A with pictures in column B or a half of sentence in column A with its rest half in column B, … 2.1.2.10 Role-play The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be old friends meeting after a long time They are supposed to communicate and note the differences in each using either their imagination or the role play cues 2.1.2.11 Quizz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport, attempt to answer questions correctly It is a game to test knowledge about a certain subject In some countries, a quiz is also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills 2.1.2.12 Describing the pictures The teacher gives students some pictures related to the lession, asks them to look at the pictures and describe what they can see in the pictures based on some suggestions of his/hers 2.1.2.13 Telling stories “Everyone loves stories, including ESL students Stories are used in contemporary ESL materials to promote communication and expression in the classroom.” Celce- Murcia (1988: 51) Both teachers and students can tell stories “Our students are marvelous storytellers as well as listeners, and this ability can be used to good advance.” Celce- Murcia (1988: 55) Telling stories is suitably applied for the production stage when students are free to say what they want and what they think In that way, they can develop their imagination and self- confidence at the same time 2.1.2.14 Crossword puzzle Teacher asks students to work in pairs or groups He/She gives them a “crossword” and asks students to find the objects related to the lesson 2.1.2.15 Other communicative approaches What and where, slap the board, survey, true/false statement, picture drill, find someone who, chain game, gap fill, hot seat, mystery object, nought and crosses, sentence making game, … 2.2 Practical background Minh Khai Secondary school is located in Thanh Hoa city, Thanh Hoa province At present, school has 29 classes with over 1.400 students Almost all students in the school live in a small city and not have many opportunities and conditions to practice English regularly as well as take part in extra English classes Although they are studious and obedient students, they not raise the sense of initiative in learning English They need the teacher’s help If a teacher uses a comunicative approach, which is a short, fun game, he/she can encourage the students, wake them up and make the grammar lesson less boring, more interesting and easier to remember Furthermore, a comunicative approach helps learners put aside their daily skkn distractions and focus on English If they haven’t used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it Comunicative approaches also encourage whole class participation which can build a sense of community within the class We all know that learning the lesson with a good hook activity sets us up for a better chance of success It captivates the students and draws them into the lesson – giving us the opportunity to “do our thing”! A comunicative approach in the lesson takes only some minutes but it brings us a variety of benefits as I presented above 2.3 Applying some communicative approaches to motivate students in learning grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook Below are some communicative approaches I have used in teaching new English lessons, English textbook in the last few years, many teachers can also apply them in their teaching 2.3.1 Application Unit LEISURE ACTIVITIES LESSON 3: A CLOSER LOOK Grammar: The verbs of liking + gerunds The verbs of liking + to –infinitives 2.3.1.1.Sentence making game The teacher devides the class into teams and gives them some verbs of liking: like, love, adore, enjoy, dislike, hate, prefer, fancy, fancy, Ask students to make sentences using these verbs in minutes, then write them on board The team with the most correct sentences becomes the winner Suggested answers: - I like fishing - We detest playing games - They love making apricot jam - Jane enjoys go out with her friends - You hate to skateboard - I prefer to read poetry - Do you fancy watching TV? - 2.3.1.2 Brainstorming Teacher asks students to think of family members and answer the questions related to their leisure activities and use the verbs of liking: skkn - What your family members like? - What your family members hate? - Who dislikes watching TV? - Does your father love going shopping? - Who prefers spending time with family? - Does your mother adore doing DIY? Suggested answers: - My family members like chatting with one another - My family members hate collecting stamps - My mother dislikes watching TV - …  These activities aim to help students practise using the verbs of liking + V-ing/to-V 2.3.2 Application Unit LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE LESSON A CLOSER LOOK Grammar: Comparative forms of adjectives: review Comparative forms of adverbs Describing the pictures Teacher shows some pictures and asks students to make comparisons orally based on these pictures Students will sit in groups and practice speaking skkn - Teachers will give students some sample sentences:  The boy standing on the right hand is shorter than the girl on the left hand  The blue car ran more quickly than the red one  The red car ran more quickly than the silver car  The phone on the left hand is bigger than the one on the right hand  - Students will make the same sentences, using comparisons - Some of the students to present their sentences in front of the class - Teacher encourages students and gives them the feedback/mark/gift … Students made many comparisions confidently  This activity also helps to practice the use of comparative forms Teacher gives the gifts to the presentatives of two groups wining in the games skkn 2.3.3 Application Unit PEOPLES OF VIETNAM LESSON A CLOSER LOOK Grammar: Questions: review Making questions Teacher shows two pictures, devides the class into two teams (A and B) and asks students to make the questions basing on the activities of the people in the pictures (A and B), using wh-question: who, what, when, where, why, how, Team A ask, team B answer and vice versa Students will sit in teams and practice speaking Picture A Picture B - Teachers will give students some sample questions:  Who are playing on the ground in picture A?  Who are sitting around the table in picture B?  Where is the girl who is wearing a green shirt in picture A?  What is father in picture B doing? - Students will make more questions in the same way, using who, which, what, whose, … Suggested answer: - Four children - They are a family - She is on the ground 10 skkn - He is talking Teachers can encourage students by giving them suggested words This section will be helpful for them Some of the students to present their questions in front of the class Teacher encourages students and gives them the feedback/mark/gift, The attraction of the pictures motivated and they worked enthusiastically 2.3.4 Application Unit OUR CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS LESSON A CLOSER LOOK Grammar: Should and shouldn’t: review Have to 2.3.4.1 Find someone/something who/what The teacher gives the following hand-out to be filled out and asks some students to walk around and make questions related to the contents of the conversation (Getting started) to the class members 11 skkn (The questions using modal verbs: should, shouldn’t and have to) Find someone/something Answers Who has to be at the dinner table on time? Mai’s family Who has to visit the pagoda on the first day of every lunar month? Phong’s family Who has to use a knife and fork at dinner? Nick What should be served in the UK at p.m? Tea Who should find information about a custom or tradition? Students 2.3.4.2 Brainstorming Teacher asks students to think of class rules and make the sentences related to some modal verbs: should, shouldn’t and have to Suggested answers: - We shouldn’t talk in class - We should clean the class clearly - We have to go to class on time - We have to wear school uniform - We have to follow the class rules strickly - We shouldn’t swear in class - We should respect our teachers - We have to homework before going to class - …  These activities aim to help students practise using the Modal verbs Here is the photo when my students practiced in their lesson attentively 12 skkn 2.3.5 Application Unit FASTIVALS IN VIETNAM LESSON A CLOSER LOOK Grammar: Simple and compound sentences: review The perfect couples Teacher classifies female students and male ones to find the perfect couple who have the best sentences when they are combined Teacher can use this technique to combine two clauses (main clause and subordinate clause) in teaching simple and compound sentences (two clauses in one sentense) Procedure: Teacher prepares some couple pieces of paper having the number on Teacher passes the papers over spontaneously and asks students: * Team 1: Write uncompleted sentences with “S + V” Example: - It rains, - I like spring, - Tet is a time for us to worship our ancestors, ……………………………………… * Team 2: Write subordinate clauses using conjunctive adverbs (and/ or/ but/so/yet + S + V or however/ nevertheless/ moreover/ therefore/ , S + V) 13 skkn Example: - so I stay at home - but Nam is ill - therefore, most Vietnamese return home for Tet - ……………………………………………… Teacher call all couples of students to read out their writing Which couple having the most appropriate interesting sentence will be the perfect couple and get present from teacher Here are some photos to illustrate for this activity From the pictures, we have sentences to be read before the class Of all sentences, couple - number is the perfect couple and gets gifts The couple getting the gifts was over the moon Let’s compare two photos of two periods: One applied traditional methods and the other applied communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons at Minh Khai secondary school 14 skkn Picture A (applying traditional methods) Picture B (applying communicative approaches) 2.4 Results of applying communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook In order to assess the effectiveness of applying this method to teaching new lessons, I have compared my work with many classes (7A2 & 7A4 - school year 2020-2021, 8A2 &8A4- school year 2021-2022) for one year Before using this method, most of my students could traditionally learn all the lessons in the textbook without applying communicative approaches in each grammar lesson Therefore, the atmosphere at the class was boring and not exciting, students were passive and not enthusiastic, they could complete all the tasks but they easily forgot the vocabularies, the topic as well as the contents of the lessons immediately It is a matter of fact that after applying communicative approaches in each grammar lesson, my students are very interested in taking part in the tasks, students seemed to be very eager for new grammar lessons BEFORE APPLYING NEW APPROACHES: Students’ English proficiency Number of students Percentage Excellent Good Average Weak ( bad) 9/106 15/106 55/106 27/106 8% 14,2% 51,9% 25,9% AFTER APPLYING NEW APPROACHES: The frequency of English Number of Percentage speaking students Excellent 15/106 14,2% Compared with one year ago Increase 6,3% 15 skkn Good Average Weak ( bad) 35/106 40/106 16/106 33,0% 37,7% 15,1% Increase 18.8% Increase 14,2% decrease 10,8% CONCLUSION 3.1 Conclusion The best lessons, books, and materials in the world won’t get students excited about learning and willing to work hard if they are not motivated Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education, and teachers can play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in their students Of course, that is much easier said than done, as all students are motivated differently and it takes time and a lot of effort to learn to get a classroom full of kids enthusiastic about learning, working hard and pushing themselves to excel Whether you are a new teacher or an experienced one, try changing teaching methods to motivate your students and to encourage them to live up to their true potential Changing teaching methods, from my point of view, is changing the role of the teacher from the provider into a consultant; students will fulfil the demand of knowledge themselves It is clearly that in my class, with applying communicative approaches in each grammar lesson, learning English grammar is getting more and more exciting, students are voluntary participants in teaching process, I myself find it is relaxing to be a guide instead of being a translator, for all the activities in the classroom In order to apply this method effectively, the teacher should spend time designing a suitable and closed communicative approaches for each lesson so that students can participate in these activities actively 3.2 Suggestion Basing on practical teaching English text book 6, 7, & I suggest that there should be a projector and a computer or a laptop in each classroom in order to motivate students in learning English and help them start new lessons effectively because some communicative approaches should be organized with them This is my little experience in finding methods to motivate students in learning English thoroughly and actively I hope to receive your reading and comments as well as contribution to make this theme more perfect so that it can be applied widely Thanks for your reading! THE CONFIRMATION OF THE HEAD MASTER Thanh Hoa, March 30th 2022 I, the undersigned, certify my authority of the experiential initiative entitled “Some communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook 8” Except where the references are 16 skkn indicated, no other person’s piece of work has been used without due acknowledgements in the text of initiative Author Nguyen Thi Hoa 17 skkn REFERENCE BOOKS Dornyei, Z (2001) Motivational strategies in English classroom Cambridge University Press Allwright, R (1984) The importance of interaction in classroom language learning Applied Linguistics Document on the Internet English textbook Canale, M & Swain, M (1980) Approaches to Communicative Competence SEAMEO Regional Language Cent Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman Harmer, J (1987) Teaching and Learning Grammar Longman Group UK Limited Richards, J C & Rodgers, J.S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press Lock, G (1997) Functional English Grammar: an Introduction for Second Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10 Pekoz, B Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language Teaching The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XIV, No 10, October 2008 11 Websites: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Pekoz-Grammar.html http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/ifiwerearichman.htm 18 skkn Mẫu (2) DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO HUYỆN, TỈNH VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Nguyễn Thị Hoa Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên Tiếng Anh STT Xếp loại Tên skkn /liên môn Số, ngày, tháng, năm Năm cấp định công nhận, quan ban hành QĐ Số 988/QĐ2014 - 2015 SGD& ĐT, ngày 03/11/2015 “Five-minute warm-up activities to motivate students in learning C English – English textbook 11” Tổng hợp kiến thức lịch sử - địa lý, mỹ thuật giáo dục công dân Khuyến 2015-2016 vào giảng dạy tiết Listening – khích Unit 16 – Historical places “Combining technology and PBL Số 1112/QĐ3 in teaching unit 12, English B 2016 – 2017 SGD& ĐT, ngày textbook 10” 18/10/2017 Dạy học theo chủ đề tích hợp vận dụng kiến thức liên môn vào việc: “Làm để loại bỏ Giải ba 2017 – 2018 thói quen xấu nhằm cải thiện sức khỏe thể chất tinh thần” CT Tiếng Anh 10 thí điểm “Applying five-minute warm up Số 2007/QĐactivities in teaching Lessons C 2018-2019 SGD& ĐT, ngày Getting started (Unit - Unit 5), 08/11/2019 New English textbook 11” “Some communicative approaches to motivate students in Số 2088/QĐ6 learning grammar lessons, from B 2020-2021 SGDĐT ngày Unit to Unit 10, new English 17/12/2020 textbook 10” * Liệt kê tên đề tài theo thứ tự năm học, kể từ tác giả tuyển dụng vào Ngành thời điểm skkn ... started (Unit - Unit 5), 08 /11 /2 019 New English textbook 11 ” ? ?Some communicative approaches to motivate students in Số 2 088 /QĐ6 learning grammar lessons, from B 2020-20 21 SGDĐT ngày Unit to Unit 10 ,... to motivate students in learning grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook Below are some communicative approaches I have used in teaching new English lessons, English textbook in. .. (applying traditional methods) Picture B (applying communicative approaches) 2.4 Results of applying communicative approaches to motivate students in grammar lessons, from Unit to Unit 5, English textbook