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THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANINING QUANG XUONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL o0o TEACHING EXPERIENCE APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH IN TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON TO IMPROVE STU[.]
THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANINING QUANG XUONG HIGH SCHOOL o0o TEACHING EXPERIENCE APPLYING THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH IN TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’COMMUNICATION SKILL AT QUANG XUONG II HIGH SCHOOL Written by: Nguyen Thi Thuy English Group Quang Xuong II High School THANH HOA, June 2022 skkn CONTENTS PART : INTRODUCTION 1.1.Rationale of the study 1.2 The aim of the study 1.3.The scope and object of the study 1.4 Research methods PART 2: CONTENT 2.1.Theoretical background 2.1.1 An over view of comunicative language teaching 2.1.1.1 Learning a language as an autonomous system 2.1.1.2.The role of Grammar in teaching English 2.1.1.3.The choice of grammar points to teach 2.1.1.4.Task-based instruction 2.1.1.5.Communication-based grammar teaching method 2.1.2.The role of phonetics in teaching English 2.2.Practical background 2.2.1.Phonetics 2.2.2 Grammar 2.3 Solutions 2.3.1 Activities in teaching pronunciation 2.3.1.1.Minimal pairs bingo 2.3.1.2.Run and grab 2.3.1.3.Simple sound maze 2.3.1.4.Pronunciation journey 2.3.2 Activities in Teaching grammar 2.3.2.1.Tenses 2.3.2.2.Conditional sentences 2.3.2.3.Reported speech 2.4 Effective of the teaching experience PART CONCLUSION REFRENCES skkn PAGE 1 2 2 2 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 11 14 17 18 20 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study : In recent years,English teaching plays a vital role in the period of modernization and industrialization English has been one of the most important subjects at school For the educational innovation, many considerable changes in teaching and learning English at high schools in Vietnam have been made In oder to develop students' communicative competence, the emphasis of English teaching has been placed on the mastery of communicative language skills in which four language skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing have been given balanced weight in the national syllabus However, the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning English in many high schools in Vietnam in general and in Quang Xuong in particular, are not really as good and high as expected This is resulted from many objective as well as subjective factors and one of those is that the present testing and assessment system heavily basing on accountability and not as a learning tool sometimes depress students' motivation in learning English The feeling of having to a paper-andpen test usualy scares almost all of the students, that is not only the case at Quang Xuong II High school but also at other schools in Thanh Hoa as well as in Vietnam One of the reasons that have been identified by educators is the exams which are based on grammar tests This factor leading to the abuse of the Grammar Translation Method by teachers in the teaching process to help students get better results in exams The teaching method of grammar is still biased towards writing sentences, conjugations, structures, formulas, etc Therefore, students apply grammatical structures mechanically, without flexibility in the context, as well as not having the application of grammar points in communication every day Therefore, the long-term consequence is that students suffer from fatigue in the learning process, and they cannot practise English effectively Another cause of this inadequacy is due to teaching pronunciation is neglected in the Language Focus Most teachers only teach the Pronunciation within 10 minutes of the class, so students cannot have many efforts English sounds are difficult to pronounce correctly Therefore, students are not able to apply those pronunciations to communication.Teachers must research and find out the effective methhods to teach Language Focus lessons so that students have the most opportunities to practice the theories they have learned, and they can communicate with others everyday However, with the limited duration of the class, teachers also face many difficulties in carrying out the above activities Bearing those in mind, I would like to conduct the Teaching Experience entitled : “Applying the Communicative Language Teaching approach in teaching Language Focus lesson to improve students’communication skill at Quang skkn Xuong II High school.’’with the aim of finding out some solutions for the problem of teaching teaching grammar and pronunciation in high schools In this research , we focus on three main points: - The first is the nature of learning a language and the role of grammar and pronunciation when learning a new language - The second is to review new perspectives on teaching grammar and phonics by communicative language teaching method - Finally, we propose communication activities that can be applied in Language Focus class in the high school program 1.2 Aims of the study The aims of the study are as the follows: - to improve communicative proficiency of all skills including reading, writing - to engage the learners in the pragmatic and functional use of language - to enhances the productivity of the language in scientific ways - to appreciate the learners to engage in linguistic interaction with real-life objectives 1.3 The scope and object of the study To improve students’communicative competence at Quang Xuong II High school, various activities can be used and a number of things should be done Howerver, due to the limitation of time, only classes 10 A10, 11 C1, 11C2 and 11C4 were asked to participate in the study Grammar and phonics points are included in the 10th, 11th grade of English program ( years) 1.4 Research methods - Reading reference books and documents as a theoretical basis for new perspectives on teaching grammar and pronunciation, as well as collect good activities from the Internet to refer to how to conduct Language Focus lesson activities according to CLT approach - Discussing with other teachers - Observing and drawing out experiences - Applying in teaching and getting experience from the teaching in the class - Practice in class and observe - Get feedback from students PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 An over view of comunicative language teaching: Communicative language teaching is a learner-centered method that mainly focuses on learning the language through communication Communicative language teaching is one of the best and popular methods of learning a second skkn language.Global communication is increasing day by day and in some cases rapidly.The significant characteristics of communicative language teaching are given below: Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach (CA) , is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study Learners in environments using communication to learn and practice the target language by interactions with one another and the instructor, the study of "authentic texts" (those written in the target language for purposes other than language learning), and the use of the language both in class and outside of class Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar to promote language skills in all types of situations That method also claims to encourage learners to incorporate their personal experiences into their language learning environment and to focus on the learning experience, in addition to the learning of the target language 2.1.1.1 Learning a language as an autonomous system There are two contrasting views on language learning: learning as an autonomous system, and socially embedded According to this view, language is considered an abstract system, composed of rules that interact to determine form and inner meaning Thus the system can exist independently of the social context The two most prominent linguists who support this view are Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) - Swiss linguist, who is considered the beginner of modern linguistics He was the first to propose his point of view in his work "Cours de linguistique génerale" (Textbook of General Linguistics), published in 1916 after the death of two of his former students In this book, he clearly distinguishes two aspects: "langue" - language and "parole" - speech, to serve as a demarcation line for the study of language However, he only considered "language" as the object of research and rejected the study of problems of speech because they were too complex Similar to the above, Chomsky - American linguist argued that language can exist without context He argued that language belongs to the mind rather than to society It is the intellectual property of an individual person, one of the identified internal skkn genetic traits of the human species (Cook, 2003, p 41) In short, this view asserts that language learning can be done systematically without the need for social context 2.1.1.2.The role of Grammar in teaching English: Because of the many differences between teaching methods, each researcher of linguist and language teaching method has a very different view of the importance of grammar in the process of teaching a foreign language In 1622, Joseph Webbe, a teacher and expert in grammar, once wrote: “No one can learn a language fluently while being limited by the rules of grammar” (quoted in Thornbury, 1999) He argued that grammar could be acquired simply by communicating and practicing through the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing Webbe was one of the first educators to question the value of teaching grammar, but he certainly wasn't the last person argueing that In contrast, over the past few decades, a lot of empirical evidence has shown that grammar instruction in the classroom actually helps learners acquire a second language more effectively This evidence comes from carefully controlled studies that have been performed in the classroom (Cowan, 2008) Therefore, no one can say that the teaching of grammar is irrelevant, or that grammar is no longer necessary in teaching English As Brown (2001) stated: "No one can doubt the importance of grammar as a rule of language organization for the performance of communication" Today, many researchers have concluded that Krashen's theory of how adults acquire second languages has little support However, many teachers still believe that there is no benefit in teaching grammar Some teachers of English from kindergarten through 6th grade argue that their students seem to learn without knowing grammar because children can acquire another language with little or no need any guidance Children only need to be exposed to that language in meaningful contexts In contrast, adults no longer have this ability and need to be guided to recognize and absorb the grammar rules of a second language (Cowan, 2008) 2.1.1.3.The choice of grammar points to teach skkn We cannot teach all the rules of English grammar We have choose to teach what students need to learn It is not advisable to design a lesson to teach the entire grammar system from the start When teachers start teaching Language focus lesson, they might have difficulty to explain the knowledge for students to acquire it perfectly 2.1.1.4.Task-based instruction Design lecture is based on the creation of language training tasks that have traditionally focused on semantics In the exercises that produce structure, grammatical form is purely for communication (R Ellis, 1995) One way to achieve a grammatically efficient output is to use a task that is communicatively focused but contains an element that forces the learner to reproduce the exact structure of the language 2.1.1.5.Communication-based grammar teaching method Teaching grammar is based on communicative situations is designed through the process of teaching grammar format on the basis of a real, expanded and simplified communication situation to provide learners with some excessive number of illustrative examples How to use the structure of the target language, which has been put into context in order to comprehend a language In short, these new methods emphasize the need to provide learners with both broad and focused access to grammatical form in order to promote language acquisition 2.1.2.The role of phonetics in teaching English There are a number of studies have shown that there are many different views on the role of teaching pronunciation when learning a foreign language - The simple GTM (Grammar Translation Method) assumes that pronunciation has nothing to with teaching a foreign language, and mostly focuses on Reading and Grammar - Meanwhile, the DM (Direct Method) method considers teaching pronunciation to be extremely important and requires the teacher to model accurately – whereby a skkn perfect teacher must be a native speaker for the most accurate pronunciation This is not possible with the current educational conditions in Vietnam - Recently, CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) method has given a strong impetus to pronunciation teaching because it has been demonstrated by Hinofotis and Bailey (1980) that there is a threshold in English pronunciation However, if the learner is under this level, he cannot communicate effectively, even if he is very good at grammar and vocabulary Accordingly, if a teacher wants to help students fulfill the ability to communicate in a foreign language, they must teach students to at least meet or exceed this pronunciation threshold So what activities can be used and what is the communicative method of teaching pronunciation? 2.2.Practical background 2.2.1 Phonetics: Current pronunciation teaching methods such as controlled practice, modeling, imitating, tongue twisters, minimal pair drills, have been widely applied in high schools However, some problems arise: - First, students learn pronunciation in controlled situations in the classroom, but they don't know how to put it into practice using the language - Teaching also focuses too much on pairs of sounds, words and single sentences without focusing on communication situations - Most teachers cannot express intonation and rhythm with single words and sentences as in daily communication 2.2.2 Grammar In both high school English programs (7 years and 10 years) grammar is always one of the fixed parts in each unit Grammar, which is defined as "the system of rules that regulate the arrangement and relationships of words in a sentence" (Brown, 2001), is an integral part of a language That is why teachers and students always focus on teaching and learning grammar Moreover, in the general exams, besides it requires quite a lot of skills and knowledge such as reading and vocabulary, grammar points Although teaching and learning of English in Vietnam has undergone amazing changes in the past few decades, grammar teaching in high schools still mainly uses the traditional teaching method, known as the Grammar Translation Method In this method, teachers often present grammatical structures, students practice by speaking or writing exercises skkn Although traditional grammar teaching methods help students master the rules of grammar, students cannot use these rules flexibly and appropriately in real-life communication situations One method that can replace the traditional grammar teaching method is the Communicative Language Teaching approach This method requires that teaching in general and teaching grammar in particular be based on real-life situations The process of teaching and learning grammar is done by "learning by doing", in which students are required to participate in group activities or cooperate to complete tasks that require communication between students Interaction between teacher and students should be applicable or between students and students so that students can naturally absorb and remember grammar rules 2.3 Solutions: How to design activities of the Language Focus lesson in order to: + Improve the quality of English teaching and learning in high schools + Increase students' talking time during the main lesson in class + Students see the practical meaning of communication, can remember and talk about these issues logically + Improve students' communicative competence + Promote the central role of learners + Developing students' linguistic thinking not only in learning English but also in learning activities and other activities of real life To help students have more opportunities to practice phonetics and grammar in daily contexts , I would like to suggest some activities presented as follows : Activities that can be used in Language Focus lessons and demonstrations throughout them 2.3.1 Activities in teaching pronunciation 2.3.1.1.Minimal pairs bingo bingo board has 25 cells, teachers can use 25 words (for 12 pairs of similar sounds) By visiting https://www.eslactivities.com/bingo.php , teachers can easily create bingo boards Just type in the words in the table and the program will automatically create a bingo table for teachers The game will start on an empty slot skkn and the student whose tiles are called wins and gets to read the bingo tiles in the next round Illustrated lesson: English 10 – Unit 1,2,3 - Approximate time: 15 minutes - After units, students have learned these vowel sounds /ɪ/ - /i:/, /ɑ:/ - /ʌ/, and /æ/ - /e/ - Teacher lists 12 minimal pairs /ɪ/ /i:/ o hit - heat o bit - beat o feet - fit o chip - cheap o bin - bean /ɑ:/ /ʌ/ o cart – cut o heart – hut /æ/ /e/ o bad - bed o man men o bag beg o pan pen o had head o hen - Teacher cuts the sheet of cards so that there is one different card for each student - Teacher conducts the game: - Give out the prepared cards - Read out each of the words, from one of the cards in random order Tick off the words as teacher reads them so as to avoid reading them twice Ask students to cross out the words on their cards as they hear them - When a player completes a horizontal or vertical line on the card, he or she should shout: “Bingo” Ask this player to read back the words in the line that skkn they have completed to see if these words are among the ones teacher has already read out This player is the winner - When one player has won, continue the game to give other players an opportunity to reach second and third positions 2.3.1.2.Run and grab The teacher writes or tags two pairs of similar-sounding words on the board, reads one of the words, and the students rush up to the board to tap the correct word If the student chooses correctly, the student will read the next pair of words Illustrated lesson: English 10 – Unit 4: /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ - Approximate time: -10 minutes - Teacher could have their minimal pairs on flashcards or could simply write two words at a time on the board o shot – short o stock- stork o fox – forks o spot – sport o pot – port - Create two teams and then pair students up with a member of the opposite team In turn, each pair goes to stand at the back of the room, looking down an aisle at the board - When you call one of the minimal pairs out, the pair races to the front to touch the correct word on the board or grab the appropriate flashcard - Students from the winning team could have a turn at calling the words for others to play another turn 2.3.1.3.Simple sound maze: Students work individually or in pairs, solving a maze – a path-finding puzzle To find the correct path, students have to follow words with a specific sound Illustrated lesson: English 10 – Unit - /i:/ - Approximate time: 10 – 15 minutes - Preparation: Teacher makes a copy of a maze for each student of the class - T conducts the game: - Give each student or each pair a maze skkn - Explain that the objective of the game is to find a path from the entrance in the top left side of the maze to the exit in the bottom right - Point out the phonetics symbol /i:/ and example word “see” above the maze and explain that in the game, students can only cross the square if it contains a word of the sound /i:/ - Students can move from one square to the next horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally - When students have finished, check the route together - Ask some students to read out the words in the route -Key: The correct path is: tea – these – meat – meet – complete – need – eat – sheep – scene – TV – feel – seat – read – please – street – me – sea – cheap – feet – bean – teach – tree – east – meal Teachers can create their own maze, focusing on other sounds by listing about 25 words belonging to a certain sound, and then writing in the boxes so that they form a path from the entrance to the exit of the maze Then list other words that don't contain the sound but can be pronounced closely Then write in the remaining boxes 2.3.1.4.Pronunciation journey: Each student is given a map according to the tree diagram The starting point is the starting point and the ending point is the names of cities around the world Each turn, students have choices: turn left or turn right, depending on the sound the student hears from the teacher or from the recording At the end of the game, the student who finishes correctly is the winner, and the teacher asks the student to repeat the words they heard Illustrated lesson: English 10 – Unit 10: /p/ - /b/ - Teacher makes a copy of the map for each member of the class, then choose some minimal pairs /p/ and /b/ - Teach writes the word pairs in two vertical column on the board, label the list “left” and “right” Left Right bye pie pet bet 10 skkn big pig pay bay -Teacher conducts repetition of the words from the list -Teacher conducts the game: - Give each student a map, point out that each of the numbered junctions, there is a choice of turn left or right - Explain that you will read four words from the board, one word for each junction For each word, student must turn left or right according to whether the word is from the left or the right hand list on the board When teacher has said the four words, students should then arrive at one of the destinations along the top of the map For example: pie – pet – big – bay – Paris - Go over the route together and check the correct route - Repeat the activities several times using other routes -Students can play the games in pairs or small groups They take turns to read out words and trace the route of the map 2.3.2 Activities in Teaching grammar 2.3.2.1.Tenses: *Simple past: Activity name : GOT CHA! Description: The purpose of this game is to provide learners with many Whquestions in the simple past tense Students have the opportunity to practice the past simple with regular or irregular verbs in their answers - Although much controlled practice, this activity also motivates students to talk about themselves, using their own words as well as those of their classmates Students can only score points for correct answers Illustrated lesson : English 10 – Unit Type: Questions and answers Topic: Activities and events Interaction: Pair work Time: 10 minutes Material: Worksheets A and B, dice (two per pair) 11 skkn Vocabulary: Students should know these words, teachers can present them beforehand if they don’t know Verbs (both infinitive and past forms): meet, buy, arrive, go, celebrate, eat, do, get up, come, visit, brush, read, talk, have, spend, leave, wash, wear, give Language output: A: Where did you spend your last holiday? B: I spent my last holiday on my uncle’s farm Procedure: - Before class, take copies of the worksheet and cut them in half as indicated - Elicit and model the language output by asking students several Wh-questions in the simple past and requiring their answers to be correct, especially with regard in verb form - Handout worksheet A to half of the class, and worksheet B to the other half Pair off students with worksheet A and B, and give two dice to each pair - Playing the game: * The game begins with student B casting the dice and adding the numbers rolled Then student A asks the question that corresponds to that total on his or her own worksheet For example, if B rolls the dice and they total 8, student A ask questions on his or her own worksheet, which is: “Where did you spend your last holiday?” * If student B answers correctly in terms of verb form usage, he or she will blast (cross out) that question from student A’s worksheet Otherwise, that question remains active and can be asked again at some other turn, depending on the dice In other words, because incorrect answers are rejected rather than corrected immediately, players are given an opportunity for self-correction at some other point in the game * Players take turns to this The first player to blast all of the opponent’s questions wins the game * If teachers are short of dice, hand out one to each pair and have them roll it twice * Note: students’ English level must be good enough to know whether their peer’s answer is correct or not Therefore, this activity is suitable for advanced students *Present perfect: Activity name : HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? 12 skkn Description: This is a fun and interesting action activity that helps students practice the structure of the Present Perfect to give information about recent events - Students will use actions to describe recent activities so that their classmates can use present perfect sentences about the event correctly Illustrated lesson: English 10 – Unit Type: Miming and speaking activity Interaction: group work Time: 15 minutes Materials: One copy of cards for each group of four and cut as indicated Vocabulary: Students should know these words, teachers can present them beforehand if they don’t know - Verbs (past participle forms): got married, steal, buy, win, fail, lose, pass, receive, burn, run, fall in love, crash, split - Nouns: wallet, lottery, promotion, dentist, holiday, partner Procedures: - Introduce the phrase: “How have you been?” - Ask different students the question and write their replies on the board - Elicit which phrases they would use to express feeling good and bad If need be, introduce the two phrases: “pretty good” and “not too good” - Next, divide the students into groups of four and give each group a set of cards - Tell the students to shuffle the cards and place them in a pile facing down on the desk - Students take turns to take a card from the top of the pack, without showing it to anyone - A group member then asks the student: “How have you been?” - The student with the card replies with either “Pretty good” or “Not too good”, depending on whether their card presents good news or bad news - The student must then be silent and mime the present perfect sentence on their cards using actions and gestures - The other students try to guess the news - The first person to say the present perfect sentence on the card wins and keeps the card 13 skkn - The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner - This activity can also be applied to Grammar period – Unit – English Book 10 (10 years) 2.3.2.2.Conditional sentences: First conditional: Activity name : First Conditional Card Game 14 skkn Illustrated lesson : English 10 – Unit Description: This is an entertaining card game, where students will make type conditionals by matching pairs of if- and main-clause picture cards Type: Matching and speaking activity Interaction: Group work Time: 15 minutes Materials: One copy of the two sets of cards for each group of three and cut as indicated Procedure: - Before you begin this activity, review the use of the first conditional to talk about future possibilities - Divide the class into groups of three Give each group a set of “If” cards and a set of “Result” cards - Tell the students to shuffle the two sets of cards and then deal out the “Result” cards and put the “If” cards face down in a pile on the desk - The first player turns over the top “If” card and lays it face up on the desk The player then makes the beginning of a first conditional sentence using the picture on the card - For example, if the picture shows a person staying up late, the student might say, “If you stay up late,…” - All the players in the group then look at their result cards and try to find an appropriate match to complete the first conditional sentence - The player with a matching card completes the sentence, e.g “ you will feel tired the next day.” - If everyone in the group agrees that the sentence is suitable, the player keeps both cards and put them aside - If two or more players can make suitable sentences, the group decides which ending is the best - The second player then turns over the next “If” card from the pile and so on - The first player to get rid of all their result cards wins the game - When the students have finished the game, they write down the first conditional sentences their group made by looking at the pairs of cards they set aside 15 skkn - These sentences are read to the class The students listening to the sentences correct any mistakes they hear and give feedback IF CARDS 16 skkn 2.3.2.3.Reported speech: Activity name : YOU REQUESTED Description: This is a fun activity that can be used to introduce students to lowlevel statements (elementary) in imperative form In this activity, students play a game of mime, they will guess what the student said they should and use narrative sentences Illustrated lesson: ENGLISH 11 – Unit ENGLISH 12 – Unit (7 years) Type: Miming and speaking activity Interaction: Pair work Materials: One copy of the cards for each group of four and cut as indicated Time: 15 minutes Procedure: 17 skkn -Demonstrate the activity by inviting students to come to the front of the class one at a time and whispering a command in their ear, e.g close the door, don’t turn off the radio, etc -Students then mime the command to the class If the command is nagative, the students make and X by crossing their arms before they the mime -The class then guesses what you told each student to do, using reported speech, e,g, “You requested me to close the door” “You ordered me not to turn off the light”, etc -Explain that the students are going to play a similar game in groups -Divide the class into groups of four Split each group into two competing pairs If possible, have each pair consist of a male and female to help the students practice “He requested…” and “She ordered…” - Give each group a set of cards Ask students to shuffle the cards and place them face down in a pile in the desk - Pairs take turns to play One student picks up a card and whispers the command on the card to their partner - The partner mimes the command to the other pair of students If the command is negative, the student makes an X by crossing their arms before they begin the mime - The other pair of students watch the mime and try to guess what the student told their partner to The pair then uses reported speech to say what they think the command was, e.g “He requested me to close the door.” - The pair has one minute to guess what the student told their partner to If they manage to this and make a suitable sentence with reported speech, they score a point - The pairs then swap roles and the process is repeated Students play until there are no more cards left The pair with the most points at the end of the game wins 2.4 Effective of the teaching experience After studying and applying teaching activities integrated into Language Focus lessons, I found that the results of using this approach have obvious manifestations as follows: - Regarding pronunciation (phonetics) and stress: they not only easily distinguish each pair of monosyllabic sounds with similar pronunciation, students know how to practice correct stress in two-syllable words , three syllables and more than three syllables thanks to the fun games they learn - Regarding grammar : They find it easier to remember difficult structures When participating in activities, they can apply the structure they just learned to specific situations They also develop their communicative competence in the process of working in pairs and in group 18 skkn ... Bearing those in mind, I would like to conduct the Teaching Experience entitled : ? ?Applying the Communicative Language Teaching approach in teaching Language Focus lesson to improve students? ? ?communication. .. students? ? ?communication skill at Quang skkn Xuong II High school. ’’with the aim of finding out some solutions for the problem of teaching teaching grammar and pronunciation in high schools In this research... How to design activities of the Language Focus lesson in order to: + Improve the quality of English teaching and learning in high schools + Increase students'' talking time during the main lesson