SKKN NĂM 2022 TABLE OF CONTENT Part A Introduction P2 Part B Development I Literature review 1 Teaching English grammar P3 1 1 Definition of grammar 1 2 The role of grammar in foreign language teachin[.]
TABLE OF CONTENT Part A: Introduction P2 Part B: Development I Literature review Teaching English grammar P3 1.1 Definition of grammar 1.2 The role of grammar in foreign language teaching 1.3 An overview on methods in teaching grammar Communicative language teaching (CLT) P6 2.1 Characteristics of CLT 2.2 Communicative Competence 2.3 Advantages of CLT 2.4 Disadvantages of CLT Application of Communicative language in grammar teaching P7 3.1 The importance of Grammar in CLT 3.2.Teaching grammar in the light of CLT 3.3 Ways of teaching grammar II Methodology Subjects of the study P9 Instruments P9 Data analysis procedure P10 III Findings and discussion Facts of grammar teaching P10 Difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively P11 Solutions to teach grammar communicatively P13 Part C: Conclusion P18 AREFERENCE LIST APPENDIX skkn INITIATIVE: INTEGRATING GRAMMAR FOR COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE Part A: Introduction English is regarded as the most popular and important language which is used and learned by people from various countries in the world Vietnam is not an exception in this increasing tendency It can be clearly seen that English is selected to be an essential subject for Vietnamese students at educating institutions and a compulsory part in the General Certificate of Secondary Education Considerable efforts have been invested into this subject; however, there has expressed an enormous concern about the effectiveness of teaching and learning English as a second language As a matter of fact, the traditional methods of teaching language are still applied, which fails to attract students’ involvement in the lessons, especially in grammar ones This has resulted in several profound corollaries For instance, almost students learn grammar merely because they are required Moreover, a proportion of students can gain high marks in grammar exercises but commit numerous grammatical errors in the process of communication The solutions to motivate students in the grammar lessons have become a challenging question for language educators in general and English teachers in particular Recent practical experience reveals that students are more stimulated in the grammar lessons when their teachers use games, songs, pictures, and other communicative activities to present new issues For the above reasons, this article entitled “Integrating grammar for Communicative Language Teaching” was conducted The study is an attempt to investigate the matter applying Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is into teaching grammar It is believed that the insights into this area will contribute to the efficiency of teaching and learning English at schools, universities and foreign language centers as well To achieve the aims of the thesis, the following questions were proposed: What are the facts of teaching grammar at high schools? What are the difficulties when applying CLT into teaching grammar? What are the solutions to apply CLT into teaching grammar effectively? skkn Part B: Development I Literature review Teaching English grammar 1.1 Definition of grammar According to Douglas H Brown (1997, p.347), grammar is defined as “a system of rules governing the conventional arrangement and relationship of words in a sentence” Nevertheless, Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman (1999) redefine that “Grammar is not merely a collection of forms but rather involves the three dimensions of what linguists refer to as syntax, semantics, and pragmatics” (p.4) In other words, if students know a grammatical form, they should understand the structure, rule, and usage of the form in communication For effective grammar teaching, we should address these three dimensions: - Form: our interest is how a particular structure is formed - Meaning: what meaning is expressed through a structure - Use: the reason why a particular structure, but not any others, is selected by the speaker The Three Dimensions of Teaching Grammar (Celce-Murcia and Freeman) 1.2 The role of grammar in foreign language teaching No other issue has so preoccupied theorists and practitioners as the grammar debate, and the history of language teaching is essentially the history of the claims and counterclaims for and against the teaching of grammar Differences in attitude to the role of grammar underpin differences between methods, between teachers, and between learners (Thornbury, 1999, p 14) Grammar teaching in the foreign language classroom has constituted a major and debated issue for a long period The history of language teaching has witnessed a number of linguistic theories and methodologies in which the role of grammar has skkn been addressed As a result, there existed controversial viewpoints about the place of grammar in the teaching of foreign languages The first primary current stresses the dominant role of grammar in language teaching Regarding the linguistic competence and language form accuracy as the most important for language teaching and learning, the followers of the structural approach attempt to teach their learners as much grammar of the target language as possible The new grammatical item with the rule and the explanation of form and meaning is explained by teachers It is highlighted that mastering a language cannot be separated from knowing these rules There is also an opposite perspective according to which teaching grammar is undervalued Commentators under the influence of Natural Approaches ascribe no grammar role in language learning They assume that grammar should not be taught because learners will be unable to integrate it within communication processes The teaching of grammar might even be harmful for communicative competence since learners pay excessive attention to obey grammatical rules in their conversations The followers of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) moderate the teaching of grammar They think that learners need to learn how to make meanings with real contexts and how to create longer units of language than single sentences for successful communication Consequently, grammar can be taught without interrupting the communicative mood; in fact, grammar can even help to enhance that communicative mood Undoubtedly, this is the useful way that grammar teaching is performed 1.3 An overview on methods in teaching grammar The Grammar – Translation method (GTM) The Grammar-Translation method dominated from the late 19th century to the early 20th century and although it has been generally acknowledged as the least effective teaching methodology, the method is still widely used in many countries including Vietnam The users of foreign language wanted simply to note things of their interest in the literature of foreign languages Therefore, this method focuses on reading and writing and has developed techniques which facilitate more or less the learning of reading and writing only As a result, there is not usually any listening or speaking practice, and very little attention is placed on pronunciation or any communicative aspects of the language Grammar-translation classes are usually conducted in the students’ native language Grammar rules are presented and explained by the teachers; students learn grammar and practice the rules by doing grammar drills and translating sentences to and from the target language Obviously, the best point of this method is that it helps learners become good translators and use English accurately In addition, it requires few recourses and it is also easy to apply and cheap to administer That is why the method is still used in many classrooms where there is a great shortage of teaching and learning facilities and equipment aids, where the class is large of about 30 students, and where the teachers’ skkn inadequate speaking skill are accustomed to teaching procedures and where the exams still emphasize knowledge of grammar Nevertheless, the biggest disadvantage of this method is the learners find it difficult to communicate in real-life situations, or their utterances are correct but inappropriate This is the result of the process of learning form and usage, but not use, and learning about the language, not using the language to learn through authentic tasks Furthermore, this method makes the learners really passive in the process of getting knowledge They just listen to the teacher’s explanation and not participate in the exploration of new knowledge The Direct method (DM) Though there is a development in students’ thoughts in the target language, it has two-sided effect Students may develop inaccuracies if they are not properly guided This is the result if their trying to express themselves in the target language with insufficient knowledge about the language Because all statements they learn are confined to be used only in the classroom Any connection with real life was expected to come later and was not the business of the school The graduation and sequences of materials is not based on realistic spoken speech but artificial connected sentences The pure form of the DM has some weakness because it is insufficient for systematic practice and requesting-practice of structures in a coherent sequence As a result, students often have vague idea of their aim, and they make haphazard progress The Audio-Lingual method (AM) The initial and most successful feature of this method is to develop students’ listening comprehension and fluency in speaking in the target language Students are encouraged by the sense of being able to use what they have learnt in the very early period of their study In addition, the study is reinforced by repetition, so the students have good repetition and this is suitable for learners of different capacities Another advantage of this method is the provision a good systematic progression of the materials However, there still remain some problems The success or failure of this method depends largely on the qualities of the teachers and the availability of resources That is why Brumfit (1983) comments “the objective is generally the mastery of sentence patterns rather than creative or communicative use of language” (p.8) Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP) Model According to Rintaro Sato (2012, p 189), the PPP model refers to presenting a form, practicing the form, and producing the form in communication In the presenting stage, a teacher introduces a new grammatical rule through a text, a dialogue, or a story which consist of the structure The teacher explains the new grammatical rules in a sentence level grammar explanation of so that the students become familiar with the new grammatical points Subsequently, the students are required to practice multiple “written and spoken exercises to repeat, manipulate, or reproduce the new forms” in the second stage The skkn activities in this stage are mainly “controlled practices that focus learners’ attention on specific structures” (Nassaji, p 4) Finally, in the producing stage, the opportunity for communication is provided for the students The purpose of the last stage is to entirely master the new form by enabling learners to acquire the rules and use them automatically through communication activities However the PPP model is criticized since it takes time for learners to absorb the rules and use a form automatically in conversation Izumi (2012) states that if a teacher intends to make students use a certain form in communication, it does not lead to natural communication (p 71-73) Moreover, due to the time limitation of a class, producing the form stage appears be ignored or shortened In other words, the PPP model is a limited way of teaching grammar and communication owing to time insufficiency Thus, PPP Model does not produce positive results for students’ language competency Communicative language teaching (CLT) The 1960s witnessed a growing dissatisfaction among applied linguists and foreign language teachers with the language theories and teaching methods In this period, Communicative Approach brought the new highly appreciated trend in language teaching and learning Initially, the Communicative approach excluded explicit grammar instruction in order to mirror the way how people learn their first language To solve the unbalance between fluency and accuracy in the language classroom, the language teachers did not return to traditional methods in which grammar was taught in isolation but they developed techniques that help learners to register grammar consciously Brindley (1986, p.1) indicated that: “the 1970s and 1980s could be regarded as the era of communicative teaching.” CLT is probably regarded as the most widely used approach the approach most presently 2.1 Characteristics of CLT Li (1998, p 679) reviews characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching based on the work of previous researchers as follows: - A focus on communicative functions - A focus on meaningful task rather than on language form - Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through an analysis of genuine, realistic situations - The use of authentic, from life materials - The use of group activities - The attempt to create a secure, non-threatening atmosphere 2.2 Communicative Competence Communicative competence is now recognized as the primary goal of language teaching Communicative competence means that a speaker needs to know how to communicate effectively in cultural or social settings Canale and Swain (1980) classified the language competence into four categories as following: skkn - Grammatical competence includes a comprehension of linguistic code, the ability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic and phonological features of a language and to manipulate these features to form words and sentences - Sociolinguistic competence is the best described through appropriateness, the degree to which one person understands the social context in which language is used: the roles of participants, the information they share, the functions of interaction - Discourse competence indicates the ability to interpret series of sentences or utterances to form a meaningful whole and to achieve a coherent text that is relevant to a given context - Strategic competence includes the strategies a person uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules or limiting factors in their application such as fatigue, distraction, inattention, etc These strategies include paraphrasing, circumlocution, repletion, hesitation, avoidance, guessing and shifts in register and style 2.3 Advantages of CLT According to Harmer (1991) CLT has a positive influence on second language acquisition (SLA) Learners are exposed to considerable materials which are based on real life contexts that reflect how language is frequently used by native speakers Additionally, students will have sufficient opportunities to communicate regardless of their current linguistic competence; therefore, students can improve their fluency by focusing on the meaning they want to convey rather than the linguistic form (p 84-85) Particularly, learners will “participate more in learning processes” as active communicators and problem solvers, and improve their communicative competence by attempting tasks which reflect the intrinsic goals of learning the second language Students can learn how to “use language forms appropriately in a variety of contexts and for a variety of purposes” when they are exposed to plentiful and meaningful input based on real life contexts (Harmer, p 84) 2.4 Disadvantages of CLT Nevertheless, CLT still has some drawbacks when it is employed in certain settings This section will only focus on the situation in which a student has low accuracy in communication In CLT, meaning and fluency are focused rather than form and accuracy For this reason, learners may have problems with linguistic accuracy and complexity Especially, students occasionally cannot understand the content of an English class or fully express their intention due to the lack of grammatical explanation in CLT Moreover, the students’ grammatical errors cannot be corrected naturally due to their insufficient input both in quantity and quality Izumi Shinichi (2012) asserts that the biggest disadvantage is that students are likely to ignore function words such as articles, prepositions, or auxiliary verbs which may not be critical to convey a basic meaning, but are important to make their meaning clear and persuasive (p.196-199) Although the students’ fluency in communication was significantly high, the communicative language classes are assumed to achieve minor effect in improving skkn their accuracy in communication For these reasons, the stipulation to teach grammar has been proposed as a solution to learners who has low accuracy in communication Application of Communicative language in grammar teaching 3.1 The importance of Grammar in CLT Many linguists and researchers have supported grammar instruction in language teaching and learning One person cannot master a language without the understanding of its grammar Thanks to grammar language partly can function as a means of communication, especially in written language In speaking, although grammatical errors are occasionally acceptable, good grammar causes better and more attractive speech, especially in formal situations 3.2 Teaching grammar in the light of CLT At present, teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) are still challenged with the crucial issue of choosing the most efficient approach to improve their students' grammatical accuracy It cannot be denied that there has been a lot of progress in English language teaching since the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Obviously, applying CLT to grammar teaching is necessary in order to deal with the disadvantages of Grammar Translation method when being used to teach grammar such as the learners’ inappropriate utterances and passive learning style While grammar played a dominant role in traditional classroom, it was just of marginal importance in earlier communicative classrooms, which focuses merely on meaning rather than form Unlike in traditional approaches, where grammatical mastery was ultimate learning objective, grammar now is important but just as a means to the end and hence, is always put into context and learned for the sakes of social functions Communicative language classrooms, which focus on both form and meaning, truly reflect the view of learning grammar as both processes and products 3.3 Ways of teaching grammar In general, the teaching of grammar can be done in two main ways: deductive and inductive Deductive Generalization (or Rule) Specific examples or activities Inductive Specific examples or activities Generalization (or Rule) Deductive method: Traditional deductive approaches are teacher-centred system in which individual grammatical structures are presented independently of context Characteristically, scripted materials are used, and rules are often explained in mother tongue Grammar is practiced through pattern drill, rote dialogues, rule-reciting or translation The deductive approach addresses cognitive skills, which develop towards abstract thinking around the age of eleven Thus, its benefits are restricted to older or skkn more advanced learners who are familiar with language structure It is also suitable for learners with prior experience of prescriptive grammar A considerable disadvantage of deductive approach is their disregard of learners' activeness What students need to is following teachers’ instruction and handling exercises Therefore, students may have neither chance to contribute to the lesson nor opportunity to express their viewpoints Inductive method In contrast with the deductive method, inductive instruction makes use of student’s cognition Instead of explaining a given concept and following this explanation with examples, the teacher presents students with many instances in which the concept is used The purpose is for students to infer, through the examples, how the concept works As a conclusion to the activity, the teacher can ask the students to explain the grammar rule as a final check that they understand the concept II Methodology Subjects of the study The research was conducted with the participation of 100 students and teachers at Nong Cong High School The students who were selected randomly from classes at are non-English majors Their age varies from 16 to 18 These students of non-English majors have learnt English from to years The ration of male to female students is 42/100 (42% compared to 58%) There were teachers involved in the survey They aged from 24 to 40, and their experience in teaching English varies from to 16 years Of these teachers, are master holders, the rest graduated from other university All of these teachers have ever applied communicative grammar teaching into their class Instruments This study employed the quantitative method which involves a variety of research instruments and sources of data: Questionnaires, interview and articles 2.1 Questionnaires Two types of questionnaires were designed to aim at both students and teachers Some open-ended questions were also provided so that the respondents could have opportunities to express their opinions about the items raised in the questionnaires The questionnaires are enclosed in the appendices The former questionnaire has main parts The first part is about learners’ personal information The second part is to obtain information about the facts of teaching and learning grammar in classroom The last part wishes to find out students’ difficulties in learning English communicatively and their desire in the subject The latter questionnaire which was delivered to teachers includes sectors One of the purposes of this questionnaire is to determine the facts on grammar teaching Besides, there are questions about obstacles that teachers have to face and their suggested solutions to the problems 2.2 Interview skkn Teachers would be respondents to the researcher’s interview to discuss for further information to have depth understanding and find out solutions to increase the effectiveness of teaching grammar through CLT The questions for the interviews are included in the Appendices 2.3 Article analysis The research also employed some valuable data from articles on English teaching methodology by various scholars The content which was used in this paper was all cited with clear resource Data analysis procedure The survey questionnaires were delivered to both teachers and students When delivering the questionnaires, the teacher was with the students to give any explanations if necessary The students were given 30 minutes which is sufficient to finish their answers carefully These questionnaires were subsequently collected by the teacher The information collected from two types of questionnaires were categorized, analyzed and presented in forms of tables and figures Results of the survey can be either directly or indirectly presented in the Findings and Discussion part Moreover, the information gained through interviews was added to support the interpretation, making the collected information more reliable and valid III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Facts of grammar teaching 1.1 Purpose of learning grammar 12% 10% Communication Interest 52% Required content Test & exam 26% According to the results of the questionnaire, students frequently learn grammar because of the following reasons Initially, only a minority of learners with 10 percent realize the roles of grammar in communication This proportion wants to be proficient in grammar in order that they can interact accurately with other people in English Secondly, an approximate number of students find grammar interesting (with 12 percent) These students may possibly indulge in acquiring grammatical rules which can bring them pure enjoyment Thirdly, there are 26 percent of students who simply study grammar since it is the content of the subject Ultimately, the majority of 10 skkn students (with 52 percent) admit that there are numerous English tests and examinations in which grammar plays a principal role Mastering grammar, therefore, will increase the opportunity to obtain high marks These above figures clearly indicate learners’ erroneous cognition in determining the purpose of grammar studying It is emphasized that the primary aim of learning English is to communicate effectively Grammar which is a part of the language should be acquired to be used in real communication not for examinations Hence, modifications in teaching techniques and teaching materials are in urgent demand 1.2 Teaching techniques The analysis of both questionnaire for students and interview with teachers of English has demonstrated such characteristics of grammar teaching at high schools Generally, grammar is deductively taught in the lessons To be more precise, direct instruction from teacher is still extremely common It is teachers that, in most case, formulate the grammar rules Students attempt to remember the rules which will be subsequently applied to exercises However, grammar rules will obviously be clearer and easier to be remembered when being inductively formulated by students themselves Despite its undeniable advantages, inductive grammar teaching is not regularly conducted In addition, grammar practice is not recurrently integrated into the four skills but introduced in isolation Each unit in the English textbook is divided into five main parts including Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language focus Grammar which is chiefly inserted into the ultimate part is taught and learnt separately Last but not least, contextual instructional techniques are of little care by teachers Due to several certain reasons, teachers have a tendency to focus students on determining signals and inferring the correct answer As a consequence, exercises in the books can probably be answered Nevertheless, grammatical issues are not placed in real life context Students, consequently, have an enormous difficulty turning correct answers on the paper into fluent conversation in the second language 1.3 Teaching materials It can apparently be seen that there exist the lack of authentic materials in teaching grammar While people are attracted by new items as a natural instinct, grammar is stable for a long period Grammar books published many years ago are still used as reference in teaching Although there is not any error in these materials, a student may find them unappealing For instance, when learning about Verb Tense students are required to practice with the fairy tale about Red Riding Hood – a story that they all know This story will undoubtedly less attractive than a biography of a living celebrity that students all admire Difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively Data analysis of questionnaire for both teachers and students at the school show difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar and difficulties faced by the 11 skkn teachers in teaching grammar communicatively The results are presented as follow 2.1 Difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar Generally, students may complain about having to remember a large number of grammar rules Although they spend a great deal of time learning by heart the rules instructed by teachers, they will later forget most of these grammar points Furthermore, they confront with problems such as lack of opportunity to apply the grammar point they have learnt into communication They are usually afraid of making grammar mistakes when speaking English Learners pay so much attention to grammar that they are not confident enough to communicate in the second language 2.2 Difficulties faced by the teachers in teaching grammar communicatively - Large class size Large class size is also a big problem that all the teachers have to deal with Normally, classes contain from 35 to 45 students, which is unprofitable interpersonal interaction With big classes, the teachers find it very difficult to manage when using CLT because they were afraid of the noise from students during class activities In addition, it is not possible for the teacher to give each of them individual attention and to be sure that they are on task As a consequence, designing and controlling the communicative activities become a hard task for teachers - Multi- level classes Multi- level classes are considered a constraint in implementing CLT In general, there is a wide range of students in each class so it is difficult to have cooperation among them An activity which is apposite to a group of students may be complicated to weak students or effortless to excellent ones In pair- work, a good English proficiency student may suffer from boredom when working with a weak student In group-work, a student can dominate his group when other members pay little attention or stay quiet Consequently, designing activities for such class appears to be an intricate task - Influence of traditional method: Teaching grammar traditionally through remembering rules and completing isolating examples has existed for a long time Although this method doesn’t focus on students’ ability to communicate orally in foreign language, it is used regularly in teaching because students’ language ability is not assessed verbally but literally on the paper - Lack of materials and retraining in CLT To renovate their teaching procedure, teachers are in need of essential conditions such as reference materials and training courses However, modern and informative instructions about methodology are not always easy to approach Likewise, only a minor part of language teachers has the opportunity to attend effective workshops and seminars regularly - Deficiency in strategic and sociolinguistic competence in English This is a limit for teachers to use CLT A communicative class demands teachers’ strategic and sociolinguistic competence more than in a traditional grammarfocused one Therefore, the teachers may not feel competent and self-confident enough 12 skkn to organize and control a communicative class in which questions are given more than in traditional one Moreover, except questions that are relating to grammar, the teachers can occasionally get confused when answering questions relating to the sociolinguistic competence Commonly, it is believed that a teacher is supposed to know the entire knowledge and to be always correct If a teacher cannot answer all the students’ questions, she/ he will be thought not to be a qualified one For this reason, choosing to stick to the traditional teaching methods such as grammar- centered, textcentered etc is a good way for the teachers to keep their face - Students ’ lack of positive attitudes to learning grammar All the teachers believed that the students’ lack of right attitudes towards learning grammar has influence on teaching It can be shown clearly in the results of questionnaire for students that most of the students regard grammar as a compulsory content in the examination Thus, a proportion of students learn grammar because they are required to not because they are inspired - Students use Vietnamese in group-work Students’ preference of speaking Vietnamese during group-work causes difficulties for the teaching process When students are asked to have a discussion, they often discuss in Vietnamese instead of English Besides, when learners join communicative activities, they only use English when being reminded by the teacher Low English proficiency also makes students feel awkward to express themselves in English than in their mother tongue To some extent, work- group appears to become an opportunity for them to chat with each other in Vietnamese - Students’ low English proficiency Students’ low English proficiency is also another constraint for the teachers On the whole scale, learners are better at grammar and vocabulary than listening and speaking This causes great difficulties for them to express their viewpoints as well as listen to their teachers’ explanation in English Solutions to teach grammar communicatively 3.1 Principle to integrate grammar into CLT 3.1.1 Integrate both inductive and deductive methods into your teaching Inductive teaching requires greater mental effort and results in effective learning in the long run However, it takes more time for learners to come to an understanding than deductive teaching The choice between two then depends on the grammar point being taught and learners’ learning styles 3.1.2 Motivate students by authentic materials Authentic material: Authentic texts are texts that are not produced artificially for the purpose of language teaching, but are used for genuine purposes in the real world, like newspaper articles and recipes In other words, these texts are communicatively complete themselves Their focus is on conveying real meaning rather than on form Teachers are advised to select the material whose topic receives great care from the students For instance, a report about a recent fascinating football match can be adapted to teach Past tenses Teacher can also take some impressive 13 skkn sentences by the main character of a famous film as example about Direct and Indirect speech 3.1.3 Present grammar rules in various ways - Presenting visually For some grammar points, using visual means is a good option as it is simulating, direct and clear For example, when introducing the structure too + adjective + to something, the teacher could try to touch the ceiling and ask students Can I touch it? The students would say No, you can’t Then the teacher could smoothly slip the structure in You’re right No I can’t Because it’s too high for me to touch - Present through situation Introducing grammar in a realistic context is considered an efficient technique This can help students “feel” the grammar point clearer and more quickly When a structure is presented in a situation, students can grasp its meaning and use more easily What’s more, it is useful for their production later since they can see how grammar works in real situation - Present rules and giving examples But it’s not always possible to present grammar visually or contextually, especially in the case of more complex structures or grammar points In this circumstance, teacher can save time by giving a detailed account on a grammar point plus examples to show how it is used However, this is not an optimal option to be frequently employed 3.1.4 Design tasks that establish relationship between grammar and communication The teaching of grammar is not an end in itself; grammar is a tool for communicating more effectively Thus, grammar should be presented in a context that makes clear the relationship between grammatical form and communicative function For example, when teaching passive voice, we should mention not only the form but also the reason why it is used (emphasis on action rather than the agent …) 3.1.5 Encourage actions in classroom One of the most effective ways to attract students’ involvement in the lesson is ask them to learn through actions Numerous grammar points can be taught through classroom activities This illustration will display how the simple past of regular or irregular verbs is practiced Students are asked to stand in the shape of a circle Teacher stands at the centre of the circle, holding a small ball The teacher says aloud a verb then tosses the ball to a student who will have to say its past form Whenever a student makes a mistake, he or she has to leave the circle The last student left standing will be the winner and get a reward This activity can also be adapted to any grammar point 3.1.1 Divide the class into small groups The advantage of group work in language classroom is of great significance, and teaching grammar is not an exception Students can practice grammar points in 14 skkn group of or members As a result, every individual have more chances to speak and express their ideas Students can learn from their friends and remember the grammar issues longer as well Through interaction in team, learners’ social skills are considerably developed Above all, group working provides an environment in which real conversations are carried out 3.1.2 Correct student’s mistakes positively and effectively Mistake correction is necessary to assure grammatical accuracy in students’ communicative output These following steps should be followed in order that learners’ errors are amended positively and effectively - Collect mistakes made by the student and involve the whole class in the correction process - Spend more time on common mistakes committed by the whole group - Help students realize their inaccuracy by indicating the place and the type of the mistake then get them correct their own mistake - Do not interrupt the students’ utterances because they will find it disconcerting or frustrating 3.2 Techniques in teaching grammar through CLT 3.2.1 Using games Games are regarded as preferable teaching activities that encourage students to use the target language communicatively Games have the advantage of allowing the students to practice and internalize vocabulary, grammar and structures extensively They can this because students are often more motivated to play games than they are to desk work Moreover, during the game, the students are focused on the activity and end up absorbing the language subconsciously Additionally, the use of games increases the cooperation and competition in the classroom When searching for games to use in classroom, teacher should not select the ones which not have a definite linguistic outcome These games may entertain the students, however little knowledge is gained by learners 3.2.2 Problem solving activities Problem-solving techniques in relation to grammar teaching are inductive techniques that require learners to find form-function matches by themselves By using this technique, students can not only master the grammar points as they will themselves study the given matter but also enhance their cooperation and group work skills Obviously, students will be more active in their learning rather than passively receive the information from their teacher 3.2.3 Using songs Songs and music always create relaxing and non-threatening atmosphere for students, who are usually tense when speaking English in a formal classroom setting In any case, students find the lesson challenging and interesting as evident from songs Moreover, songs are considered a type of authentic materials, which means students can get access to authenticity and to some extent, widen their knowledge of English culture and customs 15 skkn 3.2.4 Role play Role play is used to refer to all sorts of activities where students imagine themselves in a situation outside the classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone rather than themselves, and using language appropriate to this new context This activity is often used at the production stage and designed to help students develop their adaptation and confidence Through this process, students certainly use the target grammar points, which enables teacher to assess students’ understanding and application ability 3.2.5 Interview Interview is also a learning activity that can be used to teach grammar Students interview each other and they can say true sentences about themselves In that way, students learn and practice the structures and they also get to know about their partners Interview is usually suitable for the production stage Like role play, this activity can be easily carried out and make students interested in the lesson 3.2.6 Telling stories Both teacher and students can tell stories Students are known as marvelous storytellers as well as listeners 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 3.3 Steps of an integrated grammar lesson Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills, should involve pre-stage, whilestage and post-stage in an attempt to provide integrated learning environments - In the pre-grammar stage, the teacher should bring grammar instruction to life, stimulate interest in the topic, and raise awareness by providing a reason for learning - The while-grammar stage should facilitate noticing of the new grammar point, and provide meaningful input through contextual examples, pictures, and texts - The post-grammar stage should provide an opportunity to put grammar to use, and relate grammar instruction to real life situations The main distinction between the while- and post-stages is that the while-stage involves the clarification of the meaning, whereas the post-stage focuses on the productive aspects of the new structure Sample lesson: Teaching the structure “used to” Pre-grammar - The teacher introduce the topic "changes in people over the years" - The teacher shows two pairs of pictures The first pair includes the pictures of a man One picture was taken 10 years ago, the man was playing football The other shows his present activity, in which he is playing computer game The second pair consists of pictures of a woman The picture that was taken 10 years ago shows her playing the piano The new picture shows her playing the violin - The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures in each pair While-grammar 16 skkn - The teacher tells students that they are going to learn a new structure without mentioning the name of the structure - The teacher makes a transition from the context to the grammatical point by showing the pair of pictures and telling the picture differences between them, using "used to" and "simple present tense" For example: “He used to play football but now he plays computer game” or “She used to play the piano, but now she plays the violin” - The teacher asks some check questions to ensure that the meaning is clear For instance: Did he often play volleyball in the past? / Does he play computer now? Did she often play the piano in the past? /Does she play it now? Did she have long hair in the past? / Does she have long hair now? - The teacher asks the students to work in group and formulate the rule that governs the above example - Provide students with help if necessary Call on some students to give their answers, summarize students’ answers on the board (+) S + used to + V (bare infinitive) (-) S + didn’t use to + V (bare infinitive) (?) Did + S + use to + V (bare infinitive) - Call on some students to check if they have understood the meaning of the structure, make any clarification if necessary Post-grammar: Interview - Ask students to write down activities that they used to when they were less than 10 years old on a piece of paper - Ask students to go around the class to interview if their friends used to the same activities - When first students finish their interview the whole class can stop 17 skkn PART C: CONCLUSION I Summary of the study In the paper, the investigation reveals the essential role of grammar to English learners, as well as the overview of some popular methods and approaches of teaching grammar from the traditional forms like the Grammar-Translation method, the Direct Method to the contemporary ones like Communicative language teaching The literature review also covers some characteristics of CLT and some strategies to fit grammar into these competences With the attempt to draw the current situation of integrating grammar in Communicative Approach, the researchers conducted the research basing on the instruments as questionnaires and interview for both teachers and students, and other secondary research’s tools The study has figured out the motivations for students to learn grammar Unsurprisingly, half of participants of the survey learn grammar for tests and exams rather than any other reasons, while just a very small proportion find grammar interesting The results from the interview also disclose the difficulties in applying a variety of teaching grammar’s techniques because of objective causes like the structure of existing textbook, limitation in using authentic material, class size, multi-level learners and other subjective ones like the influences of traditional methods, negative attitudes and resistances of students towards learning grammar From the data analysis, some recommendations are made to overcome the obstacles which distract both teachers and students to dealing with grammar in communicative ways The study highlights the importance of changing the underlying assumption of teaching and learning grammar To be more specific, it is the innovation in teaching methods (present a grammar point and correct students’ errors effectively, using various techniques like games, role play etc.,) that takes the main responsibility in assuring a successful grammar-integrating lesson The study has been made with great efforts to shed the light on the constraints of teaching and learning grammar Hopefully, it will get a lot of supports, advice and feedback from the teachers of English, who are implementing CLT to teach grammar II Implications of the study Based on the findings of the research, teachers at English Group should choose the most suitable strategies and techniques that meet students’ requirements and minize the obstacles faced to apply to their grammar teaching procedure Furthermore, 18 skkn students - the centre of every educational action should be given chances to contribute to their learning activities III Limitation of the study Despite the researcher’s attempts in justifying the methodology of the study as well as collecting and analyzing the data with careful consideration, there still exist some shortcomings Firstly, because of the scope of the study, only a small number of teachers and students are investigated, which may not be a completely perfect representative for the current situation in Vietnam Besides, the study only focused on the impact of CLT to the students’ interest in grammar learning and only some techniques were recommended IV Suggestions for further study Further study of this issue may be conducted in several ways Firstly, additional studies on a larger scale population may provide better understanding on actual problems teachers and students are confronting when it comes to grammar The figures from these researches, if so, will enhance the reliability and validity of the study What is more, the introduction and analysis of detailed feasible grammar teaching techniques will be extremely useful for teachers to make a realization of integrating grammar into CLT successfully CONFIRM OF THE HEAD OF THE UNIT Thanh Hoa, May 25th, 2022 COMMITMENTS DO NOT COPY Tran Thi Thu Hien 19 skkn AREFERENCE LIST Brindley, G (1986) Some Current Issues in Second Language Teaching Prospect, Vol Brown, H Douglas Teaching by Principles New York: Longman, 1997 Print Canale, M and Swain, M (1980), Approaches to Communicative Competence, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre Celce-Murcia, Marianne, and Diane Larsen-Freeman.The Grammar Book: an ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course Second Edition Boston: Heinle&Heinle, 1999 Print Celce-Murcia, Marianne, and Sharon Hills Techniques and Resources in Teaching Grammar New York: Oxford University Press, 1998 Print Finocchiaro, Mary, and Christopher Brumfit The Functional Notional Approach from Theory to Practice New York: Oxford University Press, 1983 Print Harmer, J (1991), The Practice of English Language Teaching, London: Longman Izumi, Shinichi Focus on Form in Second Language Acquisition Trans Ganggoo Yoon Seoul: In Noon Sa, 2012 Print Izumi, Shinichi Focus on Form in Second Language Acquisition Trans Ganggoo-Yoon Seoul: In Noon Sa, 2012 Print 10 Li, D (1998), It’s always more difficult than you plan and imagine: Teachers’ perceived difficulties in introducing the communicative approach in South Korea, TESOL Quarterly 11 Nassaji, Hossein “Effects of Recasts and Elicitations in Dyadic Interaction and the Role of Feedback Explicitness.” Language Learning 59 (2009) : 411-452 Web Aug 2012 12 No April 1986 13 Sato, Rintaro “Reconsidering the Effectiveness and Suitability of PPP and TBLT in the Japanese EFL Classroom.” JALT Journal 32.2 (2010): 189-201 Web Aug 2012 14 Thornbury, S (1999) How to Teach Grammar Harlow: Longman 20 skkn ... results for students’ language competency Communicative language teaching (CLT) The 1960s witnessed a growing dissatisfaction among applied linguists and foreign language teachers with the language. .. the grammar lessons when their teachers use games, songs, pictures, and other communicative activities to present new issues For the above reasons, this article entitled ? ?Integrating grammar for. .. current stresses the dominant role of grammar in language teaching Regarding the linguistic competence and language form accuracy as the most important for language teaching and learning, the followers