Skkn how to utilize communicative activities in english grammar instructions for 6th grade students in tran mai ninh secondary school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING THANH HOA CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING INITIATIVE HOW TO UTILIZE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR INSTRUCTIONS FOR 6TH GRADE STUDENTS[.]

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING THANH HOA CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING INITIATIVE HOW TO UTILIZE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR INSTRUCTIONS FOR 6TH GRADE STUDENTS IN TRAN MAI NINH SECONDARY SCHOOL Writer: Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang Position: Teacher of English School: Tran Mai Ninh secondary school Intiative: English subject skkn THANH HOA – 2022 ii skkn TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………i PART I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………… 1.1.Theoretical background ………1 1.2.Teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school .2 1.3 Aims of the study .2 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the study PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………….4 2.1 Overview of communicative activities 2.2 Common communicative activities PART 3: METHODOLOGY …………………………………………… 11 3.1 Research questions restated 11 3.2 Data collection instrument .11 3.3 Method of data analysis 13 3.4 Summary 13 PART 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 15 4.1 Results of the students' attitudes towards usuages frequency of CA… 15 4.2 Results of the students' attitudes towards CA in grammar lessons …… 16 4.3 Results of the students' attitudes towards the affective influence of CA in grammar lessons 17 4.4 Results of the student-related difficulties …………….………… ……19 4.5 Conclusion …………….…………………………………………… 20 PART 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 21 5.1 Summary of the study…………………………………………… ……21 5.2 Pedagogical implications……………………………………………… 22 5.3 Limitations of the study and further research………………………… 22 REFERENCES APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS’ SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW i skkn LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CA CLT EFL ESL ELT M CV Communicative Activities Communicative Language Teaching English as a Foreign Language English as a Second Language English Language Teaching Mean Coefficient of Variation ii skkn PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Theoretical background It is undeniable fact that in the era of globalization English has gradually become the lingua franca, one of most important international languages in the world English so far has been used as the main language in business, scientific, technological, educational and diplomatic areas In this sense, English language teachers should perceive that English is taught to students not only to pass examinations but also assist them to communicate meaningfully in their daily life In order to realize the ultimate target, some language educators (Bygate & Tornkyn, 1994; Ellis, 1997; Thornbury, 1999) reach a general consensus that making students aware of grammar is one of the crucial aspects in language teaching process More specifically, Bygate and Tornkyn (1994) confirm that without solid grammar knowledge, learners are unable to reach the advanced level of communicative competence A further support for this point derives from Ellis (1997) who elaborates that grammar teaching is one of the cornerstones in enabling learners to communicate meaningfully, accurately and enhance their communicative skills in second language proficiency Traditionally, English language teaching has been mainly involved in the achievement of linguistic knowledge To be exact, grammar rules are explained in the mother tongue and students are expected to learn them by heart and then reproduce them The teacher is a controller while students are only passive knowledge receivers This way of learning and teaching prevents learners from using and producing their own target knowledge in meaningfully, naturally or contextually Therefore, that language structures should be taught in context, in which teachers are advised to provide students with suitable situations encouraging them to use the acquired rules in real life communication (Ur, 1998) Given that, methodologists and textbook designers propose that grammar should be learnt more effectively if it is presented in a meaningful context through communicative activities (CA) rather than isolated as a separate part of knowledge (Thornbury 1999; Newby, 2000; Degu, 2008) Admittedly, there are still a number of teachers who have been at a loss for what methods and techniques to employ for the optimal teaching and learning of grammar In this regard, Thornbury (1999, p.8) demonstrates that “grammar teaching has always been one of the most controversial and least understood aspects in teaching.” Indisputably, many English language teachers still adopt and adhere to the traditional techniques of grammar teaching They pay more attention to grammatical rules without real and meaningful practice in the target language Though teaching grammar is considered important in the whole process of language instruction as one of the means of a thorough mastery of language, it should not end in itself (Ur, 1996) In the light of communicative language teaching (CLT) approach which emphasizes the importance of language competence in communication, teaching grammar communicatively is suggested to achieve these goals Through exposing to CA in the target language, students can grasp grammatical knowledge while maintaining their skkn interests with improved skills in a freer and more creative way The activities including information gap, role play, language games, problem solving, discussion, to name but a few are widely believed to stimulate students’ communicative desires by integrating linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language 1.2 Teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 6th grade students (2021-2022) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school are the students who have been selected through the entrance exam with two subjects maths and literature They are good and well-qualified students in Thanh Hoa city However, in the process of teaching, the researcher noticed that although the students are intelligent and eager to learn, their English levels are quite different Specifically, there are students whose ability of English good and they can use English confidentially and master English grammar firmly However, there are still many students who not have good foundation of English because they only focused on maths and literature to pass the entrance exam, Consequently, the students expect their teachers to help them bolster grammatical range and accuracy while improving all four skills at the same time Besides challenges from students, from the perspective of an English language teacher, the researcher has found out that the problems may arise from other factors possibly coming from teachers or the situation These mentioned obstacles may result in students’ failure to use English grammar correctly and meaningfully Considering these facts, this study attempts to investigate the attitudes and students towards grammar instructions as well as challenges they may face during grammar teaching and learning processes through CA 1.3 Aims of the study As mentioned above, the study is carried out to examine the effectiveness of CA in grammar teaching and learning by investigating the attitudes students as well as the reality of teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school It is also aimed to identify the problems that students are confronting when using CA in the grammar lesson Accordingly, the study can suggest some practical solutions to teaching and learning grammar communicatively in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school Furthermore, this study intends to take a further step towards inspiring and stimulating the interest and concerns of students in this subject 1.4 Research questions The study is conducted to address the following research questions: What are the attitudes of 6th grade students towards the application of CA in teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school? What difficulties these students have to face when learning grammar through CA? 1.5 Scope of the study With the rationale and the aims of the study, it is essential to limit the field of study to the managerial area The study attempts to explore the attitudes of th grade students in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school as well as impediments they skkn confront in learning process of grammar when CA are exploited Then, based on these facts and findings, suggestions would be put forward to improve the effectiveness of communicative grammar teaching techniques in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school In the scope of research, the subjects involved in the study are 120 students in classes (6D, 6F, 6G) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 1.6 Significance of the study Although there have been numerous research studies on grammar teaching based on CLT approach to tackle the question of how grammar should be taught, no consistent answers have been offered to English practitioners This is probably because of the fact that certain pedagogical situations coupled with teacher and student attitudes play an overwhelming part in deciding which methods or activities are suitable for students Thus, the author would like to conduct a relevant research in this “long-standing debated” issue to bring some insight for the reference of interested researchers First of all, the study will be valuable in offering teachers a better understanding of what their students think about teaching and learning grammar through the utilization of CA as well as the reality of using CA in the grammar lesson Second, it is expected that the study would make the program stakeholders aware of challenges that teachers and students face during the process of teaching and learning grammar As a result, some solutions are suggested to overcome the obstacles and optimize the benefits of CA for students’ mastery of grammar 1.7 Organization of the study The study is organized in three parts as follow Part 1: “Introduction”, provides the rationale for conducting the thesis, defines the specific aims of the study and the research questions The scope, the significance and the organization of the study are also presented Part 2: “Literature review”, discusses various theories and studies on the areas that establish the underpinnings for the current research It deals with the definitions, objectives and features of CA Also in this part, five common communicative strategies are discussed before the previous studies into the application of CA in formal grammar instructions are presented Part 3: “Methodology”, gives description of subjects, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and method of data analysis for carrying out the research Part 4: “Findings and Discussion”, discusses the research findings on the basis of data computerized and analyzed with the support of SPSS, version 16.0 The results of the data analysis are presented, discussed and compared with the results of other previous studies Part 5: “Implications and Conclusion”, contains the summary of the study and some implications This is followed by the limitations of the work, and several suggestions are made for further research The last section in this chapter is the conclusion to the whole study Following this is a bibliography listing all reference books and articles directly or indirectly quoted in the study skkn PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Literature review 2.1 Overview of communicative activities Harmers (1991) gives out the comprehensive definition of CA that CA are activities in which the learner uses the linguistic repertoire he has learnt in order to communicate specific meanings for specific purposes or promote him to have a desire to communicate Concerning the criteria of CA, Ellis (1990) states that the truly CA encourage learners to use the target language to perform communicative purpose and communicative desire Thus, students focus on content rather than form and they can vary the target structures without any material control to communicate with each other While students are engaged in CA, teachers should not intervene through correcting mistakes, insisting on accuracy or asking for repetition as these interventions would undermine the communicative purpose of activities Instead, the instructor can play the role of a participant or an observer to watch and listen very carefully in order to conduct feedback after CA finish In his recent study, Wang (2010, p 131) mentions the advantages of using these techniques as follows: (i) they motivate students’ learning with fun, enjoyment, and excitement; (ii) they provide practice on language use and language meaning; (iii) they create a supportive learning environment; (iv) they promote interpersonal relations In comparison with CA and non-CA to find out the distinct characteristics between them, non-CA fail to spark a desire to communicate on the part of learners, hence they will have no communicative purpose To put it simply, when learners take part in a drill or controlled practice, they are motivated not by an impulse to realize the communicative objective, rather by the need to focus on the objective of accuracy In this case, the teacher will often intervene to correct students’ mistakes, ask for repetition to ensure accuracy To this end, the materials will be specially designed to focus on a restricted amount of language while in CA there will be no materials control Harmer (1991, p 31) compares the characteristics between non-CA and CA in the table named The communication continuum Non-CA CA  no communicative desire  a desire to communicate  no communicative purpose  a communicative purpose  form not content  content not form  one language item  variety of language  teacher intervention  no teacher intervention  materials control  no materials control The communication continuum (Harmer, 1991, p 31) He also suggests three stages in teaching productive skills namely introducing new languages, practice and CA In the first stage, new language introduced frequently falls on non-communicative end of the continuum Thus, the instructor will employ controlled techniques, asking students to make repetition and perform in drills, while students are insisted on accuracy and their mistakes skkn are corrected by the teacher The second phase called practice activities lie somewhere between the two extremes of the continuum While the students perform these tasks, they exchange the information with communicative purposes, however, there may be a lack of language variety because the materials specify what the students have to say or CA, which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative end of the continuum, urge students to use varied structures of target language for communicative purposes and gradually arrive them at a degree of language autonomy Taking a modern stance, Sun and Cheng (2000) summarize three most common features of CA as follow: (i) CA are task-based ones which concentrate on communicative tasks that learners need to engage in outside the classroom; (ii) CA are learner-centred ones which focus on students’ initiative and interaction Students are expected to participate in the activities as real people and take responsibility for their learning; (iii) CA emphasize the use of authentic language input The teacher’s native or near language competence and a true language is necessary in order to produce communication in the classroom Recently, Salvage (2010) points out that CA which reinforce teaching and learning processes of grammar should bear the features: present grammar in contexts that are meaningful for students, and incorporate more focus on form and provide opportunities for students to produce the target grammar in speaking and writing tasks With regard the objectives of CA, Littlewood (1990) clarifies their contributions to language learning under four main roles First of all, CA provide “whole-task practice” In foreign language learning, teachers should provide students partskills training and practice in the total skill or whole-task practice through various kinds of CA designed to match students’ level of competence Secondly, they stimulate motivation which encourages students to take part in communication, the ultimate objective of learning and teaching processes Students’ motivation is likely to sustain when they realize that the classroom teaching is relevant with their objective and enables them to attain it with success Moreover, CA pave way to natural learning Language learning not only takes place within the classroom, many aspects of it are beyond the pedagogical context In fact, students can learn through natural process in which they are involved in using the target language for communication Last but not least, CA create the situation supporting learning among learners and between learners and teachers These relationships build up the environment conducive to effective learning The review about the objectives, criteria and features of CA is of great importance for the design and development of the current questionnaire to measure the student and teacher towards the utilization of CA in grammar teaching In the next sub-section, some common CA are illuminated for the use of the present study 2.2 Common communicative activities Linguists take on different stances on the distinction of CA Littlewood (1990) separates them into two main categories with the umbrella terms: functional skkn communication activities and social interaction activities Harmer (1991) distinguished CA based on the forms of communication namely: oral CA and written CA Meanwhile, Richards (2006) states three types of CA including mechanical practice, meaningful practice and communicative practice Regardless of any classification of CA, according to Krieger (2005), when selecting classroom activities for students, the instructors need to take some criteria into account as follows: (i) having a visible, clear, and compelling objective; (ii) not being too cognitively demanding to manage in English; and (iii) being interesting to students In this regard, five common communicative strategies namely information gap, problem solving, role play, discussion, language games are more likely to be suitable and efficient in communicative grammar instructions (Moss, 2005) 2.2.1 Information gap Information gap activities are widely used in English instructions because “in the classroom we will want to create the same kind of information gap if we are to encourage real communication” (Harmer, 1991) In real life, human communication is full of complex and ever-changing issues and there exists information gap between the speaker and listener, so information gap activities bring students with ample opportunities to practice speaking English According to Baturkmen (1994), information gap activities stimulate students to manipulate their foreign language skills and linguistic knowledge to the full in order to close the gap and they can be used as a valuable aid in setting up a need for learners to communicate and ensure that the transfer is meaningful He also presents what teachers usually when using information gap tasks in classroom The stages include supplying information to one student or group but without it from the others, thus creating a gap in the information Then, the teacher gives the pair or group a task that can be completed through the students pooling or sharing their separate information, and so creating an impetus to close the gap In a similar vein, Neu & Reeser (1997) point out that the teacher should use information gap tasks in which every student is given the opportunity to speak in English for extended period of time and thus, they naturally produce more speech than they would In addition, they suggest that students are forced to negotiate meaning for task accomplishment There are some ways to classify kinds of information gap activities and each author has the reason for their classification Information gap activities in the view of Littlewood (1992) are considered as functional CA which consist of two kinds: sharing information with restricted cooperation and sharing information with unrestricted cooperation Norman, Lewis & Hedequist (1986) point out that there are two kinds of information gap activities: puzzle form and personal questionnaire Ur (1981) in the book “Discussions that work” offers many kinds of information gap activities such as: finding things in common, detecting differences, putting in order, etc In Ellis’s (1990) classification, he divides information gap activities into one-way and two-way In the two-way gap activity, both learners have some information and share it with each other to complete the task In fact, the two-way information gap activity has been shown skkn ... integrating linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language 1.2 Teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 6th grade students (2021-2022) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school. .. attitudes of 6th grade students towards the application of CA in teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school? What difficulties these students have to face when learning grammar. .. teaching techniques in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school In the scope of research, the subjects involved in the study are 120 students in classes (6D, 6F, 6G) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 1.6 Significance