Phụ lục I TÊN CƠ QUAN QUẢN LÝ CẤP TRÊN Đơn vị SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI TRƯỜNG THPT NGÔ QUYỀN Mã số (Do HĐCNSK cấp trên ghi) SÁNG KIẾN PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CO[.]
SỞ GIÁO DỤC - ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI TRƯỜNG THPT NGÔ QUYỀN Mã số: (Do HĐCNSK cấp ghi) SÁNG KIẾN PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT (Ghi đầy đủ tên gọi giải pháp chữ in hoa đậm) Người thực hiện: Vũ Cẩm Thu Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý giáo dục - Phương pháp giáo dục - Phương pháp dạy học môn: Tiếng Anh (Ghi rõ tên môn) - Lĩnh vực khác: (Ghi rõ tên lĩnh vực) Có đính kèm: Các sản phẩm in sáng kiến Mơ hình Đĩa CD (DVD) Phim ảnh Hiện vật khác (các phim, ảnh, sản phẩm phần mềm) TÊN CƠ QUAN QUẢN LÝ CẤP TRÊN …………………… Đơn vị………… ……… Năm học: 2019 - 2020 skkn SỞ GIÁO DỤC - ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI TRƯỜNG THPT NGÔ QUYỀN Mã số: SÁNG KIẾN PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT Người thực hiện: Vũ Cẩm Thu Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý giáo dục - Phương pháp giáo dục - Phương pháp dạy học môn: Tiếng Anh - Lĩnh vực khác: Có đính kèm: Các sản phẩm in sáng kiến Mơ hình Đĩa CD (DVD) Phim ảnh Hiện vật khác (các phim, ảnh, sản phẩm phần mềm) Năm học: 2019 - 2020 skkn TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION Error: Reference source not found Background /context Error: Reference source not found The scope of the research Error: Reference source not found Rationale Research aims (Purposes) CONTENTS OF THE RESEARCH I REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING II RESEARCH CONTENTS .3 Research procedures/ definitions of termsError: Reference source not found Advantages and disadvantages of meaningful activities .7 Evaluation of the research .8 a Novelty of the research ( Innovations)Error: Reference source not found b Effectiveness Error: Reference source not found c Applicability of the research Error: Reference source not found CONCLUSION REFERENCES Error: Reference source not found APPENDIX: RESEARCH DESIGN Error: Reference source not found Appendix 1: Research Question Error: Reference source not found Appendix 2: Error: Reference source not found skkn ABBREVIATION PPP ( Presentation – Practice – Production ) EFL ( English as a foreign language ) ESL ( English as a second language ) skkn THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN Tên sáng kiến: PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: Giảng dạy môn Tiếng Anh Tác giả: - Họ tên: Vũ Cẩm Thu Nam (nữ): Nữ - Trình độ chun mơn: Cử nhân Tiếng Anh - Chức vụ, đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Ngô Quyền - Điện thoại: 0847018963 Email: camthu0408@gmail.com skkn Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo sáng kiến (%): 100% (Nếu sáng kiến riêng tác giả, ghi 100%; có đồng tác giả, ghi số lượng % thân đóng góp) skkn Page TOPIC : PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT INTRODUCTION Background /context In recent years, teaching grammar has become one of the most challenging issues of English language teachers In fact, at high schools teachers have difficulty making grammar instructions interesting to students In traditional ways of teaching grammar, teachers often introduce forms, explain the usage of the grammar points and then have students complete the follow-up exercises Therefore, students have to learn by heart grammatical structures in a passive way, which fails to hold students’ interest This has urged educators and researchers to look for effective methods of teaching grammar, and my hypothesis is that teaching through context can get students to communicate more efficiently Context-based grammar plays an important role in helping teachers enhance students’ learning effectiveness It will contribute to motivating students to study grammar because they will have more chances of understanding how the new grammar structures work The scope of the research This case study is conducted in my school – Ngo Quyen High School situated in the centre of Bien Hoa City with the participation of 90 students in different classes aged 17 years old Rationale According to Krahnke (1985), grammar plays an instrumental role in language teaching and it should be paid attention to when teaching a language although skkn Page teachers have tendency to focus on teaching four main skills –reading, speaking, listening and writing In order to be competent language learners, students are recommended to learn and know about grammar This will help them to make sentences meaningful and express their words and messages effectively Furthermore, it can enhance students to master four main skills: build good sentences in writing, make sentences clear to understand in speaking conversations, identify the main points in listening talks and understand the key ideas in reading passages With the lack of grammar, students cannot develop language skills Like Emery (1978), she compared the failure of language skills due to the state of not knowing grammar with unskilled drivers who not know what makes the car run This contributes to the fact that grammar is indispensable and essential in EFL language teaching Tabbert (1984) also pointed that some classic mistakes learners faced were using incorrect tenses, mismatching subjects and verbs, confusing the use of articles, mismatching the position of adjectives and nouns This is the reason why she claimed that students need to learn grammar Teaching grammar requires teachers a lot work to One essential aspect of teaching grammar is the ability to help learners gain an understanding of the nature of language like patterns which create what people speak, listen, read and write (Azar, 2007) In fact, people no longer use only simple single words, sounds, body expressions to communicate with others since they know how to apply grammar into the real context Ellis (2006) also emphasized that grammar instruction includes methods that make learners identify specific grammatical form in a way that helps learners both comprehend it linguistically and produce it effectively A lot of researchers also stressed the importance of teaching grammar that it cannot be ignored and if learners are not taught grammar, they cannot develop the language skills professionally (Richards & Renandya, 2002) There has been a debate whether a suitable method of teaching grammar is applied in the classroom Although the traditional grammar teaching PPP is used, this skkn Page method does not bring effects In fact, presenting grammar in context helps students know how grammar is used and improve their knowledge in language skills Obviously, teaching grammar in isolated sentences is an impractical way as it will not motivate students’ ability to discover the rules and functions of grammar structures in sentences It is believed that students need to experience grammar in a variety of context so that they can use it correctly and apply it efficiently Hence, context-based teaching grammar should be carried out in the classrooms Research aims (Purposes) This research aims at investigating the effects of implementing teaching grammar through context on the development of students’ language competence It also aims to identify students’ problems and their learning styles with the expectation that this new method will help them to get the hang of perceiving the rules of new grammar structures and providing accuracy in the target language CONTENTS OF THE RESEARCH I REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING GRAMMAR In recent years, the most popular traditional grammar teaching approach is PPP (Presentation – Practice – Production) However, Long and Doughty (2009) claimed that this approach is not effective because it cannot enable students to apply what they have learnt into communicative context This means that they understand the rules clearly, but they cannot use them to communicate with others and recognize how grammar rules work in sentences, which prevents the effectiveness of learning grammar Therefore, it is the teachers who are responsible for helping students comprehend the meaning and the usage of language; and also show them what the grammatical form of the new language is and how it is used in speaking and writing This leads to a new approach of grammar instruction - teaching grammar through context skkn Page II RESEARCH CONTENTS Research procedures / definitions of terms This case study will be conducted with 90 students divided into two different groups Each group includes 45 students The experimental group is the group of students who are taught lessons integrated with new method – teaching grammar through context, whereas the group of students who are taught like the normal lessons (traditional method: PPP) form the control group A pre-test will be carried out to make sure that both two groups have the same proficiency level At the end of the second term, two groups are tested in order to get the scores of each learner Those test scores will be analyzed and collected to serve for data of the findings After that, my colleagues and I will join a meeting to compare the results of the experimental group and the control group to examine the effects of applying contexts in teaching grammar on the ability to discover rules and functions of grammar structures as well as apply it into language skills Those groups of students are experimented at the second term and they are taught in the English course-book Grade 11 (Vietnamese Ministry of Education) All students are taught the same lesson; however, there is one group of students are taught grammar through contexts, whereas the other group are taught grammar by using classical method (the teacher explains the rules and forms and then uses some drills to get students familiar with the new grammar structures) Additionally, I will be the teacher of groups of students to investigate the real effects as well as to make students feel comfortable to take part in the lessons The study includes tests: one pre-test and one post-test for both groups A pre-test is a grammar test Because this kind of test aims at being a standard to show that students have the same level of English competence, it will be derived from the knowledge they have learnt before which is in the English Course-book Grade 11 at the first term After that, the students taking part in the research are divided into groups: experimental group and control group They are taught the grammar lessons of the second term of the course-book The control group are exposed to lessons with skkn Page the traditional, explicit grammar teaching, while the experimental group are taught grammar lessons through their contexts At the end of the second term (after weeks), there is a post-test which is extracted from the Course-book of the second term for both groups The test is the grammar test including multiple choice and sentence transformation tasks Instructions are given before the tests to avoid misunderstanding among students There are 40 questions, each of which is 25 points The total score is 100 points Four colleagues and I will mark the students’ papers, collect data and analyze data through transcription To make sure the fairness and efficiency of the study, two kinds of test: pre-test and post-test are in the paper test and marked both the person who teaches them and four partners in my department Data is collected through the results of the post-test Besides, two methods: questionnaire and interview are also applied to collect the data The questionnaire includes open and close-ended questions to investigate learners’ attitudes and viewpoints towards learning grammar through context and raise their awareness of the importance of studying grammar in contexts While students the questionnaire, the teacher explains and gives possible and necessary guidance so that they can meet the requirements of the questionnaire Interviews are conducted with the help of four partners in my English Team They are asked some questions about their points of view about teaching grammar in contexts in their lessons The questions are designed as open-ended questions The interview will last 30 minutes for each interviewee Moreover, the place and the purpose of the interview will be informed beforehand and in details to create the comfortable feelings among the participants Each teacher will be interviewed one time at the beginning of the research and their answers will be recorded by a cassette recorder After students take post-test, the results are collected and analyzed I will have one colleague make a table of all the scores of 90 students of both two groups on Microsolf Excel and arrange the scores from the highest to the lowest score; skkn Page especially to differentiate the score of groups, I will color the score of the control group blue and the experimental group will be in red After that, four colleagues and I will hold a meeting to analyze the results to see whether the new grammar teaching technique (teaching grammar through contexts) can bring the effective results If this method is successful (the score of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group), it will be implemented in the most of my students and all the students in my school in the long run Application a) Unit 2: The past tense (Past simple & Past continuous) In this lesson, I will teach two English tenses in a context: Jane comes from Italy She is now living and working in the outskirts of Italy Her English is quite good as she has studied it at school for over 10 years and she has worked for a company where English is the necessity Some weeks ago, she went to London for the first time to visit four high school friends She stayed there for a week and in that time Jane and her friends had a busy schedule – they visited many famous places in London such as The London Eye, Tower of London, Sea Life London, Madame Tussauds, ZSL Lonson Zoo, ate some famous foods in different restaurants every day, walked up the steep hills, and did lots of shopping in the fantastic department stores They took lots of photographs during the trip One evening Jane and her friends were having dinner when the fire alarm went off, but the waiters seemed to be calm They still carried on working Everyone around continued eating Jane and her friends wondered why everyone still went on eating with their meals even though the fire alarm was sounding Jane and her friends decided to get out quickly, but just as they went out of the door they saw a sign at the entrance of the restaurant warning customers that there was going to be a fire alarm test that evening At that time, Jane and his friends felt a bit embarrassed STEPS: Firstly, I ask the class if anyone has been to/would like to go to London If anyone has, they can tell the others something about it If no one has not been to, skkn Page they can tell me what London like through what they know on television or on the Internet I also show some pictures of London to motivate the class to talk about it Secondly, I’ll tell my students that they were going to read about Jane – a cute girl who visited London for the first time They read the text and answer the questions: “Why did Jane visit London? How many people was she with? Why did they stop eating dinner at one restaurant? Did they finish their meal later?” Thirdly, I’ll highlight sentences from the text, sentence with past simple, sentence with past continuous Next, I’ll ask students to underline other examples of the past simple and past continuous, discuss the use of two tenses in pairs or small groups After that, I conclude the forms and uses of tenses Lastly, I ask students to write sentences using these two tenses Through context the students will see the usage of grammatical patterns better, and the context help them understand how to use grammar forms and structures In the following contexts again two English tenses are presented b) Unit 12: RELATIVE CLAUSE In this lesson I teach my students RELATIVE CLAUSE in context In fact, it’s really a consolidation because they have already it learnt before STEPS: Firstly, I’ll show my students the picture of The Mona Lisa and ask if they know the person who painted such masterpiece I tell the students that they were going to learn some very interesting things about Leonardo Da Vinci, a genius of the 15th century And their task is to recognize what grammar point is referred to in the text Secondly, I give my students a small text about Leonardo Da Vinci The students work in groups, scan the text and answer “the grammar point is RELATIVE CLAUSE” skkn Page I have my students read the paragraphs again and underline the relative pronouns they’ve found Next, I have students work in groups, discuss the use of the relative pronouns in these contexts While they are doing I go round and ask them why “who, whom, which, that …” are used in these contexts When students have finished discussing they soon remember what they had leant After that I’ll help them revise the grammar point and provide them with some advanced structures Finally, I ask some students to make their own sentences, using relative pronouns and write the sentences on the board The others observe and suggest correction if necessary I give feedback and help with correction if necessary Leonardo Da Vinci, born in 1452 into a normal family, was an extraordinary man In fact, many people called him a "renaissance man" partly because he lived during the Renaissance, which was the time of creativity and invention However, a person who was called a renaissance man has many different skills and can many great things Da Vinci, who was an Italian scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, artist, and writer, was considered the most diversely talented person that had ever lived In every area, he had amazing achievements, most of which are the treasures of the whole human kind As an artist, he produced a handful of famous paintings, two of which are The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa The former one, which was painted in 1495, describes the last supper of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles, whom Jesus announced the only one that would betray him The latter one, now hang in the Louvre in Paris, is about a lady whose smile in the painting is still a mystery to the world As an inventor, he conceptualized brilliant ideas that were far ahead of this time For example, he drew detailed plans for a helicopter and for contact lenses in a time when there was no electricity or plastic Da Vinci has always been the world's legend The crowds still queue to see his most famous artworks being displayed in the most famous museums in the world skkn Page Thousands of T-shirts on which his paintings and drawings are printed are sold every day Experts are now still studying, translating, and analyzing his work, using the newest scientific techniques Some are still interested in searching the recorded but never found Through context my students understand the usage of Relative Clause, and can make the sentences themselves using grammar forms and structures They can apply the structures in a variety of exercises relating to relative clause c) Unit 13: CLEFT SENTENCE Let’s take Cleft Sentence as the 3rd example STEPS: Firstly, I show the students a conversation between the boss and a staff I call students to model the conversation Secondly, I’ll show the underlined and bold sentences and ask the students to focus on them Students worked in pairs, practising the conversation again After that I have some students to give their opinions about the underlined and bold parts They can easily recognize that it is emphasize structure Then I give students some sentences and ask them to rewrite, using the same structure as in the conversation Of course, some students can write the correct sentences, some others may make the wrong ones Finally, I introduce students the new structure CLEFT SENTENCE Then my students can gain the grammar point easier Conversation Mr Clement : Did you arrive late yesterday Brian? Brian: No, Not me Sir It was John who arrived so late Mr Clement : I think it was at the parking lot at about 9.45 a.m that I saw you Brian: Oh how could that be? I was preparing for the afternoon conference at the meeting room then You can ask Ronal and Ms Helen Sir Mr Clement : Really? Was it you who wore the yellow shirt yesterday? skkn Page 10 Brian : That’s right sir But I’m sure it was John that you might see at the parking lot because he wore the right color as I did Mr Clement : Does he drive a white BMW Brian : Yes Sir It was the white BMW that he drove to work yesterday Mr Clement : All right Brian, go ahead with your work Brian : Good bye Sir By giving the students the context containing the structure I can make this grammar point easily understood Moreover, my students will get more excited about exploring the grammar point used in the context and don’t feel bored with grammar lessons Through contexts in teaching grammar of the examples above, learners will see the usage of grammatical patterns better, and the context will help them understand how to use grammar forms and structures Results and findings Through the result of the post-test I have collected, I can find that whether the students in the experimental group have improved much more than the students in the control group Through the survey from group of learners, it is obvious that most of the students want to improve their grammar They will be enthusiastic about learning grammar through contexts Furthermore, most students are not bored with or tired of learning grammar as they not think that grammar plays an important role in language learning at the beginning They can see that this new method can change their perspectives on learning grammar and promote them to explore the new grammar structures so that they can apply them into four skills From the interviews with my four colleagues, they advocate that teaching grammar through context really takes effect They feel that students are more interested in the grammar lesson and get better results in grammar exercises and tests skkn Page 11 They also think that this method is appropriate for intermediate and advanced students and it can be implemented in the large scale in the near future Advantages and disadvantages of teaching grammar through context Context means the text or speech that comes immediately before and after a particular phrase or piece of text and that influence how it is used and what it means Hence, grammar rules are made easier if they are given in a context and teaching grammar in context provides accuracy in the target language Teaching grammar through context in fact benefits the students a lot Teachers aim to deliver the grammar points through context, not to forms that will enhance students’ comprehension and communication Besides, context-based method obviously help students avoid memorization and discover the nature of language Take some grammar concepts such as nouns and adjectives, subjects and verbs, clauses and phrases for example As students understand those concepts clearly, they are aware of using and applying them better in language skills In most EFL classes in Vietnam, the curriculum of English subject is designed for testing students, especially some important examinations like the entrance exams Moreover, applying other materials will be a burden for teachers who are obliged to teach only in the Course-book This refrains students from getting exposed to authentic and meaningful input Therefore, EFL teachers have to find and explore many ways to integrate authentic English materials into the classrooms with a tight curriculum and little resources Class size is also an obstacle for teachers to deal with Most classrooms in schools have a large number of students, which can have an effect on a teacher’s feedback especially in providing feedbacks for all students in class Although giving feedbacks for all of them can motivate students and encourage them to take part in the lesson, such practice may be difficult for those teaching large numbers of students For this reason, it is suggested that teachers should give feedbacks in a constructive and efficient manner For example, teachers can make full use of peer feedback from students skkn Page 12 Furthermore, what EFL students lack in comparison with ESL students is interacting the input of the target language and using the language in a realistic environment Most of our students only experience English input in the classroom environment, while ESL learners have many benefits when getting exposed to English not only in classrooms but also outside school This interferes with the fluency and accuracy of using English for many EFL students Therefore, it is recommended that teachers will try to create an ideal environment for students to develop their ability in English in the classroom as well as outside the classroom Evaluation of the research a) Novelty of the research This new method aims to help learners perceive the rules of new grammar structures in a natural and easily absorbed way as well as to improve accuracy in the target language b) Effectiveness From the discussion with my four colleagues, they advocate that teaching grammar through context really takes effect We feel that students are more interested in the grammar lesson and get better results in grammar exercises and tests We also think that this method is appropriate for intermediate and advanced students and it can be implemented in the large scale in the near future c) Applicability of the research This method can be implemented in the most of my students and all the students in my school in the long run I personally hope that it can be applied to as many high school students as possible CONCLUSION The study provides some insights into the effects of implementing contexts in teaching grammar Although some teachers in Vietnam may prefer the traditional grammar teaching to teaching grammar in contexts, this new method can contribute to skkn Page 13 changing some teachers’ perspectives about grammar teaching and students’ viewpoints about grammar learning Grammar teaching is considered as a difficult issue in language teaching Teaching grammar through context will enable learners to perceive the language structures efficiently If learners are taught grammatical structures in context, they will be able to master the language much better It is teaching grammar in context that will motivate learners to acquire and explore new grammar structures and forms This will help learners to use grammatical conventions more effectively in communication I hope my modest research gets the attention of my colleagues and it can widely be applied to enhance not only the students but the teachers as well in teaching and learning grammar I appreciate receiving valuable comments from you all I claim not to copy or infringe copyright skkn Page 14 Biên Hòa, ngày 15 tháng năm 2020 HỘI ĐỒNG CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG TÁC GIẢ SÁNG KIẾN KIẾN TẠI CƠ QUAN, ĐƠN VỊ NƠI TÁC GIẢ CÔNG TÁC Vũ Cẩm Thu skkn ... DỤC - ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI TRƯỜNG THPT NGÔ QUYỀN Mã số: SÁNG KIẾN PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS? ?? GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT Người thực hiện: Vũ Cẩm Thu Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý... language ) skkn THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN Tên sáng kiến: PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS? ?? GRAMMATICAL ABILITY THROUGH CONTEXT Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: Giảng dạy môn Tiếng Anh Tác giả: -... camthu0408@gmail.com skkn Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo sáng kiến (%): 100% (Nếu sáng kiến riêng tác giả, ghi 100%; có đồng tác giả, ghi số lượng % thân đóng góp) skkn Page TOPIC : PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS? ?? GRAMMATICAL