(Skkn 2023) using inductive approach to teach some grammatical items through short stories

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING o0o - INITIATIVE USING INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO TEACH SOME GRAMMATICAL ITEMS THROUGH SHORT STORIES Subject: English School year: 2022-2023 NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING PHAN DANG LUU HIGH SCHOOL o0o - INITIATIVE USING INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO TEACH SOME GRAMMATICAL ITEMS THROUGH SHORT STORIES Subject: English Full name: Phan Thi Thuong Phone number: 0382576426 Full name: Trần Quốc Hải Phone number: 0979075885 Group: Foreign Language School year: 2022-2023 PART I: INTRODUCTION Abstract During this globalized world, English has been the tool language widely spoken in any formal or informal occasions to deliver and convey messages The young generations nowadays are urged to actively enhance their English language proficiency in line with the transformation of the 21st Learning Century In schools, teachers give much importance to vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and try to cover their portions for the examination However, the success of the academic activities relies mostly on the inspiration exerted from teachers, consequently leading to a significant extent of learning motivation in learners This paper will focus on the benefits of using stories in teaching some grammatical items as an inductive method to make the lessons more enjoyable and gradually engage students into a communicative approach during a lesson of grammar The author also finds out that this direction provides more chances for students to learn English vocabulary in an effective way More importantly, this method can be widely applied as inductive approach in teaching grammar in general This is an incentive for my further findings in the topic of my initiative I Rationale Of the many issues related to language learning and teaching, grammar seems to get much attention from linguists and language teachers The arguments of having an effective method to teach grammar have gone through a long history Undeniably, grammar structures are very important in teaching and learning a language because they are the backbone of a language However, how to teach grammar effectively is absolutely a challenge and it is also of constant concern among upper secondary school teachers To solve this problem, the author has come up with the idea to create short stories to introduce the grammatical points through the certain contexts or situations It can be affirmed that learning through stories also makes the lessons more enjoyable to young students; therefore; a rise in the level of concentration during class could be easily observed Stories are for all of us, especially for young children In order to assure the feasibility of this approach, the author conducted a survey inquiring for the responses of the English teachers towards it The survey is for the teachers at my school and some others from different institutions Items It is essential that English teachers shift from deductive approach to inductive one in teaching grammar Very feasible Feasible Less Feasible Infeasible 38.2% 61.8% 0% 0% 32.4 % 64.7% 2.9% 0% Reading authentic stories helps improve English 50.0% 41.2% 8.8% 0% Teaching grammar through short stories significantly stimulates English learners 44.1% 50.0% 5.9% 0% Reading stories are helpful in pronunciation 36.3% 52.9% 11.8% 0% Reading stories boosts learner’s lexical resource 47.1% 50.0% 2.9% 0% Using stories as a good way to teach grammar is applicable in terms of inductive method It can be seen from the table that the majority of the responses fall in the “feasible” and “very feasible” categories This accordingly affirms the potential effects of the research In contrast, there is a very small number of participants leaning towards “less feasible” and no choices belong to “infeasible” In addition to the contribution to an enjoyable grammar lesson, the initiative can further improve students’ pronunciation as well as lexical resources Those are the reasons why I choose the topic “Using inductive approach to teach some grammatical items through short stories” I believe that stories are crucial not only in our mother tongue but also in foreign languages Stories are a suitable introduction to English language as they present language in a familiar and communicative context It is obvious that grammatical structures are explicitly constructed in the stories Based on the organization of the story text, the author might draw the target points of grammar to transfer to the students through inductive approach I.2 Aims of the study The aims of the study are as the follows: - to help students gain the grammatical points through contextual situations in a short story It means learning grammar in real situations - To develop students’ ability to apply grammatical knowledge in their communication better - To build up a fun atmosphere of learning English among learners -To shift the teaching method from “deductive reasoning” to “inductive reasoning” - By the end of the lessons, the students will be able to successfully form the sentences using the structures previously taught I.3 Scope of the study The study was going to be conducted at my school for every student Due to the limited time, I concentrate my work on students in class 10A6 and 10C1 who are non-major students in two normal classes of medium level but they are also interested in learning English Most of the teachers at my school hope to use this method as a supplementary teaching aid and to renovate their ways of delivering any grammar lessons Thus, there should be a plan to use short stories properly within English periods Personally, I have planned to carry out my initiative from January to April of this school year 2022– 2023 I.4 Research methods Reading the materials related to the topic like Monkey Stories Software or the book “Storyfun” by Karen Saxby (Cambridge University Press) really encourages me in designing a grammar period through short stories Moreover, I made some reference to the study about new methodology in teaching languages I found out many changes made in order to give the young learners as many interesting lessons as possible Carrying out the teaching procedure in classes of grade 10, I would like to show the effects of my research seen through the theoretical principles and practical lessons I.5 Significance of the study The study is conducted with a view to making some changes in the teaching method on grammatical items I hope that my study would be a contribution to the new trend of education- that is how to make an interesting lesson and how to engage students more in their learning process In other words, this would form a good way of teaching in general The method used in the grammar lessons match with PPP teaching procedure or the ESA model + “PPP” means Presentation, Practice and Production + ESA means Engage, Study, and Activate The PPP Approach or the "Three Ps" approach to Language Teaching is the most common modern methodology employed by professional schools around the world It is a strong feature of the renowned CELTA certification and other TEFL qualifications offered especially in the United Kingdom PART II : MAIN CONTENT II.1 Theoretical background II.1.1 Literature review on English grammar II.1.1.1 What is grammar? Grammar and vocabulary are components that should be mastered in teaching learning process of language The word of grammar has several meanings and many definitions have been offered to explain about grammar In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English, grammar is referred to as “study or science of rules for the words into sentences (syntax), and the forms of words (morphology)” The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines grammar as “the study of use of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences.” Different experts also explain or define the term grammar differently Harmer (2001:12) considers grammar as the description of the way in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in the language It is also defined by (Lado, 1977: 141) as the study of rules that are claimed to tell the students what should and should not say in order to speak language of the social educated class In fact, grammar is “multi-dimensional” (Batstone, 1994) and has multi-meanings Every language has grammar It has been believed that if a language is a building, the words are bricks and the grammar is the architect’s plan One may have a million bricks, but not make a building without a plan Similarly, if a person knows a million English words, but he does not know how to put them together, then he cannot speak English (Brumfit, 2000) In conclusion, grammar is the study of the classes of words, their inflections, functions and relations in the sentence of language Learning grammar means the study of how words are constructed in sentence well, when the pattern of grammar is used appropriately, and how the sentences will be interpreted correctly It is assumed that it is not only how language is put together and how it works but it also tells about the system and patterns in selecting and combining words More importantly, it shows the construction of sentences II.1.1.2 The importance of grammar According to the definition of grammar, it is apparent why grammar is useful and important Without mastering the grammar of a language, the students cannot comprehend the essence of the text and when they read In this case, a good grammar acquisition will help them in it Grasping grammar knowledge helps students to understand every word when they are reading as well as speaking “Imagine two car drivers The first driver knows only driving and nothing about the working of the engine He feels helpless whenever there is some trouble with machinery The second driver knows driving and also understands the working principles The person who knows grammar is like this second driver In case he is doubtful about the correctness of a particular thing, his knowledge of grammar comes to rescue him (Kohli, 116)” Therefore, to speak in a clearer and more effective manner we need to cultivate grammar in combination with lexical knowledge For those who have unconscious knowledge of grammar, it may be sufficient for simple language use But the persons who wish to communicate in the artistic manner with well-defined structures must go for the greater depth of understanding and proficiency that the study of grammar offer II.1.1.3 Principles of grammar teaching Looking at what principles can guide us in the teaching of grammar; both Hedge and Thornbury (2001) give us some worthy answers Hedge (2000) considered that the presentation of grammar to learners should facilitate learning in many ways It can provide input for noticing output and accurate forms of English; it can present high-frequency of grammatical items explicitly to speed up learning; it can provide information about the communicative use of language structures by contextualizing them in written and spoken forms; it can give information implicitly through exposure to examples or explicitly through instruction on the stylistic variation of language form Below are some rules of thumb about teaching grammar by Thornbury (2001) ●The Rule of Context Teach grammar in context If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw attention to it, ensure that it is re-contextualized as soon as possible Similarly, teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings The choice of one grammatical form over another is always determined by the meaning the speaker or writer wishes to convey ●The Rule of Use Teach grammar in order to facilitate the learners’ comprehension and production of real language, rather than as an end in itself Always provide opportunities for learners to put the grammar to some communicative use ●The Rule of Economy To fulfill the rule of use, be economical This means economizing on presentation time in order to provide maximum practice time With grammar, a little can go a long way ●The Rule of Relevance Teach only the grammar that students have problems with This means, start off by finding out what they already know And don’t assume that the grammar of English is a wholly different system from the learner’s mother tongue ●The Rule of Nurture Teaching does not necessarily cause learning – not in any direct way Instead of teaching grammar, therefore, try to provide the right conditions for grammar learning ●The Rule of Appropriacy Interpret all the above rules according to the level, needs, interests, expectations and learning styles of the students This may means giving a lot of prominence to grammar, or it may mean never actually teaching grammar at all – in any up-front way But either way, it is your responsibility as a teacher to know your grammar inside out II.1.1.4 Common techniques for Presenting Grammar There is a variety of techniques for presenting new grammar items Below is an overview of some most commonly-used Note that no one technique will necessarily prove better than another, so the general rule when it comes to presenting grammatical rules is to combine a variety of techniques ▪ Direct Explaining You can explain a grammar rule directly using the students’ mother tongue This has the advantage of allowing students to contrast an item of grammar in English with an item of grammar in the students’ own language For example, the two languages might use past tenses in different ways On the other hand, some teachers believe that it’s more effective to present and explain the grammar directly by using English at all times Certainly, in classes where the students already have learnt some English, it’s usually possible to build on what they already know to introduce a new grammar point ▪ Discovering the grammar Often, it’s helpful to have students discover the grammar rather than telling them what it is Do this by choosing a text which contains lots of examples of the target grammar For example, if the text includes regular verbs in the past simple form (e.g lived, travelled, moved, etc), ask the students to underline all the verbs in the text Then ask them to say what they notice about the verbs – which will be that they all end in -ed ▪ Drawing timelines (teaching tenses) Timelines are useful for teaching grammar structures that refer to aspects of time Timelines are a simple and visual way to clarify the actions and events described in a sentence They are often used by teachers for presenting the meaning of verb tenses in English The basic form of a timeline shows a horizontal line with a point in the middle indicating NOW or the moment of speaking Before that point is the past and after it is the future Some teachers also write the words PAST and FUTURE along the line You can indicate single actions with an X and periods of time with an arrow Continuous actions are often indicated with a wavy line ▪ Using objects Sometimes using objects can work as quickly as anything to present the meaning For example, if you want to present the comparative form (… is bigger than …), the simplest way is to find two objects and contrast them Alternatively, ask two students to stand up and compare their height to produce a sentence like: Hany is taller than Tom Write the sentence on the board and underline the comparative form so the students notice the construction Similarly, if you teach prepositions (in, on, next to, etc), using a selection of objects in different positions from each other is a very effective starting point ▪ Contrasting structures With higher-level grammar, it’s useful to ask students to contrast two grammar structures which are similar in certain ways, but which have an important difference in meaning For example, these two sentences contrast two different meanings of the present perfect tense + He has been to London + He has gone to London A teacher could ask the students to compare these sentences and say what the difference in meaning is ▪ Choosing the correct answer This is similar to the previous technique because you give students two sentences, but one sentence has a mistake related to grammar You write them on the board and get students to say which they think has the mistake and why For example: + I’ve lived here since three years + I’ve lived here for three years Students discuss the sentences in pairs Sentence A is wrong because we use “since” to refer to a fixed point in time (e.g March, 1989, etc.) whereas we use “for” to describe duration of time II.1.2 Inductive and Deductive approach II.1.2.1 Inductive Inductive is used to describe reasoning that involves using specific observations, such as observed patterns, to make a general conclusion This method is sometimes called induction Induction starts with a set of premises, based mainly on experience or experimental evidence It uses those premises to generalize a conclusion Inductive reasoning is the act of using specific scenarios and making generalized conclusions from them Also referred to as “cause-and-effect reasoning,” inductive reasoning can be thought of as a “bottom up” approach For example, you might observe that your older sister is tidy, your friend’s older sister is tidy and your mom’s older sister is tidy Inductive reasoning would say that therefore, all older sisters are tidy Inductive reasoning starts with a single inference or observation drawn from specific and comparable situations Unfortunately, getting an accurate inference or fair judgment might not lead to diversity Inductive reasoning starts with something specific and then tries to generalize, which may be inaccurate The logic can be sound, but further observation can prove it wrong II.1.2.2 Deductive Deductive is used to describe reasoning that involves arguments whereby, if the premises are true, then the conclusions must also be true In a deductive argument, the conclusions flow directly from the premises given (Walton, 1989, p 110) Deductive reasoning is the act of making a generalized statement and backing it up with specific scenarios or information It can be thought of as a “top down” approach to drawing conclusions For example, consider the statement “all apples are fruits” When you introduce specific piece of information like “all fruits grow on trees”, you can then deduce that all apples grow on trees Deductive reasoning can be misleading The premises of an argument could be inaccurate, meaning the conclusion will be inaccurate too This approach can also be time-consuming Coming up with a valid argument and testing all the possible implications of the premises can take a lot of time, resulting in inflexibility and rigidity People who depend on this method of reasoning can become unwilling to consider other points of view II.1.2.3 The Differences between Deductive and Inductive Approach A deductive and an inductive approach basically differentiate into lesson procedures, learner roles, teacher roles and usage of metalanguage in the teaching process A deductive approach is based on the top-down theory which the presentation and explanation of grammar rules take the precedence over teaching The language is taught from the whole to parts so learners understand the grammar rules and structures firstly Next, they see the examples provided by the teacher PART V: REFERENCES English textbook 10 (NXBGD) Grammar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers Penny Ur, Cambridge How to Teach Grammar Scott Thornbury, Longman 1999 How to Teach English Jeremy Harmer, Longman 1998 Batstone, R (1994) Grammar, Oxford University Press Tomlin, R.S (1997) Functional grammars, pedagogical grammars, and communicative language teaching Odlin (ed.) Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar Cambridge: Cambridge University Press https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-pronunciationactivities Madrid, D (1995) Internal and external factors affecting foreign language teaching and learning Actas de las Segundas Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses, 5982 PART VI: APPENDIX QUESTIONAIRES Teachers’ survey sheets on urgency and feasibility of using inductive approach to teach some grammatical items through short stories After reading our research topic, please fill information in the boxes and answer the questions below Thank you very much! * Biểu thị câu hỏi bắt buộc Full name * Your answer Phone number* Your answer 35 High School:* Your answer It is essential that English teachers shift from deductive approach to inductive one in teaching grammar Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent Using stories as a good way to teach grammar is possibly applicable in terms of inductive method Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent Reading authentic stories helps improve English Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent Teaching grammar through short stories significantly stimulates English learners Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent Stories are helpful in pronunciation Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent Reading stories boosts learner’s lexical resources Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not urgent 36 It is essential that English teachers shift from deductive approach to inductive one in teaching grammar Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible Using stories as a good way to teach grammar is possibly applicable in terms of inductive method Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible Reading authentic stories helps improve English Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible 10 Teaching grammar through short stories significantly stimulates English learners Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible 11 Stories are helpful in pronunciation Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible 12 Reading stories boosts learner’s lexical resources Very feasible Feasible Less feasible Not feasible 37 SCALE OF SURVEY I URGENCCY TT Approaches It is essential that English teachers shift from deductive approach to inductive one in teaching grammar Using stories as a good way to teach grammar is applicable in terms of inductive method Reading authentic stories helps improve English Teaching grammar through short stories significantly stimulates English learners Stories are helpful in pronunciation Reading stories boosts learner’s lexical resources Very urgent Urgent Less urgent Not Average Urgent Score 13 (38.2%) 19 (55.9%) (5.9%) (0%) 3.32 13 (38.2%) 19 (55.9%) (5.9%) (0%) 3.32 15 (44.1%) 18 (52.9%) (2.9%) (0%) 3.42 11 (32.4%) 23 (67.6%) (0%) (0%) 3.32 13 (38.2%) 17 (50.0%) 19 (55.9%) 15 (44.1%) (5.9%) (5.9%) (0%) (0%) Average score 3.32 3.44 3.36 II FEASIBILITY TT Approaches It is essential that English teachers shift from deductive approach to inductive one in teaching grammar Using stories as a good way to teach grammar is applicable in terms of inductive method Reading authentic stories helps improve English Teaching grammar through short stories significantly stimulates English learners Stories are helpful in pronunciation Reading stories boosts learner’s lexical resources Average score Very feasible Feasible 13 (38.2%) 21 (61.8%) (0%) (0%) 3.38 22 (64.7%) (2.9%) (0%) 3.29 14 (41.2%) (8.8%) (0%) 3.41 15 (44.1%) 17 (50.0%) (5.9%) (0%) 3.38 12 (36.3%) 16 (47.1%) 18 (52.9%) 17 (50.0%) (11.8%) (2.9%) (0%) (0%) 11 (32.4 %) 17 (50.0%) Less Not Average Feasible feasible Score 3.24 3.44 3.36 38 SOME IMAGES OF THE TEACHING LESSONS 39 40 41 42 SCALES OF SURVEY SHEET 43 44 45 46 47 48 49