(Skkn 2023) enhancing communicative competence for students through grammar lessons in english 10 – global success

PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale 2 Aim of the study .2 Scope of the study .3 Method of the study Novelty of the study Structure of the study PART B: CONTENTS Theoretical basis of the topic Practical basis of the topic Practical application in teaching .10 PART C: CONCLUSION Results of the experience application 28 Summary 34 Proposals 35 REFERENCE BOOKS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale: Together with the advancement of science and technology, English as an international language has become an indispensable tool for integration and development among countries around the world To many people, travelling abroad for holiday, for jobs, for study or for business is a common thing and not beyond their means That is the reason why the demand of communicating in English is getting higher and higher Thus, teaching and learning English in the context of globalisation has become more and more essential English as a compulsory subject in the national curriculum not only helps students broaden their knowlege of the language in the most coutries all over the world but also improve their competence of using the language in communication in order to meet the demand of high quality workforce for the job market in the future Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 32/2018/TT-BGDĐT in which the curriculum of the English subject focuses on the communicative competence and considers learneredcenter approach as the main point of the teaching and learning process The level of upper secondary education requires students to be able to use English as a communication tool as well as to enrich the knowledge of English through phonetics, vocabulary and grammar lessons To meet the requirements, the authors have been applying various methods to encourage students to build up their confidence and promote their communicative competence not only in skill lessons but also in grammar lessons to replace the traditional method of teaching English grammar – teachered-center That is the reason why we have decided to choose the carry out the topic: “Enhancing communicative competence for students through grammar lessons in English 10 – Global Success” Aim of the Study: The topic was studied and applied with a view to enhancing the communicative competence for grade 10 students through grammar lessons in the textbook English 10 – Global Success It is also served as a source of materials that help English teachers improve speaking skill for their students Through this study, the topic has helped the writers draw experiences of developing the students’ communicative competence by teaching grammar communicatively The writers’ experiences shown in this study may provide English teachers with a source of materials to teach grammar lessons in such a way that helps to improve students’ communication skill in general Scope of the study: As mentioned at the beginning, the study attempts to figure out the methods of teaching grammar communicatively for grade 10 students at Cua Lo high school Once successfully applied, a few activities used in teaching grammar towards communicative approach will be suggested at Cua Lo high school Method of the Study: Studying the materials about teaching grammar communicatively in reference books and materials available in the Internet - Analyzing and drawing experiences from the process of teaching - Applying in the real teaching to self-evaluate Novelty of the Study: It is possible that the topic of teaching grammar communicatively is not really new in the field Our topic, however, focuses on the communicative competence of students in the particular grammar lessons in the coursebook English 10 – Global Success, which has just been published and used on a large scale in this school year Structure of the Study: The Study is made up of three main parts as follow: - Part A: Introduction: To introduce the topic of the study and provide an overview of the topic - Part B: Contents: To work out the definition of the terms used as well as develop the topic - Part C: Conclusion: To draw the result and the feasibility of the topic PART B: CONTENTS I THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE TOPIC: Concept of teaching grammar communicatively Generally, grammar shows the correct orders of words to make meaningful sentences “Grammar may be defined as the rules of a language, governing the way in which words are put together to convey meaning in different contexts” (Nesamalar Chitravelu; Sararatha Sithamparam & The Soo Choon, 2005) Traditional teaching methods follow the PPP pattern (short for Presentation – Production - Practice) in which teachers present and illustrate the grammar rules and students then use the prompts given to make similar sentences In the Practice stage, they continue praticing the controlled target laguage For example, to teach the present simple tense, the teacher introduces the verb form, the usage, the structures and gives examples Students take notes and follow the rules to put the verbs given into the correcct form of the present simple tense Then they practice making sentences, using this verb form In this model, the teacher plays the main role – teacher-centered framework and learners study in a passive way – receiving the “one-sided” knowledge In this way, grammar points seem boring because they are explained by teachers, memorized by students separately Students focus on doing exercises to indicate that they understand the lessons but they can hardly use these rules to communicate “The problem is not in grammar itself, but in the way, that grammar has been taught and learned” (https://elttguide.com/want-to-teachgrammar-communicatively-its-so-simple-follow-these-3-tips/) Teaching Grammar Communicatively means encouraging students to use grammar points to communicate effectively in real life situations Concept of communicative competence In a broad meaning, the concept of communicative competence is a very complicated term, which has been researched by famous scholars in the world for years “The scientific history of the concept of communicative competence began in the 1960s as a counter-movement against the so-called “linguistic competence” introduced by the structural linguist Noam Chomsky (1965), who based linguistic theory on an ideal speaker-listener with perfect linguistic knowledge, which is supposed to be unaffected by cognitive and situational factors during actual linguistic performance Among others, the philosopher Jürgen Habermas (1970) and the sociolinguist Dell Hymes (1972) argued that Chomsky’s concept could not serve as a relevant component in a theory of real-life communication Habermas argued “that general semantics cannot be developed sufficiently on the narrow basis of the monological linguistic competence proposed by Chomsky” (1970: 137–138) But similar to Chomsky’s idea of an idealized speaker-hearer, he idealized the speech situation: “Above all, communicative competence relates to an ideal speech situation in the same way that linguistic competence relates to the abstract system of linguistic rules The dialogue constitutive universals at the same time generate and describe the form of intersubjectivity which makes mutuality of understanding possible” Gert Rickheit & Hans Strohner, 2008, Handbook of communication competence, https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/30325080/iif_kgpm_rickheit_handbook_of_ communication.pdf “Communicative competence refers to “the capacity to use language appropriately in communication based on the setting, the roles of participants, and the nature of transactions” (Richard, 2002 P.36) In this study, communicative competence is understood with a narrower meaning to be suitable for students’ level It shows the students’ ability to understand the language and select vocabulary in a grammatically organized way to convey their ideas, using verbal and non verbal behaviour The importance of developing communicative competence to learners: In general, the target of learning a language, is to be able to use it to communicate except in a few situations learners are researchers and they need to understand the written language for their research or other purposes The level of mastering a language can be assessed by the competence to understand the language as well as express thoughts, wants, emotion or ideas in appropriate cases “Communicative Competence should accomplish four main purposes including: expressing wants and needs, developing social closeness, exchanging information, and fulfilling social etiquette routines (Light, 1997) Light (1997) has described communicative competence as “being able to meet the changing demands and to fulfill one's communication goals across the lifespan” (p 63) For example, “infants communicate primarily to express wants and needs and to develop social closeness,” whereas “school-aged children need the means and skills to meet all four communication goals” (p 62)” (http://www.naacpartners.org/publications/2010KlienertHolmanMcSheehanKearns pdf) Simultaneously, developing communicative competence helps learners more interested in learning the language and thus create the motivation for learners Being able to use another language beside their mother tongue to communicate can be an amazing thing Furthermore, communicative competence also helps them improve their critical thinking skills which contributes to the learning process in which the learners play an active role Students will be able to develop their skills to communicate fluently rather than repetition and memorization with grammatical structures seperately II PRACTICAL BASIS OF THE TOPIC: Common problems during the teaching grammar process: Grammar is an indispensible part in learning a language However, it is not only difficult for students to master all the grammatical structures but it is also boring to memorize the rules in separate patterns Thus, English teachers have had a lot of difficulties in teaching grammar lessons First, teachers give students too many rules to remember They soon feel frustrated and confused as there are too many things to understand as well as too many exceptions from the grammatical rules which are not simple at all because real life situations vary while no rules can be fixed to all cases, so students have to learn the rules and memorize the exceptions at the same time Second, there are so many students in classes that it is hard for teachers to make sure that all students can understand the grammar lessons The class size ranges from thirty-five to fourty-five students, which makes it impossible for teachers to stop by each student’s table to check if they can make sense of what they are taught in a limited time – forty-five minutes for each period at school Besides, teachers also have to deal with teaching multi-level classes and different learning styles from students In each class, there are always many different levels of students – excellent, good, fair, average, and weak Teachers have to control the speed they give lectures so that average and weak students can catch up with and they also have to adapt a suitable method so that excellent and good students find something deserving to follow the lectures In addition, teachers also have trouble giving feedback to students who have different levels at grammar development Correcting students’ grammatical mistakes is also time-consuming Principles of teaching grammar: As we see, teachers have to face a lot of issues when teaching grammar and the problem is not grammar, but the way it is taught and learned A good way to combat this problem is teaching grammar communicatively, which helps students practice the target grammar patterns through particular communicative activities “Teaching grammar effectively is about enabling children to control grammar to express increasingly complex ideas When grammar is taught well, it can make a significant different to children’s literacy development” (Key principles for teaching grammar, retrieved on December, 9th, 2022 from https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/key-principles-for-teaching-grammar) Here are key principles when teaching grammar: a Build up own subject knowledge To teach grammar, teachers need explicit as well as implicit knowledge, to be confident about using the correct terms and explaining these Don’t just learn the next term you are teaching It is important to be able to relate new learning to other features and the text as a whole b Give talk a high priority in your classroom Children need to be able to select from a wardrobe of voices that includes Standard English c Remember the purpose of teaching grammar Grammar is not simply the naming of parts of speech or for teaching the rules of English It needs to be strongly embedded in classroom talk, reading and writing d Teach grammar in context By introducing students to grammatical features and language in context, teachers will be helping them to internalise these principles Try not to go for the ready-made solution by using a worksheet from a book It will make very little difference to students’ use of language and will be meaningless for those who are not yet able to think in abstract ways e Read aloud and discuss how authors use grammar Students who read extensively and listen to the text will have a ‘toolbox’ of structures, patterns and rhythms to draw on f Be systematic Teachers have to make sure what the class have already learned and what they need to learn now Link new learning with their prior knowledge so that they can approach the knowledge in a systematic way g Make learning grammar fun Teaching grammar can involve investigations, problem-solving and language play as part of developing students’ awareness of and interest in how language works *This is an edited extract from Teaching Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling in Primary Schools Enhancing communicative competence for students through grammar lessons in English 10 – Global Success 3.1 Teaching grammar through games: Games play an important role in teaching foreign languages They not only help to make the lessons more attractive but they also stimulate learners to interact actively “Games have become crucially important for English language learners and teachers not only because they provide enjoyment and relaxation, but also as they encourage students to use their language in a creative and communicative manner” (Gülin YOLAGELDİLİ 2011 Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching Grammar to Young Learners Retrieved on December 10th, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED527862.pdf) Games are beneficial to both teachers and students First, students are motivated to win the games, especially when they have chances to compete in groups The tasks given will become more challenging and demanding In stead of sitting boringly in one place doing exercises as teachers ask, they have chance to express themselves by trying to answer the questions in the shortest time if they don’t want to lose the games Second, games helps to reduce the stress during classes By taking part in the games, students somehow forget that they are being asked to exercises They just concentrate on the main objective – find the answers to be the winners To make it more appealing, sometimes teachers also give the winners small presents as the rewards of the games, which makes students more eager to be the winners Finally, using games will make the lessons more learnercentered as most of the time, teachers just give the instructions, and it is students who play the main role in the activities In this study, we have searched for several common games that really work in teaching grammar as follow: a Word Scramble: This game is suitable for students to practice making meaningful sentences using the target language To play this game, teachers write a sentence and cut the words separately and give them to students so that students can form the sentence Students can play in groups They have to use their grammatical knowledge as well as their vocabulary to make complete sentences b Time Bomb: This is a fun game to teach grammar To play this game, teachers need windup toy, an oven timer, or a stopwatch, and preferably that audibly ticks First, teachers start the timer, and then ask students a question and they have answer it before the timer stops, if not, they will lose the game Teachers can give students a few questions, depending on the students’ levels Students can also play in teams c Find someone who This game is suitable for students to practice speaking and listening skill by going round in the classroom and make a survey, using the target grammar structures At first, teacher will show a topic and the grammar points to control the activity Then, students move around, making questions and take notes their friends’ answers with a piece of paper and a pen After that, students will report the results to the class d Card game: Teacher prespares cards with random words written on each card Students have to choose one or several cards and try to use the words to practice the grammar item This is a fun game for individual activities 3.2 Teaching grammar in contexts available in the coursebook: As usual, grammar are taught at sentence level, which refers to the verb tenses, part of speech, word orders, or types of clauses Each one will be instructed separately However, nowadays, grammar lessons are included in a particular context The structures or a grammar items are given in examples to make learners understand more about what situations the grammar item are used in real life conversations and in pieces of writing This helps students memorize more easily and they can apply what they learn in speaking in an appropriate way “A grammar lesson might start with a context with the target grammar item that students work to understand or explain For instance, if your target grammar item is the simple present for routines, the lesson might start with a paragraph of a daily routine The teacher would then prompt the students to explain the verb tense in the example, providing guidance and explanations as needed However, a lesson that makes use of context does not have to start with a context It can start with the rule and examples and then later show use of the grammar item in context Some teachers start with rules and later move to context, and other teachers start context and more toward rules Many teachers use both approaches When deciding whether to present the context first or later in the lesson, consider students’ proficiency levels and previous experience with the target grammar item as well as their learning preferences For some grammar items, showing the context first might be the best approach, and for other grammar items, starting with rules and examples might be a better choice” (Teaching grammar for communicative competence Retrieved on December 15 2022 from https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/teachers-cornerteaching-grammar-communicative-competence) th Teacher may make use of the context avaible in the coursebook as all the units in it have been systematically designed based on a specific topic The vocabulary is not only related to the topic but it is also repeated in each lesson, which makes it easier for students to remember Students will understand the lessons more clearly as they get familiar with the topic and the vocabulary in the previous lessons 3.3 Teaching grammar in own contexts: Teaching grammar in context means teachers have to provide students with contexts in which the grammatical part is used There are a lot of contexts in the textbooks for teachers to teach grammar However, if the contexts given are not suitable or have already been used, teachers can create their own contexts For example, if teachers are giving instructions of the present simple tenses and want to explain them in the real context to talk about daily routines but the topic in the coursebook is not about it, teachers can talk about their own or their students’ daily routines Using own contexts to teach grammar has a lot of advantages First, it makes students easy to understand as the contexts derive from real life Second, students can apply the grammar items in similar daily conversations 3.4 Teaching grammar through visuals: Teachers can use visual aids to teach grammar They can hang the visuals on the board or show them on the screen to explain the grammatical rules By this way, the grammar lessons can attract students’ attention and make them actively participate in learning activities They also motivate students to develop their listening, speaking and reading skills “Visuals help learners visualize what are being taught to them and stimulate deeper understanding as well as create actual and interesting contexts of grammar learning that facilitate the learners to connect the material being taught to their own lived experience” (Adriadi Novawan 2011 Visually-based grammar teaching, retrieved on December 26th 2022, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290544123_Visuallybased_grammar_tea ching) There are various kinds of visual aids that teachers can use to teach grammar, based on the requirements and the aim of each lesson such as pictures, images, charts, real objects, III PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN TEACHING: Teaching grammar is not easy at all Firstly, teachers need to master the target language clearly to be able to explain the rules to students Secondly, teachers have to develop various methods to make their lectures more appealing to students Working together in this study, we have discussed and applied the principles as well as the techniques in the grammar lessons in Global Success 10 Here are the lesson plans and the procedures that we have applied in teaching grammar for grade 10 students in Cua Lo high school With the grammar lesson of Unit 1, actually, students have already learned a lot about the present simple and the present continuous tenses Therefore, in this lesson, teachers just help them to revise the use and the structures as well as the difference between these two tenses without having to explain everything in details Teachers can use the context available in the Getting started lesson in the coursebook or create a context to talk about daily routines 10 Using visual aids in grammar lessons - Four levels of the urgency: Very urgent, urgent, less urgent, and not urgent - Four levels of feasibility: Very feasible, feasible, less feasible and not feasible Here are the results of the survey: As can be seen from the pie chart above, nearly 95% of the people agree that Improving communicative competence for students through grammar lessons in English 10 – Global Success is very urgent and urgent and the same percentage of them agree that it is very feasible and feasible The survey of the urgency and feasibility of the second value - innovating the grammar teaching method towards learner-centered instead of the traditional grammar teaching method (the teacher presents the rules; the students take notes and practice), we also get the same results of 95% and 97%, respectively as shown in the chart below 30 31 In the third value - designing suitable games for grammar lessons, 93% of the people show that it is very urgent and urgent and 94% say it is very feasible and feasible As it can seen in the chart, the percentage of the urgency and feasibilty of the third value - designing suitable games for grammar lessons is the highest – 96% for both From our experience, using games in lessons, particularly in teaching grammar is really effective as it motivate students to move, cooperate with their team to compete in games, which is much more challenging than just sitting in one place and listening to the lectures passively With the fourth category, using the contexts available in the coursebook or creating own contexts to help students understand the real life situations using grammatical structures is one of the easiest solution in teaching grammar Students have chance to revise the vocabulary and understand the context in which the grammar items can be used 32 More than 94% agree that using visual aids in grammar lessons is (very) urgent and (very) feasible as shown in the chart below 33 In short, almost all the English teachers and students interviewed agree that enhancing communicative competence for students through grammar lessons in English 10 – Global Success as well as the solutions we propose are very urgent and feasible II SUMMARY: Grammar teaching is indispensible to lay the foundation for learners to master the four language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing Without the knowledge of grammar, learners would perform their English skills mechanically by putting separate words together They wouldn’t know how a meaningful sentence can be built up or how to convey their ideas logically and grammatically For this reason, grammar lessons should be designed in such a way that helps to create an enjoyable and relaxing atmosphere for learners Teaching grammar is really difficult and it not only requires teachers to master the grammar items but it also stimulates teachers to spend more time designing suitable learning activities or else the grammar lessons will become so tedious and students 34 will learn the grammar by copying the structures like a machine, which can not be used in daily conversations naturally With nearly a year of studying and discussing, we have tried to design various activities in the grammar lessons of Global Success for grade 10 students and we have been applying them in the language lessons It has been proved to be effective in motivating students to build up the grammar lessons as well as enhance their communicative competence as the grammar structures have been taught in a different way from the traditional methods Students actively participate in the learning procedures They are given the authentic situations and find out the rules themselves with the teacher’s instructions The grammar lessons are no longer boring and challenging to most students In stead, they can play games, learn the grammar rules through a very different way with real life context Besides, the situations which are used in the grammar lessons are related the topic of the units they are learning so they get familiar with the vocabulary and have chance to practice the target language of the topic while using the grammar items To some extent, having seen students make progress little by little, we are contented with what we have done in this study We always appreciate our colleagues’ opinions and support to help us complete our project Although the writers made every effort to complete the topic, there may be some unavoidable mistakes We hope to receive more comments and feedbacks from colleagues as well as students to complete the topic in a more successful way so that it can be used as a pedagogical materials for teachers in teaching grammar communicatively III PROPOSALS: This is the first year the new national education program has been applied to high school students The lessons in English 10 – Global Success have been taught in our provinces for the first time, too In an attempt to improve our teaching methods as well as enhance communicative competence for students through grammar lessons, we have developed alternative ways to teach grammar items in the coursebook – Global Success With the good results we have got for nearly one school year when applying the solutions in this study, we highly recommend these ways of teaching grammar to English teachers in our school and have received our colleagues’ approval We will definitely organized more discussion about the three solutions we have mentioned in this study in the near future so that the most effective methods in teaching grammar communicatively can be figured out and widely applied among English teachers in Cua Lo high school with a view to enhancing communicative competence for students at a beach town where they have more opportunities to communicate with foreign tourists Through this teaching experience, we propose that teachers develope different ways to teach grammar 35 structures Grammar lessons should be taught in such a way towards learnercentered trend to promote students’ communicative competence instead of being given to students mechanical ways Students should play an active role in learning process to promote their speaking and listening skill Students need to understand the grammar rules, and they need to use the rules to convey their ideas, make a conversation, and communicate naturally and fluently Cua Lo, April 20th 2023 Group of teachers 36 REFERENCES Al-Mekhlafi A M., & Nagaratnam, R.P 2011 “Difficulties In Teaching and Learning Grammar in an Efl Context” International Journal of Instruction 4(2), 1308- 1470.www.e-iji.net p-ISSN: 1694-609X Nazari, A., & Allahyar, N (2012) Grammar Teaching Revisited: EFL Teachers between Grammar Abstinence and Formal Grammar Teaching Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(2) http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2012v37n2.6 Adriadi Novawan 2011 Visually-based grammar teaching https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290544123_Visuallybased_grammar_tea ching Thornbury, S (1999) How to teach grammar Harlow: Pearson Education Uibu, K., & Liver, M (2015) Students’ Grammar Mistakes and Effective Teaching Strategies International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol III(1), pp 70-87., 10.20472/TE.2015.3.1.006 Teaching grammar for communicative competence, https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/teachers-corner-teaching-grammarcommunicative-competence 37 APPENDIX 1: The questionnaire used in the survey (To make it easier for the interviewees to understand the survey, the questions are written in Vietnamese ) KHẢO SÁT TÍNH CẤP THIẾT VÀ TÍNH KHẢ THI CỦA CÁC GIẢI PHÁP ĐƯỢC ĐỀ XUẤT TRONG ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NHẰM PHÁT TRIỂN NĂNG LỰC GIAO TIẾP CHO HỌC SINH QUA CÁC BÀI HỌC NGỮ PHÁP TRONG SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 10 – GLOBAL SUCCESS * Đối tượng khảo sát: A Giáo viên B Học sinh I Khảo sát tính cấp thiết: Nâng cao lực giao tiếp cho học sinh qua dạy ngữ pháp Sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 – Global Success A Rất cấp thiết B Cấp thiết C Ít cấp thiết D Không cấp thiết Đổi phương pháp dạy học ngữ pháp theo hướng lấy học sinh làm trung tâm thay cho phương pháp dạy học ngữ pháp truyền thống (giáo viên truyền thụ công thức, học sinh ghi chép thực hành) A Rất cấp thiết B Cấp thiết C Ít cấp thiết D Khơng cấp thiết Thiết kế trò chơi (game) phù hợp cho dạy ngữ pháp A Rất cấp thiết B Cấp thiết C Ít cấp thiết D Khơng cấp thiết Vận dụng ngữ cảnh (context) có sẵn sách giáo khoa tạo ngữ cảnh riêng để giúp học sinh hiểu bối cảnh sử dụng cấu trúc ngữ pháp A Rất cấp thiết B Cấp thiết C Ít cấp thiết D Không cấp thiết Sử dụng công cụ trực quan (visual aids) dạy ngữ pháp A Rất cấp thiết B Cấp thiết C Ít cấp thiết D Khơng cấp thiết II Khảo sát tính khả thi: Nâng cao lực giao tiếp cho học sinh qua dạy ngữ pháp Sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh 10 – Global Success A Rất khả thi B Khả thi C Ít khả thi D Khơng khả thi Đổi phương pháp dạy học ngữ pháp theo hướng lấy học sinh làm trung tâm thay cho phương pháp dạy học ngữ pháp truyền thống (giáo viên truyền thụ công thức, học sinh ghi chép thực hành) A Rất khả thi B Khả thi C Ít khả thi D Không khả thi Thiết kế trò chơi (game) phù hợp cho dạy ngữ pháp A Rất khả thi B Khả thi C Ít khả thi D Không khả thi Vận dụng ngữ cảnh (context) có sẵn sách giáo khoa tạo ngữ cảnh riêng để giúp học sinh hiểu bối cảnh sử dụng cấu trúc ngữ pháp A Rất khả thi B Khả thi C Ít khả thi D Không khả thi Sử dụng công cụ trực quan (visual aids) dạy ngữ pháp A Rất khả thi B Khả thi C Ít khả thi D Không khả thi APPENDIX 2: SOME PHOTOS OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE DURING GRAMMAR LESSONS