INTRODUCTION
Rationale
In the ever-changing world, English language has been taken into consideration as a key for integration and development According to Ha, 2007 states that an increasing number of Vietnamese students are likely to be complained about their English skills owing to their deficient English competence.
In addition, they have been criticized for their English ability in their workplaces as well as in social circumstances (Ha, 2007) This issue is because many educational systems have not emphasized on teaching and learning methods and have not generated an English practicing environment, and apparently, this problem should be made the improvement (Pham, 2005) Therefore, it is vitally crucial to take an overview of teaching methods that are commonly and effectively applied in EFL classrooms for the sake of advancing students’ English proficiency.
For the last few years, CLT has been regarded remarkably as an innovative teaching approach This approach has been applied popularly in almost every English language classroom worldwide, as is stated by Kumaravadivelu (1993)
“CLT which started in the early 1970s has become the driving force that shapes the planning, implementation, and evaluation of English language teaching programs (ELT) in most parts of the world” which mentioned the influential power of CLT in language teaching CLT has been known as an appropriate approach to learning a foreign language, especially, in the ever-changing world and integration.
A range of different kinds of functions have been established efficiently through CLT in the process of teaching a second language Spada (2007) explores that the combination of formal and functional aspects of language is characterized by Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) CLT includes a range of complete principles which should be strictly complied with to improve learner competence. For the sake of improving and developing students’ communicative ability, applying CLT has to follow learning sequences (Harmer, 2001).
Mastering the academic writing is a compulsory requirement that students seem not to have ability to master, even, they have to take a long-term to master it (Karyuatry, 2018) Moreover, writing is expressed to be a tough and complex process (Levy, 1995) Unfortunately, a lot of teachers in EFL classrooms have not generated a writing environment where students can be self-motivated and learner- centered There is a fact that students learn the writing skills at schools following to a copying the model of writing rather than eliciting their own ideas creatively (Sokoholic, 2003) Thus, students could be completely better through applying technology in learning the writing as well as revising grammar in writing (Hui and Yinjuan, 2011)
Based on the real life, checking grammar mistakes in students’ writing performance is vitally necessary as this can improve students’ writing skill better.However, teacher seems not to have enough time and likelihood to verify completely This requires to have an online application to help teacher in checking grammar for writing The Grammarly app is an online website that can be used with a view to scanning grammar mistakes (Karyuatry, 2018) In this study, theGrammarly app was taken advantages of as a tool in order to generate the effects as well as practices in writing skill.
The objectives of the study
In this paper, the author aims to explore the students’ perceptions of theGrammarly app and the impacts of the Grammarly app on students’ grammar accuracy for essays writing in EFL classes.
Research questions
The study concerned with the Grammarly app and the effects of the Grammarly app to improve students’ writing skills in EFL classes To explore the effects, the author determined two questions to follow the process of research.
Question 1 What are the students’ perceptions of The Grammarly app on
EFL learners’ grammar accuracy in writing?
Scope of the study
Even though there are numerous ways to improve writing skills for students,this thesis only focuses on whether the Grammarly app can help students in developing their writing ideas and to what extent they can positively impact their essay writing for students Therefore, this study is going to answer both of problems from research questions.
The organization of the paper
The paper consists of three parts:
PART 1: INTRODUCTION - includes rationale, the objectives of the study, research questions, the scope of the study, and the organization of the paper.
PART 2: CONTENT – includes literature review, findings, and discussion.PART 3: CONCLUSION - presents the conclusion of what has been found and discussed, suggesting the implications This chapter also provides the limitation of the research as well as the recommendations for further studies.
CONTENT
Literature review
Grammarly application is regarded as a useful tool to apply for grammar accuracy in writing that is used commonly in EFL classrooms by teachers As of late, an examination into the utilization of Grammarly application in English composing guidance has arisen as a bountiful wellspring of data Nonetheless, it appears to be that concentration in Vietnamese settings has been uncommon.
According to Lienemann, Graham, Janssen & Reid (2006), we can develop writing skills by connecting reading and writing instruction By reading, students can interact with texts and learn writing conventions when a rich discussion is created from the reading Kucer (1987; cited in xiao, 2008) claimed that there are four processing universals that both readers and writers share: they use their prior knowledge to construct text meaning; share similar acts of schema activation and evaluation; have a unified understanding of how written language operates, and possess common processing behavior patterns when generating meaning from texts
Chen (2002) reported from his study that numerous problems incline to encounter EFL learners in composition, namely (1) word usage and English expressions, (2) their deficiency in cultural knowledge, (3) grammatical errors, and
(4) patterns of organization Hyland (2009) added that various factors contribute to teaching and learning EFL writing: linguistic, cultural, and social backgrounds. Thus, there is a strong demand for EFL teachers to design flexible, meaningful, manageable writing lessons EFL writing teachers must provide meaningful topics, motivate peer feedback, and incorporate collaborative work
According to DeCarrico and Larsen-Freeman (2010), there are three dimensions of a grammar form: meaning and use (see Figure 2.1) As seen in Figure 2.1, there exists an interconnection among three dimensions: form (the formulation of a structure), meaning (the meanings of a structure), and use (the purposes or functions of a structure) For most English language learners, grammar can be a tricky subject, and some students tend to use different types of strategies to learn grammar Using learning strategies is very useful because they help the learning process be more controlled, enjoyable, and effective for learners By understanding and realizing this, active approaches and learning methods have been recognized to make grammar teaching and learning more effective, fruitful,and collaborative in the classroom (Pudin, 2017)
Figure 2.1 Interconnected Dimensions of Grammar learning
Accuracy and coherence produce a qualified text; it is easy to understand by readers (Fareed, Ashraf, & Bilal, 2016) It is the consequential construction into a sentence, bounded by two sentences or a paragraph, which contributes to efficient message transmission Even when there is no agreement among authors about the elements of writing, they consider that coherence, cohesion, and accuracy the main ones Jacobs (1977) describes coherence as the connection between words and text. Foreign or second-language students lack coherence when they cover many ideas in a text and do not concentrate on a single main idea (Faradhibah and Nur, 2017). Cohesion refers to the addition of logical connections between concepts, words, and sentences using different instruments such as grammatical structure, capitalization, punctuation, and preposition
Several researchers and educators have studied the errors in language writing,such as Kushniruk (2021), Mohammad and Hazarika (2016), Dao (2008), and Nguyen and Nguyen (2021)
Errors analysis has been conducted in a Norwegian primary school. Kushniruk (2021) found that sixth-grade students made grammatical errors in terms of verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, prepositions, word order, articles, auxiliaries, plurality, capitalization, and passive voice Among these errors, verb- tense errors were seen as the highest at the number level, followed by subject-verb agreement, prepositions, and plurality The reason behind the forms of errors was the different language systems between English and Norwegian
2.1.5 The impacts of the Grammarly app on learning to write
The Grammarly app is an online grammar checker that helps promote mobile assisted language learning (Dayzon & Gayed, 2021; Vo & Nguyen, 2021). Technological development, the Grammarly app, and other online grammar checkers could enable teachers to lessen their workloads and improve their writing quality (Kim, 2014).
In terms of origin, the Grammarly app introduced by Google in 2012 assisted English language writers in revising and upgrading their writing, according to the introduction of its producer Grammarly app was designed to flexibly meet the needs of a variety of users, not only individuals but also teams and companies.
To implement this research, the researcher applied an approach The approach used in this research is the quantitative and qualitative approach Besides, to find the results and effects of elicitation techniques in the writing classroom, the researcher applied action research.
It is irrefutable that one of the most crucial features of students is that they have different levels in one class and some of them seem not to have strengths in English Students’ English proficiency ranges widely, based on their learning style, their living, and high school education background Moreover, students have participated in 12D1 and 12A1 at Nam Dan 1 high school with English periods. This topic is applied at the high school of the author – Nam Dan 1 high school and two other schools, such as: Thai Lao high school and Cua Lo high school in Nghe
Because the research investigated the effects of Grammarly application to their writing skill in real classroom settings, students were involved as the subject of the research Students play an equivalent role as direct beneficiaries, observers, learners, and assessors of the process They were primarily chosen for the questionnaire to obtain answers to research questions 1 and 2 The total number was actually 50, which are randomly selected, from classes.
These chosen students are from grade 12 They are students from Nam Dan
1 high school located in Nam Dan, Nghe An province and they have followed studying in English period classes At their high school, some of them have 3 periods of English subject per week; while, some others have 4 periods of English subject per week because they are major students Besides, they are following to learn English in extra-classes where they are learn additionally for their English grammar as well Moreover, due to being high school students, they have been learning English for further 10 years.
Table 2.1 The number of students was chosen for the survey
Randomly, students were chosen from grade 12 in classes at Nam Dan 1 high school to do a survey The number of grade 12 th students selected for the questionnaire was 48, accounting for 100% More importantly, there were 24students from class 12D1 and 24 students from class 12A1, accounting for 50%, respectively Specifically, the number of male students from two classes was 7 out of 50 students, with 16 % and the number of female students from these classes was 41, accounting for 84 %
Students at high school use textbooks written and published by the Ministry of Education and Training, including new English programs and other referent textbooks The general education program in English is made up of the point of view that communicative competence is the goal of the teaching process Language is a means to form and develop communication skills through speaking, listening,reading, and writing Through a range of topics in a textbook for grade 12, students are likely to form ideas for writing skills In addition, students can self-study with the workbooks of this series and other recommended material sources What is more, in the ever-changing world of integration, the appearance of international certificates seems to be an evaluation of students in English proficiency.
With regard to testing and evaluation, there is one mid-term test and one final exam In the process of learning, they often make effort to learn more knowledge to participate in certain international certificates, like IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL, and SAT,…
2.2.4 Steps of using Grammarly for instruction by teachers
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of the key findings
Through the survey of the urgency and feasibility of the topic for teachers who are teaching at high schools in the area with English subject, the topic has been highly evaluated for its urgency and feasibility when applying Grammarly to writing skills, especially essay writing for high school students Moreover, this is a very practical solution to help students self-study and develop their writing style to improve their writing skills and participate in international exams such as IELTS, TOEFL,
The use of the Grammarly app had a positive impact on EFL learners' grammatical accuracy in their writing, as demonstrated by a counterbalanced treatment study involving non-Grammarly and Grammarly conditions over the school year During Semester 1, when the non-Grammarly condition was used,students struggled to improve their grammar, especially with verb tenses, subject- verb agreement, singular/plural nouns, and the use of articles in their writing.However, in Semester 2, with the support of Grammarly, students outperformed their earlier performance The regular use of this app during the learning process was reflected in their improved writing performance Students highly appreciated the role of Grammarly in their language development, particularly in improving their grammar and writing skills This improvement was in favor of students' perspectives, as they confirmed in the post-questionnaire that Grammarly was more helpful than their teachers' grammar feedback, which they rated as low in the pre-questionnaire.
Based on the interview results, it was found that eight students displayed a high level of interest in studying English despite making multiple grammatical errors in their writing Nevertheless, the specific types of errors made by each participant varied to some extent.
To begin with, interviewees experienced difficulties with verb tenses in their sentences Additionally, students acknowledged that they frequently made errors with nouns, prepositions, and punctuation Concerning noun-related errors, they sometimes neglected to include the plural markers "-s" or were unsure about using the correct forms of particular nouns Additionally, mistakes in selecting prepositions and punctuations occurred from time to time Furthermore, the use of passive voice was identified as a common area of grammar-related errors.Qualitative data suggested that interviewees and other students found it challenging to practice writing with a passive voice These errors could be attributed to the differences in the plurality systems between Vietnamese andEnglish Vietnamese primarily uses the words "đã," "đang," and "sẽ" to indicate past, present, and future tense, respectively In Vietnamese, quantifiers are used before nouns instead of affixed plural markers as in English Moreover,interviewees struggled with using prepositions and articles They also encountered difficulties with writing mechanics, such as punctuation and spelling The least common grammar-related errors identified by interviewees in their writing were word order, subject-verb agreement, reported speech, and relative clauses. Misspelled words were also a frequent source of vocabulary-usage errors. Additionally, two interviewees expressed confusion about using articles when writing in English, leading them to use unnecessary or incorrect articles in their sentences.
The findings regarding the second research question have implications for this study as well as others Firstly, students were able to improve their grammar and writing skills in general by using Grammarly to detect and correct errors The suggestions provided by Grammarly also helped students make their writing more concise Additionally, EFL students were able to use Grammarly from the comfort of their own homes, allowing for flexibility in checking their writing at any time or place All interviewees expressed a desire to continue using the Grammarly app in the future, recognizing its potential as a valuable tool to support their English learning Most students in this study had a positive perception of using theGrammarly app for writing They found its simultaneous suggestions, variety of grammar advice, and straightforward explanations to be particularly useful for their learning This study's results align with other related research, as students across various studies have found that Grammarly can help them identify errors in grammar, vocabulary use, and mechanics of writing.
Limitations
Despite the considerable effort put into this study, the researcher acknowledges several limitations Firstly, the sample size was small, consisting of only 50 students from two classes The lack of a sampling method was due to the researcher's limited access to the classes for research purposes Additionally, the findings were solely based on questionnaires and interviews, and there was no triangulation of data from other sources.
Recommendations for future research
The present study provides a foundation for future research in several areas.Firstly, action research could be conducted to explore the potential benefits of using Grammarly for collaborative learning between teachers and students This would involve gathering data through various protocols to better understand the impact of such collaboration on students' learning outcomes Secondly, future studies could focus on the effectiveness of other features of the Grammarly app,such as its lexical choices and plagiarism checker, and their impact on students' writing skills These areas of inquiry could provide valuable insights into the potential benefits of technology-assisted language learning and contribute to the development of effective pedagogical practices.
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APPENDIX APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONAIRE (English version)
THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING THE GRAMMARLY APP ON EFL LEARNERS’
GRAMMAR ACCURACY IN WRITING SKILL
The questionnaire is designed in order to survey information THE EFFECTS OF
APPLYING THE GRAMMARLY APP ON EFL LEARNERS’ GRAMMAR
RESEARCHER: Lê Thị Cẩm Linh
I am Le Thi Cam Linh, a teacher at Nam Dan 1 high school, Nghe An province, Vietnam I am conducting research on “ THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING THE
GRAMMARLY APP ON EFL LEARNERS’ GRAMMAR ACCURACY IN WRITING SKILL”
This questionnaire is highly appreciated You should answer and choose the information with each other Your name is not required to be filled in Please give your response sincerely to guarantee the success of the study I would like to thank all of you so much for your assistance
1 Which grade are you in? o Grade 10 o Grade 11 o Grade 12
2 Do you learn English at school? o Yes o No
If yes, how many periods do you learn English at your school? ………
3 Do you learn extra English courses in other places? o Yes o No
If yes, how many hours do you learn English more in other places? ……
3 How long have you been learning English? o Below 5 years o From 5 years to 10 years o Over 10 years
PHẦN B THE EVALUATION OF THE IMPACTS OF GRAMMARLY APP ON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL
1 Do you often learn English writing skills at your school or center, … o Yes o No
If yes, how many periods of writing do you learn at your school …………
3 Have you ever had difficulty learning writing skills? o Yes o No
If yes, what are the difficulties?
3 Do you often learn English writing skills with applications? o Yes o No
II THE EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS
Please tick in the number corresponding to the rating for each other
To answer the question: What are the students’ perceptions of Grammarly app in
EFL classes to students’ writing essay performance at high school?
Question 1 How often do you learn writing skills with the Grammarly app?
A Usually B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never
Question 2 Are you interested in learning essay writing with Gramarly app?
A Very interested B Interested C So - so D Not at all
Question 3 Do you think that learning the writing skill with elicitation techniques is important?
A Very important B Important C So - so D Not important
To answer the question: To what extent can the Grammarly app effect students’ writing essay?
Question 5 Do you agree or disagree with the manners of using Grammarly app in preparation?
Please tick in the number corresponding to the rating for each other 1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = No opinion; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly agree
The content of evaluation The level of evaluation
5.1 Students are provided the detailed instructions and understanding about the Grammarly app ① ② ③ ④ ⑤
Students are approached the Grammarly app in the process of learning English writing skill ① ② ③ ④ ⑤
5.3 Students are used the Grammarly app to develop the ideas for writing ① ② ③ ④ ⑤
5.4 Students are provided a range of activities to learn writing skill with the Grammarly app ① ② ③ ④ ⑤
5.5 Students are guided and assisted carefully in the process of using the Grammarly app in writing ① ② ③ ④ ⑤
Question 6 Is your background knowledge activated?
A Very much B Much C So - so D Not at all
Question 7 Is your interaction activated?
A Very much B Much C So - so D Not at all
Question 8 Is your Grammarly application activated?
A Very much B Much C So - so D Not at all
Question 9 Do you have positive behavior to writing skill rather than before?
A Very much B Much C So - so D Not at all
Question 10 Do you improve your essay writing by using Grammarly?
A Very much B Much C So - so D Not at all
The content of this form are absolutely confidential Information identifying the respondent will not be disclosed under any circumstances
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
THE QUESTIONNAIRE TO SURVEY THE NECESSITY AND
FEASIBILITY OF APPLYING GRAMMARLY FOR WRITING SKILL BY
Question 1: How familiar are you with the Grammarly application?
Have been introduced and looked at
Have researched Have applied in teaching hours
Have used and found it effective
Question 2: How interested are you in applying the Grammarly application?
Question 3: How often do you think teachers should use the Grammarly application to improve writing skills in EFL classes?
Question 4: How necessary do you think Grammarly is in teaching writing skills for students?
Question 5: How feasible do you think the application of Grammarly is in improving students' writing skills?
Question 6: Are you willing to apply the Grammarly software in teaching writing skills for students?
Link the survey of the necessity and feasibility https://docs.google.com/forms/d/
1wb2mZePQMXi71lZdxz3XpwYsrS2Z2XG28ARFnkHitFY/edit#responses
APPENDIX 3EVIDENCES OF THE GRAMMARLY’S APPICATION
APPENDIX 4 Results of pre-test and post-test (Class 12D1)
STT STUDENTS OF 12D1 PRE - TEST POST - TEST
Results of pre-test and post-test (Class 12A1)
STT STUDENTS OF 12A1 PRE - TEST POST - TEST