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

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING THANH HOA CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING INITIATIVE HOW TO UTILIZE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR INSTRUCTIONS FOR 6TH GRADE STUDENTS IN TRAN MAI NINH SECONDARY SCHOOL Writer: Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang Position: Teacher of English School: Tran Mai Ninh secondary school Intiative: English subject skkn THANH HOA – 2022 ii skkn TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………i PART I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………… 1.1.Theoretical background ………1 1.2.Teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school .2 1.3 Aims of the study .2 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the study PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………….4 2.1 Overview of communicative activities 2.2 Common communicative activities PART 3: METHODOLOGY …………………………………………… 11 3.1 Research questions restated 11 3.2 Data collection instrument .11 3.3 Method of data analysis 13 3.4 Summary 13 PART 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 15 4.1 Results of the students' attitudes towards usuages frequency of CA… 15 4.2 Results of the students' attitudes towards CA in grammar lessons …… 16 4.3 Results of the students' attitudes towards the affective influence of CA in grammar lessons 17 4.4 Results of the student-related difficulties …………….………… ……19 4.5 Conclusion …………….…………………………………………… 20 PART 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 21 5.1 Summary of the study…………………………………………… ……21 5.2 Pedagogical implications……………………………………………… 22 5.3 Limitations of the study and further research………………………… 22 REFERENCES APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS’ SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW i skkn LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CA CLT EFL ESL ELT M CV Communicative Activities Communicative Language Teaching English as a Foreign Language English as a Second Language English Language Teaching Mean Coefficient of Variation ii skkn PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Theoretical background It is undeniable fact that in the era of globalization English has gradually become the lingua franca, one of most important international languages in the world English so far has been used as the main language in business, scientific, technological, educational and diplomatic areas In this sense, English language teachers should perceive that English is taught to students not only to pass examinations but also assist them to communicate meaningfully in their daily life In order to realize the ultimate target, some language educators (Bygate & Tornkyn, 1994; Ellis, 1997; Thornbury, 1999) reach a general consensus that making students aware of grammar is one of the crucial aspects in language teaching process More specifically, Bygate and Tornkyn (1994) confirm that without solid grammar knowledge, learners are unable to reach the advanced level of communicative competence A further support for this point derives from Ellis (1997) who elaborates that grammar teaching is one of the cornerstones in enabling learners to communicate meaningfully, accurately and enhance their communicative skills in second language proficiency Traditionally, English language teaching has been mainly involved in the achievement of linguistic knowledge To be exact, grammar rules are explained in the mother tongue and students are expected to learn them by heart and then reproduce them The teacher is a controller while students are only passive knowledge receivers This way of learning and teaching prevents learners from using and producing their own target knowledge in meaningfully, naturally or contextually Therefore, that language structures should be taught in context, in which teachers are advised to provide students with suitable situations encouraging them to use the acquired rules in real life communication (Ur, 1998) Given that, methodologists and textbook designers propose that grammar should be learnt more effectively if it is presented in a meaningful context through communicative activities (CA) rather than isolated as a separate part of knowledge (Thornbury 1999; Newby, 2000; Degu, 2008) Admittedly, there are still a number of teachers who have been at a loss for what methods and techniques to employ for the optimal teaching and learning of grammar In this regard, Thornbury (1999, p.8) demonstrates that “grammar teaching has always been one of the most controversial and least understood aspects in teaching.” Indisputably, many English language teachers still adopt and adhere to the traditional techniques of grammar teaching They pay more attention to grammatical rules without real and meaningful practice in the target language Though teaching grammar is considered important in the whole process of language instruction as one of the means of a thorough mastery of language, it should not end in itself (Ur, 1996) In the light of communicative language teaching (CLT) approach which emphasizes the importance of language competence in communication, teaching grammar communicatively is suggested to achieve these goals Through exposing to CA in the target language, students can grasp grammatical knowledge while maintaining their skkn interests with improved skills in a freer and more creative way The activities including information gap, role play, language games, problem solving, discussion, to name but a few are widely believed to stimulate students’ communicative desires by integrating linguistic and cultural knowledge of the target language 1.2 Teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 6th grade students (2021-2022) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school are the students who have been selected through the entrance exam with two subjects maths and literature They are good and well-qualified students in Thanh Hoa city However, in the process of teaching, the researcher noticed that although the students are intelligent and eager to learn, their English levels are quite different Specifically, there are students whose ability of English good and they can use English confidentially and master English grammar firmly However, there are still many students who not have good foundation of English because they only focused on maths and literature to pass the entrance exam, Consequently, the students expect their teachers to help them bolster grammatical range and accuracy while improving all four skills at the same time Besides challenges from students, from the perspective of an English language teacher, the researcher has found out that the problems may arise from other factors possibly coming from teachers or the situation These mentioned obstacles may result in students’ failure to use English grammar correctly and meaningfully Considering these facts, this study attempts to investigate the attitudes and students towards grammar instructions as well as challenges they may face during grammar teaching and learning processes through CA 1.3 Aims of the study As mentioned above, the study is carried out to examine the effectiveness of CA in grammar teaching and learning by investigating the attitudes students as well as the reality of teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school It is also aimed to identify the problems that students are confronting when using CA in the grammar lesson Accordingly, the study can suggest some practical solutions to teaching and learning grammar communicatively in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school Furthermore, this study intends to take a further step towards inspiring and stimulating the interest and concerns of students in this subject 1.4 Research questions The study is conducted to address the following research questions: What are the attitudes of 6th grade students towards the application of CA in teaching and learning grammar in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school? What difficulties these students have to face when learning grammar through CA? 1.5 Scope of the study With the rationale and the aims of the study, it is essential to limit the field of study to the managerial area The study attempts to explore the attitudes of th grade students in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school as well as impediments they skkn confront in learning process of grammar when CA are exploited Then, based on these facts and findings, suggestions would be put forward to improve the effectiveness of communicative grammar teaching techniques in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school In the scope of research, the subjects involved in the study are 120 students in classes (6D, 6F, 6G) in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school 1.6 Significance of the study Although there have been numerous research studies on grammar teaching based on CLT approach to tackle the question of how grammar should be taught, no consistent answers have been offered to English practitioners This is probably because of the fact that certain pedagogical situations coupled with teacher and student attitudes play an overwhelming part in deciding which methods or activities are suitable for students Thus, the author would like to conduct a relevant research in this “long-standing debated” issue to bring some insight for the reference of interested researchers First of all, the study will be valuable in offering teachers a better understanding of what their students think about teaching and learning grammar through the utilization of CA as well as the reality of using CA in the grammar lesson Second, it is expected that the study would make the program stakeholders aware of challenges that teachers and students face during the process of teaching and learning grammar As a result, some solutions are suggested to overcome the obstacles and optimize the benefits of CA for students’ mastery of grammar 1.7 Organization of the study The study is organized in three parts as follow Part 1: “Introduction”, provides the rationale for conducting the thesis, defines the specific aims of the study and the research questions The scope, the significance and the organization of the study are also presented Part 2: “Literature review”, discusses various theories and studies on the areas that establish the underpinnings for the current research It deals with the definitions, objectives and features of CA Also in this part, five common communicative strategies are discussed before the previous studies into the application of CA in formal grammar instructions are presented Part 3: “Methodology”, gives description of subjects, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and method of data analysis for carrying out the research Part 4: “Findings and Discussion”, discusses the research findings on the basis of data computerized and analyzed with the support of SPSS, version 16.0 The results of the data analysis are presented, discussed and compared with the results of other previous studies Part 5: “Implications and Conclusion”, contains the summary of the study and some implications This is followed by the limitations of the work, and several suggestions are made for further research The last section in this chapter is the conclusion to the whole study Following this is a bibliography listing all reference books and articles directly or indirectly quoted in the study skkn PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Literature review 2.1 Overview of communicative activities Harmers (1991) gives out the comprehensive definition of CA that CA are activities in which the learner uses the linguistic repertoire he has learnt in order to communicate specific meanings for specific purposes or promote him to have a desire to communicate Concerning the criteria of CA, Ellis (1990) states that the truly CA encourage learners to use the target language to perform communicative purpose and communicative desire Thus, students focus on content rather than form and they can vary the target structures without any material control to communicate with each other While students are engaged in CA, teachers should not intervene through correcting mistakes, insisting on accuracy or asking for repetition as these interventions would undermine the communicative purpose of activities Instead, the instructor can play the role of a participant or an observer to watch and listen very carefully in order to conduct feedback after CA finish In his recent study, Wang (2010, p 131) mentions the advantages of using these techniques as follows: (i) they motivate students’ learning with fun, enjoyment, and excitement; (ii) they provide practice on language use and language meaning; (iii) they create a supportive learning environment; (iv) they promote interpersonal relations In comparison with CA and non-CA to find out the distinct characteristics between them, non-CA fail to spark a desire to communicate on the part of learners, hence they will have no communicative purpose To put it simply, when learners take part in a drill or controlled practice, they are motivated not by an impulse to realize the communicative objective, rather by the need to focus on the objective of accuracy In this case, the teacher will often intervene to correct students’ mistakes, ask for repetition to ensure accuracy To this end, the materials will be specially designed to focus on a restricted amount of language while in CA there will be no materials control Harmer (1991, p 31) compares the characteristics between non-CA and CA in the table named The communication continuum Non-CA CA  no communicative desire  a desire to communicate  no communicative purpose  a communicative purpose  form not content  content not form  one language item  variety of language  teacher intervention  no teacher intervention  materials control  no materials control The communication continuum (Harmer, 1991, p 31) He also suggests three stages in teaching productive skills namely introducing new languages, practice and CA In the first stage, new language introduced frequently falls on non-communicative end of the continuum Thus, the instructor will employ controlled techniques, asking students to make repetition and perform in drills, while students are insisted on accuracy and their mistakes skkn are corrected by the teacher The second phase called practice activities lie somewhere between the two extremes of the continuum While the students perform these tasks, they exchange the information with communicative purposes, however, there may be a lack of language variety because the materials specify what the students have to say or CA, which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative end of the continuum, urge students to use varied structures of target language for communicative purposes and gradually arrive them at a degree of language autonomy Taking a modern stance, Sun and Cheng (2000) summarize three most common features of CA as follow: (i) CA are task-based ones which concentrate on communicative tasks that learners need to engage in outside the classroom; (ii) CA are learner-centred ones which focus on students’ initiative and interaction Students are expected to participate in the activities as real people and take responsibility for their learning; (iii) CA emphasize the use of authentic language input The teacher’s native or near language competence and a true language is necessary in order to produce communication in the classroom Recently, Salvage (2010) points out that CA which reinforce teaching and learning processes of grammar should bear the features: present grammar in contexts that are meaningful for students, and incorporate more focus on form and provide opportunities for students to produce the target grammar in speaking and writing tasks With regard the objectives of CA, Littlewood (1990) clarifies their contributions to language learning under four main roles First of all, CA provide “whole-task practice” In foreign language learning, teachers should provide students partskills training and practice in the total skill or whole-task practice through various kinds of CA designed to match students’ level of competence Secondly, they stimulate motivation which encourages students to take part in communication, the ultimate objective of learning and teaching processes Students’ motivation is likely to sustain when they realize that the classroom teaching is relevant with their objective and enables them to attain it with success Moreover, CA pave way to natural learning Language learning not only takes place within the classroom, many aspects of it are beyond the pedagogical context In fact, students can learn through natural process in which they are involved in using the target language for communication Last but not least, CA create the situation supporting learning among learners and between learners and teachers These relationships build up the environment conducive to effective learning The review about the objectives, criteria and features of CA is of great importance for the design and development of the current questionnaire to measure the student and teacher towards the utilization of CA in grammar teaching In the next sub-section, some common CA are illuminated for the use of the present study 2.2 Common communicative activities Linguists take on different stances on the distinction of CA Littlewood (1990) separates them into two main categories with the umbrella terms: functional skkn communication activities and social interaction activities Harmer (1991) distinguished CA based on the forms of communication namely: oral CA and written CA Meanwhile, Richards (2006) states three types of CA including mechanical practice, meaningful practice and communicative practice Regardless of any classification of CA, according to Krieger (2005), when selecting classroom activities for students, the instructors need to take some criteria into account as follows: (i) having a visible, clear, and compelling objective; (ii) not being too cognitively demanding to manage in English; and (iii) being interesting to students In this regard, five common communicative strategies namely information gap, problem solving, role play, discussion, language games are more likely to be suitable and efficient in communicative grammar instructions (Moss, 2005) 2.2.1 Information gap Information gap activities are widely used in English instructions because “in the classroom we will want to create the same kind of information gap if we are to encourage real communication” (Harmer, 1991) In real life, human communication is full of complex and ever-changing issues and there exists information gap between the speaker and listener, so information gap activities bring students with ample opportunities to practice speaking English According to Baturkmen (1994), information gap activities stimulate students to manipulate their foreign language skills and linguistic knowledge to the full in order to close the gap and they can be used as a valuable aid in setting up a need for learners to communicate and ensure that the transfer is meaningful He also presents what teachers usually when using information gap tasks in classroom The stages include supplying information to one student or group but without it from the others, thus creating a gap in the information Then, the teacher gives the pair or group a task that can be completed through the students pooling or sharing their separate information, and so creating an impetus to close the gap In a similar vein, Neu & Reeser (1997) point out that the teacher should use information gap tasks in which every student is given the opportunity to speak in English for extended period of time and thus, they naturally produce more speech than they would In addition, they suggest that students are forced to negotiate meaning for task accomplishment There are some ways to classify kinds of information gap activities and each author has the reason for their classification Information gap activities in the view of Littlewood (1992) are considered as functional CA which consist of two kinds: sharing information with restricted cooperation and sharing information with unrestricted cooperation Norman, Lewis & Hedequist (1986) point out that there are two kinds of information gap activities: puzzle form and personal questionnaire Ur (1981) in the book “Discussions that work” offers many kinds of information gap activities such as: finding things in common, detecting differences, putting in order, etc In Ellis’s (1990) classification, he divides information gap activities into one-way and two-way In the two-way gap activity, both learners have some information and share it with each other to complete the task In fact, the two-way information gap activity has been shown skkn (M = 4.91), increased their natural learning with the rapid absorption of grammar knowledge (M = 4.43) and remember grammatical points better (M = 4.77) With respect to the negative statements of CA, most of the surveyed students partly disagreed that these strategies are ineffective because the teachers failed to control students’ engagement in such activities (M = 3.08) Meanwhile, the participants showed disagreement with the view that CA distracted them from the main lesson’ content (M = 2.72) However, on the account of high scores of coefficient variation (0.41), there was likelihood that the students offered divergent opinions on the ineffectiveness of CA in their grammar learning In short, the students’ assessment of the CA in the grammar lessons was clearly positive These findings were confirmed with the information obtained from interview with the participants One of the students said that “Situations and contexts in CA are familiar with those in real contexts, so it helps me a lot in daily conversation with foreign speakers.” Another student shared the thought that “Learning grammar through CA, especially information gap or problem solving can improve my speaking and listening besides practising the instructed structures” In comparison with previous grammar learning method in high school, the other interviewee voiced that though he knew grammar rules quite well, he failed to speak or understand English Hence, through performing these CA, he could improve communicative skills, which were necessary for his further study and future career These findings were also similar to those in Nguyen Quynh Giang (2009), Hamzahs and Dourado (2010), Pham Vu Phi Ho & Nguyen The Binh (2014), which praised CA for these benefits in grammar classes In general, the majority of students preferred to be taught grammar through CA because this method came as a refresh breeze when compared to monotonous traditional grammar methods in their high schools 4.3 Results of the students’ attitudes towards the affective influence of CA in grammar lessons Std Coefficient N= 117 Deviatio of Mean n Variation I like CA as they increase my self-confidence in using English (Q.7) I like CA as they motivate the class engagement (Q.9) I like CA as they improve the relationship between the teacher and students and among students as well (Q.10) I like CA as I not feel bored when performing them (Q.11) I don’t like CA as I find it time-consuming when practising them (Q.17) Valid N (listwise) 5.26 78 0.15 4.84 1.03 0.21 4.89 99 0.20 5.06 84 0.17 2.38 1.06 0.45 17 skkn Table 4.3 Students’ attitudes towards the affective influence of CA in grammar lessons Five items in Table 4.3 were constructed to probe the students’ attitudes towards the affective influence of CA in grammar instructions The mean scores of CA’s benefits (Q7, Q9, Q10, Q11) ranging between 4.84 and 5.26 indicated moderately positive responses from the participants to the four items Specifically, most of the responding students had strong belief that learning grammar through CA promoted their confidence in using English (M = 5.26) However, they reached a partial consensus about the merits of CA in engaging class involvement (M = 4.84) as well as bettering the relationships among students and between the instructor and learners (M = 4.98) The last optimistic item (M = 5.06) proved that most of the students expressed their approval to the opinion that CA made them feel interested, motivated and deprived them of depression and tediousness in learning grammar In regard of the negative statement about CA (Q 17), the student participants opposed to the view that CA were time-consuming (M = 2.38) Nevertheless, as the item’s variation coefficient was much higher than the standard (0.45 > 0.30), it cannot come to conclusion that this statement received the general approval from the respondents These above findings were corroborated by interviews with the student participants One of them stressed that “I like these activities because they grow my interest and build confidence to act according to the situations of daily life I actively participate in these activities” The other said that “I like the classroom activities very much and participate either in pairs or group works because through these I could develop my confidence, and become bold to speak before other people without hesitation” Another shared the idea that “Practicing grammar in groups is better because I can ask my group members about the newly-taught grammar to clarify my problem” or “Classroom activities engage us and increase our knowledge in different ways I think these activities make us active to study by participating in games, discussion or problem-solving tasks.” These findings further supported the view of Richards (2006), who asserts that groups are real communities where learners learn through collaboration and sharing ideas Thus, within pairs or groups, students become comfortable with their peers in choosing to say, exchange information, and receiving feedback from friend (Pham Vu Phi Ho & Nguyen The Binh, 2014) Additionally, they believe that a more knowledgeable peer would help them when faced with any difficulties in learning while lack of peer assistance could arouse their learning anxiety to great extent (Liao & Wang, 2008) 4.4 Results of the student-related difficulties 18 skkn Std Coefficient Deviatio of Variation Mean n N= 117 My English competence is still poor (Q.19) 4.59 91 0.20 I am used to working individually (Q.20) 3.54 1.12 0.32 I am ashamed when using English before the other 2.47 1.15 0.46 students (Q.21) Valid N (listwise) Table 4.4 Students’ attitudes towards their limitations in learning grammar through CA As shown in Table 4.4, the majority of students hold partial agreement that their English proficiency was limited (M = 4.59) The finding could be confirmed by students’ results in the placement test at the beginning of the semester For the second statement, most of them partially disapproved of the view that they preferred studying or working individually in classrooms (M = 3.54) and attitudes among participants varied slightly (CV = 0.32) This statement could be supported by the evidences in the question 10 about the relationship of students when performing CA Indeed, the findings for group and pair work seem to be contrary to finding of Sullivan (1996) who argues that communication in the classroom was easier for Vietnamese learners in a comfortable whole class setting, rather than in small group setting On the other hand, the findings seem to support the claim by Nguyen Thi Hai Anh (2002) that Vietnamese learners are no longer completely passive but, in fact, enjoy taking part in activities that help them use the language In general, learner preferences seem to be moving from traditional whole-class settings towards groups and pair work activities (Huynh Van Hoa, 2006) Significantly, the respondents were opposed to the statement that their shyness precluded them from effectively implementing CA in the grammar lesson (M = 2.47) However, due to high value of variation coefficient, the students seemed to have varying attitudes towards the item These results can be specified by the voices of respondents Most of the students interviewed admitted that their English proficiency was not good enough, which mainly barred them from participating in CA owing to their lack of lexical resources and grammatical range Hence, they sometimes used their mother tongue to express ideas and thoughts with classmates and teachers Relating to the shyness and reservation, one student said that though at first she felt ashamed and unconfident of speaking English in front of class, she gradually overcame this emotion as apart from grammar lesson, she had to speak, listen and write in English in other skills Thus, in short, from the students’ perspective, their limited English proficiency was the major hindrance in using CA in grammar learning 19 skkn 4.5 Conclusion Chapter has reported the results of the study with critical discussion and analysis of the major findings These important findings can be summarized as follows: First of all, with regard to usage frequency of CA in the grammar lesson, the students shared a common view that language games and information gap activities are the most favorite communicative strategies used in their grammar class Meanwhile, discussion, role play and problem solving were less preferred by their demanding requirements of the participants as well as the availability of already-made materials in the package of grammar books In addition, concerning to the attitudes of students towards CA in the aspects of linguistics and affection, though standing supportive opinions on CA, the students seemed not to be in stronger favor of implementing CA in learning grammar PART 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION The final chapter includes three sections: (i) summary of the study, (ii) discussion of the major pedagogical implications and (iii) limitations of the study and some suggestion for further research 5.1 Summary of the study The current study explores the attitudes of the th grade students towards the application of CA in formal grammar instructions in Tran Mai Ninh secondary school as well as finding out the obstacles hindering the process of learning grammar through CA with the hope that these findings render practical evidence of the reality of grammar instructions to interested stakeholders to better 20 skkn students’ grammar acquisition in particular and English proficiency in general In addition, on the basis of the results of the study, some useful recommendations would be proposed to arouse students’ motivation in learning English grammar not only to deal with tests but also improve their other English skills Therefore, the study firstly illuminated the overview of grammar including the definition and the roles of grammar in language teaching, different approaches to grammar teaching and grammar instructions in the light of CLT Diverge as these opinions are, most of the scholars and practitioners claim that grammar plays a crucial part in learners’ language acquisition In other words, without a sound grammatical foundation, learners cannot achieve high level of language proficiency In this part, the researcher tried to analyze, compare and contrast different views about grammar, from which she narrowed the selected CLT approach to formal grammar instructions in the specific context Student attitudes towards grammar instructions in literature were reviewed and discussed Before clarifying the attitudes of students, the definition and three components of the attitude were examined to bring a broad view of the abstract concept of “attitude” The successive subsection involved the previous studies conducted by different researchers on the attitudes of students and teachers towards grammar instructions From these works, discrepancies have not only existed in attitudes of the two subjects but also within each group These differences might originate from objective elements such as the learning environment, traditional teaching and learning methods, facilities and resources for teaching and learning processes, they also came from subjective aspects such as the individual belief and perception, teachers’ capabilities or students’ learning habits and proficiency Therefore, teachers or practitioners were able to be aware of the dissimilarities and attempt to narrow the gap in perception and belief between them and learners by considering students’ expectations and preferences in their decision making of grammar instructions The study also reviewed the theory of communicative activities (CA) by mentioning the definition, classification, objectives and characteristics of CA in language teaching and learning These theories served as the rationale for designing questionnaire as most of the items were built up on the basis of the theoretical framework of CA proposed by notable scholars such as Harmer, Littlewood, Salvage and other recent researchers In addition, the study brought five common CA namely information gap, language games, problem solving, role play and discussion into consideration Also, several previous studies relevant to the research’s objectives were reviewed to provide more practical insight into the current study To answer the two posed research questions, the two main data collection instruments used in the study were discussed in described in detail: the questionnaire and the semi-structure interview The findings in the study can be summarized as bellows First and foremost, one of the main findings was made related to the usage frequency of five common CA in the grammar lessons In general, information gap and language games were the most favorite activities that the teachers 21 skkn utilized in their classes, meanwhile role play and discussion were least-used activities from students and teachers’ opinions alternatively In the second place, the study examined the attitudes of students towards the use of CA in grammar learning First, with regard to the linguistic influence, the students showed preferences towards the application of CA in grammar instructions The CA were highly appreciated in two aspects that they open opportunities to practice skills, not only grammar knowledge; and they encourage students to apply structures into real life situations effectively The other benefits that CA rendered to the students including increasing the accuracy and fluency; absorbing grammar knowledge and memorizing grammar knowledge were partly recognized They also expressed disapproval of the two negative opinions that teachers cannot control what students while conducting CA and CA make students distract from the main content of the grammar lessons 5.2 Pedagogical implications This study can propose pedagogical implications for learning English in general and learning grammar in particular Firstly, English language teachers are recommended to integrate the form, meaning and use of the target structures in their grammar lessons Teaching grammar in the light of CLT with the utilization of a variety of CA is advised, not with a rigid and old-fashioned way Secondly, teachers should attempt to narrow the gaps in attitude between them and students by considering students’ wishes, favorites and capacities when making any decision in their grammar lesson When the discrepancies are reduced, the effectiveness and motivation of grammar teaching and learning are likely to increase Thirdly, these CA are practical and necessary for the students’ achievement of grammar knowledge; however, on the basis of students’ abilities, teachers should organize these activities in a flexible way to arouse students’ interest and create the favorable environment for students to practice grammar knowledge, enhance other skills and build up their confidence in using English 5.3 Limitations of the study and further research Some issues arise from this present study and several avenues for future research are recommended as follows First, since the study was conducted with a limited number of students at a specific setting, the results of this study cannot be generalized to a larger population In a different context with other participants, other researchers many reach findings which may highlight different issues and problems Also, the study failed to take other different CA into account Thus, further research needs to be replicated with bigger samples on different proficiency levels of students, engagement of teachers and various types of CA Second, the current investigation employed the questionnaire and semistructured interview as the two main instruments at a particular point in time Moreover, due to the fact that the questionnaire and semi-structured were mostly developed by the researcher, some limitation might arise in validating the 22 skkn research instruments Hence, it is recommended that future endeavors incorporate multiple data collection tools such as observations, tests and journals, etc to triangulate the data and further provide more thorough understanding about research matters Third, the study focused on the pre-intermediate students and involved teachers in the application of CA in English grammar only It would be more beneficial if further research could be conducted in other language skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking with students of different university year This would allow teachers and learners to have a comprehensive picture of the use of CA to help them improve their teaching and learning English Finally, further research on the effectiveness of these CA in teachers’ classroom practice is suggested to evaluate whether what they in the classroom could improve the grammatical acquisition of students in particular and their learning in general or not REFERENCES Abdu, M A., & Ramani, P.N (2011) Difficulties in teaching and learning grammar in an EFL context International Journal of Intruction Al-Magid, M A (2006) The effect of teachers’ 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Phần 1: Tần suất tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp học ngữ pháp lớp Em tích vào thích hợp thang điểm đánh giá để thể mức độ đồng ý tần suất tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp học ngữ pháp nêu ý kiến bổ sung (nếu có) Hồn Khơng Khơng Đồng Đồng Hồn tồn đồng ý đồng ý ý ý tồn khơng Câu Câu Câu Câu Em thường xuyên tham gia hoạt phần đồng đồng động trao đổi thông tin (information gap) học ngữ pháp Em thường xuyên tham gia hoạt động giải vấn đề (problemsolving) học ngữ pháp Em thường xuyên tham gia hoạt động đóng vai (role-play) học ngữ pháp Em thường xuyên tham gia hoạt động thảo luận (discussion) học ngữ pháp Câu Em thường xuyên tham gia trò chơi (communication games) học ngữ pháp Phần 2: Thái độ em việc học ngữ pháp thông qua hoạt động giao tiếp Em tích vào thích hợp thang điểm đánh giá để thể mức độ đồng ý em việc học ngữ pháp thơng qua hoạt động giao tiếp Hồn Khơng Khơng Đồng Đồng Hoàn toàn đồng ý đồng ý ý ý tồn phần khơng đồng đồng 27 skkn ý phần ý Em thấy hoạt động giao tiếp giúp em có Câu nhiều hội để rèn luyện kỹ tiếng Anh, không giới hạn kiến thức ngữ pháp Em thấy thực hành hoạt động giao tiếp Câu học ngữ pháp giúp em tăng tự tin sử dụng tiếng Anh Em thấy tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu giúp em áp dụng kiến thức ngữ pháp học vào tình giao tiếp tiếng Anh thực tế hiệu Em thấy hoạt động giao tiếp Câu ngữ pháp khuyến khích tham gia tích cực lớp Em thấy tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 10 học ngữ pháp giúp mối quan hệ sinh viên với sinh viên với giáo viên trở nên tốt Em thích tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 11 chúng giúp em không thấy nhàm chán học ngữ pháp Em thích tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 12 ngữ pháp chúng giúp em rèn luyện xác trơi chảy Em thích tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 13 học ngữ pháp em khơng cần tập trung ghi nhớ cấu trúc mà học chúng cách tự nhiên Em thích tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 14 học ngữ pháp em nhớ cấu trúc cách dùng lâu Câu 15 Em thấy học ngữ pháp qua hoạt động giao tiếp không hiệu giáo viên khơng 28 skkn biết sinh viên có tham gia vào hoạt động hay khơng Em khơng thích tham gia hoạt động Câu 16 giao tiếp học ngữ pháp em thường tập trung vào nội dung học Câu 17 Em thấy tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp học ngữ pháp thời gian Em cảm thấy không yên tâm giáo viên Câu 18 không đưa quy luật ngữ pháp cụ thể trình tiến hành hoạt động giao tiếp Phần 3: Khó khăn em học ngữ pháp thơng qua hoạt động giao tiếp Em tích vào thích hợp thang điểm đánh giá để thể mức độ đồng ý khó khăn học ngữ pháp thông qua hoạt động giao tiếp Hồn Khơng Khơng Đồng Đồng Hồn tồn đồng ý đồng ý ý ý tồn khơng phần đồng phần đồng ý ý Câu 19 Năng lực tiếng Anh em hạn chế Câu 20 Em quen với cách học độc lập Câu 21 Em cảm thấy ngại sử dụng tiếng Anh trước bạn học Khơng có hợp tác bạn Câu 22 cặp/ nhóm tiến hành hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 23 Năng lực tiếng Anh giáo viên chưa thực tốt Kỹ giảng dạy theo phương pháp Câu 24 tiếng Anh giao tiếp giáo viên hạn chế Câu 25 Các hoạt động giao tiếp dạy 29 skkn ngữ pháp mà giáo viên tổ chức lớp chưa thú vị Em khơng thấy tiến giáo viên Câu 26 sửa lỗi sai ngữ pháp hoạt động giao tiếp Câu 27 Câu 28 Lớp học đông nên giáo viên tổ chức hoạt động giao tiếp Có hoạt động giao tiếp giáo trình dạy ngữ pháp lớp Em thấy bối cảnh tình Câu 29 hoạt động giao tiếp khó nhiều từ cấu trúc Nội dung ngữ pháp học dài Câu 30 phức tạp nên giáo viên tổ chức hoạt động Các thi ngữ pháp thường kiểm tra Câu 31 khả ghi nhớ mà không kiểm tra lực tiếng Anh sinh viên Trường thiếu phương tiện Câu 32 hoạt động dạy học đài, máy chiếu, wifi, phòng lab Xin chân thành cảm ơn! 30 skkn APPENDIX 2: STUDENTS’ SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW Em có thường tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp học ngữ pháp tiếng Anh không? Tần suất tham gia nào? Hãy liệt kê hoạt động giao tiếp em thường tham gia số hoạt động giao tiếp bảng câu hỏi điều tra? Hãy nêu lợi ích việc sử dụng hoạt động giao tiếp việc học ngữ pháp tiếng Anh? Hãy nêu khó khăn sử dụng hoạt động giao tiếp việc học ngữ pháp tiếng Anh? Theo em phương pháp học ngữ pháp hiệu nên nào? 31 skkn