The effectiveness of using games as supplementary activities in teaching grammar for junior high school students at Wellspring International Bilingual School Action research

The effectiveness of using games as supplementary activities in teaching grammar for junior high school students at Wellspring International Bilingual School: Action research Nguyễn Hồn

The effectiveness of using games as

supplementary activities in teaching grammar for junior high school students at Wellspring International Bilingual School: Action research

Nguyễn Hồng Nhung

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Language Teaching Methodology

Mã số: 60 14 10 Người hướng dẫn: Dr Ngo Huu Hoang

Năm bảo vệ: 2013

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Ngữ pháp; Trò chơi

Content

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

In studying languages in general and studying English in particular, it can be said that grammar is seemed to be difficult and boring for students It is thought by students that English grammar contains complex, difficult, and different rules Besides, traditionally, many teachers approach grammar teaching very seriously, making the lesson dull and uninteresting Therefore, students usually feel tired and boring in grammar lessons and then they are not motivated to study However, as one of language components, grammar is very necessary and nobody can refuse the importance of learning this skill According to William Somerset Maugham (The

Summing Up, 1938), “It is necessary to know grammar, and it is better to write grammatically

than not, but it is well to remember that grammar is common speech formulated.” “Grammar is the structural foundation of our ability to express ourselves The more we are aware of how it works, the more we can monitor the meaning and effectiveness of the way we and others use language It can help foster precision, detect ambiguity, and exploit the richness of expression available in English.” Moreover, as stated by McKay (1987), in order to communicate

effectively in English, students need to have a good foundation in grammar Once again, Ur (1988) states that a person who knows grammar is one who can express himself or herself in what would be considered as acceptable language forms In brief, although grammar plays an important part in English studying, students do not have motivation in learning this skill

What are the solutions to solve with the stated matter above? Perhaps, teachers need to apply variable teaching methods to stimulate students to study so that they can understand and master grammar as well as feel motivated when studying lessons There are many ways that help students be interested in and follow the lessons In the writer’s position, that games through lessons is one of the most appropriate approaches This approach can help students find studying English grammar more easily Thus, in the present study, the writer has an intention of proving that applying games into lessons is also very effective for junior high school students Moreover, junior high school students are still at the age of young students; therefore, they prefer do actions

to sit quietly in class As a result, the writer thinks that games are appropriate for them to motivate their studying She also hopes that by using games, the students will not be bored and they will study English grammar with full of motivation Although learning grammar is not a simple work, games encourage students to maintain their interest in learning And then, they can attain achievements in four communicative skills

In this context, the students who took part in this research are rather good at Speaking, Reading and Listening; however, they often have many difficulties in Writing They can communicate with native speakers very well but doing grammar exercises is an obstacle for them In fact, most of the students think that grammar is the most boring lesson in English subject; studying grammar is just to repeat structures, usages for these structures and vocabulary, and then, practice with exercises In other words, the students do not have motivation to study grammar Consequently, this also causes students’ failure to improve their communicative skills

In order to solve the obstacle, the author carried out this Action research by applying games as supplementary activities in teaching grammar in her own class The writer hopes that the new teaching method will bring the students a new learning environment in which they can study with full of their interest, their energy, and their stimulation

In conclusion, with all of the reasons stated above, the researcher would like to devote

her time and effort researching to her thesis: “The effectiveness of using games as supplementary

activities in teaching grammar for junior high school students at Wellspring International

Bilingual School – Action research” From this, she expects to help her students motivate as well

as make progress in studying grammar

2 Aims of the study:

The purpose of this research is to enhance junior high school students at Wellspring International Bilingual School to study grammar, and then balance grammar learning with other skills learning (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing) The paper aims to recognize if using games as supplementary activities increase the students’ motivation in studying grammar

3 Research questions:

This paper is designed to find out the answers to the following questions:

RQ1: How much does the use of games improve junior high school students’ motivation in grammar learning at Wellspring International Bilingual School?

RQ2: If so, by what ways does this new teaching method enhance their motivation in grammar learning?

4 Scope of the study:

As being shown in these research questions above, this study was conducted at Wellspring International Bilingual School located in Hanoi This was implemented on fifteen students of class 789A3 Before the treatment of this action research, they did not have motivation in grammar lessons and their results also were not good With the application of games as supplementary activities in teaching grammar, the teacher – the researcher hoped to create attractive and effective learning environment for her students so that they could feel motivated and improve themselves

5 Practical significance of the study:

This current action research tends to be institutional because it was carried out with a small group of students in a specific context (only fifteen students in the class 789A3 at Wellspring International Bilingual School) Thus, the researcher is aware that the results cannot

be easily generalized She hoped that through the results of this action research, she could help her own students increase their motivation in studying grammar to improve their learning And then, she herself could improve her teaching skills

6 Methods of the study:

The current action research tended to use qualitative method Since only fifteen students

in class 789A3 joining in this study, the amount of students was small and the researcher took notice of every member; therefore, the practitioner employed qualitative approach with the support of quantitative method

6.1 Data collection methods:

Data was collected by tests (pre-test and post-test) and the teacher’s diaries Firstly, the researcher identified the current learning situation or the students’ problems when dealing with grammar studying Next, a system of tests including pre-test and post-test was implemented to compare the students’ progress in grammar retention And then, during the treatment, the

teacher’s diaries were written weekly to collect the students’ motivation in grammar learning

6.2 Data analysis methods:

The collected data was categorized to answer the two research questions Firstly, the results of the pre-test and the post-test were compared From this, the students’ motivation in grammar learning could be revealed through the improvement of the students’ grammar retention After that, all of the researcher’s diaries during the treatment of fifteen weeks were collected Then, she calculated the number of participants in each week and demonstrated under the format of a column chart By this way, the enhancement of the students’ motivation in grammar learning could be recognized

7 Design of the study:

There are three main parts in the study:

Introduction: introduces Rationale, Aims of the study, Research Questions, Scope of the study,

Practical significance of the study, Methods of the study, and Design of the study

Development: includes three following chapters:

 Chapter 1: Literature Review: introduces the theoretical foundations for the whole

study

 Chapter 2: Methodology: elaborates on the setting, the participants, the materials, the

methods used, the instruments, and the data collection procedure

 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions: introduces the data analysis procedure, presents

and analyses all the data to find out the answers to the two research questions, and then gives out the summary from the findings

Conclusion: summarizes all the major points in the study, reveals the limitations of the study

and proposes some suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES

1 Celce-Murcia, M., & McIntosh, L (Eds.) (1979) Teaching English as a second or

foreign language Newyork: Newbury House

2 Cohen, L., & Manion, L (1985) Research Methods in Education London: Croom Helm

3 Ellis, R (1994) The Study of Second Language Acquisition Oxford: OUP

4 Ersoz, Aydan (2000) Six Games for the ESL/EFL Classroom

iteslj.org/Lessons/Ersoz-Games.html

5 Gülin Yolageldili and Arda Arikan (2011) Effectiveness of Using Games in Teaching

Grammar to Young Learners Elementary Education Online, 10(1), 219-229, 2011 İlköğretim Online, 10(1), 219-229, 2011 [Online]: http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr

6 Harmer, J (1987) Teaching and Learning Grammar Longman Group UK Ltd

7 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford: OUP

8 Nguyễn, Liên Hương (2005) How to teach grammar communicatively HCM city: M.A

thesis at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University- HCM City

9 Ian Hughes (2011) How to keep a research diary Johnston Press – Fall 2011 ICL

7992.001

10 Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R (1982) The action research planner Victoria, Australia:

Deakin University Press

11 Kim, L (1995) Creative Games for the Language Class Forum, Vol 33 March1995 at

http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol33/no1/p35.htm

12 Larsen-Freeman, D (1986) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford:

Oxford University Press

13 Lee, W R (1979) Language teaching games and contests Oxford: Oxford University

Press

14 Lightbown, P., M & Spada N (1999) How languages are learned Oxford: Oxford

University Press

15 Littlewood, W.T (1998) Motivation for Learning English” Foreign and Second

Language Learning Cambridge: CUP

16 Lynne Brown (2002) Improving teaching practices through action research Blacksburg

Virginia: Ph D dissertation in the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

17 Maugham, S W (1938) The summing up England: Garden City Publishing Company

18 McCallum, G P (1980) 101 word games: For students of English as a second or foreign

language Oxford: Oxford University Press

19 McKay, S (1987) Teaching Grammar: form, function and technique United Kingdom:

Prentice Hall

20 McKay, H and Tom, A (1992) What do Adult Learners Bring to a Class? Teaching

Adult Second Language Learners Cambridge: CUP

21 Mertens, D M (2005) Research and evaluation in education and psychology:

integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods United States of America:

Sage Publications, Inc

22 Mills, G E (2003) Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Merrill/ Prentice Hall

23 Nedomová, A (2007) Teaching grammar to young learners Unpublished master thesis,

Masaryk University, Czech Republic Retrieved on 28-March-2008, at URL: http://is.muni.cz/th/44537/pedf_b/bachelor_thesis.pdf

24 Khuất, Thị Thu Nga & Nguyễn, Thị Thanh Huyền (2003) The effectiveness learning

vocabulary through games Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, 5(4) Available online at

http://www.asian-efl-Journal.com/dec_03_vn.pdf

25 Obee, B (1999) The Grammar Activity Book Cambridge University Press

26 Osha Saeed Al Neyadi (2007) The Effects of Using Games to Reinforce Vocabulary

Learning Action Research and Initial Teacher Education in the UAE HCT Press

27 Richard-Amato, P.A (1996) Making it happen: Interaction in the second language

classroom (2nd ed.).New York: Longman

28 Rinvolucri, M (1990) Grammar games: Cognitive, affective and drama activities for

EFL students Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

29 Sagor, R (1992) How to Conduct Collaborative Action Research Alexandria, VA:

Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development

30 Saricoban, Arif and Esen Metin (2000) Songs, Verse and Games for Teaching

Grammar iteslj.org/Techniques/Saricoban-Songs.html

31 Smith, M (2001) Making Content Classes More Communicative Teacher’s Edition 6

(p 14-17)

32 Spolsky, B (1998) Conditions for Second Language Learning” Introduction to a

General Theory Oxford: OUP

33 Sungurtekin, Ş., Sezer, G O., Bağçeli-Kahraman, P., & Sadioğlu, Ö (2009) The views of

pre-service teachers about creative drama: A study according to gender İlköğretim Online, 8(3),

755-770 Retrieved on 14- January-2010, at URL: http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr/vol8say3/v8s3m11.pdf

34 Topkaya, E Z., & Küçük, Ö (2010) An evaluation of 4th and 5th grade English

language teaching program İlköğretim Online, 9(1), 52-65 [On-line serial]: Retrieved on

14-January-2010, at URL: http://ilkogretim-online.org.tr/vol9say1/v9s1m6.pdf

35 Lưu, Trọng Tuấn & Nguyễn, Thị Minh Đoàn (2010) Teaching English Grammar

through Games Studies in Literature and Language Vol.1 No.7 Available online at http://

www.cscanada.net

36 Ur, P (1988) Grammar practice activities: A practical guide for teachers Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

37 Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M (1984) Games for language learning (2nd

ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press