The appropriateness of CLT focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School

The appropriateness of CLT focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School Hoàng Thị Tân Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: Theory and methodology of English teaching Mã số: 60 14 10 Người hướng dẫn: MA. Vũ Mai Trang Năm bảo vệ: 2011 Abstract: The minor thesis is concerned with “ The appropriateness of CLT focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School”. It is aimed at finding out the appropriateness of teaching grammar in the light of CLT to students at To Hien Thanh high school in general and students of grade 11 here in particular. The objectives of study are to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of CLT focus on form instruction to students; to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach then to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning. To achieve the aims and the objectives of the thesis, many references were selected, read and filtered for information. The author used Survey questionnaires for 5 teachers and 100 students at To Hien Thanh high school, Class observation, Post-observation interviews. All the data collected were consolidated and categorized. The results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables and figures. The observational notes were jotted down to provide the findings in form of reflections. The minor thesis consists of three parts and three chapters. Part I is introduction. It provides a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aims and the objectives of study, research questions, research methods, context of study, data collection method, scope of study, purpose and significance of study. Part II is development. Part II consists of three chapters: Chapter I, Literature review, is concerned with definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Form vs Focus on Forms, Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods. Chapter II, Research methodology, introduces context of study, methodology, survey instruments, data analysis. Chapter III, Findings and discussion, is devoted to a detailed description of findings and the discussion. In this chapter, explanation and interpretation of the findings are explored. Part III, conclusion, gives a conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and then gives some suggestions for further study. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Ngữ pháp; Giao tiếp Content PART I : INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale There is no doubt that English has been used as a tool of communication among native speakers as well as non-native ones. No one can deny the important role of English in every field of life. Nowadays, the demand for learning English is increasing in Vietnam. People learn English for many purposes, such as getting jobs in foreign companies, studying abroad, communicating in English with foreigners, passing exams, etc. Learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people. Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam. Nowadays, teacher not only transfers knowledge but also guides, organizes students’ learning activities. The aim of language teaching is to help students understand language as well as use it actively in real life; after a language lesson, students can communicate in English. To reach these purposes teachers have to try a lot. In fact, at To Hien Thanh high school, teaching English grammar in the light of communication has some problems, such as students’ levels, teachers’ methods, facilities, textbooks, etc. Students here are almost bad at English. They are lack of knowledge of English: vocabulary, grammar. They spend little time on learning English. They pay more attention to learning natural science subjects: Maths, Physics, Chemistry. Because of students’ bad attitude to learning English, the teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school have many difficulties in applying communicative language teaching. Further more, facilities here are not good. There are no cassettes to teach listening. When teaching listening lessons, teachers have to read tape scripts. Students have no chance to practice English in real life, no chance to listen to English from native speakers. Besides those reasons, textbook is also a difficult problem for students at To Hien Thanh high school. Most tasks in textbooks Tieng Anh 10, 11, 12 are in the light of communication. Those tasks give students situations to practise English and require them to use English actively. It is very good for students to learn and practise , but for students at To Hien Thanh high school, it is a problem. In Vietnam each school year has two semesters . Students of secondary schools have at least three English lessons per week. They have to take four or five written tests and only one oral test per semester. Furthermore, what they learned at secondary school is little. In English lessons of high school, teacher almost starts from basic structures and the simplest knowledge. With the experience of 18 years working as a teacher of English and of 14 years teaching English at To Hien Thanh high school, the author always concerns with how to help students learn English better, how to motivate them in learning English and how to reach the aim of teaching English in the light of communication. Those are the questions the author always thinks of. Successful application of CLT requires certain conditions such as class size, language environment, facilities, teachers’ facilitative role, students’ active role, textbook, etc. Those things can not be all met in the context of English teaching and learning at To Hien Thanh high school. The question of how to equip students with grammatical competence so that they can use the language to communicate in any situation has become a matter of teachers of English in general and teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school in particular. For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, The author intends to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien Thanh high school then to give some suggestions to make English teaching and learning activities at To Hien Thanh high school more communicative. The author hopes that this study will have some contribution to improving the application of CLT in ELT in general, English grammar teaching in particular at To Hien Thanh high school. 2. Aim and objectives of study The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien Thanh school. The objectives of study are: First, to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of focus on form approach at To Hien Thanh high school. Second, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach at To Hien Thanh high school. Last, to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness. 3. Research questions: To achieve the aims and the objectives of the thesis, the following research questions were proposed: 1. To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school ? 2. How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school ? 3. What should teachers do to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning? 4. Research method In order to explore the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh high school the main methods utilized in this study are Survey questionnaires for teachers and students, Class observation, Post-observation interviews with two teachers . To carry out the study, many references were selected, read and filtered for information. With the aim of increasing validity and reliability of the data collected the author used the following instruments: Questionnaires: to find out the ways of teaching and learning grammar at To Hien Thanh high school, then to find out the contextual appropriateness of teaching methods. + Questionnaire for students: to investigate students’ real situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English. + Questionnaire for teachers: to get teachers’ opinions about the ways they teach grammar lessons. Classroom observation: to clarify and test the validity of information about teaching grammar in the light of communication. The author did not observe lessons of all 5 teachers but only two of them who are on behalf of two teaching styles. Post-observation interviews with two teachers: the author conducted two interviews with two teachers whose lessons had been observed to get better insights into teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward teaching grammar in the light of CLT. 5. Context of study 5.1. The syllabus In this part, only the syllabuses for students of grade 11 are mentioned. 5.2. The participants There are two groups of subjects in this study: The first group: 5 teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school. They are at the ages of from 33 to 41 with from 8 to 18 years working as teachers of English. The second group: 100 students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanh high school. They are from17 to18 years old. 5.3. The textbook In this study, the author intends to survey only students of grade 11, so the textbook the author considered in this study is Tieng Anh 11 in order to find out whether the tasks in this textbook are appropriate to students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanh high school. 5.4. The Socio-cultural environment In this part the author mentions to the Socio-cultural environment in Vietnam in general and at To Hien Thanh high school in particular. 6. Data collection method All the data collected from questionnaire for teachers, questionnaire for students, classroom observation, post-observation interviews with two teachers were consolidated and categorized. The results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables and figures. The observational notes were jotted down to provide the findings in form of reflections. 7. Scope of the studyThe study only focuses on teaching and learning grammar in the light of communicative language teaching at To Hien Thanh high school. The subjects of the study are students of grades 11 and teachers of English at this school. 8.Purpose and Significance of studyThis study is carried out to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School. Successful application of communicative language teaching in teaching grammar not only helps teachers and students in teaching and learning grammar more actively and more effectively but also helps change the students’ learning style from passive to much more active. This project can be significant in a number of ways. It helps to identify the appropriateness of teaching grammar in the light of communication to students at To Hien Thanh high school and suggests ways of improving students’ communicative competence. 9. Design of the study The study consists of three parts and three chapters: Part I: Introduction, provides a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aims and objectives of study, research questions, research method, context of study, data collection method, scope of study, purpose and significance of study, design of the thesis. Part II: Development, includes three chapters: Chapter one: Literature review. This chapter provides definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Forms vs Focus on Form, Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods. Chapter two: Research methodology, introduces the context of study, methodology, the survey instruments and data analysis. Chapter three: Findings and discussion. It is devoted to a detailed description of findings and the discussion. In this chapter, explanation and interpretation of the findings are explored. Part III: Conclusion, gives conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and then gives some suggestions for further study. REFERENCES 1. By the free dictionary on line 2. Canh,L.V.(2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology. Hanoi National University Press 3. Celce - Murcia, M. (1988), Techniques and Resources in teaching grammar, Oxford- Oxford University Press 4. C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5. Fotos, S. (1998). Shifting the focus from forms to form in the EFL classroom. ELTJournal. 6. Higgs, T., & Clifford, R. (1982). The push toward communication. In T. Higgs (ed.), Curriculum, competence and the foreign language teacher. Skokie, IL: National Textbook. 7. Koul, L.(1984). Methodology of Education Research 3rd ed. NewDeli. Vikas Publishing Lmt 8. Long,M.H.1991. “ Focus on form: a design feature in language teaching methodology” 9. Long, M. H.(1997). Focus on Form in Task-based language teaching 10 .Long, M., & Robinson, P. (1998). Focus on form: Theory, research and practice. In C. Doughty & J. Williams (Eds.), Focus on form in classroom language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 11. Long, M. (2000). Focus on form in task-based language teaching. In R.D. Lambert & E. Shohamy (Eds.), Language policy and pedagogy: Essays in honor of A.Ronald Walton . Philadelphia: Benjamins. 12. McElroy, Howard (1934). Selecting a basic textbook. The Modern Language Journal 13. Poole, A. (2003b). New Labels for Old Problems: Grammar in Communicative Language Teaching. Profile. 14. Richards, J. 1995. Easier said than done. In Getting started: Materials writers on materials writing 15 Ron Sheen – ELT Journal “Focus on form and Focus on forms” Volume 56/3 July 2002 Oxford University Press ) 16. Ron Sheen – ELT Journal “Focus on form- a myth in the making” Volume 57/3 July 2003 Oxford University Press ) 17. Selinger ,H.W.,& E.Shohamy (1989) Second Language Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press 18. Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 2007, Vol. 7, No.1The Forum) 19. The reading Matrix – Vol.5.No.1,April 2005. 20. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary – quoted in Harmer; 1987). 21. Ur,P. (1988). Grammar Practice Activities. Cambridge University Press 22. Webster’s Dictionary . objectives of study The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien Thanh school. The objectives of study. First, to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of focus on form approach at To Hien Thanh high school. Second, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form. instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School . It is aimed at finding out the appropriateness of teaching grammar in the light of CLT to students at To Hien Thanh high school in