Using group work in english grammar lessons for first-year students in the college of technologies and economics in trade

Using group work in english grammar lessons for first-year students in the college of technologies and economics in trade Hoàng Thị Minh Phương Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Teaching Methodology; Mã số: 601410 Người hướng dẫn: Lê Văn Canh, M.A Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Abstract: Like in many other countries in the world, in Vietnam there is now a growing demand for learning English as it helps students to find good jobs, to study more and to travel. With this trend, a great deal of studies and researches has been carried out to improve English teaching methods, especially four English skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among those skills, teaching grammar has also been received a lot of considerations, and it has always been one of the most controversial field of English teaching as so many different ideas on the way of teaching it has been imposed through years to years. However, although it is common to use group work in teaching four English skills, the question of applying group work to teach English grammar lessons is still not popular. This minor thesis aims to identify the students’ attitude and effectiveness of using group work in grammar lesson at the College of Trade and Economics Technique. It also seeks ways to improve the effectiveness of using group to teach grammar for non-major English first year students. The common purpose of the thesis is to help students learning grammar better. Keywords: Ngữ pháp; Tiếng Anh; Học nhóm; Phương pháp dạy học Content: iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Introduction 1 1.1. Rationale 1 1.2. Aims of the study 2 1.3. Research questions 2 1.4. Methods of the study 2 1.5. Scope of the study 2 1.6. Design of the study 3 Chapter II: Literature review 4 2.1. The role of grammar in ELT 4 2.2. Definition of group work 5 2.3. Group work in CLT: advantages and limitations of using group work 6 2.3.1. Advantages of using group work 6 2.3.1.1. Group work increases students’ talking time. 6 2.3.1.2. Group work creates a more secure and positive classroom atmosphere 6 2.3.1.3. Group work gives chance for students learning from each other 7 2.3.1.4. Group work motivates learners 7 2.3.1.5. Group work has positive effect on the teachers 7 2.3.2. Limitations of using group work 8 2.3.2.1. Students often speak in their native language. 8 2.3.2.2. Students do not take the same equal responsibilities in the group. 8 2.3.2.3. Using group work can make noise and indiscipline. 8 2.3.2.4. Teacher may lack of time 9 2.4. Studies on the use of group work in foreign language teaching and learning 9 2.5. Reasons of using group work in grammar teaching 10 2.5.1. Challenges in teaching grammar 10 2.5.2. Reasons of using group work in grammar teaching. 11 v 2.6. Design group work activities for grammar lessons 12 2.6.1. The co-operating arrangement 12 2.6.2. The superior inferior arrangement 12 2.6.3. The combining arrangement 12 2.6.4. The individual arrangement 13 2.6.5. The grammar activities for group work. 14 2.6.5.1. Doing grammar exercises 14 2.6.5.2. Reading dialogues 14 2.6.5.3. Practicing using language according to situations 14 2.6.5.4. Playing games 14 2.6.5.5. Discussion 14 2.7. Summary 15 Chapter III: Development of the research 16 3.1 The context of the study 16 3.1.1. The students and the text book 16 3.1.2. Problems and issues in English language teaching at CTET 16 3.2. Methodology 17 3.2.1. The subjects 17 3.2.2. The instruments and procedures 17 3.2.2.1. The questionnaires 17 3.2.2.2. The classroom observation 18 3.3. Data analysis and discussions 18 3.3.1. Questionnaire 18 3.3.1.1. Pre-treatment questionnaire 18 3.3.1.1.1. Students’ awareness of the importance of learning English grammar. 18 3.3.1.1.2. Students’ attitudes towards learning English grammar. 19 3.3.1.1.3. The students’ evaluation of English grammar teaching they have learnt in the class 20 vi 3.3.1.1.4. The students’ attitude towards using group work for English grammar lesson 23 3.3.1.2. Post-treatment questionnaire 24 3.3.1.2.1. The personality of students in learning generally 25 3.3.1.2.2. The students’ preference of learning styles 25 3.3.1.2.3. The students’ general attitude towards using group work to learn English grammar 26 3.3.1.2.4. The students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of using group work in grammar lessons 29 3.3.1.2.5. The students’ justification of benefits and limitations of using group work to learn grammar 32 3.3.2. Classroom observation 34 3.4. Summary of the findings 36 Chapter 4: Suggestions and conclusion 37 4.1. Suggestions for grammar teaching for the first-year-student in CTET 37 4.2. Limitations of the study 38 4.3. Recommendations for further research 39 4.4. Conclusion 39 References 40 Appendices I Appendix 1: Pre-treatment questionnaire I Appendix 2: Post-treatment questionnaire III vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Factors involved in group work 13 Table 2: The student’s justification of the learning atmosphere in grammar lessons 21 Table 3: The reasons lead to boring learning atmosphere in grammar lessons 21 Table 4: Students’ attitude towards using group work for grammar lessons 23 Table 5: The personality of students in learning generally 25 Table 6: The changes in students’ attitudes towards using group work 27 Table 7: Students’ evaluation of using group work to learn grammar 30 Figure 1: Students’ participation in grammar lesson before and after using group work 30 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale In the past few years, the trend of globalization has become faster than ever before, the students’ awareness of learning English has been raised dramatically. However, the question of how to teach and to learn English well is still in controversy; especially, teaching grammar is the most controversial one. In Vietnam, English language teaching often follows grammar-focused method, and for many English language teachers, teaching English means teaching grammar. In this process, students are supposed to learn whatever teachers give; therefore, not only knowledge but also learning styles are imposed on students by their teacher. As a result of this traditional language teaching method, not only the atmosphere of leaning is affected, the students’ ability of communication is also not good. As each student has their own interest and habit of learning, the old way of teaching grammar enhances their creative ability and leads to their neglect of learning. Because of this reason, I choose the topic “Using group work in English-grammar lessons for first year students in CTET” for my thesis. I want to make out whether using group work to teach grammar will make the above situations different. I choose the topic also because of my own interest as a teacher of English. I am myself always interested in teaching grammar and I have never stopped finding new ways of teaching each grammar items. I have observed teachers in my college and in other places teaching grammar, each of them have different ways of teaching; however, it is so difficult to make grammar teaching satisfactory to all students. It is not easy to find that if only follow some unchanged ways to teach grammar, students and teachers themselves will feel monotonous. That’s why it is always haunted in my mind how to make teaching and learning English grammar easier and more interesting for myself and my students. Applying group work in teaching grammar lessons is new ideas and maybe it is the best answer to my question. By using group work, students are supposed to participate more in the learning process, so they would be more motivated and successful. Of course, there is no single method that satisfies all teaching and learning situations but at least, I know that I am on the way of improving my teaching method. 2 1.2. Aims of the study The specific aims of the study are:  To find out the students’ attitudinal changes about grammar and grammar learning.  To find out the students’ evaluation about the effectiveness of applying group work in teaching English grammar. 1. 3. Research questions The aim of the research is to find out students’ attitude and the effectiveness of using group work to teach English grammar lessons in CTET. In order to achieve this aim, the researcher intends to find out the information needed to answer the following questions: 1) What are the first-year-students’ attitudes towards grammar? 2) How does grammar practice in groups affect the students’ attitudes towards grammar? 3) What do students perceive of the benefits and limitations of using group work in learning grammar? 1.4. Methods of the study The main methods used in this action research are questionnaires survey and classroom observation. A survey on the use of group work in teaching English grammar was conducted for two classes with about 85-first-year non-English major students in CTET College. Besides using questionnaires, classroom observation is also used to observe the classroom behavior and students’ performance on the grammar lessons. 1.5. Scope of the study Using group work in English teaching methodologies is one of the most popular methods of communicative language teaching and it can be applied widely for all of the language teaching skills. However, due to the time and length constraint of the study, this thesis only focuses on the use of group work in English grammar lessons for first year students in CTET College. 3 1.6. Design of the study This thesis consists of four main chapters: Chapter one, the introduction, provide an overview of the study with brief information about the reasons of choosing the topic, the aims, the scope of the study, the methods as well as the design of the study. Chapter two, the literature review, is aimed at giving the theoretical background for the thesis. In this chapter, an overview on the role of grammar in ELT is first mentioned. After that, the key factors about group work are presented. I will mention some definitions about group work activities, the advantages as well as the limitations of using group work in English grammar lessons. The reasons why I choose using group work in English grammar lessons and some main group work activities are also highlighted in this part. Chapter three, the development of the research, is the backbone of the thesis. It contains the background of teaching and learning grammar in CTET College, the detail description of data collections, data analysis and the discussions of the findings. Chapter four proposes some suggestions for using group work effectively when learning English grammar at CTET College and presents the summary and the suggestions for further study. The last part of the study is the appendix and the references. 40 REFERENCES 1. Bibi, A. (2002): The comparative effectiveness of teaching English grammar with the help of textbook and by using group work activities. Islamabad: University Grants Commissions. 2. Brown, H. 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Yasemin GÖDEK. 2004. “Research on group work and collaborative work and its implications for primary school teachers.” Gazi Üniversitesi, Kırşehir Eğitim Fakültesi, TÜRKİYE. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.kefad.gazi.edu.tr/2004.2/27-34.pdf.pdf . use of group work in foreign language teaching and learning 9 2.5. Reasons of using group work in grammar teaching 10 2.5.1. Challenges in teaching grammar 10 2.5.2. Reasons of using group work. 2.1. The role of grammar in ELT 4 2.2. Definition of group work 5 2.3. Group work in CLT: advantages and limitations of using group work 6 2.3.1. Advantages of using group work 6 2.3.1.1. Group. definitions about group work activities, the advantages as well as the limitations of using group work in English grammar lessons. The reasons why I choose using group work in English grammar