Teaching grammar to High school students through communicative tasks a quasi- experimental study Triệu Thị Giang Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: M.A. Lê Văn Canh Năm bảo vệ: 2010 Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Ngữ pháp. Phương pháp giảng dạy; Phổ thông trung học Content: CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale Together with the development of society, English has been used as a tool for communication among nonnative speakers. More than a half of one billion English speakers of the world learn English as a second language. More and more people have to learn English in nearly every field. Learners have different reasons why they study English, and this has a great influence on their motivation of learning English. At upper secondary schools, English has become a compulsory subject in the state examination and it is one of three subjects for some universities’ entrance exam. Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for their future life. Therefore, there is a must to equip learners with a good learning method as well as teachers with new, good and interesting teaching methods in order to attract learners and arouse their interest to help them get effective result. While the traditional approach to grammar has been strongly criticized as being infective. Nowadays, English teaching has improved in method in the light of the communicative, learner-centered which is adaptable to required objectives and give students many opportunities to communicate in English. According to Prabhu, who developed the idea of getting learners to acquire English through tasks in 1980s in India, “learners may learn more effectively when their minds are focused on tasks, rather than on the language they are using.”. Furthermore, TGTCT has been promoted (Nunan, 1992). And because of the features of task-based teaching approach, which widely promoted in English teaching nowadays, and adopted in teaching language skills in the textbook at upper secondary school in Vietnam, is mentioned later. I, myself, think that TBLT may have significance or may be effective in grammar teaching- the important aspect of language learning. In order to know whether or not the task-based teaching approach is possible in grammar teaching. And from these above reasons, I decided to choose “teaching grammar to high school students through communicative tasks” for my thesis of the MA course. 1.2 Aims of the study The aims of this study are to experiment teaching grammar through communicative tasks for grade 10 students. To be more specific, the primary objectives of the study were set as followed: - To experiment teaching grammar through communicative task for grade 10 students and test its result. - To investigate the experimental students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through communicative task. 1.3. Research hypothesis and questions To achieve the aims and objectives, the study was designed to test the hypothesis: Teaching grammar through communicative tasks is more effective to the development of students' grammatical competence than the traditional approach which emphasizes the memorization of rules and decontextualized practice In order to identify the research hypothesis would be accepted or would be rejected, the research questions were formulated and needed to be answered satisfactorily 1. Is students' grammaticality better as measured by their test scores than it is taught in the traditional focus-on-forms methods? 2. What are the students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through communicative tasks after experimental period? 1.4. Method of the study This study employed a quasi-experimental method in order to determine the causal relationship between teaching grammar through communicative tasks and the enhancement of students' grammatical competence. It is quasi-experimental, rather a true experimental because it did not randomize the samples. Instead two intact groups of students were involved in the study, one group being the control group and the other, the experimental group. 1.5. Significance of the study Grammar in the TIENG ANH textbook series for high schools is presented in a traditional way. In other words, discrete-point grammatical items are presented usually with more than one grammatical items being presented in one Lesson Unit. This means that a traditional approach to grammar, which focuses on decontextualized or sentence-based presentation and practice of grammar. The study will give an answer to the question of whether it is practical to teach grammar through communicative tasks in the context of the high school in Viet Nam 1.6. Scope of the study The study was designed to test the hypothesis that it is possible to teach grammar presented in the textbook following the Task-based model. Because of the time constraint. The researcher could just carry out an experiment upon a small sample of grade 10 students who were no-randomly assigned to a control class and an experimental class, (30 students per each). The pretest and posttest scores were used to measure both groups' English grammar knowledge before and after the trial period of first semester and half of the second semester of the 2009-2010 academic year. The post- program questionnaire was designed to get more feedback from experimental students. The result of the questionnaire would give the researcher supplementary support for the conclusion drawing. So that, the findings of the research could reflect the effects of TGTCT on the subject in the context under consideration. 1. 7. Organization of the study The study was divided into five main chapters, which are presented as followed: Chapter one presents an overview of the study in which the rationale, the purpose, the hypothesis and questions, research method, significance, aims as well as the organization of the study. Chapter two reviews the literature relevant to the study consisting of the role of grammar in FLL, approaches to grammar, Task-based language teaching, Task-based grammar teaching based on theoretical and practical evidence. Chapter three deals with a detailed description of the study consisting of the syllabus for grade 10 students, the subjects of the study, the rationale for using quasi-experimental study, research design, procedures, the tasks and the findings which concluding the comparison of the pretest and posttest of both control group and experimental group, the students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through communicate tasks. The discussions of the findings are presented in this chapter. Chapter four points out the recommendations as well as some limitations of the research and conclusions of the study, and suggestions for further study. 1.8. Summary This chapter presents the rationale, the aims, the hypothesis to be tested and the research method used in this study. Also the organization of the thesis is presented. The next chapter reviews the literature. References 1. Bastone, R. (1994).Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. Bowen, T. (2000). Task-based Language Learning. Available from: http://www.onestopenglish.com/news/Archive/taskbased.htm. 3. Canh, L.V. (2008). Factors inhibiting quality English language teaching in Vietnamese secondary school. Research Project QN.06.07. Hanoi National University, Hanoi. 4. Carless, D. (2003). Factors in the implementation of task-based teaching in primary schools. System 31, 485-500. 5. Carless, D. (2004). Issues in teachers’ reinterpretation of a task-based innovation in primary schools. TESOL Quarterly 38 (4),639-662. 6. Carter, Ronald and Nunan, David. 2001. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 7. Clandfield, L. 2004. Task-based grammar teaching. [A/OL]. www.onestopenglish.com 8. Celce- Murcia, M. (1991). Grammar Pedagogy in Second and Foreign Language Teaching. TESOL Quarterly. 9. Cook, T.D. & Campbell, D.T. (1979). Quasi-experimentation: design and analysis issues for field settings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 10. Crookes; Graham and Michael Long Three Approaches to Task Base Syllabus Design. TESOL Quarterly 26.1 (1992): 27-47. 11. Doughty, Catherine. 2001. Cognitive underpinnings of focus on form. In Robinson, P. (ed.), Cognition and Second Language Instruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 12. Doughty, Catherine and Williams, Jessica. (Eds.) 1998. focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 13. Ellis, R. (1999). The Place of Grammar Instruction in the Second/Foreign Language Curriculum. New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistic. 14. Ellis, R. (1995). Interpretation tasks for grammar teaching, TESOL Quarterly, 29 (1) 87- 10513. 15. Jack C. Richards. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching 16. Littlewood, W. 2002. Task based learning of grammar. [A/OL].www.ecp.com.cn. 17. Long, Michael. 1991. Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology 18. Ma Li. 2004. A survey of teachers’ attitudes towards grammar teaching through tasks. Journal of Basic English Education 6/3. 19. Nassaji, H. & Fotos, S. (2004). Current Developments in Research on the Teaching of Grammar. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics. 126-145. 20. Nunan, D. (1989). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classsroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 21. Nunan, D. (1991). Language Teaching Methodology: a Textbook for Teachers. New York: Prentice Hall. 22. Nunan, D. Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 23. Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston: Heinle &Heinle. 24. Williams, Jessica. (Eds.), Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 25. Willis, J. (1996) A Framework for Task- based Language Learning. London. Longman . not the task-based teaching approach is possible in grammar teaching. And from these above reasons, I decided to choose teaching grammar to high school students through communicative tasks for. FLL, approaches to grammar, Task-based language teaching, Task-based grammar teaching based on theoretical and practical evidence. Chapter three deals with a detailed description of the study. A design feature in language teaching methodology 18. Ma Li. 2004. A survey of teachers’ attitudes towards grammar teaching through tasks. Journal of Basic English Education 6/3. 19. Nassaji,