CHUYÊN đề hội THẢO các TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN VÙNG DHĐBBB lần THỨ VIII năm 2015 môn TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN hà NAM

PART I: INTRODUCTION The current situation of globalization now has urged people to learn English as a common tool of communication, which resulted in an increasing demand for English teaching and learning It can be seen that English is now being taught to kids since they are at their very early age Course books of English are also trying to update the most modern approaches of teaching to meet the demand Being a high school teacher of English, I realize that the change in course methodology is the most important factor to lead to the success of the innovation Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been the dominant approach in teaching English recently It has been reflected in the teaching of the four skills, which has moved from the presentation, practice and production (PPP) to pre-, while- and poststages Grammar, as a sub-system in a network of other linguistic sub-systems and subskills (Newby, 2003), has been attached different roles in the language classroom, reaching little consensus, not only about the particular items to be taught, but about when, or how, or even where to teach or learn Although grammar instruction has also been a part of a unit in the text book, we need to go beyond this to bring grammar instruction fully to life and to make it purposeful and communicative This essay is going to provide a theoretical background of teaching grammar, some problems associated with grammar teaching and some suggestions for implementing the integration of grammar into communicative teaching Hopefully, this essay will help other teachers of English as a foreign language to have a proper understanding of the issue PART II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Teaching grammar: Linguistic approaches 1.1 Traditional grammar teaching The traditional approach to language teaching is PPP: Presentation, Practice and Production This approach was at one time virtually the only acceptable second language task sequence In the PPP cycle, a focused presentation stage in which grammar presentation comes first is followed by practice activities These practice activities are designed to enable learners to produce rapidly and easily the material which has been presented In the production stage, opportunities are provided to use language freely and flexibility in the expectation that this will consolidate what is being learned and extend its range of applicability For a long time, this approach seems to be very powerful and proves to have a lot of advantages It is easy for the teacher to perform; it lends itself to accountability because of clear and tangible goals, which can be evaluated; there is the possibility of clear connection with underlying theory The belief that a focus on a particular form leads to learning and automatization no longer carries much credibility in linguistics Instead, the contemporary view of language development is that learning is constrained by internal processes Learners not simply acquire the language to which they are exposed In other words, such a teacher-focused approach needs to be replaced by another one that can help avoid problems of PPP and can promote learning process more rapidly and effectively 1.2 Communicative language teaching Communicative language teaching was initially influenced by linguists with a notionalfunctional view of language With Hymes, Austin and especially Halliday’s theories, grammar was considered as both semantic and functional (Bloor, 2004:2), or as the study of linguistic forms realizing meanings, the so-called Systemic-Functional Grammar According to this new concept of grammar, which appeared in Halliday’s writings in the 70s and which was consolidated in the 80s with his Introduction to Functional Grammar, the dichotomies: form vs function, form vs meaning, fluency vs accuracy, meaningbased instruction vs form-based instruction would be irrelevant, since the concepts of function, meaning and communication would be included within the study of grammar and linguists should focus on the use of language rather than on its form itself Thus, grammatical knowledge was performance, rather than competence, and grammar was considered as a sub-skill to be learned as procedural knowledge (doing rather than just knowing) The role of grammar in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) According to Thornbury, 1999, there are two main types of CLT: the shallow-end approach and the deep-end approach to CLT In the shallow-end approach to Communicative Language Teaching, the learner is believed to learn the grammatical rules first and then apply them in the communicative situation On the other hand, the deep-end approach to CLT is based on the belief that grammar is acquired unconsciously during the performance on those communicative situations, so it would be useless to teach grammar previously and explicitly (Thornbury, 1999:18-19) This indicates that grammar does play a role in communicative teaching, at least in its shallow-end approach First, it just dresses up the grammatical structures into communicative functions; although they are not presented explicitly, they are still there Second, if we have a functional, Hallidayan concept of grammar, the explicit teaching of functions would still be grammar teaching: according to Halliday, grammar is the study of linguistic forms (wordings) realizing functions or meanings; both wordings and functions are studied by grammar (Halliday,1997) In the shallow-end to CLT, grammar is taught in a way that we can define as inductive: learners are not presented with a list of grammatical rules that they have to learn by heart (presentation-practice-production cycle) but rather, the teacher provides them with examples from which the learners will have to infer the rules by themselves By this way, the teacher makes the learners relate the new grammatical concepts to other grammatical information that they already have By provoking a consciousness-raising in the learners they take into account their general framework of knowledge which is already acquired, so the new grammar is as familiar to the learner as possible and it is not presented as something strange or unattached to previous knowledge Contrarily from the shallow-end approach, the deep-end methodology claimed that grammar should be acquired unconsciously, in line with Krashen’s theories (1985) reflected on his Natural Approach, which became widely popular as an acquisitionoriented model This has made people believe that the teaching of grammar is harmful for communicative competence, as it claims that conscious reflection about grammar affects negatively input processing and performance According to Lock, this excluding view of grammar in deep-end approaches was also strongly influenced by a rejection of traditional methodologies in which grammatical competence was acquired with the approach of the rule plus drilling methodology typical of Audiolingual or traditional grammar methods (Lock, 1997:267), because learners knew a lot about grammar but were unable to put that grammatical knowledge into practice The reaction, in deep-end approaches, was not to teach grammar, as learners would be unable to integrate it within communication processes However, even when the contradiction about teaching grammar still exists, in the classroom the deep-end approach is not currently used, as most authors and teachers attach a role to grammar, without diminishing the main target of communication PART 3: SITUATION ANALYSIS The textbook and teaching grammar As can be seen from the change of course methodology in course-books, especially for high school students, communicative approach is mainly used to design the textbook for students In each unit, the four skills are taught separately in each lesson The final lesson, the Language Focus section in each Unit in the course-book, takes grammar and pronunciation as the main point Since 2013, The Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam Publishing House in cooperation with Pearson Education has published a series of textbooks designed in a new form Although Pronunciation and Grammar are still isolated from the four skills, grammar is supposed to teach inductively rather than deductively In other words, the traditional method of teaching grammar (PPP) is almost no longer used in current teaching situations Students are led to discover the grammar rules by themselves from reading samples or from their own practice Problems of integrating grammar into CLT Of course, the question of how learners are to learn the necessary grammar without affecting the language outcome still remains Although, it is now fully accepted that an appropriate amount of class time should be devoted to grammar, this has not meant a simple return to a traditional treatment of grammar rules There are some problems when integrating grammar into communicative language teaching as follows: • Direct grammar instruction or explicit grammar teaching is still very common • Contextual instructional techniques are not readily accessible to practitioners • In most cases, grammar instruction is not integrated into the four skills but given in isolation • Mostly it is teachers that formulate the grammar rules Grammar rules will be clearer and be remembered better when students formulate them themselves (inductive learning) than when teachers formulate them (deductive learning) • Learners need repeated input of a grammar item Just one grammar presentation is not enough • Grammar should be taught in digestible segments bearing the cognitive process in mind Traditional grammar teaching, for instance, tends to cover the following points in the same lesson: • the passive voice with all the tenses, • all the uses of indirect speech (i.e reporting statements, negative statements, question forms, imperatives, requests, time expressions, etc.) • all the forms of a structure (i.e statements, negative statements, questions, exceptions, etc) PART 4: SUGGESTIONS Following the review of some problems of teaching grammar in communicative approach, this part is going to suggest some solutions to those problems Inductive way of teaching grammar The view that grammar is too complex to be taught in that over-simplifying way has had an influence, and the focus has now moved away from the teacher covering grammar to the learners discovering grammar Wherever possible, learners are first exposed to new language in a comprehensible context, so that they are able to understand its function and meaning Only then is their attention turned to examining the grammatical forms that have been used to convey that meaning The discussion of grammar is explicit, but it is the learners who are doing most of the discussing, working out - with guidance from the teacher – as much of their new knowledge of the language as can easily and usefully be expressed Behind this strategy lies the recognition that the learners may well have ‘understood’ more about the language than they - or the teacher - can put into words If the new language were introduced in the form of an apparently all-embracing (but actually pitifully incomplete) rule from the teacher, this would convey the unspoken message that the learners had nothing further to understand about the language point and simply needed to practice it If, on the other hand, talking about grammar is postponed until the learners themselves can contribute by bringing to light what they already in some sense ‘know’, the unspoken message is that the process of acquiring the new knowledge is one which takes place inside them and over which they have some control Indeed, with the recent emphasis on training learners to learn efficiently, this message is likely to be explicitly discussed This ‘retrospective’ approach to grammar is a natural development from the original CLT emphasis on viewing language as a system for communication; it also takes into account the fact that learning is likely to be more efficient if the learners have an opportunity to talk about what they are learning While looking explicitly at grammar may not lead immediately to learning, it will facilitate learning at a later stage when the learner is ready (in some way that is not yet understood) to internalize the new information about the language Integrating grammar in Task-based teaching Task-based language teaching is one of the methods used in communicative language teaching and is currently used in the students’ course book The thing is how to integrate grammar into this way of teaching First, the focus on form would not be presented at the beginning of each task, in a precommunicative stage (like in the Presentation and Practice stages previous to the Production stage in the traditional, structural classroom sequence) but rather it can be presented after providing authentic input, so that the communicative mood of the lesson would not be interrupted Second, that focus on form would be complemented with enabling tasks, such as communicative activities, which make learners manipulate the linguistic forms in a communicative way, like in a ‘find someone who…’ activity, and which not stop the communicative mood of the lesson (Nunan, 2007:24) Third,in Task Based Language Teaching some grammatical items can be repeated throughout the syllabus instead of being presented only once, so that there is a constant review of them and learners will not have the feeling of studying the grammatical items in isolation In conclusion, in Task-Based Language Teaching, it attempts to deal with grammar teaching in a way in which the learners’ communicative skills are not harmed but improved Thus, grammar is considered as a means towards communication and not as the end itself The application of pre-, while- and post-stages into teaching grammar Traditional grammar teaching starts with the teacher's statement of the grammatical point on the board Integrated grammar teaching is a unique and an authentic approach because it implements the pre-, while- and post-stages The application of pre-, while- and post-stages into teaching grammar are shown below in two sample grammar lessons extracted from Bayram Pekoz Sample Grammar Lesson 1: Used to Pre-grammar a) The teacher discusses the topic "changes in people over the years" b) The teacher shows two pictures of a woman One picture was taken 20 years ago and the other one is new The old picture shows her playing the guitar while the new one displays her painting pictures The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures While-grammar a) This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity to notice the new grammatical structure The teacher tells them they are going to learn a new structure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the name of structure (for motivational purposes) b) The teacher makes a transition from the context created in 1b to the grammatical point by showing the same pictures and telling the picture differences with "used to" and "simple present tense" (i.e "She used to play the guitar as a hobby, but now she doesn't, she paints pictures as a hobby now", etc) c) The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching of grammatical point through some other picture comparisons, discussions, stories, or reading/listening texts d) The teacher asks some clarification check questions to ensure that the meaning is clear Some examples: Did she often play the guitar in the past?/Does she play the guitar now? Did she often paint pictures in the past?/Does she paint pictures now? Did she have long hair in the past?/Does she have long hair now? e) The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board for the given sentence providing help if needed She used to play the guitar S + Used to + V … (Note: The while-stage may involve production of the new structure through some questions about the pictures In this case, however, the purpose is to confirm whether the meaning has been clarified.) Post-grammar (adapted from Fatma Toköz, former student) Brainstorming The teacher asks students to think back to when they were a child and asks the following questions: "What are the differences and similarities between your life then and now? Think about where you lived, your likes/dislikes, your holidays and your family, and fill in the following lines with appropriate sentences" Your life as a child Your present life Role-play 10 The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student The role playing students are supposed to be old friends meeting after a long time They are supposed to communicate and note the differences in each using either their imagination or the role play cues Writing The teacher asks students to write a story about the following topic for the school magazine Imagine that you have been asleep from 2007 till 2050 You have just woken up to be shocked about everything around you Compare your old and new lives and write your story using "used to" Sample Grammar Lesson 2: The present perfect passive voice Pre-grammar Stage First, the teacher has a discussion on burglaries Following this discussion, the teacher shows a picture of a living room and says: "Today, a burglar has broken into this room What you think he has taken?" (The teacher tries to elicit responses such as he has taken the lap-top computer, he has stolen the jewellery, etc ) While-grammar Stage The teacher shows a different picture of the same living room and turns attention to the missing items and says the following: "The lap-top computer has been taken from the room The jewellery has been stolen The small TV has been taken as well The picture on the wall has been taken, too" 11 The teacher asks questions to elicit the passive voice structure Following this, the teacher asks clarification check questions such as: What is the difference between "the burglar has stolen the jewellery", and "the jewellery has been stolen"?; when you think we need the second structure?, etc The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board Alternatively, or additionally, the context can be created through a reading text written in the present perfect passive voice Post-grammar Stage The teacher gives the following hand-out to be filled out and asks students to walk around and ask questions to the class members Find someone Class members name who has been blamed for something he/she hasn't done who has been disappointed by a close friend who has been told some good news today who has been told some bad news today who has been abandoned by his/her girlfriend/boyfriend who has been misunderstood today who has been forgiven by an old friend recently who has been given a present today Role-play 12 The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student One of the pairs holds the names of the cities and their weather reports, the other holds information about some football matches and the name of the cities where they are being held They will exchange the information and find out which football matches have been cancelled Writing The teacher assigns an incomplete writing task and asks them to complete it using some cue words and the present perfect passive tense as in the following: Your wedding is very soon, but most of the arrangements have not been made yet Write a complaint letter to the wedding specialist using these clues: wedding invitations, wedding dress, wedding party, wedding cake, wedding photographer, honeymoon, limousine cars Dear wedding specialist, I visited your office today but you were out I have seen that most of the wedding arrangements have not yet been made To begin with, …………… Correction of grammatical mistakes in CLT Integrating grammar in communicative language approach should be carried out by using unobtrusive activities that not interrupt the communicative mood of the lesson (Doughty and Williams, 1999) In other words, teachers should take notes their students’ grammar mistakes when they are delivering their presentation instead of stopping their students when they are speaking For example, small group interaction tasks with information exchanges, expansions and reformulation techniques constitute some of the techniques implemented within this methodology, in which learners are expected to process forms, meaning and use simultaneously This approach is strongly influenced by cognitive psychology, with its role for attention, processing constraints, and working 13 versus long term memory According to the Hallidayan conception of language, grammar is meaning potential, so grammar can be used as a means towards both presentation and acquisition of non-linguistic contents and as a vehicle for the acquisition of communicative skills Conclusion To sum up, all communicative approaches have a role for grammar teaching Grammar can be taught within any communicative approach without interrupting the communicative mood; in fact, grammar can even help to enhance that communicative mood As Harmer (1997:7) remarks, “at this stage, it is enough to say that grammar teaching –of both the overt and covert kind- has a real and important place in the classroom” 14 REFERENCES Bloor, T (2004).The Functional Analysis of English: a Hallidayan Approach London; New York: Arnold Doughty, C and Williams, J (1999) “Pedagogical choices in focus of form”, in C Doughty and J Williams (eds.), Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,197-262 Harmer, J (1997) Teaching and Learning Grammar London; New York: Longman Krashen, S (1985) The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications New York: Longman Lock, G (1997) Functional English Grammar: an Introduction for Second Language Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Newby, D.A (2003) Cognitive+Communicative Theory of Pedagogical Grammar Habilitationsschrift Karl-Francens Universität Graz Nga, N T 2009 Teacher’s conceptualization of using Task-based method in the standard English 11 course-book at Nguyen Viet Xuan high school, Vinh Phuc Nunan, D (2007) Task-Based Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Pekoz, B Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language Teaching The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XIV, No 10, October 2008 Retrieved on 11 th August, from the website http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Pekoz-Grammar.html Thornbury, S (1999) How to Teach Grammar Harlow: Longman 15 ... each student One of the pairs holds the names of the cities and their weather reports, the other holds information about some football matches and the name of the cities where they are being... they are going to learn a new structure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the name of structure (for motivational purposes) b) The teacher makes a transition from the context... asks students to walk around and ask questions to the class members Find someone Class members name who has been blamed for something he/she hasn''t done who has been disappointed by a close friend