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

 CHUYÊN ĐỀ TIẾNG ANH Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language PART 1: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE The ability to communicate effectively in any situation involves the skills of listening and responding appropriately to messages It also includes the ability to perform language functions effectively This is often referred to as communicative competence People with good communication skills have a better chance of success in both the workplace and life in general As language teachers, we must be proficient in oral and written communication, as very often we are the only role models for our students, we need to engage students in using English for meaningful activities where they have an opportunity to communicate for a real purpose These are similar to the purposes for which they use their home language, except that the situations in which they need to use English may be different In other words, students should be involved in situations where they need to speak or write in English to fulfil a communicative need Therefore, Grammar is also important in communication With the correct grammar, we can express our ideas clearly and meaningful We should not only focus in communication teaching, but also grammar How we can bring grammar instruction fully to life and to make it purposeful and communicative is not an easy question The question in the discussion currently is not whether teaching should focus on grammar, but how to teach grammar effectively for a successful communication In the scenario of Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students here are quite good at grammar and other skills They are used to learning English grammar in the traditional way which is not really effective in communicative language Knowing how important the grammar is and the need to teach it communicatively, in this paper, I would like to suggest some ways to integrate grammar for communicative English learning These activities are particularly helpful for 11th form English major students, whose English proficiency is around B2 level and above AIMS OF THE STUDY The study aims at - Giving a brief overview of the roles of grammar in communicative teaching language - Designing activities for a sample lesson integrating grammar into a communicative teaching lesson - Suggesting several ways to integrate grammar into a communicative teaching lesson TIME AND PLACE OF THE STUDY This study results from my own experience of teaching grammar communicatively for my students at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students during school year 2014 - 2015 I used these activities in some language focus lessons for my students in grade 11, all majoring in English and having language competence around B2 level SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will help teachers of English:  teach communicative grammar using a variety of strategies,  use grammar to develop their students’ communicative competence,  help their students perform various language functions effectively, and  encourage the teaching of grammar across the curriculum PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW THEREOTICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Definition of Grammar in language learning: Due to revolution in language teaching and learning it become clear that grammar is a useful tool or resource to be used in the comprehension and creation of oral and written discourse rather than something to be learned as an end in it Close (1982: 13) defines grammar as chiefly a system of syntax that decides the order and patterns in which words are arranged in sentences Smith and Wilson (1979) also coincide with the above definition stating that linguistic rules that combine with each other to form a system which gives an explicit and exhaustive description of every sentences that goes to make a language It is essential to contemplate Halliday´s (1970, 1973, and 1978) definitions of functional grammar sometimes known as synthetic grammar or functional- systemic grammar, which means the way we organize our message in any communicative act Later he divided the message into two groups that are demanding and giving The former being executed when one is requesting information or services The latter being the response to any of the requests or presentation of information In other words, grammar is the store available to indicate a number of elements that are crucial to the appropriate and accurate interpretation of utterance To sum up, Larsen Freeman (1991) sees form, meaning and function as three interacting dimensions of language Grammar was concluded to provide us with the relationship between the participants in an interaction, the topic, the time of the event and the mood of the utterances Many researchers have concluded that grammar rules if learned in decontextualized manner they are not useful to students for speaking, listening, reading, and writing in their L2 or foreign language 1.2 Integrating grammar in the Communicative Approach Pekoz argues that one of the main progresses in language teaching was to substitute a PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) model in which traditional methods as compared to pre, while and post stages that are applied in the communicative approach Clandfield, Mora 2003, Tennat, Weaver (1996) propose that in order for grammar to reflect how it is applied purposely and communicatively, the grammatical items should be contextualized For that to take place in teaching and learning situations, there is a consensus that contextual instructional teaching should be created and grammar should be integrated into four skills not in isolation as Dunbar (1988:33) who advances that by teaching language as an isolated bits of knowledge, we deny what language really is Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills should involve pre-, while and post stages in an attempt to provide grammar instruction to life Pekoz (2008) Pre-grammar stage requires teacher to bring grammar to life, stimulate interest in the topic and raise awareness by providing a reason for learning such a structure While grammar stage should facilitate noticing of a new grammar point and provides meaningful input through contextualized examples, pictures, and texts At this stage the teacher provides the clarification of the grammar meaning Post grammar stage teacher should provide an opportunity for language learners to put grammar to use and relate grammar instruction to real life situation At this stage, there is a focus on the production aspect of the new structure To keep alert teachers who teach language, Murcia-Celce and Hilles (1988) suggested that grammar should not be taught as an end in itself but always with references to meaning, social factors, or discourse or a combination of them Two types of focus on form have been discussed by many researchers for the last few years First, implicit focus on form during interaction task performance is composed of pure communicative tasks that are designed so that the learners must use the target structure to complete the task For example, using comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs that require students to exchange information about features of cities is an effective ways to explore focus on form Students can combine their information by writing sentences comparing their two cities Students need to produce various comparative forms in order to complete the task Students can interact with each other in target language even though it is thought that L1 can be used by monolingual students Second the target structure itself comprises the task content Pairs or groups are asked to solve grammar problems such as the formation tag questions, passive voice and other relevant tasks After listening and writing down correct sentences, the learners then develop rules for the use of the structure It should be noted that even though the task content is a grammar problem, the learners must use the target language meaningful to complete the activity The process of writing English sentences and agreeing upon grammar rules cost less that promoting communicative use of the target language even though the students speak the same L1 PRACTICAL BACKGROUND In Vietnam, English is the most popular foreign language and a compulsory school subject However, English teaching and learning have, for a long time, been influenced by traditional methods with a great focus on grammar and vocabulary The implementation of new English textbooks for high school students since the schoolyear 2006 – 2007 has created a shift toward communicative teaching and learning Since then, most of English teachers here are conscious of teaching grammar communicatively However, with the limited teaching time, large classes, and final test format basing on much grammar, we find it difficult to solve this problem Therefore, I would like to give some suggestions as to how we can integrate grammar in teaching communication CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY REAL SITUATION As indicated above, traditional teaching grammar ways are more familiar with many teachers in Vietnam in general and at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students in particular The national Graduation exam is mainly to test students’ grammar, structures using; students just want to get good marks in exams but are not aware of the importance of communicating in English in their real life In that situation, even though teachers are aware of the need to teach grammar communicatively, they still face many difficulties in the search for appropriate activities, applying reasonable and effective ways to integrate grammar in communication This situation demands a more systematically change in teaching methods Therefore, I would like to suggest several solutions to these problems from my own experience SOLUTIONS There has been a lot of progress in English language teaching since the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) This progress has been reflected in the teaching of the four skills, which has moved from the presentation, practice and production (PPP) to pre-, while- and post-stages However, teaching grammar has lagged behind the integration of pre, while and post stages Although grammar instruction has recently been associated with contextual teaching (Clandfield, nd; Mora, 2003; Tennant, nd; Weaver 1996), we need to go beyond this movement to bring grammar instruction fully to life and to make it purposeful and communicative In the following section, I will note some problems associated with grammar teaching in general, then I will introduce a framework for implementing pre-, while- and poststages to teach grammar • Direct grammar instruction 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 • Learners should not be overwhelmed with linguistic terminology (Brown, 2001) • 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) Following a review of some common problems, the next step is to introduce a unique approach to teaching grammar Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills, should involve pre-, while- and post-stages in an attempt to provide integrated learning environments In the pre-grammar stage, the teacher should bring grammar instruction to life, stimulate interest in the topic, and raise awareness by providing a reason for learning The while-grammar stage should facilitate noticing of the new grammar point, and provide meaningful input through contextual examples, pictures, and texts Finally, the post-grammar stage should provide an opportunity to put grammar to use, and relate grammar instruction to real life situations The main distinction between the while- and post-stages is that the while-stage involves the clarification of the meaning, whereas the post-stage focuses on the productive aspects of the new structure Steps of an Integrated Grammar Lesson 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 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.) 3) 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 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" 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 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 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, … Overt Grammar Instruction Adult students appreciate and benefit from direct instruction that allows them to apply critical thinking skills to language learning Instructors can take advantage of this by providing explanations that give students a descriptive understanding (declarative knowledge) of each point of grammar • Teach the grammar point in the target language or the students' first language or both The goal is to facilitate understanding • Limit the time you devote to grammar explanations to 10 minutes, especially for lower level students whose ability to sustain attention can be limited • Present grammar points in written and oral ways to address the needs of students with different learning styles An important part of grammar instruction is providing examples Teachers need to plan their examples carefully around two basic principles: • Be sure the examples are accurate and appropriate They must present the language appropriately, be culturally appropriate for the setting in which they are used, and be to the point of the lesson • Use the examples as teaching tools Focus examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with specific information and vocabulary Relevance of Grammar Instruction In the communicative competence model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn the language of which the grammar is a part Instructors therefore teach grammar forms and structures in relation to meaning and use for the specific communication tasks that students need to complete Compare the traditional model and the communicative competence model for teaching the English past tense: Traditional: grammar for grammar's sake • Teach the regular -ed form with its two pronunciation variants • Teach the doubling rule for verbs that end in d (for example, wed-wedded) • Hand out a list of irregular verbs that students must memorize • Do pattern practice drills for -ed • Do substitution drills for irregular verbs Communicative competence: grammar for communication's sake • Distribute two short narratives about recent experiences or events, each one to half of the class • Teach the regular -ed form, using verbs that occur in the texts as examples Teach the pronunciation and doubling rules if those forms occur in the texts • Teach the irregular verbs that occur in the texts • Students read the narratives, ask questions about points they don't understand • Students work in pairs in which one member has read Story A and the other Story B Students interview one another; using the information from the interview, they then write up or orally repeat the story they have not read Error Correction At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language used by native speakers Some of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts In responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction to the detriment of communication and confidence building Teachers need to let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on improving Teachers also need to build students' confidence in their ability to use the language by focusing on the content of their communication rather than the grammatical form Teachers can use error correction to support language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine students' desire to communicate in the language, by taking cues from context • When students are doing structured output activities that focus on development of new language skills, use error correction to guide them Example: Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday Remember, the past tense of buy is bought • When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if they interfere with comprehensibility Respond using correct forms, but without stressing them Example: Student (greeting teacher) : I buy a new car yesterday! Teacher: You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind? OUTCOMES OF THE STUDY After one year applying those strategies into my teaching, I have achieved some preliminary success The first notable change is in students' motivation They have not felt that they have to learn Grammar too seriously, most of my grammar lessons were less boring and my students more motivated to learn The second thing is that my students’ speaking ability improved much after they attended these lessons and many students have not avoided speaking in English in the class because of the hesitation of making mistakes Above all, the most remarkable success is the improvement of students' communicative skills Initially most of my students had reservations about whether or not they would be able to communicative without doing many grammar exercises, but gradually they gain confidence as their communicative skills accumulate There is still a long way to go, but as long as students find these ways effective and necessary for their learning, I also feel motivated to explore more SOME RECOMMENDATIONS From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience that needs to be taken into consideration when integrating grammar in teaching communication as follows: - Teachers should always bear in mind the language proficiency level of their students and choose appropriate activities For example, the materials chosen should neither too difficult nor too easy, should not contain vocabulary and structures that are too challenging The materials may cause students a little difficulty, but overall it must be comprehensible to them - Learner’s interest is another important factor that should be taken into consideration when selecting grammar activities materials The materials chosen should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them So it is necessary for teachers to know students’ likes and dislikes on the materials and it may be wise for them to make a survey among students before the selection Some topics that most students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education, jobs, tourism etc - Teachers should consider whether the material chosen is culturally appropriate A material that can potentially cause cultural offence should be avoided Also, if there is some element of culture that is not familiar to students, teachers may clarify or explain to the students before they perform - Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor Not all students are familiar to using language, grammatical points to communicate practically in the first place It may take time and effort to help students establish their communication skills PART 3: CONCLUSION In conclusion, the study has found out what are the students and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching grammar communicatively The study also reveals the recommendations for overcoming these difficulties as well as having effective grammar lessons Obviously, when applying CLT to teach grammar, there is no readymade recipe for which techniques and activities can work best for which structure, but the primary principle is the use of a variety of techniques and activities to suit different students’ levels and learning styles This not only help teachers and students teach and learn grammar more effectively but also change the students’ learning styles and motivation The implementation of CLT at Halong high school for gifted students will be successful if there is contribution and cooperation of the administrators, teachers and students Among these factors, the teachers are central and affect the success or failure of the innovation Nonetheless, the limitations of the study are unavoidable Firstly, from the scope of the study, the results of the study are only applied for my students in my classes Moreover, the data were only taken from self-reported questionnaires and teachers’ interviews However, there is a potential limitation of self-report data because some students might not be willing to express themselves frankly Basing on the results and the limitations of the study, the researcher would like to make some recommendations for further study As a result, the results cannot apply for all students at this school It would be interesting to conduct a similar study on the students from other departments Furthermore, it is necessary to conduct other researches on the difficulties confronted by teachers in terms of CLT application in teaching reading, listening, vocabulary, speaking and writing References Brown, H.D (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (3rd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Brumfit, CJ & Roberts, J.T (1983), An introduction to Language and Language Teaching with Comprehensive Glossary of Iterms, London: Batsford Academic and Education Ltd, pp.8 Brumfit, C (1984), Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: the Roles of Fluency and Accuracy, Cambridge University Press Canale, M and Swain, M (1980), Approaches to Communicative Competence, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre Canale, M and Swain, M (1993), Theoretical Basis of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing, Applied Jacop, R.A (1993), English syntax-A grammar for English language professionals, Oxford: OUP Johnson, K (1981), Communication in the Classroom- applications and Methods for a Communicative Approach, Longman Group UK Limited Keefe, J W (1979), Learning Style: An overview In NASSP's Student Learning Styles: Diagnosing and Proscribing Programs, Reston, VA National Association of Secondary School Principals, pp.4 NGƯỜI THỰC HIỆN SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NHẬN XÉT CỦA HỘI ĐỒNG CHẤM SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM [...]... reservations about whether or not they would be able to communicative without doing many grammar exercises, but gradually they gain confidence as their communicative skills accumulate There is still a long way to go, but as long as students find these ways effective and necessary for their learning, I also feel motivated to explore more 4 SOME RECOMMENDATIONS From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience... the Classroom- applications and Methods for a Communicative Approach, Longman Group UK Limited 8 Keefe, J W (1979), Learning Style: An overview In NASSP's Student Learning Styles: Diagnosing and Proscribing Programs, Reston, VA National Association of Secondary School Principals, pp.4 NGƯỜI THỰC HIỆN SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NHẬN XÉT CỦA HỘI ĐỒNG CHẤM SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ... levels and learning styles This not only help teachers and students teach and learn grammar more effectively but also change the students’ learning styles and motivation The implementation of CLT at Halong high school for gifted students will be successful if there is contribution and cooperation of the administrators, teachers and students Among these factors, the teachers are central and affect the ... experience of teaching grammar communicatively for my students at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students during school year 2014 - 2015 I used these activities in some language focus lessons for... 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... gradually they gain confidence as their communicative skills accumulate There is still a long way to go, but as long as students find these ways effective and necessary for their learning, I also