skkn HOW TO RAISE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND INTEREST IN LEARNING GRAMMAR

However, learning grammar in general, in this case is learning English grammar has been draining the interests out of students due to the traditional approach of teaching in schools.. In

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI

Đơn vị: Trường THPT Chuyên Lương Thế Vinh

Mã số:

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

HOW TO RAISE STUDENTS’

MOTIVATION AND INTEREST IN

LEARNING GRAMMAR

Người thực hiện: TRƯƠNG MỸ LINH Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu:

- Quản lý giáo dục 

- Phương pháp dạy học bộ môn: Tiếng Anh

- Lĩnh vực khác: 

Năm học: 2015-2016

SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC

––––––––––––––––––

I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN

1 Họ và tên: TRƯƠNG MỸ LINH

2 Ngày tháng năm sinh:04/10/1968

3 Nam, nữ: Nữ

4 Địa chỉ: 82 Đặng Đức Thuật, P Tam Hiệp, Biên Hòa, Đồng Nai

5 Điện thoại: 3813378 (NR); ĐTDĐ: 0918405412

7 Chức vụ:

8 Nhiệm vụ được giao: Giảng dạy và chủ nhiệm lớp chuyên Anh

9 Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Chuyên Lương Thế Vinh

II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO

 Học vị cao nhất: Thạc sỹ

 Năm nhận bằng: 2007

 Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Phương pháp giảng dạy

III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC

 Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: giảng dạy Tiếng Anh

Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 25 năm

 Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm đã có trong 5 năm gần đây:

 Vocabulary teaching

 Theme-based vocabulary building

 The Effects of group work on teaching and learning reading comprehension

 How to help gifted students do project work

 How to teach vocabulary effectively

HOW TO RAISE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND

INTEREST IN LEARNING GRAMMAR

Grammar has always been a vital part in the course of linguistic education It is the first step to get to know not only the language but also the cultures of the country of origin However, learning grammar

in general, in this case is learning English grammar has been draining the interests out of students due to the traditional approach of teaching

in schools In spite of the fact that teaching English grammar is essential, the teaching methods and techniques employed in a classroom can have either negative orpositive effect on the development of communicative competence of the learner More specifically, if the method becomes effective and enjoyable, the form andmeaning can be understood easily On the other hand, if the methods are not effective and enjoyable, students may fail to understand and use the structure In short, the types of grammar teaching methods and techniques used by language teachers can affect not only grammar skill but also the development of other language skills and the overall language performance of learners (Cunningsworth, 1984)

Therefore, it is essential that a new teaching technique that can be able

to bring grammar nearer to students, to instil interest and excitement in every lesson so that grammar will be easier for them to absorb and digest

My aim is to inject the grammar learning points into different types of activities in order to trigger the thirst for learning in students Songs, stories or even games can be used as a tool to introduce new grammar

concepts These methods can also help to liven up the class atmosphere which can replace the seriousness as well as the one-way teaching and learning experience in the traditional way of learning grammar

Although there are different definitions of grammar by different scholars, the general content is similar

Ur (1988:4) relates grammar with the arrangement of words in a language and defines it as “The way a language manipulates and combines words or bits of words in order to form longer meaning.” Harmer (1987:1) defines it as “The study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined in to sentences.” How to teach a grammar lesson effectively and to make it more interestingly have always been difficult tasks for teachers How to draw students’ interest may be a more important question This will lead to the success of teachers’ teaching

Effective teaching and learning in the classroom involves negotiating among classroom factors However, a factor essential to successful learning is the motivation of students That is why teachers need to pay attention to the interest and needs of the students

How do teachers get students more involved in their own learning process? Some classroom techniques and tasks have been chosen in terms of pre-, while-, and post-task

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 coming of communicative approach to language teaching brought a negative reaction against explicit grammar teaching in schools As a result, in the first half of the 20th century teaching grammar knowledge

as a focus and translation as a means was overlooked by those scholars who began to see grammar teaching as the transmission of the grammatical system in context (Martin, 1994)

In this approach, grammar is viewed as a means by which messages are organized in any communicative activity The focus of this approach is not mainly on form but on meaning in context (Atkins, Hailom and Nuru, 1995)

Scholars such as Cunningsworth (1995), Fortune (1992), Freeman (1986) and Nuttal (1989) claim that effective grammar teaching in a communicative approach to language teaching / learning need to have natural features such as integration of language skills, authenticity and variety of contexts and creative use of language

Integration of grammar with other skills, however, does not mean that one should not have area of grammar focus on a particular task to the exclusion of other skills (Nunan, 1989)

The modern grammar teaching approach says that students learn better when they are provided with tasks that resemble real-life Hence, Communicative lessons for teaching grammar according to Sysoyeve (1999) and Harmer (1991) should integrate the form and the meaning consisting of four equally important stages namely introduction, presentation, practice and production

But, it does not mean that the teacher must follow these steps all the time It depends on the nature of the lesson and tasks All the stages may not be conducted in one class period (Celce Murcia, 1991)

The study focuses on grammar teaching It was conducted on 54 Grade

10 students (two classes) who are majoring in English at Luong The Vinh Gifted High school

According to the curriculum for high school gifted students, each class has 2 periods per week for grammar learning

It is necessary for the teacher to design suitable tasks or activities for the students The types of tasks designed are based on the features and the nature of the grammar lesson as well

Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills, should involve pre-, while- and post-stages in an attempt to provide integrated learning environments Every grammar lesson has been designed in such a way

In this stage, , the teacher should bring grammar instruction to life, stimulate interest in the topic, and raise awareness by providing a reason for learning There are many different ways of making

grammar a little more interesting

 Using songs:

Music is a great way of getting students to learn The lesson becomes embedded into the mind much faster and more easily

For example, when teaching Verb Tenses, songs such as “Papa” by

Paul Anka will be appropriate.

- The teacher releases worksheets in which some words related to the grammar points have been removed

- The song should be played twice before the teacher checks the

answers

- The teacher has students try to fill in the blanks with the appropriate words

- Then the students are asked to make up a list of verb tenses used in the song

 Make it into a game

Playing games will make learning easier Making it into a

competition will take much more effect This will often get the students motivated to get the answers right and therefore allow them

to learn a lot faster By turning it into a competition, every student will become more active A variety of different games can be

designed to help with this

Sample task:

This is an activity for students to match each if – clause with its

suitable main clause

 Grammar points: Conditionals

 Steps:

- Give each student a copy of the handout

- Each student, working alone, does the task

- Set a time limit and stop the students at the end of it whether they have finished or not

- They now get together with 2-3 other students in the class and compare their answers

2 While – grammar stage:

 This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity

to notice or practice the new grammatical structure

The teacher makes a transition from the context/ activities created in the pre –grammar stage to the grammatical point by getting the students to be engaged in some activities designed for this stage The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching of grammatical point through games, discussions, telling stories, or reading/listening texts

Sample task:

This is an activity for students to complete sentences using their own words

 Grammar points: Conditionals

 Steps:

- Give each student a copy of the handout

- Each student, working alone, completes the sentences

- Set a time limit and stop the students at the end of it whether they have finished or not

- They now get together with 2-3 other students in the class and compare their answers

3 Post – grammar stage

Activities for this stage should be more complex Brainstorming,

discussion, telling a story, writing, and role-play are often used in

designing tasks in a view to consolidating the lesson

Sample task:

 Grammar points: Verb tenses

 Steps:

Certain songs can be used to lead into discussions This type of activity would be appropriate for more advanced students The song

“Papa” by Paul Anka is used as an example.

- Initially, have students listen to the song and complete a fill in the blank exercise

- Listening to the song several times would be appropriate but once the answers have been checked, have students read the lyrics trying

to understand the meaning of the song

- The teacher can ask general questions to test comprehension The

teacher can start off with very simple ones such as “Is this a happy

song?”, “What makes you like the song?, which can lead into a discussion about people’s feelings, love , etc

SAMPLE GRAMMAR LESSON: Reported Speech (Practice)

 Task 1:

- Students listen to the song “Monday Morning” by Peter, Paul and Mary, and then pick out the Direct Speech used in the song

- Students change the Direct Speech into Indirect Speech

 Task 2:Habits questionnaire

- Students work with their partners and take it in turns to ask each other questions

- Students write down three things about their partners

- Some students are called to read aloud their own sentences

2 While –grammar stage

 Task 1:the class is divided into 2 groups (Group A and Group B)

- Each student in group A is given some words He / She makes a sentence ,using the given words, in the form of a direct speech and then reads it aloud.

- One student in group B reports what the student in group A says.

- The students in each group take turn to finish the task.

 Task 2:

- Students listen to some conversations from the CD (twice)

- Some of them are called to report what they can hear.

3 Post –grammar stage: Role –play

- Students works in groups of 3 (one interviewer and 2 interviewees) They will ask and answer about the topic “School Life”

- After each group has performed the role play, the entire class writes the report on what they have heard.

During grammar lessons, teachers should provide meaningful input through context and provide an opportunity to put grammar to use, and relate grammar instruction to real life situations This is best achieved if grammar instruction is treated in the same way as the teaching of the four

skills which involves smooth and organized transitions of pre-, while and post grammar stages

After the one-year implementation process of grammar teaching, the researcher has found the interest as well as the achievements of the students in learning grammar They have benefited a lot from what they have learned The effects on the students’ achievements are positive and long-lasting, regardless of level

Having exposed to sets of tasks including using songs, telling a story, playing games, role – play …the students realized that their language skills were improved The students change their attitude toward grammar learning This is shown through their movements They are eager to take part in designed activities / tasks or to answer the questions In fact, they are voluntarily engaged in the lesson The more fun the students can have with grammar lessons, the more likely they are to ‘get it’

However, there are some difficulties during the implementation of the approach The class size is a big problem to organize such activities as group work and pair work Moreover, the teacher cannot have enough time for the checking

Learning as well as teaching grammar is a tough task It requires patience, willingness and takes up time of students and teachers Teaching grammar effectively and interestingly needs appropriate strategies The above approach of grammar teaching can be ideal for not only students majoring in English but also for every student learning English at all levels We all know that grammar skills are essential to students' success on standardized tests and college entrance exams, in their ability to communicate orally and in writing Without good grammar, spoken or written words lose much of their meaning and most of their value Grammar is a very important thing to get right,

and teachers should take extra care to impart proper grammar to all their students The lessons can be implemented with a view to supporting as well as enhancing what are taught in the textbook

However, as mentioned above, this is a long-term strategy that the teacher has to devote much time to The teacher should carry out the process continually to get the effectiveness of the method Thus, enough time must be provided for both the students and the teacher to practice the strategies

Teachers need to use a variety of ways to make their grammar lessons memorable and enjoyable for students Students who enjoy their lessons will pay closer attention, and you will then have an easier time while teaching This is why great lessons are important for everyone involved