A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY IN CLASS 10A9 AT CAM KHE HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của việc học ngữ pháp qua đường hướng giao tiếp của học sinh lớp 10A4 Trường THPT

Nowadays, English is used in a majority of countries in the world, as it is one of the most important languages for international communication. The economic open door policy pursued by the government of Vietnam has increased a demand for studying English. Many people are expected to be competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access technology. In correspondence to this trend, in almost of schools, colleges, universities, English is a compulsory subject. Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for their future life, all students have a desire to be integrated into the culture, the civilization, and the people of English speaking countries. They expect to have a good knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or to sing English songs, etc. As a result, learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people. As in other countries, teachers of English in Vietnam are now using Communicative Approach to teach English grammar to learners of all levels. Language learning has moved from the traditional to a more communicative approach. In this current approach, language is considered as a form of social behavior. The objective of language learning is to communicate fluently, appropriately and spontaneously in the cultural context of the target language. Communicative competence, according to Canaled and Swain (1980), is made up of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. They hope to provide learners with a means of communication, namely English which is vital for them to be successful in their job and to fulfill their social demands in the time of globalization. At Cam Khe High school, where the author studies, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as a major subject for the high school examination. It is taught with the purpose that students have some basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and to use it as a key to science and technology. However, there still exist many difficulties facing English language teachers in Vietnam in general and English language teachers at Cam Khe High school in particular in teaching grammar skills to students. The teachers of English at Cam Khe High school find it difficult to teach grammar successfully. In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet in lessons. Certainly, there are many reasons for this. If those difficulties are not found out and no solutions can be given, the grammar classes cannot be successful and students will be fed up with learning English if they find it worthless to study the subject. For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, the researcher would like to figure out “a study on students’ difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively in class 10A9 at Cam Khe High school and some suggested solutions” as the title for the thesis in the hope that the researcher can contribute a small part in helping her students and her colleagues to improve their learning and teaching English especially in learning and teaching grammar that they may need for further study, work or leisure.

I am grateful to all the lecturers who have been teaching the K12 Englishpedagogy course – Hung Vuong University.

I would also like to thank teachers at Cam Khe High school for havinggiven me the chance to work with their students and all the studentsparticipating in my study for their enthusiastic participation in the classroomobservation and completing the survey questionnaire

Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, myrelatives and my friends for their support and encouragements during theresearch process

The target of the study is to investigate the difficulties in learning Englishgrammar of the grade 10 students at Cam Khe high school The results show thatstudents have the following difficulties: communicative grammar obstaclesrelated to students’ low level of English proficiency; students’ learning style andusing mother tongue problem; teacher’s insufficient communicativecompetence; teacher’s misconception about CLT and inappropriate method;multi-level classes, current testing system and lack of class time

On the basis of the findings, some appropriate suggested solutions that can beemployed to encounter this problem including: Training and retraining teachers

in CLT; teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence; organizing curricular activities to enhance students’ confidence and willingness tocommunicate in English; encouraging students’ participation in class activities;improving students’ English proficiency

extra-LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS iii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Research purpose 2

3 Research questions 3

4 Previous studies 3

4.1 In the world 3

4.2 In Viet Nam 3

5 Research procedure 5

6 Research methods 5

7 Significance of the study 6

8 Scope of the study 6

9 Design of the study 6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 8

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

1.1 Overview of grammar 8

1.1.1 Definition of grammar 8

1.1.2 The importance of grammar 10

1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar 12

1.2.1 Deductive Approach 13

1.2.2 Inductive Approach 15

1.3.1 Communicative competence 18

1.3.2 Definition of CLT 18

1.3.3 Characteristics of CLT 19

1.3.4 Stages in teaching grammar communicatively 21

1.3.5 CLT techniques 23

1.4 Difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively 27

1.4.1 Difficulties in learning grammar 27

1.4.1.1 Internal Problems 27

1.4.1.2 External Problems 27

1.4.2 Difficulties in learning in CLT 28

1.4.2.1 Difficulties from teachers 28

1.4.2.2 Difficulties from students 29

1.4.3 Difficulties from objective factors 32

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 34

2.1 Participants 34

2.2 Overview of the English textbook 35

2.3 The data collection instruments 36

2.3.1 Questionnaire for the students 36

2.3.1.1 Cause of choosing questionnaire 36

2.3.1.2 Questionnaire description 36

2.3.2 The classroom observation 37

2.3.2.1 Cause of choosing class observation 37

2.3.2.2 Observation description 37

2.4 Data analysis method 38

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 39

3.1 The results 39

3.1.1 The result from questionnaire 39

3.1.2 The result from the observation 48

3.2 Discussion 49

3.2.1 Difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar and their

expectations 49

3.2.2 Teacher’s related factors that cause difficulties in students’ grammar learning .50

3.3 Suggested solutions to enhance the efficiency of learning English grammar for grade 10 students at Cam Khe High school 52

3.3.1 Training and retraining teachers in CLT 52

3.3.2 Teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence 53

3.3.3 Organizing extra- curricular activities to enhance students’ confidence and willingness to communicate in English 53

3.3.4 Encouraging students’ participation in class activities 54

3.3.5 Improving students’ English proficiency 54

3.3.6 Practising and revising 55

PART C: CONCLUSION 56

1 Main finding 56

2 Implication 56

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 57 APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FORM V APPENDIX 3: OBSERVATION FORM 1 VI APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION FORM 2 VIII REFERENCES X

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 1: Students’ evaluation about learning grammatical structure

Chart 2: Students’ viewpoints of level of difficulty in communicative grammarlessons

Chart 3: The students’ frequency in expressing their idea with correct grammarstructure in communication

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English is used in a majority of countries in the world, as it isone of the most important languages for international communication Theeconomic open- door policy pursued by the government of Vietnam hasincreased a demand for studying English Many people are expected to becompetent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to accesstechnology In correspondence to this trend, in almost of schools, colleges,universities, English is a compulsory subject

Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for theirfuture life, all students have a desire to be integrated into the culture, thecivilization, and the people of English speaking countries They expect to have agood knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or to singEnglish songs, etc As a result, learning English now is not only an interest butalso a practical need for many people

As in other countries, teachers of English in Vietnam are now usingCommunicative Approach to teach English grammar to learners of all levels.Language learning has moved from the traditional to a more communicativeapproach In this current approach, language is considered as a form of socialbehavior The objective of language learning is to communicate fluently,appropriately and spontaneously in the cultural context of the target language.Communicative competence, according to Canaled and Swain (1980), is made

up of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discoursecompetence, and strategic competence They hope to provide learners with a

successful in their job and to fulfill their social demands in the time ofglobalization At Cam Khe High school, where the author studies, English is acompulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as a major subject forthe high school examination It is taught with the purpose that students havesome basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and to use it as a key

to science and technology However, there still exist many difficulties facingEnglish language teachers in Vietnam in general and English language teachers

at Cam Khe High school in particular in teaching grammar skills to students.The teachers of English at Cam Khe High school find it difficult to teachgrammar successfully In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet

in lessons Certainly, there are many reasons for this If those difficulties are notfound out and no solutions can be given, the grammar classes cannot besuccessful and students will be fed up with learning English if they find itworthless to study the subject

For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, the researcher would like to

figure out “a study on students’ difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively in class 10A9 at Cam Khe High school and some

suggested solutions” as the title for the thesis in the hope that the researcher can

contribute a small part in helping her students and her colleagues to improve their learning and teaching English especially in learning and teaching grammar that they may need for further study, work or leisure

2 Research purpose

This study intends to find out difficulties students are facing when learninggrammar So, the focus will be:

 Determining the importance of grammar in English learning

 Investigating difficulties students are facing when learning grammarcommunicatively

 The causes of the difficulties in learning English grammarcommunicatively.

 Suggesting some possible solutions to those difficulties

3 Research questions

The research will find the answers for the following questions:

 What are the difficulties of the grade 10A9 students when they learnEnglish grammar communicatively?

 What are the solutions to improve their English grammar skill?

4 Previous studies

4.1 In the world

The study by Li Pei (2010) is a teaching experiment which aims at testingthe impact of context-based approach on teaching unreal conditional sentencesfor freshmen majoring in English in Adult Education College of SoochowUniversity, China The study was carried out from November 4th, 2008 toJanuary 7th, 2010 The data were collected via the questionnaire, the interview,the pretest and the posttest and the final conclusion was: the use of context-based approach helped to improve students’ awareness and attitudes towardsgrammar learning and promoted students’ acquisition of English grammarlearning strategies

4.2 In Viet Nam

The teaching of grammar has always been a central aspect of foreignlanguage teaching It has been the focus of language teachers and learners formany years Grammar is considered to be an indispensable factor which helpspeople to use its language to communicate successfully The importance ofgrammar in general and grammar teaching in particular has been highlyappreciated and has been the focus of many studies up to now Now I can give

The first study I want to mention is on the theme “Applyingcommunicative approach to grammar teaching and learning at Tran Phu giftedhigh school” by the author Pham Thi Mai Anh in October, 2007 The attempts ofthis study are to find out the students’ and teachers’ attitudes as well as theirpreferences to grammar teaching and learning towards the communicativeapproach Carrying out the study, the author hopes to find out how to teach andlearn grammar according to the communicative approach effectively andsuccessfully.

Another research that is about grammar named “Adapting materials forteaching grammar in the light of CLT to first year students in electric powercollege” by Nguyen Thi Thanh in September, 2006 This study was conducted toseek the answers to the questions of what techniques of adapting materialsshould be used to teach grammar to first year students at EPC in the light ofCLT Through what the author has done, she believes the teachers should knowhow to combine materials of traditional approach like gap-filling, tenses etc,with those of CLT approach In other words, they should know how to balancethese materials to suit their students’ needs and interests

“An investigation into Vietnamese upper secondary school students’attitudes towards grammar learning and teaching” was carried out by NguyenThi Minh Hue in June, 2004 The aim of this study is to find out what attitudesVietnamese upper secondary school students hold towards grammar andgrammar learning especially with their styles preferences in an attempt tonarrow the gap between teaching styles and learning styles as a goal of learner-centreness in language education Through this investigation, the author expectsthat a blend of both traditional and communicative approaches to grammar could

be a good solution to the question of grammar teaching at the Vietnamese uppersecondary school

In conclusion, how to teach grammar effectively and successfully isalways a big question not only to her but also to many other teachers at myschool, especially nowadays new textbooks used in all schools in our countryfocus on not only grammar but also on other skills in the light of CLT Learninggrammar, the teachers encounter some certain difficulties in comparison withlearning other skills Being aware of this, the researcher has decided to choosethe topic on the learning of grammar for her thesis with the aim to find out thedifficulties many students encounter when learning grammar communicativelyand some possible solutions to these problems Furthermore, up to now therehave been no studies on this topic carried out at Cam Khe High school, theschool where she had the internship All these above mentioned reasons haveinspired her to conduct the study about “A study on students’ difficulties inlearning English grammar communicatively in class 10A9 at Cam Khe highschool and some suggested solutions” The researcher hopes this would be takeninto consideration by the teachers at Cam Khe High school in particular andteachers of English in general to make the periods more interesting andmotivating to students.

Theoretical study method: studying the related documents to give someknowledge about grammar and some common difficulties in learning Englishgrammar communicatively.

Investigative and survey methods: Questionnaires and observation

Analysis method: from data got from many different materials related tothe topic, analyzing to get the final results

Systematized method: many materials related, the researcher has tosystematize what she reads from materials Moreover, the research has tocategorize the materials and her ideas to make study logical

7 Significance of the study

The study helps the researcher improve the knowledge about Englishgrammar, the difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively of grade10A9 students, find out some solutions to improve the efficiency of teaching andlearning English grammar at high school

It will be very helpful for the teachers of English in Cam Khe Highschool as well as for English teachers to teach grammar effectively, andmotivate their learners in grammar classes These suggestions also help studentswho learn English improve their grammar and made language focus lessonsmore communicative and meaningful

8 Scope of the study

As could be seen from the title of the study, this paper strongly focuses oninvestigating some difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively ofgrade 10A9 students at Cam Khe High school and some suggested solutions

9 Design of the study

The study consists of 3 parts, references

Part A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the researcher gives an overall introduction of the study aboutrationale, research purpose, research questions, previous studies, researchprocedure, research methods, significance of the study, scope of the study, anddesign of the study

Part B: MAJOR CONTENT

Chapter l: Literature review

In this part, the study presents general information about knowledge anddeals with the theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study:grammar, different views on English grammar teaching, the factors affecting onstudents’ learning grammar, the difficulties in learning English grammarcommunicatively

Chapter2: Methodology

This chapter provides detailed information about the participants of thestudy and details the tool for data collection that have been used and procedure

of conducting

Chapter3: Data analysis and discussion

This chapter shows the detailed results together with a comprehensiveanalysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires, observation andgive the discussion Then some suggestions will be given to help the grade 10students improve their English grammar

Part C: CONC LUSION

This part summarizes the major finding of the study, give implication of thestudy for teachers of English, for students, for researcher, lists limitation of thestudy, mentions suggestion for further research, and present conclusion.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the knowledge of grammar and CLT, the theories, factorsaffecting on students’ grammar learning, and some difficulties in learningEnglish grammar communicatively will be presented

1.1 Overview of grammar

1.1.1 Definition of grammar

Grammar is a linguistic term that has become popular among those whoare working in the field of language teaching in general and second/foreignlanguage teaching in particular However, the question of what grammar is hasyielded so many different answers from linguists and grammarians

According to Harmer (1983:1), grammar of the language is thedescription of “the ways in which words change themselves and group together

to make sentences” Two examples are also given to illustrate for this definition:

the case of “walk” changes into “walked” to indicate the past tense and the case

of “not many” combines with the plural noun “oranges” to make a full sentence like “There are not many oranges on the shelf” Such view on grammar is

agreed by Ur (1988:4), Thornbury (1999:1), Crystal (1995) and Nunan(2003:143) It can be seen that all these linguists describe grammar as a set ofrules that govern a language; however, they fail to work out what the “rules” are

Crystal (2002) holds a different view on grammar when he argues thatgrammar should be studied in two senses: in the specific sense, grammar ispresented as just one branch of language structure, distinct from phonology andsemantics; in the general sense, grammar subsumes phonology and semantics.Thus, if viewed from a broader sense, grammar involves both form and

By way of contrast, from the Longman Dictionary of ContemporaryEnglish (2009), grammar is defined as “the study and practice of the rules bywhich words change their forms and are combined into sentences” Sharing thesame idea, Ur (1988:4) states that “grammar may be roughly defined as the way

a language manipulates and combines words (or bit of words) in order to formlonger units of meaning” Both definitions above refer to the morphology (wordformation) and syntax (sentence formation) of a language Clearly, grammar isthe element which makes up all words and structures in a sentence It is a set ofrules which construct meaning and form of a sentence

An alternative and more comprehensive definition of grammar is provided

by Widdowson (1988:151-2) in which grammar is viewed in terms of form,meaning and function

[Grammar is] “a device for indicating the most common and recurrentaspects of meaning” [which] “formalizes the most widely applicable concepts,the highest common factors of experience: it provides for communicativeeconomy”

This definition shows a renovation in the view of grammar: grammar canindicate meaning and grammar can communicate Larsen-Freeman (2003)shares her view on three dimensions of grammar teaching in which she insiststhat grammar is not simply about accuracy of form but it relates tomeaningfulness and appropriateness as well She also proposes a new definition

of grammar that “grammar(ing) is one of the dynamic linguistic processes ofpattern formation in language, which can be used by humans for makingmeaning in context-appropriate ways” (Larsen-Freeman, 2003:142) Followingthis definition, grammar is no longer a set of static rules but a dynamic process

of pattern formation which is best explored in appropriate contexts

From all above definitions, grammar is the system of structures in alanguage Grammar specifies rules for standard use of words and how theircomponent parts combine to form sentences A grammar is also a system forclassifying and analyzing the elements of language including inflections,functions, rules and relations in the sentence.

1.1.2 The importance of grammar

No one can deny the importance of grammar in a primary medium oflearning at all stages of education as well as in foreign language learning

Teaching grammar has been a longstanding tradition in teaching a foreignlanguage In recent years, the role of grammar in language teaching and learninghas received different interpretations Traditional method like the grammartranslation one stressed the need to master grammar as the centerpiece inlearning foreign language whereas some expressed different against the teachinggrammar: “The study of grammar is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning

a language” (Brumfit and Johnson, H979) Therefore, there has been a greatcontroversy relating to the raised question: “Whether should we teach grammar

or not? Do we have to have grammar exercises? Isn’t it better for students toabsorb the rules intuitively through communicative activities than to be taughtthrough special exercises?” (Ur,1988) Some linguists have given their answer tothese big questions

According to Richards, Platt, and Weber in Nunan (2005:2) grammar is adescription of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrasesare combined to produce sentences in the language From this definition, itseems that grammar plays an importance role in combining units of language toform sentences The sentences are acceptable or grammatically if they follow therules of grammar Since a communicative purpose and function of language and

grammar It should be admitted, good mastery in grammar will enable peopleeasily to express information, feeling, and ideas in their thought to others Inother words, it can be said that communication failure will happen if people donot master the grammar because the purpose of communication cannot bereached From that statement, it is clear that grammar is important to bemastered by the students in order to be able to express their feelings, emotions,and to be able to use English appropriately.

Ur (1988) stressed the importance of grammar in language learning andteaching He stated “knowledge - implicit or explicit - of grammatical rules isessential for the mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you knowhow they should be put together” However, he also claims “the learning ofgrammar should be seen in the long term as a whole, not as an end in itself”

Harmer (1987) also admitted that: “There is now a general feeling thatstudents do need to learn how to perform the functions of language, but theyneed a grammatical base as well Modem courses often teach a grammaticalstructure and then get students to use it as part of a functional conversation”

Furthermore, as Wang (2010) mentioned, after the appearance ofcommunicative approach, teachers often put much emphasis on “communicativecompetence” and neglect “linguistic competence” This leads in the fact thatstudents make lots of errors in oral as well as written performance because oftheir lack of basic knowledge of language With this tendency Hymes (1972,quoted in Wang (2010)) indicates that “communicative competence” shouldinclude “linguistic competence” and “linguistic performance” Hence,sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence andgrammatical competence are four basic aspects of this approach

In conclusion, there still exist controversies about the role of grammar inlanguage teaching and learning However, it can be seen that the above -

mentioned linguists share the same view in valuing the crucial role of grammar

in language learning and teaching However, they assert that the sole mastery ofgrammar is not the goal of language learning The students’ ultimate goal inlearning grammar is to use it to perform communicative functions accurately,effectively and successfully Indeed, grammar offers students one of the mosteffective means of extending students’ knowledge of language items in whichthey can use to communicate in real life and to understand what is said written

in English

1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar.

Teaching grammar is a much debated topic in language learning.Different experts have different opinions about teaching of grammar

According to some, the language cannot be learnt without studying ofgrammar of the language According to Sweet (cited in Patel & Praveen, 2008,p.141), “grammar is not a code of rules.” According to Chapman (cited in Patel

& Praveen, 2008,p.141) “grammar is a study of language by specialist, made inorder to establish the rules and principles which underline the correct speech andwriting, rules and principles which are followed more or less unconsciously bythe native speakers”

But some people say that utility of teaching of grammar is doubtful inlearning English They say that the students who study grammar are very oftenable to solve grammar exercises but do not make correct speech

Teaching of grammar has a very important place in the past It iscommonly believed that to help the learners to learn English language, itsgrammar must be taught first It is also believed that without knowing andmastering grammatical rules of English, one cannot learn to speak and write it.Slowly it is realized that correct usages go on changing from time to time And

importance However, nowadays, it is believed that grammar cannot be taught inisolation Widodo (2006, p.122) says that “grammar is thought to furnish thebasis for a set of language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.” Doff(2000), Long and Richards (1987) also gives opinion about the role of grammar

in learning language as follows:

By learning grammar, students can express meanings in the form ofphrases, clauses and sentences

It cannot be ignored that grammar plays a central role in the four languageskills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks

(cited in Widodo,2006,p.122)Now, we consider the approaches for teaching English grammar

Many linguists give the same idea about the approaches for teachingEnglish grammar As Richards (2006, p.6) points out, grammar has an importantplace in traditional approaches It is considered as the basis of languageproficiency In traditional approaches, grammar is assumed to be learnt throughdirect instruction or repetitive practice and drilling Traditional approaches aredivided into two types: deductive and inductive

1.2.1 Deductive Approach

Widodo (2006, p.126) says that a deductive approach is derived from thenotion of deductive reasoning, i.e from the general to the specific In this case,rules, principles, concepts or theories are presented first, and then applicationsare treated In other words, we can simply understand that in deductive one,

“learners are presented with grammar rules then given opportunities to practiceusing them” (Richards, 2006, p.6)

 The procedure of the deductive approach can be generalized as follows

1 Presentation of rule

2 Illustration with examples

3 Verification and application of rule

4 Practice

 In this approach, teachers must make sure to follow the following rules:

1 The rules should be true

2 The rules should show clearly what limits are on the use of a given form

3 The rules need to be clear

4 The rules ought to be simple

5 The rules need to make use of concepts already familiar to the learners

6 The rules ought to be relevant

Michael Swan, cited in Thornbury, 1999 (Widodo, 2006, p.126) Also inthe book Approaches and Procedures for teaching grammar, Widodo (2006,p.127) assumes that most importantly, when the rules are presented in thedeductive approach, the presentation should be illustrated with examples, beshort, involve students’ comprehension and allow learners to have a chance topersonalize the rule

Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of the deductive approach to teaching Grammar

1 The deductive approach goes straightforwardly to thepoint and can, therefore, be time-saving

5 It confirms many learners‟ expectations aboutclassroom learning particularly for those who have an analyticalstyle.

Disadv

antages

1 Beginning the lesson with a grammar presentation may

be off-putting for some learners, especially younger ones

2 Younger learners may not able to understand theconcepts or encounter grammar terminology given

3 Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted,transmission-style classroom, so it will hinder learnerinvolvement and interaction immediately

4 The explanation is seldom as memorable as otherforms of presentation (for example, demonstration)

5 The deductive approach encourages the belief thatlearning a language is simply a case of knowing the rule

(Widodo, 2006, p.127)

1.2.2 Inductive Approach

In contrast to deductive reasoning, “An inductive approach comes frominductive reasoning stating that a reasoning progression proceeds fromparticulars (that is, observations, measurements, or data) to generalities (forexample, rules, laws, concepts or theories)”

Felder & Henriques (1995) (Cited in Widodo, 2006, p.127)

According to Richards (2006, p.6), in the inductive one examples ofgrammar points are given first then learners work out the rules for themselves.

We can see that this approach requires learners to participate actively in thelearning process as well as encourages learners to develop their own mentalstrategies for dealing with tasks Learners understand grammatical rules throughexamples The procedure of the inductive approach can be generalized asfollows

1 Presentation of examples containing grammatical rule

2 Learners’ analysis for the rule from given examples

3 Application and Practice

As for Richards (2006, p.6), techniques used to teach grammar hereinclude memorization of dialogues, question and answer practice, substitutiondrill and other forms of guided speaking and writing

Everything has its two sides The two approaches of deductive andinductive have both advantages and disadvantages The following is the tables ofadvantages and disadvantages of deductive approach and inductive one

Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of the inductive approach to teaching Grammar

Advantages

1 Learners are trained to be familiar with the rule discovery; thiscould enhance learning autonomy and self-reliance

2 Learners’ greater degree of cognitive depth is “exploited”

3 The learners are more active in the learning process, ratherthan being simply passive recipients In this activity, they will bemotivated

4 The approach involves learners‟ pattern-recognition andproblem solving abilities in which particular learners areinterested in this challenge

5 If the problem-solving activity is done collaboratively,learners get an opportunity for extra language practice

(Widodo, 2006, p.128)Certainly, both approaches display advantages and disadvantages in theirapplicability in the teaching process; however, the deductive approach relates

more strongly to the main objective of this research, for teaching grammar in acommunicative manner helps students explore the given example and deducewhy certain rules are applied to those specific examples Through this process,learners may have the possibility to adapt those rules to some other examples,create some other rules and develop their own learning process (Thornbury,1999)

As Borg, (1998: 17) said, the use of a particular teaching technique,approach, or methodology will be influenced by the language teacher’seducational background, and by the formal training that this teacher had.Consequently, a teacher whose educational background was firmly influenced

by the idea of making students enjoy thinking about grammar, and applyingrules in a practical and updated way, will implement methodologies based oncontext- based activities, and will use this skill like a tool to allow languagelearners to learn, possess, and analyze the second language while they interactwith native speakers and classmates In this constant search to innovate andmake classes dynamic and inspiring, two teaching strategies will be mentioned:the communicative strategy and the explicit strategy

Of the two approaches above, which is best? This question relates to along-standing debate among language teachers in the context of English foreignlanguage, since the two have their own significance for particular learnerprogress For example, a study of various language learners shows that somelearners achieve better in deductive language classes; on the other hand, othersperform better in more inductive classes This difference in cognitive styles may

be associated with different neurological mechanisms in learners (Eisenstein,1987) Whether grammatical rules are taught inductively or deductively reliesupon certain structures, since some are more amenable to a deductive approach,while others can be learned very well by an inductive approach

To sum up, both deductive and inductive presentations can successfully

be applied depending on the cognitive style of the learner and the languagestructure presented (Eisenstein, 1987; Brown, 2007)

1.3 CLT on teaching grammar

1.3.1 Communicative competence

Communicative competence is now recognized as the primary goal oflanguage teaching Canale and Swain (1980) consider that communicativecompetence is made up of four factors namely grammatical competence,sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence.Grammatical competence includes a comprehension of linguistic code, theability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic and phonologicalfeatures of a language and to manipulate these features to form words andsentences Sociolinguistic competence is the best described throughappropriateness, the degree to which one person understands the social context

in which language is used: the roles of participants, the information they share,the functions of interaction Discourse competence indicates the ability tointerpret series of sentences or utterances to form a meaningful whole and toachieve a coherent text that is relevant to a given context Strategic competenceincludes the strategies a person uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge ofrules or limiting factors in their application such as fatigue, distraction,inattention, etc These strategies include paraphrasing, circumlocution, repletion,hesitation, avoidance, guessing and shifts in register and style

label "communicative" in response to social pressures and evidence from linguistic and psycholinguistic research In spite of the popularity of CLT, it isdifficult to define it in a satisfactory way There is a variety if definitions aboutCLT, Nunan (1989: 194) overviews the methods, which are adapted below,contain aspects that are common to many definitions of CLT.

socio-CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activitiesinvolve oral communication, carrying out meaning task and using language,which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners;they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives The learners’ role

is as a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is as facilitator of thecommunication process Materials promote communicative language use; theyare task- based and authentic

According to Brinley (1986: 12), “Language is not a static system It iscreated through interaction; language learning does not consist merely ofinternalizing a list of structural items It is a process of learning how to negotiatemeaning in a particular socio- cultural context Consideration of meaning ratherthan form will therefore determine program content; language learning will bemore effective if they are centered on the needs and interests of the learners; Language learning materials should, similarly, be related to learners’ needs andinterests and present learners with the opportunity for genuine communication;effective communication is more than structures accuracy, particularly at thebeginning stages of language learning Errors are a manifestation of the fact thatlearning is taking place.”

1.3.3 Characteristics of CLT

In CLT, meaning is paramount Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning intonotional and functional categories and views learning a second language as

According to Larsen- Freeman (1986:132), the most obvious characteristic ofCLT is that “Almost everything that is done with communicative intent”.Students use the language through communicative activities (e.g games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks).

From Morrow’s point of view (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981), activitiesthat are truly communicative have three features: information gap, choice, andfeedback An information gap occurs when one person exchanges theinformation he has with the one who does not

Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic material InCLT, it is considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to genuinecommunicative needs in realistic second language situations so that they developstrategies for understanding language as actually used by native speakers(Canale and Swain, 1980)

In addition, “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carriedout by students in small group” (Larsen- Freeman, 1986: 132) Students areexpected to interact with one another, either through pair and group work or intheir writing (Finicchiaro and Brumfit, 1983) CLT favors interaction amongsmall numbers of students in order to maximize the time each student has tolearn to negotiate meaning Teachers therefore select learning activitiesaccording to how well they engage the students in meaningful and authenticlanguage use rather than in the merely mechanical practice of language patterns

Another dimension of CLT is “its learner- centered and experience- basedview of second language teaching” (Richards & Rogers, 1986: 69) According toCLT theory, individual learners possess unique interests, styles, needs, and goalsthat should be reflected in the design of instructional methods (Savignon, 1983).Teachers are to develop materials based on the demonstrated needs of aparticular class Students must be made to feel secure, unthreatened and non-

defensive in a CLT classroom, so teachers using CLT should avoid adopting ateacher- centered authoritarian posture (Taylor, 1983).

Thus, Li (1998: 679) reviews CLT characteristics based on the work ofother researchers such as Larsen- Freeman (1986), Richards and Rogers (1986)and Thomson (1986) as follows:

1 A focus on communicative functions

2 A focus on meaningful tasks rather than on language form

3 Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learnersthrough an analysis of genuine, realistic situations

4 The use of authentic, from life materials

5 The use of group activities

6 The attempt to create a secure, non- threatening atmosphere

1.3.4 Stages in teaching grammar communicatively

The most common procedure for teaching grammar is as follow:

1 The presentation stage

2 The practice stage

3 The production stage (Free practice)

a The presentation stage-Its features and aims

According to Harmer (1988), “presentation is the stage at which studentsare introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new piece of language” (p.7)Spratt (1988, p.7) suggested that the presentation should include the followingpoints:

 Build up a situational context This can be done through the use ofpictures, a dialogue, a story, ect.

 Elicit the new language form the students Elicitation evolves trying toencourage students to produce language that they have never been taught

 Focus students’ attention on the marker sentence Teacher providesstudents with a marker sentence as the first example of the new languagethat students will use as a model for producing other similar sentences

 Check students’ understanding of the meaning and form of the new item

Ur (1998) said that the aim of the presentation is to get the learners to perceivethe new language structure, its form and meaning both in speech and writing inorder to take it into short- term memory

b The practice stage- Its features and aims

“The aim of grammar practice is to help students learn the structure sothoroughly that they will be able to produce them correctly on their own” (John,P.W 1995, p.83)

With the aim of giving students the opportunity to use the newlypresented language and allowing them to memorize its form and meaning fully

as well as use it appropriately in real life, practice stage is claimed as one of themost important stages in grammar teaching

For the purpose of covering all aspects of the structure presented, varioustechniques and activities are made full use of These techniques and activitiesare divided into two kinds of practice: controlled practice and guided practice

 Controlled practice

The controlled practice is denoted as “the stage at which learners aregiven intensive practice in the new structure, but their production of the

language is carefully guided, controlled by the teacher so that correct form andmeaning are consolidated and the possibility of error is reduced to a minimum”(Hubbard, Jones, Thornton and Wheeler (1983:187) It includes some types ofdrills given to students These drills help students to practice the form and theuse of the new grammatical items rather mechanically.

 Guided practice

According to Doff (1988), “it is obviously more useful to give studentspractice in which they have to thick, in which they understand what they aresaying, and in which they express meaning This kind of practice is calledmeaningful practice.” (p.73) However, students’ production of language is lesscontrolled and partially guided by teacher Students have to think by themselveswith meaningful utterance in guided contexts Moreover, the guided practice isregarded as a bridge between the pre- communicative phrases to thecommunicative on in the learning process In order to make the practice moremeaningful, Doff (1988.P.75) pointed three ways as follows:

 Getting students to say real things about themselves

 Giving situations which imply the structure, but leave the students todecide exactly what to say

 Letting them add something of their own

c The production stage- Its features and aims

It is the stage that students work more freely They are given the chance to usethe structure to express their own ideas or talk about their own experiences Inthis stage, students’ fluency and meaningfulness in communication are of greatimportance Free practice aims at:

 Allowing students to experiment on their own and to see how much

 Giving the teacher opportunity for checking the feedback on theirteaching to see how effectively they have taught and how muchstudents have learnt.

 Giving students the opportunity to integrate the newly- learnedmaterial into previously- learnt on in a predictable linguisticcontest

 Providing motivation, giving students pleasure of success andachieving goals of a foreign language

(Spratt, 1985, p.67)

1.3.5 CLT techniques

In applying CLT methodology in the classroom, new classroomtechniques were needed and as we saw above, new roles for teachers andlearners in the classroom acquire new methods in teaching Instead of makinguse of activities that demanded accurate repetition and memorization ofsentences and grammatical patterns, activities that required learners to negotiatemeaning and to interact meaningfully were required

CLT techniques are the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitatelearning and they are employed in the communicative method in languageteaching, which are called communicative activities (Jack, C Richard, 2006)

Jack Richard in Communicative language teaching today also pointed outthat with CLT began a movement away from traditional lesson formats wherethe focus was on mastery of different items of grammar and practice throughcontrolled activities such as memorization of dialogs and drills, towards the use

of pair work activities, role plays, group work activities and project work Hedivided the CLT activities into three main categories as the followings:

* Accuracy versus fluency activities: One of the goals of CLT is to develop

fluency in language use Fluency is natural language use occurring when aspeaker engages in meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible andongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicativecompetence Fluency is developed by creating classroom activities in whichstudents must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correctmisunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns

Fluency practice can be contrasted with accuracy practice, which focuses

on creating correct examples of language use Differences between activitiesthat focus on fluency and those that focus on accuracy can be summarized asfollows:

Activities focusing on fluency

• Reflect natural use of language

• Focus on achieving communication

• Require meaningful use of language

• Require the use of communication strategies

• Produce language that may not be predictable

• Seek to link language use to context

Activities focusing on accuracy

• Reflect classroom use of language

• Focus on the formation of correct examples of language

• Practice language out of context

• Practice small samples of language

• Do not require meaningful communication

• Choice of language is controlled

(Jack, C Richard, CLT today, p14)

* Mechanical, meaningful, and communicative practice:

Mechanical practice refers to a controlled practice activity which studentscan successfully carry out without necessarily understanding the language theyare using Examples of this kind of activity would be repetition drills andsubstitution drills designed to practice use of particular grammatical or otheritems

Meaningful practice refers to an activity where language control is stillprovided but where students are required to make meaningful choices whencarrying out practice

Communicative practice refers to activities where practice in usinglanguage within a real communicative context is the focus, where realinformation is exchanged, and where the language used is not totallypredictable

The distinction between mechanical, meaningful, and communicativeactivities is similar to that given by Littlewood (1981), who groups activitiesinto two kinds: Pre-communicative activities and Communicative activities Pre-communicative activities emphasize grammatical accuracy (the cognitiveaspect) Communicative activities emphasize social acceptability (the behavioralaspect of language)

* Information-gap activities

An important aspect of communication in CLT is the notion ofinformation gap This refers to the fact that in real communication peoplenormally communicate in order to get information they do not possess This isknown as an information-gap More authentic communication is likely to occur

in the classroom if students go beyond practice of language forms for their ownsake and use their linguistic and communicative resources in order to obtaininformation When doing this they will draw available vocabulary, grammar,and communication strategies to complete a task

*Jig-saw activities

These are also based on the information-gap principle Typically the class

is divided into groups and each group has part of the information needed tocomplete an activity The class must fit the pieces together to complete thewhole In so doing they must use their language resources to communicatemeaningfully and so take part in meaningful communication practice

One important thing is that most of the activities discussed above reflect

an important aspect of classroom tasks in CLT, namely that they are designed to

be carried out in pairs or small groups

To be more specific, Nolasco and Athur (1993) characterizedcommunicative activities as follows:

- They involve using language for a purpose

- They create a desire to communicate This means must be some kind of

“gap” which may be information, opinion, affect, or reason that studentsseek to bridge

- They encourage students to be creative and contribute their ideas

- They focus on the message and students concentrate on “what’ they are

- The students work independently of the teachers.

- The students determine what they want to write and say The activity isnot designed to control what the students will

(Nolasco and Athur, p58)

1.4 Difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively

1.4.1 Difficulties in learning grammar

1.4.1.1 Internal Problems

Internal problems are the problem which appear from ourselves.Psychologically, it influences the students learning activities and its result.Internal problems include student’s ability, habit, eagerness, etc

Here are the common problems that students face:

 When students do grammar exams, they will difficult to apply the propertenses

 The important thing in learning grammar is in its process As much as welearn we will costume in solving its difficulties, automatically we will bemore able in this subject as well However, unfortunately, students oftenignore it They seldom custom themselves to practice it regularly,therefore most of students have difficulty in studying it

 In learning grammar, we need the strong passion Therefore, studentshave to maintain their eagerness in order that they keep consistent in itslearning

1.4.1.2 External Problems

External problems are the problem that appear from the surrounding.Even though psychologically the students are ready to learn but if the externalfactors aren’t support it, the learning activities won’t be maximal

The external problems that students usually face, such as:

 Often times, its lecturer doesn’t come on time It makes the students whoare ready to study become down and feel lazy, even they reluctant tocome on time in the next class

 The inadequate facilities are also being an obstacle in learning activities

 The lecturer’s behavior can be a problem as well Sometimes certainlecturer teaches their subject strictly It makes their students stress.Consequently, the students can’t digest its subject maximally So thattheir achievement are not quite satisfy

 The atmosphere of class, which doesn’t support in learning activities, can

be a big problem as well

1.4.2 Difficulties in learning in CLT

1.4.2.1 Difficulties from teachers

Teachers’ misconceptions about CLT

According to Thompson (1994), teachers are often confused about CLT

in four following aspects: the first one is that CLT means not teaching grammar,the second one is CLT means teaching speaking only, the third one is CLTmeans pair work, which means role play, the last one is CLT means expectingtoo much from the teachers These misconceptions lead to teachers’inappropriate teaching methods

Inappropriate teacher’s correction

According to Brown (2002, p 205) students’ errors are vital evidence toshow how they acquire the language through certain strategies or procedures.Teachers therefore, have duty to correct students’ errors to clarify students’understanding of meaning and construction of the language to master language

prefer nice, gentle and tactful correction while the others are in favor ofassertive, encouraging and frank one Ur (2000) is in favor that the later asstudents may lose their confidence and feel disappointed if teachers correct theirerrors in an insensitive way In short, teachers should be sensitive and tactfulwhen giving corrections s that students get their errors, recognize them andcorrect them comfortably without any negative feeling causing them shy andembarrassed.

Inappropriate teacher’s roles

The roles of teachers in the classroom have been changing a lot However,

in CLT approach, it is agreed that students are the center of the languageclassroom, not teachers Still, teachers play important roles in the classroom.Teachers’ roles can affect the success or failure of the classroom

Harmer (1999, p 57) suggests one of the clearest classifications ofteachers’ roles in the CLT classroom is that the teacher can play a role as: acontroller, an organizer, an assessor, a prompter, a participant, a resource, a tutorand an observer

Byrner (1986, p.2) points out the roles of teachers according to threestages of teaching CLT: the presentation stage, the practice stage and theproduction stage At the first stage, teachers play a role as an informant whoprepares materials and presents the language to the students At this stage,teachers should be careful about time management so that students can haveenough time for the other important activities At the second stage, teachers act

as a conductor who should try to give all students as much time as possible topractice the presented language At the last stage, teachers play a role as amanager and a guide Students are encouraged to use language freely eventhough they may make many mistakes Teachers should make sure that students

use the language for their free talk Teachers are expected to comment theirstudents’ activities performance at the end of their presentation

In short, regardless of different roles of teachers, the most important one

is supposedly that of a motivator to motivate students’ interests of learning,otherwise all speaking activities will not be able to be successful

1.4.2.2 Difficulties from students

There are many different ideas about difficulties from students in learning

a foreign language in general and in learning grammar communicatively inparticular

Tsui (1996) suggests five factors to determine learners’ difficulties in

leaning speaking in class: “students’ fear of making mistakes and losing face in

front of their peers, students’ low opinion of their own proficiency level, teachers’ intolerance of silence, uneven participation and incomprehensive input.”

Dwyer and Murphy (1996) listed the following factors: fear of publicfailure, fear of making mistakes, lack of confidence, low English proficiency,and inability to keep up with native speakers, incompetence in the rules andnorms of English conversation, disorientation, etc This conclusion wassupported by many other scholars such as Jones (1999), Cortazzi & Jin (1996);Jackson (1999, 2001, 2002); Li (1998); Zou (2004)

According to Burns and Joyce (1997), cultural, linguistic and affectivefactors are the three main causes of students' difficulties in learning a foreignlanguage

Cultural factors: Cultural factors are those that emerge from students’

prior learning experiences as well as from the expectations that are formed on