Difficulties of the 10th form students at canh tan high school in learning grammar and some possible solutions

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************************** LƯU THANH HUYỀN Difficulties of the 10th form Students at Canh Tan high school in Learning Grammar and Some Possible Solutions ( Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Canh Tân việc học ngữ pháp số giải pháp khả thi ) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLODY CODE: 601410 HANOI - 2011 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU THANH HUYỀN Difficulties of the 10th form Students at Canh Tan high school in Learning Grammar and Some POSSIBLE Solutions ( Những khó khăn học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Canh Tân việc học ngữ pháp số giải pháp) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLODY CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: D.R DƯƠNG THỊ NỤ HANOI - 2011 ABSTRACT The important role of English grammar is apparent for any students in general and for high school students in particular because grammar is the basic of their English learning For students at Canh Tan High School, grammar has been more paid attentions to as in the national examinations to get the Certificate of High School Graduation, grammar is the main part However, they have encountered a lot of difficulties in learning grammar This study aimed to investigate the difficulties in grammar learning perceived by the 10th form students at Canh Tan High School The results of this study show that the students have specific problems in learning grammar, such as lack of fundamental knowledge, ineffective learning strategies, lack of intrinsic motivation and unsuitable materials This study also find out the factors affecting language acquisition and suggests some solutions to reduce their grammar difficulties and help students to obtain desirable results in learning grammar iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………… … …….i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS….…………………………………………………… ………….ii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………… ……… ………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………….… ….….iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS………………………………………………… … …viii PART A : INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… …………………1 Rationale of the study……………………………………………… …….…… …….1 Aims of the study………….…………………… ……………… ……….…….……2 Research questions…….…………………………………………… ………….….….2 Significance of the study … ………………………………………… …….….….….2 Method of the study ………… ….………………………………… ……………….2 Scope of the study ……….…………………………………………… ……….… …3 Design of the study………….………………………………………… …….……….3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………………………….……………………………… …….4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………….………….4 1.1 Definitions of grammar………………………… …………….………….…… ….4 1.2 Role of grammar in foreign language teaching and learning…… ……… ….….…5 1.3 Explicit or implicit knowledge…………… ……… …….… ………………….…6 1.3.1 Explicit knowledge…… …………………………………….……… 1.3.2 Implicit knowledge…… ……………………………………….… …7 1.4 Two core approaches in grammar presentation………………… ….………….… 1.4.1 Deductive approach ……………………………………………… ……8 1.4.2 Inductive approach ……………………………………………… … 1.5 Factors affecting language acquisition…………… ……………….… …….……9 1.5.1 Internal factors…………………………………………… ……10 1.5.1.1 Students’ anxiety……………………………………… …….10 iv 1.5.1.2 Learning styles…………………………………… ….10 1.5.1.3 Motivation……………………………………………….… 11 1.5.2 External factors…………………………………………………….… 11 1.5.2.1 Learning context……………………………………………… 11 1.5.2.2 Teacher’s methodology…………………………………………11 1.5.2.3 Classroom atmosphere……………………………………… 12 1.5.2.4 Materials………………………………………………… ……13 1.6 Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 13 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………….….…14 2.1 Research setting……………… ……………………………….… …………… ….14 2.1.1 An overview of Canh Tan High School…………………………………… 14 2.1.2.The teachers’ background and their teaching conditions………… ……… 14 2.1.3 The students’ background………………………………………….……… 14 2.1.3.1 The students’ living and learning condition ……………………… 14 2.1.3.2 The students’ language competence………………………… … 15 2.2 Methodology……………………………… ……………………………… … …15 2.2.1 Research questions………………………………… …………… …… …15 2.2.2 Subjects of the study ……………………………………………… … ……16 2.2.3 Data collection methods……………………………… ……… … 16 2.2.3.1 The questionnaire…………… ……………………… … …16 2.2.3.2 Classroom observation ………………… …….………… …… ….17 2.2.4 Data collection procedures………………………………………… …… ….17 2.2.5 Data analysis ………………………………………………………… … … 17 2.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………… ……17 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS ………………………… ……18 3.1 Results from the questionnaire……………………………….…………….… … 18 3.1.1 The students’ awareness of the importance of grammar in learning English ………………………………………………………………………… … 18 v 3.1.2 Students’ evaluation on difficulties in learning English grammar …18 3.1.3 The students’ frequency in learning English grammar after the lessons at school……………………………………… ……………… ………………19 3.1.4 Time for learning English compared with other subjects ………………….… 19 3.1.5 Students’ evaluations of the grammar teaching in the Language Focus Lessons……………………………………………………………………… 20 3.1.6 The student’ learning styles … ……………………………… ………… … 21 3.1.7 The students’ assessment of the grammar exercises in the textbook…….….… 23 3.1.8 The students’ difficulties and the reasons caused difficulties in learning English grammar……………………………………………………………… 24 3.1.9 Students’ preference for the teachers’ grammar presentation approaches … 25 3.1.10 Students’ favourite grammar practice activities……………….…….… …….26 3.1.11 Expectation for a better and more effective grammar lesson………… … …26 3.2 Results from class observations …………… …………… … …………… ……28 3.3 Summary……… …………….………………….………………………………… 29 CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS….30 4.1 Major findings and discussions……………………………………… .…… 30 4.1.1 Students’ difficulties……………………………………… ………………………30 4.1.1.1 Lack of grammar knowledge……………………………………… ……….30 4.1.1.2 Lack of motivation……………………………………………………………30 4.1.1.3 Ineffective learning strategies……………………………………………… 31 4.1.2 Factors affecting students’ learning……………………………………………… 31 4.1.2.1 Teachers’ factors………………………………………… …………………31 4.1.2.2 Students’ factors………………………………… ……… ………………31 4.1.2.3 Classroom factors……………………………… ………………………….32 4.1.2.4 Materials factors……………………………………………… … ………32 4.2 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………….32 4.2.1 For teachers……………………………………………………………… ….33 4.2.1.1 Adapting and improving grammar materials………………………….33 vi 4.2.1.2 Improving teachers’ methods………………………………………….33 4.2.1.3 Helping students to be confident……………………………… ……33 4.2.1.4 Giving homework and checking the previous lesson frequently… …34 4.2.1.5 Guiding students’ home revision…………………………………… 34 4.2.2 For students…………………………………………………………………… 34 4.2.2.1 Being aware of grammar……………….…………………… … 34 4.2.2.2 Cooperating with teacher and students ………………………….34 4.2.2.3 Working meticulously……………………………………….… 35 4.2.2.4 Practising and revising……………………………………………35 4.2.2.5 Learning from mistakes…………………….………….…….… 35 4.3 Summary……… ……………………………………… ………………………… 36 PART C: CONCLUSION ……………………………………… ……………… ………37 Summary of the study …………… …………….………………………… … …….37 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study ………………… …….….39 REFERENCES ………………………………………………… …………………… … 40 APPENDICES……………………………………………………… ……… …………… I Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for students ……………………………………….…… I Appendix 2: Classroom observation checklists ……………………………………… …VI Appendix 3: Classroom observation checklists …………………………… …… … VIII Appendix 4: Classroom observation checklists …………………………… ………….….X vii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Tables: Table 1: The use of students’ language Table 2: Language mainly used in English lessons Table 3: Students’ awareness of the importance of grammar in learning English Table 4: Ways of learning English grammar Table 5: the students’ evaluation of the grammar lessons at school Table 6: Students’ level of difficulties in learning English grammar Table 7: Reasons for difficulties in learning English grammar Table 8: Students’ favourite grammar practice activities Table 9: Suggestions for learning grammar better and more effective Charts: Chart 1: The students’ frequency in learning grammar after the lessons at school Chart 2: Time for learning English compared with other subjects Chart 3: Students’ level of understanding of grammar structures presented in the Language Focus lessons Chart 4: The students’ assessment of the grammar exercises in the textbook Chart 5: Students’ preference for the teachers’ grammar presentation approaches viii PART A: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the methodology of the study was presented The research questions, subjects of the study, procedures and data collection will be described in detail Rationale of the study [ Caobang is a mountainous province in the North –East of Vietnam The province of Caobang is home to many people belonging to Vietnam's ethnic minority groups There are 28 ethnic minority groups living there and the most notable of these are the Tay, Nung, Dao, and Hmong Canh Tan High School is situated in the West of Caobang town; most students here are ethnic minority of Tay, Nung and Dao groups There have been many difficulties in life as well as in education development, especially in the development of teaching and learning a foreign language like English The students here considered the language of their groups their mother tongue, Vietnamese is the second language and English is a foreign language For students at Canh Tan High School, learning grammar is an important task The students at Canh Tan High School are ethnic minority so they find learning grammar the most challenging to them in acquiring English Therefore, they often raise many questions about how to learn grammar in an effective way Facing these situations, the teachers at Canh Tan High School want to something to change the ways of teaching and learning grammar Therefore, a research has been conducted to find out the current situation of learning English grammar and the difficulties of students in learning English grammar at Canh Tan High School The researcher wishes to help students successfully improve their knowledge and feel more interested in grammar lessons Aims of the study With the rationale above, my study was conducted with the aims: - To investigate the difficulties of 10th form students in learning English grammar - To investigate factors affecting the grammar acquisition - To recommend some solutions for students to overcome these difficulties Research questions The research was carried out with an attempt to find out the answers to the following questions: What are the main difficulties in learning English grammar? What are the causes of these difficulties? What are the suggested solutions to overcome the difficulties? Significance of the study It is hoped that the findings and recommendations of this study will be helpful to the improvement of learning English grammar of Vietnamese students in general and of Canh Tan High School students in particular The study also gives some guidelines for teachers to help their students overcome their grammar learning problems The results of this study may also be useful for those who are interested in this field Methods of the study The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods The instruments were used to collect data from the teachers and students at Canh Tan high school with the intention of addressing the aims of the study Questionnaire instrument was used to investigate the current situation of learning English grammar of students, their difficulties, the causes for the difficulties Class observation was employed to get information about the teacher’s methods and the students’ ways of learning English grammar The researcher observed three lessons at different classes but with only one teacher Scope of the study The study focuses on the learning English grammar of 10th form students in Language Focus lessons in the new standard textbook 10 at Canh Tan High School Design of the study This study is divided into three parts: The first part is “Introduction” In this part the rationale, the aims, research questions, scope, methods, significance and design of the study are presented The second part is “Development”, which consists of four chapters: *Chapter one, “Literature Review”, provides concepts relevant to the study such as the definition of grammar and its role in language teaching and learning, methods of teaching English grammar and factors affecting grammar acquisition *Chapter two, “Methodology”, gives an insight into the research methods to find out the answers to the research questions This chapter also gives brief information on the subjects, the instruments to collect data employed to seek for the answers to the research questions *Chapter three, “Data presentation and Discussion”, presents the data collected from the survey questionnaire, classroom observations and the discussion of these data *Chapter four, “Major findings, discussion and recommendations” – proposes major findings, discussion and some solutions to help students to overcome the difficulties they face when learning English grammar The third part is “Conclusion”, which rounds up the main results of the study, the conclusions, limitation of the study and some suggestions for further study PART B: DEVELOPMENT MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Major findings and discussions From the data collection and analysis, the researcher found out that there are some difficulties in learning English grammar to ethnic students at Canh Tan High School: the students’ difficulties, and the factors that caused these difficulties 1.1 Students’ difficulties From the data analysis, the students’ difficulties can be categorized into the three main problems which are lack of grammar knowledge, lack of motivation and ineffective learning strategies 1.1.1 Lack of grammar knowledge Language knowledge is the foundation of learning English If students’ knowledge of grammar is insufficient, it is probable that their English will be negatively affected by lack of language knowledge We know that fundamental knowledge is one of the essential conditions to a learner to master a new language, but for ethnic minority students, the fundamental knowledge is really a problem Many 10th form students at Canh Tan High School get in trouble with low level of grammar knowledge They often confuse the structures and their uses, such as preposition, tenses of verbs, etc Sometimes they can’t distinguish between English structures and Vietnamese structures Thus lack of fundamental knowledge can reduce English grammar level 1.1.2 Lack of motivation Motivation is related to success in second language learning It plays an important role in any language learning However, the students at Canh Tan High School lack of motivation They have realized the importance of learning English, but they are not motivated in learning it Also, they often feel troublesome, nervous and less concentrative on the grammar lessons In fact, lack of success in doing grammar exercises or get bad marks can cause dispiritedness, and lead to a spiral of expecting failure Consequently, results in their self- confidence in showing off their real ability in practice They learn English because it is a compulsory subject in the curriculum as well as the high school final examminations and not many of them really love English and learn it as a hobby 1.1.3 Ineffective learning strategies Grammar strategies in learning that the students have experienced not meet the demand Because of their low living standard together with poor learning condition at school, students not have any choice of what strategies they should follow to improve their grammar They just passively acquire it like the way they use with other subjects From the classroom observation, the researcher has found that students’ learning strategies are looking at the board or screen, taking note and practising under the teacher’s control They only or react when they are called or requested This means they are passive in learning Although they learnt structures by heart and some of them redo exercises, they not have reference grammar books to at home to understand the structures deeply 1.2 Factors affecting students’ learning The findings showed that the factors came from the teachers, the students, the materials and the classroom itself 1.2.1 Teachers’ factors Although teacher had generally good understandings of new teaching method, the application of this method at Canh Tan High School was still limited due to mixed levels, students’ passive learning styles Firstly, teachers’ boring teaching techniques and activities couldn’t inspire students’ motivation to study Secondly, the overuse of teachers’ talking time certainly decreased chances for students to practise The teachers should bear in mind that in new teaching methods learners are the centre of the class, so the speaking time should be spent more for students, not teachers 1.2.2 Students’ factors Students’ factors consist of their low English grammar knowledge, lack of motivation and passive learning styles Most students agreed that they lacked grammar knowledge from the under classes Motivation is related to success in second language learning In other words, students lacked intrinsic motivation which played an important role in students’ language learning More importantly, from the observation, students were anxious during grammar lessons They were afraid of losing face when making mistakes in front of the teacher and other friends and worried about being called suddenly by the teacher without getting carefully prepared Finally, students’ passive learning styles prevented students from gaining success in learning grammar 1.2.3 Classroom factors Classroom factors played an additional role in students’ learning success Most students preferred a cooperative learning environment to a competitive and stressful one A pleasant and supportive atmosphere could help students feel safe and comfortable to share ideas with friends On the contrary, a tense classroom climate would increase students’ shyness and anxiety Moreover, in classes with students of different levels, lower students were often anxious and even scared of negative judgment by other friends 1.2.4 Materials factors In Vietnamese school systems, all of the students have to use one syllabus To ethnic minority students, this is a factor with two sides, the good side is that students have chance to get the same knowledge, the opposite side is that many structures are learnt in one lesson and most of the structures in English are not similar to those in Vietnamese Furthermore, the students are overwhelmed by many structures they have to learn in one period There seemed to have a big gap between teachers’ and students’ evaluation on tasks Teachers often used activities such as questions and answers and discussion in pair work and group work but students preferred interesting games or funny quizzes Thus, teachers’ activities in the class couldn’t match students’ interests and low participation was an unavoidable problem The tasks in the textbook are not various and motivating enough to attract the students’ interest It is highly expected that teachers should adapt the textbook by adding more interesting activities Recommendations To take advantages of learning grammar in the new textbook, greater efforts should be made on the parts of the teachers and students The following recommendations are listed to be taken to improve the quality of Canh Tan High School students in grammar learning 2.1 For teachers 2.1.1 Adapting and improving grammar materials It is obvious that students differ in their learning styles and ability, therefore, teachers should adopt and adapt grammar materials that match their students’ interest and background since the grammar materials only become stimulating and motivating to the students when they are slightly challenging to what they have already known and suit their interest 2.1.2 Improving teachers’ methods The teachers at Canh Tan High School in general have tried to apply new methods in their English teaching Nevertheless, their insight of new methods is not sufficient, because they have not been trained in new methods sufficiently Seminars, workshops and training courses should be regularly held for the teachers to improve their knowledge on new methods Besides, teachers should make effort to their self-study to gain knowledge In addition, peer observations or even informal talks that allow colleagues from the same working contexts to have the opportunities to exchange ideas, share experiences and innovations is considered to be one of the effective approaches to teachers’ professional development Moreover, teachers should use suitable methods in teaching grammar, such as teaching grammar in context, using funny games, ect; and the students will be more willing 2.1.3 Helping students to be confident The students feel reluctant to show their answers in front of the class due to the lack of confidence, which is also a big obstacle for teaching grammar In order to help students to be effective and confident, first of all teachers need to provide students with as much practice as possible because of the fact that practice will help students feel better prepared and thus more confident The teachers should point out students’ ability; give immediate praise and encouragement so that they will have no fear but enough bravery to stand up and show their answers Moreover, possible feedback from teachers or classmates might be of great help in encouraging and relaxing shy students to be more confident Additionally, teachers should help them by organizing extra learning classes every week In these lessons, teachers teach grammar items which students missed from under classes 2.1.4 Giving homework and checking the previous lesson frequently The researcher has found that one of the causes of difficulties in students’ grammar learning is that the teacher rarely checked the previous lesson, therefore, the students became lazier and their knowledge of grammar get worse Thus, teachers should help students to form a habit of frequent study by giving them a variety of exercises with different levels of difficulty The given exercises must be checked as warm- up activities in the next lesson In this way, students would become more responsible for and interested in their learning 2.1.5 Guiding students’ home revision One of the problems students have is their method of learning at home Most of students under survey revise grammar structures at home by learning by heart Some of them are asked to by their teachers In fact, this way of learning has been proved to be ineffective Students are just able to remember structures for a few days, then they forget many of them Therefore, teachers should instruct them how to revise grammar structures at home Teachers can give students more grammar exercises of different types, such as sentence building, matching, gap – filling, etc This is very necessary because home revision plays an important role in deciding students’ learning result 2.2.For students 2.2.1.Being aware of grammar Students should think about grammar and notice the aspects of English grammar that are the same as or very similar to or different from those in Vietnamese language If students notice grammar similarities and differences, they will probably learn the rules more quickly 2.2.2.Cooperating with teacher and students Students should work well with the teacher in joining discussion, answering questions or giving comments on other students’ answers More importantly, students can take advantage of the teacher’s help in case of meeting new words, pronunciation problems in order to carry out the tasks effectively In addition, students should cooperate and have good relationship with each other such as working together to prepare for the tasks, exchanging the ideas, doing peer correction and giving comments on others’ performance during the lesson 2.2.3.Working meticulously Work on one specific grammar challenge at the time Although students should continually learn different aspects of English grammar, one of the best ways to overcome challenges is to focus on one challenge at a time 2.2.4.Practising and revising Practice and review are ways to help students remember what they have learned Firstly, trying to get an overview of English grammar from the textbook, taking notes the important grammatical points and planning to learn and practising each part of them Secondly, students should plan how to use the grammatical structures they have learned in a day, within one or two weeks Thirdly, students need to practise a grammar point until they can use it easily and fluently, and then find out the next grammar point Besides, they can practise doing grammar exercises 2.2.5.Learning from mistakes Nobody likes making mistakes but it is inevitable when learning a language Identifying and paying attention to common grammar mistakes is a good way in learning grammar If students learn from mistakes correctly, the mistakes can help them improve their learning They must also realize that mistakes are an essential part of self improvement Don’t be overwhelmed with guilt and regret, analyze how they can learn from the mistakes People who speak the same language often make the same mistakes in English grammar For example, many Vietnamese learners have trouble using “hard” and “hardly” PART C: CONCLUSION This chapter comprises the conclusions of the research results After the conclusions have been made, some suggestions for further studies will be made [ Summary of the study Vietnam is a developing country, the teaching and learning situation is improving day by day There are various opportunities for people to improve their knowledge, even though, the difficulties still exist in many places in our country, especially, in mountainous and remote areas like Caobang The study aims to find out difficulties in learning English grammar and the sources of these difficulties as perceived by the 10th grade students at Canh Tan High School This is done with the purpose of helping teachers to foresee the problems and find out ways to solve them The findings show that students have difficulties in learning English grammar From the questionnaire and classroom observation, the researcher found out the main problems that students come up with are students lack fundamental knowledge from under classes, which make them difficult in learning new structures Also, lack of motivation is a core problem for students at Canh Tan High School Most of them are shy and afraid of loosing face when giving wrong answers and they not have a passion for learning English The final problem is that they have not found the effective learning strategies, their ways of learning are passive which make them difficult in remember the structures for a long time In conclusion, the study was carried out to investigate the difficulties in learning grammar at Canh Tan High School It helped the researcher to find out not only the problems but also some main causes of these problems so that we could find out the ways to help students to overcome these problems The study was expected to be a very useful indication for the teachers here to think about the methodology they are applying to teaching English grammar It is hoped that what has been discussed in this study might be beneficial to both teachers and students at Canh Tan High School Also, it is with great hope that the study will be value to those who are concerned with this problem Limitations and suggestions for further study 10 Although the study is clearly and carefully designed and based on reliable data, it has some major limitations Due to the limited time, lack of resources and researcher’s ability weaknesses are unavoidable First, it is the small sample of respondents, i.e the subjects of the questionnaire are 100 students, which may not well represent the whole population of students of the school Second, the questionnaire does not cover all the difficulties in learning grammar Students are given a list of items based on the writer’s own experiences so the results not reflect all the challenges faced by students The study has only mentioned a very small part of the issues related to the learning grammar The suggestions for further researches include the problems in learning Reading/ Listening/ Speaking or Writing of the minority students at Canh Tan High School; the techniques and activities for the minority students which help them improve their English grammar The author hopes that the further studies will overcome all the existing limitation of this study and help to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Canh Tan High School in particular and at other schools in Caobang in general 11 Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! Go to Purchase Now>> AnyBizSoft PDF Merger  Merge multiple PDF files into one  Select page range of PDF to merge  Select specific page(s) to merge  Extract page(s) from different PDF files and merge into one ... difficulties in learning grammar This study aimed to investigate the difficulties in grammar learning perceived by the 10th form students at Canh Tan High School The results of this study show that the students. ..UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LƯU THANH HUYỀN Difficulties of the 10th form Students at Canh Tan high school in Learning Grammar and Some POSSIBLE Solutions. .. Canh Tan high school with the intention of addressing the aims of the study Questionnaire instrument was used to investigate the current situation of learning English grammar of students, their difficulties,