Grammar teaching techniques used by native english speaking teachers for 5th graders at vietnam australia school hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION  GRADUATION PAPER GRAMMAR TEACHING TECHNIQUES USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEACHERS FOR TH - GRADERS AT VIETNAM-AUSTRALIA SCHOOL, HANOI Supervisor: Trần Thị Quỳnh Lê, MA Student: Nguyễn Nguyệt Minh Course: QH2012.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI - 2016 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NHỮNG KĨ THUẬT DẠY NGỮ PHÁP ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG BỞI GIÁO VIÊN BẢN NGỮ CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI 5, TRƯỜNG VIỆT – ÚC HÀ NỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: ThS Trần Thị Quỳnh Lê Sinh viên: Nguyễn Nguyệt Minh Khóa: QH2012.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2016 DECLERATION I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Nguyệt Minh, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Supervisor’s signature: ………………………………………… ………………………………………… Date: … /06/2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ms Tran Thi Quynh Le, my supervisor for this graduation thesis As a teacher, instructor and advisor, she is constantly considerate, enthusiastic and helpful to my concerns It is her precious guidance and continuous support that lead me through difficulties and discouraging moments to finish the whole project In addition, I would like to send my great thanks to all research participants including two Australian teachers and all th grade pupils in Vietnam-Australia School, Hanoi They have been always willing to let me observe their classes and spend time sharing their opinions in the interviews and questionnaires Without their valuable contribution, the research would have never been accomplished I also want to thank my family members and 12E1 classmates for creating such a favorable condition for me to carry out my thesis During the last seven months, they have acted as great supporters who always stand by, sympathize with and encourage me to finish the project ii ABSTRACT With an investigation into the techniques that native English – speaking teachers use to teach grammar to grade th students at Vietnam-Australia School, Hanoi, the research aims at: (1) identifying grammar teaching techniques these teachers employ; (2) exploring teachers’ beliefs and (3) students’ opinions towards the used techniques in grammar lessons To achieve the given targets, the research adopts case study research design with various data collection instruments, including classroom observation, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews The result reveals that various grammar teaching techniques are employed in three stages of a grammar lesson: presentation, practice and production While teachers and students share the same views about some techniques, there are still some exceptions, from which pedagogical implications can be drawn to help teachers better prepare for grammar lessons of young learners iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement i Abstract ii List of abbreviations vi List of tables vii List of figures viii PART A INTRODUCTION Rationale of the research Aims of the research Research questions Significance Scope of the research Organization of the paper Method of the research PART B Chapter DEVELOPMENT LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of approaches in English language teaching and the place of grammar in these approaches 1.1.1 Grammar translation method (GTM) 1.1.2 Direct method 1.1.3 Communicative language teaching (CLT) 1.2 An overview of grammar and techniques in teaching grammar iv 1.2.1 Definition of grammar 1.2.2 Components of grammar 1.2.3 Stages in teaching grammar 1.2.4 Techniques in teaching grammar 10 th 1.3 Teaching grammar to graders 12 th 1.3.1 Characteristics of students at grade 12 1.3.2 Ways children learn language 13 1.3.3 The place of grammar in language teaching to young learners 14 1.4 Related studies Chapter 15 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Case study approach 16 2.2 Settings 16 2.3 Participants 18 2.3.1 Native English speaking teachers 18 2.3.2 Grade students 19 2.4 Data collection instruments 20 2.4.1 Observation 20 2.4.2 Semi-structured interview 20 2.4.3 Questionnaire 21 2.5 Data collection procedure 22 2.6 Data analysis method 23 Chapter DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS 3.1 Presentation stage 24 3.1.1 Ways teachers exploit stories to present grammar 24 3.1.2 Teachers’ beliefs 28 3.1.3 Students’ attitudes 29 v 3.2 Practice stage 32 3.2.1 Techniques used in grammar practice stage 32 3.2.2 Teachers’ beliefs 35 3.2.3 Students’ attitudes 36 3.3 Production stage 41 3.3.1 Techniques used in grammar production stage 41 3.3.2 Teachers’ beliefs 42 3.3.3 Students’ attitudes 43 46 Summary PART C CONCLUSIONS Summary of major findings 47 Pedagogical implications 48 Limitations 49 Recommendations for further researches 50 51 REFERENCES APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Observation notes 55 Appendix 2: Interview questions to the teachers 56 Appendix 3: Interview transcripts 57 Appendix 4: Questionnaires to the students (English version) 63 Appendix 5: Questionnaire to the students (Vietnamese version) 66 Appendix 6: Incredible English, class book, p.46 69 Appendix 7: Incredible English, class book, p.47 70 Appendix 8: Incredible English, class book, p.51 71 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VAS Hanoi: Vietnam-Australia School, Hanoi GTM: grammar-translation method DM: direct method CLT: communicative language teaching L2: second or foreign language T: teacher Ss: students %: percent vii LIST OF TABLES Table Name of table Table Basic information of two teachers Page 19 Table Steps of story exploitation in two cases 25 Table Students’ opinions of learning grammar through stories 30 Table Students’ opinions of techniques used in grammar practice stage 37 Table Students’ opinions of techniques used in grammar production stage 43 viii Appendix Interview Transcripts Teacher A: How long have you been teaching English in general / to Vietnamese primary students specifically? I‟ve been teaching English since 2007 I took some time off, so maybe that‟s years in total To Vietnamese primary students, every year except for years I spent in Sweden and in Rwanda, Africa From 2007 to 2010, Vietnam 2011 to 2013, Sweden and Rwanda 2013 to 2016, Vietnam I began teaching at a language center, so I would teach both adults and children I‟ve got to VAS for years, obviously all to young learners So years of full time classroom teaching instead of language center How important you think grammar teaching is to young English learners? I think it‟s really important It‟s the foundation of the language Without understanding grammar, you will have trouble in speaking Beyond very simple things, I think you will trouble in writing, listening, and you aren‟t able to organize the content of the sentence So I think grammar is very important and we can specifically teach grammar I often tell you we‟re not going to teach grammar today but as you can see, grammar always comes up in every lesson because when the children say something, are they saying the correct grammar, so we always work with grammar My observation reveals that your lessons usually start with a story What you think are the advantages of using stories in grammar teaching (to both you and your students)? Do you think the students enjoy this technique? We listen to the story and then we talk about grammar To begin with, grammar can be very tough for young learners because it‟s theory, so the first advantage is that story makes it more exciting The students get to look at the story and something that interests them, so I think that‟s a huge advantage We don‟t have to just say “Well, today we are going to learn too much, too many, here it is, it‟s on the board, now copy this to your book”, it‟s not much fun For example the story about making a pie, kids would like to make a pie We can talk a lot about that, and we can a lot of interesting things about making pies I mean for any subject you‟re teaching, you need to be able to help the kids relate themselves, stories help to that It also helps them to see grammar in action, in context so that they can make their own connection 57 So it keeps us both interested I could go onto the board and I could say “This is this…” but everything in life is better taught by examples, and the stories help to provide examples I mean, if there a better way to teach „too much too many‟ than to bring a cake, real flower, real water and then the kids can see that‟s a great way to learn But the stories may be the next best thing Using stories takes time, sometimes there‟re additional pieces of vocabulary or concepts that I need to explain I mean you‟re testing different skills, the kids are listening and reading the story but the focus is not reading, it‟s the grammar so you don‟t want them to get lost too much in the story Despite that, I think it‟s a good tool Apart from stories, you use any other techniques to present grammar structures th to grade pupils? (using audio, visual aids, texts and dialogues, games,…) Why? How you use them? Can you give some examples? There are so many ways to begin a grammar lessons with, but it really depends on the content and the age group For example, for Grade 2, the story is not good for them so I will use different way For grade 5, sometimes I let them listen to dialogues and then practice the dialogue For example, a dialogue in the restaurant between the waiter and a boy “Would you like some water? – Yes, please, I‟d like some water”, then we look at the dialogue, look at the grammar, practice the dialogue and then produce the dialogue using structures in role-play th While organizing grammar practice activities to grade students, what kind of practice you use more often: controlled (repetition, substitution, transformation, completion, expansion) or guided (through situations, games)? Why? Can you give examples? Controlled is, to begin with, really more about drilling and I guess when I controlled practice, it‟s mainly drilling I really like pair and group work, that‟s also quite controlled because I‟m asking them specific questions and they have small conversation with their friends Both controlled and guided are important and we have to start with controlled practice, that‟s standard But kids prefer guided They prefer games, and I like situations, projects, role play, open speaking If they already the controlled stuff, which means they can master the language, we then give them something that they might enjoy and to use language in context That‟s when they have fun They‟ve got to the drilling first and I try to make it fun, drilling is pretty boring Which one (controlled and guided practice) you prefer to have in your lessons and which one you think is more effective in practicing grammar for the students? Why? Which technique you think the children prefer? 58 Both are important You need controlled practice; you need them to be able to listen to what they say and how they organize the sentence But teaching in general, not just language, children must be able to make connections with everything outside of the classroom I always try to make them use it outside Some students naturally want to, many are shy and don‟t naturally want to speak English, so I give them reasons through guided practice So I think both are important What activities you often have for the production stage? Can you give some examples? Why you choose such activities and what advantages you think th these activities have in teaching grammar to grade ? Do the children enjoy these activities? Yes, like presentation, writing or acting out the story I don‟t the acting out very often because many of the students don‟t get excited by doing that, and I tend to what makes them excited I try to make them happy In the future, I will try to continue doing that, because it tests their reading skills, acting skills It‟s really important for them to get up in front, for me to sit here, so I need to more of that in the future in my class Grade 5, we act out the stories for sure, but they have to treat it seriously and in Vietnam, sometimes it‟s hard to get them treated it seriously Some students are really interested in acting, some are not and they get shy but in general, in the future I will put the kids up to the front more, me sitting here more But rather than have them act, maybe we can think of other ways like have them present and produce the structures they are learning I also try to teach a lot of creative writing I can always teach with my Vietnamese colleague, who also teaches grammar In the past, Vietnamese teachers teach mainly grammar and I focus on speaking, pronunciation and writing But what we find is grammar is the foundation of everything so more is coming back to grammar Now we both teach various things So when we teach grammar, we a lot of work, we worksheets, we books, not very exciting The kids are usually pretty good at that That‟s really controlled As long as they understand the questions, you can check through that very quickly I think Vietnamese kids are very used to doing worksheets, finishing as fast as possible But it‟s really really important, the best thing you can is to challenge them to produce grammar in their writing That‟s when you see the real result of „Can I use grammar in English‟, totally out of controlled situations, totally in context for the purpose of communicating All the stuff on the walls here, and I got more stuff in my office, that‟s all based on structures, grammar that we‟ve learned, we‟ve spoken, we‟ve listened That‟s how we can use it in the writing 59 Teacher B: How long have you been teaching English in general / to Vietnamese primary students specifically? I started teaching in 2004 in Thailand After a couple of years in Thailand I came back to Australia, where I did a 4-year primary teaching degree at the university After that I taught in Australia for about 12 months, then went to the Middle East for year After that I came here to teach and I‟ve been in Vietnam for three and a half years How important you think grammar teaching is to young English learners? Grammar is the glue of the language If you don‟t have the grammar, it‟s hard to use the language It‟s the glue that brings the language together It‟s the foundation; without grammar, it‟s hard to understand what you are going to learn, so again, grammar is very important My observation reveals that your lessons usually start with a story What you think are the advantages of using stories in grammar teaching (to both you and your students)? Do you think the students enjoy this technique? Every unit has a story, so basically we always use stories to start Stories have the context, so they give children an idea of how we use the language, why we use it Otherwise, when you take grammar outside of the story, it‟s hard to teach with no context With the story, at least you can say that‟s how we use language And I think that the children really enjoy the stories It‟s engaging to the students so it also makes teaching easier The students want to learn more and more If we didn‟t have the story, I think the lessons would become boring and some students wouldn‟t understand what we‟re trying to Most of the stories are interesting and quite easy to follow There‟re some stories that are more difficult, for example, Ancient Egypt, which is just too far away with too much vocabulary They take more time And first, we introduce the story, we talk about the story, we try to answer the questions about the story Once the children have the understanding what the story is about, we move to the grammar and how the story works Apart from stories, you use any other techniques to present grammar structures th to grade pupils? (using audio, visual aids, texts and dialogues, games,…) Why? How you use them? Can you give some examples? Mainly stories from the book, that‟s a good way and after the stories, I may have many other activities following 60 th While organizing grammar practice activities to grade students, what kind of practice you use more often: controlled (repetition, substitution, transformation, completion, expansion) or guided (through situations, games)? Why? Can you give examples? I use both They have one activity book and one notebook What I is they use the activity book and I use the notebook I may say, for example, write things you did yesterday in the notebook, then let me see what you‟ve done And I can go over there and make sure that they get the right sentences Besides, I may ask the students to open up the activity book, where there are follow ups to the stories, it helps students review what they‟ve learned So what I use is like conjunction between the activity book and a separate notebook We provide the scaffold, if the children don‟t understand; I might put things on the board and help them understand So it‟s always like the class book followed up by the activity book, which basically tries to ritualize what they‟ve learned into forms For instance, we‟ve talked about nutrients in the class book and after that, I will ask them to the activity book, and also a project on nutrition labels, which again, ritualize what they‟ve learned Lots of time last year, we used to have word tiles, but the problem is that it takes half an hour to cut out and throw the paper away What happened is that one student is done in minutes and says “I‟m finished” So what I is “I want you to write it down, then read it to me, read it to your friends” instead of pieces of paper everywhere, and then I can check it I also may ask students tell me one sentence and if it‟s correct, I give them points Or ask me a question if I that, tell me a sentence which is correct, then they‟ll be given stars We also a lot of role plays, and the students also enjoy doing role plays I‟ll get everyone up and practice the dialogue using the tips in the book and the language from the stories Which one (controlled and guided practice) you prefer to have in your lessons and which one you think is more important in practicing grammar for the students? Why? Which technique you think the children prefer? Both are important You can see in my lesson, students both, exercises in the activity book and role plays with their friends to practice grammar The activity book is important because they need produce an outcome that we can know that the children understand what we‟re trying to teach, otherwise there‟s no evidence, there‟s no proof This is good and role plays and games are good, too What activities you often have for the production stage? Can you give some examples? Why you choose such activities and what advantages you think 61 th these activities have in teaching grammar to grade ? Do the children enjoy these activities? This stage is, again, very important because we can see whether the students can use the language At the end of each unit, there are always projects involving a topic that relates to the grammar as well For instance, the topic is Nutrition, grammar is about “How much, how many” What the students may have to is to ask others using structures “How much, how many” and write down the information about the food label And the children enjoy the projects, especially girls When they see that they finally can use the language, they are more engaged They can be creative and I try to reward them Doing projects always take time and sometimes we run out of time, but I learn from experience I guess, so I try to manage the time better next time 62 Appendix 4: Questionnaires to the students (English version) Dear students, My name is Nguyen Nguyet Minh, a fourth-year student in Faculty of English language teacher education, University of languages and international studies, Vietnam National University I am doing research on “Techniques used by native English speaking teachers to teach grammar to 5th graders at Vietnam-Australia School, Hanoi” I would be very grateful if you could spend time completing this survey All feedback and information you provide will be kept confidential, so please answer this as accurately and sincerely as possible Thanks for your cooperation Wish you a happy new year and an exciting semester! Personal information Full name: …………………………………… Class: ……………… Years of studying English: Your attitude towards the techniques used by native teachers in grammar lessons For each of the following statement, please rate your level of agreement by putting a tick √ in one of the five boxes No Content Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly disagree agree Grammar presentation I like learning grammar through stories I think learning grammar through stories is interesting I think learning grammar through stories is effective Grammar practice I like practicing grammar by drilling I think practicing grammar by 63 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 drilling is interesting I think practicing grammar by drilling is effective I like practicing grammar by doing grammar exercises in the activity book I think practicing grammar by doing grammar exercises in the activity book is interesting I think practicing grammar by doing grammar exercises in the activity book is effective I like practicing grammar by playing games I think practicing grammar by playing games is interesting I think practicing grammar by playing games is effective I like practicing grammar by speaking in pairs I think practicing grammar by speaking in pairs is interesting I think practicing grammar by speaking in pairs is effective I like practicing grammar by making sentences I think practicing grammar by making sentences is interesting I think practicing grammar by making sentences is effective Grammar production I like producing grammar through role-plays I think producing grammar through role-plays is interesting I think producing grammar 64 22 23 24 25 26 27 through role-plays is effective I like producing grammar through presentation I think producing grammar through presentation is interesting I think producing grammar through presentation is effective I like producing grammar through open writing I think producing grammar through open writing is interesting I think producing grammar through open writing is effective Thank you very much! 65 Appendix 5: Questionnaires to the students (Vietnamese version) Xin chào con, Cô Nguyễn Nguyệt Minh, sinh viên năm thứ tư khoa Sư phạm Tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội Cô tiến hành nghiên cứu đề tài “Những kĩ thuật dùng giáo viên ngữ việc giảng dạy ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp trường Việt-Úc Hà Nội” Cô cảm thấy biết ơn dành thời gian hoàn thành điều tra Mọi ý kiến thông tin cung cấp giữ kín hồn tồn, mong vui lòng trả lời cách đầy đủ, xác chân thực Cảm ơn hợp tác tất Chúc năm vui vẻ học nhiều niềm vui! Thông tin cá nhân Họ tên: …………………………………… Lớp: ……………… Con học Tiếng Anh được…… năm Điều tra yêu thích kĩ thuật giảng dạy ngữ pháp giáo viên ngữ Ở dòng đáp án, vui lịng đánh dấu √ vào mà thấy với suy nghĩ STT Nội dung Không Không đúng Giới thiệu ngữ pháp Con thích học ngữ pháp qua truyện Con thấy học ngữ pháp qua truyện thú vị Con thấy học ngữ pháp qua truyện hiệu Luyện tập ngữ pháp Con thích luyện tập ngữ pháp 66 Bình Khá thường Rất 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 cách đọc theo thầy / thay phận câu nói thầy / trả lời câu hỏi thầy lớp Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách đọc theo thầy / thay phận câu nói thầy / trả lời câu hỏi thầy lớp thú vị Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách đọc theo thầy / thay phận câu nói thầy / trả lời câu hỏi thầy lớp hiệu Con thích luyện tập ngữ pháp cách làm tập phiếu tập Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách làm tập phiếu tập thú vị Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách làm tập phiếu tập hiệu Con thích luyện tập ngữ pháp cách chơi trò chơi Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách chơi trò chơi thú vị Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách chơi trò chơi hiệu Con thích luyện tập ngữ pháp cách thực hành nói theo cặp / nhóm Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách thực hành nói theo cặp / nhóm thú vị Con thấy luyện tập ngữ pháp cách thực hành nói theo cặp / nhóm hiệu Con thích vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết câu Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết câu thú vị 67 18 Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết câu hiệu Vận dụng ngữ pháp 19 Con thích vận dụng ngữ pháp diễn kịch / hội thoại theo tình Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp diễn kịch / hội thoại theo tình thú vị Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp diễn kịch / hội thoại theo tình hiệu Con thích vận dụng ngữ pháp cách thuyết trình miệng Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách thuyết trình miệng thú vị Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách thuyết trình miệng hiệu Con thích vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết đoạn văn Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết đoạn văn thú vị Con thấy vận dụng ngữ pháp cách luyện viết đoạn văn hiệu 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 37 Cảm ơn nhiều! 68 Appendix 6: Incredible English, class book, p.46 69 Appendix 7: Incredible English, class book, p.47 70 Appendix 8: Incredible English, class book, p.51 71 ... investigation into the techniques that native English – speaking teachers use to teach grammar to grade th students at Vietnam- Australia School, Hanoi, the research aims at: (1) identifying grammar teaching. .. learners‟ attitude towards these techniques Aims of the research The research aims at investigating native teachers? ?? and primary English learners‟ attitude towards grammar teaching techniques used at. .. teaching techniques employed by native English speaking teachers in Vietnam- Australia Hanoi School The population of this research is manageable with two Australian teachers and 41 pupils from