Some suggested communicative activities to teach grammar for 10th form english classes

VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ==== ==== SOME SUGGESTED COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR FOR 10TH FORM ENGLISH CLASSES (GỢI Ý MỘT VÀI HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP CHO VIỆC DẠY NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH LỚP 10) GRADUATION THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Student: HOÀNG THỊ HÀ, 47A1_ENGLISH Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN LAM, M.A VINH, 2010 i VINH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ==== ==== HOÀNG THỊ HÀ SOME SUGGESTED COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR FOR 10TH FORM ENGLISH CLASSES (GỢI Ý MỘT VÀI HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP CHO VIỆC DẠY NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH LỚP 10) GRADUATION THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY VINH, 2010 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My assignment would not have been completed without the valuable assistance and encouragement of many people for whom I am grateful including my teacher, my parents and my friends First, I would like to express my deep thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Van Lam, M.A who gave me valuable advice, guidance, suggestions, and support I also want to give my sincere thanks to all teachers in the foreign language department of Vinh university for their lectures and advice which are very useful foe me to finish the study Furthermore, to complete this thesis, I cannot forget the support and encouragement from my family and my good friends Finally, I wish to thank teachers and students in Phan Thuc Truc School, who took part in my survey estimatedly Although the study has been done with all my attempts, my limitations of ability and knowledge may cause mistakes in the study Therefore, I would like to receive any remarks and comment from anyone on my study Vinh, May 2010 Hoang Thi Ha iii TABLE OF CONTENT Page VINH, 2010 i VINH, 2010 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iii LIST OF FIGURES vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .5 1.1 English Grammar .5 1.1.1 Definition of Grammar 1.1.2 Grammatical Structure .5 1.1.3 The role of Grammar in Learning Language 1.2 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 1.2.1 Characteristics of CLT .7 1.2.2 Teacher Roles in CLT 1.2.3 Learner Roles in CLT 10 1.3 Teaching Grammar in CLT 11 1.3.1 Grammar in CLT 11 1.3.3 Common Procedure in Teaching a New Structure 13 1.3.4 Some Techniques in Teaching Grammar .15 CHAPTER 2: REAL SITUATION OF TEACHING 17 AND LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT PHAN THUC TRUC HIGH SCHOOL .17 2.1 Overview about Learning and Teaching grammar in Vietnamese High School 17 2.1.1 Teaching Grammar at Vietnamese High School 17 2.1.2 Content of Grammar in the English 10th Form Textbook .18 2.1.3 Some Comments on Grammar Exercises and Activities in High School Text books for 10th Form 19 2.2 Real Situation of Learning and Teaching English Grammar at Phan Thuc Truc High School .20 2.2.1 Background Setting 20 2.2.2 The Real Situation of Learning and Teaching Grammar .20 2.3 Survey on Teaching and Learning English Grammar at Phan Thuc Truc High School 22 2.3.1 Aims of the Survey 22 2.3.2 Survey Setting 22 2.3.3 Description of the Survey Questionnaire .22 2.3.4 Results of the Survey .23 2.4 Summary 36 CHAPTER 3: SOME SUGGESTED COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR FOR 10TH FORM ENGLISH CLASSES .37 3.3.1 Information Gap .38 3.3.2 Communicative Drills 40 3.3.3 Reconstruction Activity 40 3.3.4 Chain Drill Activity 42 3.3.5 Telling Story .43 3.3.6 Picture Dictation 44 iv 3.3.7 Chain Story 45 3.3.8 Responding game 46 3.3.9 Don’t say “yes” or “no” game .47 3.3.10 Matching game .47 PART 3: CONCLUSION 49 REFERENCES 52 v ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching vi LIST OF FIGURES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iii LIST OF FIGURES vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT PART 3: CONCLUSION 49 REFERENCES 52 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION Reasons for Choosing the topic The more society develops, the more important part communication plays in every field of life: home school, work and beyond Through communication, we can change our thoughts, opinions, and information by speech, writing or signs It is only through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur Therefore, the author has really been interested in communication in learning language through which people of different nations can communicate or exchange the materials and spiritual values, make their knowledge and culture richer and more diversified Aware of language’s function as a means of communication, many researchers have been involved in the study of how to develop communication to language learners This is the first time the author has had a chance to learn “Language teaching theory” and she has found that it is a very important material for everyone who becomes teacher of English since it is a good way to help learners practice communicative skills Nowadays, English is considered as an international language and is an obligatory subject in high school Together with teaching language skills such as speaking, writing, listening and reading the role of grammar is undeniable In fact, learners are taught grammar to serve language skills learning Without the basic knowledge of grammar, students find it difficult to develop the others Because of the writing forms of examination in most high school, much of grammatical knowledge is emphasized However, many students are still afraid of and bored with foreign language lessons, especially grammar lessons because in these periods, they seem to be passive and learn by heart many grammatical rules Different from traditional method, which overemphasizes with grammar, communication now is the main goal of learning English Actually, in spite of good grammar knowledge, many students are not able to express themselves well as what they in written form That is a serious problem Why students fail in communicating? How teachers apply communicative language teaching in grammar lessons? What activities can help them to motivate in communication? These questions are many people’s concern Being a student of English now and a teacher of English in the near future, the author considers that applying communicative activities in grammar lessons is very important In order to make teaching of English in general and grammar lessons in particular more interesting and practical to pupils, the author has tried to the research into “Some Suggested Communicative Activities to Teach Grammar for 10 th Form English Classes” Aims and Objectives of the Study The study is conducted with the following aims: - To help teachers aware of the importance of grammar and applying activities to teach grammar communicatively - To get some information about the real situation of teaching and learning grammar with creating and applying activities - To suggest some useful activities to motivate students and improve the ability of communication for learners in grammar lessons In order to fully achieve these aims, the study answers the following questions: - What is grammar and how to teach English grammar communicatively? - What is real situation of teaching and learning English grammar at Phan Thuc Truc High School? - What are communicative activities to be applied in grammar lessons? Scope of the Study The aim of the study is to suggest some activities to teach grammar communicatively The study is investigated in three classes: 10C2, 10C7, 10C9 at Phan Thuc Truc High School to find out the real situation of learning and teaching grammar as well as activities used Based on that, the author points out some activities to teach grammar communicatively This is suitable for the results of the survey and knowledge of 10th form students Methods of the Study To finish this study, the author has used quantitative and qualitative approaches - Firstly, the author collects the materials, which refer to CLT, grammar and communicative activities in English grammar classes - After that, she conducts a survey to get information about the real situation of teaching and learning English grammar at Phan Thuc Truc High School - Next, she analyzes and synthesizes the collected data - Finally, she discusses the suggested activities to teach grammar for 10 th form classes Design of the Study The study consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion “INTRODUCTION” presents the information about the reasons for choosing the topic, the aims of the topic, the scope of the study, the method of the study and the design of the study The second part “DEVELOPMENT” comprises three chapters Chapter 1Theoretical Background discusses some main points relating to the topic This chapter consists of the general definition of grammar, grammatical structure and its importance in learning language, CLT with some main characteristics, teacher’s roles and learners’ roles and teaching grammar in CLT, which includes the procedure, common principles, and some techniques Chapter is titled “Real Situation of Teaching and Learning English Grammar at Phan Thuc Truc High School” In this chapter, the author mentions about overview of learning and teaching grammar in Vietnamese High School, the situation of teaching and learning reading at Phan Thuc Truc High School Chapter 3 ... entitled ? ?Some Suggested Communicative Activities to Teach Grammar for 10th Form English Classes? ?? It is the main content of the study, which provides some suggested activities with the aim to motivate... 36 CHAPTER 3: SOME SUGGESTED COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES TO TEACH GRAMMAR FOR 10TH FORM ENGLISH CLASSES .37 3.3.1 Information Gap .38 3.3.2 Communicative Drills... more interesting and practical to pupils, the author has tried to the research into ? ?Some Suggested Communicative Activities to Teach Grammar for 10 th Form English Classes? ?? Aims and Objectives