Using communicative grammar tasks to teach english to 10th graders a study at a high school in quảng bình province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY HOANG VAN PHUC USING COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR TASKS TO TEACH ENGLISH TO 10th GRADERS: A STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN QUẢNG BÌNH PROVINCE MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY HOANG VAN PHUC USING COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR TASKS TO TEACH ENGLISH TO 10th GRADERS: A STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN QUẢNG BÌNH PROVINCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Tran Ba Tien, Ph.D Nghe An, 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis and that I have not used any other sources more than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references I further declare that I have not submitted this thesis at any other institution in order to obtain a degree Nghe An, July, 2019 Author Hoang Van Phuc ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been accomplished without the assistance, support, and encouragement of many people in my life Firstly, I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my supervisor, Ph.D Tran Ba Tien who patiently revised each chapter of this thesis and provided invaluable direction and support throughout my thesis writing process I have been blessed to have such a brilliant supervisor to help me Without his guidance and persistent help, this thesis would not have been successful Secondly, I would like to thank all teachers at Le Quy Don high school where the investigation was carried out for their endless enthusiasm, valuable advice and great cooperation I would not have been able to conduct this study without the active participation of students Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my colleagues, friends and especially my beloved family who have been my sources of strength and their love gave me forces to make this work Thanks to them for providing me with their care, attention and never-ending support iii ABSTRACT This study is concerned with communicative tasks in teaching grammar as an effective method to create students’ motivation, facilitate students’ grammar acquisition and improve students’ speaking skill The benefits of using communicative tasks are affirmed again in this thesis through the former grammarians’ studies and the research carried out at Le Quy Don High School, Quang Binh Province The instruments of collecting the data were questionnaires, class observation and interview The data from the analysis questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively by calculating the percentage of each answer on the questionnaires To measure the participants’ grammar acquisition and speaking accuracy, a pretest and a posttest of English were used to have necessary findings and analysis The study shows that this approach can be applied to the high school’s students The experimental group students outperformed the control group students to use language in context In other words, the communicative grammar tasks are valuable assets for language classroom Besides being a valuable way to combine meaningful communication and focus on form, they seem to be considered as fun and interesting activities Research shows that all the above factors can improve students’ short and long-term motivation and have a positive impact on students’ language acquisition iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 The aims of study 1.3 The research questions 1.4 The scope of study 1.5 The method of study 1.6 The organization of study CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 The Previous Studies Related to the Thesis 2.2 Grammar Teaching 2.3 Communicative Grammar Teaching (CGT) 14 2.4 Communicative Grammar Tasks 25 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 36 3.1 Overview 36 3.2 Participants 36 3.3 Data collection instruments 36 3.4 Procedure 38 v CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 40 4.1 Students' attitudes toward the use of communicative grammar tasks 40 4.2 Students’grammar acquisition and effects on students’ speaking accuracy 50 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 59 5.1 Conclusion 59 5.2 Some suggestions for teaching English with Communicative Grammar Tasks 60 5.3 Limitations 62 5.4 Further research 62 REFERENCES 64 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS 71 APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS 72 APPENDIX PRE - TEST 73 APPENDIX POST - TEST 78 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The standard deviation score of English test by the control group and the experimental group 53 Table 4.2 The comparison of the score between the control group and the experimental group before and after the test 56 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1.The importance of using communicative tasks to learn grammar 41 Figure 4.2 The communicative tasks encouraging students to use the target language comes 17 A being B be C been 18 A has B have C had 19 A were B is C are 20 A or B if C but 21 A them B him C us 22 A from B by C to 23 A the B a C any 24 A are B is C has been 25 A on B at C with 77 PART QUESTIONS 26-35 Complete the letter Write ONE word for each space 28 Long Road Brighton 22nd March Dear Pat, I arrived (Example: …here…) three weeks ago I’m studying at a language school …(26)… Brighton The students come …(27) Many different countries and I ……(28)… made a lot of new friends There …(29)… classes for five hours every day I like …(30)… teacher very much …(31)….name is John and he helps me …(32)… I make a mistake I want …(33)… Visit London next weekend because I …(34)… Going back to my country on Monday Can I see you there? Please write to …(35)… soon With best wishes from Maria 78 APPENDIX POST - TEST Time: 45 minutes PART QUESTIONS 1-5 Which notice (A-H) says this (1-5)? EXAMPLE ANSWER You cannot have a cigarette You can get a car at any time H TOMATO JUICE A 10% extra- You pay the same price but get more B FREE NO RIGHT TURN In the evening, children may not C come in $3.00 D There are two prices for tickets You can buy food here on Sunday Admission: $ 6.00 Schoolchildren, Students and RR Over 65s: E F Pat’s Pizza Place Open 12 noon till late Seven days a week Beach Umbrellas For Hire YELLOWBIRD TAXIS 24-hour service G 7.30 p.m-9.30 p.m 24-hour service Adult Swimming Only H NO SMOKING SECTION SEESECTION SECTION ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY HOANG VAN PHUC USING COMMUNICATIVE GRAMMAR TASKS TO TEACH ENGLISH TO 10th GRADERS: A STUDY AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN QUẢNG BÌNH PROVINCE Field:... This study is concerned with communicative tasks in teaching grammar as an effective method to create students’ motivation, facilitate students’ grammar acquisition and improve students’ speaking... questionnaires To measure the participants’ grammar acquisition and speaking accuracy, a pretest and a posttest of English were used to have necessary findings and analysis The study shows that this approach