VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - HOÀNG THỊ TÂN THE APPROPRIATENESS OF CLT FOCUS ON FORM INSTRUCTION TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT TO HIEN THANH SCHOOL KHẢO SÁT SỰ PHÙ HỢP VỀ VIỆC DẠY NGỮ PHÁP THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO TIẾP CHO HỌC SINH THPT TẠI TRƯỜNG TÔ HIẾN THÀNH M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Course: K18 (2009 – 2011) Hanoi, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - HOÀNG THỊ TÂN THE APPROPRIATENESS OF CLT FOCUS ON FORM INSTRUCTION TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT TO HIEN THANH SCHOOL KHẢO SÁT SỰ PHÙ HỢP VỀ VIỆC DẠY NGỮ PHÁP THEO ĐƯỜNG HƯỚNG GIAO TIẾP CHO HỌC SINH THPT TẠI TRƯỜNG TÔ HIẾN THÀNH M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Course: K18 (2009 – 2011) Supervisor: Vũ Mai Trang, M.A Hanoi, 2011 ii ABSTRACT The minor thesis is concerned with “ The appropriateness of CLT focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School” It is aimed at finding out the appropriateness of teaching grammar in the light of CLT to students at To Hien Thanh high school in general and students of grade 11 here in particular The objectives of study are to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of CLT focus on form instruction to students; to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach then to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning To achieve the aims and the objectives of the thesis, many references were selected, read and filtered for information The author used Survey questionnaires for teachers and 100 students at To Hien Thanh high school, Class observation, Post-observation interviews All the data collected were consolidated and categorized The results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables and figures The observational notes were jotted down to provide the findings in form of reflections The minor thesis consists of three parts and three chapters Part I is introduction It provides a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aims and the objectives of study, research questions, research methods, context of study, data collection method, scope of study, purpose and significance of study Part II is development Part II consists of three chapters: Chapter I, Literature review, is concerned with definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Form vs Focus on Forms, Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods Chapter II, Research methodology, introduces context of study, methodology, survey instruments, data analysis Chapter III, Findings and discussion, is devoted to a detailed description of findings and the discussion In this chapter, explanation and interpretation of the findings are explored Part III, conclusion, gives a conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and then gives some suggestions for further study iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale………………………………………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of study……………………………………………………………2 Research questions………………………………………………………………………2 Research method……………………………………………………………………… Context of study…………………………………………………………………………3 Data collection method………………………………………………………………… Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………… 8.Purpose and Significance of study………………………………………………… … Design of the study…………………………………………………………………… PART II - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………… I.1 Focus- on- forms vs Focus- on- form……………………………………………… I.1.1 Focus on forms……………………………………………………………….7 I.1.2 Focus on form……………………………………………………………… I.2 Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods………………………………….9 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY II.1 Context of study…………………………………………………………………… 10 II.1.1 The syllabus……………………………………………………………… 10 II.1.2 The participants……………………………………………………… .10 II.1.3 Textbook……………………………………………………………………11 II.1.4 The Socio-cultural environment 13 II Methodology……………………………………………………………………… 13 II The survey instruments…………………………………………………… 13 II.3.1 The questionnaires 13 II.3.2 Classroom observation………………………………………………… 14 II.3.3 The post-observation interviews with two teachers………………….…….15 II.4.Data analysis……………………………………………………………… …… 15 II.5 Summary………………………………………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER III: THE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION iv III.1 Findings and discussions………………………………………………………… 17 III.1.1 The findings from survey questionnaires and discussion…………………17 III.1.2 The findings from classroom observation and discussion…………………25 III.1.3 The findings from post-observation interviews and discussion………… 29 III.2 Summary………………………………………………………………… ……….31 PART III: CONCLUSION Conclusion .33 Suggestions…………………………………………………… ………………………34 Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………… 34 Recommendation for further study………………………………………………… 35 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… I APPENDIXES……………………………………………………………………… III Appendix I Survey questionnaire for teachers.……………………………… III Appendix II Survey questionnaire for students .IV Appendix III Two lesson plans……………………………………………….….VI Appendix IV Interviews…………………………………………………………XII v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching ELT English Language Teaching GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education L1 First Language L2 Second Language vi LIST OF TABLES Number of table Name Page Table Teachers’ teaching experience 19 Table Teacher’s opinions about the role of grammar in teaching English 20 Table Teacher’s opinions about the purpose of grammar in teaching English 21 Table Teacher’s ways of teaching grammar 22 Table Teacher’s ways of correcting students’ mistakes while teaching grammar 23 Table Students’ opinions about grammar lessons at school 24 Table Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of the ways of learning grammar 25 Table The activities you enjoy taking part in when learning grammar 27 Table The ways students want their teacher to correct their mistakes 28 PART I : INTRODUCTION Rationale There is no doubt that English has been used as a tool of communication among native speakers as well as non-native ones No one can deny the important role of English in every field of life Nowadays, the demand for learning English is increasing in Vietnam People learn English for many purposes, such as getting jobs in foreign companies, studying abroad, communicating in English with foreigners, passing exams, etc Learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam Nowadays, teacher not only transfers knowledge but also guides, organizes students’ learning activities The aim of language teaching is to help students understand language as well as use it actively in real life; after a language lesson, students can communicate in English To reach these purposes teachers have to try a lot In fact, at To Hien Thanh high school, teaching English grammar in the light of communication has some problems, such as students’ levels, teachers’ methods, facilities, textbooks, etc Students here are almost bad at English They are lack of knowledge of English: vocabulary, grammar They spend little time on learning English They pay more attention to learning natural science subjects: Maths, Physics, Chemistry Because of students’ bad attitude to learning English, the teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school have many difficulties in applying communicative language teaching Further more, facilities here are not good There are no cassettes to teach listening When teaching listening lessons, teachers have to read tape scripts Students have no chance to practice English in real life, no chance to listen to English from native speakers Besides those reasons, textbook is also a difficult problem for students at To Hien Thanh high school Most tasks in textbooks Tieng Anh 10, 11, 12 are in the light of communication Those tasks give students situations to practise English and require them to use English actively It is very good for students to learn and practise , but for students at To Hien Thanh high school, it is a problem In Vietnam each school year has two semesters Students of secondary schools have at least three English lessons per week They have to take four or five written tests and only one oral test per semester Furthermore, what they learned at secondary school is little In English lessons of high school, teacher almost starts from basic structures and the simplest knowledge With the experience of 18 years working as a teacher of English and of 14 years teaching English at To Hien Thanh high school, the author always concerns with how to help students learn English better, how to motivate them in learning English and how to reach the aim of teaching English in the light of communication Those are the questions the author always thinks of Successful application of CLT requires certain conditions such as class size, language environment, facilities, teachers’ facilitative role, students’ active role, textbook, etc Those things can not be all met in the context of English teaching and learning at To Hien Thanh high school The question of how to equip students with grammatical competence so that they can use the language to communicate in any situation has become a matter of teachers of English in general and teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school in particular For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, The author intends to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien Thanh high school then to give some suggestions to make English teaching and learning activities at To Hien Thanh high school more communicative The author hopes that this study will have some contribution to improving the application of CLT in ELT in general, English grammar teaching in particular at To Hien Thanh high school Aim and objectives of study The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien Thanh school The objectives of study are: First, to investigate contextual factors affecting the application of focus on form approach at To Hien Thanh high school Second, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of the focus on form approach at To Hien Thanh high school Last, to give some suggestions and some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness Research questions: To achieve the aims and the objectives of the thesis, the following research questions were proposed: To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school ? How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school ? What should teachers to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning? Research method The main methods utilized in this study are Survey questionnaires for teachers and students, Class observation, Post-observation interviews with two teachers To carry out the study, many references were selected, read and filtered for information and the following instruments were used Questionnaires: to find out the ways of teaching and learning grammar at To Hien Thanh school Questionnaire for students: to investigate students’ real situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English 3 + Questionnaire for teachers: to get teachers’ opinions about the ways they teach grammar lessons Classroom observation: to clarify and test the validity of information about teaching grammar in the light of communication The author did not observe lessons of all teachers but only two of them who are on behalf of two teaching styles Post-observation interviews with two teachers: the author conducted two interviews with two teachers whose lessons had been observed to get better insights into teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward teaching grammar in the light of CLT Context of study 5.1 The syllabus In this part, only the syllabuses for students of grade 11 are mentioned 5.2 The participants There are two groups of subjects in this study: The first group: teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school They are at the ages of from 33 to 41 with from to 18 years working as teachers of English The second group: 100 students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanh high school They are from17 to18 years old 5.3 The textbook In this study, the author intends to survey only students of grade 11, so the textbook the author considered in this study is Tieng Anh 11 in order to find out whether the tasks in this textbook are appropriate to students of grade 11 at To Hien Thanh high school 5.4 The Socio-cultural environment In this part the author mentions to the Socio-cultural environment in Vietnam in general and at To Hien Thanh high school in particular Data collection method All the data collected from questionnaire for teachers, questionnaire for students, classroom observation, post-observation interviews with two teachers were consolidated and categorized The results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables and figures The observational notes were jotted down to provide the findings in form of reflections teaching at To Hien Thanh high school The subjects of the study are students of grades 11 and teachers of English at this school Scope of the studyThe study only focuses on teaching and learning grammar in the light of communicative language 8.Purpose and Significance of studyThis study is carried out to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh School Successful application of communicative language teaching in teaching grammar not only helps teachers and students in teaching and learning grammar more actively and more effectively but also helps change the students’ learning style from passive to much more active This project can be significant in a number of ways It helps to identify the appropriateness of teaching grammar in the light of communication to students at To Hien Thanh high school and suggests ways of improving students’ communicative competence Design of the study The study consists of three parts and three chapters: Part I: Introduction, provides a general overview of the study with specific references to the rationale, the aims and objectives of study, research questions, research method, context of study, data collection method, scope of study, purpose and significance of study, design of the thesis Part II: Development, includes three chapters: Chapter one: Literature review This chapter provides definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on Forms vs Focus on Form, Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods Chapter two: Research methodology, introduces the context of study, methodology, the survey instruments and data analysis Chapter three: Findings and discussion It is devoted to a detailed description of findings and the discussion In this chapter, explanation and interpretation of the findings are explored Part III: Conclusion, gives conclusion, recommendations, limitations of the study and then gives some suggestions for further study PART II : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides definitions and concepts of the terms: Focus on form vs Focus on forms, Contextual appropriateness of teaching methods I.1 Focus- on- forms vs Focus- on- form I.1.1 Focus on forms I.1.1.1 Definitions of focus on forms I.1.1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of focus on forms I.1.2 Focus on form: I.1.2.1 Definitions of focus on form: I.1.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of Focus on form I Contextual Appropriateness of teaching methods CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This study, as indicated in chapter one, was intended to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh high school The objectives are to investigate the ways of teaching and learning English grammar through communicative activities, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of teaching methods and then to give some suggestions, some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness How to achieve those aim and objectives? In this part the author presents the research methodology chosen and the data collection procedures II.1 Context of study II.1.1 The syllabus II.1.1.1 Course description II.1.1.2 Goals and Objectives II.1.2 The participants II.1.2.1 Teachers: teachers of English II.1.2.2 Students: 100 students of grade 11 II.1.3 Textbook II.1.3.1 The concept of textbooks I.1.3.2 The role of textbooks II.1.3.3 Summary of Adapting the textbook Tieng Anh 11 II.1.4 The Socio-cultural environment I.2 Methodology II.3 The survey instruments II.3.1 The questionnaires II.3.1.1.Questionnaire for teachers II.3.1.2 Questionnaire for students II 3.2 Classroom observation II 3.3 The post-observation interviews with two teachers II Data analysis II Summary CHAPTER III : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION III.1 THE FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION III.1.1 The findings from survey questionnaires and discussion III.1.1.1 Questionnaire for teachers The aim of using Questionnaire for teachers is to get teachers’ opinions about the ways they teach grammar lessons III.1.1.2 Questionnaire for students: The aim of using Questionnaire for students is to investigate students’ real situation of learning English and to explore their expectation in learning English III.1.2 The findings from classroom observation and discussion Unlike the results obtained from the questionnaires, classroom observation gives a clearer picture about the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh school The researcher took observation at two classes 11 The grammar lesson observed was part 5: language focus – Unit 1- Textbook Tieng Anh 11 The author chose one unit conducted at two classes 11 by two teachers using two styles of teaching grammar in order to compare and to evaluate classroom teachers about their instructional practices and to identify examples of best practices in accordance with teaching standards III.1.2.1 Classroom observation (Date: 25th August 2011) III.1.2.1.2 Comment on lesson During 45 minute- classroom observation, the author had the following remarks Firstly, the teacher implemented what she had prepared in the lesson plan Secondly, the teacher let students time brainstorm in both presentation and practice parts It helped students to pay more attention to the lesson Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was deep, especially in the part “grammar” students worked more actively in part1 than in part In general, students were not active in speaking English The teacher almost had to asked and assigned students to answer her questions or to exercises Lastly, the author wants to mention the methods and the activities used in this lesson: it was okay in the part “pronunciation”, in part “grammar”, the teacher spent time introducing the use of infinitive with to and infinitive without to before asking students to exercises in the textbook It means that she used Focus on forms to introduce grammar structure It could be seen from the classroom observation that students were interested in doing exercises but only in writing, not in speaking The teacher asked students to work in pairs, in groups She corrected all students’ spoken and written mistakes III.1.2.2 Classroom observation (Date: 26th August 2011) III.1.2.2.2 Comment on lesson From the stages the second teacher used in teaching grammar lesson above, the author had the following remarks Firstly, she implemented what she had prepared in the lesson plan and guided students to exercises given in the textbook Secondly, the teacher used brainstorming to attract students’ attention to the lesson She introduced concretely the pronunciation of the sounds /dʒ/, / tʃ / in the part pronunciation In the part grammar, she spent time introducing the use of infinitive with to and infinitive without to before asking students to exercises in the textbook but mainly in speaking It means that she used Focus on form and Focus on forms to introduce grammar The teacher asked students to work in pairs, in groups then corrected all students’ spoken and written mistakes Thirdly, the classroom atmosphere was effervescently It could be seen from the classroom observation that students took part in doing exercises actively Fourthly, after presentation and practice parts, the teacher checked up students’ comprehension through further practice It gives students more chance to practice what they have learned and teacher can evaluate how and what students gain after the lesson Lastly, from the beginning to the end of the lesson, the teacher tried to use communicative language teaching in teaching grammar, however it was not very successful because of students’ limitation, such as, ability of communicating in English, poor vocabulary and grammar, there were still students only sitting, listening and writing not participating in speaking English because they did not know how to those exercises, how to express in English III.1.3 The findings from post-observation interviews and discussion The aim of the interviews is to seek for insight into the matter through face to face situation, to get deeper ideas into their understanding of the role of teaching grammar in teaching English, their attitudes to teaching grammar and the ways they teach grammar lessons To conduct interviews, the author used the same four questions to interview two teachers whose lessons had been observed by the author From the information of the interviews, the author can get clearer and deeper ideas about the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students at To Hien Thanh school III.2 SUMMARY This chapter discusses the findings and discussion of the study in order to answer three research questions: (1) To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school? (2) How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school? (3) What should teachers to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning? The findings from classroom observation of two lessons which were conducted by two teachers being on behalf of two methods of teaching grammar give the answer to the first question Teaching English in the light of CLT is applied also in some classes and to some students not to every student Through the applied instruments, the findings also give the answer to the second and the third research questions The followings are the answers: first, applying focus on form instruction in teaching grammar at To Hien Thanh high school is not very successful It seems to be better when teacher applies the combination of two approaches: focus on forms and focus on form; second, almost students learn English to pass written exams so they want to have good basic knowledge of English They not actively take part in communicative activities In addition, the factors limiting applying teaching grammar in the light of communication are class size, limited time allowance, amount of knowledge per 45 minutes The real situation of students at To Hien Thanh high school is that they have wide gaps in English knowledge, their levels are limited The findings of those questions are obtained from the survey questionnaires for teachers of English and 100 students of grade 11; from classroom observation; from the post-observation interviews with two teachers whose lessons had been observed The findings reveal that both teachers and students at To Hien Thanh high school have positive attitude toward grammar teaching and learning They also point out that the biggest aim of teaching and learning grammar is for good results at examination The findings present the teachers’ common method of teaching and the students’ favorite way of learning English grammar It is the combination of both focus on form and focus on forms PART III : CONCLUSION Conclusion In short, due to the economic open-door policy by the Government of Vietnam, the demand for studying English has increased Many people are expected to be competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access modern technology Communicative competence in English language is widely recognized as an advantage of any intellectuals in this competitive era of regional and global integration Besides the aim of passing exams, getting some further studies for 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 good knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or sing English songs, etc As a result, learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people Therefore, it requires teachers of English to find out suitable methods of teaching English in general , and teaching English grammar in particular , to teach students of different levels and to get the aims above In conclusion, the teaching of grammar in the light of CLT is by far, the most challenging task any Vietnamese teacher may face in his/her daily classroom, especially at To Hien Thanh high school The study has been completed with the great efforts to investigate to what extent focus on form instruction is used at To Hien Thanh high school; the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to students, especially to students of grade 11 here then to find out the things the teachers of English at To Hien Thanh high school should to make applying CLT in teaching and learning English have good results and effectiveness 9 To have the data collection, the author used survey questionnaires for teachers and for students; took classroom observation at two classes After classroom observation, the writer conducted two post-observation interviews with two teachers whose lessons had been observed With each instrument of the study, the author had analysis and discussion to make the data collected clearer The aims of those activities are to find out the answers to three research questions of the study: (1)To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school ? (2).How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school ? (3).What should teachers to bring about better results in CLT English language teaching and learning?, in addition, to evaluate contextual appropriateness of teaching methods then to give some suggestions, some solutions of teaching method so that applying CLT in teaching and learning English at To Hien Thanh high school has good results and effectiveness The data collected from questionnaires, classroom observations and post-observation interviews with two teachers were consolidated and categorized From the data collected, the author found the following answers to three research questions First, CLT focus on form instruction is used in teaching grammar at To Hien Thanh high school, but it is not very successful It is only used in some classes and not to all students because of some limitations, such as, class size (there are from 45 to 47 students in one class), students’ levels, teaching equipments, language environment, etc Second, in grammar lessons, teacher often combines Focus on Form and Focus on Forms Students are not active in speaking English although they seem to prefer learning English in the light of CLT The reasons are: many of them are bad at speaking English; their English vocabulary is poor; they are not self-confident; they are shy and afraid of making mistakes Third, to get success in applying CLT focus on form instruction, teacher should create real contexts for students to practise; encourage students to speak English as much as possible; not interrupt students while they are speaking Suggestions When applying CLT in teaching grammar, there is no ready-made recipe for which techniques and activities can work best for which structure, but the primary principle is the use of a variety of techniques and activities to suit students’ different levels and learning styles The second principle is to put communicative activities in real situations with real needs and purposes for communication Limitations of the study Firstly, the study was conducted in a short period of time and confined in a small context, the data collection of the study is restricted Questionnaires for teachers and for students were administered to a limited samples of students, teachers of To Hien Thanh high school(only one hundred students 10 of grad 11and five teachers of English).They can not be represent the whole big population of high school students and English high school teachers Secondly, because of the time limitation, the author observed only two grammar lessons at two classes 11 Therefore two observed grammar lessons can not stand for all grammar lessons Thirdly, the interviews were only carried out with two teachers of English These two teachers of English can not be on behalf of every teachers of English Recommendation for further study We should pay more attention to find out factors making teaching grammar in the light of communication less effective It is hoped that this study will provide a basis for further attempts to investigate the appropriateness of focus on form instruction to high school students 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 ... questions: (1) To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school? (2) How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school? (3) What... To what extent is focus on form instruction used at To Hien Thanh high school ? How appropriate is focus on form instruction to students at To Hien Thanh high school ? What should teachers to bring... To Hien Thanh high school Aim and objectives of study The aim of the study is to find out the appropriateness of focus on form instruction in the light of CLT to high school students at To Hien