MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ LÊ HẰNG APPLYING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO THE 10TH GRADERS AT NGUYEN SY SACH HIGH SCHOOL MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHỆ AN - 2014 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ LÊ HẰNG APPLYING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO THE 10TH GRADERS AT NGUYEN SY SACH HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching English to Speakerss of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr NGƠ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG Nghệ An - 2014 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Author Nguyen Thi Le Hang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful for many people who have helped me much to complete this M.A thesis First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, who has given me great deal of support and encouragement to this research Without his experienced and enthusiastic guidance, his valuable suggestions and comments, my thesis would not have been completed All the MA lecturers who have been teaching K20 MA course in Vinh University, Nghe An, and the post-graduate staff for their legitimate contributions to the success of the course Very special thanks are due to my colleagues, friends and students who took part in the experiment in contributing to the data collection presented in this study Last but not least I am also deeply indebted for my family Especially my mother, who helped me to look after my little son, and has been encouraging me during a time of three years learning this M.A course Thanks to my husband, who has given me so much love, encouragement, and great supports during my studying time ii ABSTRACT This study was conducted to seek the answers to the questions of what students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through task-based instruction (TBI) and is students' grammaticality better as measured by their test scores than it is taught in the traditional focus-on-forms methods Moreover, the English language teaching in general and teaching grammar in particular according to the TBI leave much room to be desired Especially, the use of TBI techniques in teaching grammar is still far from being satisfactory In addition, this study also attempts to search for some motivating techniques to highly engage students at Nguyen Sy Sach (NSS) high school This thesis is concerned about the frequency and purposes of using TBI in teaching grammar to the 10 th students at Nguyen Sy Sach high school as well as the problems arising from this and makes some suggestions as a view to help teachers reduce difficulties and make their lessons more effective The suggestions come from the real need of both learners and teachers identified from the survey, which was carried out with 10 teachers at NSS high school The questionnaire collected information to see if the teachers had the knowledge of TBI, which tasks and how often they applied in teaching grammar in the class, and for what purposes Besides, the survey also concerned about possible difficulties the teachers had to face with during the teaching process In order to justify the results obtained from the questionnaire, three class observations of three teachers were conducted Furthermore, to know whether or not teach grammar to high school students through task-based instruction is more effective or not, this study was also carried out with the participation of 60 tenth graders who were non-randomly chosen from one Natural Science class and one Social Science class at NSS upper secondary school In the totality of 60 students, 30 students who were from the 10 Natural Science Stream class took part in the experimental group and were taught by a new method, i.e teaching grammar through communicative tasks In contrast, 30 students who were from the 10 Social Science Stream class took part in the iii control group and were taught by a very traditional method The pretest and posttest were designed and conducted on these students in order to test their grammaticality before and after experiment which took place for months Both pretest and posttest scores were used to measure the impact of the treatment The present study shows that this approach can be applicable to the high school context, but its impact may not be greater than the traditional approach It can be concluded that teaching grammar through communicative tasks may not be more effective to the development of students' grammatical competence than the traditional approach to teaching grammar The students' positive attitudes towards this approach to teaching grammar encourage teachers try to apply this approach in their classrooms However, it's up to the teacher to decide whether they would prefer to adapt the grammar in the textbook in order to teach it through communicative tasks or not Factors to be considered in applying the task-based approach to teaching grammar include students' proficiency in English and the nature of the target grammatical item to be taught according to the syllabus It is hoped that this study will be of use in enhancing teaching grammar to the 10th students Nguyen Sy Sach high school iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the Study 1.3 Scope of the Study .3 1.4 Research Questions 1.5 The Organization of the Study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Previous Studies Related to the Thesis 2.2 The Importance of Grammar in Language Teaching and Learning 2.2.1 Definitions of grammar 2.2.2 Role of grammar in English language teaching and learning 2.2.3 The importance of teaching grammar 2.2.4 Approaches to grammar instruction 11 2.2.4.1 Deductive and Inductive approaches 11 2.2.4.2 Different approaches to grammar teaching .13 2.3 A Brief Review of Task-based Language Learning 14 2.4 Tasks 15 2.4.1 Defining tasks 15 2.4.2 Characteristics of Tasks 16 2.4.3 Classifying task 16 2.5 Task-based language teaching 18 2.5.1 What is TBLT? 18 2.5.2 Definition of task 20 2.5.3 Principles of the TBLT approach .22 2.5.4 The basic characteristics of TBLT 22 2.5.5 A framework for task-based learning .23 2.5.6 Studies on TBLT 25 2.6 Task-based grammar teaching 27 2.6.1 Why task-based grammar teaching 27 2.6.2 Steps in Task-based grammar teaching 29 2.6.2.1 Pre-task 29 2.6.2.2 Task 29 2.6.2.3 Post-task 29 2.6.3 Characteristics of the Task-based Grammar Class 30 2.6.4 Studies on Task-based grammar teaching 31 2.7 Summary 32 CHAPTER RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .33 v 3.1 Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at Nguyen Sy Sach High School (NSSHS) 33 3.1.1 The school context 33 3.1.2 The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its Language Focus section 34 3.1.3 Design of the study 35 3.2 Methodology 35 3.2.1 Participants .35 3.2.1.1 Teachers .35 3.2.1.2 Learners .36 3.2.2 Data collection instruments 37 3.2.2.1 Survey questionnaire 37 3.2.2.2 Classroom observation 38 3.2.2.3 Interview 38 3.2.2.4 Data collection procedure 39 3.2.2.5 Data analysis procedure .39 3.3 Conclusion .40 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41 4.1 Findings 41 4.1.1 Results from the three first research questions 41 4.1.2 Results from classroom observations .45 4.2 Findings of the study 47 4.2.1 Difficulties from the teachers 47 4.2.1.1 Teachers’ misconceptions about TBI 47 4.2.1.2 Deficiency in speaking English 48 4.2.2 Difficulties from the learners 48 4.2.3 Difficulties from the education systems 49 4.2.3.1 Class size 49 4.2.3.2 Poor teaching condition .50 4.2.3.3 The testing system .51 4.3 Procedures of Task as well as findings and discussion aimed at the two last questions 51 4.3.1 The tasks 52 4.3.1.1 Pre-task (Warm up) Introduction to topic and tasks 52 4.3.1.2 Task 53 4.3.1.3 Post task .54 4.3.2 Findings 54 4.3.2.1 Comparison of the pretest and posttest scores, the gain values between the two groups 55 4.3.2.2 Subjects' attitudes towards the new teaching method - teaching grammar through tasks 58 4.3.3 Discussion 61 4.3.3.1 The impact of TBLT on grammar acquisition 61 4.3.3.2 Students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through tasks 62 4.4 Summary 64 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 65 5.1 Some recommendations 65 vi 5.2 Limitations of the study 65 5.3 Conclusion .66 REFERENCES 68 APPENDIX 73 vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10 NSC 10 Natural Science class 10 SSC 10 Social Science class EFL English as Foreign Language ELT English language Teaching ESL English as Second Language FLTL Foreign Language Teaching and Learning M Mean No Number NSS High School Nguyen Sy Sach High School NSSUSS Nguyen Sy Sach Upper Secondary School SD Standard Deviation SPSS Statistic Package for Social Science TBI Task-based Instruction TBLT Task-based Language Teaching TBT Task-based Teaching TGTCT Teaching Grammar through Communicative Tasks viii II Match the phrase in column A with the phrase in column B Jane is going to study a two days walking in the countryside I will visit my old friends b she asked when the office closed She used to play volleyball c you should practice it everyday “When does the office close?” d if you learnt hard Tiffy is 70 years old and she does not know e when she has free time Their parents are going to spend f when I have enough time Are they going to buy a house? g they are going to buy a car You would be a good students h science and math in England If you want to speak English fluently i when she was young 10 She often goes shopping k what she is going to III Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first one Do not change the word given You can nothing to make me change my mind Is There .to make me change my mind I have never seen a bigger dog than that one Ever That is the seen I think you should join a health club Were If join a health club Last month I did not go on holiday because I had to look after my dog Looked If on holiday Perhaps nobody else wants to make friends with her, so I might write to her Will If nobody else write to her It would be a good idea to invite him to your birthday party Should I think you to your birthday party He is still interested in playing sports in spite of his old age Although He is still………………………………………………old I wish I had not told him what we were planning to this evening Regret I …………………………………………….………….for this evening My mother never lets me make noise in the house Allowed I ……………………………………………………………in the house 10 "I will lend you some money" said my mother Promised My mother…………………………………………………some money IV Write sentences using the words given It/cold/us/have/breakfast/garden …………………………… you/ see/ garden/ its best/ if you/ be here/ last week you/ too young/ have/ front-door the book/ write/ by/ famous/ Vietnamese author Tell me/ way/ post office? V Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tenses I (like) ………………… English all my life They (be)……………………unemployed since they left London When I (be) ………… a child, I liked sweet food He (learn)……………………… a lot in his job My friend Lan and I (know) ………………… each other for ages Appendix The posttest Post-test I Choose the best answer for these following sentences “We need some more wine for the party” “Do we? Well, I and buy some” a will go b am going c am going to go d go “I am bored” “I will go out with you tonight” “No, thanks, I out with Tomy tonight” a will have gone b will go c am going to go d go I think the door locked, but I will just go and make a sure b it c open d check In the evening I often listen music for relaxing a in b to c for d at he works as hard as he used to a Although his older b Because of he is old c In spite of his age d as aging I can not force you to learn English but I think you a should b can not c should have d should be I had enough money to buy whatever I like a only if b if only c as if d if I have idea Everything depends on your decision a an b no article c the d a Unfortunately, I don’t know Philosophy, so I can’t answer your question a If I know Philosophy, I can answer your question b If I know Philosophy, I will be able to answer your question c If I knew Philosophy, I would be able to answer your question d If I had known Philosophy, I would have been able to answer your question 10 Jessi a beauty contest next month She everything ready with excitement at the moment a is going to take part in/ is making c is taking/ will make b will take part in/ is going to make d take/ makes II Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tenses She (read) ……………… a lot of books this year When he was ten he (run)………………………… away from home I (stay) …………………….with my friends while I was in India While I (do) ………………homework, he came Since my father retired, he (write)…………… three books I (like) ………………… English all my life They (be) …………………… unemployed since they left London When I (be) ………… a child, I liked sweet food He (learn)……………………… a lot in his job 10 My friend Lan and I (know) ………………… each other for ages III Make questions for underline parts of the following statements Everyday he goes to school on foot ………………………………………………………………………………… He lives in a small house in a small village …………………………………………………………………………………… The doctor will come here at o' clock this afternoon …………………………………………………………………………………… He went to the market to buy some food …………………………………………………………………………………… He was sad because he lost his money ……………………………………………………………………………………… Yes, I was ill last Sunday ……………………………………………………………………………………… He went out when the sky was dark …………………………………………………………………………………… I went to the post office to buy some stamps yesterday afternoon …………………………………………………………………………………… No, I not like cat at all …………………………………………………………………………………… 10 I often visit my grandmother once a month ……………………………………………………………………………………… IV Write sentences using the words given Mistakes/ should/ correct/ before/ you/ hand in/ paper English/ teach/ almost/ everywhere/ Vietnam/ nowadays I wish/ not have/ much work/ Book/ I/ borrow/ last week/ useful? ……………………………………………………………………………………… Unless/ nobody/ send / doctor/child/ he / die ………………………………………………………………………………… V Answer the following questions What would you if you were a billionaire? Where did you go last night? How long have you waited for your exam result? Where would you have gone if you had been free last Sunday? …………………………………………………………………………………… What should you when your friends fail the exam? …………………………………………………………………………………… Appendix The Post-program questionnaire for the experimental students (Vietnamese version) Trong tuần qua em học ngữ pháp theo cách Để giúp cô giáo đánh giá cách dạy đó, em cho biết ý kiến em cách trả lời câu hỏi Vì câu hỏi nhằm mục đích nghiên cứu, câu trả lời em quan trọng cơng trình nghiên cứu nên mong em trả lời suy nghĩ cách đánh dấu tích vào chọn (đồng ý, không đồng ý không bày tỏ ý kiến) Các liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu, khơng mục đích khác Chân thành cảm ơn em! Theo em cách dạy ngữ pháp cô Ý kiến đồng ý ý kiến học từ trước Giúp em làm tập ngữ pháp tốt Giúp em nói tiếng Anh tự tin Giúp em viết tiếng Anh ngữ pháp Không giúp em học ngữ pháp tốt cách dạy 10 ý Làm cho học ngữ pháp thoải mái Giúp em học ngữ pháp hiệu Giúp em nhớ lại vốn từ vựng tốt Giúp em nhớ lại cấu trúc ngữ pháp đuợc Đồng Khơng Khơng có cũ Rất khó em Chỉ phù hợp với bạn học giỏi Em cho cô biết lý em thích cách dạy cơ? Em cho cô biết lý em khơng thích cách dạy cơ? Em có thích cô tiếp tục cách dạy ngữ pháp theo kiểu khơng? sao? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Appendix Tasks for teaching used to + V-infinitive Pre-task Aim: To prepare students for the task, to engage their attention Tell the students that the teacher is going to show them a photo of him 10 years ago Ask them what they think will be different, but don’t correct them at this stage Then take out the photo of him and walk around the class, showing it to the students Ask them what was different about him then Put the picture up on the board and ask what else was different about him? Allow more comments from the class, but don’t tell them if they are right or wrong in their guesses Explain that they will find this out later Task * Planning the Task Aim: For students to discuss how their life was different ten years ago Ask students to work in groups of three Tell them to talk about their life ten years ago Put the following questions on the board: What did you look like? What was different about your life? Did you have different likes and dislikes? Different hobbies? Are you very different now? Explain that the questions are to help them start talking Give them a time limit of three to five minutes to discuss this Circulate and listen to the students doing the task, but not correct any language at this moment * Doing the Task Aim: For students to prepare an oral report of their task Stop the task Tell the students to work together preparing a summary of their discussion for later report to the whole class They must write notes for this summary and be prepared to report this orally to the rest of the class Set a time limit of five minutes for them to this When the students are ready, ask a spokesperson from each group to report Rest of the class listen carefully and decide which students have changed the most in the past ten years * Presenting the product of the task Aim: For students to get a provision of useful language input The students listen to a short passage in which the speaker is talking about his life ten years ago Ask the students some quick comprehension questions about what they heard For example, what did the speaker say about her hair? What did he say about his job? If the students find it difficult to understand, repeat the text again Post-task * Language Focus Aim: To raise students’ awareness about the target language Let the students listen to the passage again, picking out those sentences which contain used to and write them on the board For example: a) I used to go to heavy metal concerts b) I used to have long black hair c) I used to wear tight leather trousers d) I didn’t use to my homework Write down the rules of form for used to: S + used to + infinitive and S + didn’t use to + infinitive At this point the teacher could ask students to find other examples of how she used to be and didn’t used to be Point out that in English we use used to talk about states and habits that continued for a period of time in the past * Language Practice Aim: To give the students some restricted written practice in the target language If you feel that your class needs some restricted practice in the grammar, ask them to write down three things that they used to and three things that they didn’t use to when they were children Circulate and monitor Ask students to check their sentences with each other and elicit some examples to put on the board Appendix Tasks for teaching should and should not Task 1: Write down two problems you are faced with that you need advice from others Teacher asks students to the task individually in two minutes In this task students write down their own problems they are faced with and need advice from others After finishing task 1, students task in group Task 2: Exchange yours problems in group Then work on individual problems Discuss the person with the problems should and shouldn’t  I think you should  I think you shouldn’t This task is for discussing about work related to grammar point first (using should or should not), then for preparing an oral report From the problems students have just written down in task 1, students are asked to exchange their problems in group, working on individual problems and then discuss the person with the problems should and should not Teacher sets a limited time of four or five minutes for students the task While student the task, the teacher goes around to give help but not correct this moment Task Write down the advice to each person in the group then report to the class  Example: Ss A (problems): we think she/he should and she/he shouldn’t Ss B (problems): After discussing the person with the problems in the group, the secretary of the group must write down the advice to each person in the group then the spokesperson reports to the class  Example: Ss A (problems): we think she/he should and she/he shouldn’t Ss B (problems): Task 4: Read the passage and answer questions What should they for their mother’s birthday party? Should they spend time playing? What should they to make her mother happiest? This task is to help students get a provision of useful language input Teacher asks students to read the passage and then answer the questions in three minutes in group When time is up, the teacher has to check the answer of each group by asking one student from each group stand up to answer question, then the others compare with their answer Next Sunday is my mother’s birthday, we are going to prepare a birthday party for her We want to make her happy on this occasion We have discussed much about this My sister said “we should organize a very wonderful birthday party for our mother” My brother said “we should buy many beautiful flowers for her on that day” As for me, the thing that makes my mother happiest is our study result So that I said “ we should learn hard and we should not waste time” Task 5: Pick out those sentences which contain should/should not from the text We should organize a very wonderful birthday party for our mother We should buy many beautiful flowers for her on that day We should learn hard and we should not waste time This task is to raise students’ awareness about the target language Teacher asks students to look at the passage again then pick out those sentences containing should/ should not, students have three minutes to this task After picking out sentences which contain should and should not, students are asked to deduce the rules for using should and should not and its grammar structure Teacher may ask one student to write down grammar structure of should on the blackboard Appendix The results of the pretest and posttest of the two groups (N = 30; Max score: 40) Control group STT Pre-test 16 21 20 21 19 21 22 19 26 10 21 11 23 12 22 13 20 14 19 15 21 16 22 17 20 18 21 19 26 20 23 21 29 22 31 23 20 24 27 25 29 26 28 27 34 28 26 29 29 30 33 Post- test Gain 18 22 20 23 20 23 24 20 28 22 24 25 22 22 24 23 22 24 28 23 30 33 22 28 31 30 35 27 31 36 Experimental group STT 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pre-test 20 17 21 20 22 27 18 26 21 22 16 20 21 20 24 30 34 30 21 22 21 20 28 27 26 20 22 20 23 25 post-test 23 19 24 21 25 29 21 29 26 23 19 23 25 20 27 34 37 32 24 26 23 22 29 30 29 24 24 22 26 28 Gain 3 3 3 4 3 2 3 2 3 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ LÊ HẰNG APPLYING TASK- BASED INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO THE 10TH GRADERS AT NGUYEN SY SACH HIGH SCHOOL Major: Teaching. .. method in teaching English grammar - The teachers’ implementing of task- based approach in teaching English grammar - The teachers’attitudes towards the application of task- based approach in teaching. .. lessons Touching this pedagogical context, this study emphasizes on the investigation into the application of task- based approach to teaching English grammar at Nguyen Sy Sach high school The task- based