Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons PART A: INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE I.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Based on the innovation-oriented teaching methods The Party Central Committee’s Theoretical Council, at its forth meeting proposed the resolution that: “encourage self-study, to apply modern methods of fostering students’ abilities of thinking creatively and solving problems by themselves." At the eight meeting, the Government continues to affirm: "Renewing a method of education and training, overcoming a one-way path to convey, training students to practice with creative thinking Gradually apply advanced methods and modern means in the teaching process to ensure conditions and time for students to study by themselves.” Base on the Clause 2, Article 24 of education law as follows: "Method of general education must promote positive ambition and creativity of students, suitable for each class, the training courses help student have self-learning skill as well as the knowledge for practical situation students have good emotion that impacts, brings joy and excitement for them " Base on the innovation of teaching methods that help students towards active learning, against passive learning habits To have the most effective, successful grammar lesson, teachers need to create a joyful atmosphere and create attractive the techniques to stimulate creative thinking Moreover, with the social background of opening up ASEAN integration, English language plays an important role in communication and enculturation of Viet Nam country In general, learning English becomes more and more necessary and it also gets the attention of everyone, especially the students They are gradually becoming fond of this subject and more confident in all fields of English to master the knowledge, study about material and see the dialectical unity of listening skills - speaking - reading - writing Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons I.2 PRACTICAL CONTEXT It is clear that, in practical situation, many students are good at grammar and writing but that does not mean the students pronounce words well, not be confused or speak English fluently Here are the reasons for that: I.2.1 The psychology of students in high school - Ability to reflect with their awareness of language - The ability to imagine a flexible, logical, easy to relate and compare - The ability to memorize language and find the words out quickly - Have not really confident, afraid wrong, afraid to speak English - Prefer being active and self – controlled I.2.2 Problems of teaching and learning English grammar Grammar teaching is an extremely important part of foreign language teaching but there exist two universal problems One is that it is ineffective: during class, teachers explain grammar rules one by one, and students seem to understand to complete some related exercises, but when they speak and write, they still make many grammatical mistakes The other is that the students feel that grammar teaching is very dull and boring Therefore, they have no interest in learning Unfortunately, grammar is often taught in isolated, unconnected sentences that give a fragmented, unrealistic picture of English and make it difficult for students to apply what they have learned in practical situations Furthermore, Language Focus section is partially composed of English grammar knowledge that the topic, content and exercises are quite monotonous, boring and tedious, not to create an atmosphere for students interested Especially, the testing exercise was quite passive and less contact with the fact, which causes students’ bad memory The reason why the students feel that grammar teaching is very dull and boring is that memorizing grammar rules is very hard for weak Ss and too easy for the good ones but it does not support students’ communicating skill Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Textbooks have gradually better renovation to meet the needs of learners Therefore, from the content of textbook, every teacher should have different approaches to create excitement and stimulate creativeness and eager the student to learn Knowledge of grammar are usually taught in traditional methods when teachers often use their interpreting, explaining the rules of grammar As the result, students are quite passive and have fewer opportunities to practice the language in class It is also undeniable that the Language focus periods are so depressing because of mostly grammatical knowledge So, teachers have difficulty in helping students both gain knowledge in their mind and developing communicating skills It gives us one question that which communicative techniques teachers should approach to express the all content in the classroom but still inspire the students It is strongly believed that the problem could easily be solved if teachers use the applications of external material or practical knowledge (Authentic English) is an indispensable job Therefore, students can get acquainted with the structure already provided in their background naturally As a young teacher, through researching some documents and attending in my many colleagues’ lessons, I realized that it is necessary to apply creative and flexible approaches in lesson plans to teach grammar, make pupils become thought-provoking and better reflective Despite a lot of problems, I still expect to promote potential students’ capacity through my study: “Integrating grammar for communicative language and some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons.” II AIMS OF THE STUDY The study aims at: - Giving a brief overview of theoretical background and practical context of both teaching and learning English Grammar - Designing activities for some sample lessons: integrating grammar into a communicative teaching lesson Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons - Suggesting several communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons III RESEARCH SCOPE In the teaching process, there are many issues to study and change the method However due to the limited amount of time and less teaching experience, this study was carried out in classes grade 10 with 68 students in my school, during the school year 2014 -2015 IV METHOD OF STUDY IV.1 Researching documents This method helps the author study theoretically from the analysis of documents and related data So, I present the study through the usual channel and scientific method This method also helps to learn about the situation and psychology of students IV.2.The method of investigating - chatting with students directly to try to know their interest in this subject and teachers’ methods stimulate Ss to use your initiative, imagination, and common sense - monitoring students through each lesson can help the author collect and draw the expression as well as the attitude of the student for learning this subject, specially, in the first minute of the grammar lesson IV.3 Statistical methods Data is collected from statistics which the author completed at the beginning and at the end of school year 2014-1015 After each lesson, teacher tried to find solutions to get better results Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons PART B: THE CONTENTS I THE TRADITIONAL METHODS: “THE LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING PROCESS IS SOMEHOW “EXAM-ORIENTED” OR “EXAM-PREPARED” In general, in many high schools our country, it is commonly seen that due to the pressure of examinations which often focus on reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, or in other words, the language learning and teaching process is somehow “exam-oriented” or “exam-prepared”, the language teaching methods are undeniably affected Generally, teachers spend most of the time in class helping the students understand and remember rules and then apply them to grammar exercises As a result, it is likely that students who get very good marks in reading are not able to communicate confidently in social situations or even produce an accurate piece of conversation The author have observed many procedure of English Grammar teaching lessons These are some examples Example 1: Revising the present simple tense and the past simple tense Unit1 : A day in the life of… T’activities Grade 10 Ss’ activities Grammar: ( 20’) - Aims: to revise the present simple tense and the past simple tense - Asks sts to think about the present simple tense and asks some to tell the whole class about the form and the use of the tense - Asks sts about the position of adverbs of frequency - Asks sts to Ex individually in + Form: (+) S + V/ Vs/ Ves + (- ) S + don't/ doesn't + V + (?) Do/ Does + S + V + ? + Use: to talk about present habits or present states + Position: Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons minutes, then share their answers - After "to be" but before other verbs with their partners - "As a rule" is placed at the beginning of - Explains any new words if a sentence necessary is catch - Asks some sts to report and gives fish go remarks worry give up - Asks sts to Ex orally in pairs in are 10 say minutes catch 11 realise - Moves round to conduct the activity am 12 am - Asks sts to report Sample answers: He always get up early She is sometimes late for school + Form: - Presents the past simple tense - Asks some students to tell the whole class about the form and the use of this tense - Asks sts to look at Ex and explains what sts are going to - Asks sts to this exercise in minutes - Asks sts to this exercise on the board - Moves round to help sts if (+ ) S + V-ed/ V( irregular) + ( - ) S + didn't + V + ( ?) Did + S + V + .? + Use: to indicate that something in the past was done began 13 was cooked felt 14 leapt were put out 15 hurried smelt 10 crept 16 found told 11 slept 17 wound sang 12 woke 18 Flowed necessary - Checks and gives remarks Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Example 2: Revising Wh- questions Unit 2: School Talks grade 10 T’activities Ss’ activivites Grammar: ( 15’) Aims: to revise Wh- questions - T: What are Wh- questions? - Look at the board - Asks sts to give examples - Look at the textbook - Asks sts to look at Ex in page 29 - Make questions and then ask and and then make questions as answer with their partners requirement S1: When did you come? - Asks them to work individually and S2: Just a few days ago then work in pairs to ask and answer S3: How long did you stay in Quang - Lets them work in minutes and then Ninh? asks some pairs to report S4: For a few days - Checks and gives remarks S5: Who did you come with? S6: I came with a friend Example 3: Used to + infinitive Unit 4: Special Education Teacher's activities - grade 10 Students' activities Grammar: (15mins) Aims: to review "used to + infinitive" and get sts to Ex - Asks sts to recall the use of " used - Think about the teacher's question and to" by giving an example: answer: " She used to get bad marks when she - S: We use the structure to talk about was at primary school" past actions or past habits that no Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons longer exist - Asks sts to Ex individually and - Do the exercise individually and then share the answers with their compare their answers with their friends partners - Moves round to help if necessary - Do the exercise on the board - Asks two sts to this exercise on used to have used to live the board used to eat used to be - Asks one st to give remarks used to take used to be - Checks and gives remarks did you use to go Example 4: Conditional sentence type 2: Unit 9: Undersea world – grade 10 Teacher's activities Students' activities Conditional sentence type - Review the form and the use of - Read the examples and point out conditional sentence type by giving the form and the use of conditional some examples: sentence type 2: eg: If my grandfather were still alive, he + Form: would be 100 today If- clause If I had a lot of money, I would lend S + V( P.S) , main clause , S + would + V you some + Use: an unreal situation at - Ask sts to read the examples and point present or in the future out the form as well as the use of conditional sentence type + Note: “ were” is used with all persons - Ask some sts to give examples - Ask sts to EX3 + Exercise 3: - Do Ex in pairs Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons - Ask sts to the task in pairs - Some sts report - Go round to conduct the activity would take pressed - Ask some pairs to read sentence by refused wouldn't be sentence wouldn't get didn't come - Listen and give remarks closed down 10 borrowed Example 5: The present perfect passive Unit 5: Technology and You Teacher's activities grade 10 Students' activities Aims: to review the present perfect passive and get sts to Ex + Form: - Asks sts to tell the teacher the form of (+) S + have/ has + been + PII the present perfect passive (-) S + have / has + not + been + PII ( ? ) Have / Has + S +been + PII ? - Do the exercise individually and - Asks sts to Ex individually and then share the answers with their friends - Moves round to help if necessary compare their answers with their partners - Do the exercise on the board - Asks two sts to this exercise on the A new hospital for children has board been built in our city - Asks one st to give remarks Another man-made satellite has been sent up into space More and more trees have been cut down for wood by farmers …………………………………… - Listen to the teacher - Checks and gives remarks Example 6: Revising the use of "who, which, that" as relative pronouns Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Unit 5: Technology and You grade 10 Teacher's activities Aims: to revise the use of "who, which, Students' activities that" as relative pronouns and ask sts to exercise - Recalls sts of the relative clauses with "who, - Listen to the teacher which, that" - Read the requirement carefully - Asks sts to read the requirement of Ex3 and - Do Ex then the task individually which who - Goes round to conduct the activity which who - Asks some sts to read sentence by sentence which which/ that - Listens and gives remarks who which who 10 who It is clear that many teachers only focus on forms and infuse the knowledge of grammar by repetitious instruction, but neglect training the students’ ability to communicate and use the English language They often spend most of their time explaining dull, complex grammar rules Whether communication serves language or language serves communication has been the point of issue II SOLUTIONS (THE NEW METHODS) Skills and grammar topics have dialectical relationship with each other Therefore, teaching grammar, teachers should combine listening - speaking reading skills to make language learning becomes smooth, natural and most effective Maybe, the old method of teaching, passive learning habits cause the problem that the students found English so difficult However, English is easy if there are the right strategic approaches English became really fun if students acquainted correct pronunciation, memory of vocabulary and large number of potential to catch up with the tenses in English automatically and easily As a result, I must renew perspective, and find the way how to teach more effectively grammar section In the other words, grammar is not a separated anymore, but linked with different skills and used with a lot of activities, games 10 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons provokes curiosity, and students are eager to find out the reason for this consequence - Students work in groups, trying to make up a logical story of the man who eventually went to prison They take notes of the events in a sequence of time and then they say full sentences with third conditional For examples: A – If he hadn’t got up late, he wouldn’t have missed the bus B – If he hadn’t missed the bus, he wouldn’t have been in a hurry C – If he hadn’t been in a hurry, he wouldn’t have taken a taxi D – If he hadn’t taken a taxi, he wouldn’t have dropped his wallet in the street A – If he hadn’t dropped his wallet in the street, he would have had the money to pay the taxi driver B – If he had had the money, the taxi driver wouldn’t have got angry… This is a very interesting and effective activity, as students can use the structure again and again, all of them have a chance to speak and they can create the story as they wish On One group was working hard and then, each member of this group stood up in turn to tell their group’s story IV.2.6 Describing the pictures: Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Depending on the purpose of the lesson, teachers may use different images for students to describe For examples:  Teach “comparatives and superlative ” In Unit 16: Historical places _grade 10 + Give each group some pictures and ask them to make comparisons orally + Students will sit in groups and practice speaking + Tools: papers, pictures + Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation" + Time: 6' - The teacher will ask Ss give their comparisons - Teachers will give students some sample sentences:  The boy standing on the right hand is the shortest person  The blue car ran the most quickly - Students will put the same question using comparisons - Some of the students to present their sentences: - Teacher encourages SS and gives them the feedback/mark/gift… Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons ( Students made many comparisions confidently)  Teach “who, which , that” in Unit : Technology and you _grade 10 + Give each group a picture and ask the members to use the pronunciation to make a correct sentences + Students will sit in groups and practice speaking + Tools used: paper , paintings + Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation " + Time: 6' - The teacher will ask students to describe the activities of the people in the painting using who, which, that - Teachers will give students some sample sentences:  There are four students who are playing on the ground  The little boy who is wearing a green shirt is drawing the sun - Students will make more sentences in the same way: using who, which, that Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons - Some of the students to describe the picture: Teachers can encourage students by giving them suggested words This section will be helpful ( The attraction of the pictures motivated and they worked enthusiastically) IV.2.7 Getting cards from teacher Teacher must prepare a number of cards for his/her purpose Ex:The application to teach Present simple and Adverbs of frequency Unit1: A day in the life of…… – grade 10 Teachers’ preparation: 15 cards with one adverb of frequency in each card e g always, occasionally, hardly ever, never, every night, once every two years, every twenty minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into teams, - Asking each team to send representatives All the 15 students stand in a horizontal line, taking turns to get one card from the teacher, turn it over, read the adverb out and immediately say a sentence containing that adverb Ex: Student A: Always → I always come home at six o’clock Student B: Every two years → I go to my homeland every two years Anyone who cannot say the sentence right away, makes a grammatical mistake or whose sentence does not make sense will be out Student C: Never →My mother never exercise in the evening Other students: Wrong! My mother never does exercise in the evening Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons So student C will be out In the end, whichever team has the most members remaining will be the winner Apart from practice using the present simple tense and adverbs of frequency, students have a chance to practice reaction in speaking, accuracy and fluency (The boy was shocked when the girl found out his mistake IV.2.8 The perfect couples (Tạm dịch : cặp đôi hoàn hảo) Teacher classifies female students and male ones to find the perfect couple who have the best sentences when they are combined Teacher can also use this technique in some other cases For example, teaching conditional sentences (2 clauses in one sentense) And this is a example to teach “ The present perfect” and “Because of or in spite of” Unit 7: The Mass Media - grade 10 Procedure: Teacher prepares some couple pieces of paper having the number on Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Teacher passes the papers over spontaneously and asks SS to do: Team 1(female): Write uncompleted sentences with “because of” or” in spite of” Ex: In spite of the time, Because of the rain, ……………………………………… Team (male): Make sentences put in the present perfect tense e.g: I have gone to England Nam has drunk beer ……………………………………………… Teacher call all couples of Ss to read out their writing Which couple having the most appropriate interesting sentence will be the perfect couple and get present from teacher Here are some photos to illustrate for this activity From the pictures, we have sentences to be read before the class: Sentence 1: In spite of the rain, he has drunk beer Sentence 2: Because of teachers, I has flied to England Sentence 3: In spite of illness, I have had no money Sentence 4: In spite of the illness, I have finished all my homework Sentence5: Because of the headache, Nam has worked hard Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Of all sentences, the girl and the boy number is the perfect couple ( The boy was naughty, came to shake his hand with the girl, whereas the girl seemed to be shy before their classmates.) Surely, through this activities, students can have unforgetable moments when they were in hight shool III THE RESULTS OF APPLYING THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE Without any money but surely, with the lessons have been well prepared, the teachers will get good result According to the survey at the beginning of the school year, about 50% found that it was boring to study grammar because they had to remember the structures, so few motivate activities have been done in their classes They didn’t really like the grammar lessons In detail with the rate Class 10 A 10 B Amout of students 35 33 Student like grammar lesson 42,9% 48,5% With the clever student, the grammar exercise is not difficult because of their good memory, but with the rest ones, it is really a proplem They don’t remember structures exactly, especially, there are a lot of mistakes with their pronunciation Therefore, the communication in english is considered as the big trouble of them After one year applying those strategies into my teaching, I have achieved some preliminary success The first notable change is the students' motivation They have not felt learning grammar too seriously, most of my grammar lessons were less boring and my students are more interested in learning Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Class Amout of students Student like grammar lesson 10 A 35 88,6% 10 B 33 97% The second thing is that my students’ speaking ability has been improved much after they attended these lessons and many students don’t avoid speaking in English in the class because of the hesitation of making mistakes Above all, the most remarkable success is the improvement of students' communicative skills At the beginning of the school year, most of my students had wondered whether or not they would be able to communicative without doing many grammar exercises, but gradually they have gained their confidence with the communicative activities THE STATISTICS (class 10 A and class 10B in school year 2014 - 2015) A AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR The student’s interest in English Class Number of students Like very much 10A 35 14,3% 10 28,6% 20 57,1% 10B 33 12,1% 12 36,4% 17 51,5% Like Dislike The result after finish a test with 30 multi choice grammatical sentences Class Number of students 20[...]... when speaking English in a formal classroom setting In any case, students find the lesson interesting from songs 17 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons And a major success is breaking the traditional view of dull and boring grammar classes In grammar lesson, songs may be used both used for the presentation and practice... After the first listening, students work in pairs and share their ideas - For the second listening, students have to fill in these verbs in the correct blank 18 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons - Show the video clip of the song on the screen and ask students to pay attention to the action in the song IF I WERE... asks students to think back to when they were a child and asks the following questions: "What are the differences and similarities between your life then and now? Think about where you lived, your likes/dislikes, your 12 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons holidays and your family, and fill in the following lines... exercise in the evening Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons So student C will be out In the end, whichever team has the most members remaining will be the winner Apart from practice using the present simple tense and adverbs of frequency, students have a chance to practice reaction in speaking, accuracy and fluency... to speak and they can create the story as they wish On One group was working hard and then, each member of this group stood up in turn to tell their group’s story IV.2.6 Describing the pictures: Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Depending on the purpose of the lesson, teachers may use different images for students. .. before students play games Furthermore, it is important to design clear and easy instructions for the games or the activities These are the common games and activities usually used in grammar teaching lessons: 15 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative - techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Noughts and crosses - Slap the board Network - Flash cards Bingo... to motivate students in grammar lessons IV.2 Some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons Motivation is popularly considered to play a very important role in learning In Jeremy Harmer’s view (1991) “Motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a course of action” In order to apply CLT to teaching grammar effectively, a variety of techniques and. .. techniques By this way, students can learn English while listening to relax through the paper, the favorite topics, imagination or laughing while learning to bring high efficiency IV.1 Some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language In this part, I am going to suggest some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language, most of them have been applied in my class and finally, I can see... OHP, etc., Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons PART C: CONCLUSION I SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: This study will help teachers of English: - Teach communicative grammar using a variety of strategies, - Use grammar to develop their students communicative competence, - Help their students perform English language. .. taken some years ago and the other one is new The teacher then asks them to compare the two pictures 11 Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons 2 While -grammar a) This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity to notice the new grammatical structure The teacher tells them they are going to learn