HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT - HA THI NINH APPLYING TASK-BASED APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE GRADE 11 STUDENTS OF BASIC CURRICULUM AT THANH SON HIGH SCHOOL-PHU THO PROVINCE Field: Teaching methodology Supervisor: MA NGUYEN THI HOA Phu Tho, 2016 HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT - HÀ THỊ NINH APPLYING TASK-BASED APPROACH IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR FOR THE GRADE 11 STUDENTS OF BASIC CURRICULUM AT THANH SON HIGH SCHOOL-PHU THO PROVINCE (Áp dụng phương pháp dạy Tiếng Anh theo nhiệm vụ dạy ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 11 theo chương trình dạy học trường THPT Thanh Sơn - Phú Thọ) B.A Graduation Paper Field: Teaching methodology SUPERVISOR: MA NGUYỄN THỊ HOA Phu Tho, 2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me great help during the completion of my study Firstly, I would like to express my deepest of gratitude to my supervisor: Mrs Nguyen Thi Hoa whose precious advice and detailed critical comment have been of great assistance to me to this study I am great indebted for her enthusiasm and encouragement Without her help, this study would not have possibly been completed Secondly, I would like to thank all the lecturers, teachers, and staff at Hung Vuong University, especially those in the Department of Foreign Language who have created favorable conditions for me to study and write the graduation paper Thirdly, my particular thanks are due to the teachers and the students of Thanh Son high school for their cooperation and assistance in implementing the survey and test Lastly, I would like to express my grateful appreciation to my family, my dear friends for their support and encouragement throughout this study I hope to receive further comments and advice from readers to make my paper better With all my appreciation Signature Ha Thi Ninh ii ABSTRACT This thesis was carried out with an attempt to improve the teaching and learning of English grammar of the teachers and students in class 11A5 as well as all grade 11 students at Thanh Son high school-Phu Tho Province The purposes of the thesis were to investigate the current situations of applying task-based approach in teaching- learning English grammar Besides, after investigating the current situations, the researcher did an experiment about applying task-based approach to improve the effectiveness of learning English grammar and then got some results from experiment by some data collection instruments such as survey questionnaires, class observation an test The subjects involved in the study were 40 students in class 11A5 at Thanh Son high school These students were invited to join the survey, to answer the questionnaire, the test and to provide the source of observation The study suggests that teachers should be aware of the students’ problem, adapt to their need, and help them minimize these difficulties and use task-based approach to improve the effectiveness of teaching-learning English grammar iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION CLT PPP TBA TBLT ELF ELT Communicative language teaching Presentation-Practice- Production Task-based approach Task-based language teaching English as Foreign Language English Language Teaching LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES iv Table 1.1 The framework for task-based learning Table 3.1: Data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire Table 3.2:Students’ difficulties in studying English grammar Table 3.3: The main causes of students’ difficulties in learning English grammar Table 3.4: Results of the test before experiment Figure 3.1: Students interest in grammar teaching method that their teacher has been applying Figure 4.1: Students’ opinion towards the tasks that the teacher uses in grammar lessons Figure 4.2 The advantages of using TBA in grammar classes Table 4.1 Students’ attitudes towards teachers’ application TBA Table 4.3 Result of the test after experiment v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATION LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Previous studies 2.1 In the world .2 2.2 In Vietnam Research purposes .4 Research questions 5 Methodology 5.1 Research procedure 5.2 Method of data collection 6 Hypotheses Significance of the study .6 The scope of the study Design of the study PART B: MAJOR CONTENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 The Importance of Grammar in Language Teaching and Learning 1.1.1 Definitions of grammar 1.1.2 The role of grammar in English language teaching and learning 10 1.1.3 The importance of teaching grammar 11 1.1.4 Approaches to grammar instruction .11 1.3 Tasks .13 1.3.1 Defining tasks 13 vi 1.3.2 Characteristics of Tasks .14 1.3.3 Classifying tasks 14 1.4 Task-based language teaching 17 1.4.1 What is task-based language teaching? .17 1.4.2 Principles of the task-based language teaching approach 20 1.4.3 The basic characteristics of task-based language teaching 21 1.5 Task-based grammar teaching 22 1.5.1 Why we use Task-based grammar teaching? .22 1.5.2 Steps in Task-based grammar teaching .23 1.5.3 Characteristics of the Task-based Grammar Class 25 1.6 Summary 25 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODS 27 2.1 The subject an object of the study 27 2.1.1 The subject of the study .27 2.1.2 The object of the study 27 2.2 Participants of the study 27 2.2.1 The teacher and teaching situation 27 2.2.2 Students and their background 27 2.3 The data collection instruments 28 2.3.1 Survey questionnaire 28 2.3.2 Classroom observation 30 2.3.3 Test .31 2.3.4 Data collection procedure 32 2.4 Research procedure 34 2.5 Conclusion 34 CHATER THE CURRENT SITUATIONS 35 IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN GRADE 11 STUDENTS .35 AT THANH SON HIGH SCHOOL 35 3.1 An overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at Thanh Son High .35 vii 3.1.1 The school context .35 3.1.2 The new textbook English 11 (the standard textbook) and its Language Focus section 36 3.2 Findings from the current situations .37 3.2.1 Results from questionnaires 37 3.2.2 Results from observation .41 3.2.3 Results from the pre-test 42 3.4 Solution 43 CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS 45 4.1 Participants .45 4.2 Data collection instruments 45 4.3 Experiment procedure 45 4.4 Results 52 4.4.1 Results from questionnaires 53 4.4.2 Results from observation .57 4.4.3 Results from post-test 58 4.5 Findings 59 PART C: CONCLUSION 61 A summary of findings 61 Implications of the research .62 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study .64 3.1 Limitation of the study 64 3.2 Suggestions for further research .65 Conclusion 65 REFERENCES APPENDIXES viii 68 To summarize, after surveying the current situations, giving some suggestions, the researcher did experimental teaching and then found out some main findings for the study The study was researcher’s real efforts The results were found based on surveying, researching and analyzing of the researcher 69 REFERENCES A Vietnamese authors Canh, L V (2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology Hanoi: Vietnam National University, Hanoi Publishing House Canh, L.V (2008) Factors inhibiting quality English language teaching in Vietnamese secondary school Research Project QN.06.07 Hanoi National University, Hanoi Hoang at al (2006) Tieng Anh 10-Teacher’s Manual Hanoi: Education Publishing House Ministry of Education and Training (2006) Tài liệu bồi dưỡng giáo viên thực chương trình sách giáo khoa lớp 11 Trung học phổ thông Hanoi: Educational Publishing House Nguyen, T T M (2007) Textbook evaluation: The case of English textbooks currently in use in Vietnam’s upper-secondary schools Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Center B English authors Carless, D (2004) Issues in teachers’ reinterpretation of a task-based innovation in primary schools TESOL Quarterly 38(4), 639-662 Carter, Ronald and Nunan, David 2001 The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Candfield, L 2004 Task-based grammar teaching [A/OL] www.onestopenglish.com Cobbett, W (1984) A grammar of the English language Oxford: Oxford University Press 10 Harmer, J (1987) Teaching and learning grammar London: Longman Group UK Limited 70 11 Huddleston, R (1984) Introduction to the grammar of English Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] ; New York: Cambridge University Press 12 Jack C Richards (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching 13 Krashen, S D (1987) Principles and practice in second language acquisition Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International 14 Skehan, P (1998), A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning, Oxford: Oxford University Press 15 Skehan, P (1996) A framework for the implementation of task-based instruction Applied Linguistics, 17 (1), 38-62 16 Littlewood, W 2002 Task based learning of grammar [A/OL].www.ecp.com.cn 17 Long, H M., & Crook G (1992) Three approaches to task-based syllabus design TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 27-56 18 Long, M H & Richards J C (1987) (eds.) Methodology in TESOL: A book of readings New York: Newbury House Publishers 19 Long, M H (1989) Task, group, and Task-group interaction University of Hawaii 20 Long, Michael 1991 Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology 21 Prabhu, S (1987) Second language pedagogy Oxford: Oxford University Press 22 Thornburry, S (1999) How to teach grammar London: Pearson Education Limited- England 23 Richard, J.C., & Rodgers, T S (1986) Approaches and Methods in language teaching New York: Cup 24 Richards, J C & Rodgers, T (2002) Approaches and methods in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 25 .Willis, J (1996) A Framework for Task- based Language Learning London Longman 26.Willis, D & Willis, J., (2001) Task-based Language learning: Cambridge University Press APPENDIXES APPENDIX 1: PRE-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is designed for my study: “Applying task-based approach in teaching English grammar for the grade 11 students of basic curriculum at Thanh Son high school- Phu Tho province” Your assistance in fulfilling the following items is greatly appreciated Please, circle A, B, C or D to indicate your choice Your major: …………………………………………… Your English learning experience: …………………………… How necessary is English grammar in learning English? A Very necessary B Necessary C Normal D Unnecessary How you like learning English grammar? A Very much B Much C Not much D Not at all What difficulties you have when studying English? A I can’t apply the proper tenses B I can’t put the words in correct order C I can’t finish all exercises in time D I can’t remember all structures What are the main causes of these difficulties? A I was bad at English grammar when I was at primary and secondary school B The lack of learning aids at school C Teachers’ teaching method is not effective D I don’t know the good method to learn effectively Are you interested in the grammar teaching method that your teachers have been using? A Not much B A little C Much D Very much If your teacher of English apply task-based in grammar lesson, are you willing to join? A Yes B No Thank you very much for taking time to complete this questionnaire! APPENDIX 2: POST-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES The survey questionnaire is designed for my study: “Applying taskbased approach in teaching English grammar for the grade 11 students of basic curriculum at Thanh Son high school- Phu Tho province” Your assistance in fulfilling the following items is greatly appreciated Please, circle A, B, C, or D to indicate your choice What you think of the tasks that the teacher use in grammar lessons? A Very suitable B Suitable C Normal D Not suitable at all How you feel when the teacher applies TBL in grammar class? ( you agree(A) or disagree(D) A The new teaching method makes the grammar class more comfortable B The new teaching method helps me learn grammar more effectively C The new teaching method helps me remembers my vocabulary better D The new teaching method helps me remember grammar structures which I had learn before E The new teaching method helps me grammar exercises more correctly F The new teaching method helps me speaking English more confidently G The new teaching method helps me write English more correctly H The new teaching method does not help me learn English better than the old method I The new teaching method is very difficult for me J The new teaching method is appropriate only with students who learn well 3.If yes, can you show the advantages of TBL bring to your grammar? (you can choose more than one) A Tasks give me more chance to interact B Tasks help me understand more about the meaning C Tasks help me easily catch the form D Tasks motivate me to use English E Tasks help me to develop my creation Open-ended questions for students Give one reason why you like the new teaching method? Give one reason why you not like the new teaching method? Do you like the teacher to continue teaching grammar by using this new method (TBL approach)? Thank you very much for taking time to complete this questionnaire! APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST I Rewrite these following sentences by using the structure: used to+ V_infinitive (2.5 points) I had a lot of money but I lost it all when my business went bankrupt => I used to ……………………………………………………………… My father gave up smoking three months ago => My father …………………………………………………………… I lived in USA when I was young => I used to …………………………………………………………… I eat ice-cream now, but I disliked eating it when I was a child => I used to ……………………………………………………………… I have lost interest in my work => I used to …………………………………………………………… II Rewrite these following sentences by using conditional type (2.5 points) I didn't have my trainers with me so I couldn't play basketball with my friends => If I …………………………………………………………………… Helen couldn't telephone her friend James because she didn't know the telephone number => If Helen ……………………………………………………………………… My father wasn't at home last night because he had an important meeting at the office => If my father ………………………………………………………… Peter went out with his friends because he finished his homework on time => If Peter …………………………………………………………………… We were late for work yesterday morning so the boss was very angry with us => If we …………………………………………………………………… III Write sentences with “should/Shouldn’t” according to the situation given -Write sentences with “should” according to the situation given I have a toothache => You should ………………………………………………… She’s always tired because she goes to bed late every night => She should …………………………………………………… This room is a mess! => You should ………………………………………………… I have an English test tomorrow => You should ……………………………………………………… it’s very cold today => You should ……………………………………………………… - Write sentences with shouldn’t according to the situation given Tom always eats so many sweets It’s bad for his teeth => Tom shouldn’t …………………………………………… I think they are too young to get married => They shouldn’t ………………………………………………… He is overweight but he always eats a lot of fast food => He shouldn’t ……………………………………………………… My brother and I always have a quarrel, this makes my parents very sad => We shouldn’t ……………………………………………………… He always watches violent film so much, so he is very aggressive = > He shouldn’t ………………………………………………………… APPENDIX 4: POST-TESK I Rewrite these following sentences using the structure: used to+ V_infinitive (2.5 points) Jim was my best friend, but we aren’t friends any more => Jim used to ………………………………………………… When I was young, my uncle was a national swimming champion => My uncle used to ………………………………………………… My brother had his hair cut short when he joined the army => My brother used to …………………………………………………… We lived in the country in 1980s, but now we live in Ha Noi city => We used to ………………………………………………… I was the best student in my class when I studied at boarding school => I used to …………………………………………………………… II Rewrite these following sentences by using conditional type (2.5 points) Lucia didn't go to school last Monday because she was ill => If Lucia …………………………………………………………… I didn't cook dinner yesterday evening because my husband brought pizza => If my husband…………………………………………………………… David and Claire didn't buy the house on Park Street because it didn't have a balcony =>The house ………………………………………………………… Miss Eliot left her umbrella at home so she got soaked in the heavy rain last Sunday => If Miss Eliot ………………………………………………………… Little boy refused to use the sun-cream He had terrible sunburn on his shoulders => If the little boy ……………………………………………………… III Write sentences with “should/Shouldn’t” according to the situation given (5 points) -Write sentences with “should” according to the situation given I’m still feeling sick => You should ………………………………………… He will get lung cancer if he continues to smoke => He should ………………………………………… You always go to school on an empty stomach, so it will make you tired => You should ………………………………………………… He often gets a lot of bad marks but he doesn’t try to work hard => He should ………………………………………………… It’s late and you are tired => You should …………………………………………… - Write sentences with shouldn’t according to the situation given It’s harmful for your health if you often put so much sugar in your coffee => You shouldn’t ……………………………………………………… He is often punished by his teacher because he always makes noise in the classroom => He shouldn’t …………………………………………………… Jane often disturbs Mary which always makes her angry => Jane shouldn’t …………………………………………… She always goes to work late, so her boss doesn’t like her => She shouldn’t ………………………………………… He always drinks wine, this makes his health worse =>He shouldn’t ………………………………… APPENDIX 5: POSSIBLE ANSWER KEYS PRE-TEST I Rewrite these following sentences by using the structure: used to+ V_infinitive I used to have a lot of money My father used to smoke I used to live in USA I used to dislike eating ice-cream I used to have interest in my work II Rewrite these following sentences by using conditional type If I had had my trainers with me, I could have played basketball with my friends If Helen had known the telephone number, she could have helped her friend James If my father hadn't had an important meeting at the office, he would have been at home last night If Peter hadn't finished his homework on time , he wouldn't have gone out with his friends If we hadn't been late for work yesterday morning, the boss wouldn't have been angry with us III Write sentences with “should/Shouldn’t” according to the situation given -Write sentences with “should” according to the situation given You should go to the dentist She should go to bed early You should tidy your room You should study hard You should wear warm clothes - Write sentences with shouldn’t according to the situation given Tom shouldn’t eat so many sweets They shouldn’t get married soon He shouldn’t eat a lot of fast food We shouldn’t quarrel with each other He shouldn’t watch violent film so much POST-TEST I Rewrite these following sentences by using the structure: used to+ V_infinitive Jim used to be my best friend My uncle used to be a national swimming champion My brother used to have his hair cut short We used to live in the country I used to be the best student in my class II Rewrite these following sentences by using conditional type If Lucia hadn't been ill, she would have gone to school last Monday If my husband hadn't brought pizza, I would have cooked dinner yesterday evening If the house on Park Street had had a balcony, David and Claire would have bought it If Miss Eliot hadn't left her umbrella at home, she wouldn't have got soaked in the heavy rain last Sunday If the little boy hadn't refused to use the sun cream, he wouldn't have had terrible sunburn on his shoulders III Write sentences with “should/Shouldn’t” according to the situation given -Write sentences with “should” according to the situation given You should go to see a doctor He should stop smoking You should have breakfast before go to school He should study harder You should go to bed - Write sentences with shouldn’t according to the situation given You shouldn’t put so much sugar in your coffee He shouldn’t make noise in the classroom Jane shouldn’t disturb Mary She shouldn’t go to work late He shouldn’t drink wine APPENDIX 6: OBSERVATION WORKSHEET Date: ……………………………………………………… Class size: …………………………………………………… Level of students: …………………………………………… Teacher: …………………………………………………… Lesson: ……………………………………………………… Time/ Observation Comment & Stage Suggestions What methods are used in English grammar lesson? …………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… How effective of using this method in teaching English grammar lesson? ………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… How interested are the students in learning English grammar? ………………………………………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ………………… ……………… ………….…… Overall comment: Good point: …………………………………………………………………… Weak point: …………………………………………………………………… Signed ... in teaching English grammar for the grade 11 students of basic curriculum at Thanh Son high school- Phu Tho province Rationale In the process of globalization, English has played an increasingly... for the main following questions: “What is the current situation of applying task-based approach in teaching English for the grade 11 students of basic curriculum at Thanh Son high school- Phu Tho. .. learning of English grammar of the teachers and students in class 11A5 as well as all grade 11 students at Thanh Son high school-Phu Tho Province The purposes of the thesis were to investigate the