Tài liệu Using storytelling to teach english grammar in communicative approach for students at viet tri industrial high school, phu tho province

i HUNG VUONG UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT NGUYEN TIEN PHUONG USING STORYTELLING TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH FOR STUDENTS AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL, PHU THO PROVINCE GRADUATION PAPER PROPOSAL Field: English Linguistics SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI THU HANG, M.A Phu Tho, 2017 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere thanks go to the many people who gave so generously of their time and expertise in support of this research project. First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang for her dedication, professional support and guidance as well as valuable comments during the research. Her patience and knowledge whilst showing me an academic researcher‟s pathway went beyond the mainstream studies to see the best in me. Thank you so much for simply being there. You have been a constant source of motivation throughout this thesis. I could not have asked for a better supervisor. I would be grateful all the lecturers who have been teaching in Foreign Language Department, Hung Vuong University, contributed to the success of the course. I would also like to thank all the teachers and the students at Viet Tri Industrial High School, who willingly participated in the study. I thank them for their time, patience and willingness in completing the questionnaires, answering the questions and sharing their classrooms with me. Last but not less importantly, I owe my parents and friends whose unconditional love, understanding, encouragement, and support are valuable during my whole study. Phu Tho, May 2016 Nguyen Tien Phuong iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Communicative Language Teaching CLT English as a Foreign Language EFL iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 3.1: The students‟ opinions about learning grammar ........................ 37 Table 3.2: How students learn English grammar structures ....................... 39 Table 3.3: The way students like to study grammar rules........................... 42 Table 4.1: Students‟ evaluation on learning grammar with storytelling .... 50 Figure 3.1: Marks students got on grammar sections ................................ 41 v TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1 1. Rationale........................................................................................................ 1 2. Previous researches ....................................................................................... 2 3. Research purpose .......................................................................................... 3 4. Research questions ........................................................................................ 4 5. Hypothesis ..................................................................................................... 4 6. Research methods.......................................................................................... 4 7. The significance of the research .................................................................... 5 8. The scope of the research .............................................................................. 5 9. Design of the research ................................................................................... 5 PART B: CONTENT ........................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 7 1.1. Teaching approaches .................................................................................. 7 1.1.1. The Grammar - Translation .................................................................... 7 1.1.2. The Direct method ................................................................................... 8 1.1.3. The Audio - Lingual method.................................................................. 10 1.1.4. Communicative Language Teaching ..................................................... 10 1.2. Teaching grammar in communicative approach ...................................... 15 1.2.1. Definition of grammar .......................................................................... 15 1.2.2. The role of grammar ............................................................................. 16 1.2.3. Requirements in a grammar lesson ....................................................... 17 1.2.4. The stages of a grammar lesson ............................................................ 18 vi 1.2.5. The role of teacher and students in a grammar lesson ......................... 21 1.3. Storytelling ............................................................................................... 21 1.3.1. Definitions of storytelling...................................................................... 21 1.3.2. Trends of storytelling in language teaching ......................................... 23 1.3.3. Storytelling models ................................................................................ 24 1.3.4. The roles of storytelling in language classroom ................................... 26 1.3.5. Communicative Language Teaching and Storytelling .......................... 28 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 30 2.1. Research setting ....................................................................................... 30 2.2. Subject of the study .................................................................................. 31 2.3. Participants of the study ........................................................................... 31 2.4. Data collection instruments ...................................................................... 32 2.4.1. Survey questionnaires ........................................................................... 32 2.4.2. Interview ................................................................................................ 34 2.5. Research procedure .................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT SITUATION IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR .... AT VIET TRI INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL ......................................................................................................... 37 3.1. Results from questionnaire....................................................................... 37 3.2. Results from interview ............................................................................. 43 CHAPTER 4: EXPERIMENT AND RESULTS ............................................ 46 4.1. Description of the experimental teaching ................................................ 46 4.2. Experiment procedure .............................................................................. 46 4.2.1. The first week ........................................................................................ 46 vii 4.2.2. The second week .................................................................................... 47 4.2.3. The third week ....................................................................................... 48 4.3. Results from questionnaire....................................................................... 50 4.4. Implications .............................................................................................. 52 4.4.1. For teachers .......................................................................................... 52 4.4.2. For students ........................................................................................... 54 PART C: CONCLUSION ............................................................................... 55 1. Summary ..................................................................................................... 55 2. Limitations of the study .............................................................................. 56 3. Suggestions for further study ...................................................................... 57 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 58 APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................. 61 APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................. 64 APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................. 65 APPENDIX 4 .................................................................................................. 66 APPENDIX 5 .................................................................................................. 71 APPENDIX 6 .................................................................................................. 76 APPENDIX 7 .................................................................................................. 77 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale The role of English as an international language in this globalization era is undeniable. On its way of integration into the global community, Vietnam gives prominence to English acquisition in order to adapt itself to the current trend. Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam. For a long time, language teaching in Vietnam was strongly influenced by the traditional structure. Emphasis was placed on mastery of language structures. Students have been taught how to form correct utterances and to understand the structures of the language without any consideration of language use. Students have been asked to learn every single word by heart, and translate or analyze grammatically every sentence in the text. The teacher has often taken up almost all the time in class explaining the form of language to students who were passive recipients. With the first teaching internship at Viet Tri Industrial High school, I found that grammar was taught in traditional way. At the end of each semester, the students had to take a written test, not an oral one. Therefore, most of the time were spent on grammar points because many of the students have never learnt English before and the teachers has to try to keep to the syllabus. In addition, many students were too shy to speak in class whereas most of the grammar lessons were carried out in traditional methods. That is, the teachers presented new grammar verbally, and then students took turn to turn, exercises in workbooks. Consequently, the students found it hard to speak out as well as to communicate in the real life naturally. They could not speak English since most of tests were in written forms. It may surprise me that many students cannot use English as a means of communication after several years of learning it at school. For these reasons, the researcher decided to conduct “Using 2 storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.” 2. Previous researches 2.1. In the world Brian Ellis (1997) in his article “Why Tell Stories” believed that storytelling is the perfect embodiment of whole language pedagogy. In addition, it teaches higher level of thinking skills, addresses the needs of students with different learning styles, and provides opportunity for cooperative learning; building social skills and most importantly storytelling have been shown to build intrinsic motivation and self-esteem, even in the students who are labeled hard to reach. Mello (2001) conducted her research by exposing her subjects to bimonthly storytelling sessions over the course of a full nine month school year. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with each of the participants after each of the storytelling sessions. The stories presented were varied including old folk tales, hero-based stories, conformist and nonconformist character stories, and other stories selected for their ethical content as it related to specific course lessons. Martin and Power‟s (1983) studied on storytelling reveal the enormous power that stories have in organizations with respect to employee commitment and trust. Stories alone prove to produce an audience who is more likely to believe a message and/or commit to the values inherent in the story. This also speaks well to using storytelling as a learning tool to emphasize various academic theories and other factual information and to possibly improve student motivation to learn new information and practice new skills. Furthermore, the results of these experiments reveal the transformative nature of storytelling as previously discussed by Rossiter (2002), Heo (2003) and McDrury and Alterio (2003). However, Martin and Powers considers the use of storytelling as a leadership tool in organizations 3 because it has the potential to be abused if applied only for organizational propaganda or other unethical motives due to its influential strengths. 2.2. In Vietnam Nguyen (2005) conducted a survey on the teachers and students of the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City to identify the real situation of English grammar teaching and learning. The results showed that communicative language teaching approach was rarely used and, thus, her suggestions afterwards were several communicative activities that might bring positive changes to grammar teaching and learning. Vuong (2008) studied about teachers‟ difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively for ethnic minority students at Ha Giang Medical Secondary School to find out difficulties faced by the teachers, the students in teaching and learning grammar and their expectations and suggestions for overcoming the difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively. So far, a number of studies have been conducted to assist teachers in teaching English grammar communicatively in the Vietnamese context. However, not many of them have been made in the scope of 11th students at high schools. The rare study on this subject (Vu, 1998) was conducted 18 years ago, and therefore, may not provide up-to-date information to other educators and researchers who share the same interest. Moreover, the studies on using storytelling in teaching grammar in Vietnam are also very rare; mainly used in teaching speaking. This has offered the researcher a chance to conduct “Using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province.” 3. Research purpose The research aims to find out current situation in teaching and learning English grammar at Viet Tri Industrial High school, apply storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach for students and then basing on the results, evaluate the effectiveness of suggested activity as well 4 as student‟s attitudes towards teaching and learning English grammar in communicative approach with storytelling. 4. Research questions Question 1: What is the real situation of grammar learning and teaching for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school? Question 2: What is the significance of storytelling in teaching grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school? Question 3: How is the application of storytelling to teach grammar suitable for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school? 5. Hypothesis If the research is successful, this will help the teachers of English teach grammar more effectively and communicatively. Moreover, students can use English fluently as a means of communication after learning at school. 6. Research methods In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, the following methods have been used: - Theoretical method: study the literature review in order to give background of storytelling, help to know the importance of teaching grammar in communicative approach. - Investigating method: this method was used with the aim to investigate the real situations of teaching English grammar in communicative approach for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school. - Experimental method: this method was employed an applying storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach to assess the significance of using this technique. - Analysis method: this helped to process data collected for the researcher analyze to draw out the conclusion. 5 7. The significance of the research Once completed, the researcher hopes that the study would bring certain plus points to teachers and students at Viet Tri Industrial High school, which could be a considerable contribution to teaching and English grammar effectively and enjoyably at Viet Tri Industrial High school. Theoretical significance of the study: the study supplied the English teachers with the understanding of language in term of types, advantages when employing them. The study also suggested some ways to exploit language focus successfully during all stages in teaching grammar. Practical significance of the study: the study helped the teacher of English teach grammar more effectively, which made language focus lessons more communicative and meaningful. 8. The scope of the research This research focuses on using storytelling to teach English grammar in communicative approach to 41 students of grade 11D1 at Viet Tri Industrial High school, Phu Tho province. 9. Design of the research PART A: INTRODUCTION Part A presents the overview of the thesis including the rationale for the research, research purpose, research questions, significance of the research, methodology as well as design of the study PART B: CONTENT Chapter 1: Literature review This part presents theoretical background of Communicative Language Teaching, teaching grammar and storytelling. Chapter 2: Methodology 6 In this chapter, the researcher wants to clarify the participants, research methods, instruments used, and descriptions about how to collect information with those methods. Chapter 3: The current situation of teaching English grammar for students at Viet Tri Industrial High school Chapter 3 analyzes statistics collected from chapter 2 in order to discuss in details and propose the major finding. From the current situations, the researcher suggests the solution. Chapter 4: Experiment and results This chapter describes experiment on using storytelling to teach grammar in communicative approach, as well as it also presents the significance of using storytelling in teaching grammar under the light of communicative approach. PART C: CONCLUSION This part includes the summary of the study findings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. 7 PART B: CONTENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Teaching approaches The past century has witnessed the appearance, the development and the changes in methods of teaching foreign language. Naturally, each method has its distinctive features. As a result, there are different viewpoints on the teaching grammar of the target language. 1.1.1. The Grammar - Translation The Grammar - Translation method was popular in foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s. It was a dominant method until the end of the twentieth century and in its modified forms, it has continued to be used in some places nowadays. Grammar - Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by the application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language. Hence, it views language learning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language (Richard and Rogers, 1986). In this method, the teaching of grammar possesses the following features: • Grammar is taught deductively, that is in a typical grammar – translation text, and the grammatical rules of the target language are presented in the mother tongue and illustrated through translation activities. • Teacher‟s role is to explain grammar rules and the meaning of the words in the students‟ native language. • Students‟ role is to pay close attention to teacher‟s explanations and corrections, memorize rules and vocabulary lists, and carefully do the translation tasks. 8 The strong points of this method can be drawn from its above features. First, students taught in this method are usually good at grammar because of their great attention to it. Second, this method does not require much effort from the teacher as he often overuses the mother tongue as the main means to explain the grammatical points. Third, translation exercises can rule out the ambiguity or misunderstanding between the students in learning a new grammatical structure as everything is translated clearly into their mother tongue. However, this method has some shortcomings, the biggest of which is that students are considered to be passive recipients of the given knowledge. They learn by absorbing the teacher‟s explanation in the mother tongue, memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary list. They do not have many chances to think, learn and carry out meaningful communicative activities in the target language. Due to its weak points and inefficient outcome, this method is rarely used in learning and leaching foreign language in schools in the world nowadays. Even in our country, although grammar translation method used to be popular for a long time, the use of this method in schools has proved many drawbacks and hence needs to be changed. 1.1.2. The Direct method The direct method was a method of teaching that developed at the turn of the 20th century. This method developed as a revolution against the grammar - translation method. Therefore, grammar was also taught in different ways. This method stresses that the second language learning should be more like the fist language learning with a lot of oral interactions and spontaneous responses. The direct method was characterized, above all, by the use of the target language as a means of instruction and communication in the language classroom, and by the avoidance of the use of the first language. (Stern, 1983). 9 Then, it could be seen that the teaching of grammar in this method also carries its distinctive features. While prioritizing oral skills, it rejects explicit grammar teaching. The students are supposed to pick up the grammar of the target language in much the same way as children do that in their mother tongue, simply by being immersed in it. As a result, this method has some advantages. First, it provides students more chances to speak the target language and creates a good foreign language - learning environment. It also enables students to think and the language easily. Nevertheless, this method has to cope with many challenges. It requires teachers who were native speakers or who had native like fluency in the foreign language. It was largely dependent on the teachers‟ skill, rather than on a text book and not all teachers were proficient enough in foreign language to adhere to the principle of this method. (Bolton, D. Goodey, N. 1999). This method requires the teacher to be very fluent in the target language and all the foreign language classes to be small - sized. This does not prove practical and useful in the financially poor situation, as it is difficult and costly to hire all native or native like speaking teachers and to run small – sized classes in all schools. In addition, as this method forces student to express himself too soon in the target language, they can speak fast and fluently but not accurately due to the lack of the systematic practice of the structures. More importantly, as oral interaction and spontaneous reaction are given prior stress, slow –minded students will be discouraged because they often find it difficult to catch up with the fast pace of the learning process. Being the contradiction to the grammar –translation method, this has not been seen as a better one. The use of this method in the situation of Vietnam schools could encounter such numerous difficulties as students‟ inability to perform the language accurately and school financial matters. 10 1.1.3. The Audio - Lingual method According to Stern (1983), the immergence of the audio - lingual method resulted from the increased attentions given to foreign language teaching in the United States at the end of the 1950s. Then Audio lingual reached the period of most widespread use in the 1960s and it was applied both to the teaching of foreign languages in the United States and to the teaching of English as a second language in many other places. The teaching of grammar in this method has some features as follows: - The use of dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language - Emphasis on dialogues as the chief means of presenting the language, mimicry, memorization, and pattern drills - The use of the language laboratory The prevailing point of this method is that it gives good attention to students‟ pronunciation and promotes their successful responses, which can better their ability to communicate. Moreover, much use of tapes, language labs and visual aids can facilitate the learning process of the students as this can add a lively and interesting atmosphere to foreign language classes. Nonetheless, this method also proves some drawbacks. First, students vocabulary is simple and limited because most of the words are learned in a dialogue context. Second, students are turned into a kind of machine through repetitive drills, mimicry and memorization of set phrases, which do not help to promote their creativity. 1.1.4. Communicative Language Teaching 1.1.4.1. Definitions Different researchers have presented their understandings in relation to communicative language teaching. Ying (2010) argued that CLT is an approach to the teaching of second languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as a “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or 11 simply as the “communicative approach”. In relation to this, Larsen-Freeman (2000) argued that CLT aims broadly at the theoretical perspective of a communicative approach by enabling communication. Communicative competence is the goal of language teaching by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication. It is clear to see that CLT here means that the language teacher uses communication as a teaching approach to enhance students‟ communicative competence. In relation to this, Ellis (1997) also supported that the pedagogical rationale for the use of communicative approach in a language teaching class depends in part on the claim that they will help develop learners‟ communicative skills and in part on a claim that they will contribute incidentally to their linguistic development. Here, it becomes clear that in relation to being able to communicate, language teaching not only needs the mastering of linguistic knowledge, but also communicative competence. It also states that communicative competence is the ability to understand the logical basis of linguistic competence (Finch, 2003). According to Finch, there were three kinds of logic: the first one is formal logic, which is connected with the rules which govern valid argument and gets us so far in understanding the basis of communication. Then to be fully competent, we need knowledge of natural logic, which means understanding what people are trying to do through language. In addition to these two logics, we also need to understand the force of our utterance, which requires us to understand the meaning of our utterances according to its social context or particular situational settings. Therefore, when it is deliberately taught to students, the language teaching will create language appropriate for such language-use situations as ordering in restaurants, giving directions or applying for a job. To summarize, communicative competence not only includes good mastery of linguistic knowledge, but also the ability to understand the logic to handle realistic 12 situations. Furthermore, the other researchers also argue that there is considerable debate as to appropriate ways of defining CLT, and no single model of CLT is universally accepted as authoritative. 1.1.4.2. Characteristic features At the time when the previous foreign language teaching method all proved their drawbacks, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been put forth around the world as the “new” or “innovative” approach to teach English as a second language. Teaching materials, course descriptions, guidelines proclaim a goal of communicative competence. Littlewood (1981) stated that one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspect of language. David Nunan (1989) also offered five features to characterize CLT: 1. An emphasis on learning to communicative through interaction in the target language. 2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation. 3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the learning process itself. 4. An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as an important contributing element to classroom learning. 5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom. According to Harmer, J. (1987), language was more than simply a system or rules; rather it is seen as a dynamic resource for the creation of meaning. In terms of learning, it is generally accepted that we need to distinguish between “learning what” and “knowing how”. To some extent, that is to say, students do not simply learn the language structures and grammar rules, rather they should take part in activities such as problem 13 solving, writing for a purpose, and discussion on topics of genuine interest, ect. Students in communicative classrooms are seen as active recipients of information provided by teachers or the textbooks. Teachers are no longer viewed as the authority of the knowledge, playing a dominant role. They are just in the roles of a facilitator, a participant, and a counselor to create more fascinating experiences for the students. In general, the CLT helps students learn a language through authentic and meaningful communication, which involves a process of creative construction, in order to achieve fluency. Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980) distinguished between the weak and the strong versions of Communicative Language Teaching. The weak version stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to use English for communicative purposes and therefore attempts to integrate communicative activities into the program of language teaching. As different from this, the strong version of communicative language teaching claims that language can be acquired only through communication. This would mean that teaching involves not just activating an existing knowledge of the language, but stimulating the development of the language system itself. It is worth noticing that while the strong version of the communicative movement pays no attention to grammar learning in the classroom, the weak version attempts to integrate a communicative component into a traditional setting. However, whether it is the weak or the strong version, the proponents of Communicative Language Teaching have always viewed learning a second/ foreign language as acquiring the linguistic means to perform different functions. Likewise, Brown (1994) said that in CLT, grammatical structure is immersed under various categories and therefore, less attention is paid to the overt presentation and discussion over the grammatical rules. In other words, CLT does not encourage the overt teaching of grammar, which provides explicit explanation of the rules of certain grammatical items when teaching,