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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS EDUCATION
NGUYỄN THỊ LƯU
THE PRACTICE OF USING TEACHING AIDS IN
TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO 10TH FORM
STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN TUY GIFTED HIGH
SCHOOL AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)
Hanoi, May, 2010
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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS EDUCATION
NGUYỄN THỊ LƯU
THE PRACTICE OF USING TEACHING AIDS IN
TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO 10TH FORM
STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN TUY GIFTED HIGH
SCHOOL AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)
SUPERVISOR: NGÔ VIỆT HÀ PHƯƠNG, M.A.
Hanoi, May, 2010
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I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Lưu, 06.1.E4, being a candidate for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College
relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in
the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in
the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the
care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
Signature
Nguyễn Thị Lưu
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish, first of all, to record the debt of gratitude, which owe to my
supervisor Ms. Ngo Viet Ha Phuong, M.A, the lecturer of Faculty of English
Language Teacher Education, Hanoi University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, for her tireless
assistance and guidance during the fulfillment of this product. Without her
precious help and advice, this paper would not have come into being.
Thanks are due to my classmates in group 06.1.E4, HULIS, VNU,
who have given me helpful comments and suggestions when checking my
writings throughout the period of my study.
Additionally, I would like to send the deepest thank to all the
participants who have helped me so much when I was gathering the data for
the current study.
I must re-acknowledge my debt to my family and friends for being by
my side with instant encouragement and support during the course of my
writing.
I am grateful to all those who have helped me with the printing of this
product.
Finally, I wish to send a special thank to my readers for their interests
and constructive comments on the paper.
Without those helps, this study would be impossible.
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ABSTRACTTeaching English grammar for high school students in Vietnam has
been facing a wide range of problems as it can not match with the current
communicative way of teaching and learning English all over the world,
which involve the exploitation of teaching aids in classrooms. Thus, one of
the main aims of the current study is to figure out the current practice of
using teaching aids in teaching and learning English grammar at the school
where the researcher did her practicum – Luong Van Tuy gifted high shool
in Ninh Binh province. More specifically, it was to discover the types of
teaching aids currently used in teaching English grammar to tenth form
students; the teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the frequency of
using teaching aids as well as the effectiveness of such aids on the students’
grammar learning; the obstacles which prevent the teachers from involving
extra aids in their grammar lessons, and the recommendations for better
exploitation of teaching aids in the future. By using both quantitative and
qualitative methods, the study has found out that a variety of types of
teaching aids had been applied to the teaching of grammar to 10th form
students; however, they were not used in a very frequent way. Also, by
looking at several obstacles, it is recommended for the school to supply
more aids, for the leaders to expand the time duration for the Language
Focus period, to make some changes in the testing system, and for the
teachers to use extra aids in a structured and pedagogical manner.
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LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS
TABLES
Table 1: Willis’s model for task-based teaching approachTable 2: Personal beliefs about learning and teaching English grammarTable 3: Students’ opinions about what their teachers teach when introducing a new grammatical item.Table 4. Teachers’ opinions about what to teach when introducing a new grammatical item.Table 5. Teachers’ ideas about the obstacles preventing them from using teaching aids in teaching English grammarTable 6. Teachers’ suggestions for better use of teaching aids in teaching English grammar
FIGURES
Figure 1: Students’ years of learning EnglishFigure 2: Teachers’ years of teaching EnglishFigure 3. The most difficult stage in a grammar lessonFigure 4. Types of visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the teachers)Figure 5. Types of visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the students)Figure 6. Types of audio aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the students)Figure 7. Types of audio aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the teachers)Figure 8. Types of audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the teachers)Figure 9. Types of audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as perceived by the students)Figure 10. Students’ perceptions of the frequency of their teachers’ using visual aids (1), audio aids (2), and audio-visual aids (3) in teaching English grammarFigure 11. Teachers’ perceptions of the frequency of their use of visual aids (1), audio aids (2), and audio-visual aids (3) in teaching English grammar
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Figure 12. Teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of teaching aids in teaching and learning English grammarFigure 13. Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching aids on their grammar learning
ABBREVIATIONS
ESL: English as Second LanguageEFL: English as Foreign LanguageALM: Audio-Lingual MethodGTM: Grammar Translation MethodCLT: Communicative Language TeachingS: StudentQ: QuestionA: Answer
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE
Acknowledgements iAbstract iiList of tables, figures, and abbreviations iiiTable of contents v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study 11.2. Aims and objectives of the study 21.3. Scope of the study 31.4. Significance of the study 41.5. An overview of the rest of the paper 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Grammar 62.1.1. Definition of grammar 62.1.2. Grammar and meaning 72.1.3. Grammar and function 82.1.4. The roles of grammar in language teaching 92.1.5. Aspects to be taught when teaching grammar 11
2.2. Approaches and Methods in teaching Grammar 132.3. Teaching aids 25
2.3.1. Definition and classification of teaching aids 252.3.2. Visual aids 26
2.3.2.1. Pictures as a visual aid 272.3.2.2. Realias as a visual aid 342.3.2.3. Blackboard as a visual aid 372.3.2.4. Some considerations in planning visual aids 40
2.3.3. Audio aids 412.3.3.1. Songs 42
2.3.4. Audio-visual aids – Videos 45
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research design 513.2. Participants and participant selection method 513.3. Data collection methods and procedures 52
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3.5. Data analysis methods and procedures 55
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. General information about students’ and teachers’ English 58grammar learning and teaching at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school 4.2. Research question 1- Types of teaching aids currently exploited 64to teach English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school 4.3. Research question 2 - Frequency of using teaching aids in 71teaching English grammar to tenth form students 4.4. Research question 3 – Effectiveness of teaching aids on the 74students’ grammar learning 4.5. Research question 4 – Obstacles preventing the teachers from 76involving teaching aids into English grammar lessons 4.6. Research question 5 – Recommendations for better exploitation 79of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION
5.1. Major findings of the research 845.2. Pedagogical suggestions for teachers’ better exploitation of 85teaching aids in English grammar classrooms 5.3. Limitations of the study 875.4. Recommendations for further related studies 87
REFERENCES 89
APPENDICES 92
Appendix 1 92Appendix 2 93Appendix 3 96Appendix 4 98Appendix 5 99Appendix 6 107
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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
This initial chapter states the problem and the rationale of the study, as
well as the aims, objectives, the scope and the significance of the whole paper.
Also, it is in this chapter that the research questions are clarified to work as
clear guidelines for the whole research.
1.1. Statement of the problem and the rationale for the research
Grammar could be said to be the core of a language and one can not
communicate effectively without having proper knowledge about it. For
example, even such a simple sentence as “Hello, my name is Victoria” is made
up of the grammatical elements, i.e. the use of possessive, and the verb “to be”.
Thus, the idea that we should only teach students such functions as inviting,
apologizing, introducing, suggesting is not proper enough; instead, students
should know grammatical base as well (Harmer, 1987). Though a number of
various approaches have offered different techniques to deal with grammar
teaching and learning, grammar lessons have been so challenging for both
teachers and students in many schools. Teachers find it a tough task to teach
their students grammar, and students could not master the rules, make them
their own and use them in real communication. The question raised is that in
what way the teacher should teach grammar so that their students can
understand deeply and involve what they have learnt in their daily
communication. The Communicative Language Teaching Approach, which is
considered the best one among others, has proved that language learning can be
achieved successfully if the learning process is tightly connected to everyday
communication (To, H. Nguyen, & M. Nguyen, 2008). Grammar teaching and
learning, thus, is no exception.
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Using teaching aids can be considered a good technique to deal with
language teaching, as it involves real life factors into classroom environment.
Teaching aids, including visual aids, audio aids and audio-visual aids (To, H.
Nguyen, TM. Nguyen, HM. Nguyen, & Luong, 2009) have a real and important
place in the process of teaching and learning English grammar. Involving them
into lessons will help reduce teacher’s talk and students acquire the grammar
rules much better. However, due to many factors, exploiting teaching aids in
language teaching and learning, especially in teaching and learning grammar,
has been paid so less attention to.
The importance of grammar and the significance of exploiting teaching
aids into grammar lessons offer the researcher a chance to take a deep
investigation into the current exploitation of them in teaching grammar to tenth
form students at high school. Some previous research has looked at the use of
visual aids in teaching grammar and vocabulary; hence, with a broader vision
on the exploitation of teaching aids in teaching and learning grammar, this
paper hopes bring a new and different sense into this field. However, because of
the limitation of time and human resource, this research can only be covered at
Luong Van Tuy gifted high school in Ninhbinh province and the participants
can only be the tenth-form students at this school.
All the factors mentioned have motivated the researcher to conduct a
study on “The practice of using teaching aids in teaching English grammar to
10th students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school and its implications”.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
This paper was to look at the current exploitation of teaching aids in
teaching English grammar to tenth-form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted
high school, then look for some possible solutions with the hope to better the
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situation in case teaching aids are not exploited into grammar teaching and
learning properly enough.
In short, the above objectives could be summarized into the following
research questions:
1. What are the types of teaching aids currently exploited in teaching
English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high
school as perceived by the students, their teachers, and by the
researcher through class observations?
2. What is the frequency of using teaching aids in teaching English
grammar to 10th form students, as perceived by the teachers and their
students?
3. What is the effectiveness of teaching aids on the students’ grammar
learning as perceived by the students and their teachers?
4. What are the obstacles preventing the teachers from involving teaching
aids into English grammar lessons as perceived by the teachers?
5. What are the recommendations for better practice of using teaching
aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students as suggested by
the teachers?
1.3. Scope of the study
Firstly, the study focused on the types of teaching aids being exploited
in teaching English grammar only, thus, it will not concentrate on the way the
teachers are using such aids.
Secondly, the research was carried out only with tenth form students
and the teachers who are in charge of English teaching to those students at
Luong Van Tuy gifted high school due to the time limitation and some
practical purposes.
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1.4. Significance of the study
As its name suggests, once completed, this research helped readers and
those concerned with an overview of the current exploitation of teaching aids
in teaching English grammar to tenth form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted
high school, by which some inferences could be made to see the present
situation of other Vietnamese high schools. Also, hopefully, based on the
gathered data, it could suggest several recommendations so as to make the
situation become better.
On the whole, this study could be beneficial to educationists, course
administrators, teachers, and other researchers who work on related fields.
1.5. An overview of the rest of the paper
The rest of the paper consists of the four chapters as follows:
Chapter 2 – Literature review – provides readers with the background
of the study, including explanation of key terms and discussions of related
studies.
Chapter 3 – Methodology – presents the participant and participants
selection methods, the data collection methods and procedures, as well as the
data analysis methods and procedures.
Chapter 4 – Results and discussion – describes, analyzes and discusses
the findings which were gained from the data according to the four mentioned
research questions.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion – summarizes the main points discussed in the
research paper, the limitations of the research, several pedagogical
recommendations regarding the problem, and suggestions for further studies.
This chapter will be followed by the References and Appendices.
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Summary
In this chapter, the researcher has presented the following points:
(1)Statement and rationale for the study
(2)Aims and objectives of the study
(3)Scope of the study
(4)Significance of the study
(5)An overview of the rest of the paper
All in all, these elaborations have an important role in justifying the
major contents and structure of the study as well as working as the
guidelines for the rest of the research paper.
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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This second chapter presents the literature of the study, specifically
the background and a variety of studies related to the research problem.
2.1. Grammar
2.1.1. Definition of grammar
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English offers a definition
of grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change
their forms and are combined into sentences”. As can be seen, two basic
elements of grammar are involved in this definition – the rules and the study
and practice of the rules. In his book named “Teaching and learning
Grammar”, Harmer (1987, p.2) shared the same view and made it more
explicit by emphasizing that grammar is “the way in which words change
themselves and group together to make sentences. The grammar of a
language is what happens to words when they become plural, negative, or
what word is used when we make questions or join two clauses to make one
sentence.” This point of view is somehow similar to the way Ur (1988, p.1)
defined the term “grammar”. As for him, grammar may be roughly defined
as “the way language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in
order to form longer units of meaning”.
Richards, Platt and Weber (1986), however, considered grammar is a
description of the structure of a language, and the way in which units such as
words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language.
Accordingly, it can be seen that the way words and phrases change
themselves and combine with one another to make sentences is only an
example among those of many other units, and apart from the level of words
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and phrases, grammar is a matter which concerns with different fields,
additionally.
Those traditional definitions are supported by Nunan (2008), though
he defined grammar in a communicative way as well. Nunan put it that
grammar is a resource that enables us to “get things done, make choices,
express ourselves as individuals, and articulate our feelings and attitudes”. In
a word, it can be understood that grammar is not only the rules and the
structure of a language, it is a means of communication and it helps people
succeed in communicating with others.
2.1.2. Grammar and meaning
According to Thornbury (1999), grammar is a process for making a
speaker’s or writer’s meaning clear where contextual information is absent.
Grammar communicates meanings, the meanings of a very precise kind,
which are different from those of vocabulary. The following can be cited as
an example. When people come to the cinema for a movie, a ticket inspector
says “Tickets!” Here there seems to be little or no grammar, the meaning is
conveyed simply at the lexical, or word level, “tickets”, and the comers
understand what the inspector means and do such requirement. Thus, it can
be said that situational factors make people involved not have to work very
hard to make the meaning clear. From this, Thornbury formulates such rule
of thumb as “the more context, the less grammar”. He also adds another
situation that supports this point of view. That is, a person (Mike) is phoning
another person (Mandy) to ask a third person (Mary) to forward some pre-
booked airline tickets. In this case, “Tickets!” would be inadequate; instead,
we would expect something like “Can you ask Mary to send me the tickets
that I booked last week?” This is where grammar comes in and helps convey
the meaning precisely.
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There are at least two kinds of meaning that grammatical forms
convey and these two reflect the two main purposes of language, i.e.(a) to
represent the world as we experience it, and (b) to influence how things
happen in the world, specifically in our relations with other people
(Thornbury, 1999, p.3). Accordingly, these purposes are called language’s
representational and interpersonal functions, respectively.
2.1.3. Grammar and function
In the mid-seventies, teachers of English became more concerned with
the relation between grammar and function; and writers of language teaching
materials attempted to move the emphasis way from the learning of
grammatical structures independent of their use on to learning how to
function in a language, and above all, learning how to communicate
(Thornbury, 1999, p.4).
Accordingly, certain form-function matches are fairly easily
identifiable. For instance, the form “Would you like…?” is commonly used
to function as an invitation or offer, while the form “If only I hadn’t…”
commonly initiates the expression of regret. One function, though, can be
expressed by several different forms. From the following examples, it could
be seen that the function of “warning” could be expressed in different ways:
You’d better not do that.
If I were you, I would not do such thing.
If you do that, you’ll be in trouble.
Don’t do that, or you’ll be in trouble.
Similarly, one form can express a wide range of functions. For
example, the form “If…, …will…” can express the following functions:
If you do that, you’ll be in trouble. (function: warning)
If you lie down, you’ll feel better. (function: advice)
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If it rains, we’ll stay at home tonight. (function: plan)
If you pass the coming exam, I’ll give you a nice present. (function: promise)
In a word, so as to successfully match form and function it is essential
to be able to read clues from the context to understand the speaker’s exact
meaning. Thus, teaching grammar out of context should be discouraged
because this may lead to misunderstandings.
2.1.4. The roles of grammar in language teaching
According to Cook (1994), originally the word “glamour” came from
the same root as “grammar”; and the person who knew grammar was
glamorous and could “cast mysterious spells.” This idea was supported by
Woods (1995, as cited in Zhu, p.50) when he held it that “Nobody can doubt
that a good knowledge of the grammatical system is essential to master a
foreign language and it is also one of the most important parts of
communicative competence”. Thus, it could be understood that grammar is a
framework without which a language can not be structured and a message
can not be conveyed smoothly and fluently. Sympathizing with this view,
Zhu (2007) stated that for most people, the essence of language lies in
grammar, and grammar teaching has played an important role in language
learning and acquisition. He supported the evidence that no-grammar
teaching will lead to the product of clumsy and nonstandard foreign
languages, which means that grammar teaching is essential for language
teaching.
However, whether or not should attention be placed on grammar
teaching remains controversial for a number of years, especially since the
mid-seventies when Communicative Language Teaching approach gained its
popularity. Those supporting the view that there is no point in paying
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attention to grammar teaching argued mastering all the rules of a language
can not help learners communicate in real life. This view seems to be
somehow reasonable; however, facts have shown that some knowledge –
implicit or explicit – of grammatical rules is always important for the
mastery of a language because learners can not write or speak well unless
they know how words should be put together, and this could only be gained
by learning the grammar of that language.
The fact that some people still deny the place of grammar in language
teaching and learning is probably true in their first language acquisition.
According to Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1998, p.2), grammar rules are a part
of what is “known” automatically by all native speakers of a language; in
fact, “they do not exist outside of native speakers. A language (and by
definition, its rules) exists in the individual brains of native speakers.” To
native speakers, these rules in their brains are usually so familiar and
automatic that they are probably not able to articulate them, but they all
certainly know when they are being violated. Their language learning, thus,
is different from the way that second language learners learn a new
language. Let us take an example. The rules of English allow us to accept
the following sentences as grammatical:
(1) a. He goes to school everyday.
b. What are you doing?
c. I can’t hear you.
However, those same rules allow us to reject the following sentences,
which contain typical ESL learner errors:
(2) a. He go…
b. What are you do?
c. I can no hear you.
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Actually it is likely that the sentences in (2) would be understood even
though they are ungrammatical; and in some situations, it is of course better
to be able to speak out such sentences as in (2) than not to be able to
communicate at all. On the other hand, though, in many situations such
sentences are simply not sufficient. The communication needs of students
may require that their language conform more closely to the rules of English
grammar used by native speakers. (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.3).
As Vietnamese learners learn English as their foreign language,
students do not learn English in the same way as the native speakers
acquiring their mother tongue in a community which speaks the language.
Our students do not have linguistic environment to practice and motivation
to use the language outside their classrooms; therefore, they can not draw the
grammar rules intuitively and their needs of learning grammar in class is
bigger.
In sum, teaching grammar is very important, and it is an integral part
of foreign language teaching in order to help learners gain their
communicative competence in that language.
2.1.5. Aspects to be taught when teaching grammar
To those who think of grammar as a fixed set of word forms and rules
of usage, teaching grammar means explaining the forms and rules and then
drilling students on them. In fact, this results in bored, disaffected students
who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make
errors when they try to use the language in context. Other language teachers
who are influenced by “recent theoretical work on the difference between
language learning and language acquisition”
(http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/grindex.htm, para.4); however,
tend not to teach grammar at all. Because they believe that children acquire
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their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect students
to learn their second language in the same way, and as Byrd (1998) noted,
they
assume that students will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know (para.4).
To teachers following the Communicative Language Teaching
approach, on the other hand, teaching grammar means providing students
with opportunities to use language in a variety of realistic situations in order
to learn to communicate successfully. This way reflects what the
communicative competence model means, as this model recognizes that
overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language more
efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the larger
context of teaching students to use the language. Supporting this view,
Harmer (1987, p.5) held it that “It is clear that when we introduce a new
piece of grammar, we must teach not only the form, but also one of its
functions, and not only the meaning but also use”. “Form” refers to
grammatical forms, such as verb tense, reported speech while function
means the purposes that language serves, such as asking for information,
refusing an invitation or making a suggestion. Doff (1998, p.10) seemed to
agree with this, as he said when we present a structure, it is important to
“show what the structure means and how it is used, by giving examples; and
show clearly how the structure is formed, so that students can use it to make
sentences of their own”.
In short, if we want our students to use the language they learn
successfully in real communication, when presenting a new structure, we
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need to address its meaning, form and use (pragmatics) in our grammar
lessons (To et al., 2009, p.55).
2.2. Approaches and Methods in teaching Grammar
As with many other methods and approaches, Grammar Translation
Method tended to be in the past tense as if it had died out to be replaced all
over the world by the fun and motivation of the communicative classroom
(Bowen, n.d.). As it name suggests, in this method, grammar points would
come directly from the texts and be presented contextually in the textbook,
and be explained elaborately by the teacher. Grammar, then, provided the
rules for assembling words into sentences, and, boring translation and
grammar drills would be used to exercise and strengthen the knowledge
without much attention to content. Next, sentences would be deconstructed
and students would be asked to translate them. Finally, the whole text would
be translated from the target language into the native language and tests
would often ask students to replicate classical texts in the target language.
Thus, the skill exercised was reading, and then only in the context of
translation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_translation, Method
section, para.3).
In fact, the fact that this method survived for quite a long time and is
still practiced in some particular places is thanks to its certain advantages.
Firstly, by using GTM, the phraseology of the target language is quickly
explained. Obviously, translation is the easiest way of explaining meanings
of words from one language into another. Also, any other method of
explaining vocabulary or grammar items through definitions and illustrations
in the second language is considered consuming. In addition, learners may
acquire some short of accuracy in understanding synonyms in the mother
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language and the target language. Secondly, teacher’s labor is saved in this
method. For the textbooks are taught through the mother tongue, the teacher
may ask comprehension questions on the text in the mother tongue, and
learners will not have much difficulty in responding to questions on the
mother language. This helps the teacher assess what (s)he has taught the
students more easily. Furthermore, communication between the teacher and
the learners does not cause linguistic problems; and even teachers who are
not fluent in English can teach English through this method
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_translation, Criticism section, para.
5).
As been discussed on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_translation, GTM; however, has been
receiving a lot of criticism and is not encouraged by any modern language
teachers. As can be seen, it is an unnatural method because the natural order
of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading and writing, that is, the
way how the child learns his mother language in natural surroundings. In
this method, the learning process is reversed as the teaching of the second
language starts with the teaching of reading. What is more, speech is ignored
in GTM as it puts emphasis on reading and writing instead of
communication. Facts have shown beyond doubt that the students who are
taught English through this method fail to express themselves adequately in
real-life communication. Additionally, exact translation from one language
to another is a difficult task and impossible because there are several lexical
items in one language which have no equivalents in another language.
Finally, instead of providing the learners with some pattern practice, this
method attempts to teach language through rules and not by use. Many
researchers in linguistics have proved that to speak a language entirely by
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rule is impossible because language learning means acquiring certain skills,
which can be learnt through practice instead of just memorizing rules.
Students who have learnt a foreign or second language through this method
find it difficult to give up the habit of first thinking in their mother tongue
and then translating their ideas into the second language. They, thus, fail to
get proficiency in the second language.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_translation, Criticism section,
para.6).
Direct Method, also known as Natural Method, was developed as an
answer to recover the weaknesses of Grammar Translation Method.
Considering the learning process of second or foreign language is in the
same way as that of one’s first language, the method based on the belief that
knowing a language was being able to speak it. Thus, there was no place for
mother tongue in foreign language lessons, new teaching points were
introduced orally, and it put great stress on correct pronunciation and the
target language. Also, only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught,
and writing should be delayed until after the printed word has been
introduced. They taught grammar deductively, i.e. they had learners find out
rules through the presentation of a set of examples in the target language
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_method_education, Principles section).
This method had actually brought some new sense to the teaching of
foreign languages; however, as been discussed on the webpage
http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mflwww/seclangacq/langteach5.html, it was not
accepted by language researchers due to certain limitations. In the first place,
Direct Method had a major false belief that second language should be
learned in the same way as the way that first language was acquired.
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However, obviously students, when learning a foreign language, can not
have so much time and opportunity in schools and real life to communicate
like what they can do when learning their mother tongue. In the second
place, this method ignored the use of the printed word, which may be
illogical for second language learners. Also, experiments have shown that
the printed word may be of real help to consolidate the foreign language and
reinforce retention. In addition, as this method used a wide range of real
objects so as to avoid translating new words and grammatical items, it
needed good preparation and was quite time-consuming. Finally, language
researchers argued that successful teacher of the Direct Method needed
language competence, energy, imagination, ability and time to create their
own materials and courses. Those things, to tell the truth, were so difficult
and beyond capacity of all but some gifted ones.
(http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mflwww/seclangacq/langteach5.html)
In a word, Direct Method was not so satisfactory to the foreign
language teaching; thus, Audio-lingual method was developed with the hope
to address some of the perceived weaknesses of such. In general, this
approach to language learning and teaching was similar to the Direct method
in the sense that a language should be taught directly to students, and new
words and grammar should be explained in the target language, without the
use of students’ native language. However, this method was different from
the Direct Method in the sense that the teacher drilled students in the use of
grammar rather than focusing on the teaching of vocabulary. There was no
explicit grammar instruction in Audio-lingualism because everything was
simply memorized in form (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-
lingual_method).
26
The Audiolingual Method is based on the following principles:
Speaking and listening competence preceded reading and writing
competence.
Use of mother tongue is highly discouraged in the classroom.
The development of language skills is a matter of habit formulation.
Students practice particular patterns of language through structured
dialogue and drill until response is automatic.
Structured patterns in language are taught using repetitive drills.
The emphasis is on having students produce error free utterances.
This method of language learning supports kinesthetic learning styles.
Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught. Concrete
vocabulary is taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures.
Abstract vocabulary is taught through association of ideas.
The printed word must be kept away from the second language learner
as long as possible.
(Source: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/hutt/esl/amtheory.htm)
This method, in fact, was advantageous in the sense that it encouraged
students to use the target language in class and resulted in rapid acquisition
of speaking and listening skills, but it was not really good like that, as
Harmer noted (cited on website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-
lingual_method, Today section), “Audio-lingual methodology seems to
banish all forms of language processing that help students sort out new
language information in their own minds.” Also, as cited in To. et al (2008,
p.22 ), “research in second language acquisition has shown that language
was not really learned through a process of habit formation and overleaning
27
and errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all costs as asserted by
behaviorists. More importantly, the ALM failed to teach long-term
communicative proficiency because the language it taught was de-
contextualized and carried little communicative function.”
These above shortcomings have made the popularity of ALM fade
away and be replaced by a more effective learning and teaching method,
whose title is Communicative Language Teaching Approach.
Communicative Language Teaching was developed in the last 20
years and facts have shown that it was the most popular among many others.
CLT’s main idea is to improve students’ communicative competence by
developing sociolinguistic competence as well as their linguistic
competence; and to overcome the limitations of traditional teaching
approaches (Li & Song, 2007, p.62).
According to Li and Song (2007, p.62), sociolinguistic competence
refers to the speaker’s knowledge of how to use the proper language on
different occasions; in other words, it is the ability to communicate
appropriately within the overall social and cultural context of
communication. CLT believes that providing students with the language
situations in the classroom is the best way to help them express what they
want to say in reality. However, this is not to say it is good to limit the
students only in doing something like improving communicative
competence and pay little attention to the grammatical structure of their
speaking. On the one hand, CLT considers this as only one side of the coin,
as grammar is not only the core of a language but a theoretical tool in
regulating language as well (Li & Song, 2007, p.63). These two researchers
hold the view that if a teacher teaches the students in communicative
28
training blindly, and fails to help them to summarize the characteristics of a
sentence and compare it with other new sentences at proper time, it will
result in the fact that students can not fully understand the new sentence and
mistakes are unavoidable when they use it. On the other hand, CLT does not
agree with the idea of teaching language as just explaining knowledge and
drilling sentences. Also, the beliefs that by mastering the rules of grammar,
students can communicate with native speaker effectively and grammar rules
should be taught explicitly are not accepted. In fact, by teaching that way,
students, thus, can only have linguistic ability and are unable to have
sociolinguistic ability, and can not put the knowledge into practice as well as
in their daily life. Knowledge of the grammatical system of the language,
actually speaking, is only one of many components which underlie the
notion of communicative competence. To be considered a competent user of
a language, one needs to know not only the rules of grammar but also how
the rules are used in real communication (http://www.toodoc.com/role-of-
grammar-in-communicative-language-teaching-word.html). In CLT,
grammar is important but just as “a means to the end” (Nunan, 1991, as cited
in To et al, 2008, p.40). Thus, grammar should “never be taught as an end in
itself but always with reference to meaning, social factors, or discourse – or
a combination of these factors” (Celce-Murcia & Hills, 1988, p.466, as cited
in To et al, 2008, p.40).
According to Li and Song (2007, p.64), there are two principles
provided by CLT as follows:
(1) Grammar ability is a part of the communicative competence. The
static and closed grammar should subordinate itself to the dynamic, open
and creative communication. Grammar is nothing but a tool for teaching.
29
Only by accurately understanding the role of grammar in English teaching,
neither exaggerating it nor understanding it, can we eventually come to a
good result in grammar teaching.
(2) The relationship between grammar competence and
communicative competence is that between “absorbing” and “practicing”.
First, knowledge comes from practice. Students are required to participate in
the reading and listening activities to observe and understand the structure
and function of the grammar. After that, they should summarize the rule of
grammar together with the teachers, and absorb the sentence easily in this
way. Secondly, teachers should make “absorbing” in accordance with
“practicing”, and help students to use the newly learned grammar in all kinds
of “practicing” to make them understood.
As cited in Chung (n.d., p.35), Howatt (1984) divided CLT into strong
and weak versions. The strong version is “in support of communicative
features”, whereas the weak one suggests “the integration of structural
practice into the communicative elements”. In his opinion, both structural
and communicative elements have a role to play in EFL and ESL especially
in the Asian setting because of the two following reasons: (1) the norms and
practices of the structural syllabus have been embedded in the Asian cultures
for decades, and (2) communicative proficiency will become easier to
achieve only when one has grasped the necessary knowledge of language
(such as grammar). For societies whose first and second language is not
English, there is still a need for structural practices so that the foundation of
linguistic knowledge can be built up before further communicative tasks are
given.
In a word, grammar ability will make spoken and written language
correct as well as enable students to express themselves accurately and
30
fluently in the course of using the language and to improve their
communicative competence (Li & Song, 2007, p.65). As Li and Song (2007)
suggested
teachers should not ignore grammar teaching while putting CLT in the first place, instead, they should help students sum up the rules of grammar, and at the same time closely link them with their daily life. Meanwhile, in real or half-real language atmosphere, it is important for the English teachers to make use of all kinds of teaching ways to create the communicative practical activities among students. The idea of practicing while learning and learning from practicing will make students use language to communicate more effectively. (p.65)
Task-based approach to language learning and teaching is among
those that have attracted so much attention over the past twenty five years.
One of the reasons for its spread is the fact that it readily fits in with other
communicative approaches to foreign language teaching (www.lms-
riks.se/content/images/sormusk08.pdf). According to Zhu (2007, p.50), this
can be regarded as one particular approach to implement the broader
“communicative approach”. It is a teaching method that “puts tasks at the
center of the methodological focus”, and considers the learning process as “a
set of communicative tasks that are directly linked to the curricular goals”.
Task-based teaching aims at making language classroom close to the target
language environment and developing students’ ability to communicate.
Nunan (1999, as cited in Zhu, 2007, p.50) defined task-based
language teaching as follows: “Task-based language teaching is an approach
to the design of language course in which the point of departure is not an
ordered list of linguistic items, but a collection of tasks”. In Zhu’s words,
task-based language teaching provides learners with opportunities to
“experiment with and explore both spoken and written language through
31
tasks designed to engage learners in authentic, practical and functional use
of language for meaningful purpose” (p.51).
About the features of task-based language teaching, Nunan (1991, as
cited in Zhu, 2007, p.51) gave a summary as follows:
(1) An emphasis on learning to communicate 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
language, but also on the learning process itself;
(4) An enhancement of the learners’ own personal experiences as
important contributing elements to classroom learning.
(5) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language
activation outside the classroom.
In fact, Task-based approach is in close relation with Communicative
Language Teaching. Unlike traditional approaches to grammar teaching and
learning, in Task-based approach, learners begin by carrying out a
communicative task, without specific focus on form. After they have done
the task, they report and discuss how they accomplished this. Only in the
end, there is a specific focus on features of language form (Willis, as cited in
Clandfield, n.d., Task-based grammar teaching: tips and activities). This is
clearly illustrated in Willis’s model for task-based teaching approach (as
cited in Zhu, 2007, p.51):
Pre-task Introduction to topic and tasksTask
PlanningTask-cycle Report
AnalysisLanguage focusPractice
Table 1. Willis’s model for task-based teaching approach
32
From the table, in Zhu’s words (p.51-52), it can be discussed as follows:
In pre-task stage, the teacher introduces the topic and gives the students
clear instructions on what they will have to do at the task stage and might
help the students to recall some language that may be useful for the task.
This stage can also include playing a recording of people doing the task,
which gives the students a clear model of what will be expected of them.
The students can take notes and spend time preparing for the task.
Task-cycle stage consists of three elements: task, planning and report.
Firstly, students complete a task in pairs or groups using the language
resources that they have as the teacher monitors and offers
encouragement. Secondly, students prepare a short oral or written report
to tell the class what happened during their task. After that, they practice
what they are going to say in their groups. Meanwhile, the teacher is
available for the students to ask for advice to clear up any language
questions they may have. Finally, students report back to the class orally
or read the written report. The teacher chooses the order of when students
will present their reports and may give the students some quick feedback
on the content. At this stage, the teacher may also play a recording of
others doing the same task for the students to compare.
In language focus stage, students focus their attention on the form of their
language instead of putting their emphasis on the meaning like in the first
two stages. In this stage, there are two steps – language analysis and
language practice: (1) Language analysis: The teacher highlights relevant
parts from the text of the recording for the students to analyze. (S)he may
ask students to notice interesting features within this text. (S)he can also
highlight the language that the students used during the report phase for
33
analysis. The students identify and think about particular features of
language form and language use. (2) Language practice: the teacher
selects language areas to practice based up on the needs of the students
and what emerged from the task and report phases. The students then do
practice activities to increase their confidence and make a note of useful
language. Through doing various exercises, the students learn to use and
memorize the useful words, phrases, structures and grammar rules so as
to consolidate their mastery of the language form.
According to Clandfield, one danger of task-based approach is that
focus on meaning could come at the expense of focus on form, which makes
learners become quite fluent, but their utterances are not often accurate. In
addition, they develop a tendency to complete the tasks quite quickly,
meanwhile cutting corners in their language use and form. However, he
emphasizes that the advantage of the task-based is that during the task the
learners are allowed to use whatever language they want, freeing them to
focus entirely on the meaning of their message, which makes it closer to a
real-life communicative situation. Sympathizing with this, Zhu (2007, p.53)
added that the teaching activities designed based on the theory of task-based
approach, compared with the traditional grammar classroom, could arouse
students’ interest in the group work as group work makes the tasks become
more interesting and much easier. During the whole process, the students feel
excited, and this could make them remember the grammatical points more
clearly and easily. The application of tasks not only enables students to create
more ideas and express their opinions freely on the topics, but it provides
them with enough opportunities and language environments to speak English
as well.
34
2.3. Teaching aids
2.3.1. Definition and classification of teaching aids
Teaching aid, as its name suggests, is a kind of aids which support the
teaching and learning activities of teachers and students. While the website
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/teaching+aid defined teaching aids as
“materials and equipments used in teaching”, the other one named
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/teaching%20aid considered teaching
aid as a kind of “material used by the teacher to supplement classroom
instruction or to stimulate the interest of students”. To put it more specific, a
teaching aid is a “tool used by teachers, facilitators, or tutors to (1) help
learners improve reading and other skills; (2) illustrate or reinforce a skill,
fact, or idea; and (3) relieve anxiety, fears, or boredom, since many teaching
aids are like games.”
(http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/Literacy/ReferenceMaterials/GlossaryOfLitera
cyTerms/WhatIsATeachingAid.htm).
In short, teaching aids are the useful materials and equipments which
help create motivation for teaching and learning environment. According to
To et al. (2009, p.4), teaching aids can be divided into three subgroups as
follows: (1) visual aids, (2) audio aids, and (3) audio-visual aids.
2.3.2. Visual aids
A visual aid is an “object to relate classroom teaching to real life, such
as food, clothing, a photograph, an item from school or daily life”
(www.oise.utoronto.ca/eslinfusion/Home/Background_information/Glossary
.html . Pham (2003, p.15), however, made it more specific by stating that
35
visual aids are “anything visible to learners, which the teacher uses for
different teaching purposes in the class.” Accordingly, this type of aids can
include photographs, flashcards, pictures, cut-outs, drawings, charts, maps,
real objects, which are available or brought into the classroom by the teacher
or learners themselves.
Using visual aids is obviously beneficial for language teaching and
learning, it is helpful for teaching grammar as well. Ur (1996) suggested “it
is important for learners to have plenty of contextualized examples of the
structure and to understand them. Visual materials can also contribute to
understanding” (as cited in Le, 2001, p.21). It is undeniable that the teacher
can present a grammar item more easily by showing the contexts in which
that item occurs, and visual materials can help provide such contexts and
situations.
Learning to use the language in real communication is necessary for
learners, and visuals provide learners with a chance of exposing to the
reality. It is visuals that make language learning closer to real life by
offering authentic topics and real situations using the target language items,
which of course helps students absorb the points faster and memorize them
longer. The teacher can present a structure simply and clearly by showing it
“directly using things the students can see: objects, the classroom, yourself
(teacher), the students themselves, pictures” (Doff, 1995, p.23). Thus,
visuals allow the teacher to talk less and encourage students’ participation in
language teaching and learning, which matches with the current approach of
teaching which is learner centered (Le, 2001).
36
2.3.2.1. Pictures as visual aids
The word “picture” is defined as “the painting, drawing, etc. that
shows a scene, a person or thing; a photograph or a description that gives
you an idea in your mind of what something is like” (Oxford learner’s
pocket dictionary, 3rd edition, p.322). Pictures are “versatile and useful
resources for teaching aspects of grammar” (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998,
p.73); however, it is undeniable that pictures are not exploited to the fullest
in second language learning and teaching, especially in teaching and
learning grammar. Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1998) stated that the teacher can
use pictures in all stages of a grammar lesson (i.e., in presentation, focused
practice, communicative practice, and feedback and correction); and if (s)he
can select the pictures which are interesting and entertaining, the students
will be motivated to “respond in ways that more routine teaching aids, such
as a textbook or a sentence on the board, cannot” (Murcia & Hilles,1998,
p.73). Accordingly, not only can pictures help elicit verbal responses, but
they can “form the basis for pair and group activities” (Murcia & Hilles,
1998, p.74). Celce-Murcia and Hilles explained that
when students move into pairs or groups, or come to in front of the class for an activity, there is appropriate physical movement (as opposed to such inappropriate activities as private conversation, passing of notes, shooting of rubber bands, staring at walls, or looking out windows). Even the most mature, highly motivated, and disciplined students have to move about a little during class. Activities that encourage appropriate movement – involving students directly or as observers – will promote and enhance active learning. We feel that pictures can play an important role in this process. (p.74)
Kreidler (1971, p.23) divided pictures used in teaching and learning
grammar into two types: (1) structure-oriented pictures and (2) context-
37
oriented pictures. He explained that structure-oriented pictures can be used
in practicing a variety of grammatical drill types because they are “basically
simple pictorial representations of one action, one occupation or one place”.
He gave some examples explaining how a “simple, single slot substitution
drill” works with a picture:
FIGURES EXAMPLES- Elementary level:
He is crossing the street.
- More advanced level:
Before going to the movies, he crossed the street.
- Elementary level:
He is waiting for the bus.
- More advanced level:
Before going to the movies, he waited for the bus.
38
- Elementary level:He is riding his bike.
- More advanced level:
Before going to the movies, he rode his bike.
- Q: "What was he
doing?"
A: “He was riding his
bike.”
Picture (4)+(5)+(6):The dentist read the newspaper at home.
Picture (5):
- Q: "What has he done
already this morning?"
- A: “He has read the
newspaper already this
morning.”
39
The doctor read the
newspaper at home.
The doctor read the
newspaper at the office.
The secretary read the
newspaper at the office.
40
Oral cue: "you" – Do
you like to play ping
pong?
Oral cue: "she" – Does
she like to cut the cake?
To practice the very important devices of syntactic cross
reference (anaphora) such as the use of one or an auxiliary to substitute for
an object or action already mentioned, pictures may be used in the
following drills:
41
FIGURES DRILLS
- The waiter’s here, isn’t he?
- The waitress is here, isn’t
she?
42
- I see a hard chair and soft
one.
- I see a weak man and a
strong one.
Context-oriented pictures are pictures which are built around a context
such as the beach, home activities, or sports and include several actions or
relationships all related to that context (Kreidler, 1971, p.33). Thus,
according to Kreidler, they are not simple ones, and this type of picture may
43
be more appealing to the teacher who holds the belief that language is
“strictly creative ability” as there is more opportunity for the student to make
sentences under the teacher’s direction when there are more things in the
picture to discuss.
About the usefulness of context pictures, Kreidler stated:
Context pictures can be introduced using any structure from a low intermediate level to an advanced level, the language level depending on the level of the class. It is possible to try to elicit all of the sentences of the introduction from the students. Then questions can be asked in a series of graded exercises to check recognition, and gradually lead to the students expressing their own ideas and feelings. To do this the teacher gradually relaxes the control he holds over the exercises. Examples of exercise types are yes-no questions, alternative questions, question-word questions, students asking questions, and questioning leading from the picture to the students' experiences. (p.33).
Although Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1998) did not directly divide
pictures into such types, they presented several exercises and activities in
which pictures play a very important role in the teaching of English
grammar. Such exercises and activities would be cited in Appendix 6.
2.3.2.2. Realias as visual aids
Realia can be understood as any “real objects which are introduced
into the classroom for teaching purposes” (Thornbury, 1999, p.23). Thus,
realias are the things that students can see in the classroom, and they can be
simple objects such as books, pens, desks, tables or complicated ones like
modern machines, units of foreign currency.
44
Realias can be already available in the classroom or brought to the
class by the teacher or students. It is already known that realias can be
beneficial to foreign language teaching and learning. Doff (1995) stated
realias (real objects) are in many ways the easiest kind of visual aids to use in class, as they need no special preparation or materials. Simple objects can be used not only for teaching vocabulary but also prompts to practice structures and develop situations (p.83).
Thornbury (1999, p.57-59) gave a sample lesson which uses realias to
teach the present simple tense for students at beginning level as follows:
Steps Activities
Step 1 The teacher shows the class a collection of objects that she says she
found in a bag left in the teachers’ room. They include such things as a
bus pass; a programme for the current jazz festival; an empty glass
case, the guarantee for a well-known brand of watches; a novel in
French; a swimming cap; a guitar pick, etc. (Note that none of the
objects has the owner’s name). She divides the class into pairs and
hands each pair an object, telling them they should try to work out
some characteristics of the owner of the object, so that the teacher can
work out who the bag belongs to and return it. The learners study their
object and then pass it on to the pair on their left until they have hand a
chance to look at them all.
Step 2 The teacher asks the class: Do you think it’s a man or a woman?
Depending on their response the owner is thereafter referred to as he or
she or he/she. She then elicits sentences from the learners based on
their deductions. Vocabulary is provided as necessary and the
sentences are “shaped” by the teacher and written on to the board so as
to display the target form clearly, which is the present simple form of
the relevant verbs:
45
He likes jazz.He takes the bus.He wears a Swatch.He wears glasses.He plays the guitar.
Step 3 The teacher directs attention to the form of the verbs,
highlighting the final –s. She also checks that students are clear to the
time reference implied by this use of the present simple, by asking: In
the past, present or future? To the answer Present, she responds: Right
now, or everyday? to elicit Everyday. She then rubs out the verbs, and
asks learners to complete the list form memory, working in pairs. This
task is then checked.
Step 4 The teacher then asks the students individually to write a similar list of
sentences about a person in the class. The teacher monitors the
sentence -writing stage, providing vocabulary where needed, and
suggesting improvements. Individual students then read out their
sentences, while the other students guess who is being described.
Exploiting realias in language classrooms was also supported by
Kreidler (1971) as he introduced some techniques for the teacher to carry out
in his/her class. For instance, if the students need fast drill on the tenses, the
calendar is an excellent aid. In this activity, any calendar which is large
enough for all of the students to see clearly may be used. First, the teacher
establishes today’s date. When s(he) points to this date, it indicates to the
student that he should respond with the form for an action going on at the
present time, now (the present continuous form). Similarly, pointing to
46
yesterday or last week or last month can indicate a past form is desired, and
pointing to tomorrow or next week or next month can indicate that a future
form is needed. If a form indicating present habitual action, the -s form, is
desired, it is necessary to point to several days in the past including at least
today’s date. Using this technique, the teacher can elicit sentences such as
these:
He’s working now. He worked yesterday. He is going to work tomorrow. He works every day.
Kreidler (1971) also advised the teacher to use coins to help students
practice with numbers or such expressions as the same as, more than, less
than, equals, and how much (Kreidler, 1971, p.36-37).
Using realias in teaching grammar, especially for a form-meaning
match, is highly appreciated by the two famous educators named Celce-
Murcia and Hilles (1998). In their book, they offered a number of various
activities in which realias can be used in all phases of a grammar lesson to
motivate students’ participation. Some of them can be cited as major
examples in Appendix 6.
In a word, realias are of great assistance to grammar teaching and
learning; thus, they are vital teaching aids for the ESL teacher. Celce-Murcia
and Hilles suggested that realias be used “in conjunction with storytelling
and roleplay techniques to contextualize the grammar lesson, as well as
facilitate memory and learning” (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.97).
2.3.2.3. Blackboard as a visual aid
Blackboards are found in most classrooms, and some major
advantages of using them are:
- Noiseless
47
- No power dependence- Cheap- Can be used anywhere- No maintenance costs- Can be used on the spot – build your visual as per requirement- Can be used at your pace, allows note-taking. Students can be called
to write on it.- Mistakes can be corrected instantly.- Cut-outs can be placed and charts can be hung.
(Source: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11631190/6-Effective-Use-of-Audio-Visual-Aids)
According to Kreidler (1971, p.34), though blackboards bring so
many benefits, they are not often taken full advantage of. One of the
statements in the DLI Instructor Guide (as cited in Kreidler, 1971, p.34) is
that “grammatical rules and explanations should be kept to a minimum… If,
of course, a simple diagram or explanation of word order, or word
agreement becomes necessary, use this as an aid but not as an end.” Kreidler
stated that “grammatical structures cannot be drilled until the students are
led to see or to realize and understand how English speakers arrange their
words or what devices they use to indicate agreement.” (Kreidler, 1971,
p.34). He suggested a very simple way to do this is to demonstrate
graphically on the blackboard what is happening. That is, the teacher can
show changes in word order of the new pattern contrasted with a previously
studied and mastered pattern using the technique called “blocking”. For
instance, imagine that the students have already mastered John is a student
and the teacher wants to introduce them to the negative structure John isn’t a
teacher. First, the teacher quickly writes on the blackboard John is a student
while the students are repeating the sentences several times – this can
48
remind the students of the known. Then to introduce the new item John isn’t
a teacher, the teacher again writes on the blackboard while the students are
repeating the sentence, but (s)he writes so that those words performing the
same function appear beneath each other. The blackboard representation
then looks like this:
John is a student.
John isn’t a teacher.
Also, Kreidler discussed:
If all of the points that must be discussed for a particular structure are presented clearly in such a fashion, the student will have demonstrated for him the new form or arrangement (p.35).
He, in addition, recommended the teacher use the blackboard to “hold
conventionalized symbols which can aid drilling”. Conventionalized
symbols can refer to plus (+), minus (-) or question mark (?), which indicate
affirmative, negative, and question, and can be used for transformation
drills. For example:
(+) He is studying.
(-) He isn’t studying.
(?) Is he studying?
Or those symbols can be combined with a picture stimulus. For
example:
(+) He is crossing the street.
(-) He isn’t crossing the street.
(?) Is he crossing the street?
To conclude, blackboard can be a very effective aid in teaching if the
teacher plans carefully. Kreidler suggested the teacher writing his sentences
so that
49
there is enough room for each word to be where he wants and where
all of the students can see it clearly. He should not have to squeeze the
last word on, nor should he have to write over something that has been
previously written on the board. If he begins with a clean board and
always erases what he has finished with, the students can’t be
distracted by a cluttered board.” (p.35).
2.3.2.4. Some considerations in planning visual aids
Kreidler (1971) suggested that the teacher should always be careful
when planning visual aids. His recommendations can be summarized as
follows:
- Firstly, we, as the teachers, should check for ambiguity. When we
choose realistic, conversational forms of language for our students to
speak, we should choose realistic, unambiguous pictures for our
students to see. For instance, in the classroom situation the answer to
What’s this? cannot be This is a …(A)…, or That is a …(B)…, or It’s a
…(C)…. In addition, we should never illustrate or practice continuous
action by performing an action, completing it, and then saying the
sentence in the present continuous form. For example, we close the
door asking What am I doing? and when it is closed, we expect the
student to answer You are closing the door. Similarly, an accident
between a car and a truck is an ambiguous illustration of a car
accident; rather, it should be called simply an accident. Then, if we
want to illustrate a car accident, a picture of two cars or a car and a
tree should be used.
50
- Secondly, we do not clutter pictures with nonessential details, because
a picture with too many details will look like a mass of color or lines
to a student; thus, he will have trouble deciding what it is that the
teacher wants him to see. If the idea behind the picture is to provide
the context for language use, irrelevant material must be omitted and
only the bare necessities included.
- Thirdly, it is necessary for the teacher to make sure his/her visual aid
is culturally recognizable. This advice seems to be more useful for
those working in specific areas overseas; however, it should be a
consideration for the teacher who wants to exploit extra aids for
supplementary work in his/her classes.
2.3.3. Audio aids
Audio-aids can be defined as “models and devices that can be heard
and give an image of something, somebody and some situations”
(Maniruzzaman, n.d., Best audio aids in EFL class). About the benefits of
using audio aids in language classrooms, Maniruzzaman stated:
On the one hand, this type of aid enables the teacher to modify the teaching method and technique, and change the classroom situation quickly and immediately as necessary; and on the other, it attracts the learner’s attention, stirs his/her imagination, reduces his/her exhaustion, motivates him/her to be engaged in the learning process, and thus helps him/her to acquire expected proficiency in the language skills especially listening and speaking. (Introduction section, para.2)
Additionally, he emphasized that the native speaker’s voice and
accent through the audio tape make the learners enthusiastic and excited,
thus this greatly facilitates the learner’s understanding of the linguistic and
the communicative aspects. More importantly, audio aids add a life-like
51
effect to the textbook and other printed materials used to teach the target
language. Maniruzzaman gave an example to illustrate this point: As soon as
a cassette player is played and the material is presented, the learner is
immediately drawn to it. (S)he may feel the presence of another teacher in
the classroom. With the help of audio aids, he discussed, the teacher can
successfully deal with the weak and indifferent learner as these aids are seen
to reduce the teacher talk and the chalk method, hence, reversely increase
the learner’s interaction and active participation. Also, by using audio tapes,
the teacher can provide as much practice as necessary.
Audio aids may include recorded materials, radios, cassette players,
cassettes (Maniruzzaman). However, due to time and space limitation, this
research paper aims to discuss the use of songs (recorded materials) as a
teaching aid in the teaching and learning of English grammar.
2.3.3.1. Songs
In the Oxford learner’s pocket dictionary, song is defined as “short
piece of music with words that you sing.” (p.412). Thus, there are two
components in a song: music and lyrics.
According to Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1998, p.116),
contextualization is essential to any grammar presentation and meaningful
practice of structure, and song is certainly one of the most delightful and
culturally rich resources for contextualization. Dublin (1974, as cited in
Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998) pointed out that
Songs can be utilized as presentation contexts, as reinforcement material, as vehicles through which to teach all language skills, and as a medium through which to present some of the most important cultural themes which pervade modern life (p.116).
52
Hulquist (1984, as cited in Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.117),
however, suggested that songs can be effective in five different ways by:
adding variety as well as enjoyment to language learning (all skills)
presenting authentic language, as well as introducing students to
various dialects
allowing students to practice a previously studied, contrasting
structure along with a new structure
providing an opportunity to apply language skills to real-life situations
by extending the pattern in the song
helping to develop cultural awareness, both of the present and the past
Pomeroy (1974, as cited in Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.117) said
that the “repetition that naturally occurs in songs can make drill work easier
and more pleasant” and pointed out that “songs which contain repetition or
substitution can be helpful in teaching and expanding grammatical patterns.”
The above studies have shown that songs are of great assistance in language
teaching and learning; however, many ESL and EFL teachers are not willing
to use songs in the classroom. According to Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1998,
p.118), it may be due to the fact that they see using songs can be
“unproductive and frivolous”, and they fear that their students will have the
same feeling. Usually the students come to class because they feel they are
learning something; therefore, they may consider teacher’s using songs in
class “unprofessional and ineffective”. Thus, when using songs for a
grammar lesson, the teacher should remember to make the benefits clear to
the students. For example, the teacher could explain, “We are going to
practice the present perfect as well as learn a few idioms with this song. We
are also going to work on pronunciation.” Such straightforward explanation
53
can draw students’ attention to the activity that the teacher intends to carry
out (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.118).
Careful selection of songs is of course necessary in the EFL
classrooms. Pomeroy (1974), and Gasser and Waldman (1979) (as cited in
Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998, p.118) provided guidelines for selecting songs
as follows:
Songs must be of singable length, range, and rhythm. Verses should
be short, and melodies should have a one-octave range and an
uncomplicated rhythmic pattern.
Songs should have repetitive lyrics or a chorus which is easy to learn.
This allows even the slowest students to participate.
Lyrics should reflect standard spoken English, with respect to register,
subject-verb agreement, and word order.
The emotional and conceptual content of a song should be appropriate
to the age and maturity of the students.
Songs must be pedagogically appropriate to the teaching point, and
not so colloquial as to require that the lyrics be changed into standard
English.
Gasser and Waldman (1979, as cited in Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998,
p.119) suggested the following procedure for using songs in the classroom:
1. Begin by introducing the song. Tell a little about it, the period of history
during which it was written, who wrote it, etc.
2. Make the lyrics available to the students, either by writing them on the
board for students to copy, handing out mimeographed copies of words, or
providing lyrics with key words or structures missing (a modified cloze
54
exercise) that students must listen for and fill in. This provides recognition
practice as well.
3. Sing or play the song once and allow students to listen and enjoy it. It’s
not necessary to be a competent singer yourself. You can play a recording of
the song, ask a musically talented student to prepare ahead of time and
perform the song, use a videotape, or play a musical instrument.
4. Go through the lyrics with students aloud and check comprehension,
understanding of lexical items, etc.
5. Go through the song one verse at a time, letting students listen before they
sing. If there is a chorus, let students practice it first.
6. Sing the entire song with the class several times. Once or twice is not
enough. Give students ample opportunity to practice, and remember that
they are dealing with a tune, rhythm, and language all at once.
Several example songs for teaching certain grammar points suggested
by Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1998) and Baxter
(www.musicalenglishlessons.org) will be cited in Appendix 6.
In a word, songs can be a very useful aid in grammar teaching and
learning if they are carefully planned by the teacher so that his/her students
feel that they can gain particular knowledge through such things.
2.3.4. Audio-visual aids - Videos
Audio - visual aids can be understood as “materials using sight and
sound to present information” (audioenglish.net/dictionary); thus, using
them is greatly useful because they help “maintain a high level of interest in
the lesson, get students to use the language, promote greater student
participation” and they can be utilized at “all levels of learning” (“6 use of
audio-visual aids,” n.d., Introduction section, para. 2)
55
This paper aims at discussing the use of videos in grammar classes as
they can be considered a major source of audio-visual aid.
About the usefulness of videos in language classrooms, Tomalin
(1991, as cited in Gallacher 1, 2003) stated:
One of the aims of teaching English to young children is to instill in them the idea that language learning is a happy experience, and video creates an attractive enjoyable learning environment (p.48).
This opinion is supported by Wood (1995, as cited in Salas &
Marlene, 2003, para.1)2 with an idea that “video has a potential for enriching
language study and making it more enjoyable and effective.” As been
discussed in Gallacher (2003), for learners aged 3-8, video is an effective
way of studying body language as young language learners are still learning
about the world around them. Also, young learners love to hear stories and
videos again and again; hence, they can gain confidence through repetition
by watching a video several times. For all other young learners, learning a
language through videos is beneficial as “video communicates meaning
better than other media” (Gallacher, 2003, para. 6). This is because video
“presents language in context in ways that a cassette can’t. Learners can see
who is speaking, where the speakers are, what they are doing” (Gallacher,
2003, para. 6)
More importantly, Willis (1983, as cited in Gallacher, 2003, para.12)
discussed the four possible roles of videos as follows:
1 Gallacher is the author of the article “Video and young learners”, which is available at the webpage http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/video-young-learners-1
2 Salas and Marlene are the two authors of the article “Selecting appropriate authentic video material for an EFL classroom”, which is available at the webpage http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-120352748/selecting-appropriate-authentic-video.html
56
Developing listening skills (listening for global understanding,
listening for detail)
Providing information (providing content relevant to students’ needs
and interests)
Presenting or reinforcing language (grammar, vocabulary, functions)
Stimulating language production (video used as a basis for discussion,
a model for learners to follow)
As cited in Salas and Marlene (2003, para.7), Berdahl and Willets
(1990) suggested that when planning to use any video material for a
language classroom, the teacher first needs to decide to what extent that
video fits into the curriculum or lesson and the specific instructional
objectives. They offered several questions that the teacher can use to check
the “real purpose of using video” as follows:
a. What kind of listening comprehension will it provide?
b. Will it be used to introduce, expand, or reinforce a linguistic,
sociolinguistic, or cultural aspect?
c. What objectives will be met?
d. Will the video cover a specific grammar point; illustrate a particular
communicative function; teach specific vocabulary clusters; demonstrate
cultural situations?
e. Will it serve as a concluding activity?
f. How can it be integrated into the portions of the lesson?
g. Is it providing up-to-date cultural information, or is it reinforcing
classroom instruction?
57
Gallacher (2003, Criteria for selecting video section), however,
discussed specific criteria for selecting videos to use in language classrooms
that the teacher should bear in mind as follows:
Watchability
Is the video interesting? Would a young native speaker want to watch
this video?
Completeness
Tomalin (1991, cited in Gallacher, 2003, Criteria for selecting video
section) stated that 'The ideal video clip…… tells a complete story or section
of a story'. Thus, the idea of completeness is important for young learners
whose primary motivation for watching a video is enjoyment.
Length
Accordingly, the length of the clip is important, it shouldn't be too
long, perhaps between 30 seconds and 10 minutes depending on the learning
objective.
Appropriateness of Content
The content should be suitable for young learners. How has the video
been rated; 'Universal', 'Parental Guidance', for ages '13'or '18'? Would the
video be suitable for viewing in all cultures?
Level of maturity
Children mature very quickly, thus a group of 7-year-olds watching a
video made for 5-year-olds would probably regard it as 'too babyish'. On the
other hand, using a video intended for older children with a group of
younger children might lead to the children not being able to understand the
concepts in the video.
Availability of Related Materials
58
Many authentic videos now come with ready made materials that can
be used for language teaching. Other videos may have been adapted from
books, which could be used in the classroom to support the video.
Degree of visual support
Is there a balance between speech and visual support? A good idea is
to choose scenes that are very visual. The more visual a video is, the easier it
is to understand - as long as the pictures illustrate what is being said.
Clarity of picture and sound
If the video has been copied from the television it is important to
make sure both the picture and sound are clear.
Density of language
This refers to the amount of language spoken in a particular time.
Videos where the language is dense are more difficult for learners to
comprehend.
Speech delivery
Clarity of speech, speech rate and accents are all factors in
determining how difficult a video excerpt will be for students to
comprehend.
Language content
In using video to present language, an important factor to consider is
the linguistic items (particular grammatical structures, language functions, or
colloquial expressions) presented in the scene.
Another important factor is the amount of repetition of the language content.
Authentic videos for young learners will often contain a lot of repetition. It
is also useful to see if the linguistic content in the video can be linked to that
of the language curriculum or the course book thus providing a way to
integrate video work into the course as a whole.
Language level
59
The language level of the video should be appropriate for the level of
the class without the teacher having to explain too much.
To conclude, there are a number of factors that the teacher should
keep in mind when planning to use any video material in language
classrooms. Appropriate exploitation of videos can be of a great idea for
students to learn language items easily and enjoyably.
Several activities to be used with videos, as suggested by McKinnon
(2005, as cited in To et al., 2008, p.83) will be presented in Appendix 6.
Summary
In a word, this chapter has made some revision on the key terms as
well as several worldwide and nationwide related studies. Most importantly,
it has pointed out different types of teaching aids, which are greatly helpful
to the teaching and learning of grammar.
60
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGYThis chapter will be discussing the research design, participants and
participant selection method, data collection methods and procedures as well
as data analysis methods and procedures of the study.
3.1 Research design
To assure the reliability and validity of the research, both qualitative
and quantitative methods were exploited. In this research, survey
questionnaire, interviews, and class observation were utilized as the main
research tools.
3.2 Participants and participant selection method
Taking the advantage of the practicum at Luong Van Tuy gifted
highschool, the researcher did decide to choose 10th form students and
teachers of English there to involve in this study. However, due to time
pressure, the research could be carried out only with non-English gifted
students rather than those who major in English.
At first, 10 teachers of English at Luong Van Tuy gifted
highschool and approximately 90 tenth form students at Luong Van Tuy
gifted highschool were randomly invited to complete the questionnaires
designed for them, regardless of their gender, age and English ability. The
researcher chose randomly three 10th form classes instead of choosing from a
list of all tenth form students in this school. This number could be
considered to well-represent the number of tenth form students at Luong
Van Tuy gifted highschool this year (about 360 totally).
Secondly, two teachers and three students were invited to take part in
several semi-structured interviews. Once again, all the interviewees’ profiles
61
will not be made public; and, all their opinions will be tape-recorded at the
interviewees’ consent in the most careful way.
At the same time, four English Language Focus classes for 10th
form students were observed by the researcher so as to help answer the
research questions in a more valid way.
3.3 Data collection methods and procedures
To address the research questions, a triangulation method
including survey questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and class
observation were exploited in this study.
The questionnaire is found to be one of the most popular means of
collecting data. The main attraction of questionnaires is their
unprecedented efficiency in terms of research time, research effort, and
financial resources (Nguyen, Pham & Luong, 2008, p.17). In this
research, the questions for students were written in both Vietnamese and
simple English; whereas, those for teachers were written in English only.
Besides, when they had any problems answering the questions, there
have been clear explanations directly offered by the researcher.
There were four types of questions in the questionnaire for
students: (1) factual questions which aimed to find out the respondents’
personal information (i.e. name, age, level of education: years of learning
English); (2) attitudinal questions which seeked their interests in learning
English grammar, the teachers’ use of teaching aids in grammar classes,
and their evaluation of learning English grammar effectiveness with
teaching aids; (3) behavioral questions were to see the common teaching
aids that their teachers have utilized when teaching English grammar and
the frequency of using them; and (4) open-ended questions which aimed
62
to figure out the other teaching aids that their teachers have used but the
researcher has not listed in the questionnaire.
Similarly, there were factual questions, attitudinal questions,
behavioral questions and open-ended questions in the questionnaire for
teachers. First, factual questions were designed to work out the teachers’
personal information (i.e. name, age, and years of teaching English).
Second, some behavioral ones were to see the types of teaching aids that
they have been using in their grammar classes and the frequency of using
them. Thirdly, attitudinal questions aimed to find out the teachers’
preferences for using teaching aids in teaching grammar; the causes that
prevented them from using teaching aids in English classes; and their
suggestions for better use of teaching aids in teaching English grammar
to students. Finally, some open-ended questions were to see whether or
not they could list other teaching aids they have used, other causes that
made them hesitate to use teaching aids in their grammar classes, and
other recommendations that helped the exploitation of teaching aids in
teaching and learning English grammar become more effective.
Besides, two semi-structured interviews with teachers of English at
Luong Van Tuy gifted high school and three with their students were
carried out to assure the reliability and validity of this research, as “semi-
structured interview gives the interviewee a degree of power and control
over the course of the interview” and “it gives the interviewer a great deal
of flexibility” (Nguyen, Pham & Luong, 2008, p.51).
As noted by Mackey and Gass (2005, p.175), observations are
advantageous in that they provide the researcher with the opportunity to
collect large amounts of rich data on the participants’ behavior and
actions within a particular context. Thanks to its benefits, in this research,
63
class observation was utilized together with the above methods. That is,
the researcher asked some teachers for permission to observe several of
grammar lessons with the hope to identify different types of teaching aids
currently exploited in grammar teaching and learning.
Next, the procedure of data collection consists of the following
phases.
Phase 1.
In this stage, the questionnaires, class observation schedule, and
the interview schedule were prepared. In general, all the personal
information related to the respondents will be kept strictly confidential.
Besides, there were not too many questions in the questionnaires so that
the participants would not be discouraged to complete.
Also, in order to invite some teachers and students to take part in
several semi-structured interviews, the researcher has sent them emails
and contacted them by telephone. Once they have agreed to take part in
the interviews, the time and places for the interviews have been arranged
in the most convenient way for the participants.
Phase 2.
90 handouts have been delivered to 90 tenth form students at
Luong Van Tuy gifted highschool. Through observing other
questionnaire deliveries at break time, the researcher saw that: (1) the
papers gathered were much fewer than when delivering, and, (2) the
participants’ concentration in answering the questions was rather low.
Hence, the researcher did decide to deliver the handouts during three
grade-10 groups’ class time. That is, the researcher asked the teacher in
charge of that period for permission to require students to complete the
handouts. Also, to make sure that there was no misunderstanding of the
64
questions, the researcher should be helpful and ready to answer any
questions raised in the process.
At the same time, four English language focus class observations
were carried out. The researcher made sure that her attendance in their
classes did not affect their usual way of teaching and learning English
grammar. That is, the teacher sat silently observing and taking notes, and
did not use any type of record materials, which might draw the students’
concentration.
Phase 3.
In this stage, some semi-structured interviews with the teachers
and students who have agreed to participate were carried out. Once again,
all the interviewees’ personal information will be kept particularly
confidential; and, all of their opinions were tape-recorded to collect data
for the study.
3.5. Data analysis methods and procedures
Initially, the data collected from questionnaires, class observations,
and interviews were classified according to the four research questions.
That is, answers to questions 5, 6, 7 in the questionnaire sets for students;
questions 7, 8, 9 in the questionnaire sets for teachers; and data from
class observations were to answer research question one - What are the
types of teaching aids currently exploited in teaching English grammar to 10th
form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school as perceived by the
students, their teachers, and by the researcher through class observations?
Answers to question 6 in the questionnaire for teachers, and to question 4
in the questionnaire for students were to address research question two –
What is the frequency of using teaching aids in teaching English
grammar to 10th form students, as perceived by the teachers and their
65
students? Research question three - What is the effectiveness of teaching
aids on the students’ grammar learning as perceived by the students?;
however, would be fulfilled by question 8 in questionnaire sets for
students and by data collected from the interviews with them.
Meanwhile, answers from teachers to question 11; and from the
interviews were to solve research question four – What are the obstacles
preventing the teachers from involving teaching aids into English
grammar lessons as perceived by the teachers? The last research
question, What are the recommendations for better practice of using
teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students as
suggested by the teachers? would be addressed by the last question in
questionnaire sets for teachers, and from the data collected in the
interviews with them.
After that, answers to those research questions were calculated and
transferred into numerical form so that common themes could be seen.
Accordingly, pie charts and graphs were mainly employed to compare
and contrast figures.
Finally, important ideas from the interviewees were cited to
illustrate the analysis of the data for some above related research
questions.
Summary
All in all, this chapter has discussed the methodology applied in
this research paper by elaborating on the two groups of participants
involved in the process of data collection, namely the teachers and grade
10 students at Luong Van Tuy gifted highschool. Next, the application of
a triangulation four-phase data collection method was mentioned together
66
with the data analysis methods and procedures. These justifications
would be helpful for the analysis of the collected data in the next chapter.
67
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The previous chapter has discussed the methodology applied in this
study, which has been clarified with descriptions and justifications of the
choice of participants, the instruments and the procedures of data collection
and analysis. As mentioned beforehand, in this chapter, all the data, after being
collected from the questionnaires, interviews and class observations will be
analyzed and interpreted to answer the four research questions. The findings
would be presented following the research questions namely, (1) the types of
teaching aids exploited to teach grammar, (2) effectiveness of teaching aids on
the students’ grammar learning, (3) obstacles presenting the teachers from
involving teaching aids into English grammar lessons, and (4)
recommendations to better the exploitation of teaching aids in teaching and
learning English grammar. However, firstly, we should look at some factual
information about the students and teachers’ English learning and teaching,
which were found out from the questionnaires, and interviews.
4.1. General information about students’ and teachers’ English grammar
learning and teaching at Luong Van Tuy gifted highschool
At first, 90 questionnaires were delivered to students of three grade-10
classes; however, only 87% of such papers were gathered (78 ones). As
found in answers to question 1, the students’ years of learning English can
be seen in Figure 1:
68
0% 9%
28%
63%
1-2 years
3-4 years
5-6 years
more than 6 years
Figure 1: Students’ years of learning English
Similarly, among 9 teachers who answered the questionnaires,
their experience of teaching English varied quite significantly. That is,
there are four teachers who have been teaching English for one or two
years, which account for 45%; whereas three of the nine teachers have
taught this subject for the period of three to five years – 33 %. The rest
(22%) are those who have the longest time of teaching, more than ten
years, because no one said that they were in charge of this subject for five
to ten years:
45%
33%
0%
22%
1-2 years
3-5 years
5-10 years
more than 10 years
Figure 2: Teachers’ years of teaching English
69
Secondly, as found out from questionnaires, the students and teachers’
ideas about learning and teaching English grammar could be summarized in
the table below:
Personal beliefs about learning/teaching English grammar
Number of student respondents
Number of teacher respondents
1. Learning/Teaching English grammar is as normal as others.
28/78 2/9
2. Learning/Teaching English grammar is interesting.
19/78 6/9
3. Learning/Teaching English grammar is challenging.
19/78 0/9
4. Learning/Teaching English grammar is easy.
2/78 1/9
5. Learning/Teaching English grammar is boring.
8/78 0/9
6. No idea 2/78 0/9
Table 2. Personal beliefs about learning and teaching English grammar
As can be seen from Table 2, except for two students who did not put a
tick on any idea about learning English grammar, 25% of those answered to
questionnaires found learning English grammar interesting; and the same
number applied to those who found it challenging. Meanwhile, there were
only two students (exactly 2.63%) who thought that learning English grammar
is easy; and 10.52% considered it is boring to learn this subject. On the other
hand, the biggest percentage (36.9%) belonged to those who found learning
English grammar as normal as other skills. These figures indicate that to the
majority of the students, learning English grammar is interesting but a bit
difficult; and it seems to be a long way to make it become easy to them. This
point could be illustrated by the ideas that some student interviewees has
70
shared. For example, a grade-10 interviewed student at Luong Van Tuy gifted
high school said:
“… learning English grammar is not easy at all, there are so many items to
be memorized, and to tell the truth, I could not handle such kind of things…”
(Appendix 5, line 181-183)
On the other hand, among nine teachers who addressed the
questionnaires, luckily, nearly 67% thought that teaching English grammar is
interesting. This may be a good piece of news, as when a teacher finds
something interesting, they may contribute more to such thing. Also, no one
told that teaching English grammar is boring and challenging; though only one
teacher said that it was easy to teach language items, and two considered it as
normal as teaching other English skills. From these findings, it could be
inferred that many teachers are interested in teaching English grammar, and, it
is not too difficult to teach such language items. The reason why teaching
English grammar could be interesting was explained by an interviewed
teacher as such:
“teaching English grammar is quite interesting as the students are more
concerned about the language items so that they can handle them in tests and
exams, because they are only checked with grammatical items there”
(Appendix 5, line 15-18 )
Next, when being asked about the most difficult stage in their grammar
lessons, the data gained from the teachers can be summarized as follows:
71
45%
0%
55%
The presentation stage
The practice stage
The production stage
Figure 3. The most difficult stage in a grammar lesson
From the figure, it is clear to see that the majority (55%) of the
teachers considered the production stage to be the most difficult in their
grammar lessons, whereas approximately 45% said that the presentation stage
is more challenging than the two others. It was amazing that no one
considered the practice stage to be the most difficult, though, in fact, this stage
is quite time-consuming. As observed in several grammar classes, the
researcher saw that at this middle stage, the teacher often provided students
with a list of different exercises, let them do such things, and finally, the
students were checked and marked. There were hardly free practice activities
in those lessons. Also, among those class observations, no one was covered
with the production stage as the teachers usually spent too much time on the
two others, and in the end, they run out of time, and could not give the
students any chances to make their own production. Hence, it could be easily
understood why the production was chosen to be the most challenging by the
majority of the questioned teachers.
Finally, when being asked about the areas to be taught when teaching
and learning a grammatical item, the results can be seen in the following
tables:
72
Students’ opinions Number of respondents
1. My teacher teaches all the form, meaning, and usage of such structures.
75/78
2. My teacher teaches the form of such structures only.
1/78
3. My teacher teaches the usage of such structures only.
1/78
4. My teacher teaches the form and the usage of such structures.
1/78
4. My teacher teaches the meaning of such structures only.
0/78
Table 3. Students’ opinions about what their teachers teach when
introducing a new grammatical item.
Teachers’ opinions Number of respondents
1. I only teach my students the form of such
structures.
0/9
2. I only teach my students the meaning of such
structures.
0/9
3. I only teach my students the usage of such
structures.
0/9
4. I teach all the form, meaning, and usage of
such structures.
9/9
Table 4. Teachers’ opinions about what to teach when introducing a new
grammatical item.
It is noticeable from the two mentioned tables that when introducing a
new grammatical point, the teacher usually mentions all the aspects namely,
the form, the meaning, and the usage. That is good as it fits with the
communicative way of teaching and learning English grammar.
73
4.2. Research question 1- Types of teaching aids currently
exploited to teach English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van
Tuy gifted high school
As noted in the Literature Review, teaching aids are classified into
three types namely, visual aids, audio aids, and audio-visual aids. The
following pie charts would help the readers clearly see what types of aids have
been included to teach English grammar to tenth form students at Luong Van
Tuy gifted high school.
a. Types of visual aids used in grammar teaching
0% 11% 0%0%
22%
34%
11%
11%
11%
boards
realias
pictures
action and performance
boards, pictures, action andperformanceboards, realias, pictures,and action & performanceboards, pictures, and others(handouts)boards and others(handouts)boards and pictures
Figure 4. Types of visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the teachers)
As perceived by the teachers, in Figure 4, all of them use teaching
aids in teaching English grammar. Specifically, 11% used boards and the
same percentage used realias as the sole aid to teach grammar; meanwhile
no one used only pictures or action and performance. The largest number
(34%) belongs to those who used all of the four suggested visual aids
namely, boards, realias, pictures, action and performance. Then the second
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largest (22%) comes to those who integrated boards, pictures, action and
performance into their grammar teaching. Finally, 11% belongs to the group
of teachers who exploited boards, pictures, and handouts3, and the same
percentage are those who used boards and handouts in their teaching. From
the figure, it can be seen that very few teachers in this school used a single
aid to teach their students; instead, they integrated a wide range of visual
aids.
48%
0%16%
6%
1%4%
8%
1%
10%
6%
boards
realias
pictures
action and performance
boards, realias, and action& performanceboards and pictures
boards, and action &performancepictures and others(projector)others (not specify)
nothing
Figure 5. Types of visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the students)
When looking at Figure 5, one can notice the big difference between
the students’ perceptions and their teachers’ on the types of visual aids used
in teaching English grammar. As shown in that figure, nearly half the
number of the students (48%) said that their teachers only used boards, 16%
- only pictures, and 6% - only action and performance - to explain the
subject matter. Thus, as perceived by the students, there are few teachers
who integrated different types of visual aids into the grammar teaching. That
3 Handouts is the aid that the teachers have added.
75
is, 8% said their teachers used boards plus action and performance, 4% said
their teachers involved boards plus pictures in their teaching. And, very few
teachers used pictures plus projector4 (1%), boards plus realias plus action
and performance (1%) to teach grammar. And, unfortunately, 6% of the
students answered that their teachers did not use anything to teach grammar.
By looking at those figures, we could not see any hopeful sign of the current
use of visual aids at this school, as perceived by the students who answered
the questionnaires. That is, many students agreed that their teachers used
boards when teaching grammar; however, the fact is that using this kind of
aids is only effective when it is exploited together with other extra aids.
Thus, it is a pity when there are very few teachers who integrate different
types of visual aids when teaching English grammar.
Also, the great difference between the teachers’ perceptions and their
students’ on the types of visual aids used in grammar teaching and learning
is a big concern, and needs reconsideration.
All in all, the variety of visual aids used in teaching grammar to
students is a hopeful sign, though, by seeing such figures, we could not
interpret any signal of the effectiveness of the teachers’ usage of such types.
4 Projector is an aid that the students have added.
76
b. Types of audio aids used in teaching grammar.
73%
0%4%
5%1%
4%
13%
cassette tape
radio recording
song
others (CD)
others (not specify)
nothing
cassette tape and song
Figure 6. Types of audio aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the students)
As seen in Figure 6, the majority of the students (73%) said that their
teachers used cassette tape as the main audio aid in teaching grammar, while
the other 13% agreed that their teachers integrated both cassette tape and
song to teach the subject matter. The other choice namely, radio recording
received no vote; meanwhile some students (5%) said their teachers used CD
to teach grammar. Also, only 4% agreed that their teachers have used songs;
and the same percentage said that their teachers have not used any kind of
audio aids in grammar lessons. Lastly, those said that their teachers have
used other audio aids account for only 1%, as can be seen in the pie chart
above.
77
43%
0%10%
22%
22%
3% cassette tape
radio recording
song
cassette tape and song
cassette tape, radiorecording, and song
nothing
Figure 7. Types of audio aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the teachers)
Figure 7 shows the percentage of teachers using audio aids in teaching
English grammar. Accordingly, the highest figure – 43% belongs to the
group of teachers who used only cassette tape in grammar classes. Though
songs are considered to be very useful in teaching English grammar, only
10% of the questioned teachers said that they used such aid in grammar
classes. The other 22% are those who integrated cassette tape and songs; and
the same percentage used the three listed audio aids including cassette tape,
radio recordings and songs. And, the last 3% of the teachers admitted that
they have never used any audio aid to teach English grammar.
In short, though the number of teachers who have not used any kind of
audio aids to teach grammar, as perceived by both students and teachers, is
not great, such amazing aids as songs as well as radio recordings have not
been exploited at the fullest, as been reported in Figure 6 and Figure 7.
78
c. Types of audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar.
As shown in Figure 8, the majority of the questioned teachers agreed
that they have used tracks of movies while teaching English grammar; and
11% said they have not used any audio-visual aids to teach the language
items. Cartoon films, which are of great interest to students, and usually
contain grammatical items expressed in a simple way, however, have not
been used by any teachers.
0%
89%
11%
cartoon films
tracks of movies
nothing
Figure 8. Types of audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the teachers)
79
3%21%
27%1%1%5%
8%
34%
cartoon films and tracks ofmovies
cartoon films
tracks of movies
others (VCD)
others (documentaries)
others (projector)
others (not specify)
nothing
Figure 9. Types of audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar (as
perceived by the students)
It is slightly difficult when looking at Figure 9 to see the types of
audio-visual aids used in teaching English grammar, as perceived by the
students. Accordingly, though 27% said their teachers used tracks of movies,
21% said they used cartoon films, 34% of the questioned students agreed
that their teachers have not used any audio-visual aids in teaching grammar.
Such other small numbers, as can be seen in Figure 9, show that audio-visual
aids are not made use of by the teachers at this school.
Additionally, data from the class observations showed that very few
teachers used extra aids to teach the language items. Among the four
grammar classes which have been observed, the researcher saw that only one
teacher used pictures – a kind of visual aids to introduce the language items:
adjectives ending in ing and ed. Also, as one interviewed student said “My
teacher has never used any pictures, videos, or songs to teach grammatical
80
points” (Appendix 5, line 148-149), it can be inferred that teaching aids are
not being used by many teachers.
All in all, different types of teaching aids, which are currently used in
teaching English grammar to tenth form students, have been discussed
thoroughly. In short, more visual aids seemed to be in use, though they are
not very diverse. Audio aids and audio-visual aids, on the other hand, are
less exploited, as perceived by both the students and their teachers.
4.3. Research question 2 - Frequency of using teaching aids in teaching
English grammar to tenth form students
The students’ and their teachers’ perceptions of the frequency of using
teaching aids in grammar classes are clearly shown in Figure 10 and Figure
11. As can be seen, as perceived by the students, though the category
“never” or “rarely” received few votes, “always” seems to be in the same
situation. Thus, that is to say “sometimes” and “usually” are the two
categories of frequency that many students have chosen. However, as
perceived by the teachers, their frequency of using such teaching aids is a
little different. Specifically, all the teachers said “no” to the answer “I
always use visual aids, audio aids, and audio-visual aids in grammar
classes.” In terms of visual aids, the biggest percentage belongs to the group
of teachers who said “Sometimes I use visual aids in grammar classes.”;
whereas, with regard to audio aids and audio-visual aids, the biggest ones
are those who said “never” and “rarely”; “sometimes” and “usually”. In the
researcher’s point of view, this reflects the real situation in this school, as
shown by the data from class observations and several interviews with
teachers and their students, which have been discussed in the previous
research question.
81
9 3 8
18
6
31
38
30
41
24
50
2011 11
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3
Frequency
Per
cen
tag
ealways
usually
sometimes
rarely
never
Figure 10. Students’ perceptions of the frequency of their teachers’ using visual aids (1), audio aids (2), and audio-visual aids (3) in teaching English
grammar
11
34 3423
11
3444
330
22 2232
0 0 0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1 2 3
Frequency
Perc
en
tag
e
always
usually
sometimes
rarely
never
Figure 11. Teachers’ perceptions of the frequency of their use of visual aids (1), audio aids (2), and audio-visual aids (3) in teaching English grammar
82
To sum up, three kinds of teaching aids namely visual aids, audio
aids, and audio-visual aids, are not used to teach English grammar to 10th
form students very frequently, as answered by the students and their
teachers.
83
4.4. Research question 3 – Effectiveness of teaching aids on the students’
grammar learning
In an attempt to ask about the effectiveness of teaching aids on
students’ grammar learning, the two questions, which appeared in the
questionnaires for students and their teachers and shown in Figure 12 and
13, are different. First, when being asked about the usefulness of teaching
aids to the students’ English grammar learning, more than 40% of the
teachers said “useful” and the same number said “somewhat useful”, while
nearly 10% considered teaching aids to be useless for teaching English
grammar. And, unfortunately, no one has agreed that using teaching aids is
very useful to grammar teaching and learning. From that perception, it may
be concluded that teachers’ viewpoints on the usefulness of teaching aids to
teaching English grammar are quite positive; yet, there are some who did not
approve that utilizing teaching aids in teaching English grammar is
beneficial.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
percentage
1
perception
not useful at all
somewhat useful
useful
very useful
Figure 12. Teachers’ perceptions of the usefulness of teaching aids in teaching and learning English grammar
84
0
5
1015
20
25
30
35
40
45
percentage
1
perception
ineffective
somehow effective
effective
very effective
Figure 13. Students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of teaching aids on their grammar learning
When being asked about the effectiveness of teaching aids on their
grammar learning, it is quite good to see that most of the students’ ideas are
positive (Figure 13), though more than 5% said “ineffective”. To be more
specific, nearly 20% said that when their teachers used teaching aids in
grammar lessons, they could learn very effectively. The highest percentage
is found among the students who agreed that learning English grammar with
teaching aids is effective, while the second (30%) are those who thought it
was somehow effective. Thus, we see that, according to the questioned
students, learning English grammar with some kind of extra aid is quite
effective. This assumption can be demonstrated by the two interviewed
students, as they stated:
“I like teaching aids because they help me relax but still concentrate on the
lesson well. I am more interested in the lesson… Normally I can remember
grammatical points by 50-60%. With such teaching aids as pictures, videos or
songs, I think I can master the rules by 80-85%.” (Appendix 5, line 160, 162)
85
“With teaching aids, I think I can master the grammatical items by 80%,
because when I come across grammar exercises, I can refer back to the aids that
my teacher’s used and do them accordingly” (Appendix 5, line 209-211)
Also, as observed a grammar class in which the teacher used two
different pictures to introduce the language items “adjectives ending in ed
and ing”, the researcher saw that students tended to be more motivated, and
after the presentation stage, when being asked to do the exercise in Student
book, they did quite well.
All in all, the majority of the questioned teachers and their students
agreed that teaching aids have a positive impact on their grammar teaching
and learning. The reasons, as described by some interviewed students, are
clear and critical enough for us to support the use of teaching aids in
teaching and learning English grammar.
4.5. Research question 4 – Obstacles preventing the teachers from
involving teaching aids into English grammar lessons
Though teaching aids are considered to be of great help to students’
grammar learning, it is obvious that not many teachers involved them in
their grammar lessons. The question raised is that what prevent them from
integrating such useful aids into grammar teaching. The reasons for this are
clearly shown in Table 5.
86
Obstacles Number of answers1. I don’t have enough aids. 5/92. I have to help my students be well-prepared for so many tests and exams, so I can’t use any extra teaching aids (except boards) because using them is very time-consuming.
4/9
3. I don’t have enough administrative support. 4/94. My students have different learning styles, so I’m afraid if I use teaching aids, they may not fit some students’ learning styles.
2/9
5. My students ignore me because they have watched enough cartoon films, video games, computer games, etc.
0/9
Table 5. Teachers’ ideas about the obstacles preventing them from using teaching aids in teaching English grammar
Firstly, five teachers said that they did not have enough teaching aids
to use in their grammar lessons. Also, as one interviewed teacher has noted,
there are only two media rooms used for teaching and learning activities at
this school, thus, very few chances are created for them to register and use
such facility. Moreover, perhaps the sole reason is not that the ready-made
aids are not many; it can be that the teachers can not prepare the aids due to
the matter of time-consuming as well as money-consuming.
The second suggested obstacle My students ignore me because they
have watched enough cartoon films, video games, computer games, etc,
received no votes from the teachers. This suggests that our students are still
very interested in such aids, though this is the century of modern technology,
and our students are quite familiar with such things. Thus, it is not a
discouraged factor, as perceived by the teachers.
The other obstacle named students’ different learning styles may not
be the problem of many teachers, as there are only two votes for this
category. In fact, many students who are familiar with the traditional way of
87
learning – the teacher gives the rules, the students write them down and do
exercises – will find learning with teaching aids quite challenging, as by the
aids provided by the teacher, they have to work out the rules for themselves.
Moreover, many students with introvert personalities will find classes with
aids so noisy, and sometimes they can not fit themselves with such kind of
teaching. Also, when a teacher uses some kind of visual aid to teach the
language item, for instance, some students may like it, and some may not,
they love other aids like songs, instead. Thus, students’ different learning
styles can be troublesome to some teachers when considering whether or not
to include teaching aids in teaching English grammar.
The next category that many teachers found suitable to them is their
lack of administrative support. In fact, using teaching aids in teaching
grammar creates a new and exciting environment, which motivates students
to concentrate and learn. However, facts have shown that when teaching aids
are used in classrooms, the students are so eager to witness such new things,
and they can show their curiosity, they can discuss, thus, make noise in
class. This, of course, is not supported by the administration, and they try to
limit the class time with such aids. What is more, investing money to buy
such aids is quite difficult due to the limited budget, which has to be shared
among so many educational activities. Thus, using teaching aids is not
supported by the school leaders, to some extent.
The last matter, which received four teacher votes, is really
troublesome in our national testing system. Actually students are checked
and marked with so many grammatical items in every test and exams, thus,
some may find it challenging to learn with teaching aids. That is, with
teaching aids, they have to work out the rules themselves, they are not
provided by their teachers any more. They are more concerned about the
88
results of the test, or the exams; and they may think, when being provided
with the rules, they have more time to practice with structured exercises so
as to do them well in the real exam. Not only because of the fact that
students are too much concerned about their exams in which most of the
questions refer to grammatical items, the teachers are put in this sad position
as well. They are required by the institution to help their students pass every
exam, and they will be rewarded when having the high percentage of
“students passed” and vice versa. All the factors mentioned force the
teachers to skip the free practice stage or production stage with the hope to
use the whole class time for students to do structured grammatical exercises.
Thus, the use of teaching aids, to a large extent, is limited because of such
reasons.
All in all, several obstacles which prevent the teachers from involving
teaching aids into grammar classes have been discussed thoroughly. These
problems, in fact, can be solved by the suggestions made by the teachers,
which will be discussed in the next research question.
4.6. Research question 5 – Recommendations for better
exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form
students.
As been discussed, the difficulties which the teachers encountered
when using teaching aids in teaching English grammar are treatable. The
recommendations for better exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English
grammar to 10th form students are clearly shown in Table 6.
89
Suggestions Number of answers1. My school should provide more teaching aids. 4/9
2. My school should provide better teaching aids. 3/9
3. Teaching aids should be used in a structured and pedagogical manner, so students feel that they can gain some knowledge through an activity.
3/9
4. There should be more time for this subject, because sometimes I lack time when using extra aids in my lessons.
2/9
5. We should not test too many grammatical items in the exams, so students will not be worried and I will feel freer to use extra teaching aids in my grammar lessons.
2/9
Table 6. Teachers’ suggestions for better use of teaching aids in teaching English grammar
The first recommendation is that the school should provide the
teachers with more and better teaching aids. As have been noted, there are
only two media rooms used for teaching and learning activities in this
school, which offer very few chances for the teachers of English to use
teaching aids in their grammar classes. Because preparing teaching aids can
be very time-consuming and costly, teachers tend to use overhead projectors
to show pictures, play songs, or videos to teach the language items. Thus,
with very few media rooms like this, teachers can not apply such things into
their classes. What is more, several aids provided by the school do not meet
the teachers’ needs, as they have been too old, or out of date. Hence, more
and better teaching aids should be provided is a very good recommendation
so that the use of teaching aids in language classrooms in general, and in
grammar classes in detail, would become better and more frequent.
90
Next, as suggested, those who are in the position of education leaders
should not test too many grammatical items without referring to real
communication. When there are not too many such items, and real life
situations to be covered instead, teachers will give students more time for
free practice and production with extra aids, and students will have more
motivation to practice the language items communicatively without
worrying too much about the exams in which there are abundance of
grammatical structures. Also, if the way of testing is grammar-focused while
the way of teaching and learning is free-practiced, students and teachers may
be concerned because this may affect their results in tests and exams. Hence,
so as to make teaching aids be exploited to the fullest, changing the style of
foreign language testing is a real need in our education system nowadays.
The other suggestion that draws our attention is a need for more time
for this subject, as some teachers usually lack of time when trying to include
some kind of teaching aids in their lessons. This point is supported by one of
the two interviewed teachers as follows:
“If can, I would like the Ministry of Education and Training to give us
one more 45-minute English grammar period. This will create a chance for
us to use teaching aids in our grammar lessons; because at present there is
only one period for Language Focus, and there are so many grammatical
points to be covered in each unit…”
(Appendix 5, line 61-65)
Thus, it can be seen that time is quite a big problem to teachers.
Usually when teaching aids are used in classrooms, teachers find it quite
hard to control the class environment, and in fact, it consumes a
considerably large amount of time. Also, as can be seen in the book English
91
10, too many grammatical items are required to be covered in each unit, and
to tell the truth, with only 45 minutes, the teacher can not handle that thing.
Thus, very frequently the teachers can lack time when using teaching aids in
their lessons, and they need more time so as to reach the goal. Hence, it is
important for the school leaders to consider whether or not they should allow
more time for the Language Focus section in each unit.
The last point, as suggested by the teachers, is that teaching aids
should be used in a structured and pedagogical manner, so students feel that
they can gain some knowledge through an activity. This is an important
factor in order to make the use of teaching aids become more effective. It is
clear that using teaching aids in classrooms can create noise, students may
pay too much attention to the new things in classrooms, and they may not
focus on the main points of the lesson. What is more, the teachers should
always be clear in their mind that before showing any aid, they should make
the purpose of such things clear to the students. For instance, if a teacher
wants to use a song to help students revise some grammatical points, he
should talk about the aim of such activity so that there will be no students
who just listen to that song for fun without doing the task required.
Moreover, some students who are industrious and serious will find teaching
aids useless if no purpose is provided. They may think that their teachers’
use of aids is a waste of time, and they may prefer the traditional way
instead. Hence, the teacher has to think carefully before choosing any aid,
and bears in mind that if no purpose of using such aid is given, the students
may find it discouraged to learn.
All in all, several suggestions for better use of teaching aids in
teaching English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted
high school have been discussed specifically and thoroughly. If those
92
recommendations are put into consideration and practice, using teaching aids
in a better way can be done in this school.
Summary
This chapter has provided the results gained from the data in
questionnaires, interviews, and class observations to each research question.
Major findings would be summarized in the final chapter named Conclusion
of this research paper.
93
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONThe previous chapters have introduced the introduction, provided the
literature review, justified the methods, discussed the findings of the study as
well as provided the teachers with several activities for teaching grammar
with the use of teaching aids. Finally, this chapter will cover summaries of
major findings, limitations, pedagogical suggestions as well as
recommendations for further studies.
5.1. Major findings of the research
In an attempt to find the answers for the five mentioned research
questions, data gathered from the questionnaires, semi-structured interviews,
and class observations were involved to draw the conclusions.
Initially, the study confirms that all types of teaching aids are used in
teaching English grammar to tenth form students at this school. Specifically
more visual aids are used than the other two types, namely audio aids and
audio-visual aids. However, it should be noted that such common aid as
blackboards received more votes than others; thus, many other interesting
and ear-and-eye catching extra aids like songs, cartoon films are less used.
Also, there exists a big contrast between the types of teaching aids used in
grammar teaching and learning as perceived by the teachers and those by
their students.
Secondly, the research has exploited the frequency of the teachers’
using teaching aids in their grammar classes. According to the gathered data,
hardly are there teachers who exploited teaching aids frequently in their
grammar lessons. The majority of the teachers, as answered to the
questionnaires, said that they just sometimes used such aids in their lessons.
94
Next, the students’ and their teachers’ evaluation of effectiveness of
teaching aids on their learning and teaching grammar has been clearly
discussed. The collected data showed that most of the students and teachers
agreed on the high effectiveness of teaching aids on the students’ grammar
learning. Though some still declined the positive roles of extra aids in
grammar lessons, the findings show that teaching aids are highly appreciated
by the majority of the participants.
In addition, major obstacles to exploitation of teaching aids in
grammar teaching and learning to grade 10 students in Luong Van Tuy
gifted high school were detected. Among them, the shortage of aids, time
constraints, lack of administrative support, and students’ different learning
styles constituted the biggest hindrance. The survey, however, shows that the
other factor namely students’ ignorance was not a considerable obstacle for
the exploitation of teaching aids in the studied context.
Finally, the paper has found out several recommendations for the
better use of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to the 10th form
students in the studied context, as perceived by the teachers. The
suggestions, which were recommended by the teachers, served as the
solutions to such mentioned obstacles. Accordingly, more and better
teaching aids to be provided, using teaching aids in a structured and
pedagogical manner are mostly voted by teachers. Other suggestions as
duration widening and positive changes in the testing system were also
mentioned by several teachers.
5.2. Pedagogical suggestions for teachers’ better exploitation of teaching
aids in English grammar classrooms.
First of all, the researcher would like to acknowledge all the
pedagogical suggestions put forward by grade 10 teachers for a more
95
exhaustive exploitation of teaching aids in their grammar classes. That is,
there should be more time for Language Focus section in each unit, which
offers the teacher a chance to slow down their speed of teaching grammar,
and apply some kind of teaching aids in their lesson. Also, because of
students’ great interest on their teachers’ use of teaching aids in class, the
teacher should be well-prepared with extra aids together with
communicative activities so that grammar lessons would become a fun but
still an effective way of grammar learning. This, hopefully, may help
students obtain the language items more easily, and they can recall them in
tests and exams more exactly.
In addition to such precious contribution, the researcher would like to
offer several recommendations basing on the literature on the research topic.
First, we, as the teachers should always check for ambiguity when
planning any type of teaching aids. The aid prepared should never be
misunderstood by any student in terms of its name, meaning or benefits.
Second, the teacher should be aware of the level of his/her class,
which can decide the aids’ level of difficulty she/he intends to use. This is an
important factor to bear in mind, because if we, as the teachers, do not know
in what levels the majority of students are, we may use the aids which can be
too easy or too difficult in comparison with the levels of the students. This,
of course, discourages students from actively participating in the lessons,
though they are covered with aids carefully prepared by their teachers.
What is more, before starting the lesson with the use of aids, make
clear the purpose of the aids to the students. As been mentioned, many
students will not be motivated to learn if they do not know the reason why
their teachers are using such aids. Or they can treat such aids just as for fun,
96
and do not pay attention to the lessons. Such things can make the use of such
aids useless, though they can bring a new sense to the lessons.
Lastly, using teaching aids needs careful preparation in terms of time
and cost. If the aid is too expensive, try to think of other simple and
affordable ways. And, because aids may cost the teacher a little money,
he/she should make full use of the aids. That is, with one particular aid, the
teacher should use it in different situations, in the explanation of various
language items.
Basing on the practicum, some observations, and such findings of the
study, the researcher did gather several activities in which teaching aids are
taken full advantage of, designed them as worksheets and put them in
Appendix 6. In fact, those activities are quite simple to implement, not time-
consuming, and affordable, which can be hopefully beneficial for the
teachers at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school. They also relate closely to the
grammar points needing to be mastered in English 10.
5.3. Limitations of the study
Despite considerable efforts of the researcher, certain limitations
could be detected in this study due to time constraint and other unexpected
factors.
Firstly, though the study has found out the types of teaching aids
which are currently exploited in teaching English grammar to 10th form
students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school, it is a pity that the researcher
has not attempted to discover the real effectiveness of using such aids. That
is, the facts about how effectively the teachers have been using such aids
were not carried out.
Secondly, the limited number of class observations on Language
Focus classes was another shortcoming of the paper. This is due to the fact
97
that the numbers of grammar periods for each unit are quite few, and the
researcher’s practicum took place in the time when most classes were
learning other skills instead of grammar.
5.4. Recommendations for further related studies
Under the light of limitations exposed, some recommendations for
further research could be made as follows.
At first, since teaching aid exploitation remains relatively novel in
Vietnam, it offers other researchers various chances to conduct further
studies. That is, those researchers who wish to learn more about the real
exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar, a larger sample
should be suggested. Because this study was carried out only among
teachers and students at Luong Van Tuy gifted high school, other studies
could have a look at different contexts so as to have a full knowledge about
the use of teaching aids in our current language teaching.
Also, a thorough look at how effectively teaching aids are used by the
teachers is highly recommended. Then further recommendations for better
exploitation of teaching aids could be fully completed.
98
REFERENCES
A task-based approach to teaching/learning grammar. (n.d.). Retrieved January, 9, 2010 from www.lms-riks.se/content/images/sormusk08.pdf
Audio-lingual method. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January, 24, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio-lingual_method
Audiovisual aid (n.d.) Retrieved January, 10, 2010 fromhttp://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/audiovisual.htm
Byrd, P. (1998). Grammar in the foreign language classroom: Making principled choices. Modules for the professional preparation of teaching assistants in foreign languages. Washington, DC: Center for applied linguistics. Retrieved March, 20, 2010 fromhttp://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/grindex.htm
Bowen, T (n.d.). Teaching approaches: the grammar-translation method. Retrieved January, 9, 2010 from http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=59442&docid=146493
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Chung, S.F (n.d.). A communicative approach to teaching grammar: Theory and practice, The English teacher, XXXIV, 33-50. Retrieved from http://www.melta.org.my/ET/2005/A%20COMMUNICATIVE%20APPROACH%20TO%20TEACHING%20GRAMMAR.pdf
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1 - OBSERVATION SCHEME
Date of observing:Class:Period No.:Teacher’s name:
Teaching aidsLanguage items
Stages Teacher StudentsVisual? Audio? Audio-
visual?PresentationPractice
1
ProductionPresentationPractice
2
Production
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APPENDIX 2 - QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS
THE PRACTICE OF USING TEACHING AIDS IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN
TUY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL AND ITS IMPLICATIONSHello, I am a fourth-year student at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This survey questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study on “The current exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted Highschool, Ninhbinh and implications”. I pledge that all the information related to the respondent will be kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any other purposes. I would like you to answer all the questions based on the instructions provided.Thank you very much in advance.
Question 1. You have been teaching English forA. 1 – 2 years C. 5 – 10 yearsB. 3 – 5 years D. more than 10 years
Question 2. In your opinion, teaching English grammar is… (You can choose more than one option)
A. interesting C. boringB. easy D. challengingE. as normal as others
Question 3. What stage is the most difficult in your grammar lessons?A. The presentation stageB. The practice stageC. The production stage
Question 4. What do you teach when introducing a new grammatical item?You can choose more than one option.
A. the form C. the usageB. the meaning D. all of the above
Question 5. How useful are teaching aids to the teaching of English grammar?
A. not useful at allB. somewhat usefulC. usefulD. very useful
Question 6. How frequently do you use teaching aids (visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual aids) in your grammar lessons?
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Frequency
Aids
Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
Visual aids
Audio aids
Audio-visual aidsQuestion 7. What are the types of visual aids have you used to teach English grammar? You can choose more than one option.
A. boards D. action & performanceB. realia E. NothingC. picturesF. Others: (please specify) …………………………………………………..
Question 8. What are the types of audio aids have you used to teach English grammar? You can choose more than one option.
A. cassette tapeB. radio recordingC. songD. others (please specify): ……………………………………………E. Nothing
Question 9. What are the types of audio-visual aids have you used in your grammar lessons? You can choose more than one option.
A. cartoon filmsB. tracks of moviesC. others: (please specify)………………………………………….D. Nothing
Question 10. What limitations do you face when exploiting teaching aids in your grammar lessons? You can choose more than one option.A. I don’t have enough aids.B. My students ignore me because they have watched enough cartoon films, video games, computer games, etc.C. My students have different learning styles, so I’m afraid if I use teaching aids, they may not fit some students’ learning styles.D. I don’t have enough training for using them, so sometimes I get puzzled.E. I don’t have enough administrative support.
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F. I have to help my students be well-prepared for so many tests and exams, so I can’t use any extra teaching aids (except boards) because using them is very time-consuming.G. Others: (please specify) …………………………………………………………………………..Question 11. What do you recommend to better the current exploitation of teaching aids in grammar classes in your school? You can choose more than one option.A. My school should provide more teaching aids.B. My school should provide better teaching aids.C. I should be trained to use them, I’m not the person of modern technology century.D. We should not test too many grammatical items in the exams, so students will not be worried and I will feel freer to use extra teaching aids in my grammar lessons.E. There should be more time for this subject, because sometimes I lack time when using extra aids in my lessons.F. Teaching aids should be used in a structured and pedagogical manner, so students feel that they can gain some knowledge through an activity.G. Others: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………You have finished the questionnaire.
Thank you very much for your contribution!
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APPENDIX 3QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS – ENGLISH VERSION
THE PRACTICE OF USING TEACHING AIDS IN TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT LUONG VAN
TUY GIFTED HIGH SCHOOL AND ITS IMPLICATIONSHello,
I am a fourth-year student at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. This survey questionnaire is designed to collect data for my study on “The current exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students at Luong Van Tuy gifted Highschool, Ninhbinh and implications”. I pledge that all the information related to the respondent will be kept strictly confidential and will not be used for any other purposes. I would like you to answer all the questions based on the instructions provided.Thank you very much in advance.
Question 1. You have been learning English forA. 1 – 2 years C. 5 - 6 yearsB. 3 – 4 years D. more than 6 years
Question 2. In your opinion, learning English grammar is (You can choose more than one option)
C. interesting C. boringD. easy D. challengingE. as normal as others
Question 3. What does your teacher teach when introducing a new grammatical item? (You can choose more than one option)
C. the form C. the usageD. the meaning D. All of the above
Question 4. How frequently does your teacher use teaching aids (visual aids, audio aids, audio-visual aids) in teaching English grammar?
Frequency
Aids
Never Rarely Sometimes Usually Always
Visual aids
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Audio aids
Audio-visual aids
Question 5. What are the types of visual aids has your teacher ever used in your grammar classes? You can choose more than one option.
D. boards D. action & performance
E. realia E. nothing
F. pictures F. others: (please specify)…………………
Question 6. What are the types of audio aids has your teacher used in your grammar classes? You can choose more than one option.
A. cassette tapeB. radio recordingC. songD. others: (please specify)
……………………………………………………………………..E. Nothing
Question 7. What are the types of audio-visual aids has your teacher used in your grammar lessons?
A. cartoon filmsB. tracks of moviesC. others: (please specify)
…………………………………………………………………………D. Nothing
Question 8. Compared with grammar lessons without teaching aids, how effectively can you learn a grammatical item when your teacher uses an aid to explain it?
A. ineffectiveB. somehow effectiveC. effectiveD. very effective
You have finished the questionnaire.
Thank you very much for your contribution!!!
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APPENDIX 4
QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS
1. How long have you been learning English?
2. What do you think about learning English grammar?
3. Does your teacher usually use teaching aids, such as pictures, songs, video
to teach English grammar?
4. Will your grammar learning become better if your teacher uses an extra
aid to teach grammar? If yes, to what extent?
QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW WITH TEACHERS
1. How long have you been teaching English?
2. What do you think of teaching English grammar?
3. What do you teach when introducing an English grammar structure?
4. What do you think about using teaching aids in teaching English grammar
to students? To what extent is it useful?
5. Can you give the reasons that make our teachers hesitate to use teaching
aids to teach grammar to students?
6. Do you recommend anything so as to make the exploitation of teaching
aids in teaching English grammar become more frequent and better?
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APPENDIX 5 - INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
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INTERVIEW 1Location: Room 10 Anh, Luong Van Tuy gifted highschoolTime: Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Interviewer: Can you please tell me your name and the years you have been teaching English?Interviewee: My name’s PTM, and I’ve been teaching English for only two years.Interviewer: What do you think about teaching English grammar to your students? Is it easy, difficult, interesting, or as normal as other skills?Interviewee: Well, I think, such skills as Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing are usually of great interest to my students; however, grammar is also very important, because it is the main factor in the final exam. Teaching English grammar is quite interesting as the students are more concerned about the language items so that they can handle them in tests and exams, because they are only checked with grammatical items there. Thus, my students seem to be more interested in learning grammar and grammatical structures rather than other things.Interviewer: Students are usually more concerned about their marks which they could get because many grammatical items are tested, right?Interviewee: Yes, that’s right.Interviewer: So, when introducing a new grammar point, what do you teach? Do you teach all the meaning, form, usage or one of such things?Interviewee: Well, it depends. For example, in class 10 Maths, the students are usually better, and they already have background knowledge about such grammar points, so I just go through the theory, and then come to practice. To tell the truth, my students like additional exercises a lot. But, with class 10B1, the students seem to be not very good at English, then I have to recall all the meaning, form and usage of each grammar point, then we can do some practice. And, with such students, the exercises are usually easier.Interviewer: Well, I am conducting my thesis paper which concerns the exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students in this school. According to what we have learnt at university, teaching aids like pictures, videos, or songs are of great help for students’ grammar learning. What do you think about this? And, do you often apply some other aids into your grammar lessons? Interviewee: Of course, when you use some other aids like picture, videos or songs in grammar lessons, students will be very motivated to learn. For example, when I teach Conditional sentence type II, I show a picture of a famous person, like Bill Clinton. And I tell the students that now I’m a
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teacher, but if I were Bill Clinton, what would I do? Then to talk about what I would do if I were such a person, the students have to use this sentence type, for example. So I think, extra aids are very important.Interviewer: Yes, I think so. And according to what you have said, teaching aids are very important to teachers’ and students’ grammar teaching and learning; however, as I have been observing, very few teachers applied such aids into their teaching. So, can you give some reasons for it? It is time-consuming for preparation, lack of aids, or something else?Interviewee: Well, I don’t think it is because it takes too much time to make some preparation. Instead, I think it is due to the fact that we have so little time that we can not use some other aids in our lessons. You know, we have only 45 minutes for each period, so if I try to involve some aids in my lessons, it is very likely to run out of time, and I can not fulfill the lessons. And, when go to exams, students are usually tested with grammatical points, so the use of teaching aids to help students recall what they have learnt (production) is impossible.Interviewer: Yeap, this is in fact an unsolvable problem. So, do you suggest several recommendations so that we can have a more frequent and better exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar?Interviewee: If can, I would like the Ministry of Education and Training to give us one more 45-minute English grammar period. This will create a chance for us to use teaching aids in our grammar lessons; because at present there is only one period for Language Focus, and there are so many grammatical points to be covered in each unit. And, one more thing, sometime I really need to use some aids in my lessons, but the problem is that there are only two media rooms used for so many teaching and learning activities in my school; so it is too difficult to register to use. To conclude, I think if we could handle such problems, the exploitation of teaching aids in grammar lessons, of course, would become more frequent and better..Interviewer: Well, I see. Thank you a lot for this interesting conversation. Wish you success!
INTERVIEW 2Location: Room 10B3, Luong Van Tuy gifted highschoolTime: Monday, March 15th, 2010
Interviewer: Well, can you please tell me how many years you have been teaching English?Interviewee: I have been teaching English for ten years.
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Interviewer: I am conducting my thesis paper which concerns the exploitation of teaching aids in teaching English grammar to 10th form students in this school. First, I would like you to give some comments on teaching English grammar: is it difficult, easy, interesting, or as normal as others?Interviewee: I think teaching grammar is not difficult than others, because it is not a new thing, because both the old and current curriculum involve grammar. Also, when learning grammar, students are more concentrated, because usually they are tested with a number of grammatical items in exams.Interviewer: So, when introducing a new grammar point, what do you teach?Interviewee: I try to cover all the form, meaning, and the usage of such structures.Interviewer: According to what we have learnt at university, teaching aids like pictures, videos, or songs are of great help for students’ grammar learning. What do you think about this? And, do you often apply some other aids into your grammar lessons? Interviewee: Yeah, I agree that teaching aids are very useful to language teaching and learning. When students see some pictures or other related material in class, they are more motivated to learn. The classrooms become more active. However, how to exploit is not easy.Interviewer: So, what are the reasons for this, in your opinion?Interviewee: Well, it is because we are too familiar with the teaching method that the teacher stands in front of the class, presents the structures, and asks students to do exercises. So, if we, as teachers, used pictures or other things in our lessons, the roles of teachers and students would change. And, it is usually very time-consuming, because there are so many grammatical items to cover in each unit. So, if we used extra aids like what you have mentioned, we would not have enough time to go through all the lesson, that is the first thing; and, we could not handle the time to prepare at home. And in exams, students are only checked with grammar points instead of production, so I feel quite passive.Interviewer: Well, this is the last question for you. So, what do you recommend so as to make our application of teaching aids in teaching and learning grammar become more frequent and more effective?Interviewee: About the time, I think we could not make a change, because it is already fixed. However, the school could provide more aids, like the overhead projector, because with such thing, many other things can be done. There are only two media rooms in our school, and such aids as pictures
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never come to being. You know, it is impossible for the teacher to prepare everything because each teacher in this school has to be responsible for nearly 20 periods each week. Moreover, if the teacher can make some preparations, I think she should make sure it is a careful selection, so that the students will not become too noisy, class management is still in control, and after the lesson, the students can gain the points that she has noted beforehand.Interviewer: Well, that’s a great idea. Thank you a lot for this interesting conversation.Interviewee: Never mind.
INTERVIEW 3Location: Luong Van Tuy gifted highschool’s schoolyardTime: Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Interviewer: Hello, can you tell me how long have you been learning English?Interviewee: Well, I have been learning English since I was in grade 3.Interviewer: Oh, really? What do you think about learning English? Is it easy and interesting?Interviewee: Yes, Miss.Interviewer: What about the average mark you get for English?Interviewee: Mark 8, I think.Interviewer: Well, that’s really good. Now may I ask you some questions about your English grammar learning? Does your teacher involve teaching aids, such as pictures, videos, or songs in your lessons very often?Interviewee: No, My teacher has never used any pictures, videos, or songs to teach grammatical points.Interviewer: Oh, what a pity. So, now… Do you remember the structure namely “too…to”?Interviewee: Yes.Interviewer: Well, now imagine that I have a picture in which there is an overhead object, and a small child who can not reach it. So, now when you look at that picture, do you think you can build up the sentence?Interviewee: Perhaps I can.Interviewer: Oh, that’s great. So will you become happier if your teacher uses such aids in lessons?Interviewee: Yeah, of course, because they help me relax but still concentrate on the lesson well. I’m more interested in the lesson.
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Interviewer: Oh, really? So, how much?Interviewee: Normally I can remember grammatical points by 50-60%. With such teaching aids as pictures, videos or songs, I think I can master the rules by 80-85%.Interviewer: Great! So do you think you can remember such structures for a longer time, and when you come across them, can you recall what you’ve learnt?Interviewee: Yes, because when meet such items, I will base on what my teacher has used to teach me, and recall the structures.Interviewer: Ok, thank you very much! Try your best!
INTERVIEW 4Location: Room 10B3, Luong Van Tuy gifted highschoolTime: Wednesday, March 13th, 2010
Interviewer: Well, How long have you been learning English?Interviewee: Since I was in grade 3.Interviewer: So, what do you think about your English level?Interviewee: Yeap, I think I’ve known quite a lot about English.Interviewer: Okie, so what about English grammar? Is it easy?Interviewee: Learning English grammar is not easy at all; there are so many items to be memorized, and to tell the truth, I could not handle such kind of things.Interviewer: Yeah, I agree with you. So, I have a question for you. Yesterday, I saw that your teacher used two pictures in your grammar lesson. Do you remember what he used such pictures for?Interviewee: Well…he used such pictures to teach adjectives ending in –ing and –ed. They were terrifying and terrified.Interviewer: Well, that’s really good. So, how to distinguish these two types of adjectives?Interviewwee: Yeah, one picture is about a horror film, and when looking at that, I felt very scared. The teacher told us to use “terrifying” in this case. In the other one, there were several people sitting and watching that film, and their faces showed that they were really scared. Here the teacher told us to use “terrified”, as it describes the people who are affected.Interviewer: Oh, you’ve got a really good memory! What did you feel at that time? Was it more interesting than the way that your teacher only wrote those two words onto the blackboard and explained their meanings?Interviewee: Yeap, of course. Really interesting! I believe it’s much easier to remember.
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Interviewer: So, does your teacher use pictures or other related materials to teach grammar frequently?Interviewee: Well, when I was at secondary school, there were hardly such things. But now, that way of teaching seems to begin. Interviewer: Do you think you can memorize better and longer with such aids?Interviewee: Yeap, of course.Interviewer: How much? I suppose that normally you can do it by 50%?Interviewee: With teaching aids, I think I can master the grammatical items by 80%, because when I come across grammar exercises, I can refer back to the aids that my teacher’s used and do them accordinglyInterviewer: OK, thank you a lot!
INTERVIEW 5Location: Room 10B3, Luong Van Tuy gifted highschoolTime: Wednesday, March 13th, 2010
Interviewer: Can you introduce a little bit about yourself?Interviewee: My name’s Z. I’m studying at Lương Văn Tụy gifted highschool.Interviewer: How long have you been learning English?Interviewee: Since I was in grade 5.Interviewer: What do you think about learning English grammar? Is it difficult?Interviewee: Well, I’m really interested in learning English, and I think it’s not difficult. And, about English grammar, I think if I am hardworking enough, I can memorize all of them.Interviewer: Well, that sounds really good. So, in your grammar classes, does your teacher often involve songs, pictures or some other things?Interviewee: No. Rarely. My teacher only gives some examples, but I think it’s quite good.Interviewer: Ok, do you remember what your training teacher used to teach adjectives ending in “ing” and “ed”?Interviewee: Photos, no, exactly he used two pictures.Interviewer: Good, so what were they about?Interviewee: One picture is about a horror film, and the teacher used “terrifying” to describe that film. The other one shows some people who are really scared of that film. Here the teacher told us to use “terrified” to describe such people. And he told us to apply this usage for other cases as well.
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Interviewer: Good. Do you think it’s easier to understand with that way of teaching?Interviewee: Yes, of course.Interviewer: Really? That’s good. Can you tell me the reason?Interviewee: Because sometimes I may forget, and by recalling what the teacher’s used, I can recall such words, and such usages.Interviewer: Ok. So, with that way of teaching, how much can you memorize?Interviewee: Well, because usually I can remember quite a lot, but with such aids, I can memorize all the language items.Interviewer: Oh, that’s really good! So, you really like teaching aids in your grammar lessons, right? Thank you very much for this talk.
