v
3.3. Subjects of the study 24
3.4. Data collection instruments 25
3.4.1. Questionnaires 25
3.4.2. Interviews 26
3.5. Study procedures 26
3.6. Data analysis 27
CHAPTER IV- DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 28
4.1.Questionnaires 28
4.1.1. Data analysis of the students’ experiment questionnaires 28
4.1.2.Comparison of students’ attitudes towards grammar learning between pre-
experiment questionnaire and post- experiment questionnaire 41
4.2. Interviews 42
4.2.1. Pre- treatment interview 42
4.2.2. Post- treatment interview 43
4.3. Discussion 44
4.4. Summary 45
CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION 46
5.1. Summary and conclusion: 46
5.2. Limitations of the study: 46
5.3. Suggestions for further study: 47
REFERENCES I
APPENDICES III
Appendix 1: III
Pre - Experiment questionnaire on English grammar learning III
Appendix 2: VI
PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA TIỀN THỬ NGHIỆM VIỆC HỌC NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH VI
Appendix 3: X
POST- EXPERIMENT QUESTIONNAIRE X
ON ENGLISH GRAMMAR LEARNING X
Appendix 4: XIII
PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA SAU THỬ NGHIỆM HỌC NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH XIII
Appendix 5: XVI
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PRE-EXPERIMENT INTERVIEW XVI
Appendix 6: XVII
PHỎNG VẤN TIỀN THỬ NGHIỆM XVII
Appendix 7: XVIII
POST-EXPERIMENT INTERVIEW XVIII
Appendix 8: XIX
PHỎNG VẤN SAU THỬ NGHIỆM XIX
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LIST OF GRAPHS
Graph 1: Students’ opinions of the importance of English grammar for language learning.
Graph 2 : The reasons why English grammar is important in language learning.
Graph 3: Students’ opinions of learning English grammar.
Graph 4: Students’ impression of learning English grammar at school.
Graph 5 : Factors influence students’ attitudes towards grammar learning.
Graph 6 : Students’ opinions of English grammar teaching at school.
Graph 7 : Teaching techniques to present a new English grammar structure.
Graph 8 : Activities students get involved in class to practise new grammar structures.
Graph 9 : Students’ expectations
Graph 10 : Oral English grammar practice makes English grammar lessons more lively,
interesting and stimulate students to learn English.
Graph 11: Oral grammar activities students got involved in.
Graph 12 : Ranking oral grammar activities according to students’ preference.
Graph 13 : Frequency of students’ involvement in oral grammar activities.
Graph 14 : Students’ preference with regard to oral grammar activities organization.
Graph 15: Students’ difficulties when doing grammar practice orally.
Graph 16: Students’ opinions of oral grammar activities.
Graph 17: The usefulness of oral grammar practice in students’ language learning.
Graph 18: Students’ preference in oral grammar practice in the coming time.
Graph 19: Reasons for continuing oral grammar practice in the coming time.
Graph 20: Reasons for not continuing oral grammar practice in the coming time.
viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
A : Answer
B.C : Before Christ
CA : Communicative Approach
CLT : Communicative Language Teaching
E : English
M.A : Master of Art
Q : Question
Q&A : Questions and Answers
TNH : Trần Nguyên Hãn
T : Teacher
Ss : Students
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
It has widely been accepted in language teaching and learning that grammar structures
are very important because they make up the skeleton of a language. Without grammar,
words hang together with no real meaning or sense. So as to be able to use a language to
some degree of proficiency, we need to master some grammatical knowledge. Grammar is an
important and necessary part in students’ learning because it forms the basis for the
development of four skills: reading skill, speaking skill, listening skill and writing skill.
Students, with good grammar mastery, not only produce sentences grammatically but also
acquire the ability to apply grammatical knowledge in certain contexts to express their
thoughts and feelings as well as to receive feedback. By teaching grammar, teachers not only
give students the means to express themselves, but also fulfill students’ expectations of what
learning a foreign language involves.
However, how to teach grammar effectively is not very easy and it is of constant concern
of high school teachers. So far, a great number of studies have been conducted to assist
teachers and students in teaching and acquiring English grammar.
Research and teaching practice have revealed that there’s a close relation between
teaching methods and learners’ attitudes towards learning, which in turn have great influence
on the learning results. This study, therefore, is carried out to investigate how the shift from
traditional methods to communicative ones affect the attitudes towards English grammar at
Tran Nguyen Han High school.
When teaching grammar, teachers of English at Tran Nguyen Han High School seem to
prefer traditional teaching methods in which grammar rules are taught deductively because
of the great influence on teaching habit caused by Haiphong environment and the former
objectives of teaching. The common practice of some senior teachers is just giving the
explanation of new words and grammar structures, asking students to learn by heart and
make sentences, reading the structures, texts or conversations aloud, asking students to
repeat and in general making students passive. Even younger teachers rarely organize
communicative activities in their lessons because they are afraid of making noise which may
influence the neighbouring classes and also they find it difficult to control the class then.
That’s why teachers seem to be interested in giving students a lot of written exercises to do
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in class. This makes students have no interests in learning grammar at all. Students often do
their grammar exercises reluctantly and passively.
The fact is that the 10
th
grade students at Tran Nguyen Han High School have lots of
difficulties in learning grammar. They are taught grammar through repetition and written
exercises. Students are required to repeat the models and memorize the rules . Lasen-
Freeman (2005) points out that such activities in class are boring and not effective. Further
more, many teachers approach grammar far too seriously, with unsmiling faces, particularly
during the first phases of a new lesson when students are trying to grasp an initial
understanding of the form and meaning of the grammar structure.
The shortage of useful materials and high technology equipment also makes students’
learning slower and uninteresting. According to Beatty(2003: 248), if a language learner can
make use of high technology equipment such as a computer, his language will be improved
much more and faster.
In terms of teaching schedule, the 10
th
grade students are currently required to attend
only one period (45 minutes) of grammar per week. The students depend on the textbooks .
In class, students do not have a chance to use grammar in communicative activities. They are
just asked to do grammar exercises in the textbooks after the teacher’s presentation and
explanation of a new grammar point and at home they have to do grammar exercises in the
workbooks without having them corrected because the teachers have no time for it. It’s
difficult for teachers to finish their teaching successfully because of the time constraint, the
large class size, and the students’ mixed level. As the result, the students can produce correct
forms when doing exercises and taking tests, but consistently make errors while trying to
produce their own free writing or speech. It’s obvious that the students do not master
grammar structures thoroughly. And of course, this way of teaching and learning may result
in the students’ negative attitudes towards English grammar acquisition which surely hinders
their language learning conduct.
This situation also provides another good reason for the study to be conducted with the
hope to identify whether oral practice can change positively Tran Nguyen Han High school
students’ attitudes towards English grammar learning .
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1.2. Aims of the study
The purpose of this study is to investigate Tran Nguyen Han 10
th
grade students’
attitudes towards grammar learning when grammar is practiced orally instead of through
written exercises
1.3. Research questions
a. What are Tran Nguyen Han 10
th
graders’ attitudes towards grammar learning when
traditional teaching methods are used?
b. How can oral practice change positively Tran Nguyen Han 10
th
graders’ attitudes
towards English grammar learning ?
1.4. Scope of the study
Due to the time limit and financial constraint, the author was unable to carry out the
investigation on a large scale. The researcher, therefore, would like to focus on the real
teaching and learning English grammar at Tran Nguyen Han High School, restricted to the
10
th
graders only.
1.5. Significance of the study
The study was conducted with the expectation that its results would be useful for
teachers of English at TNH High School. Based on the finding, conclusion could be made on
whether oral grammar practice should be applied or not. Hence, it could be a considerable
contribution to teaching and learning English grammar effectively and enjoyablely at TNH
High School.
1.6. Outline of the study
I . Introduction
This gives an overview of the study including the study background. This provides a
brief description of the thesis topic and information related to English grammar teaching and
learning atTNH Upper Secondary School. The aims, the research questions, the scope of the
study and the outline of the minor thesis are also included in this .
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II. Literature review
This reviews the relevant literature related to the communicative language teaching
methods especially oral practice in English grammar teaching. Particularly, the focuses on
the attitude change and the application of grammar oral practice to change students’ attitudes
in learning grammar.
III. Methodology
The actual procedures of the study are presented in this :Study design, subjects of the
study, the data collection method, instruments as well as process of data collection and data
analysis.
IV. Data analysis and discussion
This focuses on presenting, analyzing and discussing the results obtained from the study.
V. Conclusion
This provides the summary of the findings, some recommendations on how to teach
English grammar through oral practice at Tran Nguyen Han High School. The conclusion
and limitation of the study will also be presented in this .
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CHAPTER II- LITERATURE REVIEW
This focuses on some theoretical grounds of attitude and grammar teaching and
learning. It consists of two parts. The first part is concerned with major issues regarding
attitudes, the roles of attitudes in language learning and factors that affect the attitudes
change. The second one discusses communication approach in teaching grammar as well as
oral grammar practice.
2.1. Attitudes
2.1.1. Definition of attitude
According to Hallorah (1967) , attitude represents an individual’s like or dislike for an
item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an “attitude object” i.e. a teaching
style, person, situation or event. People can also be “ambivalent” towards a target, meaning
that they simultaneously possesses a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in
question.
In Gibb’s opinion (1988) attitude is generally defined as a state of mind, which is
influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief.
Fazio (1986) states that attitude comprises of three components: “an affective
component involving feelings about and evaluation of the object, a cognitive component
involving belief about the object and a behavioral intentions component” .
The above definitions show people’s attitude towards certain referent object, a
behavioral intentions component and a cognitive component involving belief about the
object. In language learning, we can see students’ attitudes in their feelings and belief about
the way of acting towards the lessons,learning style, teachers and the course books.
Briefly, attitudes have three main components : affective, behavioral and cognitive. The
affective components are easily assessed by monitoring physiological signs such as heart rate
whereas the behavioral aspects may be assessed by direct observation. On the other hand, the
cognitive aspects of attitude are generally measured by interviews, survey and other
reporting methods. This study concentrates on affective and cognitive components. It relates
to students’ feelings and belief about communicative teaching as well as evaluation of
grammar learning.
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2.1.2. Attitude change
According to Hovland (1973), attitude change is a response to communication. Listeners
will keep positive attitudes if the communication is successful and interesting. Otherwise,
negative attitudes of the listeners will be formed if the communication is unccessful and
unattractive. The success of communication depends on several factors. The first of these is
the interest of the communicator of a message. To get interest, the tasks and topic are very
important. A frequent change of topic not only makes every student get something that
interests him or her sooner or later, but also helps to maintain students’ attention and
motivation. Further more, teachers should make sure that maximum language use in fact
takes place in every task. To be effective, a communicator must have credibility based on his
or her perceived knowledge of the topic, and also be considered trustworthy. The greater the
students have perceived similarly between the audience and the communicator, the greater
the communicator’s effectiveness becomes.
Hallorah (1967:60-61) states that formation and change of attitude are not two separate
things , but they are interwoven. People always adopt, relinquish and modify attitudes to fit
the ever- changing needs and interests. Simple education can’t change attitudes. Acceptance
of new attitudes depends on who presents the knowledge, how it is presented, how the
person is perceived, the credibility of the communicator, and the conditions by which the
knowledge is received.
In Sherif’s view (1975: 16) , we can understand that attitude will be changed based on
how a person sees the communication and the communicator. Less commited people will
change ideas more frequently. According to Hallorah (1967:60-61) ,attitude change also has
to do with other personality characteristics such as susceptibility to persuasion, intelligence,
readiness to accept change, ect. We are more likely to accept information if we feel the
communicator has no intent to change our attitudes and opinions.
Attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience. Hereditary variables may
affect attitudes- but believes that they may do so indirectly. For example, if one inherits the
disposition to become an extrovert, this may affect one’s attitude to learning a foreign
language ( Tesser, 1993) . Abelson (1968) argues that there are numerous theories of attitude
formation and attitude change such as Consistency theories, which imply that we must be
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