What difficulties are experienced by teachers in teaching grammar communicatively and then to give some suggestions to reduce the difficulties

Part A: Introduction I. Rationale The economic open- door policy pursued by the government of Vietnam has increased a demand for studying English. Many people are expected to be competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access technology. In correspondence to this trend, in almost all of schools, colleges, universities, English is a compulsory subject. HGMSS, where I have been working for 7 years, is not an exception. Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for their future life, all students have a desire to be integrated into the culture, the civilization, and the people of English speaking countries. They expect to have a good knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or to sing English songs, etc. As a result, learning English now is not only an interest but also a practical need for many people. Together with the growing demand for learning English, there has been an innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam. For a long time, language teaching in Vietnam was strongly influenced by the structuralist tradition. Emphasis was placed on mastery of language structures. Students have been taught how to form correct utterances and to understand the structures of the language without any consideration of language use. Students have been asked to learn every single word by heart, and translate or analyze grammatically every sentence in the text. The teacher has often taken up almost all the time in class explaining the form of language to students who were passive recipients. As a result, this kind teaching and learning, of course, has been the “production” of students who were structurally competent but communicatively incompetent. However, as the result of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic research, language teaching has moved from the traditional to a more communicative approach. In this current approach, language is considered as a form of social behavior. The objective of language teaching is teaching learners to communicate fluently, appropriately and spontaneously in the cultural context of the target language. Communicative competence, according to Canale and Swain (1980), is made up of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. With 7 years of experience in teaching English at HGMSS, I find that students have to learn English in two semesters in the curriculum and English is often taught in the first school - year. At the end of each semester, the students have to take a written test, not an oral one. Therefore, most of the time is spent on grammar points because many of the students have never learnt English before and the teachers have to try to keep to the syllabus, that is, to finish the course- book entitled “Headway Elementary”. In addition, many students are too shy to speak in class whereas most of the grammar lessons are carried out in traditional methods. That is, the teacher presents new grammar verbally, and then students do, turn by turn, exercises in workbooks. As a consequence, the students find it hard to speak out as well as to communicate in the real life naturally. The question of how to equip students with grammatical competence so that they can use the language to communicate in any situation has become a matter of teachers of English in general and teachers of English at HGMSS in particular. For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, the author intend to figure out what difficulties are experienced by teachers in teaching grammar communicatively and then to give some suggestions to reduce the difficulties. II. Scope, objectives, significance, method and design of the study. II.1. The scope of the study The study is concerned with finding the teachers’ difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively for ethnic minority students at HGMSS. The study of others would be beyond the scope. II.2. Objectives of the study The objectives of the study are as follows: To investigate the difficulties of teaching and learning grammar communicatively faced by the teachers and students. To make some suggestions on reducing the teachers’ difficulties in the application of CLT in teaching grammar and make their grammar lessons more successful. II.3. Significance of the study This study plays an important role in improving grammar teaching method to ethnic minority students at HGMSS. Its implemented suggestions will make the application of CLT at my school successful and effective. II.4. Methods of the study In order to do the research, a lot of references have been selected, read and filtered for information. Furthermore, a survey has been done by providing a questionnaire for 5 teachers of English and another for 215 ethnic minority students at HGMSS. Questionnaires are delivered to the teachers to investigate difficulties in teaching grammar communicatively that they face and solutions that should be implemented. Questionnaires are delivered to the students to find out the students’ attitudes to learning English grammar, their difficulties confronted and solutions suggested by them. All the collected information and data have been analyzed and discussed. In addition to these, the research paper will not be completed without the supervisor’s help. II.5. Design of the study This thesis consists of three parts: Part A: is the Introduction, which presents the rationale, the scope, the objectives, the significance, the methods and the design of the study. Part B: consists of three chapters. Chapter I: deals with a theoretical background. It starts with grammar and its status in language teaching, then an overview of some language teaching methods- their advantages and disadvantages in applying in the classroom. The next is about the CLT which includes the definition, characteristics, and stages in the teaching grammar commutatively. The final is some factors to be considered of CLT application. Chapter II: presents the survey. Firstly, there is a description about the present situation of English teaching and learning at HGMSS. Secondly, the methodology is performed in the study. It provides participants, instruments and data analysis. Chapter III: presents the findings and suggestion. Firstly, the findings of the study are analyzed and discussed. Secondly, some suggestions for overcoming the difficulties in teaching grammar commutatively to ethnic minority students at HGMSS are proposed. Some communicative activities for a grammar lesson are also recommended. Part C: is about the conclusion and suggestions for a further study. Part B: Development Chapter I: Theoretical background I.1. Grammar and its status in language teaching I.1.1. Definition of grammar There have been various ways of defining grammar- a very common and familiar term in language teaching and learning. Grammar can be seen as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences" from The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (quoted in Harmer: 1987: 1). There are two concentrated basic elements: the rules of grammar and the study and practice of the rules. Similarly, Jeremy Harmer (1988:1) defines grammar as “the way in which words change themselves and group together to make sentences. The grammar of a language what happens to words when they become plural or negative, or what word order is used when we make questions or join two clauses to make one sentence.” Jeremy Harmer shares the same point of view with the authors of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. As for Celce - Murcia, M (1988: 16), grammar is “a subset of those rules which govern the configurations that the morphology and syntax of a language assume.” I.1.2. The status of grammar in language teaching The position of grammar teaching in ELT is still controversial. Some people refute the place of grammar teaching for the reason that the study of grammar is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning to use a language. Meanwhile, the others affirm the importance of grammar for effective language learning. “the evidence seems to show beyond doubt that though it is by communicative use in real “speech acts” that the new language “sticks” in the learner’s mind, insight into pattern is an equal partner with communicative use in what language teachers now see as dual process of acquisition/ learning. Grammar, approached as a voyage of discovery into the patterns of language rather than the learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey word.” (Eric Hawkins, 1984: 150-1). In fact, grammar is one of the key elements of a language. Therefore, one person can not master a language without the knowledge of its grammar. Thanks to grammar, language partly can function as a means of communication, especially in written language. One can not write well if he/ she lacks the knowledge of grammar. In speaking, though grammatical mistakes are sometimes acceptable, grammar makes one’s speech better and more attractive, especially in formal situations. Learners can not use words if they do not know how to put these words together. Grammar exists to enable us to “mean” and without grammar, it is impossible to communicate beyond a very rudimentary level because “speech is no more than sounds, writing is no more than hieroglyphics” (Peck, 1988: 127). For this reason, the teaching of grammar is very important in ELT. I.2. An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar There are many influential methods widely used by language teachers in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. The methods are now discussed in this paper as follows: GTM; DM and AM. I.2.1. The Grammar- Translation method (GTM) Traditional method or GTM was rooted in the formal teaching of Latin and Greek and become popular in the late 19th century. According to Larsen- Freeman (1986:4), the GTM was used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature. Through studying the grammar of the target language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and this helps them use their language more grammatically. I.2.1.1. Advantages of the Grammar- Translation method The strength of GTM is that it requires few resources so it is easy to apply and cheap to administer. Thus, the method is still used in many places where the class is large (more than 30 students), and there is a great shortage of teaching - learning facilities and equipment, the teachers with inadequate speaking skill are accustomed to setting teaching procedures. I.2.1.2. Disadvantages of the Grammar- Translation method This method, however, has certain disadvantages. According to Richards and Rogers (1986:3), GTM obviously focuses on the form rather than the use of the target language. Students who are in this way did not have a chance to practice their speaking and listening. Students learn rules of grammar and vocabulary without much feeling of progress in the mastery of the target language can lead to the lack of motivation in learning a language for their having little opportunity to express themselves through it. They just learn what they have to without any creativeness. The method creates frustration for students, for whom foreign language learning is a tedious experience of memorization of new words and grammatical rules, while it makes few demands on teachers. (Richards and Rogers, 1986:4) I.2.2. The Direct method (DM) In the late 19th century, increased opportunities among European create a demand for oral proficiency in foreign language. The GTM was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicatively and a new method, namely DM was born. DM is characterized by the use of the target language as a means of instruction and communication in the classroom, and by the avoidance of the use of the first language and translation as a technique. I.2.2.1. Advantages of the Direct method It brings the process of learning the target language close to that of first language acquisition. Students are exposed to the target language situations. Therefore, their ability to think in the target language is developed. River (1981) claims that “at its best, DM provides an exciting and interesting way of learning a language through activity. It has proved to be successful in releasing students from the inhibitions all too often associated with speaking another tongue, particularly at the early stage". I.2.2.2. Disadvantages of the Direct method Though there is a development in students’ thoughts in the target language, it has two- sided effect. Students may develop inaccuracies if they are not properly guided. This is the result if their trying to express themselves in the target language with insufficient knowledge about the language. Because all statements they learn relate to the classroom. The teacher did not generally think of the students using of the language beyond the classroom. Any connection with real life was expected to come later and was not the business of the school. The graduation and sequences of materials is not based on realistic spoken speech but artificial connected sentences. The weakness of the method is also states in River (1983:34): “In the pure form of the DM, insufficiency is made for systematic practice and requesting- practice of structures in a coherent sequence. As a result, students often lack a clear idea of what they are trying to do, and they make haphazard progress”. I.2.3. The Audio-Lingual method (AM) The AM derived from America during the World War II where there was a need for people to learn foreign languages quickly for military purposes. It led to the development of the AM which then has had a considerable influence on English language teaching all over the world. This English teaching method puts listening and speaking in the first place. It uses sentence pattern as the base of teaching and try to avoid mother tongue in class. Attention is paid to the need for practice rather than explanation about the language because the ability to use the language as a means of communication is the ultimate aim. I.2.3.1. Advantages of the Audio-Lingual method The first and most successful point of this method is to develop students' listening comprehension and fluency in speaking in the target language. Students are encouraged by the sense of being able to use what they have learned in the very early days of their study. In addition, the study is reinforced by repetition, so the students have good repetition and this is suitable for learners of different abilities. Another point is that, this method provides a good systematic progression of the materials. I.2.3.2. Disadvantages of the Audio-Lingual method However, there still remain some problems. The success or failure of this method depends largely on the qualities of the teachers and the availability of resources. That is why Brumfit (1983:8) comments “the objective is generally the mastery of sentence patterns rather than creative or communicative use of language”. I.3. CLT on teaching grammar I.3.1. Communicative competence Communicative competence is now recognized as the primary goal of language teaching. Canale and Swain (1980) consider that communicative competence is made up of four factors namely grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. Grammatical competence includes a comprehension of linguistic code, the ability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic and phonological features of a language and to manipulate these features to form words and sentences. Sociolinguistic competence is the best described through appropriateness, the degree to which one person understands the social context in which language is used: the roles of participants, the information they share, the functions of interaction. Discourse competence indicates the ability to interpret series of sentences or utterances to form a meaningful whole and to achieve a coherent text that is relevant to a given context. Strategic competence includes the strategies a person uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules or limiting factors in their application such as fatigue, distraction, inattention, etc. These strategies include paraphrasing, circumlocution, repletion, hesitation, avoidance, guessing and shifts in register and style. I.3.2. Definition of CLT The latest influence on teaching methodology in Vietnam, at least in English classes, is CLT. CLT appears in the 1960s and 1970s and was thought as a resolution against the AM. It is pointed out by Bridley (1986: 11) that "the 1970's and 1980's could be regarded as the era of communicative language teaching". A considerable number of books have been published bearing on the label "communicative" in response to social pressures and evidence from socio-linguistic and psycholinguistic research. In spite of the popularity of CLT, it is difficult to define it in a satisfactory way. There is a variety if definitions about CLT, Nunan (1989: 194) overviews the methods, which are adapted below, contain aspects that are common to many definitions of CLT. CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning. Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning task and using language, which is meaningful to the learners. Objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives. The learners’ role is as a negotiator and integrator. The teacher’s role is as facilitator of the communication process. Materials promote communicative language use; they are task- based and authentic. According to Brinley (1986: 12), “Language is not a static system. It is created through interaction; language learning does not consist merely of internalizing a list of structural items. It is a process of learning how to negotiate meaning in a particular socio- cultural context. Consideration of meaning rather than form will therefore determine program content; language learning will be more effective if they are centered around the needs and interests of the learners; language learning materials should, similarly, be related to learners’ needs and interests and present learners with the opportunity for genuine communication; effective communication is more than structures accuracy, particularly at the beginning stages of language learning. Errors are a manifestation of the fact that learning is taking place.” I.3.3. Characteristics of CLT In CLT, meaning is paramount. Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning into notional and functional categories and views learning a second language as acquiring the linguistic means to perform different kinds of functions. According to Larsen- Freeman (1986:132), the most obvious characteristic of CLT is that “Almost everything that is done with communicative intent”. Students use the language through communicative activities (e.g. games, role- plays and problem-solving tasks). From Morrow’s point of view (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981), activities that are truly communicative have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback. An information gap occurs when one person exchanges the information he has with the one who does not. Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic material. In CLT, it is considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to genuine communicative needs in realistic second language situations so that they develop strategies for understanding language as actually used by native speakers (Canale and Swain, 1980). In addition, “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carried out by students in small group” (Larsen- Freeman, 1986: 132). Students are expected to interact with one another, either through pair and group work or in their writing (Finicchiaro and Bru