A study on the practices of using games in teaching grammar to students at nguyen dinh chieu high school dong thap province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
––––––––––

NGUYEN THI NGUYET HA

A STUDY ON THE PRACTICES OF USING GAMES IN
TEACHING GRAMMAR TO STUDENTS AT NGUYEN
DINH CHIEU HIGH SCHOOL, DONG THAP PROVINCE
FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
CODE: 60 14 10

MASTER OF EDUCATION

Supervisor:
PHAM HOA HIEP, D.Ed.

HUE, 2013


BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
––––––––––

NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT HÀ

KHẢO SÁT VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI TIẾNG ANH
TRONG VIỆC DẠY NGỮ PHÁP CHO HỌC SINH

TRƯỜNG THPT NGUYỄN ĐÌNH CHIỂU,
TỈNH ĐỒNG THÁP
CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC MÔN
TIẾNG ANH
MÃ SỐ: 60.14.10

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ GIÁO DỤC HỌC

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:
TS. PHẠM HÒA HIỆP

HUẾ, 2013


Luận văn Thạc sĩ với đề tài:
“A STUDY ON THE PRACTICES OF USING GAMES IN TEACHING
GRAMMAR TO STUDENTS AT NGUYEN DINH CHIEU HIGH SCHOOL,
DONG THAP PROVINCE”
do học viên Nguyễn Thị Nguyệt Hà thực hiện và báo cáo đã được Hội đồng chấm
luận văn Thạc sĩ thông qua.

Thư ký

Ủy viên

(đã ký)

(đã ký)

Phản biện 1

Phản biện 2

(đã ký)

(đã ký)

Huế, ngày

tháng

năm 2013

Chủ tịch Hội đồng

(đã ký)


DECLARATION

The thesis entitled “A Study on the Practices of Using Games in Teaching Grammar
to Students at NDC High school, Dongthap Province” is conducted under the
supervision of Dr. Pham Hoa Hiep, an English instructor of College of Foreign
Languages of Hue University.
I declare that the information reported in this study is the result of my own work
except as cited in the reference. The findings and statistics are completely true.

Researcher
NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT HÀ

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study has, in many senses, been accomplished with the help and
encouragement of many people. Therefore, I hereby would like to express my
appreciation to all of them.
Firstly, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Pham Hoa
Hiep, for his invaluable inspiration, assistance and guidance during the time I tried
to complete this thesis. Without his help, this study would not have been completed.
I also thank my colleagues and students in Nguyen Dinh Chieu High-school for
their help with the survey questionnaire.
Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to my old classmates Truong Thi
Bich Lien and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao at Cantho University who helped me
analyze data using the software SPSS.
Last but not least, I would like to show my deepest appreciation to my beloved
family whose support and encouragement made me overcome all difficulties in
carrying out the thesis.

September, 2012
NGUYỄN THỊ NGUYỆT HÀ

ii


ABSTRACT
This thesis aims to investigate students’ perceptions of teaching and learning
grammar, the impact of using grammar games on students’ learning as well as their
attitudes towards the game-integrated grammar instruction at Nguyen Dinh Chieu

High-school in Dong Thap province.
The data were collected by means of pre/post-questionnaires, pre/post-tests, and indepth interviews. Sixty-four pre/post-questionnaires, sixty-four pre/post-tests for
students were delivered, returned and then processed by the SPSS version 16.0. In
addition, interviews were carried out with six students of the experimental group
after the intervention so as to have insights into the participants’ opinion and get
further information about the impact of using games in teaching English grammar.
The findings show that there has been an appreciation on the positive effect of
games in grammar instruction toward the participants. Concretely, after the
intervention, all the participants were aware of the power of games, the usefulness
as well as the effectiveness of using games in teaching English grammar. The
overall findings revealed a significant difference between teaching grammar
through games and teaching grammar without games. They indeed indicated the
definite pedagogical value of games and the obvious benefits of using games in
teaching grammar. However, game-integrated grammar instruction tended to
present some shortcomings due to some difficulties in organizing games. Based on
findings, relevant suggestions are made to improve the use of games in English
grammar instruction.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION..................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................vii
LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................viii
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................1

1.1 Background of the research............................................................................1
1.2 Research purposes .........................................................................................2
1.3 Research scopes.............................................................................................3
1.4 Research significance ....................................................................................3
1.5 Structure of the thesis ....................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................5
2.1 Points of view about grammar teaching .........................................................5
2.1.1 Definitions of grammar ...........................................................................5
2.1.2 Methods of teaching grammar.................................................................8
2.1.3 The role of grammar in language teaching ............................................ 15
2.1.4 Teaching and learning grammar ............................................................ 17
2.2 An outline of the use of English games in grammar teaching ....................... 19
2.2.1 Definition of language games................................................................ 19

iv


2.2.2 Characteristics of games........................................................................ 19
2.2.3 Types of language games ...................................................................... 20
2.2.4 Criteria for selection of games .............................................................. 23
2.3 Teaching English through games in the Vietnamese context ........................ 24
2.4 Conclusion................................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................................... 26
3.1 Research design ........................................................................................... 26
3.2 Participants .................................................................................................. 26
3.3 Materials...................................................................................................... 27
3.3.1 Grammar in textbook ............................................................................ 27
3.3.2 Language games ................................................................................... 28
3.4 Research instruments ................................................................................... 28
3.4.1 Questionnaires ...................................................................................... 29

3.4.2 Pre-test and post-test ............................................................................. 30
3.4.3 Interviews ............................................................................................. 33
3.5 Procedures ................................................................................................... 34
3.5.1 The procedures of language game intervention ..................................... 34
3.5.2 The procedure of data collection ........................................................... 35
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................... 37
4.1 Results from the questionnaire ..................................................................... 37
4.1.1 Students’ perceptions towards learning grammar .................................. 37
4.1.2 Students’ perceptions towards using games in grammar learning .......... 40
4.1.3 Students’ agreement towards the suggestions of using games in grammar
learning.......................................................................................................... 41

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4.2 Results from the pre-test and post-test.......................................................... 44
4.2.1 Pre-test.................................................................................................. 44
4.2.2 Post-test results ..................................................................................... 46
4.3 Results from interview................................................................................. 47
4.3.1 Students’ attitudes towards learning grammar ....................................... 47
4.3.2 Students’ attitudes towards using games in teaching grammar .............. 48
4.3.3 Students’ attitudes towards learning English grammar through games .. 48
4.3.4 Students’ attitude towards the reality of using grammar games ............. 49
4.3.5 Students’ attitude towards the instruction of grammar games ................ 50
4.4 Discussions of the findings .......................................................................... 51
4.4.1 Students’ perceptions of teaching and learning grammar....................... 52
4.4.2 The impact of using grammar games on students’ learning ................... 54
4.4.3 Students’ attitudes towards the game-integrated grammar instruction ... 54
4.5 Summary ..................................................................................................... 54
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS............................................... 55

5.1 Summary of the findings.............................................................................. 55
5.1.1 Students’ perceptions of teaching and learning grammar....................... 55
5.1.2 The impact of using grammar games on students’ learning ................... 56
5.1.3 Students’ attitudes towards the game-integrated grammar instruction ... 56
5.2 Pedagogical implications ............................................................................. 56
5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further research................................. 57
5.4 Conclusion................................................................................................... 58
REFERENCES.................................................................................................. 59

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AV:

Average Value

CG:

Controlled group

EFL:

English as a foreign language

EG:

Experimental group

ESL:

English as a second language

GCSE :

General Certificate of Secondary Education

L1:

First Language

M:

Mean

P-value:

Probability Value

SPSS:

The Statistics Package for the Social Science

:

Alpha

vii

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of deductive approach..............................9
Table 2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of inductive approach ............................ 10
Table 3.1 The contents of language focus in English textbook 10 .......................... 27
Table 3.2 The items of clusters in the questionnaire............................................... 30
Table 3.3 Example from the first part of the pre-test.............................................. 32
Table 3.4 Summary of the procedures of the research............................................ 34
Table 4.1 Learners’ perception before the intervention .......................................... 38
Table 4.2 Comparison of two groups with the average value ................................. 38
Table 4.3 Descriptive Statistics of two groups after the intervention...................... 39
Table 4.4 Students’ perception towards using games in grammar learning before the
intervention ........................................................................................................... 40
Table 4.5 Students’ perception towards using games in grammar learning after the
intervention ........................................................................................................... 41
Table 4.6 Learners’ agreement of using games before treatment............................ 42
Table 4.7 Students’ agreement of using games after the treatment ......................... 42
Table 4.8 Results of pre-test between two groups .................................................. 44
Table 4.9 Learners’ grammar competence before the intervention ......................... 45
Table 4.10 Learners’ grammar competence after the intervention .......................... 46

viii


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Results of clusters in pre-questionnaire of two groups compared with the
average value......................................................................................................... 43
Figure 4.2 Results of clusters in post-questionnaire of two groups compared with
the average value ................................................................................................... 44
Figure 4.3 Grammar competence before and after the intervention between two

groups ................................................................................................................... 47

ix


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the research
Nowadays, English has become an extremely important language. The World Wide
Web (The Internet), Cable Television, Newspapers, and almost everything we see
everyday now is written in English. One needs to know English to be able to
understand valuable information that may better his/her life as well as his/ her
income.
Many students dream to work for foreign companies so that they can be well
compensated as well and have a chance to better their English skills. This makes
English even become more important for students. Upon graduation and with a
good command of the English language one can have an excellent chance to work
for a foreign company.
As a result, teachers of English in high schools today has an important duty in
developing English skills in reading, speaking, listening, writing, grammar
knowledge. Grammar determines the students’ success in their learning and many
tests in our recent curriculum are still based mainly on grammar. Grammar is a
means to analyze and describe our language (Garner, 1989), and it is also viewed as
a resource for creating meaning in spoken and written discourse ( Lock, 1996). On
the other hand, grammar is regarded as the railway of the train “language”. The
train cannot move without the railway as well as the language messages will not be
adequately conveyed without the shadow of grammar.
Although grammar is important in knowing a language, the teaching and learning
grammar in Vietnam is not still effective. Grammar is one of the core subjects in the

GCSE exam (General Certificate of Secondary Education), but students do not pay

1


much attention to it. They learn grammar in order to get an average mark (5 marks).
On the other hand, a majority of students have a common idea that English grammar
is very difficult for them because it is difficult to remember foreign language. For
many students, learning grammar is boring. Many people think that grammar is a
rather boring school subject that has little use in real life (Leech, Deuchar &
Hoogenraad, 1982). In addition, the content of a grammar lesson is too long for
teachers to transmit in a forty-five-minute period. That means in one grammar class,
teachers have to teach many grammatical points. As a result, students cannot
understand all the content of the lesson. Grammar is often taught deductively and
students feel bored with all the rules. Therefore, to make grammar lessons more and
more enjoyable, a new method of teaching grammar is necessary.
One of the innovations expected to revive the love of English grammar, improve the
effectiveness of teaching and learning grammar is the implementation of English
games in teaching grammar. Games help and encourage many learners to sustain
their interest and work (Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby,
1984).
In this project, the researcher also expects a great value of games for grammar
lessons. Actually, games are expected as a useful grammar teaching aid that helps to
create not only a soothing, friendly, interesting and memorable learning
environment but also a motivation force as well as a better learning result for
students in learning grammar.

1.2 Research purposes
This study firstly attempts to investigate the students’ perceptions of teaching and
learning grammar. Next, it also aims at finding out the impact of the implementation

of

grammar games on students’ learning. Finally, the study also aims at

investigating students’ attitudes toward the game- integrated grammar instruction.

2


The project particularly aims to answer the following questions:
1. What are students’ perceptions of teaching and learning grammar at
Nguyen Dinh Chieu High school at Dongthap province?
2. How effective are Games in teaching and learning Grammar?
3. What are learners’ attitudes towards the game-integrated grammar
instruction?

1.3 Research scopes
With the sole purpose of improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning
grammar, the study focuses on investigating the reality as well as the impact of
using English games on teaching and learning grammar. However, due to the
constraints of time and finance, the project is conducted with the participants of
grade 10 at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High school in Dongthap province.

1.4 Research significance
It is expected that the findings will help students and English teachers realize how
useful teaching grammar through English games is. Then, from the findings of the
project, useful information regarding how to prepare for a future grammar
instruction plans with a view to improve the effectiveness in teaching grammar is
provided. Personally, by doing this research, the researchers can also develop the
knowledge, adopt and adapt the creative innovative techniques in teaching foreign

language in general and in teaching English in particular.

1.5 Structure of the thesis
There are five chapters in this thesis: Introduction, Literature review, Research
method, Findings and Discussions, Conclusion and Implications.
 Chapter 1 consists of the background, the rationale, the purposes, the scopes, the
significance and the organization of the thesis.
 Chapter 2 provides a literature review of the relevant materials that raise the

3


views of grammar, grammar teaching and the effect of carrying out English games
in teaching grammar. At the end of this chapter, a brief summary of the study, the
involvement for using English games in teaching grammar are also introduced.
 Chapter 3 offers the research design, methodology, and participants. A detailed
description of the instrument for the data collection and the explanation for data
analysis are also enclosed.
 Chapter 4 reports and interprets the findings from the questionnaires, the
grammar-tests and the interviews for students at Nguyen Dinh Chieu High school.
The results are collected to find out how games are used in English grammar
instruction in practice and compared to see whether participants have positive
perceptions, responses as well as the better grammar learning results toward using
English games in teaching grammar.
 Chapter 5 summarizes the results of the study. On the other hand, this chapter
also discusses some implications for teaching grammar through English games. At
the same time, this chapter focuses on the practical implication of the findings and
limitation as well as the suggestions for further studies.

4

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter considers and debates the core of the literature about grammar teaching
and the use of games in grammar teaching. This chapter will first offer some
definitions of grammar and present some points of view about grammar teaching
such as grammar and language competence, the role of grammar in language
teaching as well as methods of grammar instruction. Next, this chapter will focus on
the use of English games in grammar teaching in the Vietnamese context. The
theoretical background of using games in teaching grammar and the summary of the
literature review will be also included. The chapter will conclude by summarising
the key points and argue for the need of this research project.

2.1 Points of view about grammar teaching
2.1.1 Definitions of grammar
According to DeCapua (2008), grammar is regarded as follows:
Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to
talk about language. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that
make up sentences not only in English but in any language. As human beings,
we can put sentences together even as children-we can all do grammar. But to
be able to talk about how sentences are built, about the types of words and
word groups that make up sentences-that is knowing about grammar. And
knowing about grammar offers a window into the human mind and into our
amazingly complex mental capacity.

From the above things, we will mention to what experts mean when they talk about
grammar by considering the following definitions
Ur (1988, as cited in Woods, 1995.p.4) points out that

Grammar may be roughly defined as the way language manipulates and

5


combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning.

From the definition, it is clear that grammar is formed by combining bits of words
to form longer units of meaning. Meantime, Harmer (1987, as cited in Woods,
1995. p.4) states 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 or negative or what order is used they make questions or
join two clauses to make one sentence.

In Harmer’s point of view, grammar is a set of rules determining the orders of
words in the sentence. Thus, this definition obviously represents a prescriptive
grammar view which lays down the law identifying what is right, what is wrong in
language. Besides this, Lock (1996, p.1) also refers to grammar as follows
There are many ways of describing the grammar of a language. One approach
sees grammar as a set of rules, which specify all the possible grammatical
structures of the language. Another approach sees language first and foremost
as a system of communication and analyzes grammar to discover how it is
organized to allow speakers and writers to make and exchange meanings.

Together with the above ideas, Richard, Platt and Weber (2003) define grammar as
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.
It is noted that grammar according the view of Ur (1988), Lock (1996) or Richard,
Platt and Weber (2003) is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Concretely, their

grammar view firstly reflects the dynamics of language and then the social nature of
language. Grammar is the way people use to get meanings across, not purely the
way people are prescribed to use the language. In other words, grammar is not only
a set of rules and forms for combining words in sentences but also a vehicle
conveying the meanings and functions in language.
In short, the term grammar has multiple meanings. It is used to refer to both a
subconscious internal linguistic system and linguistic attempts to explicitly codify-

6


or describe-that system. As Larsen-Freeman writes, “…minimally [grammar seeks]
to explain the same phenomena: how words are formed (morphology) and how
words are combined (syntax)” (2001a, p.34).
Therefore, grammar is one of the important pieces of knowledge taking shape of
language competence. Grammatical competence is considered as knowledge of the
rules of morphology, syntax and semantics. Grammatical competence embodies the
lexico-grammatical of semantico-grammatical features of the language. In reference
to language, competence is your underlying knowledge of the system of a languageits rules of grammar, its vocabulary, all the pieces of a language and how those
pieces fit together (Brown, 1994).
Conditions to intensify the interest in learning
Students’ interest will increase if there are some following conditions
 when students understand
 when students believe that they can get success in learning
 when the students are able to communicate after they study a language
 when the students are responsible for their learning
Stipek (1993, p.18)
From the above ideas, students’ interest in learning is an important factor in
deciding whether the learning process is successful or not. Therefore, the duty of
teachers is to make students interested in learning. There are several ways for

teachers to increase the interest of students in learning:
 stimulating the attention, enjoyment of students
 arousing the curiosity, the desire to learn of students
 using a lot of ways to present the lessons
 helping students set their own goals in learning

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 using many ways of compliments, motivation to students on time
Slavin (1994, p.30)
2.1.2 Methods of teaching grammar
In teaching, there are many theoretical approaches that have been developed to
promote the students' success in learning new information. In the field of TESOL
(Teaching English to Students of Other Languages), there are two main theoretical
approaches for the presentation of new English grammar structures or functions to
ESL/EFL students: inductive approach and deductive approach. Similarly, Woods
(1995, p.76) also mentions the following idea about the two approaches of teaching
grammar
One is deductive, where the teacher explains the rule and meaning to the
learners; the other is inductive, where learners are given a lot of examples and
establish the rules ad meanings for themselves.

Besides this, there are some experts who have their judgment about inductive and
deductive approaches. The deductive approach represents a more traditional style
of teaching in that the grammatical structures or rules are dictated to the students
first (Rivers and Temperley, 1978). Thus, the students learn the rule and apply it
only after they have been introduced to the rule. This means that in this approach,
the teacher is the center of the class and is responsible for all of the presentation and
explanation of the new material.

On the other hand, the inductive approach represents a more modern style of
teaching where the new grammatical structures or rules are presented to the students
in a real language context (Goner, Phillips, and Walters, 1995). The students learn
the use of the structure through practice of the language in context, and later realize
the rules from the practical examples. With this approach, the teacher's role is to
provide meaningful contexts to encourage demonstration of the rule, while the
students evolve the rules from the examples of its use and continued practice
(Rivers and Temperley, 1978). From the above view, Thornbury (2000) provides a

8


nice summary of the pros and cons of inductive and deductive learning.
Deductive is related to the conscious learning process in which grammar rules are
presented explicitly. In this approach, there are many advantages as well as
disadvantages shown as follows:
Table 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of deductive approach
(Adapted from How to Teach Grammar, Thornbury, 2000)
Approach

Advantages

Disadvantages

 It gets to the point and can therefore 

Starting

be time-saving. Many rules can be grammar
more quickly explained than elicited, frustrating

thereby allowing

more

time

the

lesson with a

explanation
for

some

may

be

students,

for especially younger ones. They may

practice and application.

not have sufficient metalanguage or
may not be able to understand the
concepts involved.
 Grammar explanation encourages

 It respects the intelligence and

Deductive
approach

maturity

of

many

students

and

a teacher-fronted, tramission style
classroom.

acknowledges the role of cognitive
processes in language acquisition.
students’  Explanation is seldom
expectations about classroom learning, memorable as other forms


It

confirms

particularly

for

many

those

with

as
of

an presentation, such as demonstration.

analytical learning style.
 It allows for teachers to deal with  Such an approach encourages the
language points as they come up, belief that learning a language is
rather than having to anticipate them simply a case of knowing the rules.
and prepare for them in advance.

9


Table 2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of inductive approach
(Adapted from How to Teach Grammar, Thornbury, 2000)
Approach

Advantages

Disadvantages

 Rules learners discover for  Time and energy spent working
themselves are more likely to fit out rules may mislead students into
their existing mental structures, believing

that

rules

are

the

making them more meaningful, objective of language learning.
memorable and serviceable.

 The time spent on working out a

 The mental effort involved rule may be at the expense of time
ensures greater cognitive depth, spent
again

ensuring

putting

the

rule

into

grater productive practice.

memorability.

 Students may hypothesize the

 Students are more actively wrong rule, or their version of the
involved in the learning process rule may be either too broad or too
and are therefore likely to be narrow.

Inductive

more attentive and motivated.

 It can place heavy demands on

Approach

 It favors pattern-recognition and teachers in planning a lesson.
problem-solving and is therefore
particularly suited to learners who
 However carefully organized the

like this kind of challenge.

data is, many language areas resist


If

the

problem-solving
in

the

is easy rule formation.
target

learners

get

extra

collaboratively
language,

 An inductive approach frustrates

language practice


Working

things

out

for

themselves prepares students for
greater

self-reliance

and

students who, because of personal
learning style or past learning
experience, would prefer simply to
be told the rule.

autonomy.

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Basing on the Thornbury’s summary of the advantages and disadvantages of
inductive and deductive approaches, we wonder that what approach is more
appropriate or more effective in teaching and learning grammar. In accordance with
Eisenstein (1987) and Brown (2000)
Both deductive and inductive presentations can successfully be applied
depending on the cognitive style of the learner and the language construct
presented.

(Eisenstein & Brown, as cited in Widodo, 2006, p.128)
This sentence signifies that in order to make the teaching grammar to be most

effective, choosing deductive or inductive approach is relied on the learner’s need
and the characteristics of the grammatical point concerned.
Furthermore, introducing the techniques in grammar instruction is much important
to create the interesting and motivating atmosphere for the classroom. Ellis (2006)
states that
Grammar teaching involves any instructional techniques that draw learners’
attention to some specific grammatical forms in such a way that it helps them
either to understand it meta-linguistically and/or process it in comprehension
and/or production so that they can internalize it.

(Ellis, 2006, p.84)
Coming back to Ellis’ point of view, he claims that choosing the grammar teaching
techniques that lead students towards realizing the specific grammatical points,
being aware of the grammatical rules, understanding the uses of grammatical points,
and using them on their own are very necessary. To carry out this, Celce-Murcia &
Hilles (1988) bring out planning a grammar lesson with four-part framework:
Presentation, Focused practice, Communicative practice and Teacher feedback and
correction in teaching grammar to increase creativeness and effective learning of
students (pp.27-37).
 Presentation stage is concerned with introducing the knowledge of grammar. It
is also the stage that the teacher explains the new knowledge of grammar to
students, including its meaning, form and usages. Celce-Mucia & Hilles (1988)

11


satisfy to give this remarkable point that presentation is the stage in which we
introduce the grammar structures, either inductively or deductively. There are a
variety of techniques and resources that can be used during this step such as telling
stories, using pictures, realia, games, songs, and verse, etc. (ibid)

Telling stories: Stories can be used for both eliciting and illustrating
grammar points. The former employs inductive reasoning, while the later
requires deductive thought, and it is useful to include both approaches in
lesson planning (p.51).
Pictures: Pictures are versatile and useful resources for teaching aspects of
grammar that require a structure-meaning match. They can be used in all
phases

of

a

grammar

lessons

(Presentation,

Focused

practice,

Communicative practice and for feedback and correction) (p.73).
Using Realia: Realia has many uses in the classroom. Realia can also be
used effectively in teaching grammar, especially for form-meaning match.
For this kind of match, realia can be used in combination with techniques
such as story- telling and role plays in both the presentation phase and the
practice phase of the lesson. Realia can help focus students’ attention as well
as illustrate the points (p.88).
Using games: Games has an objective ahead of the production correct

speech. According to Johnson (1988), he suggests that games have a target,
are organized according to rules, and are meant to be enjoyable (Johnson, as
cited in Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988, p.132).
Using songs and verse: Dubin (1974 citing support from Celce-Murcia &
Hilles, 1988) states that songs can be employed as presentation contexts, as
reinforcement material, as vehicle 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 (1974 citing support from CelceMurcia & Hilles, 1988, pp. 116-117).

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In short, we can apply many effective ways of teaching language in general as well
as teaching grammar on a whole. Nevertheless, Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988)
assert: “Selection should be made according to teacher strengths, students’
preferences and the nature of the structure” (p.27). This means that teaching
grammar depends upon different grammar points, students’ age, level, learning
styles and abilities affect our teaching style as teachers.
 Focused practice consists of these detailed stages
The controlled practice stage
The objective of this stage is to give the students the opportunity to repeat
the language with no chance of making a mistake in the target language. The
teacher provides examples and the students only repeat the teacher’s input.
The students do not produce the new language. Besides that, every student
has the opportunity to repeat the language without making a mistake
including pronunciation, stress and intonation.
The guided practice stage
This stage aims at giving the students the opportunity to produce the new
language. The teacher must provide the framework and the surrounding
language, and the students should produce the new language.

As a result, in focused stage, its purpose, according to Celce-Murcia & Hilles
(1988), is that “to allow learner to gain control of the form without the added
pressure and distraction of trying to use the form for communication. The
teacher should not proceed the next phase until most students have mastered
at least the form of the structure” (p.27).
 Communicative practice stage is the stage Celce-Murcia & Hilles (1988)
affirms that the learner engages in communicative activities to practice the structure
being learnt (p.27). As a result, learners have a motivation to communicate meaning
with the new language, have an encouragement to use the new language in a freer

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