A study on how to apply communicative language teaching techniques in teaching grammar to first-year non major English students at Hanoi General College

1



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
**0**

VÕ THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG

A STUDY ON HOW TO APPLY COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE
TEACHING TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO FIRST –
YEAR NON MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS
AT HANOI GENERAL COLLEGE
(Nghiên cứu ứng dụng các thủ thuật theo đường hướng giao tiếp đối với việc dạy
ngữ pháp cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên
Trường Trung cấp Tổng Hợp Hà Nội)

PROGRAM I
M.A. MINOR THESIS
Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 1410


Hanoi, 2010
2



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
**0**
VÕ THỊ HƯƠNG GIANG
A STUDY ON HOW TO APPLY COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE
TEACHING TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR TO FIRST –
YEAR NON MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS
AT HANOI GENERAL COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu ứng dụng các thủ thuật theo đường hướng giao tiếp đối với việc dạy
ngữ pháp cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên
Trường Trung cấp Tổng Hợp Hà Nội)

PROGRAM I
M.A. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Methodology
Code: 60 1410
Supervisor: M,Ed, Phung Ha Thanh

Hanoi, 2010
6



LIST OF TABLES AND ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The teachers‟ experience of teaching English
Table 2: Time schedule for class observations

Table 3: Types of CLT techniques used in classrooms
Table 4: The frequency of CLT techniques used in the classroom.
Table 5: The purposes of CLT techniques used in classroom.
Table 6: The teachers‟ difficulties when applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar.
Table 7: Teachers‟ self-assessment of their employment of CLT techniques

ABBREVIATIONS
CLT: Communicative language teaching
VNUH: Vietnam National University, Hanoi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGES i
ABSTRACT ii
LIST OF TABLES iii
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 3
5. Structure of the study 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: Literature review 4
1.1 Grammar teaching. 4
1.1.1 Definition of Grammar 4
1.1.2 The importance of teaching grammar 5
1.1.3 Different approaches to grammar teaching 6
1.2 CLT and conceptions related to CLT 8
1.2.1 Concepts of CLT 8

1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT 9
1.2.3 CLT techniques 10
1.3 CLT techniques and teaching grammar 13
1.3.1 The use of CLT techniques in teaching grammar 13
1.3.2 Difficulties in applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar: 14
1.3.2.1 Difficulties from Teachers 15
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1.3.2.2 Difficulties from Learners 15
1.3.2.3 Difficulties from Educational system 16
Chapter 2: Methodology 18
2.1 Setting of the study 18
2.2 Design of the study 19
2.2.1 Phase one: The survey 19
2.2.1.1 Sampling 20
2.2.1.2 Data collection 20
2.2.1.3 Data analysis 21
2.2.2 Phase two 21
2.2.2.1 Sampling 21
2.2.2.2 Data collection 21
2.2.2.3 Data analysis 22
Chapter 3: Results and findings of the study 23
3.1 Results of the study 23
3.1.1 Results from the questionnaire 23
3.1.2 Results from the class observation 28
3.2 Findings of the study 29
3.2.1 Difficulties from the teachers 29
3.2.1.1 Teachers‟ misconceptions about CLT 29
3.2.1.2 Deficiency in speaking English 30

3.2.2 Difficulties from the learners 30
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3.2.3 Difficulties from the education systems 31
3.2.3.1 Class size 31
3.2.3.2 Poor teaching condition 32
3.2.3.3 The testing system 32
3.3 Recommendations 33
3.3.1 Using Visual aids 33
3.3.2 Group work 35
3.3.3 Role-play 36
3.3.4 Games 37
3.4 Suggestions in teaching a grammar lesson with the application of CLT techniques 37
PART III: CONCLUSION 38
3. Conclusion 38
4. Limitations and Suggestions for further study 39
REFERENCES 40
APPENDIX A 42
APPENDIX B 46
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PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In recent years, English has become an important language. It is not only spoken by native
speakers but also the second language and official language in many countries. As we can see in
Vietnam, teaching and learning English as a foreign language has taken an important part and English
has become a compulsory subject in most national curriculum, however, foreign language teaching in

general and English language teaching in particular is said to be grammar-focused, and for many
teachers of English, teaching English means teaching grammar.
Along with traditional approaches, teachers of foreign languages in many countries,
including Vietnam, have been encouraged to adopt an approach known as communicative
language teaching (
CLT
). This approach advocates the development of communicative
competence as a primary goal via the extensive use of the foreign language as a means of
communication during classroom sessions. Understandably, education authorities and teachers are
keen to know why
CLT
becomes the most favorable approach in foreign teaching language
currently and how it motivates both teachers and students as well.
In
Hanoi General College where I have been teaching for seven years, the students‟ levels of
English is limited so teaching grammar for all students is the most important task. Then, we create
meaningful situations for students to practice using new English grammar structures, for example,
describing pictures to partners, role-play, listening to a short dialogue or writing a paragraph and
speaking with other students in order to help students both develop grammatical competence and
communicative competence. In my real teaching, I have tried my best to apply communicative
language teaching techniques that I think are suitable to my real context.
However, with the
difficulties I often meet in teaching, the application of CLT techniques in teaching in general and
teaching grammar in particular is far from satisfactory

For the reasons mentioned above, I choose “A study on how to apply Communicative language
teaching techniques in teaching grammar to First – Year non major English students at Hanoi General
College. Reality and recommendations” as the title for the thesis in the hope that I can contribute a
small part in helping my students and my colleagues to improve their learning and teaching English
especially in learning and teaching grammar that they may need for further study, work or leisure.

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2. Aims and objectives of the study
With the above-presented rationales, the specific aims and objectives of the study are the
followings:
Firstly, the study carries out an investigation in to the reality of the teachers‟ application of CLT
techniques in teaching grammar.
Secondly, through the investigation the research will find out the difficulties the teachers
encounter with their application of CLT techniques in teaching grammar.
Thirdly, the study will provide practical recommendations for the possibility of CLT techniques
in order to narrow the gap between teaching styles and learning styles, thereby increasing the
students‟ motivation in grammar learning as well as heightening the effectiveness of English
language teaching.
More specific, this study is to answer the following questions:
1. What are CLT techniques applied in teaching grammar to first-year non- English major
students?
2. How are CLT techniques employed in terms of frequency and purposes?
3. What are the difficulties in applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar?
4. To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with the use of CLT techniques?
5. What are the suggestions recommended by teachers to applying CLT techniques in teaching
grammar?

3. Scope of the study
The scope of this thesis is limited to the teaching grammar at elementary level and types of CLT
techniques applied in teaching grammar with difficulties. Along with these, the frequency and purposes
of CLT techniques with satisfaction and recommendation for possible problems are also mentioned.
With the minor thesis, I limited myself to focus on a group of teachers teaching English for first-year
non major students at Hanoi General College.

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4. Methods of the study
This is a survey in nature. During the study the research uses the questionnaire and class
observation to select information to answer the research questions about different types of CLT
techniques applied in teaching grammar, the frequency and purposes of applying these techniques in
order to find out the difficulties in applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar in the college
selected and recommend solutions for these. The methodology will be discussed more detail in the next
chapter.
5. Structure of the study
This paper has three main parts:
Part one: Introduction, this part will provide my reasons for choosing the topic, aims of the
study, methods and design of the study.
Part two: Development, this part has three following chapters:
Chapter 1: Literature review, dealing with some definitions about the important terms
relating to the study as: grammar, the important of grammar teaching, different approaches to grammar
teaching, CLT and concepts related to CLT, CLT techniques and teaching grammar, potential
difficulties affect teachers and students in allying CLT techniques in grammar lessons.
Chapter 2: Methodology. Firstly, it is an overview of teaching and learning English of
the first-year students in Hanoi General College. Secondly, the methodology performed in the study is
presented. The subject and instruments used in the research will be discussed.
Chapter 3: Results and discussions of the study. This part presents the findings of the
study and proposes some recommendations for the findings.
Part three: Conclusion, this part summarizes what are addressed in the study, points out the
limitations and provides some suggestions for further study.
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PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In recent years much emphasis has been put on the teaching of English as a foreign language
(EFL) using Communicative Approach. This has brought about a lot of changes in the approach to
EFL. The learner is considered to be an active participant in the process of language learning in the
classroom. Teachers who are in favor of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are expected to
use techniques or activities that would promote self-learning, group interaction in authentic situations
and peer teaching. That is not an easy task for the teacher, especially in the circumstance of most
colleges in Vietnam where teaching grammar is the most emphasis. Therefore, the use of
communicative activities is a technique to make learning English grammar more interesting and
meaningful in order to achieve one of the aims of the communicative approach, the grammatical
competence.
The purpose of this chapter is to relate the use of CLT techniques in teaching grammar. The
first part of this chapter discusses the teaching of grammar. Then the second part provides general ideas
about CLT and CLT techniques. The third part is about the use of CLT techniques in teaching grammar
with a review of various difficulties when teachers apply CLT techniques in teaching grammar.

1.1 Grammar teaching
Traditionally, grammar has been concerned almost exclusively with analysis at the level of the
sentence. Thus a grammar is a description of the rules that govern how a language‟s sentences are
formed. The study of grammar consists, accordingly, of looking at the way words are arranged or
patterned to make sentence. By contrast, recent views of grammar are expanded to cover both texts and
words to the extent that texts and words are organized according to rules. For the purpose of this study,
I will assume grammar to mean grammar at the sentence level; the definitions of grammar are followed
by a presentation of different views of grammar and the importance of it in teaching a foreign language.
1.1.1 Definition of Grammar
There have been many ways of defining grammar – a very common and familiar term in language
teaching and learning.
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The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (quoted in Harmer: 1987; 1) defines
grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined
into sentences”. From this definition, there are two basic elements to which attention should be paid to:
the rules of grammar; the study and practice of the rules.
David Nunan has a very common definition of grammar: “Grammar is a set of rules specifying
the correct words at the sentence level” (D.Nunan, 2003:154). This definition represents a typical
prescriptive grammar view. It lays down the law, saying what is right and what is wrong.
Similarly, from Penny Ur‟s view (1996:87), “Grammar is a set of rules that define how words
(or parts of words) are combined or changed to form acceptable units of meaning within a language”
All the ideas mentioned above agree on a point that is grammar is a set of rules which form
words and make sentences from words. This help to orient language teachers to the focus of grammar
teaching.
1.1.2 The importance of teaching grammar
Most language learners and teachers agree that mastering the grammar of a language may form
part of the knowledge of it. Eric Hawkins (1984;150) affirms the value of grammar: “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 see as the dual process of acquisition. Grammar, approached as a voyage of
discovery into the pattern of language rather than the learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey
word”. According to his ideas, he sees grammar as an interesting thing to learn (“a voyage of
discovery”). Although it is not always certain that all students may find an intrinsic interest in learning
grammar, it is such a sharp view of him that grammar can be an effective means to help and boost
language learning.
However, there exist some controversial opinions about the teaching of grammar. One of the
biggest challenges to the necessity of grammar teaching comes primarily from Krashen, whose
insistence on the primacy of acquisition has tended to downplay the value of deliberate grammar
teaching. In Krashen and Tarrel‟s influential Natural Approach, it is claimed that learners need to be
exposed to a lot of comprehensive and meaningful input at a level just above their own for acquisition
to take place. The study of grammar has only secondary role in the language program with the goal to

produce optimal monitor –user, programmers who can use grammar as a supplement to acquisition
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when they have time, when the focus is on form, and when they know the rules (the Monitor
Hypothesis, Krashen and Tarrel:1983). Put another way, grammar can be acquired naturally from
meaningful input and opportunities to interact in the classroom and grammatical competence can
develop in fluency – oriented environment without conscious focus on the language forms.
Admittedly, some learners acquire second language grammar naturally without being taught.
Immigrants to the United States (especially young ones) who attain proficiency in English on their own
can be a good example of naturalistic acquisition (Lightbown and Spada: 1999: 60). But this is not true
for all learners. Among the same immigrants are learners who may achieve the proficiency in English
but those English is far from accurate.
In fact, grammar is one of the key components of a language. Thus, one cannot master a language
without the knowledge of its grammar. Partly thanks to grammar, language can function as a means of
communication, especially in written language. A person cannot write well if he lacks the knowledge
of grammar. From my observation and my experience, I find it necessary to teach grammar in all types
of English course and especially in technical and vocational colleges like those colleges I intend to
carry out my study. The first reason is that almost the students in technical and vocational colleges
come from rural areas where they never have chance to learn grammar sufficiently. Furthermore, the
main objective of these students after leaving the colleges is to read materials such as manuals or
instruction in English. With the two reasons mentioned above, they can hard do it without grammar.
Moreover, Grammar exists to enable us to „mean‟ and without it, 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 all these reasons, the teaching of grammar is quite important in
ELT.
1.1.3 Different approaches to grammar teaching
In the last over one hundred years, language teaching methodology has changed in approaches and
methods of grammar teaching. From the mid to late 19
th

century, the dominant trend was a non
communicative approach. It was Grammar Translation Method. With this approach, grammar was
taught deductively in an organized and systematic way, by studying grammar rules. Learners were
instructed to do exercises involving translation from the second language to the first language and vice
versa. River (1981:31) comments this method as follows: “There is much stress on knowing rules and
exceptions” and “communication is neglected”.
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In the late 19
th
century, increased opportunities for communication among Europeans crested a
demand for oral proficiency in foreign language. The Direct method came into being in order to satisfy
the demand. The Direct method based on the belief that a language could best be taught by its vivid use
in the classroom reflected the Reform Movement. There is no translation anymore and the silent study
of literature was replaced by actual use of spoken language practice, and explicit and deductive
grammar instruction was replaced by an implicit and inductive approach. According to Richards and
Rogers (1986:9), under the Direct method grammar is taught inductively in the target language by
asking and answering questions between teachers and students in small and intensive classes.
The Audio-Lingual method derived from structural linguistics in the United States in the 1950s,
laid emphasis on mimicry of forms and memorization of certain sentence patterns which are used
intensively instead of grammatical explanation or talking about the language. Grammar was acquired
inductively.
Since the mid – 1970s the CLT appeared and has been the dominant language teaching
methodology which aims at focusing on communicative proficiency by replicating contextual features
of real communication in the classroom. There are two versions in this approach. One advocates
grammar teaching and the other rejects grammar teaching.
In fact, although emphasis on grammar teaching varies from method to method, for many teachers,
grammar has never taken anything other than a central role in their classroom methodology. The call
for form-focused instruction in recent year is an expression of a resurgence of interest in the role of

grammar in English language teaching. While the role of grammar in language teaching and learning is
no longer a matter of debate, the questions that follow are how to integrate grammar teaching into a
communicative methodology which pays attention to all aspects of communicative competence, and
what precise form that teaching should take. And these imply further questions about the choice of
grammatical structures to present, what kind of grammatical description to use, whether to teach
grammar explicitly or implicitly, what the role of practice might be, and what forms of practice are
appropriate for different types of learners. In other word, there are two major different approaches to
grammar: explicit and implicit. When we talk about an explicit approach to grammar we are talking
about starting directly, usually at the beginning of a particular activity, what the grammar is. On the
other hand, an implicit approach to grammar is one where students are led to the grammar through a
series of steps- this is what is meant by the „discovery techniques‟, In other words, the „discovery
techniques‟ aims to lead students towards a generalized grammar rule or pattern.
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1.2 CLT and conceptions related to CLT
1.2.1 Conceptions of CLT
Vietnamese teachers of English have been concerned a lot about CLT for the recent years. CLT
emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a revolution against the Audio- lingual method. It is an outcome of
more attention to learners‟ effective and appropriate use of language learnt. There are a variety of
definitions of CLT.
Nunan (1989, p194) claims that CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning.
Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning talks and using language, which is
meaningful to learners. Teaching and learning objectives reflect the needs of the learners; they include
functional skills as well as linguistics objectives. The learners‟ role is as a negotiator and integrator.
The teacher‟s role is as a facilitator of the communication process. Materials promote communicative
language use; they are task-based and authentic.
CLT is based on the theory of language as proposed by Hymes (1972) which brought together
two dependent developments: transformational generative grammar and ethnography of
communication. Through his ideas, CLT must account not only for knowledge of formal structure but

also knowledge of language use.
Wilkins (1972) expands CLT with the development of functional or communicative definition of
language. He suggests second language curriculum based on communicative principles. Furthermore, it
was based on the theory that the basic categories of language were notions and functions rather than
grammatical categories such as nouns, verbs or adjectives.
Canale and Swain (1980) expand on the theoretical basic of CLT for both teaching and testing.
They are against the overemphasis on function and lack of emphasis on grammar complexity. They
propose a theory of communicative competence that includes four dimensions: grammatical, socio-
linguistic, discourse and strategic. They make the point that though “there seem to be no strong
theoretical reasons for emphasizing getting one‟s meaning across over grammatical accuracy at these
stages of second language learning,‟‟…. “Some combination of emphasis on grammatical accuracy
and emphasis on meaningful communication from the very start of second language study is suggested”
(p14)
Richard (1986) also shared the same point with Canale and Swain as he said that CLT refers to
the beliefs and theories of the language teaching, which emphasize that the goal of language teaching is
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communicative competence. Communicative competence here refers not only to knowledge of the
grammatical rules of a language and how to form grammatical sentences but also how to know when,
where and to whom to use these sentences in a speech community.
1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT
As the concept of CLT mentioned above, CLT has several characteristics.
According to Larsen-Freeman (1986, p132), the most obvious characteristic of CLT is that
“Almost everything that is done is done with communicative intent”. Students use the language through
communicative activities (games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks). In Johnson and Morrow,
1981, Morrow explained clearly about activities in CLT as activities that are truly communicative have
three features: information gap, choice and feedback. An information gap occurs when two people in a
conversation want to exchange information with each other (one knows and the other doesn‟t). They
are free to choose what they will say and how they will say. Furthermore, true communication is

purposeful. A speaker can evaluate whether or not his purpose has been achieved based upon the
information he receives from his listener.
Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic material (Dubin, 1995; Larsen-
Freeman, 1986; Nunan, 2003). In CLT, it is considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to
response to genuine communicative needs in realistic second language situations so that they develop
strategies for understanding language as actually used by native speakers.
In addition, “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carried out by students in small
groups” (Larsen-Freeman, 1986, p132). It meant that CLT favors interaction among small numbers of
students in order to maximize the time each students has to learn to negotiate meaning. Teachers
therefore select activities in which students have the opportunity to use language meaningful and
authentic rather than the merely mechanical practice of language patterns.
Another point to make about CLT is learner- centeredness. The reason is that the types of
classroom activities proposed in CLT implied new roles in the classroom for teachers and learners.
Learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than
individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become comfortable with listening to their peers in
group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model. They were expected to
take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning. And teachers now had to assume the
role of facilitator and monitor.
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In brief, CLT is identified with the following characteristics:
- It makes communicative competence the goal of teaching.
- It develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the
independence of language and communication.
- It considers learner and his communicative needs the center of language teaching process.
1.2.3 CLT techniques
In applying CLT methodology in the classroom, new classroom techniques were needed and as
we saw above, new roles for teachers and learners in the classroom acquire new methods in teaching.
Instead of making use of activities that demanded accurate repetition and memorization of sentences

and grammatical patterns, activities that required learners to negotiate meaning and to interact
meaningfully were required.
CLT techniques are the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning and they are
employed in the communicative method in language teaching, which are called communicative
activities. (Jack, C Richard, 2006). In other words, as defined by Harmer (1987), communicative
activities are those that give students who are somehow involved in both the desire to communicate and
a purpose involving them in a varied use of language. Such activities are important in a language
classroom since the students can do their best to use the language individually, arriving at a degree of
language autonomy.
Jack Richard in Communicative language teaching today also pointed out that with CLT began a
movement away from traditional lesson formats where the focus was on mastery of different items of
grammar and practice through controlled activities such as memorization of dialogs and drills, towards
the use of pair work activities, role plays, group work activities and project work. He divided the CLT
activities into three main categories as the followings:
* Accuracy versus fluency activities: One of the goals of CLT is to develop fluency in language
use. Fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and
maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite
limitations in his or her communicative competence. Fluency is developed by creating classroom
activities in which students must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct
misunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns.
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Fluency practice can be contrasted with accuracy practice, which focuses on creating correct examples
of language use. Differences between activities that focus on fluency and those that focus on accuracy
can be summarized as follows:
Activities focusing on fluency
• Reflect natural use of language
• Focus on achieving communication
• Require meaningful use of language

• Require the use of communication strategies
• Produce language that may not be predictable
• Seek to link language use to context
Activities focusing on accuracy
• Reflect classroom use of language
• Focus on the formation of correct examples of language
• Practice language out of context
• Practice small samples of language
• Do not require meaningful communication
• Choice of language is controlled
(Jack, C Richard, CLT today, p14)
* Mechanical, meaningful, and communicative practice:
Mechanical practice refers to a controlled practice activity which students can successfully
carry out without necessarily understanding the language they are using. Examples of this kind of
activity would be repetition drills and substitution drills designed to practice use of particular
grammatical or other items.
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Meaningful practice refers to an activity where language control is still provided but where
students are required to make meaningful choices when carrying out practice.
Communicative practice refers to activities where practice in using language within a real
communicative context is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used
is not totally predictable.
The distinction between mechanical, meaningful, and communicative activities is similar to that
given by Littlewood (1981), who groups activities into two kinds: Pre-communicative activities and
Communicative activities. Pre-communicative activities emphasize grammatical accuracy (the
cognitive aspect). Communicative activities emphasize social acceptability (the behavioral aspect of
language).
* Information-gap activities

An important aspect of communication in CLT is the notion of information gap. This refers to
the fact that in real communication people normally communicate in order to get information they do
not possess. This is known as an information-gap. More authentic communication is likely to occur in
the classroom if students go beyond practice of language forms for their own sake and use their
linguistic and communicative resources in order to obtain information. When doing this they will draw
available vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies to complete a task.
*Jig-saw activities
These are also based on the information-gap principle. Typically the class is divided into groups
and each group has part of the information needed to complete an activity. The class must fit the pieces
together to complete the whole. In so doing they must use their language resources to communicate
meaningfully and so take part in meaningful communication practice.
One important thing is that most of the activities discussed above reflect an important aspect of
classroom tasks in CLT, namely that they are designed to be carried out in pairs or small groups.
To be more specific, Nolasco and Athur (1993) characterized communicative activities as
follows:
- They involve using language for a purpose.
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- They create a desire to communicate. This means must be some kind of “gap” which may be
information, opinion, affect, or reason that students seek to bridge.
- They encourage students to be creative and contribute their ideas.
- They focus on the message and students concentrate on “what‟ they are saying rather than
“how” they are saying it.
- The students work independently of the teachers.
- The students determine what they want to write and say. The activity is not designed to control
what the students will
(Nolasco and Athur, p58)
1.3 CLT techniques and teaching grammar
1.3.1 The use of CLT techniques in teaching grammar

As mentioned above, the rationale for teaching grammar is multifaceted and grammar is
acknowledged to be of importance in language study in general and in language teaching and learning
in particular. Therefore, how to integrate CLT techniques in the process of teaching grammar is very
important as to make grammar an interesting thing to learn and use in communication.
Celce- Murcia (1988, p27) divides a grammar lesson into four parts: Presentation, Focused
Practice, Communicative practice and Teacher feedback and Correction.
In the presentation the grammar structure is introduced either inductively or deductively. A variety
of techniques and resources such as listening and responding, using pictures, visual aids, games,
verse…can be applied during this stage. Basing on the teacher‟s ability, students‟ preferences, and the
nature of the structure, the teacher can make appropriate selections.
The presentation is followed by focused practice in which learners manipulate the structure under
consideration. The purpose of this step is to allow the learner to gain control of the form for
communication. The next stage should not be started until most students have mastered at least the
form of the structure. Once again a number of techniques can be used in this stage.
The next step is communicative practice in which the learner engages in communicative activities
to practice the structure being learned. This kind of activities can be information gap, choice and
feedback. During this stage various communicative are provided so that students have opportunities to
communicate in the target language.
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The last stage is teacher feedback and correction. Although this is seen as a final stage, it must take
place throughout the lesson. Celce- Murcia (1988, p28) stated that: “during the third part,
communication should not be interrupted. Instead, the teacher should take notes of errors and deal with
them after communicative exercises.
MA, Nguyễn Thị Uyên, 2009, from Trade University also divides the grammar lesson into four
steps as the followings:
Step 1: Starting up activities (SA). This is a short activity to introduce the new grammar
structure. It helps students to define when and how to use the grammar structure in the next part.
Step 2: Grammar guide (G.G). It is the short and precise introduction to the new grammar

structure so that Students can apply correctly in communication.
Step 3: Activities. This step requires students to apply successfully grammar points in the Guide
to Grammar situations through various types of exercises such as conversations (dialogues),
questionnaire, and language games. These activities are based on the Pair Work / Group Work with
certain duration. Practice (drills) plays a crucial role in communication; it helps students demonstrate
understanding of theories and points of grammar and communication applications in a scientific way.
Drill includes three steps:
Mechanical Drills Meaningful Drills Communicative Drills
Step 4: Accuracy Practice (A.P): This is the last step to check what Students have learned and
practiced through homework.
In fact, there are many ways to apply CLT techniques in a grammar lesson and no technique is
the most desirable for every purpose. Therefore, the most important thing is that for each new grammar
structure, teacher has to choose appropriate techniques to make the lesson effective and to achieve the
set goals.
1.3.2 Difficulties in applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar
It is the matter of fact that teaching and learning grammar is very important in the process of
teaching and learning a language. The objective of language teaching is seen to develop communicative
competence which is the ability to communicate though language. Recently, teachers have tried their
best to do two tasks at the same time in a grammar lesson: to equip students with grammatical
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competence and to encourage students to use the knowledge they learnt in communication. They vary
CLT techniques in different stages of the lesson in order to help students to learn grammar effectively.
However, it is not an easy task. They may have to encounter many difficulties such as difficulties of
themselves, difficulties from learners and the educational system.
1.3.2.1 Difficulties from Teachers
Teacher‟s role is one of the most important components in applying CLT techniques to
language learning. In CLT class, teachers are facilitators of students‟ learning. They are also the
manager of classroom activities. They establish situations to promote communication. They give

students opportunities to express their personality by encouraging them to share ideas and opinion. This
help students “integrate the foreign language with their own personality and thus to feel more
emotionally secure with it”. (Littlewood, 1981, p94). Thus, teachers need to be supported to fulfill
these roles. For the ones who never or rarely attend any language courses on CLT, it is hard for them to
integrate CLT techniques in teaching especially in teaching grammar. The reason is that teachers‟
teaching techniques that usually correspond to an approach and a method can vary from one teacher to
another. Traditional methods such as the Grammar Translation method, the Direct method often lead
teachers to the choice of using teacher-centered techniques which mostly focus on grammatical and
phonological accuracy. These techniques are, for instance, choral repetition, drilling substitution,
content explanation and narrative presentation seem so mechanical and simple that they will result in
learners‟ passiveness and limit their participation in learning. On the contrary, in the light of CLT,
teachers‟ techniques turn into learner-centered instead of teacher-centered. The examples of these
techniques can be named as role-play, problem-solving, games, pair and group work, interview and
discussion.
1.3.2.2 Difficulties from Learners
Given the preceding perspectives and as communication is a goal of second and foreign
language teaching and learning, it is obvious that grammar is now part of language teaching. With
regard to the type of grammar instruction or grammar activities appropriate to the learners and when or
how to teach grammar, factors such as learners‟ age, proficiency level and their educational
background should be taken into consideration (Celce-Murcia, 1988). The fact is that some students
did not learn English at school while a lot of them started to learn it at the sixth grade. This definitely
hindered both the teaching and learning English.
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One of the general factors we should take into account is learning styles which refer to
characteristics of individuals for the intake or understating of new information. Ellis (1994:499) defines
learning styles as: “the characteristic, affective and physiological behavior that serve as relative stable
indicators of how learners perceive, interact with an respond to the learning environment… Learning
style is a consistent way of functioning, that reflects underlying causes of behavior”.

Willing (1985, cited in Nunan, 1989:93) classified learner styles into four types:
Concrete learners: they preferred learning by games, pictures, films and videos, talking in pairs
and learning through the use of cassettes.
Analytical learners: these learners liked studying grammar, studying English books, finding
their own mistakes, and learning through reading newspaper.
Communicative learners: they liked to learn by observing and listening to native speakers,
talking to friends in English and learning English wherever possible.
Authority-oriented learners: they liked the teacher to explain everything, writing everything in
their notebooks, having their own textbooks, learning to read, studying grammar, and learning English
words by seeing them.
Understanding of learners‟ style preferences is of great importance to teachers‟ methodological
decisions especially in learners-centered environment. It is now widely acknowledged that learners are
different individuals and each learner has his or her own learning style. Some may have passive
learning style preference; others are more active in tttheir learning. It is the difficulty for teacher in
applying CLT techniques in teaching in which learners activities are the most important.
1.3.2.3 Difficulties from the Educational system
In CLT classes, facilities are an important part. However, it isn‟t easy to find a suitable
classroom in most colleges in Vietnam. The tables are a common problem. They are fixed to the floor,
which are very difficult to rearrange seats to form groups for discussion. In addition, classrooms are in
bad conditions: bad chalkboard, missing light bulbs, etc. There is only one overhead projector that is a
problem when some classes are in need at the same time. So, to use CLT techniques in teaching
grammar, certain equipment and facilities must be needed. When facilities are not available, using CLT
is hard.
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Large class size is also a problem. In large classes, students are heterogeneous and different in
learning styles, preferences, level of English proficiency, general attitudes toward English. Therefore,
these classes are usually multilevel and cause enormous challenges for effective learning and teaching
English especially in teaching grammar with CLT techniques. According to Ur (1996:303), teachers of

large classes also face with the problems of discipline, correcting written works, creating effective
learning for all, finding suitable materials, and activating all students, especially, silent ones. Moreover,
foremost among the dimension of large classes that hinders students‟ learning is the lack of teacher-
students interaction with opportunities for questions and discussions.
Unsuitable textbooks and time limited are two main categories that cause difficulties for
teaching in CLT classes. The fact is that in almost in colleges there have been no fixed textbooks. The
teachers and administrators keep changing them after assessing new textbooks. For instance, they
began from teaching Streamlines, then Cambridge, Headway, New Headway and then Lifelines. The
textbooks cover teaching four skills and the teachers have to finish all the things in the textbooks before
giving students extra activities. But the time allocated for each unit is fixed, not flexible. So, the
teachers often choose the safe way to teach which means that they take advantage of the textbooks and
are not motivated in apply CLT techniques.









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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
The previous chapter has presented a brief look into grammatical theory in general. This chapter
provides the setting of teaching and learning English grammar at Hanoi General College, which lays a
foundation for the study. However, the primary focus of this chapter is to describe the methods of the
study, how the data is analyzed.
2.1 Setting of the study

Hanoi General College was found in 1999. It provides eight training programs for all kind of
students as: accounting, office secretary, applied arts and crafts, electronics and telecommunication,
informatics, business administration and tourism. The students have full-time training in two years.
After that they go out for work. There are two semesters for them to learn English with fifteen weeks in
each semester. It means that they just learn English in the first year. There is one lesson per week. This
lesson consists of four periods and one period lasts around forty-five minutes. It means that the teachers
have only three hours per week to teach English. The aim of the course is at the end of two semesters
the students have a basic knowledge of grammar as well as vocabulary, and they can communicate in
meaningful situations. The textbook is New Headway English Elementary.
The number of students in each class is from fifty to sixty. The students are all from different
provinces in Northern part of Vietnam such as: Nam Dinh, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh, etc. Most of the
students are diploma. The large population have just graduated from high schools; the others left school
some years ago. Their English proficiency levels are mixed. Most of them are from rural areas so their
level of English is limited. Some of them can speak English, but just a few simple sentences. The rest
are unable to speak English. They often feel ashamed when speaking English with their friends as they
are not confident enough.
Because English is a minor subject in the whole curriculum, all of the students do not pay much
attention to learn English. They learn it as they are forced to learn. Some of them can have good mark
(as mark 8, 9 or 10) because they like English and they practice it every day; others have lower mark
(as mark 4, 5 or 6). Otherwise, using English to communicate is a big challenge for most of them who
think that learning a language means learning grammatical rules or a list of irregular verbs and so on.
As a result, they either keep silent all the time or are not willing to participate in class activities.
Because of time limited and large class, the two main factors in our English program, teaching
grammar for all students is the most important task. As a result, it is difficult for the teachers to monitor
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the class and the students do not have enough time to practice in the class. Furthermore, the students
hardly have opportunities to communicate with foreigners, especially with native speakers.
There are 10 teachers of English at Hanoi General College. They are believed to play an

important role in the study of their students. They are energetic and are willing to devote their time and
energy to teaching. Two of them have acquired an M. A degree and two are following a postgraduate
course or an M.A course. The rest are university bachelors. However, none of them has attended a
training course in English speaking countries. To a certain level, it shows their limitations of
communicative competence in language teaching.
2.2 Design of the study
The participants in this study were all teachers who are teaching English for first year non major
students at Hanoi General College.
The study was divided into two phases. In phase one the researcher aimed at a general
description of teachers‟ frequency and purposes of using CLT techniques in teaching grammar, what
possible difficulties they might meet and their recommendations. In phase two, the researcher moved
into closer investigation of the teachers‟ real teaching process in which they applied CLT techniques in
teaching grammar. Therefore, two different instruments were used in the two phases to collect the need
data in order to answer the research questions. In phase one, the researcher used survey questionnaires
with 10 participants to seek answers to the five research questions. In phase two, the researcher
conducted class observations with three teachers selected to check the results of the questionnaires.
2.2.1 Phase one: The survey
The aims of this phase were to answer the research questions:
1. What are CLT techniques applied in teaching grammar to first-year non- English major
students?
2. How are CLT techniques employed in terms of frequency and purposes?
3. What are the difficulties in applying CLT techniques in teaching grammar?
4. To what extent do teachers feel satisfied with the use of CLT techniques?
5. What are the suggestions recommended by teachers to applying CLT techniques in teaching
grammar?