Applying task - based instruction in teaching English grammar to the 10th graders at Nguyen Sy Sach high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
NGUYỄN THỊ LÊ HẰNG
APPLYING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION IN
TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO THE 10
TH
GRADERS AT NGUYEN SY SACH HIGH SCHOOL

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

NGHỆ AN - 2014
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
NGUYỄN THỊ LÊ HẰNG
APPLYING TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION IN
TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO THE 10
TH
GRADERS AT NGUYEN SY SACH HIGH SCHOOL

Major: Teaching English to Speakerss of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60.14.01.11
MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGÔ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG
Nghệ An - 2014
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings
discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been
published elsewhere.
Author
Nguyen Thi Le Hang

i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grateful for many people who have helped me much to complete
this M.A thesis.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Dinh Phuong, who has given me great deal of support and
encouragement to do this research. Without his experienced and enthusiastic
guidance, his valuable suggestions and comments, my thesis would not have been
completed.
All the MA lecturers who have been teaching K20 MA course in Vinh
University, Nghe An, and the post-graduate staff for their legitimate contributions
to the success of the course.
Very special thanks are due to my colleagues, friends and students who took
part in the experiment in contributing to the data collection presented in this study.
Last but not least I am also deeply indebted for my family. Especially my
mother, who helped me to look after my little son, and has been encouraging me
during a time of three years learning this M.A course. Thanks to my husband, who
has given me so much love, encouragement, and great supports during my
studying time.
ii
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to seek the answers to the questions of what
students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through task-based instruction (TBI)
and is students' grammaticality better as measured by their test scores than it is
taught in the traditional focus-on-forms methods. Moreover, the English language
teaching in general and teaching grammar in particular according to the TBI leave
much room to be desired. Especially, the use of TBI techniques in teaching
grammar is still far from being satisfactory. In addition, this study also attempts to
search for some motivating techniques to highly engage students at Nguyen Sy Sach
(NSS) high school. This thesis is concerned about the frequency and purposes of

using TBI in teaching grammar to the 10
th
students at Nguyen Sy Sach high school
as well as the problems arising from this and makes some suggestions as a view to
help teachers reduce difficulties and make their lessons more effective. The
suggestions come from the real need of both learners and teachers identified from
the survey, which was carried out with 10 teachers at NSS high school. The
questionnaire collected information to see if the teachers had the knowledge of TBI,
which tasks and how often they applied in teaching grammar in the class, and for
what purposes. Besides, the survey also concerned about possible difficulties the
teachers had to face with during the teaching process. In order to justify the results
obtained from the questionnaire, three class observations of three teachers were
conducted. Furthermore, to know whether or not teach grammar to high school
students through task-based instruction is more effective or not, this study was also
carried out with the participation of 60 tenth graders who were non-randomly
chosen from one Natural Science class and one Social Science class at NSS upper
secondary school. In the totality of 60 students, 30 students who were from the 10
Natural Science Stream class took part in the experimental group and were taught
by a new method, i.e. teaching grammar through communicative tasks. In contrast,
30 students who were from the 10 Social Science Stream class took part in the
iii
control group and were taught by a very traditional method. The pretest and posttest
were designed and conducted on these students in order to test their grammaticality
before and after experiment which took place for 3 months. Both pretest and
posttest scores were used to measure the impact of the treatment. The present study
shows that this approach can be applicable to the high school context, but its impact
may not be greater than the traditional approach. It can be concluded that teaching
grammar through communicative tasks may not be more effective to the
development of students' grammatical competence than the traditional approach to
teaching grammar. The students' positive attitudes towards this approach to teaching

grammar encourage teachers try to apply this approach in their classrooms.
However, it's up to the teacher to decide whether they would prefer to adapt the
grammar in the textbook in order to teach it through communicative tasks or not.
Factors to be considered in applying the task-based approach to teaching grammar
include students' proficiency in English and the nature of the target grammatical
item to be taught according to the syllabus. It is hoped that this study will be of use
in enhancing teaching grammar to the 10
th
students Nguyen Sy Sach high school.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pages
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Rationale 1
1.2. Aims of the Study 3
1.3. Scope of the Study 3
1.4. Research Questions 3
1.5. The Organization of the Study 4
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5
2.1. Previous Studies Related to the Thesis 5
2.2. The Importance of Grammar in Language Teaching and Learning 7
2.2.1. Definitions of grammar 7
2.2.2. Role of grammar in English language teaching and learning 9
2.2.3. The importance of teaching grammar 9

2.2.4. Approaches to grammar instruction 11
2.2.4.1. Deductive and Inductive approaches 11
2.2.4.2. Different approaches to grammar teaching 13
2.3. A Brief Review of Task-based Language Learning 14
2.4. Tasks 15
2.4.1. Defining tasks 15
2.4.2. Characteristics of Tasks 16
2.4.3. Classifying task 16
2.5. Task-based language teaching 18
2.5.1. What is TBLT? 18
2.5.2. Definition of task 20
2.5.3. Principles of the TBLT approach 22
2.5.4. The basic characteristics of TBLT 22
2.5.5. A framework for task-based learning 23
2.5.6. Studies on TBLT 25
2.6. Task-based grammar teaching 27
2.6.1. Why task-based grammar teaching 27
2.6.2. Steps in Task-based grammar teaching 29
2.6.2.1. Pre-task 29
2.6.2.2. Task 29
2.6.2.3. Post-task 29
2.6.3. Characteristics of the Task-based Grammar Class 30
2.6.4. Studies on Task-based grammar teaching 31
2.7. Summary 32
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 33
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3.1. Overview of the current situation of teaching and learning English at Nguyen Sy
Sach High School (NSSHS) 33
3.1.1. The school context 33
3.1.2. The new textbook English 10 (the standard textbook) and its Language Focus

section 34
3.1.3. Design of the study 35
3.2. Methodology 35
3.2.1. Participants 35
3.2.1.1. Teachers 35
3.2.1.2. Learners 36
3.2.2. Data collection instruments 37
3.2.2.1. Survey questionnaire 37
3.2.2.2. Classroom observation 38
3.2.2.3. Interview 38
3.2.2.4. Data collection procedure 39
3.2.2.5. Data analysis procedure 39
3.3. Conclusion 40
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41
4.1. Findings 41
4.1.1 Results from the three first research questions 41
4.1.2. Results from classroom observations 45
4.2 Findings of the study 47
4.2.1. Difficulties from the teachers 47
4.2.1.1. Teachers’ misconceptions about TBI 47
4.2.1.2. Deficiency in speaking English 48
4.2.2. Difficulties from the learners 48
4.2.3. Difficulties from the education systems 49
4.2.3.1. Class size 49
4.2.3.2. Poor teaching condition 50
4.2.3.3. The testing system 51
4.3. Procedures of Task as well as findings and discussion aimed at the two last
questions 51
4.3.1. The tasks 52
4.3.1.1. Pre-task. (Warm up) Introduction to topic and tasks 52

4.3.1.2. Task 53
4.3.1.3. Post task 54
4.3.2. Findings 54
4.3.2.1. Comparison of the pretest and posttest scores, the gain values between the
two groups 55
4.3.2.2. Subjects' attitudes towards the new teaching method - teaching grammar
through tasks 58
4.3.3. Discussion 61
4.3.3.1. The impact of TBLT on grammar acquisition 61
4.3.3.2. Students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through tasks 62
4.4. Summary 64
CHAPTER 5 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 65
5.1. Some recommendations 65
vi
5.2. Limitations of the study 65
5.3. Conclusion 66
REFERENCES 68
APPENDIX 73
vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
10 NSC 10 Natural Science class
10 SSC 10 Social Science class
EFL English as Foreign Language
ELT English language Teaching
ESL English as Second Language
FLTL Foreign Language Teaching and Learning
M Mean
No Number
NSS High School Nguyen Sy Sach High School
NSSUSS Nguyen Sy Sach Upper Secondary School

SD Standard Deviation
SPSS Statistic Package for Social Science
TBI Task-based Instruction
TBLT Task-based Language Teaching
TBT Task-based Teaching
TGTCT Teaching Grammar through Communicative
Tasks
viii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Pages
Figure 2.1. A framework for analyzing communicative tasks 21
Table 2.1. The framework for task-based learning 23
Table 4.1. Types of tasks used in classrooms 41
Table 4.2. The frequency of TBI used in the classroom 42
Table 4.3. The purposes of TB approaches used in classroom 43
Table 4.4. The teachers’ difficulties when applying TB approaches in teaching grammar. 44
Table 4.5. Descriptive statistics for the pretest and post-test of the experimental and control
groups. (Max score = 40) 56
Figure 4.1. The difference in gain values obtained by both groups after the experiment 57
Table 4.6. Subjects' attitudes toward teaching grammar through communicative tasks. (N =
30) 58
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
In the process of globalization, English has played an increasingly important
role in various fields, such as: science, business, education, cross-cultural
communication and especially, method to communicate verbally with the outside
world and to access technology. Being aware of the new era of high technology and
communication, the economy open-door policy was pursued by the government of

Vietnam. It has made a demand for studying English increase faster and faster.
Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam offered English as a
core subject in the curriculum of almost all of schools, colleges, universities and
took English do examinational subject in the high school graduation exam, and the
input of departments in all areas at universities.
In addition to 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
structuralism 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. However,
regarding the 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 as well as, to help
students get a good communication when they have opportunities to use English in
a cross-cultural environment.
Accompanied by the research about the National Curriculums of school
education system in Vietnam, it was recognized students at high school have to
learn English, which aims at improving skills more and more as possible, some
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grammar points were studied almost in Primary and Lower Secondary. In Upper
Secondary, they are requested to learn English grammar only to review, so this is
easy to make students bored and English periods become monotonous.
Recognizing the educational trend and the special need for language learning
of students, teachers and administrators at Nguyen Sy Sach high school also hold
extra-curricular of English, English clubs, the group discussion, and evaluation of
annual teaching experiences to find the teaching methods increasingly improved
and more efficient. However, language teaching in students has many difficulties.

Many students neglected and do not like this subject. During the process of teaching
and studying this subject, both teachers and students at Nguyen Sy Sach high school
do not feel satisfied with teaching English grammar implied in the course books of
Nguyen Sy Sach high school's the 10
th
graders.
Additionally, many students are too shy to speak in class whereas most of the
grammar lessons are carried out in traditional methods. In each lesson, the teacher
presents new grammar verbally, and then students do, turn by turn, exercises in
workbooks. Moreover, in teaching practice, there exist some limitations in
conducting Presentation - Practice - Production (P-P-P) grammar lessons. Touching
this pedagogical context, this study emphasizes on the investigation into the
application of task-based approach to teaching English grammar at Nguyen Sy Sach
high school. The task-based approach might come as an effective teaching method
for the language teachers at Nguyen Sy Sach high school. A research into the TBI
will help them to interpret and have a thorough understanding of the task-based
approach, its theories and characteristics, hence providing an effective application
to teaching grammar at Nguyen Sy Sach high school pedagogical context. From
these opinions, we love to choose the following topic: "Applying Task-based
instruction in teaching English Grammar to the 10
th
graders in classes at
Nguyen Sy Sach high school ". With the attempt to find some possible solutions
for the problems, the researcher hopes the research can partly help teachers and
students to be more aware of increasing real communication in the class. As using
2
the new teaching approach, task-based approach, teachers may improve students’
communicative competence through using tasks in the grammar classroom.
1.2. Aims 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 into the reality of the teachers’
application of TBI in teaching grammar thanks to experimenting teaching grammar
through communicative tasks for grade 10 students and testing its result.
Secondly, through the investigation the research will find out the difficulties
the teachers encounter with their application of TBI in teaching grammar.
Thirdly, the study will be to aim at experimenting teaching grammar through
TBI for grade 10 students and test its result and investigating the experimental
students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through communicative task at NSS
high school.
Lastly, the study will provide practical recommendations for the possibility
of TBI 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.
1.3. Scope of the Study
This research focuses on investigating how NSS language teachers exploit
TBL in teaching English grammar in their classes. Due to the limitation of time, the
author only fulfilled the study among ten teachers and sixty the 10
th
graders at NSS
high school.
1.4. Research Questions
In order to serve therefore said aims, the research attempts to answer the
following questions:
1. What is the application of TBI in teaching English grammar the 10
th
graders at NSS high school?
2. How are TBI employed in terms of frequency and purposes?
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3. What are the difficulties in applying TBI to teaching English grammar at

NSS high school?
4. What are the students' attitudes towards teaching grammar through TBI
after experimental period?
5. What are the suggestions recommended by teachers to applying TBI in
teaching grammar to the 10
th
graders at NSS high school?
1.5. The Organization of the Study
The study will consist of five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 - Introduction
This part will introduce the problem leading to the study such as rationale,
the aims of the study, the scope of the study, the research questions and
organization of the study.
Chapter 2 - Literature Review and Theoretical Background
Theoretical background related to the topic and surveys of articles, books
and other resources relevant to a particular the study topic will be presented. This
part will also provide description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work
quoted and present the previous studies related to the thesis and some concepts as
theoretical basis for the study.
Chapter 3 - Research Design and Methodology
This part describes the research design, instruments for data collection, data
collection, data analysis, reliability and validity, and research procedures, which
gives details of the research method and describes how the hypothesis of the thesis
is interpreted and explained.
Chapter 4 - Findings and Discussions
The part presents the results and discussions developed after the linguistics
figures are analyzed.
Chapter 5 - Conclusion and Implications
Main issues and contents of the study will be summarized based on the results
of the study. The implication of the study and the recommendation for further

research will be presented. Following the chapters are the references and appendices.
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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The theoretical background of the study will be fully developed later in the
thesis. The following is an overview of grammar, grammar teaching, tasks, the task-
based view of language teaching and learning, characteristics of the task-based
grammar class to teach English grammar.
2.1. Previous Studies Related to the Thesis
During the past decade, it can have been addressed the necessity of being
able to communicate effectively in English as students mastery is directly
associated with future educational opportunities, career and income. In National
English Curriculum Standard in Vietnam, one of most essential changes is the
implementation of student-centered, task-based language teaching. However, the
task-based approach has been a controversy of many method experts.
Firstly, in the discussion of getting learners to acquire English through tasks,
it was initiated in India by Prabhu in the 1980s. Prabhu noticed that his students
could learn language just as easily with a non-linguistic problem as when they were
concentrating on linguistic questions. Assessment primarily based on task outcome
(in other words the appropriate completion of real world tasks) rather than on
accuracy of prescribed language forms. This makes TBLL especially popular for
developing target language fluency and student confidence. As such, TBLL can be
considered a branch of Communicative Language Teaching.
The next view mentioned by Harmer about TBL is that, “Many
methodologists have concentrated not so much on the nature of language input, but
on the learning tasks that students are involved in.” He argued that there seemed to
have been an argument that pure rote learning or de-contextualized practice is giving
way to language learning that is required as a result of richer experiences in life.
However, historically reviewed, TBL appears to have gained its currency
since the 1996 publication of Willis’s “A Framework for Task-based Learning”

5
(Longman), in which she defined how tasks can be used as the central focus in a
supportive methodological framework. In this book, she outlined a mode for
TBL in which she referred to three stages: the pre-task, the task-cycle, and the
language focus.
Another view of Skehan (1998) is that students was learned in task-based
instructions are given tasks to complete in the classroom and he asserted that
transacting tasks in this way will make naturalistic acquisition. He explained that
the task-based approach is more favorable than any other approaches because it
focuses very much on meaning, not on form.
The more important thing is that Jeon and Hahn (2006) addressed their study
to the EFL teachers’ perceptions of task-based language teaching in a Korean
secondary school context. They appreciated the emphasis on learners’
communicative abilities with task-based teaching and learning in terms of designing
communicative tasks to promote learners’ actual language use. Tseng (2006)
indicated the differences between task-based instruction and traditional teacher-led,
whole class instruction at two primary school classrooms in terms of four-skill
performances of the students. Also the factors that influenced the implementation of
TBL at primary school were discussed.
In Vietnam, according to the study of Nguyen Nu Ngoc Tram (2011), she
claims that there are numerous English M.A theses concerning Vietnamese
learning and teaching with TBL. Duong Thi Le Thuy (2004) made an
investigation into task-based approach, which was used in the field of ESP, for the
current English course book for construction engineering. Additionally, Vo Phuc
Anh Vu (2009) presented the application of task-based language teaching and
learning to teaching English speaking skills in upper secondary schools in order to
find out how TBL can fit into traditional English speaking classes to promote the
students’ communicative competence. Besides, Ta Thi Ly (2013) also has a thesis
about a research on how to apply task-based approach to teach grammar for 10
th

graders in Dien Chau 3 high school.
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At NSS high school of Thanh Chuong in Nghe An, the traditional structural
method also has no longer been the teachers’ favors. The teacher-centered method
is giving way to a more learner-centered approach. This thesis, therefore,
concentrates on studying the application of TBL in teaching English grammar to
probe its feasibility and validity in the setting of NSS high school in Nghe An.
2.2. The Importance of Grammar in Language Teaching and Learning
2.2.1. Definitions of grammar
Concerning the terms “grammar”, several researchers have attempted to
define it. Apparently, depending on one’s theoretical orientation, different people
define grammar differently.
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (as cited in Harmer,
1987, p.1) defines grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words
change their forms and are combined into sentences.” There are two basic elements
in this definition: the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rules. Here
grammar constitutes a subset of rules relating to word formation (morphology) and
sentence formation (syntax).
Huddleston (1984) shares the similar view when seeing grammar as consisting
of morphology and syntax. According to him, morphology deals with forms of words
while syntax deals with the ordering of the words to form sentences (p. 1)
As can be inferred from the two definitions above, grammar is
conventionally seen as the study of morphology and syntax of sentences.
Cobbett (1984) regards grammar as “constituting rules and principles that
help a person to make use of words or manipulate and combine words to give
meaning in a proper manner. It concerns with form and structure of words and their
relationships in sentences”.
According to Fromkin and Rodman (1998), "The sounds and sound patterns,
the basic units of meaning such as words and the rules to combine them to form
new sentences constitute the grammar of a language" (p.14).

There are several similarities between two above-cited definitions. The first
thing is that according to these authors, grammar is assumed to be a guide through
7
which words are put together to make correct sentences. Secondly, grammar is
composed of rules not only relating to word formation (morphology) and sentence
formation (syntax) but also concerned with the meaning of the sentence (semantics)
and the sound system (phonology) within a language.
However, one drawback that all four definitions above (in both the first and
second categories) have in common is that grammar has been concerned almost
exclusively with the analysis at the level of the sentence. I am in favor of
Widdowson (1990) with the claim that “grammar is not just a collection of sentence
patterns signifying nonsense” (p. 81).
For Thornbury (1999), grammar is not just rules on how to combine words at
the sentence level, but it also takes into account the role of context in which a
sentence is made. He says that “when we process language we are not only trying to
make sense of the words and the grammar, we are also trying to infer the speaker’s
(or writer’s) intention” (p. 6).
Hughes and McCarthy (1998) view grammar as discourse not as sentence
and coined the term discourse grammar. They argued that “grammatical statements
that do not take account of such contextual features are inadequate and unable to
support grammar teaching effectively.” (p. 265)
For the purpose of the study, I use the definition of Richards, Platt, and Platt
(1992) in their Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics:
Grammar is a description of the structure of a language and the way in which
linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the
language. It usually takes into account the meanings and functions these sentences
have in overall system of the language. It may or may not include the description of
the sound of a language. (p.161)
In this definition, grammar is viewed as descriptive, which refers to the
structure of a language as it is actually used by speakers and writers. Moreover, this

definition shows both linguistic and social features of grammar as it refers to not
only rules to make correct sentences but also meanings and functions of such
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sentences in the language, which is necessary for the teaching and learning of
foreign language.
2.2.2. Role of grammar in English language teaching and learning
Along the history of second language teaching, the role of grammar has been
an issue of controversy. According to Richards (2002), it is “perhaps the most
controversial issue in language teaching” (p. 145). Thornbury (1999) asserts that “in
fact, no other issue has so preoccupied theorists and practitioners as the grammar
debate, and the history of language teaching is essentially the history of the claims
and counterclaims for and against the teaching of grammar” (p. 14). The debate has
brought about an extreme split of attitudes, namely, those who hold that grammar
should receive a central attention in language teaching and those who hold that
grammar should not be taught at all.
2.2.3. 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
9
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 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
10
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.
2.2.4. Approaches to grammar instruction
2.2.4.1. Deductive and Inductive approaches
While evidence for the need for formal instruction has been established
through such research studies, there is still some controversy regarding how and
how much instruction is necessary. From this debate, a broad distinction is often
made between deductive and inductive approaches (Thornbury, 1999).
 Deductive approach
Deductive approach is often called rule-driven learning (Thornbury, 1999).
In this approach, a grammar rule is explicitly presented to students and followed by
practice applying the rule. The deductive approach maintains that a teacher teaches
grammar by presenting grammatical rules, and then examples of sentences are
presented. Once learners understand rules, they are told to apply the rules given to
various examples of sentences. Giving the grammatical rules means no more than
directing learners’ attention to the problem discussed. However, deductive approach
to grammar teaching receives less support than inductive approach. As Ellis in
Richards (2002) reported, there has not been convincing empirical verification as
well as theoretical validation that the acquisition of grammar structures involves the
process of learning the rules and practicing them through gradual autoimmunization
of production. Even so, deductive approach is often used by many teachers due to
its advantages such as time-saving for teachers and respect for students’
expectations about classroom learning.
 Inductive approach
In contrast to deductive approach, inductive approach, which is labeled as
rule-discovery learning, starts with examples from which a rule is inferred
(Thornbury, 1999). The procedure is similar to the process of children acquiring

their mother tongue. First, learners are exposed to comprehensible language input
and they will acquire the system of the rules subconsciously through peripheral
11
attention to language forms. Eisenstein (as cited in Long & Richards, 1987)
maintains that the inductive approach tries to utilize the very strong reward value of
bringing order, clarity and meaning to experiences. This approach involves learners’
participating actively in their own instruction. In other words, this approach
attempts to highlight grammatical rules implicitly in which the learners are
encouraged to conclude the rules given by the teacher
Brown (2007) says that in most contexts, inductive approach is more
appropriate because of several reasons. First, it is more in keeping with natural
language acquisition and conforms easily to the concept of inter-language
development. Second, it allows learners to get a communicative feel for some
aspects of language and builds more intrinsic motivation through discovery
learning. Even though inductive approach has several advantages, it is obvious that
it will work well only in the setting where there is sufficient language input. In the
context of English as a foreign language like in Vietnam, where English is not used
outside the English class setting, providing sufficient comprehensible input
constitutes a hard challenge for teachers. In addition, there is another important
decision that teachers have to make when using an inductive approach to teach
grammar as Celce-Murcia (2001) points out that “if a teacher has chosen an
inductive approach in a given lesson, a further option exists - whether or not to give
or have students articulate an explicit rule” (p. 263).
In conclusion, the deductive approach is related to the conscious learning
process, while the inductive approach relates to the subconscious learning processes
similar to the concept of language acquisition. Whether grammatical rules are
taught inductively or deductively rely much on the cognitive style of the learner and
the language structure presented (Brown, 2007). Therefore, the language teacher’s
job is to identify which approach is appropriate for which grammar items and for
which learning styles. And sometimes, the question is not which one to choose but

how well the two approaches are combined. As according to Corder (as cited in
Celce-Murcia, 2001, p. 264)
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What little we know about …second language learning …. suggests that a
combination of induction and deduction produces the best result. The old
controversy about whether one should provide the rule first and then the examples,
or vice versa, is now seem to be merely a matter of tactics to which no categorical
answer can be given”
Indeed, the combination of two approaches to presenting grammatical rules
both provides students with more active learning environment and prevents them
from inducing inaccurate rules for themselves.
2.2.4.2. 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 deductively taught 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”.
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
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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.
2.3. A Brief Review of Task-based Language Learning
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is a communicative approach to
language instruction, using the successful completion of communicative tasks as its
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