a study on the impact of the communicative approach to grammar teaching on students interest at the institute of foreign language hanoi university of agriculture

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION
I.

Rationale

II.

Aims of the study

III.

Research questions

IV.

Scope of the study

V.

Methods of the study

VI.

Design of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
I.1. An overview on language teaching methods in Teaching grammar

I.1.1. The Grammar – Translation Method with teaching grammar
I.1.2. The Audio – lingual Method with teaching grammar
I.2. Communicative language teaching (CLT) in teaching grammar
I.2.1. An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT)
I.2.2. Characteristics of CLT
I.2.3. Status of Grammar in CLT
I.2.4. Teaching grammar in the light of CLT
I.3. Students’ interest
I.3.1. Concept of students’ interest
I.3.2. Factors affecting students’ interest in the class
I.4. The impact of CLT to grammar teaching on students’ interest
I.4.1. Grammar teaching techniques in CLT
I4.2. Teachers’ personal qualities and characters
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
II.1. Setting of the study
II.2. Methodology
II.2.1. Subjects
II.2.2. Methods and Procedures
II.2.3. Survey Instruments


iv
II.2.3.1. Questionnaires
II.2.3.2. Class observation
II.2.3.3. Interview
II.3. Data analysis and findings
II.3.1. Questionnaires
II.3.2. Class Observation
II.3.3. Interview
CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS

III.1. Recommendations for Teaching
III.2. Suggested communicative Activities for a Grammar lesson
III.2.1. Using games and problem-solving activities
III.2.2. Using songs
III.2.3. Role play
III.2.4. Interview
III.2.5. Telling stories
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of the study
2. Limitations of the study
3. Recommendations for further study
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES


v

ABBREVIATIONS
IFL: The Institute of Foreign Languages
HUA: Hanoi University of Agriculture
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
CA: Communicative activities
ESP: English for Specific Purposes


vi
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 1: Students’ profile
Table 2: Students’ awareness of the role of grammar in learning English
Table 3: Students’ attitudes towards the grammar learning

Table 4: Students’ reasons for learning grammar
Table 5: Students difficulties in learning grammar
Table 6: Teacher’s profile
Table 7: Teachers’ awareness of the role of grammar in teaching English
Table 8: Teachers’ attitudes towards the grammar teaching
Table 9: Teachers’ aims of teaching grammar
Table 10: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching grammar
Table 11: Students’ opinions about learning grammar through communicative activities
Table 12: Students’ interest in learning grammar through communicative activities
Table 13: Students’ frequency of learning grammar through communicative activities
Table 14: Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities in learning
grammar
Table 15: Teachers’ frequency of communicative activity application in teaching grammar
Table 16: Teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities in teaching
grammar


1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. RATIONALE
English is considered to be the most common and important language of the world
today in which a great number of people understand and use it. In fact, English has proved
its self to be an international language which not only helps people in the world
communicate more easily but also encourages cultural exchanges among countries.
In Vietnam, the economic open-door policy pursued by the government has
increased a demand for studying English. Many people are expected to be competent to
communicate verbally with the outside world and to access science and technology.
English is also seen as a necessary means for any graduate who wishes to find a good job,
especially in foreign companies. In correspondence to this trend, at almost all colleges and

universities, English is taught as a compulsory subject. Additionally, there are many
evening English classes at foreign languages centers opened to serve the explosion in the
demand for English.
However, both teaching and learning English in Vietnam are said to be not
effective because, as a matter of fact, the traditional method of teaching is still applied in
many universities in general and at Hanoi University of Agriculture (HUA) in particular,
which fails to get students involved in the lessons, especially in grammar lessons.
The role of grammar in language teaching in general and in foreign language
classroom in particular has been debated for a long time among educational researchers,
linguists, methodologists and teachers. It goes from playing a major role to basically no
role and now an important role together with changes in language pedagogy. In Vietnam,
grammar teaching is obviously necessary mainly because learners need the knowledge of
the target language to pass

national examinations which still focus on grammar. In

addition, most learners and teachers agree that mastering the grammar of a language may
form an important part of the knowledge of it. However, grammar is often misunderstood
in the language teaching field and teaching English grammar can be hard going for the
teacher and the students. At HUA, grammar teaching plays an important role as it supplies
students with basic knowledge for end-term exams and finish the ESP course in the second
year. In addition, before starting to enroll university subjects, all the fresh students have to
take a BASED-ORIENTED TOEIC PLACEMENT TEST, in which grammar is tested.
The fact that majority of the students come from rural areas with low level of English


2

leads to the need of careful grammar teaching to heal their “grammatical holes”. In this
setting, the traditional way is commonly used so that the students can receive a systematic

and accuracy of language. The result of this kind of teaching and learning, of course,
makes a grammar lesson boring and tiring and does not get students interested in learning.
Furthermore, it has created the “production” of students who are structurally competent,
but communicatively incompetent.
The questions of how to make the grammar lessons more interesting and how to
make students interested in the grammar lessons have become a concern of teachers of
English in general and those at HUA in particular.
Teaching grammar in the light of CLT is becoming a new approach and designing
suitable communicative activities to teach grammar is necessary.
From my experience, my students are more interested in the grammar lessons when
teachers use games, songs, pictures, and other communicative activities to present the new
items. For the above reasons, I have decided to conduct a research entitled: “A study on the
impact of the communicative approach to grammar teaching on students’ interest at IFL
– Hanoi University of Agriculture”. This study is an attempt to look into the matter of
how Communicative Language Teaching is applied in teaching grammar at IFL - HUA and
the impact of CLT on students‟ interest in grammar learning. It is believed that the insights
into these areas will help to address the matter of teaching grammar effectively at
universities and at foreign language centers as well.
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY
To investigate how CLT is applied in teaching grammar at IFL-HUA and the
impact of CLT to students‟ interest in learning grammar.
III. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To achieve the aims of the thesis, the following questions were proposed:
1. What is the fact of grammar teaching and learning at IFL – HUA?
2. To what extent does CLT affect students’ interest in the context of IFL –HUA?
IV. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study only focuses on the impact of the communicative approach to grammar
teaching on students’ interest at IFL – Hanoi University of Agriculture, so the results of
the study are not for all students of all universities.

3

V. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The aims of the study are to find out how teachers apply CLT to teach grammar as
well as its effectiveness to the students‟ interest in learning, so it is inevitable to investigate
into teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes towards, difficulties of, preferred techniques and their
evaluation of teaching and learning grammar. To do so, the main methods of study is
survey questionnaire, in which two types of questionnaire are designed and distributed to
the learners and teachers.
In addition, the writer also collected information based on her class observation and
interviews to make sure that the data is more accurate and reliable.
A combination of different methods above will provide reliable data, based on
which the conclusions and suggestions will be made in the next parts.
VII. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The thesis consist of three parts.
Part A is the introductions, which presents an overview of the study in which the reasons
for choosing the study is focused. It also includes the aim, research questions, scope,
methods and design of the study.
Part B: is the development of the study, aiming at building the theoretical background for
the thesis. This part consists of three main chapters.
Chapter I: namely literature review, starts with an overview of some methods in grammar
teaching – their advantages and disadvantages in applying in the classroom. The next is
about Communicative Language Teaching which includes the definition, characteristics,
status and how to apply this approach to teach grammar. The third part deals with students‟
interest in learning. Here concepts of students‟ interest and factors affecting students‟
interest are mentioned. The final part discusses the impact of CLT to grammar teaching on
students‟ interest, which includes the concept of students‟ interest and the factors affecting
students‟ interest in grammar lessons.
Chapter II: aims to describe background information about the current teaching and

learning of English at IFL –HUA and to present the methodology underlying the research
including data collection instruments, procedures. A detailed data analysis and discussions
are also given.
Chapter III: proposes some recommendations for teaching grammar in the light of CLT to
the students at IFL – HUA
PART C: CONCLUSION gives a summary of the study, the limitations and suggestions
for further study.


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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW.
I.1. An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar
I.1.1. The Grammar – Translation method (GTM) in teaching grammar
Traditional method was rooted in the formal language of Latin and Greek and
become popular in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It was considered to be the
key to the thought and literature of a great and ancient civilization. As the name suggests,
the Grammar – Translation method requires students to translate whole texts word by word
and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as enormous vocabulary
lists. The goal of this method is to enable learners to read and translate literary
masterpieces and classics ( />Under the Grammar –Translation method (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:3) grammar
is taught deductively through detailed analysis of grammar rules and translations of
sentences and texts into the target language or vice versa. The Grammar –Translation
method lays the focus on teaching the form rather than the use of the target language.
According to Prator and Celce-Murcia (1979:3), the key features of the GrammarTranslation method are as follows:
(1). Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target
language.
(2). Much of vocabulary is taught in form of lists of isolated words.
(3). Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.

(4). Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often
focuses on the form and inflection of words.
(5). Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.
(6). Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in
grammatical analysis.
(7). Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the
target language into the mother tongue.
(8). Little or no attention is paid to pronunciation.
In this method, the learners are the passive recipients of the explicit grammar rules and
engaged in practice activities and translation exercises which requires the application of
those rules. Listening activities take in form of dictation and speaking practice is


5

accomplished by having students read a passage aloud in front of the class. In other words,
communication skills are ignored. Consequently, students learn rules of grammar without
much feeling of progress in the mastery of the target language which will lead to the lack
of motivation in learning it because they have little opportunity to express themselves in it.
They just passively learn what they are taught. And after several years of studying,
students may have a fairly good knowledge of grammar and translating skills, but can
hardly communicate. Besides, in the Grammar-Translation method, the teacher holds an
authoritative role, or he is seen an ideal language model and commander of the classroom
activities.
It is worth noticing that mistakes and errors are seen as a failure and they must be
avoided at any cost. Whenever the learners make mistakes or errors, the teachers correct
immediately to make them produce grammatically correct sentences, which makes the
learners reluctant to speak English.
As the name suggests, grammar is the key component, and taught deductively from
rules to example which cause boredom to many learners.

The Grammar-Translation method dominated from the late 19th century to the early 20th
century and although it has been generally acknowledged as the least effective teaching
methodology, the method is still widely used in many countries including Vietnam.
Obviously, the best point of this method is that it helps learners become good translators
and use English accurately. In addition, it requires few recourses and it is also easy to
apply and cheap to administer. That is why the method is still used in many classrooms
where there is a great shortage of teaching and learning facilities and equipment aids,
where the class is large of about 30 students, and where the teachers‟ inadequate speaking
skill are accustomed to teaching procedures and where the exams still emphasize
knowledge of grammar. Nevertheless, the biggest disadvantage of this method is the
learners find it difficult to communicate in real-life situations, or their utterances are
correct but inappropriate. This is the result of the process of learning form and usage, but
not use, and learning about the language, not using the language to learn through authentic
tasks. Furthermore, this method makes the learners really passive in the process of getting
knowledge. They just listen to the teacher‟s explanation and do not participate in the
exploration of new knowledge.


6

I.1.2. The Audio – Lingual Method.
The Audio – Lingual Method was derived from “ Army Method” during the World
War II where there was a need for people to learn foreign languages quickly for military
purposes. It later developed into the so called Audio – Lingual method, which then has
had considerable influence on English language teaching all over the world. This method
puts listening and speaking in the first place. It uses sentence pattern as the base of
teaching and tries to avoid mother tongue as in class. Attention is paid to the need for
mechanical practice rather than explanation about the language because the ability to use
the language as a means of communication is the mastery of the linguistic system of the
target language.

For a number of reasons the ALM enjoyed decades of popularity. The first strong
point of this method is to develop students‟ listening comprehension and fluency in
speaking in the target language. Students are encouraged by the sense of being able to use
what they have learned on the very early day of their study. In addition, the knowledge
learned is reinforced by repetition, so students have good memory of what they learn and
this is suitable for learners of different abilities. Another point is that, this method provides
a good systematic material.
However, the popularity finally faded away due to the shortcomings of this method.
Firstly, the success or failure of this method depends largely on the qualities of the teachers
and the availability of resources. It can be clearly noticed that if the teacher does not
diversify his techniques to make the lessons more interesting and meaningful, his students
will get bored with mechanical repetition or become “well-trained parrots” as commented
by Rivers (1981: 47). Furthermore, the teacher must be a fluent speaker as most of his
work is done orally in the target language. And more importantly, ALM failed to teach
long-term communicative proficiency because the language it taught was de-contextualized
and carried little communicative function.
I. 2. Communicative language teaching (CLT) in teaching grammar
I.2.1. An overview of communicative language teaching (CLT)
Towards the end of the 1960s there was a growing dissatisfaction among applied
linguists and foreign language teachers with the language theories and teaching methods.
American Linguist Noam Chomsky demonstrated that the current standard structural
theories of language were incapable of accounting for the fundamental characteristics of


7

language -the creativity and uniqueness of individual sentences. Then, British applied
linguists emphasised another fundamental dimension of language that was inadequately
addressed in current approaches to language teaching at that time -the functional and
communicative potential of language. Consequently, the teaching produced structurally

competent students who were often communicatively incompetent. Communicative (CLT)
emerged as a response to that judgment. The term CLT covers a variety of approaches that
all focuses on helping learners to communicate meaningfully in target language. Brindley
(1986: 11) pointed out that: “ the 1970‟s and 1980‟s could be regarded as the era of
communicative teaching.” And it is probably the approach most used by trained teachers
today (Paul Davies, 2000: 193).
Yalden (1987: 61) summarized the essence of CLT thus: “ It is based on the notion
of the learners as communicators, naturally endowed with the ability to learn language. It
seeks to provide learners with the target-language system. It is assumed that learners will
have to prepare to use the target language orally and in written form in many predictable
and unpredictable acts of communication which arise both in classroom interaction and in
real world situations, whether concurrent with language training or subsequent to it”.
According to Richard and Rogers (1986: 64), CLT focuses on “communicative proficiency
rather than mere master of structures”.
Clearly,

Communicative

Language

Teaching

emphasizes

communicative

competence which, according to Canale and Swain (1980), consists of four dimensions:
grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic
competence. Grammar competence is the knowledge of the language code, including
lexical items, rules of morphology and syntax, sentence-grammar semantics and

phonology. Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social context in
which communication takes places: the roles of participants, the information they share,
the functions of interaction. Discourse competences indicates the ability to interpret series
of sentences or utterances to form a meaningful whole and to achieve a coherent text that is
relevant to a given context. Strategic competence refers to the copying strategies that
communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair and redirect communication.
I.2.2. Characteristics of CLT
In CLT, meaning is paramount. Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning into notional and
functional categories and views learning a second language as acquiring the linguistic


8

means to perform different kinds of functions. According to Larsen-Freeman (1986: 132)
the most obvious characteristic of CLT is that “ Almost everything that is done is done with
communicative intent”. Students use the language through communicative activities (e.g.
games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks)
From Morrow‟s point of view (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981), activities that are
truly communicative have three features: information gap, choice and feedback.

An

information gap occurs when one person exchange the information he has (facts, opinions,
ideas….) with the one who does not have. In other words, as Scrivener (1994:62) further
explains, the aims of an information gap activity is to “get learners to use the language they
are learning to interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanges of
information”. While doing this they will draw available vocabulary, grammar, and
communication strategies to complete a task. In communication, the speaker has a choice
of what to say and how to say. If this activity is tightly controlled and there is one way to
say something, the speaker has no choice and, therefore, is not communicative. In addition,

true communication is purposeful. A speaker can thus evaluate whether or not his purpose
has been achieved based on the information he receives from the listener.
Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic material. In CLT, it is
considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to genuine communicative needs in
realistic second language situation so that they develop strategies for understanding
language as actually used by native speakers (Canale and Swain, 1980).
In addition, “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carried out by
students in small group” (Larsen – Freeman, 1986: 132). Students are expected to interact
with one another, either through pairs and group works or in their writing (Finicchiaro &
Brumfit, 1983). CLT favors interaction among small numbers of students in order to
maximize the time each student has to learn to negotiate meaning. Teachers therefore
select learning activities according to how well they encourage the students in meaningful
and authentic language use rather than in the merely mechanic practice of language
patterns.
Another dimension of CLT is “its learner-centered and experience –based view of
second language teaching” (Richard & Rogers, 1986: 69). According to CLT theory,
individual learner posses unique interests, styles, needs and goals that should be reflected
in the design of instructional methods (Savignon, 1983). Teachers are to develop materials


9

based on the demonstrated needs of a particular class. Students must be made to feel
secure, unthreatened and non-defensive in a CLT classroom, so teachers using CLT should
avoid adopting a teacher-centered authoritarian posture (Taylor, 1983).
Thus, Li (1998: 679) reviews CLT characteristics based on the work of other
researchers such as Larsen-Freeman (1986), Richards and Rogers (1986) and Thomson
(1986) as follows:
1. A focus on communicative functions
2. A focus on meaningful tasks rather than on language form.

3. Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through an
analysis of genuine, realistic situations.
4. The use of authentic, from life materials
5. The use of group activities
6. The attempt create a secure, non-threatening atmosphere.
I.2.3. Status of Grammar in CLT
Many linguists and researchers have advocated grammar instruction in language
teaching and learning. The communicative competence model of Canale and Swain (1980)
clearly illustrates the significance of grammar. In this model grammar is seen as one
component of communicative competence. One person cannot master a language without
the knowledge of its grammar. Thanks to grammar language partly can function as a means
of communication, especially in written language. In speaking, though grammatical
mistakes are sometimes acceptable, good grammar makes one‟s speech better and more
attractive, especially in formal situations. Referring to the importance of grammar
teaching, Smith (2001) worries that if we do not pay attention to grammar or create
opportunities for learners to improve their grammar, they are likely to stand the risk of
fossilization or “ reach a point where they can cope with level of communication that is
demanded of them by making use of their existing grammatical resources and
communication strategies and probably with sufficient fluency not to see the need to
develop their linguistic abilities any further.”
Rutherford and Smith (1988) report that grammar teaching can be beneficial to learners in
the sense that raises learners‟ consciousness concerning the difference and the similarities
of L1 and L2. Therefore, grammar teaching can be used as “a linguistic map” with road
and signs to help students as they explore the “topograph” of the new language.


10

The list of supporters of grammar is still going on. Hannan (1989) argues that
grammar is highly valuable as an important part of the study of language. Also, he points

out that grammar reflects the power and order of the human mind and, besides, it helps us
to understand the diversity of human culture. Like Hannan, Lewis (1986), Garner (1989)
gives strong support to grammar teaching. Garner believes that grammar gives us a means
to analyze and describe our language.
To sum up, 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.
I.2.4 Teaching grammar in the light of CLT.
For a few decades, there have been so many disputes on different approaches to
teaching grammar. To date, teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL) are still
confronted with the crucial issue of choosing the best approach to improve their students'
grammatical accuracy. It cannot be denied that there has been a lot of progress in English
language teaching since the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).
Many teachers embrace CLT because CLT represents a modern and progressive way of
language teaching and their belief is to teach students to be able use the language. And
since then many textbooks have been written to incorporate communicative activities,
authentic materials and personalized contexts, but where the teaching and learning of
grammar is concerned, most textbooks does not reflect CLT principles (Siaw-Fong Chung,
2005). Obviously, applying CLT to grammar teaching is necessary in order to deal with the
disadvantages of Grammar Translation method when being used to teach grammar such as
the learners‟ inappropriate utterances and passive learning style. Nunan (1991) in the
section “Focus on form: the role of grammar” discusses the place of grammar in the recent
language teaching. According to him, there has been a shift in the role of grammar as the
view of language learning changed at different times. While grammar played a dominant
role in traditional classroom, it was just of marginal importance in earlier communicative
classrooms, which drew merely on meaning rather than form. Recent years have seen the
returning of grammar in the second language classrooms as an indispensable tool to
achieve communicative goals. Unlike in traditional approaches, where

grammatical

mastery was ultimate learning objective, grammar now is important but just as a means to
the end and hence, is always put into context and learned for the sakes of social functions.


11

Communicative language classrooms, which focus on both form and meaning, truly reflect
the view of learning grammar as both processes and products.
The deep basic of this application is that CLT aims at developing communicative
competence and grammatical competence is one of four of its component competences.
Thus, in theory, CLT may be used to teach grammar so that understanding the rules of
grammar is not an end in itself and learners are helped to recognize the communicative
value of grammar structures.
It is worth mentioning here some researchers into teaching grammar in the light of
CLT. Celce – Murcia and Hilles (1988) propose that “grammar should never be taught as
an end in itself, but always with reference to meaning, social factors, or discourse or a
combination of these factors” (cited in Celce – Murcia, 1991). Fuyuko Kato (1998) also
refers to the application of CLT to grammar teaching when she states that teachers are
required to create a chance of real communication in the classroom so that learners can
actually use the target grammar form in a meaningful way. Furthermore, when referring to
the limitations of Grammar Translation method (form-based) and Communicative
Approach (meaning –based), Pavel V. Sysoyev (1999) argued for a combination of formbased and meaning-based focus, and thus proposed a method that he called „integrative
grammar teaching” (or EEE method) which consists of three major stages (a) exploration,
(b) explanation and (c) expression. Recently, Siaw-Fong Chung (2005) in an attempt to
find out whether CLT principles are incorporated into grammar exercises in textbooks has
suggested five methods so that grammar activities can be made more communicative. The
five methods relate to games, natural contexts, balancing skills, personalization and
adjustment of teacher role.
Obviously, grammar has play a central role in language teaching, and the question

“how to teach grammar ” is far from being satisfactorily answered. Nevertheless, the
tendency of applying CLT to grammar teaching is in dispensable in order to improve the
drawbacks of the traditional ways of teaching grammar.
There are two main approaches to teach grammar. These are the deductive and
inductive approach. In deductive approach, the teachers give the rules and then students
give examples. In contrast, an inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some
forms of guided discovery. The teacher gives example and asks the students to find out the
rules from themselves. A deductive approach often fits into a lesson structure known as


12

PPP (Presentation – Practice – Production). And PPP approach is a common one to
communicative language teaching that works through progression of three sequential
stages. The teacher present the target language and then gives students the opportunity to
practice it through controlled activities. The final stage of the lesson give the students
opportunity to practice the target language in freer activities.
Presentation stage:
Presentation is where the teacher presents the new language, and necessarily requires the
creation of realistic “situation” in which the target language is learned. This can be
achieved through using pictures, charts, dialogs, songs, story telling, visuals, or actual
“classroom situation”.
In the presentation stage the teacher does the work.
Practice
Practice is where the students are made to practice the new language with the teacher and their
peers. The teacher gives students different sorts of exercises to practice: drills followed by pair
work is the most common way of organizing practice. One of the useful techniques for this
stage is games. They provide a relaxing environment for the students to practice the new
grammatical items effectively. At this stage practice is controlled and the teacher emphasises
on accuracy.

In the practice stage the teacher and the students do the work.
Production
Production is where the teacher makes the students “produce” the new language they have
learned on their own (without the teacher‟s help). This is usually done with a speaking
activity, a game, a discussion, a role-play, “find someone who.”.. In this activity the
students must add the new grammar or vocabulary they have just learnt to the English they
have already known. At this stage practice is not controlled by the teacher. The students
learn to speak by themselves to get fluency.
In the production stage, the students do the work.
I. 3. Students’ interest
I.3.1. Concept of students’ interest
Ellis (1994) (cited in Keller, 1984) states that interest is one of the main elements of
motivation and a positive response to stimulate based on existing cognitive structures in
such a way that learners‟ curiosity is aroused and sustained. In other words, interest shows


13

learners‟ desire to learn the target language. It can be seen that students who are given
opportunities for communication will be interested in the lesson.
Ellis (cited in Dickinson, 1987) also points out that “ interest is engendered if
learners become self-centered”. This means they are able to determine their learning
objectives, choose their own way of achieving these, and evaluate their own progress.
I.3.2. Factors affecting students’ interest in the class.
-

Students’ learning style

Students‟ learning style is one of the factors we should take into consideration to see
the particular approach by which students try to learn. According to Keefe (1979:4),

learning style can be seen as cognitive, affective and physiological features that are
relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the
learning environment. Major factors conditioning the ways learners think and study are the
educational system, the socio-cultural background and personality variables.
Undoubtedly, it is very necessary to understand the learners‟ learning styles because
this will help teachers design suitable activities for all of them so that they can learn
effectively. There are students who prefer to do grammar exercises after learning
grammatical structures and their rules. But others like to exploit grammatical rules through
games, pictures and puzzles. They approach the target language items differently.
Moreover, their ability to grasp is also different, so the teachers should know their learners‟
learning style to bring about their learning effectively.
-

Students’ motivation

Motivation is popularly considered to play a very important role in learning. In Jeremy
Harmer‟s view (1991) “Motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages
somebody to pursue a course of action”.
Language learners‟ motivation is basically originated from goals of various kinds and
needs. Goals include long-term ones which might be related to a learner‟s wish to become
a member of the target language community or to obtain a better job and short-term ones
which might come from a learner‟s urge to pass an end-of-semester exam or complete a
lesson with success. Ausubel (1968) pointed out six types of needs including the need for
exploration; for manipulation; for activities; for stimulation; for knowledge and for ego
enhancement.


14

I.4. The impact of CLT on students’ interest in grammar learning.

CLT appearing between the 1960s and 1970s marks the beginning of major
innovation within language teaching and it has been widely accepted nowadays because of
its superior principles. Obviously, grammar plays an important role in ELT because
learners cannot communicate effectively without grammar. Furthermore, the understanding
of grammar helps us build up confidence in using the target language and encourages us to
use the language accurately and appropriately. Grammar is an integral part of language, so
the more we can find out about how grammar is learned and used, the more effectively we
will teach it. In fact, there have been many researches on grammar as well as grammar
teaching. The problem here is that how to teach grammar and which approach to grammar
is appropriate. Nowadays, CLT, with its foundation and on recent achievements in the field
of linguistic and psychology, has been considered to be the most effective approach to
grammar teaching. In fact, teaching grammar in the light of CLT makes the grammar
lesson more exciting and more communicative. Students are equipped with vocabulary,
structures and functions as well as strategies, which enabled to interact successfully.
Consequently, students are much more interested in the lessons.
I.4.1. Grammar teaching techniques in CLT
It is obvious that different techniques create different degree of students‟
participation and interest in the lesson. For example, techniques which focus on
grammatical and phonological like choral repetition, drilling substitution, content
explanation will result in learners‟ passiveness and limit their participation in learning. In
contrast, the techniques that involve students in communicative activities such as role-play,
games, problem-solving, pair and group work, discussion etc can encourage students to
participate in the lesson.
I.4.2. Teachers’ personal qualities and characters.
Teachers are considered as a significant source of intrinsic motivation. Wilkins
(1974: 53) stated that teachers‟ skills, knowledge, personality and proficiency in the target
language play important role in the class. A teacher‟s personality matters a lot because if it
matches learners‟ expectations, it helps build the learning environment with good
relationship between teacher and learners, one which may increase learning motivation.
In addition, in order to get students involved in the lesson, teachers should be ones that

students trust and respect. In other words, when students feel “safe” in class, they will be
interested in the lesson and also will be willing to participate in class activities. Barry
(1993) points out some characteristics a teacher should have as follows:


15



Being natural: if the teacher behaves naturally, the relationship between him and his
students will be closer, which increases students‟ participation and interest in the lesson.



Being warm: the teacher considers students as his friends. Students therefore will
find it easy to express themselves in the class.



Being pleasant: this characteristic will make the classroom‟s atmosphere relaxing
and interesting, which of course increases students‟ creation and participation.



Being tolerant: the teacher should be fair and consistent with all students so that he
can encourage all his students to participate in the lesson.

In fact, no teacher has all characteristics and personal qualities listed. However, these
characteristics and qualities can help much in increasing students‟ motivation, creating positive
learning environment, and enhancing students‟ participation in the class activities as well.

Summary.
In this literature review, the writer has presented different basic issues relating to
some methods of teaching grammar which serves as the theoretical framework for the
study. Different grammar teaching methods such as Grammar-Translation method, Audiolingual method have been reviewed to find out advantages and disadvantages of each
method. The author also has a brief look at CLT, its characteristics, the status of grammar
in CLT as well as the teaching of it in the light of CLT. To serve the study, at the same
time, the writer has paid attention to the concept of students‟ interest, factors affecting
students‟ interest in class as well as the impact of CLT to students‟ interest in grammar
learning. In the next chapter, the writer reports the study for the answer to the proposed
research questions.
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the contextual conditions that determine the study of
motivation. The author begins with the description of the situation where the study was
conducted and informants involved in the study. After that, the research method followed
by the data collection procedures and scheme for data interpretation are mentioned.
II.1. Setting of the study.
The study was carried out at the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) – Hanoi University
of Agriculture (HUA), which was established in 2004 in order to meet the growing demand for
learning English of students as well as to help them improve their English. Since then IFL, the
official language center of HUA, has become a reliable address for all students in HUA. It offers
a wide range of English courses from general to specific courses with elementary to advance
level. Besides, students can take other courses in French, Chinese and Japanese.


16

At HUA, the Department of Linguistics and Foreign Culture is in charge of
teaching document compilation and English language skills. Here, students have to study
English as a compulsory subject during 3 semesters with 45 periods each. By the end of the
course, students are expected to be able to communicate in English in both spoken and

written English at the pre-intermediate level. Moreover, the final years students have to get
400 marks of TOEIC test before they graduate. Therefore, grammar teaching and learning
English at HUA are very important. With 3 periods (45 minutes of each) per week, it is
difficult for the students to reach their final goal of learning. In addition, most students of
HUA come from rural and remote areas so their proficiency in English is low. However,
there has been an increase in the demand of learning English from these students and IFL
was established as a “supporter” with a view to offering evening English classes, which
they can take after their lessons at university. Surprisingly, the courses they enroll in the
most are grammar ones. The materials for grammar courses here are the Round-up series
(beginner to upper-intermediate level) (Virginia Evan, Person Longman). The Round-up is
especially designed for different students who study English in different ways. It can be
used in class with a course book including a variety of communicative activities such as pair
work, group work, role play, games in both oral and written forms. In addition, students can
use it after class to practice what they have learned in the classroom. Besides, various other
books such as Oxford Practice Grammar (John Eastwood, Oxford University Press), English
Grammar and Vocabulary (Michel Vince with Peter Sunderland, Macmillan) are used as
references. New Headway, Life Line, English Know How are used for General English
courses. In addition, the University has always equipped good conditions for teaching and
learning English. Overhead projectors, videos, cassettes are available which enable the
teachers and the students to perform their teaching and learning. More than that, a variety of
English books, magazines, and newspapers are provided in the library.
However, there are some problems that should be solved. As mentioned above,
most of the students of HUA come from rural and remote areas so their English level is
low and of mixed-abilities. There are even some students who have never learned English
before. These students also have different learning styles. Some active students are
interested in communicative activities while others are influenced by traditional method of
teaching and learning. They are not aware of their language needs in terms of
communication in real life situations. As a result, it is difficult for the teacher to monitor

17

the class and engage them in communicative activities. In addition, all the classes at IFL are
held in the evening when the students have just finished 8 or 10 periods of learning at the
university. Consequently, they sometimes feel tired and have no energy for further study.
II.2. Research Methodology
II.2.1. Subjects
The subjects of the study were 100 students who were studying at IFL at that
time and 10 teachers who were both at IFL and The Department of Linguistic and Foreign
Culture. They were selected randomly by the researchers.
The students
The author chose randomly 100 students who were taking different English
courses at IFL. They come from different faculties of HUA. They age from 18 -21. Among
them, 70 % are female and 30% are male. Their English level is not equal. Some of them
have learned English for 7 years at high schools, some others have 3 years of learning
English and the rest did not learn English before.
The teachers
10 teachers involve in the survey aged from 25 to 50. Their experience of
teaching varies from 3 to 26 years. Of these teachers, five got M.A degrees and the others
are attending the post-graduate courses at College of Foreign Languages and International
Studies, Vietnam National University.
II.2.2. Methods and Procedures
The researcher used both quantitative and qualitative methods in the study. As
mentioned in the above section, to collect information and data, three instruments:
questionnaire, interview and observation were used. All the subjects were informed of the
purpose of the study and willing to help the researcher to fulfill the author‟s task.
There were 100 survey questions delivered to students of different faculty at HUA. In
order to collect reliable data and information from the subjects, questionnaires for students
were designed in Vietnamese and the students were given 45 minutes to finish their
answers. The teachers were given 30 minutes to finish their answers. Both teachers and

students were given any explanation if necessary. The completed questionnaires were also
collected by the writer herself.
In the next step, information collected from two types of questionnaires were
consolidated and categorized. The results were analyzed and presented in forms of tables


18

and figures. The observation notes were jotted down to provide the findings in forms of
reflections. Besides, to make the data more valid and reliable, the classroom observation
and interview were conducted in order to gather further information and to witness the
reality in which the teachers applied CLT in grammar teaching process.
II.2.3. Survey instruments
II.2.3.1. Questionnaires
To gain data for the research, two kinds of questions were designed. One was
designed for 100 students who were taking different English courses at IFL and the other
was for the teachers. Some open-ended questions were also provided so that the
respondents could have opportunities to express their own ideas about the items raised in
the questionnaires. The questionnaires are enclosed in the appendices.
The first questionnaire includes 10 closed and open-ended questions in Vietnamese
so that students can understand the questions fully. The questionnaire emphasizes on:
-

The students‟ experience of learning English before university.

-

The students‟ attitude to learning English generally and grammar particularly,

-

The students‟ evaluation of CLT in teaching grammar.

-

The students‟ ways of learning grammar.

-

The students‟ difficulties in learning grammar.

-

The students‟ suggestion for better grammar teaching and learning.
The second questionnaire was delivered to 10 teachers of English at HUA. The

questionnaire emphasizes on:
-

Their teaching experience

-

Their ways of teaching grammar

-

Their problems in teaching grammar.

-

Their evaluation to communicative activities they experienced in teaching

-

Their suggestions for better grammar teaching.

II.2.3.2. Class observation
The information obtained from the questionnaires, however, might be subjective
and biased. To make the data more valid and reliable, the class observations were
conducted in order to gather further information and to witness the reality in which the
teachers applied CLT in their grammar teaching progress and how the students get


19

interested in the activities in the lesson. Then, the results of the observations would be
compared with the results of questionnaires.
The class observations were conducted in two different classes of about 40 students
each class.
A lesson observation was developed so that the author would take notes of the
procedures, good points and bad points of the lesson.
II.2.3.3. Interview
Both teachers and students would be respondents to the researcher‟s interview to
discuss for further information to have deep understanding of their evaluation to the impact
of CLT to grammar teaching. Their answers were copied and then translated into English.
The questions for the interviews are included in the Appendix 6.
II. 3. Data analysis and findings
This part presents and discusses the findings which are resulted from the analysis of
three sources of data collected: questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews. The

data collected from these sources. This part also gives the answers to two research
questions.
II.3.1. Questionnaires
This presented and analyzed data was taken from two questionnaires delivered for
both students and teachers at HUA.
Research question 1: What is the fact of grammar teaching and learning at IFL –
HUA?
In order to answer the first research question, the data collected from the survey
questionnaires will be categorized into: (a) the teachers‟ and students‟ experience of
teaching and learning English, (b) the teachers‟ and students‟ attitudes towards grammar
teaching and learning, the aims of, and the difficulties in grammar teaching and learning.
These issues will be discussed in detailed below.
What is the fact of grammar learning at IFL – HUA?
 The students’ experience of learning before university.
Table 1 presents the students‟ English background before they started their study at HUA.
The results are presented as follows:


20

Years of learning English before entering

Places

HUA

Provinces and
0

<1

1–3

3–5

>5

mountainous

Cities

areas
Numbers of
students
Percentage

3

5

13

15

64

90

10

3%

5%

13%

15%

64%

90%

10%

Table 1: Student’s profile.
The total of students chosen in the study was 100 of which 65 were male and 35
were female. The majority was aged 20, some were 18 and the rest belongs to the groups of
18 -21.
More than a half of students learned English for over 5 years (64%), while only 5%
learned English less than one year. 15% spent from 3 to 5 years studying this language and
13% have experience of 1 – 3 years of learning English. There are even 3 students who
have no experience of learning English because they did not have it as a compulsory
subject at schools or they studied other languages such as French or Russian before.
Most of the study subjects (90%) come from the countryside and mountainous areas
where they were taught English in traditional ways and had no opportunity to use the target
language to communicate. Only 10% come from the city. Their different places of domicile
leads to a greatly various experience in their learning English. Therefore, it is hard for them
to get acquainted with the approach of learning English through communicative activities.
 The students’ attitudes towards grammar learning.
Very important

Important

Neutral

Not important

(No)

40

56

1

3

(%)

40%

56%

1%

3%

Table 2: Students’ awareness of the role of Grammar in learning English
It can be seen clearly from the table 2 that there is a high level agreement about the
significance of grammar in learning English. Maybe it is because their final tests are often

in written form and focusing mostly on grammar. Remarkable, 40% and 56% considered it


21

to be very important and important respectively. Only 1 % had neutral idea about
importance of grammar learning. However, 3% claimed that it was not important to learn
grammar.
Very interesting

Interesting

Not interesting

(No)

15

60

25

(%)

15%

60%

25%

Table 3: Students’ attitudes towards learning grammar.
From the students‟ reply, we could see that they all recognized the importance of
learning grammar, an indispensable part of learning English at university. Interestingly,
three – fourths of the students (75 %) were interested in learning grammar and found
grammar interesting and very interesting. However, one-fourth of the students (25%)
thought that it was not interesting to learn grammar and found their lessons boring, not
understandable.
No

%

To enable them to get good marks on the exams.

12

12%

To communicate better

43

43%

To help them to read and translate materials

30

30%

It is a compulsory subject

7

5%

Other reasons

8

8%

better.

Table 4: Students’ reasons for learning grammar
Information from the survey reveals that the largest proportion of the students
(43%) found learning grammar help them improve their communication skills. Obviously,
they had more motivation to learn grammar than other groups who learned grammar just to
get good marks on the exams (12%) or just because learning grammar was compulsory at
university (7%). These figures expressed the impact of CLT in grammar learning. There
has been a change in the role of grammar in EFL. The second choice of the students was to
read and translate materials better (30%). For students in HUA, reading ESP documents
requires good grammar understanding abilities and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, 8%
of students learned grammar for a variety of different reasons. They learned grammar due
to the fact that it is necessary and useful for their further study and future jobs. Some said