CHUYÊN đề hội THẢO các TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN VÙNG DHĐBBB lần THỨ VIII năm 2015 môn TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG CHUYÊN hạ LONG

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CHUYÊN ĐỀ TIẾNG ANH
Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language


PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE
The ability to communicate effectively in any situation involves the skills of listening
and responding appropriately to messages. It also includes the ability to perform
language functions effectively. This is often referred to as communicative
competence. People with good communication skills have a better chance of success
in both the workplace and life in general. As language teachers, we must be proficient
in oral and written communication, as very often we are the only role models for our
students, we need to engage students in using English for meaningful activities where
they have an opportunity to communicate for a real purpose. These are similar to the
purposes for which they use their home language, except that the situations in which
they need to use English may be different. In other words, students should be
involved in situations where they need to speak or write in English to fulfil a
communicative need. Therefore, Grammar is also important in communication. With
the correct grammar, we can express our ideas clearly and meaningful. We should not
only focus in communication teaching, but also grammar.
How we can bring grammar instruction fully to life and to make it purposeful
and communicative is not an easy question. The question in the discussion currently is
not whether teaching should focus on grammar, but how to teach grammar
effectively for a successful communication.
In the scenario of Ha Long High School for Gifted Students, English major students
here are quite good at grammar and other skills. They are used to learning English
grammar in the traditional way which is not really effective in communicative
language. Knowing how important the grammar is and the need to teach it
communicatively, in this paper, I would like to suggest some ways to integrate

grammar for communicative English learning. These activities are particularly helpful


for 11th form English major students, whose English proficiency is around B2 level and
above.
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The study aims at
- Giving a brief overview of the roles of grammar in communicative teaching
language.
- Designing activities for a sample lesson integrating grammar into a
communicative teaching lesson.
- Suggesting several ways to integrate grammar into a communicative teaching
lesson.
3. TIME AND PLACE OF THE STUDY
This study results from my own experience of teaching grammar
communicatively for my students at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students during
school year 2014 - 2015. I used these activities in some language focus lessons for my
students in grade 11, all majoring in English and having language competence around
B2 level.
4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will help teachers of English:


teach communicative grammar using a variety of strategies,



use grammar to develop their students’ communicative competence,



help their students perform various language functions effectively, and



encourage the teaching of grammar across the curriculum.

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. THEREOTICAL BACKGROUND


1.1. Definition of Grammar in language learning:
Due to revolution in language teaching and learning it become clear that grammar is a
useful tool or resource to be used in the comprehension and creation of oral and
written discourse rather than something to be learned as an end in it. Close (1982: 13)
defines grammar as chiefly a system of syntax that decides the order and patterns in
which words are arranged in sentences. Smith and Wilson (1979) also coincide with
the above definition stating that linguistic rules that combine with each other to form
a system which gives an explicit and exhaustive description of every sentences that
goes to make a language.
It is essential to contemplate Halliday´s (1970, 1973, and 1978) definitions of functional
grammar sometimes known as synthetic grammar or functional- systemic grammar,
which means the way we organize our message in any communicative act. Later he
divided the message into two groups that are demanding and giving. The former
being executed when one is requesting information or services. The latter being the
response to any of the requests or presentation of information. In other words,
grammar is the store available to indicate a number of elements that are crucial to the
appropriate and accurate interpretation of utterance. To sum up, Larsen Freeman
(1991) sees form, meaning and function as three interacting dimensions of language.

Grammar was concluded to provide us with the relationship between the participants
in an interaction, the topic, the time of the event and the mood of the utterances.
Many researchers have concluded that grammar rules if learned in decontextualized
manner they are not useful to students for speaking, listening, reading, and writing in
their L2 or foreign language.
1.2. Integrating grammar in the Communicative Approach
Pekoz argues that one of the main progresses in language teaching was to substitute
a PPP (Presentation, Practice and Production) model in which traditional methods as
compared to pre, while and post stages that are applied in the communicative
approach. Clandfield, Mora 2003, Tennat, Weaver (1996) propose that in order for
grammar to reflect how it is applied purposely and communicatively, the grammatical


items should be contextualized. For that to take place in teaching and learning
situations, there is a consensus that contextual instructional teaching should be
created and grammar should be integrated into four skills not in isolation as Dunbar
(1988:33) who advances that by teaching language as an isolated bits of knowledge,
we deny what language really is Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills should
involve pre-, while and post stages in an attempt to provide grammar instruction to
life Pekoz (2008).
Pre-grammar stage requires teacher to bring grammar to life, stimulate interest in the
topic and raise awareness by providing a reason for learning such a structure. While
grammar stage should facilitate noticing of a new grammar point and provides
meaningful input through contextualized examples, pictures, and texts. At this stage
the teacher provides the clarification of the grammar meaning. Post grammar stage
teacher should provide an opportunity for language learners to put grammar to use
and relate grammar instruction to real life situation. At this stage, there is a focus on
the production aspect of the new structure. To keep alert teachers who teach
language, Murcia-Celce and Hilles (1988) suggested that grammar should not be
taught as an end in itself but always with references to meaning, social factors, or

discourse or a combination of them.
Two types of focus on form have been discussed by many researchers for the last few
years. First, implicit focus on form during interaction task performance is composed
of pure communicative tasks that are designed so that the learners must use the
target structure to complete the task. For example, using comparative forms of
adjectives and adverbs that require students to exchange information about features
of cities is an effective ways to explore focus on form. Students can combine their
information by writing sentences comparing their two cities. Students need to
produce various comparative forms in order to complete the task. Students can
interact with each other in target language even though it is thought that L1 can be
used by monolingual students. Second the target structure itself comprises the task
content. Pairs or groups are asked to solve grammar problems such as the formation


tag questions, passive voice and other relevant tasks. After listening and writing down
correct sentences, the learners then develop rules for the use of the structure. It
should be noted that even though the task content is a grammar problem, the
learners must use the target language meaningful to complete the activity. The
process of writing English sentences and agreeing upon grammar rules cost less that
promoting communicative use of the target language even though the students speak
the same L1.
2. PRACTICAL BACKGROUND
In Vietnam, English is the most popular foreign language and a compulsory
school subject. However, English teaching and learning have, for a long time, been
influenced by traditional methods with a great focus on grammar and vocabulary. The
implementation of new English textbooks for high school students since the schoolyear 2006 – 2007 has created a shift toward communicative teaching and learning.
Since then, most of English teachers here are conscious of teaching grammar
communicatively. However, with the limited teaching time, large classes, and final
test format basing on much grammar, we find it difficult to solve this problem.
Therefore, I would like to give some suggestions as to how we can integrate grammar

in teaching communication.
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
1. REAL SITUATION
As indicated above, traditional teaching grammar ways are more familiar with
many teachers in Vietnam in general and at Ha Long High School for Gifted Students
in particular. The national Graduation exam is mainly to test students’ grammar,
structures using; students just want to get good marks in exams but are not aware of
the importance of communicating in English in their real life. In that situation, even
though teachers are aware of the need to teach grammar communicatively, they still
face many difficulties in the search for appropriate activities, applying reasonable and
effective ways to integrate grammar in communication. This situation demands a


more systematically change in teaching methods. Therefore, I would like to suggest
several solutions to these problems from my own experience.
2. SOLUTIONS
There has been a lot of progress in English language teaching since the introduction of
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This progress has been reflected in the
teaching of the four skills, which has moved from the presentation, practice and
production (PPP) to pre-, while- and post-stages. However, teaching grammar has
lagged behind the integration of pre, while and post stages. Although grammar
instruction has recently been associated with contextual teaching (Clandfield, nd;
Mora, 2003; Tennant, nd; Weaver 1996), we need to go beyond this movement to
bring grammar instruction fully to life and to make it purposeful and communicative.
In the following section, I will note some problems associated with grammar teaching
in general, then I will introduce a framework for implementing pre-, while- and poststages to teach grammar.
•

Direct grammar instruction is still very common.

•

Contextual instructional techniques are not readily accessible to practitioners.

•

In most cases grammar instruction is not integrated into the four skills but given
in isolation.

•

Mostly it is teachers that formulate the grammar rules. Grammar rules will be
clearer and be remembered better when students formulate them themselves
(inductive learning) than when teachers formulate them (deductive learning).

•

Learners need repeated input of a grammar item. Just one grammar
presentation is not enough.

•

Learners should not be overwhelmed with linguistic terminology (Brown, 2001).

•

Grammar should be taught in digestible segments bearing the cognitive
process in mind.

Traditional grammar teaching, for instance, tends to cover the following points in the
same lesson:
the passive voice with all the tenses,
•

all the uses of indirect speech (i.e. reporting statements, negative statements,
question forms, imperatives, requests, time expressions, etc.)

•

all the forms of a structure (i.e. statements, negative statements, questions,
exceptions, etc).

Following a review of some common problems, the next step is to introduce a unique
approach to teaching grammar. Grammar teaching, like teaching the four skills,
should involve pre-, while- and post-stages in an attempt to provide integrated
learning environments. In the pre-grammar stage, the teacher should bring grammar
instruction to life, stimulate interest in the topic, and raise awareness by providing a
reason for learning. The while-grammar stage should facilitate noticing of the new
grammar point, and provide meaningful input through contextual examples, pictures,
and texts. Finally, the post-grammar stage should provide an opportunity to put
grammar to use, and relate grammar instruction to real life situations. The main
distinction between the while- and post-stages is that the while-stage involves the
clarification of the meaning, whereas the post-stage focuses on the productive
aspects of the new structure.
Steps of an Integrated Grammar Lesson
Traditional grammar teaching starts with the teacher's statement of the grammatical
point on the board. Integrated grammar teaching is a unique and an authentic
approach because it implements the pre-, while- and post-stages.
The application of pre-, while- and post-stages into teaching grammar are shown

below in two sample grammar lessons.
Sample Grammar Lesson 1: Used to
1. Pre-grammar
a) The teacher discusses the topic "changes in people over the years"
b) The teacher shows two pictures of a woman. One picture was taken 20 years ago


and the other one is new. The old picture shows her playing the guitar while the new
one displays her painting pictures. The teacher then asks them to compare the two
pictures.
2. While-grammar
a) This stage provides a context for input generation and an opportunity to notice the
new grammatical structure. The teacher tells them they are going to learn a new
structure (for the purpose of noticing) but does not mention the name of structure
(for motivational purposes).
b) The teacher makes a transition from the context created in 1b to the grammatical
point by showing the same pictures and telling the picture differences with "used to"
and "simple present tense" (i.e. "She used to play the guitar as a hobby, but now she
doesn't, she paints pictures as a hobby now", etc).
c) The teacher creates other contexts for the teaching of grammatical point through
some other picture comparisons, discussions, stories, or reading/listening texts.
d) The teacher asks some clarification check questions to ensure that the meaning is
clear. Some examples:
Did she often play the guitar in the past?/Does she play the guitar now?
Did she often paint pictures in the past?/Does she paint pictures now?
Did she have long hair in the past?/Does she have long hair now?
e) The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board for the given
sentence providing help if needed.
She used to play the guitar.
S + Used to + V 1 …

(Note: The while-stage may involve production of the new structure through some
questions about the pictures. In this case, however, the purpose is to confirm whether
the meaning has been clarified.)
3)

Post-grammar (adapted from Fatma Toköz, former student)


Brainstorming
The teacher asks students to think back to when they were a child and asks the
following questions: "What are the differences and similarities between your life then
and now? Think about where you lived, your likes/dislikes, your holidays and your
family, and fill in the following lines with appropriate sentences".
Your life as a child...
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Your present life...
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Role-play
The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student. The role
playing students are supposed to be old friends meeting after a long time. They are
supposed to communicate and note the differences in each using either their
imagination or the role play cues.
Writing
The teacher asks students to write a story about the following topic for the school
magazine.
Imagine that you have been asleep from 2007 till 2050. You have just woken up to be

shocked about everything around you. Compare your old and new lives and write your
story using "used to".
Sample Grammar Lesson 2: The present perfect passive voice


Pre-grammar Stage
First, the teacher has a discussion on burglaries. Following this discussion, the teacher
shows a picture of a living room and says: "Today, a burglar has broken into this room.
What do you think he has taken?" (The teacher tries to elicit responses such as he has
taken the lap-top computer, he has stolen the jewellery, etc ).
While-grammar Stage
The teacher shows a different picture of the same living room and turns attention to
the missing items and says the following:
"The lap-top computer has been taken from the room.
The jewellery has been stolen.
The small TV has been taken as well.
The picture on the wall has been taken, too".
The teacher asks questions to elicit the passive voice structure. Following this, the
teacher asks clarification check questions such as:
What is the difference between "the burglar has stolen the jewellery", and "the
jewellery has been stolen"?; when do you think we need the second structure?, etc.
The teacher asks the students to formulate the rule on the board.
Alternatively, or additionally, the context can be created through a reading text
written in the present perfect passive voice.
Post-grammar Stage
The teacher gives the following hand-out to be filled out and asks students to walk
around and ask questions to the class members.
Find someone

Class members name

who has been blamed for something he/she hasn't done.
who has been disappointed by a close friend.
who has been told some good news today.
who has been told some bad news today.
who has been abandoned by his/her girlfriend/boyfriend.
who has been misunderstood today.
who has been forgiven by an old friend recently.
who has been given a present today.
Role-play
The teacher forms pairs of students and gives a role play to each student. One of the
pairs holds the names of the cities and their weather reports, the other holds
information about some football matches and the name of the cities where they are
being held. They will exchange the information and find out which football matches
have been cancelled.
The teacher assigns an incomplete writing task and asks them to complete it using
some cue words and the present perfect passive tense as in the following:
Your wedding is very soon, but most of the arrangements have not been made yet.
Write a complaint letter to the wedding specialist using these clues: wedding


invitations, wedding dress, wedding party, wedding cake, wedding photographer,
honeymoon, limousine cars.
Dear wedding specialist,
I visited your office today but you were out. I have seen that most of the wedding
arrangements have not yet been made.
To begin with, …
Overt Grammar Instruction
Adult students appreciate and benefit from direct instruction that allows them to

apply critical thinking skills to language learning. Instructors can take advantage of
this by providing explanations that give students a descriptive understanding
(declarative knowledge) of each point of grammar.
•

Teach the grammar point in the target language or the students' first language
or both. The goal is to facilitate understanding.

•

Limit the time you devote to grammar explanations to 10 minutes, especially
for lower level students whose ability to sustain attention can be limited.

•

Present grammar points in written and oral ways to address the needs of
students with different learning styles.

An important part of grammar instruction is providing examples. Teachers need to
plan their examples carefully around two basic principles:
•

Be sure the examples are accurate and appropriate. They must present the
language appropriately, be culturally appropriate for the setting in which they
are used, and be to the point of the lesson.

•

Use the examples as teaching tools. Focus examples on a particular theme or
topic so that students have more contact with specific information and

vocabulary.

Relevance of Grammar Instruction
In the communicative competence model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn
the language of which the grammar is a part. Instructors therefore teach grammar


forms and structures in relation to meaning and use for the specific communication
tasks that students need to complete.
Compare the traditional model and the communicative competence model for
teaching the English past tense:
Traditional: grammar for grammar's sake
•

Teach the regular -ed form with its two pronunciation variants

•

Teach the doubling rule for verbs that end in d (for example, wed-wedded)

•

Hand out a list of irregular verbs that students must memorize

•

Do pattern practice drills for -ed

•

Do substitution drills for irregular verbs

Communicative competence: grammar for communication's sake
•

Distribute two short narratives about recent experiences or events, each one to
half of the class

•

Teach the regular -ed form, using verbs that occur in the texts as examples.
Teach the pronunciation and doubling rules if those forms occur in the texts.

•

Teach the irregular verbs that occur in the texts.

•

Students read the narratives, ask questions about points they don't understand.

•

Students work in pairs in which one member has read Story A and the other
Story B. Students interview one another; using the information from the
interview, they then write up or orally repeat the story they have not read.

Error Correction
At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language
used by native speakers. Some of the differences are grammatical, while others

involve vocabulary selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for
different contexts.
In responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on
error correction to the detriment of communication and confidence building. Teachers
need to let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on


improving. Teachers also need to build students' confidence in their ability to use the
language by focusing on the content of their communication rather than the
grammatical form.
Teachers can use error correction to support language acquisition, and avoid using it
in ways that undermine students' desire to communicate in the language, by taking
cues from context.
•

When students are doing structured output activities that focus on
development of new language skills, use error correction to guide them.

Example:
Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday.
Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday. Remember, the past tense of buy is bought.
•

When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if
they interfere with comprehensibility. Respond using correct forms, but
without stressing them.

Example:
Student (greeting teacher) : I buy a new car yesterday!
Teacher: You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind?

3. OUTCOMES OF THE STUDY
After one year applying those strategies into my teaching, I have achieved
some preliminary success.
The first notable change is in students' motivation. They have not felt that they
have to learn Grammar too seriously, most of my grammar lessons were less boring
and my students more motivated to learn.
The second thing is that my students’ speaking ability improved much after
they attended these lessons and many students have not avoided speaking in English
in the class because of the hesitation of making mistakes.
Above all, the most remarkable success is the improvement of students'
communicative skills. Initially most of my students had reservations about whether or


not they would be able to communicative without doing many grammar exercises,
but gradually they gain confidence as their communicative skills accumulate. There is
still a long way to go, but as long as students find these ways effective and necessary
for their learning, I also feel motivated to explore more.
4. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
From my own teaching, I have accumulated some experience that needs to be
taken into consideration when integrating grammar in teaching communication as
follows:
- Teachers should always bear in mind the language proficiency level of their
students and choose appropriate activities. For example, the materials chosen should
neither too difficult nor too easy, should not contain vocabulary and structures that
are too challenging. The materials may cause students a little difficulty, but overall it
must be comprehensible to them.
- Learner’s interest is another important factor that should be taken into
consideration when selecting grammar activities materials. The materials chosen
should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them. So it is necessary for
teachers to know students’ likes and dislikes on the materials and it may be wise for

them to make a survey among students before the selection. Some topics that most
students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education, jobs, tourism
etc.
- Teachers should consider whether the material chosen is culturally
appropriate. A material that can potentially cause cultural offence should be avoided.
Also, if there is some element of culture that is not familiar to students, teachers may
clarify or explain to the students before they perform.
- Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor. Not all students are familiar
to using language, grammatical points to communicate practically in the first place. It
may take time and effort to help students establish their communication skills.


PART 3: CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the study has found out what are the students and teachers’ difficulties
in learning and teaching grammar communicatively. The study also reveals the
recommendations for overcoming these difficulties as well as having effective
grammar lessons. Obviously, when applying CLT to teach grammar, there is no readymade recipe for which techniques and activities can work best for which structure, but
the primary principle is the use of a variety of techniques and activities to suit
different students’ levels and learning styles. This not only help teachers and students
teach and learn grammar more effectively but also change the students’ learning
styles and motivation. The implementation of CLT at Halong high school for gifted
students will be successful if there is contribution and cooperation of the
administrators, teachers and students. Among these factors, the teachers are central
and affect the success or failure of the innovation. Nonetheless, the limitations of the
study are unavoidable. Firstly, from the scope of the study, the results of the study are
only applied for my students in my classes. Moreover, the data were only taken from
self-reported questionnaires and teachers’ interviews. However, there is a potential
limitation of self-report data because some students might not be willing to express
themselves frankly. Basing on the results and the limitations of the study, the
researcher would like to make some recommendations for further study. As a result,

the results cannot apply for all students at this school. It would be interesting to
conduct a similar study on the students from other departments. Furthermore, it is
necessary to conduct other researches on the difficulties confronted by teachers in
terms of CLT application in teaching reading, listening, vocabulary, speaking and
writing.

References


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Education Ltd, pp.8.
3. Brumfit, C. (1984), Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching: the Roles
of Fluency and Accuracy, Cambridge University Press.
4. Canale, M and Swain, M. (1980), Approaches to Communicative Competence,
SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
5. Canale, M and Swain, M. (1993), Theoretical Basis of Communicative Approaches to
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