A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH GRAMMAR COMMUNICATIVELY IN CLASS 10A9 AT CAM KHE HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Nghiên cứu về những khó khăn của việc học ngữ pháp qua đường hướng giao tiếp của học sinh lớp 10A4 Trường THPT

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am greatly indebted to so many people for the fulfillment of this study.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards
my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long for his enthusiastic guidance, valuable
comments and suggestions on my doing thesis. Without these, my thesis would
not have been successfully completed
I am grateful to all the lecturers who have been teaching the K12 English
pedagogy course – Hung Vuong University.
I would also like to thank teachers at Cam Khe High school for having
given me the chance to work with their students and all the students
participating in my study for their enthusiastic participation in the classroom
observation and completing the survey questionnaire.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my family, my
relatives and my friends for their support and encouragements during the
research process.

ABSTRACT

The target of the study is to investigate the difficulties in learning English
grammar of the grade 10 students at Cam Khe high school. The results show that
students have the following difficulties: communicative grammar obstacles
related to students’ low level of English proficiency; students’ learning style and
using mother tongue problem; teacher’s insufficient communicative
competence; teacher’s misconception about CLT and inappropriate method;
multi-level classes, current testing system and lack of class time.

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On the basis of the findings, some appropriate suggested solutions that can be
employed to encounter this problem including: Training and retraining teachers
in CLT; teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence; organizing extracurricular activities to enhance students’ confidence and willingness to
communicate in English; encouraging students’ participation in class activities;
improving students’ English proficiency

LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS

CLT
AM

Communicative language teaching
Audio-lingual method

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................i
ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................ii
LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS................................................................................iii
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS.....................................................................vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................1

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1. Rationale............................................................................................................1
2. Research purpose...............................................................................................2
3. Research questions............................................................................................3

4. Previous studies.................................................................................................3
4.1. In the world....................................................................................................3
4.2 In Viet Nam......................................................................................................3
5. Research procedure...........................................................................................5
6. Research methods..............................................................................................5
7. Significance of the study...................................................................................6
8. Scope of the study.............................................................................................6
9. Design of the study............................................................................................6
PART B: DEVELOPMENT..................................................................................8
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................8
1.1. Overview of grammar....................................................................................8
1.1.1. Definition of grammar.................................................................................8
1.1.2. The importance of grammar......................................................................10
1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar...............12
1.2.1 Deductive Approach...................................................................................13
1.2.2 Inductive Approach.....................................................................................15
1.3. CLT on teaching grammar............................................................................18
1.3.1. Communicative competence......................................................................18
1.3.2. Definition of CLT.......................................................................................18
1.3.3. Characteristics of CLT..............................................................................19
1.3.4. Stages in teaching grammar communicatively..........................................21
1.3.5 CLT techniques...........................................................................................23
1.4. Difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively........................27
1.4.1. Difficulties in learning grammar...............................................................27
1.4.1.1 Internal Problems....................................................................................27
1.4.1.2 External Problems...................................................................................27
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1.4.2 Difficulties in learning in CLT...................................................................28
1.4.2.1 Difficulties from teachers........................................................................28
1.4.2.2 Difficulties from students.........................................................................29
1.4.3 Difficulties from objective factors..............................................................32
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................34
2.1. Participants...................................................................................................34
2.2. Overview of the English textbook................................................................35
2.3. The data collection instruments....................................................................36
2.3.1. Questionnaire for the students...................................................................36
2.3.1.1. Cause of choosing questionnaire............................................................36
2.3.1.2. Questionnaire description......................................................................36
2.3.2. The classroom observation........................................................................37
2.3.2.1. Cause of choosing class observation......................................................37
2.3.2.2. Observation description.........................................................................37
2.4. Data analysis method....................................................................................38
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION...................................................39
3.1 The results.....................................................................................................39
3.1.1. The result from questionnaire....................................................................39
3.1.2 The result from the observation..................................................................48
3.2. Discussion....................................................................................................49
3.2.1. Difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar and their
expectations.........................................................................................................49
3.2.2. Teacher’s related factors that cause difficulties in students’ grammar learning
.............................................................................................................................50
3.3. Suggested solutions to enhance the efficiency of learning English grammar
for grade 10 students at Cam Khe High school...................................................52
3.3.1. Training and retraining teachers in CLT..................................................52
3.3.2. Teachers' self-improvement of speaking competence................................53

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3.3.3. Organizing extra- curricular activities to enhance students’ confidence
and willingness to communicate in English........................................................53
3.3.4. Encouraging students’ participation in class activities.............................54
3.3.5. Improving students’ English proficiency...................................................54
3.3.6. Practising and revising..............................................................................55
PART C: CONCLUSION....................................................................................56
1.

Main finding................................................................................................56

2.

Implication...................................................................................................56

3.

Limitations and suggestions for further study.............................................57

APPENDIX 1: STUDENTS’ SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE................................I
APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FORM.......................................V
APPENDIX 3: OBSERVATION FORM 1..........................................................VI
APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION FORM 2......................................................VIII
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................X

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

 list of tables

Table 1: Advantages and disadvantages of the deductive approach to teaching
Grammar
Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of the inductive approach to teaching
Grammar
Table 3: Students’ perspective of the importance of learning English grammar
communicatively
Table 4: The students’ perspective of factors in their English communicative
grammar lessons

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Table 5: Students’s viewpoint of factors causing obstacles in English
communicative grammar lessons
Table 6: Expectation for a better and more effective grammar lesson
 List of charts
Chart 1: Students’ evaluation about learning grammatical structure
Chart 2: Students’ viewpoints of level of difficulty in communicative grammar
lessons
Chart 3: The students’ frequency in expressing their idea with correct grammar
structure in communication

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale

Nowadays, English is used in a majority of countries in the world, as it is
one of the most important languages for international communication. The
economic open- door policy pursued by the government of Vietnam has
increased a demand for studying English. Many people are expected to be
competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access
technology. In correspondence to this trend, in almost of schools, colleges,
universities, English is a compulsory subject.
Besides the aim of passing their exams and getting some further studies for their
future life, all students have a desire to be integrated into the culture, the
civilization, and the people of English speaking countries. They expect to have a
good knowledge of English to read books and magazines, to see films or to sing
English songs, etc. As a result, learning English now is not only an interest but
also a practical need for many people.
As in other countries, teachers of English in Vietnam are now using
Communicative Approach to teach English grammar to learners of all levels.
Language learning 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 learning is to communicate fluently,
appropriately and spontaneously in the cultural context of the target language.
Communicative competence, according to Canaled and Swain (1980), is made
up of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse
competence, and strategic competence. They hope to provide learners with a
means of communication, namely English which is vital for them to be
successful in their job and to fulfill their social demands in the time of
globalization. At Cam Khe High school, where the author studies, English is a
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compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as a major subject for
the high school examination. It is taught with the purpose that students have
some basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and to use it as a key
to science and technology. However, there still exist many difficulties facing
English language teachers in Vietnam in general and English language teachers
at Cam Khe High school in particular in teaching grammar skills to students.
The teachers of English at Cam Khe High school find it difficult to teach
grammar successfully. In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet
in lessons. Certainly, there are many reasons for this. If those difficulties are not
found out and no solutions can be given, the grammar classes cannot be
successful and students will be fed up with learning English if they find it
worthless to study the subject.
For the above reasons, in this minor thesis, the researcher would like to
figure out “a study on students’ difficulties in learning English grammar
communicatively in class 10A9 at Cam Khe High school and some
suggested solutions” as the title for the thesis in the hope that the researcher can
contribute a small part in helping her students and her colleagues to improve
their learning and teaching English especially in learning and teaching grammar
that they may need for further study, work or leisure.
2. Research purpose
This study intends to find out difficulties students are facing when learning
grammar. So, the focus will be:
 Determining the importance of grammar in English learning.
 Investigating difficulties students are facing when learning grammar
communicatively.
 The causes of the difficulties in learning English grammar
communicatively.
 Suggesting some possible solutions to those difficulties.
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3. Research questions
The research will find the answers for the following questions:
 What are the difficulties of the grade 10A9 students when they learn
English grammar communicatively?
 What are the solutions to improve their English grammar skill?
4. Previous studies
4.1. In the world
The study by Li Pei (2010) is a teaching experiment which aims at testing
the impact of context-based approach on teaching unreal conditional sentences
for freshmen majoring in English in Adult Education College of Soochow
University, China. The study was carried out from November 4th, 2008 to
January 7th, 2010. The data were collected via the questionnaire, the interview,
the pretest and the posttest and the final conclusion was: the use of contextbased approach helped to improve students’ awareness and attitudes towards
grammar learning and promoted students’ acquisition of English grammar
learning strategies.
4.2 In Viet Nam
The teaching of grammar has always been a central aspect of foreign
language teaching. It has been the focus of language teachers and learners for
many years. Grammar is considered to be an indispensable factor which helps
people to use its language to communicate successfully. The importance of
grammar in general and grammar teaching in particular has been highly
appreciated and has been the focus of many studies up to now. Now I can give
some studies related to my research.
The first study I want to mention is on the theme “Applying
communicative approach to grammar teaching and learning at Tran Phu gifted
high school” by the author Pham Thi Mai Anh in October, 2007. The attempts of
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this study are to find out the students’ and teachers’ attitudes as well as their
preferences to grammar teaching and learning towards the communicative
approach. Carrying out the study, the author hopes to find out how to teach and
learn grammar according to the communicative approach effectively and
successfully.
Another research that is about grammar named “Adapting materials for
teaching grammar in the light of CLT to first year students in electric power
college” by Nguyen Thi Thanh in September, 2006. This study was conducted to
seek the answers to the questions of what techniques of adapting materials
should be used to teach grammar to first year students at EPC in the light of
CLT. Through what the author has done, she believes the teachers should know
how to combine materials of traditional approach like gap-filling, tenses etc,
with those of CLT approach. In other words, they should know how to balance
these materials to suit their students’ needs and interests.
“An investigation into Vietnamese upper secondary school students’
attitudes towards grammar learning and teaching” was carried out by Nguyen
Thi Minh Hue in June, 2004. The aim of this study is to find out what attitudes
Vietnamese upper secondary school students hold towards grammar and
grammar learning especially with their styles preferences in an attempt to
narrow the gap between teaching styles and learning styles as a goal of learnercentreness in language education. Through this investigation, the author expects
that a blend of both traditional and communicative approaches to grammar could
be a good solution to the question of grammar teaching at the Vietnamese upper
secondary school.
In conclusion, how to teach grammar effectively and successfully is
always a big question not only to her but also to many other teachers at my
school, especially nowadays new textbooks used in all schools in our country

focus on not only grammar but also on other skills in the light of CLT. Learning
grammar, the teachers encounter some certain difficulties in comparison with
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learning other skills. Being aware of this, the researcher has decided to choose
the topic on the learning of grammar for her thesis with the aim to find out the
difficulties many students encounter when learning grammar communicatively
and some possible solutions to these problems. Furthermore, up to now there
have been no studies on this topic carried out at Cam Khe High school, the
school where she had the internship. All these above mentioned reasons have
inspired her to conduct the study about “A study on students’ difficulties in
learning English grammar communicatively in class 10A9 at Cam Khe high
school and some suggested solutions”. The researcher hopes this would be taken
into consideration by the teachers at Cam Khe High school in particular and
teachers of English in general to make the periods more interesting and
motivating to students.
5. Research procedure
Firstly, reviewing the theoretical background related to grammar to get the
foundation for the study.
Secondly, the study will investigate the difficulties in learning English
grammar communicatively of the grade 10A9 students at Cam Khe high school.
Finally, the study will give some suggestions to help improve and enhance
the grammar for the grade 10A9 students.
6. Research methods
In order to accomplish this thesis systematically and adequately, some
research methods are used:
Theoretical study method: studying the related documents to give some

knowledge about grammar and some common difficulties in learning English
grammar communicatively.
Investigative and survey methods: Questionnaires and observation
Analysis method: from data got from many different materials related to
the topic, analyzing to get the final results.
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Systematized method: many materials related, the researcher has to
systematize what she reads from materials. Moreover, the research has to
categorize the materials and her ideas to make study logical.
7. Significance of the study
The study helps the researcher improve the knowledge about English
grammar, the difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively of grade
10A9 students, find out some solutions to improve the efficiency of teaching and
learning English grammar at high school.
It will be very helpful for the teachers of English in Cam Khe High
school as well as for English teachers to teach grammar effectively, and motivate
their learners in grammar classes. These suggestions also help students who
learn English improve their grammar and made language focus lessons more
communicative and meaningful.
8. Scope of the study
As could be seen from the title of the study, this paper strongly focuses on
investigating some difficulties in learning English grammar communicatively of
grade 10A9 students at Cam Khe High school and some suggested solutions.
9. Design of the study
The study consists of 3 parts, references.
Part A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the researcher gives an overall introduction of the study about
rationale, research purpose, research questions, previous studies, research
procedure, research methods, significance of the study, scope of the study, and
design of the study.
Part B: MAJOR CONTENT
Chapter l: Literature review

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In this part, the study presents general information about knowledge and
deals with the theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study:
grammar, different views on English grammar teaching, the factors affecting on
students’ learning grammar, the difficulties in learning English grammar
communicatively.
Chapter2: Methodology
This chapter provides detailed information about the participants of the
study and details the tool for data collection that have been used and procedure
of conducting.
Chapter3: Data analysis and discussion
This chapter shows the detailed results together with a comprehensive
analysis on the data collected from the survey questionnaires, observation and
give the discussion. Then some suggestions will be given to help the grade 10
students improve their English grammar.
Part C: CONC LUSION
This part summarizes the major finding of the study, give implication of the
study for teachers of English, for students, for researcher, lists limitation of the
study, mentions suggestion for further research, and present conclusion.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the knowledge of grammar and CLT, the theories, factors
affecting on students’ grammar learning, and some difficulties in learning
English grammar communicatively will be presented.

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1.1. Overview of grammar
1.1.1. Definition of grammar
Grammar is a linguistic term that has become popular among those who
are working in the field of language teaching in general and second/foreign
language teaching in particular. However, the question of what grammar is has
yielded so many different answers from linguists and grammarians.
According to Harmer (1983:1), grammar of the language is the
description of “the ways in which words change themselves and group together
to make sentences”. Two examples are also given to illustrate for this definition:
the case of “walk” changes into “walked” to indicate the past tense and the case
of “not many” combines with the plural noun “oranges” to make a full sentence
like “There are not many oranges on the shelf”. Such view on grammar is
agreed by Ur (1988:4), Thornbury (1999:1), Crystal (1995) and Nunan
(2003:143). It can be seen that all these linguists describe grammar as a set of
rules that govern a language; however, they fail to work out what the “rules” are.
Crystal (2002) holds a different view on grammar when he argues that
grammar should be studied in two senses: in the specific sense, grammar is
presented as just one branch of language structure, distinct from phonology and

semantics; in the general sense, grammar subsumes phonology and semantics.
Thus, if viewed from a broader sense, grammar involves both form and
meaning.
By way of contrast, from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English (2009), grammar is defined as “the study and practice of the rules by
which words change their forms and are combined into sentences”. Sharing the
same idea, Ur (1988:4) states that “grammar may be roughly defined as the way
a language manipulates and combines words (or bit of words) in order to form
longer units of meaning”. Both definitions above refer to the morphology (word
formation) and syntax (sentence formation) of a language. Clearly, grammar is
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the element which makes up all words and structures in a sentence. It is a set of
rules which construct meaning and form of a sentence.
An alternative and more comprehensive definition of grammar is provided
by Widdowson (1988:151-2) in which grammar is viewed in terms of form,
meaning and function.
[Grammar is] “a device for indicating the most common and recurrent
aspects of meaning” [which] “formalizes the most widely applicable concepts,
the highest common factors of experience: it provides for communicative
economy”.
This definition shows a renovation in the view of grammar: grammar can
indicate meaning and grammar can communicate. Larsen-Freeman (2003)
shares her view on three dimensions of grammar teaching in which she insists
that grammar is not simply about accuracy of form but it relates to
meaningfulness and appropriateness as well. She also proposes a new definition
of grammar that “grammar(ing) is one of the dynamic linguistic processes of

pattern formation in language, which can be used by humans for making
meaning in context-appropriate ways” (Larsen-Freeman, 2003:142). Following
this definition, grammar is no longer a set of static rules but a dynamic process
of pattern formation which is best explored in appropriate contexts.
From all above definitions, grammar is the system of structures in a
language. Grammar specifies rules for standard use of words and how their
component parts combine to form sentences. A grammar is also a system for
classifying and analyzing the elements of language including inflections,
functions, rules and relations in the sentence.
1.1.2. The importance of grammar
No one can deny the importance of grammar in a primary medium of
learning at all stages of education as well as in foreign language learning.

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Teaching grammar has been a longstanding tradition in teaching a foreign
language. In recent years, the role of grammar in language teaching and learning
has received different interpretations. Traditional method like the grammar
translation one stressed the need to master grammar as the centerpiece in
learning foreign language whereas some expressed different against the teaching
grammar: “The study of grammar is neither necessary nor sufficient for learning
a language” (Brumfit and Johnson, H979). Therefore, there has been a great
controversy relating to the raised question: “Whether should we teach grammar
or not? Do we have to have grammar exercises? Isn’t it better for students to
absorb the rules intuitively through communicative activities than to be taught
through special exercises?” (Ur,1988). Some linguists have given their answer to
these big questions.

According to Richards, Platt, and Weber in Nunan (2005:2) grammar is a
description of a language and the way in which units such as words and phrases
are combined to produce sentences in the language. From this definition, it
seems that grammar plays an importance role in combining units of language to
form sentences. The sentences are acceptable or grammatically if they follow the
rules of grammar. Since a communicative purpose and function of language and
reflected in grammar, it is a must the language students to acquire good
grammar. It should be admitted, good mastery in grammar will enable people
easily to express information, feeling, and ideas in their thought to others. In
other words, it can be said that communication failure will happen if people do
not master the grammar because the purpose of communication cannot be
reached. From that statement, it is clear that grammar is important to be
mastered by the students in order to be able to express their feelings, emotions,
and to be able to use English appropriately.
Ur (1988) stressed the importance of grammar in language learning and
teaching. He stated “knowledge - implicit or explicit - of grammatical rules is
essential for the mastery of a language: you cannot use words unless you know
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how they should be put together”. However, he also claims “the learning of
grammar should be seen in the long term as a whole, not as an end in itself”.
Harmer (1987) also admitted that: “There is now a general feeling that
students do need to learn how to perform the functions of language, but they
need a grammatical base as well. Modem courses often teach a grammatical
structure and then get students to use it as part of a functional conversation”.
Furthermore, as Wang (2010) mentioned, after the appearance of
communicative approach, teachers often put much emphasis on “communicative

competence” and neglect “linguistic competence”. This leads in the fact that
students make lots of errors in oral as well as written performance because of
their lack of basic knowledge of language. With this tendency Hymes (1972,
quoted in Wang (2010)) indicates that “communicative competence” should
include “linguistic competence” and “linguistic performance”. Hence,
sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and
grammatical competence are four basic aspects of this approach
In conclusion, there still exist controversies about the role of grammar in
language teaching and learning. However, it can be seen that the above mentioned linguists share the same view in valuing the crucial role of grammar
in language learning and teaching. However, they assert that the sole mastery of
grammar is not the goal of language learning. The students’ ultimate goal in
learning grammar is to use it to perform communicative functions accurately,
effectively and successfully. Indeed, grammar offers students one of the most
effective means of extending students’ knowledge of language items in which
they can use to communicate in real life and to understand what is said written
in English.
1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching grammar.
Teaching grammar is a much debated topic in language learning. Different
experts have different opinions about teaching of grammar.
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According to some, the language cannot be learnt without studying of
grammar of the language. According to Sweet (cited in Patel & Praveen, 2008,
p.141), “grammar is not a code of rules.” According to Chapman (cited in Patel
& Praveen, 2008,p.141) “grammar is a study of language by specialist, made in
order to establish the rules and principles which underline the correct speech and
writing, rules and principles which are followed more or less unconsciously by

the native speakers”.
But some people say that utility of teaching of grammar is doubtful in
learning English. They say that the students who study grammar are very often
able to solve grammar exercises but do not make correct speech.
Teaching of grammar has a very important place in the past. It is
commonly believed that to help the learners to learn English language, its
grammar must be taught first. It is also believed that without knowing and
mastering grammatical rules of English, one cannot learn to speak and write it.
Slowly it is realized that correct usages go on changing from time to time. And
as a result, grammar teaching which was regarded as an end in itself lost its
importance. However, nowadays, it is believed that grammar cannot be taught in
isolation. Widodo (2006, p.122) says that “grammar is thought to furnish the
basis for a set of language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.” Doff
(2000), Long and Richards (1987) also gives opinion about the role of grammar
in learning language as follows:
By learning grammar, students can express meanings in the form of
phrases, clauses and sentences.
It cannot be ignored that grammar plays a central role in the four language
skills and vocabulary to establish communicative tasks.
(cited in Widodo,2006,p.122)
Now, we consider the approaches for teaching English grammar.
Many linguists give the same idea about the approaches for teaching
English grammar. As Richards (2006, p.6) points out, grammar has an important
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place in traditional approaches. It is considered as the basis of language
proficiency. In traditional approaches, grammar is assumed to be learnt through

direct instruction or repetitive practice and drilling. Traditional approaches are
divided into two types: deductive and inductive.
1.2.1 Deductive Approach
Widodo (2006, p.126) says that a deductive approach is derived from the
notion of deductive reasoning, i.e from the general to the specific. In this case,
rules, principles, concepts or theories are presented first, and then applications
are treated. In other words, we can simply understand that in deductive one,
“learners are presented with grammar rules then given opportunities to practice
using them”. (Richards, 2006, p.6)
 The procedure of the deductive approach can be generalized as follows.
1. Presentation of rule
2. Illustration with examples
3. Verification and application of rule
4. Practice
 In this approach, teachers must make sure to follow the following rules:
1. The rules should be true
2. The rules should show clearly what limits are on the use of a given form
3. The rules need to be clear
4. The rules ought to be simple
5. The rules need to make use of concepts already familiar to the learners
6. The rules ought to be relevant
Michael Swan, cited in Thornbury, 1999 (Widodo, 2006, p.126) Also in
the book Approaches and Procedures for teaching grammar, Widodo (2006,
p.127) assumes that most importantly, when the rules are presented in the
deductive approach, the presentation should be illustrated with examples, be

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short, involve students’ comprehension and allow learners to have a chance to
personalize the rule.
Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of the deductive approach to
teaching Grammar
1. The deductive approach goes straightforwardly to the
point and can, therefore, be time-saving.
2. A number of rule aspects (for example, form) can be
more simply and clearly explained than elicited from examples

Advantages

3. A number of direct practice/application examples are
immediately given.
4. The deductive approach respects the intelligence and
maturity of many adult learners in particular and acknowledges
the role of cognitive processes in language acquisition.
5. It confirms many learners‟ expectations about
classroom learning particularly for those who have an analytical
style.
1. Beginning the lesson with a grammar presentation may
be off-putting for some learners, especially younger ones.
2. Younger learners may not able to understand the
concepts or encounter grammar terminology given.

3. Grammar explanation encourages a teacher-fronted,
transmission-style classroom, so it will hinder learner
Disadvantages involvement and interaction immediately.
4. The explanation is seldom as memorable as other
forms of presentation (for example, demonstration).

5. The deductive approach encourages the belief that
learning a language is simply a case of knowing the rule.
(Widodo, 2006, p.127)

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1.2.2 Inductive Approach
In contrast to deductive reasoning, “An inductive approach comes from
inductive reasoning stating that a reasoning progression proceeds from
particulars (that is, observations, measurements, or data) to generalities (for
example, rules, laws, concepts or theories)”.
Felder & Henriques (1995). (Cited in Widodo, 2006, p.127)
According to Richards (2006, p.6), in the inductive one examples of
grammar points are given first then learners work out the rules for themselves.
We can see that this approach requires learners to participate actively in the
learning process as well as encourages learners to develop their own mental
strategies for dealing with tasks. Learners understand grammatical rules through
examples. The procedure of the inductive approach can be generalized as
follows.
1. Presentation of examples containing grammatical rule
2. Learners’ analysis for the rule from given examples
3. Application and Practice
As for Richards (2006, p.6), techniques used to teach grammar here
include memorization of dialogues, question and answer practice, substitution
drill and other forms of guided speaking and writing.
Everything has its two sides. The two approaches of deductive and
inductive have both advantages and disadvantages. The following is the tables of

advantages and disadvantages of deductive approach and inductive one.

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Table 2: Advantages and disadvantages of the inductive approach to
teaching Grammar
1. Learners are trained to be familiar with the rule discovery; this
could enhance learning autonomy and self-reliance.
2. Learners’ greater degree of cognitive depth is “exploited”.
3. The learners are more active in the learning process, rather
than being simply passive recipients. In this activity, they will be
motivated.
4. The approach involves learners‟ pattern-recognition and
Advantages

problem solving abilities in which particular learners are
interested in this challenge.
5. If the problem-solving activity is done collaboratively,
learners get an opportunity for extra language practice.
1. The approach is time and energy-consuming as it leads
learners to have the appropriate concept of the rule.
2. The concepts given implicitly may lead the learners to have

Disadvantag
e

the wrong concepts of the rule taught.

3. The approach can place emphasis on teachers in planning a
lesson.
4. It encourages the teacher to design data or materials taught
carefully and systematically.
5. The approach may frustrate the learners with their personal
learning style, or their past learning experience (or both) would
prefer simply to be told the rule
(Widodo, 2006, p.128)

Certainly, both approaches display advantages and disadvantages in their
applicability in the teaching process; however, the deductive approach relates
more strongly to the main objective of this research, for teaching grammar in a
communicative manner helps students explore the given example and deduce
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why certain rules are applied to those specific examples. Through this process,
learners may have the possibility to adapt those rules to some other examples,
create some other rules and develop their own learning process (Thornbury,
1999).
As Borg, (1998: 17) said, the use of a particular teaching technique,
approach, or methodology will be influenced by the language teacher’s
educational background, and by the formal training that this teacher had.
Consequently, a teacher whose educational background was firmly influenced
by the idea of making students enjoy thinking about grammar, and applying
rules in a practical and updated way, will implement methodologies based on
context- based activities, and will use this skill like a tool to allow language
learners to learn, possess, and analyze the second language while they interact

with native speakers and classmates. In this constant search to innovate and
make classes dynamic and inspiring, two teaching strategies will be mentioned:
the communicative strategy and the explicit strategy.
Of the two approaches above, which is best? This question relates to a
long-standing debate among language teachers in the context of English foreign
language, since the two have their own significance for particular learner
progress. For example, a study of various language learners shows that some
learners achieve better in deductive language classes; on the other hand, others
perform better in more inductive classes. This difference in cognitive styles may
be associated with different neurological mechanisms in learners (Eisenstein,
1987). Whether grammatical rules are taught inductively or deductively relies
upon certain structures, since some are more amenable to a deductive approach,
while others can be learned very well by an inductive approach.
To sum up, both deductive and inductive presentations can successfully be
applied depending on the cognitive style of the learner and the language
structure presented (Eisenstein, 1987; Brown, 2007).

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1.3. CLT on teaching grammar
1.3.1. Communicative competence
Communicative competence is now recognized as the primary goal of
language teaching. Canale and Swain (1980) consider that communicative
competence is made up of four factors namely grammatical competence,
sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence.
Grammatical competence includes a comprehension of linguistic code, the
ability to recognize the lexical, morphological, syntactic and phonological

features of a language and to manipulate these features to form words and
sentences. Sociolinguistic competence is the best described through
appropriateness, the degree to which one person understands the social context
in which language is used: the roles of participants, the information they share,
the functions of interaction. Discourse competence 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
includes the strategies a person uses to compensate for imperfect knowledge of
rules or limiting factors in their application such as fatigue, distraction,
inattention, etc. These strategies include paraphrasing, circumlocution, repletion,
hesitation, avoidance, guessing and shifts in register and style.
1.3.2. Definition of CLT
The latest influence on teaching methodology in Vietnam, at least in
English classes, is CLT. CLT appears in the 1960s and 1970s and was thought as
a resolution against the AM. It is pointed out by Bridley (1986: 11) that "the
1970's and 1980's could be regarded as the era of communicative language
teaching". A considerable number of books have been published bearing on the
label "communicative" in response to social pressures and evidence from sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic research. In spite of the popularity of CLT, it is

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difficult to define it in a satisfactory way. There is a variety if definitions about
CLT, Nunan (1989: 194) overviews the methods, which are adapted below,
contain aspects that are common to many definitions of CLT.
CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning. Activities
involve oral communication, carrying out meaning task and using language,
which is meaningful to the learners. Objectives reflect the needs of the learners;

they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives. The learners’ role
is as a negotiator and integrator. The teacher’s role is as facilitator of the
communication process. Materials promote communicative language use; they
are task- based and authentic.
According to Brinley (1986: 12), “Language is not a static system. It is
created through interaction; language learning does not consist merely of
internalizing a list of structural items. It is a process of learning how to negotiate
meaning in a particular socio- cultural context. Consideration of meaning rather
than form will therefore determine program content; language learning will be
more effective if they are centered on the needs and interests of the learners;
Language learning materials should, similarly, be related to learners’ needs and
interests and present learners with the opportunity for genuine communication;
effective communication is more than structures accuracy, particularly at the
beginning stages of language learning. Errors are a manifestation of the fact that
learning is taking place.”
1.3.3. 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 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 with communicative intent”. Students use the

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