Vệc sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan trong giảng dạy ngữ pháp cho học sinh nghiên cứu tại một trường tiểu học

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

THE USE OF VISUAL AIDS IN TEACHING
ENGLISH GRAMMAR TO YOUNG LEARNERS:
A CASE STUDY IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL

Supervisor: Cấn Thị Chang Duyên, M.A
Student: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hòa
Course: QH2014.F1.E6

HÀ NỘI – 2018


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

VIỆC SỬ DỤNG GIÁO CỤ TRỰC QUAN TRONG
GIẢNG DẠY NGỮ PHÁP CHO HỌC SINH:
NGHIÊN CỨU TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Cấn Thị Chang Dun
Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hịa
Khóa: QH2014.F1.E6

HÀ NỘI – 2018


ACCEPTANCE PAGE
I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Hòa, QH2014.F1.E6, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts English Language Teacher
Education accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and
use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in
the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care,
loan or reproduction of the paper.

Signature

Date


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.
Can Thi Chang Duyen, M.A., for her patience, profound knowledge, as well as her
whole-hearted assistance during my research.
Also, I also owe my sincere thanks to the teachers and students at Pham Hong
Thai Primary School, Nam Dinh, who have been the enthusiastic participants in my
research. Without them, my research could not be completed and successful.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to my lecturers in
Faculty of English Language Teaching Education, University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable
instruction and assistance throughout the realization of this thesis.

Last but not least, I am heartily thankful to my friends and my family,
especially my elder sister, who have constantly inspired and encouraged me to
overcome difficulties to complete this study.

i


ABSTRACT
The use of visual tools in teaching and learning is considered by many
researchers, but there is a lack of study on the use of these tool in teaching grammar
at primary level. The study aims at finding some types of visual aids implemented in
class and their used frequencies, the strengths and weaknesses of them and the
satisfaction level of teachers when using these tools. Mixed research, which is the
combination of qualitative research and quantitative one, was implemented with the
population was three official teachers at Pham Hong Thai Primary school. The
analysis of the result revealed that chalkboards were utilized the most as they were
equipped in every class and the preparation for the lesson instructed by blackboard
was the least among these six tools. Besides, in spite of the advantages that
projectors bring along, this tool was less used as it took time to prepare. The most
used visual aids at this school were pictures and flashcards because of its availability.
Last but not least, the satisfaction level of the teachers was based on the strengths
and weaknesses of these tools instead of their used frequencies in class. The
recommendations, then, can facilitate grammatical teaching and learning process
with the taking advantages of visual aids in classroom activities.

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ............................................................................................... 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS, ETC. .............................................. v
CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1

1.1

Background and statement of research problem ........................................... 2

1.2

Research questions ........................................................................................ 3

1.3

Scope of study ............................................................................................... 3

1.4

Significance ................................................................................................... 4

1.5

Organization of the study .............................................................................. 4

CHAPTER 2:

LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 6

2.1

Grammar ........................................................................................................ 6

2.2

Deductive and inductive methods of teaching grammar ............................... 7

2.3

Teaching grammar for different ages ............................................................ 8

2.4

Types of visual aids in teaching English ....................................................... 9

2.4.1

Picture ..................................................................................................... 9

2.4.2

Flashcards ............................................................................................. 10

2.4.3

Chalkboard ............................................................................................ 10

2.4.4

Overhead projector and slide projector................................................. 11

2.4.5

Realia .................................................................................................... 12

2.4.6

Videos ................................................................................................... 12

2.5

Previous studies on using visual aids in language teaching process ........... 13

2.5.1

Studies on using visual aids in language teaching process ................... 13

2.5.2

Studies on using visual aids in language teaching process in Vietnam 14

CHAPTER 3:
3.1

METHODOLOGY......................................................................... 16

Setting and participants ............................................................................... 16

3.1.1

Setting ................................................................................................... 16

3.1.2

Participants............................................................................................ 18
iii


3.2

Data collection ............................................................................................. 19

3.2.1

Research collection instruments ........................................................... 19

3.2.2

Data collection procedure ..................................................................... 20

3.3

Data analysis procedure ............................................................................... 21

CHAPTER 4:

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 23

4.1

Research question 1 ..................................................................................... 23

4.2

Research question 2 ..................................................................................... 26

4.3

Research question 3: .................................................................................... 34

CHAPTER 5:

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................ 39

5.1

Summary of the findings and conclusion .................................................... 39

5.2

Recommendations ....................................................................................... 41

5.3

Limitations ................................................................................................... 41

5.4

Suggestions for further research .................................................................. 42

REFERENCES 43
APPENDICES 47
APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE for TEACHERS of ENGLISH ... 47
APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW GUIDELINE .......................................................... 53
APPENDIX 3: CLASS OBSERVATION FORM ................................................ 54

iv


LIST OF FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS, ETC.
FIGURES
Figure 1. Grammar flashcard .................................................................................... 10
Figure 2: Chalkboards (Wright, 1989) ...................................................................... 11
Figure 3: Overhead Projector (Wright, 1989) ........................................................... 12
Figure 4: Slide projector (Wright, 1989) .................................................................. 12
Figure 5: Kinds of visual aids used in teaching grammar at Pham Hong Thai
Primary School .......................................................................................................... 23
Figure 6: The frequency of each types of visual aids in teaching grammar at Pham
Hong Thai Primary School........................................................................................ 24
Figure 7: The stages using visual aids in teaching grammar at Pham Hong Thai
Primary School .......................................................................................................... 25
Figure 8: General teachers’ perspective about strengths of using visual aids in
teaching grammar ..................................................................................................... 27
Figure 9: Unit 4 When's your birthday? .................................................................... 30

Figure 10: General weaknesses of visual aids in teachers’ perspective.................... 31
Figure 11: Weaknesses of visual aids in teaching English
at Pham Hong Thai Primary School ......................................................................... 32
Figure 12: Satisfaction level of teachers with the use of visual aids in teaching
English grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School ............................................. 34

TABLES
Table 1: Strengths and weaknesses of visual aids in teaching English at Pham Hong
Thai Primary School ................................................................................................. 28
Table 2: Satisfaction level of teacher [1] with the use of visual aids in teaching
English grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School ............................................ 35
Table 3 Satisfaction level of teacher [2] with the use of visual aids in teaching
English grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School ............................................ 36
v


Table 4 Satisfaction level of teacher [3] with the use of visual aids in teaching
English grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School ............................................. 37

ABBREVIATIONS
O.P&S.P: Overhead projector and slide projector
CB: Chalk board
MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

vi


CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION

Grammar is considered an essential element of a language; and learning
grammar is taken for granted as an important process during the period of
attaining a new language. This project is on purpose of researching the process of
teaching grammar at primary school and deeply exploring a method used in
teaching grammar to young learners.
According to several previous studies, there are many approaches to teach
grammar, two main of which are inductive and deductive ones. Each approach
contains merits and demerits. For example, deductive approach may confuse
learners with a wide range of grammar rules and it is suitable for adult learners
(Ellis, 2009, cited in Cruz & Mosquera, 2017). In contrast, inductive approach
can match young students with exposure of active examples and practice and let
them find out the rules of grammar (Thornbury, 1999).
According to Rodríguez (2009), after a long period of time investigation,
researchers pointed out that explicit grammar instruction, which is the main
method of deductive approach, is an effective method to present grammatical
knowledge to adult learners. On the contrary, young learners have some
distinctive characteristics that require different approaches to instruct
grammatical knowledge (Harmer, 2007). Hence, teachers should create suitable
and enjoyable activities and instruction embedded grammatical structures to help
children know, understand and apply grammar without memorizing such long
and boring rules. One of the most useful methods is using visual tools. Basically,
visual tools are what people can see such as pictures, charts, slides, etc.
In the literature review, concepts, studies and findings related to this
project will be presented. Regarding the theoretical concept of grammar,
grammar teaching, young learners and visual aids. These studies were
implemented in different contexts and with different participants, but showed
significant results that have contributed to the development of my project.

1

1.1

Background and statement of research problem

English, nowadays, plays an important role in society, and learning
English has become a popular trend (Crystal, 2003). Many countries learn and
speak English as their second language such as Singapore, Malaysia, Argentina,
and others consider English an essential foreign language. Vietnam is noted to be
in the latter group. Besides learning at school, Vietnamese students are sent to
English center at young age to gain English ability. According to Ha (2009),
students start to learn English at a public school at the age of eight (grade three),
and they are also taken to at least one extra class to improve their English skills.
To enhance students’ English competence, namely reading, listening,
speaking, and writing skills, vocabulary and grammar, teachers utilize a wide
range of teaching aids such as textbooks, handouts, boards, pictures, flashcards,
PowerPoint slides, objects, and so on. To investigate the effectiveness of the
above tools, or visual aids, in teaching English, worldwide researchers conducted
a wide range of studies aiming at different topics. For example, Yassaei (2012)
mentioned that media, videos in particular, were a useful tool in language
classroom while Young (2008) claimed that ‘technology tools can provide
another way for children to learn and make sense of their world’. It means that
thanks to the visual tools students have more chances to acquire lingual
knowledge and enhance their skills.
In spite of the fact that authors explored the advantages and disadvantages
of visual aids in various issues, the concentration of the researcher mostly
directed to the use of visual tools in teaching language in general or teaching
vocabulary. Some targeted at using visual aids in teaching grammar for students,
but the participants of these researches were from USA, Chile, Spain,

Bangladesh, etc.
In the context of Vietnam, visual aids were also taken into exploration
such as the effects of visual aids in teaching reading to school students (Nguyen
& Nguyen, 2007), the use of visual aids to teach English vocabulary for college
students (Bui, 2012), the use of pictures in teaching English speaking in an
2


English center (Duong, 2011) and so on. It can be seen that Vietnamese
researchers, likewise, focused more on teaching vocabulary or English skills than
grammatical instruction. Another thing should be noted that Vietnamese
researchers also focus on adult learners namely high school and university
students. These aforementioned facts trigger a question of the application of
visual aids in teaching other English learning aspects such as grammar and in
other context of secondary schools and primary schools. All of the
aforementioned reasons have inspired the author to carry out an in-depth research
on the use of visual aids in teaching English grammar for young students at
Pham Hong Thai Primary School.
1.2

Research questions

By investigating this topic, the researcher would like to find out which
types of visual aids English teachers at Pham Hong Thai Primary School can
employ to teach grammar, visual aids are used implicitly or explicitly and what
functions of visual aids in each stage of teaching grammar are, in each stage what
strengths and weaknesses of using visual aids can be and what English teachers
and students at a primary school think of using visual aids in teaching grammar.
With the aforementioned aims, the research seeks to answer the following
questions:

(1) What types of visual aids are employed by teachers to teach
grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School?
(2) What are strengths and weaknesses of using visual aids in teaching
and learning English grammar at Pham Hong Thai Primary School
perceived by the teachers?
(3) How do English teachers at Pham Hong Thai Primary School rate
their satisfaction with the use of visual aids in teaching English
grammar?
1.3

Scope of study

Having reported the characteristics of visual aids and their benefits for
second language instruction in other areas and with different participants, the
3


researcher needs now to generate the trend in one primary school / center in
Vietnam and recheck the strengths and challenges of teaching and learning
English grammar via visual aids. For this purpose, the researcher chose Pham
Hong Thai Primary School. This school follows the regulations of Ministry of
Education and Training (MOET), which related to teacher selection and training,
teaching rules, curriculum, textbook, assessment and testing plan and marking
rubrics.
1.4

Significance

This research does not aim at generalizing a trend of using visual aids to
teach English grammar for whole young learners a large area as Vietnam. The

purpose of the study is to point out some useful techniques and kinds of visual
tools can be used in grammar class for primary students in a particular school.
Besides, the strengths and weaknesses of using visual aids to present structural
items to young children are also considered. By this, other teachers can adapt and
make use of visual aids to illustrate sets of grammar rules to students. Besides,
once this research can end, it can be an encouragement for teachers to selfimprove their teaching process in general and English grammar teaching in
particular.
1.5

Organization of the study

The study is composed of three main parts including five chapters
Chapter 1 Introduction
This chapter is the presentation of basic information such as the statement of the
problem, rationale, scope, aims and objectives as well as the organization of the
study.
Chapter 2 Literature review
This chapter conceptualizes the framework of the study by discussing the
literature relating to grammar, methods of teaching grammar, teaching grammar
to different ages, some types of visual aids and studies on using visual aids in
teaching English and teaching grammar.
Chapter 3 Methodology
4


This chapter features the context and the methodology of the study, which
includes sampling, the data collection instruments, and data collection procedure
as well as data analysis.
Chapter 4 Findings and discussion
This chapter focuses on the analysis of the data and discusses the results of the

study.
Chapter 5 Conclusions
This chapter summarizes the findings, offers some limitations and gives
recommendations for further study.

5


CHAPTER 2:
2.1

LITERATURE REVIEW

Grammar

According to Schiffman (2000), a language consists of five elements
namely a sound-system, a set of vocabulary items, a grammatical system, syntax,
and a semantic component. In these five, grammar is the component that has
been believed that students expect to learn grammar whenever they think of
learning a language (Scrivener, 1994, cited in Surovee, 2014).
The term “grammar” is derived from the Greek expression “grammatike
tekhne” meaning "art of letters" (Harper, n.d.). After centuries, it has been
recorded many definitions of grammar.
Francis (2009) claimed that there are three meaning of the word
“grammar”. The first meaning is the set of arranged words to convey larger
meanings. “Grammar” also means linguistic science concerned with “the
description, analysis, and formulization of formal language patterns.” (Thornbury,
1999) And the last aspect that grammar related to was linguistic etiquette, which
means how people used sentences in each situation. After a long time, Thornbury
(1999) stated that grammar is partly the study of possible structures used in a

language. The most ubiquitous analysis of grammar is sentence level. Hence,
grammar can be considered as a description of the rules to form a sentence.
Another definition of grammar was offered by Ur (1996) and Brown (2007),
which defined that grammar is the structure or set of rules of a language.
Languages would contain many variations and would be vague without
using grammar (Kruţicová, 2015), which can lead to understanding in
communication. To illustration for this point, a wrong tense can change the
meaning of a sentence and mislead audiences. As a result, the conversation,
which includes a gap of mutual understanding, and the point of communication,
are on the verge of corruption.
As

reported

by Thornbury

(1999),

grammar

included

both

a

representational and an interpersonal function. Grammar is the way that people
can describe and explain phenomenon all over the world. Furthermore, thanks to
6

grammar, it can be easier for people to communication and interaction with
others. Therefore, people can indeed acknowledge the world as well as express
themselves more exactly, especially foreign ones (Cruz & Mosquera, 2017).
Scrivener (2003 as cited in Cruz & Mosquera, 2017) states that “grammar is a
living resource that gives us the ability to communicate our ideas and feelings
and to understand what other people say or write to us.” In other words, it is
considered to be essential to understand and communicate in new languages.
2.2

Deductive and inductive methods of teaching grammar

Among many methods of teaching grammar, the two main ones are
deductive approach and inductive one. Each approach has its own characteristics
that match the learners.
In the deductive approach, teacher needs to explain grammar rules
explicitly to students and utilize examples and practice to help students revise the
rules. According to Ellis (2009), students are required to remember a chain of
rules, which are from simple to complicated ones. So, it can be systematic for
students to implement. But this method lets learners one-way attain grammatical
knowledge from teachers. Thus, in some cases, this way may confuse students,
especially the younger ones (Thornbury, 1999).
Nevertheless, teachers can choose the other, inductive method, to provide
grammatical rules. Inductive approach is the method that gives students examples
and practice activities in order to implicitly present rules of grammar. This
method is also called “rule-discovery” (Thornbury, 1999). Thornbury also
claimed that inductive teaching could enable students to be more autonomous,
motivated and active through the effort of discovering grammar rules. To make
this approach be highly advantageous, teacher should present exposure
illustrations, choose appropriate tasks, and supply advisable assistance for

students (Scrivener, 1994).
In other words, deductive method brings along a series of subsequent
grammar rules, which can be difficult for students to memorize; on the other

7


hand, inductive one associates with examples and practices that enable students
to self-explore the rules with suitable environment and helps created by teachers.
2.3

Teaching grammar for different ages

According to Ikpia (2003), adult learners believe that grammar plays an
important role in their education, career, and daily life. As a result, they focus
much on grammar learning to improve their grammatical knowledge. To help the
older acquire these rules, teachers apply a wide range of methods. A history
provided by Hinkel (2002, as cited in Rodriguez, 2009) shown that grammar
translation approach, direct method which enables learners to gain second
language structures in the same way that they learned their first, audio-linguicism
and cognitive approaches to instruction were employed. However, these
aforementioned methods contain the negative impacts overwhelming the positive
one (Rodríguez, 2009). Therefore, another approach is utilized, which called
explicit grammar instruction or focus-on-form in instruction in particular. Formfocused discipline is defined as instruction that draws students’ attention to
linguistics form (Ellis R. , 2001). In investigating pre-intermediate and
intermediate student, Ellis, Basturkmen, and Loewen (2001) found that focus-onform activities enhanced learners’ grammatical accuracy and use of new forms.
Unlike the older, young learners have some unique characteristics that
require different approach to instruct grammatical knowledge. Harmer (2007)
claimed that young children, who are up to nine or ten years old learn differently
from learners at other age groups.

They respond to meaning even if they do not understand individual work
They often learn indirectly rather than directly – that is they take in
information from all slides, learning from everything around them rather than
only focusing on the precise topic they are being taught.
Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from what they
see and hear and, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with.
They generally display an enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the
world around them.
They have a need for individual attention and approval from the teacher.
They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning that uses
themselves and their own lives as main topics in the classroom.

8


They have a limited attention span, unless activities are extremely engaging
they can easily get bored, losing interest after ten minutes or so. (Harmer,
2007, p. 38)

Hence, it is evident that teaching grammar to kids is different from
presenting these structures to adult learners. By this, the inductive approach
needs to be employed in order that grammatical items are provided implicitly via
meaningful contexts, suitable activities and timely assistance.
2.4

Types of visual aids in teaching English

It is noted that the most effective teaching aid is combination of pictures
and stories (Brumfit et al., 1991 & Kennedy and Jarvis, 1991, as cited in
Mokarrama, 2017) and these things are listed as types of visual tools. According

to Rautrao (2012), visual aids enable both teachers and students to explain better
a language point. Basically, visual tools are what people can see such as pictures,
charts, slides, etc.…
2.4.1 Picture
Pictures are perhaps the most used visual tools in vocabulary teaching
(Dolati & Richards, 2010) and are versatile and effective resources for teaching
new structures (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1998). Moreover, an object or even the
whole story can be presented in one picture. Celce-Murcia and Hilles also
claimed that as low level learners, especially kids, are difficult to understanding
long or complicated verbal information, pictures are the better choice to illustrate
the lesson (1998).
According to Bowen (1982), a picture used as a visual material in teaching
needs to meet five requirements namely attraction, recognition, relevance, size
and clarity. Particularly, the chosen pictures should stimulate students’ interest
and imagination. Besides, it is essential that pictures not only are “within
students’ knowledge and cultural understanding” (p. 5) but also relates to given
topics and lessons. Bowen stated that size and details of pictures are concerned to
fit the class size as well as learning activities
Mentioning the supply of pictures, Wright (1989) listed a wide range of
sources that teachers can take advantage such as newspapers, magazines,
9


advertisement and publicity, postcards, calendar and so on. These sources may
include both plus points and minus ones; yet they enable teachers to have a
collection of pictures easily.
2.4.2 Flashcards
One of the most ubiquitous aids is flashcard, which can support to present
new vocabulary or grammar patterns (Scrivener, 2003). Flashcards in description
of Chien (2015) include “words on one side and pictures or definitions on the

other side.” (p. 111). Another kind of flashcard contains grammatical patterns
that can be combined, reordered during lesson procedure (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Grammar flashcard
(Anglomaniacy.pl, n.d.)
With these flashcards, teachers can utilize them flexibly to fit their
designed activities in class. Besides, Gelfgren (2012) reports that structural
instruction ought to avoid focus on rules, written exercises, or translations;
instead, teacher can help students understand more easily via this kind of
supportive material.
For the source of flashcards, Wright (1989) mentioned self-made cards as
the most popular ones.
2.4.3 Chalkboard

10


This equipment can be found in almost every classroom with two different
types, namely static board and mobile one; nowadays, people also replace
blackboard by whiteboard to avoid chalk dust (Wright, 1989). Teachers can not
only write but also draw on the board or even stick pictures, flashcards or
handout on it. By logically organizing details or information on the board,
teachers can present new knowledge, drill and practice the lessons. (Figure 2)

Figure 2: Chalkboards (Wright, 1989)

2.4.4 Overhead projector and slide projector
Projectors including overhead projector and slide projector are ubiquitous
equipment in modern classroom. They can be applied to provide straightforward
and lively lessons such as presentation, practice and production. They are

flexibly used as materials are prepared by teachers or presenters to fit the
requirements of the lessons (Wright, 1989) (Figure 3&4)

11


Figure 3: Overhead Projector (Wright, 1989)

Figure 4: Slide projector (Wright, 1989)
2.4.5 Realia
Realia is defined as real object that is used in the classroom activities for
different teaching purposes (Harmer, 1991). That is significant since ‘‘children’s
understanding comes not just from explanations, but also from what they see and
hear, and, crucially, have a chance to touch and interact with’’ (Harmer, 2003,
p.82). Real objects are appreciated in teaching vocabulary, which stated by Allen
(1983). The most effective way of using realia is utilizing objects available in the
classroom for the instruction.
2.4.6 Videos
12


Richards & Rolati (2010) claimed film, which includes slides, motion
picture films and fixed filmstrips, is another useful form of visual aids in
teaching process. Videos can make students focus more on the activity and pay
attention to the words involved in it (Richard and Rolati, 2010).
Summary:
All things considered, teaching grammar to young learners needs some
different techniques in compared with teaching it to other kinds of learners. With
the previous studies on the use of some mentioned types of visual aids,
researchers found some features that should be applied to teach young learners

grammar points.
2.5

Previous studies on using visual aids in language teaching

process
2.5.1 Studies on using visual aids in language teaching process
Numerous studies were conducted to reveal the results of investigating
visual aids in teaching and learning process. According to Parker (2015), videos
make an important role in teaching pronunciation and grammar lessons as
learners can gain the knowledge through the sound as well as the sentences made
in the videos.
With the relatively same idea with Parker, Young (2008) claimed that
technology facilitates students in learning process. Technology products change
the grades, motivation, attitude, and attendance of students. Partly agreeing with
Young, Schmid (2008) also pointed out some drawbacks of multi-media and
technology such as students was overwhelmed of provided environment and also
felt spoon-fed by teachers.
Similar to media and videos, pictures and flashcards can allow students to
remember more quickly and easily (Wright, 1989). However, these tools create
tranquil vision while videos and projector supply students with more vivid image
and sometimes include attractive sounds.

13


A study conducted by Wade (2002) reported that, in his context, teaching
grammar via visual aids to classes of beginners appears to be the best medium of
teaching. In this study, gestures, pictures, and textbooks were employed to
illustrate the author’s points.

2.5.2 Studies on using visual aids in language teaching process in
Vietnam
In Vietnamese context, the focus of the researchers has been on the
vocabulary teaching process, the motivation of using visual aids in class and the
attitudes of teachers and learners towards using these tools with the investigation
on adolescents and adult learners.
As reported by Bui (2012), visual tools used in teaching vocabulary most
frequently were objects and following by pictures and overhead projectors. After
these tools, the author listed some others such as chalkboard gestures, mime and
performances with the lower level of recurrence. Among the above tools,
teachers in the paper prefer using realia to illustrate their teaching process.
However, this study also noted that this method of teaching vocabulary was not
effective enough. The reason was that the ages of participant were over 18 years
old and they were not interested in this method.
With the review of the same age as Bui, Nguyen and Nguyen (2007)
investigated the use of visual aids in motivating students at college. The results
revealed the role of some kinds of visual aids such as pictures, gestures, mimes,
and actions towards the students’ emotion and feelings, which showed the
benefits of these tools in motivating students.
Investigating about general teaching aids, Nguyen (2010) stated that audio
aids and audio-visual aids were used more than others in teaching process for
grade 10th at High School. Besides, the author also pointed out that teaching aids
were helpful to teach a language in general, especially had a great effect on
grammatical teaching process.

14


Dissimilar to the aforementioned study, this paper focus on visual aids
used in grammar teaching process to young learners. As the difference between

ages of learners as well as the geographical location, the researcher hopes that,
this paper will conduct significant results towards this issue.
Summary:
After reviewing previous studies related to grammar, methods of teaching
grammar, teaching grammar to different ages, some types of visual aids and
studies on using visual aids in teaching English and teaching grammar, the
researcher affirmed that there is a lack of study on teaching and learning
grammar via visual aids at primary school level. It could be assumed that there
were some differences in using visual aids in grammatical instruction to young
learners amongst using these tools to teach the other types of students and
learning points.

15


CHAPTER 3:

METHODOLOGY

Quantitative methods and qualitative one are two main types of research
methods popularly used in currently studies. In comparison between these two
types, each one has its own strengths, which facilitate researchers to reach the
findings of their studies. In particular, quantitative methods target to classify
features, examine collected statistic and create statistical models to evaluate
hypotheses and explain observations while the other aims for a complete,
detailed description of observations, including the context of events and
circumstances (Kothari & Garg, 2016). Kothari and Garg (2016) also stated that
case study method, very ubiquitous form of qualitative analysis, is essentially an
intensive investigation of the particular unit under consideration. It means that
via case study, the research object could be outstanding in a particular setting

(Yin, 1984 as cited in Zainal, 2007).
In this study, the employed research method should be a quantitative
method and the chosen instrument was case study with mixed data collection
methods. As the purpose of this paper is to generalize the trend in using visual
aids when teaching English grammar at a primary school, the author should use
mixed methods in this case. By this, the researcher means that questionnaires
were used to collect the data from English teachers at chosen school and then indepth interviews and observations were implemented to clarify the gathered data.
Besides, the researcher aims at finalize the featured practice in using visual
materials in teaching English grammar at the chosen primary school, she should
use case study for this research.
3.1

Setting and participants

3.1.1 Setting
This study took place at Pham Hong Thai Primary school, Nam Dinh,
Vietnam during the second semester of 2017-2018 academic year.
As following to the Circular 41 of MOET, Pham Hong Thai Primary
School meets the demands and standards of a primary school of organization,
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