Integrating grammar for communicative language and using some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar lessons

ere are some photos taken in our class.
	The students could continue with one team raising questions and the others answering. This activity also helps to enhance students’ general knowledge, apart from English knowledge.
IV.2.2. Using songs
	Songs and music always create relaxing and non-threatening atmosphere for students, who are usually unconfident when speaking English in a formal classroom setting. In any case, students find the lesson interesting from songs. And a major success is breaking the traditional view of dull and boring grammar classes. In grammar lesson, songs may be used both used for the presentation and practice phase. 
Sample: Using the song “If I were a rich man” 
to present the conditional sentences type 2 Unit 9: undersea world grade 10
Type of activity: individual work, pair work, whole class
Aims: present the conditional sentences type 2.
Preparation: make the copy of the handouts for each student .
Procedure: - Deliver the handouts to the students
Ask Ss to listen to the song.
IF I WERE A RICH MAN
"Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor.
But it's no great honor either!
So, what (1).have been so terrible if I (2).. a small fortune?"
If I (3) a rich man,
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I (4) a wealthy man.
I (5)have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I (6).a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle man.
After the first listening, students work in pairs and share their ideas
For the second listening, students have to fill in these verbs in the correct blank
Show the video clip of the song on the screen and ask students to pay attention to the action in the song 
IF I WERE A RICH MAN.
"Dear God, you made many, many poor people.
I realize, of course, that it's no shame to be poor.
But it's no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?"
If I were a rich man,
Ya ha deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn't have to work hard.
Ya ha deedledeedle, bubba bubba deedledeedledum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Yidle-diddle-didle-didle
( Here are the photos when my students practiced in their lesson)
let them withdraw the form, use and meaning of the conditional sentences type 2
For an extra- activity , the teacher can ask the students to sing the song individually or the whole class
IV.2.3. Role - play
	Role play is used to refer all sorts of activities where students imagine themselves in one situation outside the classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone rather interesting than themselves, and using appropriate language on the new context. For example, one student acts the father and the others play as his sons/daughters
	This activity is often used at the production stage.
Sample: Role-play to practice talking about purpose.
(Application for unit 12: Music – grade 10)
Who wearing the hat is the father and the others are his sons/daughters.
 A B
B: I want to get good mark.
A: in order to/toget good mark, you must study harder/ you must stop playing game to get good mark. .
B: This is your newspaper.
A: I didn’t have time to read the newspaper.
(The students felt highly enthusiastic when they acted the father.)
IV.2.4. Interview
	Interview is also a learning activity that can be used to teach grammar. Students interview each other and they can say true sentences about themselves. In that way, students learn and practice the structures and they also get to know about their partners. This activity makes the learning atmosphere more friendly and relaxing because they may find something in common and they can share with each other. Interview is usually suitable for the production stage.
Sample: Interview to practice “WH-questions”
Unit 12: Music – grade 10
	* Preparation: Each student has a form applying a scholarship.
	* Application: Students work in pairs, asking for information and putting it into the form
APPLICATION FORM
Full name: 
Sex: .
Date of birth: ..
Pace of birth: ..
Permanent address: 
Nationality: 
School attended: .
Certificate: 
Foreign languages: 
Hobbies: ..
	Students will have to ask various kinds of questions, such as:
	- What’s your full name?
	-When were you born?
	- Where do you live now? 
	- Have you got any diplomas?
	- Can you speak any foreign language?
 ( Students joined in the interview with exalted pronunciation)
IV.2.5. Telling stories
	“Everyone loves stories, including ESL students. Stories are used in contemporary ESL materials to promote communication and expression in the classroom.” Celce- Murcia (1988: 51)
	Both teachers and students can tell stories. “Our students are marvelous storytellers as well as listeners, and this ability can be used to good advance.” 
Celce- Murcia (1988: 55)
	Telling stories is suitably applied for the production stage when students are free to say what they want and what they think. In that way, they can develop their imagination and self- confidence at the same time.
Sample:Telling stories to teach students the conditional sentence type 3
(The application for Unit 11: National Parks – grade 10)
	- Teacher writes the first half of a sentence at the top of the board: If he hadn’t got up late , and writes the other half at the bottom of the board: he wouldn’t have gone to prison.
	- At first sight, this conditional sentence seems irrational as no one has to go to prison just because he gets up late. However, this irrational situation provokes curiosity, and students are eager to find out the reason for this consequence.
	- Students work in groups, trying to make up a logical story of the man who eventually went to prison. They take notes of the events in a sequence of time and then they say full sentences with third conditional. For examples:
 A – If he hadn’t got up late, he wouldn’t have missed the bus.
 B – If he hadn’t missed the bus, he wouldn’t have been in a hurry.
 C – If he hadn’t been in a hurry, he wouldn’t have taken a taxi. 
 D – If he hadn’t taken a taxi, he wouldn’t have dropped his wallet in the street.
 A – If he hadn’t dropped his wallet in the street, he would have had the money to pay the taxi driver.
 B – If he had had the money, the taxi driver wouldn’t have got angry.
	This is a very interesting and effective activity, as students can use the structure again and again, all of them have a chance to speak and they can create the story as they wish.
On
One group was working hard and then, each member of this group stood up in turn to tell their group’s story.
IV.2.6. Describing the pictures:
 Depending on the purpose of the lesson, teachers may use different images for students to describe. For examples:
Teach “comparatives and superlative ”
In Unit 16: Historical places _grade 10
+ Give each group some pictures and ask them to make comparisons orally.
+ Students will sit in groups and practice speaking.
+ Tools: papers, pictures
+ Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation".
+ Time: 6'
- The teacher will ask Ss give their comparisons
- Teachers will give students some sample sentences:
 The boy standing on the right hand is the shortest person.
 The blue car ran the most quickly
- Students will put the same question using comparisons.
- Some of the students to present their sentences:
- Teacher encourages SS and gives them the feedback/mark/gift.
 ( Students made many comparisions confidently)
Teach “who, which , that” in Unit 5 : Technology and you _grade 10
+ Give each group a picture and ask the members to use the pronunciation to make a correct sentences.
+ Students will sit in groups and practice speaking
+ Tools used: paper , paintings
+ Apply to the grammar school pupils after the "Pronunciation " .
+ Time: 6'
- The teacher will ask students to describe the activities of the people in the painting using who, which, that.
- Teachers will give students some sample sentences:
There are four students who are playing on the ground.
The little boy who is wearing a green shirt is drawing the sun.
- Students will make more sentences in the same way: using who, which, that
- Some of the students to describe the picture:
Teachers can encourage students by giving them suggested words. This section will be helpful .
( The attraction of the pictures motivated and they worked enthusiastically)
IV.2.7. Getting cards from teacher.
	Teacher must prepare a number of cards for his/her purpose.
Ex:The application to teach Present simple and Adverbs of frequency
Unit1: A day in the life of.. – grade 10
Teachers’ preparation: 15 cards with one adverb of frequency in each card
e. g. always, occasionally, hardly ever, never, every night, once every two years, every twenty minutes... 
Procedure: 
	- Divide the class into 3 teams,
	- Asking each team to send 5 representatives. All the 15 students stand in a horizontal line, taking turns to get one card from the teacher, turn it over, read the adverb out and immediately say a sentence containing that adverb.
Ex: Student A: Always → I always come home at six o’clock.
 Student B: Every two years → I go to my homeland every two years.
Anyone who cannot say the sentence right away, makes a grammatical mistake or whose sentence does not make sense will be out
Student C: Never →My mother never do exercise in the evening.
Other students: Wrong! My mother never does exercise in the evening.
So student C will be out. In the end, whichever team has the most members remaining will be the winner.
Apart from practice using the present simple tense and adverbs of frequency, students have a chance to practice reaction in speaking, accuracy and fluency. 
(The boy was shocked when the girl found out his mistake.
IV.2.8. The perfect couples (Tạm dịch là : cặp đôi hoàn hảo)
Teacher classifies female students and male ones to find the perfect couple who have the best sentences when they are combined. 
Teacher can also use this technique in some other cases. For example, teaching conditional sentences (2 clauses in one sentense)
And this is a example to teach 
“ The present perfect” and “Because of or in spite of”
Unit 7: The Mass Media - grade 10
Procedure:
Teacher prepares some couple pieces of paper having the number on.
Teacher passes the papers over spontaneously and asks SS to do:
Team 1(female): Write uncompleted sentences with “because of” or” in spite of”
Ex: 
In spite of the time,
Because of the rain,
.
Team 2 (male): Make sentences put in the present perfect tense.
e.g: I have gone to England.
	Nam has drunk beer.
	..
Teacher call all couples of Ss to read out their writing.
Which couple having the most appropriate interesting sentence will be the perfect couple and get present from teacher. 
Here are some photos to illustrate for this activity.
From the pictures, we have 5 sentences to be read before the class:
Sentence 1: In spite of the rain, he has drunk beer. 
Sentence 2: Because of teachers, I has flied to England 
Sentence 3: In spite of illness, I have had no money 
Sentence 4: In spite of the illness, I have finished all my homework 
Sentence5: Because of the headache, Nam has worked hard. 
Of all 5 sentences, the girl and the boy number 4 is the perfect couple.
( The boy was naughty, came to shake his hand with the girl, whereas the girl seemed to be shy before their classmates.)
	Surely, through this activities, students can have unforgetable moments when they were in hight shool. 
III. THE RESULTS OF APPLYING THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE.
	Without any money but surely, with the lessons have been well prepared, the teachers will get good result.
	According to the survey at the beginning of the school year, about 50% found that it was boring to study grammar because they had to remember the structures, so few motivate activities have been done in their classes. They didn’t really like the grammar lessons. In detail with the rate 
Class
Amout of students
Student like grammar lesson
10 A
35
42,9%
10 B
33
48,5%
	With the clever student, the grammar exercise is not difficult because of their good memory, but with the rest ones, it is really a proplem. They don’t remember structures exactly, especially, there are a lot of mistakes with their pronunciation. Therefore, the communication in english is considered as the big trouble of them. After one year applying those strategies into my teaching, I have achieved some preliminary success. 
	The first notable change is the students' motivation. They have not felt learning grammar too seriously, most of my grammar lessons were less boring and my students are more interested in learning.
Class
Amout of students
Student like grammar lesson
10 A
35
88,6%
10 B
33
97%
 	The second thing is that my students’ speaking ability has been improved much after they attended these lessons and many students don’t avoid 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. At the beginning of the school year, most of my students had wondered whether or not they would be able to communicative without doing many grammar exercises, but gradually they have gained their confidence with the communicative activities. 
THE STATISTICS
(class 10 A and class 10B in school year 2014 - 2015)
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.
1. The student’s interest in English
Class
Number of students
Like very much
Like
Dislike
10A
35
5
14,3%
10
28,6%
20
57,1%
10B
33
4
12,1%
12
36,4%
17
51,5%
2. The result after finish a test with 30 multi choice grammatical sentences 
Class
Number of students
20<=correct answers <= 30
10<=correct answers <=20
0<=correct answers <10
10A
35
11
31,4%
19
54,3%
5
14,3%
10B
33
10
30,3%
18
54,5%
5
15,2%
3. Vocabulary.
Class
Number of students
Abundance of vocabulary
Vocabulary is enough
Lack of vocabulary
10A
35
0
0%
7
20%
28
80%
10B
33
0
0%
6
18,2%
27
81,8%
4. Speaking and listening skills
Class
Number of students
Confident
Normal
Unconfident
10A
35
2
5,7%
10
28,6%
23
65,7%
10B
33
1
3%
9
27,3%
23
69,7%
AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR.
1. The student’s interest in English
Class
Number of students
Like very much
Like
Dislike
10A
35
12
34,3 %
19
54,3 %
4
11,4%
10B
33
14
42,4 %
18
54,6 %
1
3%
2. The result after finish a test with 30 multi choice grammatical sentences 
Class
Number of students
20<= correct answer <= 30
10<= correct answer <=20
0<= correct answer <=10
10A
35
20
57,1%
14
40%
1
2,9%
10B
33
21
63,6%
11
33,3%
1
3%
3. Vocabulary 
Class
Number of students
Abundance of vocabulary
Vocabulary is enough
Lack of vocabulary
10A
35
0
0%
25
71,4%
10
28,6%
10B
33
0
0%
23
69,7%
10
30,3%
4. Speaking and listening skills
Class
Number of students
Confident
Normal
Unconfident
10A
35
7
20%
18
51,4%
10
28,6%
10B
33
5
15,15%
15
45,5%
13
39,4%
VI. THE CONDITIONS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION.
	Factually, when you mention about the condition and the implementation this study, you should point out some “challenges” of communicative teaching and learning English:
	- Huge classes. (There are so many students in the class)
	- A lack of visual aids
	- The learning materials should be well designed in advance
	- The students are not mature and responsible; they could not be organized in small groups and given communicative tasks
 Regarding the issue of feasibility for applying the experiences, in my opinion, with the result of applying some techniques mentioned above, it is undeniable that teacher can get better results than teaching through traditional methods. But surely, the teachers have well preparation , both English teachers and students have got suitable conditions, a better classroom environment with audio/visual aids like computer, multimedia, OHP, etc.,
PART C: CONCLUSION
I. 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 English language functions effectively, and encourage the teaching of grammar in communicative ways.
II. SOME RECOMEMNDATIONS.
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 chosen should respond to students' interest, or familiar to them. Some topics that most students find interesting are: music, movies, environment, education, jobs, tourism etc
- Teachers should play the role of helpful instructor. Grammatical points should be used to communicate practically. It may take time and effort to help students improve their communication skills.
- In addition, teachers should stimulate students to join class activities, especially the weak and passive students. Negative comments from the teachers which threaten the students or influence the students’ participation in the class should not be used if necessary. Apart from that, the training course in CLT should be held regularly to help teachers update their knowledge and exchange their teaching experience so that they can apply CLT on teaching to make their grammar lessons more effective.
REFERENCES
Van sHoang Van (2015), English textbook. Educational Vietnam Press.
Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Approaches to Communicative Competence. SEAMEO Regional Language Cent
Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman
Harmer, J. (1987). Teaching and Learning Grammar. Longman Group UK Limited
Richards, J. C & Rodgers, J.S (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Lock, G. (1997). Functional English Grammar: an Introduction for Second Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Pekoz, B. Integrating Grammar for Communicative Language Teaching. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XIV, No. 10, October 2008. 
Websites:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION	1
I. RATIONALE	1
I.1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND	2
I.2. PRACTICAL CONTEXT	2
I.2.1.The psychology of students in high school	2
I.2.2.Problems of teaching and learning English grammar	2
II. AIMS OF THE STUDY	3
III. RESEARCH SCOPE	4
IV. METHOD OF STUDY	4
IV.1. Researching documents	4
IV.2.The method of investigating	4
IV.3. Statistical methods 	4
PART B: THE CONTENTS	5
I. THE TRADITIONAL METHODS	5
II. SOLUTIONS (THE NEW METHODS)	10
IV.1. Some ways of integrating grammar for communicative language	11
IV.2. Some communicative techniques to motivate students in grammar
lessons	15
IV.2.1. Using games and problem-solving activities	15
IV.2.2 Using songs	18
IV.2.3. Role - play	20
IV.2.4. Interview	21
IV.2.5. Telling stories	22
IV.2.6. Describing the pictures	23
IV.2.7. Getting cards from teacher	26
IV.2.8.The perfect couples (Tạm dịch là: cặp đôi hoàn hảo)	27
III. THE RESULTS OF APPLYING THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE	29
VI. THE CONDITIONS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION	32
PART C: CONCLUSION	33
I. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY	33
II. SOME RECOMEMNDATIONS	33
REFERENCES	34
SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO NINH BÌNH
T£N S¸NG KIÕN KINH NGHIÖM
Integrating grammar for communicative language
and using some communicative techniques
to motivate students in grammar lessons
MÔN: TIẾNG ANH
NINH BÌNH, THÁNG 2 NĂM 2016