TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study .5 1.2 Aims and objectives: .5 1.3 Methods of the study .6 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Organization of the study .6 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 English grammar 2.2 Communicative Language Teaching 10 2.2.1 Traditional language teaching methodology .10 2.2.2 Communicative language teaching (CLT) 10 2.2.2.1 Characteristics of CLT 12 2.3 Teaching English grammar 13 2.3.1 Principles for teaching English grammar 13 2.3.2 Techniques for teaching grammar .15 2.3.2.1 Techniques for showing the Meaning of grammatical structures .17 2.3.2.1.1 Showing the meaning visually .18 2.3.2.1.2 Showing the meaning through a situation 18 2.3.2.2 Techniques for showing the Form of structures .19 2.3.3 Procedures for teaching grammar .20 2.3.3.1 The Presentation Stage .20 2.3.3.2 The Practice Stage .21 2.3.3.3 The Production Stage 22 2.3.3.4 Feedback and Correction 22 2.3.4 Procedures for teaching a new structure .23 2.4 Communicative activities .24 2.4.1 Communicative activities in language teaching and learning process 24 2.4.2 Characteristics of communicative activities 24 2.4.3 Types of communicative activities .26 2.4.3.1 Oral communicative activities 28 2.4.3.1.1 Reaching a consensus 28 2.4.3.1.2 Relaying instructions .28 2.4.3.1.3 Communication games 28 2.4.3.1.4 Problem solving .29 2.4.3.1.5 Interpersonal exchange 29 2.4.3.1.6 Story construction 30 2.4.3.1.7 Simulation and Role play .31 2.4.3.2 Written communicative activities .32 2.4.3.2.1 Relaying instructions .32 2.4.3.2.2 Exchange letter .32 2.4.3.2.3 Writing games 33 2.4.3.2.4 Fluency writing 33 2.4.3.2.5 Story construction 34 2.4.3.2.6 Writing reports and advertisements .34 2.5 Summary 35 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .36 3.1 Research questions 36 3.2 Research setting 36 3.2.1 The English teaching and learning situations at VMU 36 3.2.1.1 VMU 36 3.2.1.2 The teachers 36 3.2.1.3 The learners .37 3.2.1.4 The materials .38 3.3 Research methodology 38 3.4 Sample Population 39 3.5 Data collection instruments 39 3.5.1 Survey Questionnaires 39 3.5.1.1 Survey Questionnaires for students 40 3.5.1.2 Survey Questionnaires for teachers 41 3.5.2 Measurement through writing tasks 42 3.6 Study procedures 42 CHAPTER IV- DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 43 4.1 Data analysis 43 4.1.1 Questionnaires .43 4.1.1.1 Data analysis of the students’ experiment questionnaires 43 4.1.1.1.1 Data analysis of the students’pre-experiment questionnaires 43 4.1.1.1.2 Data analysis of the students’post- experiment questionnaire .50 4.1.1.2 Data analysis of the teachers’ questionnaires 59 4.1.2 Writing tasks 66 4.1.2.1 Analysis of students’ pre-experiment writing task 66 4.1.2.2 Analysis of students’ post-experiment writing task 67 4.2 Findings and discussion 67 4.3 Summary 69 CHAPTER V: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 70 5.1 Introduction 70 5.2 Implications and recommendations 70 5.2.1 Suggestions for teaching English grammar communicatively .70 5.2.2 Some suggested communicative activities for English grammar lessons in the textbook “New Headway Elementary” (The third edition) by Liz and John Soars .73 5.2.3 Some teaching aids used for teaching English grammar lessons in the textbook “New Headway Elementary” (The third edition) by Liz and John Soars 76 5.2.4 Some considerations and suggestions on using oral communicative activities 78 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION 80 6.1 Recapitulation .80 6.2 Suggestions for further study 81 REFERENCES .82 APPENDIXES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study English as a foreign language has become one of the integral and compulsory subjects of our secondary schools’ curriculum as well as of universities and colleges The ultimate goal of teaching and learning English is learners’ ability to use English for communicative purposes In an attempt to obtain this aim, together with mastering four language skills, improving your English grammar is essential in enhancing your communication skills It is undeniable that good grammar is the basis of communication Good grammar makes you a better listener, speaker Grammar allows you to develop ability of communicating It is a means of organizing words, phrases and clauses into meaningful communication However, teaching grammar traditionally does not help learners meet this aim Traditional teachers often focus on grammatical rules rather than meaning when teaching a grammatical structure as they believe that learning a foreign language is about learning to master its linguistic system and if students know the grammar rules, they will be able to communicate in the language The facts show that although students can learn and remember grammar rules very well, they cannot communicate in the target language and apply them in the writing smoothly at all As a result, there has been great innovation in teaching and learning English everywhere in Vietnam However, how to implement changes in the way of teaching is a real challenge Up to now there have not any studies on communicative activities for English grammar classes at our university The author, therefore, would like to introduce a study entitled “A study on communicative activities for non-English majors in English grammar classes at Vinh Medical University” 1.2 Aims and objectives: With the above-presented rationales, the specific aims and objectives of the study are the followings: Discuss how to teach English grammar communicatively Provide some suggested communicative activities for non-English majors in English grammar classes at Vinh Medical University To achieve the aims, the study focuses on two research questions: How can English grammar be taught communicatively? What are some suggested communicative activities for non - English majors in English grammar classes at Vinh Medical University? 1.3 Methods of the study The approaches used in this study are qualitative and quantitative Survey questionnaires are used as a main data collection tool, supported by the two writing tasks (pre and post – experiment writing tasks) The collected data are then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively Samples of the study are: (1) 100 students as respondents to student questionnaires; (2) teachers as respondents to teacher questionnaires Information obtained from analysis of the collected data was then interpreted to make implications and recommendations for teaching language in general and teaching English grammar in particular 1.4 Scope of the study This study mainly focuses on communicative activities for non - English majors in English grammar classes at Vinh Medical University Besides, due to time pressure and other inconveniences, the study is conducted among one hundred students at classes C7A, and D8A - Vinh Medical University 1.5 Organization of the study This paper has three main parts: Introduction, development and conclusion The first part-introduction is a brief description of the research including the reasons for choosing topic, scope, aims and methods of the study The second one includes three chapters: literature review, research methodology and findings and discussion “Literature Review” presents theoretical background of the study including concepts and role of grammar, different approaches to teaching grammar, communicative activities to teach grammar “Research methodology” presents the detailed procedure of the study: the methodology, population selection, data collection and analysis “Findings and discussion” deal with the findings drawn out from the analysis of data The findings and discussion are based on problems happening during process of teaching and learning grammar using communicative activities The third part-conclusion summarizes what are addressed in the study, points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for further study In “conclusion and implications”, main points and contents of the study will be summarized based on the results of the study The implication of the study and the recommendation for further research will be presented CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 English grammar Grammar is understood in various ways There have been a lot of ways to define grammar – a very common and familiar term in language teaching and learning The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (quoted in Harmer: 1987; 1) defines grammar as “the study and practice of the rules by which words change their forms and are combined into sentences” From this definition, there are two basic elements to which attention should be paid to: the rules of grammar; the study and practice of the rules Nunan defines grammar as a set of rules specifying the correct words at the sentence level (Nunan, 2003:154) This definition represents a typical prescriptive grammar view It lays down the law, saying what is right and what is wrong Similarly, from Ur’s view (1996:87), grammar is considered as a set of rules that define how words (or parts of words) are combined or changed to form acceptable units of meaning within a language All the ideas mentioned above agree on a point that is grammar is a set of rules which form words and make sentences from words This help to orient language teachers to the focus of grammar teaching Most language learners and teachers agree that mastering the grammar of a language may form part of the knowledge of it However, there exist some controversial opinions about the teaching of grammar One of the biggest challenges to the necessity of grammar teaching comes primarily from Krashen whose insistence on the primacy of acquisition has tended to downplay the value of deliberate grammar teaching In Krashen and Tarrel’s influential Natural Approach, it is claimed that learners need to be exposed to a lot of comprehensive and meaningful input at a level just above their own for acquisition to take place The study of grammar has only secondary role in the language program with the goal to produce optimal monitor–user, programmers who can use grammar as a supplement to acquisition when they have time, when the focus is on form, and when they know the rules (the Monitor Hypothesis, Krashen and Tarrel:1983) Put another way, grammar can be acquired naturally from meaningful input and opportunities to interact in the classroom and grammatical competence can develop in fluency– oriented environment without conscious focus on the language forms Admittedly, some learners acquire second language grammar naturally without being taught Immigrants to the United States (especially young ones) who attain proficiency in English on their own can be a good example of naturalistic acquisition (Lightbown and Spada: 1999: 60) But this is not true for all learners Among the same immigrants are learners who may achieve the proficiency in English but that English is far from accurate In fact, grammar is one of the key components of a language Thus, one cannot master a language without the knowledge of its grammar Partly thanks to grammar, language can function as a means of communication, especially in written language A person cannot write well if he lacks the knowledge of grammar From my observation and my experience, I find it necessary to teach grammar in all types of English course and especially in a medical university like the one I intend to carry out my study The first reason is that almost all the students in Vinh Medical University come from the rural areas where they never have chance to learn grammar sufficiently Furthermore, the main objective of these students after leaving the university is to read materials relating to medicine in English For the two reasons mentioned above, they can hardly it without grammar Moreover, grammar exists to enable us to ‘mean’ and without it, it is impossible to communicate beyond a very rudimentary level because speech seems to be no more than sounds, writing seems to be no more than hieroglyphics For all these reasons, the teaching of grammar is quite important in English language teaching (ELT) 10 ... research questions: How can English grammar be taught communicatively? What are some suggested communicative activities for non - English majors in English grammar classes at Vinh Medical University? ... teacher questionnaires Information obtained from analysis of the collected data was then interpreted to make implications and recommendations for teaching language in general and teaching English. .. real communication in the classroom There are two versions in this approach One advocates grammar teaching and the other rejects grammar teaching In fact, although emphasis on grammar teaching