iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION …i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …ii
ABSTRACT …iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS …iv
LIST OF TABLES …vi
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study …1
2. Aims of the study …2
3. Scope of the study …2
4. Research questions …2
5. Method of the study…………… 3
6. Design of the study …3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT ….4
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW …4
1.1. Definitions of grammar ….4
1.2. Roles of grammar in language teaching …5
1.3. Approaches to grammar teaching …6
1.3.1. The Grammar – Translation Method …7
1.3.2. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) …8
1.3.3. Applying CLT to teaching grammar …14
1.4. Oral activities …15
1.4.1. Definition of oral activities …15
1.4.2. The roles of using oral activities in grammar teaching …15
1.4.3. Characteristics of a successful oral activity …16
1.4.4. The selection of appropriate oral activities …17

v
1.5. Conclusion …21

LIST OF TABLES NAMES OF TABLES OR CHARTS
PAGES
Table 1: Student’s profile
Table 2: Teacher’s profile
Table 3: Students’ attitude towards the position of grammar
Table 4: Reasons for learning grammar
Table 5: Students’ agreement to grammar teaching through oral activities
Table 6: Teachers’ difficulties in using oral activities to teach grammar
communicatively
Table 7: Evaluation of the effectiveness of oral activities by students
Table 8: Evaluation of the effectiveness of oral activities by teachers
Chart 1: Students’ opinions about learning grammar through oral activities
Chart 2: Frequency of learning grammar through oral activities
Chart 3: Frequency of oral activities application in grammar teaching

1
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study


2
result, I have decided to carry out the research into “Using oral activities to teach
grammar communicatively for first year non English major students in Vietnam University
of Commerce”. This study is intended to make a modest contribution to an increased
understanding of using oral activities in the grammar lesson at VCU.
2. Aims of the study
The purpose of this study is to explore the reality of the use of speaking activities in the
grammar lesson of 1
st
year students of Economics, Finance and Banking at VCU where the
researcher is serving. More specifically, this study attempts to clarify the procedures of
organizing speaking activities in the grammar lesson of 1
st
year non English major students
and to identify strategies used by teachers to stimulate students’ communicative
competence in grammar learning and the factors bringing about difficulties for the teachers
and students in their application of oral activities. One additional aim is to compare
teachers’ practice with students’ expectation. Based on the findings, the research further
seeks to suggest practical recommendations for the possibility of using speaking activities
in grammar lessons of 1
st
year non English major students at VCU.
3. Scope of the study
Though oral activities are usually applied in the speaking skill, I have chosen to focus on
grammar lessons for the fact that grammar is the first thing that learners learn on the first
day of an English lesson for non English major departments. Moreover, the purpose of
studying English of English non English major students at VCU is to gain an international
certificate in communication, for instance, the TOEIC test. Therefore, this research tends to
investigate the use of oral activities in the grammar lesson. Also, due to the time

Chapter two, The Study, aims to describe background information about the current
teaching and learning of grammar at VCU and presents the methodology underlying the
research including data collection instruments, procedures. A detailed data analysis and
discussions are also given.
The last part, Conclusion, gives a summary and a recommendation for further study.
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to explore a general view on grammar, grammar teaching in some
English teaching approaches, problems in teaching grammar at VCU, and oral activities
application to grammar teaching. 4
1.1. Definitions of grammar
In the foreign language teaching context, grammar is the first thing that learners learn on
the first day of an English lesson. Grammar is often defined as the study of how words and
their component parts combine to form sentences. However, that is only the way traditional
grammarians see grammar. Other linguistic schools have their own definitions basing on
their different interest. Structural linguistic might see grammar as the sum total of sentence
patterns in which the words of a particular language are arranged. In addition, grammar is
regarded as our innate knowledge of the structure of language by cognitive linguistics.
According to Jacob, R.A. (1993) grammar has three components:
- Syntax: the grammatical principles, units, and relations involved in sentence
structure.
- Lexicon: the set of individual words, suffixes, and prefixes.
- Semantics: the meanings associated with the lexicon of a language and with the
units and relations in the sentence structures.
These three components necessarily interact. The grammatical principles determine the
kinds of units the language can have, the order in which these units can be arranged, and
the kinds of relations (or functions) they participate in. From the lexicon come the actual

language classroom are created and they lessen the role of grammar. In short, different
views on the role of grammar still remain. Below is a brief look at some of these views.
As for Thornbury (1999), grammar is a process for making a speaker’s or writer’s meaning
clear when there is a lack of contextual information. Moreover, grammar means the
relationship between three things: grammar, words, and contexts. It means it is necessary
for students to learn basic and fixed forms and particular forms so that they can express
particular meanings.
It might be confirmed that grammar is clearly central to the working of language.
Widdowson (1990: 81) emphasizes: “Grammar is not just a collection of sentence patterns
signifying nonsense, something for the learner’s brain to puzzle over”.
Obviously, the definition of grammar makes us clear that grammar consists of certain rules
and these rules that govern the system of language units and structures by which we
communicate with each other. How important grammar is assumed obviously has an
impact on the teaching of grammar. Hughes et al (1998: 265) regard grammar as the
discourse not as the sentence and coined the term discourse grammar with the statement
“grammatical statements that do not take account of such contextual features inadequate
and unable to support grammar teaching effectively.”

6
It is quite reasonable to see the importance of grammar according to Harry viewpoint:
“Without some understanding of Grammar, students would not be about to do anything
more than utter separate items of language for separate of functions. Making expression of
functional language is only possible through the use of Grammar rules of the language”.
In general, grammar is acknowledged to be of importance in language study and in
language teaching and learning in particular. He also emphasize that hardly anyone needs
to learn grammar. Grammar is acquired naturally from meaningful input and opportunities
to interact in the classroom. More especially, learners can improve their grammar
competence in suitable environment without conscious focus on language forms. However,
this partly depends on the learning circumstances. As a result, grammar teaching gains its
significant role in ELT because highly developed language skills are difficult to achieve

(7) Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target
language into the mother tongue.
(8) Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
In this method, the learners are the passive recipients of the explicit grammar rules and
engaged in practice activities and translation exercises, requiring the application of those
rules. Listening activities takes form of dictations, and speaking practice is accomplished
by having students read a passage aloud in front of the class. In other words,
communication skills are ignored. Conversely, the teacher holds the authoritative role, or
he is seen as ideal language model and commander of classroom activity.
It is worth noticing that mistakes and errors are seen as a failure and they must be avoided
at any cost. Whenever the learners make mistakes or errors, the teacher often correct at
once to make sure that the learners always produce correct sentences.
As its name reveals, grammar plays a very important role in Grammar – Translation
method, and at times even the goal of language study. Grammar (usually prescriptive) is
taught deductively moving from the statement of the rule to the example.
Grammar – Translation method dominated the history of language teaching from the late
eighteenth century to the early twentieth century and it is still widely used, especially in the
EFL settings. The best point of this method is that it helps the learners produce
grammatically correct sentences. Besides, it can be easlily exploited in many classroom
situations where the class is large (about 40 learners), where the teachers are unqualified,
emphasize grammatical knowledge. Nevertheless, the biggest disadvantage of this method
is that the learners can not communicated in real situations, or their utterances are correct
but inappropriate. This is the result of the process of learning only form and usage, but not
use, and learning about the language, not using the language to learn through authentic
tasks. Furthermore, this method makes the learners really passive in the process of getting

8
knowledge. They just listen to the teacher’s explanation and do not participate in the
exploration of new knowledge.
Despite of these defects, it is widely recognized that the Grammar Translation Method is

have always viewed learning a second/ foreign language as acquiring the linguistic means
to perform different functions.
The general aim of CLT is to develop the students’ communicative competence. The
theory of communicative competence was put forth by Dell Hymes in the paper “On
communicative competence”. In Hymes’s view, “communicative competence” refers to the
ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of language in order to form grammatically
correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom.
Later, in 1980, Canale and Swain offered a widely accepted model of communicative
competence which consists of grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence,
discourse competence, and strategic competence. In Canale and Swain’s model,
grammatical competence refers to what Chomsky calls linguistic competence. It is the
knowledge of the language code, including lexical items, rules of morphology and syntax,
sentence – grammar semantics and phonology. Sociolinguistic competence refers to an
understanding of the social context in which communication takes place, including role
relationships, the shared information of the participants, and the communicative purpose
for their interaction. Discourse competence broadly refers to the interpretation of
individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness and of how meaning is
represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text. Strategic competence refers to the
coping strategies that communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair, and
redirect communication.
It should be born in mind that “communicative competence” or “communication” does not
always mean “oral competence” or “oral communication” as it has been wrongly assumed
by many language teachers. This can be explained by the theory of a speech event which is
set out by Hymes:
1. The sender (addresser, speaker, writer)
2. The receiver (addressee, listener, reader)
3. A message form
4. A channel
5. A code
6. A topic

acts as an advisor, answering students’ questions and monitoring the performance. At other
times she might be a “co-communicator” engaging in the communicative activity along
with the students. Meanwhile, the learner is a negotiator between the self, the role of joint-
negotiator with the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which group
undertakes. Learners are, above all, central communicators. They are actively engaged in

11
negotiating meaning in trying to make themselves understood even when their knowledge
of the target language is incomplete. They learn to communicate by communicating.
Students are seen as more responsible contributors of their own learning, and they are
independent learner.
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), there are two types of classroom activities.
The first type involves functional communication activities such as comparing sets of
pictures, discovering missing features in a map, solving problems from shared clues, etc.
The other type is social interaction activities like conversation and discussion, dialogues,
role plays, simulations.
Early approaches downplayed the importance of grammar, some even advocating the
abandonment of any focus on form. In natural approach – one of current communicative
approaches, Hammerly (1987:330) suggests that all grammatical instruction and practice
activities should be done outside the class so that the classroom time is not wasted in
grammatical lectures or manipulative exercise. He also believe that manipulation of
grammar rules should be applied in writing or in prepared speech. In addition, if grammar
explanations must be done in the classroom, Krashen and Terrell, they recommended that
they should be short, simple and in the target language.
More recent approaches acknowledge the centrality of grammar and try to teach the
learners the relationship between grammatical form and communicative meaning.
However, CLT believes that language is learned through exposure and interaction. Thus,
CLT makes little or no provision for the formal instruction of grammar, and students are
encouraged to identify and learn the rules. Grammar is not seen as a set of rules to be
memorized but to be internalized and used for communication. Celce-Murcia (1988:27)

teaching approach. Richards & Platt (1992) concluded that “form focused instruction and
corrective feedback within the context of communicative interaction can contribute
positively to second language development in both the short and long term” (p.205). This
integration of form and meaning is gaining importance in what they refer to as the students
should learn grammar explicitly but should also be given the opportunity to practice than in
communicative and authentic/ simulated tasks.
This paper is of the view that both structural and communicative elements have a role to
play in EFL and ESL especially in Vietnam setting. This is due to two main reasons: First,
the norms and practices of the structural syllabus have been embedded in the Vietnam
cultures for decades. For instance, for most of language teachers and learners, textbook
means knowledge. Therefore, to learn is to memorize all knowledge in the textbook.
Second, in a society of which the first and the second language is not English like Vietnam,
communicative proficiency will become easier to achieve only when one has grasped the

13
necessary grammatical knowledge. Hammerly (1987:94) suggests that students learn more
from than meaning at an early stage and as time increases (and as students’ language
proficiency improves), the intervention of communicative functions increases along with
the form reduce.
1.3.3. Applying CLT to teaching grammar
According to Siaw-Fong Chung (2005) since the introduction of Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT), many textbooks have been written to incorporate communicative
activities, authentic materials and personalized contexts, but where the teaching and
learning of grammar is concerned, most textbooks do not reflect CLT principles.
Obviously, applying CLT to grammar teaching is necessary in order to deal with the
disadvantages of Grammar Translation method when being used to teach grammar such as
the learners’ inappropriate utterances and passive learning style. The deep basis of this
application is that CLT aims at developing communicative competence and grammatical
competence is one of four of its component competences. Thus, in theory, CLT may be
used to teach grammar so that understanding the rules of grammar is not an end in itself

isolation and explanation, practice and test, whereas according to Celce-Murcia and Hilles,
a grammar lesson goes through four following phases: presentation, practice and testing.
Thus, however different such suggestions are, practice as a stage is always present, it
comes after the initial presentation and explanation when learners have taken knowledge
into short term memory but have not really mastered it yet. Practice may be defined as any
kind of engaging with the language on the part of the learners, usually under the teachers’
supervision, whose primary objective is to consolidate learning. Practice involves both
spoken and written practice (Ur, 1996:11).
1.4.2. The roles of using oral activities in grammar teaching
Nunan (2007) agrees that oral grammar practice gives learners increasing opportunities and
motivation to interact with other communicators, to raise their awareness of the forms and
functions of English grammar. Grammatical patterns are matched to particular
communicative meanings so learners can see connection between form and function.
Learners learn how to choose the right pattern to express different communicative
meanings. They will incorporate various grammatical structures in their performance.
Students, for successful language use, need not only to be exposed to the structures and
functions of communication but also to practice applying grammatical knowledge in real
contexts. To reach the goals, the application of grammar in the classroom should be more
creative and open-ended. Creative language activities provide more opportunities for the
learners to use language more flexibility than receptive language tasks. Creative language
use involves learners in recombining familiar words, phrases and structures in new and

15
familiar ways. When students have enough time and enough opportunities communicate
and to receive feedback on attempts at producing meaningful language, errors will
gradually diminish (Corder, 1981; Selinker, 1972, 1992). Thanks to that students will learn
grammar better.
Teaching grammar communicatively or using communicative activities means teaching
grammar effectively. In other words, oral grammar practice provides for effective grammar
acquisition. But how to organize oral practice successfully is a hard question. According to

expressions. Language accuracy is of an acceptable level.
1.4.4. The selection of appropriate oral activities
Many researchers discuss classroom activities and a lot of activities are adapted or
designed based on the theory and characteristics of CLT.
Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “social
interaction activities”. In his views, the former includes such tasks as learners noting
similarities or differences in sets of pictures, discovering missing features in a map or
picture, one learner communicating behind a screen to another learner and giving
instructions on how to draw a picture or shape, or how to complete a map, following
directions, and solving problems from shared cues. The latter includes conversation and
discussion and sessions, dialogues and role-plays, simulations, and improvisations and
debates.
Richards and Rodgers (1986: 165) discuss that the range of exercise types and activities
with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises and activities
enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners
in communication and require the use of such communicative processes as information
sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction. In their views, classroom activities should
be designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve
negotiation of information and information sharing.
Activities may be classified as activities for accuracy that aim at learners’ competence in
producing right words, phrases or sentences and activities for fluency that aim at learners’
capacity to sustain the flow of speech with ease and comfort.
In short, oral activities are various and can be found in a great number of resources.
However, in this minor thesis, the author would introduce some most applicable types
which have proven the most effective:
 Conversation

17
Conversation serves many functions. People use conversations to establish relationships
through personal expression, to find out information, and to compare views with others.


18
Storytelling allows students to internalize important aspects of story beginnings and
endings, settings, characters, and plot lines. It provides practice in expressing ideas in
thought units, using colorful and descriptive language, developing ideas in sequence, and
choosing effective action words.
The speech abilities needed for storytelling are essentially the same as ones required for all
speaking activities. Storytelling encourages students to experiment with voice, tone, eye-
contact, gestures and facial expressions. It also lets them practice techniques for holding
audience attention.
 Oral reports
In preparing reports, students develop the ability to select material appropriate to
classroom topics and to the audience, and the ability to collect and organize material
(requiring skill in reading critically, taking notes, summarizing and outlining). Often a
report can be made more meaningful to the audience through the use of visuals such as
charts, maps, diagrams, and overhead transparencies.
Oral reports should emerge from other English language arts processes. If some students
are not comfortable with reporting, they can develop more confidence by taking part in
other oral activities before they are ready to give a report.
 Telephoning
The telephone is an important tool for personal, school, and business use because of the
rapid communication it permits. Therefore, there is need to reinforce personal speaking and
listening abilities regarding telephone use.
Students should be provided with functional and helpful vocabulary and they must have
authentic reasons for telephoning when they are practicing their skills in the English
language arts classroom.
 Announcements
Making announcements can serve as useful oral speaking practice at any grade level. As
with other types of speech activities, criteria for making announcements should be
developed by the class. These criteria should address the recommended format and manner

Informal debate reflects the learning process. Debating allows students to explore ideas
and arguments in a non-threatening atmosphere, because presentational guidelines are
provided. Debating is an effective method of acquiring knowledge, as arguments need to
be supported by relevant, accurate, and complete information. Students who debate
informally learn to recognize the elements of a good argument and to develop further their
abilities to speak confidently.
 Co-operative learning
Co-operative learning involves students in group collaboration in order to achieve a goal or
to complete a project. Although students do not necessarily work together at one table
throughout the project, participation by each group member is necessary to accomplish the

20
task. Success and assessment are based on the performance of the group, as well as on
individual contributions and performance within the group.
Co-operative learning experiences are particularly effective at the Middle Level, where
students have innate desire to be accepted. Competitive, individual efforts are appropriate
at times, however, co-operative learning experiences have the advantage of helping
students work together and support each other.

1.5. Conclusion
Briefly, this chapter presents the literature related to the study. Not only the definition, the
role of oral activities in grammar teaching as well as the characteristics of an oral activity,
but Communicative Language Teaching approach and some other approaches are also
viewed to figure out the most suitable techniques for effective English grammar lessons.
Applying these techniques, the researcher wishes to discover how oral activities can help to
teach grammar communicatively to the first year English non-major students in Vietnam
University of Commerce.

Nowadays, it is increasingly common for researchers to report the study on both
quantitative and qualitative findings, especially, in studies on English Second
Language (ESL) (Adams, Fujii & Mackey, 2005). Thus, in consideration of the
research’s purposes, this study was done in the light of both quantitative and qualitative
research in which the data is collected by means of questionnaires and interviews of
both teachers and students.
Survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in
social science. Advantages of using questionnaires that Gillham (2000) highlights are:
less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of bias, and analysis of answers is
straight forward. Like questionnaire, interviews can allow researchers to investigate
cognitive processes such as awareness or constructs such as perceptions or attitudes
that are not directly observable.
The purpose of using questionnaire and interviews as research materials to collect data
in this study is to triangulate the data and to overcome the limitations or drawbacks of
other methods because one can well support another which helps strengthen the
research findings.
2.3. Participants and instruments
2.3.1. Participants

22
The subjects of this study consist of two groups. The first group includes 150 first year
students majoring in Economics and Finance & Banking. The other consists of 10
English teachers of Theoretical Department, English Faculty, VCU. The students age
from 18 to 22, 54% are male and 46% are female. Some of them have learnt English
for 6 years and the others for 3 years or fewer. Among the teachers, 4 have a Master
degree, 3 are attending M.A. courses and 3 graduated from the University of
Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University. They all age
from 24 to 40 and have at least 2 years teaching experience.
2.3.2. Instruments
2.3.2.1. Questionnaires