VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HANOI
COLLEGE OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
KHUC HAI YEN

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ENGLISH GRAMMAR
LEARNING: THE CASE OF DO SON CONTINUING
EDUCATION CENTRE, HAI PHONG CITY
NGHIÊN CỨU THÁI ĐỘ HỌC MÔN NGỮ PHÁP TIẾNG ANH
CỦA HỌC SINH TRUNG TÂM GIÁO DỤC THƯỜNG XUYÊN
QUẬN ĐỒ SƠN, THÀNH PHỐ HẢI PHÒNG

Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10

6. Organization of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1 Attitudes 5
1.1.1 Definition of attitude 5
1.1.2 The role of attitudes in language learning 6
1.2 Grammar 6
1.2.1 Definition of grammar 6
1.2.2 The role of grammar in language learning 12
CHAPTERTWO: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16
2.1 Methodology 16
2.2 Research questions 16
2.3 Participants 16
2.4 Data collection instruments 16
CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION…………………………20
3.1 Data analysis and discussion 19
3.1.1 Data analysis of students‟ questionnaires 19
3.1.2 Data analysis of students‟ interviews 32 v

3.2 Discussion 34
3.3 Conclusion 35
PART C: RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 36
1. Summary of the findings 36
2. Suggestions 37
2.1 For students 37
2.2 For teachers 37
3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 39

Figure 13. Students‟ opinion about factors may influence their attitudes towards grammar
learning 31 1

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale
It is said that nowadays foreign languages and informatics are wings to fly in to the
new century. Learning foreign language do not only focus on four skills of language –
reading, writing, speaking, and listening but grammar as language rules are also
concentrated. During the time I studied in secondary school and studied teaching of
English in university, English as school subject that I have had to across different theories
about grammar. Some of the theoreticians suggest that grammar teaching and learning can
be put aside in favour of lexical approach (Lewis 1993: 148), others, however, point out
that grammar needs to be taught and concentrate on various ways of approaching grammar
teaching. I remember that an Australian Philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein 1889-1952
stated “Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be
found in grammar of language”. The nature of grammar determines that grammar teaching
is necessary. Without a firm knowledge of grammar in the target language, learners cannot
produce meaningful sentences. They risk being misunderstood and making crucial
mistakes in communication both oral and written. This is especially true when the mother
tongue and the target language are significantly different in grammar and structures. Since
it is, in effect, the glue that holds the language together. With the use of incorrect grammar
structures, sentences can become meaningless and their message is unclear. This means
that you are not able to communicate effectively and the person who is reading your work
may well be quite confused as to your meaning. In effect, grammar is the way in which
sentences are structured and the language is formatted, so whilst it may be considered a bit
boring to study correct grammar, it really is worth the time and effort. If you do not know

grammar learning, the case of Do Son Continuing Education Centre, Hai Phong City
1.2 Aims of study
With the above-presented rationale, the study aims at:
 Investigating into students‟ attitudes towards English grammar learning in Do Son
Continuing Education Centre.
 Finding out some suggestions that good for both teachers and students in English
grammar teaching and learning, particularly in Do Son Continuing Education
Centre. 3

1.3 Research questions
1. What are attitudes of students in Do Son Continuing Education Centre towards
English grammar learning?
2. Why do they have those attitudes towards English grammar learning?
1.4 Scope of study
As it has been stated above, the study is designed to explore students‟ attitudes
towards English grammar learning. Due to the time limit, it is restricted to the students in
Do Son Continuing Education Centre.
1.5 The setting and background
Do Son Continuing Education Centre is located in Do Son district of Hai Phong
City, a major sea port of Vietnam. It is near Do Son beach, a famous resort of Hai Phong
City and Vietnam. Do Son Continuing Education Centre is not a big one, far from the city
centre, so, there are three grades with only three classes: 10A, 11B, 12C. It has low-
income- quality. Students failed the examination into upper secondary schools, then, they
came here to study. English now is taught as an option subject in every Continuing
Education Centers because they do not have to pass this subject in the national
examination administered by the end of grade 12
th
5

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This focuses on some theoretical grounds of attitude and grammar teaching and
learning. It is concerned with major issues regarding attitudes, the roles of attitudes in
language learning and grammar, the role of grammar in language learning
2.1. Attitudes
2.1.1 Definition of attitude
According to Hallorah (1967), attitude represents an individual‟s like or dislike for an
item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an “attitude object” i.e. a teaching
style, person, situation or event. People can also be “ambivalent” towards a target, meaning
that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in
question.
In Gibb‟s opinion (1988) attitude is generally defined as a state of mind, which is
influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief.
Fazio (1986) states that attitude comprises of three components: “an affective
component involving feelings about and evaluation of the object, a cognitive component
involving belief about the object and a behavioral intentions component”.
The above definition show people‟s attitude towards certain referent object, a
behavioral intentions component and a cognitive component involving belief about the
object. In language learning, we can see students‟ attitudes in their feelings and belief
about the way of acting towards the lessons, learning style, teachers and the course books.
Briefly, attitudes have three main components: affective, behavioral and cognitive.
The affective components are easily assessed by monitoring physiological signs such as
heart rate whereas the behavioral aspects of attitude are generally measured by interviews,
survey and other reporting methods. This study concentrates on affective and cognitive
components. It relates to students‟ feeling and belief about communicative teaching as well

 A traditional grammarian might see grammar as the “part of speech”
together with a set of rules governing how they can be combined, often accompanied by
pointers as to what is considered “correct” and “incorrect” usage. 7

 A structural linguist might see grammar as the sum total of sentence patterns
in which the words of a particular language are arranged.
 Philosophical/cognitive linguist might see grammar as our innate
knowledge of the structure of language.
A functional linguist might see grammar as a resource use to accomplish
communicative purpose in specific contexts.
Defining grammar, then, is not a straightforward matter and it is important to clarify how
the term is being used in any particular context. For my purpose in this study, I will look at
five definitions that I think might be more relevant to this study.
The Long dictionary of contemporary English (as cited 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”
It is obvious that there are two basic elements to which attention should be paid to:
the rules of grammar; and the study and practice of the rule.
According to Fromkin (1990:12): “The sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of
meaning such as words and the rules to combine them to them to from new sentences
constitute the grammar of a language. These rules are internalized and subconsciously
learned by native speakers.”
From this definition, grammar is the name given to the knowledge of how words
are arranged to from sentences. The definition also clarifies that grammatical riles is
learned in a natural way by native speakers, but how non-native speakers learn the
grammar of their language other than their mother tongue? In addition, if grammar
constitutes rules to combine words to make sentences, what are the sentences used for?

Hughes and McCarthy (1998) view grammar as discourse not as sentence and
coined the term discourse grammar. They argued that “grammatical statements that do not
take account of such contextual features are inadequate and unable to support grammar
teaching effectively” (p.265).
How grammar is defined is very important sine it will influence the way grammar
is to be taught. For the purpose of the study, I use the definition of grammar proposed
above by Richards, Platt and Platt (1992:161) in their Longman Dictionary of Language
Teaching & Applied Linguistics.
2.2.1.1 Grammar as rules
According to Longman Active study’s Dictionary, “rule” is defined as:
- a principle or order which guides behaviour, says how things are to be done, etc, or 9

- the usual way that something happens.
With regard to grammar, the first type of rule is often called a prescriptive rule and
the second a descriptive rule. For many people, grammar teaching is traditionally
associated with the teaching of the first type of rules – that is, prescriptions as to what
should be said or written. On the other hand, there are language teachers who are primarily
concerned with descriptive rules that are with generalizations about what speakers of the
language actually do say rather than with what they should do.
Thornbury (1999:11) observes that “Until recently most so-called descriptive rules
were based on hunches and intuitions. There is much greater authority in descriptions of
language since the advent of large computer databases of naturally occurring language,
known as corpora”. (Original emphasis)
With regard to rules, Thornbury (ibid.) coins the third category of rule: pedagogic
rules – rules that make sense to learners while at the same time providing them with the
means and confidence to generate language with a reasonable chance os success. Within
pedagogic rules, Thornbury makes a distinction between rules os form and rules os use.

perspective, grammar is a tool for making meaning (Thornburry, ibid.).
A view of grammar as meaning will influence the ways in which grammatical
forms are presented as expressing concepts such as obligation in the examples above.
Teaching grammar means drawing the learners‟ attention not only on the forms of the
language, but on the meanings these forms convey as well.
2.2.1.3 Grammar as social function
In the mid-seventies the relation between grammar and function became an
important issue for teachers. Writers of language teaching materials attempted to move the
emphasis away from the learning of grammatical structures independent of their use, and
on to learning how to function in a language, how to communicate. An example of
grammar used in the service of socially appropriate messages, according to Celce-Murcia
(1991:67) “is the use of certain modal auxiliaries to express politeness when one is
requesting a favour”. For example would is more polite than will and could is more polite
than can in the following examples:
Will/Would you open the door?
Can/ Could I talk to you for a minute? 11

Leech and Svartvik (1975:11) maintain that
“Where English gives us a choice of grammatical structures for a partocular
purpose, the different grammatical structures available are often not equivalent, since they
belong to different „styles‟ or „varieties‟. We believe that the appropriate choice is as
important as it is difficult”.
They gave the following examples to demonstrate that the same message can be
conveyed in different manners:
I suppose he‟s quite a nice little boy, isn‟t he? (tentative, polite)
Nice kid. (informal, spoken)
In all, he was a pleasant child. (formal, written)

In the 1970s, the necessity of formal grammar learning met almost no
disagreement. It was a common place that a major portion of curriculum was devoted to
learning grammatical terminology, memorizing rules doing exercises, practicing drills or
so on. However, many different and even contradictory views emerged during the latter
half of the twentieth century. These different attitudes toward the role of grammar in ELT
stem mainly from different views about language and language learning process. Below, I
will examine several arguments for and against grammar.
2.2.2.1 Pro-grammar perspectives.
Many linguists and researchers have advocated grammar instruction in ESL and
EFL language teaching and learning. For instance, the communicative competence model
of Canale and Swain (1980) clearly illustrates the significance of grammar. In this model
grammar is seen as one component of communicative competence. Without grammar,
learners can communicate effectively only in limited number of situations. Referring to the
importance of grammar teaching, Smith (2001) worries that if we do not pay attention to
grammar nor create opportunities for learners to improve their grammar, they are likely to
stand the risk of fossilization ”or reach a point where they can cope with level of
communication that is demanded of them by making use of their existing grammatical
resources and communication strategies and probably with sufficient fluency not to see the
need to develop their linguistic abilities any further.‟
What is more, Rutherford and Smith (1988) report that grammar teaching can be
beneficial to learners consciousness concerning the difference and similarities of L1 and 13

L2. Therefore, grammar teaching can be used as a “linguistic map” with road signs to help
students as they explore the “topography” of the new language.
The list of supporters of grammar is still ongoing. Hannan (1989) argues that
grammar is highly valuable as an important part of the study of language, of ideas and of
writing. Also, he points out that grammar reflects the power and order of the human mind

same immigrant group are learners who may achieve a degree of proficiency, but whose
English is far from accurate.
On the other hand, Krashen‟s acquisition hypothesis seems to be merely his own
personal observation without supporting evidence. Gregg (1984:79-100) criticizes
that:”Krashen himself seems to be aware of this: The idea that we first learn a new rule,
and eventually, through practice, acquire it, is widespread and many seem to some people
to be intuitively…It was, thought, exactly the way I learned languages myself…” Thus
Gregg sees himself as a typical example of the process which consists of knowing the
rules, being aware of them and ending up with an ability to talk about them. This is a
perfect process of acquiring though learning, opposed to Krashen‟s claim that learning
need not precede acquisition. Furthermore, studies of learns in immersion classroom (e.g.
Swain, 1985) show even after ample exposure to the target language learners continue to
make a lot of grammatical errors.
With regard to the value of form-focus, teaching two important questions may
arise. The first is whether it is possible with teaching to assist learners who cannot achieve
accuracy in English by themselves and the second is it possible to speed up students‟
natural learning of grammar though instruction. A number of research findings (Schwabe,
1989, Larsen-Freeman, 1995 and) prove that teaching assists to improve learners‟
accuracy, which is normally absent when there is no focus on form. As far as second
question concerns Pienemann (1984) demonstrates that subjects who received grammar
instruction progressed to the next stage after two-week period while it took untutored
students several months to do that. This provides evidence of the efficacy of teaching over
leaving acquisition to run its natural course.
In order to decide whether the focus on grammatical forms becomes more or less
important, various learner factors such as age, learning styles, proficiency level, purpose of
learning, exposure to the target language, etc… should be taken into consideration. Celce-
Murcia (as cited in Shrum and Glisan:1994) points out that students in upper secondary
schools are already literate and, therefore, have established expectations concerning
language instruction. And, we need to remind ourselves why students come to school. The
answer lies in getting “right knowledge”. Instead of letting, they swim in the ocean of

On the base of research questions and the purpose of the study as presented in the
Chapter one, both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed in order to gain more
in depth data for analysis.
3.1.2 Participants
To cover the title of the study: “Students‟ attitudes towards English grammar
learning: The case of Do Son Continuing Education Centre, Hai Phong City”, this study
was carried out with three classes 10A, 11B, 12C consisting of 150 people, who are all of
students of three grades in this Centre. Each class has 50 students, both male and female.
They are all taught by Vietnamese teachers of English. Many of them come from
comparatively poor families, so their learning condition is not good enough. Their tools are
textbooks only. Most of them go to Do Son beach – a famous tourism area to get money in
the daytime to help their families and go to Centre to study in the nighttime. The reason for
the choice of all students in the Centre is that the number of students here is not big, and, I
would like to have the general view about attitudes of all of students here towards English
grammar learning.
3.1.3 Data collection instruments
To obtain data for the study, two different instruments were employed: survey
questionnaire and follow-up interview.

17

3.1.3.1 Questionnaires
One of the most common methods of data collection in second language research is
to use questionnaires of various kinds. The popularity of questionnaires is due to the fact
that they are easy to construct and uniquely capable of gathering a large amount of
information quickly in a form that is readily process able (Dornyei, 2003:1). A
questionnaire can be composed of both closed questions and open questions. Where the

3.1.3.2 Interviews
An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and
the interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from
the interviewee.
Interviews may be used as the primary research tool or in an ancillary role as a
checking mechanism to triangulate data gathered from other sources. Hopkins (cited in
McDonough & McDonough (1997:181) lists three applications of interviews in classroom
research:
 To focus on a specific aspect of classroom life in detail
 Teacher-pupil discussion -> diagnostic information
 To improve the classroom climate
Nunan (1992) adds the following uses to interviews:
 needs analysis
 program evaluation
 individual case studies
 mini-surveys (within institution)
In this study, fifteen students among the questionnaire respondents were chosen
randomly for a follow-up interview for more in-depth data. The interview was a structure
one in which the “agenda is totally predermined order (Nunan, 1992:149). According to
Nunan (ibid.) “the type of interview one chooses will be determined by the nature of the
research and the degree on control the interviewer wishes to exert”. This study was aimed
at finding out the students‟ attitudes towards grammar and the reason why they have those
attitudes. It is not of naturalistic inquiry by nature, therefore I choose the structured
interview in order to achieve consistence. Each of the interviewees was asked five
questions (Appendix 3). Since the purpose of the interview was to have more in-depth 19

information, I decided to interview a group selected randomly from the questionnaire

Figure 1. Students’ interest in learning English
Source: Question 1
In the questionnaire, followed by the first question asking students about their
attitudes towards learning this subject (See appendix 1). As can be seen in the figure 1,
remarkably, more than half of the participants (51.90 %) expressed that they like learning 20

English grammar; 15.1% of students say that: “English is so great” so, they like it very
much.
With regard to respondents‟ positive attitudes towards learning English, some
students shared truthfully the reasons, including:
- “I want to communicate with foreigners. It is my tool to get money every day at the
Do Son beach by selling cake, chewing gum, hat, etc to help family. So, I like it”.
- “Thanks to it, I can read foreign books, newspaper and information through internet
in order to discover the life of people all over the world”.
- “We want to watch and understand the famous foreign films in which have our
idols. They are so handsome”, a female students said truthfully with a bit
embarrassed.
- “I want to go abroad to change my life”.
- “I love it. It is an international or common language in the world and knowing this
language is necessary for my future”.
Whereas, only 9.35% of students have opposite ideas with that point of view. They
felt that they spent too much time on learning boring unpleasant and difficult things. And
some students mention the overload of learning at school as a reason when they state:
- “I will be interested in learning English only when there are not any other subjects
to study at school”.
- “English lessons are boring, I always feel asleep during the lessons” or “I did not
comprehend the teachers saying and explanations” or even

- “Master of English structures enables one to become understood when speaking
and writing”