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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Declaration…………………………………………………………………………. i
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………… ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… iii
Table of contents…………………………………………………………………… iv
List of abbreviations……………………………………………………………… vii
List of tables and charts……………………………………………………………. viii
PART I: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………… 1
I.1. Rationale of the study………………………………………………………… 1
I.2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………………… 2
I.3. Significance of the study………………………………………………………. 2
I.4. Research questions…………………………………………………………… 3
I.5. Scope of the study………………………………………………………………3
I.6. Method of the research………………………………………………………… 3
I.7. Design of the study…………………………………………………………… 3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………… 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………… 5
1.1. Definitions of grammar……………………………………………………… 5
1.2. The role of grammar in foreign language teaching……………………………. 6
1.3. An overview on methods in teaching grammar …………………………… 6
1.3.1. The grammar-translation method…………………………………… 6
1.3.2. The direct method…………………………………………………… 7
1.3.3. The audio-lingual method…………………………………………… 8
1.4. Application of CLT in grammar teaching …………………………………… 9
1.4.1. Communicative competence………………………………………… 9
1.4.2. Definition of communicative language teaching……………………. 9
1.4.3. Characteristics of communicative language teaching……………… 10

2.3. Data analysis and discussions…………………………………………………. 20
2.3.1. Survey questionnaires……………………………………………… 20
2.3.1.1. Questionnaire for the students…………………………… 20
2.3.1.2. Questionnaire for the teachers…………………………… 27
2.3.2. Interviews……………………………………………………………. 33
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 36
3.1. The difficulties faced by the social work students at VYI in learning grammar and
their expectations………………………………………………………………… 36
vi

3.2. The difficulties faced by the teachers at VYI in teaching grammar communicatively
and their own solutions…………………………………………………………… 36
3.3. Recommendations for overcoming the difficulties in teaching grammar
communicatively…………………………………………………………………… 39
PART III: CONCLUSION 43
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………. I
APPENDIX 1: Survey questionnaire for students………………………………… IV
APPENDIX 2: Survey questionnaire for teachers………………………………… VIII
APPENDIX 3: Questions for interviewing teachers………………………………. XII
APPENDIX 4: Information gap………………………………………………… XIII
APPENDIX 5: Spot the differences………………………………………………. XIV
APPENDIX 6: Game……………………………………………………………… XV
AM: Audio-Lingual method
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
DM: Direct method
ELT: English Language Teaching
GTM: Grammar-Translation method
VYI: Vietnam Youth Institute

work students at VYI
Table 9: The teachers’ recommendations for the difficult situations they met
Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards learning English at the school
Chart 2: Students’ reasons for learning English
Chart 3: Students’ motivations to learning English in general and grammar in particular
Chart 4: Teachers’ age and their teaching experience
Chart 5: The teachers’ aim at teaching grammar 1
PART I: INTRODUCTION
I.1. Rationale of the study
English has already played a special important role in the increasing development of
science, technology and international relations, which has resulted in the growing needs for
English learning and teaching in many parts of the world. Many people are expected to be
competent to communicate verbally with the outside world and to access technology. In
correspondence to this trend, English has become a compulsory subject in national
education in Vietnam. Vietnam Youth Institute, where I have been working, is not an
exception.
All students not only aim at passing their exams and getting some further studies for their
future life, but also have a desire to be integrated into the culture, the civilization, and the

are carried out in traditional methods. That is, the teacher presents new grammar verbally,
and then students do, turn by turn, exercises in workbooks. As a consequence, the students
find it hard to speak out as well as to communicate in the real life naturally.
The question how to equip students with grammatical competence so that they can use the
language to communicate in any situation has become a worry of teachers of English in
general and teachers of English at Vietnam Youth Institute in particular.
For the above reasons, in this thesis, the author intends to figure out what difficulties are
experienced by teachers in teaching grammar communicatively and then to give some
suggestions to reduce the difficulties.
I.2. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are as follows:
 To investigate the difficulties of teaching and learning grammar
communicatively faced by the teachers and students.
 To make some suggestions on reducing the teachers‟ difficulties in the
application of CLT in teaching grammar and make grammar lessons more
successful.
I.3. Significance of the study
This study plays an important role in improving grammar teaching method to social work
students at Vietnam Youth Institute. Its implemented suggestions will make the application
of CLT at my institute successful and effective.
I.4. Research questions
(1) What are the difficulties faced by the social work students at VYI in learning
grammar and their expectations?

3
(2) What are the difficulties faced by the teachers at VYI in teaching grammar
communicatively and their own solutions?
I.5. Scope of the study
The study is concerned with finding the teachers‟ difficulties in teaching grammar
communicatively for the first year students of social work at VYI. The study of others

limitations during the process of doing the research as well as some suggestions for further
study.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definitions of grammar
Jeremy Harmer (1988:1) defines grammar as “the way in which words change themselves
and group together to make sentences. The grammar of a language is what happens to
words when they become plural or negative, or what word order is used when we make

5
questions or join two clauses to make one sentences.” Jeremy Harmer shares the same
point of view with the authors of the Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary. As for Celce
– Murcia, M (1988: 16), grammar is “a subset of those rules which govern the
configurations that the morphology and syntax of a language assume.”

language rather than the learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey word.”
(Hawkins, 1984: 150-1).
In fact, grammar is one of the key elements of a language. Therefore, one person cannot
master a language without the knowledge of its grammar. Thanks to grammar, language
can partly function as means of communication, especially in written language. One cannot
write well if he lacks the knowledge of grammar. In speaking, though grammatical
mistakes are sometimes acceptable, grammar makes one‟s speech better and more
attractive, especially in formal situations. Learners cannot use words if they do not know
how to put these words together. Grammar exists to enable us to “mean” and without
grammar, it is impossible to communicate beyond a vary rudimentary level because
“speech is no more than sounds, writing is no more than hieroglyphics” (Peck, 1988: 127).
For these reasons, the teaching of grammar is very important in ELT.
1.3. An overview on methods in teaching grammar
There are many methods widely used by language teachers in the world in general and in
Vietnam in particular. The methods are now discussed in this paper as follows: GTM, DM
and AM.
1.3.1. The Grammar-Translation method (GTM)
Traditional method or GTM was rooted in the formal teaching of Latin and Greek and
become popular in the late 19
th
century. According to Larsen-Freeman (1986: 4), the GTM
was used for the purpose of helping students read and appreciate foreign language
literature. Through studying the grammar of the target language, students would become
more familiar with the grammar of their native language and this helps them use their
language more grammatically.
The strength of GTM is that it requires few resources so it is easy to apply and cheap to
administer. Thus, the method is still used in many places where the class is large (more
than 30 students).
This method, however, has certain disadvantages. According to Richards and Rodgers
(1986:3), GTM obviously focuses on the form rather than the use of the target language.

not the business of the school. The graduation and sequences of materials is not based on
realistic spoken speech but artificial connected sentences. The weakness of the method is
also stated in River (1983:34): “In the pure form of the DM, insufficiency is made for
systematic practice and requesting-practice of structures in a coherent sequence. As a
result, students often lack a clear idea of what they are trying to do, and they make
haphazard progress”.
1.3.3. The Audio-Lingual method (AM)

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The AM derived from America during the World War II where there was a need for people
to learn foreign language quickly for military purposes. It led to the development of the
AM which then has had a considerable influence on English language teaching all over the
world. This English teaching method puts listening and speaking in the first place. It uses
sentence pattern as the base of teaching and try to avoid mother tongue in class. Attention
is paid to the need for practice rather than explanation about the language because the
ability to use the language as a means of communication is the ultimate aim.
The first and most successful point of this method is to develop students‟ listening
comprehension and fluency in speaking in the target language. Students are encouraged by
the sense of being able to use what they have learned in the very early days of their study.
In addition, the study is reinforced by repetition, so the students have good repetition and
this is suitable for learners of different abilities. Another point is that this method provides
a good systematic progression of the materials.
However, there still remain some problems. The success or failure of this method depends
largely on the qualities of the teachers and the availability of resources. That is why
Brumfit (1983:8) comments “the objective is generally the mastery of sentence patterns
rather than creative or communicative use of language”.

1.4. Application of CLT in grammar teaching
1.4.1. Communicative competence
Communicative competence is now recognized as the primary goal of language teaching.

role is as facilitator of the communication process. Materials promote communicative
language use; they are task-based and authentic.
According to Brindley (1986:12), “Language is not a static system. It is created through
interaction; language learning does not consist merely of internalizing a list of structural
items. It is a process of learning how to negotiate meaning in a particular socio-cultural
context. Consideration of meaning rather than form will therefore determine program
content; language learning will be more effective if they are centered around the needs and
interests of the learners; language learning materials should, similarly, be related to
learners‟ needs and interests and present learners with the opportunity for genuine
communication; effective communication is more than structures accuracy, particularly at
the beginning stages of language learning. Errors are a manifestation of the tact that
learning is taking place.”
1.4.3. Characteristics of CLT
In CLT, meaning is paramount. Wilkins (1972) classifies meaning into notional and
functional categories and views learning a second language as acquiring the linguistic

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means to perform different kinds of functions. According to Larsen-Freeman (1986:132),
the most obvious characteristic of CLT is that “Almost everything that is done with
communicative intent”. Students use the language through communicative activities (e.g.
games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks).
From Morrow‟s point of view (in Johnson and Morrow, 1981), activities that are truly
communicative have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback. An information
gap occurs when one person exchanges the information he has with the one who does not.
Another characteristic of CLT is the introduction of authentic materials. In CLT, it is
considered desirable to give learners the opportunity to genuine communicative needs in
realistic second language situations so that they develop strategies for understanding
language as actually used by native speakers (Canale and Swain, 1980).
In addition, “activities in the Communicative Approach are often carried out by students in
small group” (Laren-Freeman, 1986:132). Students are expected to interact with one

2. Students deduce the meaning, the form and the use of it.
3. The teacher gets students understanding by asking yes/no questions focusing on
form, meaning and use.
4. The teacher gets students to practice the structure through Repetition and
Substitution Drills, Word Prompts, and Picture Prompts. The teacher tries to
provide maximum practice within controlled, but realistic and contextualized
frameworks and to build students’ confidence in using the new language.
5. The teacher provides students with opportunities to use new language in a freer,
more creative way. The teacher creates activities in which students can integrate
new language with the previous learnt language and apply what they have learnt to
talk about their real life activities.
What makes this kind of lesson different from the traditional is that the teacher tries to
make the language used in the lesson real and true. The teacher creates real or like-real
situations in which the language can be used. This will enable students to communicate in
English outside the classroom. During the CLT lesson, the teacher often plays the
important role of facilitator who facilitates activities to work with the target language.
1.5. Factors to be considered of CLT application
1.5.1. Teachers’ beliefs and attitudes

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Feeman (1998) claims that “teachers‟ beliefs are the strongest guiding influence on
teachers‟ instruction”. Teachers‟ beliefs are founded on the goals, values teachers hold in
relation to the content, process of teaching and their understanding of the system in which
they work and their roles within it. Richards and Lockhart (1996) consider that teachers
may believe in the effectiveness of a particular approach or method of teaching and
consistently try to implement it in the classroom. It is also commonly known that if
teachers do not believe that the approach can be implemented in their teaching context or
of they do not have positive attitudes towards the approach, this approach will not be
carried out to its full potential.
1.5.2. Teachers’ qualities and personalities

According to Keefe (1979:4), learning style can be seen as cognitive, affective and
physiological features that are relatively indicators of how learners perceive, interact with
and respond to the learning environment. Major factors conditioning the ways learners
think and study are the education system, the socio-cultural background and personality
variables.
1.5.6. Learners’ anxiety and confidence
Many studies have suggested that language anxiety has a negative relationship with
learning success and vice versa, self-confidence has a positive relationship. One of the
factors that cause anxiety or bring back in-confidence is learners‟ learning experience.
Experience of failure may cause them to become anxious quickly in classroom situations.
On the contrary, experience of success may facilitate their desire to learn, to participate in
class activities as well as to take risks communicating with other classmates. Harmer
(1991) claims that “success… plays a vital part in the motivational drive of a learner”. The
source of anxiety and lack of confidence may have a relationship with learners‟
background.
1.5.7. Classroom conditions
Classroom conditions can affect motivation. Harmer (1991) states that physical conditions
have a great effect on learning and can alter a learners‟ motivation either positively or
negatively. In the light of large classes or over-crowded classes, Woodward (2001:218)
conveys the implication that whether a class is large or not depends on the ways teachers
feel and on the locality values. However, teachers should bear in mind problems associated
with “large” classes. They include noise, too many people and fixed objects in a restricted
space, not enough materials for everyone, not being able to respond to different needs the
difficulty of maintaining the class, etc.

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1.5.8. Language environment
In EFL environment, English is rarely heard outside school, thus practicing English outside
is very rare. Without the reinforcement of an English-speaking environment, motivation
becomes a product of the teachers‟ initiative on the one hand and the learners‟ will to

Finally, factors affected CLT applications are mentioned. In the next chapter, the situation
of English learning and teaching at VYI will be analyzed, and the survey with a
questionnaire for 4 teachers and another for 120 students as well as classroom observations
will be done. After that, the findings of the survey will be analyzed and discussed. CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
2.1. An overview of the situation of teaching and learning English grammar at
Vietnam Youth Institute (VYI)
2.1.1. Objectives of the English course at VYI
The English course for social work students at VYI aims at that the students are able to
communicate in English in daily life. Therefore, English is considered as an important and
compulsory subject in the training program. The social work students learn English in 2
terms (120 periods of 45 minutes). The main material for the teachers and students is
Lifelines Elementary which consists of 14 units.
2.1.2. Teachers’ factors
One of the most important factors in the process of teaching is teachers. In order to carry
out this process properly, teachers need to have good experience of teaching and
understanding of the syllabus.
At VYI, there are four teachers of English. They are energetic and are willing to devote
time and energy to teaching. One of them has acquired Master‟s degree. The rest are
following a M.A course. However, none of the teachers have attended a training course in
English speaking countries. The teachers rarely have opportunities to participate in any
conferences on teaching English so they cannot update the new approach to English
teaching. Some of them are vague about approaches to English teaching. However, all of
them want to make the quality of English teaching and learning better.
2.1.3. Learners’ factors

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Students are important elements in the process of teaching and learning. It is essential to


17
120 social work students were selected at random from 2 classes KI and KII at VYI to
participate in the research. Their age varied from 18 to 25. Among them, 62% are female
and 38% are male. Their English level is not equal. Some of them have learnt English for 7
years; some others have learnt English for 3 years and the rest have never learnt English
before.

2.2.2. The instruments for collecting data
To obtain data for the study, two instruments were employed: survey questionnaire and
interviews.
2.2.2.1. Survey questionnaire
The survey questionnaire is chosen as the primary instrument for collecting data because it
easy to construct and gather a large amount of information in a processible form.
2.2.2.1.1. Questionnaire for the students
The questionnaire consists of two types of questions including 10 closed and open ended
ones (see Appendix 1). To ensure the students‟ accurate misunderstandings before
answering the questions, all of them were written in Vietnamese. Their answers were also
written in Vietnamese, which enabled them to express their ideas fully and with ease. 120
copies were delivered and collected within 1 week.
The questions focus on the following categories:
- The students’ background of foreign languages before entering VYI (Question 1)
- The students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning English in general and learning
grammar in particular (Question 2-5)
- The students’ evaluation of their English grammar lessons (Question 6)
- The students’ preference in the way of teaching grammar structures (Question 7)
- The students’ way of learning grammar structures (Question 8)
- The students’ difficulties in learning grammar (Question 9)
- The students’ recommendations for improving English learning in general and grammar
learning in particular (Question 10)


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a) The difficulties faced by the social work students at VYI in learning grammar
and their expectations
b) The difficulties faced by the teachers at VYI in teaching grammar
communicatively and their own solutions
Their self-report would be basic data to answer the research questions for this study.
2.3. Data analysis and discussions
2.3.1. Survey questionnaire
2.3.1.1. Questionnaire for the students
a. The students’ background of foreign languages before entering VYI
Categories
Number (N)
Percentage (%)
Students are Kinh ethnic group ones.
69
57.5
Students are ethnic minorities (H‟mong, Muong,
Nung, Tay, Thai)
51
42.5
Students coming from cities
14
11.7
Students coming from towns
28
23.3
Students coming from townlets
32
26.7

Neither like nor dislike learning English
b. The students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning English in general and
learning grammar in particular (Question 2-5)
Question 2, 3, 4, 5 deal with the students‟ attitudes and motivations towards learning
English in general and learning grammar in particular. Students‟ responses to Question 2
can be illustrated as follows:

Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards learning English at the school
The findings showed that 67.2% of students have positive attitudes towards learning
English. 27.9% of those neither like nor dislike English subject. The number of student
finding English uninteresting at all is only 4.9%. Overall, the students have good attitudes
towards learning English, which will be a positive contributing factor in their learning.
Question 3 focuses on students‟ reasons for learning English
23.3%
90%
38.7%
36.7%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90