VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THU HƢƠNG

TWELFTH GRADERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF
COMMUNICATIVE AND NON-COMMUNICATIVE
ACTIVITIES IN EFL CLASSROOMS
IN BAC LY HIGH SCHOOL

(Nhận thức của học sinh lớp 12 về các hoạt động giao tiếp
và phi giao tiếp tại trường Trung học phổ thông Bắc Lý) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10 HANOI – 2011


iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
page
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims and Objectives of the study 2
3. Research Questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of the study 3
6. Significance of the study 3
7. Structure of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 Theoretical background of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 6
1.1.1 Definitions of CLT 6
1.1.2 Characteristics of communicative language teaching 7
1.2 Communicative and non-communicative activities in language teaching
and learning process 8
1.2.1 Definition of communicative and non-communicative activities 8
1.2.2 Characteristics of communicative and non-communicative activities 9

4.1 To MOET, DOET 33
4.2 To teachers 34
4.3 To students 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 38
REFERENCES 40
APPENDICES I
vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT = Communicative Language Teaching
DOET = Department of Education and Training
ELT = English Language Teaching
L2 = Second Language
MOET = Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training
SLA = Second Language Acquisition
vii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS page

Table 1: Students‟ enjoyment of non-communicative activities
Table 2: Students‟ enjoyment of communicative activities
Table 3: Students‟ opinions of the usefulness of non-communicative activities

evaluate what they do (Breen, 1989). Teachers can use different strategies to build learners
choices into their lessons. Teachers and students can have a dialogue and negotiate
alternatives, which would definitely lead to more learner involvement and could, therefore,
lead to more positive attitudes towards language learning. As teachers, at every single
moment, we should observe our students' reactions and consider their attitudes and
preferences in order to promote a more inclusive climate that will enhance learning. In
order to deepen our understanding of how students react to communicative and non-
communicative activities, Barkhuisen (1998:86) has called for “teachers to discover their
learners‟ feelings and beliefs about their language learning experiences and consequently
to review and possibly change their teaching process”.
Moreover, Vietnamese high school syllabi now keep promoting CLT in an attempt
to enable the students to use the target language for communicative purposes instead of
mastering its grammatical rules and structures. Vietnamese twelfth graders in upper
secondary school had five-year experience studying English “communicatively” as English
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is among the compulsory subjects at secondary schools. However, the fact is that after
those years of learning English, not many pupils have a clear cut purpose of learning
English in their mind and they are likely passively motivated to learn English basing on
the textbooks and teachers‟ method of delivery. Consequently, most of pupils find
themselves unable to use English for day-to-day communication after having passed the
English national examination as a requirement for the General Education Diploma.
In brief, all of the reasons mentioned above have inspired the present study on:
“Twelfth graders’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activities in
EFL classrooms in Bac Ly high school” as the title for the thesis in the hope that I can
contribute a small part in helping my students and my colleagues to improve their learning
and teaching English.

2. Aims and objectives of the study
With the above-presented rationales, the specific aims and objectives of the study

5. Methods of study
In this study, a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized. A
questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of students to find answers to research
questions 1 and 2. Furthermore, in order to address the limitations of the questionnaire in
exploring students‟ perceptions, and to find out their constraints and possible solutions
(research questions 3), student semi-structured interviews and teacher group discussions
were conducted following the analysis of the questionnaire data. Questionnaire data
were analyzed quantitatively for descriptive statistics while the interview and discussion
data were processed qualitatively following an “interpretive model” (Hatch 2002) for
recommended solutions. The answers to three research questions provided a picture of
students‟ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activities as well as their
difficulties in doing communicative activities in EFL classrooms and possible solutions.

6. Significance of the study
English is used more and more to communicative throughout the world. MOET have
provided a series of new textbooks in order to develop students‟ communicative
competence. It is said that the textbooks are more useful than the older version, but most of
students hardly communicate in English after graduating from high schools and that
teachers and authors should adapt and revise these books. In such a circumstance, the
findings will hopefully aid teachers in their choice of classroom activities and in deciding
4

how learning activities should be arranged and implemented in the classroom while
waiting for MOET to make some changes in these books.
Although the study is intended to investigate students‟ perceptions of non-
communicative and communicative activities in EFL classrooms in an urban high school,
which is not researched adequately in the context of Ha Nam-based high schools, the
outcome of the study can contribute significantly to our understanding of the issue in high
schools with a similar context. As such, this study will serve as a reference material not
only for teachers of English in Bac Ly high school but also for teachers elsewhere who


PART B DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the literature on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), and
previous studies on students‟ perceptions of non-communicative and communicative
activities. First, it presents definitions and the main characteristics of CLT that is followed
by a discussion of con-communicative and communicative activities in language teaching
and learning process. Finally, it presents previous studies on students‟ perceptions of non-
communicative and communicative activities.

1.1. Theoretical background of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
1.1.1. Definitions of CLT
Despite the widespread advocacy of CLT, there is a lack of agreement about what
communicative is. According to Harmer (1981: 165): “In the teaching and learning and
methodology of a foreign language, it is only activities within the syllabus and
methodology that can be classed as communicative”.
According to Lightbown & Spada (1999:172), “CLT is based on the premise that
successful language learning involves not only a knowledge of the structures and forms of
the language, but also the functions and purposes that a language serves in different
communicative settings. This approach to teaching emphasizes the communication of
meaning over the practice and manipulation of grammatical forms (emphasis added).”
This definition as it can reflect the nature as well as the target of CLT. CLT focuses not
only on forms but also on meaning. When CLT is successfully applied, students feel very
confident in different communicative contexts.
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001) CLT which is generally regarded as an
approach to language teaching means little more than an integration of grammatical and
functional teaching. As such, CLT reflects a certain model or research paradigm, or a
theory (Celce- Murcia 2001). It is based on the theory that the primary function of
language use is communication. Its primary goal is for learners to develop communicative
competence (Hymes 1971), or simply put, communicative ability. Communicative

taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom. From what Nunan states about
the prominent features of CLT, we can see that any teaching practice that the students
develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is acceptable and
beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in the classroom, CLT often takes the form of pair and
group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, communicative
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activities in which students practice and develop language functions and encourage
learners to develop their confidence.
These characteristics will be the principles for teachers to choose appropriate
techniques as well as activities in class to improve the students‟ communicative
competence. All learning activities should be selected according to how well they engage
the students in meaningful and authentic language use rather than only mechanical practice
of language patterns to achieve accuracy in language forms.

1.2. Communicative and non-communicative activities in language teaching and
learning process
1.2.1. Definition of communicative activities and non-communicative activities
The goal of language teaching has undergone remarkable changes in recent years.
Recently, CLT has become predominant with the goal of learning a language for the sake
of being bale to use it for communication in real life. Along this line, in the language
classrooms, both teachers and students try their best to control over the language that
students use by organizing it into manageable portions to be developed though
communicative and non-communicative activities. Then, the question “what are
communicative and non-communicative activities?” should be taken into consideration.
Harmer (1991:50) defines: “Communicative activities are those which exhibit the
characteristics at the communicative end of the continuum. Students are somehow involved
in activities that give them both the desire to communicate and a purpose that involves
them in a varied use of the language. Such activities are vital in the classroom since here
the students can do their best to use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree of

 The correction for content principle, which argues that during communication
the students‟ language production should be judged on its communicative
efficacy in relation to a specific task.
In addition to that, Harmer (1981) lists six distinctive characteristics of
communicative activities when they are contrasted with non-communicative ones. They
are presented in the following way:
Non-communicative activities
Communicative activities
1. No desire to communicate.
2. No communicative purpose.
3. Form not content.
4. One language item
5. Teacher intervention
6. Materials control
1. A desire to communicate
2. A communicative purpose
3. Content not form.
4. Variety of language.
5. No teacher intervention
6. No materials control.
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As can be seen from the above table, in communicative activities, students must have
a desire to communicate, and there must be some communicative purpose to their
communication. This implies that the students‟ attention will be focused on the content of
what they are saying, rather than the form. They will use a wide variety of language, and
the teacher will not intervene like telling students they have made mistakes in their
English, correct their pronunciation, etc. in a communicative activity it is not expected the
materials which the students were using would control their language (e.g. restrict it to the
use of one grammatical form, etc.).

supports learning. They provide opportunities to promote relationship among learners and
between learners and teachers.
The role of non-communicative activities is to give the learners fluent control over
linguistic forms, so that the lower-level processes will be capable of unfolding
automatically in response to higher-level decisions based on meanings. Although the
activities may emphasize the links between forms and meanings, the main criterion for
success is whether the learner produces acceptable language. On other words, they provide
learners with a fluent command of the linguistic system, without actually requiring them to
use this system for communicative purposes. Accordingly, the learners‟ purpose is to
produce language which is acceptable rather than to communicate meanings effectively.
In short, with these most important roles, communicative and non-communicative
activities contribute a crucial part to the success of language teaching and learning.
Moreover, they develop a basic of language structures and a pattern of language interaction
within the classroom, which is as close as possible to that used by competent performers in
normal life. Therefore, students feel comfortable and confident, feel free to take risks and
have sufficient opportunities to speak.

1.2.4 The roles of teachers in communicative and non-communicative activities
Littlewood (1981) states three roles of teachers in communicative activities. Firstly,
teachers function as providers of advice and necessary language items in case students find
themselves unable to cope with the situation. Secondly, the teacher plays the role of
observer. While learners are performing, the teacher can monitor their strengths and
weaknesses. Teachers can also encourage students to get over their difficulties by seeking
other ways to express their ideas. Thirdly, sometimes the teacher can exercise an
immediate influence over the language used.
Through non-communicative activities, the teacher isolates specific elements of
knowledge or skill that compose communicative ability, and provides the learners with
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opportunities to practice them separately. The learners are thus being trained in the part-

asking students to do substitution exercises, repetition exercises, etc. The second type is
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quasi-communication activities which are intended to help learners relate the forms and
structures they are studying to the use of the language like communicative function,
specific meaning, and social context. Some quasi- communicative activities include (1)
Situational dialogues; (2) Open-ended dialogues; (3) Timetable, map, food list, shopping
list, etc. It can be concluded that the pre-communicative activities have the intention of
making students practice using acceptable language fluency, without being concerned to
communicate meanings effectively.
The most remarkable consideration should be taken to communicative activities.
These kinds of activities require learners to integrate his knowledge and skills of the pre-
communicative activities into full activities of communicative meanings. Littlewood
(1981) divides communicative activities into functional communication activities and
social interaction activities. For the functional communication activities, the main purpose
is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meaning across as
effectively as possible. Success is measured primarily according to whether they cope with
communicative demands of the immediate situation. Some examples of these activities are
questions and answers, interviews based on a text, information-gap activities, role-play,
etc.
In addition, the social interaction activities place emphasis on social as well as
functional aspects of communication. Learners must not only aim to convey meanings
effectively but also pay greater attention to the social contexts in which the interactions
take place. Success is now measured not only in terms of the functional effectiveness of the
language but also in terms of the acceptability of the forms that are used. In the early stages
of learning, acceptability may mean little more than a reasonable degree of accuracy in
pronunciation and grammar. Later, it will increasingly come to include producing language
appropriate to specific kind of social situations because of the limitation of the classroom;
simulation and role-playing are now important techniques for creating a wider variety of
social situations and relationships.

„class discussion‟ and „class debates‟ which were acknowledged to bring enjoyment were,
however, ranked low in their usefulness. Oksana (2006), in her study of the perceptions of
university students about classroom activities, found that students from both Australia and
Ukraine greatly valued the traditional activities like doing grammar exercises and having
their errors corrected. At the same time, they also favored communicative activities such as
discussing various topics and making dialogs.
Until now, few studies about students‟ perceptions of classroom activities, even
teachers‟ perceptions, have been carried out in Vietnam. In a recent study of Vietnamese
learners by Tomlinson & Dat (2004), 69.7% of the student respondents said that they
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enjoyed group work but claimed that some factors like „linguistic limitations‟ ,
„performance anxiety‟, and „classroom atmosphere that doesn‟t stimulate discussion‟
inhibited them from taking active roles in class and student-centred activities (p 208: 211).
Lewis and McCook (2002) and Phan Le Ha (2004) asking teachers from Vietnam about
their teaching practice in university and secondary classrooms found that both
communicative activities and traditional activities were highly valued in Vietnamese
classrooms.
In general, previous studies on learners‟ perceptions of classroom activities showed
that non-communicative activities were preferred by students, especially those at lower
levels, appreciated more „traditional‟ activities. In some research, the students at higher
proficiency level enjoyed communicative activities, but the reasons often accounted for
enjoyableness rather than usefulness.

1.4. Summary
In this chapter, the researcher tried to provide a brief description of the theoretical
knowledge relating to the study. Included are CLT and its characteristics. Most of the
linguistics agree that CLT is directly connected to developing communicative competence
and its characteristics will be the principles for teachers to choose appropriate techniques
as well as activities in class to improve the students‟ communicative competence. This

2. What are students’ perceived difficulties in practicing communicative activities?
3. What are the possible solutions to these difficulties?

2.1. Research Approach
As this research aims to find out twelfth graders‟ perceptions of communicative
and non-communicative activities and their perceived difficulties in practicing
communicative activities, it employed mixed methods for data collection and analysis.
Data collected by means of questionnaire, semi-structured interview and group discussions
were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Questionnaire data were analyzed
quantitatively for descriptive statistics while the interview and discussion data were
processed qualitatively. Within the scope of this study, such a combination of both
research paradigms was believed to gain more in-depth data.
The researcher chose questionnaire because it is one of the most popular
instruments. It is quite easy to prepare and it can be used with a large number of subjects.
What is more, the information collected is not very difficult to tabulate and to analyze
(Brown, 1995). It helped “seek facts or causes of social phenomena without regard to the
subjective states of the individuals” (Nunan, 1989:4). Moreover, thanks to the large
number of participants in the study, that was, 200 twelfth grade students, the information
acquired was believed to be relatively “reliable and generalisable” (Nunan, 1989:4).
Following are interviews with students and group discussions among teachers in order to
address the limitations of the questionnaire in exploring students‟ perceptions, as pointed
above, and to find out if there is a mismatch between teachers and students‟ views of
classroom activities.

2.2. Research setting
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The study was carried out in Bac Ly high school, Ha Nam during the second term
of the school year 2010 – 2011. The school, which is located in remote area in Ly Nhan
District of Ha Nam province, consists of sixty five teachers and twenty - nine classes with

19

In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, survey questionnaire for
learners was designed. The questionnaire was administered to 200 students (97 girls and
103 boys) of grade 12 at the school. Their ages vary from 17 to 19. All of students started
learning English at grade 6. They all had basic knowledge about English and began to learn
the new English textbook for at least 6 years. Therefore, this period would be the most
suitable time for the study.

2.3.3. Teachers
There are eight teachers of English at Bac Ly high school. Their ages range
between twenty-five and fifty years old. Most of them have at least 3 year experience of
teaching English in high school and responsible for their teaching. All of them have got the
University Bachelor of Art‟s Degree in English. As rural teachers, they have few
opportunities to upgrade their teaching and do not have a lot of teaching facilities and
materials to help their work. Despite all these disadvantages, they are helpful, friendly and
dedicated teachers. They all have a great desire to acquire knowledge of how to teach
English well and are always willing to help their students tackle with difficulties in
learning.

2.4. The Textbook English 12
High school teachers have been using the textbook - English 12 for three years.
There are many changes in this new textbook in comparison with the old version. This
textbook has five lessons focusing on four skills such as Reading, Speaking, Listening and
Writing and Language Focus of grammar and pronunciation. There are 16 units in the
textbook and they consist of two kinds of practicing activities: non-communicative and
communicative activities. Although the new textbook is claimed to be more
communicative, more interesting, and more motivating to the students than the old one, it
provides more non-communicative activities than communicative ones as Nguyen Thi
Thuy Minh (2007) says, “The limitations lie in the predominance of mechanical practice