VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTIES OF ENGLIH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE  THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURE BASED PRODUCTION TASKS ON ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND GRAMMATICAL PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN QUYNH THY Supervised by NGUYEN THU HUONG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTIES OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE  THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURE BASED PRODUCTION TASKS ON ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND GRAMMATICAL PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYEN QUYNH THY Supervised by NGUYEN THU HUONG, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2017 i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to express her gratitude and appreciation to those who have advised, supported and contributed to the completion of the research project First of all, I would like to send my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Thu Hương, for his valuable guidance, advice and encouragements His kind support, explanations, and comments have encouraged me to complete the project In addition, he supplied me with useful sources of materials in language teaching and in doing research I owed him for his time helping me with statistical analyses of the data and discussing the results with me Without his excellent academic guidance, my thesis would not have been possible Next, I am grateful to my friends and colleagues Ms Đỗ Ngọc Anh, Ms Trần Ngọc Quỳnh Như, and Ms Châu Thục Quyên for their enthusiastic contributions to proofreading my thesis, revising the English and Vietnamese versions of the questionnaire I also would like to acknowledge the Head of the Center, Dr Ngô Thị Thanh Vân, who allowed me to conduct the study in Tôn Đức Thắng University Without her assistance, my thesis would not have been completed I would like to thank all of my students who joined in the study for their valuable time, their great effort to complete a variety of tests and questionnaires The thesis would not have been completed without their cooperation Finally, I would send my deepest gratitude to my parents who have provided me with a source of inspiration, motivation and encouragement for me to complete this research successfully ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURE BASED PRODUCTION TASKS ON ENGLISH NON-MAJORED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND GRAMMATICAL PERFORMANCE in terms of the statement of the Requirements for the Theses in Master’s Program issued by the Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institutions Ho Chi Minh City, November 2017 NGUYEN QUYNH THY iii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEN QUYNH THY, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan, or reproduction of thesis Ho Chi Minh City, November 2017 NGUYEN QUYNH THY iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY iii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xiii LIST OF CHARTS xiv ABSTRACT xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Research hypotheses 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 A brief history of grammar teaching 2.2 Issues of grammar teaching 2.2.1 Methodological options in grammar teaching 2.2.1.1 Feature-focused options 2.2.1.2 Focused communication options 2.2.2 Procedures 2.2.3 Noticing 12 2.2.4 Contexts 15 2.2.5 Tasks and activities 15 2.2.6 Tasks in language teaching 16 v 2.2.7 Grammatical performance 18 2.2.8 Structure Based Production Tasks 20 2.3 Previous studies 21 2.3.1 Studies on the impact of focused tasks on learners’ grammatical performance 22 2.3.2 Studies on the relationship between focused tasks and students’ attitudes 25 2.4 Conceptual framework 28 2.5 Chapter summary 29 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30 3.1 Research design 30 3.2 Research setting and participants 31 3.2.1 Research setting 31 3.2.2 Sampling 31 3.2.3 Participants 31 3.3 Instruments 32 3.3.1 Tests 32 3.3.1.1 Proficiency Test 32 3.3.1.2 Pre-test 33 3.3.1.2 The Discrete-point item test 33 3.3.1.2.2 The Integrative item test 34 3.3.1.3 Post-test 35 3.3.2 Questionnaire 35 3.3.3 Reliability of the questionnaire 37 3.4 Treatment 38 3.4.1 Materials 38 3.4.2 English Tense and Aspect 39 3.4.3 Procedures 39 3.4.3.1 Pre-stage 40 3.4.3.2 Implementation stage 40 vi 3.4.3.3 Post-stage 45 3.5 Data collection 46 3.6 Methods of analysis 46 3.6.1 T-Test 46 3.6.2 Bivariate Correlation 46 3.6.3 Frequency Count and Percentage 47 3.6.4 Scoring criteria for the pre-test and post-test 47 3.7 Chapter summary 47 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS 48 4.1 Results 49 4.1.1 Statistical analysis of pre-test results 49 4.1.1.1 Statistical analysis of the Discrete-point item pre-test results 49 4.1.1.2 Statistical analysis of the Integrative item pre-test results 49 4.1.2 Statistical analysis of the post-test results 50 4.1.2.1 Statistical analysis of the Discrete-point item post-test results 50 4.1.2.2 Statistical analysis of the Integrative item post-test results 51 4.1.3 Paired Samples T-Test of the Integrative item pre-test and post-test of the experimental group 51 4.1.4 Analysis of data in the questionnaire 52 4.1.4.1 Statistical analysis of students’ general attitudes towards the application of the Structure Based Production Tasks 52 4.1.4.1.1 Statistical analysis of students’ general preference for the new method 52 4.1.4.1.2 Statistical analysis of students’ general attitudes towards grammar learning and communicating through the Structure Based Production Tasks 53 4.1.4.2 Statistical analysis of students’ positive attitudes towards the application of the Structure Based Production Tasks 54 4.1.4.2.1 Statistical analysis of student’s confidence of using Functions 55 vii 4.1.4.2.2 Statistical analysis of student’s confidence of using Tenses 57 4.1.4.2.3 Statistical analysis of student’s confidence of Discussing topics 59 4.1.4.3 Statistical analysis of student’s affection for the impact of the Structure Based Production Tasks 60 1.1.4.4 Statistical analysis of students’ negative attitudes on the impact of the Structure Based Production Tasks 63 4.1.4.4.1 Statistical analysis of student’s anxiety about the use of Functions 63 4.1.4.4.2 Statistical analysis of student’s anxiety about the use of Tenses 65 4.1.4.4.3 Statistical analysis of other factors of anxiety 66 4.1.4.5 One Sample T-Test for general attitude mean 68 4.1.4.6 Correlation between confidence and anxiety about using the English Tenses after implementing the Structure-Based Production Tasks 69 4.2 Discussion of the findings 71 4.2.1 Theme 72 4.2.2 Theme 76 4.3 Chapter summary 77 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 78 5.1 Summary of the main findings 78 5.2 Suggestions 79 5.3 Limitations 79 5.4 Recommendations for further research 80 5.5 Chapter summary 81 REFERENCES 82 viii APPENDIX 1: PROFICIENCY TEST 89 APPENDIX 2: PRE-TEST 95 APPENDIX 3: POST-TEST 106 APPENDIX 4A: QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) 117 APPENDIX 4B: QUESTIONNAIRE (TRANSLATED VERSION) 121 APPENDIX 5A: LESSON PLAN (EXPERIMENTAL GROUP) 126 APPENDIX 5B: LESSON PLAN (CONTROL GROUP) 129 ix 64 I (have) three lectures today and I still have twice more later this afternoon 65 Wherever you go in Brazil, you (find) the people are very friendly 66 She (be) unemployed for a long time, but thankfully, she’s got a job now 67 She asked the driver to slow down He .(drive) too fast 68 I can’t talk now We (have) a meeting I’ll ring you later 69 There is a reading list to accompany my lecture, which I (give out) at the end 70 She was very rude to me I refuse to speak to her again until she (apologize) 71 Peter couldn’t understand what had been decided because too many people (talk) at once 72 He held the fish in his hands as if he (weigh) it and then said, “It’s about 3.5 kilos” 73 It (snow) all day I wonder when it will stop 74 My teacher was really annoyed with me It was the third time (arrive) late for school that week 75 Everyone was having a good time although not many people (dance) 76 He (flow) all the way from New York to be at yesterday’s meeting 77 The avalanche (carry) them 500 meters down the mountain but no one was hurt 78 Jane is always on holidays, so Linda (handle) her work 79 Peter offered me another drink but I decided I (have) enough 80 In his 1954 book, Wall (take) a controversial view of Britain’s role in the war in Europe 116 APPENDIX 4A  ENGLISH VERSION QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire aims to collect data for the research entitled “The effects of Structure-Based Production Tasks on English non-majored students’ attitudes and grammatical performance” Please answer this questionnaire by putting a tick () into the most appropriate box or writing your answers in the space provided Your answers will make a valuable contribution to the success of the study The information of the questionnaire is used for the research purposes only Thank you for your time and help I Personal information Full name: Gender:  male  female Faculty: Year of study: Years of learning English in high school: years II Questions Please put a tick () into the boxes or write shortly your ideas in the space provided below (5 = totally true to me, = true to me, = partly true to me, =not true to me, = totally not true to me) 117 After each session, you feel confident: a when using these functions: (1) a regular or habitual activity (2) a completed action in the past (3) an action happening at the moment of speaking; a future arrangement (4) an action in progress at a time in the past (5) a past action is related to the present in some way (6) the first action was finished when the second action happened (7) a prediction; a promise; a future action b when using these Tenses: (1) Present Simple (2) Past Simple (3) Present Continuous (4) Past Continuous (5) Present Perfect (6) Past Perfect (7) Future Simple c when discussing these topics: (1) Company portrait (2) Entertainment (3) Personal characteristics (4) Ethical Consumption (5) Health 118 (6) Food Others: Affective elements of the new method that you like: a Need-based rule explanations b No hindrances to raising problems c High frequency of structure representations d Students are free to use their language e More student talking time than teacher talking time Others: After each session, you are still anxious when: a Using these functions: (1) a regular or habitual activity (2) a completed action in the past (3) an action happening at the moment of speaking; a future arrangement (4) an action in progress at a time in the past (5) a past action is related to the present in some way (6) the first action was finished when the second action happened (7) a prediction; a promise; a future action 119 b Using these Tenses: (1) Present Simple (2) Past Simple (3) Present Continuous (4) Past Continuous (5) Present Perfect (6) Past Perfect (7) Future Simple c Teacher not provide essential rules for using tenses d Students have to infer the use of new grammatical structures e Students have to infer the meaning of new grammatical structures Others: In general, you: a prefer this method to the traditional method b You positively evaluate this method because it helps you: (1) Communicate better (based on the provided topics) (2) Remember grammar better Others: Thank you for your cooperation 120 APPENDIX 4B  TRANSLATED VERSION BẢNG KHẢO SÁT Bảng thăm dị ý kiến dùng để thu thập thơng tin cho đề tài nghiên cứu “The effects of Structure-Based Production Tasks on English non-majored students’ attitudes and grammatical performance” (Tác động tập nói-viết dựa cấu trúc thái độ hiệu suất sử dụng ngữ pháp sinh viên khơng chun anh) Xin vui lịng trả lời câu hỏi cách đánh dấu () vào ô mà bạn cho thích hợp viết ngắn gọn ý kiến bạn vào khoảng trống cho sẵn Các câu trả lời bạn góp phần to lớn cho thành công đề tài Chúng cam đoan thông tin sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn I Thông tin cá nhân Tên: Giới tính:  nam  nữ Khoa: Năm: Số năm học tiếng Anh trường phổ thơng: năm II Câu hỏi Vui lịng đánh dấu () vào ô viết ngắn gọn ý kiến bạn vào khoảng trống cho sẵn (5 = hồn tồn với tơi, = với tôi, = phần với tôi, = khơng với tơi, = hồn tồn khơng với tơi) 121 Sau kết thúc khóa học, bạn thấy tự tin: a Khi sử dụng chức năng: (1) Diễn tả thói quen; hành động xảy hàng ngày (2) Diễn tả hành động diễn khứ (3) Diễn tả hành động diễn thời điểm nói; kế hoạch chắn thực tương lai (4) Diễn tả việc xảy thời điểm cụ thể khứ (5) Diễn tả hành động kéo dài từ khứ đến xảy tương lai (6) Diễn tả hành động xảy trước hành động khác khứ (7) Diễn tả tiên đoán; lời hứa; việc thực tương lai b Sử dụng Thì: (1) Hiện đơn (2) Quá khứ đơn (3) Hiện tiếp diễn (4) Quá khứ tiếp diễn (5) Hiện hoàn thành (6) Quá khứ hoàn thành (7) Tương lai đơn 122 c Nói đề tài: (1) Chân dung cơng ty (2) Hoạt động giải trí (3) Đức tính cá nhân (4) Đạo đức tiêu thụ (5) Sức khỏe (6) Ẩm thực Ý kiến khác: Những yếu tố phương pháp dạy làm bạn thích là: a Giáo viên giải thích ngữ pháp sinh viên cần hỏi b Sinh viên tự nêu thắc mắc điểm ngữ pháp muốn tìm hiểu sâu c Các cấu trúc tái nhiều giúp nhớ sâu d Sinh viên khơng bị bó buộc sử dụng ngôn ngữ mà giáo viên giới hạn e Thời gian nói sinh viên nhiều thời gian nói giáo viên Ý kiến khác 123 Sau kết thúc khóa học, bạn cịn khó khăn khi: a Sử dụng chức năng: (1) Diễn tả thói quen; hành động xảy hàng ngày (2) Diễn tả hành động diễn khứ (3) Diễn tả hành động diễn thời điểm nói; kế hoạch xếp chắn thực tương lai (4) Diễn tả việc xảy thời điểm cụ thể khứ (5) Diễn tả hành động kéo dài từ khứ đến xảy tương lai (6) Diễn tả hành động xảy trước hành động khác khứ (7) Diễn tả tiên đoán; lời hứa; việc thực tương lai b Sử dụng Thì: (1) Hiện đơn (2) Quá khứ đơn (3) Hiện tiếp diễn (4) Quá khứ tiếp diễn (5) Hiện hoàn thành (6) Quá khứ hoàn thành (7) Tương lai đơn c Giáo viên không đưa quy tắc cần thiết để 124 sử dụng Thì d Tự suy cách sử dụng cấu trúc ngữ pháp e Tự suy đốn nghĩa cấu trúc ngữ pháp Ý kiến khác: Nhìn chung, bạn: a Thích phương pháp phương pháp truyền thống mà bạn biết b Đánh giá cao phương pháp giúp bạn: (1) giao tiếp tốt (dựa chủ đề học) (2) nhớ chủ điểm ngữ pháp tốt Ý kiến khác Xin chân thành cảm ơn cộng tác bạn 125 APPENDIX 5A LESSON PLAN (EXPERIMENTAL GROUP) Subject: Grammar Class: Communicative English Topic: Present Simple and Present Continuous-Action and State verbs Time: 45 minutes Date: 18/3/2015 I Aim: To help students understand and know how to use Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses with actions and state verbs II Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand and know how to use Present Simple and Present Continuous with action verbs, state verbs and apply these grammar points into their communication to improve accuracy, fluency and comprehension III Method of teaching: Communicative approach IV Procedure: STAGE TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES Presentation  Teacher asks  Students as (Pre-task) students to required look at the NMP website and the reading  Teacher invites  Students students to volunteer to answer and answer and give correct their corrections mistakes  Teacher tells students that they are going to listen to the  Students listen and take notes 126 CONTENT  Reading Task: Read the home page of the company website and email, then answer these following questions: What is NMP? What services does NMP offer? What project are Piet and Rosa working on now? Who is Eric Carlin?  Listening Task: Listen to part of the conversation between Carlin and Piet and answer these questions: Practice (During task) conversation between Piet and Rosa  Teacher invites  Students students to volunteer to give the answer and answers and take notes of corrects their mistakes When did Piet and Rosa set up the company? How long have they known each other? What are their different responsibilities at NMP? What does the new manager do? Do Piet and Rosa’s jobs involve a lot of travelling?  Teacher asks students interview their partners  Students as required Task: Interview your friend to find out:  his/her educational background  present work  studies  future plans  Teacher asks students to share their ideas and observe their performance  Teacher asks students to “writing task”“make questions”  Teacher asks students to exercise “fill in the blanks”  Teacher invites students to correct the exercise Then take notes of students’ mistakes  Students volunteer to share  Students work in groups of four Task: In pairs, read the answers Eric gave in an interview with Louise and make questions about what Louise may ask Eric  Students as Task: Complete the sentences, using Present required Simple or Present Continuous form of verbs in brackets  Students volunteer to answer 127 Feedback (Post-task)  Teacher directly raises consciousness of the target structure, meaning and its use  Students listen Task: Match the meaning in and take notes column A with the correct tense in column B of new grammatical points 128 APPENDIX 5B LESSON PLAN (CONTROL GROUP) Subject: Grammar Class: Communicative English Topic: Present Simple and Present Continuous-Action and State verbs Time: 45 minutes Date: 18/3/2015 V Aim: To help students understand and know how to use Present Simple and Present Continuous with Actions and State verbs VI Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to understand and know how to use Present Simple and Present Continuous with Action and State verbs and apply this grammar point into speaking activities to improve grammar accuracy, fluency and comprehension VII VIII Method of teaching: Communicative approach Procedure: STAGE Presentation TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES CONTENT  Teacher asks  Students as students to required look at the NMP website and the reading  Teacher invites  Students students to volunteer to answer and answer and give correct their corrections mistakes  Reading Task: Read the home page of the company website and email, then answer these following questions:  Teacher tells students that  Listening Task: Listen to part of the  Students listen and take notes 129 What is NMP? What services does NMP offer? What project are Piet and Rosa working on now? Who is Eric Carlin? they are going to listen to the conversation between Piet and Rosa  Teacher invites students to give the answers and corrects  Students volunteer to answer and take notes of their mistakes conversation between Carlin and Piet and answer these questions: When did Piet and Rosa set up the company? How long have they known each other? What are their different responsibilities at NMP? What the new manager do? Do Piet and Rosa’s jobs involve a lot of travelling? Practice  Teacher asks students to exercise “fill in the blanks”  Teacher asks students to “writing task”-“make questions  Students as Task: Complete the sentences, using Present required Simple or Present Continuous form of verbs in brackets  Students work Task: In pairs, read the in groups of answers Eric gave in an four to make interview with Louise and questions make questions about what Louise may ask Eric Production  Teacher asks students to interview their partners  Students as Task: Interview your friends to find out: required  his/her educational background  present work  studies  future plans 130 ... STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURE BASED PRODUCTION TASKS ON ENGLISH NON- MAJORED STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES AND GRAMMATICAL. .. 4.1.4.2 Students’ positive attitudes towards the application of the Structure Based Production Tasks 60 Chat 4.1.4.3 Student’s affection for the impact of the Structure Based Production Tasks. .. affection for the impact of the Structure Based Production Tasks 60 1.1.4.4 Statistical analysis of students’ negative attitudes on the impact of the Structure Based Production Tasks 63 4.1.4.4.1