VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ********* USING VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT BOSTON LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN HCMC A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL Submitted by DAO NU DIEU MI Supervisor NGUYEN THAI AN, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, FEBRUARY 2014 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certificate my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitle: USING VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT BOSTON LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN HCMC In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee The thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree Ho Chi Minh City, February 2014 DAO NU DIEU MI i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, DAO NU DIEU MI, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis 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 theses Ho Chi Minh City, February 2014 DAO NU DIEU MI ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indeed grateful to many people for supporting me so that I can make this M.A (Master of Art) thesis feasible I firstly want to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thai An, for his enthusiastic guidance and valuable comments in completion of this thesis Secondly, I am thankful to the teaching staff and leaders of Boston Language School for their help and support I also wish to thanks my learners, the 6th graders for their cooperation in the study Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my husband for his love, support and encouragement iii ABSTRACT Most English coursebooks tend to cover all four skills – listening, reading, speaking and writing Thus, teaching grammar lessons effectively is not easy, especially to young learners To some teachers of English, it is challenging Meanwhile, learners consider learning grammar is boring and stressful because of their lack of interest, unenthusiastic teachers and heavy academic workload Therefore, to help learners feel like learning grammar lessons, many teachers try to find out various ways to attract their learners Among them, the researcher of this study applied visual aids to teaching grammar for her 6th graders at BLS in HCMC While doing so, she thought that when her learners experienced their grammar lessons with all senses and deduced the lessons by themselves, their learning would become easier and more enjoyable First of all, she surveyed difficulties that teachers and 6th graders at BLS encountered in teaching and learning grammar Based on the findings, she tried to overcome these difficulties and used various ways, particularly with visual aids, to help her learners get the lessons effectively Through class observations, she observed teachers’ and learners’ attitudes in grammar periods to find that visual aids for each grammar point were suitable or not At the beginning and the end of the first semester, she delivered a pre-test and post-test, respectively, on grammar to check whether her learners’ knowledge improved or not thanks to visual aids in learning grammar As a result, the benefits of the use of visual aids in grammar classes were revealed In short, since grammar was not an obstacle, it would help learners feel more comfortable in learning other skills, and of course, their English would be better Some recommendations were mentioned in the last section in the hope that learning English grammar would be improved with the help of visual aids iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality .i Retention and use of the thesis ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Table of contents v List of tables ix List of figures .x List of charts .xi List of abbreviations xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the school 1.2 Rationale for the study 1.3 Significance of the study .4 1.4 Research purposes 1.5 Research questions .4 1.6 Limitations 1.7 Organization of the study .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language skills 2.1.1 Macro-skills .7 2.1.2 Micro-skills .10 2.2 Definitions of grammar 12 2.3 The role of grammar in teaching four language skills 13 2.4 Teaching grammar communicatively in comparison with traditional ways .15 v 2.5 Visual aids 17 2.5.1 Boards .17 2.5.2 Pictures 17 2.5.3 Flashcards .20 2.5.4 Realia 22 2.5.5 Posters 24 2.5.6 PowerPoint slides 24 2.6 The importance of visual aids in teaching English 25 2.7 The importance of visual aids in teaching English grammar .26 2.8 Using visual aids 27 2.9 Review of some local studies related to the thesis .28 2.10 Summary .30 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions .31 3.2 Research design 31 3.3 Participants and participant selection method 32 3.4 Grammar points in the text book English .33 3.5 Data collection methods and procedures 35 3.5.1 Methods 35 3.5.1.1 Questionnaires 35 3.5.1.2 Observations .36 3.5.1.3 Tests 37 3.5.2 Procedures .37 3.6 Data analysis procedures 38 3.7 Summary .38 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Data collected from the questionnaires 39 vi 4.1.1 Teachers’ and learners’ viewpoint of teaching and learning grammar 39 4.1.1.1 Teachers’ viewpoint 39 4.1.1.2 Learners’ viewpoint 41 4.1.2 Teachers’ and learners’ attitudes towards teaching and learning grammar with visual aids .43 4.1.2.1 Teachers’ attitudes 43 4.1.2.2 Learners’ attitudes 46 4.1.3 Difficulties in teaching and learning English grammar 47 4.2 Data collected from the experimental project 52 4.2.1 What learners get when learning English grammar with the help of visual aids 52 4.2.2 How learners feel when learning English grammar with the help of visual aids 56 4.3 Data collected from the class observation 58 4.4 Teachers' benefits when using visual aids 58 4.5 Summary .60 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Implications 62 5.2 Recommendations 63 CONCLUSION 67 REFERENCES 69 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teachers 73 Appendix 2: Pre-questionnaire for learners .78 Appendix 3: Bản câu hỏi dành cho học viên (trước thực nghiệm) 81 Appendix 4: Post-questionnaire for learners 84 Appendix 5: Bản câu hỏi dành cho học viên (sau thực nghiệm) .87 vii Appendix 6: Pre-test 90 Appendix 7: Post-test .93 Appendix 8: Class observations 96 Appendix 9: Lesson plan 100 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Activities in grammar periods .40 Table 2: Learning English grammar is boring 42 Table 3: Learners’ expectations from the next grammar periods 42 Table 4: The importance & usefulness of using visual aids in teaching grammar .43 Table 5: Teachers' frequency of using visual aids in teaching grammar 44 Table 6: Teachers' difficulties in teaching grammar 47 Table 7: Ways to check learners’ understanding .49 Table 8: Learners' difficulties in learning grammar 50 Table 9: Learners’ activities to overcome difficulties .51 Table 10: Difficulties which learners have overcome .54 Table 11: Learners' scores 55 Table 12: Learners' interest in visual aids 57 Table 13: Learners’ benefits 59 Table 14: Reasons why teachers use visual aids when teaching .59 ix F Phát triển kỹ viết G Ý khác (Vui lòng ghi rõ): …………………………………………………… Bạn nghĩ giáo viên bạn nên sử dụng phương pháp để dạy ngữ pháp mức độ nào? A Không D Thường xuyên B Hiếm E Luôn C Thỉnh thoảng 89 APPENDIX PRE-TEST TEST Name: ……………………… Time allotted: 30 minutes Class: 6A I Circle the best answer: (2 marks) What’s your name? a I am Mai b My name is Mai c I am a student d A&B are correct b I’m OK c I’m fine d That’s great c Yes, I am d Yes, I’m not c When d Who c that d the How old are you? a I’m 12 Are you a student? a Yes, he is b Yes, he isn’t is this? It’s a ruler a Where b What What is your car? a color b this Are there apples in the box? a a b an c some d any Are your shoes? Yes, they are a they b these c those d All are correct b is c are d  b No, he isn’t c No, she isn’t d No, we aren’t He a teacher a am Is she a doctor? a No, I’m not 90 10 Where you now? I’m in the classroom a is b are c d does II Rearrange these words to make meaningful sentences: (2.5 marks) 11 am / Hoa / I / hello Hello, I am Hoa 12 Nam / is / this / Son Nam, this is Son 13 old / are / how / you? How old are you? 14 is / name / my / Lan My name is Lan 15 are / you / how / today? How are you today? III Fill in each gap with ONE word: (3 marks) This (16) _is _ my family There (17) _are _ five people (18) _in _ my family: my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and me We live (19) _on _ Quang Trung street My father is forty years (20) _old _ He is (21) _an _ engineer My mother is thirty-six (22) _She _ is a nurse (23) _My _ brother is twelve My sister (24) _is _ ten I’m fourteen We (25) _are _ students Answer the following questions: (2.5 marks) 26 How many people are there in his family? There are five people 91 27 Where they live? They live on Quang Trung street 28 How old is his father? He is forty years old 29 Is his mother a doctor? No, she isn’t 30 Are they students? Yes, they are -The end - 92 APPENDIX POST-TEST TEST Name: …………………………… Time allotted: 30 minutes Class: 6A I Circle the best answer: (2 marks) Hi My name is John What’s name? -My name’s Lan A my B her C his D your C his D your Hoa lives with family A my B her Where is school? - It’s in the country A.Nams’ B Nam C Nam’s D the Nam’s There five people in my family A am B is C are D He has breakfast six o’clock A in B at C on D for My school is to a hospital A next B near C beside D between How many books does Ba ? - He has eight A have B has C to have D having Does Lan have Math on Tuesday? - No, she A don’t B doesn’t C hasn’t D haven’t She her teeth every evening A brush B to brush C brushing 93 D brushes 10 What he ? – He’s an engineer A does / B / does C / D does / does II Rearrange these words to make meaningful sentences: (2.5 marks) 11 Friday / on / does / Minh / math / have? Does Minh have math on Friday? 12 listens / Mai / after / to / school / music Mai listens to music after school 13 students / are / there / hundred / nine / school / in / the There are nine hundred students in the school 14 from / I / past / eleven / seven / to / quarter / classes / have / a I have classes from a quarter past seven to eleven 15 bakery / drugstore / the / between / the / and / Linh’s house / is Linh’s house is between the bakery and the drugstore III Fill in each gap with ONE word: (3 marks) This is Mai She is my classmate She (16) _is _ twelve years old She lives (17) _at _ 09 Le Loi street in Quy Nhon City She is (18) _in _ grade She lives with (19) _her _ aunt and uncle She often gets up (20) _at _ five thirty She (21) _washes _ her face and (22) _brushes _ her teeth, after that she (23) _gets _ dressed then she goes (24) _to _ school at 6.30 Both she and I (25) _are _ good students Answer the following questions: (2.5 marks) 26 How old is Mai? She is twelve years old 94 27 Which grade is she in? She is in grade 28 Where does she live? She lives at 09 Le Loi street (in Quy Nhon City) 29 Who does she live with? She lives with her aunt and uncle 30 What time does she get up? She gets up at five thirty -The end - 95 APPENDIX 8: THE CLASS OBSERVATIONS Appendix 8A: Observation sheet in Class 6C Contents Teaching and learning activities The observer’s remark Unit 4-Part C: Getting ready for school A new structure: What Grammar: The Present Simple Tense of you every morning? Ordinary Verbs Materials - Board, PowerPoint, Pictures - Mai Lan Huong Workbook (grade 6) Classroom Presentation: Teacher presented some Teacher had clear organization verbs related to the lesson by showing demonstration pictures (get up, get dressed, brush one’s Learners were active and teeth, wash one’s face, have breakfast, go to interested in the lesson school) Learners looked at the pictures and PowerPoint repeated helped the teacher save the time to Teacher told her learners to make sentences explain; made the with I and change ONE’S into MY like this: atmosphere more exciting; I get up; I brush my teeth; I wash my face; attracted the learners etc After that, she replaced the subject I of these sentences with the singular subject HE like this: He gets up; He brushes his teeth; He washes his face; etc She showed these sentences again and asked her learned to find out the differences between pairs of sentences 96 She corrected and showed the form and She did not give key usages of this grammar point words which are often Her learners listened and took notes in their used in this tense notebooks Practice: To drill in this grammar point, she Learners just had chance asked her learners to answer a question: to work individually; no What you every morning? work in pairs or groups Then she required her learners to Exercise 2, page 15 in MLH Workbook She marked and pointed out mistakes which Board is a good teaching some learners had on the board aid to correct learners’ mistakes Production: She gave a game named Lucky This way helped learners number to help learners make meaningful consolidate the lesson’s sentences with this grammar point content Learners were eager to join the game and interesting happy when all of them received the prize and and created joyful learning environment as well Results Learners could use this structure to talk The teacher fulfilled her about their daily routines job and her learners mastered the lesson fully 97 Appendix 8B: Observation sheet in Class 6B Contents Materials Teaching and learning activities The observer’s remark Unit 7-Part C: On the move A new structure: How Grammar: Adverbial phrases you go to school? - Board, flashcards - English Textbook Classroom Presentation: Teacher organized a game by Teacher’s sticks interested organization drawing some stick transportations on the her learners board and asked her learners guess what Learners were pleased they were Learners answered BIKE, CAR, with little gifts BUS, PLANE, SHIP, and TAXI Each right answer had a little gift Teacher wrote a question How you go to Teacher’s demonstration school? And an answer I go to school by was quite boring Learners bike/by car/by train/by bus/on foot on the got the lesson passively board She explained this structure was used to talk about the transportations She underlined the phrase on foot She rewrote another synonymous sentence, i.e I walk to school Practice: To drill in this grammar point, she Learners did not have told to open their textbooks at page 78 and much chance to practice change these people’s sentences in pictures by replacing subject I with their names For example: 98 Lien: I go to school by bike  Lien goes to school by bike After that, she told her learners to work in pairs Each would ask questions about themselves and one of people in their textbooks Learners worked in pairs Production: She delivered each learner a Learners waited for their flashcard about transportation She asked S1 turns to talk; however, two Yes/No questions and a How-question there were some learners Similarly, S1 asked S2 and so on who did not pay attention to their friends They chatted or drew in their notebooks Results Learners could grasp this structure to talk The boring environment about their daily routines did not attract learners a lot They only followed their teacher’s instructions unnaturally because of the observer’s presence 99 APPENDIX LESSON PLAN Unit 8: Out and About (English 6) Part A: What are you doing? Grammar focus: The Present Continuous Tense (Page 82) Time allotted: 45 minutes Stage/Time Warm-up (5 mns) Teachers’ activities Students’ activities To review the old lesson, T plays a game Ss look at the pictures and raise named “Noughts and Crosses” T shows their hands to answer some pictures and asks Ss to make sentences with The present simple tense Expected answers: He washes the dishes She brushes her teeth He gets dressed He does his homework They walk to school She washes her face He plays tennis They ride their bikes He sleeps He drives the bus After finishing the game, T tells them to write their answers down the board 100 Presentation T chooses a simple sentence like “They Pay attention (15 mns) walk to school” and underlines the verb “walk” T changes into am/is/are walking and asks Ss which TO BE is suitable for subject “They” in this sentence Ss say “are” loud T explains using the former sentence to express a daily routine; but using the latter sentence to express what is happening T chooses another sentence like “She brushes her teeth” and rewrites “She am/is/are brushing her teeth” T asks which TO BE is suitable Ss say “is” T tells Ss to go to the board and deduce the Go to the board and write structure from these sentences Expected answer: Subject + am/is/are + V-ing T gives remarks and tells some remembers Listen and copy down - Form: Subject + am/is/are + V-ing - Usage: to express what is happening - Notes: Take notes + Plus –ING after Infinitive + Omit –E, then plus –ING as usual + Double consonant if the verb has ONE syllable, followed by ONE consonant and there is ONE vowel before this consonant + Key words are used in this tense: now, at the moment, at the present, Look!, 101 Listen!, Be careful! Practice T tells Ss to answer questions at page 83 Read aloud their answers (15 mns) in English textbook Expected answers: a) I am doing my homework b) She is riding her bike c) He is driving his car d) They are waiting for a bus After giving feedbacks, T asks Ss to Do exercise in their workbooks Exercise at page 29 in Mai Lan Huong workbook (Give the right form of verbs in brackets) T requests Ss go to the board and write Go to the board and write down down their answers the answers Expected answers: is / is reading _ / am are _ going / am going are doing is playing are flying is sing go / am going brushes / is brushing 10 play / are playing T corrects their mistakes and gives Pay attention explanations Remarks 102 Production (10 mns) T gives a Guessing game Play the game T divides the class into groups T asks Ss one by one to turn back the board T writes some verbs on the board and asks Ss will act without saying he/she guesses what their teammates anything mime such as RUN, SWIM, WALK, JUMP, FLY, WRITE, DANCE, etc If they guess a correct verb, their group will get one mark Which group has more correct answers, it will win After finishing the game, T invites some RUNNING, SWIMMING, Ss to go to the board and add –ING as WALKING, JUMPING, what they have learned WRITING, FLYING, If there is spare time, T will ask Ss a DANCING, etc question “What are you doing?” for them Further practice to further practice 103 ...CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certificate my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitle: USING VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH ENGLISH GRAMMAR AT BOSTON LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN HCMC In terms of the statement... grammar and the significance of applying visual aids to grammar lessons above offer the researcher a chance to take a deep investigation into the current application of them in teaching grammar to. .. towards using visual aids in teaching and learning English grammar? What are the benefits of applying visuals aids to teaching and learning English grammar at BLS? 1.6 Limitations This is a new