Lồng ghép ngữ pháp trong giảng dạy ngoại ngữ sử dụng phương pháp giao tiếp (CLT): Cơ sở lý thuyết - Lê Thùy Linh

27KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v Language teaching is concluded to firstly appear as a profession in the twentieth century (Richards and Rodgers, 2001). Since then, there has been a lot of changes and innovation among competing language teaching ideologies with the common belief that the latter born method would be better than the preceded one. As a matter of fact, there are various teaching methods and approaches, among them, the eight common ones include the Grammar- Translation method, the Direct method, the Audio- Lingual method, the Silent way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, the Total response method and the Communicative approach (Larsen, 1986). In terms of the current Communicative approaches, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is one of the frequently researched areas, which LỒNG GHÉP NGỮ PHÁP TRONG GIẢNG DẠY NGOẠI NGỮ SỬ DỤNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIAO TIẾP (CLT): CƠ SỞ LÝ THUYẾT LÊ THÙY LINH Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân TÓM TẮT Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện nhằm chỉ ra sự cần thiết khi lồng ghép giảng dạy ngữ pháp trong sử dụng phương pháp giảng dạy thông qua giao tiếp (CLT). Số liệu xây dựng nghiên cứu là số liệu thứ cấp. Trong phần đầu, tác giả trình bày sơ lược về khái niệm của ngữ pháp và CLT, đặc biệt, nhấn mạnh tới vai trò của giảng viên và sinh viên khi lồng ghép ngữ pháp và giao tiếp. Phần chính của nghiên cứu, làm rõ hai lập luận về vai trò của ngữ pháp trong việc xây dựng kiến thức nền cho người học, và sự tích hợp của ngữ pháp trong giao tiếp sẽ giúp phát triển sự thành thạo trong sử dụng ngôn ngữ. Tác giả cũng đưa ra phản biện với ý kiến cho rằng, phương pháp giảng dạy thông qua giao tiếp không nên tập trung vào các vấn đề liên quan tới ngữ pháp. Quan điểm này tiêu biểu cho việc nhận biết chưa toàn diện về khả năng ngôn ngữ của người học. Phần kết luận, nhấn mạnh lại vai trò của sự cần thiết lồng ghép ngữ pháp và giảng dạy thông qua giao tiếp. Từ khóa: giảng dạy thông qua giao tiếp, ngữ pháp, sử dụng thành thạo ngoại ngữ, tiếp thu ngôn ngữ thứ hai is historically explained with the derivation as in the following quotation: “CLT originated from Britain in the 1970s as a replacement to the earlier structural method, called Situational Language Teaching. CLT was partly in response to Chomsky’s criticisms of structural theories of language and partly based on the theories of British functional linguists as well as American sociolinguists“ (“Communicative language teaching”, 1999). As stated by Chen Jie (2009), this approach puts an emphasis on the interaction to improve learners’ communication competence. In other words, it can be inferred that CLT focuses on meaning rather than on forms. This leads to the enquiry about the role of grammar in CLT, whether it lays the foundation 28 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY and affects CLT process or not. To tell the truth, grammar has always been the controversial problem in language teaching (Foki, 2006). Additionally, in his analysis under the title “The role of grammar in communicative language teaching”, Dr. Carl Blyth also pointed out that language instruction has faced with continuous arguments regarding the importance of grammar. It might be inferred that because CLT concentrates on interaction, it only requires language competence, which means communicative competence. However, language competence is not only comprised of communicative competence but also grammatical competence. Through this research, I suggest that teachers should integrate grammar to their CLT process. In order to support this, I present two arguments about the importance of grammar in CLT, which, in particular, are about its function in providing learners with grammatical background knowledge and its combination with CLT to develop proficient learners. THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN CLT Definition of Grammar Numerous studies have attempted to explain what grammar is. In this study, it is my intention to review some of the most common definitions of grammar in English to provide readers with the most basic concepts of grammar in general. In my opinion, to give a precise and comprehensive understanding of the concept of grammar, it is essential to look up the word “grammar” in dictionary first and then, explore the definitions of grammar in other specified materials. Pearsall and Hanks stated in the Oxford Dictionary of English (2006) that “Grammar is the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics”. It can be interpreted from the above definition that grammar covers various smaller branches related to words and phrases, structures, speech sounds as well as meaning. For an accurate concept of grammar, I have sought more evidence in previous field works. These are two remarkable results. In her paper released in 2009, Professor Anne Burns divided grammar into three components including traditional grammar, formal grammar and functional grammar. In detail, the first mentioned area relates to word categories and rules of their use; the second one associates with sentence structure, universal grammar and language acquisition competence and the last component deals with descriptive (based on language use), meaning and language’s function in social life. Thus, it is obvious that grammar is a big area with both forms and meaning of words and sentences. Another working definition given by Chen Jie (2009), describes grammar as a system of language’s rules. He demonstrated that grammar involves diversified subfields of linguistics like syntax, phonetics, morphology and semantics. In short, by studying grammar, we can comprehend the structures as well as rules establishing a language. Furthermore, we can also obtain the language system to apply it in the process of language using which involves both written and spoken forms. For the purpose of providing readers with grounding details relevant to CLT, in this part, I am going to explore the concepts of CLT and the roles of teacher and student in this approach. Concepts of CLT This study would be an incomplete one without the exploration of CLT’s concepts. After consultation of different materials, I figure out several CLT’s definitions. The followings are two of them. First of all, as examined by Chen Jie (2009), “Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred as “communicative” approach to the teaching of foreign languages or simply the “Communicative Approach””. Personally, I think that one of the key words in this concept is “interaction”, which means that CLT brings to learners opportunities to create conversations, use language to practice and improve their communication skill. As a result, this approach seems to pay much attention to meaning of utterances. 29KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v In addition, as shown in Richards & Rodgers (2001), there should have distinctions between “strong” and “weak” versions of CLT. Actually, the “weak” version has become more or less standard practice for about ten years, highlights the necessity to provide learners with chances to make use of their English for communicative purposes. The “strong” version, by contrast, strongly claims that language is attained through communication, so that it is not merely an enquiry of activating and existing but inert knowledge of the language, of stimulating the development of the language system itself. If the “weak” version could be investigated as “learning to use” English, the second one underlines “using language to learn it” (Howatt, 1984). To sum up, although the above definitions are worded in different ways, they all draw learners’ attention on the dominance of language using and learning. As a point of fact, these concepts state that by applying language into social interaction to enhance communication skill, CLT assists students in acquiring their target languages. Teacher and learner roles in CLT While employing CLT approach, followings might be the roles of a teacher. Firstly, he is the facilitator because he gives instruction and orientation to the students. Additionally, he is the manager of his class’s activities. In this role, one of his major responsibilities is to create situations to promote communication and interaction. During the activities, a teacher becomes an advisor who gives answers to learners’ questions. Especially, teacher can also take part in his designed tasks to involve in students’ talks as a group member (Littlewood, 1981, as cited in Larsen, 1986). According to the other two authors, Breen and Candlin (1980), besides the above main functions, teacher even acts as a researcher with much observed experience of the nature of learning and organizational capacities (as cited in Richards & Rodgers , 2001). Therefore, teachers who utilize the communicative language teaching are assumed to perform the roles of a facilitator, a manager, a co-communicator, a counselor and a researcher. What about the job of students in this teaching method? Apparently, CLT is implemented with the aim to assist learners in mastering their communication skill. Thus, students are expected to concentrate on interaction with each other under the teacher’s directions. Consequently, their role is communicators. They should actively engage in negotiating meaning, trying to make themselves understood even though their target language is incomplete (Larsen, 1986). Students learn to communicate by communicating. As a point of fact, it can be summarized from the above findings that in CLT, teacher’s position is less dominant than in the teacher-centered method due to the above illustrations of teacher’s roles. This results in a reality that students are supposed to have more responsible managers of their own learning. They practice communication skill by raising their voice, acting out, interacting and negotiating with each other to figure out the meanings of their utterances. The teacher will support this chain of tasks by facilitating learners, giving them advice and joining activities with students, etc. The necessity to integrate Grammar into CLT In actual fact, grammar should not be taught separately but integrated into classroom tasks and texts (Musumeci, 1997; Pekoz, 2008; Foki, 2006). Noticeably, Robert Di Donato (1998). reported that students also emphasize on the significance of grammar in language acquisition Additionally, according to Anne Burns (2009), 84,1% of teachers studied in her research disapproved or strongly disapproved with the statement that grammar should be instructed separately with other skills such as reading and writing . All of these facts and figures empower me to seek for an explanation to the importance of grammar in CLT. Followings are my arguments to prove the necessity of exploiting grammar in CLT application process. Grammar establishes grammatical background knowledge for efficient language use As a matter of fact, grammar facilitates learners of CLT by providing them with grammatical grounding. Larsen (1986) highlighted that “Communicative competence involves being able to use the language appropriate to a given social context. To do this, students need knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings, and functions” . The main source with all of the above 30 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY listed requirements is grammar. In a narrow sense, grammar refers to a specific part of information about a language, which deals with words and sentences. However, in the broad sense, grammar includes everything a native speaker understands about his/ her language which capacitates him/her to speak and perceive it (Lê, Đặng & Trần, 2008). Based on grammar, learners know parts of speech and their functions to build up sentences. They can work out synonyms with different aspects of meaning so that they can choose the accurate word to express their ideas in conversations. Thanks to grammar, students can also acquire the phonetics of a language which is linked with sounds system, helping students to produce utterances in the most perfect way. Remarkably, grammar assists learners with the formation of phrases, sentences, dialogues which are grammatically accepted and widely utilized in social interaction. Provided that learners are equipped with grammar background, they can analyze sentence structure to interpret its exact meaning. In general, without grammar of a language, learners cannot develop their communication competence, this can be explained by the fact that CLT mainly focuses on meaning, whereas it is possible that meaning can be found out when sentence structured is examined. Thus, meaning is not enough. It should be considered as the door leading to the excellent CLT, however, the key to that door is grammar. As a result, students should be presented with the grammar of a language when they are taught and trained ways to improve their interaction and negotiation with other people in daily communication. This basis motivates me to assure that grammar should be integrated to CLT. The CLT with grammar approach enhances proficiency in language acquisition and usage Another cause for my view of CLT with grammar is that when these two elements go along well with each other, they can make proficient learners, who are really good at using a language, not only in the area of forming its structures but also creating meaningful and speakable ones. Upcoming are some illustrations I consult from the work by Larsen (1986). When we talk to one another, we have to put into service some language functions, for instance, making suggestions, arguing, persuading, promising and so on. In fact, if students are carefully taught these phrases and sentences in the section of grammar, they can easily understand all of these language functions and know how to apply them. Furthermore, when students carry out conversations among people in the real life, they will choose the right phrase to convey their feelings not only based upon their intents and levels of emotion, but also on whom they are addressing and what their relationship with that person is. For example, a worker could be more direct in arguing with his friend than with his manager. Clearly, in this case, unless there are both of the two factors of grammar and CLT at the same time, learners will fail to produce fluent talks. Moreover, it is a matter of reality that communication is a process starting at the target language knowledge step and orienting towards meaning negotiation step. In order to do this procedure well, learners must be given lessons on that language’s syntax, phonetics and lexicology, etc. which are branches of grammar. After that, through the interaction between speaker and listener, they will finally clarify the meanings of their utterances by asking questions, giving feedbacks, correcting mistakes as well as many other ways arising at the talking time. Thus, this illustration shows obviously that grammar leads to meaning which is the core issue of CLT. It would be a perfect student when he/she can obtain a language’s forms and can bring them into light to analyze their meanings. In conclusion of this argument, I stress that grammar does not only facilitate CLT but also cooperates with CLT to create proficient learners. Thus, grammar should be delivered continuously in the process of CLT not just at the initial stage so that students can regularly have the chances to reflect structures and forms as well as to revise their talking manners to make meaningful statements. Consequently, CLT with grammar means that the two equal key elements, which are grammar and CLT, must be combined in all stages during the communicative language teaching period. This combination will help students acquire their target language proficiently in terms of both making forms and creating meanings. Opponents of the grammar-integrated CLT may suppose that only the language competence, which particularly relates to communicative competence, 31KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY v is adequate to bring about the success in CLT because this approach mostly aims at meaning. According to Chen Jie (2009), these critics hold the ill-understanding about the concept of language competence. To tell the truth, language competence does not mean communicative competence only. This writer stated that language competence involves a good knowledge of grammar and words. In other words, a person with language competence should know how to speak, listen, read and write grammatically correct in a language. In conversation, even a person who is rich in vocabulary and actively takes parts in interaction activities to enhance his communication skill, may still fail to make his ideas clarified if they are ungrammatically expressed with the wrong word order, word choice and sentence formation. Especially, if we do not understand the deep structure of a statement, we will not be able to make a guess about the exact meaning of that sentence, causing failure in conversation. Therefore, Chen Jie (2009, p.10) stated, “Our purpose in teaching is to improve the students’ communicative competence, that is to say, we should try to enhance the students’ capability of using language in communication in a correct way. It is crystal-clear that the improvement if communicative competence should be based on language practice” . CONCLUSION In summary, I insist on the opinion that teachers should integrate grammar to their communicative language teaching by designing various modules to naturally supply learners with grammar knowledge. Nonetheless, these enquiries had better be answered by themselves. It means that students help and learn from each other. At the same time, teacher only suggests some essential notes. Finally, the facilitator brings about activities for his co-communicators to really practice by making conversation. In this example, students are step by step instructed by their teacher to acquire the target language issue naturally as well as efficiently. This illustration is only one suggestion among many other procedures which can be planned by teachers to make CLT with grammar lessons. It should be highlighted again that grammar contains not only structures but also many other related aspects of words, sentences, sounds, etc. Therefore, it can be the basic foundation for language teaching methods in general and CLT, in particular. Although CLT seems to put great emphasis on meaning rather than form, it does not mean that only meaning can establish successful conversation. Consequently, teachers should not ignore grammar while using the approach of CLT. On the other hand, we should integrate it to this teaching method due to its grounding of grammatical knowledge for learners and its combination with CLT to improve perfect students./. References: 1. Blyth, C (1998), The role of grammar in communicative language teaching. Retrieved February 14, 2011 from < conf/blyth.html>. 2. Burns, A (2009), Grammar and communicative language teaching: why, when and how to teach it? CAMTESOL conference on English Language Teaching: Selected Papers, 5. 3. Communicative language teaching. (1999, March 21). Retrieved February 14, 2011 from <http:// w w w.s i l .org/ l ingual inks/ languagelear ning/ w a y s t o a p p r o a c h l a n g u a g e l e a r n i n g / CommunicativeLanguageTeaching.htm>. 4. Galloway, A (2003, June), Communicative language teaching: an introduction and sample activities. Retrieved February 14, 2010 from < org/resources/digest/gallow01.html>. 5. Howatt, A.P.R (1984), A history of English language teaching. Oxford University Press. 6. Jie, C (2009), The role of grammar in communicative language teaching. Unpublished master dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Platteville. 7. Larsen, D. (1986), Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press 8. Lê Huy Trường, Đặng Đình Thiện & Trần Huy Phương (2008), A grammar of the English language (Hanoi: Hanoi University Press. 9. Musumeci, D (1997), The role of grammar in 32 KHOA HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ QUÂN SỰSố 3 - 9/2016 v PHƯƠNG PHÁP GIẢNG DẠY communicative language teaching-an historical perspective. Retrieved February 14, 2011 from <http:// www.mhhe.com/socscience/foreignlang/conf/ grammar.html>. 10. Nagyné, F. L (2006), From theoretical to pedagogical grammar: reinterpreting the role of grammar in English language teaching. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pannon University, Interdisciplinary Doctorate School. 11. Pearsal, J & Hanks, P. (2006), Oxford dictionary of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 12. Pekoz, B (2008, October), Integrating grammar for communicative language teaching. Vol. XIV, No. 10. Retrieved from < Grammar.html>. 13. Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. (2001), Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd,). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 14. Robert, D. D. (1998), The role of grammar in communicative language teaching. Retrieved February 14, 2011 from < foreignlang/conf/didonato.html>. GRAMMAR INTEGRATION INTO COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT): THEORETICAL BASE LE THUY LINH Abstract: This research paper is carried out to demonstrate that teachers should integrate Grammar to the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. The research is conducted with secondary data. To begin with, I give an overview of Grammar as well as CLT, including its concept and the roles of teacher and student in this approach. When it comes to the main section in this study, I present two arguments, which are about Grammar’s importance in providing learners with grammatical background knowledge and its cooperation with CLT to develop proficient learners. Especially, I also mention the opponents’ idea that CLT focuses on communication skill rather than grammar. In order to refute this point of view, I analyze the misunderstanding of language competence. In closing, I restate the necessity that grammar should be taught together with CLT. Keywords: communicative language teaching, grammar, language proficiency, language acquisition Ngày nhận: 19/8/2016 Ngày phản biện: 19/9/2016 Ngày duyệt đăng: 20/9/2016