Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1The general description of the study
Syllabus for English Majors (2000) requires that as one of the required courses,grammar should be arranged in the second academic year for English majors. At the sametime, Syllabus for English Majors also mentions “The teaching methods of the specializedcourses are directly related to the development and improvement of students’ abilities.Classroom teaching should be student-centered and teacher-guided, and attachesimportance to developing students’ learning abilities and research abilities. Various kindsof activities are advocated in the classroom for the purpose of arousing the students’interest in learning and stimulating the students’ learning motivation.” Communicativeapproach advocates student-centered, stimulating the students’ enthusiasm for languagelearning, involving students into the perse classroom activities, making students learnlanguage in actually use, which is in accordance with the requirements of Syllabus.However, traditional grammar teaching method pays more attention to language forms butnot language function, neglecting fostering students’ learning abilities. Communicativeapproach, as an important complementary to traditional grammar teaching method, it hasdefinitely study value on combining two methods to finish communicative grammarteaching.
…………..
1.2The need for the study
Foreign language acquisition is different from native language acquisition. English,which is taught in China, is a foreign language, where there is no satisfactory and efficientcommunicative atmosphere. Nowadays in China, English majors face a dilemma. For onething, students need to know the grammar rules, which are more helpful and significant forthe formation of English communicative competence, and grammar can guarantee theaccuracy of language use; and for another, with the development of China’s economy,communication and cooperation with foreign countries are becoming more and morefrequent, students need to communicate with foreigners freely and fluently. How can thisdilemma be solved? Many teachers are now confused on how to teach grammar. Is itpossible to teach grammar in a way that can help students develop communicativecompetence as well as grammatical competence? The form-focused instruction ofgrammar-translation method results in the phenomenon that students know a lot about alanguage but cannot apply what they know to spontaneous speech. Conversely, the lack ofgrammar instruction in the communicative approach has often make students communicatewell but lack grammatical competence.To improve students’ language communicative competence is the final goal ofgrammar teaching. It is also the aim of the communicative approach. That is, in fact,communicative approach does not exclude grammar teaching and it believes thatgrammatical knowledge is the indispensable component of communicativecompetence. Keeping grammar knowledge can make students understand the languagebetter; more accurately master the language, more efficiently communicate with people.
………….
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Grammar and grammar teaching
For the definition of grammar, different linguists have different views about it. Thetraditional definition of grammar given by Lyons (1971) is that “Grammar is a branch ofthe description of languages which accounts for the way in which words combine to formsentences.”(Quoted in Stern, 1983) Grammar is traditionally pided into morphology andsyntax.Ur.P. (1988) defines grammar as “the way a language manipulates and combineswords (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning…There is a set of ruleswhich govern units of meaning that may be constitutes in any language…a learner who‘know grammar’ is one who has mastered and can use these rules to express himself orherself in what would be considered acceptable language forms.”Fromkin (1988) thinks grammar consists of “the sounds and sound patterns, the basicunits of meaning, such as words, and the rules to combine them to form new sentences.”So, grammar contains three aspects: phonology, lexicon and syntax.Brown (1994) defines grammar as “a system of rules governing the conventionalarrangement and relationship of words in a sentence… The components of words (prefix,suffix, roots, verbs and noun endings, etc.) are indeed a part of grammar.”Radford (1997) characterizes grammar as “the study of the principles which governsthe formation and interpretation of words, phrases and sentences.”
………..
2.2 Communicative approach (CA)
Each corresponds to a component of learners’ need and hassystematical connection with all the other portions” (van Ek and Alexander 1980:6).Groups used studies of European language learners’ need, and in particular a preliminarydocument prepared by an English linguist, D.A. Wilkins (1972). It proposed a functional orcommunicative definition of language which could serve as a basis for developingcommunicative syllabuses for teaching language. Wilkins’s contribution was an analysis ofthe communicative meanings which language learner need to know and express. Wilkinsattempted to demonstrate the systems of meanings which lay behind the communicativeuses of language rather than describe the core of language through traditional concepts ofgrammar and vocabulary. He described two forms of meanings: categories ofcommunicative function and notional categories. Wilkins later reviewed and expanded his1972 document into a book which was called Notional Syllabuses, which had a significantinfluence on the development of the teaching communicative language. The Council ofEurope incorporated the semantic/communicative analysis into a set of specifications for afirst-level communicative language syllabus. These threshold level specifications (van Ekand Alexander 1980) have had a strong effect on the design of textbooks andcommunicative language programs.
…………
Chapter 3 Research Methodology .....21
3.1 Hypotheses of the study ....21
3.2 Subjects.....21
3.3 Teaching materials ......22
3.4 Research instruments ........22
3.4.1 Questionnaire .....22
3.4.2 Language test .....23
3.4.3 SPSS software....23
3.5 Procedures.......23
3.5.1 Pre-test .........23
3.5.2 Teaching procedures.......24
3.5.3 Post-test........50
Chapter 4 Results and Discussions ....51
4.1 Data analysis of questionnaires.....51
4.2 Data analysis of language tests .......54
4.2.1 Data analysis of pre-test paper .........54
4.2.2 Data analysis of post-test paper .......55
Chapter 5 Conclusion .......58
5.1 Major findings.........58
5.2 Limitations of the study ......59
5.3 Pedagogical implications ....60
5.4 Suggestions for further study ....61
Chapter 4 Results and Discussions
4.1 Data analysis of questionnaires
The aim of the questionnaire (see appendix I) is to test whether the subjects ofexperimental group who receive communicative grammar teaching have obtained highermotivation, lower anxiety towards grammar learning than the subjects of controlled groupwho receive grammar translation method after experiment ended. The questionnaire is forthe close-ended questions, adopting the Likert Scale of five response scales, which is set asstrongly agree, agree, uncertain disagree, strongly disagree. . The five response scales aremarked as 5,4,3,2,1, or 1,2,3,4,5, which depends on the different degree of response to thequestions. That is, the qualitative data are reversed into quantitative data. The higher marksthe subjects get, the higher motivation, lower anxiety towards grammar learning thesubjects have obtained. The Questionnaire includes thirteen items, nine items are aboutthe positive factors for learning grammar, the five scales are marked as 5,4,3,2,1; and fouritems are about the negative factors for learning grammar, the five scales are marked as1,2,3,4,5. Item1,item3,item6,item9,item10,item12,item13 are designed to test motivation;item2,item4,item5,item7,item8,item11 are designed to test anxiety. The Questionnaire iswritten in English. Before the students answering the questionnaire, the teacher explains itcarefully. By this way, participants could understand the questionnaires clearly so that wecan get the results which truly reflect their thoughts. The scores statistics of thequestionnaire before the experiment is shown in appendix II.
…………..
Conclusion
This thesis does a study on the application of communicative approach to Englishmajors’ grammar teaching. From the data analysis, two hypotheses are confirmed asfollows:The first, there is significant difference between the controlled group and theexperimental group in the attitudes and motivation for grammar learning, the subjects ofexperimental group study grammar with higher motivation and lower anxiety. The firsthypothesis is confirmed that teaching grammar by applying communicative approach ismore facilitative in cultivating learners’ emotional factors characterized by highermotivation and lower anxiety.The second, there is no significant difference between the controlled group and theexperimental group in grammar proficiency after experiment ended. The second hypothesisshould be revised as both communicative grammar teaching and grammar translationmethod can improve learners’ grammar proficiency and the teaching effect ofcommunicative grammar teaching and grammar translation method is equal in improvinglearners’ grammar proficiency.
…………
Reference (omitted)