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th
International Conference on English in Southeast Asia (pp. 246-259).
Singapore: National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.
©Copyright 2009 L.Canh & R.Barnard
20
A survey of Vietnamese EAP Teachers’ Beliefs about
Grammar Teaching
Le Van Canh
Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam
Roger Barnard
University of Waikato, New Zealand
Abstract
Although it is now generally agreed that grammar should be an integral
element of second language programmes, there is still a diversity of
opinions about how it should be taught. In this paper, attention is first drawn
to relevant issues raised in reviews of the teaching of grammar derived from
SLA research and teacher cognition. This paper then reports a survey of
Vietnamese teachers‟ attitudes towards grammar and grammar teaching in
their own particular teaching contexts. It uses a questionnaire adapted from
that used by in a 2002 survey of teachers of English for Academic Purposes
(EAP) in British universities and in a 2008 parallel survey of EAP teachers
in New Zealand. The findings of the present study indicate that, like the
teachers reported in the 2002 and 2008 studies, EAP teachers in Vietnam
appreciate the centrality of grammar in their language teaching and have a
critical awareness of many of the problems and issues involved. The
findings suggest that the teachers favour a discourse, rather than a
decontextualised approach to the presentation of grammar and there is an
emphasis on systematic practice of grammatical forms and the correction of
grammatical errors.
Keywords: Grammar, Vietnam, Teachers, Survey, EAP
Literature Review
Ever since Stephen Krashen (1981) threw out the grammatical baby with the
Audiolingual bathwater, there has been controversy about the role of grammar in
teaching English as a second and foreign language. The current debate is one between
those who favour a focus on forms (Fotos, 1998; Sheen 2003) and those who argue for a
focus on form (Long 1991; Doughty & Williams, 1998). The former position proposes
that grammatical forms should be explicitly dealt with through a pre-determined syllabus