Qeyamuddin Mubashir's Assignment - 20131

Research Proposal for Teaching Grammar

1. Introduction/ Rationale
The most recent research show that grammar should be thought integrated with writing.
Grammar is best taught integrated with writing: that is, writing for an audience that is broader
than just the teacher or even the teacher and peers (Weaver, (2008). On the other hand many
English teachers in Afghanistan believe that grammar is best taught deductively, through
explanations and examples. As well as, some English teachers think teaching grammar through
communicative language teaching is wasting students time. Therefore, I wanted to do an
experimental research about this issue. Which teaching approach is more effective for
students ability to use grammar in their writing in Afghanistan: teaching grammar isolated or
teaching grammar integrated with writing?
2. Method
a. Participants
In this research my participants will be junior students of English Department. I will have two
groups of participants, each 20 students; one treatment and the other control group. In this
study I will use the pre-test post-test control group design so I will systematically select the
participants of both groups and then randomly assign them to different groups.



Qeyamuddin Mubashir's Assignment - 20132

b. Materials
For this research I will use a writing pre-test, a writing post-test different from the pretest, and I
will use two different types of books while teaching the two groups, treatment and control
groups; teaching grammar integrated with writing and teaching grammar alone.
c. Procedure
To do this research, first, I will systematically select my participants and randomly assign them
to two groups. Then, I will give the both groups a writing pre-test and then identify their scores
to know their level. Next, I will teach grammar in context for the treatment group and
traditional grammar for the control group for a semester. Later, at the end of the semester
again I will give them a post-test and check how much each group has improved. Finally, I will
compare the percentage of improvements of each group and find out the result of my study.
3. Results
To get the result of my research I will take the following steps. First, I will compare the average
scores of students paper in the treatment group pre-test with the average of its post test to
find out whether the students have improved in applying grammar in writing. Then, I will take
the average scores of students paper from control group pre-test and compare it with the
average of its post-test to check whether the students have improved in the treatment group.
Finally, I will compare the percentage of improvement from both treatment group and control
group to find out which group has improved more or which teaching approach is more effective
for students ability to use grammar in their writing in Afghanistan: teaching grammar isolated
or teaching grammar integrated with writing?
Qeyamuddin Mubashir's Assignment - 20133

Discussion
To find out whether one of the ways of teaching grammar is effective in students ability to use
grammar in their writing and I will compare the percentage of improvement of the two groups,
control group and treatment group. If the percentage of improvement of the treatment group
was higher than the control group, the treatment teaching grammar integrated with writing will
be effective for students ability in writing. Then I should apply teaching grammar integrated
with writing first in the English department at Kunduz University, then in all over Afghanistan to
help learner write grammatical papers or for them to learn grammar well. Or if the If the
percentage of improvement of the control group was higher than the treatment group then I
shouldnt think of teaching grammar integrated with writing.
4. Conclusion
Based on literature this study will help solve ESL learners problem in Afghanistan in learning
grammar. According to my experience and observation teaching grammar isolated have not
been effective for students in Afghanistan to apply it in their writing. Therefore, I believe that
this study will help us come up this problem.
There might be many threats in this research as mortality, experiential and mortality. First, weakness
this study will have is that the treatment group might share ideas or some material with the control
group. Second, the number of student in junior classes in Kunduz University is not higher and we can
easily lose some participant if they make some continuous absence. The third weakness might be the
problem of losing subjects in the study. Furthermore, one common weakness to this research would be
the testing threat that may affect the result of the research. To strengthen the research I think I can
somehow solve the testing threat by bring different versions of tests in the both pre-test and post-test,
but its difficult to come up with the first weakness because it is a confounding variable but the second
weakness could be solved by increasing the research participants if possible, that seems impossible.