(SKKN 2022) adapting writing activities in english 11 to motivate 11th graders at tinh gia 3 high school to learn english writing skill

Related to my students’ problems, I would like to conduct the study entitled “Adapting writing activities in English 11 to motivate 11th graders at Tinh Gia 3 high school to learn Englis

1 Introduction

1.1 The reason for choosing the subject.

In the process of globalization, English has played an increasinglyimportant role in various fields, such as: science, business, education, cross-cultural communication and especially, method to communicate verbally withthe outside world and to access technology

In Vietnam, English has been brought into the school curriculum as acompulsory subject, and the teaching and learning of that international languagehas been recently paid great attention to When teaching English, the teacherteaches his students not only the English language but also its usage And underthe right guidance, right help of the teacher, the students have to try their best tomaster 4 language skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking in order tocommunicate in English successfully

Although the books have shown a great deal of improvement as comparedwith the old series of grammar-based, it seems that not all activities or tasks inthe books, especially in writing part are suitable to the different teaching andlearning contexts of different localities within Vietnam

In comparison with other three skills, writing is considered the mostcomplicated to teach and still remains neglected due to students’ low levelproficiency, time constraints and low motivation When students write, they findthemselves confused with word choice, grammatical use, organization andgeneration of ideas They tend to translate ideas from mother tongue intoEnglish, express ideas in long sentences, and are not aware of different kinds ofwriting, thus making them unable to write in real life Because of limitedbackground knowledge, they often feel bored and do not want to write.Moreover, some teachers do not feel confident about their own English and shyaway from designing writing tasks or getting students to write more than justgrammatical exercises Sometimes teachers do not have enough ideas tofacilitate students In reality, most teachers follow what the tasks in the textbookrequire, and do nothing more about it

On realizing students’ problems, I assume that what English writingteachers need to do is to improve the quality of student’ pieces of writing, togive them a more cooperative learning environment, and to motivate them toparticipate in the writing lessons I myself have been making an effort to seekpedagogical methods which could help deal with the mentioned problems What

is more, I suggest that adapting writing activities in textbook could be a moreeffective strategy Related to my students’ problems, I would like to conduct the

study entitled “Adapting writing activities in English 11 to motivate 11th graders at Tinh Gia 3 high school to learn English writing skill” in order to

inspire our students in writing lessons

1.2 Objective of research

- Investigating teachers’ and students' attitudes towards teaching and learning writing at Tinh Gia 3 high school

- Determining the effect of the adapted activities in motivating students at TinhGia 3 high school in writing lessons Basing on the findings, some suggestionswill finally be proposed by the researcher.

1.3 Research methodology

I write this topic based on:

- The method of studying theory

- The method of investigating

- The method of questionnaire interview

- The method of class observation

- Applying the topic to real teaching English at Tinh Gia 3 high school

- Comparison, collation and summary of the result, effect of the topic

1.4 Scope of research

1.4.1 The students

Two groups of 40 11th graders at Tinh Gia 3 high school were asked toparticipate in this experiment One group was employed as an experimentalgroup (11A1) The other was employed as a control group (11A5) Each groupconsisted of 20 students The distribution of the students in each class is that thepercentage of students at levels of “ Excellent”, “Good”, “average”, “underaverage” in every class are nearly equal

1.4.2 The teachers

The English Group of Tinh Gia 3 high school includes 9 teachers The fourEnglish teachers are teaching English for grade 11 are invited to participate inthe survey All of them have been teaching English for more than 5 years, theoldest one has been an English Teacher for 25 years All English teachers inTinh Gia 3 high school are introduced and get to know how to adapt writingactivities

a skill that can be learned or developed in isolation but it should be taught anddeveloped in cooperation with other skills and aspects of the language studied.”

2.1.2 Roles of writing

Writing emerges with its own functions and brings along communicativecode of the writers As Nunan (1991, p.84) points out, writing serves four main

functions Firstly it is used primarily for action: public signs, product labels andinstructions, recipes, maps, television and radio guides, bills, menus, etc.Secondly, it is used primarily for social contact: personal correspondence,letters, postcards, greeting cards Thirdly, writing provides the readers withinformation as newspapers and magazines, non- fiction books (textbooks, publicnotices, advertisement, etc.) Finally, written language entertains the readerswith comic strips, fiction books, poetry and drama

In classroom, teaching and learning writing also plays an important role.White (1981, p.1) points out a number of reasons why writing merits a place inthe language syllabus The first reason is that writing remains the commonestway of examining students’ performance in English Second, in the eyes of bothparents and students, ability to write may be associated with evidence of havinglearnt the language Writing is tangible parents and students can see what hasbeen done and what has been achieved The last reason is that writing requiresthought, discipline and concentration It is relatively a permanent form andreaders judge us by our style, content and logic

With all the roles mentioned above, writing really becomes an integralpart in almost every language syllabus from elementary to tertiary level

2.1.3 Approaches to teaching writing

There are various approaches to teaching writing, however, the productand process approaches are two most popular ones applied in English writingclassroms

2.1.3.1 The product approach

Nunan (1991: 86) defines the product approach as “ a product orientedapproach, as the title indicates focuses on the end result of the learning process,what is expected from the learner is to do as fluent and competent user of thelanguage” This is a traditional approach, in which students focus on the study ofmodel texts Accuracy is given priority and conversations are taken from themodel

The product approach aims at making the students competent in the languagewhen they write relevant and coherent pieces of writing It focuses on the finalproduct of the writers and the texts written by the students are based on modelsprovided by the teacher In this approach, “ a good deal of attention was placed

on “model” compositions that students would emulate and on how well astudent’s final product measured up against a list of criteria that includedcontent, organization, vocabulary use, grammatical use, and mechanicalconsiderations such as spelling and punctuation.” (Brown, 2001, p.335)

2.1.3.2 The process approach

The teaching of writing has recently moved away from a concentration onthe written product to an emphasis on the process of writing, which leads to theemergence of Process Approach This approach encourages students’communication of ideas, feelings and experiences It is more global and focuses

on purpose, theme, text type, i.e the reader is emphasized Writing is a process,

so students are given time to set out ideas, make plan, write a first draft, revise

what has been written after a peer feedback, then they can edit their writing orwrite other drafts before the final version is produced

Comparing the Product Approach and Process Approach, Steelesummarizes their differences in the table below:

* text as a resource for comparison * imitate model text

* ideas as starting point

*organization of ideas is more important

than ideas themselves

* more than one draft * one draft

* more global, focus on purpose,

* emphasis on creative process * emphasis on end product

Table 1: Differences between Process Approach and Product Approach

From the analysis and the comparison of the two approaches, it isundeniable that each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses Thewriting lessons in new English 11 textbook were compiled following bothProduct Approach and Process Approach This Combined Product- ProcessApproach is found to be more popular, appropriate and effective The suggestedgeneral outline for a writing lesson following this approach may be:

Stage 1: A model is given

Stage 2: Students work on the model, analyze its typical features, and payattention to the language and structure of the model

Stage 3: Students work in groups/ pairs to find out the ideas for the writingtopic/ task and produce an outline

Stage 4: Students write the first draft individually/ in pairs/ in groups Themodel is used for comparison

Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged Students give comments on each other‟s work

Stage 6: Drafts are returned and changes or improvements are made based

on peer feedback

Stage 7: Students write final drafts

Stage 8: Final drafts are exchanged once more; students give response orreply to each other

Stage 9: Teacher gives feedback

2.1.4 Writing teaching procedure

According to Brown (1994, p.7), teachers should follow the teachingprocedure including two main stages: Pre- writing and While- writing Thisprocedure is a combination of different approaches, especially thecommunicative approach and the process approach.

(i) Pre- writing

- Exploiting the model text in terms of form, vocabulary, grammar, organization, etc

- Defining the task such as describe , write a letter of

- Limit the topic

- Generate the ideas

2.1.5.1 Definition of material adaptation

As far as we know, adaptation plays a very important role in foreignlanguage teaching I myself believe that a good teacher is constantly adapting Inreality, no textbook can totally be an effective tool for teachers to followwithout any adaptation because of the disadvantage of the textbook such aslinguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety.Adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies

In their book “Materials and Methods in ELT” (1993, p.76), McDonoughand Shaw devote a chapter to the issue of adaptation materials They quoteMadsen and Bowen’s definition (1978, ix) “one or more a number oftechniques: supplementing, editing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,modernizing, localizing, or modifying, or modifying cultural/ situationalcontent”

Similarly, from Tomlinson’s point of view (1998, xi), adaptation isreferred to “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing” Hesupposes that most teachers adapt materials every time they use a textbook inorder to maximize the value of the book for their particular learners

2.1.5.2 The purpose of adaptation:

There are always sound practical reasons for adapting materials in order

to make them as accessible and useful to learners as possible However, reasonsfor adaptation have varied and changed as the field has developed and views onlanguage acquisition There are two most frequently cited purposes foradaptation:

 to make the material more suitable for the circumstances inwhich it is being used, i.e to mould it to the needs and interests oflearners, the teachers' own capabilities and such constraints as time, or

as Mc Donough and Shaw (1993, p.85) put it: “to maximize theappropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of theinternal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particularcircumstances”

 to compensate for any intrinsic deficiencies in the materials,such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity(Madsen and Bowen 1978, p.58) or lack of variety.

Looking deeper into McDonough and Shaw’s definition of purpose wesee that maximizing the appropriacy of teaching materials (by, e.g., modifyingthem in such a way that they seem more relevant to learners' interests and needs)

is important because it can stimulate motivation, and increased motivation is inturn likely to lead to a classroom atmosphere more conductive to learning Infact, when teachers make changes to a course book “to better suit our particularpurposes” what teachers are really trying to do is to improve students’participation to increase the effectiveness of the learning experience

2.1.5.3 Techniques for adaptation

2.1.5.3.1 Adding

The notion of addition is that materials are supplemented by putting moreinto them, while taking into account the practical effect on time allocation First,

we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending

“This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodologicalframework of the original materials In other words, the model is not itselfchanged” (McDough and Shaw, 1993, p.89) Second, more far-reachingperspective on addition of materials can be termed expanding This kind ofaddition is not just extension of and existing aspect of content

2.1.5.3.2 Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the apposite process to that of addition As can be seen

in the previous section that materials can be added both quantitatively(extending) and qualitatively (expanding), the same point applies when adecision is taken to omit materials The most straightforward aspect of reducingthe length of materials is subtracting

Addition and deletion often work together Material may be taken out andthen replaced with something else, for example, grammar practice is substitutedafter the omission of an inappropriate communicative function, or when areading text is replaced by a listening passage

2.1.5.3.3 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings:

- Rewriting may relate activities more closely to learners' own background and interest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposeful

problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before theteacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class are sometimes the

only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materialsmay contain role-play activities for groups of certain size

2.1.5.3.4 Simplifying

The technique of simplification is a type of modification, namely a

“rewriting” activity The elements of a language which can be simplified are: The instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and

even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes easier to see how different part fit together Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences- bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of learners.

2.1.5.3.5 Re-ordering

This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book

in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentationwithin a unit, or taking units in a different sequence from that originallyintended

2.1.5.4 Levels of adaptation

Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels The first level is macroadaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins Aftercomparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus orexamination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole unit of thebook can be omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented

The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit This could be reorderingthe activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting orsupplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make theclassroom teaching more smooth and cohesive

The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally anactivity I regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible inparticular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he or sheneeds to adapt it

To summarize, writing in terms of definition can be seen differently, itsroles cannot be denied Writing skills, therefore, must be taught thoroughly atschool By recounting briefly the history of teaching writing, the author findsthat language teachers may be confused by such various approaches It isunavoidable that they have problems in writing lessons because the students aredemotivated Hence, adapting writing activities has taken into consideration Inthis study, I will adapt some writing activities in English 11 to make them morecommunicative, suitable to my students’ ability at Tinh Gia 3 high school.Adding and modifying are popular adaptation techniques used in the research

2.2 Practical background

Most of the teachers at my school hardly adapt writing activities inteaching writing skill They believe that it is time- consuming TeachingEnglish, especially teaching English writing has met some difficulties The first

is the large size classes There are about 43 students in each class It is hard forteachers to set up communicative activities, monitor class and give feedback.The second is most students are not familiar with teaching and learning inEnglish They cannot understand lessons if teachers speak English most of thetime and their background knowledge as well as vocabulary, structures are verypoor The last is the lack of materials Materials for reference and self-study arenot available and students seemed not interested in the lesson although the topic

of the lesson was really relevant to them Therefore, I met with a lot ofdisapproval when I told my colleagues about my intention of adapting writing

activities in writing lesson They suppose there is not enough time to applyadapted writing activities

To illustrate the problem, three volunteer teachers from other classeswere asked to come to classes 11A1 and 11A5 in two different periods toobserve the writing lesson without notifying to the teacher and all the students

in that class During the observations they focused on how the studentsparticipated in the two classes In all 2 periods, the teacher or the researcher (thesame teacher for two groups) followed her traditional routines The following isthe description of one lesson in both classes

Class: 11A1 and 11A5Number of students in each class: 20Time: 30 minutes

Unit 1: Friendship Period 6: D- WRITING

Lesson objective: By the end of the lesson, students will be able

to write about a friend, real or imaginary

The procedures used by the teacher can be summarized as follow:The lesson started as usual with warm-up In the warm-up (7 minutes), the teacher asked some students to answer the teacher’s questions:

1.Who is your best friend?

2.When and where did you meet him/her?

2.How old is s/he?

3.Where does s/he live now?

4.How does s/he look like?

5 What is s/he like?

6.What do you like about him/her?

After that teacher introduced the new lesson: Unit 1: Friendship D- WRITING Students continued the lesson with Pre- writing (8 minutes) In this stage, the teacher made clear the task, then got students to read the task and guidelines and work out what they are required to write about She gave the outline to students

+ Introduction: general information about their friend

+ Body:

 Paragraph 1: Describing his/her appearance (her/ his physical characteristics.)

 Paragraph 2: Describing his/her personalities

+Conclusion: say what you like about her or him.

The teacher also reminded students to use the simple past tense when

writing about when and where they met their friend

After helping the students with the outline, she had students work

individually and write about their friends in 15 minutes basing on the outline above while the students were writing, teacher went around and helped students

if necessary When the time was over, she collected students' writing

From the two lessons, it can be seen clearly that the level of participation inclassroom writing activities of two classes at Tinh Gia 3 high school was almost

the same and quite low Students seemed not interested in the lesson althoughthe topic of the lesson was really relevant to them.

During the observations the researcher also found out that even the teacherhad tried to provide useful guide and necessary structures, when students wereasked to write, few of them worked seriously In fact, some of them didsomething else instead of concentrating on their work After marking students'piece of writing, the experiment result can be illustrated as follows:

Table 2: The average marks of the control and experimental group before the experiment.

In order to get the data for the study I give pre-task questionnaires to

teachers and students to collect their attitudes toward writing lesson and their difficulties in teaching and learning this skill These questionnaires were given

at the beginning of the school year

Table 3: Students’ participation in writing lessons.

Question 1: How often do you participate in writing lesson? Result (%)

a I often participate in the activities because I like English very

c I rarely participate in the activities because of my poor

background knowledge and vocabulary

to deal with their teachers

There are many different reasons that cause students to be reticent in thewritten English class

Table 4: Factors prevent students from participating in writing in the class.

Question 2 What prevent you from writing in the English writing class?

a Poor background knowledge and vocabulary 80%

d I don‟t like the teacher so I don‟t want to write 0%

As shown in the table, there are some main factors that cause students reluctant to involve in class 80% of the respondents said that the most

influential reason was background knowledge and vocabulary They didn’t have enough words and structures to express what they wanted to share The second highest percentage of students expressed that difficult activities in the textbook also made them bored with writing English A very small percentage of students (2.5%) stated that the activities are undiversified Noone stated that their

participation in writing activities was affected by their teachers

Table 5: Students’ opinions towards English writing skills in the textbook English 11

Question 3: In your opinion, writing activities in the textbook interesting

Table 6: Students’ opinion about the way their teachers teach writing

Question 4: In what way does your teacher teach writing in English 11 ?

a The teacher always taught us activities in the textbook 82%

b The teacher usually changed adapted activities in the textbook 0%

c S/he sometimes adapted activities in the textbook 25%

d S/he sometimes replaced textbook activities by outside

activities

0%