(SKKN 2022) OBSTACLES IN WRITING ENGLISH AND HOW TO HELP STUDENTS IN GRADE 10 AT YEN DINH 2 HIGH SCHOOL TO WRITE EFFECTIVELY DURING THEIR OPTIONAL PERIODS

TABLE OF CONTENT2.1 Theoretical background of English writing skill and its importance 4 2.3 What are obstacles when students write English?. As an English teacher, I am always wishing t

TABLE OF CONTENT

2.1 Theoretical background of English writing

skill and its importance

4

2.3 What are obstacles when students write

English?

6,7

ABBREVIATION YD2HS: Yen Dinh 2 High School

Sts: students

T: Teacher

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale.

Nowadays, Sts often concentrate on speaking and listening skill Although some sts are good at these skills, they have difficulty in writing what they think

or say When they speak, they will make natural pauses and this will help them

in punctuation Spelling mistakes can be corrected by using dictionaries or spellcheckers Usage mistakes and grammar mistakes will eventually disappear,

if the students read extensively in English

However, when sts write, they often have various writing problems: language problems at the levels of morphology and syntax; usage errors, and mechanical mistakes, that is, spelling, punctuation and capitalization, lack of several writing development skills, cognitive problems and graphomotor problems When sts complain about how difficult it is to write in a second language, they are talking not only about the difficulty in finding the right words and using the correct grammar but also about the difficulty in finding and expressing ideas in a new language As an English teacher, I am always wishing

to find out my students obstacles in writing English and how to help them solve these problems in order to write effectively That’s why I chose the issue:

“Obstacles in writing English and how to help sts in grade 10 at YD2HS to write English effectively during their optional periods:” I hope after these writing lessons, my sts can improve their English writing ability effectively and efficiently

1.2 Purpose of the study

The main objective of the study is to identify obstacles faced by the tenth-grade students at Yen Dinh 2 High School (YD2HS) in writing English This also offers some appropriate strategies to better the current context

Research questions:

1 What are the obstacles of the 10th form at YD2 StS’ in writing English?

2 What techniques or procedures can be used to help students overcome these writing obstacles?

1.3 Scope of the study

This study was conducted among the 10A6, 10A9 sts at YD2HS during the school year 2021-2022

1.4 Methodology of the study

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used

First of all, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on English writing skill have been collected and read carefully

Secondly, class observation has been carried out with sts to find out obstacles among sts while they are writing English Based on what I have collected, I would like to give some ways to improve this problem

2 DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical background of English writing skill and its importance

This second chapter provides readers with the relevant literature of the study by introducing some key concepts necessary for the best understanding of this research, as well as the review of previous studies related to the topic There are some most crucial concepts chosen to be clarified in this part such as English writing skill, its importance in learning English

2.1.1 Definition of writing

Writing is not only a communicative tool, but also a means of learning, organizing knowledge and thinking However, few people write effortlessly Writing has been a difficult skill for students, especially the tenth-grade sts, to learn and develop In their composition classes, we often observe students struggling to transform their thoughts into words and put them on paper Students are confused with word usage, sentence structure, and are constrained

by a shortage of vocabulary, alternative expressions and cultural knowledge They are limited at almost every level, from lexical to syntactic, from pragmatic

to social-cultural levels ‘How can we help them?’ This question weighs heavily

on the minds of writing teachers

Writing is a complex process because it requires the mastery of grammatical devices, conceptual thinking and judgmental (have purpose and activating) elements (Byrne 1988, Heaton 1990) Byrne classifies the writing complexities into psychological, linguistic and cognitive problems Grabe and Kaplan think that since writing does not come naturally but rather gained through continuous effort and much practice, it becomes a complex skill

2.1.2 Importance of English writing skill for sts

Writing is one of the main language skills It plays a major role in expressing one’s ideas, thoughts, opinions , and attitudes Through writing, people are capable of sharing ideas, feelings, persuading and convincing others People may write for personal enjoyment or for some other purpose They may address an audience of one person or more persons The audience may be known

or unknown Taking notes for study purposes is an example of writing for one's self Blogging publicly is an example of writing for an unknown audience A letter to a friend is an example of writing for a known audience It is always important to consider one’s audience when writing There are many different styles of writing, from formal to informal There are many reasons to include writing in a second or foreign language syllabus One important reason is that : writing helps learners learn It helps them have a chance to adventure with the language, to go beyond what they have learned, also states that a good deal of writing in the English language classroom is undertaken as an aid to learning; for example, to consolidate the learning of new structures or vocabulary or to

help students remember International Journal of English Language Teaching new items of language In this context, writing allows students to see their progress and get feedback from the teacher, and also allows teachers to monitor students and diagnose problems encountered This shows that writing plays a predominant role in language learning However, compared to speech, effective writing requires a number of things: a high degree of organization in the development of ideas and information; a high degree of accuracy so that there is

no ambiguity of meaning; the use of complex grammatical devices for focus and emphasis; and a careful choice of vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and sentence structures to create a style which is appropriate to the subject matter and the eventual readers

Writing is a social activity And as teachers and researchers, I know that

my students’ responses to a reading-to-write assignment are as much a function

of larger social, economic, and cultural influences as of the immediate social context of a writing task in a university classroom I believe that the reading and writing behavior I see is strongly influenced by these students’ ten years of public schooling and sixteen years (or so) of living in a literature culture

2.2 The setting of the study

2.2.1 The setting of the study

The study was carried out at YD2HS in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province Here, English is taught in classrooms with five parts: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing and Grammar within 37 weeks and writing skill is taught for from 38 to 45 students each class for 1 period per week and the number of English periods is 3 periods every week

However, this year because of the Covid-19 epidemic, some periods are reduced including writing one in some units Therefore, my sts have little time to practice writing While many of my colleagues chose speaking, listening, I taught

my sts writing skill because it is necessary all the time at school, at home and at extra classes While writing, sts can review all grammatical structures That’s why I chose my own writing curriculum for optional English periods It will be clarified in the next part

2.2.2 The students’ background and their English levels

As you know that YD2HS is situated in Yen Dinh district, which is far from city.Most of the people here have medium living condition, they live on agriculture so most sts learn English with very simple ways Sts only learn by heart all new words, they will forget after short time Most of them are afraid of English Their level in English is very low

Moreover, they don’t have the habit of practicing writing skill to improve their vocabulary and gammar.They will write what they think and say, it is easy for them to make mistakes

2.3 What are obstacles when students write English?

2.3.1 Students are unable to use words properly or precisely.

The tenth-grade students at Yen Dinh 2 high school (YD2HS) report that they can’t use words to express meaning precisely or properly They tend to put words in the wrong places or they do not know what words to use to express their ideas They are uncertain about the usage of words; sometimes they are confused by words of similar meanings and do not know which ones to choose

in order to be exact Because of confusion about word choice, they tend to use words repeatedly and from time to time they use a lot of repetition in their writing They think that whether the words used in their articles are really appropriate or not vital in constructing the whole composition; each word is a brick and the article is the house to be built Therefore, every single word is un-negligible because each word constitutes an element of the article As a result, the correct choice of words is very important to them

2.3.2 Students are short of vocabulary

Student’s vocabulary is short Constrained by limited vocabulary, they usually use simple, easy, and the most common words, which make their writing repetitive and boring Since entering high school, they do not actively attempt to memorize new words A lot of words they had learned in lower secondary schools have been forgotten Anytime they want to write an article, they spend a lot of time looking for the English translations of words in their Vietnamese- English dictionaries Students lack vocabulary, i.e., their word bank is very limited As a result, they find no words to use and spend much time in looking up words in the dictionary This problem is different from problem I, saying that they cannot use words precisely or correctly

2.3.3 Grammatical errors are very serious.

One of student’s serious problems is in grammar They make a lot of grammatical errors in tense, singular/plural, punctuation, etc Tense is particularly troublesome, they claim They are confused with which tense is the correct one Making grammatical errors seem unavoidable for most of the participants because they are not familiar with the form of English writing Some even view grammatical errors as vital enemies in their English writing and they think that without correct grammar, a composition will not become a complete one

2.3.4 English organization is very different from that of Vietnamese

Students say that English organization is so different from that of Vietnamese So they have trouble in getting used to the English discourse pattern Each culture has its own discourse style and the uniqueness of each discourse style reflects the ways people both talk and write Not familiar with English writing organization, some report that they do not know how to combine sentences together in a paragraph Sometimes they lack topic sentences, unity or coherence, and then they lose the connection with the topic of the paragraph(s) Some report that they do not have a clear idea about how to organize writing

well They often follow a Vietnamese way of composing an English composition; for example, to develop thinking following the four-step pattern: beginning, developing, turning, and integration Though it is not the best way to write an English article, they still think it is the easiest and fastest way to write

up a composition Obviously, organization and presentation of ideas and opinions cause a lot of confusion for the participants

2.3.5 Students tend to think in Vietnamese first, and write in

Vietnamese English

Sts tend to think in Vietnamese first when writing English, then translate what they think into English; therefore, what they write is Vietnamese English That is to say, they write English essay or paragraph in a Vietnamese style Because English is not their mother tongue, they find it very difficult to express

in an English way They usually can generate beautiful sentences in Vietnamese; however, it is quite hard to express the same ideas in English The way they express their ideas is not native-like; they tend to write strange English sentences and sometimes they even translate word by word from Vietnamese to English

2.3.6 Students have trouble in generating ideas.

Sts say that they do not know what to write or cannot decide what to write Sometimes they do not have any experience with the topic, or have few feelings to share with others As a result, they possibly write around few points repeatedly, and this makes the article boring They are constrained by limited life experiences or lack of independent thinking, which makes their writing short of content It seems that facing an empty paper, they are also struggling with an empty mind, too

2.3.7 Inadequate Time

Students need time for gathering ideas, organizing their ideas, writing drafts, proof reading and re-writing Colions and Gethen (1980) in Kroll (1990:140) have observed that much of writing stems from a number of constraints that must be satisfied and coordinated at various “structural levels,” that is over all text structure, paragraph structure, sentence structure and word structure They argue that the attempt to coordinate all these requirements is a staggering job, thus the amount of time allotted to produce a wiring might affect the level of mastery of the above- mentioned items In line with this, White and Arndt (1991) in Italo (1999: 47) state that “time is needed to incubate, sift and shape ideas Of all the skills, writing is one which most benefits from time.” In the process approach to teaching writing, the quality of students’ written work can be affected by the amount of time that they are allowed According to Guantum and Chakraverty (2000:22), writing, which is an important part of language learning, is essentially a reflective activity that requires enough time to think about the specific topics Similarly, Raimes (1983: 25) thinks that time is a crucial element in the writing process and an element that distinguishes writing from speaking Time may also be a key factor in producing a text with full of control over organization and coherence

2.3.8 Lack of Practice

According to Davies, "writing is essentially a creative process and good writers must learn to communicate their ideas clearly to an unseen audience This takes a lot of practice Grable and Kaplan believe that writing does not come naturally but rather gained through continuous effort and much practice In addition, learners must take the responsibility for their learning if meaningful learning is to take place He also adds that the best ways to learn any skill would

be to practice it To become a good driver, the best way is to drive Similarity, to become a proficient writer, the best way is again to writing a lot Furthermore, Hedge states that “my own experience tells me that in order to become a good writer, a student needs to write a lot”

2.4 Suggestions for Sts

The Sts want to write English better, they themselves ought to try their best to practice writing and to improve their background knowledge Today I will introduce some following ways to improve your writing skills

2.4.1 Learners of English language should read a lot

Reading will help them increase their knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structures, and be informed; to have knowledge of the world as well

2.4.2 Free writing practice

Free writing practice is a good exercise for improving one’s writing ability Writing is a skill and therefore it is learned by practice just like any other skill

2.4.3 Note taking

Note taking is also very helpful in enhancing the way writers generate ideas

2.4.4 Learners should not panic

Everyone experiences writer's block sometimes They should be encouraged to go through writer's block and break it This will help them be more imaginative and creative writers

Being an English teacher, I always encourage sts to learn English especially writing skill, I often let Sts write most comfortably When they make mistake I often correct slowly

2.5 Suggestions for teachers

2.5.1 Help sts get started to write what they know about a topic before discussing.

Ask sts to write a brief summary of what they already know or what opinions they hold regarding the subject you are about to discuss The purpose

of this is to focus the students' attention, there is no need to collect the

summaries A blank page can be intimidating, even for the seasoned author Sts

may do fine once they get started but you often need to help them get the first few words or sentences down Ask them a thought provoking question, make a list or mind-map of ideas that relate to the topic they are writing about or work

with them to organize an outline they can turn into a draft Taking away the stigma of writing the perfect sentence is also key Once they have some text to work with, it can always be re-shaped and revised The trick is to encourage free writing from the start, in order to record whatever thoughts come to mind

2.5.2 Teach working in drafts.

Brainstorming, putting ideas down on paper, ensuring the language and thoughts flow and revising for typos and errors are all different steps in the process of writing Sts need to understand that a perfect sentence doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it develops through a back and forth process as the writer writes, reviews and revises his or her text This is one reason it’s helpful for sts

to write on a computer It saves erasing and allows sts to make multiple attempts

at getting their thoughts down, until they find the phrasing they want Writing on the computer also make it more efficient to reorganize longer pieces of writing,

to help information flow better

2.5.3 Make it Fun!

Play games and activities that encourage writing Crossword puzzles and word games are great for everyone Little ones will especially like the “write the word” game: where they search for items and write down the word when they find each item

2.5.4 Ask students to identify the characteristics of effective writing.

After completing the read-around activity, ask your students to reconsider those papers which are voted as excellent by the entire class and to write down features that make each paper outstanding Write their comments on the board, asking for elaboration and probing vague generalities In pairs, the students discuss the comments on the board and try to put them into categories such as organization, awareness of audience, thoroughness of detail, etc I will help my students arrange the characteristics into meaningful categories

2.5.5 During class pause for a three-minute write.

Periodically ask students to write freely for three minutes on a specific question or topic They should write whatever pops into their mind without worrying about grammar, spelling, phrasing, or organization This kind of free writing, according to writing experts, helps students synthesize diverse ideas and identify points they may not understand There is no need to collect these exercises

2.5.6 Have one student keep minutes to be read at the next class meeting.

By taking minutes, students get a chance to develop their listening, synthesizing, and writing skills Boris (1983) suggests the following:Prepare students by having everyone take careful notes for the class period, go home and rework them into minutes, and hand them in for comments It can be the students' discretion whether the minutes are in outline or narrative form

2.5.7 Try Different Materials

Switch it up by writing with something other than Skype chat box Notepad, MsPaint, or any tools in MS Office are all fun writing activities that will also help build sts’s writing skills

2.5.8 Write Letters

Today, writing letters is a bit of a lost art Encourage young students to write letters to friends or family members Pen-pals are also a fun idea, or you can even write emails to each other!

2.5.9 Encourage Journaling

Keeping a journal is a great way to express thoughts and ideas while also working on improving children’s writing skills Encourage your students to write reviews for you on Antoree Website by themselves is a good form of journaling as well

2.5.10 Create a Writing Space

Ask the student to create a folder to store writing materials and pieces Having an area dedicated solely to writing will help free your student from distractions so he or she can focus on practicing writing skills

2.5.11 Have students write a brief summary at the end of class.

At the end of the class period, give sts index cards to jot down the key themes, major points, or general principles of the day's discussion You can easily collect the index cards and review them to see whether the class understood the discussion

2.5.12 Praise Their Work

My sts like being praised so I often show lots of interest in my student’s writing and stories Ask questions, celebrate when he or she finishes a good piece for class, and encourage his or her writing as much as possible

2.6 Applying suggestions

I myself have applied these suggestions in teaching writing skill, especially in independent English periods Firstly, I have my students research a topic of interest because I can choose writing topics (in optional English periods, you can teach any skill, any aspect of English that is necessary for your students

as long as it relates to the lesson in textbook you are teaching them) For

example, Unit 12 in the textbook has the theme “writing a profile”, so I decide

to study the writing topic “writing a profile”,(topic 10)

- Topic 1: Write about your daily activities

- Topic 2: Advantages and disadvantages of learning Online

- Topic 3: A letter of complaint

- Topic 4: A visit to National Parks

- Topic 5: Writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media?

- Topic 6: Giving opinions about the problem “we should or shouldn’t take extra classes”

- Topic 7: Music in my life

- Topic 8: How Facebook overuse affects your life and your study?

- Topic 9: Writing about the film you like best

- Topic 10: Write a profile

- Topic 11: Things you should or shouldn’t do at tourist destinations

- Topic 12: Do you like living in the countryside? Give your opinion