EFFECTS OF OUTLINING AS PRE WRITING TASK ON FIRST YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITINGS AT a UNIVERSITY IN CAN THO CITY

PROPOSAL RESEARCH TITLE EFFECTS OF OUTLINING AS PRE-WRITING TASK ON FIRST YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITINGS AT A UNIVERSITY IN CAN THO CITY Abstract Grasping the skills of writin

PROPOSAL RESEARCH TITLE EFFECTS OF OUTLINING AS PRE-WRITING TASK ON FIRST YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITINGS AT A UNIVERSITY IN CAN THO CITY Abstract

Grasping the skills of writing are an essential part of English learning Through the years, new learning methods have been introduced to the learning world Amid all the tools and based on personal experience, learning English writing through outlining as the pre-writing task seems to be an option that might prove to be effective The present paper is designed as an experiment to seek insights into how to use outlining to helps learners at Can Tho University enhance their writing proficiency competence Students will be receiving pre-test (given at the initial stage), and a post-pre-test (at the end of the course) as part

of the study They will be divided into two groups, one being the controlled group that receives regular training from class, while the experimental group using outlining for writing task After the experimental period of ten consecutive weeks, all learners from the two groups will sit for a writing-posttest to assess the effectiveness of outlining learning It is expected that learners who are exposed to the lessons will better perform at English writing skills

I Introduction

This chapter presents a general outline of the study, which includes the rationale, the aims and objectives, research questions, research methods, scope, significance of the study and structure of the thesis

I.1 Rationale for the study

English is one of international languages, which is used throughout the world and in many fields of life such as in Politics, Economics, Social and Education Therefore, English as a language in international communication is clearly needed by many learners to deliver thought and interact in a variety of situations Because of the importance of English, English has been taught to students since they are in the Elementary school English is one of the international languages, used around the world and in many areas of life such

as Politics, Economics, Society and Education Therefore, English as a language

of international communication is clearly needed for many learners to convey thinking and interacting in many situations Because of the importance of English, English has been taught to students since they are in the Primary school Because of the basic components of the four language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking), learners must master the basic components According to Brown (2001), technique is any exercise, activity, or task used in a language classroom to realize a lesson goal Additionally, in any type of language learning activity, techniques can certainly form an indispensable element to facilitate any successful attempt at vocabulary mastery Therefore,

we can say that techniques of teaching writing skill to young learners are important because it can help the students learn easier and enjoy the material presented

Prewriting strategies or strategies that aid in the writing process are primarily taught using modeling The teacher must set up instruction so that the students can visually see and experience how the strategy works before independently tackling the task In relation to Edelsky’s example of learning to ride a bike, the students must learn from another who is proficient (Larson & Marsh, 2005) Thus, in this research it is identified that teaching outlining technique as the pre-writing task for the first-year students Moreover, we know that outlining

in teaching writing skill is important to help students to increase their achievement in English Therefore, the researcher intends to do a research:

“EFFECTS OF OUTLINING AS PRE-WRITING TASK ON FIRST YEAR ENGLISH STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITINGS AT A UNIVERSITY IN CAN THO CITY” The reason of choosing this research is the researcher believes that finding out the factors which affected to learning and technique in teaching writing that supports the successful of learning and teaching process, especially to young learners who are learning English

I.2 Research aims

As globalization has started to develop in recent decades, the demand for learning English has grown faster than ever before However, though schools and students realize the importance of developing English proficiency, numerous are still struggling to find appropriate ways to master this language Motivated from this constraint, I decided to conduct this study aiming to evaluate how to use outlining to help learners improving English writing skills, particularly first-year non-English major students at Can Tho University enhance their English writing performance proficiency Further, the study also wishes to investigate how to use outlining in English writing task to motivate learners in studying and overcoming the fear of writing lessons

I.3 Research questions

The study aimed to answer the following questions:

1 Does outlining help to improve first year English students’ paragraph writing?

2 What are the learners’ attitudes towards the use of outlining?

1.4 Significance of the study

In accordance with the aims, the study can be used as a reference for the researchers who will concentrate on developing learner’s English proficiency

in writing The author hopes that outlining as the pre-writing task can be applied effectively by both the teachers and learners during the process of teaching English writing skill

II Literature review

II.1 Definition of key terms

II.1.1 Writing skill and prewriting task

According to Sulistiyo (2008) that writing, of the four skills, was the least priority skill for the students to learn starting from lower to higher level In addition, when writing, even in a short paragraph, they still made considerable mistakes In writing a short essay, they usually failed to express a thesis statement of the writing that introduces the topic to be discussed and the central idea of the essay Besides, they were also not successful in writing good topic sentences of body paragraphs The topic sentences for paragraphs, for example, were very narrow in which they almost had nothing to tell or sometimes the topic sentences were too large in which they contained more than one idea (Duigu, 2003) Another identified problem the students face in writing is the inability of the students to develop effective paragraphs or

essays The supporting sentences are not entirely about the central ideas They leave out the criteria of being unified, coherent, and well-developed and organized (Darus and Subramaniam, 2009) Illegibility of writing is influenced

by several factors, and bad organization of ideas is one of them Many readers are unsuccessful to get the ideas of printed materials, getting only parts of the writers’ ideas or totally failed, because the ideas are not well organized The flow of ideas does not run smoothly and such that the quality of writing is far from expectation

Writing is a demanding subject because within the process there are many steps to completion These include finding resources, formulating goals, planning writing, generating content, translating ideas into language and then finally revising the work (Lee & Tan, 2010) Not only do students have to know the process of writing and understand each required step, they must also complete the process in a logical order As cited in Kolade (2012), Oluikpe (1979) explains that writing is a “skill which demands that students plan and organize their imagination clearly in sequential order”, which is a daunting task for many writers, even for those who are skilled (p.20) Skilled writers must follow the rule of writing and it is a difficult task Those who have less skill, especially early or struggling writers, may need support in this area to be successful Prewriting strategies are widely used to help tame this task These strategies have been taught in schools for generations Some prewriting strategies not only help with the writing task itself, but also with comprehension in content areas (DiCecco & Gleason, 2002) Some prewriting strategies are used for specific types of writing, while others are generic Examples of these strategies include, but are not limited to, brainstorming, role playing, graphic organizers, observation, clustering, modeling, webbing, think aloud, tables, and outlines (Martin et al., 2005; Nesbit & Adesope, 2006; Lee & Tan, 2010; Voon, 2010) At lower levels of education, think aloud, role playing

and brainstorming are more widely used; however, these strategies can be used with any aged student According to Voon (2010), role playing and brainstorming are both prewriting activities that assist participants in

“generation of ideas for the content of their writing, which enables them to write more developed” pieces (p 540) Creating more developed writing pieces takes a lot of practice and time, especially for younger students Using simple strategies the student may already be familiar with, like brainstorming and role playing, help students solidify their thinking and ideas about the writing task, therefore improving their writing overall Voon defines brainstorming as

a means of getting a large number of ideas in a short amount of time With brainstorming, it is important that the participants realize that it is the quantity that matters, not the quality The goal is to get students to generate multiple ideas, which is the first step in the writing process for any writer, no matter their skill level (Alber-Morgan et al., 2007; Voon, 2010) They then have the opportunity to build on those ideas later on in the writing process

II.1.2 Paragraph writing

According to Webster’s Basic English Dictionary (1990:356), paragraph is defined as a part of piece of writing that is made up of one or more sentences and has to do with one topic or gives the words of one more sentences and has

to do with one topic or gives the words of one speaker Similar with this, the New Grolier Webster International Dictionary (1976;687) defines paragraph

as a distinct portion of written or printed matter dealing with a particular point or quotation the words of one speaker and usually beginning with an indentation of a new line A paragraph is a series of sentences that develop an idea That idea is usually stated in general form in one sentence, called topic sentence The rest of the sentences in the paragraph provide the reader with specific explanations or proof (evidence, support) of the general topic sentence The supporting sentences help the reader understood more

clearly what the writer means and show that the topic sentence is valid (Reid, 1982:8).However, one way to define the paragraph is to describe it as a series of carefully connected sentences presenting relevant ideas on a single subject.”

II.1.3 Prewriting tasks in learning to write

Prewriting tasks in Vietnamese English L2 classes might help to overcome students’ experienced difficulties and support them in their writing Prewriting can be seen as a process of discovery, allowing for mistakes and restarts It mostly occurs at the beginning of writing process, but more and more, teachers are encouraging students to use this technique whenever they are writing In a meta-analysis of single subject design writing intervention research, Rogers and Graham (2008) reported a few empirical research studies examining prewriting tasks: using a computer prewriting outline to generate and organize information (Channon, 2004), learning to use a graphic organizer for generating ideas prior to persuasive writing (Thanhouser, 1994), and learning

to use a story web for generating ideas prior to writing (Zipprich, 1995) Although these studies reported positive effects on improving writing quality, the effect sizes were small

In another meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies on writing instruction, Graham and Perin (2007) found that studies on particular prewriting tasks before composing were found to have a positive, yet small impact on writing quality These prewriting tasks included encouraging planning before writing (Brodney, Reeves, & Kazelskis, 1999), group and individual planning before writing (Vinson, 1980), organizing prewriting ideas

by means of a semantic web (Loader, 1989), and prompting planning following

a brief demonstration of how to plan (Reece & Cumming, 1996) In a more recent review, Byrd (2011) lists six types of prewriting tasks and their effectiveness for generation of ideas and writing quality: 1) brainstorming, 2)

clustering through e.g mind maps, 3) drawing, 4) graphic organizers, 5) small-group discussions, and 6) free writing The author suggests to grade student prewriting activities in order to stimulate students’ participation as otherwise prewriting might not be taken seriously He also concludes that prewriting activities will not become a cure-all for writing assignments and that with some encouragements students probably use these techniques on their own, regardless of where they may be in the writing process

II.1.4 Outlining

Outlines are helpful for several reasons First, they help learners structure their paper If your school or degree program provides a dissertation template, learners already have a basic outline made This helps learners see where to place specific pieces of information Second, outlines help to organize your thoughts An outline helps learners organize their ideas about the topic ahead

of time, so that when learners sit down to write, learners know what to work

on Third, an outline can help learners plan and manage their time A quick glance at an outline of a chapter can help learners see what is done and what needs to be done The outstanding sections can be turned into smart goals without too much hassle, and before learners know it, you will be checking lots of small tasks off the to-do list, providing learners with even more motivation to keep going

II.1.5 Writing with outlining

Writing strategy with outlining is more efficient and successful It can help a writer organize his ideas and give focus on relevant materials as well as organize logical supporting details Besides, it can make the writing run smoothly since the outline of ideas is already at hand According to Crème and Lea (2003), it is not easy for a writer to start writing without making a framework which is called an outline How experienced one is, he still needs an

outline to follow in order to produce a qualified piece of writing—a writing containing clear and well-organized ideas and expressed in high-quality language

Outlining is one of the prewriting strategy activities in which the materials collected are gathered or organized It functions as a blue print from which the writing is to be based on Writers who are accustomed to making outlines before writing find it as an effective and clear way of organizing ideas (Goose, 2001; Crème & Lea, 2003; Davis, 2004; Donahue, 2007) It can also help writers finish writing quickly and improve grammar Writing an outline is presumed to have written seventy-five percent of the writing and with it writing will be very smooth (Creme and Lea, 2003)

II.2 English language teaching and learning in Vietnam

As stated in the official Education Handbook, formal education in Vietnam is run by the Ministry of Education and Training and consists of 5 levels, namely preschool, primary school, secondary school, high school, and higher education Among them, schooling from preschool to high school is mandatory and is set as the minimum requirement for citizens A student normally spends about 14 years in school, two years in preschool and another 12 years in 3 other levels of education at public schools After high school, roughly 90% of students choose to go for tertiary education The English subject is required and introduced to pupils from grade 3/12 and for every week, 2 hours are allocated for this subject Therefore, upon completion of primary school, pupils should have had 210 hours of studying English To secondary school, from grade 6 to grade 9, students spend 2 hours a week to attend English classes, making up 280 hours of training at this level High school is the level which learners receive the most input of English teaching with 3 hours of English class a week making up 315 hours By the end of grade twelve, which is the last

year of their required education program, each student has spent 805 hours of English training Hence, learners after finishing 9 years of English education are able:

- To use English as a means of communication at a certain level of proficiency in four macroskills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and to be able to read materials at the same level of their textbook, using

a dictionary;

- To have mastered basic English phonetics and grammar, to have acquired the minimum of around 2500 vocabulary items of English;

- To attain a certain level of understanding of English and American cultures, to become aware of cross-cultural differences in order to be better overall communicators, to better inform the world of the Vietnamese people, their history and culture, and to take pride in Vietnam, its language and culture (MOET, 2007)

III Methodology

The previous chapter has provided a necessary theoretical background for the study In this chapter, researcher questions, participants, research tools and the procedures will be presented

In section 3.1, I will explain the details regarding participants, including the whole process of participants recruitment and descriptions of their background

In section 3.2, I will describe the research tools to use in the research