Improving writing skills among students at a high school in hanoi adopting a cognitive meta linguistic approach to teaching english grammatical constructions

NGUYỄN BÍCH NGỌC IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI ADOPTING A COGNITIVE META-LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO TEACHING ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS Nâng cao

NGUYỄN BÍCH NGỌC

IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI ADOPTING A COGNITIVE META-LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO TEACHING

ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS

(Nâng cao kỹ năng viết cho học sinh THPT ở Hà Nội thông qua đường hướng nhận thức siêu ngôn ngữ để giảng dạy các cấu trúc

ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

NGUYỄN BÍCH NGỌC

IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI ADOPTING A COGNITIVE META-LINGUISTIC APPROACH TO TEACHING

ENGLISH GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS

(Nâng cao kỹ năng viết cho học sinh THPT ở Hà Nội thông qua đường hướng nhận thức siêu ngôn ngữ để giảng dạy các cấu trúc

ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, PhD

Hanoi - 2021

I hereby certify the thesis entitled “Improving writing skills among students

at a high school in Hanoi adopting a cognitive meta - linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions” as my own work in the fulfillment of

the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages

and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Hanoi, 2021

Student

Firstly, I would like to send the highest appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, for supporting me all through my journey of conducting this research Without his advice, I would not be able to have a chance to explore a new method of teaching English to my students and find more meanings in my teaching career

Secondly, I am extremely grateful to my classmates, all my younger sisters and brothers, who have given me really good advice for collecting the data, analyzing it and writing this final thesis

Last but not least, I am thankful to have my husband and daughter who always give me a very strong mental support to go through the difficult days of dealing with the thesis

Hanoi, 2021

The aim of the research is to examine the effects of cognitive meta-linguistic approach used in teaching English grammatical constructions on improving high school students‟ writing skills in the EFL context The researcher employed Action Research with 10th grade students at a high school in Hanoi with both qualitative and quantitative data analyses The research was done in two cycles; each cycle consists of three meeting sessions The 40 students received instruction using cognitive meta-linguistic approach to English grammatical constructions in writing The data collection instruments include questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, teacher‟s diaries and tests The results obtained from the tests indicated that cognitive meta-linguistic approach used in teaching English grammatical constructions significantly improved the students‟ writing skills Besides, the data collected from the post-treatment questionnaire and the interview revealed that the students had positive attitudes towards the application of the new method The findings from the teacher‟s diary showed that during her lessons in class, the teacher encountered and dealt with some difficulties Based on these findings, some implications for both the teacher and the students as well as recommendations for further studies on adopting a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical structures have been drawn The research findings are expected to contribute to the understanding of meta-linguistic approach as a causal factor for better writing performance in ESL students

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Methods of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 4

1.7 Definitions of key items 5

1.8 The structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Theoretical background 7

2.1.1 Cognitive meta-linguistic approach 7

2.1.2 Teaching and learning English grammar 10

2.1.3 Writing skills in cognitive meta-linguistic approach 14

2.1.4 The role of mastering grammatical constructions in language learning 18

2.1.5 The application of a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching grammatical constructions to improve writing skills 20

2.2 Previous studies 23

2.2.1 Previous studies in international context 23

2.2.2 Previous studies in Vietnamese context 25

2.3 Summary 27

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 28

3.1 Research questions 28

3.2 Research approach 28

3.3 Research setting 32

3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 32

3.5 Principles/criteria for intended data collection 32

3.5.1 Pre-test and Post- test 33

3.5.2 Questionnaire 34

3.5.3 Interviews 34

3.5.4 The teacher‟s diaries 35

3.6 Data analysis 35

3.7 Summary 37

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 38

4.1 Data analysis 38

4.1.1 The extent to which the use of a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions enhances high school students‟ writing skills 38

4.1.2 The difficulties the teacher encountered when adopting the cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions to improve students‟ writing skills 47

4.1.3 The students‟ attitudes towards the use of the cognitive meta- linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions to enhance their writing skills 48

4.2 Discussions 52

4.3 Summary 54

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 55

5.1 Recapitulation 55

5.2 Concluding remarks 56

5.3 Limitation of the current research 57

5.4 Implications of the findings 575.5 Recommendations and suggestions for future research 58

REFERENCES 61 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX A IAPPENDIX B IIAPPENDIX C IVAPPENDIX D: SYLLABUS VAPPENDIX E VIAPPENDIX F XIIAPPENDIX G .XIV

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: The intervention plan 30

Table 3.2: Action plan 31

Table 3.3 Population and sample 32

Table 3.4: Procedures for test development 33

Table 3.5: Score interval for test 34

Table 4.1 Results of independent samples t-test for the students‟ performance on the writing pretest 39

Table 4.2.The Pre-test and Post-test results of the class 40

Table 4.3 The students‟ pre-test and post-test results analyzed by using Pair Sample T-Test 41

Table 4.4 Comparison between the students‟ performance before and after the treatment 42

Table 4.5 The students‟ difference of writing complexity during pretest 43

and posttest 43

Table 4.6 Learners‟ writing accuracy during pretest and posttest 45

Table 4.7 The students‟ difference in Fluency in pretest and posttest 46

Table 4.8 Students‟ feedback on cognitive meta- linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions 49

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Model of writing process 17

Figure 3.1: The process of CAR in current study 29

Figure 4.2 Comparison of the pre-test and post-test results of the class 41

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

According to Trinh and Nguyen (2014), being proficient in English has been given much attention in Vietnam due to the increasing demands of higher education, employment, business and overseas studies Grabe (2009) and Ahn (2014) believed that among language learning skills, writing has been consistently referred to as complicated especially for non-native speakers due to the limited exposure to writing activities and learning sources Tangpermpoon (2008) suggested the possible reason for this was the various tasks students of English as a foreign language (EFL) are required to focus on during writing production such as choosing proper words, using correct grammatical patterns and checking spelling of words Ibrahim (2006) pointed out that writing is a difficult skill for native and non-native speakers alike, for writers are expected to consider multiple aspects simultaneously including content, organization, purpose, audience, vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling Ejraee, Baradaran and Sharif (2014) also considered writing as a difficult learning skill that is needed by EFL students from primary to higher education However, according to recent test results from the Educational Testing Service (ETS), writing has been the most problematic for Vietnamese test-takers This could be explained in terms of the low quality of English language teaching in Vietnam (Hoang, 2010), specifically the challenge of teaching EFL writing (Nguyen, 2009) Causes of the low quality in teaching writing, especially in teaching argumentative essays, should be examined in light of current approaches to teaching English writing Therefore, as Ahn (2014) concluded, writing teaching and learning should be re-evaluated by teachers, educators and students as well A number of studies show that English teachers often look for more effective methods

to teach writing (Ibrahim, 2006; Watson, 2005)

According to Huynh (2014), the cognitive meta-linguistic approach to the teaching of writing skills to EFL learners is to develop learners' communicative

language ability by first enhancing their meta-knowledge of grammatical constructions so as to improve their writing skills The approach involves the selection of features of grammatical constructions that could be beneficial to the enhancement of learners‟ meta-knowledge in the field as an initial step towards their writing skills development In this approach, which is both knowledge-oriented and skill-oriented, knowledge of grammatical constructions is to be explicitly given to learners on the assumption that they can use it for their skill development In other words, writing should be no longer perceived as an individual task taught separately from knowledge of language (and obviously other language learning skills) It was instead viewed as a process of pedagogy through which students learned to make a relationship between other language components and what they tend to produce (Kennedy, 1994)

Furthermore, it is evident that grammar is one of the key factors to successful writing (Mwakapina, 2016) Many studies have established strong positive linkages between students‟ academic performance and grammar and writing proficiencies (Johns, 1997; Jordan, 1997; Lee &Schallert, 1997; Byrd & Reid, 1998; Zhou, 2009) In other words, the competence in grammatical constructions such as sentence construction and punctuation skills, tenses, linking signals and paragraph crafting is a powerful determinant in EFL learners‟ writing competence

Basing on all of the reasons above, the researcher decided to carry out a

study on “Improving writing skills among students at a high school in Hanoi

adopting a cognitive meta-linguistics approach to teaching English grammatical constructions” to explore the effects of teaching English grammatical constructions

through a cognitive meta- linguistic approach on ESL students‟ writing performance

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions on high school students‟ writing competence in the EFL context

In order to achieve the overall aim, the following specific objectives are generated:

To examine and evaluate the effects of implementing a cognitive linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions on high school students‟ writing skills

meta-To explore the difficulties encountered by teachers in implementing cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions

To explore the students‟ attitudes towards the use of cognitive meta- linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions during writing acquisition

3) What are the students‟ attitudes towards the use of the cognitive meta- linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions to enhance their writing skills?

1.4 Scope of the study

The participants were 40 tenth grade students from a high school in Ha Noi, Viet Nam This was the high school where the researcher was teaching English The reason for choosing this high school was that the researcher could easily access the participants In addition, the researcher also understood the students and English teaching methods and techniques used in the conventional teaching environment at the school The participants were in the academic year of 2019-2020 English 10 textbook was used as the major material for lesson planning with the implementation of cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions

In this current study, the researcher only focused on teaching 4 English grammatical constructions required for paragraph writing among high school students of A2 CEFR level: SV, SVO, SVA, SVC and these structures were taught

in 8 weeks The improvement in the students‟ writing includes writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency

1.5 Methods of the study

The research was designed under the paradigm of action research A total sample of 40 students of grade 10 from a high school in Hanoi were chosen for the study The data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, tests and diaries The purpose of using diaries was to identify the researcher‟s difficulties in applying cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching grammatical constructions to the students There were both quantitative and qualitative data analyses The quantitative data were obtained from the tests in form of the students‟ scores in the writing tests and from the questionnaire items using 5-point Likert scale The qualitative data were obtained from the interviews administered to 10 students and the teacher‟s diaries

1.6 Significance of the study

This study not only focuses on the enhancement of writing skills by adopting

a cognitive meta linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions but also finds out the students‟ attitudes towards the use of cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions during writing acquisition Theoretically, this study provides more detailed information about the improvement

in writing and methods to improve the use of grammar in essays It will contribute

to the existing knowledge of second and foreign language teaching and learning The study is considered to be useful for both L2 teachers and students Difficulties

in applying such an approach in teaching writing were examined and analyzed for better understanding of the techniques chosen The pedagogical methods showed in this study play a role as a reference material for the teachers to consider during the teaching practice

Practically, what this study may bring to the education of the selected high school is to widen the awareness of teachers and learners in terms of meta-linguistic awareness in writing; cause new changes and improvement on teaching and learning English writing Better performance in English writing is expected to be one of the major contributions of this study through providing better understanding for the teacher and the students as well as suggesting some possible teaching methods relating to cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching English grammatical constructions

1.7 Definitions of key items

Writing skills: writing is a form of communication that allows students to put their feelings and ideas on paper, to organize their knowledge and beliefs into convincing arguments, and to convey meaning through well-constructed texts

Cognitive meta-linguistic approach: an approach in language teaching and learning in which the meta-linguistic knowledge of a language is given to the learners before they could proceduralize it in their language production

Grammatical construction: a group of words that form a constituent of a sentence and are considered as a single unit

1.8 The structure of the thesis

This thesis includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 is Introduction The chapter presents the rationale, aims and objectives of the research; research questions; scope of study; method; significance

of the research, definitions of key terms and structure of the thesis Chapter 2 is dedicated to Literature Review The chapter is divided into four sections including the theoretical concepts and issues fundamental to the study: cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching grammar, writing skills, grammatical constructions, and the teaching and learning of grammar The application of a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching grammatical constructions to improve students‟ writing skills is discussed to shed light on the research methodology Previous studies related to the current research are also reviewed to arrive at the gap for the research

Chapter 3 is Research Methodology The chapter presents the research questions, research approach, research setting, sample and sampling procedures, principles/ criteria for intended data collection, and data analysis

Chapter 4 is intended for presenting data analysis and discussion

Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with the theoretical concepts and issues fundamental to the study: cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching grammar, writing skills, grammatical constructions, and the teaching and learning of grammar The application of a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching grammatical constructions to improve students’ writing skills is discussed to shed light on the research methodology Previous studies related to the current research are also reviewed to arrive at the gap for the research

2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Cognitive meta-linguistic approach

It should be acknowledged that cognitive meta-linguistic approach (hereafter, CMA) is an approach derived from the notion of building the metalinguistic awareness for L2 learners Therefore, the need to understand CMA should start from the understanding of metalinguistic awareness and its related terms such as metalinguistic knowledge, metalingual knowledge (as “metalingual” has a slightly different meaning from “metalinguistic”) and explicit knowledge

Regarding metalinguistic awareness, it first attracted attention from developmental psychologists, developmental psycho-linguists, and educators (Pratt

& Grieve, 1984) and then drew attention from the language educators (Liu, 2005) Since it was regarded as an important self-awareness ability that teachers can help students develop in the ESL/EFL class, several definitions of metalinguistic awareness have been proposed, among which the definition of Tunmer and Herriman (1984:12) seemed to be the most sophisticated:

“Metalinguistic awareness may be defined as the ability to reflect upon and manipulate the structural features of spoken language, treating language itself as an object of thought, as opposed to simply using the language system to comprehend and produce sentences To be meta-linguistically aware is to begin to appreciate that the stream of speech, beginning with the acoustic signal and ending with the

speaker's intended meaning, can be looked at with the mind's eye and taken apart.”

Metalinguistic awareness, therefore, referred to the ability to understand language in a more explicit fashion, in a way being able to objectify and manipulate

it beyond the levels of pure functional use Such ability exceeds mere knowledge about language, and it also encompasses both sensitivity and consciousness toward the nature of language (Donmall, 1985)

Researches focusing on the understanding of metalinguistic awareness, a growing body of research, have worked on metalinguistic knowledge or explicit knowledge (i.e Alderson, Steel, & Clapham, 1997; Bialystok & Ryan, 1985; Elder

& Manwaring, 2004) Roehr (2008) defined metalinguistic knowledge as declarative knowledge that can be brought into awareness and that is potentially available for verbal report Accordingly, it referred to a situation when the learner had a certain awareness about the language structure and was able to test his/her conscious hypothesis in the course of learning The process of verbalizing that metalinguistic knowledge involved the use of metalanguage, which might refer to the basic grammar expressions “such as word, sentence, subject/predicate, noun or verb, specialized linguistic terminology such as phonotactics, x-bar structure or Gricean maxims, and also non-technical words that describe general language use such as mean, say or correct” (Ellis, 2016:144, emphasis in original) To put it simply, an L2 learner having sufficient metalinguistic knowledge is the one who is able to explain a certain grammar of a sentence/utterance and able to identify

“something wrong” in a sentence

Despite such justification about the good nature of metalinguistic knowledge,

it was marginalized or even rejected as a legitimate component of pedagogical practices in many L2 classrooms (Berry, 2009) because of the growing distrust in formal grammar instruction as a result of CLT movement From the perspective of CLT practitioners, metalinguistic approach was deemed to align with the traditional pedagogical approaches like the grammar-translation method It was very much downplayed in many CLT-oriented classrooms, especially those implementing a

strong version of CLT (Elder & Manwaring, 2004:145) because these classrooms valued the development of communicative competence (i.e the ability to use the target language to engage in meaningful and effective communication) over grammatical competence (Richards & Rodgers, 2001)

For example, Mohammed (1996) asserted that grammar instruction based on linguistic terms and concepts can hardly achieve the goal of adding to or modifying the rules discovered by learners themselves „through the natural process of hypotheses formation and testing‟ because „such terms and concepts constitute an additional learning burden and remain as a separate body of knowledge that has nothing to do with the way people actually process language‟ (p 283)

Contrary to the dismissive view of metalinguistic knowledge, cumulative findings from more recent research on adolescent and adult learners (e.g., Butler, 2002; Elder and Manwaring, 2004; Roehr, 2007) have suggested a much greater role for such knowledge in L2 learning and use, especially for learners who acquire the target language in classroom settings In other words, the pendulum has started

to swing back, with grammar and form-focused instruction enjoying something of a return to favour

Hu (2002), for example, produced empirical evidence in support of the mobilization of explicit knowledge in L2 use by young adult learners, though real-time access to such knowledge seems to be subjected to the influences of several interacting psychological factors Ellis (2006), Elder and Manwaring (2004), and Roehr (2007) have all found substantial correlations between university students‟ explicit knowledge of various L2 structures and their L2 proficiency Both De Jong (2005) and DeKeyser (1997) have also demonstrated that cognitively mature learners‟ explicit knowledge can be automatized to a considerable extent, enhancing its availability in L2 use Therefore, the CMA has now gained its position in research on ESL/EFL field and was worth considering for another action research - which is the conduct of this research

Learners should be trained on enhancing metacognitive skills during the language acquisition process combined with specific learning activities Therefore,

it is necessary for the system, technical proposals, and teaching methods to be metacognitive Moreover, clarifying the application of these techniques and methods in the teaching process are necessary in the current context Brown (1978) offers the definition that metacognitive skills include: 1) guessing to assess the difficulty of the job; 2) planning steps needed to complete the task; 3) executing what learners need to know to achieve the learning goals; 4) evaluating requirements to summarize the problem

In general, according to the researchers, there are many metacognitive skills mentioned such as knowledge monitoring skills, task prediction skills, action strategy selection skills, planning skills, planning process monitoring skills, monitoring and adjustment skills, and evaluation skills

2.1.2 Teaching and learning English grammar

2.1.2.1 Teaching English grammar

Nazav and Sama (2017) define grammar teaching in two broad categories, including narrow definition and broad definition The narrow definition is understood as the traditional grammar teaching that involves “presentation and practice of discrete grammatical structures" (Ellis, 2006:84) For the broad definition of grammar teaching, it “involves any instructional techniques that draws learners‟ attention to some specific grammatical form in such a way that it helps them either to understand it meta-linguistically and/ or process it in comprehension and/or production so that they can internalize it” (Ellis, 2006:84)

Referring to the view of Takala (2016), learning a language basically means learning its grammar In the process of learning, grammar is considered as a central position (Greenbaun and Nelson, 2002) Therefore, there is an argument that grammar should be taught through explicit presentation of grammatical rules or through its use ESL practitioners discuss two possible ways of teaching grammar to learners One is inductive approach and the other one is deductive approach (Thornbury, 1999) In Takala‟s (2016) explanation, inductive approach is that

"teachers might get their students involved with the new grammar topic by using

leading questions and then introducing the topic of the day themselves” (Takala, 2016:18) In contrast, deductive approach follows the traditional grammar translation method Furthermore, Takala (2016) indicates that the latter approach is closely related

to explicit teaching and the presentation-practice-production (PPP) model

Nassaji and Fotos (2011:4) explain that the PPP model consists of a structured three-stage sequence for grammar instruction: (1) a presentation stage, (2) a practice stage, and (3) a production stage In detail, the presentation stage means that the new grammar rule or structure is introduced, usually through a text, a dialogue, or a story that includes the structure In terms of practice stage, teachers will give students various kinds of written and spoken exercises to repeat or reproduce the new forms The production stage comes, where learners are encouraged to use the rules that they have learned in the presentation stage and practice stage, more freely and in more communicative activities The narrow definition elucidates that grammar teaching as the traditional grammar teaching (TGT) that involves “presentation and practice of discrete grammatical structures” (2006: 84)

According to Tilfarlioglu (2005), teaching grammar was a central concern in English language teaching People usually mention “knowing” the structure of a language This “knowing” the structure of a language has two means: (1) unconscious ability, and (2) conscious ability In particular, unconscious ability means the user uses the structure of a language to convey a message unconsciously

In contrast, conscious ability is related to the information that has been acquired through learning structural descriptions This distinction is important, because it is relevant to what the student needs to know and what the teacher needs to know The student needs to be able to produce correct sentences automatically Teachers cannot presume to have taught students a particular structure by getting them to memorize the rules

When talking about “teaching grammar”, people usually think of teaching descriptive and prescriptive grammar That is to teach sentence elements and

structure, usage, sentence revision, and punctuation and mechanics through grammar book or workbook, or computer program Grammar must be taught systematically and directly Normally, teaching grammar will be isolated from writing or the study of literature It means that studying parts of speech and their functions in sentences, various types of phrases and clauses, and different sentence types is accompanied by sentence diagramming and usually followed by a study of such concepts as subject-verb agreement and pronoun reference

2.1.2.2 Learning English grammar

Grammar is considered as an important aspect in learning language and it has the role to create the success of acquiring four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing Grammar could help learners be able to listen, to speak, to read and to write a language Grammar names the types of words, and word groups that make up sentences not only in English, but in any language People can put sentences together when being children However, in order to understand how to construct sentences, the types of words and word groups to build the sentences; it is extremely necessary to know grammar And so as to know grammar, learners must have a human mind and complex mental capacity

According to Van der Walt (1993), learning grammar involves many interrelated factors which make it a complex process Rutherford (1987) affirms that the progress that a second language learner makes could be considered from a number of different perspectives Rutherford (1987) adds that a learner starts learning a second language task from point zero, then through the steady accumulation of the mastered entities of the target language (e.g sounds, vocabulary, grammatical constructions, discourse units, etc.), eventually amasses them in quantities sufficient to constitute a particular level of proficiency The task

of teaching a language is to bring these entities to the learners‟ attention

In the argument of Rutherford (1987), the conception of increasing language proficiency as a development reflected in the steady accumulation of more and more complex language entities is a difficult one to maintain once we look a little

more closely at what language learners actually do in the course of their learning Rutherford (1987:4) examines this view by posing the following question: "If language knowledge develops primarily in terms of accumulated structural entities, then what kinds of learner production would we expect to see along the way?" He purports that we would expect that 6 well-formed target-language structures would, one after another, emerge 'full-blown' on the learner's path towards eventual mastery of the language

There is another expectation that for the purpose of learning, two structures fulfilling similar semantics would be in the competition with each other In the words of Wills (1988), in the early stages, because learners do not really need two forms for the same semantic role, the more “complex” of these two structures would temporarily be avoided; and less “complex” of the two would serve the semantic function of both After more learning occurred, the more complex structure would lastly emerge to take its rightful place in the learners‟ pantheon of already mastered entities

As said by Wittrock (1993), in the case that language knowledge develops structure by structure, the production of learners will meet the expectation of the teachers Wittrock (1993) affirms that the emergence of full-blown structures would then carry the range of semantic interpretation in native speaker competence In other words, Harmer (1987) presents that language structures do not exist independently of the meanings they are meant to carry He contends that when well-formed grammatical constructions surface in learner language, teachers would expect that the same array of meanings is in principle attributable to the forms in question

Ellis (1992) mentions the complexity of a language and of the task of learners It is obvious that an English learner approaches the task of learning with a prior knowledge without which language learning would be impossible He confirms that the knowledge of a target language is of two different sorts One is that the learner has an unconscious foreknowledge of what shapes the organization

of the target language can assume The other one is that he has the temporary ability

to bend the new language into forms that will with maximal efficiency, serve the initial desire for rudimentary communication, an ability that the learner retains from the similar experience of having acquired his mother tongue Accordingly, both these cognitive capacities are very important (Rutherford, 1987) Without these ones, no language learning would be possible at all Rutherford confirms that the task of learning a second language is extremely crucial; however, what the learner already knows about language in general, and also about how to use a language for any

of its various social and cognitive functions, renders it an eminently possible one

2.1.3 Writing skills in cognitive meta-linguistic approach

In various studies, the nature of writing has been defined as a cognitive process Nunan (1999:273) asserted that “writing is a complex, cognitive process that requires sustained intellectual effort over a considerable period of time” In line with Nunan, Kate and Guy (2003:1480) stated that “writing is a process of exploring one‟s thoughts and learning from the act of writing itself from what thoughts are”

These interpretations confirmed the definition of writing as a complex process of exploring one's thought, discovering ideas and generating meaning (Flower & Hayes, 1980) Furthermore, for pedagogical purposes in English as a foreign language (EFL) class, writing is considered as “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996:3)

O'Maggio (1986) contended that writing in a second language is not simply a matter of how to write new things down in a new code Similarly, Silva (1993) insisted that “writing is considered a productive skill because the writer creates new language and does not only interpret existing information” When engaged in writing activities, learners are expected to demonstrate: “a high degree of organization in the development of information, ideas, arguments, a high degree of accuracy so that there is no ambiguity of meaning; the use of complex grammatical patterns and sentence structures to create a style which is appropriate to the subject matter and eventual readers” (Hedge, 2005:7)

In short, Harris, Graham & Larsen (2001) analyzed that writing “is the ability to use the structures, lexical items, and their conventional representation in ordinary matter of fact of writing” (p.74)

To clarify skills needed in writing, Heaton (1975:138) suggested four factors: (1) Grammatical skill: The ability to write correct sentences; (2) Stylistic skill: The ability to manipulate sentences and use language effectively; (3) Mechanical skill: The ability to use correctly those conversations peculiar to the written language e.g punctuation and spelling; and (4) Judgment skill: The ability

to write in an appropriate manner for a particular purpose with an ability to select, organize and relevant information

According to Matsuda and Silva (2005), writing skills in a second language concentrates on models of teaching and learning and relies on learners' performance Models of teaching and learning writing tend to solve more synchronic problems The pragmatic concerns of the classrooms, in which it is taught, explain to a large degree why performance issues are the focus, mainly implying the problems related to models of teaching and learning a second language writing Two authors also said that writing is an ability that is typically developed in formal instructional settings, and it is a skill which is most closely tied to educational practices

Krashen (1985) offered that writing ability is obtained by reading rather than

by listening In this opinion, the competence in writing is gained in the same way of gaining oral language competence, by comprehending written discourse and by internalizing, after much exposure, the numerous conventions that characterize texts This means that the writing skills could be developed by reading as much as possible, which leads to a way for teachers to help their students in studying writing

in a second language

Kennedy (1998) stated that writing has often been described as though it contained two incompatible sides The first side is the generative side, which mysteriously produces new ideas and wonderful phrases that seem to spring from an

unknown source The place where people‟s words come from and the way people manage to invent their stories, poems, speeches, and arguments has never been known The second side requires obedience of a set of language grammatical rules Good ideas can only be shared with others who have the same language or understand the language that the ideas are performed in While the first side of writing is unexplained, the second is believed to be a task of following the grammatical rules in punctuation, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, placement

of prepositional objects, and the like

In fact, writing is grammatically more complete than speaking In speaking, the speech is supported by tone of voice, gestures, mimic and context The speaker can correct his error‟s utterances by himself While in writing, the person communicates through the language himself Written language cannot be changed many times since it has been printed/written out, thus the writer should arrange his words accurately to create an understandable message

Writing starts from a simple piece of writing; then, is developed into a more complicated level in which elements of structure and vocabulary are involved Davies-Pearse (2002:101) classify „writing into low-level skills (handwriting or typing, spelling, constructing grammatical sentences, punctuating) and high-level cognitive skills (gathering ideas, organizing and sequencing, structuring, drafting, and editing)‟ In addition, Rivers (1981:294) also classifies „writing activity into writing practice (grammatical exercise, the construction of simple dialogue, uncomplicated translation exercise, dictation, and the cloze procedure) and expressive writing or composition (the writing of instruction, reports, resumes, concrete descriptions, or essential correspondence connected with everyday affair)‟

Writing skills firstly begin by using language expressively and imaginatively like writing diaries or letters to friends and then the writers can practice writing critically until they are able to produce good writings Reading from many sources, listening, watching television, and talking to others can inspire good writings

Writing is a complex process which converts the words into written form Writer should arrange his/her idea into words, clauses, phrases and sentences in order that make his writing understandable White and Arndt (1991) stress that

„writing is rewriting; that revision - seeing with new eyes – has a central role to play

in the act of creating text‟ In their model, the process of writing is represented diagrammatically:

Figure 2.1: Model of writing process

(White and Arndt, 1991) Writing is a complex skill among other skills (listening, speaking and reading) which acquires the ability to compose correct sentences Since writing is a form of thinking about the use of the written words, it takes much time for students

to develop their ideas into meaningful texts

In addition, Harmer (2002:257) proposes that „there are some aspects that must be considered in the writing process, such as language use (grammar, vocabularies, and linkers), punctuation and layout, spelling, checking writing for unnecessary repetition of words and/or information, deciding on the information in each paragraph, and the order the paragraph should go in, noting down various ideas, selecting the best idea for inclusion, writing a clean copy of the corrected version, and writing a rough version‟ It shows that writing is a complex process combining a number of elements, especially for the students, and needs much time

to construct ideas until finishing written works

In conclusion, to teachers and learners in language classes, the most appropriate concept of writing is that writing is regarded as a productive skill which

is difficult to acquire but fundamental in English learning process Among skills needed for successful writing, grammatical proficiency is perceived as one of the most important components

2.1.4 The role of mastering grammatical constructions in language learning

At the most basic level, the New Encyclopedia Britannica states that grammar comprises “rules of a language governing the sounds, words, sentences, and other elements, as well as their combination and interpretation” Similarly, it is defined by Tomlinson (2004) that “grammar refers to a description of the structure

of a language and the way in which linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language” In other words, grammar takes the role of integrating meaning and sentence factors into a language system He also emphasized that as one of the four basic language components and proficiency, learners should master grammar rules to enhance their language skills and communicative competences

In the same meaning, Harmer (2001:12), states that grammar is explained as the description of the ways in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in the language According to Lado (1977:141), grammar

is defined as the study of rules that are claimed to tell the students what should and should not be said in order to speak language of the social educated class In the view of Karen (2004), grammar can be understood as the system of rules which allows the users of a language to create meaningful sentences in question by setting

up both meaningful words and larger construction of sentences

For decades, there are constant disputes over the importance of grammar in English learning and teaching While some scholars argued that grammar takes the key significance in English teaching which enhances the learners‟ language proficiency in the EFL context, others underestimated the significance of this language component Burns and Richards (2009) stated that the command of

grammar is more significant to EFL learners than to those who use English as their mother language The reason is attributed to the native speakers‟ international intuition during their language acquisition Contrastively, it takes time and efforts for EFL learners to obtain the consciousness of different aspects of language, particularly grammar Therefore, Burns and Richards (2009) emphasized the importance of grammar learning in the process of language acquisition Harmer (1998) also agreed that the command of grammar should enable the learners to effectively communicate with others in both oral and written forms with acceptable creativity and anomalies

Grammar has an important role in four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) For listening skill, first of all, grammar is the foundation for

a student to understand what others are talking about The misconception of many students is that through merely listening and stringing the vocabulary together, learners are able to understand the content of the whole sentences or paragraphs This may be true for some sentences, but if the content is complex and contains more strings with the use of relative pronouns, anagrams, comparative structures, etc.; the learner has to rely on grammar to understand what is being said

Right from the start of learning speaking, a learner has to rely on grammar to form sentences and fully express what he or she wants to say The learners can imitate, of course, but if they copy without understanding how to form sentences, they cannot create sentences with different structures

Similar to listening and speaking skills, when reading a text, a learner must use grammar to understand the meaning of the passage There is a lot of evidence showing the importance of grammar in reading comprehension Studies over the years have shown a clear relationship between syntactic or grammatical sophistication and reading comprehension; that is, as students learn to employ more complex sentences in their oral and written language, their ability to make sense of what they read increases

It is easy to understand how grammar is important in writing skills There is

a direct influence of grammar on learner writing performance A learner with good grammar knowledge, he or she can write good essays and make readers easily understand the idea In contrast, the readers have difficulty understanding what the writer is trying to illustrate in the essay if he or she arranges words and sentences in

In the words of Chutichaiwirath and Sitthitikul (2017), Novak (2010, and Kauffman & Chen (2008); metacognitive strategies are significant and viable for improving students‟ learning skills in general and in writing skills in particular According to O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990), learners can be better in terms of proper planning, monitoring, evaluation and practice of writing skills with the application of metacognitive strategies Metacognitive strategies involve mental operations or procedures that learners use to regulate their learning

They are directly responsible for the execution of a writing task and include three main kinds: planning, evaluating, and monitoring (Rubin & Chisnell, 2008)

Flavell (1979) first introduced metacognitive strategies in academic writing which consists of metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experience De La Paz and Felton (2010) state that metacognitive strategies are mental executive skills that serve to “control cognitive activities and to ensure a cognitive goal is achieved” The model proposed by Papleontiou-Louca (2003) presents metacognitive writing strategies which include the planning, monitoring and evaluating taxonomies Metacognitive writing strategies, correspondingly, involve

thinking about the writing process: planning, monitoring, and self-evaluating of

what has been written More explicitly, via the skills of planning, monitoring, and evaluating; the writer manages, directs, regulates and guides his/her writing production

Planning:

In the planning process, focus concerning purpose, audience, ideas, and strategies must be used This process usually takes place before writing; however, some writers would like to plan their compositions even while writing their composition It must be more efficient in the case that planning writing is done via whole-class or small group brainstorming If planning writing is done in a group, each student is suggested to have his/her own function such as idea generator, writer, or criticizer Planning writing can also be done individually The draft plan

is made up, later, in the process of writing, it may be reviewed and undergo changes concerning constituent parts (adding or omitting) and their order Planning may also involve brainstorming some keywords and choosing the basic tenses for the writing piece

Monitoring:

Monitoring process involves checking and verifying progress in terms of global features such as content and organization, and also in terms of local aspects such as grammar and mechanics It can be more effectively done by individual

writers Controlling the writing process while writing the text is also another vital aspect of monitoring involved in the writing process

Evaluating:

Evaluating process comes at the end of the writing process, and consists of reconsidering the written text in terms of both global and local writing features, and also concerning the strategies used to complete the writing tasks Evaluating is more effectively done in pairs (peer assessment): two writers exchange their papers and, having viewed them, discuss the improvements to be made Self-editing and correction are tasks that students are supposed to conduct on their own They need

to develop a strategy for it (what to check first: contents, the structure of language,

as it is confusing, especially for less experienced writers to do all three simultaneously)

The approaches in teaching students the metacognitive strategies include direct instruction, teacher modeling, and application Like many other processes, metacognition can be taught to students, teachers should give a clear explanation about the strategies being used, why they are important and when students will need

to use them Teachers also present a number of examples to illustrate their instruction (Armbruster, 2010) Other than giving a direct explanation, teachers can model the strategies by using the technique “thinking out loud” to show “when and how” the metacognitive strategies should be used The important point in this approach is that teachers would provide a model of the thinking process by saying out loud what is going on inside their heads Students must be given ample opportunities to perform the same task under the guidance of the teachers in order to internalize them until they become automatic This application of the strategies serves as independent practice accompanied by teachers‟ feedback Recognizing and practicing applying metacognitive strategies will help students successfully solve problems not only in their subject areas but also throughout their lives as well (Luttenegger, 2012)

2.2 Previous studies 2.2.1 Previous studies in international context

Pitenoee, Modaberi and Ardestani (2017) conducted a study to investigate the effect of cognitive and metacognitive writing strategies on the content of the Iranian Intermediate EFLlearners‟writings There were 75 EFL learners from two private language institutes in Golestan, Iran participating in the study They were randomly divided into three groups including two experimental groups (i.e cognitive and metacognitive writing approaches) and one control group with 25 students for each group The author used three instruments including Nelson test, Pre-post test instrument and writing scoring criteria Each of the cognitive and metacognitive groups was instructed by one of the cognitive and metacognitive strategies The result of findings showed that the intervention of cognitive and metacognitive approaches enables the learners to create a better content for their writing In addition, the result also indicated that the use of metacognitive approach was better than the use of cognitive one in the content of the writing The study of Pitenoee et al implied that cognitive and metacognitive strategies were most likely

to be instructed to students

In the same aspect, Jarrah, Mansor, and Rashid (2018) investigated the impact of using metacognitive strategies on writing performance of Jordanian EFL learners 44 last year students were randomly recruited from Al-Mazar Irbid secondary school of Jordan The authors used qualitative and quantitative to make clear about the objective The instruments such as pretest, immediate post-test, and delay test were deployed in the research The authors made use of the intervention program based on CALLA model of teaching in classroom The students were divided into two groups; (1) experimental group received metacognitive strategies based writing instruction, (2) control group received only the routine writing instruction The result revealed that metacognitive instruction improved the students‟ writing proficiency

In another study, Ramazan (2017) implemented an investigation about the use of metacognitive learning strategies in the academic writing of freshmen students at the faculty of computer technologies and engineering at International Black Sea University, in Tbilisi, Georgia and their perceptions towards the use of this strategy There were 15 students in the class of total 20 students volunteering in the research These students had English knowledge at upper-intermediate level Interview and observation as instruments were used in the research The findings showed that metacognitive strategies could improve the writing performance and increase the students‟ satisfaction So, metacognitive instruction was intended to be introduced at aim to increase the awareness of EFL writing instructors‟ awareness

in teaching and in order to train students to become self-regulated learners

In consideration of the effect of metacognitive approach in improving grammar as well as writing skills, Mazen (2012) conducted a study to investigate the effect of metacognitive strategy on the improvement of grammar of engineering students The sample of the research included 66 preparatory year engineering students and all divided into two groups: experimental group with the number of 31 students and control group with the number of 35 students In the study, the experimental group and control group would study some grammatical structures which were included in the syllabus assigned for a technical English course However, only the experimental group was trained to follow selected metacognitive strategies (thinking aloud, metacognitive scaffolding and self-questioning) in combination with the cognitive ones (inductive and deductive); the control group would study grammar through the cognitive grammar teaching strategies the author would like to use t-test to compare the two groups The result of findings showed that there were significant differences between two groups in terms of grammar achievement test The experimental group with the use of metacognitive strategies obtained higher results in grammar achievement than the control group did The research also recommended to use both cognitive and metacognitive strategies in EFL pedagogical practices in the Egyptian context

Frad (2010) focused on clear instruction of cognitive and metacognitive approaches while teaching grammar at aim to present how the instruction of cognitive and metacognitive strategies were effective in the development of structural knowledge 66 participants were recruited to take part in the study Before and after receiving instruction lasting 10 sessions each with the duration of 1.30 hours, the two cognitive and metacognitive groups received Purpura‟ s (1999) cognitive and metacognitive questionnaires respectively The results showed that the instruction of cognitive strategy did not impact the development of structural knowledge of the learners; however, the metacognition caused a significant progress in the development of structural knowledge In the result of the questionnaires, both cognitive and metacognitive instruction was effective in the strategy use of the learners

2.2.2 Previous studies in Vietnamese context

Nguyen (2016) conducted an investigation to study the role peer feedback and metacognition in facilitating learner writers in their learning process The author used semi structured interviews with sixteen English majors and classroom observations in two English writing classes at a university in Vietnam Content analysis of the data revealed that peer feedback was informally implemented in two EFL writing classes under study, which might suggest that few opportunities for the students to develop their metacognition could be provided in this current feedback approach The findings also demonstrated the learners‟ expectations for changes in peer feedback practice in their writing classes Thus, the study suggested a jigsaw peer feedback approach which met the participants‟ desires and simultaneously afforded the learners a number of opportunities to improve their metacognition in EFL writing contexts, especially in Vietnam This study helps to extend the literature in peer feedback approach in L2 writing which is underpinned by the concept of metacognition and offers both pedagogical and theoretical implications

in English language teaching

Peer feedback plays a pivotal role in stimulating students‟ participation in L2 writing, which has the potential to develop students‟ writing skills The concept of metacognition has also been examined to facilitate learner writers in their learning process As such, this study drawing upon the concept of metacognition explores the implementation of peer feedback in English as a foreign language (EFL) tertiary writing classes in Vietnam and based on the findings develops a peer feedback approach to enhance the learners‟ metacognition Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with sixteen English majors and classroom observations in two English writing classes at a university in Vietnam Content analysis of the data revealed that peer feedback was informally implemented in two EFL writing classes under study, which might suggest that few opportunities for the students to develop their metacognition could be provided in this current feedback approach The findings also demonstrated the learners‟ expectations for changes in peer feedback practice in their writing classes Thus, the study suggested a jigsaw peer feedback approach which met the participants‟ desires and simultaneously afforded the learners a number of opportunities to improve their metacognition in EFL writing contexts, especially in Vietnam This study helps to extend the literature in peer feedback approach in L2 writing which is underpinned by the concept of metacognition and offers both pedagogical and theoretical implications in English language teaching (ELT)

improve writing skills of English major sophomore students at Nha Trang university The author used action research to collect data from tests In other words, the author compared the results of writing papers between control group and experimental group after metacognitive strategies were applied for sophomore English-major students of Nha Trang University during a six-month course from Feb 21st to Jun 18, 2011 The findings of results showed that metacognition, an innovation in teaching writing, not only improves students‟ writing results but their self-control and self-independence also This innovation was based on both top-

down process (the research, development and diffusion model) and bottom-up process (social interaction model) Their thinking about these metacognitive - instruction methods also reflected through informal interviews This method has opened a new way in teaching Writing at Nha Trang University

2.3 Summary

meta-linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions for high school students In addition, there are many studies that investigate the effects of cognitive meta-linguistic approach to enhancing writing skills for the university students However, there are few studies that tackle the effect of using a cognitive meta-linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions on Vietnamese high school students because in high schools in Vietnam, it is a new and strange technique This is the reason why the researcher hopes to provide some information and an effective teaching approach in order to improve the students‟ writing skills at the researcher‟s high school and all over the country

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology for the research It starts by raising the research questions Then, it presents the research approach and research settings Four data collections instruments as well as data collection procedures are mentioned Finally, data analysis procedures are demonstrated in this chapter

2) What difficulties does the teacher encounter when adopting the cognitive meta- linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions

to improve students‟ writing skills?

3) What are the students‟ attitudes towards the use of the cognitive meta- linguistic approach to teaching English grammatical constructions to enhance their writing skills?

3.2 Research approach

An action research has been applied to develop the study A pre-test and post test were conducted to evaluate the effect of using cognitive meta-linguistic approach in teaching English grammar constructions after the application of cognitive-meta linguistic treatment It has been done in order to obtain real information so that the study‟s objectives can be reached In addition, qualitative and quantitative analysis were used in the research Moreover, this research follows the principal working of Classroom Action Research (CAR) that contains four stages: planning, implementation of action, observation, and reflection (Fischer, 2001) This research was administered with two cycles; each cycle is the series of activities which have close relation; whereas, the realization of the second cycle is continued and repaired from the first cycle

According to Burns (2010:2), action research is related to the ideas of

“reflective practice” and “the teacher as researcher” Further, he also says that action research involves taking a self-reflective, critical, and systematic approach to exploring teaching contexts Burns (2010) claims that for a teacher who is reflective, and committed to developing professionally, action research is an appealing way to look more closely at puzzling classroom issues or to delve into teaching dilemmas Action research also encourages teachers “to reach their own solutions and conclusions and this is far more attractive and has more impact than being presented with ideals which cannot be attained” (Burns, 2010) Burns (2010) adds that doing action research can reinvigorate our teaching, lead to positive change, raise our awareness of the complexities of our work, and show us what drives our personal approaches to teaching

In this study, the researcher used the CAR principle to collect the data with the four phases, including observation, planning, intervention and reflection

Figure 3.1: The process of CAR in current study

(Adapted from Fischer, 2001) The intervention was carried out in 8 weeks in which the meta-knowledge of

4 grammatical constructions (SV, SVO, SVC, and SVA) was given to the students

in each lesson before they could proceduralize it in their writings The content and objectives of the lessons are illustrated in the following table Each construction was focused in two weeks The writing topics were chosen for students to compose, applying the structure in their writings The objectives of every 2 weeks include the understanding of the construction, how to use the structure in the specific writing as well as non-cognitive skills of working individually, in pairs and in groups

Table 3.1: The intervention plan

- Students will be able to understand the components and meaning/ usage of the structure S-V

- Students will be able use the structure S-V to write simple sentences on the given writing topic

- Students will be able to work individually, in pairs or

in groups to write a short paragraph about one of their unforgettable experiences using the structure S-V

- Students will be able to work individually, in pairs or

in groups to write a short paragraph about their daily routine using the structure S-V-O

- Students will be able to work individually, in pairs or

in groups to write a short paragraph about a film they have seen using the structure S-V-A

- Students will be able to understand the components and meaning/ usage of the structure S-V-C

- Students will be able use the structure S-V-C to write simple sentences on the given writing topic

- Students will be able to work individually, in pairs or

in groups to write a short paragraph about one of their favorite subjects and their dream for the future using the structure S-V-C

The procedure of each lesson can be seen in the sample lesson plan (Appendix E, p 87) The first lesson (in each pair of lessons teaching one structure)

lesson Then the teacher gives enough explanation on the components and the usage

of the structure Lastly, examples are essential to help students recognize and understand more about the structure After the Presentation, students experience the Practice session with various activities, for example, identifying the components in the sentences, identifying the sentences written with the targeted structure, or identifying the missing components in the sentences In the last part, the Production, students work in groups to produce sentences using the structure

The second lesson of the pair is for students to compose the writing on the given topic Firstly, in the Pre-writing part, the teacher revises the structure as well

as present the writing topic and elicit the brainstorming process In the writing session, students work in groups to write the paragraph In the Post-writing part, students in groups hang on their papers on the wall ground the class for cross-checking and commenting

While-The action plan of the study is illustrated in Table 3.2 including the demonstration of teacher‟s and students‟ action during the cycles of the study Every two weeks, one cycle is completed and the procedure of the study is repeated

Table 3.2: Action plan

materials Act 1 SV Explain the structure Write simple sentences Observe 2 Unforgettable

experiences

Facilitate Write a paragraph

observations and students‟ writings

materials Act 3 SVO Explain the structure Write simple sentences Observe 4 Daily routines Facilitate Write a paragraph

observations and students‟ writings