The effect of pairwork and groupwork in improving writing skills for the first year students at the university off technology, hcm

writing performance at the University of Technology, HCMC in the light of applying pairwork and groupwork to the pre-writing act.In order to do this, questionnaires were delivered to the

THE EFFECT OF PAIRWORK AND GRO UPWORK

IN IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

in te rms of the state me nt of Requirements for Th ese s in Master' s Programs issued b the Higher De gre e Committee.

Ho Chi Minh City, August 30, 2006.

HUYNH TH J atcn PHUQNG

degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities relating to the retention and use of Master's Thesis deposited in the Library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original version of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, or reproduction of thesis.

H6 Chi Minh City, August 30, 2006.

HUYNH THl BtCH PHVC,jNG

t he pr ep ar ation and c ompl etion of th is th esis.

I a m a lso g rateful t o the orga nizers o f thi s m aster co urse, D r L e Hiru Phu oc, H ead

of th e D ep artm ent o f P ost Gr adu ate Stud ies o f H 6 Ch i Minh C ity Un iver sity of

S ocial S cienc e s a nd Hum anitie s a nd Mr N guyen Hu ynh Dat , M A., D e an of th e

D ep artm ent o f En glish Lin guistics a nd Lit er atur e, H 6 Chi M inh Cit y Uni versity of

S ocial S cienc e s a nd Hum anitie s, a nd th eir s taff m emb er s

M y s pec ial th ank s mu st go t o th e t eacher s a nd stud ent s wh o w ere ve ry r esponsive

t o th e s urvey qu estionn aire s, with out w hom th e th e sis co uld n ot ha ve b een

p ossible ; a ll t eachers w ho ga ve r em ark s a nd ad vice , w hich are i nva luable f or th e

th esis In p art icular, I w ish t o th ank th e t eachers wh o we re w illing t o ai d m e t o

m ark th e s tude nts' writin g p aper s th at a re co nside re d th e i ndispe nsa ble p art o f th e

th esis.

I a lso w ish t o thank M s Yvo nne B issonnette wh o was ve ry e nthusias tic t o r ead

a nd give co rre ction of m echani cal e rrors, a mbiguous se ntences, as we ll as

s tructura l p robl em s

In a ddition, th ese fri end s a nd co lleagues of min e : N guyen Thi Thu H ien, N guyen Thi Th Q, H a Th i Tu yet Trinh , Huynh Qu6c Minh Ch au w er e p articularly o f grea t

h elp i n m y pr ep aring of th e th esis a nd sea rching f or r elevant re fere nces M y

h e artfelt a ppre ciation i s e xpressed t o a ll o f th em.

L ast, I w ould lik e t o d ed icate th e th esis t o my fa mily: my f ather, my m other, m y sis ter, a nd es pecia lly m y hu sband wh o, a s a lways, ha ve b een wh oleh eartedly

s upportive Th e y h ave t aken ca re o f eve rything so th at I co uld d evote a ll t ime t o

th e wr iting of th e th e sis I a m g rea tly ind ebted t o a ll o f t he m.

iii

writing performance at the University of Technology, HCMC in the light of applying pairwork and groupwork to the pre-writing act.

In order to do this, questionnaires were delivered to the first-year students

in Course 2004-2005 and teachers currently in charge of GE at UT to elicit data about (1) first-year students' difficulties in writing; (2) some suggestions of what should been done to facilitate the situation Besides, a quasi-experiment was conducted to prove the activities in pairs and groups can be very helpful for pre- writing act in particular, and writing performance in general.

The results of the study show that (1) pairwork and groupwork can greatly help the first-year students in idea discovery and organization; (2) the first-year students have difficulty generating and organizing ideas, finding out appropriate words, phrases, expressions, etc or even making grammatical sentences and to express their ideas clearly and exactly In other words, they have difficulty doing

the pre-writing act (the hardest stage of the whole writing process) as well as expected; (3) the first-year students' and teachers ' wrong attitudes toward the teaching and learning writing skills

The thesis suggests that (1); pairwork and groupwork should be applied for discussions to assist the first-year students to be able to discover and organize ideas more effectively; (2) the topic for discussions and writing tasks should be the same and the first-year students should be offered enough time for discussion before starting to write; (3) a design of tips, techniques, and even guided questions

as a writing supplementary material should be made to assist the first-year students to understand more about the forms of paragraph writing as well as to orient them to do the pre-writing act more effectively; (4) an amount of fixed time

shared roles in a writing class and willing to cooperate in order to create a favorable atmosphere in which collaborative work is a must There is no doubt that

if pairwork and groupwork are applied for writing performance together with efforts of both teachers and students, a lot of success will be certainly made

v

: Ho Chi Minh City : Second Language : Oxford University Press : University of Technology

: indicates the source for the information mentioned above on the same page.

Ret enti on and use of the the sis ii

0 3.1.3 The writing perform an ce involved in the the s is 4

Chapter 1: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .• •.• •.• •.•.•.•.• • •.• 8 1.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH SYLLABUS FOR UT FIRST-YEAR

vii

2.1.2.1 The process of writing 15

2.2 BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF METHODS RELATING TO

2.3 THE RELATION BETWEEN SPEAKING AND WRITING SKILLS 27 2.3 1 Differ en ces between speaking skills and writing skills 2 2.3 2 Reciprocities between speaking and writing skills 28 2.4 PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK IN RELATION TO

2.4.2 Advant ages and disadv antages of pairwork and groupwork activities 30

2.4.3 How pairw ork and groupw ork assist to improve writing skills 32

2 6 SOME RESEARCHES RELATING TO THE IMPROVING OF

5.1.2 Skill-integrated approac hes to teaching and le arning L2 writing 8

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1: First-ye ar stude nts' percepti on about the importance

Chapter 5 Figure 5.1: Th e le arner is central (adapted from Brookes &

T able 4 1: Fir st-ye ar s tude nts' p erception a bout th e imp ortance o f s pea king a nd

w riting s kills t oward t he p rocess of c ommunication _ 5

T able 4 2: Ef fects of th e co nte nts of t ests o n th e fi rst-yea r s tude nts'

T able 4.7 : Fir st-ye ar s tude nts' se lf assess ment a bout th eir a bility o f s pea king 61

T able 4 8: F irst-year s tude nts' id eas a bout th e e ffec ts of p air/ gro upw ork o n

T able 4 9: Fir st-ye ar st ude nts' i deas a bout th e imp ortance of t eachers'

Tabl e 4 10: T e acher s' o pinions a bout th e d egree of di fficulty o f th e s tages

of th e w riting pro cess fo r th e f irst-ye ar s tude nts _ 67

T able 4.11: T eachers' id e as a bout th e fir st-year s tude nts' co mmon mi stakes

T able 4 12: T eacher s' c omments ab out th e f irst-year s tudents' e xpec tation o f

T abl e 4 13: T e achers' id eas a bout e ffec ts of p air/ gro upw ork o n pr e- writing ac t 71

T able 4.14: T eacher s' vie w a bout th eir ro les fo r th e fir st-year s tude nts'

Tabl e 4 15: T e achers' co mments a bout th eir effec ts o n th e s tude nts' pr e- writing

T able 4 16: R esults o f t ask I , sco red by thr ee dif ferent t eacher s 79

T able 4 17: R e sults of t ask 2, sco re d b y th ree d ifferent t eacher s 8

x i

THE EFFECT OF PAIRWORK ArtD GROOPWORK

In IMPROVinG WRITlrtG SKillS FOR THE FIRST-YEAR STODEnTS AT THE onlVERSITY OF TECHnOLOGY HCMC

be good at the four skills namely listening, speaking , reading , and writing after graduation That is the very aim of the General English (abbreviated as GE) syllabus for the first-year students as well.

As a matter of fact, every skill has its own importance that can make it different from other skills Writing is the "form of social communication", and consequently writing well means "knowing well " because writing can help us sort out a misunderstanding with a friend , plan a vacation, or make an important decision Moreover, "Writing permits us to understand not only the world, but also the self " (Lindemann, 1995).

In language learning , writing helps to foster the other skills as it is affirmed by Raimes (1983); Truong Quang Phu (1996); Bello (1999) Many TESOL authors, according to Young et al (1999), capitalize on the significance

Introdu ction

o f the teaching a nd l earnin g of writing t o e nha nce l anguage ac quisition su ch as

C onn or (1 987) , D olly (1 990), R aimes (1991 ), Urzu a (1 987), Zam el , (1 983).

H owever, m ost o f th e f irst-year s tude nts at UT d o n ot see m t o h ave goo d

m otivati on in le arnin g wri ting s kills Th e y pa y m ore a tte ntion t o o the r s kills s uch

as s peaking a nd li stening As a r esult , th eir a bility t o d o a pi ece o f w riting

b ec om es pr oblematic Mor e co nvincingly, the o bse rva tion a nd e xamination o f a

co nside ra ble numb er o f th e fi rst-ye ar stud ent s' written p apers in rec ent ye ars

r ev eal a noticeable probl em in their low langu age c ompetenc e , lack of ideas , a s well as fa ilure to o rga nize id eas Thus, it c an b inf erred th at bad moti vation in

l earning writing s kills o f th e fir st-year s tude nts at UT n eg atively eff ects th e

qu ality o f th eir writin g p erformance, m ainly in th e s tage of pre -writing (o ne o f

th e thr ee s tages of th e w riting p rocess) : disc overin g id eas, se lecting appropri ate

w ord s, phra ses, a nd e xpres sions as w ell as o rganizing id eas

0 2 AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS Sin ce th e writin g s kill is n ece ssary t o th e fi rst-yea r st ude nts at UT , du e

a tte ntion s hould b e p aid t o th e l e arning o f th is s kill b y s tude nts a nd eve n th e

t eachers Thi s th esis i s o ne of th e a tte mpts t o d t hat On th e b asis of c urre nt

p roblems t ow ard s writin g s kills and fi rst-year s tude nts' a ttitudes t oward s s tudying Engli sh, the r es earcher s pec ially f ocuses o n finding o ut w ays o r t echniques that

c an b helpful f or c rea ting positiv e m otivation in l e arnin g writing skill s f or th e first- year student s Fin ally , s ome r ecommendations sh ould b giv en to impr ove the

t each ing and learning o f th e s kill t o s uch stud ents In o rde r to achi eve the ove ra ll

o bjectives , th e tw o f ollowin g r esearch que stions a re t aken int o c onsid eration: (1 ) Wh at ar e the b asic fac tors th at ne gati vely ef fe ct th e fir st-year s tude nts

in learnin g writ ing s kills a t UT ?

Introduction

(2) C an ora l activ ities ( mai nly p airwork a nd group wor k) m otivate th e firs year stude nts and bring any good effects on the pre -writi ng act in order

t-t o improve t heir ability of writi ng?

Th e s tudy a lso d e als wi th thr ee m ore s ub-ques tions w hich w ill s upport and

k eep t he s tudy o n th e ri ght t rack fo r t he ac hievemen t of th e ge nera l goals

~ Wh at is the writi ng p rocess? H ow m any stages a re t he re i n th e writi ng process a nd th e ir c haracteris tics?

~ W ha t are th e b asic r equ irem en ts fo r a s uccessful d iscussion i n p airs

a nd in gro ups?

~ I n what ways ca n p airwork a nd groupwork assist t he first-year stude nts

at UT to do the pre-writing act b etter ? 0.3 LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION 0.3.1 Limitation

0.3 1.1 P articipan ts and t heir sy llabus

As a matter of fact, the studen ts at UT are supposed to finish the G E sylla bus i ncludi ng co urses of E nglish I (abbreviate d as E I), E nglish 2 (abbrevia ted

as E 2), En glish 3 (a bbre viated as E3 ) a nd En glish 4 (a bbreviated as E4 )

r espectively b e fore starting the obligatory courses of En glish fo r Sp ecific Pu rposes (abbreviated as E SP)

H owe ve r , all studen ts h ave to take the p lace me nt tes t in th e fi rst-year Th e

r esults co llec ted a re u sed t o pl ace s tude nts in th e ri ght co urse i n or de r t o ass ure

t hat stude nts' proficie ncy of E nglish is eq ual i n th e same class T hat a lso m eans

t he first-yea r students can skip E3 o r E4 if t he resu lts of t he test prove their

E nglish leve l is h igh e nough In reality, m ost of t he first-yea r stu de nts are o nly

qu alified fo r cou rse E I, th e re fore , co urse E I is t he foc us of t he th esis, a nd th e mai n p arti cipants, a bsolute ly, a re th e fi rst-year stu de nts w ho a re u sing th e

3

c ourseb ook Kn owHow 2 ( by Angela Bl ackwell- Th erese N aber 2003 , O xford Univ er sity Pr es s) as th eir main co ursebook.

0.3 1.2 Stag es o f th e writing p roce ss

Th e writin g pr ocess h as thr ee s tages and pr e- writing i s th e m ost imp ortant

st age t o th e di scover y a nd o rganiza tion o f id eas This s tage c an effec t th e quality

o f th e w hole pie ce o f writ ing a nd th erefore , finding o ut th e a ppropriate w ays a nd tec hniques t o ass ist l earner s to p erform thi s stage e ffec tively i s th e foc us o f th e

s tudy.

0.3.1.3 Th e w riting p er formance inv olved in th e th esis

A ll o f th e a tte mpts in th e th esis a re t o ass ist th e fir st-year s tudents t o writ e

p aragraph s with give n t opics effe ctive ly b ecause (1 ) p aragraph w riting i s th e f ocus

o f th e syllabu s; (2) p ara graph w riting ca n b e und erstood th e ba sis f or de veloping

th e w riting skill.

0.3.2 Delimitation

W ays, t echniqu es and str ategie s th at a re s uggested in th e s tudy a re o nly

a pplicable t o th e fir st-year s tude nts at UT , HeMe b ecause th ey a re m ainly dr awn

f rom st udying th e se s tude nts' ch aracteri stics a nd p roblems as we ll as th eir GE

sy llabus a t UT Th ey a re m ainly s uggested with th e a ims t o i mprove th e fi rst-year

s tude nts' p re- writing a ct, and thu s, th e o ther writin g s tages ar e e xcluded L ast but

n ot l ea st, th e El co urse i s th e f ocus o f th e s tudy Th erefore , th e f indings a nd impl ications f or t e aching a nd l earning s ugges ted in thi s th esis a re m ainly ben eficial t o th e st ude nts o f El co urse o nly.

Th e s tudy is ca rried o ut using : (a) qualit ative methodology t o d escribe , e xplain, and in vestigate th e fact ors th at influ en ce th e fir st-year s tude nts' w riting skill s in th e h ope of ga ining

e ffect ive p ed agogical s trategies a nd t echniques In addit ion, wri ting is p roved t o

Introduc tion

b e th e v ery nece ssary skill for th e stud ents at UT in p articular, fo r th e p eople

w orking in English- using e nvironme nt in g en eral b tw o di fferent i nterviews : (l )

o ne with Dr Nguyen Th e Ba o, th e Dire ctor o f th e F oreign L anguage C entre a t UT

a bout th e requir em ents of GE syll abu s, ( 2) on e with th e gr aduates fro m UT wh o

h ave b een working f or f orei gn o r J oint-Venture co mpanies, t o get th eir id ea s a bout

th e imp ortance of writin g i n th eir j obs and th eir li fe ( b) quantitative methodology th at aims at a full an alysis o f th e d escripti ve

d ata r elating t o th e a nswe rs t o th e r ese arch qu estions and s ub-ques tions Th e d ata

a re co llec ted th rough ( 1) a qu estionnaire fo r ab out 2 0 c olle agues ab out p roblem s

a nd m eth ods o f t eaching and l earn ing w riting s kills, (2) a qu e stionnaire of attitude s

a nd di fficulties in l earning writin g s kills a mong 150 fir st-year s tude nts a t UT , ( 3)

l ast but n ot l east, a qu asi-exp erim ent i s a pplied t o tw o g roups o f p articipants ( 120

f irst-ye ar s tude nts in t otal ) t ogeth er with tw o t asks o f writin g ( tas k 1 a nd t ask 2) t o

pr ove th e feas ibility of th e s ugges ted w ays a nd t echniques in th e th esis.

0.5 OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

A s urvey i s co nducted t o id entify fact ors th at e ffect th e f irst-yea r s tudents'

ab ility t o produc e a goo d pie ce o f p aragraph w riting, e specially in th e t erm s o f

l an guage co mpetence, id e as d iscovery a nd o rganization ( the pr e-writin g s tage) In

a ddition, qu e stionnaire s a re d eliv er ed t o s tudents t o a sk ab out th eir w riting

di fficultie s, writ ing pr actice , n eed s, a nd th eir a ttitudes t oward writing s kills.

M oreover, th ey a re as ked t o ex press th eir id ea s a bout w ays t o fa cilitate w riting

ac tivities Qu estionnaires a re al so se nt t o t eachers and th eir r ecommendations t o

i mprove th e s ituation a re co llected Small t alks with t eachers a nd s tudents a re

ca rrie d o ut d eli catel y in a f rie ndly wa y t o und erstand b ett er th eir th oughts a nd

w orries Th e r e sults of an alysis o f th e qu estionnaires' r esponses a re th e b ases t o

wo rk o ut wh at t o d t o f acilit ate a nd impro ve th e fir st-year s tude nts' wr iting s kills.

5

Be side s the introduction (which introdu ces the probl em of the study, its aims

a nd th e overvie w of the thesis), a nd the conclusio n (which is the closing words

re stating briefl y what the thesis has discussed ), the thesis co nsists of five chapt ers:

./' Ch apt er I provid es the background info rma tion of the study: a des cription

of En glish sylla bus for UT first-ye ar stude nts and the factors effecting them on their studying writing skills.

./' Chapt er 2 g ives a revi ew of the rele vant literature to the issues of tea ching

a nd learning of writin g skills in five major sec tions: (1 ) the nature of the writing skill; (2) a brief introdu ction of methods and some researches relatin g

to the w riting skill; (3) the rel ationship bet ween the writing skill a nd speaking skill; (4) effects of pairw ork a nd gro upwo rk on impr oving writing skills; a nd (5) designin g guide d que stions in rel ation to improve the quality of stude nts' discussion in pairs and gro ups Th is chapter gives the theore tical contex t of the study

./' Ch apt er 3, which is orga nize d in two sec tions, presents the meth odology of the study In the first se ction, the ste ps a pplied to carry out the study (as well as

to give a nswers to the re search que stions menti oned in the Introdu ction) are ide ntifie d In the second section, descriptions of (1 ) the participants (to whom que stionnaires are deli vered i.e , the first-year studen ts a nd te achers ) and (2) the instruments (ques tionnaires and a quasi-e xperiment) are given

./' Ch apter 4 ana lyzes the questionn aire responses (in two sec tions: stude nts' res po nses, and te achers' re sponse s), a nd the quasi-experiment The dat a ana lysis is inte nde d to ide ntify (1) what main o bstacles pre vent the first-year stude nts from doing the pre- writin g ac t well and (2) how helpful discussions in pairs and gro ups a re for improving the first-yea r stude nts' a bility of doing the pre- writin g act parti cularl y a nd writing per form ance ge ne ra lly a t UT.

Introduction

./ Chapter 5: reveals implications and suggests some techniques and strategies

to facilitate the first-year students ' pre-writing act in order to improve the quality of their writing works.

Hopefully , this thesis brings about practical benefits to the teachers and students at UT in terms of teaching and learning writing skills by pointing out first- year students' problems and giving useful and feasible suggestions, thus making the learning of writing skills of the students concerned more effective.

7

Chapter 1

Chapter 1- B ackground to th e study

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

-_._ -_._

_ -_._ -_._._ Thi s c ha pte r p rovides b ackg round inf ormation c rucial t o und erst anding wh y

th e fir st-year s tude nts a t UT ha ve di fficulty produ cing a g ood pi ece o f writin g Thi s chapt er i s o rganized in two s ections The fir st se ction is a de scription o f th e

GE s yllabus with writing skills currently in use at UT f or the fir st-year stud ents.

Th e se cond se ction i s ab out the fact ors effecting th e fir st-year student s o n writing

s kills

STUDENTS

Th is s ection desc ribes the GE sy llabus fo r fi rst-yea r s tudents a t UT of

HCMC , co nce rning th e ai ms o f th e sy llabus a nd th e co urse book i n u se.

1.1.1 Aims of the s yllabus

Be ing p art s of th e wh ole GE sy llabus of UT t o h elp s tude nts ac hieve Pr

e-Int erm edi ate l evel with e qual co nsideration f or th e fo ur s kills (lis tening, s pea king ,

r ead ing , a nd writing ), r equi rement s f or the El c ourse a lso co ncentrate o n th e fo ur

s kills: li stening , s peaking, r eading, a nd writing In o ther w ords, th e f our s kills a re

co nside re d e qually imp ortant a nd s hould be tr eated e qually am ong th e l earners It

m eans w riting is an es sential and o bligatory skill for th e first- year stud ents s tudying

th e £1 sy llabus at UT and s hould n ot b e n eglected.

Th e fir st-year s tude nts, wh o ar e als o th e p articipants of this stud y, u se

Kn owHow 2 ( by An gel a Bl ackwell- Ther ese Nab er 2 003, Oxf ord Uni versity Pr ess)

as th e ir co urse book; whi ch h as 1 unit s Th e fir st s ix uni ts a re f or c ourse El a nd

th e o ther s ix a re fo r E 2 C ourse El c onsists of 70 p eriods ( 45minut es / a p eriod).

There are 2 s e ssions per we ek: one ses sion is 3 peri od s l ong and th e oth er i s o nly

2 Th e total time length of cour se El i s acc ordingly 14 w eeks.

1.1.2 Coursebook

In g eneral, the four skills in thi s book ar e de signed in th e light o f int egration Th e topics for all skill s ar e oft en cl osely r elated to o ne an other In more detail s, th e structur e of th e c ourse book c an b e illu strated in this tabl e :

Items

§ c::

& '" '" e, Q) 0 0 '" c Q) 0:: > :J J rrJ 0:: s > u, :J rrJ :: :J J ~ 0

- Unit 3: Building vocabulary.

- Unit 5 : When you don 't know a word.

- Unit 7: De aling with mistake s.

- Unit II : Choosing vocabulary to learn

9

Chapter 1- Ba ckground to th e stud y

The data from th e tabl e s how that c onside rable attenti on, in th e c ourseb ook,

h as be en p aid t o languag e s kills s uch as li stening, s peaking, r e adin g, and w riting.

In o ne un it, eac h s kill i s de signed with tw o it ems f or s tude nts t o pr acti ce

it em i s f or th e writin g s kill Oth er i tems ar e n ot d esigned t o s upport writing s kills

e xce pt as gr ammar f ocuse s M oreover, th e c ontent in thi s co urse book lack s esse ntia l t echniques a nd tip s th at a re s upportive fo r writ ing p erform ance a nd e ven

s upposed t o add it, o r th at th e b ook i s l ea ving th e t eacher a c ha nce t o indi vidualize

hi s i nstructions H ow e ver , t e acher s n eed so me ge ne ral fr amew orks as a b asic It

lf-s tudy Thu s, i t i s e sse ntial t o h ave a un ified s uppleme ntary m ateri al fo r s tude nts t o

fo llow.

1.2 FACTORS EFFECTING UT FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ON STUDYING WRITING SKILLS

In thi s se ction, the r esearcher o f th e th es is i s g oing t o pr esent th e m ain

ca uses whi ch d e-motiv ate th e fir st-year s tude nts at UT in s tudying writing s kills

f ive cl asse s c hosen at r and om ; o f tw enty t eacher s t e achin g E l ; a nd of th e

1.2.1 First- year students' writing background

s tude nts a t UT a re n on-majors in En glish wh o mi ght t ak e th e En glish c urriculum of

C hapter 1- B ackground to the study

d o to p rod uce a good p iece of wri ting a nd mos t of t hem probably have n ot h ad any formal writing cou rse Moreove r, the H igh S chool curriculum mai nly ta ught t hem some knowledge of vocab ulary and grammatical rules (Le Ng uyen Minh T h9, 2000) H en ce , th ey do n ot seem to m aster the stages for composing a piece of wri ting (i ncluding p re-writing, w hile-w riting, a nd post -writing) As ked abou t t heir

o bstacles, m any st udents u nhesi tatingly ex press the ir worries a bout l acking ideas

or ap propria te wo rds, phr ases, ex pressio ns, a nd eve n st ructures i n so me cases

90% o f th e t otal p articipants of th e s urvey ex pressed th e sa me i dea : " I d o no t

kn ow h ow t o w rite ", "I d n ot kn ow wh at t o wr ite" o r "I a m n ot goo d a t wri ting"

Th er efore , th ere is actua lly a l ot t o b e d one t o get s tude nts r eady for wri ting comp lete t exts because they confro nt a l ot of diffic ulties, espec ially i n th e stage of

ma nagi ng h ow to get started and w hat t o do.

1.2 2 F irs t-year s tude nts' a tt itudes to ward w r iting s kills

I n r ecent years, g lobalization as well as its effects on various aspects of life

is a phenomenon about which people are ta lking a lot O ne of its most r emarkable features is the process of glo balized English As Ru ssell (2000) points out, Englis h has spread "thro ugh t he produc ts of t he new tec hnologies, inclu ding: th e internet , the mass m edia, t he mass e nterta inment industr ies, a nd internatio nal poli tical

b odies " As a r esult, Eng lish n ow h as b ecome " the m ain l anguage " w henever

p eople m ent ion issues of "p ublishing, scie nce, tec hnology, co mmerce, dip lomacy,

a ir-traffic co ntrol" a nd eve n " pop mu sic " ( Culpep per, 1 997) Th erefore , it i s easy

t o und er stand w hy m ore a nd m ore p eople in th e wo rld ge nerally, a nd in Vi etnam

i n partic ular, t ake English classes t o l earn th e l anguage o r w hy m ore a nd m ore schoo ls are ope ned t o offer l earners b etter faci lities in their l earning of E nglish I t

is so meti mes exaggera ted tha t peop le w ho know n o E nglish at all a re ou tsiders of

a society S o , English t hese days seems t o b e "a must" in peop le's life In most of

t he co lleges and universities, English g radually becomes an obligatory subject i n

11

Chapter 1- Background to the study

order to equip students with English knowledge, that is necessary for them to meet some of society's needs as Dr Nguyen The Bao once stated in his view of the special importance of English to graduates and applicants* It means that the mastering of four skills to be able to use and communicate in English is the core objective of the English syllabus at colleges and universities However, a survey conducted by handing out questionnaires to one hundred and fifty first-year students showed unsatisfactory results Most of them pay very poor attention to writing skills but they are more concerned with listening and speaking skills When asked to number the language skills in order of importance, 66.6% of first- year students named listening as the number-one skill, 64 % thought that speaking was the second important, and 49.3 % were in favor of reading Writing always occupied the fourth position Moreover, the first-year students at UT do not understand that writing skills can be helpful for th em to achieve their aims at being able to communicate in English in life or work As a matter of fact, writing skills play an important role for them in communication and in jobs This is proven clearly by results of an interview carried out among the engineers at the Holcim Joint- Venture Company and the Dutch Lady Company (see appendix 4) 95 % of the participants insisted that they usually use English to write reports, go on daily internal e-mail contacts, do presentations, or reports at workshops and seminars, etc Undoubtedly, part of the failure is caused by students' attitudes towards writing

1.2.3 Other factors

• Thi s information was s upplied by Mr Nguyen The Ba o, the Director of the Foreign Lan guage Centre o f

UT HCMe in an informal interview on 12 June 2005

Ch apter 1- Background to th e stud y

Fir st of all, there is a mism atch betw e en the cont ent of the t est and the

r equirements of th e sy llabus Th e w riting s kill is alm ost n e ver t ested d ire ctly i n th e

f orm o f p ar agraphs, es says, e tc but o nly i n th e f orm of g rammatical point s a nd

s truc tures b oth in mid -term a nd fin al p ap er s, th ere fore , m ost of th e s tude nts m ay

h ardly r e cogniz e it s i mporta nce, a nd th ey t end t o fo cus o n th e skill s and p oints that they have t o t ake in th e tests t o m e et the impending r equirements

S e condl y, m ost o f th e t e acher s o fte n co mplain th e y d n ot h ave e nough tim e t o c over a ll th e it ems in e ach unit Th e y r eve al that th eir fi rst-year s tude nts

a re t oo w eak f or all th e as pec ts of s tudying En glish S o, in th eir o pinion, th ere is

n o goo d r e ason t o t ake tim e t o t each a ny s kill th at d oes n ot sa tisfy s tude nts' current need s or that is not r el evant to th e test s Th at also m eans , to s ome extent,

so me t eachers a re r elu ctant t o t e ach th e wri ting s kill, whi ch unintent ionally d

e-m otivates s tude nts ' e nthusias m of s tudying w riting a nd effec ts n e gativel y t hei r writin g ability M ore co nvincingly, th e r em arks a nd sco res ( made b y thre e

d iffe rent t e achers) of th e w riting p aper s fro m o ne hundr ed a nd t wen ty p art icipants ( in the qu asi-experiment) s howed that ove r h alf of th em a re w eak at w ord c hoice

a nd id e as d iscove ry a nd o rga niza tion.

la ng ua ge; ( 3) i nsufficie nt wr iting tip s o r t e chniqu es for th eir n e ed s Thu s, th ese

f actors sh ould b e w ork ed o ut t o f ind a ppropriate so lutions fo r impro ving fi rst -ye ar

s tude nts' wr iting s kills and sa tisfying th e r equirem ent s o f th e GE sy llabus.

13

Chapter 2 - Literature review

to pro vide a the oretical ske tch of the study.

2.1 THE NATURE OF THE WRITING SKILL 2.1.1 What is writing?

Writ ing, stated by Bui Ye'n Ngoc (2000), is a proces s of translating our thoughts into lan guage b using graphic symbols They are letters or combinations of lett ers, which rel ate to the sounds we make when we spea k Howe ver, we rar ely write just one se nte nce or eve n a number of unr elated

se ntences We produce a se que nce of se ntences arranged in a particular order and linked together in cert ain ways While they are linked , they form a coherent whole- a text Through the medium of writing we hope to be abl e to communicate successfully with our r e ders According to Byrne (1988) , writing is

a proce ss of en coding (putting your mess age into words) carried out with a reader

in mind ; or " a complex, cognitive process that requires sustained intellectual effort over a considerable period of time " (White & Arndt, 1 991).

In terms of skills, the writing skill is one of the two product ive skills: speaking and writing However, it ca n be distinguished from speaking skills

Ch apter 2 - Literature r eview

th anks to " the singl e m ost imp ortant diff eren ce ", t hat i s " the need f or acc uracy" ( Harme r, 1991 ) In o ther w ords, th er e i s a g rea ter n eed fo r l ogical o rga nization in

a pi ece o f writin g th an ther e i s in a co nve rsa tion, for th e r eader h as t o und erstand what has been written with out as king fo r cl arification o r r elying o n the w rite r' s

t one o f v oice o r expr ession H ence, "produ cing a c oherent , flu ent , e xtende d pie ce of writing i s probably th e most di fficult thin g" ( Nunan, 1999 ) to d o in lan guage It is s ome thing mo st native sp eakers nev er ma ster For thi s reason, th e challenges bec ome m ore enormous for sec ond languag e l earners.

In terms o f communic ation, Lindem ann (1995 ) not es that writing i s a proces s o f c ommunication that u ses a c onventi onal gr aphic s ystem t o con vey a

m essage t o a re ader Writin g i s a lso c onsidered dial ogue becau se thr ough writin g, p eople ca n e xchange ide as, in formation, et c In o ther w ords , writin g

ca n h elp co mm unica tion c arried o ut indir ectly f or "wr iting wa s a s ubservient skill ,

w hose f unctio n was t o s upport t he deve lopment of o ral l anguage " ( Nunan, 200 0).

In s umma ry, w riting i s a proc ess of co mmunication th at u ses a co nventiona l graph ic s yste m in o rde r t o c onve y a me ssage t o a read er.

2.1.2 The writing process

2 1.2 1 Th e pr ocess of writ ing The proc e ss o f writing i s d efined a s "th e st ep s a writer t akes t o writ e an essay o r so me o the r kind o f writing Wh ate ver r el ated thinking, re se arching, drafting, revi sing, g etting r e sponses from reader s, e diting and proofreading yo u d o from the moment you r ecei ve your assignment t o th e m oment you hand in y our

e ssay-th es e s te ps t aken tog ether make up y our writing proc ess By impro ving

v arious p art s o f yo ur p rocess, yo u may improv e th e writt en pr oduct, yo ur essay" (source: <http://w3 l vi cc.nm us/- n s eek ing/eOOconcp htm>)

15

Chapter 2 - Literature review

The writing process is very necessary because (a) it can help writers to organize their thoughts; (b) it can help writers to avoid frustration and procrastination (c) it can help writers to use their time productively and efficiently.

2.1.2 2 The stages of the writing process

As a matter of fact , different researchers approach the writing process in different ways Hedge (1988) suggests the writing process with a number of steps making a sequence as in the following figure:

Figure 2.1: The process of the writing skill by Hedge (1988)

It is noticeable that the main contents indicated from the sequence operate

in tum and consist of the stages of preparation (being motivated to write; getting ideas together; planning and outlining; making notes), writing (making a fir st draft; revising; replanning; redrafting) , revising, and editing.

Another writing process is found in the form of a pyramid in which one stage (with some steps) is the base for the others to profit:

Chapter 2 - Lit erature r eview

- - - - - - -

-Obvi ously, d e spite di fferent e xpress ions, the st ep s of th e writing pr oce ss can

be group ed into thr e e m ain s tages as Small ey (2 00 I ) s tates " whil e different wr iters

ca n a pproach th e p rocess in dif ferent w ays, a ll writ ers g thr ough a ge neral

s equen ce of s tages c alled pr e-w riting, drafting , and r evising " Mor eover, th ese

s tages c an be n am ed i n o the r wo rds s uch as (1 ) pr e - writing, w hile-w riting, r

e-w riting ( Linde ma nn, 1995 ), o r (2) pr e-writing, whil e-writing, p ost- writin g ( Holt &

Win ston, 1988 ) :

• (1 ) Pr e-writing: i nvolves u sing s tructure d a ctivities t o h elp s tude nts g ather

a nd o rga nize m aterial f or wr iting and b ecome e ngaged w ith sp ecific t opics.

• ( 2) Wh ile-writing: c onsists o f m akin g a fir st draft , r eviewing, a nd r evising

• ( 3) P ost-writin g: co nsists o f r eading thr ough a nd tr ying t o a pply a r eader ' s

p erspective i n o rde r t o assess h ow cl early r eaders mi ght f ollow th e ide as

It i s co nvincing th at all th e s tages a nd s teps of th e writing pr ocess d n ot

o pe ra te se pa ra te ly Th ey ei ther se rve a s a b ase t o o ne a nother o r w ork as a

r ecursive pr oce ss Whil e y ou a re r evi sing, y ou mi ght h ave t o r eturn t o th e

pr ewriting s tep t o d ev el op and e xpand yo ur id eas Di scussing thi s ch aracteristic, Whit e (1 991 ) s uggests a r ecursive pro cess in volving s ix p rocedures th at l earners

s hould c ompl et e b efore p roducing a fir st dr aft:

Dr a fting f- - - _)

Figure 2 3: P rocedu re s i nvolved i n pr oducing a wr itten t ext b Wh ite (1 991)

In sh ort, th e writin g pro cess h as thr ee m ain st ages th at m ake a r ecursive pr ocess:

p re-writing, w hile -writing, a nd p ost-writin g.

2 1.2.3 Pr e-writing

17

Chapter 2 - Literature review

There is n doubt th at pre -writing is the stage of ge ne rating ide as, ga the ring informati on , and orga nizing them for writing It is co nside re d a crucial ste p in

pr eparing to write bec au se it ca n provide writer s with "a se nse of purp ose and a

se nse of a udie nce" thanks to answe ring th e two que stions: (a) what is the purpose

of this piece of writing? (b) who am I writing for?( Hed ge , 1988) Bes ides, it is the right stage that can help writ er s finish their writing per form ance well Thu s, pre- writing is known as "the hardest part of writing " bec au se it is "the compl ex network of initial mental seque nce s we undergo when we write a paper" (Gould,

1989 ) If th e pr e-writing s tage i s prepared pe rfe ctly, th e whole pie ce of w riting will

the perceptual barri ers that pre vent writers from thinkin g are alwa ys in rese archers ' minds and this thesis is also for that purpose

2 1.2.4 Te chn iqu es for pre-writing

In or der to perform the pre- writing stage we ll, it is important to conside r some of the c ha racteristics of goo d p re-writing act ivities Acco rding to Zem elm an

& Dann ie ls (1988), the re are five characteri stics that should be taken into conside ra tion:

A l Pre-writing may include internal activities such as thinking, mem ory search, and cont empl atin g person al values, but it can also include such things as dialogue , research, data gathering, experiments, cla ss discussion, or debate.

A.2 Pre-writing is the stage that help s stude nts re aliz e they hav e a great

de al of choice in ge ne rating and ch oosing idea s Thu s, te acher- guided pre-writing does not ne ce ssaril y mean dictating the conte nt of stude nts' writing, or even indica ting the form or struc ture of wh at the stude nts will write

A.3 Pre-writing invo lves multiple ste ps a rra nge d in a se que nce that suppo rts students ' ow n thinking, a nd the order of the se ste ps differ dep end ing on

-

fac t, n ot o nly i s tr an sactional w riting i mportant th roughout sc hooling, i t i s a

va luab le aven ue of pe rsona l grow th, a nd a u seful t ool i n li fe P re- writing activi ties

B B rief description ofpre-writing techniques:

w ha tever co mes t o th e wri ter 's min d w ithout worryi ng a bout w hether th e id eas a re

19

Ch apter 2 - Litera ture r eview

- - -

-Lat er, when th ey ne ed a r eferenc e o r an impr e ssion of so me p ast e vent, th ese

n ote s b ecome ve ry h elpful ( Gould & DiY ann i & Smith , 1989 ).

B.S Clu stering ( Diagramming o r M appin g): Clu ste ring i s making a vis ual

m ap of y our id e as b u sing lin es, b oxe s, arr ows, and ci rcles t o s how relati onships

b etween th e ideas a nd d et ails co ming t o writ er s ( Sma lley & Ru etten & K ozyrev ,

2 00 1).

B 6 Dis cussion ( in p air s and in groups ): Discu ssion c an help t o g enerate ideas well for som e r easons: (a) it increases the amount of individual participati on

f or a given tim e p eri od; ( b) it a llows for s tude nt initi ative and r esponsibility (s ince

th e group can n ot h a ve th e tea cher s itting in with th em ); ( c) it e ncourage s fri endl y

co mpe tition ( whe n th e gro ups c omp are not es) ( Ze me lman & D anniels, 1988 ) B.7 U sing qu estions: qu estions a re a i mportant p rompt f or writer s G ood

w riters alwa ys think of int er esting qu estions t o as k be cause th ese yield i nteres ting

a nswe rs Th e co mmon qu estions b eginning w ith Wh o , Wh at, Wh er e , Wh en , Wh y,

H ow can b e r ecomb ined t o for m m ore co mplex o nes In t eaching a nd l earning

w riting , que stions ca n co me fro m s tude nts t hemse lves o r th e y c an b e g iven se ts of

qu e stions inst e ad ( White & A rndt, 1991 ) B.8 Makin g n otes: Makin g n otes o n a t opic i s a l ong-standing t echnique that include s un stru ctured and s tructure d n otes t o provide a ba sis for organizing

id eas when drafting ( White & Arndt , 1991 ).

B.9 Using vi suals : U sing v isuals is using a wid e r ange of vi sually -ba sed mat eri al in the t ea ching of writing Visual mat eri al c an b cla ssified as follow:

- Photo graphs, pic tures: r epresentational m aterial Visuall y-

based - - - Phy sical ob jects: rea lia

material _Ch arts , dia grams, m aps : s y mbolic m aterial

Chapt er 2 - Lit erature r eview

- - - - -

-Thu s, th e m ore d etailed a nd e xplicit th e m ateri al i s, th e l ess ro om th ere i s

fo r writ ers t o u se th eir im agination ( White & Arndt , 19 91).

8.10 U sin g role pl ay/ s imulation: R ole pl ay a nd si mulation ca n b e u sed as

s timuli f or man y di fferent t ype s of wr iting In ro le pl ay o r s imulation, s tude nts ca n

h ave a rich so urce o f id e as t o draw up on s ince m ore th an o ne p er son i s inv olved.

Th en , diff erent v ie wpoints c an b e e xploited in s ubse quent writ ing t asks ( White & Arndt, 1991 ).

8.11 Pr ep ar ing a sc ra tch o utline : Th e sc ratch o utline i s a pl an o r blu eprint

t o h elp wr iters a chie ve a unifi ed , s upported, and o rganized co mposition In a

sc ra tch o utline, a writ er think s ca refully a bout th e e xact p oint h i s m aking , about

th e exac t d et ail s h will u se t o s upport i t, ab out th e e xac t o rde r in wh ich h will

a rra nge th em H enc e , a s crat ch o utline i s es pec ially i mportant t o planning a ess ay with thr ee p arts: a n intr odu ction, s upporting p aragraph s, a nd a co nclusion ( Langa n,

199 6)

SKILLS

G en erall y, th e wr iting s kill was n ot th e foc us in l e arning En glish as a

fo re ign l an gua ge fo r a gre at d e al of s tude nts and eve n t eacher s M an y of th em

th ought th at wr iting m eant d oing g ramma r e xercises, an swerin g r eading

c ompreh en sion qu e stions, a nd w riting di ctati on a nd w riting wa s see n as a s upport

s kill in l anguag e l earnin g until th e 1970 s L ater, wh en th e d em and f or w riting s kill

e me rge d a mong th e s tude nts wh o w anted t o s tudy in En glish s peaking co untries o r

th e o the rs wi th d esire s of v arious occ upations, r esearchers s tarted t o i nves tigate

th e w riting p roce ss a nd s uggested c hanges in t he t eaching m ethods o f th is s kill.

2 2.1 Early ESL Methods

2 2.1 1 Th e Gramm ar-Translation M eth od

r lll J VI~~ lHl~t1XH l NV

TP HO CUI MINH

• A (\ ' ) ( I ) ~

2 1

Ch apter 2 - Literature re view

-This meth od i s cl e arl y ro oted in the fo rma l t e aching o f Latin and Gr eek ,

wh ich pr e vailed i n Europ e fo r m any ce nturies, a nd i s s till b ein g u sed i n m ost

s choo ls a ll o ve r th e w orld ( Ta ng, 200 3; Ri vers & T emp erl ey, 1998 ) It a ims a t

e nabling stud ents t o re ad sc ie ntific w orks a nd e njoy l iter ary w orks, m ostly cl assics Gramm ar is tau ght d edu ctivel y b y m eans o f l ong a nd e laborate e xplanations Th e writin g skill i s a lmos t n egl ected

2 2 1.2 Th e Dir ect M ethod Thi s meth od is ba sed on the theor y th at students l earn to understand a

l angu ag e by li stening t o a gre at d eal of it and th ey l earn t o s peak it by s pea king it This m ethod mainly a ims a t d eveloping the stud ents' abilit y t o c ommunicate in th e

fo reign l angu age ( Ta ng, 2 003; Ri vers & T emp erley, 1998 ) Th e te acher s

e ncourage l earning b th e d irect as sociation o f f oreign w ords and phr ases with

o bjects a nd ac tions wi thout a ny u se of th e n ative l anguage b y th e teac her of th e

st ude nts It m akes th e st ude nts p articipate , enco urages goo d p ronunciation a nd

i ntona tion, p romote s co mmunica tive u se of t he l anguage ; but s tuden ts ma y l ack a sys te ma tic le arn ing of s tructures a nd voca bulary as w ell as in structions fo r w riting

p erform ance H en ce , s tude nts' a bility of writin g ca n n ot b e imp roved.

2 2.1 3 Th e Audi o-Lingual M eth od

Th e Aud io-lingual m ethod prevailed during th e d ecades of 1940-1970 It s obje ctives are " de ve lopme nt of mastery, at vari ous l evels o f compet ency, in all four l anguage s kills, b eginning with li stening and s pea king, and u sing the se a s a

b asis f or th e t eaching o f r eading and writin g" ( Ta ng, 2003; River s & Temperl ey ,

199 8) It can b e und erstood th at o ral lan guag e wa s see n a s a pathw ay t o lan guage

s uccess It w as b eli e ved that if a s tude nt can s pea k En glish w ell, h e will b e a ble t o

tr ansfe r thi s s kill i nto writ ing C onsequ entl y, wr iting in m any ESL cl assrooms w as limit e d t o th e t eaching of h andwriting ski lls t o st udents w hose n ative l anguage

w hich i nstructed th em t o copy pi ece s of d iscourse a nd make some discrete

c hanges o r f ill i n th e bl ank s ( Dykstra, 1977 ; R oss, 1 968).

I n f act , th e ph ilosoph y of co ntrolled w riting g re w dir ectly o ut of th e a

udio-l ingual m ethod : s tude nts are ta ught i ncre me ntally, erro rs a re p revent e d, a nd fluency i s ex pected to a rise o ut of p ractice wi th st ructures

2.2 1.5 Gu ided or Free Writ ing

I n t he late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a s light develop ment from strict ly controlled t o free writing Howeve r, t he p rocess of com position was still guided I n practice, teachers wo uld ask th eir students to read a paragraph, then answer comprehension qu estions and w rite anothe r similar paragraph afterwards.

Convincing ly, such exe rcises r eflect t he be havioris t h ypotheses t hat

s tude nts will l earn the l anguage with con stant practice of correct struct ure s,

therefo re th ey are a ble to transfer t he r epeated (co ntrolled , gu ided) ski lls t o origi na l ut terance s Howeve r , accord ing t o B ialystok (1990); H atch (1992) ;

Kr ashen (1 982), l an guage l e arning i s n ot limit ed to s timulus- r esponse b eh avior ( Bialystok, 1 990; H atch, 1992; Kras hen, 1 982) L earning is a p rocess th at t he lea rner co ntrols a nd t o w hich h e con tributes (Fromki n and R odman , 1988) I n ot her words, those exercises o nly serve gramma r l essons a s t hey h ave l ittle t o do wit h the co mposing process.

2 2.2 Rec ent appro aches to t e aching writin g

2 2 2.1 Langu age- Based Writ ing

23

Chapter 2 - Literature review

-

-As a matter of fact, this language-based approach to the teaching of writing was reflected in many textbooks of the early 1980s (Bliss et al, 1985; Frank, 1983) and prevailed in many ESL classrooms Exercises were mainly based on the practice of language items such as a specific verb tense, a kind of adjective, a particular sentence structure According to Raimes (1983), writing is considered a

Audio transcription and sentence combining are two other applications of language- based teaching techniques Actually, audio transcription is also named dicto-cornps, in which the teacher dictates short passages, students try to remember and recreate them partially or completely after listening to them several times (Kroll, 1991) Sentence combining is like a short of transformation drill in which the teacher gives three or four separate sentences, and the students will combine into one There may be more than one way to do this.

composition techniques and strategies begins with the recognition of ESL students'

write correct sentences was not a sufficient preparation for them to do written assignments at academic institutions Therefore, Reid (1982); Wohl (1985); Rice

that focus on sentence writing and writing- based classes that focus on creating

create them were discovered including the thesis statement, topic sentence, unity, organizational strategies, and paragraph patterns- comparison/ contrast, cause- effect, classification, definition, etc.

language-based writing classroom, and students in many writing classes today are

C hapter 2 - Lite rature review

-

-still b e ne fiting from t his change H owever, t he focus is only on t he o rganizational

co nventions in academic prose.

2 2.2.3 Th e Process Approach

R e ce ntly, the t e aching of writi ng h as moved away from a concentratio n on

t he writte n pr oduct to a n emphas is on t he p roce ss of w riting Th e writer asks

h imsel f! h e rsel f some ot her q uestio ns: " How do I write t his? ", "How do I get

s tarted?" e tc Th e ac t of wri ting s hould th en b ecome t he r esult of a ge nuine n eed

t o ex press o ne's p ersonal f eelin gs, ex perie nce, o r r eactions, a ll wi thin a clim ate o f enco urage me nt ( Za me l, 19 80)

S o, fo r th is a pproac h, writers m ay sta rt wi th a draf t , a nd t hen, r evise , reorga nize, a dd or cross off detai ls, e tc Th erefore , in ESL classes, st udents are encouraged to exp lore a topic t hroug h writing, to share draf ts wit h p eers and teachers, and revise them The writi ng process eventua lly becomes the process by which t he students discover new ideas and appropriate l anguage fo rms to express the very ideas Writing in this way, as i t is believed, l owers students' anxie ty level because students partially possess what th ey are s upposed t o l earn, a nd their teac her's job is to find w hat is already there a nd what needs to be added.

2 2.2.4 Th e C omm unicative A pproach

T he comm unicative a pproac h e mphasizes o n the pu rpose of a p iece of wri ting and th e a udie nce f or i t S o, st udents are e ncouraged t o b eh ave l ike wri ters

in r e al life a nd to as k th em sel ves th e c rucial qu estions a bout t he purp ose a nd audie nce: "Why am I writing this? Who will read this?" ( Reid, 1 993) In o ther words, t he classroom activities help s tuden ts to develo p an awareness of th e audience 's expectation and even st rategies to identify them H en ce , assig nme nts should be purposed- based and directed towa rd a n au thentic audience.

2 2.2.5 Th e Functional-Notional approach

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Chapter 2 - Literature review

-The main objective is to teach communicative skills consciously, with

communicative competence, the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are taught integratedly.

understood as the integrated approach That is "the teaching of the language skills

a lesson involves activities that relate listening and speaking to reading and

Grundy, 1990) This means the four skills are not taught separately but they are all practiced simultaneously to assist each other for a successful performance of

use of any of these skills and skill use is typically simultaneous or overlapping and

quite simply two sides of the same coin and one can not split the coin in two.

There is no doubt that one of the most accepted and favorable teaching

teaching and learning GE Most of the course books designed for GE teaching and learning are based on the technique of integration Harmer (1991) suggests two reasons why skills should be practiced in the integrated way Firstly, it is true that one skill can not be performed without another Secondly, people use different

"integrated skills activities provide opportunities for using language naturally, not

In terms of communication, w riting is an activity (u nlike t alking) t hat is

us ually b oth priva te a nd p ublic at t he sa me ti me ( Broughton, 1 980) It is p rivate

b ecause th e act of composi tion is b y i ts nat ure so litary, b ut i is p ublic in th at m ost

w riting i s int en ded fo r a n a udie nce, ofte n o ne w hich i s ex tremely di fficult t o

d e fine Th e ac t of w riting is l ess s pontaneous and more pe rmane nt, a nd th e reso urces w hich are available for co mmunication are fewer b ecause we can no t-

as we do in conversation- interact wit h th e l istener s and adap t as we go along For this reason, the conventions of writing tend to be less flexib le tha n those of conversation, and the language which is used tends to be standardized

In terms of skills, speaking and writing are the two skills that suggest different requirements for learning well Harmer (1991) states that "most importantly, there is a greater need fo r logical organizat ion i n a piece of writing

t han there is in a conversatio n" In more detail, "effective w riting r equires a number of t hings: a hig h degree of orga nizatio n in t he develop ment of ideas and

i nforma tion; a h igh d e gree of acc uracy so t hat t here is no am biguity of m eaning;

th e u se o f co mplex g rammatical d evices for foc us a nd e mphasis; a nd a ca reful

c hoice of voca bulary; g ramma tical p attern s, a nd se nte nce s tructures t o c rea te a style whic h is ap propriate to the subject m atter and even tual readers" ( Hedge.

1988) Moreover, S poken and Wri tten language d iffer in terms of th e demands on the part of the l anguage performers a nd language recipie nts T hey also differ in the way t hey represent reality Written language represents phenomena as

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