A survey of non english majors’ perceptions towards the impact of integrating reading in teaching writing at the university of social sciences and humanities, vietnam national university ho chi minh city

--- TRAN CAO BOI NGOC A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIET

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TRAN CAO BOI NGOC

A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

Major: English Language Course code: 60220201

HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2021

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A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY

Submitted to the Faculty of English Language

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language

NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2021

Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City” was

successfully defended and approved on … …… at Ho Chi Minh City University

of Technology (HUTECH)

Academic supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D ………

Examination Committee

1 TS Lê Văn Tuyên ……… Chair

2 TS Nguyễn Đăng Nguyên……… ………… Reader 1

3 TS Lâm Thành Nam……… Reader 2

4 TS Phạm Huy Cường……… Member

5 TS Trần Quốc Thao……… Secretary

HCMC, December 2021

MASTER’S THESIS REPORT

Student name: TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC Sex: female

Date of birth: January 31, 1966 Place of birth: Ho Chi Minh City Major: English Language Student code: 1741900078

I- Thesis title:

A Survey of Non-English Majors’ Perceptions towards the Impact of Integrating Reading in Teaching Writing at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

II- Objectives and contents:

The objectives of the thesis are to investigate non-English major students’ explore the impact of reading on non-English major students’ writing performance

To find out whether additional reading can contribute to language acquisition and writing performance of the students at the research site, the research was an experimental teaching in integrating additional reading in writing classes, and based

on both qualitative and quantitative method to collect data and evidence through semi-structured interviews of 06 students and 150 questionnaires of non-English majors Convenience sampling was adopted The research was guided by the questions about the difficulties in writing performance that non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM faced, then, if any, about the kind of problems; and by the perceptions that non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level have towards the integration of additional reading in writing For the findings, the analysis of the questionnaire responses and the interviews proved that non-English majors at USSH had difficulties in writing performance such as unfamiliar content

towards the integration of additional reading in the enhancement of writing ability

in terms of content knowledge, vocabulary, coherence, and grammar

III- Starting date: May 4th, 2019

IV- Completing date: December 2021

V- Academic supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D Nguyễn Thị Kiều Thu, Ph.D

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:

“A SURVEY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE IMPACT OF INTEGRATING READING IN TEACHING WRITING

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY”

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Ho Chi Minh City, December 2021

Signature ………

TRAN CAO BOI NGOC

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, December 2021

Signature ………

TRẦN CAO BỘI NGỌC

Last but not least, I would like to convey my warmest thanks to the Centre for Foreign Languages, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City for having facilitated my research

Without all their whole-hearted support and valuable guidance throughout

my studies, this thesis would never have been completed

ABSTRACT

Reading and writing is inseparable, and the integration of reading in teaching writing is an integral part of enhancing students’ writing performance At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, writing in English is one of the most challenging tasks To find out whether additional reading can contribute to language acquisition and writing performance of the students at the research site, the research was an experimental teaching in integrating additional reading in writing classes, and based on both qualitative and quantitative method to collect data and evidence through semi-structured interviews of 6 students and 150 questionnaires of non-English majors at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City Convenience sampling was adopted The research was guided by the questions about the difficulties in writing performance that non-English majors

of B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM faced, then, if any, about the kind of problems; and by the perceptions that non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level have towards the integration of additional reading in writing For the findings, the analysis of the questionnaire responses and the interviews proved that non-English majors at USSH had difficulties in writing performance such as unfamiliar content knowledge, lack of vocabulary, unsatisfactory coherence and confusion about grammar The findings also revealed non-English majors’ positive perceptions towards the integration of additional reading in the enhancement of writing ability

in terms of content knowledge, vocabulary, coherence, and grammar Through this thesis, the author would like to raise a voice of the importance of additional reading

in the improvement of students’ writing ability with the hope that educational leaders/managers and teachers will consider integrate additional reading into the curriculum, syllabus and lesson plans

Key words: additional reading, impact, non-English majors, perceptions, writing

ability (283 words excluding key words)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES, GRAPHS x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 3

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 4

1.4 Research questions 5

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Definitions of key terms 6

1.8 Organization of the Thesis 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Introduction 9

2.2 Nature of writing 9

2.3 Writing ability 10

2.3.1 Content 10

2.3.2 Organization 11

2.3.3 Supporting materials 11

2.3.4 Expression, word choice, point of view 11

2.3.5 Spelling, grammar and punctuation 11

2.4 Nature of reading 11

2.5 Types of reading 12

2.6 Relationship between intensive reading and extensive reading 13

2.7 The impact of reading on writing ability 13

2.7.1 In terms of vocabulary 14

2.7.2 In terms of grammar 15

2.8 Review of previous studies 16

2.9 Conceptual framework 24

2.10 Chapter summary 25

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 26

3.1 Introduction 26

3.2 Research design 26

3.3 Research site 26

3.3.1 Description of the surveyed course 27

3.3.2 Procedures of applying additional reading in teaching writing 29

3.4 Sample and sampling procedures 31

3.5 Research instruments 32

3.5.1 The questionnaires 32

3.5.2 The semi-structured interview 34

3.6 Data collection procedures 34

3.7 Data analysis procedures 35

3.8 Validity and Reliability 36

3.9 Ethical issues 38

3.10 Chapter summary 38

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 40

4.1 Introduction 40

4.2 4.2 Results 40

4.2.1 Research question 1: Students' anwers about their difficulties in writing

40

4.2.1.1 Results from the questionnaires: The results gathered from the questionnaires are displayed as follows 40

4.2.1.2 Results from the semi-structured interviews: 45

4.2.2 Research question 2: Students' perceptions towards the impact of the integration of reading in writing ability 45

4.2.2.1 Results from the questionnaires: The results gathered from the questionnaires are displayed as follows 46

4.2.2.2 Results from the semi-structured interviews: 51

4.3 Discussion 53

4.4 Chapter summary 56

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 57

5.1 Summary of the main findings of the thesis 57

5.2 Pedagogical implications 58

5.3 Limitations 59

5.4 Recommendations for further research 59

REFERENCES 61

APPENDICES Appendix A: A cover letter for the questionnaires

Appendix B: Intermediate B1 Graded Reading

Appendix C: Oxford Graded Readers

Appendix D: Amazing adventurers (B1) with 4a, 4b and 4c

Appendix E: Questionnaire 1

Appendix F: Questionnaire 2

Appendix G: Results from the semi-structured interviews (research question 1) Appendix H: Results from the semi-structured interviews (research question 2) Appendix I: CRONBACH’S ALPHA (detailed reliability statistics) Appendix J: Plagiarism check result

Chapter 1 2,563 words Chapter 2 5,096 words Chapter 3 3,683 words Chapter 4 4,025 words Chapter 5 1,038 words

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the scales used 37 Table 4.1 Students’ answers about writing in general 40 Table 4.2 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of content knowledge of the topics relevant to writing tasks 41 Table 4.3 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of lack of vocabulary 43 Table 4.4 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of unsatisfactory coherence 43 Table 4.5 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of grammar 44 Table 4.6 Students’ answers about writing in general (research question 2) 46 Table 4.7 Students' answers about widening content knowledge of the topics relevant (research question 2) 47 Table 4.8 Students' answers about enriching vocabulary (research question 2) 49 Table 4.9 Students' answers about coherence improvement (research question 2) 49 Table 4.10 Students' answers about grammar improvement (research

question 2) 50

LIST OF FIGURES, GRAPHS Figures

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the current study 24

Graphs Graph 4.1 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of content knowledge of the topics relevant to writing tasks 42

Graph 4.2 Students’ answers about their own difficulties in writing in terms of grammar 44

Graph 4.3 Students’ answers about writing in general (research question 2) 46

Graph 4.4 Students' answers about widening content knowledge 48

of the topics relevant (research question 2) 48 Graph 4.5 Students' opinions about grammar improvement (research question 2) 50

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CEFR The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL English as a foreign language

USSH University of Social Sciences and Humanities

VNUHCM Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides background information as a firm foundation for an understanding of the study The chapter is organized in 8 sections including background of the study, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, definitions of key terms, and organization of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

“Reading and writing work in similar ways Reading improves your writing

style and flow Writers learn to perfect their craft by taking inspiration from other writers It’s impossible to be a good writer if you don’t read [… ] Reading teaches you new words and perspectives It helps strengthen language and sharpens sentence structure It gives you a better command over the language.” (The Harappa Purpose, 2020)

It is unreasonable to hold low regard to any of the 4 skills when learning a language Each skill has its own role and plays an integral part in a whole language One cannot write without any vocabulary nor knowledge about grammar Living is communicating One cannot live without communicating at all, be it verbal or non-verbal Therefore, communication is one essential skill every person must master to

be able to succeed in their academics and in later life The process of learning English encompasses the 4 basic skills including Receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing) Receptive skills are necessary

as they help students to understand contents of any documents Productive skills are significant as they allow students to perform in such communicative ways as oral presentations, written forms, and so forth (Hossain, 2015) Writing is considered a comprehensive skill which helps reinforce vocabulary, grammar, thinking, planning, editing, revising, and other elements As the 4 skills are interrelated, writing also helps to improve all the other skills as well (Yunus & Chien, 2016) In addition, writing fosters communication, enhance critical thinking skills, and make logical

and persuasive arguments from work meetings to writing emails, reports, presentations, proposals, among many others

Generally speaking, extensive reading enhances the acquisition of knowledge, which in turn can improve writing ability (Baumgartner, 2017) Asking students to write about what they have read can consolidate their understanding of the new terms, review the usage of words as well as grammatical points, then, further increase their comprehension of particular documents This mutual support or reciprocal relationship between reading and writing reinforces the idea that extensive reading can be a catalyst for writing skill improvement

Reading and writing are curricularly interrelated (Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, Dartmouth College) Harvard and other universities stated that reading literature was essential to learning to write This resulted from the idea that reading gives students energetic inspiration since reading exposes students to great ideas, improves their ability to think in a critical and analytical way In addition, reading creates clues for class discussion by giving them topics to talk about In the same vein, reading offers students topics to write about More important, by being exposed to words in contexts, standard writing styles, students can perfectly imitate them in terms of organization of ideas, structures, vocabulary, and so on

For the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH henceforth), those who choose the English language as the language to meet the requirements for graduation must reach level B1 (to the standard of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR) and are non-English majors The Centre for Foreign Languages, USSH is assigned the responsibility to offer training of foreign languages including the English language to these students Since the courses under investigation are the formal ones offering training in the four skills including writing, the syllabus has been designed to equip students with the skill to write in English In fact, writing in English is one of the most challenging tasks which pose a number of difficulties to the students concerning organization (especially, paragraph and essay writing),

vocabulary, grammar, language use, spelling, punctuation, etc Therefore, additional reading enables the students to obtain a large volume of input of English Apart from vocabulary gained, they become familiar with structures, grammar rules, language use, etc They also have opportunities to think critically, organize and write out their thoughts, share their knowledge in a clear way In brief, the research must prove and confirm that comprehensible input is among the key factors contributing to language acquisition and writing competency

Task-based Language Teaching was used to improve the teaching learning process and the students’ reading comprehension ability Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data which were then analyzed qualitatively Students’ achievement of comprehension questions, students’ self-reflection in the form of questionnaires and interviews were cave rried out in order to support the data collected In this study, students were required to present a task they had to perform and solve Only when the task was finished did the teacher make corrections and adjustments (Harmer, J., 1991)

1.2 Statement of the problem

As writing is a component in the 4-skill test of English at USSH, it is taught

in all the courses that the students are enrolled in until they have reached the required level for graduation where almost all their English assignments are in the written form Thus, writing assignments with poor scores will adversely affect the students’ academic performance as writing is an integral part of language acquisition According to Bryne (1988), difficulties in writing can result from three kinds: linguistic difficulty (grammar, vocabulary, language use and choice of sentence), physiology difficulty (difficulty in developing written material or content

of composition), and cognitive difficulty (spelling, punctuation, capitalization and paragraphing) Due to the complexity of the writing skill, writing in English is one

of the most challenging tasks for most of them They face great difficulty even in sentence writing, let alone paragraph and essay writing Therefore, something must

be done to facilitate students’ writing, to help with the composing processes, and to improve the quality of their writing The introduction of additional reading as an input for writing will be put into practice with the hope that it could improve non-English majors’ writing skill However, a study into the students’ perceptions towards the newly introduced technique as well as its impact on the students’ writing ability has not ever been conducted Consequently, such a research should

be done for the improvement of the teaching of writing skill so as to help the English majors at the University of Social Sciences & Humanities better this particular skill

non-1.3 Aims and objectives of the study

Through investigation, the thesis aims to prove that the greater the amounts

of language input are, the better the students’ writing ability becomes The more they read, the more they acquire in terms of vocabulary enhancement, grammar and coherence improvement, the better their writing performance becomes Therefore, It, thus, aims to investigate students’ perceptions towards the application of additional reading in teaching writing skill as well as the impact of additional reading as a supplementary material in teaching writing skill If the results are positive, i.e the students’ perceptions/motivation towards additional reading remains positive, the result can help teachers to consider additional reading an important part of teaching Moreover, since additional reading is not always a regular part of any curriculum in any educational institute, the thesis is a little step in the realization of additional reading importance in language learning mainly focused on writing skill; thus, encouraging curriculum designers to include some extensive reading exercises in the language learning syllabus

Based on these aims, the thesis’s objectives are formulated as follows:

a) To explore if non-English majors at USSH have difficulties in writing performance and what difficulties they have if any

b) To investigate non-English majors’ perceptions at USSH towards the integration of reading in the enhancement of writing skill

1.4 Research questions

As mentioned above, this thesis is designed to explore non-English major students’ current perceptions towards additional reading in the enhancement of writing skill, as well as assessing that if non-English major students read more and appropriately, their writing competence will be improved

In this light, the thesis is guided by the following questions

a) Do non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level at USSH, VNUHCM have difficulties

in writing performance? If yes, what are the problems?

b) What are the perceptions of non-English majors of B1-CEFR-level towards the

integration of additional reading in writing?

1.5 Scope of the study

The thesis was conducted through the teaching of the writing and reading skills of 150 non-English major students who already finished the course of TO5 (or B1.1 level) at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City located at 10-12 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City As mentioned earlier, the students are grouped

by their English proficiency and not by the year they enter the university; thus, the participants are of mixed disciplines The study focused on the students who enrolled in B1-CEFR level courses in the 2nd semester of the academic year 2019-

2020, i.e already successfully finishing B1.1 course It is assumed that they are a homogeneous group in terms of English level, regardless of their specialization The students’ perceptions towards the application of additional reading and how reading (the amount of input) influences the writing is the core of the study, and other factors involving the teaching of writing skill at the institution such as the syllabuses, teaching materials, assessment and teaching environment are not of consideration

1.6 Significance of the study

In terms of practical significance, the thesis is conducted to justify the effectiveness of additional reading in that additional reading can help students to

comprehend texts better and at the same time acquire vocabulary, master grammatical rules well enough for writing proficiency These benefits of additional reading can change students’ perceptions towards reading, help students to know how to take advantage of mutual assistance of the 4 skills for perfection, and to help administrators to see the role of additional reading in enhancing students’ writing competence and input In addition, the thesis tries to provide some insights and suggestions to the syllabus designers so that extensive reading can be given emphasis on

Theoretically, the findings of the thesis will shed some light on whether additional reading improves the writing performance, entailing the boosting of students’ perceptions Consequently, in practice the thesis is expected to encourage students’ to spare time for additional reading, syllabus designers to integrate additional reading into the syllabus, and teachers to focus more on additional reading so that students can obtain the maximum gain from reading

1.7 Definitions of key terms

To facilitate comprehension of this research, the author would like to explain key terms as follows:

a) Supplementary reading materials: they are the materials used in addition

to the course book(s) to provide knowledge, experiences, skills which are not mentioned in the course book(s); i.e to fill the gap in the course book(s), or even to strengthen and give further details of what is taught in the course book(s) Usually, supplementary materials are bound to become a booklet which goes hand in hand with the main course book(s) However, in this thesis, the author only did experimental teaching by providing students with further reading texts (with exercises and answers) to see if these further reading texts are of assistance to the students in terms of content, vocabulary, coherence and grammar This way, these further reading texts served as additional reading for experiment in this course only, not kind of long-term supplementary materials to the main course book(s) Hence,

the writer used the term “additional reading” instead of “supplementary reading”

b) Perceptions: The way someone notices or thinks of something, especially

with the senses Perceptions refer to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted and consciously experiences In the current study’s context, perceptions are the notices that teachers and students have towards the use of peer feedback applied in an EFL writing class

As attitude is composed of three components including a cognitive component, effective or emotional component, and a behavioral component, attitude can be said to be so broad a concept, which cannot be fully observable or researched

on in the framework of this thesis Instead, the author embarked on a smaller scale – perceptions The author was engaged in students’ perceptions to know what they thought via questionnaires and interviews In the current study, perceptions referred

to what non-English majors at USSH felt/thought about the integration of additional

reading in writing lessons during their English course

c) Reading: This study, due to time and institutional constraints, refers to

Reading as additional reading, i.e., short English texts or passages are given to students periodically as extra reading at home assigned to the students in the surveyed writing courses at USSH This is a kind of assignments with extra reading texts/passages provided by the teacher twice a month Different from intensive reading, the students do not have to read for details with specific learning aims and tasks Different from extensive reading, students do not have the rights to choose reading passages of their interest

d) Writing Ability is the aptitude of assembling what you think or need to

convey utilizing words so as to make the reader understand your thoughts Subsequently, writing ability is kind of composing perceptions, which are a critical piece of correspondence Good writing skill empowers the writer to present his message with clearness

In the current study, writing ability was represented by the mastering of the 4 criteria (1) knowledge of content, (2) vocabulary retention, (3) coherence and (4) grammar

1.8 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis shows how additional reading enables the students to obtain a large volume of input of English and that comprehensible input is among the key factors contributing to language acquisition and writing competency

The organization of this thesis is as follows

Chapter 1 provides background information crucial to an understanding of the study, focusing on a description and analysis of the current situation of teaching writing with the help of additional reading This chapter provides a deep insight of the important role of writing in learning English and then the significant support of additional reading in the enhancement of writing skill

Chapter 2 introduces some relevant researches on the effectiveness of reading in general which have been done to find the best ways possible to improve the students’ writing skills Reading for richer input in terms of vocabulary, grammar etc is carried out for output in written form This is not a simple task which requires efforts and cooperation from the students Students possess different perceptions to capture the meaning of what they have to learn, to develop the receptive knowledge into the productive works of their own

Chapter 3 describes the methodology employed to identify the research questions underlying the study The second section presents the research design with the descriptions of the subjects, i.e B1-CEFR students participating in survey, and the instruments are the questionnaires to those subjects

Chapter 4 wraps the research findings and discussion about non-English majors’ difficulties in writing, and about their perceptions towards the integration of additional reading on their writing ability

In chapter 5, the author concludes the thesis by restating briefly what has been presented and discussed throughout the previous chapters These are the closing words before the main text of the thesis ends

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

In the previous chapter, background information to the study has been given Human beings in general, students in particular possess different perceptions to capture the meaning of what they have to learn, to develop the receptive knowledge into the productive works of their own

On a smaller scale, reading for richer input in terms of vocabulary, grammar etc is carried out for output in written form This is not a simple task which requires efforts and cooperation from the students A lot of researches on the effectiveness of reading in general have been done to find the best ways possible to improve the students’ writing skills

2.2 Nature of writing

Writing is by no mean an easy task Writing helps writers to put thoughts into verses, texts or written documents In other words, writing turns the invisible into the visible Expressing oneself clearly in written form in a foreign language is all the more difficult for native and nonnative speakers alike With pens in hand, writers must take a lot of factors into consideration such as content, organization, coherence, purpose, audience, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling, and grammar

Writing is a mode of correspondence that shows language through the engraving of signs and images It is a perplexing procedure that includes dominance

on practically all language levels, morphology, sentence structure, semantics, pragmatics and talk Rather than talking, composing contains increasingly expounded etymological frameworks, complex provisions, distinctive language structure and vocabularies Numerous specialists, in this way, think about composition the gauge of one's capability on a specific language They additionally believe that composing is the most troublesome fundamental language perceptions because of its intricacy and complete dependence on these language levels Writing expertise stresses well-formedness To create a decent composition, ones must have

great metalinguistic learning, particularly about sentence structure of a specific language The author must know about utilizing this learning in his or her composition Something else, his or her composition will be made a decision as the

"rubbish" or "uneducated" The total dependence on metalinguistic ability shows that the standards of composed talk are to a great extent learned through guidance and practice They are insufficient by only securing language normally like in talking Composing aptitude requires increasingly formal guidance and practice, particularly about the language structure and talk

Writing is a gainful aptitude that asks the essayist to do the implications or messages in the composed structure In the composition procedure, the author attempts to collaborate with readers by investigating the thoughts in the composed structure The thoughts as a rule contain the unique circumstance, earlier learning, and talk As composing is value-based and message-situated, its objective must be

to pass on data precisely, successfully and properly The essayist must almost certainly express the thoughts unequivocally utilizing the compelling language and maintaining a strategic distance from the uncertain words The author must know that the readers can't affirm the thoughts being conveyed to essayist quickly as what they can do in talking process Subsequently, it is the author's obligation to make his composition sufficiently obvious before the readers Writing is a recursive action that empowers the author to start with one stage then onto the next advance and back to the past one The essayist has the more liberated opportunity to change his

or her composition It is realized that the essayist should design the composition before amending it; however, he gets the opportunity to re-plan the composition after correction

theory around which to arrange materials with the proper selection of subordinate ideas strong enough to consolidate the writer’s main ideas

2.3.2 Organization

This component of writing is closely related to the coherent arrangement material It includes keeping the reader to the focal point and supporting ideas Good organization requires logical thinking and sequential order

2.3.3 Supporting materials

Supporting materials must properly back up and clarify the writer’s ideas

2.3.4 Expression, word choice, point of view

Language is clear, explicit, precise, and suitable to the reader The writer must express his ideas in a number of ways to create varied sentence structure for

the sake of emphasis

2.3.5 Spelling, grammar and punctuation

A good piece of writing with a lot of mistakes in spelling, grammar and punctuation causes ill-feeling to the reader and may lead to misunderstanding because the meanings vary according to spelling, grammar and punctuation Just a

change in a preposition (at, in) can entail different interpretations

2.4 Nature of reading

A long way from being a passive skill, reading is, actually, a functioning procedure in which readers actively relate data in the content of the book to what they definitely know Learning of a language enables readers to recognize the printed words and sentences Information of the world enables them to grasp these words and sentences Great readers read for meaning, i.e They do not read word by word but rather, they take in lumps of the content, decode it and relate it to what they know

Readers are, for sure, the most critical factor in figuring out how to read in a language Whatever the result, it is controlled by what they themselves add to this procedure They figure out how to read quicker if they embrace a portion of great reading methodologies Be that as it may, different people figure out how to read in

various ways so each reader should try different things to see which ones work best for each

2.5 Types of reading

Intensive reading

Students read through a reading passage which is usually short The aim is to focus on carefully checking comprehension Therefore, students must pay close attention to every detail such as grammar and vocabulary Usually, the reading passage is followed by comprehension questions and other activities with the teacher’s guide

Benefits of intensive reading: increasing vocabulary items especially for low level readers; mastering spelling; consolidating grammatical points, etc Furthermore, reading hard-to-understand materials powers students to create reading techniques to manage difficult passages

Extensive reading

Benefits of extensive reading: Extensive Reading fabricates vocabulary: At the point when students read a great deal, they meet a huge number of words and lexical (word) designs that are not educated in course books Extensive reading enables students to build up awareness of collocations and a huge number of lexical expressions

Extensive reading enables students to comprehend sentence structure In readings, students meet several syntax designs Be that as it may, reading materials don't furnish enough grammatical points for genuine procurement to happen Extensive reading gives chances to see language structure in daily-life setting, so students can develop their comprehension of how grammar is truly utilized in real life

Extensive reading assists students to construct reading speed and reading familiarity Specifically, creating reading speed is vital in light of the fact that it makes students to comprehend language quicker and better

Supplementary reading materials:

They are the materials used in addition to the course book(s) to provide knowledge, experiences, skills which are not mentioned in the course book(s); i.e to fill the gap in the course book(s), or even to strengthen and give further details of what is taught in the course book(s) Usually, supplementary materials are bound to become a booklet which goes hand in hand with the main course book(s) For reading, these supplementary materials are reference books for reading skill, books for extensive reading, books focusing on particular aspects such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, styles, etc (Ur, P., 2012)

Additional reading materials: This study was just experimental to see whether

further/additional reading texts given by teacher had positive impacts on students’ writing ability To do the experiment for this course, the teacher chose additional reading texts to give to the students as there were no compulsory supplementary materials for reading to go with the main course book(s)

2.6 Relationship between intensive reading and extensive reading

Intensive Reading and Extensive Reading are closely related and complementary Teachers should resort to both as a teaching method

This study does not focus on intensive reading nor extensive reading However, there are some similarities between extensive reading and additional reading in terms that both are carried out outside the class as additional reading to intensify the richness of vocabulary as well as consolidating the learner’s grammar, among many others

2.7 The impact of reading on writing ability

In light of the findings of the present thesis, the author can say that the use of additional reading tends to make learning more interesting Additional reading texts can promote students’ proficiency and consolidate their positive perceptions Actually, the integrating of additional reading texts into the course provided a positive learning experience, and was effective for enhancing students' writing ability, most apparently in the aspects of vocabulary and grammar

2.7.1 In terms of vocabulary

According to online Oxford Dictionary 1 , vocabulary is “countable, uncountable” all the words that a person knows or uses” Also, vocabulary is a collection of words known by an individual or by a large group of people (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2018) It is also defined as the knowledge of words and their meanings in both oral and written language (Lehr, Osborn & Hiebert, 2004) In fact, vocabulary is an effective communication tool that allows a person to interact with others As a component connecting the four language skills, vocabulary assumes the most noteworthy role in teaching and learning a language in terms of building vocabulary To master a foreign language, anyone must gain a sufficient number of vocabulary items and must know how to properly and precisely use them in the context referred to by the user Extensive reading contributed to vocabulary retention and vocabulary growth In fact, the more students read, the more they are exposed to new words and the more frequent they encounter familiar words

One of the main elements that shows the students’ success in schools and colleges is vocabulary Vocabulary is used in many fields of our daily life (Marzano

& Pickering, 2005) In any language, vocabulary acts as an effective tool for the students to effectively use that language in listening, reading, speaking and writing

It is “a core component of the language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen and write” (Richards & Renandya, 2002) In this light, the more words a person knows, the better he can communicate with others verbally or in written form; thus, he can perform well not only at school but in later life

Talking about the English language, there are four types of vocabulary (Mohamad H., 2018) as follows

- Listening vocabulary: all the words useful for listening comprehension

- Speaking vocabulary: all the words necessary for the understanding of oral communication

1

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/vocabulary?q=vocabulary

- Reading vocabulary: all the words used for reading any kind of written documents depending on the reader’s major or interest

- Writing vocabulary: all the words for the produce of written documents in

an exact manner so that there is no misunderstanding

According to Penny Ur (2012), for a piece of formal writing, conventional and

formal vocabulary must be used, not kind of colloquial vocabulary, e.g yeah for

‘yes’ or contracted or abbreviated forms like you’d Punctuation also follows

standard rules and, unlike informal writing, must be used when needed

2.7.2 In terms of grammar

Writing is a kind of written form in black and white with no possibility for redundancy (Penny Ur, 2012) Writing skill cannot be naturally and intuitively acquired as speaking but has to be learned systematically Therefore, it takes time

to smooth down a piece of writing, to take great care of sentence structures, grammatical points, acceptable language with a good organization and coherence (Penny Ur, 2012) He also emphasizes that standard grammatical rules (full sentences or formally ‘correct’ grammar) must be taken into consideration instead

of non-standard forms

Those who are exposed to good reading have more chance to learn various models of sentence structures, grammatical points which beautifully enhance their writing skills Additionally, whether the reader can catch the idea conveyed by the writer requires the reader’s ability and experiences in information organization, usage of words, use of rhetorical devices, etc The fewer grammatical errors can enhance the worth of writing and make it more authentic and smoother Writing is a complicated process because it requires a refinement of basic knowledge, good knowledge of grammar, proper lexical items, and rhetorical patterns In one word, a good finished writing requires considerable knowledge of sentences in which grammatical rules are indispensible, i.e English grammar is one of the crucial parts that students need to master (Misemer, 2013) Mastering grammar positively affects the mastery of language skills (Burke, 2007) including writing skill

2.8 Review of previous studies

As mentioned in chapter 1, this study does not focus on intensive reading nor extensive reading However, there are some similarities between extensive reading and additional reading in terms that both are carried out outside the class as additional reading to intensify the richness of vocabulary as well as consolidating the learner’s grammar In this light, the literature review encompasses both extensive reading and reading to get a wider view at the effectiveness of extra reading activities or additional reading

A lot of studies have been done on the implementation of additional reading

to enhance writing skill It is undeniable that the impacts of extensive reading on writing performance are remarkable There are a great variety of researches writing

on the effects of reading on writing proficiency, some are exemplified as follows:

The impacts of reading on writing have been referred to in a number of studies In acknowledging the benefit that reading could bring to writing, Mermelstein conducted a study in 2015 with the participant of 3rd-year university students The author used the criteria of writing measurement such as content, organization, vocabulary, language use, mechanics, and fluency for the student’s test The purpose of the study is to find out whether reading really enhances writing proficiency This study shows that reading give a big impact on students writing performance Schneider (1985) (cited by Salehi & Amini, 2015) in his study

Shaping thought and utterance: The function of re-reading in the writing process

examined the re-reading in the process of writing of 6 college students He came to explain how the reading process and the write process interacted with each other The re-reading was found to have an important role in helping students to shape the

meaning of their pieces of writing Wong (2001) in his paper What we know after a

decade of Hong Kong extensive reading scheme motivates students to improve their

English proficiency He suggested that general reading skills should be enhanced through a more effective connection between reading and writing

The effectiveness of the self-access reading program when applied together

with the development of writing performance for Egyptian freshmen has been revealed in a study (Salehi H., Asgari M., Amini M., 2015) The reading program was totally efficient in developing the writing performance of the test group In the same vein, a study conducted in 2015 by Salehi, Asgari and Amini of Iranian EFL pre-university students used comparable group method to analyze the effect of reading and came to the same conclusion that by additional reading, the students gain significant improvements in writing performance

The positive attitudes towards the integration of reading and writing could also be found in a study conducted (Yamashita, 2013) The outcomes showed that additional reading strongly improved positive attitudes or at least some perceptions; and accordingly, additional reading may assist the students in developing their language abilities The outcomes additionally demonstrated that additional reading may likewise serve to advance student independence in a learning setting

Also dealing with the positive influence of reading on writing in high school programs, Alkhawaldeh (2011) investigated 8th grade students on what they thought

of reading and writing, together with the impact of reading on writing skill The results of the study described the resourceful effect of reading on writing in terms of vocabulary for writing, general ideas and background knowledge The results from the study investigating the impact of reading comprehension on the quality of writing in 60 7th-grade students showed to that the ability to read affected the quality of writing in individual cases (Beach, 1984)

The effect of writing-reading integration on the fostering of student’s writing performance was deeply investigated as well (Murdoch, 1986) The author of the paper found out that students no longer saw writing as a strenuous task, but rather

an integral part of language learning Similarly, The results from the study The relationship of pleasure reading and second language writing proficiency showed a meaningful correlation between students’ reading enjoyment and writing skill (Janopoulolus, M., 1986) This study investigated the relationship between reading

in free time and writing activities in a second language In the writing An analysis

and comparison of TModels of the reading-writing Relationship (Shahan, T., & Lomax, R.G., 1986), three ways to clarify the relationship between reading and writing were proposed Those ways included a) the mutual interaction between reading and writing; b) read-to-write; and c) write-to-read After some path analysis, read-to-write was dominant out of the three Reading activities, in addition, can be very helpful in strengthening writing activities at all levels They said that as a result

of the reading activity, reading would act as a writing input, and writing would inspire students to read more (Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R., 1996) The effectiveness

of reading program during one semester at a Japanese university was examined and the results of the study revealed a statistically significant increase and students’ positive attitudes during the reading time (Mason, B., & Krashen, S., 1997) Reading was also said to have a positive effect on the development of writing skills (Ferris, D., & Hedgcock, J.S , 1998) and reading widely provides teachers with a focused and motivating reading program to guide children down a path to become independent and resourceful in their reading and language development, as well as being well-improved and naturally-respondent to produce texts, thoughts, and ideas

in writing (Bell, T., 1998) Likewise, additional reading was argued to lead to

increasing reading rate and has considerable impacts on writing proficiency in The

Reading Matrix (Bell, T., 2001) According to another research by Richards and

Renandya (2002), students when writing have to pay attention to the effect of extensive reading on grammatical accuracy and fluency of writing skills, to the planning and organizing as well as the lower level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, etc The same result that when children read more stories such as short stories, fictions, etc., they would pay attention to the structure of the stories they read (Smith, C B., 2003) To add more weight to the arguments, models of truly excellent writing is well illustrated by reading Thus, reading provides students with voice, organization, syntax, and language (Matsuda, P.K., 2003) Therefore, reading gives students inspirations providing them the chance to great ideas; thus, improving their ability to think critically and analytically Giving students more

knowledge and ideas, reading offers them something to critically think about and to write them down as their own personal knowledge The results of another study proved that the effectiveness of using extensive reading in improving student's writing performance is enormous and that students’ attitudes towards reading and writing is positive (Bakier, 2004) Moreover, students’ literacy level in English is consolidated and upgraded as a consequence of the positive perceptions that they developed toward reading (Nishino, T., 2007) The study which investigated the effects of reading on writing found that students improved their writing skills thanks

to reading more, and their attitudes towards writing is positive This study confirmed the effectiveness of reading as a possible means of improving the writing skills and perceptions towards writing of Egyptian EFL students (Hany, I., 2007) For the factor linking reading and writing, the results of the study showed that the combination of reading and writing had a positive effect, helping students effectively integrate the reading-writing process Thus, the author supported the idea of motivating students to read as much as possible (Yoshimura, F., 2009) In another study which researched on the effects of reading in English on writing in English carried out by first-year students for whom English is a compulsory subject (Shen, Ming-Yueh., 2009), the results of the study showed that reading really helps students to advance their writing skills in terms of vocabulary, structures, grammar, etc He also suggests that reading and writing are not separate skills; thus, they should be taught combined In fact, they are mutually enhanced The influence reading on writing skill of students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering was also a topic of research (Zainal, Z., & Husin, S.H.B.M., 2011) They studied the influence reading on writing skill of students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering The findings proved that reading and writing were closely related to each other, that the students gained positive enhancement of the their writing skill, and that reading was of great help to students’ writing ability in many ways Reading and writing (Li, Z., 2015) are closely related to each other in the way that all the reading documents help the students to trigger ideas, to use appropriate words in the context

during their written work Similar results could be found in research conducted by various different authors (Al-Mansour and Al-Shorman, 2014), (Poorsoti and Asl, 2016), (AtikUmamah, Trissly Pramestika Anggrianie, 2018) In another survey to justify the important role of additional reading on the usage of words as well as on vocabulary retention, when students proceed with the reading, they develop a way

to memorize words, to know how to choose the right word for a particular context (Ghanbari & Marzban, 2014) Different solutions and teaching techniques with a focus on additional reading to improve students’ writing skill and encourage them

to write correctly and smoothly were presented in another study (Poorsoti & Asl, 2016) To better the writing skill must involve much reading because reading is one

of the ways to collect information for writing (Khoirunnisa, and Safitri, I., 2018),

To have a well-versed, instructive writing work, the students must read a wide variety of sources relating the topic of their writing In fact, reading helps them to construct their ideas based on some references Finally, making reading and writing connected must be a matter of priority (Jacqueline Raphael, 2017) Many teachers separate reading and writing in teaching Teachers should teach students a clear and specific vocabulary to describe the characteristics of high-quality writing (such as

"ideas," "organization," "word choice," and so on) and show them where to find these characteristics in various text types

As far as students’ perceptions are concerned, a number of scholars have identified students’ attitudes towards undertaking reading activities as an important

component of writing proficiency, some are exemplified as follows

In the paper which examined university students’ perceptions toward second language writing implemented as a follow-up activity to extensive reading (Eunseok

Ro and Jeongyeon Park, 2016), the author came to the findings indicating that students displayed a favorable attitude toward additional reading activities, and held high value for the benefits and usefulness of reading in the development of their writing skills as well Students’ literacy level in English was also justified to be consolidated and upgraded as a consequence of the positive perceptions that they

developed toward reading (Nishino, T., 2007) A survey was carried out to investigate students’ perceptions toward reading and to evaluate the benefits of extensive reading (Grundy, J., 2004) The students were urged to choose their own reading materials from outside the classroom Alternate materials for additional reading were provided by the teacher The survey showed that 65% of the students under study bore positive attitude, and 90% of understudies uncovered that they came to like reading English much more than previously The doctoral dissertation

(Kamonnat Tamrackitkun, 2010) justified positive effects of extensive reading on the learners’ reading comprehension and provide conclusive evidence of reading fluency improvement together with a positive attitude towards extensive reading The findings suggest that the majority, of reading student respondents, 89 (84.6%) had a positive attitude toward additional reading, and the interview results confirmed that the students appreciated and valued reading

In the Vietnamese context, a number of studies have been made by

Vietnamese researchers and teachers Through their master theses, they examined what a good written text is like, to investigate various factors that prevent students

of English from writing good English, and to prove that some reading skills, when properly applied, can help these students improve their writing skills Additionally, the study aims at how to teach writing skill of a second language with the assistance

of students’ reading ability (Lê Hoàng Dũng, 2004) In another thesis, the study provided a survey to identify students’ EFL writing problems with questionnaires delivered to first-year English majors and experienced teachers The results of the analysis of the questionnaire responses are the bases to work out what to do to facilitate first-year students’ EFL writing and improve the quality of their writing (Lê Nguyễn Minh Thọ, 2000) The effects of the reading courses on the development of writing skills for second-year English-majored students at Binh Thuan Community College (BTCC) were investigated; then, the thesis went on recommending some ways to improve EFL teaching, especially with reading and writing courses at BTCC (Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hạnh, 2009) In the other thesis which

examined the influence of reading, in both first language (L1) and foreign/second language (L2) on L2 writing proficiency and investigates students’ reading perceptions and practices, the findings revealed that the majority of students had positive perceptions; and that reading in both L1 and L2 and reading in L2 only exerted positive impacts on L2 writing proficiency Based on the findings, the study recommended adopting the reading-based approach to teaching writing (Võ Thị Nữ Anh, 2004) In another research on vocabulary storage, vocabulary played a very important role in any language learning for the 4 skills This paper emphasized the necessity for a rich store of vocabulary, especially collocations The outcomes of the research proved that knowledge of collocations was highly correlated with students’ performance in the reading and writing skills (Phương Hoàng Yến & Th i Minh Nguyên, 2018)

In one word, these five studies were conducted to justify the importance and

impact of reading in general on the teaching of writing skills, of one aspect of

vocabulary on reading and writing performance They contributed a great deal to the improvements of the actual teaching context which they investigated

Fairly different from their studies, the author of this thesis would like to do

the investigation of the application of additional reading only, and the participants all were not from English-major programmes, but from non-English major

programmes at USSH, VNUHCM

In all, there is a great variety of researches writing on students’ attitude towards extensive reading as well as on the impacts of extensive reading on writing proficiency However, these researches provide a rather general look which is positive, or going into details and specific contexts for the institution under research

In this light, this thesis is conducted with the purpose of meeting the current needs

of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNUHCM in elevating English major undergraduates’ English proficiency to a higher level

non-There were a lot of studies on English-majored undergraduates in an array of topics whereas there were few on non-English major undergraduates Besides, there

was no research on non-English Majors about the use of additional reading in teaching writing at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City As the time of doing the research was very limited, within only 7,5 weeks (excluding 30 periods for online self-learning sessions under the teacher’s supervision) and the research was affected by Covid-19, the author could not do a thorough research as expected on the impacts of extensive reading (but additional reading instead), and on the students’ attitudes (but perceptions instead) The author just hoped to raise an issue for further research to find out the best way possible for students to write beautifully

2.9 Conceptual framework

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the current study

In this thesis, the students’ perceptions towards the integration of additional reading for the enhancement of writing skill would be explored through their

perspectives of the impact of reading on writing ability in terms of (1) knowledge of

content, (2) vocabulary retention, (3) coherence and (4) grammar

The reason for these 4 criteria to be chosen is that, after reading the works