A study on the difficulties and solutions to improve english writing skill for first year english major students at hung yen university of technology and education

Trang 1 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- LÊ THỊ THU A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTION TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING SKILL FOR FIRST YEAR E

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -

LÊ THỊ THU

A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTION TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING SKILL FOR FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP ĐỂ HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT KHOA NGÔN NGỮ TẠI ĐẠI HỌC SƯ

PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN)

Major: English language Code:

Hung Yen –6/ 2021

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES -

LÊ THỊ THU

A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTION TO IMPROVE ENGLISH WRITING SKILL FOR FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP

ĐỂ HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT KHOA NGÔN NGỮ TẠI ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT

DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the study report entitled “A study on the difficulties and solutions to improve English writing skill for first year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.”

This graduation paper is the result of my research and the substance of this graduation paper has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution and that if this declaration is found to be false, disciplinary measures and penalties can be taken and imposed following university policies and rules

Signature

Le Thi Thu

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received much necessary assistance, precious ideas, and timely encouragement from my lecturers, family, and friends This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement, and support from several people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation

First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mr Pham Ngoc Son, the English teacher of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, who has always been willing to give

me valuable advice and suggestions so that I can complete successfully this study

I also would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere thanks to all my lecturers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, who have handed me basic knowledge to complete this study

I am so thankful to students of K18 at the Faculty of Foreign Languages for their heart participation in the study

whole-I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed

ABSTRACT

Research aims to find out the difficulties that students face in writing skills Quantitative methods are used to analyze and find solutions to problems The study was conducted at UTEHY and the subjects of this study were first-year English majors at FFL This study involved 83 students and 5 lecturers Data were collected using questionnaires for lecturers and students The results of the analysis of difficulties to students' writing skills show that writing

is a very difficult skill for students to learn a foreign language To solve these difficulties and wish to improve the current situation, the researcher proposes a number of solutions so that both lecturers and students can teach and learn better for first-year English majors are learning writing skills at UTEHY more effectively in the near future

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Rationale for the study 1

1.2.Aim and objectives of the study 2

1.3.Research questions 2

1.4.Subjects of the study 2

1.5.The scope of the study 2

1.6.Significance of the study 3

1.7.Structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1.An overview of writing 4

2.1.1.Definitions of writing 4

2.1.2.Stages of writing 5

2.1.3.The importance of writing 6

2.2.The difficulties of writing 6

2.2.1.The difficulties faced by the students in learning writing skills 7

2.2.2.The difficulties faced by the lecturers in learning writing skills 8

2.3.The solutions to improve of writing 10

2.3.1.The solutions to improve by the students in learning writing skills 10

2.3.2.The solutions to improve by the lecturers in learning writing skills 10

2.3.3.Conclusion: 11

2.4.Summary: 12

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 13

3.1 Methodology 13

3.2.Survey questionnaires: 13

3.3.Data collection: 13

3.3.1.Data collection from students: 13

3.3.2.Data collection from lecturers: 14

3.4.Data analysis and discussion: 14

3.4.1.Attitude towards of writing skills 14

3.4.2.Some difficulties for students and lecturers 18

3.4.3.Some suggested solutions for lecturers and students 22

3.5.Main findings and discussions 27

3.5.1.The attitudes of students towards writing skills 28

3.5.2.The difficulties in learning writing skills 28

3.5.3.Difficult in the students' strategies 28

3.5.4.Suggestions for the solution 29

3.5.4.1.Create and maintain a positive atmosphere for learning 29

3.5.4.2.Take advantage of the 'out-of-book' lessons 29

3.5.4.3.Give students ownership and publishing 30

3.5.4.4.Engage students in writing regularly 30

3.5.4.5.Provide students with constructive response and guide them how to offer response to

other writes………31

3.5.4.6.Provide opportunities for students to collaborate as writers 31

3.6.Recommendations 32

3.6.1.For students 32

3.6.2.For lecturers 33

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 34

4.1 The summary of study 34

4.2.Limitations of research 34

4.3.Recommended for more research 35

REFERENCE 36 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR LECTURERS VI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages

2 UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education

3 M.A: Master of Arts

4 PhD: Doctor of Philosophy

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 3.1 Student’s opinion about the importance of writing skills……… 14

Chart 3.2 Lecturer’s opinion about the importance of writing skills ……… …….…… 15

Chart 3.3 The student's attitude towards learning English writing skills……… … 16

Chart 3.4 The student's attitude towards learning English writing skills………… …… 17

Chart 3.5 The difficulties often affecting student's writing skills….………….….…… … 18

Chart 3.6 the difficulties often affecting lecturer’s writing skills ……….……….….…19

Chart 3.7 The difficulties in pre- writing stage……….…… ………….20

Chart 3.8 The difficulties in pre-teaching of writing……….… 21

Chart 3.9 The difficulties in post- writing stage……… … … 21

Chart 3.10 The difficulties in post-teaching of writing……….22

Chart 3.11 Some suggested solutions related to writing to improve your students' English writing skills……….……… ……23

Chart 3.12 Some suggested solutions related to writing to improve lecturer’s English writing skills……… …….………… 23

Chart 3.13 Some suggested solutions related to doing students face in the Pre-writing stage……… ……… ……… ……… 24

Chart 3.14 Some suggested solutions related to do teaching face in the Pre-teaching of writing skills……….……….……….25

Chart 3.15 Some suggested solutions related to doing students face in the post writing stage………….……….…….……… 26

Chart 3.16 Some suggested solutions related to do teaching face in the post-teaching of writing skills……… ….……… ………….27

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

Nowadays, the influence of English for the world is extremely important Moreover, English is used as an effective international medium English is an important and essential language in every field of life, such as: Economics, education, technology, State, defense, etc To master the English language, students need to grasp all four intimate communication skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Writing is the most important but most difficult skill compared to other skills because it requires learners to be fully equipped with not only background knowledge but also skills to write Among these skills, long-term literacy has been considered to be the most challenging and most difficult challenge for all because of foreign languages, but this is also a treasure store for students The first-year students of the Hung Yen University of Technology and Education school also have a lot of hard work learning to write At the same time, first-year students had little opportunity to train their English-language skills before they went to college In addition, writing skills are especially important for freshman English students because writing is critical skill that can lead to success or failure in the second year, third and fourth as you desire to write more and more in English

More importantly, the ability to write is a sustainability skill set for students who later write an academic literature or make a good essay Writing skills can help students easily detect errors in grammar, vocabulary, words, and ideas From this point we can learn weakness as well as our weaknesses to improve our ability to write In fact, the writing skills

of the freshman year are still limited, the ability to use the word is still poor, the grammar is still unclear, and the physiology is still much more than written and has not yet known how

to use words to piece the phrase in the correct context

After studying the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education (UTEHY) for nearly 4 years, I find that first-year students majoring in English still have many difficulties in learning writing skills At this point, I will clarify students' difficulties in learning writing skills, find out the causes of difficulties and then propose some effective methods to help students have good motivation and development develop

writing skills, contribute to improving learning outcomes With the hope of finding out the writing factors that students often have, I would like to introduce the title of the graduation

article “A study on difficulties and solutions to improve English writing skill for first year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.” has been

conducted because of all above-mentioned reason

1.2 Aim and objectives of the study

The study is done with the following arms:

- To find out the attitudes of the lecturers and the first-year English major students toward teaching and learning writing skill at UTEHY

- To investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning writing skills at UTEHY

- To suggest some solutions to improve teaching and learning English writing skills for both first-year English major students and lecturers at UTEHY

1.3 Research questions

1 What are the attitudes of the lecturer and the first-year English major students toward teaching and learning writing skills at UTEHY?

2 What are the difficulties in teaching and learning writing skills at UTEHY?

3 What are some solutions to improve teaching and learning English writing skills for both first-year English major students and lecturers at UTEHY?

1.4 Subjects of the study

- 83 major first-year students from the Faculty of Foreign Languages at UTEHY

- 5 lecturers of English at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at UTEHY

1.5 The scope of the study

Research on the difficulties and improvement of writing skills for first-year English language students at UTEHY Due to limited time and knowledge, lack of references, this study cannot cover the entire issue of writing skills It focuses solely on exploring common difficulties affecting students' writing ability Furthermore, research cannot touch all students It is limited to first-year English majors of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at UTEHY learning writing skills for first-year students in the English faculty

at UTEHY

1.6 Significance of the study

Though writing is always the most difficult skill in learning English Therefore, this study has given the causes and some common errors when learning to write English

In addition, this study also offers ways to fix it, hope these tips will help you write better

in your English learning process Hopefully the findings of the study will be useful for lecturers as well as English learners Once the correct type and cause of a particular error has been found, the teacher will understand the student's problem while writing the essay and can come up with appropriate teaching methods

1.7 Structure of the study

The organization of this research includes four main chapters and is arranged as follow:

 Chapter 1: Introduction which deals with the rationale of the study, aims of the study, the research questions of the study, scope of the study, subjects of the study, significance of the study, structure of the study

 Chapter 2: Literature Review which deals with the overview of writing, difficulties

of writing and the solutions to improve of writing

 Chapter 3: The Study which deals with methodology, survey questionnaires, data collection tools and participants

 Chapter 4: Conclusion includes the summary of study, limitations of research and

recommended for more research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Secondly, according to Heaton: The writing skill in a foreign language is complex and difficult to learn not only the ability to use structures, but also conceptual of varied skills such as stylistic and mechanical skill Stylistic skill is the ability to manipulate sentences and use language effectively whereas mechanical skill is the ability to use correctly those conventions peculiar to the written language such as punctuation and spelling (Heaton, J.B (1979) Writing English Language Tests: A Practical Guide for Lecturers of English 5th Edition, Longman, London, pp 138)

According to Murcia (1991: 233) “writing is the ability to express one’s ideas in written form” Meaning writing is the act of expressing your ideas in text form (Marianne C Murcia

1991 Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language Boston: Heinle Publishers) Harmer (2007: 112) argues that writing can be defined as writing to learn and writing to write Writing for learning means writing as a tool to practice the language learned, and writing to-writing, it is a tool for developing students' writing skills So people have a purpose to write, they can learn to write by trying to write something and develop their own writing skills (Harmer, Jeremy 2007 “The Practice of English Language Teaching”, Pearson Longman)

Based on the above definitions, it can be concluded that distinguishable writing from other skills is the most difficult skill There are many difficulties that affect writing, such as grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and spelling must be integrated into a paragraph Writing is the way of thinking or sending messages from the writer to the reader, being part

of a language or language skill and it also means communication

2.1.2 Stages of writing

Writing cannot be done without going through certain stages All writers go through their own unique writing process before coming up with a final draft Usually, writers begin to write first, then they compose sentences and paragraphs to form a rough draft After they make a rough draft, writers can begin modifying their work by adding multiple sentences or removing sentences Writers can then correct their rough drafts by changing words and sentences that aren't grammatically wrong or relevant to a topic to publish Each stage is clearly shown in the writing process

The first is pre-writing: This is the planning stage of the writing process, when drafting, modifying, and outlining ideas, often using diagrams to map out your thoughts Object and purpose should be considered at this point, and for older students, a working thesis statement should begin

The second is drafting: The writer creates the original layout by writing down all of his ideas in an organized way to convey a particular idea or present an argument Object and purpose need to be perfected

The third is modifications: review, modify and reorganize their work by rearranging, adding or removing content and by making the tone, style, and content relevant to the target audience concentration The goal of this stage of the writing process is to improve the draft The fourth is editing: At this point in the writing process, the writer corrects and corrects the grammatical and mechanical errors, corrects to improve the style and clarity Having feedback from other writers during this time is helpful

Final publication: In this final step of the writing process, the final writing is shared with the team Sharing can be done in many ways and with the help of a computer, it can even be printed or published online

2.1.3 The importance of writing

Kelly (1969:145) said that: "By practicing writing, a person learns proper word usage

to persuade the reader to listen to them The writer does this by using "key words" at proper intervals, the writing process helps to develop the skill of critical speaking"

Harmer (1998) points out that writing skill has finally been recognized as an important skill for language learning He lays stress on the essentiality of the writing skill saying "The reason for teaching writing to students of English a foreign language includes reinforcement, language development, learning style, and most importantly, writing as a skill in its own right"

Writing is meant to convey thoughts, ideas, and events in language that is easy to understand and discern Good writing skills are essential for success in the workplace Whether it's an email, a project report or a sales proposal, content filled with spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poorly constructed sentences suggest a similar attitude toward work Even students should have good writing skills that are essential for all students to fulfill their educational and employment requirements Here are some reasons why writing is so important:

Write technical documents, research papers and come up with relevant facts and information

Professionalism: With effective writing skills, your messages can be understood by your peers in a better way Writing clear messages makes it easier for others to understand your ideas and thoughts

Prove your competence at work: Whether or not your job requires a lot of writing, people may even remember a few grammatical and spelling errors from your content And these little mistakes can make you seem less competent at work

Increase professional confidence: Every piece of content has a motive A well-written business proposal will appeal to potential investors and partnerships Clear and well-focused email can impress the buyer even more And your well-built reports will engage your manager

2.2 The difficulties of writing

2.2.1 The difficulties faced by the students in learning writing skills

As a natural rule in the process of formation, learning, and development of any language, writing is always the last learned skill compared to the three remaining skills of listening, speaking, and reading However, writing is considered the most difficult skill for learners In English learning as a foreign language, there is no exception Learners often have difficulties in writing their texts even in their language For English writing, those difficulties seem much bigger This issue has been a widely discussed topic of linguists and foreign language researchers in the world

Each student may face different challenges in learning writing All the students are special and unique in their own ways These challenges will somehow pull back the students from moving forward to produce a good piece of writing The following paragraphs are about challenges faced by students in writing

Lack of vocabulary has caused the students to face challenges in acquiring writing skills claimed Misbah et al (2017) Vocabulary is an important aspect of writing because it

is to be a basic component of the success of writing skill Vocabulary is the fundamental element in constructing sentences which is the core of effective writing skills Asep (2014) Lack of vocabulary is a problem that often occurs during class activity, besides, become a crucial problem for the teacher nonetheless the students Lecturers might found it hard to be handled Even not all the students face the problem, having this kind of problem sure will be

a limit for them, especially in writing a paragraph or even a sentence

Some students are also having trouble with grammar Grammar, in writing skills, determines how a paragraph build-up and how the ideas can be understood Grammar plays

an important role in writing Grammar provides information that helps the readers to understand its meaning It is a structure that conveys the detailed meaning of the writer to the reader Grammar also explains the forms and structure of words, called morphology, and how they are arranged in sentences, called syntax By having very limited knowledge of grammar, students will face anxiety to write sentences with correct grammar According to Muhammad Fareed et al (2016), students make mistakes in subject-verb agreement, pronouns, tenses, articles, prepositions, and basic sentence structures Grammar ability can

be improved through reading activity and grammar-related activities

Spelling is most important in writing If any students mistake spelling, then lecturers can’t understand what they are writing about Poor spelling is another cause of anxiety for students in learning writing skills and this is supported by Nyang’au Benard (2014) Having good ability in spelling will lead to positive learning of writing skills If the students are struggling with spelling, it will hold them back to move forward The students have the habit

to spell according to their pronunciation and this will lead to wrong spelling as mentioned

by Afrin (2016) The students will either add or leave letters of the words For example

“ballon” instead of “balloon.” According to Nyang’au Benard (2014), memorization of the

spelling will help the students to have good spelling

Lack of motivation also is another challenge faced by the students It can direct behavior toward particular goals, lead to increased effort and energy If the students are not motivated, they might not be interested to proceed with their learning process Motivation is important in improving students’ learning results claimed Gbollie & Keamu (2017) Lecturers could motivate the students by rewarding them with simple motivational phrases

by saying “Good job!”, “Good try!”, “Keep it up” etc The positive reward will make the students go further in their learning process

Last but not the least, lack of exposure to books and reading materials are other challenges for elementary school students in learning writing and this is supported by Foster (2015) According to Muhammad Fareed et al (2016), many students find it very challenging

to get enough and a significant source of information Lack of extensive reading will not help the students to write good sentences or paragraphs This is because reading and writing are interrelated If the students are not reading books or other reading materials, they are going to have a lack of ideas and vocabulary to write Their brain neurons will be connected

to each other to come out with good writing if they read more and connecting the ideas with their prior knowledge Foster (2015) explained that exposure to different reading materials can help the students to be aware with language awareness explained

2.2.2 The difficulties faced by the lecturers in learning writing skills

Teaching writing seems to be the difficult part for lecturers Teaching English at the high school level is naturally much more different from teaching at other levels The challenges

may somehow make the lecturers teaching ineffective The following can be seen as the hindrances confronted by lecturers

Nowadays, lecturers seem to have a hard time motivating the students to write This derives from the fact that the students are not interested in learning writing (Asep, 2014) Undoubtedly, the young have the perception that they can do whatever they please as their parents have given them much freedom When students feel reluctant in learning, it is a sign

of lack of motivation (Abrar, 2016)

Another obstacle in teaching English writing skills at the high school is that pupils have different levels of English language In fact, in many high schools, students with different levels are placed in the same class which can result in challenges for lecturers to make provision for all the students at the same time (Asep, 2014) Moreover, different levels of writing ability require lecturers to apply different approaches As a result, the lecturers feel challenging to plan their lessons and prepare appropriate activities for the students

Another hindrance is from student’s parental indifference Lack of parents’ support makes lecturers having a hard time helping the students Students who feel a lack of warmth and affection from their parents will draw them back from succeeding in their learning process (Gündoğmuş, 2018) This is due to little guidance, motivation, and support from their parents

Besides, lack of professional experience is another challenge faced by the lecturers (Gündoğmuş, 2018) Having a lack of professional experience might lead to stress and tension to teach high school students especially among novice lecturers The multiple roles

of lecturers are also a challenge Lecturers’ experience depends on the level of their previous experience and training It takes time for novice lecturers to adapt themselves to their students very well Lecturers can only prepare appropriate activities if they know well about their student's proficiency level, and interests Not only that, longer time is needed for lecturers to prepare new teaching materials, appropriate lesson plans, suitable activities, and provide comments or reflections

Finally, Anyiendah (2017) argues that lack of students’ interest is another challenge Students feel a lack of interest in writing because they need to know many aspects in order

to produce a good piece of work The students need to know punctuations, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and sentence structure in order to write a good piece of writing

2.3 The solutions to improve of writing

2.3.1 The solutions to improve by the students in learning writing skills

The writing skill of students can be enhanced by encouraging their interest, motivation and enjoyment in learning, through technology (Graham & Perin, 2007) Likewise, certain metacognitive, cognitive, and socio - affective approaches may also be used to allow student to know the writing process and to practice it (O’Malley & Chamot,1990) Hedge (2005) claims that good writing goes beyond creating simple and accurate sentences, because learners need to be guided in the most effective and innovative way to write and communicate their thoughts English is considered the language of international communication and is very helpful in learning writing skills well So, if you want to improve your English skills, you must follow certain steps when learning English First, vocabulary, without words, you cannot do anything To memorize many words and learn new words every day is important However, it will be very boring and difficult if you spend a lot of time memorizing each word Learning words through reading manga or novels is always an effective way Second, have a good grammar You need good enough grammar to organize sentences and express them correctly You need to practice writing sentences with many different grammatical forms Write and write with simple sentences Write every day Finally, it is important to learn how to pronounce English clearly, otherwise it may be difficult for others to understand you when you speak You should speak more English every day and pay attention to how your English teacher speaks Listen and sing your favorite English songs To learn English well is not easy, encounter many difficulties in the learning process If done this way, you can develop your English skills and gain more confidence in communicating with oth

2.3.2 The solutions to improve by the lecturers in learning writing skills

On the teacher's side, it is necessary to raise the awareness of learning from colleagues

to constantly innovate the teaching method of writing skills, the skills considered to be the most difficult Lecturers need to cooperate, share experiences with colleagues to find the optimal teaching method applied to lessons In addition to the variety of methods, lecturers

help students overcome their fear of a blank page by starting off lessons with an activity that helps them generate language and ideas for their writing This is a top-down strategy that will allow them to activate prior knowledge and personal experiences that relate to the topic Hedge (1999) assumed that writing is essentially a creative process which involves students in a learning process motivates, builds their confidence, gives them an opportunity

to explore the language, communicate, and look for the best ways of self-expression The teacher’s role in this process is undoubtedly very important: The teacher’s role is to provide

an environment in which students will learn about writing, see models of good writing, get plenty of practice in writing, and receive help during the writing process

Furthermore, lecturers should adapt their pedagogical methods and develop activities that could inspire and empower students by allowing them the ability to select topics of interest to each other It will probably reshape their writing habits through prolonged practice, and physical and cognitive skills that offer the writer power over the presentation

of linguistic and domain-specific information In addition, language and content lecturers may find it easy to track their students from a specific perspective To encourage their expressive ability, lecturers may use techniques to get feedback from students to be put down

a piece of paper Perhaps notably, attitudes towards writing and discussing the problems need to be improved In addition, immediate and critical feedback on their performance is required to increase their confidence

On the other hand, stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing Faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive better essays than instructors who don't make such demands In the syllabus, on the first day, and throughout the term, remind students that they must make their best effort in expressing themselves on paper Back up your statements with comments on early assignments that show you really mean it, and your students will respond Besides, lecturers regularly assign brief writing exercises in your classes To vary the pace of a lecturer’s course, ask students

to write a few minutes during class Some mixture of in-class writing, outside writing assignments, and exams with open-ended questions will give students the practice they need

to improve their skills

2.3.3 Conclusion:

Writing is a crucial skill that will benefit the rest of the students’ lives It can be concluded that school students are facing many challenges to learn writing skills and it is not easy for English to teach them writing skills The existing literature has identified demands on writing skills in English, purpose of students’ writing by using various writing strategies, challenges faced by both the students and lecturers in learning and teaching writing skills and past studies on the challenges faced by students and lecturers to learn and teach writing skills among students By understanding both the students’ and lecturers’ challenges in learning and teaching writing skills, the lecturers could choose the best possible approach to teach writing skills by giving feedback and guidance This review of the literature indicated the factors that caused some serious problems for lecturers listening comprehension and also offered some useful suggestions for lecturers and students to improve their listening comprehension ability It is hoped that the findings of this study contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning in listening comprehension

2.4 Summary:

In this chapter, research shows the theory of difficulty first-year English major students’ learning writing skills Moreover, it also points out the theory of solutions to improve their writing skills To make clear the details of these difficulties and solutions, the research introduces the next part as analyzing the study base on data

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY

3.1 Methodology

To collect the data for research, the researcher used quantitative methods including questionnaire questions for students and lecturers Questionnaires were designed based on the main aims of the study After getting the results, the researcher used tables and charts for presenting the collected data

3.2 Survey questionnaires:

Survey questionnaires are always considered as one of the most frequently used and effective methods for studying This is the reason why the researcher decided to choose questionnaires as one of the main types of instruments are used to accomplish the research Besides, the survey questionnaires are mainly to collect information from the subject of this study However, it is easy and simple to summarize and report collected data while the researcher did not spend much time on it

There are two different questionnaires designed to survey the subjects of this study The first is for students and the second one is for lecturers Firstly, the questionnaires for students were delivered to 83 students of K18 at UTEHY Survey questionnaires are including 12 questions and it consists of students’ information, factors, and solutions in writing skills Secondly, survey questionnaires for lecturers include 11 questions and it consists of lecturer’s evaluation of their information, factors, and solutions in learning the writing skill, and they also give their suggestions about it for students

3.3 Data collection:

The participants of the study include 5 lecturers and 83 students from FFL at UTEHY These 83 first-years English major students are collected from K18 and 5 lecturers who have been teaching writing skills are invited to join the research

3.3.1 Data collection from students:

Because of the limited time and Covid-19 pandemic, the graduation paper was surveyed online to implement the study with all major students of English majors at UTEHY Therefore, the data collection in the study derived from students who are in the first-year at

FFL Most of the 83 students have learned English for at least eight years at secondary and high schools The students are between 18 and 20 years old, both males and females make

up for the majority in the target population

3.3.2 Data collection from lecturers:

The second data is composed of 5 English lecturers, who have taught writing skills for the first-year English major students at FFL, UTEHY All of them have MA degrees and PhD This is one of many advantages for English major students at UTEHY Furthermore, the reason for choosing 5 lecturers is that they have experience in teaching English major students, especially, teaching writing skills for first-year English major students

3.4 Data analysis and discussion:

3.4.1 Attitude towards of writing skills

Chart 3.1 Student’s opinion about the importance of writing skills

When asked about the importance of writing skills, most students said that this subject

is essential In this chart, fifty-seven students (69%) think that writing is very important, 24 students (29%) think writing is important, and two students (2%) think it is slightly important That means most first-year student’s English majors at UTEHY believe that writing skills play a very important role in learning English and in further study And the chart below is some of the teacher's opinions and attitudes about writing skills

Chart 3.2 Lecturer’s opinion about the importance of writing skills

The value of writing skills is depicted in chart 3.2 by the opinions of English lecturers

at UTEHY Just one lecturers (20%) believes that writing is important, while four lecturers (80%) believe that writing is very important There are no lecturers who believe that writing ability is natural, unimportant, or insignificant

According to the chart and table above, first-year English majors and FFL students agree that writing is a valuable or necessary ability not only in school but also in potential jobs In fact, as compared to other skills like listening, speaking, and reading, most children are uninterested in this one They also understand that strong English writing skills will assist them in improving their grammar and vocabulary Every student has attempted to take advantage of their English writing abilities

Chart 3.3 The student's attitude towards learning English writing skills

The bar graph illustrates the majority of students stated that learning to write provided them with a variety of benefits In particular, up to 40% of with strong agreement rate that writing is a difficult subject in the language, while 53% of agreement rate and 7% with strong disagreement rate Furthermore, 39% with strong agreement respondents that learning to write aids my ability to improve quickly in the English language, although 54% of disagreement rate or have no opinion Just 6% of those polled approve, while 6% of disagreement rate The graph also shows that 29% with strong agreement respondents that writing allows me to improve certain other language skills, while 63% of disagreement rate, 5% choose no opinion and only 3% of disagreement rate The provider of information in the segment "Writing extended vocabulary" accounts for 36% of the total, strong agreement rate with the remaining options of agreeing, having no opinion, and disagreement with 52%, 7%, and 5%, respectively Furthermore, only 2% of informants (equivalent to 2 students) disagreement rate in the segment "My writing improves my grammar" while 34% of students strongly agree that they are very pleased with their ability and writing efficiency, with 59 %

of agreement rate with this argument can learn how to write a paragraph then firmly 44%

of strong agreement and 49% of agreement rate Notably, 6% of first-year students who choose have no opinion, and only 1% disagree with the prospect of learning how to arrange

a paragraph

In short, first-year students expressed perspectives on the great benefits of learning English writing The better and more effective use of linguistic knowledge, greater accountability for writing, and facilitating the better study of other language skills will be good examples of careful study English writing skills as stated by the respondents On the

contrary, there are still some informants who doubt or disagree with the values that writing skills bring, so this can be considered one of the obstacles that first-year students face when

it comes to writing Learn English writing skills that need solving for the better quality of learning English in general and writing skills in particular

Chart 3.4 The lecturer’s attitude towards learning English writing skills

Attitudes toward teaching English writing skills are depicted in the graph The percentage of lecturers who choose 40% of strong agreement rate and overwhelming students (60%) agree with the first point of view "writing is the most difficult issue," and no lecturer chooses to disagree with this opinion Lecturers choose to strongly agree with the second point of view, "Writing helps me develop easily," with 40% of lecturers choosing to agreement and only 20% of lecturers choosing to agreement rate Furthermore, when it comes to "writing helps me rewrite even more," the percentage of lecturers who choose 40%

of strong agreement rate and the agreement rate is 20%, respectively; in this case, the lecturer chooses no opinion, accounting for 40% Moreover, lecturers' agreement with the statement

"Writing expands vocabulary" is 40% lower than lecturers' agreement with the statement

"Writing expands vocabulary," which is 60% Lecturers place a premium on language, particularly when it comes to the point of "writing brushes up my grammar." As a result, the tutor who selects very agree will see a significant increase in comparison to the above remarks, which are 60% of strong agreement rate and 40% for agreement Finally, you can agree or disagree with the statement "I can learn how to organize a paragraph." It is 40% of

strong agreement and 40% of agreement rate As can be shown, lecturers respect the above six viewpoints when teaching English writing skills

3.4.2 Some difficulties for students and lecturers

Chart 3.5 The difficulties often affect student's writing skills

As seen in the graph, many students strongly accept that acquiring writing skills presents a range of challenges There are 83 students who provide data, with 29% of strong agreement, 52% of agreement rate, and just 1% disagrees that they lack ideas in their writing skills The graph also indicates that 60% of students believe that when writing, they lack vocabulary while writing, with 30% of strong agreement rate And 6% and 3% of students chose to have no opinion and disagreement rate respectively, with the remaining 1% of strong disagreement rate Furthermore, 52% of students accepted that the analysis could easily find subjective triggers due to restricted grammar information, while 6% and 1% of students selected disagreement rate and strong disagreement rate respectively The bar chart also shows that 43 respondents (52 percent) accepted that learning to write is difficult because they are unmotivated Although 11 percent of participants fully agree, 25% and 6% have no opinion and strongly disagreement rate respectively, depression and learning decline In particular, 53% of students accept that their mother tongue style influences them, making it much more difficult to learn writing English skills, while only 6% of disagreement and only 1% of strong disagreement rate opposing when faced with this language issue A small number of students (53%) accepted that their lack of adequate learning strategies