Topic problems and some suggested solutions in writing skills of the freshmen at the foreign language department in saigon university

SAIGON UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TOPIC: PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN WRITING SKILLS OF THE FRESHMEN AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT IN SAIGON UNIVERSITY

SAIGON UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TOPIC: PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS IN WRITING SKILLS OF THE FRESHMEN AT THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT IN SAIGON UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH METHOD GROUP 2 Supervisor: Ph.D Bùi Diễm Hạnh

May 2022

2 Hoàng Thanh Hiền 3120380123 98%

3 Nguyễn Lê Trung Hiếu 3117380075 97%

4 Nguyễn Lê Gia Huệ 3120380128 100%

5 Nguyễn Thị Lê Hải 3118380076 92%

6 Quách Ngọc Anh Hào 3120380109 96%

MARKING BOARD

5 Notion of Orignal Speech 0.5

6 Key Assertions / Objectives 0.5

TABLE OF CONTENT

Page

Abstract 1

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1.Conceptualization of Writing skills 3

2.2.Cooperating between the teachers and the learners 4

3 Notion of Original Speech 4

4 Key Objectives 5

5 Research Methods 5

5.1.Procedure 5

5.2.Participants of the study 6

5.3.Data Collection 8

5.4.Instruments 8

6 Analysis 15

7 Proposed Chapter Outline 15

8 Research Limitations 16

9 Proposed Timescale 17

Reference 18

English is an international language and in demand today It is by far themost widely used language around the world Among the four English skills,Writing is an intricate and arduous task to acquire Therefore, it is obvious thatstudents often make mistakes relating to writing Our present study wasconducted with an aim to investigate problems and seek out suitable solutions toapproach those problems In order to achieve our goal, we conduct an onlinesurvey in a period of 14 days A quantitative approach was used to gatherinformation from 50 students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) atSaigon University, the majority of whom were in their first year of studies.Following the results got from the questionnaire, the studies are analized toconclude by using deskwork which errors first-year EFL students at SaigonUniversity made frequently, and which fixes they found useful Based on ourresearch findings, slightly less than 50% of the participants made mistakesrelated to sentence fragments, while over 50% acknowledged that their use oflinking words was not effective When presented with solutions to get ideas forwriting, three-quarters chose to read references relating to the topic, whichexplained why reading English materials was a helpful solution to improve theirwriting Moreover, according to the perspectives of 50% of the participants, theoptimal approach to identifying errors in writing was through the utilization ofwriting assistance applications In light of the aforementioned outcomes, it can

be inferred that first-year EFL students at Saigon University frequently commitwriting errors Furthermore, enhancing writing skills can be achieved byengaging in two effective practices, namely reading English texts and utilizingtechnology

1 Introduction

English is a language that is popular around the world A number ofcountries consider English as second language owing to its benefits including

improving the ability to communicate with foreigners, assimilating into a globalworkplace environment, and accessing to a wide range of entertainment, etc Inmordern technology, being proficent in English become a major advantage toseek for employments.

There are four skills combined together to best fulfil communicationpurposes When we say that someone ‘speaks’ a language fluently, we usuallymean that they are expert in all four skills – listening, speaking, reading, andwriting We usually learn to listen first, then to speak, then to read, and finally towrite These are called the four "language skills"

Proficiency in writing is an essential aspect of language acquisition thatshould not be overlooked Just emphasizing oral communication is insufficient,

as learners must also achieve expertise in writing in their target language.According to Linse (2005), writing is a productive skills because it aims atimparting information Notwithstanding, while writing, individuals cancontemplate their intended message more thoughtfully due to the abundance oftime at their disposal, as opposed to speaking, where they have limited time toreflect on their thoughts This is the reason why our sentences should becorrected Oshima and Hogue (1997) supported that writing is a progressiveactivity Consequently, when learners commence the writing process, they havetypically already formulated a clear idea of the message they intend to convey,

as well as the most effective means of expressing it

Due to the need for highly qualified human resources to serve theinternational integration, the Department of Foreign Language at Sai GonUniversity trains students’ writing skills in four courses: Writing I in the firstsemester, Writing II in the second semester, Writing III in the third semester andWriting IV in the fourth semester In writing courses, students learn how towrite in English to increase their skills in writing and to develop ideas intowritten form

Learning and master English is not simple Many learners believe that themost challenging skill is writing because of a variety of objective and subjectivefactors Therefore, students , especially freshment at the Department of ForeignLanguage in Sai Gon University who do not realize the importance of acquiringtheir writing skills, often have difficulties in the process of writing English Thisstudy was aimed at looking at the difficulties that first-year writers have to facewith while writing in English, then identify workable solutions that can helpthem get beyond those challenges and developing their writing abilities

2 Literature review

2.1 Conceptualization of Writing skills

People can convey their thoughts, feelings, and opinions in writing;therefore, writing skill is a significant aspect of the communication process.Fareed, Ashra, and Bilal (2016) stated writing is a practical skill for languageproduction However, it is also considered as the most difficult one, particularly

in English as a second language contexts where students face many challenges

in writing Their study was conducted with an aim to investigate the problems ofEnglish as a Second Language (ESL) in the writing skills of undergraduates andthe factors that hinder their writing skills Therefore, writing samples were taken

by 30 ESL undergraduate students in order to identify the primary issues withtheir writing According to their research, the findings reveal that insufficientlinguistic ability (including mastery of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary),writing anxiety, lack of ideas, dependence on their first language, and badstructure organization are among the key issues in writing Students madenumerous errors in academic writing, according to Nasser's (2018) study, interms of sentence structure, vocabulary, and articulating ideas, as well aspunctuation, prepositions, spelling, usage of articles, and use of irregular verbs.The flaws in this paper varied from the most common to the least common interms of components of academic writing issues Lacking of confidence has a

negative effect on writing since it can prevent the students from performing all

of their potential ability That is the reason why teaching technique does notconform to pupils' learning styles and cultural backgrounds also contributes totheir lack of confidence - Ramadani (2014)

2.2 Cooperation between the teachers and learners

University students are not given enough opportunities to write and do notreceive adequate writing instructions from their professors Poor writing skill issaid to be caused by ineffective cooperation between the teachers and thelearners Teachers have a poor pedagogic strategy for teaching writing,including the ability to give students prompt and useful feedback as well as tomotivate them Students, on the other hand, encounter several problems such ascommitting numerous errors in grammar, lack of coherence and cohesion, orvocabulary while teachers only provide them with quick feedback and do notspend enough time fixing the writing problems of students According to Adasand Bakir (2013), we cannot really teach language, we can only createconditions in which it will develop spontaneously in mind in its own way That

is the reason why a decent teacher instructs, a better teacher clarifies, and a greatteacher motivates The teaching and learning context, as well as how writingactivities were integrated as part of the blended learning outcome, are described

in their research study Obviously, the extent to which students were able toachieve from the intended outcome and the process from their teachers’instruction was to devise a plan with specific goals and determinations forlearning outcomes Anh (2019) suggested that remedial measures raise student'sawareness and motivation, develop writing materials, improve the Englishcurriculum and boost teaching methods with the application of technology inmanaging student's work and giving correction and feedback

3 Notion of Original Speech

Generally, the principal concerns of the other authors regarding thewriting proficiencies of first-year students encompassed insufficient languageproficiency, overreliance on their mother tongue, limited engagement betweeninstructors and learners, and the weak structural organization In addition toexploring insufficient language proficiency and ineffective teacher-studentcollaboration, which were previously examined by researchers, this studyidentified several other crucial factors that influence writing quality Theseinclude the amount of time learners spend on writing, their response to thewriting prompt, pre-writing outlining, background knowledge, and self-awareness of errors It is recommended that these novel findings be incorporatedinto the writing pedagogy, as it is believed that doing so would prompt learners

to take into consideration additional factors beyond insufficient languageproficiency, which are also pertinent to improving their writing proficiency

4 Key objectives/ Research question:

1 What are the common problems that freshmen at the Department ofForeign Language in Sai Gon University face in writing English?

2 What are the solutions adopted to help freshmen at the Department ofForeign Language in Sai Gon University to overcome these problems andimprove their English writing skill?

5 Research Methods

5.1 Procedure

Our research was performed in 12 weeks In the first week, we focused onchoosing the subject and making a plan After observing some problems ofstudents at Department of Foreign Languages in Sai Gon University anddiscussing together, we chose a topic about problems in writing English offreshmen Writing English was one of the biggest issues that DFL students have

to face in the first year, so we wanted to help freshmen to understand their issuesand find the solution to improve their English writing skills We startedsearching for the information and document references at the end of the firstweek In week 2, all researchers read and noted the involved information inreferences, also, we began to formally make the research From week 2 to 5, wedebated and investigated, then exposed our opinion, some aspects of writingEnglish and reviewed about some previous researches through abstract,introduction, literature review, notion of original speech, key assertions andobjectives The end of week 5 to the end of week 8 was the time for us to collectdata and conduct the survey, we created an online google form consisting of 10questions about writing English then posted it on a group of DFL students onFacebook, whose name was “Year 2021 The Department of Foreign Language -SGU” The next two weeks - week 9 and week 10, we analyzed and completedthe theoretical sections in the research proposal including analysis, researchlimitations and research methods In week 11, we synthesized all the segments,checked the whole research composition and made sure that there were not anymistakes The last week, we designed and edited the cover of our research paper,then printed it into a book and accomplished our research.

5.2 Participants of the study

Besides being known as one of the age-old educational institutions inVietnam with the elegant architecture derived from French concepts, Sai GonUniversity has a great reputation for incredible teaching quality, which is aprofound explanation for why it is always the destination that many high schoolstudents dream of or a site where parents can reliably send their children to Desiring to train the students of Sai Gon University into the citizens whohave moral virtue and the ability to perform high-level English language in fourskills – listening, reading, speaking, and writing, the Department of ForeignLanguages (DFL) was formed consisting of two sections including English

Pedagogy and English Language Apart from English skills, the EnglishPedagogy section focuses on offering teaching methods, classroom managementskills, and pupils’ mental recognition skills, while the English Language sectionconcentrates on primary knowledge of economy and tourism such as basicmarketing, tourism management, and trading laws Even though being in twodistinct majors, there are some courses which the students in both sections canstudy in the same classroom, for example, British-American culture,Morphology, Syntactics, Semantics, Listening – Speaking skills, and Reading –Writing skills course.

The teaching methods of Writing skills for the students at the DFL arebased on the two tasks of the IELTS Academic Writing Besides “LongmanAcademic Writing Series Volume 4”, “Improve your skills – Writing for IELTS6.0 – 7.5” also serves as the main reference for the teachers and students As aresult, to gain high scores at school, students are expected to meet the criteriawhich are task achievement (for task 1) or task response (for task 2), coherenceand cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range, and accuracy

The approaches applied to teach Writing skills in both sections areidentical; therefore, it is not necessary to categorize the participants of thedepartment into two separate experimental groups

To collect the data, our research team had conducted a survey which tookplace for 2 weeks, from April 25 to May 8 , 2022 The participants of the studyth th

were freshmen students of Sai Gon University selected randomly from a group

of DFL students on Facebook, whose name was “Year 2021 The Department ofForeign Languages - SGU” This group was created by the seniors, who wished

to generate an environment for freshmen where they were able to clear up theirqueries by asking questions, receiving news from the department, alsoexchanging documents and knowledge among the members Ethnicity, age, andgender did not serve as factors in the study Only Vietnamese freshmen who

started to learn at Sai Gon University in September 2021 were officialparticipants of the study.

5.3 Data collection

Types of problems in writing are variable among individuals; therefore, tocollect objective data, this research was carried out using the quantitativemethod according to the following pattern:

One questionnaire with a set of 10 questions, each question contains multiple-choice answers plus 1 option which the participants could type in casetheir idea was not included in the multiple-choices This questionnaire wasdesigned on Google Form, then posted on “ Year 2021 The Department ofForeign Languages - SGU” group from April 25 to May 8 , 2022 to collect theth th

3-answers After the participants had completed all 10 questions in thequestionnaire, their answers would be saved on the researchers’ devices.Most of the tasks in the data gathering process including creating thequestionnaire, receiving answers, and analyzing results were deskwork so thatthe interaction between researchers and participants during the COVID-19pandemic period could be reduced At first, the study aimed to receive at least

50 responses from participants; however, only 42 responses were collected at theend of the data collecting process

5.4 Instruments

Every single question in the questionnaire was designed to identify 3aspects of students including their reality, their difficulties, and the solutionswhen students encounter difficulties The questions and their purposes wereshown below:

Question 1: How often do you write English?