Difficulties In Writing Essays In The General English 5 Unit For Senior English Majors At The University Of Khanh Hoa.pdf

The data in the chart presents that approximately two thirds of the students found that they had difficulties with the number of 65.96% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very

PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE OF KHANH HOA PROVINCE

UNIVERSITY OF KHANH HOA

UNDERGRADUATE THESIS DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING ESSAYS

IN THE GENERAL ENGLISH 5 UNIT FOR

SENIOR ENGLISH MAJORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF

KHANH HOA

STUDENT’S NAME: TRAN THUY QUYNH CLASS: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS K1

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

SUPERVISOR: Dr TRAN THI AI HOA

Khanh Hoa, June 2020

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the study titled “Difficulties in writing essays in the General English 5 Unit for senior English majors at the University of Khanh Hoa” was bona fide research work accomplished by me from September, 2019 to June, 2020 and conducted under the supervisor of Dr Tran Thi Ai Hoa an instructor of English at Department of Foreign languages, the University of Khanh Hoa

This undergraduate thesis is not submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree, diploma or published any time before

TRAN THUY QUYNH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

From the outset of this report, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who have helped me in this study Without their active guidance, cooperation, help, and encouragement, I would not have made headway in the study

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the University of Khanh Hoa Board and all teachers in the Department of Foreign language for creating good conditions so that I could carry out and complete the graduate research, which will be a big milestone for my study at school and for career development in the future

I have special thanks to Ms Tran Thi Ai Hoa who was my supervisor during the research period with her friendliness and enthusiasm about supervising and supporting

me in completing the research work I am eternally grateful to my associate supervisor,

Dr Tran Thi Ai Hoa for extensive expertise and her tolerant perseverance with me in the world of combustion research It was only reason that her initial valuable guidance and accurate judgement that I received to be able to drive my research work in a respectable manner

In addition, I would like to thank Ms Nguyen Hoai Trang who is a lecturer of the Department of Foreign language at the University of Khanh Hoa teaching General English 5 Unit and thank all students in class English Lingustics K1 for their support and encouragement me to complete the research work in a cheerful and in enthusiastic

Further on, I would like to express my thanks to my best friends, Huynh Thuc Khiem, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen, Vo Thi Khuong Linh and Luu Thi Bao Khuyen for their offered support and motivation and for their precious friendship and strong faith

in me through all the fluctuations of my study

Last but not least, I would like to give all my thanks to my family for their

unconditional love and some my old friends who are the senior students in Ho Chi Minh city for giving me motivation and love

3.3.1 Participants

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION cceeSSSeeseesesesee

4.1 Findings from Questionnaire

4.1.1 Students’ background in learning English at school .-

4.1.3 Students’ essay wrifing learning and praCfÏCÏNE «<< ««<«<« 4.1.4, Students’ strategies to solve difficulties

4.2 Findings from Interview

4.2.1 Students’ interview

4.2.2 Teacher’s interview

4.3 Findings from Test scoring records

4.3.1 The score of 25 essays

contains from 1 point to 4 points each (Appendix C) The points were divided

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CAE: Certificate in Advanced English

GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

EFL: English as a foreign language

TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication

TOEFL iBT: Test of English as Foreign Language internet Based Test

UKH: University of Khanh Hoa

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 4 1: Descriptive statistics of writing essay score explained

Table 4, 2: Students’ difficulties in writing essays

Figure 4 1: Students’ numbers of the years of having learned English 14

Figure 4 3: How to answer questions relating to the topic to develop ideas for the

Figure 4 4: How to construct an essay (including introduction, body and

Figure 4 18: Interaction between the teacher and the studenf « 23

Figure 4 27: More time for practicing writing essays because of part — time jobs

28 Figure 4 28: Learning writing essay in class at General English 5 Unit 28 Figure 4 29: Learning writing in the General English 5 Unit at school 29 Figure 4 30: The pie chart shows the percentage of students being given writing

Figure 4 32: Frequency of practicing writing essays after school .« 30 Figure 4 33: Frequency of practicing writing essays after school per week 31

Figure 4 34: Frequency of practicing writing essays after schools per day on

ABSTRACT

It can be said that language is considered one of the important factors in all fields nowadays, especially diplomacy and communication With the development of industrialization and modernization of the country and integration of globalization, learning foreign languages becomes more and more necessary Internationally, English

is widely used all over the world As we know, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are four important skills in English subject at high schools, in European- standard training programs at colleges or universities and in international standards - based assessments such as TOEIC for getting jobs, TOELF and IELTS for study and settling abroad

For English learners, writing skill is considered as one of the important skills of the English learning Of which, writing English essays is very important for learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) Writing essays are obligated in writing programs

at colleges and universities such as writing in the final assessment tests, in the writing sections of the tests to assess English proficiency according to international standards Through writing essays, it is possible to evaluate the ability to learn English The essay

is also considered as a basic of developing other advanced forms of writing such as thesis, blueprint, report, etc However, it is not easy to write English essays well because learners are prone to making linguistic mistakes and encountering several obstacles

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

As learners of English as a major at the University of Khanh Hoa (UKH), even though having learnt writing essays in General English 5 Unit following the textbook English at level C1 Advanced, the senior English majors still had difficulties in writing essays when learning and writing essays in final-term examinations Actually, many students said that they were not skillful at writing essays, therefore, they did not make good or excellent points in their essays of the mid-term test and final exams They found it problematic write good essays with high marks in the mid-term or final examinations Thus, this study aims at investigating difficulties that students encounter

in writing essay and suggesting solutions to deal with the difficulties so that their essays can become better in their examinations

1.2 Significance of the study

This study is significant in some aspects due to endeavoring contributions as follows

First, as a contribution to the EFL teaching methodologies, the result of the study can be used as a document for teachers to organize planning and teaching methods focusing on essay writing skill effectively, which helps to get high efficiency

in teaching English language For the EFL learning methodologies, the study will show considerations for difficulties in writing essays and give students some ways to cope with, which can help to develop students’ abilities of writing essays in specific and students’ writing skill in general

Second, the findings of this study contribute to the process of promoting and developing English learning skill for English learners at the University of Khanh Hoa (UKH) who not only learn English for taking tests but also can use it in future jobs

Third, this study brings students some advantages in improving their self-study competence by raising their awareness of the importance of essay writing skill and providing them with strategies and methods to enhance their abilities to writing essays

Third, the result of this study are also advantageous to English teachers in introducing reference materials and providing students with methods of integrating teaching essay writing skill in the General English 5 Unit, designing authenticity for teaching methods and materials to be suitable to students’ abilities of writing English essays

Finally, the study may be a reference material for those who would like to research to and develop the same the topic as this study Moreover, it is a good chance for student to have experience to carry out scientific research and improve English writing skill

1.3 Aim and objective of the study

1.3.1 Aim of the study

The aim of this survey is to find out difficulties in writing essays that senior English majored students faced in the General English 5 Unit This will help to recommend relevant solutions for the students in English Linguistics classes to advance essay writing skill

1.3.2 Objectives of the study

(1) To attain the opinions of the students and the teacher about difficulties in writing essays, methods of learning and teaching writing essays at school and the result

of writing essays in general at school Of which, finding difficulties that students faced

in writing essays is the main objective in this study

(2) To cope with the difficulties senior English majors encountered in writing essays

(3) To grasp criteria and strategies for choosing and using the authentic materials appropriate for the next General English 5 unit in the future

(4) To pursue methods and strategies to enhance students’ essays writing skill

1.4 Research question

Aim of this study is to answer the following question:

What are difficulties which the senior English majors at the University of Khanh Hoa (UKH) encountered in writing essays in the General English 5 Unit?

To answer this question, there are two problems to find out:

(1) Difficulties in writing essays

(2) Errors in essays

1.5 Structure of the study

The study consists of three major parts They are introduction, development and conclusion The introduction (Chapter one) presents the study rationale, significance, aims and objectives and research questions Next, the development includes three chapters They are chapter two, chapter three and chapter four Chapter two presents a review of literature with the issue regarding to writing essays and difficulties in writing essays in previous studies Chapter three shows the research methodology and procedure for data collection and analysis Chapter four reports the results of findings and discussions The final part is conclusion which carries sections of summary, implications for learning and teaching methods, limitations and recommendations for further study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Writing essays

2.1.1 Definition of an essay

In general, an essay can be defined as a short piece of writing that expresses information as well as the opinion of the writer According to Zemach & Rumisek (2005: 56), an essay is a group of paragraphs that is written about single topic and main ideas It includes at least three paragraphs; however, a five-paragraph essay is an essay that has common length for academic essays

2.1.2 Structure of an essay

An essay comprises three main parts The main points of the essays are introduces in an introductory paragraph and supported in body paragraphs The conclusion is the last paragraph The introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of an essay The introduction has two purposes consisting of introducing the topic of the

essay as well and giving a clear idea of the writer’s opinion on the topic A body of an essay consists of one or more paragraphs which follow the introduction Each of paragraphs has the function of supporting the central idea of the essay Each paragraph

of the body comprises one topic sentence and some supporting ideas A conclusion sentence draws the paragraph together The conclusion paragraph is the last paragraph

of an essay The function of the conclusion is summarizing the most important idea Moreover, the conclusion also gives opinions or solutions to a problem

2.1.3 Types of essays

Some common essays are descriptive essay, definition essay, compare & contrast essay, cause & effect essay, narrative essay, argumentative essay, expository essay, persuasive essay The descriptive essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to describe an object, person, place, experience, emotion and so on This genre encourages ability of students to create Definition essay is the essay that explains what

a term means Some terms have definite and concrete meanings such as things, animal, plants and so on In other words, definition essay provides an explanation of a general principle or idea by using a number of well-chosen examples Compare & Contrast essay is the essay focuses on how two or more than items are similar and different to each other The items can be people, things or any events Cause & Effect essay is the essay that explains why or how things happen (cause) and what happens as a results (effects) The narrative essay is the essay that tells the details of one main event It is also a story It can be based on one of one’s own experience and it also communicates

a main idea or a lesson learned The argumentative essay is a genre of essay showing opinions about agreement or disagreement of the writers with a certain issue to persuade the reader to accept or seriously consider The expository essay requires the student to investigate ideas, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea and set forth an argument in a clear and concise manner This can be accomplished through

comparison and contrast, definition, example, the analysis of cause and effect Persuasive essay is the kind of writing that depends on the reader’s reaction to what the winter says It can be said that the goal of persuasive writing is to make the readers change from their viewpoint to writers’ viewpoint

2.2 Previous studies

This chapter presents difficulties in writing essays which are found in domestic and foreign studies as an overall review for the related research area

For domestic research, there was the study "A Study on Students’ Linguistic Difficulties in TOEFL IBT Essay Writing and Sugguested Solutions” carried out by Nguyen Thị Lien (2013) from Hanoi National University The subjects of study were learners and the TOFEFL iBT English certification exam takers The research shows the difficulties of students when writing TOEFL iBT essays and proposed solutions to help learners overcome The results of the research show that students encountered difficulties in Writing Task 2 TOEFL iBT They did not have the ability to rewrite sentences, take notes, express ideas clearly, use academic vocabulary and develop the body of essays Some other problems that students faced are time limitation, limited length of the essay, non-coherent essay structures and common spelling errors

For the foreign studies, the study titled "EFL Students’ Difficulties and Needs in Essay Writing" (2009) carried out by Ariyanti and Fitriana at Widya Gama Mahakam University in Indonesia, which pointed out five main issues that students encountered when writing an essay The main problems in studying writing essays are grammatical coherent aspects, followed by dictionaries In grammar, the researcher found that writers often overlook the correct use of tenses, consensus between subject and predicate, personal pronouns, word order, and usage of articles and auxiliary words and sentence patterns in their writing In addition, cohesion and coherence are the biggest problems that astudent has The students should rely on the thesis in forming topic sentences in body paragraphs, but they do not include them in the introductory paragraph to develop their ideas and most are not coherently connected Besides, students also encountered difficulties such as paragraph organization Relating to paragraph organization, most students did not start a paragraph with line rules Moreover, the length of the paragraph they write was inappropriate because many students wrote too many sentences that make the paragraph too long and unreadable

Another research topic titled "Problems faced by the English students in writing

a Descriptive essay" (2015) by Jefri from the University Studying in Jambi, Indonesia has pointed out the difficulties of the writing writer describing "Descriptive essay" This is one of the types of writing found in the Writing part of the B1 level in English and Task 2 of the IELTS tests Through the study, the author drew some conclusions that students face grammatical problems in their essay structure, have difficulties that

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avoid adding words and not using the right words In general matters, students face problems of lack of time, difficulty keeping word limits and lack of preparation before writing Having a preparation before starting to write will bring them positive effects in writing an essay But, implementing a number of strategies during and after writing an essay has helped them reduce the mistakes of writing the essay and help them clearly explain each body paragraph, while also giving the content consistent with essay topic

Nyang'au Benard Nyasimi, from Kenyatta University, Kenya, East Africa (2014) with titled “Challenges students face in learning essay writing skill in English language on secondary schools in Manga District, Nyamira county, Kenya”, which studied the challenges high school students encountered when learning essay writing skills The result of study showed that controlling content, using grammar and the effects of the mother tongue were the biggest challenges faced by students Other common challenges pointed out include vocabulary limitations that result in loss of spontaneity in English, limitations of adequate and insufficient teaching and learning

materials

Most studies showed that learners have problems in grammar and the most spelling mistakes Learners are limited in using words for paragraphs Interventions in the mother tongue interfere with writing in English in finding ideas and answering questions, solving problems in the topic For groups of difficulties in expressing, coherence and cohesion, it is a common group of difficult for those who do not master the structure, skills and mechanisms In addition, the group of facing difficulties in time and lack of learning materials are also common difficulties affecting the result of writing essays

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

This chapter described the research methodology of the study It consisted of the research approach and design, research setting, research participants and sample, data collection, data analysis, reliability and validity

3.1 Research approach and design

In order to satisfy the objectives of the study, the use of a quantitative survey is

a well-established approach in this study The reason for occupying this approach was that it takes into accounts the aims at finding out the difficulties that the students had

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during writing essays, so it is necessary to discover the number of the participants’ answers on the questions

Quantitative research is a means of testing objective theories by examining the relationship between variables which can be typically measured on instruments, according to John W Creswell (2014; 295) The numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures through polls, survey questionnaires or by manipulating pre- existing statistical data using computational techniques Quantitative research focuses

on gathering numerical data and generalizing the data across groups of people or to explain a particular phenomenon (Babbie, 2010; Muijs, 2010) The two above definitions are considered to be the basis of the present study design In this study, the information was collected, distributed and analyzed through survey questionnaire Personal interview conducted to the students and teacher to get their opinions about teaching and learning writing essays with open ended questionnaire This design was to meet the objectives of the study The result of questionnaire and interview will reveal difficulties and suggest relevant to solutions

3.3 Research participants and sampling

3.3.1 Participants

To guarantee for the unity through the study, the participants of the study were forty seven students (including group 1 and group 2) in English linguistics Kland a teacher who taught General English 5 Unit in the class at the UKH The University of Khanh Hoa (UKH) is located in Nha Trang city, Khanh Khoa province Nha Trang is a famous coastal city and is one of the important tourist hubs of Vietnam The number of foreign tourists has been more and more increasing, which requires a human resource

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with high level of English This is also considered potential for the development of English Linguistics at the University of Khanh Hoa (UKH) Thus, learning English is very necessary for those who work tourism activities For English majors at the UKH, they have opportunities to work in various fields, of which translating — interpreting, services and travelling fields include after graduation

To creating identity and ensuring objectivity, forty seven participants are the students whose majority is English linguistics Almost students are 22 years old, except one student is 24 years old All students took the national examination for the Graduation Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and for university admission in

2016 Moreover, they come from both urban and rural areas, therefore they have different conditions of learning English The reason is that they are the first students who have learning and writing essays in English General 5 Unit at the final school year

In this study, one teacher who was the instructor in class English Linguistics at the University of Khanh Hoa was interviewed The teacher taught English General 5 unit in both group 1 and group 2 of the class The teacher is the Master in Approaches and methods in TESOL.Therefore, it is homogenous and conformable enough to assess general level of students at its true worth in writings essays

included writing essay task and the students wrote essays with the same topic In this study, twenty five essays of students were randomly chosen for testing

25 students’ essays excerpted

47 students in class English from the final-term exam in

Diagram of sample population

3.4 Data collection

3.4.1 Data collection instrument

To achieve more complete data information, survey questionnaire, interview and test scoring records were used as research instruments

3.4.1.1 Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a list of questions or other types of prompts that aims at collecting information from a respondent, according to Adi Bhat (2020), A research questionnaire developed in 1838 by the Statistical Society

of London is typically a mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions Open-ended and long-form questions offer the respondent the ability to elaborate on their thoughts The collected data can be both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature A questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a survey always consists of a questionnaire

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In this research, the survey questionnaire was distributed in order to have factual data regarding with the students’ difficulties in writing essays and put forward some ideas for suggestion The purpose of the survey questionnaire is to preliminary survey students’ difficulties in writing essays and what they want to improve in writing essays and to inspect that whether the four year English majored student at the UKH encountered difficulties in writing essays

In the survey questionnaire, researcher established one open-ended question regarding to the method of improving students’ writing essay for the purpose of collecting ideas about writing essay on their own that students provided, which would

be the basis of research suggestion Specifically, there were 19 sentences in the survey form The survey form was designed with both open-ended and closed-end questions in bilingual for participants easily answer the questions Of which, there were 18 closed- end questions and 1 open-ended question (Appendix A)

to develop in-depth accounts of information about experience and knowledge with individuals, according to Cousin (2009: 71)

3.4.1.3 Test scoring records

In the research, essays collected from the final-term test of the General English

5 Unit were analyzed based on Rubric for assessment of writing essays (Appendix C) for examining record An essay rubric can be considered a way to assess essay writing

by using specific criteria to grade assignments In writing essays, essay rubric can be a simple way used to grade essays All of the criteria are listed and organized into one convenient paper, therefore, essay rubrics save teachers and students time, and can help improve students’ essay writing skill Besides, it can be said that essay rubric is a

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useful tool to evaluate an essay because students and teachers can design an essay rubric for their own to be easier to control and evaluate essays in writing and grading essays Essay rubric can be used to sore essays in some standardized tests like the SAT

or IELTS This is reliable enough to use essay rubric for evaluate the students’ essays

in this study

3.4.2 Data collecting procedure

First of all, survey questionnaire (Appendix A) was the instrument used to collect the data from forty seven students in class English linguistics K1 After the students had finished answering the questionnaire, the researcher interviewed ten students in both group | and group 2 of the class in random to specify information and interviewed one teacher to get her perception and opinions The interview records were wrote out for analysis Finally, twenty five students’ essays were randomly collected as the supporting data to confirm the result of the questionnaire

3.5 Data analysis

3.5.1 Questionnaire

In this research, the researcher analyzed the data from survey questionnaire after filled by participants To analyze the data, the researcher used descriptive statistics, including charts, percentage and mean Microsoft office Excel 2010 program was used for this analysis Microsoft office Excel 2010 is one of high fidelity tools used to support presenting data The purpose of using Microsoft office Excel 2010 program is

to describe the research question in quantitative by using descriptive statistics There were some steps of analysis the data by using Microsoft office Excel 2010 First of all,

the researcher entered the data into the Excel software Then, the researcher cleaned

and checked the data before creating charts After that, charts were created based on the data and were used to analyze

3.5.2 Interview

After collected, the data from the results of students’ interview and teacher’s interview were summarized and filted Then, the data were classified into topics relating to the objectives of the study The data of interview would be compared with the data of survey form to clear and specify students’ difficulties and discover more information about the objective of the study

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3.5.3 Test scoring records

Twenty — five students’ essays were graded on the 20 grading scale based on Essay Grading Rubric After grading students’ essays, the essays were classified following by the grades for bringing out appreciation of the result of writing essays for the students, based on the criterions of the Essay Rubric

3.6 Validity and Reliability

3.6.1 Validity

According to Creswell (2012), validity is the degree that every evident points to the intended interpretation of the test scores for the proposed purposes Validity refers how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure In this study, the survey questionnaire made is valid and it can be used to find out difficulties writing essays faced by senior English majors to answer the research question The researcher conducted the validity test to senior English majors in the class English Linguistics K1 Microsoft Office Excel 2010 was used to measure the validity

3.6.2 Reliability

According to Johnson and Christensen (2008), reliability refers to the consistently a method measures something If the results that are as same as to each one achieved by using the same methods the similar circumstances, the measurement is considered reliable In this study, the analysis of reliability of survey questionnaire in this research measured with Microsoft Office Excel 2010 program The reliability of the

questionnaire was tested in the class English Linguistics K1 and measured the reliability of the questionnaire by putting all the valid items into Microsoft Office Excel 2010 programs

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Findings from Questionnaire

4.1.1 Students’ background in learning English at school

This category presents the number of years for which the students have learned English and purpose why they have taken the university courses These are the two

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basic factors to show the students’ motivation of learning English in general and in writing English essays in particular The pie chart and bar chart (Figure 4.1 and Figure 4.2) show the percentage of students answering about the number of years for learning English and the purposes of studying at the University of Khanh Hoa It can be seen that 91.5% of the students who have learned English for over 7 years, while this number is much smaller with 6.4% of the students for 7 years and 2.1% for 3 years

In terms of learning purposes, Figure 4.2 shows the most common purpose of learning English is for future job, with 85.1% of the students Whereas, the other purposes such as learning for obligation, hobby and diplomat range from 12% to 19.1% Besides, very few students learned English because they are forced by family and do not have love for English (4.2%) The results reveal that the students have favourable conditions of learning English at the university and that they have a basic starting point of attending university for English as major

2.10% 6.40%

For 3 years

For 7 years

More than 7 years 91.50%

Figure 4 1: Students’ numbers of the years of having learned English

For an For For For Other

obligated hobby diploma future

Figure 4 2: Purpose of learning English

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4.1.2 Students’ difficulties in writing essays

4.1.2.1 Difficulties relating to essay writing skills

These are difficulties based on standards of the Essay Rubric edited by the researcher in question 16 in the survey questionnaire (Appendix C)

(1) Difficulties in focusing on topics and main ideas

The chart (Figure 4.3) shows the proportion of students answering about difficulty in developing ideas to begin an essay The data in the chart presents that approximately two thirds of the students found that they had difficulties with the number of 65.96% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, about one third of students found that it was quite difficult to develop ideas for the essay in writing essays or developing ideas for the essay was not difficult

How to answer questions relating

to the topic to develop ideas for the

essay 2.13% © 12.77% Very difficult

Quite difficult

A bit difficult 36.17%

Figure 4 3: How to answer questions relating to the topic to develop ideas for the

essay

(2) Difficulties in organizing an essay

Figure 4.4 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties in constructing

an essay It is clear from the chart that nearly three quarters of students had difficulties with the number of 74.47% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, about one quarter of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 25.53% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 6.38% of students found that it not difficult when constructing an essays

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6.38% 12.77%

Difficult Quite difficult 29.19% A bit difficult Not difficult 31.91%

Figure 4 4: How to construct an essay (including introduction, body and

conclusion)

Figure 4.5 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties in writing topic sentences According to the chart, it is clear that nearly three quarters of students had difficulties with the number of 72.34% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and

“Very difficult” Whereas, about one quarter of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 275.66% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 6.38% of students found that it not difficult when constructing an essays

21.28%

42.55%

Figure 4 5: How to write topic sentences

The pie chart (Figure 4.6) illustrates the percentage of students who had the difficulty in writing supporting sentences It has the same figure as the chart of Figure 4.4 It is very clear that nearly three quarters of students had difficulties with the number of 74.47% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” In contrast, it is about one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the

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number of 25.53% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 6.38% of students answered that they found it not difficult when writing supporting sentences

6.38% 12.77%

19.15% Very difficult

Difficult Quite difficult

A bit difficult

Not difficult 31.91%

Figure 4 6: How to write supporting sentences

(3) Difficulties in developing essay content

Figure 4.7 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in applying practical knowledge about topic in developing essay content From the data in the chart, it can be seen that nearly two thirds of students had difficulties with the number

of 63.83% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, about one thirds of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 36.17% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” There is only 2.13% of students found that it was not difficult

Practical knowledge about topic

17.02%

Figure 4 7: Practical knowledge about topic

(4) Difficulties in using vocabulary

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Figure 4.8 illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in using vocabulary According to the chart, just over two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 68.08% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, less than one thirds of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 31.92% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 8.51% of students found that it was not difficult

Not difficult

25.53%

Figure 4 8: Word choice

(5) Difficulties in sentence structure, grammar usage, mechanics and spelling

Figure 4.9 illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in using grammar As the chart shows more than two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 68.08% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, roughly one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 31.92% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 10.64% of students found that it was not difficult

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Very difficult

Quite difficult

A bit difficult Not difficult 29.78%

21.28%

Figure 4 9: Grammar usage

Figure 4.10 illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in spelling errors According to the chart, it can be seen that less than half of students had difficulties with the number of 40.43% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and

“Very difficult” However, more than half of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 59.57% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, approximately two fifths of students found spelling a bit difficult and only 19.15% of students answered that they found spelling not difficult

19.15% 8.51%

12.77% Very difficult

Difficult Quite difficult 19.15% A bit difficult

Not difficult 40.42%

Figure 4 10: Spelling errors

The pie chart (Figure 4.11) illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in paraphrasing sentences The figure presents that more than two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 68.08% consisting of “Quite difficult”,

“Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, roughly one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 31.92% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 8.51% of students found that it was not difficult

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8.51% 17.02%

Very difficult

Quite difficult 25.53% A bit difficult Not difficult 25.53%

Figure 4 11: Sentence paraphrase

Figure 4.12 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in using linking words From the data in the chart, more than two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 61.7% consisting of “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and

“Very difficult” However, roughly one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 38.3% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 8.51% of students found that it was not difficult

8.51% 6.38%

Very difficult 29.79% Difficult

A bit difficult Not difficult 25.53%

Figure 4 12: Linking words

Figure 4.13 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties in literary mechanism The chart shows that more than over four fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 82.98% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, less than one fifth of students found that literary mechanism was slightly difficult, with the number of 17.02% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 2.13% of students found that it was not difficult

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2.13%

14.89% 23.40%

Very difficult Difficult Quite difficult

A bit difficult

Figure 4 13: Literary mechanism

The percentage of students who had difficulties with word limitation in essays is shown in Figure 4.14 Clearly, approximately two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 65.96% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, more than one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 34.04% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” There is only 2.13% of students found that it was not difficult

Figure 4 14: Large words in the paper

Figure 4.15 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in writing sentences to their contexts when writing essays According to the chart, nearly approximately three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 59.58% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, roughly two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 40.42% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 8.51% of students found

that it was not difficult

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14.90%

Figure 4 15: Writing sentence in context

Figure 4.16 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties in coherence and cohesion It can be seen that nearly approximately four fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 82.98% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and

“Very difficult” Whereas, roughly one fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 17.02% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult”

17.02% - “0958512

Always Usually 29.79% Often Sometimes

Never 44.68%

Figure 4 16: Coherence and cohesion

4.1.2.2 Difficulties relating to methods of learning writing essays

Figure 4.17 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in guidelines for writing essay writing According to the chart, nearly approximately three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 59.58% including “Quite difficult’, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, roughly two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 40.42% including “A bit

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difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 4.26% of students found that it was not difficult

4.26% 12/71%

Very difficult Difficult Quite difficult

A bit difficult Not difficult

27.66%

Figure 4 17: Essay writing guidelines

The percentage of students who had difficulties in interaction between the teacher and the student is illustrated in Figure 4.18 It is clear that nearly two fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 40.42% including “Quite difficult”,

“Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, approximately three fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 59.58% including “A bit difficult” and

“Not difficult” Of which, only 14.9% of students found that it was not difficult

14.90% 38%

14.89% — Very difficult

Difficult Quite difficult 19.15% A bit difficult

Figure 4 18: Interaction between the teacher and the student

Figure 4.19 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties with unqualitied corrected-essays From the data in the chart, just under half of students found that it was difficulties with the number of 44.07% including “Quite difficult’,

“Difficult” and “Very difficult” In contrast, over a half of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 55.93% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 19.15% of students found that it was not difficult

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19.15% 12.11%

Very difficult Difficult 21.28% Quite difficult

A bit difficult

10.02%

Figure 4 19: Unqualitied corrected-essays

Figure 4.20 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in using materials It is clear that more than a half of students found that it was difficulties with the number of 53.19% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, less than a half of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number

of 46.81% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 17.02% of

students found that it was not difficult

Very difficult Difficult 23.40% Quite difficult

Not difficult 17.02%

Figure 4 20: Materials

Figure 4.21 illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in time limitation It can be seen that more than three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 68.08% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, less than two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 31.92% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult”

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10.64% 14.89%

Alaways Usually

Often 34.04% Sometimes

21.28%

Never 19.15%

Figure 4 21: Time limitation

4.1.2.3 Difficulties relating to mental elements

Figure 4.22 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties in short-term memories According to the chart, over three quarters of students had difficulties with the number of 76.59% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” While less than a half of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 23.41% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 8.51% of

students found that it was not difficult

8.51% 17.02% Very difficul

14.90% ery difficult

Difficult Quite difficult 25.53% A bit difficult Not difficult 34.04%

Figure 4 22: Short-term memories

Figure 4.23 shows the percentage of students who had difficulties relating to spirits, mood and feelings In clear, more than two thirds of students had difficulties with the number of 68.08% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” However, less than one third of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 31.92% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 12.77% of students found that it was not difficult

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12.77% 8.51%

Very difficult Difficult Quite difficult

A bit difficult Not difficult

34.04%

Figure 4 23: Spirits, mood and feelings

The percentage of students who had difficulties in negative attitudes is presented

in Figure 4.24 According to the chart, nearly three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 57.45% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, nearly two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult, with the number of 42.55% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 14.89% of students found that it was not difficult

14.89% 8.51%

Very difficult

19.15% Difficult Quite difficult

Not difficult 29.79%

Figure 4 24: Negative attitudes

4.1.2.4 Difficulties relating to strategies of learning writing essays

Figure 4.25 illustrates the percentage of students who had difficulties in group work in class to improve essay writing skills According to the chart, about two fifths

of students had difficulties with the number of 40.43% including “Quite difficult”,

“Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, three fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 59.57% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 12.77% of students found that it was not difficult

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12.77% 326%

23.40% Very difficult

Difficult Quite difficult

A bit difficult

Figure 4 25: Group work in class

The percentage of students who had difficulties in group work in self-study to enhance essay writing skills is shown in Figure 4.26 Clearly, less than three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 57.44% including “Quite difficult”,

“Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, more than two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 42.56% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 12.78% of students found that it was not difficult

Figure 4 26: Self-study

Figure 4.27 presents the percentage of students who had difficulties in having no more time for practicing writing essays because of part — time jobs The chart shows that less than three fifths of students had difficulties with the number of 57.45% including “Quite difficult”, “Difficult” and “Very difficult” Whereas, more than two fifths of students found that it was slightly difficult with the number of 42.55% including “A bit difficult” and “Not difficult” Of which, only 19.15% of students found that it was not difficult

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19.15% 12.78% Very difficult

Difficult 27.65%

difficult

A bit difficult 17.02%

Figure 4 27: More time for practicing writing essays because of part — time jobs

4.1.3 Students’ essay writing learning and practicing

(1) Learning writing essays at school

Figure 4.28 presents the percentage of students agreed that they ever learnt writing essay in class at General English 5 Unit From the chart, 93.6% of students (more than nine in ten) agreed they learned writing essays in class at the 4" school year Only 2.1% of students did not learned writing essays and 4.3 % of students did not know if they learnt writing essays at school in the 4" year

Figure 4 28: Learning writing essay in class at General English 5 Unit

Figure 4.29 shows the percentage of It can be seen that 70.3% (more than two thirds of students) of students answers that they did learned writing essays much in the General English 5 Unit at school consisting of “Sometime” and “Never” Specifically, 66% of students (more than half of students) answered they sometimes learnt writing essays at school With 29.7% of students (less than one third of students) learned writing essays at school including “Often”, “Usually”, “Always”

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Always

17.00% Usually

Often Sometimes

Figure 4 29: Learning writing in the General English 5 Unit at school

The pie chart (Figure 4.30) shows the percentage of students who given writing essays at homework According to the chart, 55.3% (more than half of students) of students did not receive many writing essay tasks for homework including “Sometime” and “Never” Of which, 53.2% of students (about half of students) answered they sometimes received writing essays as homework With 44.7% of students

(approximately half of students) answered that they often received a lot of writing essays tasks as homework including “Often”, “Usually”, “Always”

2.1% 6.4%

14.9% Always

Usually Often

27 óc

the teacher corrected their essays well including “Often”, “Usually”, “Always”

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2.10% 8.50%

Always

23.40% Usually

Often 53.20%

Sometimes 12.80% Never

Figure 4 31: The essay correction at school

(2) Practicing writing essays after school

The graph (Figure 4.32) illustrates the percentage of students who practiced writing essays after schools The data shows that 89.8% (nearly nine in ten) of students wrote essays after school to enhance their essay writing skills consisting of

“Sometime” and “Never” Specifically, 53.2% of students (about half of students) answered that they sometimes practice writing essays after school 36.4% of students answered that they never practice writing essays after school Only 10.2% of students (nearly one in ten) practice essays hard including “Often”, “Usually”, “Always”

4.3% 21%

Often Sometimes

53.2% Never

Figure 4 32: Frequency of practicing writing essays after school

Figure 4.33 shows the percentage of frequency of practicing writing essays after school per week According to the bar chart, a significant amount of students spent from 1 day to 3 days on practicing writing essays, from 23.4% to 38.3% A minority of students spent 4 days on practice, at 6.4% 6.4% of students spent 0 days on practicing However, none of students spent 5 days, 6 days or 7 days on practicing writing essays

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