Luận văn teachers' corrective feedback on the 11th form students' writing at ngo gia tu high school bac ninh

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES Pet of THESIS SUMMARY Title: TEACHERS’ CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE I 1th FORM STUDENTS’ WRITING AT NGO GIA TU HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH Nghi*n cøu thùc t

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

Pet of

THESIS SUMMARY

Title: TEACHERS’ CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK ON THE I 1th FORM STUDENTS’

WRITING AT NGO GIA TU HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH

(Nghi*n cøu thùc tring vide phYn hai chta lgi cha gi,o vitn

xn bpi vidt cia hdc sinh lip 11 tr-6ng THPT Ng« Gia Ta, Byc

Ninh)

MA Minor Thesis

Ficld ; English Teaching Mcthodology

Code : 601410

By : Trần Fhị Hường

Supervisor: NguyÖn Thup Ph-¬ng ban, MA

Hanoi, 2011

iii

ABSTRACT

Although teachers? response to student writing plays an imporlant role in (caching writing, il

is usually neglected by teachers especially at high school level In an effort to investigate the

reality of teachers’ corrective feedback on the 11" form student writing and students’

opinions on what they receive, the rescarch was carricd out with participation of 90 grade 11

students and 10 teachers at Ngo Gia ‘Tu high school in Bac Ninh This is a survey research with Utree main instruments, The first one is the survey questionnaire for teachers and studonls which was cmployed to collect information aboul how teachers gave fectlback on the student writing and students’ opinions on what they received The other two were the direct interview with two teachers and the document analysis of the teacher corrective feedback on

students’ writing papers in practice This helped the rescarcher to get further information to

justify the results of the survey questionnaire The findings of the study revealed that there existed a lot of problems concerning Ieachers` responding methods, their feedback focus, their frequent types and forms as well as their help for students’ process of teachers’ feedback The results also showed the snismatch between what the teachers offen give and what the students would like to get Fthermore, the study recommends several important directions with the

hope to be ablz to improve the teacher’s fecdback, to help the students process the feedback

more effectively and thus to create a good cooperative working environment for teachers and

studenls to teach and io tearn wriling mare successfully

DECLARATION “

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTš

1 Rationale

11 Airns of the study

IIL Research questions

IV Method of the study

V Scope of the study

VI Significance of the study

VIL Design of the study

PART TWO ; DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER b LITERATURE REVIEW occ

L.1 Theoretical backgrounds to the teaching writing

L.1L.1 Definitions of writing

1.12 Approaches to leaching writing

1.1.2.2, The text-based approach v.00

1.1.2.2, The genve-based approach

1.1.2.3, The provess approche seve 1.2 Theoretical backgrounds to teachers’ feedback

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback

1.22 The benefits of teachers”

»

auđhnok tơ vriting,

1.2.3 Approaches to feedback giving

1.2.3.1 Single-draft approach

eo

1.2.32 The multiple-draft approach 10

1.2.4 Types ofteacher feađbaok 10

124.1 Formative feedhack versus summative feedback 10

1.2.4.2 Negative feedhack versus positive feedhack „

1.2.7.2 Appropriating stidents’ texts 13 1.2.7.3 Qverluoking the students’ varying levels of writing ability 14

2.6.1, Data analysis of quastionnaire for teachers and direct interview

2.6.2 Document analysis of the teachers feedback 27 2.6.3 Data mmalysis o[ tuastiunnaire Íor slUđePfs 2 28

REBERENCES 0 cecccscceesssssssssessssteesstsesseensssetusssiteesstiveseeiissetevssttees 1 AD

APPENDICIS

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 2.1 Teachers’ purposes of giving fesđbadk, non

Chart 2.1 Times of teacher feedback on each assignment

‘Table 2.2 Prequency of teacher feedback types

Table 2.3, Focus of teacher feedback

‘Table 2.4, Forms of teacher feedback

Chart 2.2 Teachers’ treatment with too many errors in the student writing,

Chart 2.3 The importance of teacher feedback

Chart 2.4 Students’ expectation for frequency of teacher feedback on each assignment

Chart 2.5 Students’ reading of teacher feedback

Table 2.5 Students’ expectation for teacher feedback types

‘Table 2.6, Students’ expectation for the focus of teacher feedback

Tabl

sfuiness of teacher feedback forms as perceived by students

Table 2.8, Students’ expectation for teachers’ treatment with too many ervors on writing

2

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale

Language cducators hav: long used the concepts of four basic language skills: listening, speaking,

reading and writing Among such four skills, writing is considered as a productive skill in the

written mode Writing helps students learn It helps reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms

and vocabulary that students have taught They also have a chance to be adventurous with the

language, to go beyond what they have just learnt When writing, they necessarily become very involved in the new language, the effort ly express ideas

With all the importance mentioned above, developing second language (1.2) writing proficiency is

now central to the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) However, how to improve

students’ writing seems to be very difficult In many cases, students would need intervention from

their teachers in terms of not only writing instructions but also thei: comments on the strengths

and weeknesses, which will make students know how to go about improving themselves and become effective writers As Kroll (2003, p 115) noles, “second language writers often henefit

most and make the mosi progress when teachers contribute to this goal through a variely of

iatervention strategies available in classroom settings” ‘Thus, teachers’ feedback can be

considered as a pedagogical fool for the students” writing improvement Good feedback gives

students stinmlation for revision and motivation to maintain their interest in writing

‘The use of teacher feedback in writing classrooms has been generally supported as a potentially valuable aid for ils social cognitive, affective and methodological benefiis (Merlin, (1986),

Radecki and Swales (1988), Hedge (2000), Feris and Roberts (2004)) They all believe that

teacher feedback is very important and has a great influence on the success of teaching and learning writing However, such information is not always clear out Many slndies on this area so

far have shown that there has been a lack of consensus over how teachers should respond to the

students’ writing,

Although teachers” feedback plays such an essential parl in teaching wriling, mos! teachers

especially high school ones do not pay much attention to this issuz At Ngo Gia Tu high school,

there have been few attempts to investigate feedback in general and teachers’ corrective feedback

in particular to explore which aspeets of wriling theory work in practic: and which aspects

teachers may need to adapt or modify in order to better serve their Iearners’ needs

The above reasons have urged the author, a teacher of English at Ngo Gia Tu high school, to

carry out a study on teachers’ corrective fecdback in an attempt to gt truthfial information on

how teachers at this school give corrective feedback on students’ writing; their problems in responding to students’ writing as well as students’ attitudes towards this feedback It is hoped that the study will help lo make recommendations for improving current tcachers’ feedback, helping students to process the feedback they receive more effectively and thus to improve their writing skills

IL Aims of the study

The study is aimed at

- Investigating teachers’ comective feedback given to 11" form students’ writings: their responding method the feedback focus, feedback types and forms, as well as their problems in responding fo the students’ writing,

- Investigating, students’ attitudes towards their teachers’ feedback and their opinions of the feedback they receive

- Proposing some recommendations for teachers to improve their fecdback giving practice in order to help students write more ettéctively

IIL Research Questions

In order to achieve the above- mentioned purposes, the following rescarch questions were formnitated and needed to be answered :

1 Tlow do the teachers give fe

2, What are the students’ opinions on the feedback they receive ?

IV Method of the study

fback on the students? wrilings ?

‘The study was carried ont using survey research method Survey questionnaires for teachers and

students were main instruments for dala collection Bi

document analysis of the teacher feedback on students’ writing papers were also used to gather farther information so that the research result would be more reliable, Data gathered was normally largely qualitative, bul it might also be quanlitative

V Scope of the study

Feedback in writing is a broad topic including peer feedback, self: editing, teachers’ corrective feedback However, within ths limitation of research time and the length of a minar thesis, the study just focuses

chosen for this study are 11" form students because they have been taught waiting, skills for one

on teachers? corrective fecdback on 11 form students’ wrilings The subjects

4 year at high school level and they are quite familiar with their teachers’ comment, This will make the study mote feasible Its results will be more applicable into the real classroom

VI Significance of the study

‘The present study was carried out with the hope that it would provide a general view of how teachers have aotually give feedback to students’ writing and what arc the students’ altitudes towards the feedback they receive, By collecting both teachers’ and students’ ideas about feedback giving practice, some suggestions for improving teachers’ feedback may be stated so

(hat students can utilize iL more suc

sssfully in their revision VII Design of the study

This study consists of three main parts: introduction development and conclusion The introduction part brietly presents the rationale of the study, the aims, research questions, methods, scope, the significance and the design of the study ‘he development part consists of three chapters Chapter one provid

ssintial Hteralure review relevant Lo the stndy including teaching writing in general and teacher feedback in particular, Chapter two deals with the methodology underlying the research, which presents the context of the study, the textbook, the background information about the subjects of the study, the instruments and proeedure for data collection as well as the detailed analysis of data collected Chapter thee is devoted to presenting the findings

of the study and the discussion about it ‘The thesis ends with the conclusion part which gives a snromary of the main issues thal have been discussed, some tceommendations and suggestions for farther research as well

PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER EL LITERATURE REVIEW

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the review of concepts that arc the most rclevant to the thesis’ topic It begins with some thcorctical backgrounds to the teaching writing, which includes definitions of writing and approaches to teaching writing Next come some theoretical backgrounds lo leachers’ feedback, which consists of definitions of fecdhack, purposes of giving fecdback, approaches lo giving feedback, forms, types anal focus

1.1 Theoretical backgrounds ta the Leaching wri

1.1.1 Definitions of writing,

‘What writing is and how it is developed has been a subject of discussion and debate for centuries, which shows a lack of consensus as to what if is and reflects the complexity of the writing process Traditionally, rescarchers focused mainly on for and the final product, while current research in composition emphasizes the composing process and strategies that are utilized by writers to attain the final product In this part, the researcher quoted some definitions of writing of

difforent authors (Byme (1991, p.01); (Larmon, 1989, p 9); (Flower & Hayes, 1981); (Renandya

& Richard, 2002, p.1); (Silva, 1990, p.15))

1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

The (caching of writing which is # vast and complex subject hes long been ø central cÏzrucnl in all-educational systems Also a number of conflicting views of the best ways to teach writing have been presented Raimes (1992) identifies three principle ways of approaching the task; matncly; Ihe Lext-based approach, the genre basci-approach and the pra

1.2, Theoretical backgrounds to teachers’ feedback

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback

approach

Up to the present, responding lo the student writing, including giving feedback is one of the thos controversial topies in second language instruction and theory There have been few attempts to define the term “feedback” in teaching writing, researchers seem to have reached a consensus of the nature and function of focdback Feedback as viewed by Fumborough and Truman (2009) entails the existence of gaps between what has been learned and the target competence of the learners, and th

Torts undertaken to bridge these gaps Similarly, Keh (1989, p 294) suggests

that feedback is “input from a reader to a writer with the effect of providing information for revision", Additionally Renandya and Richards (2002) state that: “for students who write only one draft, which is then graded by the teacher, feedback on what is wrong in the composition comes too late", This means that feedback should be provided in the “process of writing” rather than in the “single act of producing a text”

1.2.2 Fhe benefits of teachers’ feedback to writing

Lewis (2002) sums up the five benelits of giving feedback First, Feedback provides information for teachers and students Second, feedback provides students with advice about learning 'hird, fecdhack pravides students with meaning fal and individual language input, Fourth, feedback is a form of motivation Finally, feedback can lead students towards autonomy Oue long-term purpose of feedback is to lead students to the point where they can find their own mistakes In

6 many cases, teachers indicate the place and type of exror without correcting or underlining They require students to find and correct the mistake themselves

1.2.3, Approaches to feedback giving

1.2.3.1 The single-draft approach: This approach is popularly used in traditional classes whare

teacher's written feedback seems straightforward

1.2.3.2, The nuitiple-craft approach: ‘he multiple-drait approach is applied in “process writing”

classes where students may wrile several drafls which are tead and commented on or sditsd by the teacher Thon students are required to re-write, using the feedback offered by teacher

1.2.4, Types of teacher feedback

Teachers’ feedback em be conducted in many ways: dinlog journals, wrillen comments on students' draft or student-teacher conterences, However, the author of this study addresses some types of teacher's written feedback and how these types influence the student revision

1.2.44, Formative feedback versus summative feedback

1.2.4.2, Negative feedback versus positive feedback

1.2.5 Facus of teacher feedback

More cvidenes of progress and highar quilily of tha writing as a whole has beon obsorved in groups of students who receive feedback on content only or combination of both content and grammar (ierris and Lledgeock, 198) ‘This finding suggests that feedback needs to foous more

on vortignt thant on form, or a combinalion of both

1.2.6, Forms of teacher feedback

According to Fertis (19

teacher feedback generally operates within firur basic syntactic forms: question, statement, imperative, and exclamation, which present different pragmatic aims such as giving or asking for futher information, making request for revision, giving positive feedback

It is true that the composition teachers can use these forms to provide feedback to their students Howaver,

they should be aware of Ihe potential problems thal cach form presents In addition, Hendrickson (1976) suggests language teachers use various direct and indirect techniques when providing feedback to students” writing,

1.2.7 Tssues in the teachers’ written feedback

12.7.1 Traditional “marking”

12.7.2, Appropriating students’ texts