Luận văn teaching and learning english writing skills at chu van an high school for the gifted lang son province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES DU AI HUE CHI TEACIING AND LEARNING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS AT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

DU AI HUE CHI

TEACIING AND LEARNING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS

AT CHU VAN AN HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED, LANG SON

PROVINCE: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

(VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN

CU VAN AN, LẠNG SƠN: NHỮNG KIIÓ KHĂN VÀ GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Cade : 60140111

Hanoi, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

DU AL HUE CO

TEACIING AND LEARNING ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS

AT CHU VAN AN HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED, LANG SON

PROVINCE: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

(VIỆC DẠY VA HOC K¥ NANG VIET TAT TRUONG THPT CHUYÊN CHU VAN AN, LANG SON: NHONG KHO KHAN VA GIAI PHAP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Code + 60140111

Supervisor: Assoe Prof Dr Kidu Thị Thu Hương

Hanoi, 2015

STATEMENT OF THE AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “Teaching and Learning English Whiting Skills at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, Lang Son Province: Difficulties and Solutions” is the result of my own stndy to fulfill the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages, [lanoi National

Universily, and that this minor thesis has not b

mn subsrilied for any degree al any

other usiversily or terliary instilution

Hanoi, September 2013

Du Ai Hue Chit

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lam indebted to many people without whose help the present thesis could not have been completed First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Kien Thi Thu Huong, my research supervisor, for her invaluable guidancu, insightful comments and endless support,

T am deeply thankful to Dr Le Tumg Tien and all the staff members of the Post

graduate Department, College of Forcign Languages, Hanoi National University for their interesting und informative lectures, which have provided me with uscfid knowledge of teaching methodology

My thanks are also extended to all the teachers and students at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, Lang Son province for their enthusiastic assistance during the process of collecting data and information for my study

My special thanks are due to the library staff at ULIS for their tremendous efforts in finding books and joumnal articles for me

Firully, T owe the completion of this rescarch tơ tuy parerus and my siblings, my husband and my child, who have always given me their love, understanding and encouragement throughout my study

To all mentioned, and to many more, my heart extends the warmest thanks

ABSTRACT

‘This study is an attempt to explore the reality of the teaching and Jeaming English

wriling skills al Chu Van An High School for the Gifled in Lang Son Province TL

aims at affording deep insights into the difficultics encountered by the tenth graders

in their leaming of writing Such issues as the teachers’ and students’ attitudes

towards writing, the students’ writing strategies and the students' writmg traming are

carefully examined on the basis of the data obtained trom elicited wntten questionnaires and class observation ‘he findings exhibit that students have to face

many difficulties in three writing stages: Pre-writing, While-writing and Post-

writing These difficulties are not only due to the teachers' and students’ negative

altitudes towards writing but also he shortcomings in the sindenis' writiyg

stra

gics and training Based on those findings, the study provides some

pedagogical suggcstions to overcome the difficultics.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 BEL: English as a foreign language

2 HST: English as a scuond languape

3 CWA: Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, Lang Son Province

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Tables

Table 1: Differences between the process writing and the product writing

Table 2 Topies and text lypes in each unit of English 10

Table 3 Sludents' writing strategies

Table 4 The mamber of drafts

Table 5 Students' rewriting strategics

Table G Students' judgment of their Pre-writing difficulties

Table 7 Students' judement of their While-writing difficulties

Table 8 Students' judgment of their Post-writing difficulties

‘Table 0 Frequency of activities used by teachers in Pre-writing

Table 10 Frequency of activities used by teachers in While-writing

Table 11 Frequency of activities used by teachers in Posi-writing

Charts

Chart 1 The most diffienlt skills to Jean

Chart 2 How much the students like learning writing

Chart 3 The most difficult skill to teach

Chart 4, How much the teachers like teaching writing

List of tables and charts

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale of the study chớ ereaaerairul

G, Significance of the sftuUdty neo

PART B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.4 Differences between skilled and unskilled writers - 7 1.5 Approaches to teaching writing

1.5.2 Free writing approach

CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1, Context of the study ssisnonnsiiinninieniaieiitinseieesneeeiesets

2.3.2 Tnstruments and praceduse

CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

3.1, Analysis of the questionnaire for students

3.1.1 Students! attitnds towards writing

3.1.2 Students! writing strategies

3.1.2.1 Students’ writing stralegies

3.1.2.2 Studonts' rewriting strategies

vi

3.1.3, Sludents' judgment of their writing difficulties 23

3.1.3.1 Students’ difficulties in Pre-writing siage - - 23 3.1.3.2 Students’ difficulties in While-writing stage - S34

3.1.3.3 Students’ difficultics in Post-writing stage 25

3.1.3.1 Prequency of activities nsed by teachers in Pre-writing 26 3.2.2.2 Frequency of activities used by teachers in While-writing 28

3 Frequency of activities used by teachers in Post-writing 29 3.3, Class Observation ceisecsnenieeettesnassieatininenasttenenesniarieneen een SO

PART C CONCLUSION

4.1.1 Students’ diliculties in leamming wring

4.1.2, Reasons for the difficulties escesenteseusentmmueenetnneststunnnnesennn 2 4.1.2.1 Negative nflitudz towards wrling, ooeoeoeoevoooooroS2 4.1.2.2 Shortcomings in the students’ strategies and training Ã2 4,2 Suggestions tor the soRution -

4.2.1 Create and maintain a positive atmosphere for lzanrung,

4.2.2 Take advantage of the ‘out-ofbook! lessons - 34 4.2.3 Give students ownership and publishing

4.2.4, Engage students in writing regularly

4.2.5, Provide students with constructive response and guide them how to

offer response to other writes,

4.2.6 Provide oppamtunities for students to collaborate as writers

43 Limitations

4A Suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire for Students

Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire for Teachers

Appendix 3: Observation Deseription

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, communication across languages and cultures has become more important than ever before, The ability to speak, listen, read and write ina foreign Tanguage is widely recognized as a vital skill tor professional and educational purposes, This results in an inoreasing demand tor teaching and leaning foreign Ianguages, among which teaching and leaming English holds a dominant position

at all levels of education in Vietnam

Although Tnglish language teaching and learning in Viemnam has taken its own priority, the cducation quality Imas nol mel expectations af Vielnamese Ministry of Raducation and Training and the local peuple This is certairily duc lo wany reasons but it is, to some extent, due to the ways of tcaching and Icarning that arc said evidently to foous on theory rather than real practice This results in the reality that

a large majority of high-school students lack communicative competence They can not communicate m English successfillly and effectively m both oral and written forms, in which the written form is considered to be the bigger challenge for many Viemamese students, writing is the most intricate and complex skill that challenges their ability Tt is not uncommon to see that Vietnamese high-school Iesmirs with af least four-yoar experience af caring English in sacondary school have considzrable difficulty when they have to write eommmunivatively in the target language Even the students who go to English speaking countries for advanced study and have scored high in TOFEL initally cope with difficulties in wating The question raised here is what teachers should do to help students overcome their problems in writing,

As a teacher of English, 1 am full aware of difficulties facing teachers and leamers when teaching and leaming writing skills and wish to make a contribution to improve the teaching and leaming of writing skills at the school, which I have been

working for, as well as at other high schools in my local area

2 Aims of the study

The main purbose oF (he study

English writing skills to the tenth graders at Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, Lang Son Province (henceforth CVA) on the basis of finding out the

roi the reality of tesching and learning

difficulties encountered by the leamers in three writing stages: Pre-wnting, While- writing and Post-writing The other purpose of the study is to propose some suggestions to deal with the difficulties

3 Research questions

1) What difficulties do the tenth graders at CVA encounter when leaning English writing skills?

2) What are the reasons for the difficulties?

3) What are the possible solutions to overcome the difficulties?

4 Methods of the study

Thus is a survey study in which both quantitative and qualitative methods have been employed To collect information and data, two instruments; questionnaires and olass observation have been used In addition, reviewing related documents is

a method to establish the theoretical background for the study

5 Scope of the study

‘This minor thesis has been conducted at CVA in order to recognize difficulties encountered by the tenth graders in three wriling stages Txplanations for the difficultics have beon presented Also, the thesis has given sams suggestions to

better the teaching and learning waiting skills at the school

6 Significance af the study

Tins study has been conducted 1o provide uscfil information about the source of

difficultics facing the tenth graders at CVA when Icaming writing skills Results of

the study lave pointzd oul the Timilations in the teaching snd leaning practice

‘Therefore, the teachers and leamers can find out relevant approaches to teaching and leaming writmg skills Furthermore, the study has given some pedagogical suggestions to solve the difticulties in the teachang and learning of writing skills

7 Organization of the study

The study consists of three parts:

Part A is the introduction to the study It presents the rationale, aims, methods,

research questions, scope, significance and organization of the study

Part B, development, includes chapter 7 with a review of literature on writing m

general, chapter 2 with a detailed description of the context, the textbook and the methodology, chapter 3 with the collection, analysis and discussion of the data

Part C, conchision, gives a summary of the main findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research

PART B DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Definitien of writing

Basically and simply, Byrne (1988:1) defines writing as "Ihe act of making marks

on flat surface of some kind." When writing, people form "graphic symbols (otters

or combinations of letters)" to make visual meaningtal utterances, Waiting, therefore, can be understood as a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols

However, many researchers do not think so ‘hey consider writing as "a thinking process" (White, 1991:3), "a problem solving activity" (Ilyland, 2008:2) or “an extremely complex cognitive activity” (Bell and Bumaby, cited in Nunan 1989-7)

in which the writer is required to process various complex things Numan (1989-7)

states Hal

“the writer is required to demonstrate control of a number af variables simulranconsly At

the sentenes level these include contral of content, format, sentence structure, vocabulary,

puneination, spelling and letter formation Reyond the sentence, the writer must be able to

stricture and integrate information into cohesive and coherent parasraphs and texts "

‘The idea that writing is a great challenge whether waiting in the mother tongue ar

the foreign language is not overstated Tribble (1996:3) says that writing is "a

language skill which is difficull lo acquira" This point of view is agreed upon by Byme (1991;6) when he points out writing is the skill in which the majority of students are least proficient even after considerable practice, Nunan (1999:103) also states that the most difficult task to do in language learning is to produce a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing, which is more challenging for second language leamers ‘This idea can also be found in the latest researches conducted by teachers in Vietnam, which reveal that many students with years of English langusge-lsaming experience in Vieinamese high schools have considerable

difficulty when writing for cormmmication in thẻ target lăngusge (Kicn, 2009), (Pham, 2009), (Hoang, 2013)

1.2, Fundamental components of writing

To produce clear, flucnt and cffective communication of ideas when writing, Ieamers have to deal with a lot of things Raimes (1983.6) stresses the elements that make up a piece of writing as the fallowing

aageement articles, TA Setting started,

support cohesion and WORD CHOICE the reason for writing

Diagram 1, Producing a piece of writing 1.3 Problems caused by writing

‘Widdowson (1983:36) describes the learning of writing in a second language as problematic because “learning to write in English when if is not your first, but a second or a third language poses its own problems”

Byme (19884) gives three problems which are caused by writing under three hwadings: psychological problems, linguistics problems and cognitive ones

+) Psychological problems Unlike speech thul takes place with the physical presence of someone and the feedback fom the speaker and the listencz, writing is

a solitary activity and the writer is required to write on his own without the possibility of interaction or the benetit of feedback This makes the act of writing difficult

+) Linguistic problems: When speaking, people pay little attention either to

sentence structure or to sentence connection because the oral communication is

maintained through the process of interaction People repeat, backtrack, expand,

+) Cognitive problems:

People appear to speak without much conscious effort or thought and generally they talk because they want to, about matters which are of interest or relevant to them socially or professionally Writing, on the other hand, is leamed through a

process of instruction: people have to master the written form of the language and

to learn certain structures which are less used in spsech, or perhaps not used at all, but which are important for ettective communication in writing People also have

to leam how to orgamze their ideas in such a way that they can be understood by a

reader who is not present and perhaps by a reader who is not known to them

Besides, writing is a task which is often imposed on people, perhaps by circumstances This not only has a psychological effect but also causes a problem

in terms of when content-what to say Being at a loss for ideas is a familiar experience to most of people who are obliged to write

In discussions of the teaching of writing, Victnamese researchers: give various reasons for the difficulty in writing They arc challenges of poor favilitics, large suze classes, unsuitable tasks in the textbook, students” poor linguistic competence, passive lenming style (Hoang, 2013:42), students’ negative attitudes towards the writing skill, careless preparation of the early stages before writing (Kieu,

2009:43), teachers’ poor experience in tsaching theme-based writing (Pham,

2009:1)

1.4 Differences between skilled and unskilled writers

‘There are significant differences in writing behaviors of skilled and unskilled writers Perl (1979) found that unskilled writers are primarily concerned with the superficial chements or problen 1 senlenice level They pay less attention to the readership, the plan and organization of their writing They rarely modify or

rewrite what they have written down, either Whereas, the skilled writers focus on

the problems beyond the sentence and pay much attention to the organization of

the whole writing

Pianko (1979:13) also stressed that unskilled or weak writers "hesitated while writing, they did not pause,” and "they were worried about their spelling.” The skilled writers, on the other hand, paused to plan and prepare what to write next, and to check if their plans fulfilled the purpose of the task, whereas the weak

wrilers paused merely to revise grarmuar and mechanics

Sorumers (1980) found that weak wrilers revise in a very limited way, ic they

were mainly interested in lexicon and teacher-gencrated niles but rarely modified

the ideas already written down These writers consider the revision process as preparing what they have written tor typing On the other hand, the fluent writers

viewed revision from a global perspective Such writers revise the whole text, to

find and create chunks, to discover meaning and to contribute to the development

of the whole essay

CHlkims (1983) fmmd thái weak writers cloborated what they had written by making minor changes to spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary items, Calkins attributed these shortcommgs in terms of revision to their lack of knowledge how

to revise,

1.5 Approaches to teaching writing

To solve the problems caused by wiitmg, a variety of approaches to the teaching of

writing have been developed and applied to the writing classes However, it is

necessary to note from the beginning that there is not any “tight” or wrong” way to teach writing skills ‘(he application of any approach will depend on a specific context of teaching and leaming LI'L Raimes’s (1983) and Steele’s (2004)

terruinology has bean adopted for the purpose of this paper

1.5.2 Free writing approach

According to Raimes (1983), the free writing approach emphasizes quantity and

fluency over quality and accuracy ‘hat is, students can write freely on the topic

given as much and quickly us possible without worrying aboul corset forms Students may at first focl challenged to pour out their ideas much and quickly, but frequent practice will help them write comfortably and fluently, It is also important

in this approach that teachers do not correct their students’ tiee-writing but only

comment on the content

However, the fee writing approach does have some drawbacks Hyland (2008) points out the inappropriateness of applying this approach in academic contexts In academic writing, students have to write about certain topics with the aim of rescarching deeply and carefully instead of writing down Grecly what they want to say Besides, the crrors in the final product do affect students? grade for their paper 1.5.3, Paragraph-pattern approach

According to Raimes (1983), the organization of writing is the most significant

concem Students copy paragraphs, analyze the form and imitate modcl passages

They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order, they identity general and

specific statements, they choose or invent an appropriate topic sentence, and they

insert or delete sentences This approach is based on the principle that the

organization of writing varies depends on different pattems of written discourse Kaplan (1966:75) indicates that diferent languages have different pattems of written discourse, He describes English discourse pattems in straight line, Semitic

in vigvag, Oriontal in spiraling, Romans and Russian in digr Therefore, English Ioamers should lean Engtish writing patlcrns to write properly in English Also, this kind of contrastive rhetoric is very difficult to apply to a real writing classroom because students’ ages and language proticiency levels are not

sufficiently considered

1.5.4, Grammar-syntax-organization approach

The grammar-syntax-organization requires students to focus on several features of writing at once, Writing, therefore, cannot be seen as composed of separate skills

their students? attention Lo organization while working on grammar and syntax For

example, to write a clear sct of instructions on how to operate a calculator, the

writer needs more than the appropriate vocabulary He needs the simple forms of verbs, an organizational plan based on chronology, sequence words like first, then, etc During discussion and preparation of the task, all these are reviewed and

taught for the firsl tine Students see the connection between whal they are trying

to write and whal they need Lo write it

In short, the main focus in this approach is using forms, often at the sentence level

to achieve the el Land tosl apn opriale meaning possible Students practice by

linking specific vocabulary words, structural elements, and organizational features

to specific writing tasks Trying to gct students to intemalize the nceessary forms

for writing is an important aspect of this approach This approach, however, goes against Kroll’s (1990) philosophy since the researcher expresses that writing skills are best taught through meaningful communication and best leamed in meaningful

“who will read it” As a result, real-world types of writing

am T writing th

tasks are devised, The writing exercises in this approach are created so that the teacher, other students, or people from out of the class can be the audience

Context has a central role in communicative writing exercises ‘These exercises

give the students chance to level the formality and content appropriately according

to whom they are writing for and what type of writing they are doing Llowever, this method does not emphasize the rhetorical conventions of English texts Leaners’ altention is not called upon the stucture, style and the organization af their writing,

10

1.8.6 Process approach

According lo Raimes (1983), the main concurn of this approach is the process of wriling, such as how writers gut started or how they develop their ideas Stuilent writers must nced to realize that what they first put down on paper is not necessarily their tinished product but just a beginning, a setting out of tizst ideas, a draft 'Yheir first draft might be unorganized and fall of grammatical errors ‘Then, with the appropriate time given to go through the process of writing and the

feedback from both their teachers and peers, the student writers will discaver new ides aw setil and new words to develop their final drafis which ars beller

organized with (ower gramnalical errors The process writing, therefore, becorncs

“a process of discovery for the students" (Ibid 11) They discover new ideas, new language forms to express their ideas

Teachers who use this approach are expected to give two erucial supports to their students, ‘The frst one is time for their students to try out ideas and the second is feedback on the content of what they write in their drafts However, they should be careful when adapting this approach to USL/EKL elassrooms ESL/EFL students expect more explicit and strict direction from their teachers In addition, some

students do not Irust pecrs’ feedback, and al the sarnc time, they are reluctant to

criticize others’ writing Furthermore, RSL/EFL students have Tinted language knowledge, so teacher should take roles of both language teacher and writing teacher

According to Steele (2004), this approach has a number of stapes, though a typical sequence of activities could proceed as follows

Stage 1: Generating ideas by brainstorming and discussion Students could be discussing

qualities needed to do a certain job, or giving reasons as to wiry people take drugs or gamble

“The Leacher remains in lhc background during (his phase, only providing language support

if required, so as not Lo mhibil students in the production of ideas

Stage 2: Students extend ideas ino nole form, and judge quality and usefulness of ideas

Stage 3: Students organize idcas into a mind map, spider gram, or liacar Lorm ‘This stage helps Lo make the (hicrarchical) rclalionsp of idcas morc immedialcly obvious, which

hclps dudonts

with the stmichire of their texts

Stage 4: Students write the first draft This is done in class and frequently in pairs or groups Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged, so tial students become the readers of each other's work By responding, as readers, students develop an awareness of the fact that a writer is producing something lo be read by someoac clsc, and thus can improve Licir own drafts

Stage 6 Drafts are returned and improvements are made based upon peor feedback

‘Stage 7: A final craft is written

Stage 8: Students once again exchaige and read each otha’s work and pethaps even write a

1.5.7 Product-oriented approach

Product-oriented approach focuses on the text, the final output of the writing process, and on the superficial elements of language: grammar and mechanics Ina typical product approach-oriented classroom, "students are supplied with a standard sample of text and they are expected to follow the standard to construct a new piece of writing” (Tasan & Akhand, 2010:2) Product Approach Model

2004)

comprises of four stagus (Sle

Stage 1: Sludents sludy model Lexts and then the [eatures of the genre are highlighted For example, if studying a formal letter, students’ artention may be drawn to the importance of Paragraphing and the language used ta make formal rerpiests If a student reads a stary, the focus may be an the techniques used ta make the story intercsting and students focus on where and how the writer cmploys these techniques

Stage 2: This stage consists of controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually in isolation So if students are stdying a formal letter, they may be asked ta practice the Tanguage used to make formal requests, for example, practicing the “T would be grateful if

‘you would ” structure.

Stage 3: ‘This is the most important stage where the idcas arc organized ‘Those who favor this approach belicve thal Ihe organizalion of idcas is more important than the idcas thomsclves and as important as Lhe control of language

Stage 4: This is the end product of the leaming pracess, Students choose from the choice of

comparable writing tasks To show what they can be as ñuent and competent users of the Janguage, students individually use the skills, structures and vocabulary they have been

taught to produce the product

1.5.8 Summary of differences between product and process approaches Process approach gives students considerable freedom within the task They are not tied with pre-emptive teaching of lexical or grammatical items However, process approaches do not repudiate all interest in the product, (Le the final daft)

‘The sim is to uchiove the best product possible What differentiates a proc

focused approach fiom a product-contered one is that the outcome of the writing, the product, is not preconceived

Stecle (2004:3) differentiates Prodnct-orientsd approach ñom Proecs-oricnted

approach in the following table:

Process writing Product writing

* text as a resource for comparison © imitate model text

+ idees as starting point * organization of ideas more

important than ideas themselves

+ more global, focus on purpose, = features highlighted including

theme, text type, Le., reader is controlled practice of those

These two approuchcs actually represcrt Issg đïffarenl perspeelivos for looking aí writing Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages To enhance EFL writing cwriculum, teachers are recommended to merge both of the approaches so that both the "finished product" and "the psychological and cognitive processes" can be developed

‘The process approach can be regarded as “formative feedback" aimed at refining students’ written work ‘the main purpose of this type of feedback would be to

provide an opportunity for contimious interaction between the teacher and writing

Toaners During the proves, the teacher can adjust his or her instruction methods

and/or mate

jals to Tneilitate better learning As a mentor, the teacher can cstablish

a better relationship with his or her student whilc cnhaneing the students’ progress

and leaming process

Conversely, the product approach should be viewed as a way to provide

"summative feedback" to students Rather than overemphasize grammatical and

mechanical accuracy in final products, the teacher should determine how much the

students have achieved after a particular unit of instruction and should ensure that

they have mastered the intended learning outcomes In this way, the teacher wonld

De able Lo assess the effectiveness of tris or her instruction and revise bis or her

ching strategies in subsequent lessons

Both types of feedback ame inseparable and complementary lo each other Obviously, these two major approaches, when adopted into the writing classroom

as a collaborative effort, can become a unified pedagogical EFL writing approach, incorporating the advantages of both orientations into a new paradigm,

Hoang (2013:12) gives a suggested outline for this combination:

Stage 1: Amodel is given

Stage 2: Students work on the model, analyze its typical feahures, and pay attention ta

the language and structure of the model.

Stage 3: Students work in srowpspsirs (o find out (he idcas [or the writing {opic/lask and produce an oullinc

Stage

used for comparison

students write the first draft individually? in pairs’ in groups The model ie

Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged Students give comments on each other’s work

Stage 6: Drafts are returned and changes or improvements are made based on peer

feedback

Stage 7: Sludonts write final drafls

Stage &: Final drafts are exchanged once more, students give response or reply to each

other

Stage 9: Teacher gives feedback

CHIAPTER 2 RESEARCH METIODOLOGY 2.1 Context of the study

2.1.1 The school

The study has buon carried ont at CVA, which is located in the contre of Lang Son Province, a mountainous arca i the north-cast, of Vietnam This school is more famed than the others in the lecal for its academic success which, to some extent, owns its debt to the application of teaching innovations in classroom practice

However, the leamers and teachers in the school are still facing some challenges

‘The first challenge comes from the school’s facilities for English teaching and Isaming The glass size of 35 to 40 students is too big to be a standard one ‘This does have effect on student-to-teacher and student-to-student interaction,

2.1.2 English 16 Textbook

English 10 has been m use since 2006 as the ofiicial textbook in Vietnamese high schools The book is set up on a theme-based foundation with the aim of developing students” linguistic and communicative competence It consists of 16 units with different topics Lach unit has five parts represented through five forty- five-minute lessons: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language Focus

respectively,

2.1.3 The writing section in English 10 textbook

Unlike the offer sections, the writing dees not conclulle three parts: Pre-, While-,

16

Post- Tk may begin with a inedel, followed by the activities that guide students

through the writing process such as model analysis, language work, and guided

writing The text types students are required to produce vary ftom personal and

formal letters to narratives, chart, graph and table description and expository essays

‘The general objective of writing section is stated clearly in the teacher book that students should be able to write a form of written texts of 100-120 words on the

topics studied based on the pravided models ot prompts for personal or basic

comnmmicalive purposes The topies an mt cach unit are dlailed in the folowing table

Unit | Themes/Tapics Text Type

1 A Day in the Life of Anarrative

2 School Talk Filling in a form

3 People’s Background People’s backgrounds

4 8ipeoial Fidneahion A letter of complaint

§ Technology and You Asset of instructions

6 An Exeursion A confirmation letter

7 ‘The Mass Media Advaniages and disadvantages of TV

8 ‘The Story of My Village Informal letters to give directions

9 Undersea World Interpreting facts and figures from a table

1L National Parks A letter of acceptance or refnsal

13 | Films and Cinemas Describing a film

14 | The World Cap Writing an annonncement

16 | Ilistorical Places Desonbing a chart

Table 2 Topics and text types in each unit of English 10

‘Nguyen (2007:43) judges the writing approach adopted in the books to be product-oriented because of its emphasis on the end-result of writing What siudenls oflzn đo in their writing lessons are imitating, copying and tansfirrning the model texls to their writing without any alicntion lo the process of planning, drafting, revision, and editing, She also finds that not all the writing activitics provide adequate and effective scaffolding for students, Therefore, some writing tasks in the textbook become too challenging and pethaps even go beyond students’ ability She finally points out that many writing tasks in the textbook are rather unrealistic This can be traced back to the neglect of the readership and the purpose for writing

2.2 Research questions

‘This study seeks to answer the following research questions:

1) What difficulties do the tenth graders at CVA encounter when leaning Unglish writing skills?

2) What are the reasons for the difficulties?

3) What are the possible solutions te overcome the difficulties?

2.3 Research methods

Firsily, the subjects of the study, which conclude 12 teachers of English and 95

tenth, graders im CVA, will be described in details, and then the dala collection

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instruments and the procedure of the study will be presented Lastly, the results af

the study will be reported and interpreted

total number of the teachers is 12

‘Thue tenth-grade classes have been chosen for the study The students are both inal and fernals af the age of 15 or 17 and have seven-year oxperionce of learning English ut school They are supposed to best represent the average level of English among the tenth graders in the whole school The total number of students from

these classes is 95

2.3.2 Instruments and procedure

Two instruments, qusstionnaize and class observation, have been used to collect

infonnation and data

The procedure has been conducted in the following steps Firstly, the questionnaires have been delivered to 95 tenth graders and 12 teachers of English inCVA

‘The student questionnaire (see appendix 1) concludes 8 items ‘Ihe first 2 items aim at exploring the students’ attitndes towards writing skill and writing lessons

with their English 10 textbook The next 3 items are to question the students”

wriling strategies The items numbered 6 to 8 is te Gnd oul whal difficulties the

studenls encounter in three writing stages: Pro-writing, While-writing and Post-

wriling stage.

The teschor quesiemwire (sec appenx 2) corsists of 6 items The first 2

ask for the tcachers’ attitudes towards writing skills The last 3 itcms aim at

ns

seeking information about the ways they train their students

In order to collect reliable data and information from the subjects, the

questionnaire for the students has been designed in English and ‘translated into Vietnamese as they were thought to be easier for the students to complete Both the teachers and students have been given unlimited time to complete the

questionnaires, which have been collected after that by the author

Secondly, with a view to testing the validity of the information obtained from the questionnaires, data on teachers” classroom practices have been collected via

class oum observation Because the information obtained from the questionnaire

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CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Student questionnaire analysis

3.1.1 Students' attitude towards writing

Chart 1 The most difficult skills to learn

‘As can be seen from chart 1, many students (37.9%) admitted that writing is the most difficult among the four language skills, This is easy to understand because

many people find it difficult to write, even in their mother tongue

The fact that many students find writing most difficult results in a large number

(81%) of students having negative attitude towards writing, in which 57.9% of

students do not like it much and 23.1% do not like it at all This means the number

of students who like writing (17.9% of students like writing much; 1.1% like it

very much) accounts for less than one fifth of the total (see chart 2)