Luận văn a study on brainstorming and its effects on freshmen at tay ha polytechnic college to improve their performance in practicing english skills

chan Ha are ‘The context of the study Participants The experimental program 3.1 Syllabus of writing, lessons 3.2 .AcliViG8,.... 2.2 Effects of brainstorming on students’ attitude towa

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology

Code: 601410

Hanui — 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, WANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULITY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-—-—* Ox

NGUYEN TI LỢI

A STUDY ON BRAINSTORMING AND ITS EFFECTS ON FRESIIMEN AT TAY IFA POLYTECIINIC COLLEGE TO IMPROVE THEIR PERFORMANCE IN PRACTICING ENGLISH SKILLS

(Nghiên cửu về hagf ding ding nao vi hiéu qua cha né déi với sinh viên năm thir nhdt

trường CD Búch Nghệ Tây Hà trong việc nâng cao hiệu quả tuc hành các k? năng

tiéng Anh)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology

Code: 601410

Supervisor: BINH HAI YEN, M Kd

Hanoi - 2010

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES - cv St n1 ưưn

PART A: INTRODUCTION n8 aaagaÁ 1

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the sindy

5 Method of the study

6, Design of the study nnssmennninmnneinnentiniantainanennanetameneesse

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

1 Generating ideas in writing

2 Some typical ways of generating ideas in writing

2.1 Using questions .ccsscnusisnineinenetsnenensnsnusiainisnininasniaensa

CHAFPTER 2: METHODOILOOY nọ nh nho

3.5.3 3 Roundrabin Brainstorming, 3.5.3.4 Braimwriting chan Ha are

‘The context of the study

Participants

The experimental program

3.1 Syllabus of writing, lessons

3.2 AcliViG8, con như Hư nu LH HH ng gen

3.3 Role oÍ le teacher and the stadeHs cành

Data collection instruments

4.1 Prc- tcst nnd posÌ- fCSẲ chưng Hà già nên

4.2 Pre hd ĐoBL Qu03LÌDEHIEGS Họng Hee rerren 4.3 Observation

Data collection procedures

Methods of data nnalsis HH Ha Hee gorưe 6.1 Data Analysis of Pre- tost and Post- test na nnnieaereerorree

6.2 Analysis of quey(ÏGIMHAHEES cọ ong

CHAPTER 3: FINDIKGS AND DISCUSSIONS

1 The findings of the study

1 1.2 The results of post-tests scores of the two groups

vi

LL The results of the experimental group’s writing performance aller the

L.2 The resulls oŸ QuestionnairoS sinh

12.1 Comparison of students’ attitudes towards writing hefore and after the

12.2 Comparison of students" participation before aud aller the program

14 Result of Ohzervation Analysis,

" Discnssions on the study results

2.1 Effects of brainstorming on the students’ writing proficieney

2.2 Effects of brainstorming on students’ attitude towards writing and their

participation in the writing lessons

2.3 Students” opinions about brainstorming,

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I/13096520906 06) 0a aaaằă

1, Summary of the main ñmtings smử conclusioh cover

2.1 Preparation and experience in brainstorming are esential

2.2 Using brainstorming in cooperation with other idea-generating tools

2.3 Reinforce both individual and group Drlinst0HHĂNE, con

2.4 Process for an effective brainstorming 2

APPENDIX 3: CRITERIA FOR STUDENTS' WRTTING ASSESSMENT

vil

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

DE — Degree of freedom

T: Obtained value

Terit: Critical vatac

P value: Probability value

P Alpha level (probability level)

Figure 2: Post-test results of Both groups cccccssesssssusesssesseervessseesassseeseervessseesesssnees 22

Figure 3: Pre-test and Post-test results of the experimental group 24 Table 3: Pre-test and post-test descriptive stafistics of the experimental group 24

Table 6: Students’ preferences for form of activities

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Ratianale

The world is developing rapidly and becomes smaller and smaller thanks to the exchange of culture and economy with English being an important international commurivative lool Therefore, in Vietnam, English has becom a compulsory subject al schools and colleges

At Tay Tla Polytechnic College, a non- English major institution, the Managing Board and English leachers are aware of Fnglish’s imporlance and try their best lo help the students get a good achievement in English skills As a teacher in Tay Ha Polytechnic College, | often receive the complaints from the students, especially the first year students thái English is too diffienlt for them lo learn and although they trisd heir best, thor English performance was still poor The reasons lie m students’ limited background knowledge, poor pronunciation, poor vocabulary and poor use of grammatical structures

Mosl typical of all is students’ lack of ideas in both oral and wrillen presentation This fact

inspired me to investigate the way to help my students whose English efficiency is low overcome difficulties in generating ideas when practicing English skills In this regard, brainstorming is possibly an effective activity which might be used to generate ideas in small groups within a specificd period of time That is the reason why I wish to conduct the research on brainstorming and its effects on freshmen at ‘fay Ha Polytechnic College wilh a hope lo help ther improve their performance in practicing Fnglist skills

2 Aims of the stuily

‘This study is primarily targsted at examining the effects of brainstorming on improving the students’ performance in English skills, especially wriling skill, so as to change their attitude to writing as well as to enhance the students” participation in English writing classes at Tay Ifa Polytechnic College

Furthermore, it is cxpceted to give some implications for improvement of the teaching and learning of Bnglish skills, particularly writing skill for teachers and stndents at Tay Ha Polytechnic College

- Hy There is no difference in writing performance between students who take part in the

experimental brainstorming activities and those who do not

In order to draw the conclusion on which hypothesis would be accepted, the following research questions are raised:

1) How does bramstorming affect the firsi-vear siudents’ writing skill at Tay Ha Polytechnic College?

2) What are the effects of brainstorming on the students’ attitude towards writing and

the participation in in-class writing lessons?

3) What are the students’ opinions about brainsiorming?

4 Scope of the study

Writing is one of the popular ways for people to communicate with each ofher Moreover, writing can hefp our students to learn the Janguage better as it gives them the chances to make use of grammatical structures and vocabulary they have leamed Although wriling plays such an important role, T realived Ihal my students did not actively take part in the writing lessons and their writing skill is much far fiom satisfaction, Thus, writing seems to be the most challenging skill for most stndents Due to the constraint of time and the page limit of a minor thesis, in this study I just focus on studying the effects

of brainstorming on writing skill of the first year students of Tay Ha Polylechmic Coltege

in the second term, The syllabus was based on the writing task in course book material

“New Cutting Edge- Elementary” by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor (2005)

S Methad af the study

The main research methad employed in this sludy to find oul the answers Lo the proposed research questions within the scope of the study is a quasi- experimental design which involves the three basic components of experiments according to Seliger and Shohamy (1989:136): the population (the first year students at ‘fa Lia Polytechnic College), the treatment (brainstorming) and the weasurement of the treatment (L-fes1)

Besides, the pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire were also delivered to the students taking part in the experiment as complementary tool lo obtain [heir opinion about changes in their altitade towards vriting, In addition, observation was employed during the teaching time to recognize the difference in participation between the control group and experimental group

6 Design of the study

‘rhe study is composed of three main parts; Introduction, Development with three

chapters, and Conclusion

The introduction presents an overview of the study with the rationale for the research, the airs and the tesearch questions of the sludy Il also narrows th

cope, presents the

research method and ouflinas the content of the study

The development includes threc chaptzrs:

Chapter 1 presents the literature review that is relevant to the study,

Chapter 2 desoribes the research methods used in the study with the necessary components before supplying the information aboul Ihe procedures of callceting the data

in details

Chapter 3 displays the findings and discussions from the collected data analysis

The Conchision presents a summary of major findings tiom which some pedagogical implications were derived, It also provides some limitations and suggestions for fiuthar study

7 Summary

The first part has given an overview of study including the rationale, the aims as well

as the research hypothesis and questions of the study, Besides, the research method employed and the design of the study have been presenled In chapter | of the nexl parl, a

theorctical Framework for the sludy will be discussed

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Generating ideas in writing

Since writing is primarily about organizing information and communicating meaning, gencrating ideas is clcasly a crucial part of he writing process Because actually gctting started is one of the most difficult steps in writing, idca- generating is particulally important as an initiating process (White & Arndt, 1991)

To assist in gencrating idcas, at this initial stagc, there arc two main kinds of discovery techniques: ‘guided’ and ‘unguided’ Guided techniques are those in which a range of prompts - usually questions - is provided lo enable wrilers to discover ideas The answers which the writer produces are determined by the prompts Unguided techniques are those in which writers do not rely on external prompts, but generate ideas themselves

2 Some typical ways of generating iđeas In writing

A pat from brainstorming, White & Amdt (1991) suggested some ways of generating

ideas as follows:

2.1 Using questions

Questions are an important prompt for writers ‘This technique stimulates creativity and promotes everyone's parlicipation because no one has to come up with answers The answers to the questions form the framework for constructing future action plans Once the list of questions is set, it may be necessary to prioritize them to reach to the best solution in an orderly way Indeed, one of the skills of a good writer is to think of interesting questions to ask because these yield interesting answers This technique is probably used in pair work or group work

2.2 Making notes

Making notes is tather fiks brainstorming on paper wilh headings which arc designated (cither by the students or the teacher) to provide a basis for organizing ideas when drafting Note making may be structured or unstructured In structured note-making, the teacher or the students themselves nominate headings ot catcgozics, and then supply information under each heading Unstructured note making is more open-ended approach

in which shutents are called on fo write down any ideas thal come to mind on the Lopic concemed, without attempting at this stage to organize them Some familiar note making schemes are spider-gram, mind-mapping or network

2.3 Using visuals

Using visuals is an enormously “fruititl” way for idea and vocabulary generation and a wide range of visually-based material can be used in the teaching of writing Visual material can be classified into such types #s representational material (photographs, pictures), realia (physical objects) and symbolic material (charts, diagram, and maps) Lach type of visual has its own particular characteristics appropriate to different kinds of

use, In general, the more detailed and cxplicil the material, the Tess room for the writers ta usc their imagination, Matcrial which is vague, ambiguous and open to mamerous interpretations provides writers to exercise their creativity, and is specially useful for

stinulating divergent and original writing within a group

2.4 Using role play simulation

Role play and simulations are widely used lechniques in which students assume roles within a context, In role play, students use their own experience and creativity to imitate a real life situation Students act out what they would say or do in a given situation,

"The acting can last from 5 to 10 minntes, Other students watch and listen carefully After

students”

the tole play, they discuss the performance When done well, role play ere

confidence, gives them the opportunity to understand or feel empathy for other people’s view points or roles, and usually encourages them to come up with practical answers,

solutions or guidclin

25 On various issucs

Role play and simulations have the advantage of stimulating behavior, language

and ideas in a context rather than that of the classroom For writing, students have a rich

source of ideas to draw up, and since more [han one parson is invalved, Ihere are different viewpoints which can be exploited in a subsequent writing task, Also, role play and simulations can be used as stimuli for many different types of writing (White & Amdt

1993; Lecelef, 1994; Stein, 1975, cited in Isaksen, $.G (1998)) Since 1930, it has been

used successfully in business for invention and irmovalion (VanGundy, 1981) Tn the

language classroom, brainstorming is often used in teaching writing Activities such as free-association and word-mapping are often inchided as part of the pre-writing or warm-

up phase (Richards, 1990:112, cited in Brian Cullen (1998) Rodriques and Raymond in

“Tools for Developing Prewritmg Skills,” The English Journal 72, No, 2 (February 1983 58-60) asserts that prewriting activities, including group brainstorming, are the most

imporlani part of the writing process

White & Amdt (1991: 18) also assert that brainstorming is a widely used and etfective way of getting ideas flowing ‘These ideas may be ideas for actual content, or ideas for organiving (he ventsnt Carried out individually, or belter still, arnang a group of people, brainstorming involves thinking quickly and without inhibition so as to produce as many ideas as possibie in a given area or on a given topic ar problem, It is an especially fertile imcans of gencrating idcas, including unique or unorthodox ones, which can ultimately lead to an interesting piece of writing Brainstorming van be used to choose a topic, identify a reason or pumpose of wating, find an approptiate form in which to wnte, develop

a lopic, work out a plot, or devclop the arganivation of ideas,

Some studies were supportive of brainstorming, Meadow and Parnes (195%) compared trained subjects working in real proups using brainstorming to an alternative group approach calling for critical evaluation Significantly more high-quality solutions were produced in the brainstorming condition A number of other scholars have confirmed these

results (Gerlach, Schuly, Baker, & Mazer, 1964, Parlolf & Handlon, 1964; Price, 1985;

WeisskopfJoelson & Eliseo, 1961), Recently, Zhenhui Rao (2007) in the study of

“Training in brainstorming and developing writing skills” stated that explicit instruction of brainstorming strategy had a measurable influence on writing performanc: and the students felt positive about the brainstorming strategy Brainstorming was also proved by Brian Cullen (1998) to be a very useful activity that can be sasily introduced into language classes where it helps our students to become better learners,

2.5.2 Rules of brainstorming

According In Osborn (1957), brainstorming is an intervention in which individuals, proups, and organizations adhere to a set of four rules while working in sessions designated to generate ideas, ‘The rules are

@) Banish criticism, Negative comments can have an inhibiting effect on an otherwise fiuitfal brainstorming session Criticism can be offered at the end of a brainstorming session if necessary

b) Quanlily is wanted Participants in a brainstorming session should aim to produce

as many ideas as possible, The more ideas participants have, the better the chances they will have good ideas

5) Frocwhecling is wolcomed— beeausg il

previous ideas,

Oslo (1997) beticved that working in groups is more offective than working individually when using these rules The participants given brainstonning mules generate

more ideas than participants nol given the rules (Parnes & Meadow, 1959) Theoretically, proup brainstorming should be advantageous because it allows members to share ideas (Paulus, 2000) 'The larger the group, the more domains related to the problem should be accessed Furthermore, each member will have a unique cognitive architecture and will synthesize idcas differently (Stassun & Bradshaw, 1995)

2.5.3 Popular variations of brainstorming

There are numerous vatialions of brainstorming that can be effective under varied circumstances However, in this study ] would like to mention four variations of brainstorming which are highly popular and suitable for language learning,

2.8.3.1 Individual brainstorming

Individual brainstorming is the use of brainstorming on a solitary basis It typically inchides such techniques as fies writing, free speaking, word association, and drawing a mind map, which is a visual note Laking technique in which people diagram their Lhoughls (Ravindar Tomar, 2009:85-86), Individual brainstorming is a usefidl method in creative writing and has been shown to be superior to traditional group brainstorming, (Funham,

Tn addition to providing persorat freedom, individual brainstorming also forces the brainstormers to dig, into the brainstorming process, When an individual brainstorms with

a group of people, he or she may be inclined to allow others to Jead the process When individual brainslorining is being conducted, there is no ans else to Toly on, which

motivates the brainstormers to generate ideas and concepts on their own

25.3.2 Nominal group technique

The nominal group technique is a structured method for graup brainstorming thal encourages contributions fiom everyone (Nancy R Tague, 2004:364), It is also used to generate a lot of ideas to assure that all members participate freely without influence from other perticipants, identify priorities or select a few alternatives for further examination Participants are asked lo write their ideas anonymously Thon the moderator collects the ideas and each is voted on by the group Thus process is called distillation After distillation, the top ranked ideas may be sent back to the group or to subgroups for further brainstorming According to Ravindar Tomar in the book Commercial Operations Management: Process and Technology to Support Commercial Activities (2009:85), it is important that the facilitator be trained in this process before attempting to facilitate this technique The group should be primed and cneouraged to cambrace the process Like all team efforts, it may take a few practice sessions to train the team in the method betore tackling the important ideas

2.5.3.3 Roundrobin Brainstorming

Rouncrobin brainstorming is a structured form of brainstorming According to Bruce Barkley in his book dntegrated Project Management (2006:155), đường the roundrobin brainstorming, sach participant in tum launches one idea as it rclatcs to the purpose af the discussion Every idea is recorded on flip chart or board, When a group participant has nothing to contribute, he or she can says “pass” The next time around, this person may offer an idea if he or she wishes or passcs again Idcas arc solicited until no one has anything to add or a fixed period of time has clasped This is an ideal technique in providing every participant, including those less expressive, with an equal chance to contribute It grcatly slows down the more dominant individuals

2.5.3.4 Brainwriting

Brainwriting is a nonverbal form of brainstorming and is used when iduns are neaded

on controversial or emotionally charged topics (L David Weller, 2004: 435-436) Also known as the “group passing teckrique”, brainwriting is an approach that stimulates a group of rativent individuals to contribute to the brainstorming pracess (Donald F Lighter, 2009:54), According to Ravindar Tomar in the book Commercial Operations Management

(2009-85-86), in the “group passing technique” (brainwriting), each person in a circular proup writes down one idea, and then passes the piece of paper to the next parson in a clockwise direction, who adds some thoughts ‘'his continues until everybody gets his or her original piece of paper back or the distribution list is exhausted Advantage of this method is that generation of idas is not distuhed hy group grocess The paper is anonymous so no one is hindered, ideas can be sketched, and become more detailed and qualified than in brainstorming (Gijsbert Korewaar, 2004: 137)

In summary, this chapter has presented the literature review relevant to the study including theoretical background of generating ideas and brainstorming In the next chapter, the research methods will be described in detail

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

1 The context of the study

The study was conducted at Tay Ha Polytechnic College, a newly founded college which is located at Tan Lap, Dan Phuong, Ha Noi The college trains students of such majors as Accounting, Business Management, Ilotel Management and Lospitability, Finance and Banking, Electronics and Telecommunication, and Information Technology Each class has around 50 students

The students of the collage come from mmmy different provinces They were accepted to the ecllege through consideration of their national university entrance exam scores Llowever, the enfrance quality in general is not very high, especially in inglish proficiency,

In terms of English learning experiences, the students are classified into two categories: ‘Che first are those that had never learned English at schools; the second are those thal had opportunity to làm English at schools, but just look half-way Isarning The second category makes up a great proportion, about 90 percent, Those belonging to the first category are not many basically they are pupils in far-flung and remote areas or

st of

where there is fack of English teachers or dne to policy changes According ta ths

English entry test at the beginning of the first term, the level of most students is just beginner Most students show their far of learning English, it means that most of them have very little knowledge of English and restart learning English as beginners of English

Being aware of the importance of English and the need tom students, the college arranged a syllabus of inglish including 300 periods divided into 5 terms, in the first three Lerms, stndznis are taught generat Engtish besed on the material “Now Culling Edge” by Sarah Cunningham, Peter Moor (2005), Elementary and Pre-intermediate level This is a popular course book that focuses on 4 skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing Grarutar is also presented clearly in “Language Focus” of each module, The aim of the first three terms is to provide students with a basic knowledge of English that enables them

to continue with English for Special Purposes in the last two terms Besides, the college

also provides adequate teaching tools such as laboratory, casseltes, projector to supporl teaching and learning,

2 Participants

The students taking part im this study were 95 first year studerts in two accounting-

major classes, KTB and KTC whose age range from 18 to 22 The female students outnumber the male students in both classes KIB has 47 students including § boys and 39 gills KTC consists of L! bays and 37 girls T decided to choose these two groups for my study because they had a lot of common features in tems of size, gender, age, English level as well as motivation to learn ‘The students in KYB belonged to the control group and KTC in experimental one

The study was conducted in their sccond term, school year 2009-2010, after they finished the first term wath 7 first modules of the textbook “New Cutting Edge- Elementary” by Sarah Cunningham, Peler Moor, AL lhal lime, the students in both groups had some first basic knowledge of English and partly familiar to the new learning environment However, their proficiency of English in general is still low Most students sill lacked self-confidence in practicing English in class and were inactive in learning English By judging their English result of the first term, the overall English proficiency for four skills of the students was roughly at the beginning of elementary

3 The experimental program

The cxperimental program was aimed at helping the students generate ideas that contributed to the improvement in their performance in English writing In addition, it was also supposed to motivate the studenls 10 learn and stimulate their participation in in-class activities, Following is a detailed description of syllabus of writing lessons, activities and roles of teacher and students in the experimental program

3.1 Syllaius of writing lessons

According lo the colloge’s scheme for English, in the sapond te

modules from module 8 to module 15 of “New Cutting Edge- Elementary” by Sarah

Cunningham, Peter Moor (2005) in 10 weeks, the first and the last of which are spent on

m, the students leam 8

general revision Rach madule is planed for 6 teaching periads a week, divided into 2 class meetings Every writing lesson lasts 45 minutes Based on this scheme, the college’s English Group discuss and agree on the following syllabus for writing lessons

7 Module &: Vact or Fiction? A Dairy

3 Module 9: Buying and selling Describing a place

4 Module 10: Street Fife Describing people

5 Module 11:The world around you Improve your writing: Punctuation

6 Module 12: A weekend away ‘Whiting about a holiday piace

7 Module 13: Learning for the fisture Writing abou! your future plan

8 Madule 14: Keeping in touch Writing a note

minutes.

3.3 Role of the teacher ani the students

In the experimental program the researcher, also working as teacher, acted as an instructor who introduced the topies, organized groups, stated the rulcs and guaranteed that all students understand their tasks ‘Then, she played the role of a facilitator to praise and encourage the students so thal they could exlend their participation in activities Besides, she also worked as an observer to take notes about the participation and

motivation to learn of the students

The students, on the other hand, were much more active in Icarning both individually and in groups When the students worked in group, group roles may be assigned, rotated,

or shared so they might be in the role of team leader (organize and present), secretary (note down the group members’ ideas) and supporter (support all members), etc

4, Data collection instruments

4.1 Pre- test and post- test

The pre-test was designed to access the wriling abililies of the students in bath groups The students in two groups were asked to write a paragraph of 100 - 120 words on the same topic of “Your reasons to learn English” in 30 mumutes ‘The pre-test was carried out

in the first week of the second term after students were guided to review the knowledge of the first ler, No guidance or help was given during the lest

‘The Post-test was conducted after the program to find out how the students in two

groups had made improvements in writing The same topic of “Your reasons lo learn English” was given to the students to write a paragraph of 100-120 words in 30 minutes

‘The topic and the requirement of the task were the same as the pre-test so that the improvement in studenls’ writing could be me

urcil and jndgod oxactty

The scoring criteria (see appendix 3: Criteria for students’ writing assessment) was

designed to evaluate the results of two tests ‘(he students’ performance in content,

onganivalion and language was cxamined Espocially in the focus of this program, the

students’ performance in content was paid attention most

4.2 Pre and post questionnaires

Pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire were delivered to 47 students of the experimental group only to find out their changes in the attitude towards writing,

‘The pre-questionnaire was given to the students in the first week of the second term Reside the shufenis’ general information, the pre-questionnaire conlained 10 iterns related

to their opinions towards writing in English and 5 items concerning their participation in writing lessons, The students were instructed and asked to complete the questionaire in

20 minutes

In the ninth week of the program, the students were delivered the post-questionnaire and were required to complete it in 20 minutes ‘The post- questionnaire was designed in 3 parts, two of which wore the samc as the pro-questiomaire They were about the sindents* opimons towards writing and their participation in writing lessons, Another part added to the questiommaire was to ask the students’ opinions about brainstorming The post-

questionnaire was administered in the same way as the pre- questionnaire

4.3 Observation

Observation was implemented throughout the teaching time because the researcher was also the Ieacher of the two groups This helped the researcher have more evidence about the motivation and participation of these two groups’ students in in-class activities Besides, the researcher also observed the students’ pre-test and post-test performance to

ace

their writing speed

5 Data collection procedures

‘The data collection was carried out in the second term of the school year 2008-2009 at the two classes, KTB and KTC, of Tay Ua Polylectmic College The procedures are

follows

* Before the experimental treatment

‘The shudents in both groups had just finished the first termn with 60 periods of English: They had gained some basic knowledge of English and partly been thmiliar to learning and practicing four skills of English In the first weck of the second term, the teacher helped students revise generally what they had learned in the first term In the writing lesson, the students of both groups were asked to wrile a paragraph on the topic of “your reasons to Jean English” in their class These writings were served as documents for pre- test becanse affer this test each group would be taught with different methods The pre-test were scored by the teacher- rescarcher based on the scoring ctitcria shown in appendix 3 Besides, a pre- questionnaire was administered in the experimental group and collected

During the teaching time, I always paid attention to the students’ participation and their

interest in in-class activities in both groups 1 not only observed but also took notes of the participation and intoractiơn taking place bobweon and among Ihe members in both ck

8,

© Affer the experimental treatment

On week 9, one week before the term ended, all the students in both classes took a test called post- test with the same topic as the pre-test After 30 minutes, the teacher collected the writings The results from the teacher’s judgments for these writings were compared with the results of the pre- test to investigate the improvement the students made in their writing in general and in terms of content in particular In addition, the post-questionnaire was delivered to the experimental group ‘The teacher than collected the information from

this questiormaire and compared with (he result of the pre-questionnaire to find oul the change in the students’ attitude to writing, as well as their opinions about brainstorming

6 Methods of data analysis

6.1 Data Analysis of Pre-test and Past- test

The test scores were aualyzed and interpreted using the independent t-tast and the dependent t-test ‘The independent t-test was employed te make a comparison of writing performance bowen the two indepondent samples (tho conlrol group und the experimental group) before and after the experiment, meanwhile, the depandent t-test was used for pre-test and post-test comparisons when these tests were taken on the same group

of snbjccts (experimental granp) The descriptive statistics were calculated thanks lo the

‘The questionnaire results were collected and analyzed part by part to investigate the

effects of brainstorming on the students’ attitude towards writing, on students”

participation in writing lessons and to find out the stndants’ opinions on brainstorming aftar the experiment, ALL questionnaire items were calculated in percentage Especially, for the 5- scale items, data were reduced to three categories for clearer presentation: ic.,

slrongly agrae/ agroe and strongly disagree! disayroe wers comnbined The results of the pre-questionnaire and post-questionnaire filled out by students in the experimental group were compared to find out the increase (+) or decrease (-) in the percentage of students who strongly agreed or agreed Lo the slalements in the post-questionnaire in comparison with those in the pre-qusstionnaire

7, Summary

‘This chapter fas presented in delail the shudy’s methodology including the context, participants and the experimental program Then the methods and procedures of collecting data were also described in detailed ‘The next chapter will present the findings and discussions based on the analysis of data ftom the tests and questionnaires