Luận văn Điều chỉnh phần viết sách giáo khoa tiếng anh 11 Để phù hợp với học sinh trường thpt nguyễn văn cừ gia lâm hà nội

It is suggested that English should ‘be faught from grade 3" It is obviously seen that the objectives of the new textbook provides adequate contribution to 4 language skills, but in fa

4, Scape of the study

5, Method of the study

6 Design of the study

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 An overview of teaching writing

1.1 Writing and Teaching writing in a fareign languape class ˆ

1.2 Major approaches to teaching writing

1.2.1 The product approach

1.2.2 The process approach

2 Adaptation the textbook

4, Conclusion

CHAPTER TWO: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS

1 The context of the study

3 Conclusion of the majar findings

CHAPTER THREE: AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTATION OF THE WRITING

3 Limitations of the study

4 Suggestions for further stud:

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

1 Rationale

English, one of the most popular foreign languages in Vietnam, began to be used widely im educalion and im daily-Tife activities As a matier of fact, the status of foreign languages, particularly English, was reconfirmed by the Order mumber 1400/QĐ-TTg,

signed by the Prime Minister (September, 30" 2008) It is suggested that English should

‘be faught from grade 3"

It is obviously seen that the objectives of the new textbook provides adequate contribution to 4 language skills, but in fact, for many Vietnamese students, learning writing and having a good writing production are substintiel challenges They have difficulties in learning writing and may be anxious about having a writing lesson in class

To the best of my knowledge, if teachers of English only use what is presented in the textbook, students usually find it difficult to study and are not keen on writing tasks Most of the students of Nguyen Van Cu upper-sccondary school are at average level and have little background knowledge ‘'hey don’t pay much attention to writing in English, especially at

grade TH" To some extent, all writing lopics in English 10 are more Ganiliar te students than

those in English 11, English 11 requires students to be more active and spend more time for fize writing than English 10 Students need to self-study more In many writing lessons, sludents are nol supported models, just song usefid language which is newly presented or was

in the provious lessons

‘That is the reason why this research “An adaptation of the Writing Patt of the new

textbook: Unglish 1] at Neuyen Van Cu Upper-secondary school” is conducted

The rescarcher would like lo sludy Leaching and loaning Writing of English U1 at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school (NVC school) to find out students’ and teachers’ difficulties on teaching and leaming writing as well as their practice on adapting this part of English 11 The rescarcher will show the facts of leaning and teaching Waiting part of English

11 and an adaptation of this for other teachers of other schocis to reference Therefore, the intention m doing this research is that any textbook needs adapting to meet certain groups of students” needs anc Jevels

2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed to,

(1) Examine learning and teaching the Writing part of English 11 in NVC schoot

(2) Explore some ways of adapting the Writing part of English 11 used by teachers at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school to help students study their writing skill better

3 Research questians

The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to 4 research questions: (1) Do teachers of English and students in Nguyen Van Cn upper-secondary school have difficulties in teaching and earning writing Lnglish 11?

(2) Do Leachers of Frglish in the schoo! often adapt the Writing part of English 112 (3) How do teachers in the school adapt the Writing part of English 11?

(4) What are the benefits students can get when their teachers adapt the textbook?

4 Scope of the study

‘The study is focused on only students from the 11** grade in Nguyen Van Cu upper-

secondary school, their studying the Writing park of Bnglish 11 and the teachers’ adaptation this part of the textbook The adaptation of the Waiting part of the new textbook: English 11 is helpful to the group of teachers of English and students of 11° grade in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school it would be able to be a reference to teachers of other schools

5 Method of the study

‘This study is conducted in the combination of quantitative and qualitative method

Dain, were collected by moans of survey at

observation The combination of different methods to collect data could provide more reliable and valid information for analysis, Questionnaires of 180 students of English at

oumaires, interviews and classroom

grate 11 are used to discover the cls of leaching and leaming writing with some adaptation, Interviews and classroom observation of 5 teachers of English teaching writing English 11 are to find ont their points of view on adaptation the textbook and to explare the ways to adap! this part so thal they can help their studenis wilh better writing skill

6 Design of the study

‘The research consists of three parts ‘The first part presents the rationale, the statement of the problem, the aims, rescarel questions, the scope of ths study, roscarch xuethods as well as the design of the study, There are two chapters in the second part Chapter 1 presents some discussion the New Textbook, an overview of the Writing partin English 11, the need to adapt the textbook and some ways to do this The readers also can find issues and ideas on approaches to teaching writing, challenges of teaching and

jearning writing Chapler 2 presenls the conlsxl of the study aud explains the methodology used in the study including population information, instrumentation, data collection, data procedures, data analysis and findings ‘'he last part summarizes major findings and discussion, implications, limitations and provides tecormmendations for finther sludy

PART RB: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 An overview of teaching writing

1.1, Writing and teaching writing in a foreign language classroom

Man, in the form af letters, symbols, or words, wrile to express Language They write for the primary purpose that is communication “Good writing gets your ideas out of

‘your head and into the reader's head without losing or distorting those ideas" (Leki 1976 4), “Writing can be said lo be the art of performing graphic symbols" (Byme 1990: 1) ar simply writing is like “making marks on a flat surface of some kind", However, writing is far more complicated process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial, error or whatever into the message with a decision Writing is also a difficult activity, both in the mother tongue and in a forcign language,

Munay (1978:28) and Perl (1979:43) defined writing as “a creative discovery

procedue characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content.”

Besides, according to Candin and Hyland (1999: 107), writing is a social process, an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts “reflects

persuade tham of the claims that are trade”,

In langnage teaching, writing along with speaking is defined as the two productive

language skills Penny Ur (1996) said Uhat “Mos! people acquire Uz spoken language (at

least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned” (p.161) and “writing normally requires some forms of instruction Tis nal a skill thal is really picked up by exposure” (p.11)

In short, through writing writers can communicate with some certain audiences

Teaching students writing skill is nol an casy task for all Lzachers of language in general

and teachers of English in particular

Firstly, wriling is nol only an important forin of comsnunication in day-lo-day life

ut also an essential skill for students preparing for further study At higher levels of

education, it is a key aspect of academic literacy that aspiring scholars pursue as part of socialization in their disciplines Writing is usually a particularly challenging task for

students studying English as a forcign language (EFL) The skills involved arc highly

complex, while at the same fime students’ cultures have their own norms for structure and

thetoric which are not always compatible with their current English From onr personal

expericnecs as elassroom teachers in Victnam, the author agrees with Hayashi’s (2005)

observation that KKL students’ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear logical

flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument A particular classroom

writing task which is motivating and manageable to some can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others because students are linguistically of mixed abilities so that It is

understandable that teachers of high school often complain that “writing is the most

problematic skill to teach in such classes” (Hess, 2001, p 77) It is obvious that writing is

a difficult skill because it requires many characteristics which are not necessary for

speaking such as formality, well- planned, accuracy and time

Secondly, the nature of wnting causes many strategies for writers Candlin and

Hyland (1999:2) pointed out that “every act of writing is thus linked in complex ways to a

set of communicative purposes which occur in a context of social, interpersonal and occupational practice” And “Each act of writing also constructs the reality that it describes, reproducing a particular mode of communication and maintaining the social

relationship which it implies” Writing is not only a personal but also socio-cultural act of identity whereby writers both signal their membership in what maybe a range of communities of practices as well as express their own creative individuality

learn"(Raimes,1983:3) To her point of view, writing can help students reinforce the

grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students

Students will have a chance to be adventurous with the language to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take risks And writing can make students become very involved with the new language, the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eyes, hand and brain is unique way to reinforce learning

In a foreign language class, among the four skills, writing and speaking are

communication The four language skills are related to each other in two ways: the

called "production" The purpose of language leaming is lo improve the speakers’ four skills of listening, speaking, reading and waiting, with the base of large vocabulary and good grammar, but this is not the final purpose ‘The final purpose is to let speakers be able

to use the language For instance, why do people sludy English? If aman is only good at listening and speaking, can people say that he is good at English? No If a woman is only good at reading and writing, can people say that she is good at the language? No In addition, most of the speakers do better in reading and writing than in listening and speaking, They can road and write, but they can hardly communicate They ean hardly express themselves with their own words, We are not able to change the examination system, but we can improve our learning method So when speakers want to use a language well, do not forget to know all the abilitics of the four skills Among the four skills, Writing is one way of providing variety in classroom procedures It provides a leamer with physical evidence of fis achievernenls and he can measure hỉa improvernent Tl helps to consolidate their grasp of vocabulary and structure, and complements the other language skills Sentence is the base of an article So he should begin his wuiting with sentences, For

example, translation, sentence pattern exchanging, and text shortening and rewriting It

‘hofps to understand the Lexl and write compositions It can foster the learner's ability to summarize and to use the language freely

Waiting is the tinal product of several separate acts that are hugely challenging to jearn simultaneously Among these separable acts are note-taking, identifying a central idea, outlining, drafing and cditing, Both young and old people can oncounler the discouraging ‘writer's block’ if they engage in more than one or two of these activities at once It is difficult to start writing a report, for example, without a central idea and notes to support it Often, the morc detailed an outline, the casicr is the writing People frequently find that they can finish faster by writing a first draft quickly and then editing and revising this draft

Gonorally the four skills canmot be separated People allen say “Firsl fistening and

speaking, then reading and writing,” But this way of saying is not fit tor the design of the new textbook of English In an Lingfish lesson at school, students do reading, speaking, Histoning and thon writing, So, writing lakes place the last

Writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete, Writing encourages thinking and learning for it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection When thought is written down,

js Tost

ideas can be exarrined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed Writing

likely to encourage thinking and leaming when students view writing as a process, By recognizing that writing is a recursive process, and that every writer mses the process ina differen! way, sludents experience less pressure to "gel il right the first time" and are more willing to experiment, explore, revise, and edit, Yet, novice writers need to practice

“writing” or exercises that involve copying or reproduction of leaned material in order to jearn the conventions of spelling, punctuation, grammatical agreement, and the like

4.2 Major approaches te teaching writing

Several approaches to teaching writing are presented by (Raimes, 1983) as follows: a) ‘The Controlled-to-Free Approach:

Tn the 1950s and carly 1960, the audio-lingual method dominated second-iamgnage learning This method emphasized speech and writing served to achieve mastery of gramzmatical and syntactic forms Hence teachers developed and used techniques to enable sladent ta achieve this mastery The controlled-fo-lrec approach in is sognenlial: studsnts are first given sontenice excreisas, [hen paragraphs lo copy or manipulate grammatically by

changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular They nmght also change words to clauses or combine sentences With these controlled compositions, it is relatively casy to for students write and yet avoid crrors, which makes exror correction easy Students are allowed to try some free composition after they have reached an intermediate tevel of proficiency As such, this approach stress on grammar, syntax, and mechanics, It emphasizes accuracy rather than fluency or originality

b) The Hree-Writing Approach:

This approach stresses writing quanlily rather than quality Teachers who use his approach assign vast amtounls of fros writing on given topics wilh ouly minimal correction:

The emphasis in this approach is on content and fluency rather than on accuracy and form Once ideas are down on the page, grammatical accuracy and organization follow ‘rhus,

loachers may begin their class

by asking stulls lo wrile freely on any topic withoul worrying about grammar and spelling for five or ten minutes The teachers does not correct these pieces of free writing They simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer express

d Alternatively, some students may volunteer lo read their own waiting aloud to the class Conoern for “audience” and “content” are seen as important in this approach,

¢) ‘The Paragraph-Pattem Approach:

Tnslzad of accuracy of grammar or fluency of content, the Paragraph-Pattern-

Approach stresses on organization Students copy paragraphs and imitate model passages

‘They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order They identify general and specific statements and choosc to invent an appropriate topic scntence or insert or delete sontenecs

‘This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication wilh each olher in different ways

d) The Grammar-Syntax-Orpanization Approach:

This approach strzsses on simultaneous work on more than one composition featue, ‘Yeachers who follow this approach maintain that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which ara icamed scrpucnfiully Tharcforg, student should bo trained to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax [his approach links the purpose of writing to the forms needed to convey message

2) The Communicative Approach:

This approach stresses the purpose of writing and the audience for it, Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and ask themselves the crucial questions aboul purpose and audisnce: “Why aru T writing this?, Who will readii12”

Traditionally, the teacher alone has been the audience for student writing But some feel that writers do their best when writing is truly a communicative act, with a writer writing (or a veal reailer The readership way be extended to classmate and pen pals

£) The Process Approach:

Recently, the teaching of writing has moved away from a concentration on written product to an cinphasis on the process of writing, Thus, writors ask therusclyes

“How do I write this? How do I get started?”

In this approach, students are trained to generate ideas for writing, think of the purpose and audience, write multiple drafts in order to present written products that

commrunicate their own idcas Teachers who usc this approach give students time to tray

ideas and feedback on the content of what they wrile in their drafls As such, writing

‘becomes a process of discovery for the students as they discover new ideas and new language forms to express them Furthermore, learning fo write is seen as a developmental process thal helps students lo write as professional authors do, choosing their own topies and genres, and writing trom their own experiences or observations A writing, process approach requires that teachers give students greater responsibility for, and ownership of, their own leaming Students make decisions about genre and choice of topics, and cotlaburalc as they write

During the writing process, students engage in pre-writing, planning, drafting, and post-writing activities However, as the writing process is recursive in nature, they do not

clivities in thal order,

necessarily engage in the:

Yet, there are several ways to approach writing in the classroom It should be said that there is not necessarily any “right” or “best” ways to teach writing skills ‘The best practice in any situation will depend on the type of students and the text lype being studied Nowadays, the most common are the product and the process approach, And a distinction

is often made between a product and a process approach to the teaching of writing

1.2.1 The product approach

This is a taditional approach, in which students are encouraged to mimic a modet text, which is usually presented and analysed at an early stage ‘This is shown ina work by Evan and St John “The product approach to wriling usually involves the presentation of a model text, which is analyzed and then forms the basis of a task that leads to the writing of

an exactly similar or a parallel text” (1998: 116), To be more specific, a model for this approach is ouflined as below:

Stage 1: Recognition Modcl texts are read, thon features of the goie arc highlighted Kor example, if studying a formal letter, students’ attention may be drawn to the importance of paragraphing and the language use used lo make formal requesls

Stage 2: Controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually in isolation So, if students are studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practise the language used to xrake formal requests, practising the structure “I would be gratefill if you would ”

Stage 3: Organization of ideas This stage is very imporlant Those whe favour this

approach believe that the organization of ideas is more important than the ideas themselves

and as important as the control of language

Stage 4: Wriling Stndenis choose from a choice of comparable writing tasks

Individually, they use the skills, strachwes and vocabulary they have been taught to

produce the product

‘this can be summarized like these:

+ imitate model text,

© Organization of ideas more important than ideas themselves:

* One draft;

Features highlighted including controlled practice of those features,

* Individual;

© Emphasis on end product English Now- Conference 2004 Edition, page 7)

The product (or model text) approach sees writing as being primarily about

Linguistic knowledge Attention is given to the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and

cohesive devices

This approach can be used successfully in teaching writing for begirmers ATL

Jeamers can not write well as soon as they begin the course but can take progress step by

step with imitation and repetition from the model texts or the teachers Moreover, teachers can impart the knowledge of writing theory including grammatical structures, word

choices, cohesive device uses, how to vary the content, how to organize the essay

Tlowever, this approach cannot avoid some shortcomings Students are passive and

Jess crcative All learners’ knowledge of writing skill is based on the tcacher, textbook or

model texts, Using the approach often leads to a simplistic copying of the model text by

only changing certain words from the original text to produce a new text, which prevents

learnors’ creativity and tnotivation from writing, Next, mistakes are corrected during the wiitmg, which to some extent discourages students to write more Most students are worried about mistakes that are considered common in writing for beginners

In bricf, the product approach shows ils strong points when provide the good basz

for beginners of writing to lead their writing practice However, if students owe their knowledge and skill of writing to the teacher and model text strictly, they will be very passive and often get shocked in the real official writing test where a new topic or @ naw

kind of essay is introduced.

1.2.2 The process approach

Process approaches to writing tend to focus morc on the varied classroom activitics

which promote the development of the language use; brainstorming, group discussion, rewriting Such an approach can have any number of stages, though a typical sequence of

activities could proeced as follow:

Stage 1: Generating ideas by brainstorming and discussion For example, students

could be discussing qualities needed lo do a certain job The teacher only provides

Janguage support if required, so as not to inhibit students in the production of ideas

Stage 2:Studenis extend ideas into note form, judge quality and usefulness of ideas Stage 3: Students organize ideas into a mind map, spider gram, or linear form ‘This stage hetps lo make the relationship of ideas more immedialely obvious, which helps

students with the structure of their texts

Stage 4: Students will write the first draft This is done in cass and frequently in

pairs or groups

Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged, so that students become the readers of each others”

work and then they make suggestions to improve each other's texts

Stage 6: Drafts arc returned, improvements are madz based upon peer feedback

Stage 7: A final draft is written

Stage 8:Sindents once again, exchange and read each other’s work and perhaps even write a response or reply

This method places emphasis on the cycle of writing, rather than a fixed linear

approach such as the earlier Product approach, It has much in common with communicative-task based insirnction which is ciently popular within cormunicative

pedagogy Unlike the Product approach which 1s more interested in the written outcome,

the Process approach focuses on the thinking processes that are involved with writing

According to Flower (1985) , thinking stage helps students to identify the rhetorical

problem, plan a solution or scrics of solations to the problcm and finally concluds

appropriately

In the view of Tedge( 1990), the process contains a lot of stages which can be

illustrated as follows: “ being motivated to write- getting ideas together- planning and

outlining- making notes- making a first draft- revising, re-planning, redrafting- editing and

golting ready (or publication, Meanwhile, according lo Oshima and Hogue (1991), the

All these cfforts in the process approach lo waiting sec the act of writing from a

‘very different perspective, focusing as much on the means whereby the completed text was created as on the end product itself In many instances the writer starts out with only the vaguest notion of this The ideas

@ then refined, developed and transformed as the writer

writes and rewrites

‘Main features of the process approach

‘The process approach concems itself with individual levels of fluency and expression, Tl is a replacement of an approach that considered written Ianguage secondary and merely a mechanism for reinforcing spoken language The finished product is in focus, not the Ieamer ‘The process approach, in contrast, empowered its leamers, thereby enabling them to make clearsr decisions about the direction of their writing (lordan 1997) Clenton (2003) states in the same vein "It is no longer required to offer a shining example

of the model; the teacher becomes a facilitator in providing formative feedback during the process of each student's composition, Correspondingly, this approach encourages students

to assume groaler responsibility far making their own improvements, as apposed to the aiming of a pre-determined model."

This approach has some problem, First, some leamers are not proficient writers in their own language and struggle to put their thoughts on paper Many students said that they hardly ever wrote in thei: own language and had no prior oxperienee this is particularly challenging for the teacher and students, Peer teaching would help them notice successfil techniques that ather writers use Second, sluderts are somelimes unatile to come up with suitable ideas related to the chosen topic This therefore depends a lot on the topics chosen The teacher must bear in mind the students various life experiences as well

as porsanality and interests, Another problom is haw to ass

whether a process approach

is applicable in all scltings where writing is taughl According to Johns (1990-25), this approach focuses primarily on the writer as the ozipinators of: “written text” in a context where “I'he process through which the writer goes to create and produce discourse is the

Host imporlanl component in the theory”

In short, the process approach encourages student's activity and motivation in writing His a leamner-centered approach that stimulates students to play an active role and the teacher works as an observer However, beginners of writing skill need help and guidance from the teacher This procedure is good for class practice bul students are stilt encouraged to write on their own and get feedback trom their teacher for mistake

corrections

To sum up, teaching writing is not an easy task for teachers of English They have

Yo combine approaches to teach their students write better writing in consideration the

students’ level and the tasks in the textbook

2 Adaptation the fexthook

Adaptation the textbook is one of the resnitts of material evatnation As far as we know, there are a lot of principles for material evaluation In this project, we decide to follow the principles of Curmingsworth (1984), which we sou the mast reliable itt textbook and materials evaluation

Cunningsworth gave out four main principles for materials evaluation’ relate the

icaching material to your aims and objectives, be aware of what language is for andl sclcel teaching materials which will help equip your students to use language etfectively for their own purposes, keep your students” leaming needs in mind, and consider the relationship

‘between language, the learning process and the learner In the first principle, he stated thal the teaching matezials showld take the leamer forward as directly as possible towards his objectives For the second principle, he made an argument that our teaching must have at iis hase a consideration of whal cur students need to learn This requires the leacher Ip Took beyond the confines of the classroom into the outside world, and focusing bis or her attention on the use that individual leamer will make of what he has leamed, in a situation which is not wimarily a loarring siluation In his third yrincipte, he mentioned the students’ loaming needs, By learning needs, he mzunl not so much the actual language to

be learned as the way in which itis selected, graded, presented and practiced However, the learning needs are not limited solely to considerations of the language Leamers have intellectual and cmotional necds, too The textbook may act as the stimulation, It is important that materials should be usable with whole classes of leamers, with small groups, and with individuals, Within the space of one lesson, a student may acl altematively as an individual and a group member, depending on several factors including the sort of exercise he is doing, the skills that are being practiced and his own leaming

strategies In the last principle,

umingsworth considered the relationship between language, the leanung proeess and the learner All three are vital aspects of language teaching anc it is essential that teaching materials should keep alll three constantly in view and never become so occupied with ong thal the others are lost sight of What we do know about the language learning process leads us to believe that there is no one best way of leaming and that leamers adopt different strategies and often switching strategies from time to time This principle concems the leamer and the language, and the learning process which, as if were, bring the two together, We nced to Took for a babinez between the nocds

of the leamer on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the constrains imposed by the necessity of learning the structures and vocabulary of English

Not every textbook appeals to evet

=SL class Some content may be too difficult

or chatlonging, There alse might be topics thal are nol particudaity motivating for students,

‘Adapting textbook activities is not just something teachers should do as the need arises but also for appealing to the lower, middle and strong student levels

English textbooks is a key component in English language teaching programs in Visinam but they have been criticized for not offering classroom teamers adequate opportunity for leaming authentic language (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Grant and Starks, 2001; Wong, 2002; Vellenga, 2004) The reason is that instead of making use of language

ondar’

poals and shows the widely nocd to atkapl or modify the given lexlbooks and other language teaching materials to fit the requirements of particular learning situations, and even particular students

“Just as a piano does not play music, a lexthook does not teach a language The

iexlbook is a stimulus or instrument for đứng.”

As we can see textbook plays an imporiant pai in teaohing and leaming a languags But “however good material is, most experienced teachers do not go throngh it word for word, Instead, they use the best lis, add to some exercises and adap ollers” (1 Harmer, 2003:112) Accarding to Madsen & Bowen (1978; ix) adaptation is the action of employing “one or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding,

personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing or modifying cultural or situational context” Sometimes, adaptation is referred to “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and

supplementing” (Tomlimson B 1998b:xi), While Ellis, M (1986:47) definites that it is the

process of “retaining, rejecting, reordering and modification”

So adaptation a textbook is a need and a must depending on certain teaching and

leaming contexts Me Donough & Shaw (1993:85) point out that the main purpose of

adaptation is “to maximize the appropnacy of teaching materials in context, by changing

some of the internal characteristics of a course-book to better suit our particular

circumstances” so that material will be more relevant to learners’ interests, activate them,

stimulate and develop their motivation to create a more conductive classroom atmosphere

To Madsen & Bowen’s and Tice’s, adaptation is to compensate for deficencies (Madsen &

Bowen’s 1978, Tice’s 1991) Technique of “maximizing the appropriacy of teaching

materials should be more relevant to learners’ interests, activate learners and stimulate

their motivation, develop their motivation in order to create a more conductive classroom

atmosphere

In one of her volumes, Paula Kluth presents a systematic approach to adaptation useful for methods courses as well as for the experienced teacher or curriculum planner, As the first principle of effective adaptation, maintenance of congruence between a variety of factors is stressed, these factors include the teaching materials, the methodology and

objectives of the course, student characteristics, the character of the language being taught,

and the personality and style of the teacher In almost every subject area, in nearly every

grade level, students are expected to use a textbook as a resource Many, however, are unable to access the content in their textbook due to struggles with reading and related skills such as information processing Therefore, teachers in inclusive classrooms must

adapt textbooks so that students with different reading and comprehension levels can learn

classroom content Adapting textbooks may involve making changes to the text itself,

supplementing the text, or giving students strategies to learn the material in some other

way (www.PanlaKluth com)

And Minh, Nguyen Thi Thuy has commented that “textbooks should be carefully evaluated and selected before being used for a language program Textbook evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff select the most appropriate materials available for a particular course, It also helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular textbook that is already in use This is to inform teachers in the process of textbook

adapiation Tn our real teaching and learning context, of some high schools in the subur of Hanoi, we change something in the textbook we are using in most of our real Jessons in class so that our students will be more interested in and find it easier to study Uinglish

3 The English Textbook

3.1 The aims of the New ‘Textbook of English for upper-secondary school

In 2006, Ministry of Education and Training (MORT) issucd a new cuicnhimm

which defines English as a compulsory subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures” (MOET, 2006: 5) It describes the aims for ELT at sccondary school level as cnabling students te

1, “Use English as a means for basic communication both in spoken and written channels 2 Master basi¢ and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels of proficiency and ages 3 Acquire some gensral understanding of the people and cultures of some English-speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and zespect

to the Vietnamese cultirs and language” (MOET 2006: 5)

in other words, ELT should train students in commumentive competence so thai they can perform basic language finctions receptively and productively, using correct language forms and structures Besides, it should also “educate students into both good national and international citizens who arc knowledgcable about the target culture as well

as their own national culture” (Le, 2007.4)

Methodologically, the new cariculum is claimed to adopt the commumicative approach to language teaching as its guiding principles and specifics that

1, Communication skills be the goal of the teaching and learning process; linguistic Smowledge be the means by which communication skills are formed and developed

2 Students play an active rele in the teaching and leaning process and teachers be only organizers and guides

3 Teaching contents be selected, organized according to themes to guarantee a high level of communivativeress witile ealcring to the accuracy of the modern Ìanguagt

4, Textbook writing, management of teaching and learning, testing, assessment and evaluation follow the curriculum guidelines

(MOET 2006: 6

The New Textbook of English for npper- secondary school is developed from this one for secondary school The following of the new textbook set after English 10, English

12 is taught and leamt in the academic year 2007-2008

3.2 Am overview of the Writing Part of English 11

English 11 is written basing on the officially national cuzriculum of Ministry of Education and Tzaining It follows English 6, English 7, English 8, English 9, English 10

‘As mentioned in the textbook, it is claimed to adopt a theme- based syllabus There

and me, Education, Community, Nature, Recreation and People and Places, After the writing lesson, students will be able to write texts of 120-130 words on familiar topics

are 16 tzaching units, in which the writing scetion is designed under 6 theres, narncly You

‘based on models or prompts, which arc suggested outlines, word curs or idea prompts for personal or basic communicative purposes ‘They will write:

1 A letter of invitation lo a party,

ws A parsonal letter to describe a past experience,

Aninformation description trom a table,

` ‘A description of population development,

8 About celebration activitics,

9 Aletter to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards postal services,

10 A location description based on facts and figures,

An information interpretation and description from a chart,

12 About the preparation for the coming Asian Games,

13 About a collection,

14, About holiday activities,

15 A report on a visit to a man-made/popular place,

16 A biography

As can be sccn, the Wriling session usually begins with a model, followed by 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 trom formal

of informal letter to describing charts, tables, data or narratives, etc

3.3.Challenges of teaching and learning writing of English 11

Writing is nol only ar important form of communication in day-to-day life bul also

an essential skill for students preparing for university study Writing in Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary school is a particularly challenging task for students Hrom our personal experiences as classroom teachers in Vielnam, we agree wilh Tlayasti’s (2005) abservation that EFL students’ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear logical tlow and

‘unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument Because students are linguistically of

mixed abilities, a particular classroom writing task which is motivating and manageable to some can hơn out lo be daunting or impossible for othars, Therefore, writing teachers in EFL contexts must cope with such problem as how to make students get involved in writing tasks, how to encourage stronger students” motivation and interest be sustained while opportunities for weaker students to complete tasks be guaranteed and how to help students benefit most from their cooperation in the classroom so that all can make progress during the course

‘As can be seen, students of 11" grade have to write formal and informal letter describe charts, tables, data or narratives “As in English 10, waiting tasks in English 11 often begin with models In the following tasks, students are asked to study the content, the form and the language of the gerne thoy arc writing, And then they arc taughl guided writing by using supported ideas to form a writing production English 11 requires that students have to be more active and spend more time for ftee writing than English 10 Students necd to self-study more In many writing lessons, students are not supported models, just some usefull language newly presented or in the previous lessons” (Translated from handout for teachers of English 11 by MOET- Education Publisher 2007) Students

in Nguyên Văn Ci upper secondary School find il a challenge if they learn writing without a modsf or suggested language They may know the form but many of them are not sure about it and they often forget what the teachers taught them in the previous schoot year Most of ther are at average level of Finglish Besides, they are lack af background, knowledge They may wonder about to whom they write So teachers here often have to revise forms, to support models or more useful language to help students be self-confident

to make beller writing production

4 Conclusion

In summary, in this chapter, the author has reviewed issues, and aspects concerning the topic of the study Moreover, the knowledge writing teaching approaches, challenges of

isaching and leaning wriling in RFT context are also taken into consideration In the following chapter, the context of the study, the methodology, data collection procedures and data collection and data analysis will be proposed

CHAPTER TWO:

DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS:

1 The context af the study

1.1 Setting of the study

The study was conducted in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school, a longtime established school in a suburban of Ilanoi It is located in Gia Lam district, the subnrb of Timoi Tl has had a history of 33-year development since its foundation in 1977 In the school year 2009 - 2010, the school has 32 classes with more than 1,500 students, so there are about 47 students in a class One thing worth to note here is that the entry level of sladenis cntoring NVC School is nol very high They mostly come fron tural arcas whers English teaching and leaming has not been paid much attention Besides, NVC School shares common features with classrooms elsewhere in Vietnam: large size, students sitting intows of fonr cach and inemovabls furniture:

Meanwhile, the teachers here all have good knowledge, experience and they are all enthusiastic, sensitive and creative, The school equips language teachers with modem

teaching facitities like O1Ps, whiteboards and computers Besides, the library has various kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers conneeted to thc Internet Moreover, there are also two informatics technology rooms with many internet-connected compulers, which are ofien available for studenls to gel access

English is taught here as a compulsory curriculum subject like other upper-secondary schools, Students have three periods of English a week and each period lasts 45 minutes ‘Ihe new toxtbook of English 10, Engtish 11, and English 12 aim al cnabling the students to communicate in the target language with four language skills, There are 16 units in a textbook, and each unit is divided into $ parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and

Language Focus

1.2, Subjects of the study

There are two reasons why this sludy aims al 11" form teachers and students al

Nguyen Van Cu School Firstly, the 11" grade students have learnt writing lessons of the new textbook for one year and most of them have something in mind about what and how

to lear this skill They are Gamifiar lo the writing topics bul they have to learn with freer and more difficult writing tasks Secondly, adaptation this part helps them overcome knowledge limitations

‘There are five out of eight teachers of English at NVC School participating in this study These five tcachers inchude ene malz and four fonales Their ages range fran 26 to

33 with at least four years of teaching English Two of them has finished their M.A courses

at Vietnam National University, [Fanci The reason for this choice of participants is that

‘they arc all in charge of 11” form classcs at NVC School,

‘The samples of students here are restricted to five 11" form classes (among eleven

11 form classes al NVC School) These five dasses, which were chosen randamty, account for 180 students They are aged from 16 to 17 and all of them have had at least five years of learning English at lower-secondary schools They are not the same at English speaking competence Some of them are really good and active while a lot of them are quite pa

4.3 Methods and Instruments

The process of collecting data was carried out in the following steps:

Firstly, semi-structured interviews were canducted with five teachers to obtain their altitudes towards adaplation and ways of adapting the Wailing part of English 11

Secondly, the author observed classes of writing to get some more detailed information

Thirdly, the questicrmaires were distributed 10 180 sludenls to investigals the benefit students can get when their teachers adapt the Writing part of English 11 and for the researcher to make sure that adaptation actually happens in classes ‘They will help the Tosoarehor find ont the ways the teachers there adapl this parl

Interviews:

The interviews in this study serve as a useful tool to invest the teachers’ perception, evaluation of using adaptation in teaching writing English 11 They also aim at seeking ways of adapting this part

Tach interview consists of lwo parts: the first one for personal information and the

second one for the content information The number of prepared questions for the content

information is about the interview focus ‘he interviews are semi-structured, which means

there is “a prompt which requests certain information hut the exact shape of the response

is nol predetermined” (Cohen, 1989: 28) In the interviews, the author can sometimes add

some explanation as well as ask for same more detailed information

“The ome-on-one interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and in informal ways so

that the teachers were abile ta express thoir ideas freely Th was lucky thal afl of thz Icachers were very enthusiastic in participating in the interviews, The method of recording information was note-taking Then the interviews were translated into English for analysis

(Class observations

‘The method of class observation is used to investigate ways which teachers of English al Nguyen Van Cu School adapt the Writing part of English 11 and the use of it in real teaching and leaming

Sixteen classes of writing in English 11 were observed During observations, the researcher was an observer and did not take part in any classroom activity ‘The observer took notes focusing on ways of adapting and about how studonls wore studying writing in order lo snake a report on adaptation Wuting patt of English {| at NVC upper-secondary school,

‘This is the major means of data collection

“The questionnaire questions were worded carefully and translated into Viemamese

to make il casy for the students Tho questionnaires wer also piloted with the help of three students before delivering to the large number The ways of changing tasks in the writing part are carefully ilustrated with examples, so students can clearly understand them and increase the accuracy of their responses The students were guided carefully how to present

their ideas, Resides, the queslionmaire papers were collected anonymously in order that

students can freely express their ideas

2 Data analysis

2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation on adaptation of the Writing Part of

English 11:

In general, none of the five teachers in the interviews were aware of [he coneepl

“adaptation” But all of ther have ever changed the language content, the tasks of this part

so that they can teach their students more effectively and their students can learn more easier When Ihe researcher explained thal all what they do to change the book meant

adaptation, they shared the concept They all determined the benefit adaptation would

bring to their students and their teaching writing English 11 in particular and ihe New Texthank in general

Four out of these five teachers gave ideas that the tasks for the Writing Part of English

11 challenging for their students The reasons were that their students’ level of Linglish is at

average and most of the given language content is not easy for them to conduct a writing

production They all found that il was difficull to cach students by using al lhe given language

content in the textbook most of the time and for many lessons, Teacher 3 gave an example of the reasons that was when the textbook supported one or two tasks only or without useful

language or without a model And in order to make it casicr for students to loam writing they changed the language content, the tasks, etc Three of these five adapted the Writing Part very

offen All of them usually shared ideas and had agreement what to change for certain lessens in

the English group’s meeting

Though they didn’t know the concept of adaptation until the researcher’s

explanation, they had done much of this method in their teaching writing Linglish 11 ‘They

sometimes added some more tasks, omitted this or thal one, reordered the given tasks, uodified the language content, reduced some or gave more useful language Most of then

‘had ever left the writing production as homework when this needed much time to be

checked at the following lessons in class Three of them usually collected 70% of the homework and marked as a mini test

All the five teachers agreed thal roost of the stulents get progressed afler they had changed like that for the reason they found it easier to teach, Students were eager to study

writing tore and their writing production was gelling belter and betler, They strongly agreed that adapting the Wating Part of English 11 brought benefits to both the teachers and students

Some information from class observations has validated the above finding In all the classes the researcher attended, the teachers often added tasks, supported more useful Janguage or a model, some of them re-ordered the tasks, the others omitted some All of the teachers adapted the Wnting Part of English 11 his 1s presented in the part of some examples of adaptation,

In conclusion, the five teachers at Nguyen Van Cu School who had ever adapted the textbook thought they didn’t know about the concept of adaptation The reason for this limited knowledge lies in the fact that adaptation the textbook has not beon properly investigated and introduced to English teachers and learners, Besides, all five teachers in this study acknowkedged the importance af adaplation the Writing Part of English 11 to students, By this, they all meant the necessity of teaching writing to students using different ways of adapting

2.2, Students’ ideas on how their teachers adapt the Writing Part of English 11:

the Writing Part of English 11 show the same findings as the above The following tables

will prove it

from questionnaire student achors adapt

Tear be sex

1 dlealy in Table 1 thal most of the studenls of the 11th grade of Nguyen

‘Van Cu uppar-secondary school have difficulty in conducting all the writing tasks in class

40 out of 180 students who were asked said they didn’t Among those, 37 are the best ones in English according to their English sindy record, If sindents are good al English, of couse they have the ability to self-study, they will know how to waite the writing production by using their background knowledge without language input ar model supported ‘hose who were nol sure ar had no ideas about they had difficulty or nol have under-average level (lo their study record as weil)

Approximately 75% of the students realise that their teacher has ever changed the content language content and the writing ta

8 This moans that toachors of Engtish at Nguyen Van Cu uppar-secondary school have adapted the Writing Part so that more than half of the students find it easier to conduct writing tasks and a similar number of ‘students get progressed after learning writing with adaptation,