Luận văn adapting writing activities in english 11 to motivate 11th graders at duong an high school to learn english writing skill

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND [INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES đo*ng tok iedolctekdaldak tok debate: NGUYEN THI THUY ADAPTING

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ITANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND [INTERNATIONAL STUDIES,

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

đo*ng tok iedolctekdaldak tok debate:

NGUYEN THI THUY

ADAPTING WRITING ACTIVITTES IN ENGLISH 11 TO MOTTVATE

11™ GRADERS AT DUONG AN HIGH SCHOOL TO LEARN ENGLISH

WRITING SKILL

(THIET CHINH MOT SO HOAT DONG VIET TRONG SACH GIAO KHOA

THENG ANI 11 DE KIUYEN KIHCH HỌC SINH TRUONG THPT DUONG

AN HOC Ki NANG VIET)

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

Aabofok tek tedaksdalodok dakdok doko:

NGUYEN THI THUY

ADAPTING WRITING ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH 11 TO MOTIVATE

11™ GRADERS AT DUONG AN HIGH SCHOOL TO LEARN ENGLISH

WRITING SKILL

(THIET CHINIT MOT SO IIOAT DONG VIET TRONG SACI GIAO KITOA

TIENG ANH 11 ĐẺ KHUYÈN KHÍCH HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG THPT ĐƯỜNG

AN HOC Ki NANG VIET)

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

MOET: The Ministry of Education and ‘Training

ESL! BFL: English as a Sccond Language or a Forcign Language ELT (English Language Teaching)

Checklist of writing tasks in English textbook Moosic se swe vese mein d

the average marks of the control and experimental group

The average marks of the control and experimental group before the

Students’ motivation in learning writing Hinglish Students’ parficipation: in writing Lessons occ cece ees ces tes ca eee te teste tie actors prevent students from participating in writing én the clase

Students’ opinions towards English writing skills in the texthaok English 1 Students’ opinion ahout the way their teachers teach writing

Students’ evaluation towards their current writing lessons ec ce cà cà

Results of experimental group's participation Students’ range in the eo classes hefora and at the end of expertment

The material eveduation Process ccc cece cece th nh ee vacances ne iat tee nee tea eee

A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action

3 Ains of Tho siudy

4, Scope of the study

5, Methods of the study

6 Design of the study

1.3 Approaches to teaching writing

14 Writing teaching protein cee

4.2 The reasons for materials evaluation

3.3 Models for evaluation

3.4 Criteria for evaluation

4 Material ađaptation bon

4.2 The purpose of adaptation

2.1.1 The setting of the shuáy, cu ntnneerereaeeerreruuiL

3.3 PATHICÏPAIEE nh Hee roeoeouc 24

2.4.3 Student queslionDAiT8 ào ccc eee 26

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS " essen 2B 3.1 The students’ level and motivation before the experiment 38 3.2 Results from questionnaire nen eereererieoeeoe, 3D

4.4 Results from the end of experiment observations 37

3.4.2, Observations in experimental gT00 cocci esses ST 3.5 Students’ participation in experimental and control group in three lessons at the

3.6 Comparison of students’ participation in experimental and control group .£3

APPENDICES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1, Rationale of the study

The introduction of new English 10, 11, 12 textbook to school curiculam in 2006,

2007 and 2008 has marked a dramatic change in the way English is taught Along with three skills, namely, spoaking, listening, roading, writing has boon put in priority and intiegrated in the Iesdhook

Although the books have shown a great deal of improvement as compared with the old series of grammar-based it seems that not all activities or tasks in the books, cspecially in writing part arc suitable to the different tcaching and learning contexts of different localities within Vietnaza,

After 5 yenrs teaching new English L1 at Duong An high school, I find out that in comparison with other three skills, writing is considered the most complicated fo teach and slilt remains neglected đục lo students’ low level proficiency, time consiraints and tow motivation, When students write, they find themselves confused with word choice, grammatical use, organization and generation of ideas ‘They tend to translate ideas from mother longue inlo English, express ideas in long scntenees, and are nol aware of different Kinds of writing, thos making them unable to write in real life Because of limited background knowledge, they often feel bored and do not want to wnite, Naturally, teaching English writing in upper-secondary schools is a challenging job for mary English teachers because it requires not only high language competence among the teachers themselves, but also the application of appropriate writing instruction Some teachers do not feel confident about thoir own English and shy away (rom dosigning wriling tasks or gallmg studenis 1a write more than just erammatical exercises Sometimes teachers do not have enough ideas

to facilitate students in reality, most teachers follow what the tasks in the textbook require, and do nothing more about il, They may even tel students copy the modts from the guide

‘books or sample collection

On realizing students’ problems, I assume that what English writing teachers need

to do is to improve the quality of students’ pieces of writing, to give them a more cooperative learning environment, and to motivate them fo participate in the writing lessons T myself lave bssm making an cfforl to sock pedagogical methods which could

hetp deal with the mentioned problems What is more, Ì suggest that adapting writing

in Vietnam in general and in Hai Duong in particular so far Related to my students" problems, T would like (o conduct an experimental study titled “Adapling writing activities in English 11 to motivate 11th graders at Duong Au high school to lcarn English writing skill” in order to inspire our students in writing lessons

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at

3 Research questions

With the above aims, the research questions are:

1 What are teachers’ and students' attitudes towards teaching and learning writing

at Duong An high school?

2 How do the adapted activities help motivate studenus at Duong An high school in

writing lessons?

4, Scope of the study

ling students’ mohvation in class activities s

There is a varicty of aspects alts

there exist numerous methods to improve students’ involvement However, it is not my

attention to cover all of them because of time and length constraint of the study Adaptation of scveral writing aetivitics in English L1 is focused on and tested in class HLA

at Duong An high school, As the result, the samples of the study were restricted to 4 teachers and 40 students at 1 1th form at Duong An high school

5 Methods of the study

‘The method employed in this study is a quasi- experimental research to identity the teachers’ and students! attitude towards teaching and leaming writing skill After that found

out the reasons why teachers should adapt activities in English 11 to motivate students at

6 Design of the study

This minor thesis is divided into three main parts

Part A, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, the aims, scope, methods, and design of the sludy The rescarch questions arc also mentioned in this part

Part B, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three following chapters:

Chapter one, Literature Review, presents various concepts most relevant to the research topic such as definitions of writing, roles of writing, approaches to writing teaching, writing teaching procedure, concepts of motivation in language teaching and Jeamning; materials evaluation Furthermore, the following are also included in this chapter: Definition of material adaptation, the purpose of adaptation, lechmiques for adaptation and levels of adaptation as well

Chapter two, namely “YH SYUDY” describes the overall picture of the research was cartied out, from the first slop of determining the research design Lo the last step of

galhoring the resulls Mercover, presentation of statistical Tosulls arc describes in this

chapter

Chapter three, “DAVA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS” analyses ihe collected data

fo answer the two rescarch questions

Part C, CONCLUSION, addresses the key issues in the study, summaries some limitations revealed during the process of the completing this study

writing is the process in which the writer expresses his Ihoughls or ideas in the form of

handwriting “Writing is communicating Good writing gets your ideas out of your head

and into the reader’s head without losing or distorting those ideas” (Leki, 1976) As for

‘{ribble, writing is “a langnage skills which is difficult to acquire” (1996, p 3) Ile also

suressed thal waiting “normally requires some forms of instruction” and thal “itis nol a

skills that is readily picked up by exposure” (1996, p 11) From my personal experience as

a classroom teacher, 1 share with Rivers’ definition (1981) that “writing is not a skill that

can be Icarned or developed in isolation but it should be taught and developed in

cooperation with other skills and aspects of the language studied.” Furthermore, writing is

a productive skill, so il is writing thal provides students with chances lo pul the language

itself and practice communicative skills at the same time Through the act of writing students will realize what they are already good at and what they stil need to leam to

become better

1.2 Roles of writing

Whiting emerges with its own functions and brings along communicative code of

the writers When making a piece of writing, the writer implies a message or a ceriain porposs In the moder world, writing (wrillen language) serves a range of functions ir

everyday life As Nunan (1991:84) aptly points out, writing is:

(® Primarily for action: public signs (on roads and stations), product labels and

instructions (on foad, tools ar toy purchased), recipes, maps, television and radio guides, bills, menus, telephone directories, ele

(l0 Primarily for social contact’ personal correspondence, letters, postcards, greeting cards

(ii) Primarily for information: newspapers and magazines, non- fiction books

(textbooks, public notices, advertisement, guidebooks and travel literauwe, ete.)

(iv) Primarily for entertainment: light magazines comic strips, fiction books, poetry and drama, film subtitles, games including computer games

In classroom, teaching and leaming writing also plays an important role Through

writing, learners are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other

people We are able to discover and arliculale ideas in the way thal only writing makes

possible Therefore, writing has always occupied a place in the language syllabus Discussing about this issue, White (1981, p 1) points out a number of reasons why writing

qnerils a place in the language syllabus as follows:

(@ Writing remains the commonest way of examining students’ performance in

English (all public examinations include a composition) Consequently, ability ta

write remains a key to examination success

(it) Jn the eves of both parents and students, ability to write may be associated with evidence of having learnt the language Writing is tangible parents and students

can see what has been done and what has been achieved So it has high ‘face

validity’

(hú In classroom, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help

add variety and interest to lesson

(iv) Teachers may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what students have learnt Students’ writing can provide useful evidence of successes or

(failures in learning, of confusions, and errors

fv) Writing requires thoughz, discipline and concentration It is relatively a

permanent form and readers judge us by our style, content und logic So writing demands care and thought

In CLT, the leaching of wriling also aims al commumeation However, besides being used to communicate, writing helps students learn In Raimes’ opinion (1983, p.3),

“first writing reinforces the grammatical structures idioms and vocabulary that students

have been taught Sceond, when students write, they also have a chanec to be adventurous

with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to take risks Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved in the new language, the effort to

cxpross ideas, and the constant usc of cyas, hand and brain is a unique way to reinforce earning”

It is confirmed that teaching and leaming writing is really complicated work, For

and

xiuđents, they mus! have knowledge of content, organization, discourse, syulax, lexi

imechanical elements For teachers, they may be confused of a variety of approaches In other words, approaches to teaching KSL/ EEL writing have long been a topic of controversy for them, oven for rescarchers, TL is being taught in many diff

(0 The Coniral - to- Free Approach

The Control- to- Free Approach in writing is sequential In this approach, writing is considered as a reintorcement means of speech and is used to master grammatical or

syntactic rules At lower level, students are often given sentence- level exercises or

controlled compositions to imitate, copy or manipulate Students, thereforc, make fow

mistakes Only at high or advanced level are students allowed to try some free compositions, in which they can express their own ideas

In short, this approach emphasizes accwacy rather than fluency Syntax and

mechanics are main stresses of the approach

(i9 The Free- Writing Approach

Contrast to the Control- to- Fros Approach, the Free- Writing Approach fsensos

sore on fluency, and quantity of writing than quality Students are assigned a vast amount

of free wnting on given topics with only minimal correction of errors ‘hey are allowed to write Greely withoul worrying about grammar and spelling Content and Musney are taken

into account first

(iti) The Paragraph- Pattern Approach

Different from the two approaches mentioned above, the Paragraph- Pattern

Approach stresses on paragraph organization Students copy a model paragraph, analyze its form and then write a parallel one In this approach, students are provided with such kinds

oxercises as sentence ordering, sentence inscrling or sentence deleting, cle

fivj The Grammar- Syntax- Organization Approach

‘The name ‘the Grammar- Syntax- Organization Approach’ fully reveals the characteristics of the approach, Wriling eammot be

on as composed of scparate skills

which are leamed one by one, Students need to pay attention to organization while they

also work on the necessary grammar and syntax, Hor example, to write a clear set of

instructions on how to use a phone card, the writer needs more than the approprials vocabulary He needs the simple forms of verbs, an organizational plan based on

chronology; sequence words like first, then, next, etc In the preparatory stage, these voeainlary and struclures are reviewed and faughl In general, this approach is the

combination of the purpose and the foun of the writing

(v) the Communicative Approach

The Cormmmicative Approach aims al communicalive compztence, so il stresses

the purpose of the writing and the audience for it Students are regarded as writers in real life and they are encouraged to ask themselves the key questions: What am I writing for?

(purpose) and who will read it? (audience) Conventionally, the teacher acts a3 the

audience for students’ writing However, to make it more real- life- closcd communication,

students became readers for each other They read zach other’s writings, respond, rewrite

in another form or make comments, bul nol correct, Sometimes the leacher creales a context in which students are real readers by making them role- play, exchange letters,

reply, ask questions and comment

{vil The Process Approach

‘The twaching of writing has recenly moved away from a conceniralion on the

written product to an emphasis on the process of writing, which leads to the emergence of Process Approach Process Approach to writing came into play in the 1970s ‘This

approach encomages studenis’ cormumication of ideas, feclings and experiences TL is

amore global and focuses on purpose, theme, text type, i.e the reader is emphasized Thus,

writers not only concern about purpose and audience but also have to make decisions on

how to begin and how to organize a picce of writing Writing is a process, so students arc given time to set out ideas, make plan, write a first draft, revise what has been written after

a peer feedback, then they can edit their writing or write other drafts before the final

version is produced, Brown (1994, pp 335- 336) points oul some fealurcs of Process Approach as follows:

(2) focus on the process of writing that leads ta the final written product

(4) give students time to write and rewrite

(5) place central importance on the process of revision

(0) let students discover what they want ta say as they wrile

(7) give students feedback throughout the composing process (nat just the final

product) as they attempt to bring their expression closer and claser to attention

(3) encourage feedback from hath the instructor and peers

(9) include individual conferences between teacher and students during the process

of compasition

‘There are various approaches to teaching writing as mentioned, It is true to say that there is not necessarily any ‘right’ or ‘best? way to teach writing skills

Comparing the Product Approach and Process Approach, Steele summarizes their

differences in the table bclow:

* text as a resource for comparison * intitate model iext

ideas as starting point ‘orgunisation of ideas is more important

than ideas themselves

* more than one draft * one draft

* more global, focus on purpose, theme, * features highlighted including controlled

effective ‘Lhe suggested general outline for a writing lesson following this approach may be: Stage 7: A model is given

Stage 2: Students work on the model, analyze its typical features, and pay attention to

the language and structure of the model

Stage 3: Students work in groups’ pairs to find oul the ideas for Ihe writing topic! task

and produce an outline

Stage 4- Students write the first draft individually! in pairs/ in groups ‘The model is used for comparison

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

Stage 6: Drafts are tetumed and changes ot improvements are made based on peer

feedback

Stage 7: Students wiite final dratts

Stage 8: Final drafis are exchanged once more; students give response or reply to each

other

Stage 9: Tcacher gives feedback

1.4, Writing teaching procedure

According ta Brown (1994), teachers should follow the teaching procedure including

two main stages: Pre- writing and While writing This procedure is a combination of

different approaches, especially the communicative approach and the process approach

(i) Pre- writing

- Exploiting the mods] text in terms of form, voesbulury, grannrun, organization, atc

- Defining the task such as describe , write a letter of

- Limit the topic

- Generate the ideas

(ii) While- writing

‘there have been so far many researches on the theory of motivation Lach author has hisher own way of explaining what motivation is

& thay look al motivation from different angles, However, motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to desoribe the willingness ofa person to expand effort fo reach a particular goal

According to Carol (1962), motivation decides the amount of time a learner will spend on

will get better results in leaming Second, it is similar to what would be studied in the research

students arc interested in the activitics and are persistent with the Icarning tasks, the

project that the researcher wants to examine the students’ interest, satisfaction and

concentration on the varied activities in cla

so the working definition in the thesis is:

motivation is interest in and enthuyiasn: for the activities used in classrooms, allention or

levels of cancentration, the effort and persistence with the learning tasks as well as the challenge of the activities conducted hy the tenchers This definition will guide the sesearcher to design a questionnaire survey to get the information about the students’ Jearning motivation in the research

effort and have « posilive aitilude io obtain the goal Therefore, in order to be sues R

language learners really need motivation to continue their learning, Motivation not only plays an important role in learning, it helps the teacher as well Lite (2002) confirms that

11

“Motivatian is the backbone of any classroom When the students are motivated, the

teacher can perform histher job the best.”

‘Teachers are oflen famnitiar with lwo basic lypes of motivation: exbinsic motivation and intinsic motivation Harmer (2001) states that extrinsic motivation is caused by such outside factors as the need to pass an exam, the hope of possibility for future travel, etc In contrast, intrinsic motivation is caused by inside factors like the enjoyment of the tearing process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better

2.3 Tepes of Motivation

According 1o theorists, thors are some distinctions of typos of motivation in foreign

language learning: integrative and instrumental motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation

2.3.1, Integrative vs instrumental motivation

2.3.1.1, Integrative motivation

One form of motivation is known as integrative motivation It is thought that students

who are most successful when Icaming a sccond language are those who like the

people who speak that target language, admire the culture and have a desire to

become familiar with the society in which the language is used (Falk, 1978) Thus

kind af motivation is considered a key component in assisting learners ta develop

some level of proficiency in L2 when they become residents in the community in

which the target language is used in social interactions

Aceurding to Gardnor and Laurbert (1974 98) “An intogrative oricntation involves

an interest in leaning an L2 because of'a sincere and personal interest in the people

and culture represented by the other language group” It occurs when learners wish to

identity with the culture of the 1.2 group

2.3.1.2, Instrumental motivation

In contrast to integrative motivation is instrumental motivation 'This is characterized

by the desire Lo obtain something practical from the study of 1.2 (udson, 2000)

With this kind of motivation, the purpose of L2 acquisition is more utilitarian Elis

(1994: 75) mentioned “some functional reasons such as to pass an examination, to

gel a better job, ar to get a place al university These reasons motivate learners to

jowrn an 1.2 because i opens up cdueationat and sconomic opportunities for them”,

Instrumental motivation is often a characteristic of L2 acquisition, where little or no

social integration of the learner into a community using the target language takes

place

Littlewood (1998) replicating Gardner and Lambert (1972), coneluded * A learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the second language ean be a useful instrument towards furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospects” (1998: 57) It occurs when learners’ goals for learning om 1.2 are fimetional With an instrumental motivation, Jeamers can be successful in leaming an L2 It is likely that incentives like money can help learning, but the effects maybe cease as soon as the reward stops

Tn short, Loarners can have both integrative and instrumental motivation Tir some cases, integrative may be more powerful in stimulating L2 leaming, in some other situations, however, instrumental counts far more In addition, the social contexts in which learning takes place strongly influence the level and type of motivation

2.3.4 Intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation

2.3.4.1, Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers lo “motivation to engage in an activity far its own sake”

(Woldkowski, 1991) He means that activity itself is our benefit, so we do not need any other kinds of rewards or punishment He states that intrinsic motivation “is the

2.3.4.2, Extrinsic motivation

Harmer (2001:51) gives an easily understandable definition that extrinsic motivation

‘is caused by any number of outside factors such as: the need to pass an cxam, the

‘hope to of financial reward or possibility of future travel”

Most writers agree that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations interact with each other

and play an important rol: itt language learning, As a rosui, Jearncrs can be either motivated by intemal or external factors depending on the circumstances and conditions under which the activity is performed

13

3 Materials Evaluation

3.1 The concepts of materiats evaluation

‘There are many ways of defining evaluation Nunan (1988) suggests thal evaluation be “a process not a final product” that means it takes place at any time of the material design

“the first and foremost emphasis of evaluation is to determine whether the goals and objectives of a language program arc being altained

According to Tom Hutchinson and Waters (1993) evaluation 1s really a matter of judging the fitness of something for a particular prrpose “Given a certain need, and in the light of the resources available, which out of number of possibilities can represent the best solution? There is no absolute good or bad- only degrees of fitness for tho required

purpose”

From the above definitions, it can be inferred that materials evaluation involves the dctcrmination of what nceds to be evaluated, the objectives and requircments for the materials, and the judgments of the value of the materials being evaluated in relation to the objectives and requirements determined

3.2 The reasons for materials evaluation

There are two main reasons for carrying out materials evaluation Fustly, there may be a need to choose among the matarials available the most suitable ones to use for a particular situation Secondly, (hore can be a nocd for materials evaluation to determine whether the material which has been chosen works for that situation after it has been used for a period

of time (Lillis, 1997)

Robinson (1991) adds, evaluation can be used as part of quality control, Through evaluation, we can know about the advantages and disadvantages as well as the effectiveness of the being used materials, Then we can decide whether the materials can be reused or whellar it needs Lo be adapied to meet the need of the particular leaching situation or we need to change it absolutely,

In short, the findings of materials evaluation will provide mput for responsible people to evaluate the effeotivenass of the malzrials,

3.3 Models for evaluation

According to Ilutchinson and Waters (1987), evaluation is a process of matching needs to

available solutions Thus, the evaluation process is divided into four steps as follows:

On what bases will you judge material?

Which criteria will be more important?

What realizations of the eriletia do you How does the malerial being evaluated

want in your course? realize the criteria?

your needs?

figure 1: The material evaluation process (Cited from Hutchinson and Waters, 198?, p 98)

In Hutchinson and Watars’ view, a teaching material in general and a course book

in particular has to suit the needs of a number of parties such as feachers, students, sponsors, so il is important that the subject faclors should not be allowed lo absence objectivity in the early stages of analysis In order to have an objective matching, it is advisable to look at the needs and solutions separately ITowever, in the final analysis, any

choice will be made on subjective ground.

Another author, Littlejohn (1998) introduces the framework as follows:

1 What is thir explicil nature?

2, What is required by users?

3, What is implied by their use?

MATCH AND EVALUATION How appropriate are the respects of design and the aspects of

publication to the target situation of use?

ACTION Adopt the materials Reject the materials Adapt the materials Supplement the materials Mike the matcnals a critical object

Figure 2: A preliminary framework for materials analysis and action

(Cuted from Tintlejohn, 1998)

It can be demonstrated from the above diagram that the two steps of describing the

target situation and analyzing materials are conducted spontaneously and independently

The next stcp is matching and cvaluation in which the level of appropriateness to the target

situation is discussed In the last step, the decision on materials is made

Obviously, although these two models consist of different steps, they both set out

the way ta ovaluate the material Based on the above discussion, the matcrials evaluation

suodel suggested by Hutchinson and Waters is chosen as the framework for evaluation in

this study.

3.4 Criteria for evaluation

‘Various scholars have suggested different ways to help evaluators become more s

and objective in their method of evaluation by using a checklist

Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p.99-104) suggest five evaluation criteria for objective and

subjective analysis as follows

- Audience: the leamers and the materials intended for

~ Aims: the aims of the course and the aims of the materials

- Content: language deseription, language poinls, proportion of werk on cach macro-skill,

text-types, subject-matter areas, level of knowledge, types of topics, featment,

organization of content within the course units, sequence of content thronghout the course, sequence of content within a unil

- Methodology: theory of leaming, leamers’ attitudes, kinds of exercises, teaching- learning techniques, aids, guidance’ support for teaching, the Dlexibility of materials

- Other eriterta: price, quantities, availability

Another list of evaluation criteria is presented by Sheldon (1988), It consists of rationale, availability, user definition, layout! graphics, accessibility, linkage, selection/grading, physical characteristics, appropriacy, authenticity, sufficiency, cultwal bias, education validity, stimubus/ praotice revision, flexibility, guidance, and overall value for money He also emphasizes that in different situations, upgrading, modification and extension to these criteria are needed to suil the specific requirements

To sum up, in this thesis the researcher used the evaluation model by Hulchinson and Waters because the criteria defined by Hutchinson and Waters appeared to be more manageable and suitable to the objectives of the current study

4 Material adaptation

4.1 Definition of material adaptation

As far as we know, adaptation plays a very important role in foreign language teaching Linyself belicve that a good teacher is constantly adapting, In reality, nơ textbook can

totally be an effective tool for teachers to follow without any adaptation because of the

disadvantage of the textbook such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of

authenticity or lack of varicly Adaplation is to compansatc for those deficicncies There are a number of definitions of adaptation given by different scholars,

In their book “Materials and Methods in ELT” (1993), McDonough and Shaw devote a

chapicr to the issuc of adaptation materials They quate Madson and Bowen's definition

(1978: ix) “one or more a number of techniques: supplementing, editing, expanding,

personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifving, or modifving cultural’

stinational content”

Similaly, from Tomlinson’s point of view (1998: xi), adaptation is referred to

“reducing, adding, omitting, modifving and supplementing” He supposes that most

4 2 The purpose of adaptation:

There are always sound practical reasons for adapting materials in order to make them as accessible and useful to learners as possible [lowever, reasons for adaptation have

‘vaticd and changed as the ficld has developed and views on language acquisition and teaching practice have become better informed by research and experience ‘There are two most frequenlly cited purposes for adaptation

1 to make the material more suitable for the circumstances in which it is being used,

ie tomonld it to the needs and interests of leamers, the teachers' own capabilities

and such constrainis as time, or as Me Donough and Shaw (1993-85) pul it “ta

tnaximize the appropriacy of leaching materials in context, by changing some of the intemal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular

circumstances”

" lo compensate for any intrinsic deficiencies in the malerials, such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity (Madsen and Bowen 1978) or lack of variety

Looking deeper into McDonough and Shaw’s definition of purpose we sce that maximizing the approptiacy of teaching materials (by, e.g., modifying them in such a way thai they seem more relevant to leamers' interests and needs) is important because it can stimulate motivation, and inereescd motivation is in turn likely to lead to a classroom atinosphere more conductive to Jearning, In fact, when teachers make changes to a course

book “to better suit our particular purposes” what teachers are really trying to do is to

‘being applied within the mcthodotogical framework of the original materials itr other words, the model is not itself changed” (McDough and Shaw, 1993: 89), We can do this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the one provided is helpful in reinforcing the key Hnguisde femtmcs- lơnsus, sontones struclures, vocubulary, cohosive devices of the first text Second, more far-reaching perspective on addition of materials can be termed expanding This kind of addition is not just extension of and existing aspect

of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative changc, This can be thought of as a change in the overall system”

(McDonough and Shaw, 1993:90)

4.3.2 Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the apposite process to that of addition, As can be seen in the previous section that materials can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding), the same point applies wher a decision is taken Lo omit materials The mos!

straightforward aspect of reducing the length of materials is subtracting

Addition and defetion otten work together Material may be taken out and then replaced with something else ‘he methodological change is greater when, for example grammar

substituted after the omission of an inappropriate communicative fonction, or

restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rewriting may relate aetivitios more closcly lo learners! own background and intercst, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposeful problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

The technique of simplification is a type of modification, namely a “rewriting” activity,

‘the elements of a language which can be simplified are: ‘'he instructions and explanations

sso thal it

that avcompany exercises and activilics, and oven the visual Tayoul of materi

‘becomes easier to sez how different part fit together However, texts, most often reading passages ate applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sonteneas- bound clsnonis Lo tmaleh the loxt more closcly lo fhe proficienoy levet of a particular group of learners

4.3.5 Re-ordering

‘This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units ina different sequence from that originally intended

4.4, Levels of adapiation

Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels The first level is macro adaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins After comparing what is covered in a texthouk and whal is required by the syllabus or examination, the

jeachcr may find that ccrlain areas or whol unit of the bock can be onmiited, and

certain contents need to be supplemented

“the second level of adaptation is adapting a unit his could be reordering the

activities, combining activities, omitting aclivilics, rewriling or supplementing excreise

material, ete, Unit adaptation helps to make the classroom teaching more smooth and cohesive It also helps the teacher to better fulfill the aims of a unit

The third level is adaplation of specific activities ina unit, Occasionally an activity

| regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not feasible in particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he ar she needs to adapt it

5 Summary

To conchide, this chapter has so far touched upon issues relating to the topic of the study It has discussed definitions of writing, roles of writing, approaches to writing

teaching, writing teaching procedure, concepts of motivation in language teaching and learning; materials cvaluation Fusthermore, the following arc also included in this chapter Definition of material adaptation, the purpose of adaptation, techniques for adaptation and 1evels of adaptation as well

Although writing in terms of definition can be seen differently, its roles carmot be denied, Writing skills, therefore, must be taught thoroughly at school By recounting, briefly the history of teaching writing, the author finds that language teachers may be confused by such variaus approaches 1

Jessons because the students are demotivated Hence, adapting writing activities has taken

info consideration In this study, [ will adapt some writing activities in English 11 to make

's unavoidable that thay have problems in writing

them more communicative, suitable o iny students’ abilily at Duong An high schoot Adding and modifying are popular adaptation techniques used in the research, Details of these above contents will be presented in chapter 3

21

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY There arc two parts in this

study with the description of the setting of the study, the subjects, writing materials The

's the situation of the

2.1.1 The setting of the study

The sindy was conduvled al Duong Av high school, a rural schaot of Hai Duong province The school has 33 classes with 60 teachers of all subjects, English is taught as a

compulsory subject Currently there are 5 teachers of English and over 1500 students

ranged from grade 10 to grade 12 Most of the studenls come front villages and Lowns in Binh Giang district

Although most students are aware of the importance of learning English, this subject is not paid much attention by most of the students in school Few students choose English as a subject to take university cntranec cxam, Teaching English, especially teaching English writing has met some difficulties ‘The first is the large size classes, There are ahouL 45 sinđemls in cach class, Ht is hard for leachers to set up communicative activities, monitor class and give feedback The second is most students are not familiar with teaching and learning in English, They cannot understand lessons if teachers speak

English most of the tine and their background knawledge as well as vocabulary, slructures

are very poor The lust is the tack of materials, Materials for reference and self-study arc not available, There is not a library for students at all Furthermore, some facilities needed for leaming such as computers and projectors are not enough

Normally, students have four periods of studying English every week ILis a tinmiied time for students to practice and develop skills as well as enrich their vocabulary and structure capacity What is more, English is hardly used outside classroom All these factors have grcat cffvet on the students’ results in lcarning English cspccially in learning

writing

2.1.2 Writing materials

‘The muiin malarial for English writing of grado 1] is a new sot af English loxthook- English 11 which was first introduced in 2007, Like English 10, English 11 was designed following communicative approach, ‘rhere are 5 parts in each unit arranging as follows:

reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus with a variety of exercises and tasks

The writing program at Duong An high school follows the syllabus of the MOET (Ministry of Education and ‘Iraining) with the aim of improving students’ abilities in writing Indzed, writing lessons make up 20 % of 86 periods of Ihe Ringfish syllabus, Although each lesson is not clealy divided into stages: Pre- writing, While- writing and Post- writing, it can be easily noticed that the initial tasks are a preparation for the final

Unit 1: Triendship - Writing about your friend

Unil 2: Personal Experience - Wriling a personal letter to describe a past

experience Unit 3: A Party - Writing an informal letter of invitation

Unil 4: Voluntzce work - Writing a formal Istier expressing gratitude

Unit 5: Literacy - Describing information in a table

Unit 6: Competitions - Writing a letter of reply

Unit 7: World population - Interpreting statistics on population from a chart

Unil : Cclcbrations - Describing a cclcbration’s activities

Unit 9: The Post Office - Writing a formal letter to express satistaetion or

dissatisfaction Unil 10: Nature in danger - Describing a location

Unil 11: Sources of cnergy Describing information from a chart

23

Unit 12: ‘The Asian Games Deseribing the preparations for the coming Asian

Games Unit 13: Hobbies - Writing about a collection

Unit 14: Recreation - Describing a camping holiday

Unit 15: Space Conquest - Writing a biography

Unil 16: The Wonders of the | - Wriling a report on a man — made place

English and 11" graders at Duong An high school

The study adopted a quisi-experimental design for practical reasons Tn the contexL

of the secondary school, it is impossible to conduct a tue experimental research with randomly selected samples Llowever, a quasi-experimental study remains valid because “it

is conducted under conditions closer lo thos: normally found in cduvafional context” (Selinger& Shohamy, 1989: 149) Although the intact groups were used, both were in grade 11, and they were of comparable ability level

Considering the two groups selected in the study, they were not removed from the noumal teaching and learning context This intactness helps to inercase the validity of the later generalization of the results to the population Furthermore, since this kind of research

is less inirusive and disruptive than the tmae-experimental one, sier ta gain access fa the subject population and thus easier to conduct such research (Selinger & Schchamy,

1989: 149) As a result, it saved the researcher a lot of time and effrt in grouping the

participants, which was impossible under the present conditions Ti short, the quasi- experimental design is the most practical and feasible for the researcher, all above factors

are under consideration.

> Variables

As mentioned shove, the aim of this study is to determine the effect of the adapted activities in motivating students in writing lessons at Duong An high school In other words, experimental design is used in this study to determine how the Adapted activities in Fnglish 11 (The indspendent variable) causes the changes in students! motivation or participation in writing lessons (the dependent variable’

Independent variable Adapted activities in English 11

Dependent variable: Studsnis' motivation or participation in writing lessons

The values of the dependent variable were measured from the scores that the students gained in their writing products in both control and experimental groups In order

to measure studonis’ participalion in writing lessons, the obscrvations belerc and al the ond

of experiment as well as interviews were used as a valid and reliable means for the study,

For this study, two groups of 40 11th graders at Duong An high school were asked

to participate in this experiment Ons group was emplayed as an experimental group Ths other was cmployed as a control group Each group consisted of 20 students The researcher taught each group 3 lessons using the current textbook English 11 The author was the lsacher (herself) in two groups fa ensnre the designed lesson plans were siriclly followed The teacher instructed the control group in the usual fashion The same lessons were taught to the experimental group with adapted activities With the assistance of the three offer Tinglish teachers, observations were administered for two gronps during the

at Duong, An high school,

2.3 Participants:

‘The participants in this study were 40 11" grade students from two classes: 11A

and 11R al Dug An high school in Binh Giang district, Hai Duong The distribution of the students in each class is that the percentage of students at levels of “ Excellent”,

“Good”, “average”, “under average” in every class are nearly equal ‘That is the students in

each class are similar in the background Duong An high school is a public school with

an enrollment, of aver 1500 students from grade 10 lo grads 12 All students must attend 4 English classes a week The experimental group, group 1A, had 20 students with 9 females and 11 males while the control group, group 118 included 20 students with 13 females and 7 males The (wo groups seemed to have a relatively similar level of proficiency in English as determined by not only the fact that they had spent five years studying English but also their previous school year exam on English listening, readimg,

writing and tamguage facus In the tascarcher’s obsorvation, the levels of participation of the two groups in learning English in general and in leatning writing in particular were relatively equal

2.4, Data collection instruments

2.4.1 Classroom obser ions

The class observations in this study were cared out in 3 English lessons during the treatment For each lesson, three other teachers observed in 30 mites, The researcher designed a checklist for what she wanted to obscrve: teacher's performance, students’ involvement and teachers’ comments

Before the experiment

The other English teachers observed the two classes in 2 writing periods to be aware of the degrees of the students" participation before the experiment, ‘The observers just focused on how the stufents would take part in the lessons What is more, the teachers eotlectod students” writing papors in order lo compare the difforonces in siudonts’ writing performance between the two classes and pre and post improvement stage of this research ‘The before- experiment classroom observations are vitally important The result decided whether we would have the following toscarch If the present level of participation were unsatisfactory, we would have to find out the way to improve their involvement, The data collected from the before-experiment classroom observations would be used to compare with the degrees of participation of the control group and cxpcrimental group before the interventions

During the experiment

During the ucatment, the tsacher or the author herself and hor teachings in both control and experiment groups with the three same lessons were obsarved by the three

mentioned teachers ‘Che contral group was iaught the original activities in English IL

while the experimental group was taught adapted activities ‘hen the researcher measnred

the sludenis* motivation of both groups and then compa

adaptation of textbook activities would be helpful in increasing the students’ involvement

them to prove whether the

in writing lessons

2.4.2 The teacher interview

‘An interview to 4 English teachers who have ever taught English 11 at Duong An high school was condueted to get information about their evaluation on writing activities in the textbook, their evaluations on students participation and what they have done to

increase students’ participation

2.4.3 Student questionnaire

The sisvey questionnaire is one of the instruments which ara oficn uscdl 1o collect dala in social sciences Many significant advantages off using questionnaires are indicated by Gillham(2000}: less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview bias, analysis

of answers is straigitiforward

However, a survey questionnaire with too many closed ended questions may be said to be imposing to some extent and one with too many open ended questions may take respondents a lot of time lo complete So, these are points worlh thinking helore designing

a survey questionnaire Besides, it should be noted that not all of the being sent questionnaires are retumed and not all of them are really reliable

Questiommaire was chosen as data collection instrument in this sludy because of the

purpose of the thesis ilscl is to collcel students’ apinions and attitudes toward touching and

learning writing Students were requested to complete and return the questionnaire on the

spot to the researcher

A tere question questionaire was delivered to students in lwo cla

s11A, 1B

conceming their evaluation on the writing activities in the textbook, their participation and what affected their participation in writing class The questionnaire was the same to the control and experimental groups because the rescarcher wanted to know if the two groups

‘had equal levels of motivation and participation before the intervention

2.4.4, Follow-up student interview

Six students were randomly chosen {rom the experimental group and inlorviewed ta give their evaluation on the level of participation, attitudes towards the adapted activities in the lessons they had been taught

2.5, Data collection procedure

Firs, the rescarcher investigated the students! range of knowledge to know th degrees of students' participation before the experiment Then a survey questionnaire was distributed among the students of the two groups to find out more their evaluation on writing activities and factors allecting their participation in the classroom writing activities To increase the validity of the data, the researcher met and interviewed 4 English teachers who have ever taught English 11 for their attitudes and evaluation about writing