Luận văn a study on students’ linguistic difficulties in toefl ibt essay writing and suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNLVERSITY, WANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES, NGUYEN TOI LIEN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTLES LN ‘

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNLVERSITY, WANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES,

NGUYEN TOI LIEN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTLES LN ‘TOEFL IBE

ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(NGHTEN CUL NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VÉ MẶT NGÔN NGỮ HỌC SINH

KHI VIET BAI LUAN TOEFL IBT VA NHUNG GIẢI PHAP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language ‘leaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNLVERSITY, WANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES,

NGUYEN TOI LIEN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTLES LN TOEFL IBT

ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

{NGHTEN CUL NHUNG KHO KHAN VE MAT NGON NGO CLA HOC SINH

KHI VIET BAI LUAN TOEFL IBT YẢ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Kicld: English Language Teaching Mcthodology Code: 6014.0111

Supervisor: Prof, Dr Hoang Văn Van

Hanoi, 2013

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGLNALITY OF TLE TIHIESLS:

| certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

“A study on students’ Hinguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions”

in terms of Statement for thesis and Yield Study Reports in Master’s Programs Issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Nguyễn Thị Liên

October, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The cunent research could nol bave been completed without the

wholchearted support of people who all deserved my deepest gratitude

Firstly, I want to show my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Hoang Van Van,

my supervisor, for bis cneouraging this research and giving helpful comments on

earlier drafts of this thesis

T would also like to thank 88 TOLIL IBT learners at EQuest center for their enthusiasm for responding to the questionnaires and answering the interview

Vinally, my thank is due to my family, and in particular my two younger

brothers, for their logistical and technical support

‘Any remaining flaws concerning this research are merely mine.

ABSTRACT

TOBFL IBT is becoming a prerequisite for students’ studying abroad in

recent years How lo gel high scores on TORFI TBT is 2 much-discussed topic

among test-takers and educators alike Among four skills speaking, listening,

reading, and writing, the last serves as the most challenging skill according to

many students Composing a TORFT TT essay poses many dilliculties for both experienced and inexperienced learners

The principal aia of this study, basing mainly on survey questionaire and

interview, is to find out common problems encountered by EQuest learners in

TOIFTL IBT Writing and simultaneously to investigate ways to solve these

problems Data were gathered from 88 TOEFL IBT leamers at EQuest center over

a four-week period

The data obtained from the questionnaire, augmented by interview suggest that (() considerable linguistic diffieulies faced by EQuest learners in TORFT BT essay writing task 1 involve expression, word choice, spelling, taking notes and

how to relate the ideas from reading passage with those of listening passage; (ii)

linguistic difficulties faced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT essay writing task 2 are brainstorming, word choice, academic vocabulary, language formality,

exprassion, serlence structure, and spelling: (iii) some preferred suggosted

solutions to these above problems are providing writing templates, checking ideas for students before writing, giving in-class feedback, teaching extra vocabulary, and supply students with further listening and reading exercises to practice note taking skills (exclusively for ‘TOLL IBY task 1)

Basing on the findings of the research, some practical suggestions for

TORFT TRT learners and teachers are pul forward The sludy, to some extent, hopefully contributes a small part to the realm of teaching and leaning TOEFL

TAT int general aru] at EQuest in parlicular

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Leamers’ background information

Figure 2 Reasons for leamers’ laking TOEFT, TBT course

Figure 3 Leamers’ experience in Icarning English

Vigure 4, Leamers’ experience in learning TOLL BT

Figure 5 Teamers’ opinions of writing skill

Figure 6, Leamers’ attitudes towards TOHEL U3 writing skill

Figure 7 Number of essays that learners compose per week

Figure 8 Leamers? linguistic difvicullies in TORFT TAT writing task 1

Figure 9 Correlation between leamers’ levels and their possibilities of

encountering difficulties in taking notes, paraphrasing, and relating points of reading to those of listening

Figure 10 Learners’ linguistic difficulties in TOBFL IBT writing task 2

Figure 11 Correlation between learners’ levels and their possibililies of

encountering difficulties with word choice, expression, and academic vocabulary

Figure 12 Correlation between frequency in which leamers compose essays per

week and their possibilities of encountering difficulties in brainstorming, ideas

Figure 13, Suggested solutions to improve leamers’ TOEFL IBY essay writing

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

2 Aims and research questions

3 Significance of the study

4 Scope of the study

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

1.3 Writing academic essay

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT tesi

2.2 Insight into TORFI TBT writing section

2.2.1 Format of TOHFL IBT writing section

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFL IBT writing

SeCHIOH ào sneieree

1 Context of the study

2 Selection of the subjects

Research instruments

3

4, Procedures of data collection

5 Procedures of data analysis 20

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND INSCUSSION:

1 Data analysis and discussion "¬ Thi 21

1.2, Students” linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay

wriling ¬ HH nh HH Hung eo 27 1.3, Suggested solutions for improving students? TORFL BT

APPENDIX 1: TOEEL 1BT WRITING QUESTION TYPES

APPENDIX 2: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION AND CONSENT

FORM APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS

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CILAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Problem statement and rationale for the study

Globalization and economic booming open up a whole new world of

opportunilies in education, According lo ETS (Educational Tesling service, the

world’s largest oducational testing and assessment organization), TOEFL IBT (Test of Linglish as oreign Language) score can be viewed as a passport to study abroad Statistics from ETS in 2013 indicale that more thant 9,000 colleges, agencies and other institutions in over 130 countries accept TOEFL scores For this reason, the youth is trying to get as high TOEI'L IBT score as possible to get

beller impression on their umversily’s applications, hence, maximize their chances

to be accepted into top international colleges, American ones included

However, the road to high TOEFL IBT score is not a broad one for every

lest-laker TORFT TBT is indesd a tough test; unlike other proficiency tests, TOLFL IBT not only requires learners’ integrated listening-speaking-reading-

wriling skills bul it also involves leamers’ compuler skills TORFT IBT Wriling is

a compelling example of a big challenge brought by the new generation of

TOLFL As an Inglish instructor majoring in teaching TOETL IBT at EQuest for

more (han three yeurs, T empirically realize thal TOFFI TBT learners ranging trom

intermediate to advanced ones have to struggle a lot to write a TOHFL IBY writing

essay Some students think that their main problems lie m time constraint or typing

skills while others blame then troubles for lack of vocabulary or ideas More

seriously, some others are unaware of their weaknesses and unconsciously

replicate their writing mistakes What are real problems experienced by EQuest

lcamers in TOEFL IBT writing? Whal should be donc (o improve their wriling

skills? Those questions are my overriding concerns when teaching TOEFL IBT

Wriling that spark my inferesL in carrying out, the curren! research on students’

difficulties in TOHFL LBY essay writing and suggested solutions

2 Aims and reasearch questions

The study is conducted with the aim of Finding oul the Hnguistic difficulties

that HQuest learners often experience in TOKKL IBY writing essay Added to this,

some useful suggested solutions to resolve the problems are studied

The present study is designed to address two following questions

© What are linguistic problems encountered by BQuest learners im TOEFT

LB writing essay?

«© What should be done to improve EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT writing skill?

3 Significane of the study

‘The present study is the author’s great endeavor in investigating learners” major headaches in TOEFL IBT essay writing and ways to eradicate them This is hoped to offer both leachers and Teamers substamtial benefits m teaching and preparing for the TOLFL IT test Students will directly benefit from this study in

a sense that they will be aware of major challenges posed by TOFFI TBT writing

essay, hence will know their ways to avoid or beat off them As for teachers, by being able to anitipate some awakwardness in their students’ writing, they can

adjust their teaching methods approprialetly according to students’ competence,

preferences, and expectations to better help ungrade their students’ writing levels

Moreover, personal boon is also accounted My main job is teaching TOEFL IBT for those who want to study overseas Hopefully, this study would somehow help me in teaching my students in the right way ‘This research is also

expectedly a heneficial reference source to teachers working in the same field

feeling the same concern

4, Scope of the study

Because of constrained lime and limited knowledge, this study only deals with

two following issues:

Linguistic problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writing,

essay.

* Things should be donc to unprove EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT Writing skill

5 Organization

‘This chapter is a brief sketch of the study including rationale for the study, aims and research questions, significance and scope of the study The precise

details will be given throughout the rest of the study

Chapter two works on the theoretical background bolstering the issue,

followed by a review of three previous researches on the topic

Chapter three outlines the relevant research methods for the study as well as the reasons why these methods are employed Participant selection, data collection

and data analysis are also mcluded in (his chapter

Chapter four is the discussion and findings of the research in which accurate

statistical analysis and comprehensive explanation are presented with the aim of giving precise answers lo three research questions Furthermore, pedagogical

implications are given in this section

Finally, chapter five summarizes the main findings of the research, exposes

some fitnialions, and puts forward suggestions for further rescarvh

CILAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Academic writing

1.1 Definition of writing

Writing has been defined by a number of scholars Byrne (1988) noles that

writing is “the act of forming graphic symbols” such as letters or combmation of letters In this sense, any act of writing producmg letters can be viewed as writing

On the contrary, towards the same issue, Tribble (1996) holds « different opinion that writing is “not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way” In other words, writing

involves leller processing and at the same tame conveys meaningful messayzes

‘This view is backed up by Lannon (1989) when this author claims that writing is

“a process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration,

accidents, trial and error, or whatever into a message with a definite meaning”

On the other hand, Sokolik (2003) views academic writing as “a process

and a produc Writers have to generate ideas, orgai , draft, edit, read, reread lo

produce a product a paragraph, an essay, or a report”, It is Soholik’s idea that is accepted in this study

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

‘There are many ways to approach writing; however, product and process approaches are the two most popular ones

‘The product approach focuses on learners’ final outcome of the writing

process According to Clenton (2004) and Steele (2002), a typical product

approach has four stages In stage 1, learners study a model text, analyze it and imitatc its Waits In stage 2, students slart their controlled practice of the

highlighted features individually In stage 3, students work in group to organize ideas Then comes stage Cour in which students are allowed 1o choose from 4 wide range of writing tasks to write about basing on what they have been taught to

produce the final product.

On the other hand, the process approach emphasizes students’

communication of ideas, foclings, and experience (Stariicy, 2002) with leachers’

intervention as needed (Reid, 1993) ‘the process approach is dissected into eight

principal slages Tn stage 1, students come up with ideas by brainstorming and

discussion whereas teachers provide their students with support if necessary In stage 2, students check their ideas in term of quality and usefulness In stage 3, studenis organize the ideas in a form of a mind map to make hicrarchical relationship of ideas In stage 4, students produce the first draft In stage 5, draft versions are exchanged for peer cheok In stage 6, drafts are returned and students

write the second version basing on suggesled improvement Tu stage 7, a final draft

is produced and submitted for teachers’ evaluation in stage 8

1.3 Writing academic essay

An essay is a piece of writing of several paragraphs which tic to the same topic An essay has three main parts: an introduction, body (usually two or more

paragraphs), and a conclusion

The introductory paragraph has two smaller parts: a few general statements

to attract the readers’ attention and a thesis statement to state the main idea of the

essay The body consists of two or more paragraphs; cach deals with one main idea raised in the thesis statement ‘he conclusion is summary of all points discussed in the body

According to Oshima & Hogue (2006), an essay is judged on five criteria:

ø Format: title centered, first ine of cach paragraph indented, margins on

both sides, text double-spaced

*) Mechtics: periods, commas, semicolons, quolation marks, capitalization,

and spelling

* Content, — - ‘The essay fulfills the requirements of the assignment

- The essay is interesting to read

- The essay shows that the writer used care and thought.

© Organization: the essay follows the outlme, and it has an introduction, body, and a conclusion

+ Tatroduetion: the mtroduclion ends with a thesis

statement

- Body:

| Rach paragraph of the body discusses a new pout

and begins with a clear topic sentence

| Each paragraph has a specific supporting material:

facts, examples, quotations, paraphrased or

summarized information, ete

| Rach paragraph has umity

+ Each paragraph has coherence

+ Transitions are used to link paragraphs

- Conclusion: the conclusion summarizes the main points

or paraphrases the thesis statement, begins witha

conclusion signal, and leaves the reader with the

wriler’s final thaughls on the Lopic

2 TOEFL LBY test

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT test

The Tost of English as a Forcign Language (TOEFL) is an cxamination operated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) This is a proficiency test measuring nonnative learners’ Fngtish competence TORRT scores are compulsory for admission into many English speaking colleges, univeisities, institutions, and a large number of other agencies in the world, especially United

Stato

TOLL test was coined in 1963 by the National Council on the Testing of

English as a Foreign Language According to the document “Test and Score

Summary for TOEML Internet Based Test: September 2005-LDecember 2006 Test

Data” published by ETS in 2007, the TOEFL test was co-administered by ETS

and Ihe College Board in 1965 Ti is now an international trade name of ETS

The early forms of TOEFL were TOEFL computer-based test ([OHFL

CBT) and TOFFT paper-based one (TORFT PBT) Since the advert of TORFT

internet-based test (TOEFL IBT) in 2005 in the United State, Canada, France,

Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the remaining countries m the world one year laler, he TORFL CBT was discontinued and the TOEFT PRT lost ils popularity

Some researchers bolster a sluft from a conventional to an internet-based testing format because of its reduced testing time, standardized test administration, test

content ailored Lo examinee ability, automated scoring, and faster score reporting

(Wise & Plake, 1989, cited in Wolfe & Manalo (2005) JS has now over 4,500

test sites located in more than 165 countries in the world

Since its introduction, TORFT IRT has gained its reputalion as one of the most reliable proficiency tests in the English speaking world According to LTS,

TOFFT IBT is likely to help the test takers stand oul because of its fame for

“taiiness, quality, and its 100 percent academic content” TORFL IBT particularly assesses how well the candidates integrate their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills to perform acadomic tasks, which makes the test a lilile challenging but highly appreciated Stricker & Attali (2010), in their research “Yest Takers’

Attitudes About the TOEFL IBT”, claimed that overall attitudes about the TOEFL

IBY were moderately positive in most countries including China, Cohumbia, and Lgypt The latest poll of ETS reveals that more than 27 million people from all

over the world have taken the TORFT test to demonstrate their English-language

prolicieney Necdless to say, now goncralion of TOEFL is the first choice of many leamera longing to study overseas in this moder world

2.2 Insight into TOEFL IBT writing section

2.2.1, Format ef TOEFL IBT writing section

The TOEFT TAT writing is sub-divided into two tasks: integrated task and

independent task

»

Task Time Words

Tn the integrated task, the test takers firsl have three minutes to read and take notes on a 250-300 word academic passage which usually has three main points After reading the passage, the test takers have another two or three minutes

to listen to the listening passage about the same topic either challenging or supporting the points made in the reading text The candidates are required to take

detailed notes on the lecture heard After all, when composing an integrated essay,

the candidates must sumumarize the main points of the listening passage, then show how these pointes reinforce or cast daubt on the reading

Students have 20 minutes 1o finalize the integraled writing task The typical length of one integrated task ranges from 150 words to 225 words

There are three main question types of TOFFT IBT integrated task:

challenging, supporting, as well as problem and solution (for more information,

see Appendix 1)

Tn the independent task, TORFT TBT candidates are asked 10 stale (heir opinious on a particular topic, then use reasons, details, and examples to back up their points of view Students have 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise their

essays Nomnally, an effective independent essay contains at least 300 words

‘There are four sub-types of independent writing question, namely

agreement, preference, details, and assumption (for more information, see

Appendix 1)

TOEFL IST is an internet-based test; therefore candidates have to type their

responses to the writiny tasks on the computer The computer only appears some

certain text toals as following,

® Copy: copies highlighted text

© Cut: outs highlighted text

* Paste: pastes copied or cut text

© Unde: undoes last aclion

© Redo: redoes action you just undid

« Word count: shows number of words written

* Linter (twice): starts new paragraph

TOEFT TRT writing undoubledly tests the Iearners Uhre skills im onc

section, which poses a great challenge to majority of them Moreover, the learners" typing skill holds no Jess importance in TOLI'L IBT writing test

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFT, IBT writing section

2.2.2.1 Scoring standards

Integrated writing scoring standards

A response at this level successfully selects the important information from the lecture and coherently and accurately presents this

information in relation fo the relevant information presented im the

reading The response is well organized, and occasional language

errors that are present do not result in inaccurate or imprecise

presentation of content or connections

‘A response at this level is generally good in selecting the important

information from the lecture and in coherently and accurately

presenting this information in relulion ta (he relevant information

presented in the reading, but it may have minor omission, inaccuracy,

vagueness, or imprecision of sume content from the lecture or mn

connection to points made in the reading A response is also scored at this level if it has more frequent or noticeable minor language errors,

as long as such usage and grammatical structures do not result in

anything more than an occasional lapse ol’ clarity or in the cormection

of ideas

3 A response at this level may contain some important information from

the lecture and conveys same relevant connection to the reading, but it

is marked by one or more of the following:

® Allhiough the overall response is definitely oriented la the task,

it conveys only vague, global, unclear, or somewhat imprecise

connection of the pommls made m the lecture to points made i

©) Brrors of usage and/ or grammar may be more frequent or may

result in noticeably vague expressions or obscured meanings in conveying ideas and connections

2 A response at this level contains some relevant information from the

lecture, bul il is marked by significant language difficulties or by

significant omission or inaccuracy of important ideas from the lecture

or in the connections between the lecture and the reading A response

at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

© The response significantly misrepresenis or completely arits

the overall connection between the lecture and the reading,

‘The response significantly omits or significantly misrepresents important points made in the lecture

‘The response contains language errors or expressions that

largely obscure cormections or meaning al key junctures or that

would likely obscure understanding of key ideas for a reader

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not already familiar with the reading and the lecture

1 A response at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

e The response provides little or no meaningful or relevant coherent content from the lecture

© The language level of the response is so low that it is difficult

to derive meaning

0 A response at this level merely copies sentences from the reading,

rejects the topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in

a foreign language, consists of keystroke characters, or is blank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

Independent writing scoring standards

5, An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:

« Effectively addresses the topic and task

«Is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate

explanations, exemplification, and/ or details

© Displays unity, progression, and coherence Displays consistent facility in the use of language,

demonstrating syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, and

idiomaticity, though it may have minor lexical or grammatical errors

Address the topic and task well, though some points may not be

fully elaborated

® Is generally well organized and well developed, using

appropriate and sufficient explanations, exemplifications, and/

Bt

or details

Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though it may contain occasional redundancy, digression, or unclear

connections

Displays facility in the use of language, demonstrating

syntactic variely and range of vocabulary, though it will probably have occasional noticeable minor errors in structure,

word forms, or usc of idiomalic language thal do uot interfers

with meaning

3 An essay at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

© Addresses the topic and task using somewhat developed explanations, exemplifications, and/ or details

« Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though connection

of ideas may be occasionally obscured

© May demonstrate inconsistent facility in sentence formation

aud word choice thal may result in lack of clarity and

occasionally obscure meaning

© May display accurate but limited range of syntactic structures and vocabulary

3 ‘An essay al ihis level may reveal one or more of the following

weaknesses

@ Linuted development in response to the fopic and Lask

Inadequate organization or connection of ideas Inappropriate or insufficient exemplifications, explanations, or

details to gupporl or Wlusirale generalizations im response to Ihe task

© A noticeably inappropriate choice of words and word forms

© Anaccumulation of crrors in sentence structure and/ or usage

12

I An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the

following weaknesses:

@ Serious disorganization or underdevelopment

© Little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics, or questionable responsiveness to the task

¢ Serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage

0 ‘An essay at this level merely copies words from the topic, rejects the

topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in a foreign

language, consists of keystroke characters, or is bank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

2.2.2.2 Scoring rubrics

The total score for the writing section of TOEFL IBT is 30 (out of 120)

Each writing task is worth maximum of five points The average of points earned

from two tasks is finally converted into a scale score of 0-30

Converting rubric scores to scales scores

Writing rubric mean Scaled score

3 Earlier studies on academic writing

Writing skill is an interesting topic which has been studied by a number of researchers In accomplishing this research, 1 have read some previous researches dealing with the topic Of relevance lo the presen research are three studies

‘The first (Lan, B.P, 2007) mvestigated importance of paragraph writing to

students at National Economics University (NIU), their difficulties in paragraph writing, causes of thesc common errors, and effective strategies for teaching writing paragraphs ‘Ihe results of the study indicated that all students partaking in

the study have positive attitudes towards their paragraph writing course Lan, BP

(2007, p.35) revealed that even though the NEU students have studied English for

a long time, more than 10 years, their writing skills are very poor They often

commil many qwustakes im wriling couceming organivation, content, and 1nosL

seriously use of language Another important finding of the study was students’

preference for ieaching writing methodology Most of them prefer the teacher’s provision of lmguage knowledge, explanations of sample paragraphs, and group

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discussion to self-studying through reading materials However, the research failed 1o explicilly explain causes of sludsnts’ committing orrors in paragraph writing

The second (Hoa, NT, 2008) sought to find out students and teachers’

difficulties im learning arxt leaching writing the textbook “Writing 1” at Humg

‘Vuong university and ways to sort out these problems The findings suggested that students’ typical difficulties in learning writing with the textbook “Writing 1” are lack of vocabulary, lack of cullural knowledge, first language inderferenec, and poor grammar Teachers who were directly teaching writing using that textbook

also face numerous troubles such as the textbook itself, repetition of teaching

techniques in every class, ways lo correct students’ errors, shorlage of writing

reference materials, and lack of teaching aids Accordingly, some suggested

solutions are put forward: organizing writing workshop, distributing diagnostic

lest to students, equipping sluderts with some knowledge of contrast between

English and Vietnamese, employing diverse error correction techniques

The third (Asaoka & Usui, 2003), a loryitudinal study, investigated kinds

of problems encountered by students while they completed their writing assignments as well as the ways they handle the problems in an English for Avadsmic Purposes (FAP) program at a Japanese university The kinds of problems the participants had trouble with while completing an essay assignment could be roughly divided into three areas: surface-level problems (grammar, expressions, mechanics), macro-level problems (planning, topie, coherence, organization), and external factors (deadline, word count requirements, availability

of appropriate sources, students’ perceptions of teachers’ expectations, lack of

posilive reinforcement, and Uhcir altitudes toward the first language use) Ways lo help the students better at writing mainly include teachers’ provision of more grammatical exercises in class, leachers’ intervention and constraclion al an early stage of students’ writing when they choose the topics, teachers’ supportive and

open attitudes towards students’ ideas, plans, and concerns through individual

meetings, and teachers’ flexibility in writing schedule

15

In short, academic writing has been the topic of many writers The matters discussed in (hese above researches are relevanl to my leaching arca and leave

important lessons to be learnt However, these available studies focus on matters

in academic writing im general, no studies come across wilh any mvestigation

involving difficulties experienced by leamers in TOEFL IBT writing, which leaves a research gap for the author of the present study to implement

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

1 Context of the study

‘The present study is conducted at HQuest, an English center with ten-year

experience in providing educational services such as GRE, GMAT, SAT, TORFL,

TELTS, and TOEIC Among various courses at EQuest, the new gencration

TOLIL, (LOLI'L LB) preparation courses often attract high school students in Hanoi who yearn to study abroad In order to take part in the TORFL TT courses,

students have to take a placement test If they get 60-74 points out of 120 points,

they will be entitled to enroll TOEFL A course If they eam more than 74 points

oul of 120 poms, they will get a charice fp study in TOEFT B classes

Lach ‘OLI'L LBT course lasts about 3 months, 3 sessions a week, and 2

hours a lesson Studying materials are in-house ones compiled by EQuest

instructors and cdiled regularly (o fit the learning situation During cach course, students are required to take regular progress tests in order to mark their skill

improvement

The primary goal of TOEFL IBT courses is to help leamers to earn high scores in the actual test Ilelping students sharpen their English skills in an academic environment and gel familiar with American oricriled learning styles i

universities in the United State serves as another goal of ‘TOKKL IBT preparation

courses

2 Participants

The participants of the study are my 88 TOEFL IBT students from 6 classes

at EQuest (43 TORFT A students and 45 TORFT B students) Their levels of

English are intermediate and uppor-inter mediate (they gained 75-90 TOEFL IBT scores in the placement test) Their target socres when completing the courses range from 90 Lo more than 100 scores (out of the maximum of 120 scores) lo apply for scholarships funded by American colleges and universities

The majority of selected subjects come from high schools in Hanai: they

often have one year or two more years to obtain TOEFL IBT score to finalize their

17

application for undergraduate scholarships The minor population is university

sludenis and is preparing lo apply for their graduatc

olarships

3 Rescarch instruments

With the aim of addressing the research questions, a combination of

questionnaire and scmi-structured interviews were employed Through these methods, accurate and reliable data were expected to be obtained ‘The major source of dala is derived from the questionnaire for students studying TORFT TBT

at LQuest Along with this, interviews for these students were conducted to gather extra information for any ambiguous responses from the questionnaire

Concermng the survey questionnaire, this method was adopted in the

research for a number of reasons WVirstly, it is the survey questionnaire that helps the reseracher save time According to Jo and Steve (1997

it is quickest way to

gel answers [rom scattered parlieipants with much precision and clarity The major

subjects of this research are TOEPL IBT learners with total number of 88 ones

Therefore, a set of questionnaire written in English is regarded more convenient

than cther instruments from such a large sample In other words, the author of the

research could achieve a “snapshot” of the subject situations and opinions at the same Line (Cohen & Manion, 1865) Secondly, iis argued that financial benefits

of questionnaire should be taken into consideration Questiommaire has been considered “a vital tool in the collection of data it can provide data

economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Verma & Mallick, 1999: 117) It could fulfill the purpose of the author to collect

data from a large number of TORFT TBT learners at EQuest in the most

cconomical way Last but not least, the use of open-ended questions is believed to provide sufficient and detailed data for the researcher Students might not open wilh being observed in class bul mosl of them appear willing to fl in the questionnaires As a result, data reflecting what the respondents want to say could

be found without much difficulty In conchision, the strengths of survey

questionnaire method coulld be clearly seen in its relevance to the rescarch aims

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The questionnaire for students consists of 15 questions using open-ended lype The first part of the survey questionaire (questions 1-10) aims to seck the participants’ general information such as name, gender, the course they are taking

al FQuest together with the reasons they take the course, time im which they have

been Iearning English, time in which they have been researching TOEFL IBT, their overall attitude towards academic writing and ‘TOLI'L 13’ writing, level of their interes for TORFT TBT, and the number of TORFT IRT essays they produce per week Ihe second segment of the questionnaire is designed to acquire data about linguistic difficulties students often have in TOLT'L IBT writing essay task

1, task 3, the question Lypes leamers find the most difficult to handle, and thea

preferences for what teachers can do to facilitate their ‘1OLML LB'T writing skill

‘With the purpose of avoiding some misleading information from answers

lo the questionnaire and acquiring as well as cuiching accurate dala for the

research, semi-structured interviews were carried out In faci, this kind of

interview “is not ihe only qualitalive research technique thal will produce rich

information about social relationships but it does give you to social relationships

in a quite profound way” (Dowsett, 1986) Owing to this kind of interview, the mlerviewer could be able to control the general flow of the interview without

“entering the interview with lots of predetermined questions” (Mc Namara, 1999)

In short, the validity and reliability of the research could be strengthened thanks to a combination of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews

4 Procedures of data collection

The data collection procedures of the research could be divided into four main

phases as below:

Thase 1

Tn the first place, the questionnaire for students was thoroughly propared three weeks before delivering them to the respondents As designing the

questionnaire, the author made sure that all informants’ information is kept

anonymous After that, the questionnaire was piloted with several voluntary

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respondents Honestly, a complete final version of questionnaires was made thanks loa great help of Ihe supervisor

Phase 2

Tn uns phase, the author sent the Parlicipanl Information and Consent to 88

selected students to ask for their willingness to partake in the project one weok before distributing the questionnaires Luckily, all of them concurred to participate

in the study Ther the questionaire was delivered to 88 students from 6 TOFFT IBY classes at their break time The questionnaire included explicit instruction on how to reply to questions, hence the participants could follow it easily

Phase 3

When processing data obtained from the questionnaire, some points of the

students’ responses must be pinpointed: hence the author asked for students’

agreement to haye some interviews lo clear up the maller

Phase 1

Next to the stage of inlerview is processing the remaining data

In conclusion, taking the procedures of data collection by separate steps enabled the author to obtain the most precise data for the study

§ Procedures of data analysis

In the first stage, the data gained from the survey questionnaire was

transferred into numerical form with the use of chart and table Valid comparisons

between the figures were also included Besides, in the way of summing and averaging the participants’ rating, the overall evaluation of the participants was

made

Next, qualitative data got from the openended questions in the questionnaire and during the interview were also summarized and evaluated The aulhor calegorived the inferview on a question by question basis; hence cach question was analyzed separately in order to obtain an accurate analysis ‘The finding of this research will be presented in details in chapter four.