Luận văn the use of pre writing activities to improve writing skills for 11th form students at tien du 3 high school bac ninh an action research

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY ue ‘HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI LOI THE USE OF PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROV

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

ue

‘HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES:

DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI LOI

THE USE OF PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE WRITING

SKILLS FOR 11" FORM STUDENTS AT TIEN DU 3 HIGH SCHOOL,

BAC NINH — AN ACTION RESEARCH (SỬ DỤNG MỘT SỐ HOẠT ĐỘNG TRI ỚC KHI VIẾT NHẰM PHÁT

TRIEN KY NANG VIET CHO HỌC SINH LỚP I1 TẠI TRI ỜNG THPT

TIÊN DU SỐ 3 TỈNH BẮC NINH - MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HANH DONG)

MA MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 1410

„Ác

NGUYEN THI LOI

THE USE OF PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS

FOR 11 FORM STUDENTS AT TIEN DU 3 HGH SCHOOL, BAC NINI—AN

ACTION RESEARCH

{SU DUNG MOT SO HOAT DONG TRI OC KHI VIẾT NHẦM PHÁT TRIEN KỸ

NÀNG VIẾT CH HỌC SINH LỚP !1 TẠI TRỊI ỒNG THPT TIÊN DU SO 3 TINA

BẮC NINH MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG)

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

LI Statement of problems

1.2 Aims and research questions of the study

1.2.1 Aims of the stndy 0

1.2.2 Research questions of the study

1.3 Methods of the study

1.4, Significance of the study

LS Design of the study

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Theoretical background of writing

2.2.1, Definition of writing

2.2.2 Types Of WHitiNg oes ccce cies stntienetetinenieieenneet

2.2.3 Why da students need to wrile?

2.2.4, Factors affecting written communication

22.5, Writing process

2.2.6 The product af writing

2.3 Pre-witing stage and pre-writung activities

2.3.1 Pre-wrifing stage

3.3.2 Some common pre-writing activities

2.3.3 Benefits of pre-wiiting activities

2.3.4 A warning about prewriting activities

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research method

3.2 Overview of action roscarch

3.3 Descriptions of the research

3.3.1 Deseription oŸthe pariioipanks of he stuổy ò

3 3.1.1 The students 3.3.1.2 The teacher

3.3.1.3 The rater 3.3.1.4 The textbook 3.3.2, Planning; identifying the cwrent problems and the causes of the problems

3.3.2.1 Pre-test instrument

3 3.2.2 Quesliommairs instumeni

3.3.3 Prcliminary investigation HH Hang

3.3.4 Hypothesis

3.3.5 Action, developing an action plan ard conducting the experiment

3.3.6 Observation, collecting data and observing the effects of the action

3.3.7 Reflection, evaluating the action plan and the evaluated effzcts of the action

3.3.8 Data collection instruments andl their procedures

3.3.9 Summary

CHAPTER FOUR: TA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1: Dala analys

4.2 The results of the pre-test and post-test

4.3 The results of the students’ pre- and post-attitudinal survey -

procedures

4.3.1: The sladents’ attitude (owards writing:

4.3.2 The problems that cause the difficulties in students’ writing

4.3.3 The students’ preferences for participating in the pre-writing activities

Appendix 1: Schzdule for writing lessons of the sceond ler

Appendix 2: Questionnaires tor students before and after the action plan

Appendix 5: Resulls of tha Pre- and Post-study survey questionnaires

Appendix 6; Sample lesson plan for applying pre-waiting activities in class

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of science, technology, culture, education, economy, politic and sơ on, It is also considered a means to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries

in the world, Since Vietnam officially joined W'IO, the importance of Linglish has been reengnived more and more witlely For ils tole, Frytish has been not, only 2 compulsory subject in almost all high schools in Vietnam but one of the three major subjects in the high school finat examination and in the entrance exam ta some universities and collages as well

Together with the development of English, there are many changes in the curriculum for high school students In the past, the contents in the textbook mainly focused on grammar, reading and spoaking Listening and writing in conlexts were almost noglaclcd Students could practice listening skill only by listening to their teachers They rarely had a chance to listen to foreigners or listen in situations Their writing skill was even worse Although they were very good at doing exercises in structural forms, they could hardly write a topic in class Only when the new set of textbooks is used, students have more chances to leam writing skill

‘To students in ths schoot where 1 am teaching, writing seems to be the most difficult skill, Many of ther sce wriling lessons as times of sighing, poncil — chewing, foot — shuffling agony Some students even state that “Oh, I’ve no ideas”, “My palms are sweating, my heart is

beating fast, and my mind is blocked”, “It’s not easy to get it started at all” Why is it that for

large numbers of high school students, writing svcms to be a grcal problem?

‘Asa teacher, I have thought a lot about this question There are many things that one can do to aid in the writing process such as using visual aids, using multi-media, etc, Among

the (ee slages af a writing lesson: pro-wriling, while-writing and post-writing, I thirk pre-

writing is considered the most important one It helps students to get starting to waite easily It

is the key in the development of a “good” essay and the “evolution” of good writing skills

The shove reason has encouraged me Lo investigate into different pre-wnting activities

I would like to do something with the hope of improving writing skill for our students at Tien

Du 3 Iligh School Therefore, the thesis title goes as “The Use of Pre-writing Activities to Improve Writing Skills for 11 form students at Tien Du 3 High School, Rac Nink — An Action Research”

Hopefully, the aclivitics introduced in this study will be of some help for the anthor and other teachers in writing lessons

1.2 Aims and research questions of the study

12 1 Aims of the study

The purposes of this study arc to investigate the eauses of the difficultics which 11

form stndenis at ‘lien Du 3 high school encounter in learning writing and to investigate the

offeetivencss of some pre-wiiling activities employed wilh a view to improving students?

writing

‘To achieve the above purposes, the study has to follow the steps below:

- To investigate the causcs of the difficnitics in writing lessons from classroom

observation and classroom intcraction

- ‘To devise some pre-writing activities and use them in writing lessons to solve the probiem

- Teo examine the effectiveness of these activities to decide whether they are helpful or not

1.2.2 Research questions of the study

This study explores the use of different pre-wriling wetivitics for 11" fore students in Tien Du 3 High School The weaknesses in writing skills of those students have encouraged the researcher fo investigate these activities in the light of the following questions:

1- What are the causes of difficulties in students’ writing?

2- How do the pre-writing activities affect 1 form students in Tien Du 3 High School

in their writing?

1.3 Methods of the study

The study was carried out using action research method The data were collected trom

survey questionnaires, class observation and interviews with students Questionnaires are

designed as a means to make the rescarcher’s cvaluation more objective The questionnaires

are given to eleventh form students of Tien Du 3 High School to find out their evalnation on

The shady hightights the importance of pra-writing slage in the process of a writing Ic

1.5 Design of the study

The study consists of five chaplors: Chaptor I: Introduction, Chapter 2: Titoraturs Review, Chapter 3; Methodology, Chater 4: Data Analysis; Chapter 5 Suggestion and conclusion

Chapler 1, the introduction, presonls the background to the study and staternent of the problem, the aims, significance and design of the study It also expresses the author’

for choosing the method to fulfill the study

Chapter two, Literauure Review, presenls (he main concepts relevant to the research

reasons

topic such as different points of’ views about writing, definition of pre-writing, the importance

of the pre-writing stage ina writing lesson, etc

Chapter Uhrec presents the methodotogy used in the study The resuarcher nllempls lo improve students’ writing practice in classroom, Therefore, the methodology employed in this study is action research,

Chaplor 4 provides detaited resulls of the survey questionnaires and class observation

‘The students’ comments are also given in this chapter The comprehensive analysis on the data collected is supplied in details in this part

The lest chaplor of this study, chapicr 5, offsrs sore major findings of using pro- writing activities in class, It also gives a “Conclusion” to the study, which emphasizes the key issues in the study, points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for the finther study,

Chapter 2: Literature review

2.1, Introduction

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapler is devoted to the tevisw

of concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic These are the theoretical background of writing, the stages of a writing lesson, and the factors affecting teaching and learning writing,

2.2 Theoretical background of writing

I is important to identify the skills involved in writlen communication lo devise effective activities to teach writing, To identify the skills we need to know what writing actually involves Ience the following parts review the different definitions of writing, the processes involved in writing and the factors that affect written communication

1, Definition of writing

What writing is and how it is developed has boon a subject of discussion and debate for

centuries, tiom the time of Aristotle, Cicero, efc to present Through there are different

viewpoints, it is commonly agreed that writing is tar ftom being a simple matter of transcribing language into writlen symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right It demands

conscious intellectual effort, which usually has to be sustained over a considerable period of

time Given below are some of the views of various writers on the definition of writing

In “The world's writing systenes” Daricls (1996, p3) defines writing as “A system of

more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance in such a way that it can be

recovered more or Jess exactly without the intervention of the utterer”

According ta Donn Byrne, “Wriling involves the encoding of a message of some kind: that is, we translate our thoughts into language” (1979:1)

It is obvious that when we write, we use graphic symbols: that is, letters or

combinations of Ieflers which relate to the sounds we make when wo speak On onc level,

writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols: making marks ona flat surface of

some kind But writing is clearly nmuch more than the production of somnds ‘Che symbols have

to be arranged, according to certain conventions, lo form words, and words have to be

arranged to form sentences, As a rule, however, we do not write just one sentence or even a

writing as followed: “Writing is a pro

2.2.2 Types of writing

There are different opinions about the types of writing Davies and Widdowson (1974), Rivers and ‘Temperley (1978), and Pincas (1982) elaborated writing into six categories: (1) Personal wriling is wriling for oneself (diaries, journals, shopping lists, raminders for oneself,

packing lists, addresses, recipes), (2) Study writing is also for oncsclf (making notes while reading, taking notes fiom lecturers, making a card index, summaries, synopses, reviews, Toporls 6í experiments! worksheps!

s, bibliographies; (3) Public writing is as a member of the general public to organizations or institutions (letters of inquiry’ complaint’ request, form-filling, applications for memberships), (4) Creative writing can include poems, stories, rhymes, drama, songs, autobiography, (3) Social writing is a catogary which inchides letters, invitations, notes of condolence’ of thanks/ of congratulations, cablegrams, telephone messages, instnictions to friend/ family: (6) Institutional writing relates to professional roles

(agendas, minules, memoranda, reports, reviews, contracls, business letters, public notices, advertisements, posters, instructions, speeches, applications, curriculum vitag, specifications and note-making

2.2.3 Why do students need to write?

Writing is one skill that students need to leam in class In the past, writing skill was

almost neglected in language teaching in Vietnam Students could hardly be able to write a letter or an essay in English successfully Only from some ycars back to now, writing has been

paid much attention to

Writing skill is not an easy one Writing in students’ mother tongue is difficult And writing in a foreign language is even nmch more difficult For many high school students, perhaps even the majority of them, writing is the skill in which they are least proficient, even aller considerabls practics

Referring to Ihe importance of writing, Jom M Lannon (1989) points onl “Writing is never done merely to demonstrate mechanical correctness; instead, the aim of any writing is to advance a writer's definite purpose and to serve a reader’s definite needs” Ile also states the importance of writing in relation with reading, that is “making clear the link betweon reading, and writing, and promoting active reading”

IL is obvious that bosides helping students to improve the composing skills essential in planning, dratting, and revising, writing skill enables students to evaluate their own writing for

worthwhile content, sensible organization, and readable style

its rheforical effectivene:

Moreover, il offers stutlents praeties in discovering, shaping, and expressing their meanings

for a varicty of goals

Compared with speech, effective writing requires a number of things: a high degree of organivalion of ideas and information; a high degree of accuracy so thal there is no ambiguity

of meaning; the use of complex grammatical devices for focus and emphasis; and a caretill

choice of vocabulary, grammatical pattems, and sentence structures to create a style which is appropriate to the subject maticr and he eventual rearders,

We can see that a good deal of writing in the English classroom in high schools is

undertaken as an aid to leaming for example, to consolidate the learning of new structures or

vocabulary or Lo help students remember new items of language Writing allows students to

see how they are progressing and to get feedback from the teacher, and it allows students to monitor and diagnose problems Donn Byrne (1979) pomis out “Written work serves to

provide the learners with some tangible evidence thai thay are making progress in the

language It is not likely to be a true index of their attainment, but once again it satisties a

psychological need” and “Writing is often needed for formal and informal testing”

Generally spcaking, on pedagogical grounds alonc, writing is a skill worth developing

ina foreign language lesson In order to help students master this skill, the teachers have to

A number of factors have to be kept in mind to communicate effeolively through

writing The message we want to convey has le

some background information about the intended reader, and his previous knowledge of whatever is related to our message Some of the factors which play an important part in our

chanecs of being misunderstood if we have

sclcction of what to convey, how to convey and how much to convey arc as follows:

* The relationship between the writer and the reader whether it is at @ formal or intimate evel

* The purpose of the activity - whether the message is conveyed for giving information, seeking permission, soliciting advice and 30 on

+ The provions knowledge of the reader — whether the message is new to him, partly knowns

or known froma different angle

* ‘The type of message - whether it is simple, complex, involves technical expressions or not

* Infonded rasponsa - whether the writer wanls Ip ploase the reader, persuade him, threaten him or emage him

‘The writer should keep all these factors in mind if he wants the reader fo understand his message properly and react in the way he wants him/her to

Having analyzed the nature of writing, the problems involved in communicating through writing, and the factors that affect written cammumication, it is necessary to mdertake

a sludy on how to tcach writing effeetively

2.2.5, Writing process

‘There has been a considerable change and development in the teaching — learning process over the years, Along with il the importance given to the various skills of language has also been changing The changes in the importance given to writing have affected the types of topics used and the teaching and testing of writing in general

The waiting process in class usually consists of the following stages: Pre-writing, while-writing and post-writing

In other situations, there are different opinions about the writing process However, the

main steps in the writing process are as followed:

- write a rough draft (your first try or second )

- revise (look for ways to improve your paper)

- edit (check for spelling and grammatical errors)

- publish

It is obvious that the process of writing is important to any writers That's why Ron

White (1980) highlights its importance in the “Process writing”: “What is important for us as

teachers of writing is to engage our students in that creative process; to excite them about how

their texts are coming into being; to give them insights into how they operate as they create

work”

2.2.6 The product of writing

There are many things to be considered in the product of writing However, in this part, I

would like to mention the list of the “skills” that students need to get to have the best final products They are:

= Getting the grammar right

Having a range of vocabulary

- Punctuating meaningfully

- Linking ideas and information across sentences to develop a topic

- Developing and organizing the content clearly and convincingly

2.3 Pre-writing stage and pre-writing activities

Prewriting is one of the most important stages of the writing process, in addition to

revision Unfortunately, most beginning (and some advanced) writers do not spend enough

time on these activities, so writing is more difficult than it needs to be

In “The practice of writing”, Robert Scholes and Nancey R Comley (1989) highlight the importance of prewriting: “Your most productive way of beginning almost any writing

task will be to collect your thoughts on paper without the pressure of structuring your

expression into its final form”

2.3.1 Pre-writing stage

Among the four main stages of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing, pre-writing, the first stage, fully reveals its importance in writing What is pre-

writing? When and why do we need to do pre-writing?

Webster’s Dictionary defines pre-writing as, “The formulation and organization of

ideas preparatory to writing”

(http://www merriam-webster.convdictionary/prewritings)

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“Prewriting is anything you do before you write a draft of your đoctmnerf It includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, brainstorming, outlining, and gathering information (eg interviewing people, researching in the library, assessing data)”

(lip: Ach mit cduAwriting/Resources!Wri

To sum up, prc-writing refers to any activity in the classroom that cneourages the

generation of ideas It helps students stinmlate thoughts for getting started In fact, it moves

students away from having to face a blank page to goncrating (ontative ideas and gathering information for writing

2.3.2 Some common pre-wniting activitie

Prewriting is nothing more than gelling teady lo writs No person would leave on vacation without plans as to where to g0 No person would start to build a housc without plans

as to what it will look like No person would start to cook a meal without an idea of what would bs served Similarly, no parson shonld atlermpt to write withont a plan for whal is to be written

Jlereunder are some common pre-writing activities used at high-school:

* Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a widely used and effective way of getting ideas flowing The writer creates a “storm” of ideas, not passing judgment on any of them or censoring any idea that comes to mind, ‘Those ideas may be ideas for acluat content, œr iđoas for organizing, the content In general, brainstorming involves thinking, quickly and without inhibition so as to produce as many ideas as possible in a given area or on a given topic or problem

8,

Brainstorming can bo carried out individually or among a group of poople Tn cỉ

brainstomming is most frequently practiced as group activity Small groups can brainstorm ideas, with one person (or the instructor) recording ideas, or the class as a whole can brainstorm, The group may then sclcct and order idcas ftom this brainstorming list to plan individually or collaboratively written texts

Brainstorming can be used to

- Choose a topic

- Identify a reason or purpose for writing

+ Find an appropriate farm in which to write:

~ Devclop a lopie

- Work out a plot

- Develop the organization of ideas

* Listing and grouping,

‘This method requires students to list all words or phrases related to topic Students do not slop antil they have written a large quantity and completely tun ont of ideas They will not

De in.a hurry to cross out the seemingly unimportant, repetitive, or even unrelated ones as soon

as they put them on the paper For example, students can first write such a topic as “Money” at the top of their paper, and then, cither in pairs or in small groups, list words or phraszs as

* Rapid free writing

Rapid fice writing, just like warming up before a game, flexes students’ writing

muscles (Raimes, 1996) This pre-writing technique simply requires students to write as much

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as possible about a topic In this activity, individual students can generate as many ideas as

possible without worrying about spelling, punctuation, grammar, logic, organization or

accuracy, in order to develop fluency in writing Of course, these above-mentioned elements

of writing are important, but students’ concern about them can sometimes inhibit the free flow

of their ideas, so students are better leaving those things for later consideration In free writing,

for example, students should first write the essay topic at the top of the paper to remind

themselves what the writing is about, and then begin to free-write on the topic within a given

period of time without stopping so that they can let one idea spark another idea in free

association What they write rapidly on the paper may be a word, a phrase or a sentence In

this way, they will soon be surprised to find they have much to say instead of little

*Clustering, Start with a central idea and relate words, phrases, or ideas to it This activity is used to

find a direction for thoughts

Example: The topic is writing about somebody's daily life

Students can do the clustering activities as followed

- Walk before work,

~ Play tennis after

work

Clustering works like brainstorming: ideas should be jotted down quickly, without critique ‘The writer begins with a angle word closely associated with the topic that he/she

places al the center of the page Then jols additional words and phrases around it on thơ page Having lots of white space around short phmises and single words muikes il casier for the writer to make links between the ideas he/she generated, adding circles to group ideas and lines to connect ideas in various ways, This activity may be much more pleasurable if undertaken with @ handfal of felt-tip markers in various colors,

* Making wh-questions: Instead of staring at a blank sheet, students can quickly get

started by asking thomscives a scries af who, why, what, where, whan and how quastions about atopic and providing possible answers This process is particularly productive because

it stirmlates active thinking, It reveals a wealth of details for enriching the paragraph ‘the wh- questions can help students see whal they wan lo say and what they don'l want to say For cxample, students can ask themsclvos the following Wh-questions

(1) “What” questions: What’s the problem? What’s my opinion? What’s the reason?

(2) “Who” questions: Who was invelved? Who did i1? Who was affected?

(3) “Why” questions: Why did it happen? Why did 1 do it?

(4) “When” questions: When did it happen? When did | realize this?

(3) “How” questions: How did it happen? How can T change the silualion?, ze

* Simple outtining

Simple outtining is an effective way to help students to write more quickly If students

wal lo have a good idea in their mind oC how they will

to discuss, they need to write a simple outline to check their ideas, to make sure that their points are well organized, and to use as a guideline to refer to as they write Once they have

i anxd whal major poinis thay plan

worked out # good outline for ø paragraph or a short essay, (hoy have completed 50 percent af the work, With an outline, the actual writing becomes easier because students don’t have to worry about what they are going to say Hence, they ean write more quickly 1Isre is a sample outline,

‘Topic: Money.

Students can develop ideas basing on the three main points: Enjoyment, Banking and Finance, Evil things

‘A Enjoyment: (1) ‘Traveling around the world; (2) Buying beautiful clothes; (3) Studying abroad

B Barking & Finance: (1) Payment; (2) Loan, (3) Savings

©, Evil things: (1) Bribery; (3) Stealing; (3) Prostitution

* Percolating: Thinking about your topic, Deeply examining, with the mind, what necds to be said

* Reading/Researching: Find information about the subject

* Discussing: Talk to othor pooplc, with varying levels of knowledge on the topic, about the piece

* In addition, ideas for writing can be genarated fiom multimedia sources (printed materials, videos, films) as well as fron direct interviews, talks, surveys and qnestionmnires Students will be more motivated to write when given a varicty of means for gathcring information during prewriting,

2.3.3 Bonofits of pro-writing activities,

In general, the main benefits of pre-witing activities are

Firstly, they can bring a lot of fim At this pomt, anything is possible A student may have many ideas and Ihe ideas em be ficewheeling or even idiotic I docs not matter He/she jusl keeps brainstorming, playing with ideas, collecting resources and notes, doing all the other activities needed 1o finish this slage of the writing process At this point, the student’s writing

may go in many dircotions, Ho hờ noods lo pxploro the ideas until ho/she bit upon (tind out) the ones that feel right

Secondly, a student can easily evaluate new ideas that come flooding into his/her mind

Thirdly, pre-writing activilics allow the student to waite the first dra more casily becnuse he/she knows what he/she wants to write at each writing session,

Next, pre-writing activities increase student’s self confidence as a writer [e/she will be able

to dotexmine if the idcas have merit, and if he/she will be able to finish the topic and actually

write that topic

Finally yet importantly, by the end of the pre-writing process, the student will have a full outline of the topic With that outline, student will be able to see the whole project at a glance When spreading the outline across the desk and examine the creation, the student will be able

to delcet:

© Inadequate organization of the ideas

© Gaps in ideas and content

© Whether the student has one paragraph or more

© Whether the writing needs cutting down in size

In brief, the main benefits in carrying out pre-writing activities are: (1) ‘They help students stimulate thoughts for gelling starled and making writing casicr, (2) They help students remove the mental bleck and distraction that prevent ideas coming out; (3) They help

students write in a more motivating and stimulating way instead of pondering over an essay

topic atone; (4) They help crzale a cooperative and enjoyable atmosphere in the writing class

2.3.4 A warning about pre-writing activities

It is undeniable that pre-writing activities help students a lot when they start to write

However, besides the abave benefits, thers is also a warning when implementing thes: activities in class, That is, both the teacher and students may become so fascinated by this stage that they don’t actually move past it to create the first draft, and then on to revision In other words, like rescarch, writers have a tendency to spend too much time planning and never get to implementation (drafting), Consequently, teachers may run out of time in writing lessons if thsy do not prepare carefully

I- What are the causes of difficulties in students’ writing?

2- How do the pre-writing activities affect 11" form students in Tien Du 3 High School

in their writing?

In this action research, data were collected from two main data collection instruments:

survey questionnaires and tests

3.2 Overview of action research

Action research has been defined in a number of different ways Burns (1994) defines

action research as “the application of fact finding to practical problem solving in a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it, involving the collaboration

and co-operation of researchers, practitioners and laymen” In the first chapter of the book

“Action research for Language Teachers, Wallace (1998) states that Action research is a

process which collects data on your everyday practice and analyzes it in order to make

decision about what your future practice should be”

Usually, there are five main phases of action research: problem identification, plan of

action, data collection, analysis of data and plan for future action Nunan (1992) also agrees

with the five steps above but he divides the action research process into smaller steps:

Initiation, preliminary investigation, hypothesis, intervention, evaluation and dissemination

In this action research, Nunan’s six steps were adopted because his ideas cover all

other researchers’ opinions The study was divided into 2 periods and included 8 final weeks

of the second semester The first period took place in 2 weeks (week 1 and week 2) and the

second period took place in 6 weeks (from week 3 to week 8)

3.3 Descriptions of the research

3.3.1 Description of the participants of the study

3.3.1.1 The students,

The research is carried aut in class LI A3 of Tien Du 3 Iịgh School The class size is

46 Thare are 21 males and 25 females Their ages are from 17 to 18 They are from different communes of Tien Du district, Bac Ninh Province ‘They have learnt English (E) 6, E7, E8, ở and 10 They did nol acquire the sume level of English Especially in Erglish writing tosts, they offen got low marks Some sIudents even do nat know haw lo gel slarted to write This reason encouraged the researcher to choose them as the objectives of the study

3.3.12 The teacher

Also taking part in the study of this action rescarch was the teacher of class 11A3- Tica

Du 3 High School It 1s obvious that the teacher plays a very important part in students’ writing Oxford (1990) has shown thal the rales af the teachers are traditionally viowed as an authority figure, instructor, director, manager, leader, evaluator, controller, and even the doctor who must cure the ignorance of the students

Oxford (1990) also cmphasi

the importance roles of the teacher as: “diagnostic”,

as “language learner”, as “lcamer trainer” and also a “coordinator” and a “coach”, The status

is no longer based on hierarchical authority, but on the quality and importance of his/her rolationship with Icarners When the loarners take mors responsibility, more learning occurs, and both teacher and Jearners feel more successful

3.3.13 The rater

In order to make {he stady more objective, the rescarcher has asked a lcacher of Tien

Du 3 High School to code and rate the pre- and post-tests If the marks given by the rater are the same as the marks given by the teacher of class 11 A3, the marks will be accepted If there

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periods for normal class Reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Iake other skills, writing skill covers one period Students often find it difficult to write a topic in class and they often got low marks for this skill

3.3.2 Planning-identifying the current problems and the causus of the problems (weck

During the teaching process, the researcher discovered that her students seemed to be weak at writing skills They did not know how to get started in writing essay topics or took a lot of time for the writing To find out the proticms that students had in lcarning waiting lessons and writing tests, the researcher raised the research question “What are the causes of difficulties in students’ writing?” To answer Uhis question, Pra-lost- and Questionnairs instruments were used to identity the problem,

After the pre-test was finished, the pre-study questionnaire (se Appendix 2) was sent

to the students to get their information on the difficulties in writing, their preference for implementing the pro-writmg activities and their as

ssmeniL of the pro-writing aolivilies implemented

The aims of the questions in the survey questionnaire are as followed:

Question | aims al finding oul the sludents’ attitude toward writing skill

Question 2 aims at finding out the sumber of students who have troubles thinking about what

Question 6 is asked for the purpose af finding ont the role of the pre-writing activities to the improvement of students’ writing

‘To ensure that the informants understood the questionnaires, the teacher explained all the questions carcfilly and guided students when necessary

3.33 Preliminary investigation (Weuk 3,4)

To confirm the problem stated in phase 1, the researcher conducted the lessons of unit

11, 12 in usual way, without any treatments The researcher observed the class and interviewed students to find out why they got stuck in their writing, The interview questions are as follows:

What do you think about the pro-writing activities available in your toxthook?

Which pre-writing activities do you like most?

llow would you like to participate in the pre-writing activities? (in pairs, in groups,

- The pre-writing activities in the textbook are not sufficient enough

+ The students” language compolcrec and proficiency is low

3.3.5 Action, developing an action plan and conducting the expatiment (Week 5, 6, 7,

8)

escarcher

Based on the data collected and the Teasons found out in the fisl phusc, the

added some pre-writing activities to the writing lessons to solve the problem The activities were carried out in the writing lessons of unit 13, 14, 15 in class 1143, Tien Du 3 Lligh School (Sccond scmestex).At first, the rescarcher reviewed the pre-waiting activities provided in the textbook and considered other activities which help make the writing easier, The activities

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most students preferred in the pre-writing stage were brainstorming, drawing, asking and answering questions, listing, clustering, drawing (describing pictures) and rapid free-writing

‘Therefore, the researcher implemented these activities in unit 13, 14, 15 and 16 (week 5, 6, 7,

8) depending on the cantont of cach lesson

In unit 13 Gweck 5 of the action rescarch), hk: researcher applied Ihe pro-writing activity “asking, and answering questions”, First, students were asked to work in pairs to brainstorm for the name of the collections they saw in the pictures Next, the teacher called the representatives of some pairs to write the answers on the board after about $ minutes, In addition, the researcher gave some wh-questions and asked students to work in groups to rearrange (hem info logical order Aflar thal, the groups ware required to wrile their answors

on a piece of paper and then exchanged their pieces of paper, They would discuss and supplement the ideas that their group or the other group did not have After that, the teacher

to match the activities listed in the textbook with the correct pictures, ‘'hey did this task individually Alor the Isacher had givzm the answers for the malching task, sludents had enough information for the writing such as the time the bus left school, when they got to the camping sits, when they put up the umbrella tent, what activities they did while they were there (watching wildlife in the forest, cooking food over an open fire, swimming in the lake, playing games, fishing, etc), what time they left the campsite

In unit 15, the writing task was writing a biography Before doing task 1 in the textbook, the teacher asked students to Look at the picture of Neil Armstrong, They would then work in pairs and talk about what they knew about this person for 5 minutes ‘then, ons student pal the question and ths other answered, Students might ask and answar about his dale

of birth, place of birth, his varcer and his fornous quolc, cic The teacher noted dawn the information and did not comect students’ information After the activity “asking and answering questions”, the teacher asked students to do task J in the textbook Students had to asc on the information given and sclocted the headings in the box (page 174-English 11) to ill in the blanks, When students had finished task 1, the teacher asked them to write a biography of Neil Armstrong basing on the informmtion given in task 1 in the whitcowriting stage Because all the suggested information in the textbook was put in the time order, so students could complete task 2 with not many difficulties Vor the writing task, the teacher encouraged those studenls la write more information rather in the textbook into the writing

In the last writing Iesson, unit 16, students had to write a topic which was rather unfamiliar and difficult for them The topic is “basing on the notes made by a visitor to the Poraga Cham Towers in Nha Trang (page 184-Rnglish 11), waile a report on the visil” Ths teacher used two pre-writing activities: asking and answering questions and outlining in the pre-writing stage Virstly, the teacher asked the students whether any of them had seen the Pormga Cham Towers with their own eyes If studen

cr the above pro-writing activities, students could confidently write the report in the while-writing stage

the best written onc and showed to the other students to comment 4

2

Above were the main pre-writing activities that 1 implemented in the pre-writing stage

of unit 13, 14, 15 and 16 (English 11) Throughout the writing lessons, I observed and made notes as to see how the students were working and their reactions to the pre-wtiting activities

These observations were based on several guidclincs: “What problems are the students

activities implemented make it easier for you to write?

Finally, lo sco whether the prewriting activilies had any positive impaet on studenls? attitudes towards writing, I surveyed the students by asking the same questions that I had asked in the beginning survey

3.3.6 Observation, collecting dala and observing the effects of the action

While the action plan was implemented, the researcher collected the data and practiced the pre-writing activities in the classroom Data of the qnestionmaires collected in week 1, 2 of

of imptementing the action plan, the studznis did a writing posi-les! to cotleel data on how thz pre-writing activities implemented affect the quality of their writing Students were also asked

to answer the survey questionnaires distributed in the first week again The purpose of this action was to sce if the students’ writing, skill improved or net, The analysis of these collected

data was described in details in chapter 4

3.3.7 Reflection, evaluating the action plan and the evaluated effects of the action

The action research was evaluated basing on the collected results from the post-test and the post-study attitudinal survey questionnaire ‘The researcher compared the results of the

posl-tes! and the post-sludy attitudinal survey questionnaire wilh the pre:

¬losl and the pro-situty survey questionnaire, From the findings of the action rescarch and the students" comments on the activities implemented, the researcher drew out the conclusion whather those activities helped improving students’ writing ability or not, Some recommendations were also given after the study

3.3.8 Data collection instruments and their procedures

jest was done int March 2009 and the post-tesl was done in May, 2009 The

The pre

procedures of collecting data were carried out as follows:

lirstly, the pre-test was used for students in class 11A3, ‘Tien Du 3 Iligh School

without any implementation of the pre-writing activities oulside textbook lo clarify the first step of the action rescarch: Planning-identifying the current problems The teacher based on the result of the pre-test to identify whether the lack of pre-writing activities was the cause of the studonts* writing difficulty This was also dong ta sec if students’ writing rosull was batter after some pre-writing activities had been implemented The topic of the pre-test was taken

from Unit 13 (See appendix 1)

Sccondly, to answer the second research question: “How do the prewriting acttvittes affect 12" form students in Tien Du 3 High School in their veriting?, the researcher conducted

a post-test and a post-study attitudinal survey questionnaire after the pro-writing activities had

writing activities was developed during the last four units of the second term Tlasing on the analysis of the results from the action plan implementation, the data collected fiom tests, the

action research was evaluated.

Chapter 4: Data analysis and discussion

In this chapter, the researcher mainly focuses on the data analysis and some

discussions of the major findings of the study Data and comments collected during the

progress of doing the research will also be presented in this part

4.1 Data analysis procedure

Data was analyzed by comparing students’ responses on pre and post attitude surveys

Students were asked to respond to the same 6 questions at the beginning and at the end of the

study

Data was also analyzed by comparing the results of the pre- and post-writing tests to

determine if there was a difference in quality which would suggest that students were able to

write in class better as a result of the pre-writing activities employed

Before evaluating the writing tests, each composition was photocopied and coded to

reduce bias (Several students had a preference for using distinctively colored ink for writing assignments.) In order to reduce bias, a person not involved in the study who was also

unfamiliar with the students randomly affixed numbered labels to the writing tests and mixed

the pre and post-tests The labels were placed over students’ names and were reinforced so that

the names would not show through A list of names and corresponding numbers was prepared

and placed in an envelope; it was not viewed by the researcher until after the writing tests

were read and rated

‘The researcher used different criteria to rate the writing tests In general, there are five

main criteria to assess the students’ writing The first criterion is developing and organizing

the contents of the topic clearly and convincingly The second one is getting the grammar

right, The third one is using a range of vocabulary and sentence structures The next criterion

is using the conventions of layout correctly, e.g in writing a letter or writing a report The

final criterion is accuracy in spelling and meaningful punctuation

As an additional method of reducing bias in rating students’ compositions, the initial

ratings were recorded, then the compositions were remixed A person who was not involved in

the study and was also unfamiliar with the students (in this study it was the same person who