Luận văn difficulties encountered by grade 10 students at truong dinh upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the new textbook tieng anh 10

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - VNU, HANOI FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES KIEU THU HIEN DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE-10 STUDENTS AT TRUONG DINH UPPER SECONDA

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES - VNU, HANOI

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

KIEU THU HIEN

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE-10

STUDENTS AT TRUONG DINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LEARNING WRITING

SKILL WITH THE NEW TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10

(NHỮNG KHO KHĂN HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT

TRUONG DINH GAP PHAI KHI HOC KY NANG VIET VOI SACH

GIAO KHOA TIENG ANH 10 MOT )

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology

Code : 601410

Supersivor : DO TUAN MINH, Ph.D

Hanoi - 2009

List of tables and charts

PART ONE : INTRODUCTION

1 Background to che stuily

2 Aims of the study

3 Research questions

4 Methods of the study

5 Scope of the study

6 Significance of the study

7 Organization of the study

PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE : LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Different views on what writing is

1.2 Distinguishing features of written language from spoken language

1.3 The roles of writing in second language learning

1.4 Approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes

1.5 Whal makes writing difficult ta acquire ?

CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY

2.1 Overview of the teaching ond learning of the writing skill at Truong,

Dinh Upper secondary school 2.1.1 ‘Teaching and learning context 2.1.2 The schodnle of learning writing skill inthe new toxthook Tieng Ant LO 2.2 The study

2.2.1 Participants 2.2.2 Instruments

2.2.3 Procedures of data collection

2.3 Data analysis and discussion

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires

2.3.1.1 Analysis of the questionnaire for students 2.3.1.2 Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers 2.3.1.3 Main findings

2.3.2 Observation 2.3.3 Interview 36

CHAPTER THREE : SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF THE WRITING SKILL AT TRUONG DINH HIGH SCHOOL 3.1 Raising the students’ awareness of the importance of the writing skill

3.2 Restricting students’difficulties arising from poor linguistic competence

33 Implementing good preparations for students? writing

3.4 Carrying out appropriate collaborative activities

3.5 Making writing lessons well-equipped with conformable teaching aids

3.6 Setting a suitable time limit for each classraom activity

3.7 Providing effective correction work

3.8 Assigning more practical writing tasks

3.9 Establishing a positive and supportive learning atmosphere

PART THREE : CONCLUSION

1 Sumunary of the study

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

References

Appendices

Appendix |: Survey Questionmaire for Students

Appendix 2 : Survey Questionnaire for Teachers

Appendix 3 : Classroom Observations

Appendix 4: Interview Transcripts

Appendix 5 : A sample lesson plan

Table 3: Teachers’ implementatian af pre-wriling activities

Table 6: Teachers’ application of work arrangement

Table 7: Types of written texts difficult for students to write

tudents’ feelings af the wriling skill

Chart 2: Frequency of students’ writing practice at home

Chart 3: Students’ general thoughts of the 10° form — writing syllabus

Chart 4: Students’ frequency of getting a problem with vocabulary

Chart 5: How often teachers suggest key wards or phrases in pre-writing stage Chart 6: Students’ grammar mistakes in their writings

Chart 7: The ways the teacher used to make writing lessons more interesting Chart 8: Students’ writing under time pressure

Chart

: Wriling assignments Chart 10: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching writing skill Chart 11: Teachers’ assessment of students’ vecabulary

Chart 12: Teachers’ remarks on students’ grammatical mistakes

Chart 13: Teachers’ use of visual aids to make suggestions

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1, BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:

Currently, as learning a second or a foreign language is paid more and more special attention to, there has been a growing tendency towards the emphasis on improving communicative competence in language teaching and learning Writing, therefore, is regarded

as a productive skill which provides students with opportunities to put all the language elements they have leamt into practice and to show communicative competence effectively However, in fact writing is not often as important to many students as other skills such as reading and speaking and il lends Lo gel rather neglected in many Vietnamese language classes,

In addition, writing itself is a very complex and difficul skill to acquire, Thus teaching

sludenls to waite well is one of the most challenging tasks in educalion, In order Lo resolve this situation little by little, the Ministry of Education and ‘raining have cartied out comprehensive reforms of teaching and leaming English at Secondary Education level by updating new and appropriate curricula with clear abjectives, ‘I'he syllabus for high school students has changed completdly and focused on developing both students’ linguistic competence and communicative competence Accordingly writing is taught carefully in a separate class, which cradles more chances for sludenls lo practise wriling skills Besides these favourable sordiions, there are still challenges faced by Ieachers and students al high schools since sludenls have rot got accustomed to new leaning methods in the imovated syllabus and teachers have not got much teaching experience with the new textbook,

Asa teachor of English al Truomg Dinh Upper sceondary school for 6 years, T have been deeply aware of my teaching contexd in which my sludenls have coped with a lol of difficultios

in Isarning English ospecially learning the writing skill, Among four skills taught int English textbook 10, writing can be seen as the most boring and hardest one so many questions about teaching writing always concem me a lot : “What problems might my students face when learning writing * ‘What should be done to help my students overcome those problems?”

‘How should each form of written text be taught so that students can learn it effectively?”

‘How can I make the lesson fim, meaningful and memorable?” 1, therefore, decided to do a research on “Difficulties encountered by gradc-10 students at Truong Dinh upper

‘ith dhe new textbook Tieng Anh 10” in the hope that

fions mentioned in this sludy will make a significant contribution te

secondary school in learning wriling

the findings and sohi

improving the teaching and learning of the writing skill at ‘[Twong Dinh high school as well as those at other high schools

2 AIMS OT TIHIE STUDV

The primary parpose of thủs study is to explore the leaming of the writing, skill by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh ngh school, It focuses on identifying the major factors that badly atect students’ writing learning,

This study attempts to seek answers to the following research questions:

1) What are the major factors causing difficulties of the tenth grade students at Lruong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning the writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 7

2) What should be done to help the tenth-grade students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary schoo] overcome their difficulties and acquire the writing skill more effectively?

4 METHOD OF THE STUDY

In order to guarantee the reliabity of research results, my study was conducted in the form of'a survey research using both quantitative and qualitative method Three main instruments of data collection are questionnaires, classroom observation and interview

* Two forms of questionnaires (one for teachers and the other for students) are designed to collect information about grade-10 students’ altitudes towards keaming variting as well as difficulty perception of teachers and students The questionnaires both consist of three types of questions: close-ended questions, open-ended questions and scaling,

* Observation and interview are used as other reliable sources of data collection Observation can help to get more insights into real situations of leaming writing n some writing classes at Truong Dinh high school and interviews affer observing probably provide morc evidenoe for valid findings of the investigation,

5 SCOPE OF TIIE STUDY

Writing ilscl fis a broad and complex area, covering a variety of issucs for research Yel, this study mainly concentrates on analyzing difficulties faced by grade-10 students at ‘lruong Dinh Upper secondary achool in leaning writing with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 Onthe basis of the discussion and findings from collected data, some recommendations of solutions will be put forward,

6 SIGNIFICANCE QF TIIE STUDV

Pedagopically, this study has brought lots of practical benefits in such a way that it may provide usefill information about the source of problems that grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school encountered when learning writing The information can probably

cher and teachers al Tram Dinh high school identify the timilations in the

(caching approaches amd rmjor studenis’difficulties in order lo find oul relevant solutions, Also, the resnlls of this study may also be useđ as suggestions for leachers in other upper secondary schools as well as material developers,

7, ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

‘The study is divided indo three parts

© Part I ( Introduction }: ineludes the rationale, the aums, the research questions, the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study

© Part IL (Development ): consists of three chapters as follows

- Chapter I ( Literature review ): presents the theoretical background of the study, which summarizes some views on definitions of writing, difisrences between written language and spoken language, roles of writing in second language learning, approaches to the teaching

of writing in ESL classes and what makes writing difficult to acquire

- Chapter Il ( The study ) includes the context of the study, the research questions, the participants, data, collection methods, procedures, analysis and discussion,

The analysis and discussion part discusses and analyses difficultics anconnterad by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing skill wilh the

new textbook ‘l'ieng Anh 10

- Chapter II] ( Solutions ) suggests some relevant measures to deal with students” problems and Jeam writing skill more effectively

® Part III (Conclusions ): sums up the study and indicates the limitations of the study as vwell as suggestions for fiather research,

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Different views on what writing is

Up to now, quite a few researchers have taken interest in the teaching and leamme of waiting and defined wiiting in various ways, Generally looking into the nature of writme, Dorn Byme (1991:1) stated: “When we wrile, we use graphic symibols: thal is, letlers or combinations of lellors which relate to the sounds wa make when we spoak On one level, then, writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbolz making marks on flat surfice of some kind :'he symbols have to be arranged, according to certain conventions, to form words, and words have to be arranged to form sentences”

With a more profound view on w1iting, White (1991:3) assumed “Writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right”, He also stresses that it is not a simple process but a complex one “writing is a

“voive’ with which to write, plarming, goal-selling, moriloring and evaluating wheal is going lo

be written as well as what has been written and searching for language with which to express exact meanings”

In language teaching, writing is considered as “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3) He also emphasized that “Effectively, everybody leams to speak at least one language fluently, but many are unable to write with confidence, Why should this be

so 2 One of the answers must be that writing normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill thal is readily picked up by exposure” (1996-11)

Hodge (1988: 61) suggests thal the way writing is taught stould bo clase to life According to him, “Writing in the Lnglish language classroom can become unreal if it is only ever produced for one reader, the teacher, and if its purpose is limited to enabling the teacher to assess the comectness of the linguistic forms used Under these conditions students have to imagine context for thew writing and motivate themselves to write appropriately for the imapinary readers, It is far more motivating for them if they writing can become genmne pieces of communication with real audiences such as other students, visitors, the local newspapers, organizations, cle Then thoy can think carcfully about the idenlifiable and particular conext which will determine tha cxaol message and style of their written

communication”

1.2 Distinguishing tcaturcs of written language from spoken language:

In language classes, it 1s very necessary for students to make comparison between spoken Tanguage amd wrilicn language for several reasons If students have a better

understanding of how spoken and written texts differ, they can be much better placed to become confident writers They also need to see how the different types of language are

constructed and understand that written texts are not just spoken texts What is more,

distinguishing, waiting ttom speech can help student understand some of the difticulties they experience when they write Thus almost methodologies highlight the main differences between spoken language and written language

Bye (1991-3) points out the advaniages and disadvantages of wriling compared wilh speech through Iheir own distinctive features as follows:

WRITING SPEECII

1 Takes place ina context, which often

1 Creates ils own content and therefore has lo ` makes references clear (e.g ‘that (hung over

be fully expticil

there’)

2 Reader not present and no interaction 2 Speaker and listenen(s) in contact Inferact

3 Reader nol necessarily known to wriler 3 Usually person addressed is specific

7 Tamediate feedback given and expacted (a) verbal: questions, comments

tmurmurs, grunts

(b) non-verbal : theial expressions

4 No immediate feedback possible Writer

may try to anticipate reader’s reactions and

inoorporate them into text

5 Speech is tre

S Writing is permament Can bs reread as an

understood immediately Ifnol, listener offen as necessary and at own speech

expected to interact

6 Sentences often incomplete and sometimes:

6 Sentences expected to be carefully e

‘ungramunatical Hesitations and pauses

constructed, and linked and organized to form eurrmon and usually some redundancy and, `8 p

emphasis) Sentence boundaties clearly expressions, body movements and gestures

«Speakers use pauses and intonation Writers use punctuation.

«Speakers pronounce Writers spell

* Speaking is usually spontanzous and unplanned Most writing takes time It is planed

We can go back and change what we have written

= A speaker speaks to a listener who is right there, nodding or frowning, interrupting or questioning For the writer, the reader's response is either delayed or nonexistent The writer has only that one chance to convey information and be interesting and accurate cnough to hold the

bbe a difficult skill lo acquire and studsnls cannot just “pick up” writing as they leam olher skills

in FSU classes ence writing must bs tangh! and taughl very carefully

1.3 The roles of writing in secund language learning

‘To master a language, obviously it is impossible for learners not to leam writing skill well As a basic productive skill, writing provides students with a chance to put all the language elements they have learnt into practice Emphasizing the significance of writme, White (1991:1) wrote: “Through writing we are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people, We are able to discover and aiticulate ideas in ways that only writing makes possible,”

According to Raimas ( 1983:3 }, writing is vary important since it helps students learn

in some ways “First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms, and vocaladary that we have been teaching our students Second, when our studems write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned to say,

to take risks Thurd, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new language; the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand and brain is a unique

way to reinforce learning As writers struggle with what to put down next or how to put it

down on paper, they offen discover something new lo write or anew way of express

ng thơm idea, They discover a teal need for finding the right word and the righl serlence, The lose relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language course”,

"

1.4 Approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes:

In order to produce a good picec of writing, leamers have to deal with a lot of elements The following diagram demonstrates these clements clearly

Producing a Picce of Writing ( Raimes, 1983:6)

scnlence struclure, relevance, clarity,

handwriting, of ideas

paragraphs, yooabulary the reason for writing

topic and support, idiom, tone

cohesion and unity

Raimes ( 1983:5-10) states that on the basis of stressmg different features of this diagram and combing them with how teachers thunk writing is learnt, a variety of approaches

to the lencling of writing have hoon developed Accordingly, Raimes classifies approachos to teaching writing inlo six Lypes, namely: The Contolled-lo-Froe Approach, The Froo- Writing Approach, The Paragrapl-Patlern Approach, The Grarmar-Synlax-Organizalion Approach,

‘The Communicative Approach and ‘The Process Approach

1.4.1 The Controlied-t-Free Appraach :

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the most popular approach used in ESL classes was the audio-lingual ‘The controlled-to-free approach was a product of the audio-lingual period with its emphasis on step-by-step learning and formal correctness ‘his approach stresses three features of the diagram above: grammar, syntax and mechanics, It emphases accuracy rather

than fluency or originality In this approach, students are taught how to write by variously doing sentence, paragraph and manipulation exercises such as changing questions to statements, present to past, changing words or clauses or combining sentences With these controlled compositions, it is relatively easy for students to write a great deal with limted opportunity to make mistakes so the teacher’s job of marking paper is quick and easy Gradually the amount of control is reduced, And when students rcach an advanced level of proficiency, they are allowed to try some fee compositions, in which they can express their

own ideas

Byrne (1991) regards the controlled-lo-fiee approach as ‘accuracy-oriented approach’ thal

‘produces many useful ideas on how to guide writing’ althorghit is no longer fashionable

1.42 The Free-Writing Approach

In contrast with the controlled-to-ftee approach, the fiee-writing approach encourages students to write as much as possible and as quickly as possible without worrying about making errors [eachers in this approach have stressed quantity of writing rather than quality

by assigning vast amounts of free writing on given topies with only minimal comection of errors The unportant thing is that students can wnte down all their ideas on paper Grammatical accuracy, organization and the rest will gradually follow In this way, siudenls

fool thal they are actually writing, nol merely deing cxcreises of some kind so they can write what they wanl lo write and øs a resull they find writing an enjoyable expericnes Thus in this approach concer for ‘audience’ and ‘content’ in the diagram are taken into consideration Byrne (1991:22) also supports the free-writing approach, a fluency-approach, for the cause that

“many students writs badly because they do not write enough and for the same reason they feel inhibited when they pick up a pen, Most of us write less well if we are obliged to write about something A fuency-approach, pethaps channeled inte something like keeping a diary, can be

a usefil antidote.”

1.43 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach

Diftzrent from two approaches above, the pameraph-patte one highlights the importance of organization, another Sature of the diagram This approach is mainly concerned

to teach students how to construct and organize paragraphs Students simply copy paragraphs, analyze the form of model paragraphs and imitate model passages Their concrete tasks are putting scrambled sentences into paragraph order, identifying general and specific statements, choosing or inventing an appropriate topic sentences and inserting or deleting sentences

‘This approach has its own advantages pointed out by Byme (1991:23) “this approach identifies and tries to overcome one of the central problems in writing: getting students to express themselves effectively at a level beyond the sentence.”

1.4.4 The GrammarSyatax-Organization Approach

From the viewpoint that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are Icarnsd ons by one, this approach stresses the necessity to work simultancously on more than one of the features in the composition diagram: grammar, syntax and organization Teachers give studeris wriling tasks that lead them lo pay allention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syniax For inslance, lo wrile a clear sel of instructions on how to operate a washing machine, students need more than the appropriate vocabulary They need the simple forms of verbs; an organizational plan based on chronology; sequence words like first, then, finally, and even sentence structures like "when ; them ” Thi approach can link the purpose of a piece of writing to the forms that are needed to convey meaning

1.45 The Communicative Approach

In reality, we normally have a reason for writing and we write to somebody These factors have offen been ignored in teaching and practicing writing Yet the communicative approach can resolve this situation by providing, students with the purpose and the audience for thair pivee of writing, Studonl wrilors are encouraged to behave like wrilors in real Tife and to ask thomselvas the crucial qusstions aboul purpose and audiones

= Why am writing this?

+ Who will read it?

In the commumicative approach, it is easy for teachers to devise situations which allow students to write purposefilly For example, students can write to one another in the classroom

or use Writing in role-play situations, Also, teachers can specify readers outside the classroom,

‘hus giving, student writers a context in whch to select appropriate content, language and levels

1.4.6 The Process Approach

Inrecent years, the concentration of teaching writing has not put on the written product

‘ut on the process of writing Student writers should ask themselves not only questions about purpose and andience but also the crucial questions

How do | write this?

How dol get started?

This approach lays particular stress on a cycle of writing activities which move students from the generation of ideas and the collections of data through to the ‘publication’ of a finished text The diagram below shows the whole process not as a fixed sequenec but a dynamic and

unpredictable process:

However, student writers do not offen follow a neat sequence of planning, organizing, waiting and then revising, At any point in the preparation of a text, they can loop backwards or forwards to whichever of the activities involved in lexl composition they may find usefial, For instance, they may need to revise the plan radically in order to cope with changes that have developed in the argument, or may want to revise the style of earlier sections before going onto waite later parts of the text as they come to appreciate how best to reach their intended audience

‘Teachers who use this approach give their students two crucial supports: time for students to wy out ideas and feedback on the content of what students write in their drafts They consider waiting process as a process of discovery for their students: discovary of new ideas and new Janguage forms to express those idvas

It can be concluded thet although all the aboveamentionsd approaches address the various features that a sindent needs to consider im prodncing a piece of writing, they still have something in common No approach lo teaching writing is seen as the most oplired and unique for every teaching context A teacher using a communicative or a process approach can still use

‘techmiques drawn from other approaches as the students need them; model paragraphs, controlled

compositions, free writing, sentence exercises and paragraph analysis ars useful in all approaches, ‘I[herefore, it is important for teachers to appropriately choose approaches for different circumstances and make the best use of the advantages of those approaches to help students make great progress in their wnting leaming

1.5 What makes writing difficuld a acquire:

According to Byme (1991:4), there are three problems causing wiiting to become a difficult activity for most people, both in the mother tongue and in a foreign language ‘They are psychological problems, linguistic problems and cognitive problems

* Psychological problems :

As il is known, speech is the malural and normal medium of communication for us in mos! circumstances and accnstors us both to having someone physically present when we use language and to getting feedback of some kind, Writing, on the other hand, is essentially a solitary activity and the fact that we are required to write on our own, without the possibility of interaction or the benefit of feedback, in itself makes the act of writing difficult

© Finguistic problems :

Oral communication is sustained through a process of interaction and except in special circumstances, such as a lecture, the participants help to keep it going Because speech is

nommally spontaneous, we have little time to pay attention either to organizing our sentence

structures or to connecting our senicnecs : to some extent the latter is rmaintained through the process of interaction, We repeal, backtrack, sxpand and so on, depending on how pouple react

to whal we say Incormplolz and oven ungranmmetical ultereneas usually pass urmoticed,

In-wtiting, we have to keep the channel of communication open through our own efforts and

to ensure, both through our choice of sentence structure and by the way our sentences are linked together and sequenced, that the text we product can be interpreted on its own

© Cognitive prablenws

We grow up learning to speak and in normal circumstances spend much of our time doing it

‘We also appear to speak without much conscious effort or thought and generally we talk because

we want to, about matters which are of interest or relevant to us socially or professionally

Whiting, on the other hand, is learnt through a proccss of instruction: we have to master the

‘waitten form of the language and to learn certain structures which are less uscd in specch, or pethaps not used at all, but which are irnportant for effective communication in writing We also

have to leam how to organize our ideas in such a way that they can be understood by a reader who is not present and perhaps by a reader who is not known to us Furthermore, writing is a task which is often imposed on us, perhaps by circumstances ‘his not only has a psychological effect; at may also cause a problem in terms of content — what to say Being at a loss for ideas is a familiar expenence to most of us when we are obliged to write.

CHAPTER I: THE STUDY

2.1 Overview of teaching and learning writing skill at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school

2.4.1 Teaching and learning context

‘The study was carried out at Truong Dinh Upper secondary achool which is located in Loang Mai district in the suburb of lanoi It is an old school with unfavourable facilities for study Students’standard in English is quite limited ‘Though the English level they have to achieve ater leaving their secondary schools is pre-intermediate, in fact they are almost at elementary level The reason is that their evaluation maks of entrance examinations to Truong, Dinh high school wore lower than those in ofher schools, Tn addition 1o this, English was nota compulsory subject thal, students tad lo pass when they took the high school cntrancs amination They this dida'L considsr English an important subject and spond Tittle time studying it Besides, Linglish is a subject among many subjects they have to lear at high school

‘The reforms in education have been implemented not only for Lnglish bot also for other subjects at high school Students have to acquire a large amount of knowledge in all subjects They cannot spend nmuch time improving English regularly because they have to prepare exercises for many diffarent lessons every day Consequently they are bad at four language skills especially writing skill with narrow vocabulary and many gaps im grammar knowledge All the ahove-mentioned reasons resull in a lol of difficulties thal teachers of English al Truong Dinh high schoot have to cope with when (caching English in general and Isaching writing in particular Moreover, since the reformed syllabus has been carried out widely in a few recent years, the teachers of English have not had much experience in teaching writing with the new textbook In addition to this, some of them are rather old, which makes their adaptability to new teaching approaches slower and harder Hence, up to now the teaching and learning of writing

at Truong Dinh senior high school has been ineffective and got many challenges Being a teacher of English for 6 years al this schoot and grasping the teaching context, T decided lo conduct this study in expectation of understanding mars abou! students’ problems of learning

writing skill and secking appropriate solutions to these problerns

21.2 The schedule of learning writing skill in the new textbook English 10

The new textbook Tieng Anh 10 is designed to develop both students’ linguistic competence and conmunicative compelenee Therefore, ils contonls are divided into 3 main

personal communication purpose within 100 -200 words using a suggested model and word

cues The syllabus sketch for learning writing in the textbook ‘Iieng Anh 10 is presented

narrative wilhin 100 — 120 words

1 | ADayinthe Life of | Writing a narrative

using suggested word cues and a fame

Smđens wil be able to fill in a

2 | SehoolTalks Killing ina form

personal form

3 | People’s Background Wriling about poople’s

Sludenis will be able to wnite abou!

people's background within 100 -

badkgronnd 120 words using suggested word

cues and a frame

Students will be able to write a letter Whiting a letter of of complaint within 100 -120 words

instructions following a suggested model and

Students will be able to write about

Village

Giving directions Whiting about haces wn advantages and disadvantages of the

7 | ‘Uhe Mass Media disadvantages of the 0yamapes mass media of 100 -120 words ‘ed mod and seed

mass media using a suggested model and wore

cues, Siudenis will be able to write an

The Story of My

model and word cues

Sludenis will be able to write alallor

af acceptance / refusal / dsclination

of 100 — 200

suggested flame and word cues

words using a

12 Music Writing a profile

Students will be able to wile a profile of 100 — 120 words using a suggested outline and word cues

13 Films and Cinctnas Deseribing a film

Students will be able to wate about

Gils / music / theatre of 100 -120

words using a suggested oulline and

word cues

14 | The World Cup Writing an

announcement

Studenis will be able lo write an

atmounecmnent, about sport events in

school of 100 — 120 words using a suggested outline and word cues

Deseribing a city a cily of 100 — 120 words using a Students will be alile Lo write abou!

suggested model and word cues

16 Tlistorical Places,

inforrnation from a chart of 100 -

120 words using suggested word cues ancl idea prompts

2.2 The study:

2.2.1 Participants:

A tolal of 200 grade-10 students chosen randomly fiom seven different classes and 12

teachers of Fnglish ftom the language group al Truong Dinh Upper

participated in the study,

ondary school

‘The students are both male and female at the age of sixteen and have been leaming

English for four years at junior secondary schools ‘They had finished their syllabus of 10 -form

English hefore they took part in the study since they had experienced and identified all the problems of leaning writing during their past school year,

All the teachers of English at ‘Iruong Dinh high school chosen for the research have ever taught the new textbook Tizng Anh 10 for one year or more, Of these 12 teachers, two are male and 10 are female, They were willing to support the study by completing survey questionnaires and being ready for obscrvation

2.2.2 Instruments (Data collection methods ):

In this study, three instruments employed for collecting data are questionnaires, observation and interview

Questionnaires can be scon as the main instrument to gct information from students and teachers It is belioved that survey questionnaires are the most commonly used descriptive

inethod in educational research There are a few advaniages using survey questionnaire as 4 research method “The main altraction of questionnaire is their unprecedented efficiency in terms of (a) tesearch time (b) research effort and (c) financial resources (Zoltan Domyei

(2003:9)) ‘Two sets of questionmaires were designed to ensure data accuracy for the investigation The questionnaires were delivered to 200 grade-10 students and 12 teachers of English at Truong Dinh in order to investigate their perception of grade-10 students’

difficulties in learning writing skill with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 The questionnaire for students consists of 17 questions and the questionnaire for teachers includes 10 questions

Observation is another effective instrument, employed in combination with others in

order to gel tnore valuable evidence on grade-10 students’ classroom behaviors as well as Lei

performances on writing tasks and learning activities In spite of some Tinnilalions in implementing classroom observation, this instrument is always regarded as a usefil and practical one to verify the accuracy and reliability of the results obtained from questionnaires

Besides questionnaires and observation, short interviews were carried out to get more

insights into students’ challenges in learmmg writing skill It is known that interviews are

beneficial to educational research in some ways First, response rates from interviews can be

quile high Second, respondents are more likely to answer all ihe questions presented because

of their personal involvernent wilh the interviewer Lasl bul not least the interviewer can obtain

grads, Subjects were also told that they had to answer in terms of how well the statement of

each item in the questionnaire describes them Most of the students took about 20 minutes to

finish all the questions ‘The answered questionnaires were collected right after the subjeets completed them,

Twolve teachers of English al Truong Dinh Upper secendiy school roccivcd the questionnaires in May when the school year was over, ('hanks to their teaching practice, they could give appropriate information about the difficulties facing grade-10 students in learning writing, They were also elucidated about the research aims to ensure their contidence in providing data,

" Observation:

Bocanss of being a teachsr of English al Truong Dinh high school, it is more Eawourable for the researcher to conduct classroom observation Some writing classes were observed at different periods of time throughout the whole term During these observations, the researcher would play a role ofan observer and did not participate in any classroom activities Several teachers had been asked to have classroom observation Being informed about the purposes of the study, all the teachers were always ready to support it

+ Interviews:

Right after observing each writing class, the researcher conducted informal interviews with students during class breaks Three students sclocted randomly tock part in onc-to-one inlorview ima quiel room, Belors interviews, the ainis of the inlerview were explained te the stndenis The short inlsrviews wittt 5 questions lasted 10-15 minutes lo gel sluderis” opinions

of the writing lesson they hed just leant ard thsir desires to have an inlsresting writing Tesson

‘The interviews were conducted in Vietnamese to make sure that the students could understand the questions clearly and be easier to express their ideas, All the information was collected

‘through the reseacher’s carefull note-taking for later analysis

2.3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DI USSTON

2.3.1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES:

In this study, the researcher chose questionnaires to be an effective instrument to find out the teachers” perception and students” in Truong Dinh upper secondary school in terms of students’ difficulties in leaming the writing skill in English textbook 10, ‘Thus the data collected ftom the questionnaire will be consolidated and categorized, then these results are subsequently tabulated or charted and converted to percentages for the conveniences of analysis Besides, the questions in the questionnaire will be discussed specifically one by one

by counting percentage and the major difficultics can be analyzed and concluded afterwards The results obtained from the questionnaires can help the rescarcher thoroughly look into stndents’ main problems in learning writing skill with ths new textbook

2.3.1.1 Analysis of the questionnaire for students

23.1.1 Students’ feelings of the writing skill

Chart 1: Students’ feelings of the writing skill

When being asked about the attitudes towards the leaming of writing skill, most of the

students (70 %) admitted that they are not interested in it because they find it boring and

difficult Only 20% of the students are keen on learning writing on account of its usefulness and interestingness The rest of the total said that they neither like nor dislike studying this skill

2.3.1.1.2 Frequency of students’ writing practice at home:

mnever

75%

Chart 2: Frequency of students’ writing practice at home

Stemming from low motivation in learning writing, a large number of students

(75%) rarely practise writing skills outside classes, 5 % do not do any writing tasks at all Only

20% of the students stated that they sometimes drill in writing at home Surprisingly, none of

the students consider writing as an important skill that needs to be practised frequently In

general, the data indicates that the lack of constant practice has resulted in students’

difficulties in learning writing.

Chart 3; Students’ general thoughts of the 10” form — writing syllabus

It can be seen from the above chart that students got a lot of challenges when learning writing skill in the grade -10 syllabus Most of the students think that writing tasks in the English textbook 10 are difficult and even very difficult ( 45 % and 25 % respectively) while only a minority of students find them indifferent ( 27% ) and easy (3 % ) No students claimed that Writing tasks are very easy for them The teachers should base on the figures to investigate the reasons for these different attitudes

2.3.1.1.4 Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10 form syllabus:

Table 1: Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10” form syllabus

The figures in the table have proved that there are lots of challenges in grade 10- students” writing leaning In detail, a majority of students acknowledged that their bad grammar (84% ) and narrow vocabulary (92%) make them incapable of writing well The lack of well- prepared idea organization ( 74%) and the insufficiency of teachers’ carefull guidance (54%) also cause students quite a few difficulties In addition, the restriction of students’ background knowledge (68%) affects their idea development Besides, some others (35 %) think that some factors stich as little writing practice, time pressure, work arrangement, leaning facilities also limit students’ writing ability,

2.3.1.1.5 Students’ idea organization before writing:

‘The data reveals that students themselves hardly brainstorm ideas before writing Only

24 % of the students are aware of making organization before writing meanwhile nearly 76%

of the students do not have the habit of brainstorming This can cause students’ disordered and obscure writings In addition to this, students’ writing may be discontinued because of not expanding ideas The teachers should pay attention to this problem to help students overcome

it

2.3.1.1.6 Students’ frequence of getting a problem with vocabulary:

As it is known, vocabulary has a great influence on the quality of students’ writing It is impossible for students to write well with narrow vocabulary However, the students’ writing

learning has been seriously impacted by lack of vocabulary Specifically, more than half of the students ( 63%) conceded that their writings were always discontinued by lack of vocabulary

27% of the students often found difficult to express their ideas due to their narrow vocabulary

Only a small number of students (10%) said that sometimes they got a problem with vocabulary when writing, None of the students wrote without any difficulties

Chart 4: Students’ frequency of getting a problem with vocabulary

2.3.1.1.7, How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in Pre-writing stage:

As can be seen fom the pie chart, approximately 48 % and 22 % of the students agreed that their teachers always or often provided them with some key words or phrases before

writing Fewer students said that their teachers sometimes made word suggestions (20%) and

seldom gave them word prompts (10%) The figures provided by students demonstrate that

most of the teachers thoroughly understand the necessity of suggesting important words or

phrases in order to help students write easier

w always often Eisometimes Krarely

Einever

Chart 5: How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in Pre-writing stage

2.3.1.1.8 Students’ awareness of the close relationship between reading and writing

‘The data indicates that a majority of the students (80 %) are aware of the importance of increasing vocabulary by reading English materials frequently but a quarter of them often spend time on reading practice, Only a small percentage of students (206) do not realize the interaction between reading and writing It can be concluded from the information that although quite a few students are conscious of the usefulness of constant reading drill for widening vocabulary, they themselves have not made a habit of practising reading regularly 2.3.1.1.9, Students’ grammar mistakes in their writings

Among the factors affecting students’ writing competence grammar is thought to play

a very important role in the success of a writing piece However, the sad fact shows that 23 %

of the students always made so many grammar errors in their writings 57% of the total admitted that their writings were often badly-evaluated due to many grammar mistakes Only

15 % said that a few grammar errors could be found in their writings and 5% hardly made grammar ones In short, the figures demonstrate that one of the main factors which greatly

influences the students’ writing competence is grammar

3LL10 Teachers’ writing stage application:

With regard to the teachers’ usage of writing stages, a very large number of students (80%) claimed that their teachers offen skipped some stages in a writing lesson ( 55 % for warm-up stage, 15% for post-writing stage, 10 % for both warm-up and post-writing ) Just about 20% agreed that their teachers always carried out all the stages in each writing lesson However, among these students, 15% reported that their teachers offen camied out the pre- wailing stage without care and 5% expressed their dissalislaclion with the post-wailing stage In short, il can be found fern the figures thal the stage elimination combining with car

implementation has considerably influenced students? writing resulls,

Table 2: Teachers’ writing stage application

331111 Teachers’ implementation of Pre-writing activities:

Teachers’ implementation af Pre-wriling activities Results

«carefully teach students the form of written text they are going to 35%

learn in the Iesson

‘Table 3: ‘Teachers’ implementation of 're-writing activities

‘As can be seen from the table, most of the students (80%) were often asked to do the first task in Pre-writing, It can be infturcd that the teachers strictly followed the tasks in the text book They did not changc anything to be suitable for their students Only a small number of students (20%) claimed thal their teachers gave them a writing model, Teaching siudenls the form of a writlen text in a writing less

1 is very important for their laler writing practice Tlowever, just about 35% of the students agreed that their teachers carefilly taught them the form of written text they were going to learn in the lesson Besides, approximately 58 % students were suggested vocabulary before writing It can be concluded fiom the data that pre-wiiting stage was not carried out carefully by the teachers, which would create a lot of difficultes for students’ later wating

wv S

2.3.1.1.12 The ways the teacher used to make writing lessons more interesting:

Normally, a writing lesson will become more and more interesting if the teacher can make full use of visual aids besides the textbook However, the disappointing fact indicates

that a large number of students (75 9%) affirmed that their teachers had used nothing except for

the textbook to make writing lesson more attractive Not over 20% of the students said that

their teachers had effectively utilized visual aids such as pictures, maps, ete to catch student's

attention A very small number of students (5%) happily mentioned that sometimes games had

been used to make them more eager to get involved in writing activities

Chart 7: The ways the teacher used to make writing lessons more interesting

2.3.1.1.13 Students’ participation in writing activities:

Asi is known, good writing activities guided by teachers can contribute to the success

of a writing lesson Being questioned about this matter, a majority of students (97%) said that

they had always done writing tasks individually Meanwhile, the number of students occasionally took part in pair-work activity and seldom worked in groups (50% and 20%

respectively)

2.3.1.1,14 Teacher's usage of writing tasks:

© The teachers did not change writing tasks in the text book at all 68%

© The teacher made writing tasks suitable for writing stages and students’ 25%

levels

The teacher provided students with some additional tasks 7%

Table 4: Teachers’ usage of writing tasks

Generally, all the writing tasks in lessons in the English textbook 10 are designed to help students get accustomed to diversified types of written texts which are commonly used in daily life, It is necessary for teachers to change writing tasks to be suitable for students’ levels

as well as stages in a writing lesson However, in fact more than half of the students (68 %) confirmed that their teachers had not made any changes in writing exercises in the textbook at all Approximately 25 % students agreed that their teachers had conformed writing tasks to

Chart 8: Students’ writing under time pressure

‘The chart describes the setting of time for students’ writing, As can be seen fiom the statistics, a great number of students (70%) were not asked to write under time pressure whereas only 30% students wrote under planned time, most of whom admitted that they were often unable to complete their writings in time except for a few simple types of written texts It can be partly inferred that students had a lot of difficulties during their writing process

23.11.16 Ways of writing correction work:

Table 5: Ways of writing correction work

Writing correction can be regarded as the important post — writing activity which helps students identify main errors in their writings to avoid them in later writings Post-writing activities are implemented differently by the teachers at Truong Dinh high school 63 % of the students affirmed that the common way of writing correction applied by their teachers was

calling on a student to do a writing task on the board, and then asking others to correct it and

correct their own writing afterwards Besides, approximately 32 % declared that their teachers

often corrected writing pieces on the board by himself or herself and after that asked the whole

class to correct their own writings The students (5%) had little chance to correct their writings

Chart 9; Writing assignments

Regarding giving students writing assignments, as can be seen from the data that the

homework that the students were assigned at home was mostly undone writing task in class

(65%) This implies that they could not complete their writings as they were expected Therefore, they were rarely given other writing assignments Not surprisingly, a smaller number of students (35 9%) said that they sometimes had additional writing tasks None of the students agreed that they were always assigned more writing homework In short, it is little practice that makes students become worse and worse at the writing skill

2 1.2 Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers

has been implemented for a few years so far They, therefore, have not had much experience of

teaching the new text book especially the writing skill At the time of the conducted research, the maximum years of teaching experience that the teachers had obtained were merely three years That is the reason why they had not been used to the new syllabus with absolutely new

teaching and learning approaches, which might partly impact on their teaching of writing

$# Teachers” perception of the tenth-grade students' difficulties in learning writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10

2.3.1.2.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching writing skill :

Writing skill in the new text

book is not important to teach carefully

Chart 10: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching writing skill

Through the data, it can be found that an overwhelming mumber of teachers (80%) do not think the writing skill necessary to be taught carefully They have assumed that the writing skill is not commonly used in students’ English tests or exams so they find it less important than other skills, In addition, they also believe that writing is a rather difficult and complicate skill for their students” level They, therefore, have not concentrated much on teaching writing thoroughly Only two teachers which make up 20% are aware of the importance of the writing skill since they generally think that forms of written texts in the new text book are practical and usefil for students” personal communication purposes

2.3.1.2.2 Teachers’ assessment of students’ vocabulary :

The statistical results above demonstrate that basing on teaching practice, most of the

teachers share the same evaluation of students’ vocabulary 67% of the teachers thought that their students’ vocabulary is limited and even 33% claimed that their students’ is very limited

None of them agreed that their students own a wide or very wide vocabulary The reasons for

this problem are pointed out differently by the teachers Some reckoned that vocabulary must

be enriched little by little because their students have had a narrow vocabulary since their

secondary school This results in their difficulties in learning skills in the new textbook

especially the writing skill Another important reason is that students are not studious to improve their narrow vocabulary In addition, they do not have an appropriate approach of learning vocabulary In short, the improvement of vocabulary is one of the major challenges that the students in Truong Dinh Upper secondary school have to deal with if they want to

make great progress in learning writing

2.3.1.2.3 Remarks on students’ grammatical mistakes:

The data collected indicates that the students had to cope with a serious problem of

grammar when learning writing skill in the new textbook A majority of teachers remarked that they always found many grammatical mistakes (67%) and even so many mistakes (25%) in their students’ writings Only one teacher out of the total who has taught a more advanced class declared that her students were quite good at grammar and made only a few small grammatical

errors in their writings None of them assured that their students hardly got any problems with

grammar in every writing lesson

80 +

Chart 12: Teachers’ remarks on students’ grammatical mistakes

2.3.1.2.4 Comments on students’ expression errors:

Regarding the students’ expression errors, the teachers all approved that their students had difficulty in presenting their ideas for several reasons The main cause of this type of mistakes that most of the teachers stated is their students’ limited linguistic competence That is, the students’ bad grammatical knowledge and narrow vocabulary greatly affect their ability to express their ideas Also, some teachers pointed out some other reasons such as lack of

kè 3

background knowledge of varions life aspects or illogical iđes organization in a wriifen text Tn short, the students’ weakness of idea expression is one of many problems that the teachers should take account ofim order to help student resolve it

23.125, Teachers’ application of writing stages:

In the nev textbook, reading and listening arc the skills which are designed to be divided into three clear stages in each lesson, Towever, stages ina wriling lesson are advisable lo be organized under each individual Lsacher’s creativeness Being asked about this matter, more than three quarters of the teachers (10 teachers) admitted that they often had left out the warm-

up stage in almost writing lessons, ‘he simple reason for their warm-up elimination is time restriction They don’t want to waste time on the warm-up stage which they consider as an unnecessary one for students, They tend to put more emphasis on the next stages Only two teachers followed all the stages including warm-up stage in every writing lesson since they regard it as an important stage so that students can feel more excited to get involved in the next wriling activities,

2.3.2.6 Teachers’ use of types of work arrangement

Always | often | sometimes | rarely | never

Talile &: Teachers’ application of work arrangement

It can be obviously seen from the table that the type of work arangement that most of the teachers (10 teachers) always uscd in cvery writing lesson is individual work All of the teachers applied this kind of work arrangement in every siaye of a wriling lesson Pair-work was another activity Ihal the teachers also enjoyed choosing in their willing lesson Towever, only half of the teachers often used pair work Meanwhile, the other half sometimes provided their students pair-work activities ‘I'he teachers all offen guided their students in pair-work activities in Pre-writing stage Since almost the teachers always left out Warm-up stage, the students of two teachers had chance to work in pairs in Warm up stage, Of three types of work arrangement, group-work was least used by all the teachers Only three out of the total rarely carried out group-work activities for them students mostly in Warm-up or Pre-writing

"The reasons for focusing more on individual work activities than pair work and group- work ones in writing lessons were given very simply and unconvincing, That is, the number of students ina class is rather big, so it is vary hard for the teachers to control their students in pairs or groups Their students often made so much noise affecting other adjacent classrooms

In addition to this, the teachers claimed that not all the students took part in pair-work or

group-work activities, many of whom did private things or made noise Consequently, these

activities took a lot of time and were ineffective That is the reason why the teachers in Truong

Dinh high school prefer individual work to other kinds of work arrangement

231.27 Using visual aids to make suggestions:

malways motten sometimes rarely,

never

Chart 13: Teachers’ use of visual aids to make suggestions

‘The results from the pie chart reveal that the teachers in Truong Dinh high school did

not make use of benefits of visual aids in writing lessons Nearly half of them admitted that

they rarely made suggestions by visual aids They explained that they wanted their students to

focus on while-writing stage without wasting time on other stages Also, they added that it took

them a lot of time to prepare visual aids for each writing lesson so they just utilized visual aids

in observed lessons Among the other teachers using visual aids, only two young teachers often

made writing lessons more interesting through visual aids Five other teachers had writing

lessons with visual aids from time to time

2.3.1.28 Teachers’ feedback of students’ writing

Giving feedback plays an important part ina writing lesson Concerning this activity, many

teachers (8 teachers) approved of the idea that they often asked one or two students to do the

writing task on the board and then corrected it / them with the whole class, The rest of the

teachers provided feedback by telling some students to submit their writings for the teachers”

later correction and after that gave general comments, None of the teachers chose the way of

pair correction between students before giving common remarks on their writings

2.3.1.2.9 Writing assignments:

According to eight teachers, their students were often unable to complete writing tasks

especially difficult types of written texts due to the students’ low level and the restricted time

of a writing lesson Therefore, the writing assignment they gave their students was mostly the

undone task in the textbook as they wanted their students to do their writing carefully As a

result, seven of them sometimes assigned their students more exercises only when the students

had finished all the writing tasks in the textbook The oldest teacher acknowledged that he

seldom gave his students extra homework Two aut of 12 teachers rsported that they often provided their students with the writing task similar to the one in the textbook im order to help them revise what they had leamt in class

23.1210 Types of written texts difficult for students to write

7.Wlling about advanlages and disadvanlages of the mass media 83%

Table 7: Types of written tests difficult for students to write

There arc a variety of forms of written texts in English textbook 10 Many of them are not only unfarriliar Lo the students bul alsa difficult for teachers to teach when the lachers do not prepare for them carefilly The data from the table indicales (hat the writing forms seen as the difficult ones for the studenls wore “writing ä rurative' (100%), “describing a chert? (100%), ‘describing a city’ (92%), “writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media’ (83%), ‘describing a film’ (83%), ‘writing a letter of complaint’ (73%), “writing a set

of instructions’ (73%), ‘describing information fiom a table’ (67% teachers) Besides, some sorts of writing proved to be less difficult than the above ones were ‘writing a letter of invitation’ (33%), “writing a confirmation letter’ (25 %), ‘waiting a letter of acceptance or rofasal’ @5 9) ‘writing an announcement? (29%), “writing an infirmal Toller: giving directions’ (17%), ‘writing @ profile? (17%), “writing aboul peaple’s background” (17%),

“filling in form’ (8%) Tn short, the forms of written Lexls more or less create difficulties for the

10-form students

iommaires far both grade-10 students amd teach

Upper sceondary school is presented elzarly in the previous part, The

close analysis indicate thal there are a considerable number of factors resulling in the tently grade students’ problems in the process of acquiring the writing skill in the new textbook ‘The main findings of these fictors that will be discussed thoroughly below include teachers” and students’ attitudes towards the writing skill, students’ poor linguistic competence, students’ lack of background knowledge, students’ habit of not bramnstorming and making idea organization before writing, teachers’ stage elimination, teachers’ careless instructions in pre- wailing slagc, inappropriate rangement of collaborative work in classroom astivilies, teachers’ infrequent use of visual aids, ne lirne Tirnil for sludents* writing, irrclevant earrection

work, few writing assignments and some difficult types of written texts

* Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the writing skill

Among four skills of Fnglish, writing is regarded as a complicated and difficull skill for both teachers and students to teach and Team When the ew cuniculum has heen applied widely throughout, the country, he writing skill as well as other skills is taught more clearly and systematically in a separate lesson ‘This creates more opportunities for students to learn the writing skill carefully However, it can be concluded ftom the statistics that a majority of the tenth form students who participated in this study were not interested in the writing skill as they found it difficult and boring They were not aware of the benetits of leaming writng for their daily practical purposes Thus most of them hardly spent time practising writing at home They only have a 15- minute lessơn to learn the wriling skittin each nil so iL is hard for them

to improve their writing skill without any farther practice

On the other hand, the fact also shows that most of leachers al Truong Dinh high school did not appreciate the necessity of learning the writing skill for students since it was not commonly used in English tests or exams at high school In addition to this, the teachers had not been used to the innovated teaching approach in the new textbook Hence they tended not

to concentrate nmch on the writing skill

To sum up, it is possible to infer that both the teachers and the grade-10 students did not attach umportance 1o the writing skill in the new textbook, which might greatly influence the resulls of studonls’ learning of writing

© Students’ paor linguistic competence:

Tn order to succeed in learning the writing skill as well as alhcr skills in a forcign language, students must raster knowledge of linguisties thal is a core and indispensable means ta

31

provide language input for their skill learning, And yet, a large number of grade-10 students often had a lot of difficulties leaming writing in the new textbook due to their poor grammar and lack of vocabulary, ‘Their limitations of Linguistic competence hindered them from organizing and expressing their ideas logically Their writings were often badly evaluated with poor expression and many grammatical mistakes since they had to write within their restricted linguistic competence, Although the students themsdlves clearly know how to widen vocalnilary by much reading practice, they did not gel themselves inlo a habil of reading English materials at home Ta minimize students” shortage of vocatmlary, the teachers also

tried to sugges! some key words or phuz

solved absolutely Accordingly, a vital duty for students is improving their linguistic competence if they want to make much progress in leaming the writing skill

before writing Yel, the problem could not be

© Students’ lack of background knowledge

Limited background knowledge is the students” another weakness which needs improving,

To produce a good written text, the knowledge of social ideas is really needed for students to make contents of their writings more profound and persuasive However, owing to insufficient background knowledge, the students often had difficulty organizing ideas and developing them according lo the requirements of writing tasks This mighl results im disordered writings with

poor idca expression, Lacking background knowledge is one of the factors parlly influencing students’ results of writings

© Students’ habit of not brainstorming and making idea organization before

writing

Brainstorming and outlinng ideas are quite important activities to help students write more

logically and clearly However, the students hardly took this into account so they did not make

a habit of brainstorming and arranging ideas before writing, They often started to write based

* Teachers’ stage elimination

Ina writing lesson, the implementation of stages can make a significant contribution to the suocess of the lesson Liach stage has a separate role and aim in a writing lesson Among four stages (warm-up, pre-writing, while-writing and post-writing), most of the teachers otten left out the warm-up stage because they thought that it was an unnecessary stage They wanted to save time for other stages seen as nore important, Couscquently, the climmination 0Í warrn-up stage made wriling lessons becorne more boring and monotonous The sons could nol, attract students’ attention and correspondingly decreased the inlereslingness af the lessons as well as

3

students’ eagerness to get involved in the next writing activities, It is advisable for the teachers

to take account of this situation and improve it so as to enhance the quality of writing lessons

* Teachers’ careless instructions in Pre-writing stage

In order to assist students to carry out their writings easier and mare smoothly, ‘Pre- witing” stage should be prepared thoroughly under the teacher’s guidance since the purpose of this stage 1s providing students with indispensable language input used for later stages

‘Nevertheless, many teachers at Truong Dinh high school appeared to make light of the pre- wtiting stage They absolutely dependad on the textbook They did not mmke any changes in wriling lasks lo be suitable for stages and the students” levels Many of the teachers did not focus much on teaching the studenis forms of writen texts or guiding students lo brainstorm and organize ideas for their writings Some of them even did not suggest any key words or phrases for students before writing ‘lhe only thing they offen did was strictly following the order of the writing tasks in the textbook From the above reality, it can be found that the teachers carried out the pre-writing cursorily, which created a lot of difficukies for students in

"While-writing’ stage and made students fel discouraged to go on their writing because of not comprehending how to write and lacking needed language input,

* Lnappropriate work arrangement applied in classroom activities :

The results from the questionnaires reflect that there was a tendency towards using individual work chiefly in all stages of writing lessons Only scveral teachers gave their students opportunity to work in pairs but very little Group work was hardly chosen by most of the teachers in writing lessons The fact shows the teachers did not make use of the henefits from pair-work or group-work activities in some writing lessons demanding students’ collaboration such as ‘writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media’,

‘describing a city’, ‘describing a chart’, ete ‘hey explained that their students did not get used

to working in pairs or groups and it was not easy for them to manage students in paits or groups duc to crowded classes What is more, just a small number of students participated in collaborative activitics under teachers’ guidanec whercas others did their private matters or made noisc, As a result, pair-work or group-work activities wore often ineffctive and time- consuming, For these reasons, the teachers Landed te restrict pair or group activities in writing, Tessoms 80 the sludents rarely lad chances 10 exchange their opinions to collec! usefl ideas for their writing

* Teachers’ infrequent use of visual aids

Obviously, visual aids have a lot of good uses for language teaching and leaming if they are carefully prepared and creatively exploited in class Lessons with good exploitation of suitable visual aids are always more exciting and successful than the others without any aids

‘Yet, the data indicates that most of the teachers at Truong Dinh high school seldom used visual