Teaching essay writing to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school, Thanh Hóa province Dạy viết bài luận cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Nguyễn Mộ

Difficulties in learning essay writing from the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school 35 3.4.2.. Suggested solutions to overcome the difficulties in teaching essay writing t

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

LÊ LAN HƯƠNG

STUDENTS AT NGUYỄN MỘNG TUÂN

HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HÓA PROVINCE:

DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

(Dạy viết bài luận cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Nguyễn Mộng Tuân, tỉnh Thanh Hóa: Những khó khăn và giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Languge Teaching Methodolgy Code: 60.14.10

HANOI - 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

LÊ LAN HƯƠNG

FORM STUDENTS AT NGUYỄN MỘNG TUÂN HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HÓA PROVINCE:

DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS

(Dạy viết bài luận cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Nguyễn Mộng

Tuân, tỉnh Thanh Hóa: Những khó khăn và giải pháp khắc phục)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Huy Kỷ

HANOI - 2013

1.1.3 What is an essay and its parts? 7

1.1.5 Stages of writing an essay 11

1 2 Approaches to teaching writing 13

v

2.1.1 The teachers at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school 16

2.1.2 The students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school 16 2.1.3 Writing lessons in the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” 17

3.4.1 Difficulties in learning essay writing from the 10th form

students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school 35 3.4.2 Difficulties in teaching essay writing to the 10th form students

3.4.3 Suggested solutions to overcome the difficulties in teaching essay writing

to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school 37

PART III: CONCLUSION 44

3 Suggestion for further studies 45

REFERENCES 46

vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Teachers‟ opinion about the importance of writing

Table 2: Reasons of teaching writing to the 10th form students

Table 3: Students‟ attitude about writing lessons in teachers‟ viewpoint Table 4: Teachers‟ view of periods of teaching writing

Table 5: Teachers‟ opinions of difficulties when teaching essay writing

Table 6: Degree of difficulty of stages in teaching essay writing

Table 7: Essay writing activities in the classroom

Table 8: Teachers‟ opinions on the writing lessons

Table 9: Teachers‟ frequency in assigning students more writing tasks Table 10: Teachers‟ expectation for better teaching and learning situation Table 11: Students‟ opinion about the importance of writing

Table 12: Students‟ evaluation of their writing skill

Table 13: Difficult writing stage in students‟ opinion

Table 14: Students‟ opinions on causes of difficulties

Table 15: Activities in pre-writing stage

Table 16: Work arrangement while writing

Table 17: Activities in writing lessons

Table 18: Students‟ expectation for better teaching and learning situation

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, English plays an important role in many aspects of life It has been taught in Vietnamese schools as one of the most important subjects at all level of education The teaching and learning of English in our country has today changed from the linguistic competence to the communicative competence As a result, our new English textbook series were compiled under the impact of the communicative approach which focuses on four skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing Compared to the other three skills, writing is considered to be the most difficult skill to master Therefore, teaching writing is not an easy job One of the teachers‟ challenges in high school education is to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for Vietnamese students to write English essays effectively In high school context, where exposure to English is typically limited to three periods each week, students receive little practice in writing in English, only one period (45 minutes) per unit Most teachers are not satisfied with reading and giving feedback on their students‟ essays because many essays are nonsense, lack of ideas or even the content of some essays is very similar to each other, especially when they write about the same topic Conversely, students are not interested in learning essay writing They tend to translate ideas from mother tongue into English, express ideas

in long sentences, and are not aware of different kinds of writing, which leads them unable to write in real life Because of limited background knowledge, they often feel bored when doing written work, especially when lacking support and motivation from teachers

I have been teaching writing to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school with the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” for two years, and I encountered many difficulties in the writing lessons Therefore, the situation encouraged me to carry out the study “Teaching essay writing to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school, Thanh Hoa province: Difficulties and solutions” with the hope of improving the teaching and learning essay writing for my colleagues and my students

2 Objectives of the study

The primary purpose of this study is to explore teachers‟ perception of the importance of teaching essay writing to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

The second aim is to investigate teachers‟ difficulties in teaching essay writing to the 10th form students with the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

Finally, I would like to offer some suggested solutions for improving further the teaching of essay writing for teachers of English at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

This study is carried out with the hope that it will be theoretically and practically helpful to both teachers of English and the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

3 Research questions

The study intends to find out the answers for the following questions:

1 What are teachers‟ perceptions of the importance of teaching essay writing to the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school?

2 What are the difficulties experienced by the teachers who are teaching essay writing in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” to the 10th

form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school?

3 What should be done to help overcome those difficulties for teachers of English

at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school?

4 Methods of the study

With the aim of finding out the difficulties in teaching essay writing with the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” to the 10th

form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school, this study adopts mainly quantitative and qualitative methods

There are three main instruments of data collection are questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews

Informal interviews with the teachers at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school are conducted The purpose of interview is to investigate difficulties teachers face when they teach essay writing to the 10th form students

Survey questionnaires for the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school are to collect information about their views of writing difficulties and causes of them Classroom observation is used to record more information from teachers

5 Significance of the study

The significance of this study is to reveal that problems teachers of English at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school encounter when they teach essay writing to the 10th

form students The study is intended to find out how the teachers cope and manage their problems in order to help the 10th form students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school to write better Also, this study is carried out with the hope that its findings can give some suggested solutions for English high school teachers so that they can have teaching practice better in writing lessons

6 Scope of the study

The study is conducted at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school in order to recognize difficulties in teaching and learning essay writing skills of both the teachers and the 10thform students with the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” On the basis of findings, some suggested solutions were advanced to further improve teaching essay writing to students Within its scope, the study is limited only to the 10th form students at Nguyen Nguyễn Mộng Tuân teaching context

7 Organization of the study

This thesis has 3 main parts: introduction, development and conclusion

The introduction presents the rationale, objectives of the study, research questions, methods of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the study, which offers readers an overview of how the research idea is generated

The development consists of 3 chapters

Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background of essay writing It focuses on writing definitions, from paragraph to essay, essay definitions and its parts, types of essays, stages

of writin an essay, approaches to teach writing

Chapter 2 discusses the methodology of the study, i.e describes the study context, participants and instruments Besides, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” is then elaborated Chapter 3 is about data analysis and discussion In this part, questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation are analyzed and presented In this chapter, I will give some feasible solutions for better teaching and learning English essay writing

The conclusion summarizes the whole study issue and provides suggestions for further study Besides, the limitations of the thesis are also pointed out

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a review of related literature on essay writing It includes two main sections The first section describes teaching essay writing, with definitions of writing and definitions of an essay and its parts, types of essays, and stages of writing an essay The second section discusses approaches to teaching writing

1.1 Teaching essay writing

However, writing, in language teachers‟ opinions, is “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3) It “normally requires some form of instruction” and “is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (Tribble, 1996: 11)

As for Byrne, one of several authors on writing skills, gave a long and complex definition

of writing: “When we write, we use graphic symbols that is letters or combinations of letters which relate to the sounds we make when we speak On one level, then, writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols; making marks on a flat surface of some kind The symbols have to be arranged according to certain conventions, to form words and words have to be arranged to form sentences.” (Byrne, 1991:1)

In other words, it can be said that writing is encoding of a message of some kind that is,

we translate our thoughts and ideas into language So, in a way, writing represents our thoughts and ideas What one thinks leads to one‟s writing in the form of sentences and

by organizing the sentences into a cohesive text where we are able to communicate with our readers successfully

After considering some different views of writing, let‟s see how to write a good paragraph and then an essay

1.1.2 From paragraph to essay

Before a student starts writing essays, they should be taught how to write a good paragraph Langan (1999) defined “A paragraph is a series of sentences about one main idea, or point A paragraph typically starts with a point, and the rest of the paragraph provides specific details to support and develop that point.”

A paragraph is made up of 3 kinds of sentences (the topic sentence, supporting sentences and the concluding sentence that develop the writer‟s main idea

The topic sentence states the main idea of a paragraph, and it also limits the topic to one

or two areas that are discussed completely within one paragraph It briefly indicates what the paragraph is going to discuss For this reason, the topic sentence is a helpful guide to both the writer and the reader The writer can see what information to include The reader, then, can see what the paragraph is going to be about and is, therefore, better prepared to understand it

The topic sentence should be written at the beginning of the paragraph because it tells the reader what you are going to say and you can look back at the topic sentence as you write the supporting sentences

The supporting sentences develop the topic sentences by giving specific details,

explanations, or proofs about the topic sentence

Here are examples of topic sentences and supporting sentences:

Topic sentence: Traditional American family relationships have changed greatly in the

last thirty years

- x out of x marriages ending divorce

- x out of x children live in homes with only one parent

- x percent of couples living together are not legally married

Topic sentence: Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world

- Cost of a diner at a medium-priced restaurant

- Rent for an average two-bedroom apartment

- Cost of a ride on public transportation

- Cost of a medium-priced hotel room

The concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and summarizes the main

points of the paragraph It gives a final comment on the topic and leaves the reader with the most important ideas to think about

The concluding sentence reminds the readers of the topic sentence, it is like the topic sentence but in different words not copying the topic sentence

It can be begun with: “All in all, In any event, In brief, Indeed, In other words, In short, Therefore, In conclusion, In summary, Finally, etc”

Here are examples of topic sentences:

- River rafting is a challenging sport with special requirements

- Gold, a precious metal is prized for two important characteristics

And here are the concluding sentences:

- In short, if you are fearless and in good physical condition and can react quickly, river rafting is the ideal outdoor sport for you

- In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for it utility

Indeed, a good paragraph contains five elements: a topic sentence, supporting sentences, possibly a concluding sentence, unity, and coherence Unity means that in a paragraph a writer concentrates on one main idea, which is very often stated in the first sentence of a paragraph, and this idea is developed into further detail with the help of supporting details After the students know how to write a good paragraph, they start developing the entire essay

1.1.3 What is an essay and its part?

An essay has been defined in a variety of ways

According to Wikipedia, an essay is “typically a short piece of writing, usually from an author‟s personal point of view Essays are non-fiction but often subjective; while expository, they can also include narrative Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author.”

Langan (1999) described that an essay does the same thing a paragraph does: it starts with

a point, and the rest of it provides specific details to support and develop that point However, a paragraph is a series of sentences about one main idea, or point, while an essay is a series of paragraphs about one main idea, or point- called the central idea In other words “An essay is a group of paragraphs that develops one central idea” by Smalley and Ruetten (1986)

Oshima and Hogue (1991) gave a similar definition of an essay: “An essay is a piece of writing several paragraphs long instead of just one or two It is written about one topic,

just as a paragraph” and an essay has three main parts: an introductory paragraph (or introduction), a body (two or more paragraphs) and a concluding paragraph (or conclusion)

The introductory paragraph consists of two parts: general statement and thesis statement General statements introduce the topic of the essay and give background information on

the topic Thesis statement states the main topic, lists the subdivisions of the topic, may

indicate the method of organization

areas of human life Some people are excited by the challenges that these changes offer; others want to return to the simpler, less automated lifestyle of the past Living in the 20 th century has certain advantages such as a higher standard of living but it also has some disadvantages such as a polluted environment, the depersonalization of human relationships, and the weakening of spiritual values

The body consists of one or more paragraphs Each paragraph develops a subdivision Each paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the issue to be discussed in the paragraph, which is followed by further information A linking sentence continues the logical flow to the next paragraph

The concluding paragraph is a summary of the main points or restatement of your thesis

in different words and your final comment on the subject, based on the information you have provided

Ex: In conclusion, although the 20 th century has indeed given us a lot of advantages by making us richer, healthier, and freer to enjoy our lives It has, in my opinion, not made

our spiritual lives poorer We should continue to enjoy the benefits of technological advancements because they free us to pursue our interests and goals However, we must make an effort to preserve our natural environment for future generations Moreover, we should take the time now to make our lives more meaningful in an increasing impersonal world

Of the three parts, the longest part should be the body To connect the three parts of an essay, the use of transitional signals is also important

Transitions are words or phrases that link one idea to the next; they are signals which

help the reader follow your thoughts Transitions are used to connect ideas within paragraphs and when leading from one paragraph to the next Transitions fall into several categories The following seven categories list transitions for some of the most common situations in writing:

To show a time relationship: First, second (etc.); First of all, then, next, after that, finally

To add an idea or example: in addition, also, another, furthermore, moreover, besides,

similarly, for example, for instance

To add an opposite idea: On the other hand, however, but, Although, even though

To show comparison: Similarly, likewise, also, and

To show cause-effect: Therefore, thus, consequently, as a result, so, Because, since,

To show conclusion: In brief, all in all, indeed, in other words, in short, in the end

To clarify: in other words, for instance, that is, put another way

Example of using transitions:

“Betty goes to the Writing Center every Tuesday and Thursday Consequently, her English grades have improved dramatically After two months of tutoring, Betty became

an English tutor In addition, she visits the math lab every Friday However, her math grade has not improved as much Therefore, she will continue to get help with her math

homework.” (Fawcett, Susan, and Alan Sandberg Evergreen: A Guide to Writing)

“In addition” signals that Betty goes to The Math Lab and The Writing Center

“Consequently” signals the effect of English tutoring on Betty‟s grades

“After” signals the time period between the start of Betty‟s tutoring sessions and her

getting a job as a tutor

“However” signals a contrast between Betty‟s improvement in English and math

“Therefore” signals the conclusion that Betty will receive more help in math, which she

lacks

1.1.4 Types of essays

There exist many types of essays which students, academicians may be involved with at some point of their lives or career Essays can be classified by their purposes According to Fawcett and Sandberg (1992) there were 8 types of essays: Illustration, Narrative, Descriptive, Process, Definition, Comparison or Contrast, Classification and

Persuasive In illustration essays the writer used specific examples to support a thesis or

to prove a statement Narrative essays required the writer to retell a meaningful incident,

an event or personal experience The writer had to describe something such as a place, a

product, a piece of equipment or cells under a microscope, etc in a descriptive essay

Describing a process or steps in the procedure of doing something was the aim of a

process essay In definition essays students had to define a scientific term such as Disk

Operating System in computer studies or DNA in biology etc When writing a

comparison or contrast essay, students might be asked to compare to find the

similarities and differences between two things or two people They could also use some criteria to contrast two things or two people to discover which features this person or a thing had but the other one did not have Differing from the above-mentioned types of

essays, Classification essays required the writer to use some criteria to classify some things or people or divide them into groups under some standards In a persuasive essay

the writer had to take a stand on an issue and tried to convince others to agree with him or her with a question like “Do you agree or disagree?” He had to choose to agree or

disagree with the given topic Sample topics of a Persuasive essay could be: “Should

everyone go to college?; Are we too dependent on computers?; Should cigarette smoking

be banned?; etc

Unlike Fawcett and Sandberg, Smalley and Ruetten (1986) gave out only 5 types

of essays with different names: Example essay, comparison and contrast essay, classification essay, process analysis essay, cause-and-effect analysis essay and

argumentative essay In Cause-and-Effect essay the writer identified the causes of a

phenomenon, a problem or something or predicted its good or bad effects

Although there are many types of essays, there are only four major types while others types are variations from of the four They are persuasive essays, comparative essays, narrative essays and expository essays A comparative essay asks that you compare at least two (possibly more) items These items will differ depending on the assignment Though the assignment may say “compare,” the assumption is that you will consider both the similarities and differences; in other words, you will compare and

contrast The category of expository essay is also known as explanation or illustrative

essay in academic writing because it is commonly used to elucidate and clarify a concept,

a situation or a thought or notion An expository essay explains a topic in an authoritative manner For instance, if you are writing about the film industry, you would narrow your topic to a specific aspect of this industry and create an essay structure that explains that aspect thoroughly The content of the essay is intended to inform the reader

1.1.5 Stages of writing an essay

Raimes (2005) suggests that the writing process consists of planning, drafting and revising However, Brandon (2005) presents a writing process of only three main steps: prewriting; organizing and developing support; and writing, revising and editing

Although there are many terms and patterns used in the writing process, the core elements are similar According to Pornpan Boonpattanaporn (2007), they can be summed

up as prewriting, writing, revising and editing Prewriting is the first stage of writing which helps students to generate ideas and prepares them to write an essay At this stage, all ideas are preliminary and subject to change Techniques for generating ideas for essays suggested by Wyrick (2002), Trimmer (2004), Brandon (2005) are free-writing or

looping, clustering or mind-mapping, brainstorming, interviewing, reading and taking, journal writing and surfing the Internet

note-Apart from generating ideas for an essay, students should also consider the purpose

of writing an essay and readers‟ knowledge of the topic in order to select appropriate ideas and information for their essays

Writing or drafting means producing a preliminary written version from the outline It is the way to convert ideas into words Most writers write straight through the first draft without stopping to make correction At this stage, the outline is used as a guide

to form the essay The writer also uses his/her linguistic competence and discourse knowledge to get the ideas across to the reader

Revising is the time to make improvement to a piece of writing Changes can be made to content and organization by adding and deleting details, or improving clarity, style and flow of ideas

Editing includes checking various aspects on the surface level such as spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar or page formatting to ensure that appropriate conventions are met

Writing steps: prewriting, writing, revising and editing are therefore introduced to students in the hope that they will follow these steps, go through the process using critical thinking and reasoning skills and be able to produce a good piece of writing

Hyland (2003) emphasizes that the teachers‟ role is to guide students through the writing process, avoiding an emphasis on form to help them develop strategies for generating, drafting and refining ideas Since writing has always been regarded as a difficult skill, instructors of English writing skills accept that students‟ writing abilities may not reach a satisfactory level They have attempted to deal with student errors in writing which show that they face severe difficulties due to their lack of essay writing strategies as well as lack of language proficiency

Therefore, simply reading students‟ texts, pointing out errors and giving feedback

by instructors might not be enough to help students improve their writing ability In order

to assist students to overcome difficulties, it is necessary to examine what students

actually think and do when they write The results can reveal their strengths and weaknesses and will give opportunities for instructors to advise and provide assistance regarding their writing practice in a more practical and flexible way, leading to a more supportive classroom environment

1 2 Approaches to teaching writing

There are various approaches to teaching writing that are presented by Ann Raimes (1983) as follows:

1.2.1 The Controlled to Free Approach:

In 1950s and early 1960, the audio-lingual method dominated second language learning which emphasized on speech and writing through mastering grammatical and syntactic forms

Here, the students are given sentence exercises, then paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically These controlled compositions then followed by correction of errors, so that it can lead to the free composition Overall, this approach focuses on accuracy rather than fluency

1.2.2 The Free-Writing Approach:

This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality This focuses on fluency rather than accuracy It is based on the principle that if once ideas are there, the organization follows Thus, teachers may begin their classes by asking students to write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling for five or ten minutes The teacher does not correct these pieces of free writing They simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer expressed Alternatively, some students may volunteer to read their own writing aloud to the class Concern for “audience” and “content” are seen as important in this approach

1.2.3 The Paragraph - Pattern Approach:

This approach focuses on organization by copying the paragraphs or model passages It is based on the principle that in different culture or situations, people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways In this approach, students are provided

with such kinds of exercises as sentence ordering, sentence inserting or sentence deleting, etc

1.2.4 The Grammar-Syntax Organization Approach:

This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature In a way, it is inclusive here that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned sequentially So, students must be trained to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax

1.2.5 The Communicative Approach:

This approach focuses on the purpose of writing and the audience for it They are given some tasks where they have to behave as writers so that they can learn by doing it

- Why am I writing this? Who will read it?

Thus, this approach is quite functional in nature, which can provide the actual experience

to the learners

1.2.6 The Process Approach:

This approach shows the shift from product to process which shows:

- How do I write this? How do I get started?

Here, the students are trained to generate ideas for writing, to think of purpose, audience, and write multiple drafts in order to present written products that communicate their own ideas Teachers who use this approach give students time to tray ideas and feedback on the content of what they write in their drafts As such, writing becomes a process of discovery for the students as they discover new ideas and new language forms to express them A writing process approach requires that teachers give students greater responsibility for, and ownership of, their own learning Students make decisions about genre and choice of topics, and collaborate as they write

There are different points of view on the number of stages comprising the writing process Byrne (1991) suggests the following as a representation of the stages of writing: Listing ideas, making an outline, writing a draft, correcting and improving the draft, and writing the final version As for Ron White and Valerie Arndt, they are keen to stress that

“writing is re-writing; that re-vision – seeing with new eyes – has a central role to play in

the act of creating text” In their model, process writing is an interrelated set of recursive stages which include: Drafting, structuring (ordering information, experimenting with arrangements, etc.), reviewing (checking context, connections, assessing impact, editing), focusing (that is making sure you are getting the message across you want to get across), and generating ideas and evaluation (assessing the draft and/ or subsequent drafts)

Oshima and Hogue (1991) mentions four stages of writing such as pre-writing, planning, writing and revising draft, and writing the final copy to hand in

Pre-writing is the first stage in the writing process There are two steps namely choosing and narrowing a topic and brainstorming Planning (outlining) organizes the ideas the learners generated by brainstorming into an outline There are three steps on planning that is: making sublists, writing the topic sentence, and outlining

In writing and revising draft stage, a writer does three steps: writing the first rough draft, revising content and organization, and proofreading the second draft

Writing the final copy to hand in is considered as the final activity in a writing process, a writer has to rework the written drafts and polish them for the presentation or publication During the writing process, students engage in pre-writing, planning, drafting, and post-writing activities However, as the writing process is recursive in nature, they do not necessarily engage in these activities in that order

1.3 Summary

In short, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues related to topic of the study Firstly, it concentrates on the concepts of writing, theoretical background of teaching essay writing such as definitions of an essay and its parts, structure of an essay, types of essays and stages of writing an essay Secondly, it mentions approaches to teach writing

As I wrote above, an essay is a group of paragraphs that develops one central idea An

introduction, a body and a conclusion are 3 parts of essays There are many types of

essays, and each of these follow a certain structure about which the students are told by the teacher and each of which they try to analyze before the writing itself There are six approaches to teaching writing according to Ann Rimes The practical contents of the paper , i.e research methodology, is to be described in details in the following sections

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter deals with the research context including the teachers and students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school, writing lessons in the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”, participants, data collection instruments, procedures of data collection

2.1 The research context

2.1.1 The teachers at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

There are totally six teachers of English at Nguyen Mong Tuan high school from 24 to 45 Their English proficiency and teaching method are not equally qualified Two of them graduated from Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University Two were trained English as their second foreign language at Russian Department, Hanoi University Two graduated from English Department, Hong Duc University Half of teachers were trained according to traditional teacher-centered method, especially to the 10th form students In classes, explanation, translation, asking and answering questions are the main class activities The teachers are often asked to explain every new word, new structure and even to translate the text into Vietnamese Our students are usually passive in the learning process

The rest were trained to teach English based on the new teaching method, communicative approach From my perspective, their interests in teaching are so varied, not all of them are really devoted to their teaching job

2.1.2 The students at Nguyễn Mộng Tuân high school

The 10th form students at Nguyen Mong Tuan high school are sixteen years old and have learnt English, including writing skills, for four years at secondary schools, their English knowledge is still limited

As a matter of fact, they are beginners of English Besides, they have no clear determination on English learning goal except few students who take English examinations into universities and colleges Apparently, applying teaching approaches and using teaching methods should be taken into account in order to foster and develop their writing skills efficiently

2.1.3 Writing lessons in the new textbook “Tiếng Anh 10”

The new „Tiếng Anh 10‟ is the fifth volume which succeeds a new series of English textbook from grade 6 to grade 9 It is designed to develop students‟ communicative language skills including listening, speaking, reading, and writing via different interesting and well- designed units The new „Tiếng Anh 10‟ consists of 16 units of six themes

which are related to many aspects of daily life: You and Me, Education, Community,

Nature, Recreation, and People & Places Each unit presents a topic and is divided into

5 main parts: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus

Owing to the new syllabus, each writing lesson makes up 20 % of 86 periods of the English syllabus Although each lesson is not clearly divided into stages: Pre-writing, While- writing and Post- writing, it can be easily noticed that the initial tasks are a preparation for the final task There are totally 16 units, so 16 writing lessons are designed with a view to making students familiar with real life situations on text The required competences of the writing lesson in each unit are detailed in the following table:

1 A day in the life of Writing a narrative

2 School talks Filling in a form

3 People‟s background Writing about people‟s background

4 Special education Writing a letter of complaint

5 Technology and You Writing a set of instructions

6 An excursion Writing a confirmation letter

7 The Mass Media Writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media

8 The story of my village Writing an informal letter: giving directions

9 Undersea world Describing information from a table

10 Conservation Writing a letter of invitation

11 National parks Writing a letter of acceptance or refusal

12 Music Writing a profile

13 Films and cinemas Describing a film

14 The World Cup Writing an announcement

15 Cities Describing a city

16 Historical places Describing a chart

2.2 The research methodology

2.2.1 Participants

The participants chosen for the study are 165 students from groups of 10A1, 10A2, 10A3, and 10A5 and six teachers of English at Nguyen Mong Tuan high school, four of whom are teaching grade 10 at present

The students are both male and female at the age of 16 and have been learning English for

4 years at secondary school They are willing to support the study by completing survey questionnaires and being ready for observation and interviews

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

In order to obtain adequate data for the study, three main instruments were used and described as follows:

Instrument 1: Survey questionnaires

The first data collection instrument was two survey questionnaires (appendix 1: survey questionnaires for teachers, appendix 2: survey questionnaires for students)

The information is collected by means of survey questionnaires, containing both closed and open-ended items Each survey questionnaire includes two parts: Part 1 is some personal information and part 2 comprises of questions relating to researched issue First, the questionnaire for teachers consists of 10 questions written in English to find out teachers‟ perception of difficulties teachers encounter in teaching essay writing to the 10thform students based on the textbooks „Tieng Anh 10”, and their recommendations for improving it

Next, the questionnaire for students consists of 8 questions written in Vietnamese with the hope to find out students‟ opinions on the writing skill, students‟ assessment of writing topics and activities based on the textbook „Tieng Anh 10”, the causes that lead to students‟ difficulties in learning essay writing and students‟ assessment of inappropriate teacher pedagogical methodology, and their expectations for better study

In 2 survey questionnaires above, the respondents were asked to answer and tick the

closed-questions; however some questions have more than one option

Instrument 2: Interviews

The second research tool employed in this study was informal interview questions for

teachers There are 5 interview questions for teachers in English in attempt to explore

further the teachers‟ background, their understanding of teaching essay writing at Nguyen

Mong Tuan high school, and their difficulties in teaching essay writing While

formulating the interview questions, the interviewer made sure that the questions were

clear, precise and motivating

Instrument 3: Classroom observation

In order to clarify the information from the questionnaires and interviews about the

difficulties that they are facing, the researcher observed some classes From these

observations, the researcher got a deep understanding about teaching and learning essay

writing to the 10th forms students at Nguyen Mong Tuan high school

2.2.3 Procedures of data collection

The data of the research was collected by means of questionnaire, interviews and

classroom observation

The questionnaire for teachers was easily carried out Six copies were given to the six

teachers, and data was made for the questionnaire to be given back Six other dates were

also made with the teachers for interviews During the interviews, the researcher had to

both ask the questions and write their answers down

To obtain the data for the investigation, the questionnaires in Vietnamese were delivered

to 165 students during the class time The students were given clear instruction before

each question so that they could respond appropriately to each question

After the questionnaire was administered, the respondents were encouraged to read it

thoroughly and answer frankly and truly Then they will be instructed to take as much

time as they need to complete the questionnaire

Six teachers were chosen to take part in a one-to-one interview It was conducted in a

quiet room free from distraction Before the interview began, the researcher explained the

nature of the research and the purpose of the interview and the amount of time to complete the conversation Besides, the author also informed the interviewees about how the data were to be recorded, and how the data were to be used later on in an attempt to cope with the difficulties teachers encounter in teaching essay writing The classroom observation was carried out in four lessons in different classes

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter deals with the results from the questionnaires to the teachers and students and from interviews with teachers The findings from those results will lead to the suggested solutions to make improvement for teaching essay writing to the 10th form students

3.1 Data analysis

This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey questionnaires conducted on six teachers and 165 students, the direct interviews with 6 teachers, and the classroom observations

3.1.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire

Part 1: Teachers’ personal information

Among 6 teachers taking part in the study, there are two males and four females The teachers‟ ages range from 26 to 45 There are 2 young teachers teaching English at high school for fewer 5 years, 3 teachers with 10 years of experiences, 1 teacher with 20 years

of experiences They have spent from one to three years teaching writing skills to the 10thform students Of these six teachers, four are currently taking charge of “ Tieng Anh 10”

Part 2: Analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire

Question 1: Do you think writing in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” is ……… ?

c Not very important 1 17%

d Not important at all 0 0%

Table 1: Teachers’ opinion about the importance of writing

As we have seen the table below, most of the teachers highly appreciate the importance of writing in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10 Four of them thought that writing in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” is important (66%) One found writing very important, one

viewed it not very important

Question 2: Why do you teach writing to high school students?

a it helps students to express their thoughts in words 3 50%

b it helps students to communicate with many people 2 33%

c it helps students to learn new vocabulary and grammatical

structures

d it helps students to do written tests 6 100%

Table 2: Reasons of teaching writing to the 10 th form students

All the teachers taking part in the survey claimed that teaching writing to the 10th form students helped students to do written tests 66% of the teachers thought that teaching writing helped students to learn new vocabulary and grammatical structures However, only half of the teachers thought that it helped students to express their thoughts in words 33% of the respondents taught writing to the 10th form students because it helped their students to communicate with many people

Question 3: How are your students in the writing lessons?

a They are interested in writing tasks in each lesson 0 0%

b They are nervous due to difficult tasks 1 16.7%

c They are bored with repeating activities 0 0%

d Most of them don‟t know how to write 5 83.3%

Table 3: Students’ attitude about writing lessons in teachers’ viewpoint

According to the table, most of the teachers thought that their students didn‟t know how

to write (83.3%) Only one teacher (16.7%) reported that difficult tasks made students nervous Teachers thought that their students are neither interested in writing tasks in each lesson nor bored with repeating activities

Question 4: Do you think how many periods (45minutes/ period) of teaching writing are appropriate for the 10 th form students?

d More than 3 periods a week 0 0%

Table 4: Teachers’ view of periods of teaching writing

Results from table 4 indicated that the most appropriate periods of teaching writing in teachers‟ opinion are 2 periods a week (83%) Only 17% of the respondents found 3 periods a week proper There is no teacher who chose to teach writing 1 period a week or more than 3 periods a week It means that the number of periods of writing in class should

be taught such in a suitable time to help students to learn writing lessons better

Question 5: What are your current problems when teaching essay writing to the 10 th form students?

a Lack of time for further practice 4 66%

c Students‟ low motivation 3 50%

d Students‟ low background knowledge 4 66%

e Students‟ low proficiency in English 5 83%

f Students‟ lack of essay writing strategies 4 66%

g Teachers‟ lack of experiences in teaching new textbook 6 100%

h Teachers‟ inappropriate methodology in teaching essay writing 5 83%

Table 5: Teachers’ opinions of difficulties when teaching essay writing

According to table 5, the most difficult challenge is lack of experiences in teaching new textbook (100%) This figure is higher than teachers‟ inappropriate methodology in teaching essay writing and students‟ low proficiency in English (83%)

The next challenges from teachers‟ viewpoint are lack of time for further practice, students‟ low background knowledge, and students‟ lack of essay writing strategies

(66%) Only 33% of the respondents have difficulty with large size classes

Question 6: How difficult are the following stages of teaching essay writing?

Very difficult

Difficult Neither difficult

Table 6: Degree of difficulty of stages in teaching essay writing

The data shown in the table reveal that most of the teachers cope up with different degrees

of difficulty of stages in teaching essay writing

At the pre-writing stage, most of the teachers found it very difficult (66%), one teacher found it difficult (17%) and one found it neither difficult nor easy (17%) The most important problem involves 83% of the respondents is difficult to teach writing stage in essay writing lessons Only 17% of the respondents found writing stage very difficult Coming next is 50% of the teachers who thought that revising was a very difficult and difficult stage of teaching essay writing At the editing stage, one out of six teachers thought that this stage was very difficult (17%) and 66% of the teachers found it difficult