an adaptation of the writing part of the new textbook english 11 at nguyen van cu upper secondary school

As a matter of fact, the status of foreign languages, particularly English, was reconfirmed by the Order number 1400/QĐ-TTg, It is obviously seen that the objectives of the new textbook

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

Abstract

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter ONE: Literature Review 1 An overview of teaching writing 4

1.1 Writing and Teaching writing in a foreign language class 4

1.2 Major approaches to teaching writing 7

1.2.1 The product approach ……… 10

1.2.2 The process approach ……… 11

2 Adaptation the textbook 13

3 The English textbook 16

3.1 The aims of the New textbook of English ………16

3.2 An overview of the Writing part of English 11 ……… 17

3.3 Challenges of teaching and learning writing of English 11 …18 4 Conclusion ………19

Chapter TWO: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS 1 The context of the study … 20

1.1 Setting of the study 20

1.2 Subjects of the study 20

1.3.Methods and instruments 21

2 Data analysis 23

2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation on adaptation of the Writing Part of English 11 23

2.2 Students’ ideas on how their teachers adapt the Writing Part of English 11 24

3 Conclusion of the major findings 27

Chapter THREE: AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTATION OF THE WRITING PART OF ENGLISH 11 ……… 28

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion 42

2 Recommendations and suggestion 43

3 Limitations of the study 43

4 Suggestions for further study 44

REFERENCES 45

APPENDIXES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English, one of the most popular foreign languages in Vietnam, began to be used widely in education and in daily-life activities As a matter of fact, the status of foreign languages, particularly English, was reconfirmed by the Order number 1400/QĐ-TTg,

It is obviously seen that the objectives of the new textbook provides adequate contribution to 4 language skills, but in fact, for many Vietnamese students, learning writing and having a good writing production are substantial challenges They have difficulties in learning writing and may be anxious about having a writing lesson in class

To the best of my knowledge, if teachers of English only use what is presented in the textbook, students usually find it difficult to study and are not keen on writing tasks Most of the students of Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school are at average level and have little background knowledge They don‟t pay much attention to writing in English, especially at

those in English 11 English 11 requires students to be more active and spend more time for free writing than English 10 Students need to self-study more In many writing lessons, students are not supported models, just some useful language which is newly presented or was

in the previous lessons

That is the reason why this research “An adaptation of the Writing Part of the new textbook: English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary school” is conducted

Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school (NVC school) to find out students‟ and teachers‟ difficulties on teaching and learning writing as well as their practice on adapting this part of English 11 The researcher will show the facts of learning and teaching Writing part of English

11 and an adaptation of this for other teachers of other schools to reference Therefore, the intention in doing this research is that any textbook needs adapting to meet certain groups of students‟ needs and levels

2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed to:

(1) Examine learning and teaching the Writing part of English 11 in NVC school (2) Explore some ways of adapting the Writing part of English 11 used by teachers at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school to help students study their writing skill better

3 Research questions

The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to 4 research questions:

have difficulties in teaching and learning writing English 11?

4 Scope of the study

upper-secondary school, their studying the Writing part of English 11 and the teachers‟ adaptation this part of the textbook The adaptation of the Writing part of the new

grade in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school It would be able to be a reference to teachers of other schools

5 Method of the study

This study is conducted in the combination of quantitative and qualitative method Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation The combination of different methods to collect data could provide more reliable and valid information for analysis Questionnaires of 180 students of English at grade 11 are used to discover the facts of teaching and learning writing with some adaptation Interviews and classroom observation of 5 teachers of English teaching writing English 11 are to find out their points of view on adaptation the textbook and to explore the ways to adapt this part so that they can help their students with better writing skill

6 Design of the study

The research consists of three parts The first part presents the rationale, the statement of the problem, the aims, research questions, the scope of the study, research methods as well as the design of the study There are two chapters in the second part Chapter 1 presents some discussion the New Textbook, an overview of the Writing part in English 11, the need to adapt the textbook and some ways to do this The readers also can find issues and ideas on approaches to teaching writing, challenges of teaching and

learning writing Chapter 2 presents the context of the study and explains the methodology used in the study including population information, instrumentation, data collection, data procedures, data analysis and findings The last part summarizes major findings and discussion, implications, limitations and provides recommendations for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 An overview of teaching writing

1.1 Writing and teaching writing in a foreign language classroom

Man, in the form of letters, symbols, or words, write to express language They write for the primary purpose that is communication “Good writing gets your ideas out of your head and into the reader's head without losing or distorting those ideas" (Leki 1976: 4); "Writing can be said to be the art of performing graphic symbols" (Byrne 1990: 1) or simply writing is like "making marks on a flat surface of some kind" However, writing is far more complicated process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial, error or whatever into the message with a decision Writing is also a difficult activity, both in the mother tongue and in a foreign language

Murray (1978:29) and Perl (1979:43) defined writing as “a creative discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content.”

Besides, according to Candlin and Hyland (1999: 107), writing is a social process, an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts “reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made”

In language teaching, writing along with speaking is defined as the two productive language skills Penny Ur (1996) said that “most people acquire the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned” (p.161) and “writing normally requires some forms of instruction It is not a skill that is really picked up by exposure” (p.11)

In short, through writing writers can communicate with some certain audiences Teaching students writing skill is not an easy task for all teachers of language in general and teachers of English in particular

Firstly, writing is not only an important form of communication in day-to-day life but also an essential skill for students preparing for further study At higher levels of education, it is a key aspect of academic literacy that aspiring scholars pursue as part of socialization in their disciplines Writing is usually a particularly challenging task for students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) The skills involved are highly complex, while at the same time students‟ cultures have their own norms for structure and rhetoric which are not always compatible with their current English From our personal experiences as classroom teachers in Vietnam, the author agrees with Hayashi‟s (2005) observation that EFL students‟ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument A particular classroom

writing task which is motivating and manageable to some can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others because students are linguistically of mixed abilities so that It is understandable that teachers of high school often complain that “writing is the most problematic skill to teach in such classes” (Hess, 2001, p 77) It is obvious that writing is

a difficult skill because it requires many characteristics which are not necessary for speaking such as formality, well- planned, accuracy and time

Secondly, the nature of writing causes many strategies for writers Candlin and Hyland (1999:2) pointed out that “every act of writing is thus linked in complex ways to a set of communicative purposes which occur in a context of social, interpersonal and occupational practice” And “Each act of writing also constructs the reality that it describes, reproducing a particular mode of communication and maintaining the social relationship which it implies” Writing is not only a personal but also socio-cultural act of identity whereby writers both signal their membership in what maybe a range of communities of practices as well as express their own creative individuality

I absolutely agree with Raimes that “writing helps our students learn”(Raimes,1983:3) To her point of view, writing can help students reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students Students will have a chance to be adventurous with the language to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take risks And writing can make students become very involved with the new language, the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eyes, hand and brain is unique way to reinforce learning

In a foreign language class, among the four skills, writing and speaking are productive skills When we learn a language, we need four skills for to complete communication The four language skills are related to each other in two ways: the

called "production" The purpose of language learning is to improve the speakers' four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with the base of large vocabulary and good grammar, but this is not the final purpose The final purpose is to let speakers be able

to use the language For instance, why do people study English? If a man is only good at listening and speaking, can people say that he is good at English? No If a woman is only good at reading and writing, can people say that she is good at the language? No In addition, most of the speakers do better in reading and writing than in listening and speaking They can read and write, but they can hardly communicate They can hardly express themselves with their own words We are not able to change the examination system, but we can improve our learning method So when speakers want to use a language well, do not forget to know all the abilities of the four skills Among the four skills, Writing is one way of providing variety in classroom procedures It provides a learner with physical evidence of his achievements and he can measure his improvement It helps to consolidate their grasp of vocabulary and structure, and complements the other language skills Sentence is the base of an article So he should begin his writing with sentences For example, translation, sentence pattern exchanging, and text shortening and rewriting It helps to understand the text and write compositions It can foster the learner's ability to summarize and to use the language freely

Writing is the final product of several separate acts that are hugely challenging to learn simultaneously Among these separable acts are note-taking, identifying a central idea, outlining, drafting and editing Both young and old people can encounter the discouraging „writer‟s block‟ if they engage in more than one or two of these activities at once It is difficult to start writing a report, for example, without a central idea and notes to support it Often, the more detailed an outline, the easier is the writing People frequently find that they can finish faster by writing a first draft quickly and then editing and revising this draft

Generally the four skills cannot be separated People often say "First listening and speaking, then reading and writing." But this way of saying is not fit for the design of the new textbook of English In an English lesson at school, students do reading, speaking, listening and then writing So, writing takes place the last

Writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete Writing encourages thinking and learning for it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection When thought is written down,

ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed Writing is most likely to encourage thinking and learning when students view writing as a process By recognizing that writing is a recursive process, and that every writer uses the process in a different way, students experience less pressure to "get it right the first time" and are more willing to experiment, explore, revise, and edit Yet, novice writers need to practice

“writing” or exercises that involve copying or reproduction of learned material in order to learn the conventions of spelling, punctuation, grammatical agreement, and the like Furthermore, students need to “write in the language” through engaging in a variety of grammar practice activities of controlled nature Finally, they need to begin to write within

a framework “flexibility measures” that include: transformation exercises, sentence combining, expansion, embellishments, idea frames, and similar activities)

To sum up, teaching writing is necessary for students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) because it “normally requires some form of instruction” and “it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” ( Tribble,1996:11)

1.2 Major approaches to teaching writing

Several approaches to teaching writing are presented by (Raimes, 1983) as follows: a) The Controlled-to-Free Approach:

In the 1950s and early 1960, the audio-lingual method dominated second-language learning This method emphasized speech and writing served to achieve mastery of grammatical and syntactic forms Hence teachers developed and used techniques to enable student to achieve this mastery The controlled-to-free approach in is sequential: students are first given sentence exercises, then paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically by changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular They might also change words to clauses or combine sentences With these controlled compositions, it is relatively easy to for students write and yet avoid errors, which makes error correction easy Students are allowed to try some free composition after they have reached an intermediate level of proficiency As such, this approach stress on grammar, syntax, and mechanics It emphasizes accuracy rather than fluency or originality

b) The Free-Writing Approach:

This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality Teachers who use this approach assign vast amounts of free writing on given topics with only minimal correction The emphasis in this approach is on content and fluency rather than on accuracy and form Once ideas are down on the page, grammatical accuracy and organization follow 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 teachers 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

c) The Paragraph-Pattern Approach:

Instead of accuracy of grammar or fluency of content, the Approach stresses on organization Students copy paragraphs and imitate model passages They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order They identify general and specific statements and choose to invent an appropriate topic sentence or insert or delete sentences This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways

Paragraph-Pattern-d) The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach:

This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature Teachers who follow this approach maintain that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned sequentially Therefore, student should be trained to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and

syntax This approach links the purpose of writing to the forms needed to convey message

e) The Communicative Approach:

This approach stresses the purpose of writing and the audience for it Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and ask themselves the crucial questions about purpose and audience: “Why am I writing this?, Who will read it?”

Traditionally, the teacher alone has been the audience for student writing But some feel that writers do their best when writing is truly a communicative act, with a writer writing for a real reader The readership may be extended to classmate and pen pals

f) The Process Approach:

Recently, the teaching of writing has moved away from a concentration on written product to an emphasis on the process of writing Thus, writers ask themselves:

“How do I write this? How do I get started?”

In this approach, students are trained to generate ideas for writing, think of the purpose and audience, 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 Furthermore, learning to write is seen as a developmental process that helps students to write as professional authors do, choosing their own topics and genres, and writing from their own experiences or observations 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

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

Yet, there are several ways to approach writing in the classroom It should be said that there is not necessarily any “right” or “best” ways to teach writing skills The best practice in any situation will depend on the type of students and the text type being studied Nowadays, the most common are the product and the process approach And a distinction

is often made between a product and a process approach to the teaching of writing

1.2.1 The product approach

This is a traditional approach, in which students are encouraged to mimic a model text, which is usually presented and analysed at an early stage This is shown in a work by Evan and St John “The product approach to writing usually involves the presentation of a model text, which is analyzed and then forms the basis of a task that leads to the writing of

an exactly similar or a parallel text” (1998: 116) To be more specific, a model for this approach is outlined as below:

Stage 1: Recognition Model texts are read, then features of the gerne are highlighted For example, if studying a formal letter, students‟ attention may be drawn to the importance of paragraphing and the language use used to make formal requests

Stage 2: Controlled practice of the highlighted features, usually in isolation So, if students are studying a formal letter, they may be asked to practise the language used to make formal requests, practising the structure “I would be grateful if you would…”

Stage 3: Organization of ideas This stage is very important Those who favour this approach believe that the organization of ideas is more important than the ideas themselves and as important as the control of language

Stage 4: Writing Students choose from a choice of comparable writing tasks Individually, they use the skills, structures and vocabulary they have been taught to produce the product

This can be summarized like these:

 Imitate model text;

 Organization of ideas more important than ideas themselves;

 One draft;

 Features highlighted including controlled practice of those features;

 Individual;

 Emphasis on end product.(English Now- Conference 2004 Edition, page 7)

The product (or model text) approach sees writing as being primarily about linguistic knowledge Attention is given to the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and cohesive devices

This approach can be used successfully in teaching writing for beginners All learners can not write well as soon as they begin the course but can take progress step by step with imitation and repetition from the model texts or the teachers Moreover, teachers can impart the knowledge of writing theory including grammatical structures, word choices, cohesive device uses, how to vary the content, how to organize the essay

However, this approach cannot avoid some shortcomings Students are passive and less creative All learners‟ knowledge of writing skill is based on the teacher, textbook or model texts Using the approach often leads to a simplistic copying of the model text by only changing certain words from the original text to produce a new text, which prevents learners‟ creativity and motivation from writing Next, mistakes are corrected during the writing, which to some extent discourages students to write more Most students are worried about mistakes that are considered common in writing for beginners

In brief, the product approach shows its strong points when provide the good base for beginners of writing to lead their writing practice However, if students owe their knowledge and skill of writing to the teacher and model text strictly, they will be very passive and often get shocked in the real official writing test where a new topic or a new kind of essay is introduced

1.2.2 The process approach

Process approaches to writing tend to focus more on the varied classroom activities which promote the development of the language use; brainstorming, group discussion, rewriting Such an approach can have any number of stages, though a typical sequence of activities could proceed as follow:

Stage 1: Generating ideas by brainstorming and discussion For example, students could be discussing qualities needed to do a certain job The teacher only provides language support if required, so as not to inhibit students in the production of ideas

Stage 2:Students extend ideas into note form, judge quality and usefulness of ideas Stage 3: Students organize ideas into a mind map, spider gram, or linear form This stage helps to make the relationship of ideas more immediately obvious, which helps students with the structure of their texts

Stage 4: Students will write the first draft This is done in class and frequently in pairs or groups

Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged, so that students become the readers of each others‟ work and then they make suggestions to improve each other‟s texts

Stage 6: Drafts are returned, improvements are made based upon peer feedback Stage 7: A final draft is written

Stage 8:Students once again, exchange and read each other‟s work and perhaps even write a response or reply

This method places emphasis on the cycle of writing, rather than a fixed linear approach such as the earlier Product approach It has much in common with communicative-task based instruction which is currently popular within communicative pedagogy Unlike the Product approach which is more interested in the written outcome, the Process approach focuses on the thinking processes that are involved with writing

According to Flower (1985) , thinking stage helps students to identify the rhetorical problem, plan a solution or series of solutions to the problem and finally conclude appropriately

In the view of Hedge( 1990), the process contains a lot of stages which can be illustrated as follows: “ being motivated to write- getting ideas together- planning and outlining- making notes- making a first draft- revising, re-planning, redrafting- editing and getting ready for publication Meanwhile, according to Oshima and Hogue (1991), the

writing process embraces three steps: pre-writing, planning (outlining), writing, and revising drafts (review the draft (either by themselves, with their peers or their teacher)

The process approach itself helps organize the writer‟s thoughts White and Arndt (1991, p.12) argue this is because there is a close link between writing and thinking

All these efforts in the process approach to writing see the act of writing from a very different perspective, focusing as much on the means whereby the completed text was created as on the end product itself In many instances the writer starts out with only the vaguest notion of this The ideas are then refined, developed and transformed as the writer writes and rewrites

Main features of the process approach

The process approach concerns itself with individual levels of fluency and expression It is a replacement of an approach that considered written language secondary and merely a mechanism for reinforcing spoken language The finished product is in focus, not the learner The process approach, in contrast, empowered its learners, thereby enabling them to make clearer decisions about the direction of their writing (Jordan 1997) Clenton (2003) states in the same vein "It is no longer required to offer a shining example

of the model; the teacher becomes a facilitator in providing formative feedback during the process of each student's composition Correspondingly, this approach encourages students

to assume greater responsibility for making their own improvements, as opposed to the miming of a pre-determined model."

This approach has some problem First, some learners are not proficient writers in their own language and struggle to put their thoughts on paper Many students said that they hardly ever wrote in their own language and had no prior experience this is particularly challenging for the teacher and students Peer teaching would help them notice successful techniques that other writers use Second, students are sometimes unable to come up with suitable ideas related to the chosen topic This therefore depends a lot on the topics chosen The teacher must bear in mind the students various life experiences as well

as personality and interests Another problem is how to assess whether a process approach

is applicable in all settings where writing is taught According to Johns (1990:25), this approach focuses primarily on the writer as the originators of: “written text” in a context where “The process through which the writer goes to create and produce discourse is the most important component in the theory”

In short, the process approach encourages student‟s activity and motivation in writing It is a learner-centered approach that stimulates students to play an active role and the teacher works as an observer However, beginners of writing skill need help and guidance from the teacher This procedure is good for class practice but students are still encouraged to write on their own and get feedback from their teacher for mistake corrections

To sum up, teaching writing is not an easy task for teachers of English They have

to combine approaches to teach their students write better writing in consideration the students‟ level and the tasks in the textbook

2 Adaptation the textbook

know, there are a lot of principles for material evaluation In this project, we decide to follow the principles of Cunningsworth (1984), which we see the most reliable in textbook and materials evaluation

Cunningsworth gave out four main principles for materials evaluation: relate the teaching material to your aims and objectives, be aware of what language is for and select teaching materials which will help equip your students to use language effectively for their own purposes, keep your students‟ learning needs in mind, and consider the relationship between language, the learning process and the learner In the first principle, he stated that the teaching materials should take the learner forward as directly as possible towards his objectives For the second principle, he made an argument that our teaching must have at its base a consideration of what our students need to learn This requires the teacher to look beyond the confines of the classroom into the outside world, and focusing his or her attention on the use that individual learner will make of what he has learned, in a situation which is not primarily a learning situation In his third principle, he mentioned the students‟ learning needs By learning needs, he meant not so much the actual language to

be learned as the way in which it is selected, graded, presented and practiced However, the learning needs are not limited solely to considerations of the language Learners have intellectual and emotional needs, too The textbook may act as the stimulation It is important that materials should be usable with whole classes of learners, with small groups, and with individuals Within the space of one lesson, a student may act alternatively as an individual and a group member, depending on several factors including the sort of exercise he is doing, the skills that are being practiced and his own learning

strategies In the last principle, Cunningsworth considered the relationship between language, the learning process and the learner All three are vital aspects of language teaching and it is essential that teaching materials should keep all three constantly in view and never become so occupied with one that the others are lost sight of What we do know about the language learning process leads us to believe that there is no one best way of learning and that learners adopt different strategies and often switching strategies from time to time This principle concerns the learner and the language, and the learning process which, as it were, bring the two together We need to look for a balance between the needs

of the learner on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the constrains imposed by the necessity of learning the structures and vocabulary of English

Not every textbook appeals to every ESL class Some content may be too difficult

or challenging There also might be topics that are not particularly motivating for students Adapting textbook activities is not just something teachers should do as the need arises but also for appealing to the lower, middle and strong student levels

English textbooks is a key component in English language teaching programs in Vietnam but they have been criticized for not offering classroom learners adequate opportunity for learning authentic language (Bardovi-Harlig, 2001; Grant and Starks, 2001; Wong, 2002; Vellenga, 2004) The reason is that instead of making use of language samples that native speakers actually produce, the textbooks have drawn on native speakers' intuition about language use, which might not always be reliable (Wolfson, 1989a) In one of her works, Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh analyzes and evaluates the pragmatic content of a recently developed series of textbooks intended for use in Vietnam's upper-secondary schools and shows the widely need to adapt or modify the given textbooks and other language teaching materials to fit the requirements of particular learning situations, and even particular students

“Just as a piano does not play music, a textbook does not teach a language The textbook is a stimulus or instrument for teaching.”

As we can see textbook plays an important part in teaching and learning a language But “however good material is, most experienced teachers do not go through it word for word Instead, they use the best bits, add to some exercises and adapt others” (J Harmer, 2003:112) According to Madsen & Bowen (1978; ix) adaptation is the action of employing “one or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding,

personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing or modifying cultural or situational context” Sometimes, adaptation is referred to “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing” (Tomlimson B 1998b:xi) While Ellis, M (1986:47) definites that it is the process of “retaining, rejecting, reordering and modification”

So adaptation a textbook is a need and a must depending on certain teaching and learning contexts Mc Donough & Shaw (1993:85) point out that the main purpose of adaptation is “to maximize the appropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal characteristics of a course-book to better suit our particular circumstances” so that material will be more relevant to learners‟ interests, activate them, stimulate and develop their motivation to create a more conductive classroom atmosphere

To Madsen & Bowen‟s and Tice‟s, adaptation is to compensate for deficencies (Madsen & Bowen‟s 1978, Tice‟s 1991) Technique of “maximizing the appropriacy of teaching materials should be more relevant to learners‟ interests, activate learners and stimulate their motivation, develop their motivation in order to create a more conductive classroom atmosphere

In one of her volumes, Paula Kluth presents a systematic approach to adaptation useful for methods courses as well as for the experienced teacher or curriculum planner As the first principle of effective adaptation, maintenance of congruence between a variety of factors is stressed; these factors include the teaching materials, the methodology and objectives of the course, student characteristics, the character of the language being taught, and the personality and style of the teacher In almost every subject area, in nearly every grade level, students are expected to use a textbook as a resource Many, however, are unable to access the content in their textbook due to struggles with reading and related skills such as information processing Therefore, teachers in inclusive classrooms must adapt textbooks so that students with different reading and comprehension levels can learn classroom content Adapting textbooks may involve making changes to the text itself, supplementing the text, or giving students strategies to learn the material in some other

evaluated and selected before being used for a language program Textbook evaluation helps the managerial and teaching staff select the most appropriate materials available for a particular course It also helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a particular textbook that is already in use This is to inform teachers in the process of textbook

adaptation In our real teaching and learning context of some high schools in the suburb of Hanoi, we change something in the textbook we are using in most of our real lessons in class so that our students will be more interested in and find it easier to study English

3 The English Textbook

3.1.The aims of the New Textbook of English for upper-secondary school

In 2006, Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued a new curriculum which defines English as a compulsory subject, which is “instrumental to the access of world science and technology as well as world cultures” (MOET, 2006: 5) It describes the aims for ELT at secondary school level as enabling students to:

1 “Use English as a means for basic communication both in spoken and written channels 2 Master basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels of proficiency and ages 3 Acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some English-speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect

to the Vietnamese culture and language” (MOET 2006: 5)

In other words, ELT should train students in communicative competence so that they can perform basic language functions receptively and productively, using correct language forms and structures Besides, it should also “educate students into both good national and international citizens who are knowledgeable about the target culture as well

as their own national culture” (Le, 2007:4)

Methodologically, the new curriculum is claimed to adopt the communicative approach to language teaching as its guiding principles and specifies that

1 Communication skills be the goal of the teaching and learning process; linguistic knowledge be the means by which communication skills are formed and developed

2 Students play an active role in the teaching and learning process and teachers be only organizers and guides

3 Teaching contents be selected, organized according to themes to guarantee a high level of communicativeness while catering to the accuracy of the modern language system

4 Textbook writing, management of teaching and learning, testing, assessment and evaluation follow the curriculum guidelines

(MOET 2006: 6)

The New Textbook of English for upper- secondary school is developed from this one for secondary school The following of the new textbook set after English 10, English

11 is taught and learnt in the academic year 2007-2008

3.2 An overview of the Writing Part of English 11

English 11 is written basing on the officially national curriculum of Ministry of Education and Training It follows English 6, English 7, English 8, English 9, English 10

As mentioned in the textbook, it is claimed to adopt a theme- based syllabus There are 16 teaching units, in which the writing section is designed under 6 themes, namely You and me, Education, Community, Nature, Recreation and People and Places After the writing lesson, students will be able to write texts of 120-130 words on familiar topics based on models or prompts, which are suggested outlines, word cues or idea prompts for personal or basic communicative purposes They will write:

1 A letter of invitation to a party,

2 A personal letter to describe a past experience,

3 About a friend,

4 A letter of gratitude,

5 A letter to ask for and give information about competitions,

6 An information description from a table,

7 A description of population development,

8 About celebration activities,

9 A letter to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards postal services,

10 A location description based on facts and figures,

11 An information interpretation and description from a chart,

12 About the preparation for the coming Asian Games,

13 About a collection,

14 About holiday activities,

15 A report on a visit to a man-made/popular place,

16 A biography

As can be seen, the Writing session usually begins with a model, followed by activities that guide students through the writing process such as model analysis, language work, and guided writing The text types students are required to produce vary from formal

or informal letter to describing charts, tables, data or narratives, etc

3.3.Challenges of teaching and learning writing of English 11

Writing is not only an important form of communication in day-to-day life but also

an essential skill for students preparing for university study Writing in Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary school is a particularly challenging task for students From our personal experiences as classroom teachers in Vietnam, we agree with Hayashi‟s (2005) observation that EFL students‟ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument Because students are linguistically of mixed abilities, a particular classroom writing task which is motivating and manageable to some can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others Therefore, writing teachers in EFL contexts must cope with such problem as how to make students get involved in writing tasks, how to encourage stronger students‟ motivation and interest be sustained while opportunities for weaker students to complete tasks be guaranteed and how to help students benefit most from their cooperation in the classroom so that all can make progress during the course

describe charts, tables, data or narratives “As in English 10, writing tasks in English 11 often begin with models In the following tasks, students are asked to study the content, the form and the language of the gerne they are writing And then they are taught guided writing by using supported ideas to form a writing production English 11 requires that students have to be more active and spend more time for free writing than English 10 Students need to self-study more In many writing lessons, students are not supported models, just some useful language newly presented or in the previous lessons” (Translated from handout for teachers of English 11 by MOET- Education Publisher 2007) Students

in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary School find it a challenge if they learn writing without a model or suggested language They may know the form but many of them are not sure about it and they often forget what the teachers taught them in the previous school year Most of them are at average level of English Besides, they are lack of background knowledge They may wonder about to whom they write So teachers here often have to revise forms, to support models or more useful language to help students be self-confident

to make better writing production

4 Conclusion

In summary, in this chapter, the author has reviewed issues, and aspects concerning the topic of the study Moreover, the knowledge writing teaching approaches, challenges of

teaching and learning writing in EFL context are also taken into consideration In the following chapter, the context of the study, the methodology, data collection procedures

and data collection and data analysis will be proposed

CHAPTER TWO:

DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS

1 The context of the study

1.1 Setting of the study

The study was conducted in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school, a longtime established school in a suburban of Hanoi It is located in Gia Lam district, the suburb of Hanoi It has had a history of 33-year development since its foundation in 1977 In the school year 2009 - 2010, the school has 32 classes with more than 1,500 students, so there are about 47 students in a class One thing worth to note here is that the entry level of students entering NVC School is not very high They mostly come from rural areas where English teaching and learning has not been paid much attention Besides, NVC School shares common features with classrooms elsewhere in Vietnam: large size, students sitting

in rows of four each and irremovable furniture

Meanwhile, the teachers here all have good knowledge, experience and they are all enthusiastic, sensitive and creative The school equips language teachers with modern teaching facilities like OHPs, whiteboards and computers Besides, the library has various kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers connected to the Internet Moreover, there are also two informatics technology rooms with many internet-connected

computers, which are often available for students to get access

English is taught here as a compulsory curriculum subject like other upper-secondary schools Students have three periods of English a week and each period lasts 45 minutes The new textbook of English 10, English 11, and English 12 aim at enabling the students to communicate in the target language with four language skills There are 16 units in a textbook, and each unit is divided into 5 parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language Focus

1.2 Subjects of the study

There are two reasons why this study aims at 11th form teachers and students at

new textbook for one year and most of them have something in mind about what and how

to learn this skill They are familiar to the writing topics but they have to learn with freer and more difficult writing tasks Secondly, adaptation this part helps them overcome knowledge limitations

There are five out of eight teachers of English at NVC School participating in this study These five teachers include one male and four females Their ages range from 26 to

33 with at least four years of teaching English Two of them has finished their M.A courses

at Vietnam National University, Hanoi The reason for this choice of participants is that

account for 180 students They are aged from 16 to 17 and all of them have had at least five years of learning English at lower-secondary schools They are not the same at English speaking competence Some of them are really good and active while a lot of them are quite passive and unmotivated in learning English The year- study records of these students show us that 38 among those, who show little interest in English, have under average level

1.3 Methods and instruments

The process of collecting data was carried out in the following steps:

Firstly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teachers to obtain their attitudes towards adaptation and ways of adapting the Writing part of English 11

Secondly, the author observed classes of writing to get some more detailed information

Thirdly, the questionnaires were distributed to 180 students to investigate the benefit students can get when their teachers adapt the Writing part of English 11 and for the researcher to make sure that adaptation actually happens in classes They will help the researcher find out the ways the teachers there adapt this part

Interviews

The interviews in this study serve as a useful tool to invest the teachers‟ perception, evaluation of using adaptation in teaching writing English 11 They also aim at seeking ways of adapting this part

Each interview consists of two parts: the first one for personal information and the second one for the content information The number of prepared questions for the content information is about the interview focus The interviews are semi-structured, which means

there is “a prompt which requests certain information but the exact shape of the response

is not predetermined” (Cohen, 1989: 28) In the interviews, the author can sometimes add

some explanation as well as ask for some more detailed information

The one-on-one interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and in informal ways so that the teachers were able to express their ideas freely It was lucky that all of the teachers were very enthusiastic in participating in the interviews The method of recording information was note-taking Then the interviews were translated into English for analysis

Class observations

The method of class observation is used to investigate ways which teachers of English at Nguyen Van Cu School adapt the Writing part of English 11 and the use of it in real teaching and learning

Sixteen classes of writing in English 11 were observed During observations, the researcher was an observer and did not take part in any classroom activity The observer took notes focusing on ways of adapting and about how students were studying writing in order to make a report on adaptation Writing part of English 11 at NVC upper-secondary school

This is the major means of data collection

Questionnaires

Each questionnaire is constructed from two parts: part A for personal information and part B for content information Part B is divided into two small sections, namely B1, B2 B1 consists of nine multiple choice questions in order to find out students‟ ideas about their teachers‟ changing/adaptation the Writing Part of English 11 and the benefit students have when being taught writing in the light of adaptation B2 includes seven points to investigate teachers‟ ways of adapting the Writing Part of English 11 These questions were adapted

The questionnaire questions were worded carefully and translated into Vietnamese

to make it easy for the students The questionnaires were also piloted with the help of three students before delivering to the large number The ways of changing tasks in the writing part are carefully illustrated with examples, so students can clearly understand them and increase the accuracy of their responses The students were guided carefully how to present

their ideas Besides, the questionnaire papers were collected anonymously in order that students can freely express their ideas

2 Data analysis

2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation on adaptation of the Writing Part of English 11:

In general, none of the five teachers in the interviews were aware of the concept

“adaptation” But all of them have ever changed the language content, the tasks of this part

so that they can teach their students more effectively and their students can learn more easier When the researcher explained that all what they do to change the book meant adaptation, they shared the concept They all determined the benefit adaptation would bring to their students and their teaching writing English 11 in particular and the New Textbook in general

Four out of these five teachers gave ideas that the tasks for the Writing Part of English

11 challenging for their students The reasons were that their students‟ level of English is at average and most of the given language content is not easy for them to conduct a writing production They all found that it was difficult to teach students by using al the given language content in the textbook most of the time and for many lessons Teacher 3 gave an example of the reasons that was when the textbook supported one or two tasks only or without useful language or without a model And in order to make it easier for students to learn writing they changed the language content, the tasks, etc Three of these five adapted the Writing Part very often All of them usually shared ideas and had agreement what to change for certain lessons in the English group‟s meeting

Though they didn‟t know the concept of adaptation until the researcher‟s explanation, they had done much of this method in their teaching writing English 11 They sometimes added some more tasks, omitted this or that one, reordered the given tasks, modified the language content, reduced some or gave more useful language Most of them had ever left the writing production as homework when this needed much time to be finished They explained that students could share more ideas to complete it They always checked at the following lessons in class Three of them usually collected 70% of the homework and marked as a mini test

All the five teachers agreed that most of the students get progressed after they had changed like that for the reason they found it easier to teach Students were eager to study

writing more and their writing production was getting better and better They strongly agreed that adapting the Writing Part of English 11 brought benefits to both the teachers and students

Some information from class observations has validated the above finding In all the classes the researcher attended, the teachers often added tasks, supported more useful language or a model, some of them re-ordered the tasks, the others omitted some… All of the teachers adapted the Writing Part of English 11 This is presented in the part of some examples of adaptation

In conclusion, the five teachers at Nguyen Van Cu School who had ever adapted the textbook thought they didn‟t know about the concept of adaptation The reason for this limited knowledge lies in the fact that adaptation the textbook has not been properly investigated and introduced to English teachers and learners Besides, all five teachers in this study acknowledged the importance of adaptation the Writing Part of English 11 to students By this, they all meant the necessity of teaching writing to students using different ways of adapting

2.2 Students’ ideas on how their teachers adapt the Writing Part of English 11:

The collecting figures from questionnaire students‟ ideas on how their teachers adapt the Writing Part of English 11 show the same findings as the above The following tables will prove it

It can be seen clearly in Table 1 that most of the students of the 11th grade of Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school have difficulty in conducting all the writing tasks in class

40 out of 180 students who were asked said they didn‟t Among those, 37 are the best ones in English according to their English study record If students are good at English, of course they have the ability to self-study, they will know how to write the writing production by using their background knowledge without language input or model supported Those who were not sure or had no ideas about they had difficulty or not have under-average level (to their study record as well)

Approximately 75% of the students realise that their teacher has ever changed the content language content and the writing tasks This means that teachers of English at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school have adapted the Writing Part so that more than half of the students find it easier to conduct writing tasks and a similar number of students get progressed after learning writing with adaptation

Table 1

Questions

Do you meet difficulty in conducting

Has your teacher of English change

the language content and the tasks in

writing lessons?

Do you find it easier to conduct

writing tasks when your teachers

change the tasks?

Is your writing improved after your

If you study Table 2, you will find that more than half of the students frequently have difficulty in conducting writing tasks whereas only 11% of them rarely do Only 50%

of 40 best students of English (as presented in Table 1) never have any difficulty in learning writing And 89% teachers have ever changed the writing tasks 72% of them usually adapt the writing part of English 11 The quantity of students who said that their teachers rarely or never change this part is 11% of those who were asked These 20 students are among the worst ones in English subject They may not care about what the teacher do and teach in class Amazingly, nearly most of the students wish your teacher change the writing tasks frequently Even the worst students also want this because on one wish their teacher rarely or never adapt the textbook

Table 2