Oral and wrtten discourse analysis basis for integrative activities for basic english course at thai nguyen university

ABSTRACT Title : Oral and Written Discourse Analysis: Basis for Integrative Activities for Basic English Course at Thai Nguyen University 367 students and 65 teachers.. it is designed

ORAL AND WRITTEN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: BASIS FOR

INTEGRATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR BASIC ENGLISH COURSE AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of Graduate School Batangas State University Batangas City, Philippines

ABSTRACT

Title : Oral and Written Discourse Analysis: Basis for Integrative

Activities for Basic English Course at Thai Nguyen University

367 students and 65 teachers The statistical tools used were mean, percentage, percentile rank, ranking, standard deviation, and t-test

The findings of the study show that the biggest group of respondent or 46.9 percent have parents with educational attainment in the tertiary level of education which means that student‟s parents have higher educational attainment and are motivated to send their children to higher education as they do

In addition, the students came from at least 13 different places in Vietnam This indicates that the University campus under study cater to students coming from different places in Vietnam and therefore handles a heterogeneous student population As regards the place of origin in terms of whether these are urban or rural, it can be noted that majority comes from urban areas Thus, it can be said that the respondents can afford and have access to University education

Further, findings revealed that 357 out of 367 students or 97.3 percent had exposure to the English media However, mere exposure did not give much impact on the learning of the English language Findings also indicates that certain factors constrained the students to be exposed to foreign media, like the lack of English shows in TV station, or the mandated program of the government to control English language instruction The identification and resolution of these factors could be critical in the successful English language learning of the students

In relation to pronunciation and fluency, the average score of correct items is 2.80 which indicates that the level of pronunciation and fluency competence of the students is average for this set of student population while

in comprehension and vocabulary, the average score of correct items is 2.84 This indicates that the level of comprehension and vocabulary competence of

the students is also average In terms of grammatical accuracy, the average score of correct items is 2.71 which indicates that the level of grammatical accuracy competence of the students is average

The total performance of the students for oral discourse on the other hand

is indicated in their average score of 2.78 This means that students have developed oral discourse competency perhaps due to varied language activities provided by their teachers and their daily interactions using the English language

In the evaluation of written discourse competency, for cohesion and coherence, the average score of correct items is 4.53 This result , reflects the poor performance of the students, but also the relative difficulty of these test items In the case of logical order, the results show that the average correct score is 2.0 This indicates the poor performance of the students and the relative difficulty of these question items

For the student written paragraph, in terms of completeness, the average correct score is 3.06 which means that in terms of completeness of written paragraph, the students‟ performance is average for this given population

In the aspect of logical order, the result shows a mean score of 2.92 This indicates that the performance of the students in insuring logical order of a written paragraph is average for this population while for unity and coherence, the mean score obtained is 2.95 This indicates that the ability of the students to achieve unity and coherence in their written paragraph is average

In terms of the total performance of the students in written discourse, the mean score obtained was 3.09 This indicates that in general, the written discourse performance of the student respondents is average This implies further that students were provided by their teachers with varied classroom writing activities for them to practice and their exposure to such activity enrich their understanding written discourses

Among the 28 mean combinations being compared, 19 mean combinations showed significant differences or 67.9 percent This indicates that majority of the means compared are significantly different and are generally not related to each other

The competency items that did not show significant differences were the mean combinations involving the oral discourse and last two items of the student written paragraphs namely order and unity and coherence These mean combinations with p-values above 0.05 are indicative of existing statistical relationship and are predictive of each other

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Sincerest and profound gratitude and appreciation are extended to all

the persons who in their own special ways have made this dissertation a

reality The author is most grateful to:

Prof Dr Dang Kim Vui, President of Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam

for offering the Doctor of Philosophy major in English in cooperation with

Batangas State University, Philippines;

Dr Matilda H Dimaano, Dissertation Adviser, for her indisputable

expertise, invaluable comments, guidance, and encouragement that led to the

completion of this research;

The Panel of Examiners Dr Maria Luisa A Valdez, Dr Amada G

Banaag, Dr Myrna G Sulit, and Dr Felix Panopio, for their profound insights,

suggestions and recommendations to improve this study;

The visiting professors from the Batangas State University including Dr

Remedios P Magnaye, Dr Rosa Adelaida Ecalnir and other professors for

their lectures;

Dr Tran Van Dien, the Rector of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture

and Forestry, Dr Nguyen Tuan Anh Dean of International School and Dr

Pham Viet Binh, Rector of Thai Nguyen University of Information and

Transportation Technology for their approval of the researcher‟s request to

conduct the study;

The respondents of the study, for their active involvement;

Her loving classmates and colleagues, for their support and friendship that inspire the researcher to pursue this research work;

Her parents and sibling, for their encouragement, financial, moral and spiritual supports and for continuously believing that she can finish this academic work

Vu Kieu Hanh

DEDICATION

This research is dedicated to my beloved parents, Vu Van Hieu and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, children, Trinh Vu Gia Minh (Heo) and Trinh Vu Duc Duy (Bo), for giving me the best of everything most especially their love

Vu Kieu Hanh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE i

APPROVAL SHEET ii

ABSTRACT iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vii

DEDICATION ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS x

LIST OF TABLES xiii

LIST OF FIGURES xiv

CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction 1

Statement of the Problem 6

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study 7

Significance of the Study 8

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Conceptual Literature 10

Research Literature 36

Synthesis 43

Theoretical Framework 45

Conceptual Framework 47

Hypothesis 49

Definition of Terms 49

III RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE Research Environment 50

Research Design 52

Subjects of the Study 53

Data Gathering Instrument 55

Data Gathering Procedure 57

Statistical Treatment of Data 58

IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 60

V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of Findings 98

Conclusions 108

Recommendation 109

BIBLIOGRAPHY 110

APPENDICES A Questionnaire on Teacher‟s Assessment 116

B Teacher-Made Test on Oral and Written Discourse Analysis for Students 120

C Validation Letters 127

D Response Letter of the Heads of Institution 130

E Photographs of the Study Sites 133

F Photographs for Administration of Teacher-Made Test to Students 134

G Photographs for Administration of Questionnaire 136

to Teachers 137

H Photographs for Response Letters 139

CURRICULUM VITAE

LIST OF TABLES

1 Distribution of the Respondents of the Study 54

2 Gender Profile of Student Respondents 60

3 Profile of Parent's Educational Attainment 61

4 Profile of Place of Origin of Student Respondents 62

5 Profile of Student‟s Exposures to English Media 63

6 Performance of Student Respondents in the Oral Discourse Competence Test 65

7 Performance of Student Respondents in the Written Discourse Competence Test 68

8 Student's Comparison of the Mean % Score for Each Test Group Shown as P-values 71

9 Validated Student‟s Skills as to Oral and Written DiscourseCompetencies 73

10 Competencies of Freshman Students and their Frequency of Use 74

11 Students‟ Oral and Written Discourse Skills According to the Degree of Importance 75

12 Comparison Between Students‟ Performance and Teachers‟ Assessment in the Different Oral and Written Discourse Competencies 78

13 Bases for the Design of Integrative Activities for Basic English 79

LIST OF FIGURES

1 Conceptual Paradigm in Determining the Levels of Oral and

Discourse Competencies of Freshman tudents 48

it is designed to assist students in preparing for various types of writing, reading, analyzing and responding expected of the college level student.

In Basic English class, students will learn how to focus and organize essays through practicing several kinds of common writing patterns of organization which the students would employ in their academic writing In other Universities, students taking up Basic English will study the principles of expository writing, audience-directed prose and are expected to explain and defend ideas Because reading, viewing, and writing are inextricably linked, first-year English also emphasizes critical reading and viewing

The students are expected to analyse and understand a variety of texts, including expository and literary texts that represent diverse voices and ideas, visual images, and the students‟ own writing The focus of College English is to

develop the writing skills of the students to be competent as expected of College level students

English language is consists of four macro skills namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing and these can be developed in a longitudinal and sequential fashion This means that as first language is learned, it all started with listening to parents, imitating them until one becomes capable of speaking Then as more words come as part of one‟s vocabulary, sentences

are recognized and read As reading skills increase writing skills are developed Thus writing is an advanced linguistic skill and it is the primary focus for development in College English

Aside from these four macro skills, there are also linguistic micro skills and these include: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling These micro skills are equally important as without them, English will not be sensible Among the micro skills however, it is grammar that is most important as it is with syntax that group of words have a sensible meaning To develop competence in writing, grammatical skill is a vital pre-requisite, more so, when the objective is academic writing as in the case of College English

In the study of grammar, there is a process of dissecting and understanding the arrangement of words and phrases in sentences, a process called grammatical analysis Grammatical analysis is an advanced skill that is applied to understand a written material It implies a strong familiarity with the grammatical rules and sensitivity to the fine aspects of the English language

because there are exceptions to the rules and these remain accepted among the expert native speakers Thus, in College English, being able to write purposively is not the only objective but also to be able to critique other people‟s written works as they become the references for the kind of writing

the students will make While the act of making a critique involves different processes, one of these is grammatical analysis It is presumed that the quality

of a given written work will not be hidden from a grammatical analysis, that in fact, it will reveal its strong points and grammatical precision

In the conduct of a grammatical analysis however, three parameters are important: the level, the label and the function The level refers to how language is organized like at different levels starting from sounds, to words, phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and even more complex pieces such as essays, chapters, and books and in each of these levels, an analysis can be done The next parameter is the label Labels are given to the various levels according to their functions in context, however, for grammatical labelling, only the three levels are considered: word, phrase, and clause The terms used for labelling are commonly known as the parts of speech The third parameter is function In this context, a word is labelled because of its function, not the other way around The importance of grammatical analysis relies on its ability to determine which word to select in a word study that helps determine the outline of the text; and raise additional interpretative questions

Discourse analysis is defined as the analysis of language beyond the sentence This type of analysis is different from those done by modern linguistics, which mainly involves the study of grammar: the study of smaller bits of language, such as sounds which include phonetics and phonology, parts of words or morphology, meaning or semantics, and the order of words in sentences or syntax

Discourse analysis is concerned with larger chunks of language as they flow together This is exemplified by two sentences that when taken together

as a single discourse can convey meaning quite different from the meaning conveyed by each sentence taken separately The difference in meaning arises from the context they were considered, such that a frame analysis is a type of discourse analysis that would be able to shed light on context that mediate this change in meaning

Discourse analysis is a type of linguistic analysis concerns with whole texts rather than sentences or clauses It is divided into types like the Spoken Discourse Analysis, which involves the study of conversations, dialogues, spoken monologues, and Written Discourse Analysis, which involves the study

of written texts, such as essays, news, and political speeches Discourse analysis is more concerned with naturally occurring data rather than in made

up examples as it wants to prove the rigorousness of its procedures Its

practitioners assert that discourse analysis in fact is a collection of techniques, rather than a single analysis

One distinctive identity of discourse analysis are the discourse markers,

a term linguists used to refer to little words like well, oh, but, so as well as and that segment the speech and show the relation between parts In written discourse analysis this can refer to words such as appear, suggests, speculation, that convey scepticism and signals doubt and thus indicate a claim-counterclaim structure Other vocabularies are used to signal problem/solution structure and general/specific structure

Discourse analysis is important for various reasons For the linguists, it helps to find out how language works, to improve their understanding of this important human activity; for the educators in finding out how good texts work,

so that they can focus on teaching the students these writing and speaking strategies; and for the critical analysts, to discover meanings in the text which are not obvious on the surface such as analysing a politician‟s speech to see

their preconceptions

Considering the need of the students for a quality English education, and evaluating the current curriculum for College English, it would seem reasonable to evaluate and analyse the oral and written discourse among the College students These two aspects are important to the development of oral

and writing skills, one aimed at developing the sentence to sub-sentence level

of knowledge and skills development and the other on the supra sentence level appealing to the intuitive sense of the individual

As a college teacher teaching Basic English Course, the researcher observed difficulties among college student include writing effective sentences

in a paragraph, conceptualizing a topic in composition as well as difficulties in accuracy, comprehension, vocabulary and phonological aspects in oral discourse This prompted the researcher to probe deeper into the learning aspects of the college students

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to analyze the oral and written discourse of college freshman students in Basic English Course at Thai Nguyen University

Specifically, this study sought answers to the following questions:

1 What is the demographic profile of Freshman students in terms of

1.1 gender;

1.2 parents‟ educational attainment;

1.3 student's place of origin; and 1.4 English media exposure?

2 What are the levels of oral and written discourse competencies of the students?

3 Are there significant relationships between the students‟ oral and

written discourse competencies?

4 How do teachers assess the students' oral and written discourse competencies?

5 Are there significant differences between the students' oral and written discourse competencies and the teachers‟ assessments in the

same areas?

6 What integrative activities may be proposed to enhance students in oral and written discourse competencies?

Scope, Delimitation and Limitation of the Study

This study is focused on analyzing the oral and written discourse of college freshman students of Thai Nguyen University The responses of 367 first year English language students from tertiary schools in Vietnam and 65 of their respective English teachers were analyzed The teachers were requested to validate and answer the students‟ skill assessment

questionnaires where ratings were based on their perceptions on the skill levels of their students while the students were asked to answer the validated constructed teacher- made test These two data gathering instruments served

as the source of quantitative data that were analyzed statistically The study sites were the tertiary schools in an urbanized area

Stratification on the students‟ and teachers‟ responses was done

according to their demographic profile and the data were consolidated The respondents were enrolled in an English Basic course Those students who were not enrolled in this course were not included in the study The teacher respondents were the respective teachers of the evaluated students Excluded as respondents of the study are those teachers not teaching Basic English course Statistical tools used include mean comparisons, t-test, and correlation analysis

Significance of the Study

This study will be useful to different individuals, administrator and policy makers

Students They will benefit from the results of the study particularly, the

teaching learning materials that will be developed The students participating in this study will have a chance to try the test and assessment schemes

English Teachers This will be significant to the teachers not only

because they will be participants of the study but they will also learn something from the results and will have a chance to utilize the developed teaching/learning material to their students

Administrator The administrators will benefit from this study through

insights gathered as this will guide them in what decisions they will make

regarding the students‟ skills assessments The administrators also will benefit

from the teaching learning materials that will be developed as they can implement them in the classes of their schools

Policy-Makers They will be benefited from the knowledge gathered in

this study as this will aid them in formulating policy/ specific and relevant laws that could influence the current educational system as they will have a concrete basis for doing so

Researcher Herself Results of the study will provide very rich

information regarding oral and written discourse of freshman students for

appropriate utilization of intervention activities and other pedagogic materials

Future Researchers Results of the study will provide them insights to

explore other areas relative to this research undertaking

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents the relevant conceptual and research literature which have bearing to the present study The literatures included are found substantial to the study and gives the necessary background to understand the present research This chapter further presents the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of the study, synthesis and definition of terms

Conceptual Literature

The following concepts which focused on instruction in basic college English course, evaluation of students‟ competencies, approaches to discourse analysis, and

integrative English activities were reviewed to substantiate the study

Instruction in Basic College English Course College English is one

of the language subjects in the general curriculum of the tertiary education It is known in different names like English 101 or Basic College English or freshman English or College Composition English 101 is the first English subject in College geared towards introducing the students to the conventions

of academic writing and critical thinking It is a course that explores the meaning of academic writing to different people and different circumstances and its commonality elements It explores the use of writing in communication; idea assertion for discovery and epistemological purposes It is a course that

capitalizes on writing as a medium for self-reflection, self-expression, and communication, a means of coming to know for both the writer and reader (www.u.arizona.edu/~sung/english101/)

English 101 sometimes called freshman English or college composition is one course that almost every first-year student in every college and university is required to take (grammar.about.com/od/your writing/a/ freshcomptips.htm) The requirements for this Basic College English vary depending on the college or university that is offering the course Most often, instructions of these classes are known to deal heavily in reading, more than high school The readings will include a mixture of classical literature, contemporary poetry, social commentary, opinion pieces, academic articles and/or drama The Harvard Report on Reading explains that many students today read with obedient purposelessness meaning they read to simply get through a text and further recommends that students need to read by knowing what it is they want to get out of a reading assignment and search for those points

Basic College English implicitly wants students to have and develop a strong lexicon The rationale for this is that words represent ideas, and the more words students possess, the more ideas they can effectively communicate To build their vocabulary, students now have capitalized on technology like the word of the day apps that exist in smartphones although traditional approaches remain to be reliable options like flashcards

College English classes involve heavy writing activities In writing however,

one of the most difficult aspects is grammar This is where College English

courses vary because some English classes offer instruction on grammar, while

others do not, but all, however, demands that their students are able to display an

understanding of the basic rules of grammar in their writing Thus, students do self study and avail of the latest edition of a writer‟s handbook containing the rules

of grammar, syntax, citation, formatting and vocabulary

First-year English courses concerns with the study of the principles of

expository writing, a kind of objective, audience-directed prose used in college

and beyond to explain and defend ideas As reading, listening, viewing, and

writing are linked components of language, first-year English instruction

includes critical reading, listening, and viewing as integral activities This would

constitute the analysis and understanding of a variety of texts, including

expository and literary texts that represent diverse voices and ideas, visual images, and one‟s own writing First-year English has been considered a

fundamental requirement in most undergraduate curriculum because it has

proven practical value in the classroom and on the job The two legislated

courses in the first-year English are aimed to address government specified

reading and writing competencies

Basic English is the best way to start if the goal of the learner is to learn English It is much easier to advance mastering standard English if learner develops ahead basic vocabulary along with specialized words and simple grammar and rules It is a fact that learning the English language gives many lifetime benefits

There are several advantages claimed about having knowledge of Basic English as compared to other basic language The most important is found in its two word verbs, the proposition and verb combination like come in, come out, come up, come down, take in, take out, take up, take down The number of meanings expressed by those verbs is at least the product of the number of verbs

by the number of prepositions (Pierre Delattre:www.jstor.org/discover 10.2307)

A working knowledge of English language signifies a better job opportunities worldwide since English is a dominant language in commerce, science, business, entertainment and many others As a result, there is this growing needs for English skills that will provide students with opportunity to learn English That prompted educational institutions and other agencies to offer Basic English course

Varied descriptions and goals were provided as to the content of the course Among them include: improving various English skills focusing in pronunciation of words and sounds; listening, practicing casual English; reading

and combining of all skills together (eteacherenglish.com/courses/basic English); improving English language and literacy skills of students where students will work on the reading, writing, vocabulary, listening and speaking skills appropriate to their level (www.cscc.educ./workforce/languistbasic-English); improving language proficiency for travel or for communication with foreign speakers in social or work situations aside from developing basic grammar, speaking and listening; reading and writing as well as the skills and confidence

to communicate in English (StephenZappala.www./earn-a-secondlang.com)

Further, instruction in Basic English course is designed for students to improve their level of general English and academic skills through laying the foundation of English grammar and vocabulary as well as listening, speaking, recording and writing It is also offered to prepare students with diverse academic background for the demand of college reading and writing and to provide them with a challenging educational experience that enhances the critical thinking skills necessary for life-long learning (www.bergen.educ.668.aspx)

Basic English course is offered to improve various skills Lessons on this course focus on pronunciation of words and sounds, listening, practicing casual English, reading and combining of all these skills together (www.liveacca.com/basic-English.html) Through this course, students are expected to learn how to introduce themselves to friends and family, discussing everyday activities, food, restaurant, shopping and places Other

institution would offer Basic English course to improve English communication skills to non-native English speakers Their focus is more on conversation, pronunciation, reading, writing, grammar and composition giving emphasis on language skills (www.southseattle.edu/program)

In terms of writing, students are expected to demonstrate the ability to draft, revise and edit, focused, organized, and appropriately developed documents for specified purposes and audiences The first-year English requirement considers beyond these competencies, as it aims to discipline thought and expression, and gives the students opportunity to study the art of writing for its intrinsic worth The defining characteristics of the first-year English are as follows: introduces to the writing process, helps understand the multi-stage, recursive nature of that process, equips student with skills and strategies needed for each stage of the writing process from finding a topic to proofreading a finished paper, and explores writing as a means of

communication and as a tool for learning

Further, writing offers frequent opportunities, and challenges students with a variety of thought-provoking texts and offers strategies and diverse perspectives for reading and understanding those texts, both print and visual It prepares students to integrate the work of others into their own writing, showing appropriate ways to cite and document that work, provides

instruction and practice in using technology as a tool for writing (Department

of English, Texas State University-San Marcos, USA)

Basic English course instruction is designed to assist students in preparing for various types of writing, reading, analyzing and responding expected of the college level student The students will also learn how to focus and organize essays through practicing several kinds of common writing patterns of organization which they will often be asked to employ in academic writing

The description for College English course for K12+ include developing writing ability for study, work, and other areas of writing based on experience, observation, research, and reading of selected literature, guiding students in learning writing as a process such as understanding audience and purpose, exploring ideas and information, composing, revising, and editing as well as supporting writing by integrating, composing, revising, and editing and

writing by integrating experiences in thinking, reading, listening, and speaking

Evaluation of Students’ Competencies Evaluation or assessment in

education is the evaluation process of characterizing and appraising some aspects of an evaluation process It is the culminating act of interpreting the information gathered for the purpose of making decisions or judgements about students‟ learning and needs, often at reporting time It forms as part of assessment It is an act of gathering information on daily basis in order to understand individual student‟s learning and needs often at reporting time (Go

et al ,2010)

In different schools varied competencies are expected to develop among students The varied competencies where students are evaluated include academic, social and civic competencies In terms of students‟ competencies, they must be able to demonstrate competency cited in the institutions‟ mission

abiding to national and local standards As to academic competencies in line with skills and knowledge, students are expected to demonstrate mastery of academic competencies throughout the curriculum as well as on the extended learning opportunities They must be able to collect, organize, analyze, and assess information and strategies to create, apply, explain and evaluate solutions in problem solving

For communication, students are expected to communicate effectively through listening, speaking, reading and writing In social and civic competencies, it is expected to students that they will demonstrate respect and responsibility while managing personal time, conduct, and planning in self- management As to collaboration, student should work effectively with others and strengthen group performance by sharing ideas and workloads

To assist teachers in planning for student assessment and evaluation there are principles considered These include: assessment and evaluation are essential components of the teaching-learning process; that they should be planned, continuous activities which are derived from curriculum objectives

and consistent with the instructional and learning strategies; and a variety of assessment and evaluation techniques should be used as well as techniques should be selected for their appropriateness to students‟ learning styles and to

the intended purposes Students should be given opportunities to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, abilities, and attitudes in a variety of ways

Moreover, teachers should communicate assessment and evaluation strategies and plan in advance by informing the students of the objectives and the assessment procedures relative to the objectives Students should have opportunities for input into the evaluation process Gronlund (1981) pointed out that evaluation is a systematic process of determining the extent to which instructional objectives are achieved by students while Nunan (1988) emphasized that evaluation is not simply a process of obtaining information but

it is also a decision- making process

Assessment and evaluation should be fair and equitable They should be sensitive to family, classroom, school and community situations, and to cultural

or gender requirements They should also be free of bias Assessment and evaluation should help students provide positive feedback and encourage students to participate actively in their own assessment in order to foster lifelong learning and enable students to transfer knowledge and abilities to their life experiences

Assessment and evaluation data results should be communicated to students and parents as well as guardians regularly in meaningful ways and should be used in variety of techniques and tools Assessment information about students‟ language development and their growth in speaking, listening,

writing and reading knowledge and abilities should be collected by teachers The basis for evaluation is the data gathered during assessment The teacher is allowed to make a decision or judgement regarding the progress of a student‟s

learning through comparing assessment information to curriculum objectives

Throughout the school year there are three kinds of assessment and evaluation identified namely: diagnostic, formative and summative The purposes of diagnostic assessment and evaluation are to determine student‟ knowledge and skills, their learning needs and their motivational and interest levels and they usually occur at the beginning of the school year and before each unit of study

Teachers can determine where to begin instruction and what concepts

or skills to emphasize by examining the results of diagnostic assessment Information essential to teachers in selecting relevant learning objectives and

in designing appropriate learning experiences for all students, individually and

as a group members is provided by diagnostic assessment Teachers and students are able to determine the progress and future direction through

keeping diagnostic instrument for comparison and reference The following diagnostic assessment tools provide support for instructional decisions: writing strategies questionnaire and the reading interest or attitude inventory

As regards to formative assessment and evaluation, this provides information upon which instructional decisions and adaptations can be made and provide students with direction for future learning Its focus is on the processes and products of learning It is continuous and is meant to inform the parent or guardian and the teacher of the student‟s progress toward the

curriculum objectives

Students are allowed to focus on what they are trying to achieve like develop their thinking skills and helps them to become reflective learners through involvement in constructing their own assessment instrument or adapting the ones the teacher has made Considered useful formative technique is the peer assessment Students must be provided with assistance and the opportunity to observe a model peer assessment session for them to be successful Further, students have the opportunity to become critical and creative thinkers who can clearly communicate ideas and thoughts to others The following instruments provide useful data: checklists or learning logs, and interviews

The main purposes of summative assessment and evaluation on the other hand, are to determine knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that

have developed over a given period of time; to summarize student progress; and to report this progress to students, parents, guardians, and teachers It occurs most often at the end of a unit of instruction and at term or year end when students are ready to demonstrate achievement of curriculum objectives

Judgements pertaining to summative evaluation are based upon criteria derived from curriculum objectives Teachers enable students to understand and internalized the criteria by which their progress will be determined by sharing these objectives with the students and involving them in designing the evaluation instruments

Formative and summative information are provided based on assessment and evaluation results Making decisions about changes to instructional strategies, curriculum topics, or learning environment are covered

in summative evaluation while assisting teachers in making summative judgments about student progress and determining where further instruction is necessary for individuals or groups are included in formative evaluation

Approaches to Discourse Analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or

discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing

written, vocal, or sign language use or any significant semiotic event The objects of discourse analysis such as discourse, writing, conversation, communicative eventare variously defined in terms of coherent sequences of sentences, propositions, speech acts, or turns-at-talk Contrary to much of

traditional linguistics, discourse analysts not only study language use beyond the sentence boundary, but also prefer to analyze naturally occurring language use, and not invented examples

Text linguistics is related The essential difference between discourse analysis and text linguistics is that it aims at revealing socio-psychological characteristics of a person/persons rather than text structure The different social science disciplines that comprised discourse of which each is subject to its own assumptions, dimensions of analysis, and methodologies include linguistics, education, sociology, anthropology, social work, cognitive psychology, social psychology, international relations, human geography, communication studies, and translation studies

McCarthy (1993) stated that written discourse analysis is not a new method for teaching languages Rather, it is a fundamentally different way of looking at language compared with sentence-dominated models English written text is naturally organized into several types of patterns Written text conforms to rules that most successful writers unconsciously follow and native readers unconsciously expect to find Some of the characteristic patterns in written discourse analysis are the Problem/Solution structure, the Claim/Counterclaim structure and the General/Specific By studying the textual and lexical elements of these texts, one can learn to regularly recognize the overall structure of a text (Hoey,1994)

Vocabulary items which identify signal doubt or skepticism like words such

as appear, suggests, speculation, deal with a Claim-Counterclaim structure While the sequence of these structures may be varied, all the elements are present in a well-formed text Written discourse analysis can identify larger text structures and other pertinent discourse features in an actual text The writer uses technical terms

to express his opinion in text (www.nuis.ac.jp/ ~hadley/publication/nuwriting anlysis/ written analysis htm)

Discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationship between language and the contexts in which it is used It grew out of work in different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s, including linguistics, semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology Discourse analysts study language in use including written texts of all kinds and spoken data from conversation to highly institutionalised forms of talk

According to Vijayakumar (2010), discourse analysis is the examination

of language use by members of a speech community It involves looking at both language form and language function This also includes the study of both spoken interaction and written texts It identifies linguistic features that characterize different genres as well as social and cultural factors that aid in interpretation and understanding of different texts and types of talk

A discourse analysis of written texts might include a study of topic development and cohesion across the sentences, while an analysis of spoken

language might focus on these aspects plus turn taking practices, opening and closing sequences of social encounters, or narrative structure The study of discourse has developed in a variety of disciplines like sociolinguistics, anthropology, sociology, and social psychology Thus discourse analysis takes different theoretical perspectives and analytic approaches such as speech act theory, interactional sociolinguistics and ethnography of communication,

pragmatics, conversation analysis, and variation analysis (Schiffrin, 1994)

Although each approach emphasizes different aspects of language use,

they all view language as social interaction It focuses on the application of

discourse analysis to second language teaching and learning It provides

examples of how teachers can improve their teaching practices by

investigating actual language use both in and out of the classroom, and how

students can learn language through exposure to different types of discourse

In discourse analysis and second language teaching even in most

communicative approaches, the second language classroom is limited in its ability to develop learners‟ communicative competence in the target language

This is due to the restricted number of contact hours with the language;

minimal opportunities for interacting with native speakers; and limited exposure

to the variety of functions, genres, speech events, and discourse types that

occur outside the classroom

Given the limited time available for students to practice the target language, teachers should maximize opportunities for student participation Classroom research is one way for teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of students‟ output Discourse analysis further concerns with the structure of social interaction manifested in conversation, as well as the notion

of comprehension of short and written text and interpretation, together

with the cultural and social aspects which supports its comprehension

According to Carter (1993), discourse analyses deals with the examination of discourse attempts to find patterns in communicative products

as well as correlation with the circumstances in which they occur which are not explainable at the grammatical level It further scrutinize universal circumstances of the occurrence of communication products, particularly within the state institution In educational institution, Renkema (2004) stated that the domain of discourse analysis covers the classroom language and that language must be taught to enable learners to successfully comprehend both oral and written texts, as well as participate in real conversation and produce native like communicative products

As regards to approaches to discourse, these serve as guides to the various frameworks, concepts, and methods available for the analysis of discourse within linguistics There are six dominant approaches to discourse

analysis These include speech act theory, pragmatics, ethnomethodology, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, and variation theory

or analysis Speech act is a minimal functional unit in human communication According to Austin‟s theory (1962), there are three kinds of meanings and

these include propositional meaning or the literal meaning of what is said, illocutionary meaning which is the social function of what is said, and

locutionary meaning which refers to the effect of what is said

Cohen (1996) identifies five categories of speech acts based on the functions assigned to them These include representatives, a kind of speech act that commit to the truth of the expressed proposition, directives, that cause the hearer to take a particular action, expressives, speech acts that express the speakers‟ attitudes and emotions toward the proposition, commissives, speech

acts that commit speaker to some future action, and declaratives, speech acts that change the reality in accordance with the proposition of the declaration

Speech act theory attempts to explain how speakers use language to accomplish intended actions and how hearers infer intended meaning from what is said Meaning units, meaningless objects which cannot be studied as conversation or discourses are covered in pragmatics It is the theory of meaning in context including implicit meaning, or the theory of human natural language It involves the ability to determine meaning implied from the social context in which a conversation take place