Enhancing students writing skill at college of foreign economic relations through blended learning with feedback activitives on facebook platform a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY DƯƠNG VIỆT HÀ ENHANCING STUDENTS' WRITING SKILL AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS THROUGH BLENDED LEARNING WI

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

DƯƠNG VIỆT HÀ

ENHANCING STUDENTS' WRITING SKILL AT COLLEGE OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS THROUGH BLENDED LEARNING WITH FEEDBACK

ACTIVITIES ON FACEBOOK PLATFORM

Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “Enhancing students' writing skill at College of Foreign Economic Relations through blended learning with feedback activities on Facebook platform” is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person‟ work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, 2016

Dương Việt Hà

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Ngọc

Vũ, who gave love, care, invaluable support, suggestions, and encouragement in all stages of doing this research Without his critical comments and great contribution, this thesis would not have been completed I am so grateful that I had a chance to carry out the thesis under his supervision

Immeasurable appreciation and the deepest gratitude for the help and support are extended to the following persons who are in one way or another way have contributed to making this thesis possible:

All the lecturers at the Post graduate Faculty, for their great helps with benificial knowledge and experience in teaching and in the process of conducting a research paper

Dr Pham Vu Phi Ho, lecturer and co-ordinator of MA program in TESOL at

Ho Chi Minh City Open University, for his dedication to conferences and presentation for TESOLers to present our works, to giving profound instructions, and providing helps when necessary

mini-Dr Pham Chau Thanh, Headmaster of COFER, all the teachers in the Department of Foreign Languages and colleagues, for their great contribution and cooperation in the process of the study

All the members of TESOL7, great friends for their materials and spiritual support

All the students participated in the study, for their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation

In addition, a great thank to my parents, my wife and my children for always being with me Without their support and sacrifice, I would not have a chance to finish the thesis

Abstract

The current study explores whether the blended learning with feedback activities on a social networking website called Facebook enhances the students‟ writing skill It also investigates the aspects of feedback students received on their writing and examines their attitudes towards the use of Facebook for feedback The study involves 40 college students who were divided into control group and experimental group The experimental group experienced the activity of posting their writing on Facebook platform in order to give and receive feedback with an aim of developing their writing skill over the English academic writing-1 course Data were collected from the original writing as pre-test and the revised writing after feedback activities as post-test, the results of peer e-feedback using a common feedback format provided, a questionnaire and an interview While the pre-test and post-test analysis was the main data collection method, a questionnaire and an interview provided supplementary and crucial information The results revealed that there is a significant difference in pre-test and post-test score The aspect of students‟ feedback focused mainly on topic sentence and concluding sentence, sentence structure, grammar and spelling (language form) more than organization and body of the paragraph Finally, the analysis of questionnaire and interviews showed that the students have positive attitudes towards the use of Facebook for feedback activity in the English Academic writing class because of its convenient feature

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of authorship i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstracts iii

Table of contents iv

List of tables vii

List of figures viii

List of abbreviations ix

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem 2

1.3 Purpose of the Study 3

1.4 Research Questions 3

1.5 The significance of the Study 3

1.6 Organization of the Study 4

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Theories of Second Language Learning 6

2.1.1 Social Cognitive Learning Theory 6

2.1.2 Social-cultural Learning Theory 7

2.1.3 Writing Process Approach Theory 9

2.2 Writing Skill and Teaching Writing 10

2.2.1 Writing Skill 10

2.2.2 Teaching Writing 12

2.3 Stages of writing process approach of the current study 13

2.4 Blended learning 14

2.5 Feedback 16

2.5.1 Feedback 16

2.5.2 Peer Feedback 17

2.5.3 Advantages of Peer Feedback 18

2.5.4 Disadvantages of Peer feedback 20

2.5.5 E-feedback 21

2.6 Social Networking Service and Facebook 22

2.7 Group in Facebook for English Teaching and Learning 25

2.8 Review of Related Studies 26

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Pedagogical context 36

3.1.1 Pedagogical setting 36

3.1.2 Course Description 36

3.1.3 Participants 38

3.2 Design of the Study 46

3.3 Procedures of the Study 47

3.3.1 Preparation for feedback activities on Facebook platform 47

3.3.1.1 The Role of experimental group participants 47

3.3.1.2 The Role of Instructor 48

3.3.1.3 The Role of Facebook platform 48

3.3.2 Training Process 49

3.3.3 Learning activities of the participants 50

3.4 Research Instruments 53

3.4.1 Questionnaires 53

3.4.2 Interviews 56

3.4.3 Scoring Rubric 57

3.4.4 Validity and Reliability of the Questionnaires 58

3.5 Methods of Analysis 63

3.5.1 Criteria to analyze the questionnaire 64

3.5.2 Criteria to analyze pre-test and post-test results 64

3.5.3 Data Analysis for Research Questions 65

3.6 Ethical conditions 68

Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Before the treatment 69

4.2 After the treatment 73

4.2.1 Research Question 1 73

4.2.2 Research Question 2 75

4.2.3 Research Question 3 82

Chapter 5: IMPLICATION AND RECOMMENDATION 87

5.1 Implication 88

5.2 Limitations of the study 88

5.3 Recommendation 89

References

Appendices

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.5 Summary of pre-training questionnaire information 55 Table 3.6 Summary of post-training questionnaire information 56 Table 3.7-a: The Reliability Statistics of first part of pre-training questionnaire 60 Table 3.7-b: The Reliability Statistics of second theme of pre-training

Table 4.6 The comparison of pre-test and post-test results 74

Table 4.8 Statistics of the learners‟ feedback on topic and concluding sentence 84 Table 4.9 Statistics of the learners‟ feedback on Body with supporting Sentences 84 Table 4.10 Statistics of the learners‟ feedback on sentence structure 84

Table 4.11 Statistics of the learners‟ feedback on Grammar and Spelling 85 Table 4.12 Statistics of the learners‟ feedback on Organization and Coherence 85

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Learners using and not using Facebook before the course 42 Figure 3.2 How long the learners of Experimental group have used Facebook 42 Figure 3.3 The frequency of learners accessing the Facebook 43 Figure 3.4 The amount of time the learners spending on Facebook 43 Figure 3.5 The frequency of learners communicating on Social networking

Figure 3.6 Learners‟ self-evaluation of writing skill in English 45

Figure 4.1 Pre-test score comparison of Experimental and Control group 72 Figure 4.2 Distribution of Pre-test and Post-test score 73

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, problem statement, purpose

of the study, research questions, significance of the research, and limitation of the research

1.1 Background of the study

The application of the computers into language teaching and learning was first used in the 1950s, and it has been called as Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) (Beatty, 2010); since then different projects have been developed to build the applications of CALL such as Word processing, Computer-mediated communication, WWW resources, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), etc (Beatty, 2010) With the belief that technology could positively have effects on the teaching and learning, many countries have created teaching programs to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in school (Hew & Brush, 2007) In order to answer the call of National Foreign languages 2020 Project of Vietnam, which was issued according to the Decision 1400/QĐ-TTg dated 30 September, 2008 of the Prime Minister on the Approval of the Project entitled

“Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, Period 2008-2020”, many schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam have harnessed the ICT for better and more efficient English language programs Like other schools, College of Foreign Economic Relations (COFER) embraces the ICT

in teaching and learning

In the past few years, the blossom of Internet, digital and mobile technology has made social networks such as Twitter, WAYN, Zing me, Facebook and so on become so popular that most of the smartphones available in Vietnam are designed

to be available to access the social networks Among the social networks, the Facebook (FB) is used the most in Vietnam and the number of Facebook users could reach over twenty two millions in 2013 (Minh, 2013) and the number of

Facebook users in Vietnam was expected to reach 32.7 million in 2016, up from 25.6 million in 2014 (“Statistics Portal”, 2016) FB is considered a fresh tool for the users to communicate with each other and to discuss the things they concern When Facebook gets into colleges, the teachers and students use it as a common forum to exchange their views on the study concern, or use it as a tool, a platform to support their learning and working (Kabilan, Ahmad, & Abidin, 2010; Howell, 2008) Realizing the positive effects of Facebook on students‟ learning English, I undertake this study to bring the freshness into students‟ learning the Academic writing-1 course through blended learning with feedback activities on Facebook platform

1.2 Statement of the Problem

According to the study of Pham Ho (2010), L1 writing instruction in Vietnam generally focused on products writing rather than on process writing Students‟ writing papers were not good because of their clumsily expressing ideas, spelling errors, bad structures and distraction Students‟ bad piece of writing was said to be rooted in poor educational system of teaching writing methodology such as uncreative methods of teaching students to memorize sample composition Thus, it was reasonable to say that students‟ writing composition in English as a foreign language was even worse than students‟ L1 writing The process writing in English rarely occurred because students have little chance to improve their writing drafts The target audience of student writers was instructor only and writing instructor‟s correction focused mainly on grammar point; and collaborative learning as a foundation of process writing was not enough preferred, motivated and practiced in class

In order to help Vietnamese students improve their writing skill in English, process approach is believed as an approach for student writers to train themselves

to be independent, self-editors so that they can work better with writing skill especially in the age of Internet and ICT The present study aims to investigate

whether the Blended learning with giving feedback activities on Facebook platform could make the learners more involved in learning in order to improve their own writing The study will look into the use and effects of posting writings and feedback activities on Facebook, a social networking platform, in the context of EFL

1.3 Purpose of the Study

Accordingly, the purposes of this study at the COFER are to investigate the blended learning with giving feedback activities on Facebook in teaching and learning English academic writing, to study whether blended learning with FB activities enhances students‟ writing skill, and to investigate students‟ attitudes towards using Facebook to enhance writing skill after the treatment

1.4 Research Questions

This study was carried out to answer the following research questions:

1) Does Facebook blended learning help students enhance their academic writing?

2) What attitudes do the students express on the use of Facebook platform for activities of posting writing, gaining and giving feedback?

3) What aspects do the students give feedback to other students‟ pieces of writing by using Facebook platform?

1.5 The significance of the Study

The purpose of learning a language is to communicate with people In the age of Digital technology and ICT, especially with the development of Internet and social network, the information and communication on the Internet play an important role in most areas of our life Internet users need better writing skill and reading skill to communicate and it is shown that there are more opportunities and environments of learning for the English learners to practice writing skill with the help of Internet Therefore, the research on blended learning with Facebook to enhance writing skill is not only to help teachers to “be active in applying Information technology in language teaching” as a part of the task in National

Foreign languages 2020 Project of Vietnam but also to help students use writing skill to work in Internet-based working environment The research meets the students‟ ongoing demand of using writing skill That is the reason why this study

is significant and it can be explained from three aspects Firstly, the treatment of this study would help students know how to incorporate social networking into their learning process, especially in posting piece of writing and giving feedback activities to enhance other students‟ writing quality Secondly, the study shows that language teachers would learn more from blended learning with Facebook activities

to help their students to be better writers Finally, it also helps the English teachers know how to innovate their instruction by applying technology (Internet and social networking) into their own class to help their students to improve writing skill and reading skill

With the success of this study, it can help teachers have a fresh and positive viewpoint on social networking (Facebook) as a part of blended learning to teach or learn the Academic Writing at College of Foreign Economic Relations In addition, this source of data would be very helpful for teachers to adjust their teaching methods of English writing and to create motivation in students‟ learning writing online The result of this study may be useful for educators to understand the factors

in the innovation of language teaching and learning with the help of Information technology

1.6 Organization of the Study

This thesis is made up of five chapters

Chapter 1 – Introduction – describes the area of the study It is comprised of general background of the study, statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, research questions, and the significance of the study

Chapter 2 – Literature Review – involves the three related theories of second language learning, the importance of writing skill and teaching writing, stages of writing process approach of the study, blended learning and feedback, social

networking service and Facebook, Facebook group for English teaching and learning and the review of some related studies will also be covered

Chapter 3 – Methodology – describes the pedagogical context of the study, the design and procedure of the study This chapter also give detailed description of research instruments, methods of study and the ethical conditions of the study Chapter 4 – Findings and discussion – The data collected from the pre-training questionnaire and post-training questionnaire, the test results and what the students give feedback on Facebook are displayed and analyzed thanks to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, with the interpretations and comments The focus of this chapter is to answer the three research questions based on the data collected from the research instruments

Chapter 5 – Conclusion and recommendation – reveals the limitations of the study This chapter also proposes the implications from the study Besides, the chapter expresses some recommendations for further research in using blended learning style with Facebook to enhance other language skills

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical background for the study; it provides three theories of second language learning, some information related to the notion

of writing skill and teaching writing, blended learning, feedback, social networking service and Facebook This chapter also addresses to some studies connected to the current research

2.1 Theories of Second Language Learning

The research will be done in the light of three theories: Social-cognitive learning, social-cultural learning, and writing process approach theory

2.1.1 Social Cognitive Learning Theory

The social-cognitive learning theory is a theoretical perspective in which learning process is considered to be developed by observing other people or learners can acquire new behaviors and knowledge by simply observing live models such as teachers, peers, supervisors who demonstrate the use of language for someone else The models play a critical role in the language learning process Social cognitive learning theory advocate defines learning as an internal mental process that may or may not be reflected in immediate behavioral change (Bandura, 1986) Social cognitive learning theory emphasizes on the active mental involvement of the language learners in process, and not simply forming of habits as the behaviorist views (Richards & Schmidt, 2002) Jackendoff (2002) reports that the language users need cognitive structures which permit them to understand the goals of communication and to attach the significance to the associated metalinguistic signals Drilling and repetition tasks are no longer emphasized; instead, activities which necessitate active and mental learning Clark (2003) mentions the fact that when the learners think about learning a language, their first association to a language is often represented in the form of grammars and dictionaries or in the form of randomly chosen words and sentences This view of language is misleading in two aspects: it removes language from its social setting, and depicts it

as a product rather than as a part of a dynamic system for communication Pham Ho (2010) states that the learners can learn writing by applying their previous knowledge to new information and withdrawing some rules by themselves in the learning process Meanwhile, the errors in writing are not mainly concerned during the learning process and partially self-corrected by the learners in the interactive and collaborative development, and the learners play the main roles to help one another in the learning process by exchanging messages so as to improve their target language

Pham Ho (2010) expresses that learners should practice the target language repeatedly in order to gain the skills In terms of the instructor or a facilitator, the learners play the main roles to help themselves in the process by exchanging messages in order to improve their target language The learners apply their previous knowledge to the new language learning tasks Those strategies are applicable to this research of feedback activities in writing process

In summary, the social cognitive theory that emphasizes on the active mental process would be applied into the training to help students learn how to enhance writing skill through writing process with feedback activities on Facebook platform

2.1.2 Social-cultural Learning Theory

The social-cultural learning theory or sociocultural theory (SCT) had its origins and development from the first writings by psychologist L S Vygotsky and his colleagues in the 1970s UNESCO (2002) gave description of Vygotsky‟s sociocultural learning theory of human as “a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture The major theme of Vygotsky‟s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition” (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2002, p.25) Pham Ho (2010) claims that social cognitive learning theory focuses much on learning process and learner-centered approach while social-cultural learning theory is considered to serve more on collaborative learning

It primarily focuses on learning through socialization Owens (2005) says

communication exchanges among learners have a predictable quality that also facilitates comprehension and learning Foley and Thompson (2003) also note that learning a language is a socially oriented process, and language is learned with the participation of the others Liu and Hansen (2002) express that learning in general, together with knowledge, is socially constructed It means that students can learn more from one another than in complete isolation from the community Learners acquire new knowledge of language or certain fields from their community According to Dörnyei (2003), language is socially and culturally bound, which makes language learning to be a deeply social event that requires the incorporation

of a wide range of elements of target language culture In addition, language only exists in the social and communicative context Group activities help students to have a clear view of the world around them and to solve complex problems together Knowledge is best constructed when learners work together with others, support one another to encourage new ways of forming, constructing and reflecting

on new knowledge; social and group interactions play an important role in developing new knowledge

Based on the social-cultural learning theory, Brown (2007) shows three social strategies in the learning process Firstly, learning process is based on cooperation

in which learners work with one or more peers to obtain and provide feedback and pool information or model a language activity for one another The learners should cooperate or work collaboratively with other learners and the proficient users of the new language so that learners can learn from them instead of from only the instructor The classroom members may be considered as tutors Learning from friends is sometimes better than from only one teacher Secondly, learning process

is closely connected with raising questions for clarification or verification It means that the learners can ask the instructor or other native speaker or other learners for clarification, correction, explanation and/or examples of what the learners should understand In the learner-centered environment, the instructor functions as a moderator or facilitator to provide feedback or to give some suggestions to direct

his learners to the right track When working within a group, the learners could be aware of others‟ thoughts and feelings or sympathize with others This is the third strategy to direct the learners to develop cultural understanding, and it is well-applied for writing process in terms of reader-author-based writing to combine the product and process approaches In short, Brown‟s three social strategies can be summarized as follows:

• Learning by working cooperatively with one or more peers to obtain feedback, pool information, or model a language activity or learning from others

• Learning by questioning, asking the teacher and others for clarification or verification, and for feedback, example, and direction

• Learning to become aware of others' thoughts and feelings or empathizing with others

In summary, the social-cultural theory in which the learners and the instructors work together, interact and provide comments for revisions to help one another enhance their writing skill as well as their writing products and those aspects would shed lights over the current study

2.1.3 Writing Process Approach Theory

The approaches to teaching writing have been changed over time The earliest work in teaching writing is based on the notion of controlled writing or guided composition Then in the 1960s, the teachers of writing began to feel that controlled composition was not enough and most studies of writing were about the written product During the 1970s, the focus shifted from product to process In other words, “the focus has moved from a concern with mechanical accuracy and control

of language to a greater emphasis on the development and discovery of meaning through the experience of writing and rewriting” (Hyland & Hyland, 2006)

Pham Ho (2010) states that there have been two primary methodologies in teaching writing: product approach and process approach The teachers who believe

in product approach focus solely on accuracy, appropriate rhetorical discourse and linguistic patterns Product approach focuses on the products of writing by

examining texts in various ways from surface elements, discourse structures, form, meaning and the finished text rather than on the process in which writing took place On the contrary, those who advocate the process approach strongly believe that the process approach can encourage the learners to use their internal resources and individuality, and the teachers applying the process approach attempt to help their students improve fluency rather than accuracy

Raimes (1983) states that in the process approach, students do not write on a given topic in restricted time and hand in the composition for the teacher to

“correct” – which usually means to find out the error Rather they explore a topic through writing, showing the teacher and each other their drafts, and using what they write to read over, think about, and move them on new ideas Meanwhile, Hedge (2008:302) has a statement that is “The process view of writing sees it as thinking, as discovery Writing is the result of employing strategies to manage the composing process, which is one of gradually developing a text It involves a number of activities: setting goals, generating ideas, organizing information, selecting appropriate language, making a draft, reading and reviewing it, then revising and editing” In addition, the processes of generating ideas and expressing feelings are more important to individual development than the final writing product Hedge (2008: 302) also states that there is a relationship between teachers and learners in the writing class, and “other students and the teacher can be readers: they can question, prompt, support, and provide ideas and language which help the writer to be clear, organized, and accessible to readers” Indeed, each of these approaches has its own strengths and weaknesses In summary, the the theory of writing process approach lays great stress on the development and discovery of meaning through the experience of writing and rewriting after receiving the feedback from other people

2.2 Writing Skill and Teaching Writing

2.2.1 Writing Skill

Based on the natural order of language skill acquisition, writing is classified as a productive skill in addition to speaking, while listening and reading are receptive skills Writing skill is generally considered the language skill to be obtained last for native speakers of the language as well as for foreign/second language learners (Hamp and Heasly, 2006); nevertheless, it is as important as the rest Writing skill must be learned in formal situations such as schools, institutions, centers, college and universities Harmer (2004:3) claims: “Spoken language, for a child, is acquired naturally as a result of being exposed to it, whereas the ability to write has to be consciously learned” Writing skill is the most difficult skill for L2 learners to master The difficulty lies not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating these ideas into readable text The skills involved in writing are highly complex L2 writers have to pay attention to higher level skills of planning and organizing ideas and structures of the writing as well as lower level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, and so on (Richards & Renandya, 2002, p.303) The significance of writing skill is undeniable in various areas of human life for individuals to explore and improve themselves Therefore, the success in English writing of EFL learners brings them a lot of benefits not only in their English learning but also in their life and their own careers as Glazier (1994: 3) states that

“Being able to write in English is essential in college, and it probably will be an asset in your career” The skill of writing is especially important in academic settings where most English as a foreign language teaching occurs

In late 20th century, writing skill was far less useful for communicative purposes than the other skills of listening, reading or speaking (Ur, 2012) However, Crystal said that the importance of informal writing for communication has increased immensely in the last generation (as cited in Ur, 2012, p.3), mainly due to the widespread use of e-mail, online chat, blogging, texting (SMS) and social network tools such as Facebook and Twitter This trend of using writing skill online sheds the light on the present study in which Facebook is used as a platform for the

learners to practice writing in order to enhance writing skill through feedback activities

2.2.2 Teaching Writing

The nature of writing itself does not have enough interest to motivate learners of English language to practice regularly (Hedge, 1991) Beyond the lack of motivation, time pressure also makes it difficult for the learners to gain effectiveness in learning writing Writing is a complex process In the EFL classroom, students tend to be forced to perform their writing tasks within a certain length of time and therefore many students occasionally cannot accomplish their writing tasks Therefore, the teachers of writing should apply as many techniques and approaches as they can in order to help the students learn writing effectively The reasons for teaching writing to students of EFL include reinforcement of what has been learned, language development, learning style and writing as a skill (Harmer, 1999) Bjork and Raisanen (1997: 8) argued that: “We highlight the importance of writing in all university curricula not only because of its immediate practical application, i.e as an isolated skill or ability, but because we believe that, seen from a broader perspective, writing is a thinking tool It is a tool for language development, for critical thinking and, extension, for learning in all disciplines.” The teaching of writing has had much greater importance in recent years with the arrival of new forms of rapid written communication This means that we need

to pay more attention to helping students learn how to write well than previous generation of teachers did (Ur, 2012, p.150) Written communication is as a way for people to express their ideas, and learn about those of others or to learn from reading Therefore, it is usually integrated with reading skill; that is the reason why teachers frequently use writing activity to check the learners‟ reading comprehension, or they use reading to prepare students for the writing task, and teachers often want to provide their students with comprehensible input or with models for their writing tasks

Teaching writing is not only the task of rote repetition and technical instruction

- focusing on spelling and grammar points, and other writing conventions- but also

as the work of instructing the learners to express their feeling, thought, critique and

to build a writing work In other words, Nowadays, writing instruction emphasizes the whole actual process of writing in which the writing learners have to go through The process of writing in which the teachers use usually consists of following stages: pre-writing, writing and re-writing (Villanueva, 2003, p.21), planning, drafting, editing, and revising their work (Hillocks, 1987; Murray, 1982; as cited in Kamehameha Schools, 2007), or pre-writing, drafting and writing, sharing and responding, revising and editing, publishing as shown in figure 1 below (Kamehameha Schools, 2007)

Thus, in the writing process, the feedback from the readers plays an important role in the process of revising, editing and publishing the finished product of writing There is a close relation between writing process and feedback Feedback is

a fundamental element of a process of writing It can be defined as input from a reader to a writer with the effects of providing information to the writer for revision (Keh, 1990)

2.3 Stages of writing process approach of the current study

The process of teaching writing applied in this study is as follows:

Stage 1: Pre-writing

Figure 2.1 Writing Process

Getting ready to write, deciding on the title, brain-storming and organizing ideas

Stage 2: Drafting and Writing

Writing and refining sentences and paragraph, focusing on aspects that students learn as much as they can

Stage 3: Sharing and gaining feedback

Sharing pieces of writing to other students or instructors to gain feedback and

giving feedback to other students‟ writing (peer feedback) on Facebook platform

Stage 4: Revising, editing and publishing

After gaining feedback, revising and editing the writing, the learners hand in the finished (final) writing to the instructor

The main aim of process writing is to build confidence in student writers and enhance students‟ writing skill

2.4 Blended learning

Blended learning (BL) has been in use for decades, yet it has been used somewhat differently depending on how people understand what it means and what they blend together Therefore, its meaning has been constantly changing and continuing to develop (Kim, Bonk, and Oh, 2008) Keshta and Harb (2013) writes that blended learning is natural evolution of e-learning towards completing a program of various multimedia applied in an ideal way to solve problems, taking into account the individual differences and achieving a distinguished teaching It is considered one of the modern trends of teaching and learning based upon employing information technology in designing new learning situations that increase active learning and learner-centered strategies Blended learning combines the advantages of face-to-face and a certain kind of e-learning to satisfy individual differences Bonk and Graham (2006) express that blended learning is not just using technology available; blended learning is about finding better ways of supporting students in achieving their learning objectives and providing them with the best

possible learning and teaching experiences or motivation, as well as supporting teachers in their role

In literature, Blended learning can be identified and categorized under three most common definitions:

- It is a combination of instructional modalities (delivery media or a combination of technologies) such as using different technologies and activities It means that the combination of media and tools employed in an e-learning environment This definition could describe a purely distance learning course, where no face-to-face lessons occur Communication between the learner and e-tutor may take place through any number of technologies, such as email and internet telephone (Sharma, 2010)

- Blended learning is a combination of instructional methods It is the combination of a number of pedagogical approaches (e.g constructivism, behaviorism, cognitivism) to produce an optimal learning outcome with or without instructional technology A course combining transmission and constructivist approaches would fit into this category; for example a course involving elements of a present-practice-produce methodology as well as task-based learning (Sharma, 2010) This kind of BL is not new and is, in fact, the logical development of prior tendencies involving the mixture of teaching methods

- It is a combination of online and face-to-face instruction It means that there

is „The integrated combination of traditional learning with web based online approaches‟ (Oliver & Trigwell, 2005) Traditional learning in this case is classroom teaching or „face-to-face‟ language lessons The delivery of the online part of the course is usually through learning technologies, typically involving a Virtual Learning Environment such as „Blackboard‟ or „Moodle‟ and comprising the use of synchronous and asynchronous electronic tools, such as, respectively, „chat‟ and „bulletin boards‟ (Sharma, 2010) It reflects the historical background of the emergence of blended learning systems more

precisely In addition, it is a combination of the face-to-face part of a course and an „appropriate use of technology‟

This case study adapts Colin and Moonen‟s (2001) definition of blended learning in which there is a hybrid of traditional face-to-face and online learning (Facebook) so that instruction occurs both in the classroom and FB platform, and where the FB component becomes a natural extension of traditional classroom learning (Colis & Moonen, 2001 as cited in Tayebinik, 2012: 104 )

2.5 Feedback

2.5.1 Feedback

According to Keh (1990), Feedback can be defined as input from a reader to a writer with the effects of providing information to the writer for revision Through feedback, the writer learns where he or she has misled or confused the reader by not supplying enough information, by having illogical organization, or by lacking of development of ideas or something like inappropriate word-choice or tenses.Feedback is a key element in language learning It can promote minimal or deep learning

In general, instructional feedback provides students with information that either confirms what they already know or changes their existing knowledge and beliefs (Mory, 2004) According to Hattie & Timperley (2007), feedback is conceptualized as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book,

parent, self, experience) regarding aspects of one's performance or understanding A

teacher or parent can provide corrective information, a peer can provide an alternative strategy, a book can provide information to clarify ideas, a parent can provide encouragement, and a learner can look up the answer to evaluate the correctness of a response However, in reality a peer can more or less do some of the teacher‟s task of providing correct information if the peer has good knowledge

of how to control vocabulary, grammar points, sentence structures, etc

According to the cybernetic and experimental definitions, Narciss (2008) generally defines feedback in instructional contexts as follow: "all post-response

information that is provided to a learner to inform the learner on his or her actual state of learning or performance" What is understood from these definitions is that feedback is aimed to provide an understanding of performance through offering guidance on the knowledge that they possess One of the factors which seem to be

of great importance in dealing with feedback is that it helps students to reconstruct their knowledge or skill to what is desired Mory (2004) discusses four perspectives

on how feedback supports learning Firstly, feedback can be considered as an incentive for increasing response rate and/ or accuracy Secondly, feedback can be regarded as a reinforcer that automatically connects responses to prior stimuli (focused on correct responses) Thirdly, feedback can be viewed as information that learners can use to validate or change a previous response (focused on erroneous responses) Finally, feedback can be regarded as the provision of scaffolds to help students construct internal schemata and analysis of their learning processes A part from these perspectives on how feedback supports learning, the type of feedback varies considerably as well

Nelson and schunn (2008) identified two types of feedback, namely; cognitive and affective In cognitive feedback, more attention is given to the content of the work and involves summarizing, specifying and explaining aspects of the work under review Affective feedback concentrates on the quality of works and uses affective language to bestow praise ("well written") and criticism ("badly written"),

or uses non-verbal expressions, such as facial expression gestures and emotional tones

Freedman (1987:5) stated that response or feedback on students‟ writing includes all reactions to writing, formal or informal, written or oral, from teacher or peer, to a draft or a final version It can also occur in reaction to talking about

intended pieces of writing, the talk being considered a writing act Those ideas of

feedback from a peer lay the foundations of my study

2.5.2 Peer Feedback

Peer feedback is generally known under many names such as peer response (Keh, 1990; Hyland, 2003), peer editing, peer critique, peer evaluation (Keh, 1990), peer review (Nystrand, 1984) Liu and Hansen (2002:1) defined peer feedback as the “use of learners as sources of information and interactants for each other in such

a way that learners assume roles and responsibilities normally taken on by a formally trained teacher, tutor, or editor in commenting on and critiquing each other‟s drafts in both written and oral formats in the process of writing”

Peer feedback is in many forms and serves different purposes; it occurs at various stages in the writing process Most typically, it consists of assigning students to groups of two, three, or four so that they could exchange first drafts and give comments on each other‟s work before they revise them This normally occurs during class time and can take up to an hour to complete, especially if readers are asked to produce written comments and writers are required to provide written responses to these (Hyland, 2003) Rollinson (2005) also argued that peer feedback

in the writing classroom is a time-consuming activity In order to solve the problem

of time-consuming when the writing course proceeds, peer feedback activity would occur or be done on Facebook platform whenever the students are free and in or outside the class

2.5.3 Advantages of Peer Feedback

The use of peer feedback in ESL writing classes has been recommended by many researches for its valuable social, linguistic, cognitive, pedagogical benefits (Kim, 2005; Mendonça and Johnson, 1994) For example, peer feedback is a way of raising students‟ awareness of audience considerations (Storch, 2005) It is said to save teachers‟ time on certain tasks, freeing them for more helpful instruction It is considered more at the learners‟ own level of development Learners can gain a greater sense of audience with several readers (i.e readers other than the teacher) The learner as a reader learns more about writing through critically reading others‟ papers (Keh, 1990)

Peer feedback also helps learners become more self-aware, in the sense that they notice the gap between how they and others perceive their writing Thus, peer feedback facilitates the development of analytical and critical thinking and reading, and writing skills; it enhances self-reflection and self-expression, and encourages students to contribute to decision-making The literature also suggests that peer feedback is somehow more honest than a teacher‟s response, and it gives learners the opportunity to realize that other students have experienced similar difficulties to their own ones According to Dunlap and Grabinger (as cited in Ertmer, Richardson, Belland and Camin, 2007), “the process of giving feedback to or “reviewing someone else‟s work can help learners reflect on and articulate their own views and ideas, ultimately improving their own work”

Peer feedback has been advocated in a number of studies for its benefits For instance, peer feedback encourages student to participate in the classroom activity and make them less passively teacher-dependent, mentions Hyland (2000) Yarrow and Topping (2001:262) note that peer feedback plays an important role in

"increased engagement and time spent on-task, immediacy and individualization of help, goal specification, explaining, prevention of information processing overload, promoting, modeling and reinforcement" In addition, using peer feedback can make the learners have more confidence as well as establish a social context for writing Peer feedback is helpful in developing critical thinking, learner autonomy and social interaction among students More importantly, the practice of peer feedback allows students to receive more individual comments as well as giving reviewers the opportunity to practice and develop different language skills (Lundstrom and Baker, 2009)

In the context of this case study, the givers and receivers of feedback or peer feedback work on-line Therefore, the feedback still keeps the above mentioned advantages; and it offers some more advantages including increasing the timeliness

of feedback, providing new learning opportunities for both givers and receivers of

feedback, humanizing the environment, and building community (Ertmer, Richardson, Belland and Camin, 2007)

2.5.4 Disadvantages of Peer feedback

On the other hand, some researchers such as Rollinson (2005), Hyland (2002) reveal that EFL students will sometimes question the purposes and advantages of peer feedback that is particularly not familiar with students who are accustomed to teacher-centered classroom The main criticism includes the argument that only those who are such qualified English teachers are the right people to give useful comments on students‟ writing Therefore, that argument can

be as a barrier to the success of peer feedback activity In fact, some students might not highly appreciate other students‟ comments because they think their English are

at the same level According to study of Storch (2005), one of the drawbacks of peer feedback is that the peers often focus on the product of writing rather than the process of writing because they tend to focus on errors at the sentence and word level Thus, the process of writing remains a private act, where writers are left to

their own devices when making important decisions about their text

Students tend to respond to surface errors instead of semantic or textual ones; they tend to give advice that does not facilitate revision; and they have difficulties deciding whether their peer's comments are valid L2 students may not trust their peers' responses to their writings because they are not native speakers of English However, despite of some criticisms, feedback in general is still highly appreciated

to a certain extent Therefore, in the context of this study, the researcher applies both the peer feedback from students and feedback from instructor to support the

learners as much as possible so that the learners can improve their writing skill

Despite the benefits of peer feedback, some researchers expressed certain skepticism about the peer feedback A number of studies challenged the strong positive comments about peer response and cautioned that some peers are likely to comment on surface errors and give advice that does not help revision (Bijami and Kashef, 2013) By carrying out research on the impact of peer and teacher feedback

on writing of secondary school EFL students in Hong Kong, Tsui and Ng (2000) discovered that all students prefer teacher feedback than peer feedback The main reason is that they assume teacher is the one who is qualified to provide them with useful comments Therefore, the teacher is defined as the only source of authority for giving the suitable comments Saito and Fujita (2004) report that a number of studies reveal a number of biases associated with peer feedback including friendship, reference, purpose(development vs grading) feedback (effects of negative feedback on future performance), and collusive (lack of differentiation) bias Storch (2005) claims another concern in which most peer responses focused on product rather than the processes of writing, and many students in L2 contexts focused on sentence- level errors as local errors rather than on the content and ideas

as global errors

2.5.5 E-feedback

In the electronic environment, the feedback that the reviewers use is called feedback Tuzi (2004) stated that Electronic response in academic writing course differs from traditional response in a number of areas such as it can be described to

e-be more distant, time and place independent, no pressure to quickly respond, less negotiation of meaning, less delivery effort From the literature, Tuzi summarized some benefits of e-feedback as follows: there is a reduction in paperwork problems like lost or forgotten papers Students can submit and retrieve their work online, and reviewers can respond online Thus, students will no longer lose or forget their work Teachers will not need to carry or possibly lose their students‟ papers (Palmquist, 1993; Sullivan, Brown, & Nielson, 1998) E-feedback helped the students be more honest in responding Because the reviewers could criticize peer writers without having to face the writers, the reviewers felt more comfortable stating their true thoughts (MacLeod, 1999) In other words, e-feedback increases the amount of student participation, reduces the role of the teacher, increases the amount of time students actually learn to write, and provides multiple and redundant responses for students

2.6 Social Networking Service and Facebook

A social networking service (SNS) is an online platform or medium used to establish social networks or social relations among individuals who share interests and activities Most social networking services allow users to share their opinions, interests, activities and events within their individual networks The SNSs are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet in various ways such

as e-mail or instant messaging According to Boyd and Ellison (2007), SNSs are web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view the pages and details provided by other users within

the system

Ahmad (2011) believes that SNSs have evolved as a combination of personalized media experience within social context of participation He makes a distinction between SNSs and other types of computer-mediated communications because in SNSs, profiles are publicly viewed; friends are publicly articulated, and comments are publicly visible

Facebook is one of the social networking websites that is based on the Web 2.0 application serving a large online community Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg to allow interactions among students at Harvard University Facebook is considered as one of the most popular social networking sites which allow users to post information, share pictures, chat with others, and collaborate within the system According to the August, 2016 ranking of eBizMBA Rank website, Facebook is ranked the first place among the top 15 Most Popular Social Networking Sites widely used worldwide (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google plus, Tumblr, Instagram,…) Facebook is also used the most in Vietnam and the number of Facebook users could reach over twenty two millions in

2013 (Minh, 2013) and the number of Facebook users in Vietnam was expected to reach 32.7 million in 2016, up from 25.6 million in 2015 (“Statistics Portal”, 2016)

The chart in Figure.1 below shows the number of Vietnamese Facebook users per year since 2014:

When students use Facebook as a tool for their study by spending time browsing profiles, meeting new people, and exploring relationships using the English language, they have more chances to cooperate with a large number of people worldwide and learn the target language at the same time Facebook‟s open property and resources indirectly create a community of learning and teaching; it is regarded as an important component of education in Social Constructivist theories Students can construct new knowledge after they interact with other people on Facebook When students receive comments and suggestions, they can use the information given to improve their language skills Apart from this, when students discuss on Facebook, they do not have to use their real names They can avoid face-to-face interaction thus lowering the level of anxiety (Murphy, 2009) Such a learning style can reduce the risk taking in language learning and enhance motivation of learning Besides the benefits given to the learners, Facebook can also provide many pedagogical advantages to teachers It helps the teachers make a connection with the learners about assignments, upcoming events, useful links, and samples of work originating from both inside and outside of classrooms

Millions of people access Facebook daily to connect with their family and friends, search information, or play games While students spend more time on socializing with their friends through Facebook, they have less time on self-studying on books or academic web sites Instead of being against the usage of Facebook, teachers can constructively employ them as tools for supporting students‟ continuous learning activities In this case study, the researcher presents the usage

of Facebook as a platform for learning English especially writing Facebook, a social media web application, is a part of the youth life and million student lives Students use Facebook for communicating with friends and playing games Since they use Facebook frequently and comfortably, we may exploit this entertainment-oriented site as an education entertainment tool

Although there are many tools available for e-learning, Facebook seems to be one of the most effective tools because students generally respond to discussions quickly and are comfortable enough in their "space" to share their information and opinions By using Facebook in learning, the role of students can therefore shift from only receiving knowledge to both searching and sharing their knowledge Moreover, interactions with teachers can become instant since teachers and students can respond quickly via Facebook It is worthy to realize, however, that teachers cannot use Facebook as a single teaching and learning tool Facebook still lacks features such as file submission and file sharing to support the complete learning process

According to Pempek, Yermolayeva and Calvert (2009), Facebook and other social networking websites like MySpace, Twitter, Zing Me that allow users to post profile information, such as a username and photograph, and to communicate with others in innovative ways such as sending public or private online messages or sharing photos online It facilitates interaction with others and gain comments from others or in other words, it involves public communication Teaching and learning

on a social network platform like Facebook is often considered innovative and different from traditional learning environment Facebook could be established as

an academically focused platform for students to interact on, to post their writing on walls and for teachers to join in on these discussions Facebook allows users to look

at what others have posted without requiring any specific response So Facebook would be considered as a platform for online language learning and teaching

According to Shih (2011), blended learning that combines online learning with face-to-face instruction can create a positive experience for both instructors and students; and it can facilitate online collaborative learning Students are able to converse with each other, question each other, give comments on each other‟s comments and works, and share opinions about various issues, which are aligned with the social constructivist theory That is the reason why the author of this research does this study on both online feedback by using Facebook platform and face-to-face learning environment Pedagogical, technological, and social interaction are the key factors for a technology-enhanced learning environment Thus, the author employed blended learning that combines the Facebook-based feedback with face-to-face instruction, which can be a new and feasible means for L2 teachers and learners to enhance their performance and satisfaction Facebook-integrated instruction can significantly enhance students‟ interest and motivation in learning

2.7 Group in Facebook for English Teaching and Learning

Facebook is used as a supplement to the learning course, students will learn the 21st century skills particularly, writing about certain topics and sharing it in the group A Facebook group is a page that any Facebook user can create that others can join, allowing group members to interact based on a common interest, affiliation or association Facebook groups may be open to anyone, or joined by invitation only A Facebook group allows its members to create a community by promoting, sharing and discussing common topics (definition from Techopedia). According to Facebook, groups are “for members of groups to connect, share and even collaborate on a given topic or idea” The main purpose of groups is to help Facebook users socialize around any topic or community There are some

important significant features Facebook Groups have the ability for administrators

to message members of the group directly Group chat is probably one of the most significant features of the Facebook Groups product All members of a group have the ability to engage in a single chat window or follow the revision history of the basic text documents that the users posted

Facebook closed group is selected to use in this study because the researcher

as a administrator can control admission of members to the group, students can share post their writing within the group and spread the information related to the topic they were studying to all members in the group with one share Closed-group pages are more private in the sense that closed-group pages can only be viewed by members within the group Some of the communication of the closed group members is social, about getting to know one another, congratulating other students

on achievements, birthday wishes, feelings and what students are doing; but much

of the communication is naturally about their studies, assignments, tests, what they are reading, their workload and teaching experience

2.8 Review of Related Studies

The use of the online social networking like Twitter, Facebook as a tool for academic purposes in addition to the social purpose has got much attention from the many researcher in the academic fields during the last decade Bosch (2009) explores student use of Facebook at the University of Cape Town, as well as lecturer engagement with students via the new social media The researched students perceived Facebook as a way of exchanging message Not surprisingly, the main purpose in which the students use Facebook is for social networking and seeking support from peers The FB uses for social connectivity is to keep members

of specific academic courses in touch with one another via the social networking website or share information among people who meet in the real world environment Students who were engaged in academic Facebook groups actively participated in these, and welcomed the use of the online social networking website for its academic purposes Davis and Yin (2011) also focused on another social

networking and that is the reason why they did a study on the use of Twitter tool to improve college students‟ business writing skills The result shows that Social Networking Twitter, which students are already using several times a day, can be harnessed to help students improve their writing skills while reinforcing the three concepts in business writing: briefness, clearness, and conciseness This point of Davis and Yin‟s research would raise the idea of doing the current study with the participants majoring Business English in COFER Meanwhile the feature of closed group of Facebook was also studied by Rodliyah (2016) He investigates how social media, in this case of Facebook, can be incorporated in ELT through e-dialogue journal writing shared in a Facebook closed group English Education Department

of a university in Bandung in Indonesia, The findings indicate that the students responded positively to this activity and perceived improvement in their writing especially in vocabulary and grammar The power of learning and sharing from others is also emphasized

Wasoh (2014) investigated whether Facebook would be an effective and easy teaching and learning tool in EFL writing classroom in Prince of Songkla University in Thailand The data was collected from the students writing assignments on Facebook The findings revealed that the use of Facebook in the teaching and learning of EFL writing English has been effective to a certain extent Students showed positive attitudes toward using Facebook as a means of learning grammar and writing As an alternative learning tool, Facebook offered students a convenient and attractive means to engross in discussion with the teacher and peers who had better grammatical and writing knowledge Nevertheless, Facebook could help them to increase their motivation and build confidence in learning EFL writing

as well

Dizon (2015) did a research on Japanese students‟ attitudes towards the use of Facebook in the EFL classroom Based on the study result, He suggests that the students perceived writing on Facebook to be a fun and engaging activity Facebook helped support an open and comfortable environment for language learning This

re-confirms the statement made by Jee (2011) regarding one of the affective benefits of Facebook “The friendly, fun environment of Facebook can help to reduce foreign language learner anxiety, especially in early stages of acquisition” Dizon‟s findings also correspond with the opinions held by the participants in Shih‟s (2011) study who viewed Facebook as an interesting and low-stress method

to learn English He insists that Facebook allowed the learners to easily comment and respond to others anytime and anywhere Hatane and Wijaya (2010), based on the research on the impacts and efficacy of social networks as part of e-learning in English department, Petra Christian university in Indonesia, claims that the feature

of Facebook discussion board gives some benefits to the students namely practicing their critical thinking, practicing their grammar and writing skills, practicing their non-verbal communication The students can join the discussion while opening their Facebook and most of students still prefer to do the discussion in Facebook rather than in class Teachers must familiarize themselves with Facebook and its various functions such as the discussion board as a way to integrate technology in their language classrooms Suthiwartnarueput and Wasanasomsithi (2012) studied Facebook as a Medium for Discussions of English Grammar and Writing of Low-Intermediate EFL 83 Students of a University in Thailand There is no official textbook or class for teaching or guiding grammar points as well as writing instruction The participants discuss grammar point that they do not know or the sentence structures, phrases or paragraph organization, etc and they got feedback from the teachers and Facebook users It might show that the participants would have learnt grammar and writing at somewhere and only discussed or asked about what they did not understand Therefore, Facebook is just a mean for discussion In the study of Kabilan, Ahmad and Abidin (2010), the authors investigated whether the students at universiti Sains Malaysia consider FB as a useful and meaningful learning environment that could support, enhance and/or strengthen their learning of the English language The study found that the students believed FB could be utilized as an online environment to facilitate the learning of English 71.6% of the

students in the research agreed that FB could be used to practice writing (mean score=3.81) in English Students had more positive opinion about the FB as an online learning environment because, they were able to use the language freely without worrying about making language mistakes (mean score=3.55) Over 72% of the students agreed that FB could an environment for enhancing students' motivation to communicate in English As for writing, 67.3% students concur that

FB is able to motivate them to do so 69.2% of the students had the opinion that FB could enhance their confidence to write in English (mean score=3.79) Most of the students said that writing in FB “create confidence”, “boost confidence” and “dare

to communicate in English” The students also demonstrated their ability to assimilate into the sociocultural practices in their own FB communities, to gain skills from the native users of the English language and engage in authentic written dialogues The authors also stated that with FB, the students would explore and become managers of their learning of English with the help of other members of

FB, and their teachers This aspect of using FB will be taken into consideration in the present study The findings of the study done by Karimi, Ahmad and Khodabandelou (2013) provide evidence that FB is an innovative language-learning platform The Facebook in most respects, positively and meaningfully enhances learners‟ knowledge and language skills particularly in terms of their grammar and writing skills

Keshta and Harb (2013) investigate the effectiveness of using a blended learning program on developing Palestinian learners‟ English writing skills The study findings showed that there were significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in the mean scores of the test in favor of the experimental group The findings also pointed out that there were statistically significant differences at (α ≤0.05) in the participants' achievement level before and after implementing the blended program

in teaching writing In the light of the authors‟ study results, the researchers suggesting adapting the blend in teaching English, holding educational courses and workshops for teachers in employing blended learning to enrich the teaching