MIND MAPPING APPLICATIONS IN PREWRITING STAGE TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITINGS UNITY AND COHERENCE AT CHAN MONG HIGH SCHOOL Áp dụng sơ đồ tư duy trong bước chuẩn bị viết để nâng cao tính mạch lạc và thống nhất trong bài viết của học sinh ở Trường THPT Chân M

English is spoken as the first language by nearly 400 million people and as the second language by 1.6 million people. As its popularity, our education system attaches special importance to teaching and learning English in many school levels from primary to university or higher education one. A plenty of programs and methods were introduced aiming at raising Vietnamese’s English skills. Along with the globalization trend, English has been considered as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of all state schools. In order to keep pace with the development of society, the need for good communication is put in one of the top demand for English language including writing skill. It is undeniable that writing skill plays a significant role in daily communication and educational process. In spite of its importance, writing has long been the neglected skill in second language for many years as writing is placed poor fourth. Writing skill is a component of language skill with important role in human life. Through writing activity, an individual can express his idea and thought to achieve purpose and objective. For that reason, writing skill is the language skill considered as most difficult to master compared with other skills. Pouring idea and thought into writing should consider the grammar rule corresponding to the correct spelling. However, while this activity is a part of language ability aspect, writing skill gets inadequate particular attention. Through writing, an individual can tell about idea, feeling, event, and object to others. For that reason, this ability should be taught appropriately in elementary school. But the reality proves that writing teaching is earned out incorrectly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis could not have completed without the help,encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve mysincere gratitude and appreciation

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to mysupervisor – Ms Vu Thi Quynh Dung for the valuable guidance andencouragement She greatly inspired me to work on this paper My graduationpaper cannot come to end without her effort to read it again and again to find outthe problems and support me in all stages of the research and writing this study

I am also very grateful to some English teacher at Chan Mong high school,Phu Tho province, who have been willing to answer my questions and have

given me valuable advice and suggestions on the research “Mind Mapping Applications in pre–writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at Chan Mong high school” and on the completion of my research.

I owe sincere and earnest thankfulness to all the students of the classes10A1 of Chan Mong high school, who have been the enthusiastic participants in

my action research They provided me valuable information by completing theconveying as well as doing the test Without them, my action research could notbeen completed and successful

In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my family andfriends, who have constantly inspired and courage me to overcome difficulties tocomplete this study

Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interest andcomments on this study

Thanks for all!

ABSTRACT

Based on the assumption that the more teachers know about brain science,the better prepared they will be to make instructional decisions

Mind Map is a powerful tool for assisting any form of writing Language

is an important device and a very beneficial means for human being tocommunicate with other people Writing is one of the language skills that willnever be left in education

The study identifies appropriate mind map techniques to enhance thestudents’ writing ability It reviews and examines the traditional techniques used

in teaching writing learners and identifies appropriate mind map techniquesalong with an application procedure to enhance the writing skill

This study objective is to test the feasibility of using mind map in writing stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school The researchercarried out the experiment by teaching English and gives two tests for students.The experiment phase continued for 4 weeks

pre-The participants of this study were 40 students at class 10A1 Prior toexperiment, participants of class 10A1 were given a pre-test in order to ensurecomparability of their essay writing Having introduced the mind mappingtechnique to members of class 10A1 (40 students) and finished the experimentperiod, a post-test was administered to measure the effect of the intervention forstudents The data were gathered through pre-test and post-test

The comparison between the pre and post test scores reveals asignificant difference in writing essay The results indicated that the students,who were taught through mind maps, improved unity and coherence; contentparagraph structure and length in writing The results manifested that themind map is effective to use in teaching pre-writing stage in class 10 of ChanMong high school

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Research Purpose and Aims 3

3 Research Questions 4

4 Significance of the study 4

4.1 Scientific significance 4

4.2 Practical significance 4

5 Related Studies 4

5.1 In the world 5

5.2 In Vietnam 6

6 Outline of the research 8

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 10

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 10

1.1 Overview of writing skill 10

1.1.1 Definition 10

1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing skills 12

1.2 Overview of pre-writing stage 14

1.2.1 Definition 14

1.2.2 The importance of pre – writing stage in learning writing 15

1.2.3 Techniques in pre-writing stage 16

1.3 Unity and coherence in writing 19

1.3.1 Unity 19

1.3.2 Coherence 20

1.4 Mind map 24

1.4.1 Definition of mind map 24

1.4.2 Classifications of mind map 26

1.4.3 Parts of Mind Mapping Technique 28

1.4.4 Relationship between Mind Map and Unity and Coherence in writing 29

1.4.5 Steps for Making Mind Mapping Technique 30

1.5 Summary of the chapter 31

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 32

2.1 Research methods 32

2.1.1 Theoretical method 32

2.1.2 Qualitative and quantitative methods 32

2.1.3 Analysis and synthesis methods 32

2.2 Subject of the study 32

2.3 Data collection instrument 33

2.3.1 Classroom observation 33

2.3.2 Interviews 34

2.3.3 Test 36

2.3.4 Mind map application in pre-writing stage (Experiment) 38

2.3.5 Data analysis 40

CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 41

3.1 An introduction of students and teachers at Chan Mong high school 41

3.2 Participants 41

3.3 The current textbook English 10 43

3.4.1 Data analysis of the class observations 45

3.4.2 Data analysis of the interview questions for teachers 47

3.4.3 Data analysis of the tests 50

3.5 Discussion 55

3.5.1 Discussion of the unity 55

3.5.2 Discussion of the coherence 56

PART III: CONCLUSION 60

1 Conclusion 60

2 Implication 62

4 Limitation of study 65

5 Suggestion for further research 65

REFERENCE 66

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

1 List of Figures

Figure 3.1 The results of entry exam in grade 10A1 English subject 43Figure 3.2 The percentage of score levels according to pre-test results 51Figure 3.3 The percentage of score levels according to post- test results

Figure 3.4 The percentage of score levels according to pre-test and

post-test results

5254

post-test results

53

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

English is spoken as the first language by nearly 400 million people and asthe second language by 1.6 million people As its popularity, our education systemattaches special importance to teaching and learning English in many school levelsfrom primary to university or higher education one A plenty of programs andmethods were introduced aiming at raising Vietnamese’s English skills

Along with the globalization trend, English has been considered as acompulsory subject in the curriculum of all state schools In order to keep pacewith the development of society, the need for good communication is put in one

of the top demand for English language including writing skill It is undeniablethat writing skill plays a significant role in daily communication and educationalprocess In spite of its importance, writing has long been the neglected skill insecond language for many years as writing is placed poor fourth

Writing skill is a component of language skill with important role inhuman life Through writing activity, an individual can express his idea andthought to achieve purpose and objective For that reason, writing skill is thelanguage skill considered as most difficult to master compared with other skills.Pouring idea and thought into writing should consider the grammar rulecorresponding to the correct spelling However, while this activity is a part oflanguage ability aspect, writing skill gets inadequate particular attention.Through writing, an individual can tell about idea, feeling, event, and object toothers For that reason, this ability should be taught appropriately in elementaryschool But the reality proves that writing teaching is earned out incorrectly

Writing learning aims to create the students with adequate writing skill.The objective of research was basically affected by many factors such aslearning method, teachers’ teaching ability, student condition, learningcircumstance, learning material, learning motivation, learning interest, and

learning media or aid Effective communication in learning process will affectthe students’ success in achieving adequate outcome Teacher can serveeffectively as a communication expert in the classroom.

Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English, English lessons aretaught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing) in one unit.Moreover, there exist three stages Pre – While – Post teaching in one lesson.This really helps students improve their skills beside the grammar exercises topass the exams Pre-writing stages are very important in teaching writing and italso has significant effects on the students’ writing performance Pre-writingactivities are supposed to the foremost phrase to start for a successful writingtask Moreover, pre-writing stage could considerably solve the problem of ideasstuck and raise the students’ interest in learning writing If students do notprepare well enough they can’t write well, they can’t even write anything intheir notebooks

Paragraph unity is the most important characteristic of a good paragraph.Students often got difficulties in stating idea or organizing ideas and connectingthe sentences when they wrote Their writing result often did not have clearmeaning or it could not be understood For example, they discussed more thanone topic in a single paragraph and the students could not use the appropriatepronouns or transition signals in the paragraph Therefore, the conditionautomatically made the readers confused with the paragraph and they would notget the information from the paragraph because it did not have unity and thesupporting details did not support the topic anymore and it was caused ofinappropriate words in connecting the sentences in the paragraph Further,paragraphs should also be coherent Coherence demands that the ideas orsentences presented in a paragraph should flow smoothly from one to the other.Paragraphs should not only be well-developed and unified but also coherent Inthis lesson you will learn about paragraph unity and coherence without which aparagraph cannot be called a complete composition

Mind mapping is the easiest way to develop information in a human mindand take information from out of brain It is a creative and an effective way thatmap our ideas Maps are easier to follow than the long tardy note taking orlisting techniques where ideas are kept in a top down sequence and it becomesdifficult to make connection of the last idea to the first in the list Mind mapscan work as tool to facilitate the learners to plan ideas in the pre-writing process.Learners can be provided with examples to prepare a step vise pattern inhierarchy that would help them retain ideas till the whole of the essay is written Mind-mapping techniques are good to be applied in the pre-writing stage toexplore ideas and generate thoughts on the topic for writing Mind-maps allowgathering concepts in relation to the main theme The concepts gathered thisway are coherent without the linear or inflexible structure of outlines, clustering

or listing ideas The use of mind map can present information using images,symbols, key words, codes and color to the level one wishes to do This type oforganization of ideas can capture the spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and visualintelligences of some learners As the content resembles that’s found on a topicoutline, the structure of the mind map is nonlinear and lends itself topersonalization by the student

Students in general and Chan Mong high school students in particular havedifficulty writing to create unity and coherence in their writing So, this the

reason why I decided to choose the title for my thesis: “Mind mapping

applications in pre-writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence at Chan Mong high school” as the title of my thesis.

2 Research Purpose and Aims

The aims of study consist of:

- Exploring the current situation of pre-writing stage in writing lesson forgrade 10 students at Chan Mong high school

- Designing and applying activities with mind-mapping techniques in writing stage for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school

pre Assessing the effectiveness of mind map techniques in prepre writing stage

to create unity and coherence for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school

5 Related Studies

In this part, previous researches about using mind map in pre-writingstage to create unity and coherence in writing lesson in Vietnam and overseaswill be presented

a sample of research, who were divided into two groups, i.e., experimental andcontrol The results of post-test showed that the members of the experimentalgroup had higher gains in their final writing Students in the experimental groupwrote on the posttest showed more relevant details and better organized andconnected ideas than paragraphs written by the control groups Most of thestudents in the experimental students drew mind maps by hand for the topic theyhad to write about to help them visualize and organize ideas.

Al Naqbi’s (2011) in “The use of Mind Mapping to develop writing skills

in UAE Schools” carried a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of mind map at

the pre-writing brainstorming stage under exam condition Actually, her primarypurpose was not to aim to the high results of the students, yet she aimed to helpstudents in planning and organizing ideas in writing She noticed that during theexam students performed differently due to the limited time when theyaddressed the writing test at school and thus she believes mind mapping strategycould assist students to eliminate difficulties in writing As a result, afterconducting the research, she found that students’ thinking and cognitive skillswere developed and students became better in organizing ideas, activating theirbackground knowledge This proved that mind map has a powerful effect onstudents in the pre-writing stage and it was worth teaching this technique to EFLstudents in classes

Riswanto and Putra (2012) in “The use of mind mapping strategy in the teaching of writing at SMAN 3 Bengkulu, Indonesia” conducted research in

Indonesia on the appropriateness of the mind mapping strategy while providingtraining in writing The design of pretest-posttest disparate groups was used bythe researchers As the study was carried out in the town of Bengkulu, 234students of the first year of SMAN3 were the population of the study during theacademic year of 2011/2012 A total of 66 students were selected as a sampleand divided into two groups The writing test was conducted in order to collectdata, and t-test was used as the tool for analysis of the data Results showed acompelling distinction was present in the writing accomplishment of thestudents taught with the use of the strategy of mind mapping Hence, it isevident from this study that writing achievement of students can be enhancedthrough the application of the mind mapping strategy

whether the techniques work to teach vocabulary at Division I The study beganwith the literature review on vocabulary teaching and the application of mindmaps and diagrams in teaching vocabulary Then the paper-based questionnaireswere delivered to students to explore the situation of the research problem Afterthat, the true-experimental method was applied in data collection procedures tofulfill the second aim of the research The findings of the study indicated thatmind maps and diagrams were applicable and effective to teach vocabulary atDivision I Therefore, the techniques were suggested to be exploited more in thecontext of teaching vocabulary for first year students

Do Thi Van Trang (2016) researched about “Using mind map to improve vocabulary knowledge for the first year English language teaching education students of FLF at HPU2”with the study aims at investigating the common ways

of learning vocabulary' and their difficulties in studying vocabulary; introducingthe mind- map technique to the first year English Language Teaching Education

at HPU2 as well First, to learn about the current ways of learning vocabulary, thesurvey questionnaire was conducted with 48 students of K41 English LanguageTeaching Education Second, a pre-test and post-test were done to appreciate thequality of vocabulary studying among these students before and after thetreatment during five weeks of the second semester of the 2015-2016 academicschool year Last, the classroom observation also was used to find whetherstudents like the technique Based on the results of these methods, the difficulties

of students in learning vocabulary have been found out as well as Mind Maptechnique was introduced received positive responds from students

Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) researched about “Enhancing the efficiency of the presentation through the use of mind mapping for K8 major English students in Hung Vuong University” with the study aims at researching

and valuating the use of Mind Mapping in enhancing the efficiency of apresentation They use pretest and posttest to survey the current situation thenpoint out the effective of using mind map in presentation for students The result

is quite satisfactory because the number of students getting low reducesconsiderably The marks of posttest are improved It makes the study moresuccessful

These above researches study about using mind map in teaching such as:using mind-map in teaching writing skill written by Jarf (2009), Al Naqbi’s(2011) and Riswanto & Putra (2012) and using mind-map to enhancing theefficiency of the presentation written by Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (2013) and usingmind map to teach vocabulary written by Dang Thanh Diem (2011) and Do ThiVan Trang (2016) Besides, the previous studies have also provided valuableinformation indicating that use mind map to help students improve skills such as

writing, presentation and learning vocabulary Moreover, those studiesinvestigated the effectiveness of applying mind map in teaching and developingskills above The researchers find out some new methods which are useful forteaching English at high school

However, there have no researches about using mind map in pre-writingstage to create unity and coherence for grade 10 students Moreover, this is thefirst time the study on mind mapping applications in pre-writing stage to enhancestudents’ writings unity and coherence in writing lessons of grade 10th students atChan Mong high school, Phu Tho province is carried out in Hung VuongUniversity So, I will choose research about this issue with hope that this methodcan help the lesson more and more vivid, effective to the teachers and students

6 Outline of the research

The study consists of three main parts:

Part I: Introduction

Part I – “Introduction” covers academic routines required for graduationpaper, namely rationale for the study, aims of the study, research questions,scope of the study, research methods, significance and an overview of thestudy’s organization

Part II: Development

This part consists of 3 main chapters

Chapter I – “Literature Review” provides the theoretical background ofthe study consisting of some basic knowledge of English pre-writing, mindmaps, unity and coherence in writing lesson for the grade 10th students

Chapter II – “Methodology” Research objectives, method of the study,instruments, data collection and data analysis are discussed in this chapter

Chapter III – “Major findings and Discussion” This chapter also analyzesthe data collected from classroom observation, interview for English teacher andresult of tests and discussion in details

Part III: Conclusion

This part summarizes the major findings of the study, pedagogical

implications of using mind maps in pre-writing stage, some recommendationsthat will be given to help students improve their writing skill, lists limitations ofthe study and suggestions for further studies

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In this chapter, the knowledge of using mind map in pre-writing stage tocreate unity and coherence, the theories, ideas and opinions related to usingmind map in writing lesson Beside, some previous studies in our country and inthe world related to the topic will be shown for readers to widen knowledge andget more information about other studies which have nearly similar topic withthe research

1.1 Overview of writing skill

1.1.1 Definition

In teaching a language, writing is considered one of the four languageskills (speaking, listening, reading) that a learner is expected master It has beenargued that the term writing seems to be very common and familiar in languageteaching and learning The ability to write fluently and expressively issomething that all language learners regardless of whether the language inquestion is a first, second language finds it hard to achieve All children, apartfrom those with physiological disabilities, want to write, in fact, need to write,before they want to read There have been numerous definitions of writing each

of them is the reflection of its author’s view of the writing process

Leki (1976) pointed out that writing is one of the four language skills(speaking, listening, reading and writing) that a learner is expected to master.Writing is the process in which the writer expresses his thoughts or ideas in theform of handwriting Writing is communicating Good writing gets your ideasout of your head and into the reader’s head without losing or distorting thoseideas To understand thoroughly the nature of writing, some more academicdefinitions of writing should be studied

Donn Byrne (1988), the author of “Writing and teaching writing” statesthat “Writing can be considered as the act of forming graphic symbols (letters or

combination of letters) which relate to sounds we make when we speak It issomehow like the making marks of flat surface of some kinds However, writing

is not just the production of graphic symbols, just as speech is more thanproduction of sounds” (1988:1) In other words, it is obviously much morecomplicated than the production of graphic symbols “ Writing is the process oftransforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial anderror, or whatever in to a message with a definite meaning” (1988:3)

Tribble (1996) stated that writing is a language skill which is difficult toacquire It is a process that occurs over a period of time, particularly if we takeinto account the sometimes extended period of thinking that precedes creating

an initial draft Tribble also stressed that writing normally requires some form ofinstruction and that it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure Hispoint of view, involved two kinds of skills The first one was low-level skillsuch as handwriting or typing, spelling, constructing grammatical sentences,organizing and sequencing, structuring, drafting and editing, the other one wasadvanced level skill such as writing a novel, a work or a play

Hedge (2000) described “Writing is the result of employing strategies tomanage the composing process, which is one of gradually developing a text Itinvolves a number of activities, setting goals, generating ideas, organizinginformation, selecting appropriate language, making a draft, reading andreviewing it, then revising and editing It is a complex process which is neithereasy nor spontaneous for many second language writers

In short, from all these opinions above, it is obvious that no definition canpossibly capture all the ideas and features of what writing is Each linguist’sdefinition reflects what writing means as seen from his own point of view

However, they all have some features in common, they share the sameideas that writing as a complex skill is one of the four basic skills in learning andteaching of English It is not only a means of communication where students canshare their views and thought, it is actually a pre requisite to master otherlanguage skills

1.1.2 Approaches to teaching writing skills

According to Nunan (1991), there are various ways to teach writing butthe two most common applied at present arc product and process approaches

1.1.2.1 The Product Approach

Traditional approaches to the teaching of writing focus on the product Inother words, the product approach is a traditional one that has been applied bymany schools, colleges and universities in Vietnam for a long time Thisapproach is differently defined by different educators

Nunan (1991) reviews that the product approach favors classroom activities,prefers organizations of ideas to ideas, emphasizes on grammar exercises andcorrectness, and focuses on the result of the final writing paper of learners

Accordingly, Steele (2006) states that the product approach is a traditionalapproach, in which students are encouraged to mimic a model text, which isusually presented and analyzed at an early stage

White (1988) defines the product approach as the emphasis ongrammatical correctness and adherence to given models or guidelines

Typically, the authors suggest the following steps:

Step 1: The teacher introduces a topic

Step 2: The students are told to complete a composition (within a time limit) and

to work alone

Step 3: The students submit the written work.

Step 4: The teacher grades the work, identifies errors, and hands back the work

to the students

Step 5: The students make corrections.

Step 6: The next writing class, the teacher repeats the above procedure.

However, if the product approach is applied, there are many obstaclesfacing the teachers and the students as follows First, imitating models mayinhibit students rather than liberate them Thus, there may be little or noopportunity for the students to add any thoughts or ideas of their own when they

follow a model as presented by Raimes (1983) The inevitable consequence isthat little attention is paid to the ideas and meaning of student writing, what itcommunicates to the reader, the purpose, and the audience (Raimes, 1983).

In short, most of the authors agree that product writing focuses more

on form than content, which may prevent the students from developing theircreativity and confidence in learning writing skills

1.1.2.2 The Process Approach

The process approach to writing, an innovation in a product-orientedculture (Cheung, 1999), has been seen as an improvement over the traditionalmethod of writing instruction in recent years

Leki (1991) states that the process approach is an approach to teachingwriting that places more emphasis on the stages of the writing process than onthe final product

According to Badger and White (2000) define: “writing in processapproaches is seen as predominantly to do with linguistic skills, such asplanning and drafting, and there is much less emphasis on linguistic knowledge,such as knowledge about grammar and text structure" (p 154) In the approach,students are taught planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing strategies

at each stage of the writing process to help them to write freely and arrive at aproduct of good quality

Steele (2006) also confirms that process approaches to writing tend to focusmore on the varied classroom activities which promote the development of

language use; brainstorming, group discussion, re-writing.

The above authors all share a number of stages in process writing as follows:

Stage 1: Students are asked to generate ideas by brainstorming and discussion.

The teacher remains in the background during this phase, only providinglanguage support if required so that this may not inhibit students in theproduction of ideas

Stage 2: Students extend ideas into note form, and judge quality and usefulness

of ideas

Stage 3: Students organize ideas into a mind map, spider-gram, or linear form.

This stage helps to make the hierarchical relationship of ideas more immediatelyobvious, which helps students with the structure of their texts

Stage 4: Students write the first draft This is done in class and frequently in

pairs or groups

Stage 5: Drafts are exchanged, so that students become the readers of each

other's work By responding as readers, students develop an awareness of thefact that a writer is producing something to be read by someone else, and thuscan improve their own drafts

Stage 6: Drafts are returned and improvements are made based upon peer

feedback

Stage 7: A final draft is written.

Stage 8: Students once again, exchange and read each other's work and perhaps

even write a response or reply

In summary, the process writing pays more attention to content,creative writing and different drafts; therefore, it needs efforts from both theteacher and students

1.2 Overview of pre-writing stage

1.2.1 Definition

Pre-writing is considered to be very important in teaching writing Inaddition, Richmond (1985) pointed out that pre-writing is the first stage of thewriting process and is also called the idea-generating stage which stretches back

to include anything that you have ever done or have ever been that might havegiven your ideas to write about

Olywadiya (1992: 3) defines pre-writing as “any structural experiencesthat influence active student participation in thinking, talking, writing andworking on the topic under the focus on a writing lesson, stimulating higher-level thinking as well as writing skills” According to him, this stage includessuch as activities, oral-written, brainstorming, debating, and interviewing, which

are not to get started, but recursive that is, they can be used over and over againduring the composing process

In addition, Liz Ham-Lyons (1987:139) claimed that, pre-writing as “itgenerally involves the writers in choosing a topic, in thinking about the topicand deciding on the way to respond to it, and selecting the appropriate ideas andinformation to use in a response.” Pre-writing is an awareness of the writertowards his subject, allowing him to draw on his experience to select andorganize these ideas Moreover, it can be seen that activities or experiencesdescribed in the pre-writing stage, “which can be group work or individualeffort”, may be “oral, written, or experiential in nature” (Adewumi, 1992:127).Most of activities, then, including brainstorming, free-writing, diagramming, etc,can be over and over again in writing lessons

To sum up, from these theories above, it can be understood that writing is a blanket for a wide range of techniques to start thinking about yourpaper before you begin the formal process of writing a draft Your writingprocess begins, in effect, the moment you read a writing assignment

pre-1.2.2 The importance of pre – writing stage in learning writing

As D’Aoust (1986:7) emphasized pre-writing stage helps writers

“facilitate the planning for both the product and process” The pre-writing stagefocuses on stimulating students’ creativity and letting them think about what towrite and how to approach the chosen topic To implement this stage effectively,Tricia, H (1996) suggests that teachers remind students of two importantquestions: the purpose of their writing and its audiences That is, students shouldkeep in mind the intended readers and content of the text when they make aglobal outline for their writing

According to Spack (1984:656), at this stage, students are trained to writedown, without worrying about errors and forms, whatever ideas coming to theirmind quickly, which gradually fasters their speed of writing Besides, pre-

writing activities help students prepare raw materials for the composing stage,and organize them in the best way, then, it develops students’ fluency

In addition, according to Downs (2000), pre-writing helps students “getkettle boiling” During this stage, students have an opportunity to take part ingood activities which help them to work out a general plan for their writing, tothink and to write about a particular topic quickly, the actual composing will bemuch easier Moreover, pre-writing can help students with their writing process

by starting them off on the right both intellectually and psychologically writing strategies help writers generate ideas and figure out a paper’ provisionalstructure; doing both of these things before they start writing a draft, which canhelp writers save significant time and energy Definitely, students will find itmore comfortable and relaxing to write a piece of writing Additionally, the pre-writing stage is an excellent way to avoid and overcome writers’ block andreduce the stress of getting started with a new writing project

Pre-In conclusion, the pre-writing stage plays an essential role in the writingprocess, which is supposed to be guidance for organizing and generating ideas inthe completing writing tasks For that reason, there is no doubt that pre-writingactivities should be used as a therapy to help inexperienced or incompetentstudents who tend to slow down their pace of writing by insisting on a perfectessay from onset

1.2.3 Techniques in pre-writing stage

Kroll (cited in McKee, 1981) emphasizes that without pre-writingguidance, students launch into ideas that they may have trouble expressing due

to limitations of linguistic forms Pre-writing techniques help get ideas on paper,though not usually in an organized form and brainstorm thoughts that mighteventually make way into writing If you decided to build yourself a house, youprobably would not begin by going to the lumberyard and loading your truckfull of lumber, bricks, and nails There is a lot of work to do before you get tothis point, including the drawing up of plans for what you want to build and the

determining of the building supplies that you will need In a way, the samegeneral idea applies to writing essays We use the term “pre-writing” to refer tothe work you do on your essay before you actually begin writing a draft of it.

Pre-writing is the most important of among steps: brainstorming, writing, mind-maps, drawing/doodling, asking questions and listing This is

free-when the student determines the topic they are writing about, the angle they aretaking, and the audience that they are targeting It is also the time for them tocreate a plan that will make it easier for them to write clearly and succinctlyabout their topic

* Brainstorming - Brainstorming is the process of coming up with as many

ideas as possible about a topic without being worried about the feasibility orwhether an idea is realistic or not

* Free-writing - This strategy is when your students write whatever comes into

their mind about the topic at hand for a specific amount of time, like 10 or 15minutes Students should not worry about grammar, punctuation, or spelling asthey write Instead, they should try and come up with as many ideas as theypossibly can to help them when they get to the writing process

* Mind Maps - Mind maps are a visual way to outline information There are

many varieties of mind maps that can be quite useful as students work in theprewriting stage Webbing is a great tool that has student’s write a word in themiddle of a sheet of paper Related words or phrases are then connected by lines

to this original word in the center They build on the idea so that, in the end, thestudent has a wealth of ideas that are connected to this central idea For example,

if the topic for a paper was the role of the US President, the student would writethis in the center of the paper Then as they thought of each role that thepresident fulfills, they could write this down in a circle connected by a line tothis original idea From these terms, the student could then add supportingdetails In the end, they'd have a nice roadmap to an essay on this topic

* Drawing/Doodling - Some students respond well to the idea of being able to

combine words with drawings as they think about what they want to write in theprewriting stage This can really open up creative lines of thought

* Asking Questions - Students often come up with more creative ideas through

the use of questioning For example, if the student has to write about Heathcliff'srole in Wuthering Heights, they might begin by asking themselves somequestions about him and the causes of his hatred They might ask how a 'normal'person might react in order to better understand the depths of Heathcliff'smalevolence The point is that these questions can help the student uncover adeeper understanding of the topic before they begin actually writing the essay

* Listing - Listing is probably the simplest pre-writing strategy and is usually

the first method writers use to generate ideas Listing means exactly what thename implies-listing your ideas and experiences First set a time limit for thisactivity; 5-10 minutes is more than enough Then write down as many ideas asstudents can without stopping to analyze any of them After they have generatedtheir list of topics, review the list and pick one item that they might like to writeabout Now they're ready for the next listing; this time, create a topic-specificlist in which they write down as many ideas as they can about the one topic theyhave selected This list will help they look for a focus for their paragraph

Most students will find that combining a couple of these strategies workwell to provide them with a great basis for their final product In fact, if astudent first asks questions, and then writes a detailed outline, they will find thatthe time put in up front will pay off with an easier paper to write that gets ahigher grade in the end

1.3 Unity and coherence in writing

1.3.1 Unity

1.3.1.1 Definition of unity

Unity means the paragraph has one topic to be discussed and then it isdeveloped by good supporting details According to Oshima and Hogue (1991:

29), every good paragraph has unity, which means that in each paragraph, onlyone main topic is discussed It means that unity in a paragraph will be showedwhen the paragraph only talks about one single idea After that, the supportingsentences of the paragraph should support the topic sentence directly

Shewan et.al (2003: 21) explains that all elements of a paragraph must berelevant to the central thought if unity is to be achieved They point out that tomake a paragraph unity; the writers definitely should think one central idea ortopic There is no another topic to think if the idea have been decided ordiscussed They should arrange it well in order to create the paragraph unity byadding the appropriate supporting sentences

Lee Brandon and Kelly Brandon said that "A good check on unity is to askyour-self if everything in your paragraph or essay is subordinate to and derivedfrom the controlling idea Make sure that your controlling idea the topicsentence or thesis indicates the subject and the focus on that subject "

In short, unity means “one-ness” When we talk about paragraph unity, wemean that you should discuss only one main idea in each paragraph.Furthermore, every supporting sentence in the paragraph must be directly related

to main idea It must directly explain or prove the main idea, which is stated inthe topic sentence Sometimes students write supporting sentences that are “offthe topic”

1.3.1.2 Ways to achieve unity

Unity is a very important characteristic of good writing Unity in a paragraphmeans that one paragraph is about only one main topic sentence A topic sentence,then, serves to introduce the topic and the controlling idea That is, all thesentences-the topic, supporting sentences, the detail sentences and (sometime) theconcluding sentence-are all telling the reader about one main topic

To achieve paragraph unity, a writer must ensure two things only First,the paragraph must have a single generalization that serves as the focus ofattention, that is, a topic sentence Secondly, a writer must control the content ofevery other sentence in the paragraph’s body that it contains more specific

information than the topic sentence and it maintains the same focus of attention

as the topic sentence If a paragraph contains a sentence or some sentences thatare not related to the main topic, then that paragraph lacks unity or the sentence

is off-topic

So, a unity paragraph must follow the idea mentioned in the topicsentence and must not deviate from it When a writer sticks to the topicsentence, it leads readers to a clear understanding

1.3.2 Coherence

Besides maintaining the unity in the text, the writers also should payattention about how to build the coherence It is important because a goodparagraph must have good connection between the sentences and naturally it canappear the unity at the end Coherence means all of the sentences are connectedeach other in the paragraph They are connected by the writers by using someparts of it, like transition signal, pronouns or repetition of key nouns

1.3.2.1 Definition of coherence

“Co” is a Latin prefix that means “together” or “with” The verb “cohere”means hold together” Traditional definitions of coherence focus on the idea thatthe product of the process of writing, namely, a text, should hang together in away that makes its content have some arrangement of order or sequence Such

an order or sequence is thought to be largely related to the connectednessbetween sentences or through using cohesive devices at the paragraph level Coherence in a paragraph according to Oshima & Hogue (1996) meansthat the paragraph is easy to read and understand because your supportingsentences are in some kind of logical order and your ideas are connected by theuse of appropriate transition signals In other word, it means that one sentencefollows another in clear, logical sequence Coherence allows the readers to movefrom one idea to the next, seeing the connection between ideas, and from oneidea to the next, seeing the connection between ideas, and the connection of theideas to the topic sentence Coherence is the factor that decides whether a

language product is a text or not and is the semantic, implicit relation inside thetext itself It is the relationships which link the sense of utterances in a discourse

or of sentences in a text

According to Tannen (1984), coherence is the underlying organizationalstructure that makes the words and sentences in discourse unified and significantfor the reader Literal, coherence means “to stick together” Coherence inwriting means that all the ideas in a paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence

to the next sentence and the ideas are connected so that the relationshipsbetween them are clear The ideas are not isolated from each other Thisexpected logical flow of ideas provides ease in reader comprehension (Hallidayand Hasan, 1976) With coherence, the readers have an easy time understandingthe ideas that the writers wish to express

It shows that the connection of the sentences in a paragraph should beconnected logically in order to avoid the jumping of ideas Between the onesentence and the next should be supported by good transition words orconjunctions So, the coherence of the paragraph can be achieved Meanwhile,Rockowitz et.al (2004: 168) said that coherence: to bring several related ideastogether around a central theme and in an organized manner It means that acoherence in a paragraph or text only develop the topic by connecting thesentences each other The writers should make the idea related to the topic bymaking relationship in the sentences logically in the paragraph So, thecoherence can be achieved in the paragraph or text

Furthermore, Lepionka (2008: 118) states that coherence is the quality ofsequentiality and integrity or togetherness It determines that the sentencesconnect in a logical order and they work together to develop the main idea is theparagraph Thus, the researcher concludes that coherence is a logicalarrangement of the sentences in making a paragraph The sentences must beconnected each other to build the coherence in the paragraph

To sum up, coherence is important to help students understand the needfor their writing, make clear the relation between the parts of a sentence,between entire sentences, or between paragraphs.

1.3.2.2 Ways to achieve coherence

Agree & Kline (1985) insist that in revising for coherence the writerneeds to use for specific writing techniques to show the relationship betweenideas The first technique is sentence combining In fact, it is one of the mostuseful tools in achieving coherence because it employs the most commondevices in the language for bringing out the relationship between ideas.Secondly, transition signals also need to be appropriately used This technique isclosely related to sentence combining Transition signals also help the readerfollow more easily the pattern of the writer’s thinking Thirdly, parallelism isanother key to achieve coherence in a paragraph When the writer wishes toshow that two sentences do the same work or hold the same relationship to thetopic sentence, he should arrange them in the same pattern If two sentences aredoing the same work, presenting theory about the same event, but their structure

is not parallel, the reader is not helped to see the similarity of their function Thelast technique is the repetition of key words This technique focuses the reader’sattention on the threads- the important ideas, as they move through theparagraph to make up the fabric of the discussion

Coherence properties come from text features that help readers tounderstand and link ideas on it To connect all the ideas in a text and to signaltheir relationship, skilled writers usually make use of five cohesive devices:pronouns, repetition of key words and phrases, transitional expressions, parallelstructures, and old/new information

Also, it is important to repeat a key noun instead of using a pronoun when themeaning is not clear.

Pronouns must be consistent with the nouns they replace in number,gender, and person Each pronoun refers to a single noun, called its

“antecedent’ A pronoun must refer clearly to its antecedent or anaphora “ageneric word may be used in definite sense, to refer to a thing, event, or attributethat has been discussed or mentioned in the text." A pronoun must agree with itsantecedent in person, number, and gender As such, the antecedent or anaphoricword must always be clear"

+, Repetition of key words or phrases

Deliberately repeating a key word, related words, or phrases will weavetogether the ideas within one or more paragraphs The repeated words or phrasesshould be related to the main idea of the text

The repetition of important words in a paragraph helps the readers tograsp the main idea of a paragraph

+, Transitional expressions

To indicate a connection between ideas, writers can use a wide variety oftransitional words, phrases, and clauses These transitions are like bridges thatcarry readers safely from one point to another Writers finish one completethought at a time and stop, and they signal that stop with an ending mark (usually

a period) at the end of the sentence Readers need to connect those individualsentences To help them to do so, writers sometimes put in a bridge to carry themacross the “space” between ideas Some, of the most frequently used bridges are

the conjunctions to join related independent thoughts: and, but, or, so.

+, Parallel structures

When a sentence pattern or other grammatical structure is deliberatelyrepeated, the writing is parallel Parallelism suggests similarity of meaningamong the repeated elements and thus helps tie them together

Parallel structure requires that sentences elements-words, phrases, and that are alike in functions be alike in structures as well

clauses-+, Old/new information

The old/new information establishes a simple principle: readers read moreeasily if each sentence starts with what they already know and proceeds on towhat they do not know English is a language with subject-verb-object wordorder English is most readable when sentences begin with a subject that refersback to some “old information” in the previous sentence and end with apredicate that provides some “new information”

In short, the five cohesive devices discussed above are devices throughwhich a writer achieves coherence in writing The first four cohesive devices areused to order elements in clauses and sentences but the old (given)/newinformation at the clause level have implications for the organization of theoverall discourse It improves students’ organizational skills in writing and itwill be discussed in detail in the next section

1.4 Mind map

1.4.1 Definition of mind map

According to Buzan (1993:1) mind mapping is a powerful graphictechnique, which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of brain Mindmapping technique imitates the thinking process, namely enabling us to movefrom one topic to another topic back and forth Recording the informationthrough symbols, pictures, emotional meaning and colors, it exactly does thesame like our brains process it The best mind mapping is colorful and usesmuch pictures and symbols; usually like an art

Mind mapping (or concept mapping) involves writing down a central ideaand thinking up new and related ideas which radiate out from the center Byfocusing on key ideas written down in your own words, and then looking forbranches out and connections between the ideas, you are mapping knowledge in

a manner which will help you understand and remember new information Touse Mind Maps effectively, make sure you print your words, use different colors

to add visual impact, and incorporate symbols and images to further spur

creative thinking Having an organized display of information from the outset ofthe writing process may help some students, as it is more easily converted into adraft, whereas in brainstorming, the random recording of ideas might lead toproblems with the structure of students' texts As Alamsyah (2009) explainedthat Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see therelationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together

as they proceed Mind maps work especially well when created in groups, sincethe discussion this engenders aids the production of ideas, and makes the tasklivelier and more enjoyable

A mind map is a kind of diagram which shows the hierarchicalrelationship of ideas Mind maps are brainstorming diagrams based on a centralidea or image […] Mind maps use a non-linear graphical form allowing the user

to build an intuitive framework around the central idea

Mind mapping is a pattern which at least consists of pictures, symbols andcolors It is a concrete graphic illustration which indicates show a single concept

is related to another concept in the same categories

A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in thecenter, to which associate ideas, words and concepts are added Major categoriesradiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of largerbranches Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to acentral key word or idea

1.4.2 Classifications of mind map

Trianto (2009) distinguished four kinds of mind map, namely: (1) networktree, (2) event chain, (3) cycle concept map, and (4) spider concept map

1.4.2.1 Network tree

Figure 1.1 Network Tree

The network tree starts with one item - center word that branches into two

or more, each of which branch into two or more, so on It looks like a tree, withtrunk and multiple branches

Network tree is often used to divide big categories into smaller andsmaller ones Using network tree help learners think step by step fromgeneralities to specifics

1.4.2.2 Event chain

Figure 1.2 Event chain

Event chain is visualization that shows the relationships between eventsand tasks and how the events affect each other

It can be used for giving an accident order, steps in a procedure, or steps

in a process It is suitable for visualization (a) some steps in a process, (b) somesteps in a lip liner procedure, and (c) an accident order

1.4.2.3 Cycle concept map

Cycle concept map is a graphical tool for organizing and representingknowledge in a circles or boxes On the other hand, it is suitable to show acorrelation how a combination is interacting to produce a group of resultrepeatedly which has no final result

Figure 1.3 Cycle Concept Map

1.4.2.4 Spider concept map

Spider diagrams organized in a neat and clearly structured layout aremainly used for planning (eg An article or story) or creating and provokingideas The biggest advantage of using this structure is that you have to thinkabout where you are going to position your ideas in relation to the central topicand the other ideas you are considering

Figure 1.4 Spider concept map

Again, there are many types of mind map Therefore, the choice of which

to use and how to use need to be considered carefully by both teachers andlearners It depends on the content of the language items to teach, the levels ofthe students’ understandings and knowledge, the facility and preparation andsuch However, there is no doubt that mind map is a helpful tool for organizingand learning things

1.4.3 Parts of Mind Mapping Technique

There are some parts of mind mapping (Windura, 2008:77-80) namely;central image, key word, basic ordering ideas, branches, color and picture

1.4.3.1 Central Image

A central image has to describe the main idea of a mind mapping and put

it on the center of the paper It is to activate the students’ right brain, strengthenthe students’ memory and make the learning activity enjoyable

1.4.3.2 Keyword

A key word is a word that can lead a sentence or event Identifying afamiliar word in one’s own language or another language that sounds like thenew word and using only one key word per line It is an urge to remember a lot

of words for the students It is a strong noun or verb that creates image to triggerthe recall of the memory

1.4.3.3 Basic Ordering Ideas

Basic ordering ideas are the branches that collect and sort information and

it connected to the central topic that radiates out from the center Making basicordering ideas can direct our mind to make a mind mapping and they needcreativity to encourage the students to understand to the material They are thinand thinner at the ends They can be seen as headings for your topic and spreadanywhere but do not become steep

1.4.3.4 Branches

The branches should be curvy and in the same length as the words orpictures above them These branches can be seen as sub headings There arethinner branches and contain details

1.4.3.5 Color

Color is a very good memory sign and it involves the right brain in learningfor long term memory Colors encourage creativity and help in memorization.Adding plenty of colors via branches, map background and images will add life toyour mind map It makes easier to comprehend and remember

1.4.3.6 Picture

In mind mapping, pictures can change or strengthen a key word that hasbeen written before

1.4.4 Relationship between Mind Map and Unity and Coherence in writing

Mind mapping is the easiest way to develop information in a human mindand take information from out of brain It is a creative and an effective way thatmap our ideas (Buzan, 2002) Maps are easier to follow than the long tardy notetaking or listing techniques where ideas are kept in a top down sequence and itbecomes difficult to make connection of the last idea to the first in the list

Essentially, writing is a way of expressing thoughts, and good writingcomes from good thinking and preparation Before student start writingsomething, it seems reasonable to offer them opportunities to think about thetopic in question Writing is an essential skill in the teaching and learning ofEnglish as a Foreign Language On one hand, it stimulates thinking, compelsstudents to concentrate and organize their ideas, and cultivates their abilities tosummarize, analyze, and criticize On the other hand, it reinforces learning,thinking, and reflecting on the English language (Harmer, 2001)

Nevertheless, students find composing in English difficult because thewriting process demands that they utilize many cognitive and linguisticstrategies of which they are uncertain (Peregoy & Boyle, 2005) Mind mapping

to help teachers and students organize information quickly by using drawings orkey words Mind map can be used across the curriculum for writing task, notetaking and problem solving This technique of drawing images and using keywords helps students remember things more easily because an image is verymemorable (Maccagnano, 2007:96)

In addition, Mind Maps can work as tool to facilitate the learners to planideas in the pre-writing process Learners can be provided with examples toprepare a step vise pattern in hierarchy that would help them retain ideas till thewhole of the essay is written Mind-mapping techniques are good to be applied in

the pre-writing stage to explore ideas and generate thoughts on the topic forwriting Mind-maps allow gathering concepts in relation to the main theme Theconcepts gathered this way are coherent without the linear or inflexible structure

of outlines, clustering or listing ideas The use of mind map can presentinformation using images, symbols, key words, codes and color to the level onewishes to do This type of organization of ideas can capture the spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and visual intelligences of some learners (Gardner, 1985, 1999) Asthe content resembles that’s found on a topic outline, the structure of the mindmap is nonlinear and lends itself to personalization by the student (Buzan, 1993)

1.4.5 Steps for Making Mind Mapping Technique

Buzan (in Purwoko, 2005:20) suggests many steps in how to make mindmapping, they are presented below;

1) Take a piece of white paper in a landscape position

2) Start by drawing a colored image in the center of the paper and write thekey word with capital letters

3) Choose a color and draw the main themes of the mind mapping on thethick branches radiating out from the central image

4) Add other main themes branches around the map

5) Make thick and colorful branches spanning out from your mind map.6) Write basic ideas about the key word and still use the capital letters

7) Add an image to all the main branches to represent each key theme andalso use images to visualize every important key word on your map

8) Let your mind mapping be as imaginative as possible

Moreover, generating a mind map has been a successful strategy forstudents Some students may remember the colors, words, and some mayremember the position of the information on the page Teachers can use manymeans such as pictures, overhead, and data show to promote students generatesuitable mind map for their writing tasks (Sprenger, 1999:65)

1.5 Summary of the chapter

In this chapter, all the concerning previous studies which related to study andtheoretical background of pre-writing stage, using mind map, unity and coherence,the advantages of using mind mapping in writing skill have been presented

Firstly, some theoretical background about writing skill, pre-writingactivities, mind map and unity-coherence basing on some linguistics scholarswas given by the researchers

Secondly, some previous researcher was given by the researcher

The next chapter presents and discusses the issues related to themethodology conducting the study It describes in detailed design of sectionoutline the subject of the research, discusses the data collection instruments frominterview, classroom observation and test

2.1.2 Qualitative and quantitative methods

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used and the data analysis iscollected in the study from many different resources as follows:

• Observation was used as a consideration to observe the student’s attitudes

• Interview was carried out with English teachers to get information aboutsome benefits and difficulties she or he may meet in using mind map in pre-writing stage

• Test for students: these tests helped researcher associate the improvement

of students before and after using mind map technique

2.1.3 Analysis and synthesis methods

The first part of the discussion starts with the analysis of the resultsgathered from the interviews with the teachers of concerning the resources ofmind map The second part of the data analysis deals with the results of theresearcher’s class observation at Chan Mong high school

2.2 Subject of the study

Some activities in pre-writing stage and apply mind-map technique in pre-writing stage to enhance students’ writings unity and coherence

2.3 Data collection instrument

2.3.1 Classroom observation

2.3.1.1 Cause of choosing observation

According Richards (1992) points out observational methods asprocedures and techniques that are based on systematic observations of eventsand often used in the studying language and classroom events Observation isaimed neither at assessment nor general findings, but exploring throughobservation aspects of what goes on in our classroom for the benefit of theteacher’ own development

In classroom observation, Andrea Helaine (1993) states that: Classroomobservation is a method of evaluating and recording specific information aboutwhat is going on within a class Administrators often implement observationperiods in order to improve classroom models and learn from other educators.Observing another teacher’s classroom and having your own class observed bothhave several educational purposes, including giving you the ability to describeinstructional practice, evaluate inequities that exist for a specific students orgroup of students, and improve your own classroom instruction

Teacher observations provide information that other means of evaluation

do not For example, the evaluator can observe the interaction between theteacher and students to determine whether the teacher has established rapport,treats students with respect and address questions effectively Observation alsooffer the opportunity to see whether the teacher uses effective teaching methods,has control over his class and is able to address the needs of all learners To bemost effective, teacher observations should not be announced in advance, lestthe evaluator observe an inauthentic environment

Another important reason is that this method helps to make the collectiondata more clarified and effective Such the above benefits urge the researcher tohave some classroom observations with the aims of finding out problems facingstudents in writing classes.

2.3.1.2 Observation description

The author of the study chooses some classes to observe She watched andfollowed all procedures and activities the teachers and the students wereperforming in the real class setting, which enables the researcher to elicitreliable data In the other words, it is a means to check the reliability of the datacollected for other sources

The observations were carried out six periods at three different units withdifferent teachers in these classes Each lesson lasted forty – five minutes, theresearcher has set a checklist for her observation including the students’ attitudetoward the teachers’ activities, their involvement in the activities and theirinteraction with each other while completing the tasks She also observes thestudents’ interaction to pre-writing activities employed in the lesson as well astheir preferences for these techniques

For observations, three writing lessons are chosen to be observed belong

to Part D (Unit 11, 12 & 13) In unit 11, the topic writing is to write a letter ofacceptance or refusal The task of writing in Unit 12 is to write about the lifestory of famous person, using the fact and figures that has presented in thetextbook 10 And the other writing in Unit 13 has several small tasks It is towrite about describing a film These tasks in this part include 2 tasks: Task 1:read the following description of the film Titanic, and then answer the questionsbelow Task 2: Write about a film you have seen based on the information fromprevious tasks The purpose of choosing these units is that the researcher wouldlike to observe how the teacher deal with writing tasks and what activities theteachers used at the pre-writing stage in writing lessons Thus, an observationchecklist for observation of writing lessons of 10th grade students wasbeforehand prepared (see appendices 1)

2.3.2 Interviews

2.3.2.1 Causes of choosing interview