A study on perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio among english – majored sophomores in faculty of foreign languages, hanoi pedagogical university 2

LIST OF THE TABLES AND FIGURES Tables: Table 1 Students‟ ranks of writing aspects to be focused when writing English Table 2 Students‟ views towards their English writing Table 3 Student

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

PHAN THI KHANH HOA

A STUDY ON PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF

WRITING PORTFOLIO AMONG ENGLISH –

MAJORED SOPHOMORES IN FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

BACHELOR THESIS

Major: English Language Teaching

Hanoi, 2019

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

PHAN THI KHANH HOA

A STUDY ON PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF

WRITING PORTFOLIO AMONG ENGLISH –

MAJORED SOPHOMORES IN FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

BACHELOR THESIS

Major: English Language Teaching

Supervisor: Pham Thi Tuan

Hanoi, 2019

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Pham Thi Tuan She is very enthusiastic to give me the valuable suggestion for the problems that I had during the process of doing the research

Besides, I would like to extent my appreciation to all the lecturers at Faculty

of Foreign Languages for their help and support

My special thank also goes to the second-year students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 If it hadn‟t been for their support, I wouldn‟t have completed the research on time

Last but not least, I am grateful to my close friends for their contribution to

my study

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Tittle:

A STUDY ON PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF WRITING PORTFOLIO AMONG ENGLISH – MAJORED SOPHOMORES IN FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI PEDAGOGICAL

UNIVERSITY 2 (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of arts in English)

I certify that no part in this study has not been copied by me from any other person„s report without acknowledgment and this work is written by my best under the instruction from my supervisor

Date of submission: May, 2019

ABSTRACT

Writing is considered to be one of the most challenging skills in leaning a foreign language Thus, having an effective writing learning strategy is a big concern of many language learners Among writing learning tools, writing portfolio

is one of the most popular tools that learners use in their English learning The study was to identify students‟ perceptions towards their writing learning and the use of writing portfolio The research was carried out among 60 second-year English-majored students in Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

To achieve the research aims, survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for analysis The research findings showed that the use

of writing portfolio had certain positive effects on students‟ writing learning Besides, students had both positive and negative views towards this learning tool The research also suggests some implications for the use of writing portfolio in students‟ writing learning

Key words: Writing, writing portfolio, perceptions

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 HPU2: Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

2 FFL: Faculty of Foreign Language

LIST OF THE TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables:

Table 1 Students‟ ranks of writing aspects to be focused when writing English Table 2 Students‟ views towards their English writing

Table 3 Students‟ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio

Table 4 Students‟ views towards other benefits of using writing portfolio

Figures:

Figure1 Students‟ frequency of English writing practice

Figure 2 Students‟ time spent on practicing writing English

Figure 3 Writing steps that students follow when practice writing English

Figure 4 Students‟ difficulties when writing English

Figure 5 Aspects of writing students often make errors in

Figure 6 The students‟ purposes of keeping a writing portfolio

Figure 7 Students‟ frequency of writing when using portfolio

Figure 8 Students‟ time spent on their portfolio

Figure 9 Students‟ writing process when using portfolio

Figure 10 Students‟ opinions about the effect of keeping a writing portfolio on

their writing

Figure 11 Students‟ opinions on keeping a writing portfolio

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

ABSTRACT ………iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF THE TABLES AND FIGURES vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

PART A INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Significance 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Aims of the study and Research questions 2

5 Methods of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1 An overview of writing 4

1.1 Definition of writing 4

1.2 The importance of writing 4

2 An overview of writing portfolio in writing learning 5

2.1 Definition of writing portfolio 5

2.2 The types of writing portfolio 6

2.3 The effects of writing portfolio on writing skills 7

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 10

1 Participants 10

2 Data collection instruments 10

2.1 Survey questionnaire 10

2.1.1 Reasons for using Questionnaire: 10

2.1.2 Description of questionnaire 10

2.2 Interviews 11

2.2.1 Reasons for using Interview 11

2.2.2 Description of interview 11

3 The procedure of data collection 12

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 13

1 Students‟ perceptions towards their writing learning 13

1.1 Students‟ frequency of English writing practice 13

1.2 Students‟ time spent on practicing writing English 14

1.3 Writing steps that students follow when practicing writing English 15

1.4 Students‟ ranks of writing aspects to be focused when writing 15

1.5 Students‟ difficulties when writing English 16

1.6 Aspects of writing students often make errors in 17

1.7 Students‟ views towards their English writing 18

2 Students‟ perceptions towards using writing portfolio in writing learning 20 2.1 As for the group of students using writing portfolio in writing learning 20

2.1.1 The students’ purposes of keeping a writing portfolio 20

2.1.2 Students’ frequency of portfolio writing 21

2.1.3 Students’ time spent on their portfolio 21

2.1.4 Students’ portfolio writing process 22

2.1.5 Students’ opinions about the effect of keeping a writing portfolio on their writing 23

2.1.6 Students’ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio 24

2.1.7 Students’ views towards other benefits of using writing portfolio 25

2.2 As for the group of students not using writing portfolio in writing learning27 2.2.1 Students’ opinions on keeping a writing portfolio 27

2.2.2 Students’ intention in using writing portfolio in the future 27

3 Implications 28

3.1 Recommendations on format of portfolio 28

3.1.1 An overview of format of writing portfolio 28

3.1.2 Recommendations for learners 29

3.1.3 Recommendations for teachers 29

3.2 Recommendations on the use of writing portfolio 29

3.2.1 Recommendations for learners 29

3.2.2 Recommendations for teachers 29

3.3 Other implications 30

PART C: CONCLUSIONS 31

1 Major findings 31

2 Limitations of the study 31

3 Suggestion for further study 31

REFERENCES 33

APPENDIX 36

PART A INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English, nowadays, has become the international language In many countries, it is the second compulsory language taught at schools When studying English, students try to learn and to master four skills including reading, writing, speaking and listening Writing is considered as the biggest barrier on the way to be master of English Writing is the process of representing language in readable and understandable forms (Gameel, 2016) In learning a foreign language, writing skill

is believed to foster students‟ creativeness and critical thinking Students have to present their ideas via manipulating their vocabulary and grammar flexibly to create their own works In addition, learning writing enables students to write curriculum vitae when they apply for a job, to write reports and other written documentations

However, making a good writing is the process demanding a lot of learners‟ efforts and time to improve their language competence Consequently, most of language learners have considered writing the most challenging task There are a lot

of problems facing them when learning writing skill as follows: Firstly, they often tend to translate mechanically from Vietnamese to the target language This negative transference leads to ungrammatical sentences, even lack of coherence and cohesion Learners, especially freshman, often make common errors on simple sentences, the agreement between the subject and the verb or wrong use of transition signals, for example Secondly, students often tend to learn specific genres of writing, for examples, the formal letter, the informal email and a job application letter Obviously, learning these kinds of writing is essential for exam success, but it does not always encourage them to write in relaxing and creative way Last but not least, the assessment of students‟ writing abilities, in fact, mainly focuses on the result of formal examinations rather than the learning process Therefore, students are likely not to frequently practice writing in order to build the writing habit These are the reasons why the quality of students‟ performance needs improving

Writing portfolio provides students with good opportunities to improve their writing skills individually and good chances to record their thoughts and feelings (Ngoh, 2002) Lagan (2000), as cited in Ali (2017), mentioned to the merits of writing portfolio that “writing a portfolio will help you develop the habit of thinking

on paper and show you how idea is discovered in the process of writing Due to its

advantages, writing portfolio was considered as an additional useful tool in language writing learning

There were many previous researches about the use of writing portfolio in learning, and teaching writing carried out in a wide different range of subjects However, up to now, there has not been any research conducted on the students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 This inspires me to do this research with a view to enhancing EFL learners‟ writing skill at HPU2

2 Significance

Writing portfolio could be used as an additional writing learning tool in order

to help students to develop writing habit The findings of the study could help me make a decision whether I should keep doing writing portfolio as a habit in myself writing learning and use this learning tool for English writing classes I may teach in the future as well Moreover, this study could be used as the reference for future experiments

3 Scope of the study

The study is limited to investigating “A Study on Perceptions Towards the Use of Writing Portfolio Among English – majored Sophomores in Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2” Therefore, the study is carried out on the subjects of 60 second-year English-majored students at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

4 Aims of the study and Research questions

4.1 Aims of the study

The study “A Study on Perceptions Towards the Use of Writing Portfolio Among English – majored Sophomores in Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2” is carried out with a view to:

- determining the students‟ perceptions towards their writing skills

- determining students‟ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio including frequency, accuracy, amount of time, writing process, and other integrate skills

4.2 Research questions

What are the FFL‟s second-year students‟ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio in writing learning in Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2?

5 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, the methods that have been applied are survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews The participants of the study are the second year English-majored students at FFL, HPU2

6 Design of the study

This study is divided into 3 parts as follows:

Part A, Introduction, offers an overview of Rationale, Aims of the study,

Research questions, Scope of the study, Methods of the study and Significance of the study

Part B, Development, gives information on Literature Review,

Methodology, Findings and Discussion and Implications of the study

Chapter I, Literature Review, presents theoretical background knowledge

about Writing portfolio and major findings of the previous studies

Chapter II, Methodology, describes in detail the Participants, Research

instruments employed and Procedure of data collection analysis

Chapter III, Findings and discussion, analyzes gathered data and presents

discussion of research results, and Implications

Part C, Conclusion, reviews Major findings, Limitations and Suggestion for

further study

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents theoretical background of the study including the theories of writing, the definitions of writing portfolio, types of writing portfolios

1 An overview of writing

1.1 Definition of writing

Writing is one of the four language skills besides listening, speaking and reading in learning a foreign language Tiwari (2005), as cited in David (2013) defined writing as a process of converting thought into written language In other words, writing is the expression of ideas, thinking or feeling in words on the piece

of paper In addition, good ideas, well organization and appropriate style are necessary factors that students need to have in the process of writing Nunan (2003),

as cited in Gameel (2016) stated that writing is the mental work of producing ideas, brainstorming how about to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader

Gaith (2002), as cited in Blanka (2014) claimed that writing is a complex process that enables writers to explore thought and ideas, and make them visible and concrete on the piece of paper Writing offers a good opportunity to generate ideas and gain information By writing, students can express their thoughts and feelings to others

From the definition above, it can be concluded that writing is process of transforming writer‟s inner thought into readable form

1.2 The importance of writing

The written language has nowadays an important social and education function and it has a high social status (Urbanova and Oakland, 2002) In language learning, the important role of learning writing is undeniable Writing enables students to express their personality, helps students to develop thinking skill and gives them a chance to later reflect on their ideas and re-evaluate them (Chappell, 2011) As Walsh (2010) said that “writing is important because it is used extensively in higher education and in the workplace It is likely seen as a mean of communication of students Much of professional communication is done in

writing: proposals, reports, applications, interviews, e-mails, and more are parts of daily life of students.”

Blanka (2013) claimed that writing has a unique position in writing learning since it acquires a practice and knowledge of other three language skills, including listening, reading and speaking If students know how to express themselves in writing, they will be able to communicate well with professors, employers, peers, or just anyone else In addition, the weaknesses in English proficiency, especially in writing skill, can have influence on conveying their knowledge which is acquired from other sources of reading or listening (Morinosadat, Mohamad, & Elham, 2013)

Strong writing skills may enhance students' chances for success (Alexander, 2008) In discussing the significance of writing to learning, Suleiman (2000), as cited in Elizabeth (2002) also stressed that writing is an essential factor of language Any reading and language curriculum must think about the multidimensional nature

of writing in instructional practices, evaluation procedures, and language development Hansen's (2002), as cited in Mohammed (2012) stated that academicians and business people view writing skill as crucial, yet increasing numbers of these professionals note a steady attrition in the writing abilities of graduates

Alexander (2008), as cited in Luu (2010) believed that “writing skills are the primary tools for communicating knowledge, especially in educational settings The capacity to communicate specifically may prove to be an achievement in life chances On the other hand, the ability to represent oneself well on paper will help him secure a job or higher educational chances after graduation.”

In summary, the role of writing in life, especially in studying a foreign language, is obviously important Writing well may open the door to progress in almost any field a person might opt for in the future

2 An overview of writing portfolio in writing learning

2.1 Definition of writing portfolio

An extensive review of literature has multiple definitions for writing portfolio (Bailey, 1990; Bain, 1999; Spaventa, 2000; Curtis & Baily, 2009; Barjesteh, Vaseghi, & Gholami, 2011) For instance, Bailey (1990), as cited in Hanah, Rahima, Nowreyah, Andulmohsen (2015) defined writing portfolio as “a first-person account of a language learning or teaching experience, documented

through regular, candid entries in a personal portfolio” In Curtis & Baily (2009), a portfolio is described as a daily written record of personal thoughts and feelings which seems to be important to the writer which is not set for publication Additionally, recently researchers viewed portfolio as a writing activity where writers can freely write about their topic of interest without the fear of evaluation (Barjesteh, Vaseghi, & Gholami, 2011)

Another similar view on portfolios was argued that student learning portfolios “can be seen as a hybrid genre of writing” between “life narrative” and the “university essay” (Crème, 2008) Keeping writing portfolio offers learners transitional learning space that enables creative activity, fosters autonomy, and motivates learners to take responsibility for their own learning (Hamp, Lyons & Heasly, 2006; Marefat, 2002) In this regard, Barnett (2005), as cited in Geoffrey, Karen, Peter (2013) considered writing portfolio as “critical space” which provides students the guidance, setting and time needed to explore ideas and expand their critical thinking activity Furthermore, learners are encouraged to write freely, about

a range of topics, how they feel about a topic This makes them to become more fluent writers

2.2 The types of writing portfolio

Roger (2001) classified writing portfolio content into nine categories, namely:

i Learning portfolios are typically handwritten entries in notebooks or

pads of paper that record thoughts, reflections, feelings, personal opinions, and even hopes or fears during educational experience

ii Diaries are typically notebooks, booklets of blank pages, or any other

sources for students to record thoughts, reactions to learning experiences, and even innermost fears about learning activities

iii Dream Book or Log is usually used to recording people‟s dream

experience This usually involves keeping a recording device (such as a tablet, notebook, and even tape recorder)

iv Autobiographies, Life stories, and Memoirs reveal the heart and soul

of human existence, promote a sharing of experiences with others by examining similarities and differences between individual life histories

v Spiritual Portfolios normally involve recording personal reactions to

spiritual or religious matters

vi Professional Portfolios have very specific purposes

vii Interactive Reading Log provides a mechanism to for a student to

reflect critically on information as it is read

viii Theory Log is considered as reading theory critically (Brookfield,

1995)

ix Electronic Portfolio is usually used in recording students‟ insights or

reflections in electronic form

According to Gameel (2016), there are three types of portfolios which can be used in ESL/EFL settings:

i Dialogue portfolios serve as way of conversation written down but they

also provide ESL students with sources for language and writing improvement (Peyton, 1987)

ii Literary portfolios record the students‟ response to particular paragraph

from a literary text

iii Subject portfolios serve as responses to background readings such as

biographies, or personalized dictionary of literary and linguistic terms

Although there were many other researchers‟ classifications, this study mainly followed Roger‟s classification of writing portfolio

2.3 The effects of writing portfolio on writing skills

Writing is regarded as the most complex skill to learn and teach It is the combination of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to express the writer‟s ideas Harmer (2004), as cited in Hanah, Rahima, Nowreyah, Andulmohsen (2015) claimed that the process of making a good writing was much more complex than speech To be a writing master, a writer needs to master all the necessary features, including rich vocabulary, using a wide ranges of grammar structures, and knowlegde of the mechanics of writing (Bitchener, 2008) This demands a lot of learners‟ efforts and time to improve their language profiency

Lagan (2000), as cited in Ali (2017) suggested that “the more you practice writing, the better you will write” In other words, language learners need to write

as frequently and regularly as possible to make it “routine writing workout” (Uduma, 2011) “Meanwhile classroom writing is an essential requirement in academic curriculum, having a writing learning tool outside the classroom can be useful to enhance students‟ writing skills” (Chanderasegaran, 2002) One way to practice writing at home is using writing portfolios which “are notebooks in which

writers keep a record of ideas, opinions, and description of daily life Portfolios help writers develop their creativity” (Spaventa, 2000)

Writing portfolio is a very interesting writing learning tool, useful in ESL/EFL writing classes (Allison, 1998) Confirming this claim, Gameel (2016) stated that it primarily gives students an opportunity to think deeply on paper, confidently to express their ideas, emotions, observations without criticism Marefat (2002), as cited in Chui (2012) referred to writing portfolio as an “exercise in self-reflection about learning itself” Moreover, writing portfolio helps to promote the relationship between students and teachers through regular communication over a course, semester or school year While in-class writing tasks likely make students nervous, writing portfolio can minimize the distance between the students and the teachers (Luu, 2010) Ngoh (2002), as cited in Luu (2010) supported that portfolio writing can create a positive learning atmosphere along with a high learning stimulation

Research findings suggested that keeping writing portfolio improves students‟ writing ability For example, in Indonesia, Wafa, Siafei & Riyono (2010),

as cited in Geoffrey, Karen, Peter (2013) investigated the effect of writing portfolio

on 38 10th grade EFL students at SMA NI Jekulo Kudus They wanted to know whether there is significance progress in students‟ writing ability after keeping writing portfolio The instruments used in their experiment are pre-test, post-test and students‟ writing portfolio The results indicated that students‟ scores increased

by writing portfolio It encouraged students‟ imagination and also helped to enrich their vocabulary Students were more excited to express their thoughts, feelings and much less afraid when they make mistakes They gave conclusions that overall students‟ writing ability is improved Portfolios as effective tools made a significant contribution to the students‟ writing improvement However, the limitation of the study was that students still have difficulties with grammar and vocabulary

Similarly, to figure out whether writing portfolio enhanced students‟ writing skill and whether it promotes students‟ writing attitudes, Luu (2010) conducted a study on 85 second-year university students who take a writing class The study mainly focused on students‟ writing proficiency level in terms of fluency and accuracy The experimental group kept writing portfolio as inside class as well as outside class activities whereas the control wrote normal essays only The pre-test‟s and post-test‟s results revealed that the experimental group show more writing accuracy compared to the control Also, the writing fluency of the experimental

group was higher than the control group Writing portfolio as an extensive activity boosted students‟ writing skill and their motivation

These previous researchers showed the undeniable benefits of keeping writing portfolio that other inside class learning tools infrequently do It enabled students to write regularly in order that they can build writing habit Lagan (2000),

as cited in Ali (2017) wrote about the merits of writing portfolio: “Portfolio writing will help you get into the habit of thinking on paper and show you how ideas can be explored in the process of writing A portfolio can make writing a familiar part of your life and can serve as a continuing source of ideas for papers.” Charles (2005),

as cited in Maryam, Mohd (2013) pointed out that the major advantages of the writing portfolio scheme were to increase students‟ positive attitudes and their interest towards English writing Luu (2010) considered writing portfolio as one type of creative writing that can help students brainstorm ideas and write more competently and accurately What is more, many other researchers found positive connections between regularly writing and the development of fluency (Casanave, 2011; Cowler, 2010; Liao & Wong, 2007; Piazza, 2003)

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

1 Participants

The study is limited to investigate “the students‟ perceptions towards the use

of writing portfolio in writing learning” to the second – year English majors at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 Therefore, 60 EFL students from K43 Class at Faculty of Foreign Languages were chosen to participate in the study Most of their writing proficiency is average and they have learned English for 10 years at least

2 Data collection instruments

Data was collected by two main instruments: survey questionnaire and

interviews

2.1 Survey questionnaire

2.1.1 Reasons for using Questionnaire:

This study used questionnaire to collect the data in quantitative form which focuses “rigorous quantitative analysis” (Kothari, 2004) He said that questionnaire

is not only practical but also can be carried out by the researcher or by any number

of people Large amounts of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short period of time and in a relatively cost effective way The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified by the researcher and can be analyzed more scientifically and objectively than other forms of research

In part III, students‟ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio in writing learning, there were 2 groups of questions:

Group 1, questions from 2 to 10, for those who have kept writing portfolio to learning writing, students gave some their opinions towards the use of writing portfolio

Group 2, questions 11 and 12, for those have not used portfolio entries, participants gave the reason why they did not use writing portfolio in writing learning

2.2 Interviews

2.2.1 Reasons for using Interview

This study also investigated perceptions of some students when using writing portfolio in writing learning Therefore, it employed interviews to understand some such information as: changes of emotions, behavior and feelings Moreover, interviews could obtain “in-depth information” (Amin Marwat, 2010) about a topic The researcher could “enter into the inner world” (Amin Marwat, 2010) of others

In other words, the researcher could “enter into the inner world” (Amin Marwat, 2010) of others

2.2.2 Description of interview

Students were asked to answer a number of questions about the perceptions towards their writing learning and the use of writing portfolio in writing learning Semi-structured interview was employed to clarify the students‟ perceptions towards the use of wring portfolio Semi-structured interviews could obtain “more specific information” which could not gathered by using survey questionnaire

There were 10 interview questions

Three first questions, the interviewed students were asked about their frequency of English writing practice, difficulties in English writing practice and what aspect of writing they focused on most when practice writing

The following questions were divided into two groups of questions:

Group 1, questions from 5 to 8, for those who have kept writing portfolio to learning writing, students gave some their opinions towards the use of writing portfolio

Group 2, questions 9 and 10, for those have not used writing portfolio, participants gave the reason why they did not use writing portfolio in writing learning

The answers were note-taken and discussed

3 The procedure of data collection

At the beginning of April 2019, survey questionnaires were delivered to 60 students of K43 at FFL, HPU2 The instructions were also given to help the respondents give objective answers Students circled one appropriate alternatives and ticked () the appropriate boxes for closed-questions That was to survey students‟ perceptions towards their writing learning and towards the use of writing portfolio in writing learning

Then, in order to have a deeper understanding and further data, twenty students were asked to answer a number of questions in semi-structured interviews

Finally, all survey questionnaires and note-taken interview answers were gathered carefully for later analysis

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This part will summarize the results of the study about the perceptions of second-year English-majored students towards the use of writing portfolio in writing learning (at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2)

The results will be organized and analyzed in 2 parts: Students‟ perceptions towards their writing learning before using writing portfolio and Students‟ perceptions towards the use of writing portfolio in writing learning

1 Students’ perceptions towards their writing learning

On being asked about their writing scores at last writing course, 5% students claimed that their writing scores were in range from 3 to 5 Another 55 % students said that they got mark 6 or 8 at last writing course The other 40% students said that they got mark between 8.5 and 10 It means that most of their writing competency is good When they were asked about the importance of learning writing, 100% students appreciated the importance of learning writing Below are details of their perceptions towards their writing learning before using portfolio entries

1.1 Students’ frequency of English writing practice

Figure 1: Students’ frequency of English writing practice

As for the question “How often do you practice writing English?”, the majority of surveyed students (50%) practiced writing in English once a week Meanwhile, almost a quarter of participants (22%) answered that they wrote English twice a week 12% students said that they practiced writing once a month The

proportions of students practiced writing every day and twice a month are the same (8%)

On being interviewed, the majority of students said that they practiced writing English once a week due to their laziness Some of them admitted that they were not interested in writing That was the reason why they just practiced writing once a week 13 out of the students said that they wrote English twice a week because they had to finish teacher‟s assignment 7 other students answered that they practiced writing for the only purpose of preparing for writing test or taking an exam That was the reason why they just wrote English once or twice a month

1.2 Students’ time spent on practicing writing English

Figure 2: Students’ time spent on practicing writing English

On being asked the question “How much time do you spend when you write

English?” a significant majority of students (72%) spent approximately an hour

writing English Whereas, almost a quarter (23%) answered that they wrote English

approximately half an hour The rest (5%) spent 15 minutes learning writing each

time

As said before, writing skill is regarded as the most challenged skill in four English skills Students need to spend much time to enhance their writing proficiency in terms of Task response, Grammar, Organization and Vocabulary In addition, the process of writing is complex and requires a lot of time Besides, the surveyed students began learning to write academic essays in this term That explained why most of the students spent approximately an hour to write English

1.3 Writing steps that students follow when practicing writing English

Figure 3: Writing steps that students follow when practicing writing English

According to descriptive statistic in Figure 3, students mainly followed some steps including Choose the topic, Make an outline, Find sample writings, Read what

you have written again and Brainstorm vocabulary The other steps, Make first draft, Edit draft, Ask friends/ teacher for ideas, Generate ideas by yourself,

accounted for smaller proportions in students‟ writing process

In writing process, following basic steps as said before is essential “Make

first draft, Edit draft, Ask friends/ teacher for ideas, Generate ideas by yourself”

steps were not followed by most of the students because students often found

sample writings to copy ideas and sometimes chose some structures that they supposed to be good for their writings As a result, they even did not need to make the first draft or edit their drafts before writing

1.4 Students’ ranks of writing aspects to be focused when writing

1st place 2nd place 3rd place 4th place

With regard to the focus of writing aspects, nearly half of the participants

(45%) ranked Task response the first and 10% of them ranked Task response the

second and the third Grammar was ranked the first place by 12% of the students,

on the other hand, 41% of the respondents ranked it the third place At the same time, Organization was ranked at the first place and the second place by 32% and 33% respectively On the contrary, only 15% of the students ranked it the fourth

place Vocabulary was least ranked at the first place Only 11% of participants said

that they ranked Vocabulary the first place

On being interviewed, the great part of surveyed students answered that they

ranked Task response the first place because of the following reasons Firstly, they

supposed that a good writing, at least, must meet the requirements of the task Secondly, if the ideas presented in the writing were not relevant to the topics, their writings could not be high graded As for Organization, many surveyed participants responded that they placed it the first or the second They supposed that following the format of writing was much easier than how to make free-error writing In addition, if they did not follow the format or divide the writing into paragraphs, they thought that it was a serious error In terms of Grammar, most of the students answered that grammatical errors were inevitable in writing English It was difficult for them to master grammar in order to make free-error writing As a result, they said that they focused on two easier aspects of writing: Task response and

Organization That explained why Grammar had been ranked at the third place by 41% of respondents Vocabulary was placed at the third and the fourth place because the students placed Task response and Organization priority at the first and

the second place Moreover, they explained that using basic and common words or

less common words was acceptable

1.5 Students’ difficulties when writing English

Figure 4: Students’ difficulties when writing English

0 10 20 30 40 50

Task response Grammar Organization Vocabulary

22

42

It can be clearly seen that Vocabulary was supposed to be the most popular aspect of writing that students found difficult in their writing learning, with 42 respondents Whereas, 22 surveyed students answered that they often had some difficulties related to Organization At the same time, Grammar and Task response were chosen to be popular difficulties in writing learning by 17 and 12 students, respectively

As discussed above, because the students focused on Task response most when writing, they hardly had difficulty about it Furthermore, at writing class, teacher often gave instructions in order to response the requirements of the writing task Thus, if students had difficulties in Task response, they were insignificant compared with other aspects of writing Vocabulary was considered the most popular writing aspect that students found difficult in their writing learning On being interviewed, surveyed students said that they often got difficulties in word choice, using collocations Although they could look up vocabulary in the dictionary, errors including wrong word choices, wrong use of collocations, spelling mistakes were unavoidable

1.6 Aspects of writing students often make errors in

Figure 5: Aspects of writing students often make errors in

As is presented in the graph, 43 surveyed students agreed that they often made errors in Grammar 26 out of 60 students answered that they often made errors

in Vocabulary Only 4 and 9 students chose Task response and Organization as writing aspects they often made errors in

Compared with descriptive statistics in figure 5, there was a contradiction between students‟ difficulties in writing and students‟ common errors about aspects

of writing Although Vocabulary was considered the most popular aspect of writing