Nâng cao kỹ năng viết tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT hoàng văn thụ năm học 2018 2019 dựa vào các phương pháp dạy học theo đề án

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGESTRINH THU HUYEN “ENHANCING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILL TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR PROJECT-BASED LEAENING AT HOANG VAN THU SCHO

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRINH THU HUYEN

“ENHANCING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILL TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR PROJECT-BASED LEAENING AT

HOANG VAN THU SCHOOL, SCHOOL YEAR 2018-2019

(NĂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 – TRƯỜNG THPT HOÀNG VĂN THỤ NĂM HỌC 2018-2019 DỰA

VÀO CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐỀ ÁN)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2019

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRINH THU HUYEN

“ENHANCING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILL TEACHING TECHNIQUES FOR PROJECT-BASED LEAENING AT

HOANG VAN THU SCHOOL, SCHOOL YEAR 2018-2019

(NĂNG CAO KỸ NĂNG VIẾT TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 11 – TRƯỜNG THPT HOÀNG VĂN THỤ NĂM HỌC 2018-2019 DỰA

VÀO CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC THEO ĐỀ ÁN)

THE CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I hereby declare that this graduation project is based on my own original work except for quotations and citation that have been duly acknowledged I also declare that it has not been previously submitted for any other courses/degrees at Thai Nguyen University or other institutions.

Thái Nguyên, ngày tháng năm 2019

This research was the result of my hard work with the great support of many people I want to express my hearty gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor – PhD Cao Duy Trinh, who has devotedly taught me a lot and helped me widen my knowledge Without his instruction and guidance, I could not have completed my thesis.

I would like to give a big thanks to all of my colleagues who have helped and supported me a lot during the time I did this thesis They were a big contribution to complete observation sheet and other tests also.

Last but not least, I cannot look over my family who were my biggest motivation and inspiration to take part in this master course Without them, I cannot finish the thesis so well.

Writing, in any language, is a fundamental skill of communication Atthe same time, it is one of the main channels to transmit culture fromgeneration to generation Like speaking, you always have several ways toexpress the same idea, from writing a simple note in a piece of paper tocomposing a literary work which demands a good command of the language.Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness ofthe project-based teaching techniques to enhance the students’ English writingskills at Grade 11, Hoang Van Thu high school It was found then that thevarious actions and the use of project-based learning technique could improvestudents’ writing abilities, particularly in the hortatory exposition text Hence,the research also made some recommendations and suggestions for applyingthe project-based methods to improve English writing skill of thestudents.The research is carried out based on a descriptive quantitative study

TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION Error! Bookmark not defined.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

ABSTRACT 5

PART A: INTRODUCTION 8

1 Research topic area 8

2 The study context 8

3 Focus of the study 9

4 Significance of the study 10

5 Structure of the study 10

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 12

CHAPTER 1: LITERATUREREVIEW 12

1.1 Definition of writing 12

1.2 The teaching of English writing 13

1.3 The project – based learning 14

1.3.1 Definition of the project-based learning 14

1.3.2 The Steps of Conducting Project-Based 16

1.4 Relevant studies 18

1.5 Conceptual framework 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Methodology choice 21

2.2 Field site and participants 21

2.3 Data collection method 22

2.4 Data analysis 23

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 25

3.1 Research implementation 25

3.1.1 Conducting the writing test 25

3.1.2 Applying project-based learning into the writing lessons 28

3.2 Research results and findings 35

3.2.1 Results and findings on applying PBL 35

3.2.2 Results and findings on testing and surveying 38

3.3 Discussion 42

PART 3: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 44

1 Summary of the key findings 44

2 Pedagogical implication of the study 46

3 Limitation of the study 47

REFERENCES 49

APPENDIXES 50

APPENDIX 1: PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE 50

APPENDIX 2: POST-QUESTIONNAIRE 53

APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST 57 APPENDIX 4: POST-TEST Error! Bookmark not defined APPENDIX 5: THE LESSONS PRACTICED WITH CLA .Error!

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Among the four English learning skills namely speaking, listening,reading and writing, there are many reasons for writing to be the last acquireddomain of learning English, one being that a more detailed and analyzedknowledge of a language is needed to write than to understand (Bialystok &Bryan, 1985) In addition to this, it is challenging for students to write Englishlike a native due to their various knowledge background In oralcommunication, they can understand the partner through gestures andappearance However, in writing they may fail to express their ideas clearlybecause of the limitation in vocabulary To become a writing expert, it isnecessary for students to spend much timepracticing more and more.However, these opportunities seem to be rare with them

Besides, Kasper &Petrello (1998) also added that teachers’ responsestend to be negative because they were too familiar with the expectation offailures, which resulted in their students’ difficulties in writing English Theissue can be explained by two main causes First, students often think ofwriting as a translating activity when being asked to write about a specifictopic (Fu-Lan, 2006) Second, they tend to focus more on mistakes in spellingand grammar than writing the contents (Elias et al., 2005) These factorsprevent the students’ writing from coming to the success as a real Englishnative writer Hence, regarding the students’ difficulties in English writing,the study investigates the application of project-based teaching techniques inenhancing their English writing skills

2 The study context

Writing is essentially required for communication to connect people,regardless of time and spaces Although the importance of mastering skill isclear, in fact, students’ writing skill is far from perfection However, as

previously stated, writing is the most difficult language skill for the students,which is evident in their scores and their classroom performances Living in atext-oriented society, all students need to be proficient writers, but achievingthis goal is particularly daunting students who are learning English as theirsecond language Due to this universal area of weakness for Vietnamstudents, this research project has been designed to discover and implementeffective strategies that will improve the English writing skills of grade 11thstudents through the project-based teaching techniques at Hoang Van Thuhigh school in the school year 2018 - 2019.

3 Focus of the study

Writing can be considered as the most difficult skill to be mastered bythe second language learners due to the problems occurring in the process ofteaching and learning English skills in classroom Throughout theresearching, the use of project-based learning was able to improve thestudents’ writing skill at grade 11, Hoang Van Thu high school, school year2018-2019 In specific, the research aims to fulfillthe following objectives:

 To investigate the situation of grade 11th students’ English writingskillsat Hoang Van Thu high school in the school year 2018-2019;

In order to achieve the above objectives, this study needs to answer thefollowing research question:

What are the problems with theEnglish writing skills for the grade 11thstudents at Hoang Van Thu high school in the school year 2018-2019?

4 Significance of the study

The study means to contribute to the innovation of teaching the writingskills to the students in 11th grade at Hoang Van Thu high school in particularand Vietnam public schools in general It is also expected that the researchfindings in this study can help the English teachers as well as theadministrators at the high schools in evaluating the effectiveness of teachingEnglish writing through project-based teaching techniques for the students’writing skill improvement It is hoped that this paper will serve as a usefulsource of reference for other researchers and English teachers whose studiesare related to the same topic

However ,the quality of students are not equal, limited time ,lack ofdecription skill

5 Structure of the study

In this part, the findings of the research will be presented and then will

be discussed

Part 3: Conclusions and implications

In this part, the researcher will summarize the findings of the research.After that, the limitation of the research as well as the suggestion for furtherresearch will also be included

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATUREREVIEW 1.1 Definition of writing

Generally, language is divided into two major groups of skills, receptiveskills and productive skills Receptive skills are skills needed to perceive andunderstand the language Receptive skills consist of reading and listening.Meanwhile, writing and speaking belong to the productive skill of thelanguage, productive skills are skills which enable students to producelanguage by themselves (Harmer, 2007) On the other hand, productive skillsare required for learners to be able to build communication through thelanguage

Writing is a productive skill of the English language which needs to bemastered by the English language learners because writing is a means ofcommunication and is considered as the indicator of communicationcompetence of the target language A good writing skill represents learners’ability in communicating through English Written language is used tocommunicate with others who are removed in time and space (Nunan, 1999).Furthermore, Harmer (2004) states that writing is the only skill whichenables learner to produce a real product, in which the product is touchable,readable, as well as keepable for a long period of time Written language can

be re-read again in accordance with what the readers need According toNunan (1999), people also need permanent records which could be referred toover and over again Furthermore, written language tends to be more exactand precise rather than spoken language Therefore, it will not cause anyconfusion, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation to the readers

Other than that, writing can be defined a learning process which involvescritical thinking to convey one’s ideas and thoughts It is also an action or a

process of discovering and organizing ideas into a paper as well as reshapingand revising It is something which can be learnt through Oates (2000) claimsthat writing is a unique way of learning since writing is integrative, requiringthe active participation of both the right and left hemispheres of the brain,resulting in the production of meaning.

Therefore, it can be concluded that writing is a productive of a languagewhich requires critical thinking process and is used as a means ofcommunication to aspire someone’s thoughts English learners can learnwriting in order to be able to be a good writer as well as convey and expresstheir ideas as it is a learning process

1.2 The teaching of English writing

It is very prominent for students to be taught about writing skill.Teaching writing to students is significant because it can reinforce students’language acquisition, support students’ language and learning development,and help students to master the basic skills of language (Harmer, 1998)

According to Nunan (1999), there are two basic approaches underlyingthe teaching of writing They are product-oriented approach and process-oriented approach The very first approach, that is product-orientedapproaches, concerns on the result or the final product of students’ writing,the coherent, and the error-free text Meanwhile, the process-orientedapproach focuses on the steps involved in drafting and redrafting a piece ofwork

The teaching of writing for many years concerns more on the writingproduct than the writing process, in which this is called as product approach(Harmer, 2007) As cited from Brown (2001), a half century ago, the teaching

of writing is emphasized more on the final product, such as the essay, thereport, the story, and what that product should be like However, the teacherneeds to pay attention more on the writing process as students will not only

concern about what text they can produce but also how to construct a writingtext Students will have to focus on both the process of making the text andthe final product of their writing.

Regarding with this issue, Harmer (2007) proposes some strategieswhich can be considered by teachers in dealing with the teaching of writing:

 The way the teacher gets students to plan: Before starting to write, theteacher may support students to think about what they want to write Theteacher can help students in building their knowledge before they startwriting

 The way the teacher encourages students to draft, reflect, and revise: Theteacher can involve students to collaborative writing activity as it allowsstudents to draft, reflect, and revise This way enables students torespond to other students’ writing

 The way the teacher responds to students’ writing: At this point, theteacher can help students by giving suggestions to students’ draft.Teacher’s suggestion can be very useful to make some betterment instudents’ writing Other than the teacher’s feedback, peer response is onealternative to give some suggestions to students’ writing

1.3 The project – based learning

1.3.1 Definition of the project-based learning

Project-based learning is a learning method which is not new in the field

of English as a Second Language and is thought to be relevant with theteaching and learning of English in the 21st century Poonpon (2011) statesthat project-based learning is suitable with the English teaching and learningneed as project-based learning is an instructional approach that contextualizeslearning by presenting learners with problems to solve or product to develop.Furthermore, Solomon (2003) emphasizes that project-based learning focuses

on learning through student-centered, interdisciplinary, and integratedactivities in real world situations.

In project-based learning, students are responsible fully for their ownlearning They work collaboratively to solve problems Project-based learningconcerns on the learning activity based on real world problems and challengesthat require students to work as a team through meaningful activities andresult in a final product, Simpson (2011) Stoller (2002) adds that projectwork is a part of cooperative learning It allows students to work on theirown, in a small group, or as a whole-class Throughout the process, thestudents share their ideas, resources, and expertise

Project based learning helps students to inquire Students drive their ownlearning through inquiry, as well as work collaboratively to create projectsthat reflect their knowledge (Bell, 2010) Moreover, project-based learningfosters students to critical thinking It causes students to get engaged incritical thinking in order to construct their own meaning by applying whatthey learn (Krauss and Boss, 2013)

In addition, according to Phillips et al (1999), project-based learningconsists of recognizable units of work with a beginning, middle, and endwhich are linked to form a tangible final-product in which the students cangain a real sense of achievement Project-based learning is an individual orgroup activity which is done within the determined time line, resulting in aproduct, presentation, or performance

Based on the theories defined by the experts above, it can be inferredthat project-based learning is a teaching technique in which students are given

a problem or challenge as means of gaining new knowledge or skills based learning is a student-center approach as it requires students to be anactive learner and gives them a chance to explore knowledge and skillsthrough the given project It engages students to critical thinking and also

Project-enables students to work cooperatively with others The term of technique isused throughout this thesis because technique is the specific activitiesmanifested in the teaching and learning process in the classroom to realize thelearning objective (Brown, 2001).

1.3.2 The steps of conducting project-based learning

Project-based learning has a procedure to follow in order to help theteacher to develop the project as well as to guide students with the project thatthey take The procedure consists of the phases on how to implement project-based learning and functions as the foundation to carry out the project-basedlearning process in the classroom There are different steps in developing theproject-based learning which are proposed by the researchers, educationpractitioners and higher institutions, such as Stoller (2002) and Krauss andBoss (2013)

Nevertheless, the steps of project development proposed by The GeorgeLucas Educational Foundation seem to be the most effective and appropriateprocedure to be implemented in this research For that reason, the researcherdecided to employ this procedure in conducting her research The proceduresare explained as follows:

 To start with the essential questions:

At this phase, the teacher starts the teaching and learning process bygiving students essential questions The questions need to be the ones whichengage the students and relevant to the goals that the students must achieveduring the project development The questions must be in relation to theknowledge that the students must construct and the topic must fit to theirproficiency level It ought to be related with students’ daily life

 To design a plan for the project:

The design of a plan for the project involves not only the teacher but alsothe students In designing the plan for the project, the teacher gives students

chance to participate by sharing their ideas on the projects which they areabout to work on in order to make the project meet with the students’ interest,capability, and expectation The design of plan for the project includes theexplanation about the rules of the project development, the selection of thematerials, the activities leading to the project accomplishment, and the toolsneeded for the project.

 To create a schedule:

At this stage, the teacher and students discuss about the time allocation

of working on the project The teacher and students make an agreement /aboutthe deadline of the project development in which the students must submittheir end product

 To monitor the students and the progress of the project:

Monitoring students’ progress on the project is the most crucial stage ofproject development It is very prominent since the success of projectaccomplishment is determined by how good the students do their project.Moreover, it is at this stage in which the teacher is required to play the role as

a monitor The teacher is responsible to facilitate the learning process, toguide the students during the project development, to help students when theyfind difficulties, and to ensure that the student is involved in the project

 To assess the outcome:

After the students turn in their end product, the teacher conductsassessment to measure the students’ achievement It can be product-oriented

or process-oriented The teacher also provides students with feedback at thisphase Assessing the outcome helps teacher in designing instruction to teachmore effectively

 To evaluate the experience:

This is the last stage of project development where the teacher andstudents reflect on the project they have done At this stage, the teacher needs

to make sure that the students are able to find answers of essential question.The teacher and students share their experience of conducting the project anddiscuss about the projects, what needs change and improvement for thefollowing project, as well as share ideas on the new projects.

1.4 Relevant studies

There are several studies related to project-based learning to improvestudents’ writing skills One of the researchers who conducted the researchabout project-based learning and writing is Bell (2010) The researchinvestigated the implementation of project-based learning in teaching writingthrough collaborative classroom action research The subjects of his researchwere junior high school students The study was conducted because he foundout that the students’ writing ability was far from being satisfactory,particularly in writing descriptive text Based on the research, it is found thatproject-based learning could effectively improve students’ writing skill

The other relevant research study about the implementation of based learning is a study conducted by KornwipaPonpoon (2011) Theresearcher conducted the research in an English course at a Thai university in

project-2009 to find out about students’ opinions towards the implementation ofproject-based learning in English language class and how project-basedlearning could enhance their four language skills (listening, speaking, reading,and writing) The findings show that by using an interdisciplinary-basedproject, most students thought that the interdisciplinary-based project should

be retained in the English course because it was appropriate and useful forthem Furthermore, it is stated that through the use of the project-basedlearning, students’ English skills were successfully enhanced

1.5 Conceptual framework

Writing is one of English productive skills which should be mastered bythe English language learners Students’ achievement in learning English can

be seen from their mastery of English productive skills, especially the writingperformance Hence, it is very important for students to master writing skill.Although writing skill has undoubtedly-significant role, students’ writingskill is still far from being satisfactory Most students still find it hard to findideas to start their writing Other than that, students often fail to choose theappropriate vocabulary for their writing Furthermore, it is also confusing forstudents to organize the ideas and details for their writing In addition,students’ grammar mastery can be said as low since most of them cannot usethe right form of grammar Some cannot differentiate when to use presenttense or past tense.

This situation gets even worse because students have bad attitudetowards learning They are not motivated to learn further about English.Therefore, to overcome this situation, the use of teaching technique which canprompt students to writing is needed One of the teaching techniques whichcan be used to improve students’ writing skill is project-based learningtechnique Project based learning technique is good to improve students’writing skill due to some reasons

Project-based learning technique is very useful in engaging students towriting activities The projects given by teachers help prompting students tostart and gather ideas for their writing Project-based learning generatesstudents’ interest to the projects or challenges the students should fulfil.Based on projects that they work on, students can find ideas to contribute intheir writing product

Moreover, the projects can make students interested and motivatedtowards writing Project-based learning technique is a way of learning inwhich it requires students to actively participated and involved in the teachingand learning process Through the given projects, students are stimulated towriting

Furthermore, project-based learning is beneficial to help studentsunderstand the subject better Project-based learning requires students toexperiment and explore with the projects It helps students to be an active andcreative learner as well as supports students to be a critical thinker.

To conclude, writing is an important skill which needs to be mastered bystudents Since the students have not met the requirements needed for a goodwriting, using project-based learning as a way to improve students’ writingmight be very helpful Project-based learning helps engaging students 40 towriting activities, motivating students, making students to understand thesubject well, and training students to be critical, creative and active thinkers

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Methodology choice

The research is carried out based on a descriptive quantitative study Thedescriptive study aimed to describe the data and characteristic about what isbeing studied The quantitative method, including a writing comprehensiontest, a brief report about the participants’ background as well as aquestionnaire, is used The writing test was deployed to measure theparticipants’ English writing ability to clarify them in terms of the strategiesthat they used The brief report of the participants’ background informationaims to find out the participants’ prior experience with writing course andtheir learning attitude toward writing classes In addition to that, thequestionnaire is adapted to investigate the situation of teaching Englishwriting, and the impacts of project-based teaching techniques on the students’English writing skills After data collection, Statistics Package for the SocialScience (SPSS) will be used to compute the data analyses of the study

2.2 Field site and participants

This study is about how to improve writing skill for students in grade 11

of Hoang Van Thu high school, dealing with vocabulary, grammar andwriting organization Thus, the study does not investigate the speaking,reading or listening skills The main reason for choosing the school as fieldsite is that it is where I was working and therefore, I could understand about itand conduct my research easily In addition to this, it was more convenient for

me in gathering data during the research process

The survey was conducted with a group of 80 students in grade 11,including class 11A1 (35 students) and class 11A2 (45 students) The studentsunder survey have learned English for three semesters (4 hours for Englishlearning per week) The tests were carried out in October, 2018 The subjectsare chosen for the following reasons: at the time of survey they are learning

English writing with project-based teaching methods and have just started thefirst semesters in their high school, studying and practicing writing throughthese methods Therefore, to some extent, they have been already aware of thetechniques in learning English writing However, their responses are mainlybased on the experiences that they accumulated through the lessons they havethe teachers applied project-based teaching techniques on writing lessons inclass 11A1, while they still maintained the traditional teaching method inclass 11A2 After that, the author conducted survey with students in each ofclass, then compared the results between two classes Based on that, theauthor could draw the findings on the situations of teaching English writing ingrade 11 at Hoang Van Thu High School, along with the effects of applyingproject-based methods in teaching English writing among these students.

In my experience I group ss into small group according to their ability onpurpose To make sure that working effectively I point the leader who is thebiggest responsibility good leader skill,good knowledge to lead the groupacess all group member Some time I choose randomly

2.3 Data collection method

As stated in above, quantitative data was collected for conducting theresearch, with the purpose to investigate the situation of teaching Englishwriting for 11th students at Hoang Van Thu high school, as well as assess theeffectiveness of project-based teaching methods with the improvement of 11thstudents’ English writing skill Quantitative data collection methods rely onrandom sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit diverseexperiences into predetermined response categories They produce results thatare easy to summarize, compare, and generalize Quantitative research isconcerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or being able toestimate the size of a phenomenon of interest Depending on the researchquestion, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments If

this is not feasible, the researcher might collect data on participant andsituational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence onthe dependent, or outcome, variable If the intent is to generalize from theresearch participants to a larger population, the researcher would employprobability sampling to select participants.

In this study, questionnaires were used, which often make use ofchecklist and rating scales These devices help simplify and quantify people'sbehaviors and attitudes A checklist is a list of behaviors, characteristics, orother entities the researcher is looking for Either the researcher or surveyparticipant simply checks whether each item on the list is observed, present ortrue or vice versa A rating scale is more useful when a behavior needs to beevaluated on a continuum, which is also known as Likert scales

2.4Data analysis

After data collection, the author will conduct analyze these data throughthe software on PC to draw the results and findings on the research problem.There is no question that business, education, and all fields of science havecome to rely heavily on the computer This dependence has become so greatthat it is no longer possible to understand social and health science researchwithout substantial knowledge of statistics and without at least somerudimentary understanding of statistical software In this study the authorchooses to work with SPSS, or the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.SPSS was chosen because of its popularity within both academic and businesscircles, making it the most widely used package of its type SPSS is also aversatile package that allows many different types of analyses, datatransformations, and forms of output - in short, it will more than adequatelyserve our purposes The SPSS software package is continually being updatedand improved, and so with each major revision comes a new version of that

package Thus, in order to use this text for data analysis, the author has toaccess to the SPSS for Windows 14.0 software package.

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Research implementation

3.1.1 Conducting the writing test

First of all, it is necessary for the researchers to investigate the situation

of English writing skills of the 11th grade students in Hoang Van Thu highschool Accordingly, a 30-minute writing test was conducted in October, 2018among the students in class 11A1 and 11A2 Specifically, the main contents

of this test would cover knowledge of the writing lessons taught in the firstthree weeks of the school year 2018-2019 Another writing test with the samecontents would be also conducted after finishing the project to identify theimprovement of these students after learning English writing with PBL Itconsists of two exercises: rewriting the sentences and a passage on a giventopic, which are presented in the followings:

Hoang Van Thu High

School Name: Class:

Question 1: Rewrite the sentences, using the words given in brackets.

(Viếtlạicâu, sửdụngcáctừchosẵntrongngoặc.)

1 They set out of the car (The police watched)

2 They allowed him to write a letter to his wife (They let)

3 They talked in the next room (I heard)

4 The customs officer told him to open the briefcase (The customs officermade)

5 The cat jumped through the window (The boy saw)

6 Maybe the company will ask him to pay some extra money (Do you thinkthe company will make)

7 The animal moved towards me I felt it (I felt)

8 She wants to go for a picnic (Do you think her parents will let)

ANSWER KEYS:

1 The police watched them set out of the car

2 They let him write a letter to his wife

3 I heard them talk in the next room

4 The customs officer made him open the briefcase

5 The boy saw the cat jump through the window

6 Do you think the company will make him pay some extra money?

7 I felt the animal move towards me

8 Do you think her parents will let her go for a picnic?

The Republic of Indonesia

a Area and Population: Indonesia is comprised of about 17,508 islands Itcovers a land area of 1,904,569 km2 With a population of over 237 millionpeople, Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country The capitalcity is Jakarta and the official language is Indonesian

b Economy: The country has the largest economy in Southeast Asia Tourismplays a big role in its economy In 2013 the tourist sector contributed aboutUS$9 billion Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China, and Japan were in thetop five countries with visitors to Indonesia

c Sports: Sports in Indonesia are generally male-orientated The most popularsports are badminton and football Traditional sports include SepakTakrawand Pencak Silat

d Culture: Indonesia is a widely diverse nation with over 300 ethnic groups.Indonesia is influenced by Chinese, European, Indian and Malay cultures Theinfluence of Western culture is mainly seen in science, technology, andmodern entertainment

e Tourist attractions: Indonesia is famous for its islands and beautiful views.The beaches of Bali and Lombok, and the wonderful islands of Java, Sumatra,and Kalimantan are popular destinations Besides that, there are many touristattractions such as museums, monuments, and gardens in the capital city

TIME ALLOCATION: 30 MINUTES

During the exam, students mustn’t use any materials or textbooks andthe supervisors have no explaination The two researcher’s colleagues, whoare also the current English teachers in 11th grade of Hoang Van Thu school,would be responsible for supervising examinees in class 11A1 and 11A2, and

collected the students’ paper after finishing the test Along with the author,they would also mark the scores and recorded the test result in theresearcher’s observation sheets Based on these results, the author canevaluate the current writing level of 11th students in Hoang Van Thu highschool and draw the findings on the traditional teaching method which iscurrently applied.

3.1.2 Applying project-based learning into the writing lessons

After finding out the current situation of English writing level among

11th students, the researcher and her supporters would design the writinglessons with the application of project – based learning methods Asmentioned in above, class 11A1 was selected for the PBL method, while class11A2 would still be teach with the traditional approach During the lessons,the researcher acted the English teacher in class 11A1 and she wasaccompanied by her colleague as the collaborator who became the observers.Before the English lesson, the researcher gave the observer an observationchecklist Accordingly, in these lessons, while the researcher implemented theaction, the observer would take notes in the back of the classroom to observethe teaching and learning process In specific, PLB was applied in threeEnglish lessons, which are detailed in the followings:

3.1.2.1 The first lesson

The class was begun by saying greeting Then, the researcher checkedthe students‟ attendance in which students responded that everyone waspresent Before entering the main material on that day, the researcherexplained to the students about the lesson topic

Phase 1: To start with essential questions

The lesson started with the researcher showing some pictures aboutpeople and environments She asked the students what the pictures were

about Some students kept silence, while the others answered quietly Sheasked one of them by taking turns to tell their opinion about the picture Itwas followed by asking whether the actions in the pictures should or shouldnot be done by the people The researcher occasionally asked why such thingsshould not be done and asked the students to share their opinions on how tosolve the problems This was the introduction to give the students backgroundknowledge After that, the students were given a list of situations and advices

in which the students were required to match the situation with the suitableadvices which was in relation to whether something should or should not bedone by people Then, the students were asked to read aloud their answers

Phase 2: To design the plan for the project

In this stage, the researcher told students that they were about to do aproject work The researcher and the students made an agreement on whatkind of project work to do and when to submit the project work The projectwork was about making a poster related to global warming Then, theresearcher gave an example of the project to the students The researcherprovided the students with the tools needed for the project, such as the paperswith the picture of global warming and some markers The students wererequired to work together in a group of four As the drawing of globalwarming had been given to them, the students needed to put some notes anddecorate it to make a poster The time schedule for this project is total 30minutes, including 10 minutes for making the poster

Along with the poster, the students were asked to make an outline ofhortatory exposition text based on the project that they did Still, the studentsought to do the writing within the group so that they could share informationand help one another with the writing The researcher told them that theycould use their electronic dictionary to help them write However, they werenot allowed to translate all the sentences at one because it would not help