A study on students’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TOEF

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TOEFL

IBT ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VỀ MẶT NGÔN NGỮ CỦA HỌC SINH

KHI VIẾT BÀI LUẬN TOEFL IBT VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TOEFL

IBT ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VỀ MẶT NGÔN NGỮ CỦA HỌC SINH KHI VIẾT BÀI LUẬN TOEFL IBT VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI

PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

“A study on students’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions”

in terms of Statement for thesis and Field Study Reports in Master’s Programs Issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Nguyễn Thị LiênOctober, 2013

The current research could not have been completed without thewholehearted support of people who all deserved my deepest gratitude

Firstly, I want to show my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Hoang Van Van,

my supervisor, for his encouraging this research and giving helpful comments onearlier drafts of this thesis

I would also like to thank 88 TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest center for theirenthusiasm for responding to the questionnaires and answering the interview

Finally, my thank is due to my family, and in particular my two youngerbrothers, for their logistical and technical support

Any remaining flaws concerning this research are merely mine

TOEFL IBT is becoming a prerequisite for students’ studying abroad inrecent years How to get high scores on TOEFL IBT is a much-discussed topicamong test-takers and educators alike Among four skills – speaking, listening,reading, and writing, the last serves as the most challenging skill according tomany students Composing a TOEFL IBT essay poses many difficulties for bothexperienced and inexperienced learners

The principal aim of this study, basing mainly on survey questionnaire andinterview, is to find out common problems encountered by EQuest learners inTOEFL IBT Writing and simultaneously to investigate ways to solve theseproblems Data were gathered from 88 TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest center over

a four-week period

The data obtained from the questionnaire, augmented by interview suggestthat (i) considerable linguistic difficulties faced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBTessay writing task 1 involve expression, word choice, spelling, taking notes andhow to relate the ideas from reading passage with those of listening passage; (ii)linguistic difficulties faced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT essay writing task 2are brainstorming, word choice, academic vocabulary, language formality,expression, sentence structure, and spelling; (iii) some preferred suggestedsolutions to these above problems are providing writing templates, checking ideasfor students before writing, giving in-class feedback, teaching extra vocabulary,and supply students with further listening and reading exercises to practice notetaking skills (exclusively for TOEFL IBT task 1)

Basing on the findings of the research, some practical suggestions forTOEFL IBT learners and teachers are put forward The study, to some extent,hopefully contributes a small part to the realm of teaching and learning TOEFLIBT in general and at EQuest in particular

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Learners’ background information

Figure 2 Reasons for learners’ taking TOEFL IBT

course Figure 3 Learners’ experience in learning English

Figure 4 Learners’ experience in learning TOEFL IBT

Figure 5 Learners’ opinions of writing skill

Figure 6 Learners’ attitudes towards TOEFL IBT writing skill

Figure 7 Number of essays that learners compose per week

Figure 8 Learners’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT writing task 1

Figure 9 Correlation between learners’ levels and their possibilities of

encountering difficulties in taking notes, paraphrasing, and relatingpoints of reading to those of listening

Figure 10 Learners’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT writing task 2

Figure 11 Correlation between learners’ levels and their possibilities of

encountering difficulties with word choice, expression, and academicvocabulary

Figure 12 Correlation between frequency in which learners compose essays per

week and their possibilities of encountering difficulties in brainstormingideas

Figure 13 Suggested solutions to improve learners’ TOEFL IBT essay writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

List of figures iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and research questions 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Organization 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Academic writing 4

1.1 Definition of writing 4

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing 4

1.3 Writing academic essay 5

2 TOEFL IBT test 5

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT test 5

2.2 Insight into TOEFL IBT writing section 7

2.2.1 Format of TOEFL IBT writing section 7

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFL IBT writing section 9

2.2.2.1 Scoring standards 9

2.2.2.2 Scoring rubrics 13

3 Earlier studies on academic writing 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 1 Context of the study 17

2 Selection of the subjects 17

3 Research instruments 18

4 Procedures of data collection 19

5 Procedures of data analysis 20

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1 Data analysis and discussion 21

1.1 General information about learners 21

1.2 Students’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing 27

1.3 Suggested solutions for improving students’ TOEFL IBT essay writing 32

2 Findings 35

2.1 Research question 1 35

2.2 Research question 2 36

3 Implications 37

3.1 For students 37

3.2 For teachers 37

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of findings 39

2 Limitations 39

3 Suggestions for further research 40

REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: TOEFL IBT WRITING QUESTION TYPES

APPENDIX 2: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION AND CONSENT

FORM APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Problem statement and rationale for the study

Globalization and economic booming open up a whole new world ofopportunities in education According to ETS (Educational Testing service, theworld’s largest educational testing and assessment organization), TOEFL IBT(Test of English as Foreign Language) score can be viewed as a passport to studyabroad Statistics from ETS in 2013 indicate that more than 9,000 colleges,agencies and other institutions in over 130 countries accept TOEFL scores Forthis reason, the youth is trying to get as high TOEFL IBT score as possible to getbetter impression on their university’s applications, hence, maximize their chances

to be accepted into top international colleges, American ones included

However, the road to high TOEFL IBT score is not a broad one for everytest-taker TOEFL IBT is indeed a tough test; unlike other proficiency tests,TOEFL IBT not only requires learners’ integrated listening-speaking-reading-writing skills but it also involves learners’ computer skills TOEFL IBT Writing is

a compelling example of a big challenge brought by the new generation ofTOEFL As an English instructor majoring in teaching TOEFL IBT at EQuest formore than three years, I empirically realize that TOEFL IBT learners ranging fromintermediate to advanced ones have to struggle a lot to write a TOEFL IBT writingessay Some students think that their main problems lie in time constraint or typingskills while others blame their troubles for lack of vocabulary or ideas Moreseriously, some others are unaware of their weaknesses and unconsciouslyreplicate their writing mistakes What are real problems experienced by EQuestlearners in TOEFL IBT writing? What should be done to improve their writingskills? Those questions are my overriding concerns when teaching TOEFL IBTWriting that spark my interest in carrying out the current research on students’difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions

2 Aims and reasearch questions

The study is conducted with the aim of finding out the linguistic difficultiesthat EQuest learners often experience in TOEFL IBT writing essay Added to this,some useful suggested solutions to resolve the problems are studied

The present study is designed to address two following questions:

 What are linguistic problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writing essay?

 What should be done to improve EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT writing skill?

3 Significane of the study

The present study is the author’s great endeavor in investigating learners’major headaches in TOEFL IBT essay writing and ways to eradicate them This ishoped to offer both teachers and learners substantial benefits in teaching andpreparing for the TOEFL IBT test Students will directly benefit from this study in

a sense that they will be aware of major challenges posed by TOEFL IBT writingessay, hence will know their ways to avoid or beat off them As for teachers, bybeing able to anitipate some awakwardness in their students’ writing, they canadjust their teaching methods appropriatetly according to students’ competence,preferences, and expectations to better help ungrade their students’ writing levels

Moreover, personal boon is also accounted My main job is teachingTOEFL IBT for those who want to study overseas Hopefully, this study wouldsomehow help me in teaching my students in the right way This research is alsoexpectedly a beneficial reference source to teachers working in the same fieldfeeling the same concern

4 Scope of the study

Because of constrained time and limited knowledge, this study only deals withtwo following issues:

 Linguistic problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writingessay

 Things should be done to improve EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT Writing skill.

5 Organization

This chapter is a brief sketch of the study including rationale for the study,aims and research questions, significance and scope of the study The precisedetails will be given throughout the rest of the study

Chapter two works on the theoretical background bolstering the issue,followed by a review of three previous researches on the topic

Chapter three outlines the relevant research methods for the study as well asthe reasons why these methods are employed Participant selection, data collectionand data analysis are also included in this chapter

Chapter four is the discussion and findings of the research in which accuratestatistical analysis and comprehensive explanation are presented with the aim ofgiving precise answers to three research questions Furthermore, pedagogicalimplications are given in this section

Finally, chapter five summarizes the main findings of the research, exposessome limitations, and puts forward suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Academic writing

1.1 Definition of writing

Writing has been defined by a number of scholars Byrne (1988) notes that

writing is “the act of forming graphic symbols” such as letters or combination of

letters In this sense, any act of writing producing letters can be viewed as writing

On the contrary, towards the same issue, Tribble (1996) holds a different opinion

that writing is “not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way” In other words, writing

involves letter processing and at the same time conveys meaningful messages.This view is backed up by Lannon (1989) when this author claims that writing is

“a process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accidents, trial and error, or whatever into a message with a definite meaning”.

On the other hand, Sokolik (2003) views academic writing as “a processand a product Writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, reread toproduce a product – a paragraph, an essay, or a report” It is Soholik’s idea that isaccepted in this study

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

There are many ways to approach writing; however, product and processapproaches are the two most popular ones

The product approach focuses on learners’ final outcome of the writingprocess According to Clenton (2004) and Steele (2002), a typical productapproach has four stages In stage 1, learners study a model text, analyze it andimitate its traits In stage 2, students start their controlled practice of thehighlighted features individually In stage 3, students work in group to organizeideas Then comes stage four in which students are allowed to choose from a widerange of writing tasks to write about basing on what they have been taught toproduce the final product

On the other hand, the process approach emphasizes students’communication of ideas, feelings, and experience (Stanley, 2002) with teachers’intervention as needed (Reid, 1993) The process approach is dissected into eightprincipal stages In stage 1, students come up with ideas by brainstorming anddiscussion whereas teachers provide their students with support if necessary Instage 2, students check their ideas in term of quality and usefulness In stage 3,students organize the ideas in a form of a mind map to make hierarchicalrelationship of ideas In stage 4, students produce the first draft In stage 5, draftversions are exchanged for peer check In stage 6, drafts are returned and studentswrite the second version basing on suggested improvement In stage 7, a final draft

is produced and submitted for teachers’ evaluation in stage 8

1.3 Writing academic essay

An essay is a piece of writing of several paragraphs which tie to the sametopic An essay has three main parts: an introduction, body (usually two or moreparagraphs), and a conclusion

The introductory paragraph has two smaller parts: a few general statements

to attract the readers’ attention and a thesis statement to state the main idea of theessay The body consists of two or more paragraphs; each deals with one mainidea raised in the thesis statement The conclusion is summary of all pointsdiscussed in the body

According to Oshima & Hogue (2006), an essay is judged on five criteria:

 Format: title centered, first line of each paragraph indented, margins on both sides, text double-spaced

 Mechanics: periods, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, capitalization, and spelling

 Content: - The essay fulfills the requirements of the assignment

- The essay is interesting to read

- The essay shows that the writer used care and thought

 Organization: the essay follows the outline, and it has an introduction,

body, and a conclusion

- Introduction: the introduction ends with a thesis statement

+ Transitions are used to link paragraphs

- Conclusion: the conclusion summarizes the main points or paraphrases the thesis statement, begins with a conclusion signal, and leaves the reader with the

writer’s final thoughts on the topic

2 TOEFL IBT test

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT test

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is an examinationoperated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) This is a proficiency testmeasuring nonnative learners’ English competence TOEFL scores are compulsoryfor admission into many English speaking colleges, universities, institutions, and alarge number of other agencies in the world, especially United State

TOEFL test was coined in 1963 by the National Council on the Testing of

English as a Foreign Language According to the document “Test and Score Summary for TOEFL Internet Based Test: September 2005-December 2006 Test

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Data” published by ETS in 2007, the TOEFL test was co-administered by ETS

and the College Board in 1965 It is now an international trade name of ETS

The early forms of TOEFL were TOEFL computer-based test (TOEFLCBT) and TOEFL paper-based one (TOEFL PBT) Since the advent of TOEFLinternet-based test (TOEFL IBT) in 2005 in the United State, Canada, France,Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the remaining countries in the world one yearlater, the TOEFL CBT was discontinued and the TOEFL PBT lost its popularity.Some researchers bolster a shift from a conventional to an internet-based testingformat because of its reduced testing time, standardized test administration, testcontent tailored to examinee ability, automated scoring, and faster score reporting(Wise & Plake, 1989, cited in Wolfe & Manalo (2005) ETS has now over 4,500test sites located in more than 165 countries in the world

Since its introduction, TOEFL IBT has gained its reputation as one of themost reliable proficiency tests in the English speaking world According to ETS,TOEFL IBT is likely to help the test takers stand out because of its fame for

“fairness, quality, and its 100 percent academic content” TOEFL IBT particularlyassesses how well the candidates integrate their listening, reading, speaking andwriting skills to perform academic tasks, which makes the test a little challenging

but highly appreciated Stricker & Attali (2010), in their research “Test Takers’ Attitudes About the TOEFL IBT”, claimed that overall attitudes about the TOEFL

IBT were moderately positive in most countries including China, Columbia, andEgypt The latest poll of ETS reveals that more than 27 million people from allover the world have taken the TOEFL test to demonstrate their English-languageproficiency Needless to say, new generation of TOEFL is the first choice of manylearners longing to study overseas in this modern world

2.2 Insight into TOEFL IBT writing section

2.2.1 Format of TOEFL IBT writing section

The TOEFL IBT writing is sub-divided into two tasks: integrated task andindependent task

Task Time Words

In the integrated task, the test takers first have three minutes to read andtake notes on a 250─300 word academic passage which usually has three mainpoints After reading the passage, the test takers have another two or three minutes

to listen to the listening passage about the same topic either challenging orsupporting the points made in the reading text The candidates are required to takedetailed notes on the lecture heard After all, when composing an integrated essay,the candidates must summarize the main points of the listening passage, then showhow these pointes reinforce or cast doubt on the reading

Students have 20 minutes to finalize the integrated writing task The typicallength of one integrated task ranges from 150 words to 225 words

There are three main question types of TOEFL IBT integrated task:challenging, supporting, as well as problem and solution (for more information,

see Appendix 1).

In the independent task, TOEFL IBT candidates are asked to state theiropinions on a particular topic, then use reasons, details, and examples to back uptheir points of view Students have 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise theiressays Normally, an effective independent essay contains at least 300 words

There are four sub-types of independent writing question, namelyagreement, preference, details, and assumption (for more information, see

Appendix 1).

TOEFL IBT is an internet-based test; therefore candidates have to type theirresponses to the writing tasks on the computer The computer only appears somecertain text tools as following:

 Copy: copies highlighted text

 Cut: cuts highlighted text

 Paste: pastes copied or cut text

 Undo: undoes last action

 Redo: redoes action you just undid

 Word count: shows number of words written

 Enter (twice): starts new paragraph

TOEFL IBT writing undoubtedly tests the learners three skills in onesection, which poses a great challenge to majority of them Moreover, the learners’typing skill holds no less importance in TOEFL IBT writing test

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFL IBT writing section

2.2.2.1 Scoring standards Integrated writing scoring standards

5 A response at this level successfully selects the important information

from the lecture and coherently and accurately presents thisinformation in relation to the relevant information presented in thereading The response is well organized, and occasional languageerrors that are present do not result in inaccurate or imprecisepresentation of content or connections

4 A response at this level is generally good in selecting the important

information from the lecture and in coherently and accuratelypresenting this information in relation to the relevant informationpresented in the reading, but it may have minor omission, inaccuracy,vagueness, or imprecision of some content from the lecture or inconnection to points made in the reading A response is also scored atthis level if it has more frequent or noticeable minor language errors,

as long as such usage and grammatical structures do not result inanything more than an occasional lapse of clarity or in the connection

of ideas

3 A response at this level may contain some important information from

the lecture and conveys some relevant connection to the reading, but it

is marked by one or more of the following:

 Although the overall response is definitely oriented to the task, itconveys only vague, global, unclear, or somewhat imprecise connection of the points made

in the lecture to points made in the reading

 The response may omit one major key point made in the lecture

 Some key points made in the lecture or the reading, or

connections between the two, may be incomplete, inaccurate, or imprecise

 Errors of usage and/ or grammar may be more frequent or mayresult in noticeably vague expressions or obscured meanings in conveying ideas andconnections

2 A response at this level contains some relevant information from the

lecture, but it is marked by significant language difficulties or bysignificant omission or inaccuracy of important ideas from the lecture

or in the connections between the lecture and the reading A response

at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 The response significantly misrepresents or completely omits the overall connection between the lecture and the reading

 The response significantly omits or significantly misrepresents important points made in the lecture

 The response contains language errors or expressions that

largely obscure connections or meaning at key junctures or that would likely obscure understanding of key ideas for a reader

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not already familiar with the reading and the lecture.

1 A response at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 The response provides little or no meaningful or relevant

coherent content from the lecture

 The language level of the response is so low that it is difficult to derive meaning

0 A response at this level merely copies sentences from the reading,

rejects the topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in

a foreign language, consists of keystroke characters, or is blank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

Independent writing scoring standards

5 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:

 Effectively addresses the topic and task

 Is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriateexplanations, exemplification, and/ or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence

 Displays consistent facility in the use of language,demonstrating syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, andidiomaticity, though it may have minor lexical or grammaticalerrors

4 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:

 Address the topic and task well, though some points may not befully elaborated

 Is generally well organized and well developed, usingappropriate and sufficient explanations, exemplifications, and/

or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though it may contain occasional redundancy, digression, or unclear connections

 Displays facility in the use of language, demonstrating

syntactic variety and range of vocabulary, though it will probably have occasional

noticeable minor errors in structure, word forms, or use of idiomatic language that do not interfere with meaning

3 An essay at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 Addresses the topic and task using somewhat developed

explanations, exemplifications, and/ or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though connection

of ideas may be occasionally obscured

 May demonstrate inconsistent facility in sentence formation and word choice that may result in lack of clarity and occasionally obscure meaning

 May display accurate but limited range of syntactic structures and vocabulary

2 An essay at this level may reveal one or more of the following

weaknesses:

 Limited development in response to the topic and task

 Inadequate organization or connection of ideas

 Inappropriate or insufficient exemplifications, explanations, ordetails to support or illustrate generalizations in response to the task

 A noticeably inappropriate choice of words and word forms

 An accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/ or usage

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1 An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the

following weaknesses:

 Serious disorganization or underdevelopment

 Little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics, or questionableresponsiveness to the task

 Serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage

0 An essay at this level merely copies words from the topic, rejects the

topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in a foreignlanguage, consists of keystroke characters, or is bank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

2.2.2.2 Scoring rubrics

The total score for the writing section of TOEFL IBT is 30 (out of 120).Each writing task is worth maximum of five points The average of points earnedfrom two tasks is finally converted into a scale score of 0-30

Converting rubric scores to scales scores

3 Earlier studies on academic writing

Writing skill is an interesting topic which has been studied by a number ofresearchers In accomplishing this research, I have read some previous researchesdealing with the topic Of relevance to the present research are three studies

The first (Lan, B.P, 2007) investigated importance of paragraph writing tostudents at National Economics University (NEU), their difficulties in paragraphwriting, causes of these common errors, and effective strategies for teachingwriting paragraphs The results of the study indicated that all students partaking inthe study have positive attitudes towards their paragraph writing course Lan, B.P(2007, p.35) revealed that even though the NEU students have studied English for

a long time, more than 10 years, their writing skills are very poor They oftencommit many mistakes in writing concerning organization, content, and mostseriously use of language Another important finding of the study was students’preference for teaching writing methodology Most of them prefer the teacher’sprovision of language knowledge, explanations of sample paragraphs, and group

discussion to self-studying through reading materials However, the research failed

to explicitly explain causes of students’ committing errors in paragraph writing

The second (Hoa, N.T, 2008) sought to find out students and teachers’difficulties in learning and teaching writing the textbook “Writing 1” at HungVuong university and ways to sort out those problems The findings suggested thatstudents’ typical difficulties in learning writing with the textbook “Writing 1” arelack of vocabulary, lack of cultural knowledge, first language interference, andpoor grammar Teachers who were directly teaching writing using that textbookalso face numerous troubles such as the textbook itself, repetition of teachingtechniques in every class, ways to correct students’ errors, shortage of writingreference materials, and lack of teaching aids Accordingly, some suggestedsolutions are put forward: organizing writing workshop, distributing diagnostictest to students, equipping students with some knowledge of contrast betweenEnglish and Vietnamese, employing diverse error correction techniques

The third (Asaoka & Usui, 2003), a longitudinal study, investigated kinds

of problems encountered by students while they completed their writingassignments as well as the ways they handle the problems in an English forAcademic Purposes (EAP) program at a Japanese university The kinds ofproblems the participants had trouble with while completing an essay assignmentcould be roughly divided into three areas: surface-level problems (grammar,expressions, mechanics), macro-level problems (planning, topic, coherence,organization), and external factors (deadline, word count requirements, availability

of appropriate sources, students’ perceptions of teachers’ expectations, lack ofpositive reinforcement, and their attitudes toward the first language use) Ways tohelp the students better at writing mainly include teachers’ provision of moregrammatical exercises in class, teachers’ intervention and construction at an earlystage of students’ writing when they choose the topics, teachers’ supportive andopen attitudes towards students’ ideas, plans, and concerns through individualmeetings, and teachers’ flexibility in writing schedule

In short, academic writing has been the topic of many writers The mattersdiscussed in these above researches are relevant to my teaching area and leaveimportant lessons to be learnt However, these available studies focus on matters

in academic writing in general; no studies come across with any investigationinvolving difficulties experienced by learners in TOEFL IBT writing, whichleaves a research gap for the author of the present study to implement

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

1 Context of the study

The present study is conducted at EQuest, an English center with ten-yearexperience in providing educational services such as GRE, GMAT, SAT, TOEFL,IELTS, and TOEIC Among various courses at EQuest, the new generationTOEFL, (TOEFL IBT) preparation courses often attract high school students inHanoi who yearn to study abroad In order to take part in the TOEFL IBT courses,students have to take a placement test If they get 60-74 points out of 120 points,they will be entitled to enroll TOEFL A course If they earn more than 74 pointsout of 120 points, they will get a chance to study in TOEFL B classes

Each TOEFL IBT course lasts about 3 months, 3 sessions a week, and 2hours a lesson Studying materials are in-house ones compiled by EQuestinstructors and edited regularly to fit the learning situation During each course,students are required to take regular progress tests in order to mark their skillimprovement

The primary goal of TOEFL IBT courses is to help learners to earn highscores in the actual test Helping students sharpen their English skills in anacademic environment and get familiar with American oriented learning styles inuniversities in the United State serves as another goal of TOEFL IBT preparationcourses

2 Participants

The participants of the study are my 88 TOEFL IBT students from 6 classes

at EQuest (43 TOEFL A students and 45 TOEFL B students) Their levels ofEnglish are intermediate and upper-inter mediate (they gained 75-90 TOEFL IBTscores in the placement test) Their target scores when completing the coursesrange from 90 to more than 100 scores (out of the maximum of 120 scores) toapply for scholarships funded by American colleges and universities

The majority of selected subjects come from high schools in Hanoi; theyoften have one year or two more years to obtain TOEFL IBT score to finalize their

application for undergraduate scholarships The minor population is universitystudents and is preparing to apply for their graduate scholarships.

3 Research instruments

With the aim of addressing the research questions, a combination ofquestionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed Through thesemethods, accurate and reliable data were expected to be obtained The majorsource of data is derived from the questionnaire for students studying TOEFL IBT

at EQuest Along with this, interviews for these students were conducted to gatherextra information for any ambiguous responses from the questionnaire

Concerning the survey questionnaire, this method was adopted in theresearch for a number of reasons Firstly, it is the survey questionnaire that helpsthe reseracher save time According to Jo and Steve (1997), it is quickest way toget answers from scattered participants with much precision and clarity The majorsubjects of this research are TOEFL IBT learners with total number of 88 ones.Therefore, a set of questionnaire written in English is regarded more convenientthan other instruments from such a large sample In other words, the author of theresearch could achieve a “snapshot” of the subject situations and opinions at thesame time (Cohen & Manion, 1865) Secondly, it is argued that financial benefits

of questionnaire should be taken into consideration Questionnaire has beenconsidered “a vital tool in the collection of data …it can provide dataeconomically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study”(Verma & Mallick, 1999: 117) It could fulfill the purpose of the author to collectdata from a large number of TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest in the mosteconomical way Last but not least, the use of open-ended questions is believed toprovide sufficient and detailed data for the researcher Students might not openwith being observed in class but most of them appear willing to fill in thequestionnaires As a result, data reflecting what the respondents want to say could

be found without much difficulty In conclusion, the strengths of surveyquestionnaire method could be clearly seen in its relevance to the research aims

The questionnaire for students consists of 15 questions using open-endedtype The first part of the survey questionnaire (questions 1-10) aims to seek theparticipants’ general information such as name, gender, the course they are taking

at EQuest together with the reasons they take the course, time in which they havebeen learning English, time in which they have been researching TOEFL IBT,their overall attitude towards academic writing and TOEFL IBT writing, level oftheir interest for TOEFL IBT, and the number of TOEFL IBT essays they produceper week The second segment of the questionnaire is designed to acquire dataabout linguistic difficulties students often have in TOEFL IBT writing essay task

1, task 2, the question types learners find the most difficult to handle, and theirpreferences for what teachers can do to facilitate their TOEFL IBT writing skill

With the purpose of avoiding some misleading information from answers

to the questionnaire and acquiring as well as enriching accurate data for theresearch, semi-structured interviews were carried out In fact, this kind ofinterview “is not the only qualitative research technique that will produce richinformation about social relationships but it does give you to social relationships

in a quite profound way” (Dowsett, 1986) Owing to this kind of interview, theinterviewer could be able to control the general flow of the interview without

“entering the interview with lots of predetermined questions” (Mc Namara, 1999)

In short, the validity and reliability of the research could be strengthenedthanks to a combination of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews

4 Procedures of data collection

The data collection procedures of the research could be divided into four mainphases as below:

Phase 1

In the first place, the questionnaire for students was thoroughly preparedthree weeks before delivering them to the respondents As designing thequestionnaire, the author made sure that all informants’ information is keptanonymous After that, the questionnaire was piloted with several voluntary

respondents Honestly, a complete final version of questionnaires was made thanks

to a great help of the supervisor

Phase 2

In this phase, the author sent the Participant Information and Consent to 88selected students to ask for their willingness to partake in the project one weekbefore distributing the questionnaires Luckily, all of them concurred to participate

in the study Then the questionnaire was delivered to 88 students from 6 TOEFLIBT classes at their break time The questionnaire included explicit instruction onhow to reply to questions, hence the participants could follow it easily

Phase 3

When processing data obtained from the questionnaire, some points of thestudents’ responses must be pinpointed; hence the author asked for students’agreement to have some interviews to clear up the matter

Phase 4

Next to the stage of interview is processing the remaining data

In conclusion, taking the procedures of data collection by separate stepsenabled the author to obtain the most precise data for the study

5 Procedures of data analysis

In the first stage, the data gained from the survey questionnaire wastransferred into numerical form with the use of chart and table Valid comparisonsbetween the figures were also included Besides, in the way of summing andaveraging the participants’ rating, the overall evaluation of the participants wasmade

Next, qualitative data got from the open-ended questions in thequestionnaire and during the interview were also summarized and evaluated Theauthor categorized the interview on a question by question basis; hence eachquestion was analyzed separately in order to obtain an accurate analysis Thefinding of this research will be presented in details in chapter four

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter commences with data analysis and discussion based on the data

gained from two research instruments namely questionnaire and interviews The

results are presented according to each sub- research question Afterwards,

necessary implications are given

1 Data analysis and discussion

1.1 General information about learners

General information about learners is presented in figures 1- (referring to

questions 1-10 in the survey questionnaire)

Figure 1: Learners’ background information

The questionnaires were delivered to 88 TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest

and 100% of the responses were returned It can be seen from the above table that

the subjects were selected arbitrarily; however the number of male students and

female students are quite balanced (the number of male students little outweighs

that of female students in total) A large number of the subjects (92%) age from

15-18, suggesting that they are mainly students at grade 10-12 The rest are

university students aging from 19-22

According to the statistics from survey questionnaire, among 88

participants, 43 students are currently taking TOEFL A course equating with

intermediate English level and 45 students belong to TOEFL B group which is

upper intermediate level

Question 4: Why do you take part in this course?

When being asked to unveil the reasons for which they enroll TOEFL IBT

at EQuest, answers vary

Figure 2: Reasons for learners’ taking TOEFL IBT

because of parents’ force

The pie chart demonstrates that the chief cause of students’ enrolment forthe TOEFL IBT course at EQuest is applying for scholarship and study abroad.76,1 % of the participants (n=67) confess that they have practical purpose ofstudying TOEFL IBT to fulfill the application requirement for Americanuniversities Among these samples, the author interviewed five students to getdeeper understanding of their reasons for learning TOEFL IBT

On of them uncovers: “I’ve been keen on studying in US since I was at secondary school because there I can practice English with the natives That’s the thing I really want Some of my friends studying there talk about a country with active life style, a mixture of culture, a new studying environment, etc, all of these entice me to come to US to study”.

The other respondent responds in the interview that: “I actually, I am actually guided by my parents when I was in grade 9 that I would study in US That’s why my parents are always in search of a high-quality English center for