Problems experienced by teachers in teaching writing to english major students at hanoi university of industry and suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ------BÙI HỒNG VÂN PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING

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

- -BÙI HỒNG VÂN

PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING WRITING TO ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(CÁC VẤN ĐỀ GIÁO VIÊN GẶP PHẢI TRONG VIỆC DẠY VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI VÀ MỘT VÀI HƯỚNG

Hanoi, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

- -BÙI HỒNG VÂN

PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING WRITING TO ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(CÁC VẤN ĐỀ GIÁO VIÊN GẶP PHẢI TRONG VIỆC DẠY VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI VÀ MỘT VÀI HƯỚNG

GIẢI QUYẾT)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng, M.A.

Hanoi, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Method of the study 2

5 Contribution of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of writing 4

1.2 The importance of writing 5

1.3 Approaches to teaching writing 6

1.3.1 The product approach 7

1.3.2 The process approach 7

1 3.3 Differences between the two approaches 8

1.4 Factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing 9

1.4.1 Learners’ personality 9

1.4.2 Motivation 9

1.4.3 The first language and culture 10

1.4.4 The textbook 11

1.4.5 Students’ communicative competence 12

1.5 Problems in teaching writing 13

1.5.1 The interference of the first language and culture 13

1.5.2 Lack of motivation 13

1.5.3 Constraints in writing 13

1.5.4 Students’ communicative competence 14

1.5.5 Giving feedback 14

1.5.6 Adapting the textbook 14

CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1 The research hypothesis 16

2.2 Methodology 16

2.3 Participants and instruments 16

2.3.1 Participants 16

2.3.2 Instruments 17

2.4 Procedure of data collection 17

2.5 Results and discussion 18

2.5.1 Problems in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI 18

2.5.2 Suggested solutions 25

PART III: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the study 30

2 Implications 31

3 Limitations of the study 31

4 Suggestions for further studies 32

REFERENCES 33

APPENDIX 1 (Observation protocols) I

APPENDIX 2 (The teacher questionnaire) VIII

APPENDIX 3 (Interview questions completed by teachers) XV

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 6 Using teaching aids to motivate students in writing lessons 26

Table 1 Teachers’ problems in giving feedback to students 24Table 2 Ways to develop students’ communicative competence 28

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Of all four language skills, writing seems to be the most difficult one for both learners andteachers It requires both good communicative competence and logical thinking Despite theserequirements, writing is very necessary In language learning process, it helps learners notonly improve other skills but promote their ways of thinking as well Therefore, teachingwriting plays a fundamental role in teaching and learning English as a second/foreignlanguage

However, there exist lots of problems in teaching writing, especially at Hanoi University ofIndustry (HaUI), where the author of this thesis works Most of the teachers, particularlyteachers teaching writing to English major students, find it uneasy to motivate their students towrite, to make their writing lessons more interesting and so forth In spite of these obstacles,there is a lack of studies on teaching writing

As a result of the reasons above, the study “Problems experienced by teachers in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry and Suggested Solutions”

is conducted in an attempt to address the gap in the literature and to offer English writingteachers, especially the teachers teaching writing to English major students at HanoiUniversity of Industry, some effective solutions to their current problems Finally, this study isalso hoped to lay a foundation on which subsequent researches into this matter is based anddeveloped

2 Aims of the study

This study is carried out with the wish of achieving the two primary aims:

- To find out what the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students are

- To suggest some solutions to the problems in teaching writing

These aims are shown clearly in addressing the following research questions:

- What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students?

- What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at HaUI?

3 Scope of the study

The study concentrates on problems experienced by teachers teaching writing to English majorstudents at Hanoi University of Industry Besides, on the basis of the findings, some solutionssuggested by these teachers are advanced to further improve teaching writing in Vietnam

4 Method of the study

The study is conducted based on survey research which uses observation, questionnaires andinterviews to collect data

- Firstly, observation is used to find out possible problems in teaching writing to Englishmajor students at Hanoi University of Industry

- Secondly, a survey for teachers is conducted to address the problems in teachingwriting to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry In addition, some possiblesolutions to these problems are also concerned in this survey

- Finally, interviews for the teachers teaching writing to English major students at HanoiUniversity of Industry are carried out to get better insights into the research questions

5 Contribution of the study

That the study is conducted not only finds out the problems in teaching writing and providessome possible solutions but also shows the reality of teaching writing in Vietnam in generaland at Hanoi University of Industry in particular Moreover, this study is hoped to address thegap in the literature as well as to lay the foundation for further studies on teaching andlearning writing

6 Design of the study

This study is divided into four main parts to get better insights into different problems inteaching writing

- The first part – Introduction - introduces rationale, aims, scope, method, contribution

of the study and provides an overview of the thesis design

- Chapter One in the Development reviews background knowledge of writing andproblems in teaching writing with five minor parts: definitions of writing, the

importance of writing, approaches to teaching writing, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing and solutions

- Chapter Two in the Development is wholly devoted to describing the study with details

in the research hypothesis, rationale for using the survey method, participants, instruments,procedure of data collection, results and discussion

- Finally, the third part is the Conclusion of the thesis dealing with the summary,implications and limitations of the study Furthermore, this part also provides some suggestions forfurther studies

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of writing

Writing seems to be a familiar activity to human beings and appears in all fields of our society.Despite its familiarity, no one can say exactly what writing is because there have been somany definitions of writing, which reflects the complexity of writing itself

According to Byrne (1988), writing is not simply the act of forming “graphic symbols”, butthe production of “a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together

in certain ways” In other words, Byrne defined writing as the process of forming a text

However, writing is more than that Also defining writing based on texts like Byrne, Candlinand Hyland (1999) said: “Writing is therefore an engagement in a social process, where theproduction of texts reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed toengage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made” In this definition, writing isproved not to be the process of arranging “graphic symbols” to form words or arranging words

to form sentences and arranging sentences to form texts But it is considered as the production

of texts which connects to a social process embedding methodologies, arguments andrhetorical strategies Besides, the role of audience is mentioned as the goal of the writing.From the different perspective, Murray (1978) and Perl (1979) defined writing as “a creativediscovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use

of language to explore beyond the known content” However, writing not only shows thereciprocal relationship between content and language and discovers the new content as Murrayand Perl’s view but also is responsible for transmitting writers’ messages Lannon (1989)complemented this idea in his definition of writing - “a process transforming the materialdiscovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error or whatever into a message with adefinite meaning…, a process of deliberate decision.” Nevertheless, writing is complex, sodifferent perspectives have different definitions of writing Many English teachers like Tribble(1996), Harris (1993) and Oshima & Hogue (1991) viewed writing as a language skill Firstly,Oshima & Hogue insisted that writing was a process, not a product This point of view wassupported by Harris (1993) when he considered writing as “a process that occurs over a period

of time, particularly if we take into account the sometimes extended period of thinking thatprecedes creating an initial draft” He also stressed on the importance of teaching writing:

“writing normally requires some forms of instruction It is not a skill that is readily picked up

by exposure” Finally, Tribble (1996) pointed out that writing was “a language skill which isdifficult to acquire” and thus, the teaching of writing was essential to the development ofwriting skill

In brief, reviewing all the theories of both linguists and teachers, writing is an act, a processand a skill which shows writers’ mental power Therefore, writing is not simple It needsstudying, practicing and especially teaching

1.2 The importance of writing

No one can deny the importance of writing in our society We write to record what we haveseen, felt and thought We also write to celebrate experience In addition, we write to inform,

to explain, to entertain, to persuade and so forth Therefore, in teaching and learning English,writing plays a crucial role Concerning about this issue, White (1987) pointed out:

(i) Writing remains the commonest way of examining students’ performance in English (allpublic examinations include a composition) Consequently, ability to write remains a key toexamination success

(ii) In the eyes of both parents and students, ability to write may be associated with evidence

of having learnt the language Writing is tangible parents and students can see what has been

done and what has been achieved So it has high “face validity”

(iii) In classroom, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help add variety and interest to lesson

(iv) Teachers may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what students havelearnt Students’ writing can provide useful evidence of successes or failures in learning, of confusions, and errors

(v) Writing requires thought, discipline and concentration It is relatively a permanent form and readers judge us by our style, content and logic So writing demands care and thought

Particularly, Raimes (1983) suggested three effects of writing in language teaching and

learning: “First writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that

students have been taught Second, when students write, they also have a chance to beadventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to take risks.Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved in the new language, the effort

to express ideas, and the constant use of eyes; hand and brain is a unique way to reinforcelearning”

Finally, Byrne (1988) summarized all pedagogical purposes that writing served:

(a) The introduction and practice of some form of writing enables us to provide for differentlearning styles and needs Some learners, especially those who do not learn easily through oralpractice alone, feel more secure if they are allowed to read and write in the language For suchstudents, writing is to be an aid to retention, if only because they feel more at ease and relaxed.(b) Written work serves to provide the learners with some tangible evidence that they aremaking progress in the language It is not likely to be a true index of their attainment, but once again

it satisfies a psychological need

(c) Writing provides variety in classroom activities, serving as a break from oral work (and istherefore a quieter and more relaxed time for both students and teacher!) At the same time, itincreases the amount of language contact through work that can be set out of class

(d) Writing is often needed for formal and informal teaching Although in general oral abilityshould be measured through oral tests, in practice we are often obliged by circumstances, such asthe amount of time we have at our disposal and the number of students there are in the class, to usesome form of written test In some cases, of course, a written test may even be appropriate: forexample, making notes while listening

With the in-depth analysis above, the importance of writing is undeniable Consequently, there

is a need of researches on the teaching of writing in order to equip learners with goodbackground knowledge of writing, being ready to become good writers

1.3 Approaches to teaching writing

It is confirmed that teaching writing is really complicated work Teachers always have tochoose what to teach, why to teach and how to teach Among these choices, choosing thesuitable approach of teaching writing seems to be the most difficult one Therefore, in the

range of an MA thesis, two most fundamental and popular approaches of writing areintroduced with the hope of providing an overview of teaching writing approaches.

1.3.1 The product approach

Product Approach is a traditional approach which is a largely “prescriptive and centered” way of teaching writing This approach focuses on the final outcome of a writingprocess and supposes that students need to produce only one writing version of the task

product-The model of this approach was outlined by Nunan (1991) when he reviewed that the productapproach favored classroom activities, preferred organization of ideas to ideas, emphasized ongrammar exercises and correctness, and focused on the result of the final writing paper oflearners

In addition, Tsui (1996) distinguished four stages of the product approach like generatingideas, drafting, revising and editing He also claimed that the product approach focused more

on form than on content Also emphasizing on form, White (1987) considered the productapproach as the emphasis on grammatical correctness and adherence to give models orguidelines

In brief, after reviewing some basic features of the product approach, it may be concluded thatthe product approach focuses on form, which prevents students from developing theircreativity and confidence in the learning of writing On the contrary, this approach seems to begood for beginners of writing to formulate their skill Besides, the careful instruction ofteachers in this approach is a good chance for students to improve their own writing

1.3.2 The process approach

The process approach to writing, an innovation in a product-oriented culture (Cheung, 1999),has been seen as an improvement over the traditional method of writing instruction in recentyears

According to Leki (1990), the process approach was an approach to teaching writing thatplaced more emphasis on the stages of the writing process than on the final product

With the similar idea, Badger and White (2000) defined: “Writing in process approaches isseen as predominantly to do with linguistic skills, such as planning and drafting, and there ismuch less emphasis on linguistic knowledge, such as knowledge about grammar and text

structure” In this approach, students are taught “planning, drafting, revising, editing, andpublishing strategies” at each stage of the writing process to help them write freely and arrive

at a product of good quality

Sharing the same idea with Badger and White, Gardner and Johnson (1997) pointed out five stages of the writing process namely prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, in which they defined all of these stages Prewriting was the planning and idea-gathering stage Drafting referred to time spent on composing a rough draft Revising implied the process of improving the draft while editing was the process of correcting mechanical errors Finally, publishing was accomplished in a wide variety of ways when the work is in final form

Additionally, Applebee (2000), Chenoweth and Hayes (2001); Flower and Hayes (1981), andRaimes (1991) presented some features of process writing as follows:

Firstly, it is increasingly understood that writing is a process of creating and extendingmeaning, rather than merely conveying pre-conceived information

Secondly, the process approach to teaching writing emphasizes the development in learners of the recursive strategies and techniques that expert writers use when composing In the third place, learners plan an outline of what they intend to write about

Besides, “recursive” means that learners make several drafts before the final version

Finally, learners edit these drafts

In summary, the process approach pays more attention to content, creative writing anddifferent drafts; therefore, it needs efforts from both teachers and students However, applyingthis approach is considered as a valuable opportunity for students to promote their creativity,independence and confidence in writing

1.3.3 Differences between the two approaches

Based on theoretical background of the product and the process approach, Steele (2005)distinguished the differences between them

Firstly, the process approach considers text as a resource for comparison while in the productapproach, text is used for students to imitate Secondly, when process approach emphasizesthe importance of ideas, product approach appreciates the organization of ideas more thanideas themselves Moreover, focusing on creativity, the process approach often has more than

one draft; on the contrary, concentrating on the final product of writing, only one draft is used

in the product approach Finally, in process approach, students or learners often collaboratewith each other while in product approach, they work individually

From the distinguishing features above, it is likely that there is not much clear-cut separationbetween these two approaches Each of them has both strengths and weaknesses Therefore, inorder to yield the most effective lessons of writing, integrating the product and the processapproach seems to be a good choice for both teachers and students

1 4 Factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing

In addition to the teaching approaches which properly affect the quality of the writing teachingand learning, there exist some other factors contributing to the success of the learning andteaching namely learners’ personality, motivation, the first language and culture, curriculumand students’ communicative competence

1.4.1 Learners’ personality

Second language acquisition is defined as the learning and adopting of a language that is notlearners’ native language Once learners have acquired a foreign language, they have masteredthat language For second language learners to make maximum progress with their ownlearning styles, their individual differences must be recognized and attended to A number oftheories hold that personality factors significantly influence the degree of success thatindividuals achieve in learning a second language (Gass & Selinker, 1994) based on theassumption that some features of the learner's personality might encourage or inhibit secondlanguage learning (Cook, 1996) by enhancing certain facets of language learning whileimpeding others (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991) In the second language teaching andlearning, finally, Ellis (1985) came to the conclusion that different personality characteristicsare involved in promoting communicative and linguistic abilities

state that arouses directs and maintains behavior.” As stated in these definitions, motivationcan be understood as the internal power that pushes people to pursue something.

In the foreign language setting, motivation plays a fundamental role It is said to correlatemost likely with failure or success in learning (Gardner and Lambert, 1972) With the samepoint of view, Yule (1996) insisted that there were several factors combining in a profile of thesuccessful second language learner, among which the motivation to learn was important.Explaining the role of motivation in teaching and learning the foreign language, Oxford andShearin (1994) pointed out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how oftenstudents use the second language learning strategies, how much students interact with nativespeakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned (the target language),how well they do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiencylevel becomes, and how long they persevere and maintain L2 skills after language study isover… Therefore, motivation is crucial for L2 learning, and it is essential to understand whatour students’ motivations are.”

1.4.3 The first language and culture

In the acquisition of the second language, the first language plays a crucial part In fact,foreign language learning normally takes place later than the first language acquisition withlearners having already developed their subconscious competence in the first language Thisexperience of their native language may be more or less helpful as they approach a newlanguage since they have already learned how to do with language To a certain extent,universal features shared by languages may facilitate their learning a new language However,

it is a fact that learners of different backgrounds experience failures to control the foreignlanguage, and this has been for a time attributed to the native language habits and experience.People have believed and still hold that the mother tongue has something to do with thesefailures Some representative linguists like Lado (1957), Fries (1945) advocated thisviewpoint They suggested a theory in which two types of transfers were described on thebasis of behavior psychology: the positive and negative transfer Transfer was positive whenforeign language learning was facilitated due to its similar features with the mother tongue andnegative in the sense that their different features impeded learning Although this theory has

been vulnerable to critical attacks from many linguists, the fact that the first languagecontributes to the success of learning and teaching a foreign language is undeniable.

In addition to the first language, culture is also seen as a factor affecting the quality of teachingand learning the second language, especially teaching and learning writing Kaplan (1966)claimed that oriental cultures wrote in a circular way and western cultures write in a linearly.The idea of linearity was confirmed by the studies of Houghton (1983) and Hoey (1986) andLeki, (1991) Furthermore, Scollon and Scollon's (1986) study of news items showed thecircular way of presenting an argument by the Chinese, reflecting the classical structure ofEnglish texts produced by Chinese writers There are other researchers, especially in secondlanguage contexts, who have engaged with Kaplan's theory and allow that different cultureshave different rhetorical techniques (Scollon, 1991, Connor 1990 and 1996) On the otherhand, these researchers also concluded that people who are from the same or similar culturemay employ different rhetorical structures and, consequently, write similarly or differently(Clyne, 1980, 1987, Scollon, 1995, Kirkpatrick, 1997)

1.4.4 The textbook

Textbooks are a key component in most language programs McElroy (1934) stated that “thetextbook is decidedly not the sole condition of an effective class; quality of teaching is moreimportant” In detail, textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input learnersreceive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom They may provide the basis forthe content of the lessons, the balance of skilled taught and the kinds of language practice thestudents take part in In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement theteacher’s instruction For learners, the textbook may provide the major source of contact theyhave with the language apart from input provided by the teacher In the case of inexperiencedteachers, textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training – they provide ideas on how toplan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use

In short, textbooks remarkably contribute to the quality of the second language teaching andlearning as Rivers’ (1968) saying: “The importance of the textbook cannot be overestimated Itwill inevitably determine the major part of the classroom teaching and the students’ out-of-class learning.”

1.4.5 Students’ communicative competence

Firstly, communicative competence is based on linguistic competence, but it is different fromlinguistic competence As a major concern in language learning, grammar ability was seen asthe reflection of linguistic competence For L2 learners, it is important to master generativegrammar to communicate in the target language, because this type of grammar can providerules for the formation of all possible sentences in a target language However, students who

do well on grammar tests are not always able to carry on a conversation in the target language.Therefore, a distinction between linguistic competence and communicative competence needs

to be made Generative grammar is called “a description of the ideal speaker-hearer’s intrinsiccompetence” in ideal settings (Chomsky, 1965, p 4) Communicative competence, however,

is “the ability to function in a truly communicative setting”, and there is “a dynamic exchange

in which linguistic competence must adapt itself to the total informational input” (Savignon,

1972, p 8) In other words, linguistic competence is about “rules of grammar”, butcommunicative competence is about “rules of speaking” (Cameron, 2001, p 55)

Secondly, communicative competence is associated with sociocultural factors In the study ofcommunicative competence, the social dimension also needs to be concerned Communication

is “a social interaction through messages” (Fiske, 1990), and it takes place in a social contextinvolving transmitting not only information but also in communicating social values andinterpersonal relationships (Thompson, 2003) Hymes (1972) pointed out that a competentlanguage user needs to know more than just a set of rules for forming grammatical sentences;he/she also needs to know how to use language in a contextually appropriate way According

to Hymes (1972, p 282), competence should be based on “knowledge” and “use”, andacquisition of competence includes developing both competence for grammar and competencefor use All the components of communicative events need to be involved, such as persons,places, purposes and other modes of communication To produce an appropriate utterancerequires a speaker to adapt to different communicative circumstances Consequently,communicative competence is regarded as a fundamental issue in teaching and learning thesecond/ foreign language, which serves as both a means of language acquisition and a goal oflanguage teaching and learning process

1 5 Problems in teaching writing

1.5.1 The interference of the first language and culture

As stated in the parts above, the first language and culture play an important role in theacquisition of English as a second/foreign language Concerning about this role, Kaplan (1967)insisted: “Language in the whole multiplicity of its forms – both shapes and is shaped by theexperience of the society of speakers” while Ellis (1996) said: “Speakers of differentlanguages view the world in different ways” Talking about the interference of the firstlanguage in the teaching of writing, in the study of English writing by Vietnamese immigrants

to the United States, Byleen (1986) wrote: “Their first language may have predisposed them tocertain interference errors in English” Besides, sharing the idea about the effect of culture,Furnham and Bochner (1986) said: “The directness of Western discourse styles might bereviewed by the Vietnamese as rude and uncouth.” Therefore, it may be concluded that theinterference of the first language and culture is a problem in the teaching of writing

1.5.2 Lack of motivation

In addition to the interference of the first language and culture, lack of real motivation – bothinternal and external is another issue in teaching writing Firstly, without inspiration, writingbecomes a harder struggle One would find it hard to perform a task well if he is not doing itout of will Secondly, the student writer generally does not have a concrete reason or purpose

of writing for a real audience According to Bachman & Palmer (1997), areas of languageknowledge consists of not only organizational but also pragmatic and socio-linguisticknowledge Without a real audience is rather difficult – the writer cannot identify what thecommunicative goals and the features of the language use setting are For example, thescholarship application letter students write when they know that their teacher will be thereader and the one they would actually write to be read by, say, the scholarship board of theuniversity offering the grant will certainly be different from one another

1.5.3 Constraints in writing

There are lots of constraints in writing Firstly, unlike in speech, people do not have a direct

“hearer” in writing and it is the reason why writing is not an easy skill Secondly, one of theoriginal causes that hinder students “writing efficiency” is time limit Gregory (1989)

questioned: “Whether functional writing proficiency can be elicited or measured by tasks that

do not ask for and allow time for prewriting and revising” After that, Weir (1990) gave anoteworthy remark on this question: “Time pressure is often an unrealistic constraint forextended writing and writing time essays is not normally done outside of academic life Formost people the writing process is lengthier and may involve several tasks before finished aversion is produced”

In addition to time, there are many factors causing constraints in writing like place,temperature, the writers’ physiological conditions and so on

1.5.4 Students’ communicative competence

As stated in the factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing, communicativecompetence is very important to the success of language teaching and writing It serves as thebasis for the teaching and learning of writing In case of students’ poor communicativecompetence, students cannot communicate successfully They cannot use words to expresstheir ideas As a result, there would be much difficulty for the teaching of writing

1.5.5 Giving feedback

Not like other skills, in the teaching of writing, giving feedback is considered as the key to thesuccess It shows the relationships between teachers and students However, there has beenlimited literature on the effectiveness of feedback According to Murphy (1994), it raised thequestion of whether teachers’ kind of correction and comment match students’ expectations.Besides, it is the way to improve the quality of students’ written work (Shrum & Glisan,2002) Therefore, giving feedback is not a simple matter Firstly, correcting written work isvery time-comsuming (Ur, 1991) Secondly, teachers have difficulty in deciding focus on form

or on content when they give feedback to their students (Farthman & Whalley, 1990) Lastly,whether teachers correct all the mistakes in their students’ writing is another problem of givingfeedback that Ur (1991) questioned

1.5.6 Adapting the textbook

Although textbooks are very necessary to the teaching of writing, there still have been somearguments on their role Tomlinson (2003) argued: “Many ELT materials (especially globalcourse books) currently make a significant contribution to the failure of many learners of

English as a second, foreign or other language to even acquire basic competence in Englishand to the failure of most of them to develop the ability to use it successfully” What is more,concerning about the importance of textbooks to teachers, Williams (1983) insisted: “Insituations where there is a shortage of trained teachers, language teaching is very closely tied

to the textbook […] The textbook can be a tyrant to the teacher who, in his or herpreoccupation with covering the syllabus feels constrained” Similarly, Sheldon (1988)claimed: “ELT course books evoke a range of responses, but are frequently seen by teachers asnecessary evils Feelings fluctuate between the perception that they are valid, labor-savingtools, and the doleful belief that masses of rubbish is skillfully marketed” Learning how touse and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a teacher’s professional knowledge inthe way to the success of the teaching

SUMMARY:

This chapter has so far touched upon a number of issues relating to the topic of the study.They included definitions of writing, the importance of writing, approaches to teachingwriting, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teachingwriting Despite the fact that each linguists and teachers view writing from differentperspectives, the importance of teaching writing is undeniable In addition, the differences inapproaches to teaching writing are also one of the factors affecting the teaching of writing,which, to some extents, causes problems in teaching writing In short, based on these issues,especially factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teachingwriting, the author hoped to provide the background knowledge for the study which will bediscussed in the next chapter: The Study

CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1 The research hypothesis

The study is designed to assess the hypothesis that teachers teaching writing to English majorstudents at HaUI experience lots of problems Besides, the study is also conducted fordiscovering these problems as well as solutions suggested by the teachers In detail, the studyfocuses on answering two following research questions:

- What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students?

- What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at

HaUI?

2.2 Methodology

Based on Johnson’s theory (1992) that “a survey is usually defined, then, as a study of a largegroup through direct study of a subset of that group”, survey research was one of the researchmethods that the author could employ to explore problems in teaching writing experienced byEnglish teachers in general and teachers at English major group, English Department, HaUI inparticular Moreover, Johnson (1991) also insisted that survey methods had been used to studyissues that impinge on language learning Therefore, with the aims of discovering problems inteaching writing and suggesting some possible solutions to English teachers, survey researchwas used in this study through classroom observation, a questionnaire and interviews Indetail, all the data were collected, analyzed and interpreted both quantitatively (use means,percentage, graphs, etc) and qualitatively (interactive and thematic narrative analysis exploringinductive themes)

2.3 Participants and instruments

2.3.2 Instruments

In order to get the most exact information for the study, three types of research instrumentswere used

Instrument 1: Classroom observation was employed to discover the reality of teaching writing

to English major students at HaUI

Instrument 2: A questionnaire was designed to collect data from 12 teachers teaching writing

to English major students at HaUI The questionnaire included 14 questions divided into twomain parts: Problems in teaching writing and solutions to problems in teaching writing Theteachers were required to circle the suitable choice and give explanations or their ownanswers

Instrument 3: Twelve informal interviews with 12 teachers teaching writing to English major

students at HaUI were conducted to support the data collected by the questionnaire Fivequestions were raised in the interviews

- The first question was about important factors in teaching writing, which was asked in the questionnaire but needed more explanations

- Question 2 in the interviews dealt with approaches that teachers employed in theirteaching of writing This question aimed to provide the researcher with the reality of teachingwriting as well as the background for the study

- The third question addressed teachers’ opinions about the textbook to get more

information supporting the questionnaire

- Question 4 asked teachers about motivating their students which was a fundamental issue in teaching writing

- The last question concerned about other problems in teaching writing so that theresearcher can both cover all important obstacles in teaching writing and understand them deeplyfrom teachers’ perspectives

2.4 Procedure of data collection

The collection of data was carried out through three stages

- Stage 1: The author of the study observed some writing classes at English Major Group

to discover the reality of teaching writing

- Stage 2: The subjects were invited to cooperate in the collection process They tookpart in completing the questionnaire about problems in teaching writing to English major students atHaUI and some suggested solutions.

- Stage 3: After the questionnaire was analyzed, some questions for interviews were raised The subjects were invited to answer these questions

2.5 Results and discussion

All the data collected from the classroom observation, the survey questionnaire and theinterviews are carefully analyzed in this section of the thesis

2.5.1 Problems in teaching writing to English majors students at HaUI

One of the most important factors in this thesis is the problems that teachers have to deal with.However, before teachers’ obstacles in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI areexplored, it is necessary to have a look at teachers’ opinions on teaching writing, which isreferred by two first questions in the questionnaire

Question 1: What do you think about teaching writing to English major students at HaUI?

8%

Difficult Normal

92%

Chart 1: Teachers’ opinions on teaching writing

With this question, most of the teachers (92 %) thought that teaching writing is very difficultbecause a majority of HaUI students came from English non-major high schools Besides, thatEnglish Department has just been established at HaUI is another reason Compared to the

majority of teachers, only one teacher claimed that teaching writing to English major studentswas neither difficult nor easy She explained that her students were very hard-working andtheir proficiency of English was not too bad.

Question 2: In your opinion, which factor(s) affect(s) your teaching of writing most?

Motivation Students’ Students’ The first Textbook

personality communicative language and

competence culture

Factors affecting the teaching of writing

Chart 2: Factors affecting the teaching of writing

According to the information from the survey, seven out of twelve teachers (58.3%) regardedstudents’ communicative competence as the factor affecting the teaching of writing most whileonly two teachers chose textbook These figures are suitable for the data collected by the first

interview question: “In your opinion, what are important factors in teaching writing?” Most

of the teachers pointed out that teaching writing was teaching students how to express andconnect their ideas using their own communicative competence, not depending on thetextbook Therefore, in the teaching of writing, textbook does not have much influence

Based on results from the questionnaire and interviews, sharing the second position,motivation and the first language and culture were agreed to be another factors affecting theteaching of writing by 41.7 % of the teachers The role of motivation was shown in the quality

of the writing class while the first language and culture were seen in the students’ writ ing.Three of twelve teachers claimed that their students, especially first-year students, used toexpress their ideas in Vietnamese styles like arranging words in Vietnamese orders Moreimportantly, the indirectness in Vietnamese culture also contributed to students’ failure ofwriting

Finally, in the comparison with motivation, students’ personality seemed to have less effect inteaching writing One fourth of the teachers insisted that although students’ personality hadinfluence in the quality of teaching writing, the ways teachers used to motivate their studentswere the key to the success of the teaching process

2.5.1.1 Students’ lack of motivation

The third question in the questionnaire deals with the first problem in teaching writing – Lack

of motivation

Question 3: How do students take part in your writing lessons?

As regarded the reality of writing classes at HaUI, all of the teachers asked chose thestatement “Only some students work actively while the others take part in my lessons when Icall them” This fact was similar with the result collected from classroom observation whenstudents seldom volunteered or expressed their ideas in writing classes Most of themwhispered with each other or did private things in writing classes Especially, when teachersraised questions about the lessons, they kept silent and stared at their book Giving theexplanation for this fact, one teacher in the interviews said “The most important factor inteaching writing is how you can motivate your students because of the fact that most ofstudents consider this subject as a boring one Therefore they don’t want to spend much time

on learning writing”

2.5.1.2 The interference of the first language and culture

41.70%

58.30%

Chart 3: Vietnamese interference in students’ writing Question 4: “How often do you find any Vietnamese interference in the way your students write?”

As can be seen from the pie chart above, 58.3 % of the teachers answered “very often” whilethe rest chose “sometimes” In other words, no matter what more or less effect Vietnameseinterference have in students’ writing, its interference is one problem that writing teachershave to encounter Interestingly, two of twelve teachers pointed out the interference of firstlanguage and culture when they answered question 2 in the questionnaire They claimed thatthe first language affected the way students wrote Sometimes, they use irrelevant words due

to word by word translation Moreover, the first language influenced the way students think.Some students beat around the bush when writing Especially, the classroom observation alsoshowed the similar conclusion when students use connectors like “because” and” so”,

“although” and “but” in the same sentence

2.5.1.3 Constraints in writing

Question 5: How does time affect your teaching of writing?

The fifth question in the questionnaire addresses the one of the biggest constraints in writing:

With 90 minutes for a writing unit in a week, all of the teachers agreed with the fact that theydid not have enough time for teaching writing Moreover, thanks to classroom observation,time was recognized as an important factor in teaching writing at HaUI For example, thetextbook of first-year English major students was College Writing written by Dorothy EZemach and Lisa A Rumisek In 90 minutes, teachers and students had to complete eight pages

of tasks, including composing a paragraph or an essay In fact, as a result of limited time,students had to write at home, which was very difficult when they were not motivated enoughand lacked teachers’ control

2.5.1.4 Students’ communicative competence

Mistakes that students make most frequently

Chart 4: Mistakes that students make most frequently

As an important factor affecting the teaching of writing, students’ communicative competencewas represented in writing through a variety of forms among which were word choice,grammar, organization of ideas and so on Consequently, students’ making mistakes became anoteworthy matter in this study

Question 6: From your point of view, what is/ are the mistake(s) that your students make most frequently?

83.3 % of teachers claimed that their students used to confuse with using words in writing.This situation was explained as a result of students’ limited vocabulary and Vietnamese

interference Besides, according to eight of twelve teachers, Vietnamese interference also wasthe cause of mistakes in organizing ideas when students applied Vietnamese writing styles toEnglish writing Therefore, their writings often lacked cohesion and coherence What is more,inadequate grammatical mistakes were also blamed for students’ failure in writing Among alarge number of grammatical mistakes, teachers pointed out a typical one that students,especially first-year students, used to make: using “to be” before other verbs Finally, two oftwelve teachers mentioned mistakes in expressing ideas in writing which were caused byVietnamese interference too.

2.5.1.5 Giving feedback

16.70%

Often Sometimes

to write However, considering students’ motivation, most of the teachers insisted that it was