the effects of blended learning on non english majored learners’ motivation and performance in paragraph writing

After the experiment having finished, all of the students of the two groups did a Post-test, then a Post-questionnaire was sent to the respondents in the experimental group as well as st

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

- -

CAO BÁ HOÀNG

THE EFFECTS OF BLENDED LEARNING ON NON-ENGLISH MAJORED LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE

IN PARAGRAPH WRITING

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Ngọc Vũ

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

I certify that this thesis entitled:

LEARNERS’ MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN PARAGRAPH WRITING

is my own work

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award or any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Hochiminh City, 01May, 2019

CAO BÁ HOÀNG

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Cao Bá Hoàng, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts

in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In term of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses

Second, my heartfelt thanks also go to my lecturers who not only transmit knowledge from their generation to the next one but also inspire us to study better

Furthermore, I sincerely thank my colleagues in HCMC University of Education who gave me the chance to conduct experiments on my topic Their enthusiastic support is essential for my completing this thesis

Third, I am thankful to the staff of Graduate School for helping me enthusiastically when

I need and the librarians for their devotion to duty In the school library, I sometimes experience difficulty in finding the books I need when there is no help from them

In addition, I would also like to send my best wishes to my classmates who have helped and encouraged me a lot while I was doing this work

Last but not least, I am grateful to all of my students at HCMC University of Education who participated in my research Their active involvement plays an important role in my experiments I really appreciate it

non-To fulfill this aim, the quasi-experimental study was carried out from February to May of the academic year 2016 – 2017, in which two groups with the students in the second year learned English with the same teacher and the experimental group (EG) did writing tasks with BL in 12 weeks The control group (CG) learned the same lessons with conventional methods Before the study started, the learners in two groups did a Pretest, but only the participants in EG completed a Pre-questionnaire After the experiment having finished, all of the students of the two groups did a Post-test, then a Post-questionnaire was sent to the respondents in the experimental group as well as structured interviews were conducted in this one with a view of knowing if Blended Learning has raised learners’ motivation and result of paragraph writing

The findings of the research revealed that BL enhanced writing motivation and performance of the students in the experimental group These students were highly aware

of doing writing tasks which were assigned by their teachers This chance significantly improved their paragraph writing skills gradually On the other side of the study, the figures showed that the students in the control group did not achieve their performance as well as those in experimental group Furthermore, English learners are getting more and more familiar with BL because of its popularity and Blended Learning also stimulate students’ writing motivation, helps them learn anywhere as well as anytime in their ability

Based on the above-mentioned results, some recommendations were given to teachers who would like to apply Blended Learning in their teaching to improve the students’ paragraph writing skills

TÓM TẮT

Nhiều nghiên cứu được công bố đã chỉ ra rằng Blended Learning (BL) đang ngày càng trở nên phổ biến hơn trong việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh trên toàn thế giới Nghiên cứu này tập trung vào một thí nghiệm được thiết kế để tìm ra những tác động của BL trong việc tăng cường những động cơ và thành quả trong môn viết của sinh viên các ngành không chuyên tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Sư phạm Thành phố HCM

Để đạt được mục đích này, phương pháp nghiên cứu thực nghiệm giả định đã được thực hiện từ tháng 2 đến tháng 5 năm học 2016 – 2017, trong đó hai nhóm với các sinh viên năm thứ hai đã học tiếng Anh với cùng một giáo viên nhưng chỉ có nhóm thực nghiệm (EG) thực hiện các bài học về kỹ năng viết với BL trong 12 tuần Nhóm đối chứng (CG) học những bài học tương tự với các phương pháp thông thường Trước khi cuộc thực nghiệm bắt đầu, người học trong cả hai nhóm đã làm một bài Pre-test, nhưng chỉ những người tham gia trong nhóm thực nghiệm mới phải hoàn thành Pre-questionnaire Sau khi thực nghiệm kết thúc, tất cả các sinh viên của hai nhóm đã làm một bài Post-test, sau đó một Post-questionnaire đã được gửi cho những sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm trả lời, cũng như các cuộc phỏng vấn được thực hiện trong nhóm này với quan điểm là liệu BL

có nâng cao động lực và thành quả của người học về viết đoạn văn hay không

Những phát hiện của nghiên cứu cho thấy BL đã làm tăng động lực viết và thành quả của các sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm Những sinh viên này có ý thức cao trong việc thực hiện các bài tập viết được giao bởi giáo viên của họ Cơ hội này dần dần cải thiện đáng kể kỹ năng viết đoạn văn của họ Ở nhóm còn lại của sự nghiên cứu, các số liệu cho thấy các sinh viên trong nhóm đối chứng không có được thành quả tốt như những người trong nhóm thực nghiệm Hơn nữa, sinh viên trong nhóm thực nghiệm ngày càng quen thuộc hơn với BL nhờ vào sự phổ biến của nó và BL cũng kíck thích tính động cơ viết của sinh viên, giúp họ học bất cứ nơi đâu và bất cứ lúc nào trong khả năng của mình Dựa trên các kết quả được đề cập ở trên, một số khuyến nghị đã được đưa ra cho các giáo viên nào muốn áp dụng Blended Learning trong giảng dạy của họ để cải thiện kỹ năng viết đoạn văn của sinh viên

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1.1 Background of the study……… 1

1.2 Statements of the Problem.……….……… 1

1.3 Objectives, Research Questions and Hypotheses……… 2

1.3.1 Objectives …… 2

1.3.2 Research Questions 3

1.3.3 Hypotheses 3

1.4 Significance of the study 4

1.5 Organization of the study 4

1.6 Definition of Terms 4

1.7 Summary 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Blended Learning 5

2.2 The development of Blended Learning 6

2.3 Writing 7

2.4 Paragraph writing 8

2.5 Writing motivation 9

2.6 Writing performance 9

2.7 Previous studies 10

2.8 Prior research in Vietnam 12

2.9 Research Gap 12

2.10 Summary 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 13

3.1 Research site 13

3.2 Research material 13

3.3 Time allotment 14

3.4 Research participants 14

3.4.1 The control group (1621ENGL240212) 16

3.4.2 The experimental group (1621ENGL240213) 17

3.5 Blended Learning deployed in the study 18

3.5.1 MOODLE site 18

3.5.2 Netop School 19

3.5.3 Language Laboratory 19

3.6 Research design 20

3.7 Instruments, Validity, Reliability 22

3.7.1 Instruments 22

3.7.1.1 Tests 22

3.7.1.2 Questionnaires 23

3.7.1.3 Interviews … 25

3.7.2 Validity 25

3.7.3 Reliability 26

3.8 Procedures of Data Collection 28

3.9 Summary 30

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION………… 31

4.1 Participant Analysis 31

4.2 Tests 32

4.2.1 Pre-test 32

4.2.2 Post-test 33

4.3 Questionnaires 35

4.3.1 Pre-questionnaire 35

4.3.2 Post-questionnaire 37

4.4 Interviews………… 39

4.5 Discussion 41

4.5.1 Results of Research question 1 41

4.5.2 Results of Research question 2 42

4.6 Summary …… 43

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 44

5.1 Conclusions 44

5.2 Implications 45

5.2.1 In teaching 45

5.2.2 In learning 45

5.3 Limitations 46

5.4 Recommendations 47

5.4.1 For non-English majored learners 47

5.4.2 For the teachers being in charge of teaching non-English majored students 47

5.4.3 For the English Department of HCMC University of Education 48

References 50

Appendices 56

Appendix A: Pre-questionnaire (Vietnamese and English versions) 57

Appendix B: Post-questionnaire (Vietnamese and English versions) 60

Appendix C: Larsen’s Post-questionnaire (2012) 62

Appendix D: Pre- and Post-tests… 65

Appendix E: Banditvilai’s interview questions 66

Appendix F: Interview questions 67

Appendix G: IELTS Writing Band Descriptors 68

Appendix H: The results of Pre- and Post-Test between CG and EG 69

Appendix I: The results of Pre-questionnaire after being coded 70

Appendix J: The results of Post-questionnaire after being coded 71

Appendix K: The results from SPSS 72

Appendix L: The script of Interviews (Vietnamese and English versions)…… 80

LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 3.1: The control group (1621ENGL240212)……… 16

Figure 3.2: The experimental group (1621ENGL240213)……… 17

Figure 4.1: The participants’ gender……… 31

Figure 4.2: The age of the students……… 31

Figure 4.3: Participants know M-learning System ……… 35

Figure 4.4: Participants know about BL……… 36

Figure 4.5: Participants write with IT ……… 36

Figure 4.6: Participants liked learning with BL ……… 37

Figure 4.7: BL enhances Ss’ motivation in learning to write ………38

Figure 4.8: BL environment made students satisfied ……… 38

Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics ……… 32

Table 4.2: Group Statistics of the Posttest of CG and EG……… 32

Table 4.3: Independent Sample Test of Pretest of CG & EG……… 32

Table 4.4: Group Statistics of the Posttest of CG and EG……… 33

Table 4.5: Independent Sample Test of the Post-Test between CG & EG…… 33

Table 4.6: The differential scores between Examiner 1 and Examiner 2……… 34

Table 4.7: Responses of the Interview ……… 39

Chart 4.1: Pretest and Posttest results of CG ……… 34

Chart 4.2: Pretest and Posttest results of EG ……… 34

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BL: Blended Learning

CG: control group

EG: experimental group

GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education

HCMCOU: HCMC Open University

HCMCUE: HCMC University of Education

ICT: Information and Communication Technology

IT: Information Technology

LMS: Learning Management System

LL: Language Laboratory

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

MOODLE: Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study

The last two decades saw many Information Communication Technology (ICT) trends for language learning and teaching purposes such as computer-assisted language teaching and learning (CALL), Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Mobile-Learning (m-learning), especially, Blended Learning (BL) Thorne (2003) defines “BL is a mix of multimedia technology, CD, streaming, virtual classrooms, email and conference calls, online text animation and video-streaming” What is more, BL, which is combined the best elements of online and face-to-face learning, is an effective bridge to help students work together to “achieve shared learning goals” (Barkley, Cross & Major, 2005) Chang (2005) also points out that students would become more responsible for their products when learning within a web-based environment with self-regulated learning strategies Furthermore, BL is studied on various level courses in many kinds of schools with learners and will be paid attention increasingly from lots of fields (Güzer and Caner, 2013) In short, despite emerging in the early 21st century, BL has been perceived as a remarkable model in teaching and learning English

1.2 Statement of the Problem

When writing in English, English learners usually face greater challenges, which can be attributed to a lack of language skills, culture-specific behaviors, and difficulty in interpreting hedged and indirect language (Baker & Bricker, 2010; Jalilifar, 2010; Wold, 2011) Both writing course instructors and learners are often disappointed with their paragraph writing outcomes Thus, a Blended Learning format, an effective instructional design model appropriate for foreign language writing skills has been found to make teachers and learners satisfied because they have opportunities to practice both face-to-face interaction and online methods when learning with BL and therefore they can get benefits thanks to its effectiveness in improving not only their positive motivation but their writing skill at various levels as well Moreover, Sharma & Barrett (2007) and

Lewis (2009) offer to blend technology into a language classroom or Dede (2012) notes that language teachers implement and try to embed technology in routine teaching and learning since BL creates a flexible and active learning environment which gives teachers chances of spending more time with learners in both small groups and individuals In addition, Lim and Morris (2007) suggest a model in which blended learning can have various combinations of these elements: offline and online learning, live and collaborative learning, structured and unstructured learning, work and learning

Furthermore, Hanan (2018) shows the main requirements for blended learning are diverse teaching methods, physical presence of both teacher and learners, elements of control such as time and pace, and at least some instruction mediated through ITC for delivering contents

English learners at HCMCUE learn English in three modules of their four-year study before pursuing discipline-related subjects such as English for specific purposes (ESP) or B1 Certificate A problem found out basing on the scored final tests of the courses which the researcher has been teaching is though the contents the students would like to express are very interesting, most of their recent writing assignments have been markedly disorganized as well as full of grammatical and spelling errors Actually, students were rarely taught how to write and develop their ideas in writing Those are the reasons why they often make mistakes Moreover, the time for practice writing in class is so limited that teachers only give their students some basic instructions on how to do the writing assignment, and then the latter have to do it themselves As a result, not only is their motivation weak but their performance in paragraph writing is seldom as good as they have expected Hence, the study had the following objectives presented below

1.3 Objectives, Research Questions and Hypotheses

1.3.2 Research Questions

The researcher conducts the study to answer the following questions:

1.3.2.1 Research question 1: To what extent does BL affect English learners’

performance in paragraph writing?

1.3.2.2 Research question 2: To what extent does blended environment influence

on non-English majored learners’ motivation in paragraph writing?

1.3.3 Hypotheses

Published studies have exposed that there is some research into the effects of BL on

learners’ writing skills in Vietnam In order to help teachers and learners have better results in teaching as well as learning English, this study investigates if the writing motivation and performance of non-English majored learners at HCMCUE are enhanced

by the effects of BL It attempts to test the following hypothesis: BL has positive effects

on writing achievement of students at HCMCUE who are learning English as a foreign language and eventually lead to creating a positive motivation towards writing Basing on these research questions, the researcher mentions the expected outcomes as follow:

First, the data obtained shows the paragraph writing motivation and performance of the learners in the experimental group are better by the positive effects of BL compared to those of the controlled one

Second, BL model plays an important role in creating a good environment to bring up students’ motivation in paragraph writing In addition, considering the way the participants evaluate the effects of BL, the researcher comes to a conclusion that it is better for English learners to learn with BL

Furthermore, this is also a good opportunity for the researcher to state reasons for introducing BL in classes where students learn English as a foreign language as well as to publish the report of the research project

1.4 Significance of the study

Although BL has been employed in teaching and learning language in many places all over the world, the influence of this model on non-majored English students at university

in Vietnam to enhance their writing motivation and performance has not been as much as

it is expected Hence, this study plays an important role to verify the benefits of BL in improving learners’ perception and achievement when they learn to write In addition, the research can help teachers who are teaching English at university have a clear view of BL

in the present era of digital technology

1.5 Organization of the study

There are 6 chapters in this study Chapter 1 introduces the background of the study, the reasons why this research with its objectives, research questions and hypotheses was done It also refers to the significance and organization of the study In chapter 2, BL, writing skills, writing motivation and performance, research in the world and in Vietnam, and research gap are reviewed in turn Chapter 3 presents methodology, tools and procedures to collect data for the study whereas the collected data will be analyzed and interpreted in Chapter 4 The findings and discussion are presented in Chapter 5 and finally, Chapter 6 mentions the conclusion and implications of the study Besides, the limitations are pointed out, and then recommendations for related parties stated are the finish of the study

1.6 Summary

Chapter 1 describes the background of the study focusing on the rapid development of ICT, especially Blended Learning model since 2000 as well as the problem statement in which students’ poor writing is reminded Moreover, the study would like to raise a number of views about the learners’ writing motivation and performance would be enhanced by Blended Learning Finally, the significance of the study is to support teachers of English to work better in the future The issues will be looked at closely in Chapter 2: Literature Review

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 1 has given a brief introduction of the study This chapter presents BL and its development It also mentions writing, writing motivation as well as writing performance

In addition, previous research in the world and in Vietnam has been reminded in order to find out the research gap

2.1 Blended Learning

Blended (or Hybrid) Learning, commonly defined as a mixed method that includes both a face-to-face and a technology-enhanced component, can change the ways that students experience language learning (Gleason, 2013) Being emerged as one of the most popular pedagogical concepts at around the beginning of the 21st century (Güzer and Caner, 2013), BL, which is defined as a combination of traditional methods and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in a single teaching and learning environment, offers the potential of broadening the scope and influence of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and of (re-) establishing it as an innovative component of general language teaching (Neumeier, 2005)

The BL classes in all the studies combined two modes: face-to-face in the classroom and CALL in the computer lab or student home via CALL programs, learning management systems (LMS), and the web, sometimes in conjunction with computer-mediated communication tools (Liu, 2013) Teachers can choose from a wide variety and combination of teaching and learning approaches such as Communicative Language Learning, Grammar Translation Method, Community Language Learning, Task Based Learning, and Total Physical Response in order to meet the needs of their learners (Neumeier, 2005) Particularly when learning in a BL environment, students have to know when to take action and when they can hand over responsibility Neumeier (2005) also defines while doing it, they not only have to be able to act as autonomous language learners but they also have to be able to handle different degrees of responsibility over the process and the content of learning

2.2 The development of Blended Learning

According to Pappas (2015), modern computer-based training can be traced back to the mini-computer and mainframe training of the 1960s and 1970s It was the first time employees in an organization could be trained without depending on printed materials and face-to-face instruction The workers could simply login to their character-based terminals to access the information

From 1970s to 1980s was the timeline of blended learning, the workforce of companies was firstly trained with video networks This made the training experience more interactive and engaging Learners were able to communicate with their peers, watch the instructor on TV, and even address any questions or concerns sending them by mail (Pappas, 2015)

During the next two decades (1980s & 1990s), as technology evolved, so did blended training strategies and applications Schools and organizations began using CD-ROMs to deliver more interactive learning experiences This delivery format could hold larger quantities of information, which made them ideally suited for distance learning For the first time in eLearning history, computer-based courses were now able to offer a rich and comprehensive learning experience “to create a learning environment that works as a whole” (Neumeier, 2005) It was also the first time Learning Management Systems (LMS) were introduced Organizations wanted to be able to track learner progress and improve online training courses, and these systems helped to monitor eLearning course completion, enrollment data, and user performance within the CD-ROM network

Blended learning, and eLearning as a whole, has seen rapid change in the past two decades, beginning in 1998 with the first generation of web-based instruction Computers were for the masses since then More and more people began buying personal computers (PCs), while companies made PCs readily available for every employee Then computers

started to offer greater interactivity Senders could simply upload material, eLearning assessments, and assignments via the web, and learners could access them in a second (Lo Bianco, 2010)

From 2000 to nowadays, this is the era of BL Integration Osguthorpe and Graham (2003) suggested “three different blending models that are blend of learning activities, blend of students and blend of instructors” Technology has been changing rapidly and the benefits of the blended learning approach have been seen by organizations and private learning institutions From interactive scenarios in the classroom to webinars and online tutorials, learners now have a wide range of tech tools and applications at their disposal Companies have chances to train their employees anywhere at any time, while online learners can participate in online communities and interactive eLearning courses from anywhere in the world Gradually, the union between face-to-face instruction and technology-based learning is producing new and creative ways to enrich the educational experience and make learning fun, exciting, and even more beneficial when “the teacher and the students are a team working together” (Jones, 2007)

2.3 Writing

Writing, the process of using letters of the alphabet, punctuation and spaces to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form, is “one of the most difficult skills to master in both a first language and a second language” (Zemach and Islam, 2007) Writing which is a vital part for everyday communication and academic learning is one of important skills that can produce of human thought in written forms and an essential productive activity specifically for second and foreign English language learners Good writing needs to have good vocabulary, correct grammar and spellings along with perfect punctuation Most language learners at all levels believe that writing is one of the most difficult language skills to master (Kurt & Atay, 2007; Latif, 2007; Camahalan & Ruley, 2014)

Writing connects us with the past and works as a bridge towards the future world It helps

us convey ideas, store ideas and so on In IT era, being able to write is an essential component in any language "The popularity of email, web forums, text messaging has meant that there is now a huge increase in written communication" (Scrivener, 2011) Writing is challenging for many students, and blended learning makes it more attractiveand less daunting New information technology may also support students’ writing process Using tools that engage students and foster the learning experience to motivate them to do it more often, becoming better writers in the process

In writing teachers are facilitators who provide help and input for students as writing is learned, not taught

2.4 Paragraph writing

In academic writing, Bryson (2014) defines the goal of a paragraph is to support a claim

or idea that helps build the whole purpose of the writing Moreover, Muhtia, Suparno, & Sumardi (2018) imply that paragraphs play an important role in academic writing

According to Paulus (1999), organization of a piece of writing is the unity of the ideas and of the entire paragraphs Writers must possess abilities to keep essay format (introduction, body and conclusion) under control with appropriate paragraphing, and topic sentences In addition, all the sentences in the essay must support controlling ideas

in the thesis statement

Content

Content or ideas development refers to the appropriate use of examples, evidence and supporting details in every point of the essay They should be well-developed with logical, appropriate and highly convincing Each section of the essay should have concreteness and effectively support each other

Grammatical structure

In grammatical structure aspect of Paulus’s rubric (1999), she does not only focus on assessing writers’ abilities to use appropriate tenses, but also addresses syntax issues including the variety of sentence structures from simple to complex ones

2.5 Writing motivation

Motivation is an important factor for people’s daily life When people feel motivated and engaged with something, they usually succeed in their goals Besides, Spratt, Humphreys and Chan (2002) concluded that – motivation is a key factor that influences the extent to which learners are ready to learn autonomously Furthermore, Dornyei and Csizer (1998) emphasized the significance of motivation stating – Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and neither are appropriate curricula and good teaching enough to ensure student achievement Motivation also determines the learners’ interest in a topic, or in a writing task, due to external and/or internal factors as well as the sociocultural and contextual background The more students are motivated towards writing, the higher is the use of writing strategies which in turn leads to the development of writing competence

Pajares (1996) believed that motivation was a crucial factor in writing ability Students without motivation would be reluctant to involve in the writing activities Especially, they may experience high level of writing anxiety, low productivity, and probably low self-confidence in writing In addition, after examining 618 children and teenagers in grades 4 to10, but not including grade 8, Troia et al (2012) concluded that motivation positively influenced their quality of writing performance

2.6 Writing performance

Writing is one of skill which very important in English competence Good and effective writing helps learners achieve three important objectives First, it reinforces grammatical

structures, idioms and vocabulary Second, writing provides opportunities for students to

be more adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have learnt and to take risks with the effects of writing Finally, the importance of writing lies in the ability to develop language skills in terms of fluency, accuracy and appropriateness, in the communication of meanings and messages

Fernández and Gunashekar (2009) insist that writing performance referred to students’ ability to effectively convey ideas into written words Besides, writing performance was defined as the results of writer’s ideas on a specific topic It appears with a clear organization, topic-related content, appropriate use of grammatical structure Audience is also taken into consideration to choose a suitable style More specifically, writing performance refers to “the production of a writer's ideas on a certain topic in a written form with clear organization of ideas, adequate and relevant content taking the audience

into consideration and demonstrating appropriate mechanics” (Mohammed, 2010)

2.7 Previous studies

Blended Learning is an effective model to help L2 learners enhance their writing motivation and performance Liou, Yang, and Chang (2012) indicate BL not only facilitates both teaching and learning but motivates the students to work harder Moreover, Liu (2013) indicates the use of hypertext, hypermedia, and multimedia enables teaching and learning different from the traditional way, which often seems to be more motivating and inspiring Majid, Stapa, and Keong (2015) find scaffolding strategies in a blended learning (face to face and online) class could enhance students’ writing performance Furthermore, BL is very effective in motivating shy students and low achievers towards participation and interaction both in synchronous and asynchronous activities because they are not criticized It provides students with mechanisms and enthusiasm for learning, thus, affecting their achievement positively The written results

of English writing course after BL instruction showed that the students improved their organization, grammar and structure, content, vocabulary, and spelling BL stimulates

students to move towards independent practice of English writing instead of depending

on direct instruction BL also motivates students to collaboratively construct knowledge and develop language skills (Alotebi, 2016) In Geta and Olango’s research (2016), the students who participated in BL displayed better performance on the post-test than the students who attended a traditional writing course In sum, BL has many positive effects

on the learners’ writing motivation as well as their writing performance

Research in the technology-enhanced classroom has shown that BL and online language learning have advantages that the conventional classes do not have Adas and Bakir (2013) suggest BL is an innovative teaching model that brings learners a flexible teaching environment Published research has shown BL devises a supportive and motivating environment for learners and enhances their autonomous writing skills (Kupetz & Ziegenmeyer, 2005; Thorne, 2003) The flexibility of blended learning allows learners to access content any time from any place and fosters autonomous learning The learners have opportunities to receive feedback on their writing from their peers or their teachers, and to gain more confidence in their writing thanks to comparing their ability to write to that of their peers In comparison with the traditional classes, BL not only makes the writing course more interactive and effective for both teacher and learners but also helps

to expand students’ learning opportunities outside the classroom (Lien, 2015) In this digital age, BL allows students to learn anytime, anywhere, and in the way they want to Blended learning offers flexibility in the way students learn – when, what, where, and how to learn Garrison and Kanuka (2004) pointed out “blended learning is the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences.” The easy availability of mobile devices such as cellphones, tablets, and smartphones, coupled with web-based services (e.g digital library, learning management systems, etc.), has also further fueled BL In a nutshell, learners benefit numerously when they learn with blended learning

2.8 Prior research in Vietnam

Tran (2016) stated “E-learning is mainly associated with activities involving the simultaneous use of computers and interactive networks” However, Lien (2015) pointed out the dramatic difference between the traditional class and blended environment for learning EFL writing make most students unfamiliar Besides, freshmen are often very bad at writing a paragraph Firstly, most students are not familiar with paragraph writing When studying at high school, students only practice writing at a basic level such as building sentences, rewrite sentences without changing meaning Second, students are used to informal writing styles such as letters or emails Therefore, when writing paragraphs, students make a lot of mistakes in words, grammar, organization and ideas What is more, Le (2000) pointed out Vietnamese students are tied up extrinsic motivation because of the pressure to pass exams and many students in Vietnam are facing the lack

of interest and motivation in writing (Ly, 2007)

2.9 Research Gap

However, it would have been better if there are many studies to investigate how BL is applied in learning and teaching writing skills, especially writing paragraphs In fact, there is not much research having been done on BL in writing courses (Wold, 2011) In addition, there are few studies on BL in Vietnam for one reason BL is still a new issue in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Thus, there should be more research on BL in order that it is applied better in paragraph writing to improve learners’ writing skills

2.10 Summary

This chapter refers to Blended Learning model and its development during two decades Besides, writing as well as writing performance and writing motivation are also introduced respectively Next, some related research in the world and in Vietnam is viewed to find out research gap of the study How the experiment is conducted will be clearly described in the next section, Chapter 3: Methodology

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

Chapter 2 had carried out a related and fundamental Literature Review of the research

This Chapter aimed to describe Methodology including Research site and participants, Blended Learning deployed in the study, Research design, Instruments, Validity, Reliability, and Data collection procedures

3.1 Research site

The research was conducted at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education (HCMUE) specializing in training of teachers and lecturers located in District 5, HO CHI MINH City It is a public higher education institution placed in 14 leading national universities

of Vietnam and one of the two largest pedagogical universities, playing a leading role in teacher and lecturer training HCMUE offer courses and programs leading to officially recognized higher education degrees such as bachelor degrees in several areas of study

3.2 Research material

Life (A2 – B1), which is a Vietnam edition course book (Hughes, Stephenson, & Dummett, 2015) published by Cengage Learning, National Geographic, has been designed beautifully with scientific contents and pictures, in accordance with the objectives and orientation of achieving a standard output (level 3/6) as prescribed The widespread use of this book in schools thanks to knowledge in the course book is presented with science and logic as well as the latest knowledge of science and technology has been updated, ensuring a balance between theory and practice, in conformity with reality of learning and teaching English in Vietnam and HCMC University of Education

2 20 January 5e Problems with an order

3 27 January 5e Writing emails

4 06 March 5e Writing skill formal language

5 13 March 6e A wedding in Madagascar

6 20 March 6e Writing a description

7 27 March 6e Writing skill descriptive Adjectives

9 10 April 7e Applying for a job

10 17 April 7e Writing a CV

11 24April 7e Writing skill action verbs for CVs

12 08 May 8e An argument for technology

13 15 May 8e Writing a paragraph

14 22 May 8e Writing skill connections words

Post-treatment

15 29 May

Distributing Posttest Distributing Post-questionnaire Interviewing Ss

3.4 Research participants

In this experiment, two groups with the students in the second year – an experimental group and the control one – learned English with the same teacher but only the experimental group did writing tasks with BL in 12 weeks They were at the age from 22

to 23 All of them had passed the examination of Module 1 and registered to learn Module 2 of the compulsory program

In this study, two classes which the researcher was assigned to teach were

1621ENGL240213 and 1621ENGL240212 The former was the experimental group (EG) with 22 students and the latter was the control group (CG) with 22 students Both of the groups learned the same lessons in similar conditions of traditional method with the same teacher but only the EG was employed more with blended environment

Convenience sampling (also known as Haphazard Sampling or Accidental Sampling) technique, which is a non-probability sampling in which the researcher uses the subjects that are nearest and available to participate in the research study (Ilker et al, 2016), is used in this study because of its simplicity of sampling and the ease of research It is also helpful for pilot studies and for hypothesis generation Moreover, data collection can be facilitated in short duration of time

The convenience sampling approach has some disadvantages such as bias is the most significant criticism of convenience sampling as the data gathered from convenience sampling does not accurately represent the entire population, and limitation in generalization leading to when making inferences about the entire population, a more sophisticated sampling method must be applied (Gaganpreet, 2017) Nevertheless, convenience sampling can collect data quickly thanks to the rules to gather elements for the sample are least complicated in comparison to techniques such as simple random sampling, stratified sampling and, systematic sampling Furthermore, data collection is easy and accessible Most convenience sampling considers the population at hand Samples are readily available to the researcher In addition, it allows researchers to generate more samples with less or no investment and in a brief period

The class 1621ENGL240213 was chosen for the research as the experimental group (EG) with 22 students at random In fact, there were 32 students in this class However, 22 students (17 females and 5 males) were randomly chosen thanks to their agreement to follow the treatment which the researcher informed them about the study when meeting

in the first week This was the reason for choosing the class 1621ENGL240212 as the control group (CG) with the same number of students (15 females and 7 males)

In this study, most of the students (nearly 70.0%) were in 22 years old, and about third of them were 23 years old However, the female students accounted for over two-thirds compared with the male students in total due to one of the main characteristics of HCMC University of Education, where there are more females than males to study to be teachers (See Figures 4.1 and 4.2)

one-3.4.1 The control group (1621ENGL240212)

This group with 22 students studied every lesson with traditional method Each of the students in this group learnt how to write a paragraph with their pens and notebooks To begin with, the researcher taught the lesson, wrote the key knowledge on the board, explained some issues which the learners did not understand and gave them the task they had to do in class within 30 minutes The next step was the students went to the blackboard and wrote their paragraphs down on the board after finishing their final draft Then the researcher corrected their writing with red chalk, complimented the students on their good points, analyzed the mistakes they had made to help them as well as other students avoid making these mistakes in their next writing

Finally, the researcher gave the students some advice on how to write a paragraph better This process is often time-consuming, whereas a few learners to have a chance to present their performance In addition, it is hard for teachers to assist their students to do well in paragraph writing

Figure 3.1: The control group (1621ENGL240212)

3.4.2 The experimental group (1621ENGL240213)

The experimental gro up has 22 students learnt the lessons with Blended Learning This model combines the traditional method with ICT which is very useful for teachers and learners in teaching and learning English, especially in paragraph writing In this experiment, the ICT consists of a Language Laboratory with computers installed the Netop School software and MOODLE

In every lesson the participants learnt in the course, they could use the computer or laptop

to support them in doing their tasks They obviously use the resources which the Internet can bring to them appropriately They also learnt the lessons and wrote their exercise many times until they felt satisfied without taking lots of time Furthermore, the students could submit their assignments via MOODLE site without meeting their teacher thanks to the connection of the Internet

During the course, the researcher worked very hard to correct or comment on the students’ writing

Figure 3.2: The experimental group (1621ENGL240213)

3.5 Blended Learning deployed in the study

Blended Learning is an open concept and it can be applied flexibly Thus, a combination

of the traditional classroom setting and the ICT (the MOODLE site, Netop School software, and Language Laboratory in HCMUE) enabled teaching and learning platform

referred to in this study as blended learning environment

3.5.1 MOODLE site

MOODLE (short for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) was founded in 1999 by Martin Dougiamas, who was determined to build an open source Learning Management System (LMS) aimed at education and users via creating courses

on the Internet or online learning websites Standing out as an education-oriented design for people working in the field of education, Moodle has grown tremendously and attracted the attention of most countries in the world and even the largest commercial companies for the last two decades Moodle is popular and helpful thanks to the following three reasons:

First, it is easy to use with an intuitive interface; it takes only a short time for teachers to get acquainted and use it fluently Teachers can install and upgrade Moodle by themselves

Second, Moodle's support documentation is huge and detailed, different from many other open sources as well as it is suitable for many levels and kinds of training such as high schools, universities, organizations and companies

Third, Moodle, which has been used in 160 countries and has been translated into 75 languages, is very reliable with over 10,000 sites More than 100,000 people all over the world have registered to join the Moodle community (moodle.org)

In addition, the Moodle Vietnam community was established in March 2005 with the purpose of building a Vietnamese version and supporting schools to implement Moodle

It can be said that Moodle is the most popular LMS in Vietnam

In short, Moodle is an effective tool for learners to study language with BL model

3.5.2 Netop School

NetOp School is developed by a Danish company, Danware, specializing in remote- controlled software via computers It is a software package that connects multiple computers in a classroom to create interaction between students' computers and teacher’s host computer This is a flourishing teaching tool, making communication more vivid, intuitive and easier to understand NetOp School was chosen for the experiment because

it had been installed in computers of the Language Laboratory in EU

NetOp School includes 2 parts: Teacher (for teachers) and Student (for students) The Teacher section can be installed on a server or workstation - the machine used by the teacher to control it, and the Student section installs on workstations in the network NetOp School only needs installing on the server and not on workstations, provided that computers are being used Windows 2000 or XP In order to managed, monitored and controlled on the workstations of the network through the NetOp Teacher’s screen, the NetOp Student must be operated and working

This software allows teachers to perform all the things they want to convey right on the screen in front of students, as well as be able to see, monitor and control the entire operation of the student computers

In this study NetOp School played an important role in managing students’ writing when they were practise learning to write on computer in Language Laboratory such as it helps the researcher to control the learners’ screen in class, because the host computer is equipped a program that can see the screen of every computer in the system Any student who does not concentrate on their writing practice but does private things will be discovered and warned In some cases, what they have done is shown on the host screen

3.5.3 Language Laboratory

A language laboratory (LL) is a classroom equipped with tape recorders, speakers, projectors and computers and things to help learners practise listening and speaking foreign languages Mohammed (2017) highly recommended using language labs in

teaching English in schools because the use of a fully equipped lab daily with it altogether will probably affect students’ performance Furthermore, Adamu and Umar (2018) stated the Multimedia Device supports teachers to teach learners individually or in groups and teachers can assess their students basing on individual performances

The Language Laboratory with 40 cabins in HCMUE, which is well equipped with modern facilities for students to learn English, is on the third floor of block C It is in very good condition to be used for this experiment

3.6 Research design

This study was quantitative in which the quasi-experimental approach was adopted An experimental group was taught with BL (they learned in both conventional classroom and online environment) at the same time as the control one without BL (only conventional classroom) The experiment lasted for 12 weeks with 60 periods Both groups were taught by the same teacher The aim of this study was to investigate if non-English majored learners at HCMCUE are enhanced their writing motivation and performance owing to the effects of Blended Learning

Before the treatment, the control group (1621ENGL240212) and the experimental group (1621ENGL240213) did the pre-test in class with pen and paper in the first week The aim of this test was to find out the students who were suitable for the study the researcher would like to carry out Then, the tests were collected and coded before being scored separately by two examiners who have been experienced in teaching writing for years (See Appendix H) The results of the pre-test combined with the convenience sampling technique helped form two groups of the study

To begin the treatment, the control group learnt Part 5e: Writing emails, in which they focused on skills in writing formal language in the traditional class To put in another way, the learners in this group learnt the lessons with their teacher without the assistance

of the ICT They read the course book, listened to their teacher’s explanation, wrote the drafts, and then some students went to the board to write down their final versions After

that, the researcher corrected their writing, gave comments, and drew a conclusion The teacher could not correct all of students’ writing because of limited time This lesson helped the students get used to academic writing

Before teaching the same lesson to the experimental group, first, the researcher delivered the pre-questionnaire aiming to collect information about students’ knowledge of Blended Learning in order that some solutions might need adjusting during the study The next step was the teacher deployed the ICT in teaching the lesson beside the traditional method The students in this group could use the computer connected with the Internet in the laboratory to help them find out the necessities on the Internet or in soft wares installed on the computer to sever their writing emails effectively They also read the course book, listened to their teacher’s explanation, but wrote their drafts on computer and then submitted their final writing to the researcher via the MOODLE site which is always in public Therefore, every member of this group could read all of their writing and learn something from each other

During the lesson in the laboratory, the researcher controlled the class with NetOp School

by looking at the screen of the host computer where every student’s activity on the computer could be seen easily If a student did not concentrate on his or her task, their computer would be locked or shown on the main screen of the lab to warn the others about their laziness or distraction

The researcher then collected their writing, corrected, gave comments, and sent back to the learners via the MOODLE site whenever the task had been finished thanks to the assistance of tools in the Window programs and applications

Teaching paragraph writing with Blended Learning, the teacher had to work hard not only in class but at home or anywhere and anytime as well However, every learner’s writing could be corrected and commented to help them avoid repeating their mistakes and their performance could improve was one of the strong points of this model

The following lessons of the treatment were conducted as the same ways with Part 5e for two groups but the contents were different In Part 6e, students learnt how to write a

description (paragraph) with descriptive adjectives In Part 7e, writing Curriculum Vitae with action verbs was taught to the learners In fact, the students learnt to write sentences and reduce from sentences to phrases This was an essential skill to help paragraph writing later In Part 8e, the researcher taught the students to write a paragraph with connections words

When the lessons of the study finished, the control group and the experimental group did the same post-test in each class with pen and paper in the last week The researcher would like to indicate if Blended Learning affected English learners’ performance in paragraph writing and how much it could do in the EG via the results of this post-test Besides, the post-questionnaire was distributed among learners of the EG to collect the information about the influence of Blended Learning on students’ motivation in paragraph writing and to what extent

Finally, the researcher interviewed every members of the experimental group to assure the exact results of the treatment as well as expected.In other words, this tool combined with the post-questionnaire helped the researcher support in measuring the collected data due to application of convenience sampling in this experiment

Pre- and post-tests

Creswell (2012) defines a pre-test can measure “some attribute or characteristic” that the researcher assesses for the “participants in an experiment before they receive a treatment” A post-test, by contrast, “is a measure on some attribute or characteristic that

is assessed for participants in an experiment after a treatment” Therefore, these kinds of tests play important roles in establishing the validity and reliability of a research

The two tests used in this study came from the course book Complete IELTS (Bands 4 – 5) Student’s book with Answer (Brook-Hart & Jakeman, 2012), (See Appendix D) They were chosen because the standards and categories which the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) has established have been accepted worldwide The pre- and post-test design was called for to assess the effectiveness and impact of this blended mode of learning writing in English These tests were the main instruments to help measure the participants’ writing performance between the experimental class and the control one in order that the researcher could review if the given hypotheses were appropriate

3.7.1.2 Questionnaires

Pre- and post-questionnaires

One of the most popular techniques used for obtaining information from subjects is the questionnaire thanks to its reasonable cost, standardized and purposive questions Moreover, it can ensure anonymity as well as be applied when “there are no other more reliable and valid techniques that could be used.” (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993) Before the course, a pre-questionnaire was sent to the participants in the experimental group (See Appendix A) Most of the sections of the questionnaire contained rating scale questions The written format basing on the form designed by HCMC Open University guaranteed the respondents’ anonymity as well as encouraged them to express their point

of view freely (Dobao & Blum, 2013) in order to discover the necessary conditions for the experiment

After the lessons finished and the test had been done, the researcher sent a questionnaire to the participants in the experimental group (See Appendix B) This post-questionnaire was adapted from the one used in Larsen’s Dissertation (Larsen, 2012), and had been used by the researcher for an earlier pilot study (See Appendix C) The aim of this post-questionnaire was to get the data to answer the second research question

post-In order to elicit students’ views on the impact of BL on them, a written questionnaire had been designed (See Appendix B) All the sections of the questionnaire contained rating scale questions The first six questions and question 10 addressed the usefulness as well as the benefits of the BL which English learners could get Questions 8 and 9 were focused on unfavorable impacts of the BL In the rest ones, learners were requested to reflect on the trend in using BL to support their learning English in the future After being completely designed, the questionnaire was sent to some English learners and teachers for reading and providing feedback Then it was corrected as well as modified in order that every participant who was going to get it could fully comprehend

The next step was the questionnaire was sent to the students in HCMUE, who participated in the research In some cases, extra explanations were given because the participants had not known how to find the appropriate option, or some words had made them confused Last but not least, the respondents were always guided carefully to complete the questionnaire when receiving it In addition, the researcher always gave the respondents assistance with any problems that might arise

Both of the questionnaires were in Vietnamese, participants’ mother tongue, to avoid misunderstanding to complete the questionnaires in class Every question in the questionnaires was clear and easy to understand because they were adapted and corrected after being used twice as pilots All of these things helped the validity and reliability to be present in this data collection tool (See Appendix K)

3.7.1.3 Interviews

Interviews are perceived as other types of questionnaires Thanks to their flexibility and adaption, they can be used with various issues and types of people (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993) In fact, interviews are opportunities that the researcher can assemble more information than questionnaires and the interviewer makes questions which are useful for supporting the research

The main function of the interviews in this study was to enquire about the respondents’ understandings, expectations and perspectives relating to BL and its effects on enhancing learners’ writing motivation and performance after the course The researcher can work with groups or individuals depending on the time or kinds of information The questions

in the structured interview were adapted from the ones used in the Banditvilai’s research (Banditvilai, 2016), (See Appendices E and F)

3.7.2 Validity

In the context of quasi-experimental design, validity indicates the degree which scientific explanations of phenomena complement the realities of the world (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993) In other words, the relationship among subjects, instruments, experimental designs and many factors in the study should be valid Although there are many types of validity, every particular instrument has its own validity and it is considered a target which the researchers always want to achieve (Kumar, 1996)

In order to establish validity in this study, the researcher exploited many tools for collecting data such as Pre- and Post-questionnaires, Pre- and Post-tests, as well as Interviews to insure that the data collection was valid enough for the researcher to reach a logical conclusion that BL had effects on enhancing non-English majored English learners’ writing motivation and writing performance Moreover, the study results had to

be reviewed whether they were pertinent to the research questions which were mentioned

in the Introduction part

3.7.3 Reliability

Like validity, reliability in an essential component in research Kumar (1996) defines

“reliability is the degree of accuracy or precision in the measurements made by a research instrument” The term reliability alludes to the consistency of the measurement, the extent to which the outcomes are akin to each other through various forms of the same instrument or occasions of data collecting are applied (McMillan & Schumacher, 1993) For establishing the reliability in this research, the Pre- and Post-tests were evaluated basing on scoring rubrics in IELTS Writing Band Descriptors because the writing lessons that the students learned were academic Besides, the questionnaires had been used in pilot studies to assure they were reliable before handing to the participants Cronbach’s Alpha which was calculated to ensure the reliability of the study was 0.821 > 0.700 It means these questionnaires were reliable Furthermore, the interviews were well-prepared with questions relating to the effects of BL and how the learners were ready for BL Especially all of the interviews were carried out at convenient time for participants and recorded completely Moreover, each research question was discussed separately including figures, tables or charts if necessary The researcher used the Independent

sample t-test to indicate the probability (p< 0.05) that the means of two groups were

different

Table 4.1 Reliability Statistics