retrospective protocols gathered from the subjects w ho recalled their composing processes while watching their o w n videotaped writing behtiviours were Itsed as altern[r]
Trang 1VNU Journal of ScicncC; R)reign Languages 24 (2008) 184-197
Student writing process, perceptions, problems,
and strategies in writing academic essays
in a second language: A case study
L u o n g Q u y n h T r a n g \ N g u y e n T h i M a i H o a
V h ' t n a m N a t i o n a l U ì ỉ i v c r s i t y , H a n o i , P h n m V a n D o n * Ị S t r e e t , C a u d a y , l l i i n o i , V i e t n a m
Rcceh»ed 19 AÍÍĨV 2(X)S
A b s t r a c t W h e n s t u d y in g In A u s tra lin , In te rn a tio n a l s t u d e n t s in g e n e r a l And V ie tn a m e s e s t u d e n t s in piTThculiir m e e t m a r y d iffic u ltie s , o n e o f w h ic h is w r itin g a c a d c m is c s s n y s /a s s ig n m u n ls in E n g lis h
T h e c u r r e n t c a s e s t u d y , « i p p l y i n g t h e c o g n i t i v i s t v i e w , A i m s M e x p l o r i n g t h o p r o b l e m s a s w e l l a s t h e
p ro c c s s OÍ w r i t i n g a c a d e m ic a s s ig n m o n ls o f a p a r tic u la r V ie tn a m e s e s l u d e n t s tu d v i t i g a t a n
A u slra li« in u n iv e r s ity B a s e d o n th o c o d in g s c h o m o a p p lie d b y C u m m i n ^ |1 9 8 9 | a n d B o s h e r [1998Ị,
th e s t u d y s p e c ific a lly a d d r e s s e s th r e e m a jo r q u e s tio n s : (1) H o w d o e s th e s t u d e n t p e r c e iv e th e
r e q u i r e m e n t s o f t h o a c a d o m i c e s s a y ? ( 2 ) W h a t dt>e.s ht* a c t u a l l y d o i n t h e p r o c e s s o f W T i t i n g ? ( 3 )
W h«it a r c th e p r o b le m s h e e n c o u n te r s o n d s tr a te g ie s h e u s e d d u r i n g t h e p rtK c s s o f w r itin g t h e e s s a y
in Enghi»h? D a ta r e le v a n t fo r t h e s t u d y w a s co Ilc c te d b y m e a n s o f in - d e p th in te r v ie w s , s tim u la lu d
recall, a n d in te r p r e ta tio n 0 Í t h e s t u d e n t 's w r itte n p rix iu c ts D a ta a n o lv s is h a s s h o w n th a t ih e su b )c c t
d ĩđ n o t p a y m u c h ìíttL*ntii>n to g r a m m a tic a l e r r o r s o r s p o i l i n g m is ta k o s n n d h e m o t m a n y p r o b le m s
and used a lot of Str.itopics to solve them
1 In tro d u ctio n
research a n d ỉcaching have d ev elo p e d an d
m atu re d to a great exlent for the lasi few
dccades (Roca d c Larios, M u rp h y & Marin
[1]), L2 com position specialists have found
guidance, how ever, in first lan g u ag e (LI)
composition research, w hich has a history
dating to the early 1900 (H aynes, 1978, as
cited in Krapels [2]) After th e m id tw entieth
century; LI com position research in English
* C o r r c s p o n d m p a u th o r T ci.: 84-4-8255103
E -m ail: l u o n g q u y n h tr a n g ộ y a h o o c o ĩìì
sp eakin g counlrics ch a n g e d its atten tio n from
ex am ining ihe effects of som e pedagogicaJ treatm ent on s tu d e n t w riters' p r o d u c ts to exploring the act o f w ritin g (Krapels [2|) Later in 1971, Em ig's LI w ritin g research w as ỉhe first m ajor stu d y to officially signal the shift in com position research from p ro d u c t to process (Krapels [2]),
A sim ilar shiit can b e ob serv ed in ihe field of L2 com position research a n d practice
F r o m t h e s o c i o - c u h u r a l c o n i c a l w h e r e t h e
w rilc r w rites a n d learns to w rite a n d the text the w riter p r o d u c ts , L2 w ritin g research has shiilcd its focus of concern to the acts of thinking th e w riter en g a g es in to p ro d u c e Ihe 184
Trang 2Luoỉii,: Qttụiĩỉĩ Trnn^, N<ịuựeìĩ Thi Mãi i ỉoa / VNU loumal of Sàưncc, Foreign iMìiịỊUiìỊịes 24 (2()()8) Ĩ84-Ĩ97 185
text (C um m in g [3]) T he process m ovement,
according lo Rocn d c Larios, M urphy; and
Míirin [1|, o rig inated from the belief that for
teoching L2 w ritin g cffectiv'oly the teaching
procedures sh o u ld bo bnsed on a theory that
accounted for whcit stu d en i w riters actually
d i d i n t h e p ro c c 5 f> o f c o m p o s i n g a te x
t-The c urren t stu d y aim s at exploring the
p roblem s as well a s Ihc process of w riting
academ ic assig n m en is of a particular
Vietnam ese ESL s tu d e n t stu d y in g at an
A ustralian university It is significant because
stu d y in g at A ustralian universiiies, ESL
slu d o nls m ccỉ quite .1 few p roblem s writing
essays, rcporls, tissignmcnts, etc in English
as they not only h av e to w rite in another
language, English, b u l com e u p with strange
p attern s nnd con v en lio n s of academ ic written
discourse in a new university culture {Ballard
an d Cltinchy [4])
A lth o u gh {his s tu d y was carriod out as a
case stu d y , it is h o p e d thcit its findings can
help o th e r Vielimmese stu d e n ts stu d y in g at
Australinn universities to bo aw are of how
one of their poors copes with writing academic
implications if they arc to help Vietnamese ESL
•students wilh their ncademic writing
2 L iteratu re review
As m e n tio n e d enrlicT, co m p o sin g process
has b een a m ajor focus of L2 w riting research
for the last several decades Rescarchcrs have
invo.sti gated different aspccts of L2
co m p o sin g process for different g ro u p s of
participants, Bnsod on LI w riting models,
they h a v e c o m p a re d L2 skilled an d unskilled
w riters o r co n sid ered L2 w riting skill as a
co n iin u u m of abilities evolving at different
rates (Roca d e LarioS; M u rp h y an d Marin
Ị1]) T here are also studies c o m p a rin g LI and L2 com p o sin g b eh avio urs to cxnm ine the transfer of w ritin g abilities across languages,
or an aly zin g the relaiionship between
w ritin g ability a n d L2 proficiency (Roca de LarioS; M u rp h y an d Marin [1])
T h i s s c c t i o n , h o w e v e r , w i l l n o ! a t t e m p t t o
review all of Ihe literature on L2 com posing process O f intcresl to this particuli^r study are those stu d ies w hich ex am in e ih c writers'
m icro cognilive processes w hile com posing
in English a n d give insights into the pro b le m s an d solutions of Ihe writers This section will firstly review som e key studies in this field After thaỉ i( will discuss w h at the stu d ie s h av e found Also, it will show the
g a p s in the literature and how the present
s tu d y can fit in
3 R ev iew o f th e studios
O n e of the earliest investigations is carried o u t by Zamel Ị5Ị A d o p tin g the case
s tu d y approach, tho rescarcher analyzed in
d etail o b s e r v a tio n a l daUi collccled w hile six
ad v a n c e d ESL stu d en ts w ere w ritin g a ''course-rcliilcd w rilin g ỉask" (Z<imel [5])
A lthough th e stu d e n ts w ere cn co u rag ed to
s p e n d as m u c h tim e as neccssiiry to complete the task; a ỉcK>k them from four lo eighteen
h o u r s to w rite several drafts A m o n g the six stu den ts, fo ur w ere identified as 's k ille d "
a n d tw'O a s " u n s k ille d ' b a s e d on Ih e "holistic assessm ents" of experienced read ers (p 172) Instead of '"think aloud'" protocols, the m osl effective w ay to investigate th e writing process (p 169), Zamel interview ed the stu d e n ts an d ob served thcir com posing
be h av io u rs because ''th ere is so m e doubt
ab o u t the exten t to w hich verbalizing aloud
on e's th o u g h ts w hile w ritin g sim ulated the real co m po sin g situation" (p.l69)
Trang 3186 i.ruvi^ Quynh Tranị^, N^nyeti Thi Mai Hoa / VNU ỊourìiaỊ o f Science, Forei*ỊU bìH^ịuaịics 24 Ĩ84-Ĩ97
O n th e contrarV/ ủ d o p íin g the m eth o d s
em ployod in LI process w ritin g stu d ie s and
adapHng P erl's [6Ị c o d in g scheme; Raimes
[7| exam ined concurrent Ihink-aloud data
collected from eight unskilled ESL stu d en ts
while they w ere w ritin g a n arra tiv e d u r in g 65
g athered from the results of the M ichigan
Test of English Language Proficiency, holistic
scores on the essay, an d a n s w e rs to a 12-page
questionnaire
In an o th er study, Kelly [8], again using
the participants' th ink -alo u d protocol data,
investigated the co m p o sin g processes of nine
advanced ESL learners form seven different
Lis The stu d y followed the design a d o p ted
by Zamel [5] and Raim es [7] a n d a d a p te d the
coding system from Perl [6] A lthough
similar techniques (co ncu rrent ihink-aloud
protocols) w ere used, th e n a tu re of the
w riting task given to th e subjects w as
changed T he w riting lask assigned to the
subjects w as oxposiỉory in nature Kelly's
results co rresponded to a fairly g re a t extcnl
with those of other researchers w ritin g ab out
i h c d d i n c U u i c UĨ ứ l U U u K ỉ l c i
A m uch larger scale s tu d y w a s o n e by
G u m m in g (9] w hich investigated the
English w riting processes of 23 French-
spcaking college s tu d e n ts u sin g their written
texts and think-aloud data T he stu d y had
som e notable characteristics F irs t it used
m ultivariate statistical analyses, w hich was
m a d e possible by the relatively large sam p le
size Second; the s tu d e n ts ' w ritin g processes
for three different tasks (letter writing,
su m m ary , a n d argum cntaH on, on e to three
h o u rs each) w ere co m p a re d M oreover, the
s tu d y introduced controlled variables of LI
w riting expertise a n d L2 w ritin g proficiency
D ep e n d in g on th e subjects' decision
statem ents in the th in k -alo u d protocols,
G u m m in g investigated Ihe fou r aspccLs of
organization, g i s t a n d p ro c e d u re for w riting) the stu d e n ts atten d ed to in the w ritin g process Five ty p es of prob lc m -so ivin g
b eh av io u rs including heuristic search es wilh
a n d w i t h o u t r e s o l u t i o n , p r o b l e m r e s o l u t i o n ,
problem identification, an d k n o w led g e telling w e re also focused on
Similarly, Boshcr [10] c o m p a re d th e L2
w ritin g processes of three S o uỉh easl Asian ESL college stu d e n ts w ith different educational b ackg ro un d s W hile a d a p tin g the coding schem e from G u m m in g [9], Boshcr use d a technique which w a s n o t only different from C u m m in g b u t also different
retrospective protocols gathered from the subjects w ho recalled their composing processes while watching their o w n videotaped writing behtiviours were Itsed as alternative data to think-aloud protocols Pnrtiripants' written texts were also analyzed
Roca d e Larios, M u rp h y , a n d M anchon [11] carricd o u t tw o small case studies, again
a p p l y i n g l h i u k 'i i l u u i 1 p i u l u L u l b
fro m th e p a rtic ip a n ts w h ile w ritin g , ỈO exam ine th e restru ctu rin g proccss w here the
w riters look for "an alternative syntactic plan onco the w rite r predicts, anticipates, or realizes th a t the original plan is not going to
be satisfactory for a varieỉy of linguistic, ideational or textual reasons" {Roca de Larios, M u rp h y an d M anchon [111) Unlike
o th e r studies review ed above, th e stud y by Roca d e Larios, M u rp h y a n d M anchon
fo c u scd o n th e p a rtic u la r w r iti n g s tra te g y o/ restru ctu rin g which, according to the researchers, received not m u c h attention in research o n co m p o sin g proccss
M ore recently^ Sasaki [12] carried o u t a rather large-scale stu dy on the writing
Trang 4Q uynh Trang, Nịịuỵetì V ìi M ai Hoa / VNU Ịouníaỉ o f Science, Foreign Languages 24 (2008) Ì84‘Ĩ97 187
processes of tw o g ro u p s of Japanese EFL
learners (34 in total): an expert w rite r g ro u p
of 12 learners an d a novice w riter g r o u p with
22 college stu d ents T he m e th o d w a s similar
to th e o n e u s e d in Bosher [10Ị in that the
subjects p ro d u c e d recall p rotocols while
beh aviours; how ever, th e p artic ip an ts could
choose the lan g u ag e in w hich they p ro d u c ed
the protocols Also, the s tu d y a d o p te d a
d ev e lo p e d for this type of d a ta Besides
ih ink -alo u d protocols, th e d a ta in clu d e d the
p artic ip a n ts' written texts, their p au sin g
b e h a v io u rs w hile writing, a n d analytical
scores g iv e n to the w ritten texts,
4 F in d in g s o f th e s tu d ie s
T h e ab ov e stu d ies invesrigating p a rt of or
the e n tire process of L2 w ritin g com m only
h av e reach ed to so m e conclusions- Firstly,
u n sk illed L2 w riters are sim ilar to unskilled
LI w rite rs in that they tend to p la n less an d
r c v ir o m o r e a t t h o w o r d n n d p h r í ì í ĩ c l e v e l
(e.g., Z a m e l [5Ị; Raim es [7]; Roca d e Larios,
M u rp h y a n d M iinchon [11]; Sasciki [12])
Secondly, unskilled L2 w riters a r e different
from LI co u n te rp arts in that ỉhey arc’ less
con cern ed a b o u t surface level revisions an d
m ore c o m m ilte d to Ihe given assig n m en t
(e,g., R a im e s [7]; Sasaki [12|) Besides, skilled
L2 w r ite rs are sim ilar to skilled LI w riters in
that th e y h a v e th e tendency to plan more,
revise m o r e at the discourse level, an d spend
m o r p H m r f i n d i n g t h e m o s t p f f e c t i v i ’ w a y t o
d o t h e ta sk (e.g, Zam el [5j; Kelly (8);
G u m m in g [9]; Roca d e Larios, M u rp h y &
M a n ch o n [11]; Sasaki [12]) Also, co m p osing
proficiency w hich is in d e p e n d e n t of L2
proficiency a p p e a rs to have influence on L2
w ritin g (e.g., Raimes [7]; G u m m in g [9]; Bosher [10]) Lastly, learners' attention
p attern s a n d their problem-solving
b eh a v io u rs are different d e p e n d in g on their
LI w ritin g expertise and the type of tasks they h av e to d o (e.g., C u m m in g
[9])-5 L im ita tio n s o f th e stu d ies
A lth o u g h the above studies have
p ro v id e d useful insights into ih e writing process of ESL students, they are not w ithout limitations Firstly, except for the stu dy bv Zam el [5], all the described studies d e p e n d
o n th e controlled conditions of m o st process studies, re q u irin g the participants to
co m p o se ab o u t an artificial topic for a
p re d e te rm in e d a m o u n t of time This m ay result in w ritin g that is not truly rep resen tativ e of the w ritin g m o st students
d o m ost often W riting in controlled
co n ditions im plies "a co m p o sing process that
is radically different from the process each of
us u n d e rg o e s in the course of o u r norma!
w r i t i n g " ( F r o c d m a n a n d P r i n g l e [1^1/ p ^ 1 2 )
Secondly, the stu d ies (apart from Zamel [5 ]; Boshcr [10]; Sasaki [12]) exclusively use
th in k -alo u d protocols as the m ain data source A lth o u g h collecting concurrent verbal data can p ro v id e real-time d ata on the
w riting processes (Ericson an d Simon Ị14]; Gass a n d M ackey [15]), this m e th o d presents
so m e in h eren t p roblem s (Sasaki [12]) It is very difficult for som e p articip a nts to
p ro d u c e th in k -alo u d data while w riting in 1.2, psp£»rially w h e n they are asked to speak
in L2 (Raimes (7]; Sasâki [12]) Also, there is
so m e d o u b t a b o u t the extent to which verbalizing a lo u d o n e's th o u g h ts while
w riting sim ulates the real com posing situ atio n (Zam el [5]) M oreover, the fact that
Trang 5188 /.ÍÍIUỈ^' Q uỵnh Tranỵ, N ị ^ uị / cĩỉ Thi Mai Hoa / VNU lứurm ỉ o f Sciencc, Foreign inìĩ<^ua<^eíi 24 (2()í)8) Ĩ84‘ H97
o u r s tu d y investigates tho w ritin g process of
an ESL s tu d e n ts w riting his real academ ic
assig n m en t in Ù long period of time m akes
th ink -alo u d protocols alm ost im possible io
conduct Last b u t not least, a prelim inary
investigaHon of ESL w ritin g research has
revealed that few studies p ù v attention to
V ietnam ese ESL learners w hile writing
Bearing these lim itations in m ind, we
c o n d u c te d ỉhe present s tu d y to explore the
w ritin g process of a V ietnam ese ESL
un iv ersity s tu d e n ỉ stu d y in g at an A ustralian
un iv ersity w hile co m p o sin g his real academ ic
essay w ith th e h o p e that it will m a k e a very
little con trib utio n to the c u rre n t w riting
process research
6 M e th o d o lo g y
6.1 The subject and his w i t i n g task
T he subject involved in this stu d y is a
secon d -y ear Vietnam ese s tu d e n t of
A rchitecture H ai (noi his real nam e) spen t
o n e y ear ta k in g ihc fo u n d a tio n COUĨ5C
Trinity College before en terin g th e University
of M e lb o u rn e to s tu d y A rchitecture Besides
English, he can use Japanese quite fluently Hai
app eared to be suitable ior the stu d y becuase at
the time to begin the study Hai h ad to write his
2000-w ord assignm ent for the subject called
"Asian Architecture B: China, Korea, Japan"
H e w a s given a h andout w ith eight topics for
the assignment an d had to choose on e to write
about In addition, he was pleased to take part
in o u r mvestigarion
6-2 Approach o f the stud'^
A d o p tin g the case stu d y ap p ro a c h of the
q u alitativ e tradition, the stu d y aim s at
ex p lo rin g h o w this particular ESL stu d e n t
copes w ith w riling his acadcm ic e s s a y in English The stu d y specifically a d d r e s s e s three major questions: (1) H ow d o e s the stu d e n t perceive ỉhe re q u ire m e n ts of the academ ic essay? (3) W h at do es he a c tu a lly do
in the process of w ritin g ? (2) W h a t are the problem s an d strategics he uses ÌO so Ive the problem s d u r in g th e p roccss of writiing the essay in English?
T he s tu d y a d o p te d the post-pcỉsitivist tradition an d case s tu d y as the generdi
ap p ro a ch for so m e reasons To b e g i n with, the s tu d y aim s to explore the subjeci's
w riting process in real co n d itìon s,
c o rresp o n d in g to the p u r p o s e o f q u aiiỉa ỉiv e research w hich is to "explore, ex p la in , or describe the p h e n o m e n o n of in terest" (Marshall a n d R o ssm an ịl6]) in '"natural settings" {Denzin a n d Lincoln [17])
M oreover, the stu d y is n o t "theory b u ild in g " (Stake [18]) a n d does n o t try to g en eralize the findings; w hich m ak es the q u a lita tiv e case
s tu d y a suitable a p p ro ac h to follow acco rd in g
to N u n a n [19], Also, o u r subject's p ro b le m s
a n d percep tio n s typify th e a b s tra c t and
u nquantifiabic n a tu re o f d a ta f ro m a
q u alitative s tu d y (M crriam Ị2DỊ) F o r this very reason, the case s tu d y design w h ic h can
p ro v id e insights as w ell a s result in a "rich
a n d holistic account of a p h e n o m e n o n " (M erriam [20]) in real-life situatio ns p r o v e s to
be ap p ro p riate Last b u t not l e a s t t h e case
s tu d y ap p ro a ch is particularly a p p r o p ria te if researchers are interested in process (Merriam [20]) That is the reason w hy m any studies mvesHgating the process of ESL w riting (Zamel (21); Zâmel [5]; Raimes |7J; Kelly Ị8]; Jones and Tetroe [22]; Silva Ị23]; Sanoi [24J; Bosher [10]) have ado p ted the case stu d y design
6.3 Data collection
D ata relevant for the s ỉu d y w as collecied
b y m ean s of in -d ep th interview s, stim ulated
Trang 6Luotìiỉ Qíỉyĩỉh Tríĩtỉị*, N^uycỉì Thi Mai ììo a ! VNU lourn/ìì ứf Science, Foreign Lmgua^es 24 (Ĩ(X)8) Ĩ84-Ĩ97 189
recall, ãn d interpretation of tho stu d ent's
w ritten products It is realized that each of
the three techniques has iỉs o w n strengths
a n d weaknesses; however; if triangulated
w ith other techniques, ỉhey can provide
extensive d a ta to prcxluce u n d e r s ta n d in g of
the entity b eing investigated,
The d ata p ro c e d u re started with the
subject being inỉcrvievved to probe his
experiences in wriHng essays in English as
well as to u n co v er his p roblem s of w riting
academ ic essays in general Right after the
subject finished writing, another i n t e m o w was
conducted to get information on the shadent's
vvritìng process as well as the aspects the
subject paid altenHon to w hen
writing-Secondly, his p lan s of w ritin g an d his
first d raft w e re exam ined In terp retin g these
d o c u m e n ts w as the s u p p le m e n ta ry m ethod
to triangulate w ith o th e r two m e th o d s of data
collection The d o c u m e n ts w ere used later as
stim u lu s for follow -up recalls Also, I he
in fo rm a tio n g a in e d fro m I lit' in te r p r e ta tio n of
u n d e rsta n d in g of th e w riting proccss It was
s l u d e n f s w r itin g VV<1S cx*iminod b c c a u s e H ai
revealed that he diwavs won! th ro u g h
revision stage w ith o n e of his friends
T w o sHmulilted rccalls w ere carried out
D u rin g [he first recall sossion, Ihe stu d ent
looked tit ihe topic pnpcr p r o v id e d bv his
iccturer and reflected on any percep tion s of
(he req u irem en ts of th e assignm ent Right
after Ihe s tu d e n t finished writing; another
rocall session w as ad m in istered to reveal
m ore ab o u t th e process of his w ritin g as well
as any p ro b le m s he had d u r in g this process
The recall also u n co v e re d the solutions the
subject u sed to o vercom e his problems
T h e interview s a n d stim u lated recall
sessions w e re c o n d u c te d in English an d were
iape-recorded an d tTiinscribed for analysis
p u rposes These tw o techniques w ere piloted
w ith another Vietnam ese s tu d e n t before they
w e re u se d w ith ỉhc subject of the stu d y We also h ad tw o informal talks w ith Hai in
V ietnam ese before and after h e w ro te the
p a p e r to get inform ation ab o u t him self a n d to
m a k e c l e a r s o m t* p o i n t s
6.4 Q uestions fo r the ifitervieios and the coding scheme for data analysis
T h e first interview w as co n d u c te d in an
u n s tru c tu re d w ay wilh no fixed questions
T he second interview w a s stru c tu re d in
n a tu re w iih p re p a re d q u estio n s a d a p te d from Bosher [10Ị- The q u e stio n s u se d in Bosher's s tu d y ap p ea re d to b e detailed an d could p ro v id e relatively co m p reh e n siv e
in form ation on \h c subject's process of
w riting To explore the aspccts of w ritin g focused in the w riting process, th e co ding schem e w as n d a p tr d from G u m m in g Ị9)
M o re details of the coding schem e can be found in A p p e n d ix A
M ore d ata of the w riting process as well
as fhe prohlom s w hile writinp cind ‘ĩtra todies
to deal w ith these p roblem s w ere collected
d u r in g sUmulatod recalls T h e subject's resp o n ses w ere catcgorizod according to
w h a t strategics h e em p lo y ed to help gen erate
a so lution to a pcrceived p ro b le m in his writing- C u m m in g 's coding s y ste m w a s u se d
in this s tu d y b eca u se C u n im in g is considered
to b e a notable theorist in ihe field (Sasaki Ị12Ị) T he coding schcmc w a s app lied in Bosher (10] an d seem ed to p r o d u c e desirab le results As for us, the c o d in g schem e w as easy to follow a n d convenient io analyze the data Explanation of the c o d in g sch em e is
p ro v id e d in A p p en d ix
B-In short; follow ing Ihrce principles of
d a ta collcction including m u ltip le sources of
ev id ence o r triangulation, a case stu d y
Trang 7190 Trang, Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa / VhJU Ịoumaỉ of Sáence, Foreign LatiỊỊUữỊỊes 24 <2(XW 184-797
database, an d a chain of e vid en ce (Yin [25])
com prehensive d ata analysis schem e has
helped increase Ihe reliability a n d validity of
the study
7 Results
The d ata collected w e re a n aly zed and
interpreted u n d e r four m ajo r headings: the
subject's experiences a n d p ro b le m s w hen
w riting essays in English, h is percep tio n s of
the requirem ents of this p a rtic u la r essay, ỉhe
process of w riting th e assignm ent, a n d {he
problem s arising d u r in g the process of
w riting this essay a n d strategies to deal w ith
them T he techniques of d a ta collection
su p p lem en ted an d trian g u lated o n e another
to produce the results of th e study
Hai's experiences and problems when
writing academic assignments.
A lthough the research q u estio n s d o not
include th e subject's experiences and
problem s w h e n w ritin g acad em ic essays in
general; il b wunliwl»ile to k n u w w h e th er Ihe
subjcct is experienced o r skilled in academ ic
w riting o r not T h e reaso n is th<it other
studies h av e revealed there are differences
betw een skilled an d unskilled writers We
w o u ld like to see if the subject has any
characteristics of the skilled o r unskilled
vvriỉers Ì 0 com pare o u r findings w ith o n es 0 Í
other studies In ad d itio n, it is good to
un cover w hether H ai's p ro b le m s w h en
vvriỉing this essays are Ihe sam e as Ihe
problemb he ui>ually en cuunterb w h en
w riting in general
T he first interview s h o w e d that Hai did
not have m uch experience in academ ic
w riting as d u rin g the first y ear at the
university he h ad to w rite only o n e essay
This year h e is s tu d y in g Asian Architcct B as
an elective subjcct w hich req u ire s the stu d e n ts to s u b m it tw o w ritin g assignm ents This is th e th ird time he h as d ealt with academ ic w ritin g at tertiary level It ca n be said that H a i is a "novice" (Sasaki Ị12Ị), or
"u n skilled " (R aim es (7]) s tu d e n t writer While w ritin g academ ic a ssig n m en ts in English at th e u niv ersity the subject m et such diificulties as n o t being able to find the sources o f inform ation, b e in g late for
b o rro w in g b o o k s from the library, reading too m u c h a n d forgetting w h a t w a s read, and not re m e m b e rin g w h e re the ideas cam e from
He th en s p e n t a lot of time re a d in g ihe books again a n d again H ai also revealed in the iniorm al ta lk after this interview that he did not have e x p erien ce in w ritin g academ ic essays like th is o n e in Vietnam ese H e jusi received s o m e w ritin g instruction w h en he atten d ed Trinity College
Hat's perceptions o f the requirements o f this assignment
T he first stim u la te d recall w ith the topic
p a p e r as th e s tim u lu s gave inform ation on the subject's percep tio n s o i ih e requirem ents
of the essay H ai chose topic six to write about becau se he th o u gh t that each of the
o th er topics ju st focused on o n e aspect of the
u rb a n structures O n the o th e r h a n d , topic six reflected all a sp ects of ih e city which oUractod h im th e most Specifically in ihis class p ap er, he ch o se to w rite a b o u t Edo, the old n a m e of Tokyo, in the process of dev elo p in g fro m a small village to a capital city in the 17*^ cen tu ry
" I f you can ptclurc the city so y o u can ịyicture
develop and how you plan a palace or hơuĩ domestic house in a partiailar c ity so i f ỊỉOU can
picture all the small parts''
Trang 8Luon^ Quyìĩh Trang, N<ịuycti Thi M oi ỉìo n ! VNU journal o f Science Foreigu iauỊỊUiĩges 24 (200$) ĨH4-Ĩ97 191
The e.ssay or class p a p o r that Hai was
d o in g required him to describe a n d a n a ly ze
the characteristics of an ideal capital In his
porccpHon, it m ean t th a t he h ad to read the
books to get the sim ilar o p in io n s ã b o u ì the
city lo s u p p o rt the m ain ideas of iho essays
th e qt4cstion sa y t h n f n 'q u ir c to a m lỵ ^ e
or describe the characteristics of one ideal capital
<iỊcm'rallụ \fOu read the book and you describe
ỉiica ỈHỊ coilcctin\* more Sũi4rce that soy the same
thinỵ''
He th o u g h t lhal m o st of th e m ain ideas in
th e essay w e r e taken fro m the books as
hisiory in cluded facts In his opinion, history
d ep en d e d o n old sources, so so m etim es the
informtiHon m ight be right o r wrong
Thert’fort?, h v hnd to read m a n y sources to
com pare a n d l a com bine ideas
'7 b d i c v c t h a t o f c o u r i i e t h e h i a t o n f iilt i s n o t
l O r n x t h u t i f y o u c o m p a r e a l o t o f : > o u r c c ĩ i tO ỉ ị c t h c r
ỊỉOíỉ Ciìn fitui out what is wrofi*^ iifui wluit ;s
íOítỉ f r o m t h a t y o u t h e i i i c a "
"You compare w ith other >ourcci> do thcụ say
t h e $ i i m c t h i n s Ị o r n o t i f t h c } / Sđỉ/ t h e s a m e thiti>ị it
f i u ư t t ĩ > t ỉ ĩ V ị f t i f v Ì V Ĩ U Ì Ỉ o r t l ỉ v ự i o r f t v f ĩ u t ĩ i i h v Ĩ » U I Ỉ I C
Sí»i/ra'"
"AĩUỈ of course if people differcntli/ it tficans
t h e n ' i s f W t a c c u r a t e s o u r c e a u d t h e r e i s
asỉiumpíioĩì so you hiivc to nuĩki' ĩ/our own
a s s u m p t i o n o f t h a t a s p e c t "
TciIking ab o u t the w ritin g conventions, he
snid that his tu to r preferred footnotes
The re fore, h e w o u ld u se foolnoics a n d follow
the co n v en tio n s as explciined in Essay and
Architecturo-The p ro c ess of w ritin g a n d aspects
focused on d u r in g this process
p ro v id ed a lot of in fo rm atio n on H ai's
proccss of w ritin g an d aspocts he focused on
d u r in g ỉhis process The second stimulilted recall and Ihe interpretaHon of the stud en t's plan an d iirst d r a i t also g av e o u t additional insights Inform al discussions as well
p ro d u c e d so m e information The s tu d e n t's
w ritin g stages are usually characterized as pre-wriHng, wriHng/ an d revising (Zamel Ị5Ị); how ever, H a i's w riting b eh av io u rs w ere not entirely am en ab le to ỉhis breakdow n
D u rin g Ihe pre-w riting stage, after choosing th e ỉopic Hai b o rro w e d m any books from the library an d k ept reading He
ch a n g e d the topic a little an d decided to discuss w h y p eo p le chose Edo as th e capital city It d id not sim ply describe the characteristics o f the city At first he did not
k n o w w h a t to b e included in the paper, so he
w ro te d o w n the m ain p o ints of w h a t he was read in g an d e v e ry th in g related to ih e topic
T h e n he m a d e a plan for the essay
" I c h a n ^ c d t h e top'>ic i s w h y t h e y c h o o s e t h a t
p a r t i c u l a r c i t y a s t h e c a p i t a l c i t y b e c a u s e i t i s i d e a l
city, ideal capital and I w nnt to fiiu i out wluit is
t h e r e a s o n h e h u u i ’'
" A c t u a l l y w h e n I r e a d t h e U yp ics I j u $ t d i d u ' t
k í t o í ự w l i u i i/jc i Ị U C ữ t i v n / j t i > t k v v ^ f a i d i n ' ^ , I
j u s t clĩOỉie o n e c i t x f a m i j u s t r e a d a b o u t t h a t c i t y "
W h en ex a m in in g Ihe plan of his w riting
at differcnl p o ints of ỉimo w e realized Ihtit he
h ad m o re th a n ono outline for the p a p e r and asked him ab o u t thnt Hai revealed that as he kep t w riting h e finally found o u t w h at ho liked to w rite about Therefore, he decided to
c h an ge the p lan of th e writing
" Ỉ j u s t k e p t w r i t i n g ( ĩ f ĩ d i d o t i ' t k m y w t h a t I ' m
w riting A n d at the end oh that's interestitig
t h a t ' s t h e i s s u e t h a t I w r i t e Ỉ ĩ ư í t n t t o w r i t e a b o u t
So at last I fo u n d out ivhat I w ant to w rite and I chartịỊcdt''
u can be seen thaỉ d u r in g the w riting stage, H ai did so m e im p o rtan t planning In addition, he k e p t m o v in g from w ritin g to
Trang 9192 Q uynh TrauỊi, Nỹ^uxỊcn Thi Mai iioa / VNU lournnl of Sciencer Foreign iatỉỊiiuaỵcs 24 (2(X)S) 184-Ỉ97
revising a n d vice versa As h e con tin u e d his
w ritin g process, ho explored ỉhe d irc ch o n he
h ad to follow a n d m a d e necessary global
revision T he second s i m u l a t e d recall
p re se n te d interesting in form ation on H ai's
w ritin g th e introduction
"N onnallif the ifilnniuction is the Ịỉaragrayh
that shows w hat you're ^oing to saự in the body
so as I m entioued that Ì had no idea w hat i'm
going to say so Ị ju s t introduced the the aspect of
that c ity and and Ỉ have no introduction o f w hat
Vm ỊỊOÌng to w r ite the body p a rt so Ỉ ju s t leave
it after Vve done the body part and I know w hat
ưm goitìỊỊ to say and come back to the
introduction"
H ai basically took th e ideas from the
b o o k s h e h a d read He fo u n d w ritin g this
p a p e r q u ite h a r d as he w a s n o t s u re w h a t to
w rite about H e k ept c o m p la in in g iibuuỉ that
He revealed that h e often got stuck as "thi
To g et m o re energy for w ritin g , h e "leave the dc$k, go fo r a drink, or listen to m usic or do somethin<ị else not related to the
essay"-D u rin g th e process O Í vvriỉing, H ai paid attention to different asp ects o f the writing
G u m m in g [9] presents five asp ects of w riting
p e o p le m a y fo c u s t h e ir a tte n tio n ÍO w h ile com posing: la n g u a g e use, discourse organization, gist, intentions, a n d p ro ced u re
of wriH ng (see A p p e n d ix A for explanation) Table 1 belo w lists the frequency of v arious aspects the subject p aid focuscd on d u rin g his w ritin g process as w ith d r a w n from the second interview data E x am ples of the aspects are p r o v id e d in A p p e n d ix A,
Table 1 Aspects of writing Language use Discourse organization Gist Intention Procodurc Alton I ion to two or more
It can be seen that Hai a tte n d e d to gist in
o th er w o rd s h e cared m u ch ab o u t the points
o r m a in ideas of th e paper T he p ro c e d u re for
w ritin g w a s also usually p a id attention to
Interestingly, h e d id not a tte n d to language
issues in the w riting The stim u la te d recall
also revealed n o th in g a b o u t lan g u ag e use
H o w e v e r the informal discu ssio n after the
second recall s h o w e d th a t h e w o u ld correct
g ram m a tic a l e rro rs and v o cab u lary usage
w ith o n e of his friends to g et the final
version It w a s realized th a t Hai atten d ed to
m o re th a n one aspect in h is w riring m ore
th a n to each in d iv id u a l aspect
T he e x am in a tio n of his first d ra ft show ed
th a t H ai w as co m m itted to th e task an d the
re q u ire m e n ts o f his tutor H e followed the
w ritin g co n v e n tio n s set u p b y his Faculty
H is w ritin g w as also well s u p p o rte d by
i L ' i c v a i i l l U d p d a n d p k t u i c b t u b U u n ^ d i c i i l)it'
m ain ideas T he m ain ideas of ihe p a p e r were ralh er clearly org anized H o w ev er, there are
q uite a few erro rs in te rm s of g r a m m a r and vocabulary usage, w h ic h m a d e his ideas
so m etim es not easy to follow
7.1 Problems and probleni'Solving strategies
H a i's second protocol w a s aOiilyzed for the p roblem s and strategics h e h ad used
d u r in g the w ritin g process to h e lp generate solutions to perceived problem s
Problems
D ata analysis s h o w e d that Hai
en co u n te red som e p ro b le m s in the writing process Firstly, h e d id not k n o w w h a t to
in clu d e in th e ínlroductìon H e revealed "/
Trang 10Luong Quỵnh TraĩiịỊ NỊỊuyen Tfù Mai H o a ỉV N U loumnì o f Science, Foreign iarĩgĩtíì<Ịe$ 24 (2008) 154-197 193
had a hard ttm c fo r like w hat to be inirodiiccd for
the ones w ho fir st rcữd about Edo a» a city What
aspects $houlJ I ahow ift order to in a short
parasỊraph and you can ỊỊet imaỊỊC o f w hat the city
to follow w h e n h e w ro te ih e b o d y of ihe
p a p e r a n d just k e p t repeating the w o rd s from
ihe books he h a d read He h a d this problem
three tim es d u r i n g th e p ro cc ss until he
m oved to th e m id d le of the essay
"A t the beginning I ju s t like repeat the words,
m entioned I ju s t w rite down the aspect, I don't
huno, i ju s t w rite dow n the fact"
"So (ĩt the tuiddle part o f the essay I know
what I'm <Ị 0 ÌHịỊ to w rite''
Also, Hai lacked w o rd s to express his
exp lan atio n b ecau se he did not w a n t to m ake
so m u c h repetition, He, as well, sometim es
found that his a r g u m c n is w e re not "stron<Ị
L'Hou'^h". It W iis interesting to k n o w that Hai
h ad read bo o k s in Japanese to w rite th e essay
as he fo u n d th a t b o ok s in English w ere nol
EĩĩỊỊlish doesn't mean Irauslate everything every
aspect o f the rcỊỊÚm or the citv, it is not in a iltu re
y v o p lt >f)cuktns^ T h i a f u e l al:>u
presen ted a difficulty for him because
so m etim es h e co uld not find th e direct
translation fro m Ja p an ese to English
"So I had a hard tim e how to translate this,
how to translate''
"So Ỉ cannot have direct translation, it's very hard"
T he in ỉerp reỉatio n of H a i's first draft
s h o w e d that h e used a lot of pictu res an d
m a p s to s u p p o r t his ideas, H ow ever, Ihis did
n o t p re se n t â p ro b le m to him
T he stim u la te d recall p ro v id e d m o re pro b le m s Hai m e ỉ while h e w a s w ritin g this essay th a n the general p roblem s h e u su ally
en c o u n te re d w h e n w ritin g as reflected in th e first interview (see the p a rt on H ai's experiences a n d problem s w h en w ritin g academ ic assignm ents) Besides the lack of
w o rd s to explain, he h a d to deal w ith the difficulty of w ritin g the introduction, th e lack
of ideas, an d th e p ro b lem of translating from Japanese to English
7.2 Problem-solving strategies
To solve th e p roblem s in w riting, Hai used a n u m b e r o f strategics G u m m in g [9] pro v id e s fo u r m ain types o f strategies, an d
c o rre sp o n d in g to Ihe six h eu ristic search
'• ♦ r n to g ip q T h o H o t a i U o f th i« i r n d i n g
and th e ex am p les can be fo u n d in A p p en d ix B- Table 2 b elow show s the frequency of strategy u sag e reflected in Ihe second stim u lated