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The hypothesis of this study is integrating of critical thinking skills in writing activities can promote students‟ creative writing skills and learning motivation.. The teacher used act

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HA NOI, 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIOAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

ANH NGỮ Ở VIỆT NAM

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm

HA NOI, 2017

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge, it contained no material previously published or written by another person (except where explicitly defined in the acknowledgements), nor material which has been submitted for award of any degree or diploma of a university or other institution of higher learning

Signature:………

Name: Đỗ Thị Diễn

Date: ………

Besides, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to twelve students in my class, who enthusiastically participated in the data collection process In fact, without their help, I could not complete this thesis

Also, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents and my husband, who have constantly encouraged me during the time when I conducted my research paper

Last but not least, I would like to thank my readers for their interests and comment on this study

ABSTRACT

Critical thinking skill is an important aspect in learning and teaching a foreign language Thinking skills lessons should be part of the curriculum if students are to solve problems individually, cooperatively and creatively Teachers

on the other hand must be conversant with relevant techniques needed for teaching critical thinking skills This study was conducted in an English class with 12 student

of grade 7 in the design of an action research The hypothesis of this study is integrating of critical thinking skills in writing activities can promote students‟ creative writing skills and learning motivation The teacher used action research of integrating the detailed requirements for student‟s use of critical thinking skills of higher levels, or higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in writing activities Class observation, writing analysis and group interview were employed for data collection After data analysis, the finding was discussed to figure out what extent student‟s use of HOTS in learning process to promote student‟s academic achievement, creativity and motivation to learn

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HOTS: Higher order thinking skills

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

L2: Second or Foreign Language

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1: The framework of integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities 12

Table 2: HOTS integrated in writing activities 21

Table 3: HOTS levels as evidenced in their writing 25

Chart 1: Students‟ levels of motivation throughout five weeks 23

Chart 2: Summary of students‟ writing analysis 25

TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v

TABLE OF CONTENT vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 The purpose of study 3

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Method of the study 4

1.5 Structure of the study 4

CHAPTER 2 :LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Theory of learning 5

2.2 Critical thinking skills and language skills development 8

2.3 Writing skills and creativity 10

2.4 Teaching critical thinking skills 11

2.5 Review of previous study 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14

3.1.Rationale for the use of action research 14

3.2.Data collection instruments 15

3.2.1 Class observation 15

3.2.2 Writing analysis 15

3.2.3 Group interview 16

3.3 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 16

3.3.1 An overview on English center 16

3.3.2 Students 17

3.3.3 Teachers 17

3.3.4 Materials 17

3.4 THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE 18

3.4.1 The action research process 18

3.4.2 Research procedure 19

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

4.1 Findings 23

4.1.1 Findings from observation 23

4.1.2 Findings from writing analysis 24

4.1.3 Findings from the interview 28

4.2 Discussion 30

4.2.1 Students‟ creative writing skills 30

4.2.2 Students‟ motivation in learning 36

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 39

5.1 Recapitulation 39

5.2 Implications for classroom practice 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study

The practice of teaching critical thinking skills has recently attracted increased interest in the field of the teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language (L2) It is no doubt to say that critical thinking is one of the most important skills in learning and teaching a foreign language Students are expected

to show evidences of critical thinking in their academic essays in the form an argument and by demonstrating related skills such as analyzing, evaluating and creating This means that L2 teaching should no longer focus on the compartmentalized teaching of language skills, but should embrace critical thinking instead, although this is not going to be easy Willian and Burden (1997) state that critical thinking is cognitive process, in which the students are emerged to use their minds to observe, think, categorize, and hypothesize Therefore, it takes a long journey to make the students become more critical and more independent In Western countries, integrating critical thinking has been significantly started from elementary school while most Asian countries still consider critical thinking as a challenging in the education In fact, this can be related to the culture of Asian learners who always believes that “silence is gold” And the students tend to be quite, passive and obedient in order to get information from their teachers

Having been an English teacher for 5 years at some centers in Hanoi, I have recently realized the fact that most of my students lack the ability to present their own original views or opinions which are regarded as a key criterion of successful academic writing This clears that Vietnamese students are not often taught argumentative or persuasive writing at schools They rarely had a chance to write in situations and write a topic in class, so their writing skill was even worse although they were very good at doing exercises in structure forms Students should be trained to know how to share and communicate their ideas through writing because this ability has been proved to be very important in education in general and in

higher education in particular Writing skill is regarded as the means through which many educational objectives and values are achieved and disseminated (Condon et al., 2004)

I have a sense of the responsibility to train and equip my students with critical thinking skills in their learning process because without comprehensive practice in critical thinking, my students would miss the opportunity to be more independently and self-confident to actively participate in the international environment Hence, teaching critical thinking is necessary to help my students develop their ability to analyze, synthesize and evaluate problems A statement by Condon and Kelly-Riley (2004, p 56) that “writing is a tool of thinking” means writing is a real practice tool of critical thinking skills because “when we teach students how to write, we are teaching them how to think‟ Not only do the students need to have a good command of the language, they also need to be critical as they examine viewpoints, facts and arguments and synthesize them In Vietnam, the aim

of the new English curriculum for Secondary School includes developing student‟s ability to use language ịn combination with other skills such as negotiating, questioning, hypothesizing, critical thinking, and evaluating creatively Among these skills, students‟ creative and critical thinking skills and their ability to write logically and intelligently are parts of the objectives of English teaching in Vietnam nowadays Therefore, I have always been wishing and trying to find the way to help

my students develop creative thinking and critical thinking skills through language skills in my classes, and then apply these skills in their writing effectively All the things stated above drives me to the decision of conducting the research entitled

“An action research on integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities at

an English center in Vietnam” Especially, the study will be conducted with the

focus on thinking skills of high levels which all students should learn and apply it to solve unfamiliar problems, difficult questions, uncertainties and dilemmas With this action research, I hope to coin a different method in teaching of writing at my workplace and also contribute a reference to the literature in this field

1.2 The purpose of study

This research aims at integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities

to promote students‟ ability to express their view creatively in writing and engage students in critical and creative learning activities in English classes These objectives can be achieved through the process of finding the answer to the following questions:

-To what extent does the integration of critical thinking skills in writing activities

promote students’ creative writing skills?

- To what extent does the integration of critical thinking skills in writing activities improve students’ learning motivation?

1.3 Significance of the study

The study focuses on how to integrate critical thinking skills in writing activities to improve students‟ creative writing and learning motivation at an English center in Vietnam It can be useful contributions for both students and teachers at my workplace In term of useful contributions for teachers, the researcher is expected to provide more lesson plan and scaffolding of integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities More interestingly, the research also supports a useful teaching strategy with the applying critical thinking skills to the diverse activities in writing skills In addition, this thesis is hoped to serve as a reliable and useful reference material about integrating critical thinking skills in academic writing in Vietnamese pedagogical environment for other readers and researchers in their further studies on related subjects For students, the findings and conclusions of the research are anticipated to encourage their use of critical thinking skills to perform meaningful tasks More importantly, they will to be able to find news and means to solve their daily problems and make appropriate decisions Furthermore, students are trained to know how to share and

communicate their ideas through writing, which is an important goal of education

in general and in higher education in particular

1.4 Method of the study

In order to achieve the aim, in this action research, qualitative method was

exploited with the facilitation of some statistical analysis The data were collected

from a combination of three different instruments: classroom observation, writing

analysis and group interview

1.5 Structure of the study

The study will be presented in four chapters: introduction, literature

review, methodology, data collection and discussion, and conclusion

Chapter one, Introduction, introduces the rationale, the aims of the study,

scope of the study, method of the study, signification of the study and structure

of the study

Chapter two, Literature Review, aims at reviewing some concepts as

well as the theory involving critical thinking, classroom activities that will be a

firm foundation for the study

Chapter three, Methodology, describes the participants of the study, the

research questions, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter four: Findings and Discussion – reveals the results of the study and

gives some suggestions

Chapter five: Conclusion – summarizes the main points of the study

Implications and suggestions for designing classroom activities to teach writing

skills with an integration of critical thinking skills development will be presented

in this part

CHAPTER 2 :LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will present the theoretical background of the study, including the insights of teaching writing and critical thinking skills It reviews issues related

to both writing and critical thinking such as theory of learning, thinking skills and language skills development, writing and creativity, and review of previous studies

on developing critical thinking skills

2.1 Theory of learning

A theory is a scientifically acceptable set of principles offered to explain a phenomenon Theories provide frameworks for interpreting environmental observations and serve as bridges between research and education (Suppes, 1974) Research findings can be organized and systematically linked to theories Without theories, people could view research findings as disorganized collections of data, because researchers and practitioners would have no overarching frameworks to which the data could be linked (Learning Theories, Daleh Chunk, p.23) Integrating may lack theoretical conceptualization which is necessary for making applications

of findings to other integration Hence, it is integral to determine a theory which is capable of orientating the study so that the information about a phenomenon can be systematically unified so the findings from studies add to the body of knowledge and deep understanding of the theoretical basis of the research topic Additionally, according to Chapelle (2003), theory is acted as the framework for the research on some levels: from literature review of the study to the research questions as well as development of methodology and the interpretation of data to gain the findings, which then can be discussed to reach the results and conclusions of the study For these reasons, it was principal to clearly determine a theoretical framework for the present study

Learning theories are an organized set of principles explaining how individuals acquire, retain, and recall knowledge By studying and knowing the different learning theories, we can understand better how learning occurs The principles of the theories can be used as guidelines to help select instructional tools, techniques and strategies that promote learning Although there are many different

approaches to learning, the three dominant learning theories are: Behaviorism,

Cognitive and Constructivism

Behaviorism originated as a social science, the goal of which was to predict

and control behavior Learning was manifested by a change in behavior, with an emphasis on a connection between a stimulus and a response From a behaviorist perspective, the goal of education is to „ensure survival of human species, societies and individuals‟ (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999, p.252) The main principles of behaviorism have a visible impact on third level education, producing the appearance in the curriculum of behavioral objectives or outcomes, the importance

of feedback, skills development and training, computerized and programmed instruction, competency-based education, and constructive pre-alignment of

content, teaching methods and assessment

Cognitive theorists recognize that much learning involves associations

established through contiguity and repetition They also acknowledge the importance of reinforcement, although they stress its role in providing feedback about the correctness of responses over its role as a motivator However, even while accepting such behaviorist concepts, cognitive theorist view learning as involving the acquisition or reorganization of the cognitive structures through which humans

process and store information (Good and Brophy, 1990, p.187)

In Constructivist model, learning is viewed as a process of making meaning

The learner interacts with experience and environment in the construction of knowledge The process is essentially learner-centred However, while the Constructivist theory encompasses a number of inter-related perspectives, theorists

„differ as to the nature of reality, the role of experience, what knowledge is of interest, and whether the process of meaning making is primarily individual or social‟ (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999, p.261)

In general, most definitions of learning involve a change in an individual's knowledge, ability to perform a skill, or participate in an activity with other individuals; there is considerable variation among the theories about the nature of this change All three theories contribute greatly to enlightening readers, especially

teachers, in their understanding about students learn and what learning strategies they could use For the teachers, when deciding which teaching strategies to use, it

is important to consider about the level of learner‟s knowledge, the thought processing demands and the desired outcome In my research, I choose Cognitive theory to follow in my teaching process because of some reasons Firstly, this theory focuses on Educational problems and solutions It emphasizes on the role of learners‟ thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and values The ways that learners process information determine what, when, and how they learn, as well as what use they will make of the learning In addition, to guiding students practice more in Education and think to learn Cognitive learning theory is best used to guide learning when trying to build useful knowledge structures and teach clinical reasoning Cognitive, on the other hand, overcomes the key limitation of the previous learning theory by viewing the learning as a thought processes behind the observable behavior, which means that “Learning is viewed as a process of inputs, managed in short-term memory, and coded for long-term recall” (George Siemens

2005, p.4) Furthermore, the Cognitive Learning Theory explains why the brain is the most incredible network of information processing and interpretation in the body as we learn things Willian and Burden (1997) state that critical thinking is cognitive process, in which the students are emerged to use their minds to observe, think, categorize, and hypothesize This theory can be divided into two specific theories: the Social Cognitive Theory, and the Cognitive Behavioral Theory In the Social Cognitive Theory, there are three variables: behavioral factors, environmental factors (extrinsic), personal factors (intrinsic) According to Bloom (1956), Cognitive Objectives are concerned with intellectual outcomes The classification system ranges from lower – level knowledge outcomes to higher-level intellectual abilities and skills The mental processes in the Cognitive System take action from the knowledge domain, give people access to the information and procedures in their memory and help them manipulate and use this knowledge

2.2 Critical thinking skills and language skills development

Critical thinking is a fundamental skills for both language and literacy success Language and critical thinking grow together and nurture each other‟s development

Firstly, concerning about critical thinking skills, it involves the development

of dispositions which, among other things, include probing, inquisitiveness and keenness of mind, zealous dedication to reason, and hunger or eagerness for reliable information Secondly, critical thinking refers to the development and application of interrelated cognitive and meta-cognitive skills involved in solving problems, understanding and expressing meaning, identifying relationships, assessing credibility of statements, identifying elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions, presenting the results of one‟s own reasoning coherently and self-consciously monitor one‟s own cognitive actions In the third place, critical thinking comprises the development of habits of mind (Costa & Kallick, 2009:15-41) Critical thinking is associated with quality thinking, it provides learners with more skillful way of communicating with other people, acquiring new knowledge, problem solving In critical thinking approach to teaching both language skills and thinking skills are of much importance, and are integrated In fact, they are not isolated anymore The activities categorized as critical thinking activities are on appearance writing, that is the final product is a piece of writing In order to assess student‟s critical thinking, teachers use academic writing as an effective tool in learning process There are mainly two kinds of ways for teaching critical thinking One is to set a special course to directly teaching critical thinking strategies and rules, emphasizing the cultivation of students‟ critical thinking skills The other is to combine subject teaching with the training of critical thinking, focusing on cultivating students‟ query and analytical thinking about the subject, and combining the cultivation of critical thinking with individual quality Fisher (2007) and Fisher and Scriven (1997) argue that critical thinking should be seen as a basic academic competency, akin to reading and writing, which needs to be taught Beyer (2001) claims that teaching thinking skills is worth considering for the crucial role it plays

in teaching, learning, and daily life Swartz (2001) believes that teaching skillful

thinking not only enhances students‟ thinking abilities and learning in the content areas but also greatly improves the quality of their lives, including their professional work, after they leave school Such thinking also improves their self-image and their motivation to learn Beyer (2001) indicates that mastery of at least four thinking skills - comparing, classifying, sequencing, and predicting - is essential for students to become effective readers, writers, and learners

In term of the language skills, which are divided into two groups: productive and receptive skills? “Both production and comprehension form the basis of language teaching" (Richards, 1998), students language skills must be developed through speaking, writing, listening and reading tasks or activities: These tasks must

be provided in a way that helps learners to "make transition from the classroom to the real world" Tasks, such as pair work, role plays and group works which aim at providing opportunities for optimal learning must be presented in the Second Language teaching materials These activities are facilitated by the teacher and then completed by the students using their own resources of language Through these activities students are engaged in active and creative participation in classroom They are free to express their own knowledge, idea, opinions and experiences Not only does teacher‟s task help them become proficient in the English language, but also make them become critical thinker Studies about the characteristics of good language learners have shown that good language learners make efforts to think in their second language as soon as possible (Rubin, 1979) Carroll writes that one characteristic of good language learners is that they try to understand the logic and strategies that native speakers use in communicating (1977) Rubin concluded that they are good at making guesses and inferences (Rubin, 1979) It appears that good language learners have at least some of the same characteristics of critical thinkers Perhaps in teaching critical thinking skills teachers can help them to become better language learners

To conclude, there is a strong link between critical thinking and language skills development It is necessary to integrate critical thinking into English academic purposes and English second language classroom Developing the critical

thinking skill help prepare to students who are learning English attend an international community and their workplace in the future.

2.3 Writing skills and creativity

“Writing - the art of communicating thoughts of the mind - is the great invention of the world… Great, very great, in enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space, and great not only in its direct benefits, but its great help to all other inventions.”

Abraham

Lincoln -Writing skills are specific abilities which help writers put their thoughts into words in a meaningful text and to convey their message Hampton (1989) stated that writers gain creativity when they can write their own ideas, not copy what has already been written, so that they can be read and understood

One of the expectations of students in essay writing is to demonstrate the ability to develop an argument (Wingate, 2012) A good academic writer should be able to present “evidence and arguments that he can then defend and from which he can draw conclusions” (Alagozlu, 2007, p.119) In order to become an academic writer, he is needed to support about argument writing skills which related to critical thinking which is regarded as a part of the process of evaluating the evidence collected solving or the results produced by thinking creatively ( Crowl et al.,1997;Lewis &Smith, 1993) Furthermore, other scholars claimed that writing ability depends on the ability to think clearly about substantive matters (Nickerson, Perkins, & Smith, 1985).So, writing skills are invariably dependent on clarity of thought Moreover, Marzano (1991) suggested that “writing used as a mean to restructure knowledge, improves higher-order thinking and in this context, writing may provide opportunity for students to think through arguments and use higher-order thinking skills to respond to complex problems” (p.521) A statement by Condon and Kelly-Riley (2004, p.56) that “writing is a tool of thinking” marks the link between critical thinking and writing McNamara et al (2008) stress that, although a challenge for many, writing well is of great importance for success in a wide variety of institutions and professions They share the same view that writing skills are among the best predictor of student success at university, describing good

writing as writing that articulates ideas clearly, argues opinions, synthesizes multiple perspectives, presents information effectively and consistently with well-chosen details, and avoids grammatical and mechanical errors Similarly, Paul and Elder (2006, 2007) describe „substantive writing‟, as that which has a clearly defined purpose, makes a clear point, and supports it with specific information which is clearly connected and coherent

In general, though definitions of writing skills are numerous, all linguists share the same idea that a good writing is related to creativeness, ideas clearly, argues opinions, synthesizes and writing is a tool of thinking There is also strong link between critical thinking and academic writing skills developing

2.4 Teaching critical thinking skills

Critical thinking skills are teachable and learnable, students should apply these to their learning to solve unfamiliar problems The development of critical thinking skills are from low levels to higher levels, from lower order thinking skills

to higher order thinking skills (HOTS) In this study, HOTS were expected to be integrated in different activities in learning processes in the writing classes In this study, the framework describing how thinking skills could be integrated into learning activities was designed basing on Marzano‟s (2007) thinking skills taxonomy This framework was used as the reference to design prewriting, while-writing and post-writing activities with detail requirements of thinking skill levels This framework was then used to be the reference for seeking the evidence of how thinking skills, especially HOTS, were actually used by students

The revised version of framework is designed as follows:

IV.20 Figure out a way to reach your goal under certain conditions

TION (IV)

UTILIZA-HIGHER - ORDER THINKING SKILLS

IV.19 Figure out a way to solve a problem under certain conditions

IV.18 Figure out a way to solve the problem raised

IV.17 Decide the best solution for the problem raised

IV.16 Select the best among the following alternativessolution

III.15 Specify the argument/ideas on a certain issue ANALYSIS

(III)

III.14 Generalize information from the given input data

III.13 Revise/edit the others‟/ ones‟ own argument s/ writing

III.12 Evaluate the other‟s idea / degree of seriousness of the problem

III.11 Organize ideas from the brainstormed ideas

II.10 Summarize the brainstormed ideas

HENSION (II)

COMPRE-LOWER – ORDER THINKING SKILLS

II.9 Explain the ways in which the things described happens

II.8 Clarify how the things described happens

II.7 Illustrate the arguments / Represent the ideas in visual forms

II.6 Paraphrase the points logically

I.5 Describe the issue(s)

RETRIEVAL (I)

I.4 Name the issue(s)

I.3 Identify the issue(s) from the given input data

I.2 List the issue(s) from the given input data

I.1 Recognize the issue(s) from the given list

Table 1: The framework of integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities 2.5 Review of previous study

There have been a number of previous studies on the integration HOTS in writing skills that researcher of this study has looked at and read Some studies carried out by both foreign researchers and Vietnamese researchers as follows:

Sarjit (2014) from Malaysia did an action research on “ESL Students‟ Perceptions of the use of HOTS in English Language Writing” The study explored the impact of using HOT skills in a secondary ESL writing classroom The findings from the focus group interviews revealed the following student perceptions: felt engaged in active learning, experienced learner autonomy, developed their writing, researching and personal skills Furthermore, the study suggest that using HOTS in ELS writing lessons facilitate students‟ writing ability and interest and it is recommended that HOTS be explicitly infused in teaching and learning writing activities

Shaarawy (2014) attempted to investigate the effect of Journal Writing on Students‟ Cognitive Critical Thinking Skills” with first year university students (semester two) in one of the Egyptian private universities The researcher based on Bloom‟s taxonomy to design her own critical thinking assessment tool which was used in the pre and posttests Results indicated that journal writing had contributed strongly to the development of the cognitive critical thinking skills of the

experimental group, which validates the new assessment tool and proposes a new technique of developing critical thinking skills in Egyp

In Vietnam, there are some studies on the implementation of critical thinking (CT) in English writing A study on “Critical Thinking‟s Effect on Vietnamese Students‟ Writing Attitude and Performance: Action Research” by Nguyễn Thị Khánh Thi in 2016 is one of the examples The study shows the effect

of critical thinking skills on students‟ writing attitude and performance The result also indicates that students perform well in writing advice, introduction, and their attitude to a problem, but are not good at giving suggestions and convincing people

Nguyễn Thi Minh Tâm (2016) conducted a study to show that using HOTS

in learning process may promote student‟s learning in terms of academic achievement, creativity, and motivation to learn She provided a framework of reference in designing HOTS integrated learning task in the linguistic course Her study proved that the importance of HOTS in learning process

Another research is carried out by Ngô Thu Trang (2017) about an action research project on “developing students‟ critical thinking skills through project – based learning” It provides an overview of the concepts of critical thinking and projects – based learning, seek to investigating the effectiveness of using project – based learning to develop critical thinking skills The results show that project- based learning has some positive effects on improving students‟ critical thinking skills

In conclusion, with regard to the literature review, using critical thinking skills in teaching language skills is conducted by many teachers in many countries

in the world and also in Vietnam Many studies were employed to develop critical thinking skills which combined with language skills They proved that critical thinking skills could promote learner‟s academic achievement and their creativity However, integrating critical thinking skills and its implementation in education is quite new in my English center Hence, my thesis is carried out with purpose help student apply HOTS in their learning in general, write effetely and creative in particular

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the rationale for the use of an action research in this study In addition, it gives information about setting of the study, the participants, and the research procedures as well as research instruments used in this study

3.1.Rationale for the use of action research

Action research which was developed by Kurt Lewin in 1946 concerns itself with taking action According to Burns (2005), actions research “takes an explicitly interventionist and subjective approach” (p.60) The research method has been widely used in the investigation of human behavior and the social world It emerged

as a new approach to research which is more directly relevant to the ongoing work

of practitioners Wallace (1998) stresses „the systematic collection and analysis of data relating to the improvement of some aspect of professional practice‟ (p.1)

Action research has had a great impact on educational research and literature

It has been extensively used to research changes in teaching practice Nunan (1989) refers to action research as a form of „teacher-research…distinguished from other forms of research by its practical focus Teacher-research should grow out of the problems and issues which confront teachers in their daily work‟ (pp.15-16) Field (1997) considers action research as „a small-scale investigation undertaken by a class teacher‟ (p.192)

From above statement, my research study with the purpose of changing from

my former traditional teaching practices to new practices critical thinking skills approach is to evaluate the effectiveness of change on students‟ learning performances and also to look for an appropriate method to teach writing skills for Secondary students at Vkids center I decided to use the action research model Nunan (1992) which is composed of seven phases: Initiation, Preliminary, Hypotheses, Intervention, Evaluation, Dissemination, Follow-up Its fundamental notion of changing or improving practice is relevant to the main goal of my enquiry

3.2.Data collection instruments

To get a collection of sufficient, reliable and valid data for the study, a combination of classroom observation which is conducted from teacher‟s take note, writing analysis, and group interview were employed as the data collection instruments Thus, both qualitative and quantitative research methodology were chosen for this action research

3.2.1 Class observation

- Purpose: Class observation was used to collect data about how the

integration of critical thinking skills in writing activities to promote students‟ learning Observation was also conducted to know whether integration activities made any effects on students‟ motivation during the teaching and learning process

- Procedure: the teacher takes note what is observed in her diary to examine

the overall class motivation, even each student because of the small number of

participants (12 students: 5 females and 7 males) here The observation sheet (See

Appendix 1) adapted from Nunan (1989, p.110) was used to assess overall class

motivation generated by the application of integration activities during the intervention The observation was manifested by levels of learner interest, enthusiasm, and persistence with writing activities, concentration and enjoyment during class Each item was scored on a scale of one (low) to five (high) Observations were made for the whole 5 weeks while the experimental teaching was carried out

- Participants: 12 students of grade 7 throughout 5 writing sessions

3.2.2 Writing analysis

- Purpose: the writing analysis is used to assess type of HOTS It is a useful

tool to collect data about the way students apply HOTS in their writing

- Procedure: After each lesson, students are asked to write a piece of writing

as the result of using HOTS in learning process Criteria for HOTS assessment were adapted from the new version of the framework of HOTS by Marzano‟s (2007), including four levels: Retrieval and Comprehension (lower level), Analysis and

Utilization (higher level) The marking scales range from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest) due to the proficiency of participants when performing the final writing (see Appendix 4)

- Participants: all of the 12 students of grade 7 ( 7 Females and 5 Males)

Most students‟ English proficiency level is not very high because all these students come from rural areas where they did not have many good enviroments to learn English at their school

3.2.3 Group interview

- Purpose: The group interview is conducted as a tool to collect more

information about how students used HOTS in their learning process and writing

- Procedure: After all students‟ writing is analyzed, a group interview is

conducted with five students in the action class

- Participants: this research selected 5 students (3 Males: S1, S3 and S5, 2

Females S4 and S12) for group interviewing: 2 students (S1 and S12) with the significant improving as most of students in this class, 2 students (S4 and S5) with the low mark in HOTS integrated tasks and low motivation during intervention, 1 student (S3) with unsteady motivation in these lessons

3.3 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

3.3.1 An overview on English center

This study is conducted at Vkids English center which was founded in 2013 and it has been developing and strengthening It is opened to train English for all students from 5 – 16 years With modern equipment and professional staffs, Vkids center attracts more students yearly with the amounts to 600 students so far The English Curriculum of the center is focus on both four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Furthermore, this place also train and equips to students‟ knowledge of mover test, flyer test and ielts examination And it has become one of the best centers for primary and secondary students at Quoc Oai district

3.3.2 Students

At Vkids center, most students‟ English proficiency level is not very high because all these students come from rural areas where they did not have many good environments to learn English at their school Moreover, a large number of students and the limited class time in one class are main reasons which make their teachers cannot give the questions and feedbacks for each student in the lessons at school Therefore, in order to have more chances to practice and improve their English proficiency and well – prepare for IOE, Mover, Flyer, IELTS examinations, they attend courses at Vkids English center as an outside class to achieve their goals Most of them are lazy to think and do not know how to organize an essay effectively They feel afraid of making mistakes because of their poor English and lack of ideas to write Consequently, as my observation, students are usually too lazy and unconfident to take part in writing activities This is the reason why the majority of students have difficulty in academic writing

3.3.3 Teachers

There are ten English teachers (8 females from Vietnam, 2 male native teachers: one from Africa, another from India) at Vkids center, aging from 23 to 30 year-old Five of English teachers at Vkids center are teaching at public school where almost English teachers usually keep in traditional way in teaching Therefore, they do not well understand how to teach critical thinking skills in writing It means that they need to learn more about critical thinking skills that should be trained and equipped to their students

3.3.4 Materials

The course book is based on Vkids center documents and “Tiếng anh 7” textbooks by Hoàng Văn Vân (2015) and supplementary document “Learn to write better academic essays” by Collins (2015) It consists of twelve units and two reviews Each unit includes four main parts which focus on skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing However, I only deal with the first five units in the first part (course is divided into two parts on five weeks) I have to cover five units and one review on five weeks, with two hours for a day Besides, there are some

supplementary books like “Ôn luyện kỹ năng đọc, viết” by Nguyễn Kim Hiền and

Lê Hoàng An (2001) are used for students to study further at home By using this course book, the teacher can help students well – understand more vocabulary usage, pronunciation and grammatical structures, especially the teacher can develop four main skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing for every student with the longer time than in school

Most the students here only focus on studying speaking and listening, they

do not pay much attention to writing or reading skills Therefore, their writing is not creative and lacks of ideas which make readers are not interested in To solve this problem, planning to guide students develop critical thinking skills and apply it to their essays are important and necessary

3.4 THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCEDURE

3.4.1 The action research process

In my study, Nunan‟s (1992) action research model is applied because it is simple to carry out in my classroom and the steps are clear to follow This model includes seven small steps: initiation, preliminary investigation, hypothesis, intervention, evaluation, dissemination and follow-up presented in details as follows:

Step 1 Initiation The teacher notices a problem in class

Step 2 Preliminary

investigation

The teacher spends time observing the class and taking notes of students‟ behaviors

Step 3 Hypothesis After observation, the teacher forms a question or hypothesis

Step 4 Intervention The teacher tries several solutions to solve the problem

Step 5 Evaluation After some weeks, the teacher consciously observes or measures

the class again to see if there has been any improvement

Step 6 Dissemination The teacher shares her findings with others

Step 7 Follow-up The teacher explores alternative solutions for the problem

3.4.2 Research procedure

Based on the model from Nunan‟s (1992), the action research was carried out

in three main phases: Pre-action, Action and Post- action with steps as follows:

3.4.2.1 Phase 1: Pre-action

Step 1: Initiation

In general, Vietnamese students usually keep quiet and passive attitude in class They always wait until called upon to answer or get guidance from teacher

These are common problems that Vietnamese students are facing in language class

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

Being a teacher at language center, the researcher participated in teaching many courses with the same students‟ types and recognized that her students are influenced by their traditional learning style, they usually passive in writing activities and keep quiet in class Researcher discovered that this is common situation of her students through many courses at Vkids center Therefore, the researcher would like to find out the solutions to this problem An intervention is

necessary in classroom to bring about higher-level cognitive thinking

Step 3: Hypothesis

It was the hypothesized that integrating critical thinking skills in writing

activities can promote students‟ creative writing and their learning motivation 3.4.2.2 Phase 2: Action

When the problem was identified, the preparation for plan implementation was done and the intervention was taken in 5 consecutive lessons coded L1, L2, L3,

L4 and L5

Step 4: Intervention

Based on teacher‟s classroom observation in the pre-action phase, the researcher found that the students had low motivation and participation in writing

To overcome the problems, the researcher integrated critical thinking skills in writing activities as a solution to support the writing lessons According to course book of Vkids center, the author designed a lesson plan template to integrate critical thinking skills in writing activities with the aims at providing an alternative instructional environment for the writing skill lessons This study based on 5 lessons in the first part of course book with five topics of intervention process The class meets two hours per week for writing lessons in the classroom and other days are for other skills The participants were also required to perform their writing in every lesson whose scores could be considered as a final assessment of the course Within the framework of the present study, the writing learners enrolled in a 5-week writing course Two hours per week, each participant was asked to complete a variety of assignments both in class and in home with instructional teacher Thanks

to the lessons in the textbook „Tiếng Anh 7” and supplementary documents the students were equipped enough knowledge and skills to do the five critical thinking tasks In this study, the researcher integrated critical thinking skills in writing activities to promote students‟ creativity and learning motivation as follows:

Table 2: HOTS integrated in writing activities

The action plan was implemented in five writing lessons, each of which lasted 120 minutes (from Unit 1- Unit 5) In week 1, students were asked to write a paragraph about classmate‟s hobbies Before writing, they asked to work in pairs to

list of the hobbies, work individually to paraphrase the points logically, organize

ideas and specify with examples and supporting the ideas about classmate‟s hobbies Then, the students were asked to revise on the words, ideas and grammar in writing

In the first week, the level of critical thinking skills was required with the low level (see table 2)

In week 2, students were supposed to write about exercises is good for our health, give their point of view with evidences to support Firstly, teacher provided

some activities and asked students to identify issues from the given list the activities

which they often do or want to do Next, they worked in group to describe about benefits of doing exercise based on the questions “What activities do you often do

or want to do? How often do you do it? Why we should do it? Why do you think

these activities are good?” Then, students organize ideas brainstormed while from the discussion and specify the arguments for their opinion about exercises that are

good for health or not Finally, they edited their writing by checking logically

words, grammar mistake, getting comments from teacher and classmates

In week 3, students were asked to write an essay about benefits of volunteer activities and give reasons to explain for their opinion Before writing, teacher showed some pictures about volunteer activities and students were asked to work in

small group to identify and illustrate or clarify their ideas the benefits of volunteer

activities In writing stage, students asked to specify their view point and evaluate the benefits of volunteer activities Revising and editing the writing for ideas,

grammar, spelling, and words were assigned for the post-writing stage

In week 4, a topic was raised “Traffic jam is a big problem in our community? Suggest the possible solution to reduce it” In this week, level 4 HOTS were expected in writing tasks Firstly, teacher provided several solutions to reduce

traffic jam in some countries and asked student to list out the solutions that fit in

Vietnam Then, they worked in group to evaluate and decide the best solutions to

reduce the traffic jam in their community

In the final week of action, participants had to work harder because the more difficult requirements from teacher They were asked to using HOTS (higher level)

in solving problems which teacher requested in lesson 5 With the topic “Dirty food

is becoming a serious problem in our country Explain the main causes and suggest some possible solutions to prevent it.” The level 4 HOTS were expected in this

week like generalizing, evaluating, figuring out a way to solve a problem, and

revising In addition, they could get more information related to the topic from the

Internet, books, newspaper, etc to complete the writing

After each lesson, the teacher collected student‟s writing which was analyzed

in the data In addition, at the end of action phase, group interview (Appendix 6) was carried out to get students‟ information about writing and the effectiveness of

the integration in writing activities

3.4.2.3 Phase 3: Post - action

Step 5: Evaluation

Having finished the implementation for integrating critical thinking skills in writing activities, the data from observation and writing analysis was analyzed basing on the observation sheet and HOTS checklist in (Appendix 1 and 4)

After student‟s writings were analyzed, an interview was conducted with 5 students who have been taught the writing lesson used critical thinking skills

Thematic analysis, together with statistical analysis, was then used in this phase to evaluate the effects of the intervention and to find the answer to the

research question

Step 6: Dissemination

The action research procedure and its results were reorganized and presented

in form of a thesis, which was share with the researcher‟s colleagues and some other teachers, especially teachers in Vkids center

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter analyses the data collected during the intervention and data collected after the intervention Then, action research evaluation as well as the findings and discussions will be presented

4.1 Findings

4.1.1 Findings from observation

The observation was conducted during the 5 intervention week sessions (the application of integration activities) There were 8 items in observation sheet and each item was scored on the Likert 5-point scale (see Appendix 1), so the highest total score for overall class motivation in each week (each lesson per week) was 40 (equivalent to 100%) The teacher, as a researcher herself, observed the class for the whole five weeks Below is the summary of students‟ levels of motivation throughout 5 intervention weeks

Chart 1: Students’ levels of motivation throughout five weeks

As can be seen from Chart 1, there was a significant improvement in learning motivation Although the motivation score was decreased in L4 and L5, the scores were still higher L1 and L2 The improvement in motivation was clearly demonstrated in L3 with score 31 In L4 and L5, the score slightly decreased (which might be because of the higher levels of HOTS were required by the teacher), but the overall motivation levels in L4 and L5 were still higher than L1

Generally, the number of students‟ motivation gradually increased after five lessons of intervention The students were motivated and involved by the researcher„s application of critical thinking skills in teaching writing Besides, observing overall class motivation, researcher observed individual motivation based

on observation sheet which was synthesized in Appendix 2 From observation sheet showed that nine out of twelve students (S1, S2, S6, S7, S8, S9, S10, S11 and S12) improved gradually their motivation in the lessons However, the data shows that not all students had the same the improvement in motivation in the lessons While students S1, S2, S12 were highest motivation, S4 and S5 increased at least of motivation during intervention Besides, there was a student (S3) with unsteady motivation in the lessons

In short, the overall class motivation gradually increased throughout five lessons and it gained the highest in L3 Then, it decreased slightly in the last two lessons although the tasks were rather appropriate

4.1.2 Findings from writing analysis

As mentioned, the writing analysis used in the course is for HOTS assessment, i.e., by analyzing students‟ writings, the researcher wants to seek for evidence of whether the integration activities implemented did help improving student‟s writing or not In order to collect data, students were required to write individually a piece of writing after each lesson The critical thinking skills integrated activities were designed to promote students‟ creative writing and motivation learning in learning process by teacher The analysis of writing aimed to find out how each individual student mastered writing skills and critical thinking skills in learning process Writings were scored based on the HOTS checklist adapted from Mazano‟s (2007) framework (see Appendix 4) In order to assess student‟s HOTS in their writing, assessment criteria were coded from 1 to 3 (1- not

at all, 2- only little, 3- completely)

Table 3 below shows how the students used HOTS in writing

Table 3: HOTS levels as evidenced in their writing

Table 3 shows how students used HOTS in their writing after five weeks of intervention As can be seen, there are a positive difference of results from week 1

to week 5 To be more precise, the students‟ writing performance was shown in the following chart:

As indicated in Chart 2, there was a clear improvement in students‟ ability to use HOTS in their writing It can be seen that there was a significant difference between the results of weeks (week 1: Mean = 1.85, week 2: Mean = 2.33, week 3: Mean = 2.5, week 4: Mean =2.56, week 5: Mean = 2.6) The result of week 3 is