Paraphrasing strategies to improve nong cong II high school students paragraph writing skill in excellent student exams

DEPARTMENT OF THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAININGNONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL ---EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE PARAPHRASING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE NONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING

DEPARTMENT OF THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL

-EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

PARAPHRASING STRATEGIES

TO IMPROVE NONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING SKILL IN

EXCELLENT STUDENT EXAMS

The writer: Mai Thị Kim Dung Position: Teacher

Shool: Nong Cong II High School Subject: English

THANH HOA, 2021

PART ONE : INTRODUCTION Page

I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 2

II AIMS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE ……… 2

III SCOPE OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE ……… 3

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ……… 3

PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT

I LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

II THE PROBLEMS OF PARAPHRASING ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH WRITING ……….5

1 Problems in using synonym words ……….5

2 Problems in changing word order ……… .5

3 Problems in changing grammar or structure ……… ……… 5

4 Problems in changing order of ideas ……… 5

III STRAGERIES FOR IMPROVINGNOGN CONG II HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’PARAPRASING SKILL ……… 6

1 Using synonym words ……… ….6

2 Changing parts of speech and word order ……… 11

2.1 If the original sentence has two or more clauses, change the order of the clauses ……… 11

2.2 If the original sentence has an adjective and noun, change the adjective into a relative clause ……….12

3 Changing sentence structure or grammar 3.1 Changing Active to Passive or vice versa ……….12

3.2 Using dummy subject with “ It” ……… 12

3.3 Some commonly suggested structures in writing ……… 12

4 Changing the order of ideas ……… 13

5 Using different strategies at the same time ……… 14

IV EXPERIMENTAL RESULT ……… 16

PART THREE : CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL I CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the main findings ……… 17

2 Implications for more effective writing ……… 17

2.1 Implications for the learners……… 17

2.2 Implications for the teachers ……… 17

II PROPOSAL ………… ……… … 18

References ……….……… 19

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Considering the importance of the language in the tendency of integration of the global economy, politics, science, culture and education, English is learnt as both a foreign language and a second language all over the world English lessons are not only taught with four skills as well as new teaching methods but also supposed to be one of the score subjects in both national and international exams These really stimulate students’ spirit of learning and using English in all fields In addition to skills including speaking, listening and reading, writing skill is regarded as a necessary factor because learners are normally required to complete several types of assignments such as research, report, essays and even examinations

Responding to this, Vietnamese students participate numerous English competitions such as IELTS tests, TOEFL tests, National or Provincial excellent student contests to promote their interest in English In such a competition, writing skill is one of the most important skills to be completed

by candidates and is the most challenging because they lacked vocabulary, ideas and tragedies to increase this skill With high school students, especially students at Nong Cong II High School , it is extremely confusing to writing a paragraph in English tests

One of the most important techniques in writing skill of English learners

is paraphrasing , which means restating other ideas, meaning and information

in own words Most learners of English try to paraphrase correctly to demonstrate their writing more effectively and it is obviously difficult for them to rewrite the original language, change the original sentence structure From the fact above, my initiative has been researched in ways to paraphrasing in academic writing in order to bring awareness not only to high school students, especially excellent students at Nong Cong II High School but also to teachers of English about how to teach English writing skill and how to paraphrase the original sources more effectively This reason leads to the choice of studying about experience initiative in analyzing “

PARAPHRASING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE NONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING SKILL IN EXCELLENT STUDENT EXAMS ”

II AIMS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

The aims of the experience initiative are:

a To investigate candidates’ difficulties in paraphrasing skill in paragraph writing when they participate in exams

b To give students some strategies to reduce candidates’ pressure and enhance paragraph writing ability to have higher marks in paragraph writing

in exams

III SCOPE OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

The writer attempt not only to introduce some paraphrasing strategies to relieve candidates’ difficulties but also focus on paraphrasing words, sentences to make them more self-confident and motivated in writing a paragraph in exams The author chose the most 09 excellent students at grade

11 at Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa

IV RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Reading reference books

Discussing with other teachers

Applying in teaching

Observing and drawing out experiences

Applying in teaching

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

I LITERATURE REVIEW

Writing has been clearly seen to be the most important skill which is highly required to reinforce students’ achievement Academic writing ability can lead to academic success However, learners of English often have troubles writing skills, especially paraphrasing in academic writing According to Jan Frodesen, University of California- Santa Barbara, in his work “ a pre-paraphrasing mini-lesson” to develop paraphrasing skills in high

school [7], writers learn how to integrate ideas from sources into their own

writing, but they often have difficulties in putting these ideas into their own words Developing paraphrasing skills is especially challenging for non-native speakers of English who tend to have fewer vocabulary resources and less knowledge of complex grammatical structures than their native English speaking students In academic writing, students need to learn how to paraphrase effectively by restating ideas or restating sentences, ideas in students’ own words to clarify the meaning A definition given by Dung (2020) is that paraphrasing is a writing skill in which students will “ rephrase” ( rewrite) the information from an outside source in their own words without

changing its meaning [2] According to Irmadamayanti, skill in a standard

academic writing, paraphrasing, just like direct quotations, must be cited While the words may be from the students, but the ideas are still borrowed, and this borrowing must be acknowledged It means, although the students are representing the author’s ideas using their own words, they need to reference the sources from which they gathered the material In fact, this is an essential

skill for every student to improve writing skill [3] Paraphrasing is a valuable

skill because paraphrase focuses on the ideas, not the writer’s style In this cases, the ideas will be used to support the writing and students could rewrite the original paragraph in another way or style by changing the words, the sentence structure or the order of ideas to help their readers understand the original more easily

Skills for finishing paragraph writing with the highest scores in a short time are not easy for candidates taking an exam There are different types of learning strategies which assist students to sort out their problems Paraphrasing strategies as actions make candidates’ task enjoyable, effective and self-directed Paraphrasing strategy has the added benefit of fitting more neatly into students ‘style of writing and increases their writing achievement

[4] Paraphrasing strategies refer to techniques that give students integral tips

to maximize their scores in writing paragraphs in English tests

II THE PROBLEMS OF PARAPHRASING ORIGINAL PARAGRAPH WRITING

The most difficult problems that many students in other places as well

as at Nong Cong II High School have when they complete their paragraph writing are the limitation of vocabulary; the methods of changing word order ; the technique to change grammar or structure and order of ideas

1 Problems in using synonym words

Using different vocabulary with the same meaning is the first method most students try to use , but actually it can be difficult to use The reason is

that although English has many synonyms such as “ large” or “ big”, it is

unusual for these words to have exactly the same meaning Therefore, if students try to use a lot of synonyms when they paraphrase, they might produce sentences that are not natural English Unusual sentences are likely to reduce their score more than small mistakes because the readers may not understand what they are trying to say

2 Problems in changing word order

Changing the order of words is the second method most candidates try

to use [8] Changing the word order of a phrase or sentence is usually safer

than using synonyms because the words are the same, so the meaning must be the same However, it is not always easy to decide which words to move or to decide to which position the words should be moved Also, when students move a word, they might need to change some other words, add some other words or cut some other words to ensure that the new sentence is grammatically correct This has an positive influence on scores of the test they do in exams

3 Problems in changing grammar or structure

Using different grammar is the third method most students try to use

[47] It sounds very difficult to use different grammar, but actually it is easier

than changing vocabulary They change the grammar and make an error, the reader will not understand what they mean

4 Problems in changing order of ideas

In paraphrasing, students may have to change the organization of ideas

in the source material, (in order) to emphasize the points that are most related

to their paper However, they may make mistakes by keeping the same words

or structure and as a result, they lapse into plagiarism

Basing on these views, an action research is to improve scores at paragraph writing skill in English tests at Nong Cong II High School as well

as to reduce these difficulties

III SUGGESTED STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE NONG CONG II HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PARAGRAPH WRITING SKILL

In this part, some strategies for paraphrasing paragraph writing in

English tests are presented to reduce the students’ difficulties and motivate them getting higher marks at Nong Cong II High School The author’s own experience suggests that these techniques make candidates more confident to take English tests

1 Using synonym words

A synonym is a word, morpheme or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in the same language

[9].

Example: beautiful (adj) ≈ attractive (adj) ≈ pretty ( adj)

She is beautiful ≈ she is attractive ≈ she is pretty

Using different words with a similar meaning shows the examiner a range of vocabulary which you need to get good marks Here is an example of how a sentence can be re-write by using synonyms:

Original sentence:

The reasons for increasing levels of pollution are the development of

industry and air travel.

Paraphrase:

The causes of rising levels of pollution are the growth and expansion

of industry as well as the number of people travelling by air.

Here is a list of how the sentence was altered using synonyms

• causes ≈ reasons

• increasing ≈ rising

• the development of ≈ the growth and expansion of

• and ≈ as well as

Notice: we can see the words “levels of pollution” and “ industry” have not be

changed This is fine Not all words need to be changed In fact, the word “

pollution” is best not changed.

Therefore, when students learn vocabulary, they should be encouraged to remember synonyms for each word

Example: In English 12 [1]

Unit 1 - Join hand

- Secure (a)

- Work together

- Safe (a) Unit 4

- Curriculum (n) - Study program

- Upper secondary school - High school Unit 8

- Incredible ( a)

- Contribute (v)

- Unbelievable (a)

- Donate (v) Unit

10

- Derive from

- Reserve

- Stem from

- Preserve

Unit

14

- Appeal (v)

- Dedicate (v)

- Initiate (v)

- Call upon

- Devote(v)

- Start (v) Unit

15

- Advocate (v)

- Neglect (v)

- Agree (v)

- Ignore (v)

Using synonym words is one of the most effective and popular methods

to improve the quality of the writing However, this strategy drives students to get troubles choosing proper words so as to replace others in certain contexts because one English word has a variety of different synonym ones Therefore,

to write good English paragraphs, students need to obey some following rules:

Rule 1: Avoiding wrong words or vocabulary with meaning not relating to the context of the sentence.

Example:

Original sentence: Levels of crime among teenagers are rising rapidly in most cities around the world.

Paraphrase: Crime rates between young people are increasing quickly in most towns worldwide.

The bold words are rewritten by synonym words Some words are precisely and suitably used in proper context such as:

• Levels of crime ≈ crime rate

• Rising ≈ increasing

• Rapidly ≈ quickly

• Around the world ≈ worldwide

However, there are some mistakes in using the synonyms such as the

word “ among” ; “ teenagers” and “ cities”

The word “ teenagers” and “ young people” are different “ teenager” is a young person between 13 and 19 years old “ young people” are the young usually between the ages of 12 and 24, which refers to both “ teenagers” and

“ children” leading to misunderstanding the original sentence In the case, “

adolescents” or “ young people between the ages of 13 – 19” can replace the

word “ teenagers”

The word “ among” cannot be replaced by the word “ between” because the word “ among” is surrounded by more than two people or things Meanwhile, “ between” is in or into the space separating two objects or

people

The word “ cities” and “ towns” are not the same meaning “ Town” is usually larger than a village but smaller than a “ city”.

Rule 2: It is not necessary to replace all words in students’ writing.

Using different vocabulary with the same meaning is the first method students try to use but actually in some cases, words, especially topic vocabulary, are difficult for students to work out their synonyms If students try to use a lot of synonyms when they paraphrase, they might produce sentences that not natural English Unnatural sentences are likely to reduce their score more than small mistakes because the reader may not understand what they are trying to say

Rule 3: Quantifiers, verbs, adjectives or adverbs should be replaced more by synonyms.

Example:

A lot of / A large number of/ many people think / believe that educational activities should be added / included in children’s free time /

leisure time / spare time.

• Quantifiers: A lot of ≈ a large number of ≈ many

• Verbs: Think ≈ believe; added ≈ included

• Nouns: Free time ≈ leisure time ≈ spare time

Rule 4 : Students should learn more and more collocations.

A collocation is a series of words or terms that co-occur more often

than would be expected by chance In phraseology, collocation is a sub-type

of phraseme [10] Collocation knowledge helps learners to create more native-like sentence In other words, to develop students ‘writing ability, they need to use collocation in their writing

Some English collocations with the word “ big” “ great” “ large” “ deep” “ strong” and “ heavy” [11]

A big accomplishment/

decision/

disappointment

/ failure / mistake/

surprise / improvement

- Great admiration / anger / enjoyment / fun / happiness / joy/

power / pride / skill / wealth/

- In great detail

A large amount / collection / number / quantity / proportion / population / scale

- Strong argument / - In deep thought / - Heavy rain/ snow / fog

emphasis / contrast /

evident / feeling /

resistance

- A strong smell / taste

trouble / sleep

- Deep depression / devotion

- A heavy drinker / smoker / drug user

- Heavy traffic / taxes

Suggested collocations: [11]

Some suggested synonym collocations for common topics:

• Education:

- University graduates ~ people who graduate from university

~ people with a university qualification

- University education ~ tertiary education

~ third-level education

- To get higher grades ~ To achieve better academic results

- To study abroad ~ study overseas ~ study in another country

- To take a gap year ~ take a year off before university

~ to spend a year working or travelling before going to university

- Online courses ~ distance learning programs ~ internet-based learning

- Have access to more and better job opportunities to get a well – paid job.

- Learn problem-solving skills ~ learn how to deal with difficult situations

more effectively

- Curriculum ~ learning programmes