A study on students’ linguistic difficulties in toefl ibt essay writing and suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TOEFL IBT

ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VỀ MẶT NGÔN NGỮ CỦA HỌC SINH

KHI VIẾT BÀI LUẬN TOEFL IBT VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LIÊN

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES IN TOEFL IBT

ESSAY WRITING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

(NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN VỀ MẶT NGÔN NGỮ CỦA HỌC SINH

KHI VIẾT BÀI LUẬN TOEFL IBT VÀ NHỮNG GIẢI PHÁP)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 6014.0111 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi, 2013

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY OF THE THESIS

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

“A study on students’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions”

in terms of Statement for thesis and Field Study Reports in Master’s Programs Issued by the Higher Degree Committee

Nguyễn Thị Liên

October, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The current research could not have been completed without the wholehearted support of people who all deserved my deepest gratitude

Firstly, I want to show my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Hoang Van Van,

my supervisor, for his encouraging this research and giving helpful comments on earlier drafts of this thesis

I would also like to thank 88 TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest center for their enthusiasm for responding to the questionnaires and answering the interview

Finally, my thank is due to my family, and in particular my two younger brothers, for their logistical and technical support

Any remaining flaws concerning this research are merely mine

ABSTRACT

TOEFL IBT is becoming a prerequisite for students’ studying abroad in recent years How to get high scores on TOEFL IBT is a much-discussed topic among test-takers and educators alike Among four skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing, the last serves as the most challenging skill according to many students Composing a TOEFL IBT essay poses many difficulties for both experienced and inexperienced learners

The principal aim of this study, basing mainly on survey questionnaire and interview, is to find out common problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT Writing and simultaneously to investigate ways to solve these problems Data were gathered from 88 TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest center over

a four-week period

The data obtained from the questionnaire, augmented by interview suggest that (i) considerable linguistic difficulties faced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT essay writing task 1 involve expression, word choice, spelling, taking notes and how to relate the ideas from reading passage with those of listening passage; (ii) linguistic difficulties faced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT essay writing task 2 are brainstorming, word choice, academic vocabulary, language formality, expression, sentence structure, and spelling; (iii) some preferred suggested solutions to these above problems are providing writing templates, checking ideas for students before writing, giving in-class feedback, teaching extra vocabulary, and supply students with further listening and reading exercises to practice note taking skills (exclusively for TOEFL IBT task 1)

Basing on the findings of the research, some practical suggestions for TOEFL IBT learners and teachers are put forward The study, to some extent, hopefully contributes a small part to the realm of teaching and learning TOEFL IBT in general and at EQuest in particular

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Learners’ background information

Figure 2 Reasons for learners’ taking TOEFL IBT course

Figure 3 Learners’ experience in learning English

Figure 4 Learners’ experience in learning TOEFL IBT

Figure 5 Learners’ opinions of writing skill

Figure 6 Learners’ attitudes towards TOEFL IBT writing skill

Figure 7 Number of essays that learners compose per week

Figure 8 Learners’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT writing task 1

Figure 9 Correlation between learners’ levels and their possibilities of

encountering difficulties in taking notes, paraphrasing, and relating

points of reading to those of listening

Figure 10 Learners’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT writing task 2

Figure 11 Correlation between learners’ levels and their possibilities of

encountering difficulties with word choice, expression, and academic vocabulary

Figure 12 Correlation between frequency in which learners compose essays per

week and their possibilities of encountering difficulties in brainstorming ideas

Figure 13 Suggested solutions to improve learners’ TOEFL IBT essay writing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

List of figures iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and research questions 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Organization 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Academic writing 4

1.1 Definition of writing 4

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing 4

1.3 Writing academic essay 5

2 TOEFL IBT test 5

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT test 5

2.2 Insight into TOEFL IBT writing section 7

2.2.1 Format of TOEFL IBT writing section 7

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFL IBT writing section 9

2.2.2.1 Scoring standards 9

2.2.2.2 Scoring rubrics 13

3 Earlier studies on academic writing 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 1 Context of the study 17

2 Selection of the subjects 17

3 Research instruments 18

4 Procedures of data collection 19

5 Procedures of data analysis 20

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1 Data analysis and discussion 21

1.1 General information about learners 21

1.2 Students’ linguistic difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing 27

1.3 Suggested solutions for improving students’ TOEFL IBT essay writing 32

2 Findings 35

2.1 Research question 1 35

2.2 Research question 2 36

3 Implications 37

3.1 For students 37

3.2 For teachers 37

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of findings 39

2 Limitations 39

3 Suggestions for further research 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: TOEFL IBT WRITING QUESTION TYPES APPENDIX 2: PARTICIPANT INFORMATION AND CONSENT FORM APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Problem statement and rationale for the study

Globalization and economic booming open up a whole new world of opportunities in education According to ETS (Educational Testing service, the world’s largest educational testing and assessment organization), TOEFL IBT (Test of English as Foreign Language) score can be viewed as a passport to study abroad Statistics from ETS in 2013 indicate that more than 9,000 colleges, agencies and other institutions in over 130 countries accept TOEFL scores For this reason, the youth is trying to get as high TOEFL IBT score as possible to get better impression on their university’s applications, hence, maximize their chances

to be accepted into top international colleges, American ones included

However, the road to high TOEFL IBT score is not a broad one for every test-taker TOEFL IBT is indeed a tough test; unlike other proficiency tests, TOEFL IBT not only requires learners’ integrated listening-speaking-reading-writing skills but it also involves learners’ computer skills TOEFL IBT Writing is

a compelling example of a big challenge brought by the new generation of TOEFL As an English instructor majoring in teaching TOEFL IBT at EQuest for more than three years, I empirically realize that TOEFL IBT learners ranging from intermediate to advanced ones have to struggle a lot to write a TOEFL IBT writing essay Some students think that their main problems lie in time constraint or typing skills while others blame their troubles for lack of vocabulary or ideas More seriously, some others are unaware of their weaknesses and unconsciously replicate their writing mistakes What are real problems experienced by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writing? What should be done to improve their writing skills? Those questions are my overriding concerns when teaching TOEFL IBT Writing that spark my interest in carrying out the current research on students’ difficulties in TOEFL IBT essay writing and suggested solutions

2 Aims and reasearch questions

The study is conducted with the aim of finding out the linguistic difficulties that EQuest learners often experience in TOEFL IBT writing essay Added to this, some useful suggested solutions to resolve the problems are studied

The present study is designed to address two following questions:

 What are linguistic problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writing essay?

 What should be done to improve EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT writing skill?

3 Significane of the study

The present study is the author’s great endeavor in investigating learners’ major headaches in TOEFL IBT essay writing and ways to eradicate them This is hoped to offer both teachers and learners substantial benefits in teaching and preparing for the TOEFL IBT test Students will directly benefit from this study in

a sense that they will be aware of major challenges posed by TOEFL IBT writing essay, hence will know their ways to avoid or beat off them As for teachers, by being able to anitipate some awakwardness in their students’ writing, they can adjust their teaching methods appropriatetly according to students’ competence, preferences, and expectations to better help ungrade their students’ writing levels

Moreover, personal boon is also accounted My main job is teaching TOEFL IBT for those who want to study overseas Hopefully, this study would somehow help me in teaching my students in the right way This research is also expectedly a beneficial reference source to teachers working in the same field feeling the same concern

4 Scope of the study

Because of constrained time and limited knowledge, this study only deals with two following issues:

 Linguistic problems encountered by EQuest learners in TOEFL IBT writing essay

 Things should be done to improve EQuest learners’ TOEFL IBT Writing skill

5 Organization

This chapter is a brief sketch of the study including rationale for the study, aims and research questions, significance and scope of the study The precise details will be given throughout the rest of the study

Chapter two works on the theoretical background bolstering the issue, followed by a review of three previous researches on the topic

Chapter three outlines the relevant research methods for the study as well as the reasons why these methods are employed Participant selection, data collection and data analysis are also included in this chapter

Chapter four is the discussion and findings of the research in which accurate statistical analysis and comprehensive explanation are presented with the aim of giving precise answers to three research questions Furthermore, pedagogical implications are given in this section

Finally, chapter five summarizes the main findings of the research, exposes some limitations, and puts forward suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Academic writing

1.1 Definition of writing

Writing has been defined by a number of scholars Byrne (1988) notes that

writing is “the act of forming graphic symbols” such as letters or combination of

letters In this sense, any act of writing producing letters can be viewed as writing

On the contrary, towards the same issue, Tribble (1996) holds a different opinion

that writing is “not just a graphic representation of speech, but the development and presentation of thoughts in a structured way” In other words, writing

involves letter processing and at the same time conveys meaningful messages This view is backed up by Lannon (1989) when this author claims that writing is

“a process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accidents, trial and error, or whatever into a message with a definite meaning”

On the other hand, Sokolik (2003) views academic writing as “a process and a product Writers have to generate ideas, organize, draft, edit, read, reread to produce a product – a paragraph, an essay, or a report” It is Soholik’s idea that is accepted in this study

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

There are many ways to approach writing; however, product and process approaches are the two most popular ones

The product approach focuses on learners’ final outcome of the writing process According to Clenton (2004) and Steele (2002), a typical product approach has four stages In stage 1, learners study a model text, analyze it and imitate its traits In stage 2, students start their controlled practice of the highlighted features individually In stage 3, students work in group to organize ideas Then comes stage four in which students are allowed to choose from a wide range of writing tasks to write about basing on what they have been taught to produce the final product

On the other hand, the process approach emphasizes students’ communication of ideas, feelings, and experience (Stanley, 2002) with teachers’ intervention as needed (Reid, 1993) The process approach is dissected into eight principal stages In stage 1, students come up with ideas by brainstorming and discussion whereas teachers provide their students with support if necessary In stage 2, students check their ideas in term of quality and usefulness In stage 3, students organize the ideas in a form of a mind map to make hierarchical relationship of ideas In stage 4, students produce the first draft In stage 5, draft versions are exchanged for peer check In stage 6, drafts are returned and students write the second version basing on suggested improvement In stage 7, a final draft

is produced and submitted for teachers’ evaluation in stage 8

1.3 Writing academic essay

An essay is a piece of writing of several paragraphs which tie to the same topic An essay has three main parts: an introduction, body (usually two or more paragraphs), and a conclusion

The introductory paragraph has two smaller parts: a few general statements

to attract the readers’ attention and a thesis statement to state the main idea of the essay The body consists of two or more paragraphs; each deals with one main idea raised in the thesis statement The conclusion is summary of all points discussed in the body

According to Oshima & Hogue (2006), an essay is judged on five criteria:

 Format: title centered, first line of each paragraph indented, margins on both sides, text double-spaced

 Mechanics: periods, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, capitalization, and spelling

 Content: - The essay fulfills the requirements of the assignment

- The essay is interesting to read

- The essay shows that the writer used care and thought

 Organization: the essay follows the outline, and it has an introduction, body, and a conclusion

- Introduction: the introduction ends with a thesis statement

+ Each paragraph has unity

+ Each paragraph has coherence

+ Transitions are used to link paragraphs

- Conclusion: the conclusion summarizes the main points

or paraphrases the thesis statement, begins with a conclusion signal, and leaves the reader with the writer’s final thoughts on the topic

2 TOEFL IBT test

2.1 Insight into TOEFL IBT test

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is an examination operated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) This is a proficiency test measuring nonnative learners’ English competence TOEFL scores are compulsory for admission into many English speaking colleges, universities, institutions, and a large number of other agencies in the world, especially United State

TOEFL test was coined in 1963 by the National Council on the Testing of

English as a Foreign Language According to the document “Test and Score Summary for TOEFL Internet Based Test: September 2005-December 2006 Test

Data” published by ETS in 2007, the TOEFL test was co-administered by ETS

and the College Board in 1965 It is now an international trade name of ETS

The early forms of TOEFL were TOEFL computer-based test (TOEFL CBT) and TOEFL paper-based one (TOEFL PBT) Since the advent of TOEFL internet-based test (TOEFL IBT) in 2005 in the United State, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy in 2005 and the remaining countries in the world one year later, the TOEFL CBT was discontinued and the TOEFL PBT lost its popularity Some researchers bolster a shift from a conventional to an internet-based testing format because of its reduced testing time, standardized test administration, test content tailored to examinee ability, automated scoring, and faster score reporting (Wise & Plake, 1989, cited in Wolfe & Manalo (2005) ETS has now over 4,500 test sites located in more than 165 countries in the world

Since its introduction, TOEFL IBT has gained its reputation as one of the most reliable proficiency tests in the English speaking world According to ETS, TOEFL IBT is likely to help the test takers stand out because of its fame for

“fairness, quality, and its 100 percent academic content” TOEFL IBT particularly assesses how well the candidates integrate their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills to perform academic tasks, which makes the test a little challenging

but highly appreciated Stricker & Attali (2010), in their research “Test Takers’ Attitudes About the TOEFL IBT”, claimed that overall attitudes about the TOEFL

IBT were moderately positive in most countries including China, Columbia, and Egypt The latest poll of ETS reveals that more than 27 million people from all over the world have taken the TOEFL test to demonstrate their English-language proficiency Needless to say, new generation of TOEFL is the first choice of many learners longing to study overseas in this modern world

2.2 Insight into TOEFL IBT writing section

2.2.1 Format of TOEFL IBT writing section

The TOEFL IBT writing is sub-divided into two tasks: integrated task and independent task

Task Time Words

In the integrated task, the test takers first have three minutes to read and take notes on a 250─300 word academic passage which usually has three main points After reading the passage, the test takers have another two or three minutes

to listen to the listening passage about the same topic either challenging or supporting the points made in the reading text The candidates are required to take detailed notes on the lecture heard After all, when composing an integrated essay, the candidates must summarize the main points of the listening passage, then show how these pointes reinforce or cast doubt on the reading

Students have 20 minutes to finalize the integrated writing task The typical length of one integrated task ranges from 150 words to 225 words

There are three main question types of TOEFL IBT integrated task: challenging, supporting, as well as problem and solution (for more information,

see Appendix 1)

In the independent task, TOEFL IBT candidates are asked to state their opinions on a particular topic, then use reasons, details, and examples to back up their points of view Students have 30 minutes to plan, write, and revise their essays Normally, an effective independent essay contains at least 300 words

There are four sub-types of independent writing question, namely agreement, preference, details, and assumption (for more information, see

Appendix 1)

TOEFL IBT is an internet-based test; therefore candidates have to type their responses to the writing tasks on the computer The computer only appears some

certain text tools as following:

 Copy: copies highlighted text

 Cut: cuts highlighted text

 Paste: pastes copied or cut text

 Undo: undoes last action

 Redo: redoes action you just undid

 Word count: shows number of words written

 Enter (twice): starts new paragraph

TOEFL IBT writing undoubtedly tests the learners three skills in one section, which poses a great challenge to majority of them Moreover, the learners’ typing skill holds no less importance in TOEFL IBT writing test

2.2.2 Scoring standards and scoring rubrics of TOEFL IBT writing section

2.2.2.1 Scoring standards

Integrated writing scoring standards

5 A response at this level successfully selects the important information

from the lecture and coherently and accurately presents this

information in relation to the relevant information presented in the reading The response is well organized, and occasional language errors that are present do not result in inaccurate or imprecise

presentation of content or connections

4 A response at this level is generally good in selecting the important

information from the lecture and in coherently and accurately

presenting this information in relation to the relevant information presented in the reading, but it may have minor omission, inaccuracy, vagueness, or imprecision of some content from the lecture or in connection to points made in the reading A response is also scored at this level if it has more frequent or noticeable minor language errors,

as long as such usage and grammatical structures do not result in anything more than an occasional lapse of clarity or in the connection

of ideas

3 A response at this level may contain some important information from

the lecture and conveys some relevant connection to the reading, but it

is marked by one or more of the following:

 Although the overall response is definitely oriented to the task,

it conveys only vague, global, unclear, or somewhat imprecise connection of the points made in the lecture to points made in the reading

 The response may omit one major key point made in the lecture

 Some key points made in the lecture or the reading, or connections between the two, may be incomplete, inaccurate,

or imprecise

 Errors of usage and/ or grammar may be more frequent or may result in noticeably vague expressions or obscured meanings in conveying ideas and connections

2 A response at this level contains some relevant information from the

lecture, but it is marked by significant language difficulties or by significant omission or inaccuracy of important ideas from the lecture

or in the connections between the lecture and the reading A response

at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 The response significantly misrepresents or completely omits the overall connection between the lecture and the reading

 The response significantly omits or significantly misrepresents important points made in the lecture

 The response contains language errors or expressions that largely obscure connections or meaning at key junctures or that would likely obscure understanding of key ideas for a reader

not already familiar with the reading and the lecture

1 A response at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 The response provides little or no meaningful or relevant coherent content from the lecture

 The language level of the response is so low that it is difficult

to derive meaning

0 A response at this level merely copies sentences from the reading,

rejects the topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in

a foreign language, consists of keystroke characters, or is blank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

Independent writing scoring standards

5 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:

 Effectively addresses the topic and task

 Is well organized and well developed, using clearly appropriate explanations, exemplification, and/ or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence

 Displays consistent facility in the use of language, demonstrating syntactic variety, appropriate word choice, and idiomaticity, though it may have minor lexical or grammatical errors

4 An essay at this level largely accomplishes all of the following:

 Address the topic and task well, though some points may not be fully elaborated

 Is generally well organized and well developed, using appropriate and sufficient explanations, exemplifications, and/

or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though it may contain occasional redundancy, digression, or unclear connections

 Displays facility in the use of language, demonstrating syntactic variety and range of vocabulary, though it will probably have occasional noticeable minor errors in structure, word forms, or use of idiomatic language that do not interfere with meaning

3 An essay at this level is marked by one or more of the following:

 Addresses the topic and task using somewhat developed explanations, exemplifications, and/ or details

 Displays unity, progression, and coherence, though connection

of ideas may be occasionally obscured

 May demonstrate inconsistent facility in sentence formation and word choice that may result in lack of clarity and

occasionally obscure meaning

 May display accurate but limited range of syntactic structures and vocabulary

2 An essay at this level may reveal one or more of the following

weaknesses:

 Limited development in response to the topic and task

 Inadequate organization or connection of ideas

 Inappropriate or insufficient exemplifications, explanations, or details to support or illustrate generalizations in response to the task

 A noticeably inappropriate choice of words and word forms

 An accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/ or usage

1 An essay at this level is seriously flawed by one or more of the

following weaknesses:

 Serious disorganization or underdevelopment

 Little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics, or questionable responsiveness to the task

 Serious and frequent errors in sentence structure or usage

0 An essay at this level merely copies words from the topic, rejects the

topic or is otherwise not connected to the topic, is written in a foreign language, consists of keystroke characters, or is bank

ETS, retrieved 2004, from https://www.ets.org/toefl/ibt/scores/understand

2.2.2.2 Scoring rubrics

The total score for the writing section of TOEFL IBT is 30 (out of 120) Each writing task is worth maximum of five points The average of points earned from two tasks is finally converted into a scale score of 0-30

Converting rubric scores to scales scores

Writing rubric mean Scaled score

3 Earlier studies on academic writing

Writing skill is an interesting topic which has been studied by a number of researchers In accomplishing this research, I have read some previous researches dealing with the topic Of relevance to the present research are three studies

The first (Lan, B.P, 2007) investigated importance of paragraph writing to students at National Economics University (NEU), their difficulties in paragraph writing, causes of these common errors, and effective strategies for teaching writing paragraphs The results of the study indicated that all students partaking in the study have positive attitudes towards their paragraph writing course Lan, B.P (2007, p.35) revealed that even though the NEU students have studied English for

a long time, more than 10 years, their writing skills are very poor They often commit many mistakes in writing concerning organization, content, and most seriously use of language Another important finding of the study was students’ preference for teaching writing methodology Most of them prefer the teacher’s provision of language knowledge, explanations of sample paragraphs, and group

discussion to self-studying through reading materials However, the research failed

to explicitly explain causes of students’ committing errors in paragraph writing

The second (Hoa, N.T, 2008) sought to find out students and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching writing the textbook “Writing 1” at Hung Vuong university and ways to sort out those problems The findings suggested that students’ typical difficulties in learning writing with the textbook “Writing 1” are lack of vocabulary, lack of cultural knowledge, first language interference, and poor grammar Teachers who were directly teaching writing using that textbook also face numerous troubles such as the textbook itself, repetition of teaching techniques in every class, ways to correct students’ errors, shortage of writing reference materials, and lack of teaching aids Accordingly, some suggested solutions are put forward: organizing writing workshop, distributing diagnostic test to students, equipping students with some knowledge of contrast between English and Vietnamese, employing diverse error correction techniques

The third (Asaoka & Usui, 2003), a longitudinal study, investigated kinds

of problems encountered by students while they completed their writing assignments as well as the ways they handle the problems in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program at a Japanese university The kinds of problems the participants had trouble with while completing an essay assignment could be roughly divided into three areas: surface-level problems (grammar, expressions, mechanics), macro-level problems (planning, topic, coherence, organization), and external factors (deadline, word count requirements, availability

of appropriate sources, students’ perceptions of teachers’ expectations, lack of positive reinforcement, and their attitudes toward the first language use) Ways to help the students better at writing mainly include teachers’ provision of more grammatical exercises in class, teachers’ intervention and construction at an early stage of students’ writing when they choose the topics, teachers’ supportive and open attitudes towards students’ ideas, plans, and concerns through individual meetings, and teachers’ flexibility in writing schedule

In short, academic writing has been the topic of many writers The matters discussed in these above researches are relevant to my teaching area and leave important lessons to be learnt However, these available studies focus on matters

in academic writing in general; no studies come across with any investigation involving difficulties experienced by learners in TOEFL IBT writing, which leaves a research gap for the author of the present study to implement

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

1 Context of the study

The present study is conducted at EQuest, an English center with ten-year experience in providing educational services such as GRE, GMAT, SAT, TOEFL, IELTS, and TOEIC Among various courses at EQuest, the new generation TOEFL, (TOEFL IBT) preparation courses often attract high school students in Hanoi who yearn to study abroad In order to take part in the TOEFL IBT courses, students have to take a placement test If they get 60-74 points out of 120 points, they will be entitled to enroll TOEFL A course If they earn more than 74 points out of 120 points, they will get a chance to study in TOEFL B classes

Each TOEFL IBT course lasts about 3 months, 3 sessions a week, and 2 hours a lesson Studying materials are in-house ones compiled by EQuest instructors and edited regularly to fit the learning situation During each course, students are required to take regular progress tests in order to mark their skill improvement

The primary goal of TOEFL IBT courses is to help learners to earn high scores in the actual test Helping students sharpen their English skills in an academic environment and get familiar with American oriented learning styles in universities in the United State serves as another goal of TOEFL IBT preparation courses

2 Participants

The participants of the study are my 88 TOEFL IBT students from 6 classes

at EQuest (43 TOEFL A students and 45 TOEFL B students) Their levels of English are intermediate and upper-inter mediate (they gained 75-90 TOEFL IBT scores in the placement test) Their target scores when completing the courses range from 90 to more than 100 scores (out of the maximum of 120 scores) to apply for scholarships funded by American colleges and universities

The majority of selected subjects come from high schools in Hanoi; they often have one year or two more years to obtain TOEFL IBT score to finalize their

application for undergraduate scholarships The minor population is university students and is preparing to apply for their graduate scholarships

3 Research instruments

With the aim of addressing the research questions, a combination of questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed Through these methods, accurate and reliable data were expected to be obtained The major source of data is derived from the questionnaire for students studying TOEFL IBT

at EQuest Along with this, interviews for these students were conducted to gather

extra information for any ambiguous responses from the questionnaire

Concerning the survey questionnaire, this method was adopted in the research for a number of reasons Firstly, it is the survey questionnaire that helps the reseracher save time According to Jo and Steve (1997), it is quickest way to get answers from scattered participants with much precision and clarity The major subjects of this research are TOEFL IBT learners with total number of 88 ones Therefore, a set of questionnaire written in English is regarded more convenient than other instruments from such a large sample In other words, the author of the research could achieve a “snapshot” of the subject situations and opinions at the same time (Cohen & Manion, 1865) Secondly, it is argued that financial benefits

of questionnaire should be taken into consideration Questionnaire has been considered “a vital tool in the collection of data …it can provide data economically and in a form that lends itself perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Verma & Mallick, 1999: 117) It could fulfill the purpose of the author to collect data from a large number of TOEFL IBT learners at EQuest in the most economical way Last but not least, the use of open-ended questions is believed to provide sufficient and detailed data for the researcher Students might not open with being observed in class but most of them appear willing to fill in the questionnaires As a result, data reflecting what the respondents want to say could

be found without much difficulty In conclusion, the strengths of survey questionnaire method could be clearly seen in its relevance to the research aims

The questionnaire for students consists of 15 questions using open-ended type The first part of the survey questionnaire (questions 1-10) aims to seek the participants’ general information such as name, gender, the course they are taking

at EQuest together with the reasons they take the course, time in which they have been learning English, time in which they have been researching TOEFL IBT, their overall attitude towards academic writing and TOEFL IBT writing, level of their interest for TOEFL IBT, and the number of TOEFL IBT essays they produce per week The second segment of the questionnaire is designed to acquire data about linguistic difficulties students often have in TOEFL IBT writing essay task

1, task 2, the question types learners find the most difficult to handle, and their preferences for what teachers can do to facilitate their TOEFL IBT writing skill With the purpose of avoiding some misleading information from answers

to the questionnaire and acquiring as well as enriching accurate data for the research, semi-structured interviews were carried out In fact, this kind of interview “is not the only qualitative research technique that will produce rich information about social relationships but it does give you to social relationships

in a quite profound way” (Dowsett, 1986) Owing to this kind of interview, the interviewer could be able to control the general flow of the interview without

“entering the interview with lots of predetermined questions” (Mc Namara, 1999)

In short, the validity and reliability of the research could be strengthened thanks to a combination of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews

4 Procedures of data collection

The data collection procedures of the research could be divided into four main phases as below:

Phase 1

In the first place, the questionnaire for students was thoroughly prepared three weeks before delivering them to the respondents As designing the questionnaire, the author made sure that all informants’ information is kept anonymous After that, the questionnaire was piloted with several voluntary

respondents Honestly, a complete final version of questionnaires was made thanks

to a great help of the supervisor

Phase 2

In this phase, the author sent the Participant Information and Consent to 88 selected students to ask for their willingness to partake in the project one week before distributing the questionnaires Luckily, all of them concurred to participate

in the study Then the questionnaire was delivered to 88 students from 6 TOEFL IBT classes at their break time The questionnaire included explicit instruction on how to reply to questions, hence the participants could follow it easily

Phase 3

When processing data obtained from the questionnaire, some points of the students’ responses must be pinpointed; hence the author asked for students’ agreement to have some interviews to clear up the matter

Phase 4

Next to the stage of interview is processing the remaining data

In conclusion, taking the procedures of data collection by separate steps enabled the author to obtain the most precise data for the study

5 Procedures of data analysis

In the first stage, the data gained from the survey questionnaire was transferred into numerical form with the use of chart and table Valid comparisons between the figures were also included Besides, in the way of summing and averaging the participants’ rating, the overall evaluation of the participants was made

Next, qualitative data got from the open-ended questions in the questionnaire and during the interview were also summarized and evaluated The author categorized the interview on a question by question basis; hence each question was analyzed separately in order to obtain an accurate analysis The finding of this research will be presented in details in chapter four