Using graphic organizers to improve 10th graders’ paragraph writing

From the results of this research, the effectiveness of different types of graphic organizers in teaching and learning writing skills ought to be affirmed in other studies in the future

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN GIA VIỆT, Ph.D

NGHE AN – 2018

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that no other person‘s work (published or unpublished) has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

It was written by me under my supervisor‘s guidance

Date submitted: July 2018

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My assignment would not have been completed without the valuable assistance and encouragement of many people for whom I am grateful including my teacher, my family and my friends

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Nguyen Gia Viet who supported my work in this way and helped me a lot with assistance, support in overcoming numerous obstacles I have been facing through my research

Secondly, to complete this thesis, I cannot forget the support and encouragement from 10

thgrade students at Vu Quang upper secondary school or their cooperation and support in collecting data for this paper

Then, I wish to send my gratitude and thank to my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues from whom I have received whole hearted help and support

I would like to thank my family for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my my life in general These people deserve all the credit I highly appreciate all these support and contribution

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ABSTRACT

This research examines the use of graphic organizes in enhancing the quality and the effectiveness in paragraph writing among the 10th graders at Vu Quang upper secondary school Specifically, it dealt with the extent to which graphic organizers help improve writing score in the process of paragraph production The study will employ an experimental approach to collect the data and analysis Students will be assigned pre-tests and post-tests to establish the quality and effectiveness In addition, questionnaires will be distributed to participating students to explore their attitudes to the use of graphic organizers in English classrooms Based on the results, pedagogical implications and suggestions regarding using graphic organizers in teaching writing skill will be proposed From the results of this research, the effectiveness of different types of graphic organizers in teaching and learning writing skills ought to be affirmed in other studies in the future to make sure that graphic organizers is really necessary and they can help language teachers teach writing skill more and more effectively The textbooks and other writing materials should be used graphic organizers so that the learners will have opportunity to learn English writing better and more effectively Teachers will be more effective in their work, and their lesson plans will yield greater results Therefore, the macro view of using graphic organizers, envisions thousands of teachers imparting academic gifts to millions of students-and each of these more prepared than previous generations to take their places of leadership in our rapidly developing nation

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 The thesis outline 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.6 2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Literature Review in Brief 6

2.3 Effective writing teaching requirements 7

2.4 Theoretical Background 8

2.4.1 Teaching English writing 8

2.4.1.1 Definition of writing 8

2.4.1.2 Some views of teaching and learning writing 10

2.4.1.3 Approaches to teaching writing 12

2.4.2 Paragraph writing 17

2.4.2.1 Definition of paragraph 17

2.4.2.2 Structure of a paragraph 18

2.4.2.3 Criteria for a good paragraph 19

2.4.2.4 Common problems and their sources in paragraph writing 20

2.4.3 Graphic organizers in writing 22

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2.4.3.1 Oragnization 22

2.4.3.2 Word choice 23

2.4.3.3 Graphic Organizers 23

2.5 Summary 30

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 31

3.1 Introduction 31

3.1.1 An overview of Vu Quang high school 31

3.1.2 Research Methods 32

3.2 The Context of the Study 33

3.2.1 The participants 33

3.2.2 Research Instruments 34

3.3 Data Collection Procedure 36

3.4 Summary 36

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 38

4.1 Introduction 38

4.2 Results of students‘ survey questionnaire A 38

4.2.1 Students‘ attitude and their difficulties in writing lessons 38

4.2.2 Summary 45

4.3 Findings from the Questionnaire B 46

4.4 Students‘ attitudes toward graphic organizers 48

4.5 Results of students‘ tests 49

4.6 Summary 53

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 54

5.1 Summary of the study 54

5.2 Implications for effective writing lessons 56

5.3 Limitations of the study 60

5.4 Suggestions for further study 60

REFRENCES 62

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 4.1 Students' attitude towards the steps they usually follow 41

Table 4.2 Students' difficulties in writing a paragraph 42

Table 4.3 Activities carried out by teachers in class 43

Table 4.4 Students‘ assessment towards graphic organizers 46

Table 4.5 Students' attitudes towards graphic organizers 48

Table 4.6 Results of students‘ tests 50

Table 4.7: Pre-test and post-test results by experimental group 52

Figure 4.1: Opinions about the most important skill 38

Figure 4.2: Students‘ enjoyment to the writing lessons 39

Figure 4.3: Students‘ ideas about writing a paragraph 40

Figure 4.4: Students‘ ideas the necessity of teacher‘s guidance in the English writing lessons 44

Figure 4.5: Students‘ ideas about teacher‘s guiding and support activities 45 Figure 4.6: Pre-test and post-test mean scores by the control and experimental groups 51

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT : Communicative Language Teaching

EFL : English as Foreign Language

ESL : English as a Second Language L1 : First Language

L2 : Second Language

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

Regarded as an international language, English plays an important role in our modern society Now it is used medium of communication in many aspects of life all over the world In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject in the national curriculum, it is taught in all schools in Vietnam as a foreign language

Teaching English in Vietnam will give students a good chance to take advantage of globalization, and teachers are always trying to renew teaching methods to improve their techniques for more effective lesson plans and higher cognitive retention among their students at all levels Together with other skills such

as reading, speaking, listening the role of writing is very important

It also has been introduced in order to keep pace with the society development, the need for writing is put in one of the top demand for English language

In fact, when we learn the first language and second language writing skill is very necessary Furthermore, it is the ways planned and organized thought expressions However, writing is considered one of the most difficult skills due to its complication and high demand of language means In spite of the fact that there

is high awareness of the field of teaching and learning English language writing, it seems to be a neglected area in English language teaching at upper secondary school level in Vietnam

The main reason for this negligence owing to the fact that most examinations in English in Vietnam only test the students‘ knowledge about grammar and referenced standard In addition, students even some teachers do not spend much time and efforts on teaching and learning writing leads to Vietnamese high school students‘ dissatisfying results in their writing

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These low outcomes are because of various factors including students‘ lack background knowledge and low capability of language Actually, despite the fact that numerous students are good at doing tests in basic structures, they can scarcely write a good essay or even a paragraph In this way, it is gainful to give some point

of view strategies for training writing keeping in mind the end goal to enhance their written work capacities

While accentuating the significance of writing skill, the researcher cannot be

in disregard of the importance of paragraph writing Grabe and Kaplan (1996) , cited in Ha (2016) indicated to students in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) that contexts, ranging from a simple paragraph and summary skill to the ability to write essay is needed for the mastery of English writing skill This is because paragraph writing is a pre-requisite course for composition and essay writing Therefore, to any learner, learning how to write a good paragraph is necessary before learning how to write any other text and it is needed to transfer messages, letters, and knowledge, to take exams and to maintain learning

Because of the importance noted above, English paragraph writing is included in the syllabuses of Vietnamese high schools, in which school learners have to pay attention to ―higher level skills of planning and organizing as well as the lower level skills of spelling, punctuation, word choice, and so on‖ Richards and Renandya (2002)

As well as other objective factors, the role of teachers is very important in helping students to express their ideas successfully in their writing In the class the teachers‘ roles are giving suggestions and support to students to complete their writing tasks

As a teacher, one of the major focuses within the classroom is writing instruction It is the educators‘ job to help students build confidence and find success as they begin learning about the writing process Many students struggle with the ability to organize their writing and also show difficulty in incorporating creative word choice in their writing The ultimate goal of this study was to help

This study was guided by the following questions: ―Do graphic organizers improve students‘ writing scores?‖, ― What attitudes do students have about using graphic organizers in paragraph writing?‖

Graphic organizers is hoped to be used widely as an effective technique for teaching writing in upper secondary schools in Vietnam

1.2 Aims of the study

The study is conducted with the following aims:

- to examine students‘ attitudes towards writing skill

- to look into the difficulties students cope with during writing paragraph

- to evaluate the effectiveness of using graphic organizers in teaching paragraph writing to students

- to offer some suggestions and recommendations to enhance students‘ writing paragraph

1.3 Research questions

So as to achieve above mentioned aims, the study tries to answer the following questions:

1 Do graphic organizers improve students‘ writing scores?

2 What attitudes do students have about using graphic organizers in paragraph writing?

1.4 Scope of the study

In spite of the fact that there are numerous approaches to motivate students

to learn English, it is unrealistic to cover them all in this paper

Owing to the limitation of time and length of the thesis, I chose to focus my research on utilizing graphic organizers as a way of improving paragraph writing

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for 10 grade students at Vu Quang upper secondary school The students of control group and experimental group are comprised of 60 students of grade 10 at this school

1.5 The thesis outline

In this thesis, there are five chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction

This chapter introduces the rationale, objectives , research questions, scope and organization of the study

Chapter II: Theoretical background

The theoretical background of previous studies related to the topic will be described in chapter II A review and explanation of graphic organizers is the last part of this chapter

Chapter III: Methodology

This chapter consists of details the research methods, research instruments, information gathering strategy and the setting of the investigation which comprises

of the background setting and member determination This help the readers to have

a profound comprehension in transit in which the theory of the postulation is interpreted and explained

The researcher utilized questionnaires for students and pre-test, present test

on gather information and to give proof to the investigation's adequacy

The analysis of the data in this study will be a base for the researcher to give the comments, remarks, recommendation and conclusions

The data drawn from the student‘s questionnaires and tests were analyzed and categorized These findings were utilized as the foundation for my ensuing

suggestions for the application and use of graphic organizers

Chapter IV : Finding and discussion – describes the major finding from data

analysis, obervation and disuss on the analysed results

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Chapter V: Conclusion

In chapter V, the summary of the contents achieved from the study will be presented The following parts, the researcher provides to readers the implication of the study, the limitation of the study and the recommendation for further research

The references and appendices are the last parts of the study and they are followed the conclusion

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Introduction

In this chapter the author introduces two small components: literature review

in brief, and theoretical background The first part will be a summary of the previous related researches, the second one will be theoretical review about teaching English writing, and using graphic organizers in paragraph writing

2.2 Literature Review

Writing is the skill that processed by human being to produce his or her ideas and thought into written-forms, although the ideas or thought can also produce through spoken-forms It means that through spoken forms will be transfer in written forms Therefore, writing is one of important skill can produce of human thought in written forms

In Brown (as cited in Emilie and Nathalie, 2007 p 335), he stated that, a simplistic view of writing would assume that written language is simply the graphic representation of spoken language This is supported and developed by Hedge, (as cited in Emilie and Nathalie, 2007 p 10) who states that ―writing is more than producing accurate and complete sentences and phrases That writing is about guiding students to: ―produce whole pieces of communication, to link and develop information, ideas, or arguments for a particular reader or a group of readers.‖ Therefore, to produce a complete sentence teacher must be guiding students to get effective writing

Furthermore, effective writing requires several things: a high degree of organization regarding the development and structuring of ideas, information and arguments, such as: a high degree of accuracy, complex grammar devices, a careful choice of vocabulary and sentence structures in order to create style, tone and information appropriate for the readers of one‘s written text

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Writing skill can be defined as an ability to communicate all the ideas or imaginations into the form of structured pattern So that, the readers may understand what the writers mean in their writing Writing is the skill that processed by human being to produce his or her ideas and thought into written-forms, although the ideas

or thought can also produce through spoken- forms Therefore, writing is one of skill which very important in English competence Besides reading, speaking and listening, writing skill is rather difficult to be mastered

2.3 Effective writing teaching requirements

According to Dell, Newton & Pertraff, (2008), effective writing teaching requires the use of assistive devices to support and maintain the learning of this skill It is not enough for the teachers of writing to be highly qualified, but that their practices of instruction follow scientific based research Strangman and Dalton (2005) outline the major principles of effective writing instruction These involve providing support for recognition through (presentation), support for strategic learning through (expression) and support for affective learning through (engagement) Use of mind maps and graphics, says - Strangman, provides the teacher with tools and strategies that help him/her to adhere to the above principles

of effective writing teaching

Using graphic organizers Graphic organizers in teaching writing is one of the most useful writing strategies It is also known as knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance organizer or concept diagram (Barron, 1969) Meyen, Vergason and Whelan, (1996) stated that it is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts, thoughts or ideas and the relationships between them The use of graphic organizers in several studies has been found to be viable tools to improve the reading and writing skills of learners as well (Nachiangmai, 2004; Kitchakarn, 2010)

Currently, visual organizers are widely incorporated in teaching writing These tools are claimed to provide learners with a concrete structural framework

of information and help to focus the learners' attention on key ideas and the

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conceptual relations between these ideas rather than the apparently isolated facts (Delrose, 2011) In fact, the use of graphic organizers enhances understanding, organizing and meaningful learning, and in this way facilitates the complex task of learning writing while serving to prevent boredom (Janssen, Beissner & Yacci, (1993)

Lee (2004) regards graphic organizers as the most effective tools for teaching and improving writing skills In fact, dozens of empirical studies were conducted to verify the efficacy of such organizers, and almost all of these studies asserted their viability for teaching writing It is found that these organizers help the students visualize the abstract ideas, divide the writing tasks into smaller palatable parts, and monitor their writing progress (Unzueta, 2009)

To sum up, all the researchers and their works above have enormously centered around the matter of writing in general and passage writing specifically and in addition how to enhance this ability in various ways; subsequently, therefore, partly provides the researcher with solid foundations to develop the thesis about using graphic organizers in teaching paragraph writing

The writer of "Composing and showing expressing" - Donn Byrne (1988, p 1), expressed that writing isn't as uncomplicated as the act of forming graphic symbols which identify with sounds made when talking however "Writing is the

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process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever in to a message with a definite meaning‖(1988, p 33) Having a similar view, to some degree, Coulmas and Florian (1999, p 560) characterized writing as an arrangement of obvious and material signs in which language units are represented to methodically to record message

Writing is the one stated as the basic language skill by Harmer (2002) and is never left ignored in language learning process because it is as important as reading, speaking and listening; but it requires consistent efforts and regular practice to develop certain proficiency

Writing requires consistent effort and regular practice to develop a certain proficiency level to give way to one‘s thoughts and ideas in a logical order Writing skill is multifaceted and difficult to teach Along with the mastery of grammatical and linguistic devices, it requires conceptual and judgmental elements (Heaton, 1998)

Heaton, JB (1998) Writing English Language Test New York: Edinburg Gate

Daniel, Peter and Bright, William (1996, p 3) defined that “Writing is a

system of more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance in such a way that it can be recovered more or less exactly without the intervention of the utterer" It means writing system is considered a set of symbols to express sounds of speech

Donne Byrne (1988, p 1) stated that ―writing is not as simple as the act of forming graphic symbols which relate to sounds made when speaking‖ but ―Writing

is the process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error, or whatever in to a message with a definite meaning‖ (1988, p 33)

Coulmas and Florian (1999, p 560) also defined writing as a set of visible and tactile signs in which language units are represented systematically for the purpose of recording message

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In addition, Candlin and Hyland (1999, p 107, as cited in Phung, 2004) defined that writing was a social process They stated ―Writing is therefore an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made‖

Other author stated that ―Writing can take many forms, including anything from a shopping list, acting as an aide-memoire, through letters, both formal and informal, to academic texts like this essay‖ Deborah (2009, p 3) He also showed that the variety of features in each type of writing can be seen ―within the sentence

at the level of grammar, and beyond the sentence at the level of text structure‖ (Nunan, 1999, as cited in Deborah, 2009, p 3) Therefore, writing requires a lot of other skills

In summary, there are different points of view towards the writing process Therefore, there is no definition of writing that can cover all the writing systems that exist and have existed Obviously, writing continues to serve as a vehicle for language practice, and necessarily so, but this function is integrated into a broader and more diversified perspective Byrne stated (1988, p 14, as cited in McDonough

& Shaw, 1993, p 184) that teachers need to make students aware that ―any piece of writing is an attempt to communicate something; that the writer has a goal or purpose in mind; that he has to establish and maintain contact with his reader; that

he has to organize his material and that he does this through the use of certain logical and grammatical devices‖

2.4.1.2 Some views of teaching and learning writing in EFL and ESL classrooms

Teaching how to write effectively is one of the most important life-long skills educators impart to their students When teaching writing, teachers must be sure to select resources and support materials that not only aid them in teaching how

to write, but that will also be the most effective in helping their students learn to write

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Through writing, students can acquire experience with words, sentences and other elements of writing for the purpose of effective communication and enhancement of grammar and vocabulary in the language classroom

Nunan (1999, p 271) also acknowledged that writing skill ―for second language learners, the challenges are enormous‖ If writing clearly is a difficult skill for native-speakers, it will inevitably take time and considerable effort for many second language users as White and Arndt (1991, p.3) argued that ―people writing

in their native language, though they may have a more extensive stock of language resources to call upon, frequently confront exactly the same kinds of writing problems as people writing in a foreign or second language‖

There are two kinds of writing in the EFL classroom Raimes (1993, cited in Nunan, 1999, p 273) stated that ―writing for learning‖ includes pre-writing, drafting, revisions and editing, and ―writing for display‖ such as examination writing While controlling steps for writing in ―writing for learning‖ is important, in display writing, understanding the requirements of the question is crucial to success

He also stressed that students who can use natural language as it is used by the native speaker will perform better than those whose linguistic resources are translations from their L1

Obviously, many students have problems in writing According to Deborah Grossmann (2009, p 5) ―The students‘ difficulties in writing ―are partly linguistic and partly due to a lack of skills to write‖ Furthermore, one of the most important elements that affects students‘ view of what they can do or cannot do is experience from previous learning

He also stated that ―ability to write in one genre does not mean proficiency

in another‖ since each type of writing ―require students to master new vocabulary, format and register conventions‖

As it is mentioned before, the classroom has its own purpose and structure, and it doesn‘t reflect simply the outside world In this sense, writing activities can

be considered the ‗instrumental‘ perspective of what is useful for external purposes

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It is also related to the terms of their educational function and the reality of the classroom itself

2.4.1.3 Approaches to teaching writing

In teaching and learning English, it‘s obvious that writing is an important skill to develop But the question is how we can develop writing competence In fact, the number of answers to the question of how to teach writing English in foreign classes is as many as the number of teachers, students, their learning and

teaching styles Writing can be approached writing in the classroom in several

ways It should be recognized from the beginning that in teaching and learning

writing skills there is not necessarily any 'right' or 'best' way The best practice in

any situation will depend on the type of student, the text type being studied, the school system and many other factors Raimes (1983) presented that there are several approaches to teaching writing in which the two approaches to writing which have predominated in English Language Teaching (ELT) context are the product approach and the process approach

2.4.1.3.1 Product approach to teaching writing

Grossmann (2009, p 7) stated that ―this is the traditional way to teach writing‖ since the product approach to writing focus on the finished products of the writing work rather than the process According to Nunan (1989, as cited in Alfaki, 2005, p 44) that there is a lot of focus on the result of the act of composition, and ―the writing teacher who uses the product approach will be concerned to see that the end product is readable, grammatical correct and obey discourse conventions relating to main points, supporting details and so on Writing is ―primarily about linguistic knowledge, with attention focused on the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax and cohesive devices‖ in product approach (Pincas, 1982, as cited in Badger and White, 2000, p 153)

Typically, students, in classes adopting the product approach, would find themselves studying model texts and attempting various exercises aimed towards drawing attention to relevant features of a text Students would be required to check

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comprehension of these exercises by completing sentences or adding logical connections following which, in a final exercise, from their own information students would produce parallel texts

Following this approach, students would probably have good grammatical skills In general, students mainly work with given material The distinguish feature

of this approach is that students can write a great number of little mistakes

2.4.1.3.2 Process approach to teaching writing

It has been acknowledged that the major problems faced by the EFL learners are not to organize lexis, mechanics, or the production of the grammatical structure but to organize ideas related to the topic of concern; in such a way that the topic is kept in focus and the association of ideas is sustained throughout the text written According to Byrd (2011), most of the L2 learners neglect the writing process and consider one draft enough as a final piece of writing

Byrd D (2011) Putting the Writing Process into Action in the L2 classroom:

Prewriting Techniques that work The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

.A concern with the process approach is how writers generate ideas, record them, and refine them in order to form a text Process approach researchers explore writing behaviors, by focusing on studying and understanding the process of composing (Zamel, 1983) EFL writing is a challenging task, complex chore, and a difficult process

One of the most explicit descriptions of product approaches is provided approaches by Pincas (1982a) She sees writing as being primarily about linguistic knowledge, with attention focused on the appropriate use of vocabulary, syntax, and cohesive devices (Pincas 1982b) In this approach, learning to write has four stages: familiarization; controlled writing; guided writing; and free writing The familiarization stage aims to make learners aware of certain features of a particular text In the controlled and guided writing sections, the learners practice the skills with increasing freedom until they are ready for the free writing section, when they

a The writers begin with a full plan in their mind

b Students have to bear in mind what they meant to write

c Then students should give drafts for the parts of their writings and it is necessary for them to review, revise and edit their work when they work on them

The procedures or processes when writing in the following figure, according

to White and Arndt (1991)

Hyland (2003) indicated that the process approach to teaching writing emphasizes the writer as an independent producer of texts so that teachers allow their students' time and opportunity to develop students' abilities to plan, define a rhetorical problem, and propose and evaluate solutions Response is crucial in helping learners to go through the steps of the writing process, and a variety of means of giving corrections are applied, involving teacher-student conferences, peer feedback, audio taped correction, and reformulation

For process approach, teaching classroom writing tends to focus more on the

Structuring

Focusing Drafting

Re-viewing

Generating

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varied activities that promote the development of language use: brainstorming, group discussion, re-writing

2.4.1.3.3 The Genre Approach

One of the central insights of genre analysis is that writing is embedded in a social situation, so that a piece of writing is meant to achieve a particular purpose which comes out of a particular situation

In the writing classroom, teachers need to replicate the situation as closely as possible and then provide sufficient support for learners to identify the purpose and other aspects of the social context So learners who wanted to be estate agents would need to consider that their description is meant to sell the house (purpose), that it must appeal to a certain group of people (tenor), that it must include certain information (field), and that there are ways in which house descriptions are presented (mode) Then, drawing on their knowledge of things such as vocabulary, grammar, and organization, our writers would use the skills appropriate to the genre, such as redrafting and proof-reading, to produce a description of a house which reflects the situation from which it arises Therefore, the role of teacher is very important in providing model language and facilitating the learner‘s understanding of the writing purpose and context Hyland (2003) confirms that the teacher takes an authoritative role to scaffold or support learners as they move towards their potential level of performance until they gain autonomy

2.4.1.3.4 The Free- Writing Approach

Free- writing is considered as the easiest way to get words on paper and the best all-around practice in writing Sometimes, students will produce good writing, but that's not the goal Sometimes students will produce garbage, but that's not the goal either

Free- writing makes writing easier by helping students with the root psychological or existential difficulty in writing: finding words in their head and putting them down on a blank piece of paper Thus, free- writing is the best way to

to say and focus on their own creativity and self- discovery Moreover, one more important feature of this approach is that little is done with errors because according

to Raimes, teachers only give comment on the content instead of correcting students‘ free-writing Some students volunteer to read their writings to the class, which provides a real audience for students Nevertheless, the concern for accuracy, syntax, and mechanics are seen as of little importance in this approach In this regard, the free-writing approach has limitations in preparing EFL students for academic writing In conclusion, the free-writing approach considers content as the

most important instead of accurate forms of languages

2.4.1.3.5 The Paragraph –Pattern Approach

The Pattern Approach concentrates on organization instead of emphasis on accuracy of grammar or fluency of content Students copy paragraphs and imitate model passages They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order They identify general and specific statements and choose to invent an appropriate topic sentence

or insert or delete sentences This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways Additionally, some common writing activities, inside this custom, require students to group gave significant realities, modify them in the consistent request to form an outline, and then write complete text based on that outline To sum up, this tradition considers writing as basically a matter of putting in order sentences and paragraphs into particular patterns Typical organizational principles for materials comprise paragraph structuring, particularly related to functional categories, and the use of a range of linking devices Sentence-level and grammar practice is not omitted but is set in the context of a longer and purposeful belief of language

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2.4.1.3.6 The Grammar-Syntax-Organization approach

This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature Teachers who follow this approach maintain that writing can not be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned sequentially Therefore, students should be trained to focus on organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax This approach links the purpose of writing to the forms that are needed to convey message Thanks to this approach students are able to see the connection between the purpose of their piece of writing and the forms of language that are needed to convey messages Teachers may emphasize their students‘ grammatical and discourse competence depends on this approach

2.4.1.3.7 The Communicative Approach

This approach focuses on the purpose of a piece of writing and its audience The students have to think of why they are writing and who will read it Writing is considered to be communicative, so one of the most important factors is expanding the audience There is also a concentration on responding to other people‘s writing and making comments about contents without focusing heavily on correcting errors

2.4.2 Paragraph writing

2.4.2.1 Definition of paragraph

Paragraph is a section of a piece of writing Many students simply consider paragraphs in term of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences or a half of a page long, etc According to Robert & Wilson (1980, as cited in Hanh,

2015, p 7) ―Paragraphing is indicated by a skipped line and a new sentence beginning at the left hand margin‖ In this point of view, paragraph is defined with a focus on punctuation Oshima & Hogue (1996, p 2) stated that paragraphs as a group of sentences for the development of one main idea Rooks (1988, p 4), claimed that ―a paragraph is a group of sentences which logically develops one subject‖

In summary, a paragraph begins on a new line within the text and there is often a blank line between paragraphs A paragraph usually contains more than one

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sentence and it is usually about one topic The first sentence in a paragraph is sometimes called the key or topic sentence because it gives us the key to what the paragraph will be about The other sentences usually relate to the key sentence There is usually a conclusion in the final sentence of a paragraph and sometimes there is a link to the next paragraph

The Topic Sentence serves two functions: first, it functions as the thesis of the paragraph; second, it pushes the thesis of your essay forward and presents an arguable point The topic sentence is usually the first or second sentence of a paragraph

Supporting Evidence/Analysis makes claim digestible Students need to find a balance between evidence they provide (facts, quotations, summary of events/plot, etc.) and analysis (interpretation of evidence)

The Concluding Observation closes the paragraph with an observation that is more than just summary of the contents of the paragraph In a paragraph, concluding sentence is the last sentence It is used to sum up the ideas presented and repeats the overall point of view The concluding observation provides a final idea that leads to the next step in the argument The observation is usually the last or second-to-last sentence in the paragraph

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2.4.2.3 Criteria for a good paragraph

A basic paragraph structure usually consists of five sentences: the topic sentence, three supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence But the secrets to paragraph writing lay in four essential elements, which when used correctly, can make a okay paragraph into a great paragraph With all considerations from some different points of views in mind, the researcher assume that the indicators of writing are content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics

According to Jacobs et al (1981), there are five aspects of writing They are:

- Content: It is defined as the substance of writing in which it can be

identified from the topic sentence and main idea

- Organization: It refers to the coherence of the text It deals with how the

writer arranges the ideas so that those will run smoothly within the paragraphs

- Grammar/ Language Use : It deals with the grammatical forms of the text

The use of grammatical form constructs a well formed sentence

- Vocabulary: It refers to the selection of appropriate words for the content It

can be identified by looking at the word choices or diction in order to deliver the ideas to the reader

- Mechanics: It deals with the graphic conventional of the language The

identification can be from its spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and others

within the paragraph or text

From those explanations, it could be concluded that writing is a process that occurs over a period of time It refers to an action of delivering or expressing ideas and feeling through written forms It is one of skills with high complexity Different writers could produce different kinds of writing There are some aspects of writing

such as content, organization, language use, vocabulary and mechanics

Consequently, in order to have a good piece of writing, students are required more than being engaged in writing at sentence level, phrase of word level since they are expected to write a paragraph with good elements and use sentences which

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are grammatically correct for communicating effectively in writing That students are able to use words and sentences which are correct in grammar, therefore, is very important Furthermore, in a well-written paragraph, ideas and sentences are arranged in a clear and logical way to fit within the whole organizational framework

of that paragraph By this way, the more the written paragraph are coherent and cohesive the more they it convey meaningful message to the readers Moreover, the clear meaning communication, the correct use of punctuation and spelling are inevitable In addition, Hilton & Hyder, (1992) also stated that correct punctuation marks play an important role to create sense in a piece of writing

In general, writing a paragraph is one of the first steps of the writing process that contains some procedures, so that the students can follow these to produce a good piece of writing in different contexts

2.4.2.4 Common problems and their sources in paragraph writing

Allen and Corder, (1974, p 177) stated that as specified over, the written work errand are testing and is by all accounts a laborious undertaking for most local and remote dialect students and is the "most troublesome of the dialect capacities and aptitudes to procure That is on the grounds that composition procedure is a type of critical thinking which includes producing thoughts, arranging, objective setting, observing, and assessing what has been made (White and Arndt, 1991) Accordingly, it isn't astonishing that issues in composing are discovered unavoidable piece of each students' writing, particularly, EFL students' one

Problems are the real indicators of the errors encountered by the learners while Norrish (1983) claimed that errors "systematic deviation when a learner has not learnt something and consistently gets it wrong‖ The classification of problems learners encounter while writing, in some way, in accordance with the characteristics of a paragraph and criteria for a good one These problems, generally, can be revealed by analyzing the written products of students The major difficulties of students are related to hand writing and punctuation, syntax, common errors (i.e problems in the inflection of regular verbs and nouns, subject verb

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agreement and the use of articles), spelling, vocabulary and beyond the sentence (i.e problems in presenting and elaborating of a central idea) Shanghness (1979, p 415) Hailemariam (2011, as cited in Ha, 2016) found that several difficulties such

as vocabulary selection, punctuation errors, idea generating and organizing problems, spelling errors and appropriate grammar usage in writing activities are several challenges He also affirms that in general term, short age of vocabulary, idea generating and organizing problem, use of punctuation, capitalization and spelling errors with poor grammar usage are some of the problems students commonly face in developing independent and readable texts of any type (Hailemariam 2011, p 25-27) Meanwhile, the other author asserts that ―all in all, grammar and vocabulary are perceived to be the principle problems obstructing the effective writing of ESL/ EFL learners‖, Watcharapunyawong and Usaha (2013, p 70), which results from the different systems between the first language and the target language Because errors are able to be used to measure the language performance of learners, EFL learners commit their errors as an inevitable part of their products, these problems found in student writing are still a going concern on the body of knowledge in research on EFL learners Reid (1993) stated that errors from these learners are ―systematic and reasoned‖ (p 35) According to Richards (1971) differentiates three sources of error including ―interference error‖,

―intralingual error‖ ―developmental errors‖ in which the first source of error results from the mother tongue interference, the second one reflects the incorrect generalization of the rules within the target language while the third one occurs when the learners hypothesize about the target language based on their limited knowledge ―The two sources of error mentioned above, intralingual and developmental errors, are found closely related and are sometimes confusing ,these two error sources later are considered to be in the same category, intralingual and developmental errors which refer to the errors occurred when the learners have not really acquired significant knowledge of the target language‖ according to Schacheter and Celce-Murcia (1977, cited in Kaweera, 2013) Moreover, Hourani

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(2015 as cited in Ha, 2016) stated that in details six factors considered to be associated with challenge that EFL students encountered in developing a well- written paragraph consisting of inadequate exposure to the target language, lack of practice, problem of writing apprehension, (with regard to writing, it can be defined

as the fear of writing process that out weights the projected gain from ability to write, lack of appropriate feedback, carelessness and lack of vocabulary

However, according to (Corder, 1967, as cited in Taiseer, M.Y (2008), after all, finding out errors provides an important source to teachers since it tell them how far towards the goal the learners have advanced and consequently, what remains for them to learn From that, the effectiveness can be improved by every teacher during their teaching

From the above, it is possible to deduce that second language students cope with difficulties to use appropriately all the essential features of any different genres

of writings/ unless they are deliberately taught about where students can commit errors Thus, similarly paragraph writing is a type of writing activity that learners may face the same problem in developing it for academic purpose

2.4.3 Graphic organizers in writing

2.4.3.1 Organization

Prewriting or planning is one of the steps of the writing process Young students, who are able to think of stories about their lives, often struggle with the ability to independently plan and organize the story, which is a very important part

of the writing process According to Culhan (2005) all writing begins with having something to say, therefore teachers should spend time helping young writers figure out what they want to say It is essential for students to draw upon experiences, observe what‘s going on around them, and ask questions He also stated that the prewriting stage helps students figure out the possibilities for writing (Culhan, 2005)

Once a child has an idea for writing, they need to learn how to organize the idea into a written story (Culhan, 2005, p 101) claimed that organization is

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―structuring information so that it makes sense to the reader‖ Culhan (2005) suggests teachers use well-written picture books, early chapter books, magazine articles, and non-fiction books to show students the organizational craft ―Writers who read and are read to a lot know what effective organization looks like even before they are able to create conventional text themselves‖ (Culhan, 2005, p 102) Santangelo and Olinghouse (2009) suggest the use of graphic organizers to encourage the generation of ideas and improve the organizational structure in students‘ writing

2.4.3.2 Word Choice

If a writer has successfully done their work in the prewriting stage, than the writer will be anxious to get started writing When a student begins drafting their writing, they see the idea in their mind and are ready to write it down on paper (Culhan, 2005) When drafting a piece of writing, students are encouraged to just simply write When students have finished drafting, they learn the role of revision to make their writing more interesting According to Culhan (2005), revising is:

―seeing again.‖ That means working with the idea until it is clear, organizing with a sense of order, selecting words that are accurate and specific to the topic, making sure our voice is appropriate for the audience, listening for the flow of the words and sentences, and changing them when the melody breaks down (p 57)

When teaching students how to revise their writing, the use of graphic organizers, modeling, and practice will help young writers successfully produce a piece of writing ready to publish

2.4.3.3 Graphic Organizers

2.4.3.3 1 What are graphic organizers?

There are many definitions about graphic organizers According to Bromley, et

al (1995, p 7) graphic organizer as a visual representation of knowledge It is a way of structuring information, of arranging important information aspects of a concept or topic into a pattern using label

Amin (2004, p 3) also guaranteed that ―A graphic organizer is a visual and

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graphic display that depicts the relationships between facts, items, and ideas within

a learning task‖ Moreover, Herley in Zwiers (2004, p 17) affirmed that graphic organizers are drawings that use geometric shapes or tables to show connections between pieces of information

Some experts state that graphic organizers have advantages in teaching and learning process Graphic organizers facilitate the integration of long-term memory and new learning Adult learners generally have more background and long-term knowledge, and graphic organizers bridge what adult learners already know with what they are learning According to Materna (2007) ―graphic organizers actually trigger long-term memory and promote synthesis with new information

Graphic organizers also help the students to analyze and synthesize information such Heider (2009) emphasized the need for teachers to help students become more effective information managers by providing instruction on how to analyze and synthesize information The example of instruction on how to analyze and synthesize information is graphic organizers as Gardner‘s theory of multiple intelligences posits that students are better able to learn and internalize information when more than one learning modality is employed in an instructional strategy Because graphic organizers present material through the visual and spatial modalities (and reinforce what is taught in the classroom), the use of graphic organizers helps students internalize what they are learning

2.4.3.3.2 Roles of graphic organizers in teaching writing

Teachers can use graphic organizers to motivate students to plan and brainstorm their topic before starting to write According to (Egan, 1999, p 641) ―A graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge, a way of structuring information, and of arranging essential aspects of an idea or topic into a pattern using labels‖ (Baxendell, 2003) defined that graphic organizers provide a visual representation of key details and ideas for students who have difficulty organizing information As a result, graphic organizers have become an important role in many classrooms

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Despite the fact that graphic organizers can be very successful when teaching students the writing process, teachers must learn to be cautious when choosing graphic organizers to incorporate into writer‘s workshop According to Baxendell (2003) graphic organizers be consistent, coherent, and integrated in creative ways to show success in student‘s learning

Teacher should represent graphic organizers in a creative way (Baxendell, 2003) affirmed that students are more likely to use graphic organizers independently

if they are introduced in an exciting, creative way According to Egan (1999) graphic organizers will not be an effective teaching method unless they are clear and straight forward (Baxendell, 2003) also claimed that the graphic organizers must be easily understandable Students will be confused and disorganized in their understanding if graphic organizers are constructed poorly According to (Egan, 1999), most importantly, teachers must model and experience the instructional task before requiring young writers to use it independently when using graphic organizers to teach writing Graphic organizers can prove to show success in all areas of academics when implemented carefully Before using graphic organizers teachers must give careful consideration to their own preparation and provide sufficient modeling before placing the expectation on the student Graphic organizers are used most effectively when students are allowed to work cooperatively in pairs or groups

(Baxendell, 2003) stated that the writing process can be a difficult task to master By learning how to organize their thoughts and carefully choose words for their writing through the use of graphic organizers, students can learn to comprehend difficult academic standards, such as the writing process

2.4.3.3 3 Kinds of graphic organizers applied in the research

There are various forms of graphic organizers, from representations of objects

to hierarchical and cyclical structures No matter what the special name, a graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge

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Graphic organizers are generally related to conceptual, hierarchical, cyclical, and sequential, according to Mcgill, Murphy, and Freeman (2009) They classify graphic organizers into four categories First, conceptual organizers help students show their learning or knowledge of central ideas such as concept maps, KWL charts or Venn diagram Second, a hierarchical organizer is used when a student needs to break down broad concept into sub concepts Some of these organizers include the branching diagram, classifying chart, and topic/subtopic web Third, a sequential graphic organizer such as Storyboards, T-charts, and cause and effect organizer, can be applied to explain the sequence of events The last type, a cyclical organizer is known as the circle organizer or the circle diagram

According to (Loretta F., 2008) graphic organizers have also been categorized

by both structure and function The structure category comprises ―Webbing, Concept Mapping, Matrix, and Flow chart‖, whereas the function category consists

of ―Describing, Comparing & Contrasting, Classifying, Sequencing, Causal, and Decision Making‖

Furthermore, some graphic organizers are supported and added by Bellanca (2007) He categorizes graphic organizers into total twenty- four types in his book entitled A Guide to Graphic Organizers They are KWL, Web, Sequence Chart, Starburt, Gathering Grid, 5+1 Newspaper, Jigsaw, Making Ladder, Scale, PMI, Venn Diagram, Spider map, Classification Grid, Agree- Disagree Chart, Prediction Tree, Decision Maker‘ Flow Chart, Concept Map, Fishbone Analyze, Problem Solving Chart, Two- Way Thinking Tower, Classification Flow Chart, Right Angle, Inference Funnel, and What is the big idea

With the limited time of the study, the researcher chose only four types of graphic organizers which is suitable for the writing tasks in the Vietnamese current textbooks for upper secondary students

There are 16 units in Vietnamese current textbooks with 16 writing tasks, because the limitation of the research, the researcher introduces 4 types of graphic organizers applied in four units

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Timeline

When teaching writing, timeline is used to help student makes connections and

understands complex events in chronological order Students use timeline to record

events from a story or a history lesson in a logical order

This is an example of using Timeline for writing about people‘s background

in Unit 3-Tieng Anh 10 (Hoang Van Van et al, 2006)

Unit 3: People’s background

Flow Diagram/ Flowchart or Sequence Chart

According to (Baxendell, 2003, p 4) a series of events happened in logical

order is known as flowchart

We use this kind of graphic organizer to show sequences of key events to

summarize events or to predict and track events or sometimes to express thoughts,

the progression of ideas

This is an example of using Flow Chart for writing a set of instructions in Unit

5- Tieng Anh 10 (Hoang Van Van et al, 2006)

or more divisions and two or more subdivisions can be under a division

This kind of graphic organizer shows how items are associated to one another This is an example of using Branching diagram for writing about the mass media in Unit 7- Tieng Anh 10 (Hoang Van Van et al, 2006)

Unit 7: The mass media

THE MASS MEDIA

DISADVANTAGES ADVANTAGES

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Spider map

A spider map is used as a brainstorming or organizational tool that provides a visual framework for students to use Sometimes, this graphic organizer is also called a

―concept map‖ or a ―spider web graphic organizer‖ A spider map has a main idea

or topic in the center, or the body, of the diagram Each detail or sub-topic associated with the main idea has its own leg, or branch, surrounding the main idea This is an example of using Spider map for writing about a film in Unit 13- Tieng Anh 10 (Hoang Van Van et al, 2006)

Unit 13: Film and cinema

The process of learning writing will be more fun than only taking notes in traditional way if students list information in a graphic organization format This kind of graphic organizers structures information and arrange important information into a pattern using labels increase encouragement for students to learn English writing Deep understanding different kinds of graphic organizers will provide teachers with tools to help students develop their ideas in writing lesson

NAME OF THE FILM

WHERE IS IT MADE KIND OF FILM

CHARACTERS

to work cooperatively in pairs or groups

In this chapter, the researcher focuses on two research questions:

1 Do graphic organizers improve students‘ writing scores?

2 What attitudes do students have about using graphic organizers in paragraph writing?

3.1.1 An overview of Vu Quang high school

Vu Quang upper secondary school is located in Vu Quang district, Ha Tinh province It was established in 2001, and it has been approved national standard since 2010 The teachers of Vu Quang school are enthusiastic and experienced All

of the students at my school come from mountainous areas where they have many difficulties in learning English However, they are trying to improve their English day by day The leaders of my school have always encouraged and supported the

teaching and leaning English at our school Vu Quang upper secondary school is

furnished with equipment for English teaching and learning as well as other subjects

All teachers must be familiar with new teaching technology, figuring out how

to use it well This is the best approach to advance students' learning motivation The utilization of projectors in training English is an example Furthermore, teaching aids become more popular with the use of audio aids such as radio, tape,