Diary keeping by efl students a motivation of english writing ability for the 10th graders at a high school

VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ THỊ THỦY DIARY KEEPING BY EFL STUDENTS: A MOTIVATION OF ENGLISH WRITING ABILITY MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, 2019... VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ THỊ THỦY DIARY KEEP

VINH UNIVERSITY

LÊ THỊ THỦY

DIARY KEEPING BY EFL STUDENTS:

A MOTIVATION OF ENGLISH WRITING ABILITY

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghệ An, 2019

VINH UNIVERSITY

LÊ THỊ THỦY

DIARY KEEPING BY EFL STUDENTS:

A MOTIVATION OF ENGLISH WRITING ABILITY

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 8.14.01.11

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng

Nghệ An, 2019

I certify that the thesis entitled “Diary keeping by EFL students: a motivation

of English writing ability for the 10 th graders at a High school” is the result of my

own study and the substance of this research has not been submitted for degree to any other university or institution

Vinh, July 10 th 2019

Signature

Lê Thị Thủy

On the very outset of this paper, I would like to extend my sincere and heartfelt thanks to a number of people who have contributed to the final result in many different ways

To commence with, I express my sincere and deepest to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Ngô Hữu Hoàng for his generous assistance, precious guidance, excellent suggestions and critical feedback for this thesis Without his continual inspiration, it would have not been possible to complete this study

I am extremely thankful to the students from grade 10 for their help and cooperation during my research at their class I am also grateful to my colleagues from Diễn Châu 3 High School who helped and encouraged me a lot when I was conducting

Vinh, July 10 th 2019

This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of diary keeping in the improvement to the learners' writing skills as well as how this activity motivated the learners in learning process

Pre-test and post-test were the main instruments in this research A pre-test was conducted on 20 students of grade 10 at Diễn Châu 3 High School in order to find the initial capacity of the students in writing skills In terms of some aspects including content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics, the pre-test presented the reality of the learners' ability Besides, the post-test was conducted as an indicator

to check the effectiveness of the interference from the researcher

The study also focused on using diary as a solution to improve the condition of low level in writing skills from the students After some cycles of pilot teaching, the feedback from the students showed that they enjoyed this new kind of activity Also, the result from the post-test presented a big change in the the students' learning process

in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics The results from post-test indicated that diary keeping can be used as an effective tool in improving learners' writing skills in a durable process This activity somehow showed its benefit in learning writing when it helped enhance the learners' motivation both in classroom and outside classroom

Key words: writing skills, diary keeping, teaching and learning process, test, post-test, effectiveness, Diễn Châu 3 High School

pre-DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the research 2

1.3 Questions of the research 2

1.4 Scope of the Study 3

1.5 Design of the study 3

Chapter 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 Overview 5

2.2 Relevant Studies 5

2.3 Writing Skills 6

2.3.1 Definitions of Writing Skills 6

2.3.2 The Characteristics of Written Language 7

2.3.3 Micro and Macro Skills of Writing 9

2.3.4 The Stages of Writing 10

2.3.5 Types of Classroom Writing Performance 11

2.3.6 Measures of Evaluating Students Writing 12

2.3.7 The Roles of Teachers in Teaching Writing 16

2.4 Diary keeping 17

2.4.1 The Definition of Diary 17

2.4.2 Benefits of Diary keeping in Education 18

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 20

3.3 Participants 22

3.4 Instruments of the Research 23

3.5 Data Collection 24

3.6 Validity and Reliability of the Data 24

3.7 Procedures of the Research 25

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27

4.1 Overview 27

4.2 Findings 27

4.2.1 Identification of the Problems 27

4.2.2 Action Process 37

4.2.3 Findings from the Colleagues after Class Observation 51

4.2.4 Findings from Students' Questionnaire 53

4.2.5 Findings from the students' diaries 57

4.3 Discussion 59

Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 66

5.1 Overview 66

5.2 Conclusions 66

5.3 Teaching Implications 68

5.4 Limitation 69

5.5 Suggested Further Research 69

REFERENCES 70

APPENDICES 74

Table 4.1: Writing Score of Students in the Pre-Test 31

Table 4.2: The Result of the Writing Skills in the Pre-test in Each Aspect 32

Table 4.3: Writing Score of Students in the Post-Test 33

Table 4.4 The Result of the Writing Skills in the Post-test in Each Aspect 34

Table 4.5: Students' Mean Score of Writing in the Pre-test and the Post-test 59

Table 4.6: Students' Improvement after Pilot Teaching 61

Figure 3.1: A Cyclical Action Research Model by Kemmis and Mc Taggart

(1998) 20

Figure 4.1: The students' Mean Score in Writing Aspects 37

Figure 4.2: Students' Evaluation to Their Writing Skills 53

Figure 4.3: Students' Attitude to the Writing Lessons in Pilot Teaching 54

Figure 4.4: Students' Feedback to Diary keeping Activity 54

Figure 4.5: Time Students Used in Writing 55

Figure 4.6: Students' Feedback to the Effectiveness of Diary keeping 55

Figure 4.7: Students' Feedback to their Improvement in Writing Skills 56

Figure 4.8: Students' Response in Maintaining Diary Keeping 57

However, it takes many years to achieve proficiency Even if the learners are talented or gifted, they need a teacher to guide in learning process For numerous EFL learners, English writing seems to be challenging In fact, the nature of writing itself is not interesting enough to motivate English learners to practice regularly Moreover, doing a writing task in the assessment of the teacher is not comfortable to many students Time pressure also a factor which hinders learners' writing effectively In the EFL classroom, the students are asked to perform their writing tasks within a certain length of time Thus, numerous students cannot occasionally accomplish their tasks Theoretically, writing is taught following a process of learning However, in reality it

is very complex activity that requires hard work In general, being at a loss for the ideas is a common situation that teachers can recognize at writing classes Non-native learners may not have enough ideas to write down or even worse, they have nothing to

say As a result, they fail to have the final product in writing

In addition, in the process of teaching it is easy to see that learners at Diễn Châu

3 High School are lacking essential skills in writing They often produce the writing at low level and under their teachers' expectation As a result, they encounter a large number of difficulties such as shortage of motivation, limited background knowledge Not only the researcher but also other teachers interviewed can see this pessimistic

actual state They agree that majority of students at Diễn Châu 3 high school are from the countryside Their students often find it difficult to have a good environment of English for their poor schooling, especially rarely have chance to practice English with English speaker foreigners They do not have motivation to attempt a lot and become unconfident in writing lessons owning to a lack of vocabulary and structure It has considerably negative impact that has made me interested in for a long time in writing Thus, I would like to find a technique that helps students to overcome the problem and explore something new that can improve writing skills for students in my school From

my point of view, diary keeping is a very necessary technique and it brings great benefits for the quality of the whole writing It is an effective way that students can develop their creativity, so that it can improve the writing perfectly

For the above reasons, this study sought to explore if learners can grow out of the aforementioned difficulties by engaging in diary keeping The researcher decided

to carry out the topic: "Diary keeping by EFL students: A motivation of English

writing ability for the 10 th graders at a high school"

1.2 Aims of the research

The purpose of this study is to conduct an action research which serves the following aims:

- To investigate whether diary keeping enhances the students' motivation in learning writing skills

- To explore the improvement of students in learning writing skills after a period of applying diary keeping to the learning and teaching process

1.3 Questions of the research

In order to reach the above aims, the research attempts to answer the following

questions:

1 Does diary keeping enhance the students' motivation in learning writing skills?

2 What is the effectiveness of diary keeping in improving students' English writing skills?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The research only attempted to discover the issues relating to writing skills It therefore focused on improving the students' writing skills through diary keeping The skills that were covered in this study involve the language fluency that are the content and organization, and the language accuracy that are the vocabulary, language use, and mechanics By writing a diary and receiving a regular feedback, it is hoped that students' writing ability will be improved gradually For the above reasons, this study focused on using diary keeping to improve the writing skills for 10th graders at Diễn Châu 3 High School

1.5 Design of the study

The thesis is divided into five chapters as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction presents the basic information including rationale, aims, research

questions, scope, and the organization of the thesis

Chapter 2: Theoretical Background

This chapter provides the theoretical background of the topic with an overview

of the writing skills, definition of diary keeping and the relevant approaches, studies

Chapter 3: Methodology

Methodology describes the subjects of the study It also presents the methods and procedures used to implement the study The data collected from the survey are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed

Chapter IV: Findings and Discussions

This part shows the evidence collected from the data, from which some issues were discussed in detail In this chapter, the focus will be on the attitude of students in diary keeping,

Findings and discussions presents, analyzes and draws out the findings from the data collected basing on the research questions The data collected from the findings are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed

Chapter V: Conclusion and Implication

In order to convey an overall conclusion of the study, the chapter reveals the answers for the research Limitations of the study and the suggested further studies are also included in this section

Chapter 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 Overview

This study stays a focus on finding out the the effectiveness of diary keeping in improving students' writing skills To support a conceptual framework for this study, some theories are reviewed which directly relates to the concept of writing and diary keeping This chapter also presents some relevant research studies in the same topics From then, some findings and discussions are drawn for the study

2.2 Relevant Studies

Building on this topic, Barjesteh, Vaseghi, and Gholamni (2011) conducted a

study entitled 'The Effects of Diary keeping on EFL College Students' Writing Improvement and Attitudes' on 44 male participants in the third-year students

majoring in mechanical engineering at Petroleum University of technology in Mahmoodabad, Iran It was an experimental study in which the participants were given a treatment and they were scored with an expository writing test before the treatment and at the end of treatment The result collected from the study showed that there is a significant effect on diary keeping on the improvement of grammatical accuracy in the EFL college students

In the same field, Tuan (2010) conducted a study on 85 second-year students from the two classes practically the same writing proficiency level attending the third course of writing at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh The author used the tests in the form of essay writing to measure the students' writing proficiency level

in terms of fluency and accuracy The study showed that there is an improvement

on the students' writing

Along with the educational theses of the above researchers, many other authors have their own study and books published about diary keeping For example, Curtis and Bailey (2009) in their diary study had given many tips for teachers and learners in applying diary keeping in developing writing skills Hashemi, Z., & Mirzaei, T (2015)

conducted a study about the impact of journal writing on enhancing EFL medical students’ reflections, attitudes, and sense of self In this study, a class which comprised

65 medical students was instructed to keep journal to see the level of change in the style, reflections, attitude and sense of self The result showed the change in all aspects

of writing

Obviously, diary keeping was observed and studied its effect to many aspects of human Diary keeping benefits human not only in educational purpose but also in mental health The reason is thought to be because it allows you to process your experiences safely, and review particular events in a less stressful way Writing your personal story appears to play a part in this, and it seems to be important to focus on both thoughts and feelings, and not just feelings

In short, these studies somehow inspired me to do my research However, the subject in my study was in a small scale and in the environment of my career

2.3 Writing Skills

2.3.1 Definitions of Writing Skills

Among the four language skills, "writing is the most difficult skill for second or foreign learners to master" (Richards & Renandya, 2002:303) It is because writing is considered as a complex process of putting ideas down on paper to transform thoughts into words (Brown, 2001:336) Since the idea or thought is an abstract thing which comes from our mind, it is not easy to transform it into understandable or readable form In the same view, Rohman (as cited in McDonald & McDonald, 2002:7) points out that writing is usefully described as a process of putting thoughts into words and words into papers

Writing is considered as a productive skill along with speaking (Harmer, 2007: 265) When students deal with language production, it means that they should use their knowledge to produce the language to achieve a communicative purpose either in the form of spoken or written language Nunan (2003) supposes writing as a physical and mental act because it is about discovering ideas, thinking about how to communicate and develop them into statements and paragraphs that will be comprehensive to a reader He also claims that writing has dual purposes which are to express and to

impress because writer must select the most advantageous medium for their writing

He especially believes that it is a process and also a product When writing is seen as the product, the attention is placed on the final product of writing such as the essay, the report, the story or what the product should look like (Brown, 2001: 335) This means that the writing is required to meet certain standard of prescribed English rhetorical style, reflect accurate grammar, and be organized in conformity with what the audience would be conventional In other words, the value of the end product is the main thin to be focused on rather than the process of writing itself (Harmer, 2007: 325) On the other hand, when writing is seen as a process, it focuses on the various stages that any process of writing goes through, such as putting ideas down on paper to transform thoughts into words (Brown, 2001: 226) It means that the process of writing

is more valuable than the end of the product

It is obvious that writing is considered as a way to communicate with others in the written form Therefore, everything should be clear Unlike speaking, people can communicate with other forms of non-verbal language such as gestures, body language

or facial expressions, in writing the message is convey through the written form Therefore, this written form must be understandable

According to Oshima & Hogue, 2006 making a good piece of writing is a complex process It requires the ability to write grammatically correct sentence and organize them logically into paragraphs or essays In addition, McCarthy (2000) and Harmer (2007) confirm two important aspects in writing which make writing to be successful They are coherent and cohesive Coherent is the feeling that the elements

of texts are bound together in which the reader can follow the sequence of ideas or points While cohesive is the surface links between the clauses and sentences of a text

It is a more technical matter since it deals with the various linguistic ways of connecting ideas across phrases and sentences, such as using pronoun and connector

2.3.2 The Characteristics of Written Language

According to Brown (2001: 341-342), written language is different from spoken language due to several characteristics as follows:

1 Permanence

He believes that writing is permanent Once the writers finish their writing, they cannot reedit their writing So, a thorough refinement and revision are needed before the final draft is submitted

2 Production time

This author believes that students should be trained to do the writing task with

an appropriate time limitation A sufficient length of time will affect to the quality of a writing production Therefore, a sufficient training in the process of writing will help the students to make the best possible use of such time limitation

is obvious that there are many writing systems around the world Therefore, being able

to use such writing system is not an easy task for a strange orthography which is different from the writer's native writing system

5 Complexity

Unlike spoken language which tends to have shorter clauses and forms, written language may require larger clauses with more complex form Therefore, writer must learn how to combine sentences, how to make references to other elements in text, how to create the message cohesively and coherently to the readers

6 Vocabulary

It is obvious that the written English consists of a wide range of lexical items in compare with spoken language The lexical items used in the text may have different

meanings depending on the context Therefore, a good writer should make full use of the variety of English vocabulary

7 Formality

Formality is a term referring to the convention of rules that a certain types of written message must follow As a result, before the writers come to the end of their writing they must be sure that their writing has met the aim of their writing as well as fulfill the rules of convention

2.3.3 Micro and Macro Skills of Writing

Some authors have argued about the role that micro and macro skills play in becoming effective writers The micro skills refer to producing the basic skills of writing such as forming letters, words or simple sentences Besides, the macro skills refer to producing a text or beyond the discourse level that is producing a meaningful text Brown (2007: 339) identifies the following micro and macro skills

Micro skills

 Produce graphemes and orthographic patterns of English

 Produce writing at an effective rate of speed to suit the purpose

 Produce an acceptable core of words and use appropriate words order patterns

 Use acceptable grammatical system (e.g tense, agreement, pluralization), patterns, and rules

 Expressing a particular meaning in different grammatical forms

 Use cohesive devices in written discourse

Macro skills

 Use the rhetorical forms and conventions of written discourse

 Appropriately accomplish the communicative functions of written texts according to form and purpose

 Covey links and connections between events and communicate such as relations as main ideas, supporting idea, new information, given information, generalization, and exemplification

 Distinguish between literal and implied meanings when writing

 Correctly covey culturally specific references in the context of the written text

 Develop and use a battery of writing strategies, such as accurately assessing the audience's interpretation, using prewriting devices, writing with fluency in the first draft, using paraphrases and synonyms, soliciting peer and instructor feedback, and using feedback for revising and editing

In order to master the skills of writing, learners need to get on well with micro skills and macro skills Therefore, teacher should provide activities and materials which cover those skills As a result, students are able to come to productive stage, produce a text without finding great difficulties

2.3.4 The Stages of Writing

Rohman (as cited in McDonald, 2002:7) proposes the process of writing into three stages: pre-writing, writing, and rewriting Pre-writing stage is the process which activates something in writer's mind In other words, this stage is the time when the process of thinking is happened, such as developing ideas and designing ideas Writing

is a stage in which the writers express their ideas into words on papers It means that what they mean will be written down The last stage is re-writing This stage is defined

as a process of making revisions or changes of what they have written

In the same view, Richards and Renandya (2002: 315), Harmer (2004: 4-6), and Langan (2008:17-19) suggest four basic writing stages They are planning, drafting, revising, and editing Planning is the stage of thinking which occur in the writer's mind It is what writer is going to say or write The next is drafting In this stage, the writers are focus on the fluency of writing and are not preoccupied with grammatical accuracy This can be shown in the first draft which may have several changes later The revising or reflecting stage is the process which the writer checks up what has

been written It means that the author review their writing basing on the feedback to have a better edition The last stage is editing This is the stage in which author makes the final changes to their draft before having the final product Also Nation (2009:114) claims that there are seven sub processes of writing such as considering the goals of the writer, having a model of the reader, gathering ideas, organizing ideas, turning ideas into written text, reviewing what has been written, and editing

In short, writing can be seen as a process of revealing something in writer's mind into the words in a piece of paper In order to have the best final version, the writer must follow some basic stages

2.3.5 Types of Classroom Writing Performance

Unlike various types of written text, Brown (2007) categorizing five major kinds of classroom writing performance as follow:

1 Imitative, or writing down

In this type of writing, the beginner will simply write down English letters, words, and possibly sentences in order to learn conventions of the orthographic code

2 Intensive, or controlled

This type can be seen as controlled writing in which students perform their competence in grammar, vocabulary or sentence formation This type helps students practice their writing under the control of their teacher

3 Self-writing

Self-writing is a writing with only the self in mind as an audience Note-taking and diary or journal writing belong to this kind of writing Students may take note from their teacher's lectures or books for the purpose of later recall

4 Display writing

This type of writing requires students to focus on a whole array of display writing techniques in which they response to short answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research reports

5 Real writing

The purpose of this writing is to create a real environment in which students can communicate to each other and exchange information to solve writing tasks In this class, some information such as diaries, letters, postcards, notes, personal messages and other information writing can take place, especially within the context of an interactive classroom

Because of the variety of purposes in students' writing, teachers should help students to the types of writing performance so that they could have the best work

2.3.6 Measures of Evaluating Students Writing

In order to evaluate students' writing, teachers might concern to a matter that how can they be a judge and a guide at the same time Brown (2007) believes that it requires teachers both wisdom and sensitivity to handle this dual role He shows the six general categories that are often the basis for the evaluation of students writing

 citation of references (if applicable)

 neatness and appearance

Undoubtedly, evaluating student writing is probably the most challenging part

of teaching writing It not only takes time and demands a great deal of intellectual activity, it also affects to a large extent how students feel about their ability to write However, from teacher's feedback, students can recognize and work on their own strengths and weaknesses The point is when we measure the quality of students' writing we should focus on before and after samplings of complete pieces of writing Cooper and Odell (1977) suggest an analytic scale of writing which can be developed and used effectively with samples of students' writing This instrument describes briefly what is considered to be high, mid, and low quality levels in the following areas: (1) student's ability to use words accurately and effectively; (2) the ability to use standard English; (3) the ability to use appropriate punctuation; and (4) the ability to spell correctly

In this study, the assessment of students' writing is based on the Writing Scoring Rubric (adapted from Jacobs, 1981)

Aspect Level Score Criteria

Relevant to the topic, give the

Content

Excellent - Very good

30 - 27 detail information, and match

the purpose of recount text

20 - 18

Fluent expression, ideas clearly sated, well organized, logical sequencing, cohesive

Good - Average 17 -14

Loosely organized, limited

incomplete sequencing

Fair - Poor 13 - 10 Non-fluent, ideas confused or

unconnected, lacks logical development and sequencing

Does not communicate, no organization, not enough to evaluate

Vocabulary

Excellent - Very good

20 - 18

Use effective word / word choice / word usage, word form mastery

Good - Average 17 - 14

Occasion errors of word form, choice, usage but meaning not obscured

Fair - Poor 13 - 10

Frequently errors of word form, choice, usage and

meaning obscured/ confused

Essentially translation, little knowledge of English, not enough to evaluate

Adequate mechanism, has some errors in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling, need editing but does not impede readability

serious and consistent errors

2.3.7 The Roles of Teachers in Teaching Writing

In the light of communicative language teaching approach, the teaching and learning emphasis on learner-centered instruction, student-student negotiation, and strategies-base instructions to value students' variability In writing skills, students are encouraged to develop their own ideas, offer their own critical analysis, and find their own voice Here, the role of teacher must be one of facilitator and coach instead of an authoritative director and arbiter Brown (2007) states that as a facilitator, teacher offers guidance in helping students to engage in the thinking process of composing However, the teacher must respect students' opinion and must not impose his or her own thoughts on students' work Teacher can offer useful feedback that respects students' values and beliefs Teacher is also considered as a responder to students' writing Dana Ferris (1997) supposes that when teachers requested specific information and made summary comments on grammar, more substantive student revisions ensued than when teachers posed questions and made positive comments

Along with this, Harmer (2004: 41-42) states that teachers assume a number of tasks to help their students in their writing They are as follows

Students often get stuck in using words to express the ideas in their writing It is better if teachers can help them by provoking them into having ideas and enthusing them with the value of the task and persuading them what fun it can be

e Evaluating

When teachers value students' work, they should give a clear feedback to students The correction from teachers can be a note which helps students to recognize where they wrote well or where they made mistakes

It is undeniable that teacher has an important role in encouraging student to develop their writing skills With the appropriate in strategy of supporting students, teachers can facilitate them in their learning

2.4 Diary keeping

2.4.1 The Definition of Diary

Writing is a task that involves the connection of many techniques and skills of language Diary keeping is one of the branches in writing skill In fact, the term

"diary" and "journal" are used interchangeably by some authors According to Stanley, Shimkin, and Lanner (1988: 3) "A journal or Diary is a record, often kept daily, of one's life, a kind of personal account book" A similar definition comes from Fitzpatrick (2005: 4), this author claims that "a diary is a personal record of a writer's life experience and is usually private" The CamTESOL Conference on English Language Teaching (2008) described journaling as an activity in many writing classroom which can be best compared with keeping a diary It is seen as an informal, largely unplanned way of writing that involves students to express their recreations

and feelings about a topic that the teacher has set or, more often, that the students wishes to write about A journal is intended to be read and responded by the others, usually the teacher The purpose of a journal or diary is "to give your writing 'muscles'

a daily workout" (Massielo, 1986:37) Also, Spaventa (as cited in Tuan, 2010: 82) points out that writing a journal or a diary is keeping a record of ideas, opinions, and descriptions of daily life which help the writers to develop their creativity In addition, Porter et al, (1990) states that diaries are used in writing courses to investigate the connection between writing and learning Diaries can be used by a learner to reflect on his/her learning experience of learning or by a pre-service teacher as a way of reflection on their practice In fact, learners can use the diary to develop critical skills

or analytic strategies Learners can use the diary as a mean to improve their communication skills and develop their creativity As the same time, diaries can be used by the teacher to discover whether students understood the concepts in the lesson

In short, though writing a diary seems to be a simple thing that anyone can do,

it can be an effective way to develop and enhance a great understanding and help the students to their experiences in everyday life routine

2.4.2 Benefits of Diary keeping in Education

In fact, diaries were used in classroom to accomplish a number of purposes Diary keeping is introduced to students to get them to be familiar with the writing process so that they would be encouraged to write frequently on their own By keeping diary, students will develop their writing skills

Harmer (2007: 128) states that there are some benefits of diary keeping The first is the value of reflection A diary provides an opportunity for students to think about what they are learning and also how they are learning The second is freedom of expression Diary keeping allows students to express feelings more freely For instance, in their work they can write about their daily life, hobbies, or anything they want to write to The next is developing writing skills Diary keeping contributes to the students' general improvement such as their writing fluency Their writing fluency will improve since they write regularly and become more familiar with

Some other authors also point out the benefits of diary keeping Ngoh (as cited

in Tuan, 2010: 82) believes that it also provides students with good opportunities to improve their writing skills and good chances to record their thoughts and feelings In the same view, Langan (2008: 16 & 2011: 14) claims that keeping a diary is one of excellent ways to get practice in writing and it will help the students develop the habit

of thinking on paper Another scholar, Artof (as quoted by Tin in Tuan, 2010: 82) adds some values of diary keeping as follow: "It is a powerful tool to find our own untapped creative power, uncover our family history, learn to see the world more clearly, heal unsolved issues, understand our fears, and explore our motivation Through personal writing, we can develop both writing skills and awareness, can develop greater awareness and interpersonal understanding, increasing the ability to relate to others."

Obviously, classroom writing is an essential academic requirement However, not all of students find it comfortable to complete the tasks of writing in classroom because they may think that they have nothing to say or write with the given writing tasks The time pressure can be a factor which prevents them from writing their ideas properly In those cases, writing outside the classroom can be a useful tool to enhance writing skills or it can be a factor to motivate students in writing

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

3.2 Setting of the Study

This research was an action research study It aimed to investigate the effectiveness of diary keeping in improving student writing ability of 10th graders of Diễn Châu 3 High School This research adapted a cyclical action research model proposed by Kemmis and McTaggart (1998) They developed an approach for action research comprising four steps: planning, acting, observing and reflecting

Figure 3.1: A Cyclical Action Research Model by Kemmis

and Mc Taggart (1998)

Typically, action research is undertaken in a school setting It is a reflective process that allows for inquiry and discussion as components of the research Often, action research is a collaborative activity among colleagues searching for solutions to everyday, real problems experienced in schools, or looking for ways to improve instruction and increase student achievement In this action research, the researcher

will go through a series of phrases including reconnaissance, planning, action and observation, and reflection

Also, the study was carried out at Diễn Châu 3 High School located in Nghệ An province Establised in 1965, the school has about 81 teachers and 1,500 students Most of them are local students in Diễn Châu The students start 10th grade after the entrance examination English is a compulsory subject at school However, their English level is a mixture of ability The teaching material is currently used for learners in school is the English textbook 10 published by Ministry of Education The 16-unit textbook is programmed to be taught in 2 semesters and in 105 periods for each The English textbook for grade 10 is written basing on themes, such as School Talks, People’s background, Special Education, Technology, Excursion, etc Each lesson includes 5 parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Language Focus (with two smaller parts: Pronunciation and Grammar), each of which is introduced within 1 period The content

of each part closely relates to the topic of the lesson

In writing part, students have a variety of topics to complete to improve their writing skills The tasks in the writing lessons are often simple As a result, it is difficult to attract students' attention unless the teachers adapt and design some more activities to help students in their work

The specific description of the writing sections in the new textbook comes as follows:

Unit Topic Writing

tasks Main Points

- Writing about people's background

4 Special Education 2 tasks - Writing a letter of complaint

5 Technology

- Writing a set of instructions

6 An Excursion 2 tasks - Writing a confirmation letter

- Describing information from a table

10 Conservation 3 tasks - Writing a letter of invitation

11 National Parks 3 tasks - Writing a letter of acceptance or

refusal

13 Films And Cinemas 2 tasks - Describing a film

14 The World Cup 2 tasks - Writing an announcement

For students, all of the participants have the same educational and language background and they all have already obtained basic knowledge of English including basic structures and common vocabulary 80 students were the main subject of the study in pilot However, 20 of them were asked to joined a pre-test and post-test Their

writings were collected for the data of the study In addition, they participated in a survey with questionnaire in Vietnamese to confirm their feedback to the interference

of diary keeping to their improvement in learning writing skills

3.4 Instruments of the Research

In order to gain the valid data, some instruments were used They were test, post-test, questionnaire, and observation sheet In order to assess the students' writing ability, the study used scoring rubric proposed by Brown (2007) It focused on five aspects of writing which are the content, the organization, the vocabulary, the language use, and the mechanics aspect

pre-Pre-test and post-test in the form of essay writing were employed as main instruments to mesure students' writing proficiency level in tearms of fluency and accuracy Accuracy is the ability to avoid error in performance, possibly reflecting higher levels of control in the language In this study, accuracy presents for language use and mechanics aspect And fluency concerns the learner's capacity to produce language in real time without undue pausing or hesitation In this study, fluency is accessed in content, organization and vocabulary aspect The initial writing proficiency level of the whole population of grade 10 students was investigated by the pre-test, from which scores would be compared with the result of post test to gain the similar writing competence level Each student in the experimental group needed to possess two notebooks with her or his name on for diary keeping They were encouraged to write diary entries as much and as regularly as they could in those notebooks during the eight weeks between the pre-test and post-test With two notebooks, they could submit their diary entries recorded to the researcher and they could keep on writing in the other while waiting for the assessment and feedback The researcher also kept a diary whose purpose was to record any change in writing fluency and accuracy as well as writing motivation made by the students during the course of the research Upon the arrival of eight weeks, the students took the post-test which sought to assess the impact of diary keeping on the quality of the students' in class and outside classroom

3.5 Data Collection

In the research, qualitative data and quantitative data were used Qualitative data were obtained through the questionnaire, observation checklists with the English teachers and the students during the pilot teaching Meanwhile, the quantitative data were the results of the students' writing before the implementation of the actions (pre-test) and after the implementation of the actions (post-test)

In collecting the data, some techniques of the data collection were used They were the the tests of the students' writing, questionnaire, the classroom observation checklist The study conducted the pre-test with the students before, and after the implementation of the actions (post-test) The classroom observation was used to record the activities happened in the classroom The tests was used to see whether therewas any difference between the students' achievement in the pre-test and the post-test Finally, a questionnaire was conduted to get the feedback from the students towards diary keeping

3.6 Validity and Reliability of the Data

According to Bell (2005: 117) "whatever procedure for collecting data is selected, it should always be examined critically to access to what extent it is likely to

be reliable and valid." Also, Sapsford and Jupp (as cited in Bell, 2005: 117) 'validity' means " the design of research to provide credible conclusions; whether the evidnce which the research offers can bear the weight of the interpretation that is put on it."

Anderson et al in Burns (1999: 161-162) suggests five validity criteria which are required to get the valid in action research study They are democratic validity, outcome validity, catalytic validity, and dialogic validity

The democratic validity can be fulfilled by having discussion with the colleagues The discussions were done in the begginning of the cycle and during the research From the discussions, some ideas, comments and sugestions can be collected for the research At the end of every cycle, some discussions were held to evaluate the actions that had been implemented and to plan the continuos actions in the next cycle

The outcome validity is related to the notions leading to the result of the studnts' writing scores that are successful within the reserch content Some indicators were provided to measure the improvement of the students' writing skills

The catalytic validity is related to the extent to which the researcher had a close contact to the students in the study Students can understand their roles in the researcher as well as in the learning and teaching process

The dialogic validity was gained by having dialogues with the students and colleagues who related to the implementation of the actions and to discuss the possible activities for the next actions The aim of the discussion was to get the suggestion for the improvement of the research

3.7 Procedures of the Research

The stages of the research are described below

1 Reconnaissance

The first step in an action research is usually called as reconnaissance in which the researcher identifies the writing problems through a pre-test The pre-test was carried out on the subjects of 20 students which served the aim of discovering some problems faced by the students in the process of learning writing skills Also, in this step, a pre-test was provided to students in order to check students' initial writing ability

2 Planning

From the result of the pre-test, some actions which are feasible to be implemented in the research will be planned carefully

3 Action and Observation

In this stage, some actions were implemented Firstly, a lesson plan which apply diary keeping an a main tool was designed Afterthat, a pilot teaching was used

in order to help students in writing skills In this lessons, the students were practiced with diary keeping Furthermore, they continued this activity outside classroom Their writings were collected, scored and feedbacked A post test was also employed to see the improvement of students' writing skills after the implementation of the actions

Questionnaires for the students was used to get the real performance of teachers and students in the classroom Observation checklists for the teachers were used to record the activities happening during the implementation of the action Those data were also used to observe the activities of teachers and students in classroom The result would be discussed further in the next chapter The findings of the implemention

of the actions were anlyzed and synthesized The results will be discussed in detail in order to figure out the answer for the research questions

Briefly, the following steps will be used to reach the aims of the research:

- Delievering a pre-test

- Collecting, scoring, and giving feedback to the students' writings in the pre-test

- Planning and conducting the lessons of pilot teaching

- Delivering a questionnaire and observation checklists to students and teachers

- Conducting a post-test

- Collecting, scoring, and giving feedback to the students' writings in the pre-test

- Grouping the data

- Doing statistic calculation

- Using tables and figures to describe the collected data

- Giving comparison, discussion, comments and evaluations

Chapter 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Overview

In this chapter the data collected from the study will be presented and analyzed

It also describes in detail the process of the study, from which the answer of the research will be drawn out Mainly, the study used pre-test and post-test in order gain a comparison of the students' capacity in writing skills The study was started by the pre-test used to discover the students' initial ability before the action is implemented After that, the action was taken to improve the problems happening Diary keeping was used

as effective tool to improve the reality of learning writing skills

4.2 Findings

4.2.1 Identification of the Problems

4.2.1.1 Findings from the Pre-Test

Pre-test was employed as the first main instrument to discover the problems to actuality of students in learning writing as well as to investigate the capacity of students in writing skills The students were asked to write a diary about an impressive event that they experienced The sample papers were offered to 20 students chosen randomly The students had 30 minutes to complete the task After that, their writings were collected, scored and given feedback

A pre-test was conducted to investigate the students' writing habit 20 participants joined the pre-test and the result would reveal their capacity in writing Basing on the result, the problems facing students in writing would be taken into consideration Then some actions would be taken in order to help students in creating their own text as well as improve their writing skills

The pre-test tried to make a cover on the fields of content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics The result from the pre-test showed that the students had difficulties in creating their own writing

1 The content

As can be seen in one writing below, the students often found it difficult in expressing their own ideas Therefore, their writing sometimes at two low level and did not meet the purpose

2 Organization

Another problem facing students is the way to develop and organize the ideas Many student got difficulty in managing their ideas in writing As a result, the sentences were not in a logical way and did not relate to each other The students' work

showed that their writing was loosely organized The ideas were unconnected or jumped

3 Vocabulary

The word choice was also a main problem for students Many of them could not use appropriate words Also, they did not know how to use effective words to convey their thoughts in writing Moreover, the students tended to use the words which were not right in part of speech

considering the rules His sentence was "we talking about my travel" which should be

"we talked about my travel"

5 Mechanics

Mechanics is the field relating to punctuation, capitalization and spelling However, some students did not pay enough attention to this aspect while writing They tended to use capital letters whenever they wanted

We can see from the writings of some students that they made many mistakes in all aspects in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics

The following table describes the students' score in all aspects in the pre-test The names of the learners were in confidential in order to uphold the honor of the students

Table 4.1: Writing Score of Students in the Pre-Test