Improving grade 10 students writing performance an action reasearch at nguyen du high school

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND GRAPHSTables Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards writing and their opinions about writing topicsTable 2: Usefulness of ‘using a text as a writing model’ to s

M IN ISTRY O F E D U C A T IO N A N D T R A IN IN G

H A N O I U N IV ER SITY

TRAN THI LIEN

IM PROVING GRADE 10 STUDENTS’ W RITING PERFORMANCE:

AN ACTION RESEARCH AT NGUYEN DU HIGH SCHOOL

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL.

SU P E R V ISO R : N G U YEN THI NHU HOA, M A

H anoi

December, 2008

ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa, (M.A) for the wholehearted guidance she gave me while I was doing this research I am truly grateful to her for her ideas, comments and instructions, as well as encouragement and constant support Without these, the thesis could not have been completed

My special thanks are sent to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha, M.Ed from the Department o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi University for her valuable guidance and advice

I would also acknowledge my great attitude to all the lecturers and organizers o f this Master Course at Hanoi University

My special thanks are expressed to my friends for their great help and comments Also,

my attitude goes to my colleagues and thirty-six students taking part in my research.Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my parents, my husband, my sister and my brothers for their support, encouragement and love, which were extremely important for the completion o f this thesis

Improving students’ writing performance o f Grade 10 students is a challenge for any teachers at high schools In order to address this issue, many authors have documented different writing methods to increase students’ writing ability This study aimed at finding out the ways to improve the Grade 10 students’ writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice at NDHS To do this, an action research was carried out with 36 students o f class 10A10 at Nguyen Du High School (NDHS) The data in both pre- and post- stages were collected using questionnaires, pre- and post- tests and document analysis (the analysis o f students' writing) The pre­stage revealed that the inadequate input o f ideas and vocabulary provided to the students before writing was the main cause o f students’ low writing performance The hypothesis formed was “combining ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming' in the pre-writing stage would improve students' writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word c h o i c eAn action plan was implemented The post stage found a positive answer to the hypothesis The evaluation o f the action plan implementation proved that since the teacher applied this combination at the pre-writing stage, students’ writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice has been improved The results o f the study confirm the fact that the combination conducted at the pre-writing stage does help to increase students’ writing ability

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S I

A B S T R A C T H

TA BL E O F C O N T E N T S I ll LIST O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S V

L IST O F T A B L E S, FIG URES AND G R A PH S VI

C H A PTER 1: IN T R O D U C T IO N 1

1.1 B ack ground to the st u d y 1

1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 4

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4

1.4 S ignificance of the s t u d y 4

1.5 O utline of the t h e s is 5

C H A PTER 2: LITERA TU RE R E V IE W 6

2.1 T he teaching of w riting 6

2.1.1 The product approach 6

2.1.2 The process approach 8

2.2 F actors affecting writing q u a lity 9

2.3 T he pre - writing stage in w r itin g 12

2.3.1 The importance o f the pre-writing stage in improving writing quality 13

2.3.2 Types o f pre-writing techniques 14

2.3.3 Summary 20

2.4 P revious s t u d ie s 21

C H A P T E R 3: M E T H O D O L O G Y 23

3.1 R esearch m eth o d 23

3.1.1 Overview o f action research 23

3.1.2 Action research procedure 25

3.2 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 29

3.2.1 Questionnaires 29

3.2.2 Pre- test/post test 31

3.2.3 Document Analysis (students' writing analysis) 34

3.3 THE PROCEDURES OF DATA COLLECTION 35

3.4 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PARTICIPANTS 36

3.4.1 The researcher- teacher 36

3.4.2 The raters- teachers 36

3.4.3 The subjects 36

C H A P T E R 4: R E SU L T S AN D D ISC U SSIO N 38

4 1 I n i t i a l d a t a 38

4.1.1 The results o f pre-test 38

4.1.2 The results fro m Questionnaire 1 40

4.1.3 Summary 4 4 4.2 PLANNING action st eps 45

4.3 P o st d a t a 46

4.3.1 Data collectedfrom analysis o f stu d en ts' writing 47

4.3.2 The results o f post-test 53

4.3.3 Data collected from Questionnaire 2 54

4 4 ACTION RESEARCH EVALUATION 57

4.4.1 Students ’ writing performance before and after the action p la n 57

4.4.2 Students ’ writing performance during the action plan 59

4.4.3 Major findings and discussion 62

C H A PTER 5: R E C O M M E N D A TIO N S AN D C O N C L U SIO N 65

5 1 RECOMMENDATIONS 65

5.2 C onclusio n 66

5.3 THE limitations a n d suggestions for further resea r c h 67

R E F E R E N C E S 68

APPEN D IX A: PH IÉU Đ IỀ U T R A 73

APPEN D IX B: PH IẾU ĐEÈU T R A 78

APPEN D IX C: PR E-TEST 82

APPEN D IX D: P O S T -T E S T 83

A PPE N D IX E l: A N A L Y T IC SC A L E O F A SSE SSM E N T IN W R IT IN G 85

A PPE N D IX E.2: TH E SY M B O L IC C O M M E N T IN G 87

A PPE N D IX F: STUDENTS W R IT IN G PR E-TEST R E S U L T S 88

A PPE N D IX G: ST U D E N T S’ W R IT IN G PO ST -T E ST R E SU L T S 89

A PPE N D IX H.1: ST U D E N T S' W RITIN G S A M P L E S 90

A PPE N D IX H 2: STU D EN TS' W RITIN G S A M P L E S 91

A PPEN D IX H J : STU D EN TS' W RITIN G S A M P L E S 92

A PPEN D IX H.4: STU D EN TS' W RITIN G S A M P L E S 93

A PPEN D IX U s U N IT 12 94

A PPEN D IX 1.2: TH E LE SSO N P L A N 95

A PPEN D IX J l : U N IT 1 4 102

A PPE N D IX J.2: T H E LE SSO N P L A N 103

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND GRAPHS

Tables

Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards writing and their opinions about writing topicsTable 2: Usefulness of ‘using a text as a writing model’ to students’ writing

Table 3: Students’ writing habits at the pre-writing stage

Table 4: Students’ difficulties in writing lessons

Table 5: Students’ writing performance in Unit 10

Table 6: Students’ writing performance in Unit 11

Table 7: Students’ writing performance in Unit 12

Table 8: Students’ writing performance in Unit 13

Table 9: Students’ writing performance in Unit 14

Table 10: Students’ opinions about writing, writing topics and their attitudes towards

writing

Table 11: Students’ writing habits at the pre-writing stage

Table 12: Usefulness o f the combination to students’ writing

Table 13: A comparison o f the results between pre-test and post-test

Figures

Figure 1: Producing a piece o f writing

Figure 2: Action research cycles

Graphs

Graph 1: Students’ writing performance in pre-test

G raph 2: Students’ writing performance in post-test

Graph 3: Students’ writing performance in terms o f content

Graph 4: Students’ writing performance in terms o f organization

Graph 5: Students’ writing performance in terms o f grammar

Graph 6: Students’ writing performance in terms o f word choice

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background to the study, the aims, the scope, the significance

of the study and the outline o f the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

Nguyen Du High School (NDHS) is a public school located in Ha Tay province about

20 kilometers south west o f Hanoi At NDHS, English is one o f the major subjects and Grade 10 students have to study four English skills: Reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus which deals with pronunciation and grammar

According to the National Plan, the goals o f the textbook English 10 are to help students

use English as a mean o f communication at the basic level through four English skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing so that they are able to learn more about people and cultural knowledge o f their nation as well as other countries in all over the world In addition, students can master basic grammar knowledge o f English systematically to meet the national examination’s requirements To achieve these goals, students have four forty- five minute periods per week

Regarding writing skill, English 10 also states that writing skill aims at helping students

be able to comprehensibility perform common communicative writing tasks During the course, students will learn to produce different kinds o f written texts that they will most frequently encounter in educational or personal writing like an invitation letter, letter of refusal/ acceptance, a complain letter or a paragraph o f description with the length of between 100- 120 words To complete the above objectives, students are expected not only master the language competence well but also know how to generate their own ideas contextually to write Therefore, both teachers and students should be aware o f the different purposes and different strategies in writing

The teaching method o f writing at NDHS is closely product- based approach In writing lessons, after a general statement or explanations about each type of writing, a model is always provided in the textbook Teachers usually spend much of the very limited classroom time helping students to explore the particular features o f language uses like grammatical structures, a range o f vocabulary and the textual organization from the

normally similar to the kind o f writing model They are instructed to complete the task during the remaining time in class The students’ written texts are then proofread by the wnting teacher The main part o f the teacher correction concerns the learner’s grammatical mistakes.

With such teaching procedures mentioned above, it is likely that teaching writing at NDHS mainly emphasizes on linguistics accuracy Most of English teachers concentrate

on teaching the textual organization and language use for the writing tasks Writing development is seen an imitation o f the input Students follow the textual organization, the grammatical structures and the amount o f vocabulary from the model In other words, teachers place overemphasis on the learner’s final piece o f work, its form and language accuracy instead o f how it is produced Students are not taught how to generate ideas for their writing

The problem that most teachers and the researcher found out in writing class and in the pre-test is that many students were unable to fulfill the requirements of writing tasks Many students could produce texts which had readable organization and correct grammar, but they did not know how to generate ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing Thus, their writing was poor in terms o f content and word choice In terms of content, they copied a lot o f ideas from a writing model which were not relevant for their writing tasks For example, they were given a paragraph model o f advantages of Television, and then asked to write a paragraph o f advantages o f Newspaper Some typical ideas o f Television’s advantages were copied in a paragraph o f the advantages of Newspaper Also, the vocabulary in their writing was quite similar to that from the model For example, a lot o f words which were used to name and describe the landscapes o f London city from a model then appeared in students’ texts to describe Hanoi city Besides, the other students had the experience o f sitting at the desk silently and spent class hour without writing a single word Most o f students were in a passive position to write their own topics They felt little can be said about the topic and experience high anxiety and frustration They did not enjoy writing and lacked confidence in writing on their own This state was very annoying and brought a sense of failure and frustration to both the teachers and the students A solution must be found to solve this problem to relieve the situation and improve the students’ writing performance

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The question raised then was "what was the main cause of the problem?” Literature

has suggested that writing performance could be closely associated to writer’s interests

in writing topics, the teacher, the materials, and teaching method (Hector, 1991; Raime 1983) Among these factors, teaching method could be as a major one It is assumed that, in writing class, if teachers only use a model to help students learn grammatical structures and language use o f writing tasks, it is not enough As Martin (1985) points out that, in writing class, students need model to practice, and improve even mechanical skills In addition, they still need to be taught how to explore ideas and develop topics for real purposes and real audiences In this way, students will have opportunity to both develop language use and know how to produce an acceptable composition in their real situation

Furthermore, when discussing the process o f teaching and learning writing, Salmani- Nodoushan (2007) argues that before writing, students should know how much information or ideas they are required to put in their composition as well as how to order and sequence their ideas in a logic and clear way Also, they should need to be equipped with knowledge o f language uses for writing tasks A combination o f ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ in the pre-writing stage may be a good way for students to get started writing and improve their writing ability As Brown (1994) and Strong (1990) point out that ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ is complementary in writing classroom practice A writing model provides students with language use and organization for writing while brainstorming helps students generate ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing topics Flower and Hayes (1981) also share

th e ideas by saying that by cooperating pre-writing activities such as brainstorming and analyzing a variety o f texts will give students a general feel for structure o f the assignment they are writing, which involves creating and building students’ own structures and ideas for their writing

Literature on ‘using a text as a writing m odel’ or ‘brainstorming’ has been quite rich Som e researches show that ‘using a text as a writing m odel’ is useful for students to explore grammatical structures and different types o f textual organization to purposeful writing ‘Brainstorming’ is a good technique for students to generate ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing However, there are very little researches on a combination o f these two techniques Therefore, this research is carried out on the

writing stage, ‘using a text as a model’ will be provided first to assist the Grade 10 students to overcome difficulties in using grammatical structures to express ideas and in textual organization, and then ‘brainstorming’ is used to help students generate more relevant ideas and appropriate vocabulary to the topic It is hypothesized that the combination o f ‘using a text as a writing m odel’ and ‘brainstorming’ at the pre-writing stage will improve Grade 10 students’ writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice.

1.2 Aims o f the study

This study is aimed at finding out the ways to improve the Grade 10 students’ writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice at NDHS To achieve this aims, the researcher attempts to find out the causes o f students’ low writing performance and the activities should be done to improve students’ writing performance

1.3 Scope o f the study

Students’ low writing performance is a common phenomenon in writing class which

m ay be caused by many factors and can be dealt with using a variety o f approaches

T his study, however, limits itself to one major cause o f low writing performance, which

is students provided inadequate input of ideas and vocabulary in the pre-writing stage ( as identified in one o f the action stages documented in Chapter 4) This means that this study only focuses on activities in the pre-writing stage in which the combination o f

‘ using a text as a writing m odel’ and ‘brainstorming’ is conducted Other factors in other stages in writing lessons which might affect the students’ writing performance are

o u t of the questions

1 4 Significance o f the study

T h is study was to collecting data on teacher’s everyday practice, then analyzing as well ais evaluating the data in order to come to some decisions about what the future practice sihould be Hopefully, the research results will suggest a more appropriate way o f conducting the pre-writing stage to improve Grade 10 students’ writing performance in tcerms of content, organization, grammar and word choice

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1.5 Outline o f the thesis

This thesis is organized into five chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, the

Methodology, the Results and Discussion and Recommendations and Conclusion

Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background o f the study, the aims, the scope and

the significance o f the study It also presents the outline o f the thesis

Chapter 2, Literature Review, deals with the literature review on the study area which

provides a brief overview o f two teaching writing approaches and the factors affecting writing quality The literature review on the pre-writing stage, its importance in writing process and the two types o f pre-writing techniques, ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ as well as the rationale for the combination o f these two techniques conducted in the pre-writing stage in teaching writing are also presented Also, this chapter summarizes what has been done and what has not yet been done about the topic

so far, indicating the gap that the present thesis will bridge

Chapter 3, Methodology, describes the research method, its rationale and data

collection instruments Detailed information about the procedures o f data collection and participants o f the study are also presented

Chapter 4, Results and Discussion, analyzes the pre- data collected to form the

hypothesis o f the study An action plan is worked out and implemented to check the assumption The post-data is then collected and analyzed to make an evaluation o f the effectiveness o f the action plan

Chapter 5, Recommendations and Conclusion, summarizes the recommendations

which are hoped to be o f some help to the improvement o f Grade 10 students writing performance at NDHS The conclusion, the limitations o f the study and suggestions for further research are also given in this chapter

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the theories and literature relevant to the study area The first section deals with two approaches of teaching writing (2.1) The second section mentions the factors affecting writing quality (2.2) The third section addresses notions

on the pre-writing stage, its importance in writing process and the two types o f pre­writing techniques, ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ as well as the rationale for the combination o f these two techniques conducted in the pre-writing stage

in teaching writing (2.3) The final section summarizes what has been done and what has not yet been done about the study area so far, indicating the gap that the present thesis will bridge (2.4)

2.1 The teaching o f writing

Writing is considered as a difficult language skill It is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete It requires writers to balance multiple issues such as content, organization, purpose, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and mechanics At the sentence levels, the writers are required to control structures, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and letter formation Beyond the sentences, the writer must able to structure and integrate information into cohesive and coherence paragraph and texts (Bell & Burnaby, 1984) Through the medium of writing, writers hope to be able to communicate successfully with the readers

Therefore, writing is not a natural activity It "normally requires some form s o f

instructions” and that “it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (Tribble,

1996) Writing should be taught and learned

The history o f teaching and learning writing can be viewed as a succession o f approaches, a cycle in which a particular approach achieves dominance and then fades, but never really disappears Among these approaches, the product approach and the process approaches are the most prominent and more or less influential to the writing teaching

2.1.1 The product approach

The product approaches were highly appreciated in the stage o f writing in the 1960s and early 1970s These approaches focus the final product o f writing process and learners

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are expected to be able to do as a fluent and competent user o f language In other words, the teaching o f writing essentially considers the ability to produce correct texts Basically, writing in these approaches has served to reinforce L2 writing in terms o f grammatical and syntactical forms There are variety o f activities in product approach which can raise students’ awareness in second language writing from the level of language proficiency to advance like English major students such as the use o f model paragraphs, sentence combining and rhetorical pattern exercises Among these activities, White and Arndt (1988) put the emphasis on grammatical correctness and adherence to given models He also argues that using a model is suitable for lower English proficiency Students’ attention focuses to studying model texts, and duplicating the models especially on modeling the correct language Normally, a model

is presented to the students They read a model first Then they discuss and analyze the model to increase their awareness of the m odel’s particular features e.g organization and the language uses Then they write a paragraph which is similar, but involve some changes

Writing in the product approach is viewed as a simple liner model o f the writing process which proceeds systematically from prewriting and to composing and to correcting (Tribble, 1990) In the pre-writing stage, the teachers’ techniques are to familiarize the students with certain features, for example, the textual form or grammatical structures,

o f the text they are going to produce Therefore, the use o f model might be a suitable and good one (White and Arndt, 1988) By this way, students have opportunity to master the language forms before aiming at "precision o f expression, fluency" and

"style" (Pilus, 1993) This brings several advantages for writing classroom First, the learners learn how to use vocabulary and sentence structures as well as the textual organization for each type o f composition appropriately Second, students have chance

to raise their awareness in grammar

However, this approach has several disadvantages for writing classroom Writing with this approach mainly concerns with formal linguistic accuracy and the teacher tends to overemphasize on the importance o f grammar and mechanics, therefore, the writer is s;een as an imitator o f the previously leamt structures Many contemporary researchers find it hard to accept the fact that writing is merely the imitation and manipulation of fixed patterns Imitating models provide learners language uses o f writing tasks but

io serious “writing blocks” There is little or no opportunity for the students to add any thoughts or ideas o f their own The clear consequence is that little attention is paid to the ideas and meaning o f student writing (Raime 1983) This may result unreal pieces of writing Meanwhile White and Anrdt (1991) also emphasize that it is necessary for students to pay attention to content as well as the language accuracy, in which the texts are real and more communicative The shortcomings of this traditional approach have given rise to the appearance o f another - the process approach.

2.1.2 The process approach

The process approach to writing has been seen as an improvement over the traditional methods o f writing instruction in recent years Leki (1992) states that the process approach is an approach to teaching writing that places more emphasis on the stage of the writing process than on the final product It focuses more on the various classroom activities which are believed to promote the development o f linguistic skills, and there

is much less emphasis on linguistic knowledge, such as knowledge about grammar and text structure (Badger and White, 2000; Nunan, 1991) O’Brien (2004) also defines the concept o f this approach as an activity in which teachers encourage learners to see writing not as grammar exercise, but as the discovery o f meaning and ideas

In process approach, writing is viewed as a recursive process This approach identifies four stages in writing: pre-writing, drafting, revising, and editing (Hedge, 1988:15; Raimes, 1983:141-141; White and Arndt, 1991:4) In the pre-writing stage, teachers

“help students to generate ideas and vocabulary by a number o f strategies in class namely brainstorming, clustering and discussion without concern for correctness or appropriateness” (1986:223, cited from Scott, 1996) It means that writing in this approach concern how writers generate ideas, record them, and refine them in order to form a text and emphasize the writer as an independent producer o f texts In writing class, teachers allow their students’ time and opportunity to generate ideas, develop students’ ability to plan, define a rhetorical problem, propose and evaluate solutions

In spite o f the fact that teaching techniques in process approach emphasize the writer’s ideas, idea development and writers are seen as independents, however, this approach has some limitation for writing class First, learners have no clear understanding about the characteristics o f writing Second, they are provided insufficient input, particularly,

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in terms of linguistic knowledge, to write successfully in a certain text type (Badger & White, 2000).

In summary, each approach has its own advantages as well as disadvantages In order to alleviate the disadvantages for writing class, combining these two approaches might be the most satisfactory alternative This combination can guarantee the quality o f form and content as Reid states, such this combination enables:

“ Learners to w rite their w ay into more precise interpretive texts, while at the same time fostering greater attention to form s o f the writing, to reflection on what is involved in the creation o f a text and to adapting writing style to the audience and context o f

w riting”

(Reid, 1993:30)

This leads to a very significant implication for the writing instructors that besides focusing on the problem-solving aspects o f identifying and practicing discourse conventions o f the writing piece, they should also encourage the students to generate ideas to achieve meaningfiil communication to make it a truly fine piece o f writing in terms o f both content and form Teachers’ techniques in teaching writing o f product approach and process approach should be used complementarily Tangpermpoon (2008) also suggests that in order to alleviate the weaknesses in the integrated approach, teachers should provide learners with a writing model that they have to write so as to allow them to have clear understanding about the aim and the framework o f a particular writing type Then, the process- approach activities in a class should be conducted to help student create ideas in writing

2.2 Factors affecting writing quality

Hedge (1989: 5) states that effective writing requires a number o f things: a high degree

o f organization in the development o f ideas and information; the accurate meaning which can not result in ambiguity; the use o f grammatical devices for focus and emphasis; and a careful choice o f vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and sentence structures to create a kind o f writing which is appropriate to the subject matter and even the reader Therefore, dealing with the writing product and process is o f importance in the development o f successful writing

In fact, with the application o f ‘using a text as a writing m odel’ in the pre-writing stage, students in class 10A10 often emphasized the grammatical structures and form rather than content Although the majority o f students’ written texts had some minor grammatical mistakes, and readable organization, they were not good ones They had poor content and vocabulary It is likely that students are merely “parroting” ideas and a range o f vocabulary from writing model They can not generate appropriate vocabulary and develop ideas for writing Using a text as a writing model at the pre-writing stage can fulfill the requirements o f writing tasks in terms o f organization and grammar but it did not equip students with relevant ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing Therefore, if teachers can teach students how to generate appropriate vocabulary and how to develop ideas for their writing tasks, they will make fine pieces o f writing in terms o f both content and form as Raimes (1985: 83) points out - “writing is a learning process in which writing finds its own meaning; truth and meaning can not exist apart from language” Teacher may have various options o f teaching instructions to increase a range o f appropriate vocabulary and relevant ideas for their writing tasks Which techniques they employ will depend on the particular kinds o f written texts that students are going to produce, as well as the teacher’s priorities for each kind o f text

Raimes (1983) sketches what writers have to deal with as they produce a piece of writing in the following figure:

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Syntax (sentence structure, sentence boudai es, ECT.) Grammar (rules

for verbs, agreement, articles, pronouns,etc

Content (relevance, clarity, originality, logic, ECT.)

Clear, fluent, and effective communication

(vocbulaiy, idioms, tone)

Audience (the readers)

Figure 1: Producing a piece o f writing

Following Raimes, it can be said that a good piece o f writing must contain those above factors, among which the teaching o f writing should stress the students’ ideas, grammar, organization and word choice In addition, he emphasized that the students’ ideas and organization should be focused on before identification and grammar correction (Raimes, 1985) If a student’s essay is free o f grammar mistakes, and has superb organization, it does not mean a good essay It could be that the student is merely

“parroting” information meanwhile Larsen-Freeman (1991) argues that it is essential to focus on the structural aspects The students should be recognize how the target language is formed or functions Therefore, a combination o f process instruction and attention to the language development is the best choice The teachers have to incorporate the insights o f the process approach into the teaching while still addressing the need to teach the students syntactic features o f language as Ferris (2003) mentions

that in the classroom, teachers’ instructions should focus on students’ ideas, organization as well as grammar and mechanics.

In summary, it is very clear that fluency and accuracy are both important goals to pursue

in writing class Writing ability can not be adequately taught by simply getting students

to explore the writing model This may provide students with grammatical structures and textual organization; however, it will not equip them with good content and appropriate vocabulary for writing Therefore, teachers’ instructions should focus on grammatical structures, language uses and content for students’ writing

In the frame o f this study, content, organization, grammar and word choice were taken into consideration

2.3 The pre-writing stage in writing

As stated in section 2.1, the different approaches might describe the process o f writing

in various ways with different writing stages However, they all emphasize the role of the first stage o f writing process, the pre-writing stage

Webster’s Dictionary defines pre-writing, the first stage o f the writing process, as “the formulation and organization o f ideas preparatory to writing” Pre-writing is a significant part in the writing process While writing put the importance on the finished product, achieving skill o f an efficient writing process will help the students evolve into better overall writer It will show writers how they reach their topic and come upon their main ideas and conclusion Pre-writing is a different process than drafting, revising, and the final draft; because it is the delineation o f the initial ideas o f the topic they will be writing about It will guide the writer into an organized outline o f possible ideas, topics and comment

Pre-writing refers to any activities in the classroom that encourages the generation of ideas Trupe (2001) and Cotton (1988) advocates the view that pre-writing is the process o f the generating and recording ideas It helps students stimulate thoughts for getting started In short, the prewriting stage plays an important part in writing process

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2.3.1 The importance o f the pre-writing stage in im proving writing quality.

In order to help students to have a good piece o f writing, it is essential to first understand the writing process Jing Liu (2006) argues that one o f the difficulties that students often encountered in writing is how to get started Students often feel puzzled about how to generate good ideas on a writing topic Therefore, students should be taught how to get started writing, or in other words, they should be encouraged to stimulate thoughts for getting started They need providing adequate input to move away from having to face a blank page to generating tentative ideas Furthermore, generating content or organizing is far greater challenge than writing out the content or improving its accuracy (Seow, 1995) The usual reason for the students’ poor performance in expository writing was due to the fact that students did not have anything to write or if they do, they did not know how to organize it in a readable fashion Good pre-writing activities can solve these problems Cumming (1995) also indicates that the pre-writing stage is an important part o f teaching writing During this stage, students are encouraged to research a topic and look for input, for example, if the students are exposed to the writing models, they will be aware o f the way words, structures and particular grammatical features functions in authentic discourse contexts which contribute to purposeful writing Also, they can be made aware o f different types

o f textual organization, which can in turn affect their second language composing language (Raimes, 1985) A t the pre-writing stage, the students may feel like an

“ apprentice” who has to acquire a number o f “crafting skills” e.g getting the grammar right; having a range o f vocabulary; punctuating meaningful; spelling accurately; using

a range o f sentence structures; linking ideas and information across sentences to develop

a topic; developing and organizing the content convincingly and

c learly( Anderson, 1985)

To sum up, literatures show that students could be successful writers if they could just start the writing process well at the first stage o f the writing process The goal o f the pre-writing stage is to get students think about particular topic quickly and generate relevant ideas to the topics as well as master the proper structures and language uses for writing topics

Being aware o f the importance o f the pre-writing stage mentioned above and the problem that students in class 10A10 encountered in writing (as presented in Chapter 1

and Chapter 4), in this research, the pre-writing stage would be focused to address the students’ problem and improve the students’ writing performance.

2.3.2 Types o f pre-w riting techniques

As stated above, the pre- writing stage fully reveals its importance in writing There are

a lot o f pre-writing techniques such as brainstorming, free writing, listing and grouping, simple outlining and using a text as writing sample Because o f the students’ level, their needs and their difficulties as presented in section 4.1, ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ were conducted at the pre-writing stage in this research

2.3.2.1 Using a text as a writing model

A model is defined as “a sample o f writing that is used for pedagogical purposes” (Master, 1997) “Using a text as a writing model” to teach students in writing lessons is

a common sense to all teachers The idea was that students would incorporate the principles o f rhetoric into their own thinking and that would help them to compose texts

2.3.2.1.1 The role o f using a writing model

As stated above, the pre-writing stage is essential for the writers when first language is not English Especially models and samples used at this stage are often helpful when students have the low levels o f proficiency (Flanigan, 1980; Tangpermpoon, 2008) Students have limited lexicon and they have difficulties expressing ideas Therefore, teachers or other students may need to assist second language students to generate vocabulary and grammatical structure relevant to the topic Using models during the pre-writing stage is useful part o f the writing process Eschholz (1980) points out that what L2 learners write depends on what they read and they can improve their L2 writing skills by reading In addition, Paul (1980) suggests that using models o f good writing exposes students to good organization, effective thesis statements, paragraph structure, coherence, logic, exactness, and unity These so-called "qualities o f good writing" can

be explained more effectively if they are demonstrated to students through the use of models

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As mentioned in section 3.4.3, even the students of class 10A10 have learnt English for

7 years at primary and secondary school; their levels o f English proficiency were quite low They had a lot o f difficulties in expressing ideas because they lacked grammatical structures and language uses Therefore, ‘using a text as a writing model’ is often helpful for them In short, students could learn language uses, grammatical structures and text organization from a writing model

2.3.2.1.2 Rules o f using a writing model

Writing models o f a well- organized paragraph is often introduced in writing class (Doff, 1988) He also briefly explains how a text can be used as a model for writing as

“Students read a short text, and perhaps study particular features o f it (e.g the way sentences are joined, the use o f verb tenses, and the uses o f passive) ” and then wrote a

similar type o f writing Meanwhile Master (1997) showed the typical pattern “to present the model to students reading first, then discuss and analyze the model to increase students’ awareness, and finally have students generate their own parallel essay on suggested topic” In other words, students read the model and then explore it with the teacher After that, they are asked to imitate certain features o f the writing model such

as the use o f grammatical rules, textual organization, topic sentences, transitional phrases, the degree o f detail in examples, and the thesis statements

In short, ‘using a text as a writing model’ provides students with language uses including a range o f vocabulary or expressions, particular grammatical features and textual organization (Master, 1997; Raimes, 1985) However, it has its drawbacks Murray (1980) and Raimes (1983) point out that the process o f making meaning in L2 cannot be achieved by referring to written texts Imitating models provide students with little or no opportunity for the students to add any thoughts or ideas o f their own In addition, Halsted (1975); Doff (1988) and Goby (1997) states that imitating the model too closely makes writing imitation and learners the passive ones Using a writing model prevents L2 learners from having creativity, which is considered as one o f the important aspects o f L2 writing skills Furthermore, it is believed that model is product- oriented and therefore it leads to artificial products Even though the amount o f various vocabulary can be extracted from the model, they are sometimes not appropriate for students’ situation, thus, it leads students’ writing to become unreal (Raimes, 1983) Writing instruction with only a writing model has also been criticized by other

researchers (Collins & Gentner 1980; Judy, 1980) for laying emphasis not on content but on form They insist that language form and the content o f composition are inseparable.

In conclusion, even among researchers who claim that model essays can be beneficial pedagogical tools, there has been agreement that reading model essays is important but not totally sufficient (Ferris and Hedgcock, 1998; Hyland, 2003) Brown (1994) and Strong (1990) suggest that teaching writing models is best used with instruction in generating ideas like brainstorming These two techniques are complementary in classroom where there is a time limit and students ‘final composition focus both on content, organization and linguistic accuracy

2.3.22. Brainstorming

2.3.2.2.I Role o f brainstorming in the pre-writing stage

Brainstorming is a simple but productive invention strategy to start writing (Brown, 1994) It allows learners to approach a topic with an open mind and enables them to discover and explore a number o f ideas in a short time It brings students in writing class a number o f advantages as followings:

First o f all, students are put in the position o f the activating their cognitive faculty They are prompted to think aloud and call out what they have read and heard in English They are the master o f the class, while the teacher, instead o f dominating the class, works as a facilitator or guide for the developing students’ potentials In this way, students become more confident and more productive in their English writing practice

Secondly, brainstorming encourages students’ active involvement in the classroom activities The strategy offers the opportunity for the students not only to interact with each other but also to share other’s opinions With such personal involvement, students can cultivate their linguistics and communicative competence and develop their ability

to express themselves in English

Finally, the brainstorming strategies make the students aware o f their intellectual strengths and limitations Though involving in the activities, the students might be find out other4s strong points and their limitations They may push them to learn from each

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other, overcome their possible weakness, and think about how to improve their writing ability in future practice (Rao, 2007)

With a lot o f advantages as stated above, brainstorming is a good way to help students start writing in composition class It helps students generates more ideas and information in a time limited and feel more comfortable to start writing, which helps students become better writers

23.2.2.2 Rules o f conducting brainstorming in classrooms

Brainstorming - depending on the students' level o f language, the writing down o f ideas can be done by the teacher or by the student; the teacher may need to provide some guidance by asking questions to elicit vocabulary and structures associated with the selected topic

Studio (2007) suggests the rules o f brainstorming as follows:

1 Collect as many ideas as possible from all participants with no criticisms or judgments made while ideas are being generated

2 Welcome all ideas no matter how silly or far out they seem Be creative The more ideas the better because at this point you do not know what might work

3 Don’t discuss during the brainstorming activity Talking about the ideas will take place after brainstorming is complete

4 Do not criticize or judge Don’t even groan, frown, or laugh All ideas are equally valid at this point

5 Do build on other’s ideas

6 Do write all ideas on a board so the whole group can easily see them

7 Set a time limit for the brainstorming

(Studio, 2007:2)

In conclusion, during brainstorming, teacher should create learning atmosphere which makes students think and creative in contribution All students’ ideas are welcome and

no judgment should be made o f ideas Teachers encourage students to contribute a high quantity of ideas in a short amount o f time.

2.3.2.2.3 Types o f brainstorming

According to W olff (1996), ways of organizing brainstorming comprises: Pyramid brainstorming (moving from small groups to the whole class), from the individual to the whole class and whole- class as follows:

Pyramid brainstorming from small group to whole class

Step 1: Stating the topic

Teacher states the topic or write it on the blackboard and then gives any explanation that may be needed The topic to brainstorm can also come from a single student or from a student group

Step 2: Generating ideas

The students form groups o f three or four They can make their own suggestions usually by collaborating around them, or follow teacher- suggested criteria On seeing that a group has two or three ideas written down, the teacher asks them to write them on the board Then teacher asks the other groups to add on the board any thoughts or ideas that they may have No attempt should be made to put things in any kind o f order or make corrections or comments

Step 3: clearing up the ideas

W hen it appears that no new ideas are forthcoming, ask the whole class or small groups

to discuss the relevancy and the clarify o f the ideas on the board (Some ideas will most certainly be eliminated) If some ideas seem too vague or general, ask the group who wrote them to explain what they mean and then add this new input to the board

Step 4: Choosing the ideas

Teacher asks everyone to copy the entire list to keep as a reference, or follow one of these four steps

+ Each student or small group choose one o f the items on the board for a future task

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+ Each individual chooses and write the ideas she/ he considers most relevant or important.

+ Each class member chooses a given number o f the items that she/ he believes to be most important For example, after class has brainstormed all the new vocabulary from

a lesson, each choose eight items to add to his/ her individual vocabulary list

+ The teacher asks the whole class to discard all but five/ ten items on the blackboard This can be done through discussion or voting

From individual to whole class

Step 1: Stating the topic: Same as pyramid brainstorming

Step 2: Generating ideas: teacher gives each student three- to - six minutes to write his/

her ideas on the selected topic

Step 3: Selecting ideas: teacher forms pairs and ask each pair to make a list of ideas for

writing task, possibly limiting the number to eight ideas Teacher sets a time limit Then, teacher has the pairs to form groups o f four, again sharing and combining their ideas into one list o f ideas Teacher sets a time limit and then asks students to form groups o f eight students, again sharing and combining their ideas into one list o f ideas

Step 4: Teacher asks each group either to read the list o f ideas or write the list on the

blackboard Teacher may now need an alternate o f Step 3 (clearing up ideas) or go directly to step 4 (see above), or teacher can ask each group for a copy o f the list

Whole class brainstorming

In this type of organization, probably the most traditional form o f brainstorming, the entire group works together from the beginning Whole class brainstorming is useful when individual students must come up with ideas without previous small group discussion period Once the topic has been stated, the class members simply speak out whatever ideas occur to them These may be written on the board, a transparency or by secretary- often the teacher- or not written at all The choice here depends on the outcome desired, the complexity o f brainstormed area, the size o f the class and the dynamics within the group

In conclusion, brainstorming is a useful technique which helps students be creative in thinking and generates more relevant ideas to the topics they are going to write In this study, the researcher adapted the brainstorming ways o f W olff (1996) at the pre-writing stage in writing lessons.

2.3.3 Summary

As stated in section 2.1 and section 2.3, the pre-writing stage at different approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages in writing process Also, each type of pre-writing techniques has its own strengths and limitations In order to increase the advantages of the pre-writing stage in writing class, various pre-writing techniques in different approaches should be integrated At the first stage of writing process, teachers should provide learners with a model o f particular type o f writing that they have to write so as

to allow them to have a clear understanding about the aims, the textual organization and grammar Then the teacher instructs students to generate ideas and vocabulary for writing topics Martin (1985) suggests that at high school, students need model to practice, they need to improve even mechanical skills, and they still need time to think

of their ideas, to revise them, and to write for real purposes and real audiences Sharing with the same view, Raimes (1983) also states that:

In a writing class, students need to be taught both how to use the process to their advantage as language learners and writers, and also how to produce an acceptable product demand While students certainly need to learn how to pass the exams, they also need to perceive writing as a tool for learning, a tool that can be useful to them throughout their professional and personal (Raimes, 1983:245)

From these points o f view, it is considered that teaching through modeling is only one part o f the teaching process, using other instructions to help students to generate more appropriate vocabulary and relevant ideas for the writing task, for example, brainstorming, is the other In other words, in writing class, teachers should combine various pre-writing techniques in order to help students not only know the way to organize ideas and use correct grammar but also know how to generate ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing By this way, students would have opportunities to pay attention to content; textual organization as well as language uses for writing in order that their writing would be treated as a kind o f communication Within the scope

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of the study, the combination o f ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ would be conducted at the pre-writing stage in writing lessons.

2.4 Previous studies

A lot o f researches have been done on the effect o f the pre-writing techniques on teaching writing Richarch (1990) explains that it is essential to teach students how to interact with each other in order to activate their thinking and create ideas which are crucial to foreign language learning Therefore, he did an experiment on the effects of brainstorming strategy on students’ writing ability The results indicate that the students

in the experimental group were more efficient in finding ideas about the topic, letting ideas interact, and organize the ideas The results also show that the quality o f the writings in the experimental group was enhanced by the use o f brainstorming strategies.Rao (2007) also examined the effects o f brainstorming on students’ writing performance He conducted an experiment on two classes at the foreign language college and found that the brainstorming strategy instruction was effective in improving students’ writing performance The students in experimental classes made more gains in terms o f content, ideas and organization The result also shows that the students in experimental class felt positive about the brainstorming strategies Students become confident and productive in their English writing practice

Le Thi Thu Ha (2005) carried out a research o f the effects o f pre-writing activities in a class at university She also found that pre-writing activities successfully helped her students increase their motivation toward writing Her study also indicates that pre­writing techniques also helped students generates more ideas for writing However, her action research time was short (4 lessons) and she applied some prewriting techniques during the implementation Therefore, her students could not fully grasp these writing techniques or strategies in order to use them on their own; thus the positive results shown in the action research become questionable

Ha Thi Huyen (2006) conducted an experiment on ‘brainstorming’ and ‘giving a text as

a model’ on students’ attitudes and writing ability The subjects o f her study were students at Industrial College in Hanoi She found in her experiment that

‘brainstorming’ could help her students with ideas better than ‘giving a text as a writing

model’ did Students also showed more positive when ‘brainstorming’ was applied in the pre- writing stage.

However, there have been little researches to explore the role o f the combination of

‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ in writing pedagogy for the tenth grade students Therefore, in this study, this combination will be carried out in the pre­writing stage to measure its effects on students’ writing performance in writing classes

Summary

In this chapter, I have reviewed literature on the two approaches o f teaching writing, the factors affecting writing quality, the pre-writing stage and the two types o f pre-writing techniques, ‘using a text as a writing m odel’ and ‘brainstorming’ as well as the rationale for the combination o f these two techniques conducted in the pre-writing stage in teaching writing Also, this chapter summarizes what has been done and what has not yet been done about the topic so far, indicating the gap that the present thesis will bridge The review is hoped to guide the action plan once the problem has been identified and the causes have been exploited The following chapter will display the methodology o f the research

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists o f four parts It begins with a brief overview o f the research method- action research and the action research procedure (section 3.1) It then reports the descriptions o f data collection instruments (section 3.2) and the procedures o f data

o llectio n (section 3.3) It ends with a detailed description o f participants of the study (section 3.4)

3.1 Research method

To carry out this study, action research (AR) was used

3.1.1 O verview o f action research

AR or teacher research is an approach to professional development and learning improvement in which teachers systematically collect data on their everyday practice and analyze it in order to come to some decisions about what their future practices should be AR tends to be directly linked to achieving results in classroom

Action research is known by many different names, such as participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory research, action learning, and contextual action research Also, AR is defined in a number o f different ways For example, Car and Kemmis have defined it as:

“AR is a form of self- reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out It is most rationally empowering when undertaken by participants collaboratively.”

(Carr and Kemmis, 1986)The aim o f A R is to identify ‘problematic” situations or issues that need improving, and then undertake practical interventions in order to bring about informed changes in practice Kemmis & Taggart (1988) states that AR refers to teaching- initiated classroom investigation which seeks to increase the teacher’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning, and to bring about change in classroom practices AR

typically involves small-scale investigative projects in the teacher’s own classroom It consists o f a number o f phrases, which often occur in cycles: planning- action- observation- reflection.

Planning: a problem or issue is identified and plan o f action is developed in order to

bring about improvements in specific areas o f the research context

Action: the plan is put into action over an agreed period o f time

Observation: the effects o f the action observed and data are collected.

Reflection: the effects o f the action are evaluated and become the basis for further

AR is selected for this study because it is a way o f increasing the teachers' understanding o f their own classroom teaching and learning and to bring about improvements in classroom practices Using AR, the researcher hopes to identify causes

of students’ poor performance in writing and then to find out effective way to improve students’ writing performance

Moreover, among the cycles o f action research mentioned above, this study followed the AR cycles adapted from Somekh in McBride and Schotask (1989) as all the cycles are clear and easy to be applied

3.1.2 Action research procedure

As presented above, action research typically involves small- scale investigative projects in the teacher’s own classroom, and consists o f a number o f stages Therefore, this action research was actually conducted for 36 students o f class 10A10 at NDHS for thirteen weeks o f the second term (from March to May) Based on the principles and procedures o f AR demonstrated in Figure 1, the following stages were done one after another

1 Identifying the problem (weeks 1- 2)

During teaching writing lessons and in the pre-test, the problem perceived was that although students knew how to organize ideas and how to use grammar, they did not know how to generate relevant ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing Therefore, their writing had readable organization and proper grammar but their writing had very poor content and vocabulary This problem was selected to be research focus and the

first research question formed was “W hat are the causes o f students’ poor writing performance in terms of content and word choice for Grade 10 students at NDHS?”

2 Collecting initial data (weeks 3-4)

To confirm the problem stated above and to identify the real causes o f the problem, the initial data were collected from a pre-test (Appendix C) and Questionnaire 1 (Appendix A)

The pre-test was conducted to assess students’ writing level in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice when only ‘using a text as a writing model’ was applied at the pre-writing stage Questionnaire 1 was administered with thirty-six Grade 10 students to investigate students’ attitude towards writing and writing topics in the textbook, their difficulties in writing and their opinions about the teacher’s current teaching method, which may be factors affecting students’ writing performance.

Details on these data collection instruments are presented in Section 3.2

3 Analyzing data and generating hypotheses (w eek 5)

The initial data collected from week 3 to week 4 was then analyzed to form the hypothesis These above steps (collecting initial data and analyzing data/ generating

hypotheses) are presented in Section 4.1 - the initial data.

Up to this point, the students’ poor writing performance in terms o f content and word choice was confirmed clearly and the first research question “what are the causes o f students' poor writing performance in terms o f content and word choice fo r Grade 10 students at NDHS?” was answered The initial data also revealed that the causes o f the

students’ poor writing performance in terms o f content and word choice were due to the fact that the students were provided with inadequate input o f ideas and vocabulary before writing In the pre-writing stage, the teachers only used a text as a writing model and emphasized too much on the textual organization and grammar for writing The students were not taught how to generate ideas and appropriate vocabulary for writing Therefore, they knew little about the topics they were going to write Thus, the hypothesis formed was combining ‘ using a text as a writing model’ and

‘brainstorming ’ in the pre-writing stage would improve students ’ writing performance

in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice” in writing lessons At the same time, the second research question formed was "To what extent does the

‘combination ’ help students improve their writing performance in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice? ”.

2 6

4 Planning action (week 6)

Based on the analysis o f the collected data and the hypothesis formed, an action plan of the combination o f 'using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ at the pre­writing stage was developed

The action plan was reflected in a detailed lesson plan in which the researcher tried to apply the ‘combination’ at the pre-writing stage so that it could help students improve students’ writing ability (more detailed in Appendices 1.2- J.2) In each lesson, there were steps showing the objectives o f lessons, the teaching aids, the time of the lesson and the teaching procedure The teaching procedure o f each lesson contained five stages: warm up, pre-writing, while- writing, post- writing (feed back) and homework among which the main focus was on the pre-writing stage At the pre-writing stage, the teacher used writing instructions implicitly to help students explore the writing model first to help students recognize the format or the textual organization and know how to use correct grammar for the topics they were going to write Then, the teacher instructed students to brainstorm vocabulary and ideas in English for a given topic During brainstorming, students were asked to discuss in pairs or in groups o f four or five (usually desk mates) to put forwards each individual’s ideas and exchange his or her ideas with others All the ideas were welcome and what they needed to do was to pour out whatever they may have in their mind There were no criteria for what was right or what was wrong The objectives o f these activities were to share their ideas After that, students were encouraged to put forward their ideas to the class, and then make a list of ideas on the board or on the poster, which ensured that the information was easily accessible to the student to write All students used the list o f ideas as their reference for their writing and then complete their writing tasks individually in class

Also, an action plan states what the possible barriers or concerns would occur during the implementation phase

In addition, during this stage, Questionnaire 2 (appendix B) for students was prepared This involved examining the initial data and reviewing relevant literature on teaching writing with the combination o f ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ at the pre-writing stage

5 Im plem enting action (weeks 7-11)

In this phase, the focus is on taking action, i.e implementing the planned strategies and process o f the ‘combination’ at the pre-writing stage in teaching class writing Attempts were made to respond directly to the students’ needs o f more relevant ideas and appropriate vocabulary for their writing At the same time, the researcher tried to overcome the challenges and barriers while applying the ‘combination’ at the pre­writing stage in teaching writing The action plan was implemented in five writing

lessons, each o f which lasted 45 minutes The Planning action and Implementing action

steps are presented in Section 4.2 - Planning action steps

6 Collecting data to monitor change (weeks 7-11)

This phrase aimed at observing the consequences o f the implemented actions on the students’ writing and collecting information about the effectiveness o f the

‘combination’ conducted in the pre-writing stage on students’ writing performance In addition, the data collected during this phrase would provide the researcher with documentary evidence that can be used for subsequent reflection During weeks 7-11, the action plan implementation phrase, students’ writing o f five units was collected after each writing lesson In addition, Questionnaire 2 (appendix B) for students was administered to the students to get the students’ information about the writing lessons and the effectiveness o f the ‘combination’ at the pre-writing stage Besides, the post-test was carried out at the end o f the implementation phase to evaluate whether the

‘combination’ was effective on the students’ writing performance or not

7 Analyzing and evaluating students’ writing performance after action plan implementation (weeks 12 -13)

In this phrase, the researcher analyzed the results o f the students’ writing, of Questionnaire 2 and o f the post-test collected in weeks 7- 11 to investigate students’ writing improvement and to evaluate the effectiveness o f the 'combination' at the pre- writing stage on students’ writing performance In other words, the above analysis was conducted to evaluate whether the planned outcomes had been achieved and the identified needs of the students’ had been met, how effective the new teaching method was; what the researcher o f this thesis has learnt; what challenges and barriers the researcher have encountered and what to change to improve following classes Also,

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this would be the baseline for the researcher to answer the research question “To what extent does the 'combination' help students improve their writing performance in terms of content, organization, grammar and word choice?” The results of the

students’ writing analysis and the post- test, Questionnaire 2 became the basis for further cycles of research

During this time, two teachers were invited to join cooperative research as raters They were trained as composition raters using analytic scales (see Appendix E l) to analyze and score students’ compositions

Both steps Collecting data to monitor to change and Analyzing and evaluation the data

are presented in Section 4 3 - Post data and in Section 4.4- Action research evaluation.

3.2 Data collection instruments

In this study, questionnaires, pre- / post- tests, and students’ writing analysis were used

as data collection instruments

With the aims at investigating the students’ writing problem and finding out the causes leading to the problem, the pre-test and Questionnaire 1 were conducted before the action plan implementation

During the implementation o f the action plan, students’ writing was collected and analyzed to investigate the effectiveness o f the combination at the pre-writing stage on students’ writing performance Finally, in order to evaluate how effective the combination at the pre-writing stage was on students’ writing, the Questionnaire 2 and the post-test were conducted at the end o f the implementation stage

3.2.1 Questionnaires

Questionnaire was chosen in this research because it is an effective way to gather information about some aspects o f learners “such as opinions, beliefs, attitudes, motivation and preferences” (Richard 1994:10) Therefore, it can provide suggestive data for testing a hypothesis In addition, it is easy to prepare and it can be used for large number o f subjects Students can complete the information very easily and quickly with less pressure for an immediate response What is more, the information collected is not very difficult to tabulate and to analyze (Brown, 1995) Nunan (1992) also states:

One o f the great advantages o f closed- ended questions is that they yield responses, which can readily be quantified and analyzed, particularly if one has access to computer packages

collection consisted o f closed questions Questionnaire 1 including ten questions (see

Appendix A) were designed as follows:

P a rt I :( questions 1, 2, 3 and 4) examined students’ attitude towards writing and their

opinions about writing topics o f the book

P a rt II: (from question 5 to question 10): Questions 5 and 6 were used to investigate

students’ opinions about the usefulness o f ‘using a text as a writing model’ at the pre­

writing stage Questions 7 investigated students’ writing habits at the pre-writing stage

in which ‘using a text as a writing model’ was conducted Questions 8 and 9 were used

to identify students’ completion level o f writing tasks in class and their difficulties in

writing Question 10 was to find out the students’ preference to ‘using a text as a writing

model’ used at the pre-writing stage

The answers to these questions also helped the researcher affirm the students’ writing problems and identify the real causes o f the students’ writing problems In addition, these answers would be a baseline for the researcher to make her assumptions about the factors which affected the students’ writing performance Thirty six copies o f the questionnaire were delivered to the students Students spent about 30 minutes to read and complete the questionnaire in class All thirty six students completed the questionnaire in class and handed the copies o f questionnaire to the teacher

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The questionnaire did not require students to provide their names to secure confidentiality.

3.2.1.2 Q uestionnaire 2 (Appendix B)

The combination o f ‘using a text as a writing model’ and ‘brainstorming’ conducted at the pre-writing stage in five lessons o f the action plan implementation was evaluated at the end o f the action plan implementation Therefore, a questionnaire was designed to elicit each student’s attitude towards writing and the students’ level o f interest in the 'combination' at the pre-writing stage In addition, the questionnaire was designed to get the students’ opinions about the effectiveness o f the ‘combination’ on students’ writing

performance during five weeks o f the implemention phrases Questionnaire 2 including

eight questions was designed as follows:

P a rt I (questions I, 2 and 3): These questions were administered to find out the

students’ attitude towards writing and their opinions about writing topics during the action plan implementation

P a rt II: (from question 4 to question 8): Question 4 was designed investigated students’ writing habits at the pre-writing stage during the action plan implementation Question 5

was used to investigate students’ opinions about the usefulness of the ‘combination’

Question 6 examined students’ opinions about the effectiveness o f the ‘combination’

conducted at the pre-writing stage on their writing ability Question 7 was used to find

out the students’ completion o f writing tasks in class during the action plan

implementation Question 8 examined the students’ preference about the ‘combination’

in the future

The students were not required to show their real names to secure more reliability

3.2.2 Pre- test! post test

Tests are also a good tool to get information whether the purpose o f measurement is proficiency, placement, diagnosis, or achievement, test can provide a great deal o f information about the general ability level o f the students, about specific problems that the students may be having with the language, and about the achievement in previous programs (Brown, 1995)

As has been said in section 1.2, the aims o f this research were to find out the ways to improve Grade 10 students’ writing performance Therefore, to measure how effective the solution was on students’ writing performance, tests were seen as an indispensable and critical research instrument in order to get information about students’ English writing performance.

In this study, a pre-test was carried out at the beginning o f the study to assess the students’ writing level in terms o f content, organization, grammar and word choice from which the students’ writing problem was identified and to verily the effects o f the combination conducted at the pre-writing stage during the action plan implementation, a post- test was conducted at the end o f the implementation

3.2.2.1 Pre-test

The pre-test (see Appendix C) was carried out to assess the students’ writing level in terms of content, organization, grammar and word choice, from which the researcher could identify the students’ writing problems before the action implementation The pre-test was conducted during one forty five class period The students were asked to write a paragraph o f “the advantages o f Computer” Before writing, students were given

a writing model o f a paragraph on a worksheet where the advantages o f Television were discussed Students were guided to study the model paragraph analytically paying particular attention to the textual organization with all linking devices and referential ties that ensure text unity and a logical flow o f ideas They were expected to be able to pick up the use o f rhetorical and cohesive transitional words like: First/ firstly, ; second/ secondly, ; finally, In addition, they were required to study a range of vocabulary related to advantages o f Television in a paragraph Then they were asked to write a paragraph o f advantages o f the Computer

To assess students’ writing performance, the researcher adapted the analytic scale from Weigle (2002) (Appendix E l) and the scoring procedures were presented more detailed