An analysis of the errors made by second year students at hanoi university of business and technology in their writing paper

Students need w ritin g skills in their learning and teaching process.. And fo llo w ing s are the reasons: A ccording to Brown 1995, the language teaching circle consists o f these stag

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EDUCATION AND TRAINING MINISTRY

HANOI UNIVERSITY

LE THI THANH HUONG

DESIGNING A WRITING SYLLABUS FOR THE SECOND YEAR MAJOR STUDENTS AT LANG

SON COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

OF MASTER IN TESOL

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THAI HA, M.ED

Ha Noi - April 2008

I also w ish to thank a ll the sta ff members o f the Department o f post-graduate, Hanoi

U niversity fo r providing me the best environm ent and conditions to fu lfill m y thesis

I w ould lik e to thank m y friends, m y colleagues and m y students at Lang Son College o f Education fo r th e ir enthusiastic support and constructive suggestions in com pleting my research

I am also indebted to the Rector and vice-rector o f Lang Son College o f Education who always ind ire ctly took care and helped me during this course

F in a lly I owe the com pletion o f this study to a ll members o f m y fa m ily who gave me the love, care, tolerance and encouragement throughout the study

The present study aims to propose a w ritin g syllabus fo r the second year m ajor students

at Lang Son College o f Education in order to help them im prove their w ritin g skills,

fu lfill course objectives and meet the requirements o f the new E nglish textbook when teaching English at ju n io r secondary schools

The study begins w ith the review o f the relevant literature It continues w ith an investigation o f the students' target needs and learning needs to id e n tify areas to be developed in the syllabus This is follow ed by an investigation into the teaching situation

to id e n tify the needs that E nglish school teachers at the ju n io r secondary schools meet

F in a lly, it concludes w ith a proposed w ritin g syllabus and some recommendations

T h irty second year m ajor students at LCE and tw enty ex-students at ju n io r secondary schools in Lang Son c ity participated in 2 survey questionnaires The analysis o f two sets o f documents relating to: the ’’ English Language Training Program '’ fo r m ajor students at LCE and the " Guidelines fo r A pplication o f the New E nglish Textbook" fo r

ju n io r secondary schools were explored In addition, the lis t o f crite ria fo r տշՄ- assessment o f w ritin g a b ility issued by Am erican Council fo r the teaching o f foreign languages was used

The thesis concludes w ith a proposal fo r a second year w ritin g syllabus, recommendations fo r assessment, m aterial selections and designing w ritin g techniquesand strategies

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOW LEDGEM ENTS I

A B ST R A C T II TABLE OF CO NTENTS I ll

LỈÍST OF ABBREVIATIONS V

LỈIST OF TABLES VI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 B a c k g r o u n d t o t h e s t u d y 1

1.1.1 Current teaching and learning writing at Lang Son college o f education (LCE) 1

1.1.2 The new English textbook fo r junior secondary school 3

1.2 AIMS o f t h e s t u d y 4

1.3 S co pe o f t h e s t u d y 5

1.4 S ig n if ic a n c e o f t h e s t u d y 5

1.5 O r g a n iz a t io n o f t h e t h e s is 5

CH APTER 2: LITERATURE R E V IE W 7

2.1 W r it in g in E n g l i s h 7

2.1.1 The role o f writing in the language teaching and learning 7

Ĩ I.2Writingskills 8

2.1.3 Types o f written language 9

2.1.4 Writing tasks or writing activities 10

2.1.5 The difficulties in learning writing 11

2.2 A p p r o a c h e s t o c o u r s e d e s i g n 14

2.2.1 Language- centered course design 14

2.2.2 Skills- centered course design 15

2.2.3 A learning - centered approach 15

：2.3 A p p ro a c h e s t o s y l la b u s d e s ig n 16

2.3.1 What is a syllabus? .16

2.3.2 Types o f syllabi .18

Ձ 4 N e e d s a n a l y s is 21

2.4.1 Needs analysis and the importance o f implementing a needs analysis 21

2.4.2 Information for the needs analysis 22

CHÍAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24

3 1 D e s c r ip t io n o f t h e s u b j e c t s 24

3.1.1 The students (teacher trainees) 24

3.2 D a t a c o l l e c t io n in s t r u m e n t s 25

3.2.1 Document analysis .25

3.2.2 Questionnaires 25

3.3 D a t a c o l l e c t io n p r o c e d u r e s 26

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 27

4.1 T a r g e t n e e d s 27

4.1.1 Results from document analysis 27

4.1.2 Results from Questionnaire 1 29

4.2 L e a r n in g n e e d s 31

4.2.1 Results from students' questionnaire 31

4.2.2 Results from teachers at JSSs questionnaire 35

4.3 M a j o r f in d in g s 41

CHAPTER 5: A PROPOSED WRITING SYLLABUS AND CONCLUSION 44

5.1 P r o p o s e d s y l l a b u s 44

5.1.1 Objectives o f the writing syllabus 44

5.1.2 Content o f the writing syllabus 44

5.2 R e c o m m e n d a t io n s 50

5.2.1 Recommendation on testing writing ability 50

5.2.2 Recommended materials 52

5.2.3 Recommendation on teaching methodology 53

5.2.4 Recommendation on teaching strategies 54

5.3 C o n c l u s i o n 54

REFERENCES 57

APPENDIX 1 60

APPENDIX 2 63

APPENDIX ЗА 66

APPENDIX 3 B 72

APPENDIX 4 78

APPENDIX 5A 82

APPENDIX 5 B 84

APPENDIX 6 86

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

A C TFL: Am erican C ouncil fo r the teaching o f foreign languages

JSS: Junior Secondary School

LC E : Lang Son College o f Education

М О ЕТ: M in is try o f Education and Training

NCTE: National C ouncil o f Teacher o f English

RSA: Royal Society o f A rt

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 : The allocated tim e to different subjects in English Language Training Program

fo r m ajor students at LCE

Table 2: The importance o f the w ritin g skills fo r students

Table 3: The frequency o f problem students have w ith the skills

Table 4: The w ritin g skills students want to develop

Table 5: The students' educational background

Table 6: Students' reasons fo r learning w ritin g skills

Table 7: Students' se lf evaluation on their level o f w ritin g

Table 8: Students' self-perceived d iffic u ltie s when w ritin g a text in E nglish

Table 9: Students’ interest in w ritin g topics

Table 10: Frequency o f students’ exposure to authentic English outside the class

Table 11 : Ex-students’ rank o f the importance o f d ifferent skills

Table 12: Frequency o f ex-students’ use o f w ritin g to perform teaching tasks

Table 13: Ex-students’ w ritin g skills requirement when teaching w ritin g sections

Table 14: Types o f w ritin g students teachers do when delivering w ritin g sections

Table 15: School teachers’ focus on the topics related to w ritin g

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides background to the study, its scope, aims and objectives, significance o f the study and presents an overview o f the whole thesis

1/1 Background to the study

1.1.1 Current teaching and learning writing at Lang Son college of education (LCE)

Lang Son ju n io r high school o f education became Lang Son college o f education in 1997 and E nglish department is the youngest department in the college It came into being in

1995 when English became the m ajor foreign language taught in a ll ju n io r secondary school (JSS) instead o f Russian Since then the demand on school teachers o f English has been growing in many parts o f the country Consequently, nearly a ll ju n io r secondary schools in Lang Son lacked language teachers To meet this need in 1995 Lang Son College o f Education established a Bachelor o f English program, w hich aimed

at training m ajor students to become teachers o f E nglish fo r the ju n io r secondary schools o f Lang Son province, providing students w ith a basic knowledge o f English and developing students fo u r com m unicative language skills as w ell as their pedagogical skills

A ccording to the "E nglish Language Training Program" document released by the

M in is try o f Education and T raining (М О ЕТ), there are different syllabi and the

d istrib u tio n o f class contact hours fo r each syllabus on the requirem ent o f the year

LCE (Appendix 1)

Table 1: The allocated time to different subjects in English Language Training

Program for major students at LCE.

English

(period)

Listeningskill(period)

Readingskill(period)

Writingskill(period)

Grammar(period)

Phonetics(period)

Lexis(period)

Translation(period)

Methcolog，

(perio

From the fram ework it is clear that w ritin g s k ill is one part o f the English program and it

needs to be developed as equally as other skills W ritin g subject is a com pulsory subject

fo r E nglish m ajor students Students need w ritin g skills in their learning and teaching

process A t LCE w ritin g is taught through 3 years w ith the total o f classroom contact o f

168 hours However, teaching and learning w ritin g in our college have been a problem

Students are reluctant to learn w ritin g They are afraid o f w ritin g , they make a lo t o f

mistakes when they w rite so they often get bad marks A lthough they are English m ajor

students, they cannot w rite a text properly and they meet d iffic u ltie s when teaching

w ritin g sections at JSSs Teachers fin d d iffic u lt to teach w ritin g effectively And

fo llo w ing s are the reasons:

A ccording to Brown (1995), the language teaching circle consists o f these stages: firs t

based on needs analysis goals and objectives are identified, then on the basis o f goals

and objectives syllabus guidelines are made N ext, the syllabus w ill decide m aterial

needed fo r teaching and the last step is teaching It is clear that w ithout syllabus

guidelines, teachers meet d iffic u ltie s in id e n tifyin g the aims and objectives o f the

course as w ell as selecting appropriate materials fo r teaching and there is a mismatch

between the teaching and goals and objectives o f the course In LC E teaching w ritin g

has the same problem In our college there is no textbook chosen fo r w ritin g Teachers

o f w ritin g are permitted to com pile materials fo r th e ir teaching W ithout a syllabus

teachers identified vaguely the objectives o f the course They taught w ith the b e lie f that

good grammar and good vocabulary could make good w ritin g , thus the materials chosen

as w e ll as theư teaching used to be focused on gram m atical structures and vocabulary,

w ritin g sentences and rew riting sentences As a result, our students have quite good

grammar and vocabulary, they can w rite sim ple sentences and transform the sentences

quite w e ll, but they are not successfully in w ritin g especially in w ritin g a text in

English This is understandable because according to Pincas (1982 B) M good w ritin g

does not fo llo w autom atically from good grammar and adequate vocabulary Good

w ritin g depends on a set o f specific w ritin g s k ills " These specific skills are using

cohesive devices, arranging ideas, developing the ideas, w ritin g a paragraph, w ritin g a com position

Therefore, there is a need o f a sound w ritin g syllabus to help teachers to teach more effectively and to help students to improve their w ritin g skills to fu lfill the aim and objectives o f the course and the requirements o f th e ir teaching jo b when the new English textbook fo r ju n io r secondary school is introduced

1.1.2 The new English textbook for junior secondary school

A s stated in 1.1.1，the aim o f the English language training program fo r m ajor students

at LCE is to train teachers o f E nglish fo r ju n io r secondary schools, so this program has close relation to E nglish teaching at school Therefore, the training program has to serve the teaching aims and objectives o f the school curriculum

From the academic year 2002-2003, the M in iste r o f Education and Training implemented the new E nglish textbook fo r JSSs through out the country from grade 6 to grade 9 A ccording to MThe Guidelines For The A pplication O f The New English Textbook For JSS,? the new E nglish textbook w ith the new content has in turn set up new requirements fo r teachers o f English at JSSs, producing reciprocal effect on the English language training program o f LCE

Content changes in the new textbook require much the use o f fo u r skills The old English textbook focused on the gramm atical system and vocabulary and it was sequenced by structural system from simple to com plicated Thus, English teaching

m ainly focused on teaching lin g u istic knowledge rather than language skills

T ra d itio n a lly, students at schools used w ritin g only fo r doing gram m atical exercises and

w ritin g answers to the reading questions However, the new textbook focuses on developing the 4 language s k ills such as listening, speaking, reading and w ritin g from the beginning Teaching language skills are frequently taught in com bination w ith pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and language functions These four skills under the spừal principles are integrated through classroom activities and closely related to unit topics For the higher grades (grade 8 and 9) 4 skills are separated as speaking section, listening section, reading section and w ritin g section W ritin g tasks o f w ritin g sections are organized and sequenced from easy to d iffic u lt, related to the topic o f the unit The content o f w ritin g sections during fo u r grades is described as follow s:

In grade 6 and 7 students do sim ple w ritin g tasks fo r example: complete the dialogue,

w rite answers to the listen in g tasks, complete sentences, w rite a dialogue, w rite an

in vita tio n , a postcard, w rite sentences about themselves

In grade 8 and 9，four s k ills are separated, however, they are s till related to the topic o f each unit Now teachers have to help students to complete more m eaningful, practical tasks such as: w ritin g fo rm a l and inform al letters, w ritin g a notice, w ritin g instructions,

w ritin g an argument, w ritin g a speech, w ritin g a story

I t is clear that to help students to accomplish these w ritin g tasks, the teachers at JSSs should have not only sentence b u ild in g skills but also higher w ritin g skills

In sum, there are tw o reasons fo r the need o f developing a w ritin g syllabus fo r the second year E nglish m ajor students at LCE First, w ritin g syllabus w ill help teachers o f

w ritin g to teach w ritin g subject more effectively and help students to im prove their

w ritin g skills to accom plish the aim and objectives o f the course Second, the adoption

o f a new English textbook fo r JSSs imposes new teaching requirements Teachers must use the four language s k ills , especially w ritin g skills in the new context o f teaching Therefore, an appropriate w ritin g course is tru ly necessary fo r E nglish m ajor students at LCE

Responding to the above needs, this study intends to design a w ritin g syllabus fo r second year E nglish m ajor students at LCE The syllabus designed w ill be based on the theory o f w ritin g , the analysis o f the needs o f the E nglish m ajor students at LCE and teachers at JSSs and the jo b requirements made by new E nglish textbooks fo r JSSs

H opefully, the syllabus proposed in this study w ill make a sm all contribution to English teaching and learning at LC E in general and in w ritin g section in particular

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims at designing a w ritin g syllabus fo r second year E nglish m ajor students

at LCE The specific objectives o f this thesis are:

1 To conduct a need analysis in order to investigate the target needs and learning needs

o f the students

2 To propose a w ritin g syllabus fo r second year English m ajor students at LCE based on the needs identified

The specific questions o f the thesis are:

1 W hat are the students’ target needs and learning needs?

2 How should a w ritin g syllabus be designed according to the needs identified?

1.3 Scope of the study

The focus o f the study is on designing a w ritin g syllabus fo r second year English m ajor students at LCE It is lim ite d to the development o f a w ritin g syllabus fram ework which should be considered as general guidelines on what to be learned, how these should be learned, m onitored and assessed to achieve the course aims and objectives The fram ew ork w ould form the criteria fo r m aterial selection and assessment on students' language skills

1.4 Significance of the study

The study has significant im plications fo r teaching and learning w ritin g at LCE W ith this syllabus teachers w ill be able to id e n tify the goals and objectives o f the course more clearly and select the materials appropriately As a result, the teaching w ill be more

1.5 Organization of the thesis

The thesis is organized in 5 m ajor chapters including introduction and conclusion:

significance o f the thesis and thesis organization

C h a p te r 2, Literature Review, presents the theory o f w ritin g skills in language learning and language syllabus design

C h a p te r 3, M ethodology, presents the methodology employed in the study including the investigation o f the target needs and learning needs o f the target students through interview , document analysis and survey questionnaires.

C h a p te r 4，Results and Discussion, presents the results o f the study w ith discussion and the findings o f the study

C h a p te r 5，A Proposed Syllabus and Conclusion, proposes a w ritin g syllabus fo r second year E nglish m ajor students at LCE w ith some recommendations, assessment, m aterial selection and principles fo r designing w ritin g techniques and conclusion o f the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 presents the theory o f w ritin g skills in language teaching including w ritin g skills, types o f w ritin g and d ifficu ltie s in learning w ritin g It also discusses theory o f course design w ith approaches to course design, approaches to syllabus and need analysis

2.1 Writing in English

2.1.1 The role of writing in the language teaching and learning

W ritin g plays an im portant role in language learning and teaching A ccording to D o ff(1988)，w ritin g helps students to learn so it must be taught from the beginning Learners need w ritin g to copy letters, words, sentences, grammatical structures and then they need w ritin g fo r more complicated activities Learners use w ritin g to take note o f the lessons, w rite answers to the reading passage, to the listening tasks, doing exercises and

w ritin g exam ination Brown (2001) states that trends in the teaching o f w ritin g in ESL and other foreign languages have coincided w ith those o f the teaching other skills It is clear that w ritin g is one part o f the process o f learning a language It helps develop other skills

A ccording to Byrne (1988)，w ritin g we do regularly w ill relate to our ’professional life 1 Professional life here means our life Teachers use w ritin g as means o f teaching They use w ritin g to w rite words when presenting new vocabulary, to w rite grammatical structures to present new languages to students W ithout w ritin g , this would be more

d iffic u lt fo r teacher to explain to students M oreover, teachers need w ritin g fo r their own profession They use w ritin g to w rite th e ir lesson plans, w rite reports and so forth Especially, in the new context o f teaching language teachers have to use w ritin g to teach w ritin g sections, therefore, teachers should develop w ritin g skills properly to accom plish th e ir teaching jo b

W ritin g , in p articular fo r students at Lang Son College o f education (LC E ) plays very

im portant role in theừ learning and teaching process They need w ritin g skills to learn and teach th e ir students at JSSs A fte r theư graduation from the college they w ill be

teach 4 sk ills : speaking, reading, listening and w ritin g instead o f only reading andgramm atical structures as before.

s kills need revising and practicing in the process o f w ritin g The students really need to develop higher w ritin g s k ills - com position w ritin g skills or ’ macro- skills 1 To have a clear cut o f com position w ritin g skills, we need to know clearly these aspects: what is a composition? and w hat s k ills does com position involve?

A ccording to E nglish ֊ E nglish dictionary, com position is a short piece o f non - fictio n a l

w ritin g done as a school or college exercise, an essay Pincas (1982 B: 45) states that com position is discussed in relation to paragraph building and essay planning In this thesis, the term o f com position and essay is used interchangeable

Oshima and Hogue (1997: 6) have more concrete d e fin itio n o f com position or essay They state that

"An essay is a piece of writing that has more than one paragraph It is

divided into three parts: a beginning, a middle and an end The beginning is

called the introduction, the middle is called the body and the end is called

the conclusion The introduction and the conclusion are usually one

paragraph each The body may have from one to an unlimited number of

paragraphs"

* What do composing skills involve?

A ccording to U r (1996)，Pincas (1982) and Davies (2000) composing s k ills involve these sub-skills such as: using paragraphs, gathering inform ation and ideas relevant to the topics and discarding what is not relevant, organizing the inform ation and ideas into

a lo g ica l sequence, structuring the sequence into sections and paragraphs, expressing the inform ation and ideas in a w ritten draft and editing the draft and w ritin g out a fin a l text

These composing s k ills are necessary fo r a ll form al w ritin g such as form al letters, academic assignments or articles and business reports A lso according to Davies (2000)

to progress in the w ritin g skills, intermediate learners need the same kinds o f practice as young native speakers They need to w rite plenty o f good descriptive, narrative and discursive w ritin g and develop these higher level skills W ith the aims and objectives mentioned in 1.1.1 it is clear that the second year English m ajor students at LC E need

to develop these skills

Understanding the role o f w ritin g in teaching and learning a language is p articularly useful in the selection o f w ritin g activities fo r developing students’ w ritin g s k ills in a syllabus However, it is im portant fo r deciding content o f w ritin g activities to be aware

o f types o f w ritte n language

2.1.3 Types of written language

As discussed in 2.1.2 composing w ritin g skills are v ita l skills in the process o f development w ritin g competence o f a good w riter There is a diversity in classification

o f types o f w ritin g A ccording to C ollins (1998), w ritin g can be divided into tw o broad categories: narrative (fic tio n ) and non-narrative (n on-fiction) N arrative may be set in the present, in another tim e, in this country or another place The main purpose o f narrative w ritin g is to entertain the reader Non narrative w ritin g unlike narrative is not

ju s t to entertain and is w ritten fo r different purposes and fo r d iffe re nt audiences Perera (1984) classifies w ritin g in a rather different way She employs the terms ’chronological’ and ’non-chronological’ In other word, w ritin g can either be structured and organized

w ith reference to tim e or not Chronological defined as w ritin g organized in terms o f sequence o f news fo r examples: directions to a particular place, a recount o f a day visit,

a recipe N on-chronological w ritin g is defined as w ritin g organized w ithout reference to

argument Brow n (2001) states that there are hundreds o f diffe re nt types o f w ritten texts.

He classifies the w ritin g in to three m ain groups as 1) N on-fiction: report, editorials, essays and articles, reference; 2) F ictio n : novels, short stories, jokes, drama, poetry, letters, greeting cards, diaries, journals, memos, messages, announcements, newspaper and 3) Academ ic w ritin g : short answer test responses, reports, essay and papers, thesis and books, form s, applications, questionnaires, labels, signs, recipes, b ills , maps, manuals, menus, schedules, advertisements, invitations, directories and com ic strips, cartoons

There is tru ly a d ive rsity o f types o f w ritte n texts It seems to be im possible to grasp a ll these types o f w ritin g , in particular fo r the learners o f EFL Hence, this literature w ill be the base fo r teachers to select the most appropriate and practical types fo r their language content in th e ir teaching process

2.1-4 Writing tasks or writing activities

W ritin g tasks are used to im prove w ritin g sk ills As stated in 2.1.2 there are two main

w ritin g skills They are basic w ritin g s k ills or m icro-skills and composing w ritin g skills

or m acro-skills In accordance w ith these tw o kinds o f w ritin g skills, experts such as

D o ff (1988) and Cross (1991) classify tw o types o f w ritin g tasks: they are controlled

w ritin g tasks and guided w ritin g tasks

According to D o ff (1988) and Cross (1991) w ritin g is controlled when the outline is usually predictable C ontrolled w ritin g activities develop students’ w ritin g accuracy in language usage These activities include gap fillin g , reordering words, substitution, correcting the fact and dictation

Guided w ritin g includes any w ritin g fo r w hich students are given assistance such as

m odel to fo llo w , a plan or outline to expand, a partly w ritten version w ith indications o f how to complete it There are some m ain types o f guided w ritin g activities They are giving a short text as a model, brainstorm ing, jo ttin g down any useful words and expression and asking and answering questions

Pincas (1982 A ) suggests another types o f w ritin g It is free w ritin g A ccording to her, in free w ritin g students are presented w ith a topic and then free to w rite as they please Free w ritin g much concerns w ith w ritin g composing skills A ccording to Brown (2001)，

w ritin g composing closely is related to process w ritin g They are pre- w ritin g , drafting

and revising and free w ritin g According to Brown (2001: 348)，pre- w ritin g stage encourages the generation o f ideas w hich can do w ith many activities: reading a passage, skim m ing and or scanning a passage, conducting some outside research, brainstorm ing, lis tin g , clustering, discussing a topic or questions and probes, free

w ritin g

In the drafting and revising stages, there are a number o f activities: getting started (started w ritin g ), optim al m onitoring o f one's w ritin g (w ithout premature editing and attention to w ording, grammar), peer review ing fo r content, using the teacher’s feedback

The revising stage involves these common activities such as: editing fo r grammatical errors, read aloud techniques and proof reading

W ritin g com posing is viewed as an im portant and com plex process It takes tim e, patience and trained instruction To help the learners develop this w ritin g s k ill, it is necessary fo r the teacher, researcher, designer to be aware o f the d iffic u ltie s in w ritin g language as w e ll as d iffic u ltie s in learning w ritin g o f E FL learners

2.1.5 The difficulties in learning writing

2.1.5.1 Why writing is so difficult?

Learning to w rite coherently and appropriately is something many people never succeed

in th e ir firs t language In foreign language learning w ritin g is not an easy s k ill to acquire W hy w ritin g is so d iffic u lt? There are several reasons, however, firs t o f a ll Byrne (1988)，U r (1990)，Harm er (1991)，Hedge (2001) and Brown (2001) point out that

it is the differences between speaking and w ritin g that make it more d iffic u lt than other skills

In speaking, speakers have a great range o f possibilities to exchange th e ir ideas F irstly, Harm er (1991: 50) states that people could use a whole range o f facial expression, gestures and general body to help convey the message They can vary the pitch and intonation in th e ir voice to convey their attitude to what they are saying whether they are angry or they are interested in it Besides, they can use stress to emphasize things they consider most im portant They can rephrase what they said to make it clearer or they can speak up or slow down in response they get from listener W ritin g on the other hand is

solitary a c tiv ity The w rite r has to w rite on th e ir own w ithout the interaction or the benefit o f feedback These factors make the act o f w ritin g d iffic u lt.

Secondly, in oral language the words vanish as soon as people have said them A ny gram m atical mistakes the speakers make are lik e ly to disappear before most o f the listeners have had tim e to comment Furthermore, they can say the same thing in various ways and they often change the subject o f what they are saying in m id- sentence This is considerable norm al and acceptable behavior except in form al situation And the need

fo r accuracy is the most im portant between w ritin g and speaking In w ritin g , a com position or a paragraph is usually not acceptable w ith mistakes and half- finished sentences It w ould be judged by native speakers because w ritin g is always expected to

be 'correct1, H arm er (1991: 53) states ’’from the point o f view o f language teaching, there is often fa r greater pressure o f w ritten accuracy than there is fo r accuracy in speaking'1 It is this point that makes the learners feel reluctant and lazy to w rite They have the feeling o f being afraid o f m aking mistakes, losing face and getting bad result

on paper o f exam ination It is obvious that i f you speak incorrectly, the mistakes w ill go away after the speaking but i f you w rite something w ith mistakes, they w ill remain forever on the paper

F in a lly, the learner w rite r also suffers from the disadvantage o f not getting im m ediate feedback from the reader and sometimes getting no feedback at all For this reason, he/she is not sure about what way to choose fo r his/her w ritin g presentation Moreover, the nature o f w ritin g its e lf is also a problem o f unpleasant experience as Byrne's explanation (1988: 4)

"W riting, on the other hand, is essentially a solitary activity and the fact

that we are required to write on our own, without the possibility of

interaction or the benefit o f feedback in itself make the act of writing

2.1.5.2 Difficulties in learning writing

First, the difference between speaking and w ritin g as shown above suggests that there is

a need fo r coherent organization and logical thought in w ritin g And this is one o f the points that makes w ritin g much more d iffic u lt than speaking Coherent organization is the way how sentences relate to sentences and paragraphs to paragraphs in order to exem plify a p o in t made It is often an obstacle to the w rite r especially the ESL learners who have been affected by the m other tongue

Besides general d iffic u ltie s mentioned above E FL learners have other d iffic u ltie s in

w ritin g E nglish especially in w ritin g a text in English As Byrne (1988) shows that " fo r foreign students one very sig n ifica n t factor w hich affects their w ritin g is the amount o f language is lim ite d " Because o f the language lim ita tio n E FL students seem to be impossible to produce any m eaningful form o f w ritin g practice A lso due to this lim ita tio n , they have d iffic u ltie s in expressing their ideas The way o f expressing ideas they use in th e ir firs t language has actually affected the structure they use

F in a lly, a large num ber o f E nglish language students do not know how to generate ideas and arrange these ideas to make a m eaningful piece o f paper M any students often avoid

w ritin g because o f th e ir feelings o f having nothing to w rite as Reynolds said:

'Other people dislike w riting because they feel they have nothing to write

about When the writers make an assignment, they sit at their desks

wondering what they are going to say in the composition Those feelings

are not unusual Even professional writers sometimes find it d ifficu lt to

express themselves in w riting" (Reynolds, 1993: 5)

In sum, in this section the researcher has reviewed the role o f w ritin g skills in the process o f language learning and teaching, the w ritin g s k ills w hich are necessary fo r learners o f E nglish, types o f w ritte n language, w ritin g activities as w e ll as d iffic u ltie s in

w ritin g in general and challenges in w ritin g in English fo r E FL students in particular

A ll this literature w ill serve as a base fo r researcher to fin d out students’ needs in order

to design a sound w ritin g syllabus fo r English m ajor students at LCE in this study

2.2 Approaches to course design

Course design according to Hutchinson & Waters (1987) is the process by w hich the raw data about a learning need is analyzed in order to produce a series o f teaching and learning procedures whose ultim ate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state o f knowledge In practical term this entails the use o f theoretical and em pirical inform ation available to produce a syllabus including to select, adapt, or w rite m aterials in accordance w ith the syllabus, to develop a m ethodology as w ell as to establish evaluation procedures by w hich progress toward the specified goals w ill be measured

There are many d iffe re n t approaches to course design However, Hutchinson & Waters

id e n tify three m ain types: language- centered, skills- centered and learning centered

2.2.1 Language- centered course design

This is the sim plest kind o f course design process and is the one most fa m ilia r to

E nglish teachers The language- centered course design aims to draw as direct a connection as possible between the analysis o f the target situation and the content o f the course In association w ith language centered approach, product- oriented syllabus such

as gram m atical, situational and notional/functional syllabuses have been created The best aspect o f this approach is that it identifies the lin g u istic features o f the target situation to design a syllabus It designs materials in use in the classroom Besides, it establishes evaluation o f the syllabus items However, Hutchinson & Waters (1987: 67)

p o in t out some o f its weaknesses

F irs tly , although it starts from the learners and their need, in fact, the learner is sim ply used as means o f id e n tify in g the target situation, as a way o f locating the restricted area The learner plays no fu rth e r part in the process

Secondly, as the language -centered approach focuses on the lin g u istic features o f the target situation, it is static and in fle x ib le , w hich does not consider much o f the conflicts and contradictions that exist in any human endeavor But any procedure must have fle x ib ility , feedback channels and error tolerance b u ilt in so that it can respond to unsuspected or developing influence

T h ird ly , the language - centered analysis o f target situation data is only at the surface level It shows very little the competence w hich is the basic o f the performance

2.2.2 Skills- centered course design

The s k ills - centered approach has been w idely applied in many countries It is founded

on tw o fundam ental principles, one theoretical, the other pragmatic It aims to get away from the surface performance data and look at the competence underlying the performance Therefore, the skills- centered approach w ill present its learning objectives

in term o f both perform ance and competence (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 69) I t has

tw o m ain advantages: Its aim is not to provide a specific range o f lin g u istic knowledge but to make the learners into better processor o f inform ation A ccording to H utchinson and Waters (1987: 70) the role o f need analysis in a skills centered approach is tw o fo ld

F irs tly , it provides a basic fo r discovering the underlying competence that enables to perform in the target situation Secondly, it enables the course designer to discover the potential knowledge and abilities that the learners bring to the classroom

A lthough the s k ills - centered approach takes the learners more into account than the language - centered approach, it regards learner as a user o f language rather than as a learner o f language and the processes it is concerned w ith are the processes o f language use not o f language learning Hence, there is a need o f more adequate approach

Learning is seen as a process in wmch learners use what knowledge or skills they have

in order to make sense o f the new inform ation

Learning is an internal process w hich is m ainly dependent on the knowledge o f the learners, their a b ility and their m otivation to use it Learning is not ju s t a mental process

It is a process o f negotiation between individuals and society (Hutchinson & W aters, 1987: 72) This approach offers a more fle xib le process o f designing a language program In this approach the researchers analyze the target situation ca re fu lly, considering the learners’ background, interest, a b ility and m otivation and other relevant factors o f the learning process such as d iffic u ltie s , methodology and activities Hutchinson & W aters (1987: 73) fin d the strong points o f this approach is that the learner is taken in to account at every stage This has tw o im plications

F irs t，course design is a negotiated process There is no single factor w hich has an

o utright determ ining influence on the content o f the course The learning situation and

the target situation w ill both influence the nature o f the syllabus, m aterials, methodology and evaluation procedures.

Second, course design is a dynamic process Needs and resources vary w ith tim e The course design, therefore needs to have b u ilt- in feedback channels to enable the course

to respond the developments

In association w ith the learning ֊ centered approach, process- oriented syllabi have been created These syllabuses emphasize the classroom context and the learners’ contribution to the learning process

To sum up, we have had a look at three approaches to course design w ith each own strong and weak points Under the lig h t o f election in language syllabus design, the com bination o f three approaches: language- centered approach, skills- centered approach and learning- centered approach w ill be applied fo r designing the w ritin g syllabus fo r the second year m ajor students at LCE

2.3 Approaches to syllabus design

A ccording to the above approaches to course design, some m ajor types o f syllabus have been created In this section, the concept o f syllabus and its types under the syllabus approaches w ill be viewed in order to fin d out the most suitable one(s)

2.3.1 What is a syllabus?

The researchers provide us a clear cut distin ctio n between curriculum development and syllabus design T ra d itio n a lly, syllabus design is a subsidiary component o f curriculum design A lle n (1984: 61) and Nunan (1988) agree w ith the point that ”curriculum is a very general concept which involves consideration o f the whole com plex philosophical,

program Syllabus refers to that subpart o f curriculum which is concerned w ith a specification o f what units w ill be taught”

Richard (2001: 2) distinguishes syllabus design from curriculum

development as follow s:

"Curriculum development focuses on determining what knowledge, skills

and values students learn in school, what experiences should be provided to

bring about intended outcomes and how teaching and learning in schools or

educational system can be planned, measured and evaluated"

"Syllabus is a specification of the content of a course o f instruction and list

what will be taught and tested"

It is clear that syllabus is seen as one part o f curriculum w ith more details focusing on the selection o f content, objectives and sequence In other word, the curriculum is the base fo r developing a number o f specific sylla b i that are concerned w ith a loca lly defined audience w hich have particular needs and interm ediate objective

There are a number views on d e finitio n o f syllabus its e lf from broad to concrete Yalden (1984) and Breen (1984) have a rather broad point o f view A ccording to Yalden (1984: 14)，the syllabus replaces the concept o f 'method ’ and syllabus is now seen as an instrum ent by w hich the teacher w ith the help o f the syllabus designer can achieve a degree o t lit between the needs and aims o f the learner and the activities w hich w ill take place in the classroom Breen (1984: 49) proposes that any syllabus w ill express however, ind ire ctly certain assumptions about language, about the psychological process

o f learning and about the pedagogic and social processes w ith in a classroom

Other researchers have a narrower view o f syllabus and they share the same opinion that syllabus consists o f content and activities W iddowson (1984: 26) defines" the syllabus

is a frame w ork w ith in w hich activities can be carried out; a teaching device to facilitate learning" and Nunan (1988: 6) states that a syllabus is a statement o f content w hich is use as the basis fo r planning courses o f various kinds and that the task o f the syllabus designer is to select and grade this content

A lthough there have been a number o f definitions o f syllabus from the broad to the narrow views Selection and grading o f content is regarded the most im portant component in syllabus design The com bination o f the three approaches chosen above proposes syllabuses that emphasize the classroom context, activities and the learner’ s contribution from the start o f the learning process For these reasons, the researcher is interested in the view that the selection o f content, the selection o f learning tasks and activities are combined in the syllabus However, it is necessary to be aware o f syllabus approaches and types o f syllabi fo r any syllabus designer A discussion on the syllabus approaches and types o f syllabus is presented in the fo llo w in g section

2.3.2 Types of syllabi

Approaches to syllabus are certain crite ria on w hich syllabus design bases A ccording to Nunan (1988: 27)，there are tw o m ain approaches They are: product- oriented syllabuses and process- oriented syllabuses Product syllabuses are those in w hich the focus is on the knowledge and s k ills the learners should gain as a result o f instruction Process syllabuses are those w hich focus on the learning experiences themselves Under the lig h t o f these approaches, other researchers: K rahnke (1987)，H utchinson and Waters (1987)，Brown (1995) classify other types o f syllabuses They are structural, notional/ functional, situational, topical, s k ill- based and task- based syllabuses Concerning w ith the scope and the selection o f the proposed syllabus, the researcher only mentions here some types o f syllabuses:

2.3.2.1 The topical syllabuses

According to Brown (1995: 9) topical syllabuses are sim ila r to situational syllabuses However, they are organized by topics or themes, rather than situations The topics are selected by the textbook author on the basis o f his or her sense o f the im portance o f the topics or themes to the lives o f the target students The topics are often sequenced on the basis o f their perceived im portance or on the basis o f the relative d iffic u lty o f the reading passages The m ain advantage o f this syllabus is that ’’ the value o f topic lies in the provision o f m eaningful and relevant content to stim ulate m otivation and lead to opportunities fo r m eaningful discussion” (R onal，1988: 6) This kin d o f syllabus can be good fo r com m unication, however, it usually needs to be com bined w ith other syllabus types

2 3 2 2 Skill- based syllabus

A ccording to Brown (1995: 11) skille d - based syllabus focus on sk ills The author o f this type o f syllabus organizes m aterials around the language or academic s k ills that he

or she thinks the students w ill need in order to use and continue to learn the language The selection o f skills is based on the author’ s perception o f th e ir usefulness w hile th e ir sequencing is usually based on some sense o f the chronology, frequency or usefulness

o f the skills

S k ill- based syllabus is most useful when learners need to master specific types o f language uses, either exclusive or as part o f broader competency Relevance to student-

fe lt needs or wants is an advantages o f the s k ill- based syllabus, because learners who know what they need to do w ith the language generally show great acceptance o f instruction that is clearly directed toward their goals However, under the right circumstances the s k ill- based syllabus has few drawbacks One theoretical question is the degree to w hich a b ility to perform specific tasks in a language is dependent or independent o f overall language proficiency According to Krahnke (1981:54) ’’teaching specific skills also addresses general language proficiency, however, the more specialized and narrow ly defined the instruction, the more u n like ly it is to enhance overall proficiency" The second drawback is that s k ill - based syllabus is too lim ite d in scope to program students fo r particular kinds o f behavior or isolate them from achievements and am bitions that the competences do not prepare them for

2.3.2.3 The task - based syllabus

The task - based syllabus is relatively new It is m ainly based on w ork by Krahnke (1981) Candlin (1981), Johnson (1982) and Brown (1995) A ccording to Brown (1995) task - based syllabus organized materials around different types o f tasks that students

m ight be required to perform in the language These tasks m ight be making appointment, reading ads, and fillin g out a jo b application

Tasks can be selected according to the student’s cognitive and lin g u istic readiness fo r particular tasks, their need fo r the particular discourse or interactional type and

a va ila b ility o f resources fo r carrying out the tasks Sequence o f tasks should fo llo w some o f the criteria fo r selection such as shorter and sim pler tasks should be before longer or more complex ones; tasks requiring known inform ation should come before tasks ca lling fo r new inform ation and tasks calling fo r existing a b ility to process inform ation should proceed those requiring new types o f cognitive processing

A number o f researchers favor task- based syllabus because o f its positive characteristics Krahnke (1987: 61) claim s ’’Task ֊ based instruction is potentially very pow erful and w idely applicable’, It is suitable fo r learners o f a ll ages and backgrounds

It addresses the crucial problem in language teaching, the transfer problem d ire ctly by using active and real tasks as learning activities

Task - based learning can be very effe ctive when the learners are engaged in relatively sim ila r out o f class activities It can also be valuable fo r learners who have a clear and

im m ediate need to use the language fo r w e ll - defined purpose On the other hand, there are some problem s in using task - based sylla b i The problem is in im plem enting the instruction Problems can arise w ith teachers or the students Task - based learning requires a high level o f cre a tivity and in itia tiv e on the part o f the teacher Second, task - based learning requires resources beyond the text - books and related m aterials Thus, when the language is being taught outside the culture where it is used, task - based instruction can be d iffic u lt to im plem ent F in a lly , task - based learning is not what many students expect and want from a language class, they may object to this type o f instruction Besides, evaluation o f task - based learning can be d iffic u lt

To sum up, we have reviewed some m ain types o f sylla b i Each type o f syllabuses has its own advantages and disadvantages To m inim ize the lim ita tio n s o f the syllabus developed and to m axim ize its e fficie n cy, the author, therefore, intends to adopt a m ixed type w hich incorporates some elements o f the d iffe re n t syllabus types

w ill serve as the basis fo r developing a curriculum that w ill meet the learning needs o f a particular group o f students O ther researchers, fo r example, Berwich (1989)，B rindley(1989), M ountford (1981), W iddowson (1978) (quoted by Robinson, 1991) have discussed the d iffe re n t meanings o f needs F irst, needs can refer to students' study or jo b requirements that is what they have to be able to do at the end o f their language course Second, needs can mean what the user- instru ction or society regards as necessary or desirable to be learned from a program o f language instruction T hird, needs mean what the learner needs to do to actually acquire the language Fourth, needs can mean what the students themselves w ould lik e to gain fro m the language course, such personal needs may be devalued as ' wants or desire' F in a lly , needs can mean lack, that is what the students do not know or cannot do in English.

Im plem enting needs analysis plays a very im portant role in syllabus designing process Brown (1995), R ichard (2001) insist that inform ation collected from needs analysis w ill serve as the basis fo r developing a curriculum Needs analysis in language teaching may

be used fo r a num ber o f d iffe re n t purposes such as: to fin d out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role; to help determine i f an existing course adequately addresses the needs o f potential students; to determine w hich students from a group are m ost in need o f training in p articular language skills; to id e n tify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do; to collect inform ation about a particular problem learners are experiencing

Careful needs analysis is a must fo r any syllabus designer To conduct a sound needs analysis, the designer should have a clear cut perception about what inform ation should

be collected fo r needs analysis

2.4.2 Information for the needs analysis

As stated in 2.4.1 there have been several approaches to needs analysis proposed by researchers in current literature and different inform ation must be collected However, in this study Hutchinson and Waters' perspective on needs analysis is taken into account

A ccording to them, a careful needs analysis should involve 'target needs’ and 'learning needs’ (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987) Target needs are ide n tifie d in term o f necessities, lacks and wants 'Necessities’ is a type o f need determined by the demands o f the target situation, that is what the learner has to know in order to function effectively in the target situation (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987: 55) ’Lacks’ are the gaps between what the learner has already known and what the learner wants to achieve at the end o f the course We need to know what the learner knows already to decide the things the learner lacks For example, learner needs to read E nglish literature texts, whether the learner needs instructions in doing this w ill depend on how w ell they can do it already

’W ants' are learner’s awareness o f needs w hich is a matter o f perception Wants are subjective needs The learners have views as to what th e ir needs are Learners may have

a clear idea o f the necessities o f the target situation They w ill certainly have views as to

th e ir lacks However, it is possible that the learners' views w ill c o n flict w ith the perceptions o f other interested parties: course designer, sponsors and teachers Therefore, besides the target needs, learning needs should be considered Learning needs are what the learner needs to do in order to learn’ (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987: 60) They use the analogy o f the course as a journey in w hich 'lack* is regarded as the starting point, ' necessities’ as the destination and ' how we are going to get from the starting point to destination’ indicates learning needs The learners’ m otivation in the study, their social cultural background, their d iffic u ltie s in learning, are therefore parts

o f the learners' condition o f language learning the syllabus designer needs to analyze Hutchinson and Waters provide a checklist w hich can serve as a fram ework fo r analyzing these tw o kinds o f needs as fo llo w :

• W hy is the language needed?

• H ow w ill the language be used?

• W hat w ill the content areas be?

•W ho w ill the learner use the language w ith?

• Where w ill the language be used?

• W ho are the learners?

• W hy are the learners taking the course?

•H ow do the learners learn?

• W hat resources are available?

• W here and when w ill the course take place?

In short, in this study needs analysis fo r designing a w ritin g a syllabus fo r the second year m ajor students at LC E is looked under Hutchinson and Waters' perspectives including target needs and learning needs The inform ation should be collected is about the aims and objectives o f the tra in in g course fo r E nglish m ajor students, the teaching

jo b requirements, the students' purpose o f taking the w ritin g course, the students' level

o f w ritin g a b ility before taking the course so that students’ lacks can be found The inform ation about students’ wants, th e ir educational background in learning the w ritin g

s k ills are to be sought out

Summary

Chapter 2 has discussed the relevant literature w hich has helped form the theoretical and conceptual fram ew ork fo r designing a w ritin g syllabus The basic theoretical views were presented in fo u r sections relating to w ritin g , approaches to course design, approaches to syllabus and needs analysis The firs t section deals w ith theoretical views on the role o f

w ritin g in language teaching and learning, w ritin g skills, types o f w ritten language,

w ritin g activities and the d iffic u ltie s in learning w ritin g The second section presents approaches to course design The th ird section states approaches to syllabus design The last section in chapter 2 deals w ith need analysis, the starting point fo r planning any course, the core o f the designing w ork It is about the d e fin itio n o f needs analysis and the im portance o f im plem enting a needs analysis and approaches to need analysis

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the m ethodology o f the study It consists o f three sections: the subjects, the data collection instruments and the data collection procedures The firs t section presents the description o f the subjects involving in the study The second section presents the data collection instruments used to get inform ation in the study The

th ird section describes the procedures o f data collection

3.1 Description of the subjects

The subjects in the study were students o f L C E ，teachers at JSSs A description o f each

o f these is presented below

3.1.1 The students (teacher trainees)

The firs t subject group consists o f 30 second year m ajor students at LCE: 1 male and 29 females, aged from 19 to 24 M ost o f them are m ino rity ethnics (25 students), only 5 o f them are K in h They are in the same class A t the tim e o f gathering data fo r the present study, these students nearly finished the second term o f the firs t school year and had studied 5 subjects: general English, reading, w ritin g , listening and phonetics at pre- interm ediate level covering 450 periods o f w orking in the class They are chosen to be the subject o f the study because the study aims at designing a w ritin g syllabus fo r them

3.1.2 The school teachers

A group o f 20 school teachers are selected from 5 JSSs around Lang Son c ity : V inh Trai, Hoang Van Thu, Le Q ui Don, Chi Lang, Cao Loc w ith 18 females and 2 males aged from 26 to 30 These school teachers are chosen because they are ex- students o f Lang Son college o f education and now they are teaching English at JSSs and they are the teachers who use the new English textbooks fo r teaching at school

3.2 Data collection instruments

According to Brow n (1995)，there are a number o f data collection instruments They are existing inform ation, tests, observation, interview s, meetings and questionnaires Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages Based on the purpose o f the study, the context o f the study, the researcher chooses tw o types o f instruments: document analysis, and questionnaires

3.2.1 Document analysis

Tw o kinds o f documents, the "English Language Training Program11 (Appendix 1) fo r

m ajor students at LC E and the "G uidelines fo r A pplication o f the New English Textbook

fo r JSSs" (see A ppendix 2) were analyzed The firs t was analyzed to collect inform ation

on the students1 target needs: objectives o f the training program, the students’ entry

w ritin g level o f proficiency and the students’ e x it level o f proficiency The analysis o f the later provided inform ation on the syllabus including the aims and objectives o f the English program at JSSs from w hich the requirements fo r teachers at JSSs where students w ill w ork in the future such as required background knowledge, skills and teaching method, especially w ritin g skills students need to perform the teaching tasks in the classroom at JSSs are identified

The inform ation o f the firs t document about the objectives o f the training program as

w e ll as the students' level o f proficiency w ill be compared w ith the requirements fo r teachers at JSSs in order to fin d out any gaps between the objectives o f training program and the jo b requirem ents, from w hich some negotiations w ill be made

3.2.2 Questionnaires

Questionnaires were used to collect data fo r the study There were two questionnaires Questionnaire 1 was fo r target students and Questionnaừe 2 was designed fo r ex­students who now are teachers at JSSs

Questionnaire 1 (A ppendix 3) was used to collect inform ation about students’ target needs (their wants and lacks) and their learning needs There are 10 questions in questionnaire 1 Questions from 1 to 5 and question 10 investigate students’ learning needs w hich focus on students’ background, th e ir entry level o f proficiency, their

importance o f w ritin g s k ills Questions 6 to 10 investigate students' target needs including the students' assessment o f the im portance o f the w ritin g s k ills , the problems they have w ith the s k ills and th e ir wants o f the w ritin g s k ills im provem ent.

Questionnaire 2 is fo r teachers at JSSs (A ppendix 4) Questionnaire 2 consists o f 5 questions focusing on teachers’ points o f view on the rank o f the w ritin g subject in th e ir teaching jo b , the w ritin g s k ills they need when teaching w ritin g section, as w e ll as sorts

o f w ritten language they need when teaching w ritin g at school and w ritin g topics covered in th e ir present teaching jo b

3.3 Data collection procedures

First ，tw o documents analysis were carried out in January to co lle ct info rm a tio n about target needs and learning needs Tw o documents, the " E nglish Language T raining Program O f L C E M fo r E nglish m ajor students at LC E and the ” Guidelines fo r

A pplication o f the N ew E nglish Textbook fo r JSSs" were analyzed to id e n tify students' target needs

Second, Questionnaire 1 fo r target students was carried out in the classroom to collect inform ation about students’ target needs and learning needs inclu d in g the students’ lacks and wants, th e ir learning needs such as th e ir d iffic u ltie s , th e ir m otivation and th e ir preference to topics Tim e allow ed to fin is h the questionnaire was 20 m inutes and this questionnaire was provided w ith Vietnamese version, the students were given explanation whenever they d id not understand the ideas

t inally, Questionnaire 2 fo r teachers at JSSs was done to co lle ct info rm a tio n about the teaching situation: the im portance o f the w ritin g s k ills in the process o f teaching the language, the frequency o f using w ritin g sk ills , w ritin g a ctivitie s needed in teaching

E nglish at schools, as w e ll as th e ir opinions about the m atch o f the topics covered in

E nglish program at LC E and topics in the E nglish program at JSSs The researcher phoned and made an appointm ent w ith one teacher o f E nglish o f each school and in person went there The participants were given questionnaire in E nglish and the researcher was there to explain any item s w hich were not clear to them Tim e fo r this

w ork lasted fo r 5 days

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.

The results collected and discussion are presented in tw o sections (1) target needs and (2) learning needs

4.1 Target needs

4.1.1 Results from document analysis

4.1.1.1 Results from the first document analysis “English Language Training Program o f LC E’

A ccording to the ’’E nglish Language Training Program" promulgated by М О ЕТ, the general objectives o f the training program are to provide English m ajor students w ith the basic E nglish language knowledge and skills to be able to give English lessons in the future

The authorities o f our college assumed that m ajor students have passed the English program at H ig h school so th e ir entry level o f proficiency is elementary and the e xit level o f p ro ficie n cy must be at upper- interm ediate and the focus o f the training program

is m ainly on developing students' language skills starting w ith elementary level to upper- interm ediate level

The firs t year students have 60 periods o f w ritin g class contact Thus based on required tim e and subjects, it can be objectively concluded that the second year m ajor students who this study refers to is now at pre- interm ediate level It means the students’ entry level is pre- interm ediate and the e x it level at the end o f the second year must be at interm ediate level

However, this conclusion is s till an assumption It may be a b it d iffe re nt from the fact Thus, this info rm a tio n w ill be compared w ith the self- assessment o f the students about

th e ir level o f proficiency in questionnaire 1 to have more reliable assessment o f the students' entry level o f proficiency (Appendix 5 )

4.1.1.2 Results from the second document analysis ” Guidelines For Application of the New English Textbook For JSSsM

A ccording to the guidelines on the new E nglish curriculum fo r JSSs, English program at JSSs generally aims at helping pupils form and develop a basic English knowledge and skills so that they w ill be able to continue studying or to do their jobs Its objectives are after fin ish in g JSSs, school pupils are supposed to be able:

•To understand the fundam ental o f the E nglish system that is suitable w ith the pupils’ age

• To use 4 s k ills as a means o f com m unication

•To know more about the cu ltu ral background o f E nglish speaking countries

•To form language s k ills and develop thought These skills w ill help pupils promote language a b ility in both m other tongue and foreign language

In order to achieve these aims and objectives the new English textbooks fo r JSSs is designed w ith some new points, in wm ch the points on language skills, themes and teaching m ethodology are the ones that should be taken into consideration U nlike the old E nglish textbooks, w hich tra d itio n a lly focused on providing pupils w ith English structures and gram m atical item s, the new one particularly focuses on the use o f the language, the equal development o f fo u r language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and w ritin g rig h t from the beginning Teachers o f English now are required to use w ritin g not only to present new words, gram m atical structures or do reading and

w ritin g tasks but more im portantly, teachers use w ritin g skills to teach w ritin g sections

in the textbook to help students to accom plish m eaningful w ritin g tasks such as: w ritin g letters, an argum ent, a description, a notice, a story and w ritin g about o p in ion

It is clear that to fu lfill the teaching tasks, only sentence w ritin g skills are not enough, English m ajor students need to develop a com position w ritin g skills They must have upper- interm ediate level o f p roficiency In comparison w ith the entry level o f the students, it is objectively concluded that they must gain intermediate level and then upper- interm ediate level o f pro ficie n cy and composing w ritin g skills are really necessary fo r them

4.1.2 Results from Questionnaire 1

Questionnaire 1 was designed fo r target students at LC E to get inform ation about students’ lack and wants 3 questions were designed to collect this inform ation (Questions 6- 8，A ppendix ЗА ) These questions aim ed to id e n tify the im portance o f

w ritin g skills from the points o f view o f students and the frequency o f th e ir problem

w ith the skills they have and the w ritin g s k ills they w ant to develop

Table 2 summarizes the students' assessment o f the im portance o f the s k ills in learning

w ritin g First, a sig n ifica n t m a jo rity o f the subjects (96,7- 100 %) considered structuring sentences very im portant fo r them It is understandable because w ritin g sentences is the firs t basic w ritin g s k ill Com ing next are w ritin g paragraphs and topics such as: developing ideas, expressing ideas appropriately, addressing topics and organizing paragraph However, o n ly more than 50 % o f the subjects considered evaluating and revising their w ritin g im portant It seems that they m ay not use these s k ills very often

Table 2 : The importance o f the skills for students.

C om pleting w ritte n tasks w ith in the tim e available

15 / 50 %

Table 3 presents the info rm a tio n about frequency o f problem s students have w ith the skills The data reflected that students have problem s w ith both basic w ritin g s k ills and composing skills w ith high percentages (79-100 % ) It can be seen from the table that they have more problem s w ith m acro- s k ills such as: developing ideas, expressing ideas,

organizing paragraph than micro-skills like structuring sentences, using correct

punctuation

Table 3: The frequency o f problem students have with the skills.

Completing written tasks

w ithin the time available

Table 4 shows the types o f w ritin g students want to develop As can be seen from the table, many students want to w rite a com position and w ritin g paragraphs, w ritin g about opinion (69,3% - 82,5% ), w ritin g coherent argument (59,4% ) and w ritin g report (50%)

w hile only 39,6% o f the students want to develop w ritin g a poem, a story or songs and 33,5% o f them want to w rite case study This is understandable because w ritin g composing is necessary fo r them in learning and teaching job They w rite topics in their

w ritten exam inations and they have to teach students at JSSs w ritin g sections which need good w ritin g com position sk ills W ritin g a poem, story or song is not popular fo r them because it is a d iffic u lt type o f w ritin g and it is not relevant to them W ritin g case study

is unpopular fo r them too because at LCE students s till are not accustomed to research work

Table 4: The types o f writing students want to develop

percentage

The results from Tables 2,3,4 show clea rly that target students at LC E need to revise the basic w ritin g skills and p a rticu la rly, they need to develop a com position w ritin g skills lik e developing ideas, arranging ideas, organizing paragraphs In term o f wants, target students would lik e to develop these types o f w ritin g lik e w ritin g a com position, paragraphs, w ritin g about opinion and w ritin g argum ent to f u lfill th e ir learning and teaching tasks

4.2 Learning needs

This section provides the info rm a tio n about target students' learning needs concerning

th e ir educational background, theừ m otivation, the knowledge they have had, th e ir self- perceived d iffic u ltie s as w e ll as theư preference o f the topics The in fo rm a tio n about students teaching situations related to the im portance o f w ritin g s k ills in th e ir teaching job, the w ritin g skills teachers at JSSs need when teaching w ritin g sections, types o f

w ritin g they do when delivering w ritin g sections and the topics covered in E nglish program at JSSs The info rm a tio n w ill be collected and compared Based on this inform ation, the context o f the course w ill be selected appropriately to specified students and this inform ation can help to give the strategies that fa cilita te the im plem entation o f the syllabus

4.2.1 Results from students' questionnaire

As presented in 3.1.2, questions 1 to 5，questions 9，10 in questionnaire 1 were designed

m otivation to learn w ritin g , their self- perceived d iffic u ltie s in w ritin g English, their preference o f w ritin g activities and topics to w rite about as w ell as their opportunities o f language exposure The inform ation is presented as follow s:

4.2.1.1 Students' educational background

Table 5: Students’ educational background

2 Students' num ber o f years o f

studying E nglish before college

Table 6: Students' self evaluation on their level o f writing

w hile 34 % o f the students were s till at elementary level It is obvious that there is a difference between the assumed assessment o f the college authorities stated in 4.1.1.1 Therefore, this factor should be considered in designing a w ritin g syllabus later