Improving 10 graders writing with guided writing practice an action research

With the hope to improve the 10 graders’ writing skill at Pham Hong Thai High School PHT High School, the research aimed to find out the causes o f the students’ poor writing, difficulti

M IN ISTR Y OF EDU CATIO N AND TRA IN IN G

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULILLMENT

OF REQUREMENTS OF THE DEGREEE

OF M.A IN TESOL

SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN NGUYET MINH, M.A

Hanoi, October 2009

TABLE OF CONTENT

A B S T R A C T VI

L IST O F A B B R E V IA T IO N S V II

L IST O F T A B L E S V III

L IS T O F F IG U R E S V III

L IS T O F G R A P H S V III

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

1.1 B ackground to the stu d y a n d statem ent of the pro blem 1

1.2 A im of the s t u d y 5

1.3 S cope of the s t u d y 5

1.4 S ignificance of the s t u d y 5

1.5 A n overview of the s t u d y 5

C H A P T E R 2: L IT E R A T U R E R E V I E W 7

2.1 A pproaches writing teaching in second languag e c l a ssr o o m 7

2.1.1 The p ro d u ct a p p ro a ch 7

2.1.2 The p ro c e ss a p p ro a c h 8

2.1.3 The gen re a p p ro a ch 10

2.1.4 C om paring the w ritin g a p p ro a c h e s 12

2.2 G uided w r it in g p r a c t ic e in s e c o n d la n g u a g e c l a s s r o o m 13

2.2.1 What is g u id ed w ritin g p r a c tic e ? 13

2.2.2 Why to use g u id ed w ritin g p r a c tic e ? 14

2.2.3 How> to use g u id ed w ritin g p ra ctice in high sch o o ls? 15

2.2.3.1 Guided writing e x e r c is e s 16

2.2.3.2 The role o f the teacher in guided writing p ractice 17

2.2.3.3 The role o f group work in guided writing practice 18

2.2.3.4 Sequences to teach guided writing practice 18

2.4 S u m m a r y 19

C H A P T E R 3: T H E M E T H O D O L O G Y 21

3.1 T he research m eth o d s 21

3.1.1 A ction resea rc h 21

3.1.2 A ction research p ro c e d u re 23

3.1.2.1 Identify problem (w eeks 1 - 2 ) 23

3.1.2.2 C ollecting initial data (w eeks 3 -4 ) 23

3.1.2.3 A nalyzing data / generating hypotheses (w eek 5 ) 23

3.1.2.4 Planning action (w eek 6 ) 24

3.1.2.5 Implementing action (w eeks 7 - 1 2 ) 24

3.1.2.6 C ollecting data to monitor change (w eeks 7 -1 2 ) 24

3.1.2.7 Evaluating students' improvement after the intervention (w eek s 13-15)25 3.2 D ata collection in st r u m e n t s 25

3.2.1 Q uestionnaire s u r v e y 25

3.2.1.1 Rationale behind the use o f questionnaire s u r v e y 25

3.2.1.2 Questionnaire 1 to collect pre-data (Appendix A ) 26

3.2.1.3 Questionnaire 2 to collect post-data (Appendix B ) 26

3.2.2 C lassroom o b se rv a tio n 27

3.2.2.1 Rationale behind the use o f classroom observation 27

3.2.2.2 Observation sheet (Appendix C) 27

3.2.3 Teaching d ia ry 28

3.2.3.1 Rationale behind keeping teaching diary 28

3.2.3.2 Description o f teaching diary (Appendix D ) 28

3.2.4 Document analysis 29

3.2.4.1 Rationale behind the use o f writing papers 29

3.2.4.2 A nalysis o f writing p ap ers 29

3.3 T he participan ts 30

3.3.1 The obsei-vers 30

3.3.2 The researcher 30

3.4 S u m m a r y 30

C H A PT E R 4: T H E R E S U L T S 31

4.1 I nitial data from teaching diary a n d Q uestio nnaire 1 (A ppendix A ) 31

4.1.1 Students ’ attitude tow ard learning writing (Data from leaching d a ily and Questionnaire 1 ) 31

4.1.2 How students learned writing and what problem s they had 32

4.1.2.1 Data collected from teaching dairy 32

4.1.2.2 Data collected from Questionnaire 1 33

4.1.3 Students po o r writing (Data from teaching dairy and Questionnaire 1 ) 34

4.1.4 Students 'preferences f o r w ritingpractice (Data from Questionnaire 1 ) 35

4.1.4.1 Working in g ro u p s 35

4.1.4.2 Teacher’s h elp 36

4.1.5 Sum m ary 36

4.2 P lanning action s t e p s 37

4.2.1 Preparation 37

4.2.1.1 Guided writing lesson plans 37

4.2.1.2 Checking the classroom ’s equipment and fa cilities 38

4.2.2 Group -work 38

4.2.2.1 Grouping and physical se ttin g 38

4.2.2.2 R ole o f group work in guided writing le sso n s 39

4.2.3 Teacher's giving su p p o rt 39

4.3 D ata collected in the action s t a g e 40

4.3.1 Data collected from teaching d ia r y 40

4.3.2 Data collected from Questionnaire 2 42

4.3.3 Data collected from observation s h e e t 45

4.3.4 Data collected from writing p a pers ’ analysis (writing papers 1 -5 ) 51

4.4 A ction research evaluation 57

4.4.1 Evaluation o f classroom observa tio n 57

4.4.2 Evaluation o f writing p a p ers analysis (writing papers 1-5) 58

4.4.3 Data collected from Questionnaires 1 & 2 60

4.4.4 Summary o f major fin din gs 62

C H A P T E R 5: C O N C L U S I O N 64

5.1 A sum m ary of A R 64

5.2 R eco m m en datio n s 65

5.3 L imitations a n d suggestions for further r e se a r c h 67

R E F E R E N C E S 69

A P P E N D IX A: Q U E S T IO N N A IR E 1 (P R E -D A T A ) 73

APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE 2 (POST DATA) 79

APPENDIX C: OBSERVATION SHEET 85

APPENDIX D: TEACHING DIARY 86

APPENDIX E: GUIDED WRITING LESSON PLAN 1 87

APPENDIX F: GUIDED WRITING LESSON PLAN 2 91

APPENDIX G: GUIDED WRITING LESSON PLAN 3 94

APPENDIX H: RATERS’ CHECKLIST 1 97

APPENDIX I: RATERS’ CHECKLIST 2 98

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 1 99

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 2 100

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 3 101

I would like to express my gratefulness to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Nguyet Minh, (M.A) for the enthusiastic guidance she gave me while I was doing this thesis I am thankful to her ideas, suggestions, instructions, deep comments, and constant support Without this, I could not have been completed my research

I am also deeply grateful to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha, (M.A) from the Department

o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi University for her helpful advice and support

Many special thanks are sent to all the lectures and organizers o f the M.A course

With the hope to improve the 10 graders’ writing skill at Pham Hong Thai High School (PHT High School), the research aimed to find out the causes o f the students’ poor writing, difficulties they faced with writing lessons, and what could be done to help them To find the answer to the above questions, an action research w^as carried out The steps o f the action were carefully considered and adjusted to the real teaching situation The subjects o f the research were 21 students chosen from class 10D2 at PHT High School A combination o f research instruments (teaching diaries, questionnaires, observations and documents analysis) was employed to elicit the data The analysis o f the pre-data showed that most o f the students had positive attitude toward learning English and writing; however, they found the skill difficult Many students did not feel confident when they moved into independent writing The results o f the writing papers in the previous term revealed their weakness in organization, coherence, vocabulary, spelling and mechanics Obviously, further guidance should have been provided before the students could write independently It was then hypothesized that if the students had guided writing before they moved to independent writing, their writing would improve An action research plan adapted from the theory on guided writing practice to help students improve their writing was implemented for five weeks After that, the post-data were collected and analyzed The evaluation o f the action research proved that after the implementation o f guided writing lessons, the students’ writing improved and their confidence was enhanced, too The results o f the study confirmed that guided writing practice is helpful in teaching 10th graders’ writing and it should

be applied in teaching writing in general

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL English as Foreign Language

PHT Pham Hong Thai High SchoolMOET Ministry o f Education and TrainingOHP Overhead projector

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2 a: Students’ attitude towards learning writing before the 42

teaching implementation

Table 2 b: Teacher’s guidance during the guided writing practice 43Table 2 c: Effectiveness o f the guided writing practice 44

Table 4: Students’ attitude towards learning writing before and after the 61

teaching implementation

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 2: Writing Papers in Category o f Organization & Coherence 59Graph 3: Writing Papers in Category o f Grammar & Mechanics 59

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study and statement of the problem

For some students in the EFL classroom writing seems to come naturally and with ease, for some it is a struggle The latter happens more often when the writing lessons are conducted with insufficient writing instructions

Many years ago, most Vietnamese teachers applied product approach to teach writing In the writing task, there was only one teacher’s instruction, for example,

‘‘Write a paragraph about your home town” There was no explanation about how

to do the task and what exactly the teacher wanted the students to write After the instruction, students were left to work on their own

The problems with the product approach were detected and gears o f research resulted in the process approach in writing, which classifies writing into a number o f activities: setting goals, generating ideas, organizing information, selecting appropriate language, making drafts, revising and editing (Hedge, 2000) In other words, the process approach has brought students with the strategies to write

Then came the genre-based or text-type approach with the insight into the nature

o f language that has shaped the school-writing syllabus When students learn a second language, they learn to communicate with other people Writing is a powerful instrument o f communication Therefore, in writing sections o f our second-language syllabus, teachers have tried to get students writing in a number

o f common everyday styles As Flowerdew (1993) points out the syllabus has a range o f kinds o f writing such as sales letters, research articles, and reports all linked with different situations

All these developments have, to some extent, affected the way writing is taught

in Vietnam

In the recent years, the new series o f textbooks, English 10, 11 and 12, have

brought about new changes to teaching and learning o f English in Vietnamese high schools However, many teachers and students o f my school, Pham Hong Thai (PHT) High School consider writing a difficult part in each unit The 10 graders in particular, find writing the most challenging language skill to learn

In the curriculum o f English 10 (see Table 1), there are 16 units with one writing

lesson per unit According to the curriculum o f the MOET, students who choose English, Maths and Literature as the main subjects have four English classes a week They have to spend three classes with the textbook and one optional class

to improve the four skills It means, the teacher can have one class to help students with writing a month

As can be seen in Table 1, a variety o f writing types is presented with the aim to help students become familiar with writing for different purposes The writing skill is often taught after reading, speaking, and listening During the writing lessons, the students do not only practice writing but also integrated skills such as reading, speaking and listening The students can use grammar, vocabulary and

ideas they gain from the previous lessons to write Students who finish English

10 are supposed to be able to write the text types like letter (Unit 4, 6, 8, 10, 11),

form (Unit 2), description (Unit 9, 13, 15, 16), instruction (Unit 5, 8), narrative (Unit 1), recount (Unit 3, 12), information report (Unit 14), discussion (Unit 7)

Each writing lesson, which lasts in 45 minutes, provides students with a model of

a specific writing type such as letters, simple descriptions, report information or narratives before doing the writing tasks by themselves The writing tasks are designed to help students understand the content, structure and vocabulary used

in each unit After finishing those tasks, students should be able to produce their text within a 100-120 word limit However, not all writing lessons provide a sample writing, which enables students to get started easily

T y pes o f w ritin g R e q u ire m e n ts

1 W riting a narrative Practice w riting a narrative by using given prompts

Use the sim ple past tense and connectors.

2. Filling in a form Practice filling in com m on form s such as enrolm ent form,

sim ple application form.

Use appropriate w ords and structures in the forms.

Practice w riting a sim ple a letter o f com plaint.

W rite a letter o f com plaint about the poor quality o f the service at an English Center.

5 W riting a set o f

instructions

Practice w riting sim ple instructions on how to use some household appliances U nderstand the verbs used in instructions.

6 W riting a

confirm ation letter

Practice w riting a confirm ation letter responding to a request and an invitation.

7 W riting about advanta^

Practice w riting a letter o f acceptance or refusal.

Be fam iliar with expressions used in a letter o f acceptance

or refusal.

G et to know some features o f a letter o f acceptance or refusal.

12 W riting a profile Practice w riting a profile based on prom pts provided Get

to know some features o f a profile.

Use appropriate tenses o f verbs w hen w riting a profile

13 D escribing a film Practice w riting a description o f film they have seen,

based on prompts.

14 W riting an

announcem ent

Practice w riting an announcem ent about a sports event.

Be fam iliar with a form at o f an announcem ent and the language used in it.

15 D escribing a city Practice describing a city o f the students’ choice, using the

structures and vocabulary they have learned in the lesson Get to know the ways o f organizing their inform ation

16 D escribing a chart Practice describing the inform ation presented in a chart,

using com parative structures and based on cues Get to know some features o f a chart description including the organization and the language use.

Be fam iliar with analyzing the chart bar and organizing ideas.

Table 1: The writing section of English 10

To teach writing to my students I applied the genre approach, more details of which will be provided in Chapter 2 First, I tried to do modelling writing to help the students understand the purpose, language features o f the model text then I followed my modelling with joint construction o f a new text, in which both teacher and students built a new text together We discussed vocabulary, grammar, organization o f the text and we both gathered information for the new text Finally, we moved to independent writing After that, my students handed in their writing.

In fact, after doing the writing exercises in the book, many students still find it difficult to start writing in the classroom and find it more difficult to perform well in their writing tests Not all the students could finish their piece o f writing

in class in fixed time Some encountered problems with task response, vocabulary and grammar used, cohesion, coherence and lost marks In other words, the students did not fully understood the organization o f a new type of writing, they were not aware o f the purpose o f the writing task, incapable of expressing ideas that they had as they did not have sufficient lexical and grammar resource and most o f them did not feel confident as they rarely practiced writing I needed to do something to support their writing development and I thought something was missing in my writing scaffolding

As the descriptions above indicate, guidance in the writing section o f the book and the teacher’s instruction is insufficient makes the writing lessons difficult and may contribute to the students’ poor writing Another reason for students’ poor writing was that the students did not have chance to practice writing in class because the teacher had to follow a very tight schedule strictly It was clear that the students needed writing practice, which could have provided them with chance to be exposed to the features o f the text as well as to share the things they gained from modelling to write their own papers All the reasons stated above made me think about applying guided writing practice in extra classes to help my students to improve their writing

In brief, the problems in teaching writing English 10 negatively appears to affect students’ writing and research must be carried out to find a solution.

1.2 Aim of the study

As discussed in the first section, there were some problems in fulfilling the writing tasks The purpose o f this study was to find out what the problem were and if guided writing practice improved students’ writing at Pham Hong Thai High School

1.3 Scope of the study

The research was carried out with 21 students who are studying in one grade 10

at PHT High School, and based on the analysis o f their writing papers It restricts the conclusion only to the given data, since the writing performance was conducted this population o f students only Furthermore, the outcomes o f the study may not apply to all situations upon which the students are dependent

1.4 Significance of the study

The findings o f the study will provide us with effective techniques to use in the writing process in order to ease the student’s problems in writing and make them find the writing lessons more meaningful and useful It is also necessary to study whether guided writing practice actually improves students’ writing ability and which o f the various guided writing activities are more effective with this cohort

1.5 An overview of the study

The study consist o f five chapters

Chapter 1, Introduction, provides the background to the study and statement o f the problem and aim o f the study with the research questions The scope, the significance o f the study and organization o f the rest o f the thesis are presented in this chapter as well

Chapter 2, Literature Review, discusses the literature related to different authors

o f teaching writing approaches, different definitions o f teaching guided writing activities and the process o f teaching guided writing activities in language classroom in high schools

Chapter 3, Methodology states the research questions, the data collection instrument, the research method, the subjects, the research procedures

Chapter 4, Data analysis and Discussion, analyses and discuss the data and the lists o f major findings o f the study

Chapter 5, Suggestions and Conclusions suggestions made based on the major findings and discussion in the previous chapter for a better improvement of students’ writing

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Approaches writing teaching in second language classroom

The teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing has undergone some major changes This chapter aims to present three most typical of them: product, process and genre and then this chapter will also discuss how to combine the approaches with genre features and activities to the teaching o f the 10lh graders’ writing

2.1.1 The product approach

The product approach was introduced and became popular in 1960s On this process, writing focuses on the structure of language The teacher provides the students with the form o f the text and imitation of input is the result of the writing development (Badger & White, 2000; Hyland, 2003 a)

Pincas (1982 b) sees writing as being mainly about linguistic knowledge, with attentively focused on the accordance with use o f vocabulary, syntax, and cohesive devices At first, the sentence-level accuracy is the focus and then the approach shifted to the writing paragraph elements Many teachers used product- based activities to develop students’s writing composition

Sharing the same opinion, Nunan (1991) and Richard (1992) describe that in the product approach, students are taught model texts and after that, they attempt various exercises; such as checking comprehension by completing sentences, or adding logical connections and finally, they would be able to produce similar texts based on their own information Thus producing different kinds of texts is

to prevent students from producing errors However, this idea is has received the first criticism because it affects students’ motivation and self-esteem (Simpson, 2007)

Another negative point o f the product approach is the ignorance o f the student’s actual processes while producing a piece of writing By imitating and producing

out a perfect product, the students use the same plan in an extremely large number of settings without the regardless of contents In fact, not many of them can create a perfect product on the first draft As White (1988), Jordan (1997), Escholz (1980) argue that the approach, without the nature o f sequence, provides the learners little or no insight into actual process leading them to the final product.

In short, for the disadvantages above, the product approach is not effective in preparing students to be the best writers

2.1.2 The process approach

In the mid-1970s, the process approach began to replace the product approach The situation is different in class where the process approach in writing is applied

Many different kinds of process approach to writing have developed They share some basic features (Hedge 1988, White and Arndt 1991) and pay much attention

to linguistic skills, such as planning and drafting, and less on linguistic knowledge, such as knowledge about grammar and text structure

The process to writing comes about as a result of examining how fluent writers compose a piece of writing Based on the information, the methodology is adjusted to help students gain the strategies needed to compose According to Tribble (1996), writing activities enable learners to move from the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the 'publication' o f a finished text

The writing process classifies writing into a number o f activities Textbook writers may label and classify differently but they refer to the same things In her

book Writing, Hedge (1988) classifies the writing process into the following sub­

process: prewriting, writing, rewriting and editing In the prewriting stage, a writer plans what to write, he or she will consider the following:

What is the purpose and who are the audience He or she is referring to the function of the text, which meant to give a report on something, forgiving explanation of procedure, for inviting or for refusing an invitation, for persuading somebody to agree with writer to take some action The purpose of the text will influence the organization and the choice of the language used in the text On the other hand, the audience affects the style of the text, whether it is friendly, formal, serious or tentative As the audience can be an individual, a group, or an institution It is can be a close friend a figure o f authority; an examiner This stage also includes generating ideas and organizing the ideas Students can generate ideas through various ways such as listing making mind maps, making word trees, etc Then they arrange ideas by mental note or making an elaborate outline It is important to pay attention to the flexible nature of the writing plan The writers do not have to stick to the plan.

In the writing and rewriting stage, the writers would select and structure the result of the brainstorming session to provide a plan o f the text They would make the first draft o f the writing This stage can be done by working individually or in groups During the process, the writers will stop, read the draft, look at how the text is developing, and if necessary revise the plans The writers may want to include new ideas, or change the present ideas

In the editing stage, the writers look at the overall structure o f the text and try to see how clearly they presented ideas, from the reader’s point of view In other words, where the previous stage is concerned with what to say, the editing stage

is concerned with how to say it effectively The writers also need to check the accuracy (grammar, punctuation) and make some final adjustments

In the process-focused classrooms, the teacher’s role is described as “a facilitator” (Richards, 1992: 111) It means the teacher helps the learners with writing strategies, providing them a variety o f activities that are believed to promote the development o f skill language used (Trzeciak and Mackay, 1994)

The teacher also observes and discusses with the learner on different questions during the writing process Therefore writing roles o f teachers and learners and patterns o f interactions between them will have to be constantly negotiated As Badger and White (2000) reinforce “Teachers draw out the leamers’s potential’.

The stage the writers go in the writing process does not follow a straight line Deng (2007) shows that in this approach, writing is not considered to be a simple

“straightforward process” with only one draft, but a complicated process The process consists o f a long way o f generating ideas, writing multiple drafts, interacting o f peers and teacher, revising and editing (Flower, 1989; Flower & Hayes, 1981;Zamel, 1983)

Actually, the advantage o f adopting the process approach is obvious, as it makes writing process a process o f discovery for students: discovery o f new ideas and new language form to express those ideas However, according to Badger and White (2000), the process approach has its own disadvantages because it provides writers the same set o f process for all kinds o f writing, and gives insufficient importance to the purpose and social context o f the piece o f writing

Nevertheless, the process approach is widely accepted by many teachers because

it allows their students to understand the steps involved in writing, and it recognizes that what learners bring to the writing classroom contributes to the development o f the writing skill

2.1.3 The genre approach

This is the third major approach, which is relatively new to ELT A genre is a kind o f writing; that arises within a particular culture; and is a product o f a culture (Collerson, 1988) To make meaning in social context, people use genres According to Callaghan and Rothery, “Genres are the ways people make meaning with one another in stages to achieve their purpose” (1993: 35)

The genre-based approach to the teaching of writing has developed out of an attempt to apply insight gained from Systemic Linguistic to education It thus draws heavily on the work of Halliday and others (Halliday, 1973, 1985; Halliday & Hasan, 1976) It is based on a functional model of language, which systematically describes the relationship between the context in which language occurs and the actual language used This model, through its theory of register and description of grammar and discourse, relates context o f culture and context

of situation to actual language used

The genre-based approach to teach writing is often referred to as the Curriculum Genre or the Curriculum Cycle Callaghan and Rothery (1993) define the Curriculum Genre as a cyclical process, which consists o f stages that teachers and students work through in order to learn to write a specific genre There are three main stages in the curriculum genre (Callaghan & Rothery, 1988; Martin, 1993; Cope & Kalantzis, 1993): modelling, joint construction o f text and independent construction of text

In the modelling stage, students analyze sample texts in order to become familiar with the purpose and features of the text The students look each stage that makes

up the schematic structure o f the genre and the function o f each stage

In the joint construction of text (negotiation o f text or shared writing), the teacher acts as scribe and construct a text with the students by asking pertinent questions related to the task at hand When students are clear about what is expected, the teacher moves into the writing phrase On other hand, the students get to negotiate with the teacher on the choice o f structure and language features This stage enables student to be exposed to the text constructed and what some o f the considerations are to get attention o f the reader

During the independent construction o f text (independent writing) students independently complete the tasks the teacher has shown the in the earlier stages

Students write their own text on a related topic on the models that had been given

or discussed During or after writing their first drafts, students consult with the teachers or their peers to get feedback on their writing Based on the feedback, students may revise their drafts to produce the final drafts Publishing is the last step, it is optional and does not have to be done each time students produce a piece of writing

It is argued that the most significant contribution of the genre-based approach to teach writing is the development of an explicit understanding o f the role of language in the educational context and linguistic description of the genres that students expected to learn It is the making the role o f language that makes the genre-based approach different from the product and process writing However, the “negative side” of the genre-based approach as Badger and White (2000) suggest is that it does not value the skills needed for a text and it makes the learners rather passive

In other words, the genre approach is based on the description o f linguistic data

on the conventions and procedure that are closely tied to a social purpose and the learners’ writing skills are improved consciously through analysis and imitation

2.1.4 Comparing the writing approaches

Comparing the three presented approaches classifies advantages and disadvantages The product approach focuses on linguistic knowledge about the texts, preventing the students from errors Similarly to the genre based-approach,

it sees writing as imitative process While the process approach provides students with the steps to contribute their writing development; however, it does not supply learners enough sufficient input, especially, in the area o f linguistic knowledge, to write successfully The strength of genre approach is that it acknowledges the writing which takes place in a social situation, it is a reflection

o f a particular purpose, and understands that learning can happen consciously through imitation and analysis

As explained in Chapter 1, the writing syllabus of high schools offers students chance to learn writing different text types of different purposes It is the reason why many language teachers choose and apply this genre approach to teach writing in school.

Badger and White (2000: 157) suggest “Adapting an approach has led to important developments in the writing classroom” The main issue here is that we are as teachers willing to try some thing that is new for us if we think it will be beneficial to our students This requires a lot from the teachers to understand the difficulties, which the students face to in writing to find out an appropriate approach to teach How can we meet the demand for better writing and improved test scores? What best practices will improve students’ writing?

The next section will discuss guided writing practice and the reasons for its using

to improve writing

2.2 Guided writing practice in second language classroom

Nowadays genre-based approach is extensively applied in teaching writing in schools To help students in the final stage independent writing, many teachers add one more stage between shared writing or joint construction o f text and independent writing This is called guided writing

2.2.1 What is guided writing practice?

Hill gives a clear definition about guided writing in her book Guiding Literacy

Learners:

Guided writing involves individuals or small groups of students

writing a range of text types The teacher may provide short

mini-lessons to demonstrate a particular aspect of text type,

grammar, punctuation or spelling Guided writing is linked to

reading and various text types are used as models Students may

use writing frames or templates as scaffold for writing (1999:

102).

According to Oczkus (2007), guided writing is a “middle piece'’, supported writing before releasing students to write independently This stage helps students to internalize many o f the process involve in creating a text After this stage, the writer is ready to construct his own text independently.

In other words, during guided writing stage, students apply the understandings they have gained from modelled and shared writing sessions, with explicit instruction and support from the teacher The students practise writing by exploring aspects o f the writing process, which have been demonstrated

In short, guided writing practice is a teaching component designed to teach a specific skill or strategy to the whole group, a small group, or individuals and to give children practice in the writing The children do the writing, but are supported as needed by a teacher who provides instruction through mini-lessons and conferences

2.2.2 Why to use guided writing practice?

Hornsby (2000), Ridsdale (2007) and Oczkus (2007) show that guided writing is useful for a range o f teaching purposes

On one hand, it enables the teacher to tailor the teaching to the needs o f the group

as well as it allows the teacher to observe and respond to the needs o f individuals This is because guided writing requires teachers to observe writing stages, challenge students lead them straight into the next developmental stage and provides specific teaching that helps them achieve goals they cannot reach alone

On the other hand, it brings benefits to students First, it helps students to consider audience, purpose, topic, selection o f text type when planning their writing Second, it enables writers to work on conventions such as spelling, punctuation, standard usage and handwriting Third, it also encourages students

to revise and edit their writing Fourth, it makes students more confident by

working in groups and finally guided writing allows students to get immediate feedback on success and further areas for improvement.

As mentioned in Chapter 1, there are some problems associated with the lack of

guidance in the writing section of English 10 such as lack o f ideas and

vocabulary as well as instructions and text organization patterns provided in the book, which leads to students’ poor writing Therefore, guided writing practice is beneficial for solving the above problem as it can provide sufficient guidance to improve students’ writing

As explained above guided writing is a part o f teaching writing and it links to small groups writing various text types This is the reason why guided writing fitted into the steps o f genre approach and suited for an overall scaffolded writing program that consists o f modelling, shared writing (joint construction o f text), guided writing and independent writing

2.2.3 How to use guided writing practice in high schools?

Although sufficient guided writing practice is essential for the teaching and learning o f writing at school, there is no study at present that has been done on improving 10 graders' writing with sufficient guided writing practice in Vietnam However, there are some foreign researchers conducted studies on guided writing, which have brought much practical benefit to improve student’s writing

The book Guided Writing: Practical Lessons, Powerful Results was written by

Lori D Oczkus in 2007 providing strategies for language teachers in order to support students in writing between carefully modeled group writing and their first “solo pieces”

Gibson (2008) conducted a study giving a description o f intra-individual change

in strategic behavior of five second-grade students during three months o f guided writing instruction for informational text During the guided writing lessons, students were supported linguistic resources: textual organization, degree o f

explicitness, and presentation of details through appropriate sentence structures Gibson noted that guided writing provides a context for teachers to know what individual students actually do when they write from one lesson to the next.

Targeting Text (2007) is a project on guided writing, which was carried out by a

collaboration o f the teachers of three primary schools in Australia The aim of the project was to improve the learners’ writing with guided writing in a balanced writing program The project was supported by Dr Jan Turbill o f the University

o f Wollongong The study provides a detailed discussion of guided writing along with a wide range o f teaching strategies (for examples: writing narratives, reports, recounts, expositions and procedures

In short, guided writing is applied at a variety of grade levels In guided writing practice the role of teacher, the group work and peer work and guided writing exercises are presented through guided writing activities

2.2.3.1 Guided writing exercises

In order to help students to improve their writing, some guided writing exercises can be used before students write their first draft

The types of guided writing exercises are various They can be sentence-writing, using suggested words, sentence writing based on the text, reported writing based

on the text, and paragraph writing based on the text Teachers can make suggested questions and students answer them The key answers will be written

on the blackboard Based on this students will build up an outline or a list o f key expressions Students then use this as basis for their group writing or independent writing

The source o f the exercises can be provided in textbooks and desinged by the teachers appropriately In a guided writing lesson, those exercises are mostly done in groups or pairs and they can also be helped by the teacher

In short, guided writing exercises are useful for the writers after they have mastered the basic skill of writing sentences and before moving to independent writing.

2.2.3.2 The role of the teacher in guided writing practice

The role o f the teacher to act as an expert to provide the necessary scaffolding cannot be discount This can be seen in every writing lessons This expert knowledge must be transferred to the students during the modeling stage As in this stage, the teacher presents the purpose, organization, textual features, model texts, guiding the students through analysis o f them To do it well, the teacher must know the genre well

Rothery (1985) found that implicit modeling is not enough to ensure that students will take up the genre under focus in their own writing In guided writing the teacher continuously provides support when the students work in groups, write or share their first draft until the students become confident enough to go about writing independently According to Derewianka, the teacher takes on “the role

of a guide who is able to demonstrate and discuss how a mature writer would construct a text from the offerings o f the students” (1991: 8)

The purpose of the teacher guidance is to provide assistance not to give answers

so the students can complete the tasks competently In other words, the students are able to do this because they have been guided through the process to achieve the task (Frawley & Lantolf, 1985)

It is apparent that guided writing practice emphasizes the role of the teacher in guiding the students to carry out tasks assigned to them; the teacher provides explicit instruction for the students to understand the stages o f writing, provides a lot o f support to the students until they become confident enough to go about writing independently

2.2.3.3 The role of group work in guided writing practice

Group work plays an important role in writing practice Vygosky (1978: 85) showed that “The difference between the child's developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the higher level o f potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” Throughout this stage, the students work

in groups of about four to six students Ideally, all the students should be given a chance to play the role of the teacher before moving in to the independent construction stage

The group work benefits the students in several ways It enables the students to try out what the teacher has shown them during the earlier stage and acts as stepping stone toward the independent stage Moreover, working in groups helps the teacher a chance to provide help for the students who are at the same level or need the same help from the teacher Besides, group work also increases interaction between learners as the students find working in groups less daunting than in front o f the whole class Finally, it makes the writing lessons more interesting as Nolasco & Arthur (1988: 17) state about the advantages of group work “learners are working simultaneously and, therefore, not only is language practice time greatly increased, but children are less likely to become bored or lose interest because they are actively involved”

It is cannot be denied the importance of group work in guided writing practice Working in groups means students have more opportunities to share their writing ideas, to be involved and be self-confident to take part in writing activities

2.2.3.4 Sequences to teach guided writing practice

Hornsby (2000) showed different ways that guided writing could be taught According to the researcher, a guided writing lesson may consist of one or two sections with the aim to support a small group of with specific writing skills The other can combine many sections First off all, the teacher helps broaden the

students' knowledge about the genre during the reading, and then build a text in that genre during shared writing Eventually, the students are guided to write by themselves a text in that genre The idea of David Hornsby is adapted for this study.

Guided writing practice can be applied in different levels at schools, but there are four basic steps to follow (Lewis, 1999; Gibbon, 2008)

Step 1 is planning the lesson, in this step the teacher groups students based on their needs o f support After that, he or she introduces the topic of writing which can be a new piece, or a continuation of work begun previously

Step 2 is when the teacher introduces a mini lesson In this step, the teacher has

to identify writing focus After that, there will be a brief modeling and shared experience o f strategic behavior for writing

In Step 3, the teacher encourages students to begin to write their first draft on the given topic When the students are writing, the teacher moves among them, giving assistance and guidance as required This time also provides opportunities

to extend students' thinking in the process of composing, recording and revising,

as well as giving them individual feedback

In the last step, the teacher asks students read their work to each other in small groups, using the rubric as a guideline for compliments and suggestions (Oczkus, 2007) However, the teacher can applied these stages flexibly in his or her teaching situations

2.4 Summary

In brief, writing is not easy It requires much from the writing teachers to improve their teaching regularly In order to bring better changes in teaching writing; many writing approaches have been applied Among them, product approach, process approach and genre approach are the most widely used Each

o f them has its own differences as presented above

In high schools, when introducing the genres or text types, many teachers attempt

to use the genre-based approach or its combination with the other approaches Each writing lesson is mainly focused on modeling, shared writing (joint construction of a new text) and independent writing

In short, improving writing skills needs practicing Especially, for those who still struggle to move from the things they gain from the writing lessons to be able to write independently, guided writing practice may be the answer

CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY

3.1 The research methods

3.1.1 Action research

Action Research (AR) will be used to achieve the objectives of the study Carr &

Kemmis (1986: 162) provides a classic definition:

Action research is simply a form o f 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

Kemmis & McTaggart define action research as “participatory, collaborative research which typically arises from the clarification o f some concerns generally shared by a group” (1988: 9)

O'Brien (2001) gives the most explicit definition According to him, action research is “learning by doing” It is a process in which research is done in practical context and situation After identifying a problem, a group o f people should do something to solve it, see the result o f their efforts, and if not satisfied, try again The aims o f action research to contribute both to the practical concerns

o f people in an immediate problematic situation and to further the goals of social science simultaneously

Kemmis has also developed a simple model o f the cyclical nature o f the typical action research process Each cycle has four steps: plan, act, observe, and reflect

Plan is aims to identify the problem and the plan of action must be developed

Kemmis & McTaggart also state that the general plan must be “flexible enough

to adapt” (1988:11) effects unexpected or previous constraints unrecognized

Action is the stage when plan is deliberately controlled In other word, the plan

is put in an action of careful and thoughtfully various ways of practice in certain period

Observation is a stage, which is needed as its function of documenting the

effects of the action and the data collected will be basis for the next stage

In the Reflection stage, the researcher evaluates the effect of the action and on

which the further cycles o f research will be based

Nunan (1990) shows that a classroom action research does not require the standard formalization o f a research project with a literature search, hypothesis testing, treatment conditions, etc Instead, he also designs seven basic steps to investigate a problem McBride & Schostask (2002), go into more details and offer a cycle of which is illustrated in the Figure 1

(1) identifying a focus of interest or a problem

(2) (jollydirig ddLd

(3) analyzing data/

generating hypotheses

7 '//

Figure 1: Action Research cycles

(Adapted from Somekh in McBride and Schostask (1989))

The AR process includes seven manageable steps This is chosen by many researchers as they may complete small projects within a single semester, while others require planning ahead or collecting data over several semesters (Mettetal, 2003).

In short, AR is selected for the research method because of its immediate practical benefit to teaching practice It affects teaching, allows the teacher to renew his or her classroom activities, and promotes teaching improvement in only a semester Moreover, AR has clear stages for researcher to follow (Isaac, 1995; Susman, 1983)

3.1.2 Action research procedure

3.1.2.1 Identify problem (weeks 1-2)

This step is very important To identify the problem the teacher often reflects what is happening (status quo) through observation-via video, audio, hash marks,

or whatever relevant means are available (Nunan, 1990) In this research, the problem was the poor result o f the student’s writing papers So the first research

question was What were the major causes o f the poor writing o f 10 graders at PHT School?

3.1.2.2 Collecting initial data (weeks 3-4)

Questionnaire 1 (Appendix A) and Teaching dairy 1 (Appendix D) were used to collect information about the students’ attitude toward writing, the teacher’s instruction and the students’ difficulties during task-performance in the lessons and in writing tests

3.1.2.3 Analyzing data / generating hypotheses (week 5)

The data collected in the previous steps were analyzed to form the hypothesis

The aim o f this stage is to answer the first question of the research: What were the major causes o f the poor writing o f 10 graders at PH T High School?

The data showed the main causes o f the problem concern insufficient guidance

provided in the writing lessons Therefore, it was hypothesized that Guided

writing practice would improve students ’ writing.

3.1.2.4 Planning action (week 6)

Based on the analyzing data, a plan o f action with guided writing practice was developed In this stage, the researcher designed a detailed plan o f what she intended to change In order to improve students writing effectively, the numbers

o f students participated in the implantation action was 21, half the size of the original class According to Hill (1999), guided writing mostly involves individuals or small groups o f students The reason for this will also be discussed

in teaching diary In this action-planning step, five lesson plans, five teaching diaries, five classroom observations and Questionnaire 2 (Appendix B) were prepared

3.1.2.5 Implementing action (weeks 7-12)

The action plan was applied in the lessons in chosen class During those lessons after the students and the teacher did modeling, some guided writing activities were added to help the students move to independent writing The selection of guided writing activities was conducted on the types o f writing and students’ need

3.1.2.6 Collecting data to monitor change (weeks 7-12)

In the period from week 7 to week 12, five guided writing lessons were conducted with the observation o f the English teachers of PHT High school and five teaching diaries were filled, too After week 12, Questionnaires 2 were administrated to collect information about the students’ attitude toward the writing practice section and the effectiveness of the guided writing practice

3.1.2.7 Evaluating students' improvement after the intervention (weeks

13-The suggested solution in the plan action will be evaluated by analyzing the data collected after five lessons: the results o f the post-tests, the students’ attitude toward writing after the implementation section and compare to the attitudes collected before The analysis will reflect how the students got involved in guided writing lessons and how their writing improved The evaluation answered

the second research question Could guided writing practice improve students ’

writing? Also from the findings o f the evaluation, some recommendations were

made

3.2 Data collection instruments

To find the answers to the research questions o f the study, the researcher collected information by using the following tools: questionnaire survey, teaching diary, classroom observation, and writing paper analyses

3.2.1 Questionnaire survey

3.2.1.1 Rationale behind the use of questionnaire survey

Questionnaires are devices for the researcher to gather information about people’s opinions According to Hannan (2007) by using questionnaires, the researchers can pursue their aim strictly, as the researchers can make a list of the things they want to question On the other hand, it is very easy to ask students or other teachers to tick the statements or questions provided, to indicate the ones with which they agree and how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement given Moreover, they can pose a question and give respondents space in which

to formulate their own replies Finally, questionnaires provide data amenable to quantification, either through the simple counting of boxes or through the content analysis o f written responses

In other words, researchers can use questionnaire to “measure many different kinds of characteristics" (Johnson & Christen 2000: 127).

The researcher used two questionnaires: Questionnaire 1 and Questionnaire 2 The main aim of which is to gather on changes in students’ attitude toward writing and their improvement on writing

3.2.1.2 Questionnaire 1 to collect pre-data (Appendix A)

The survey was carried out with one week before the commencement of the lessons Before the students completed the questionnaires, the researcher explained what the items meant The students were encouraged to raise any queries they had They did not need to provide their name in the questionnaires to secure confidentiality issue

The questionnaire 1 included seven main questions The aims of the questionnaire were to collect information on the students’ attitude toward learning writing (Question 1); the ways the students learnt writing before the implementation (Question 2-3); student’s difficulties they encountered while learning writing (Question 4-5); students’ preferences on activity organization (Question 6) and what students thought to be done to improve writing (Question 7) There were more detailed questions in each main question to ease the students

in answering The questionnaire was expected to be completed in about 20-25 minutes

3.2.1.3 Questionnaire 2 to collect post-data (Appendix B)

Questionnaire 2 was administered one day after the end o f the teaching session The questionnaire consists o f four main questions and the purpose of the questionnaire is to find out the students’ attitude toward writing after the teaching implementation (Question 1), the teacher’s guidance during the five guided writing lessons (Question 2-3) and the students’ opinions on the effectiveness of the guided writing practice (Question 4) There were more detailed questions in

each main question, too The students were given about 20 minutes to respond to the questionnaire.

3.2.2 Classroom observation

3.2.2.1 Rationale behind the use of classroom observation

Classroom observation is another way o f information collecting which will be used for this research Observation involves looking and recording what is observed The results of this process can be recorded and analyzed quantitatively

or qualitatively (Hayllar & Veal, 1996) Observational data is attractive as it affords the researcher the opportunity to gather “live’' data from “live'’ situations (Patton, 1990: 203) Therefore, choosing observations is suitable with the aim to describe the students' on-task performance and the teacher’s support more precisely

In order to carry out an observation the researcher should consider the following things: a site, points, time periods, continuous observation or spots counts, who and what to observe, designs of data recording sheets, observational conduction and analyses of the results However, if the approach is qualitative rather than quantitative the above things will not apply

Observation is an essential research method to help the teachers gain better understanding o f their teaching

3.2.2.2 Observation sheet (Appendix C)

The observation sheet was formed to probe students’ on-task performance in guided writing lessons The sheet was adapted the Guidelines for Directing Qualitative Observation (Johnson & Christen, 2000)

The main purpose of the observation is to give comments on students’ on-task performance of the four groups of students and the teacher’s giving support during the guided writing lessons Two non-participant observers would fill out

the sheet It meant each of them observed two groups The observation sheet started to be filled out when the students had been working in groups to build a new text together until they finished their writing As the observation was rather qualitative than quantitative it was continuous observation The result of the observation should be a set of notes The notes referred the following things: who

in each group were, what activities used, how students worked with each other in groups and how the teacher provided them support

The observation sheet was used five times in the five guided writing lessons to find out any changes in the students involvement in the writing process and whether guided writing sections entrance their participation and thus improve their writing

3.2.3 Teaching diary

3.2.3.1 Rationale behind keeping teaching diary

Teaching diary is used to record what happens in the classes and the thoughts o f teachers about them As Hayllar & Veal (1996) suggested that the diary should

be a record of what worked well and what did not For this reason, they are considered development tools

In teaching diary, the teacher not only makes notes about what happened but also about what she or he thinks o f the causes, suggests ideas about how to change the methods or necessary materials, and a short action plan In brief, keeping teaching diaries is a good way to collect data for this research

3.2.3.2 Description of teaching diary (Appendix D)

As presented above, to keep good teaching diaries the researcher should prepare lesson plans carefully, teaching materials, teaching techniques to manage the guided writing activities and at the same time the researcher should have effective classroom observation In the teaching diaries, the researcher reported the aims o f the guided writing lessons, the activities the students engaged in, the

organization of groups, the students’ interaction before and during practising writing Besides, the teaching diaries described the teacher’s role o f providing support to students to help them write independently The teaching diaries also reported the problems students encountered while they performed the writing tasks given by the teacher and reported the teacher’s solutions for the next teaching lessons.

There were six teaching dairies to keep in this research The first teaching diary was at initial stage; it reported the problems, the causes and suggested ideas about how to change the methods or necessary materials, and a short action plan The class would meet once a week and last in five weeks so there were five another teaching diaries at the post stage reported five guided writing lessons

3.2.4 Teaching diary

3.2.4.1 Rationale behind the use of writing papers

Writing papers can form a useful and important role in language learning According to Littlejohn & Hicks (2008), they can provide both the students and the teacher a clear picture o f how much the students have learned

Document analysis of students' writing papers is a useful way of information colleting in this research Analyses o f students’ writing papers were to find out the students’ problems and to compare the results o f each guided writing lessons From these analyses, the researcher could change the teaching method to improve the teaching

3.2.4.2 Analysis of writing papers

Five analyses of writing papers were carried out during the weeks of action plan implementation to find out if there was any improvement in the quality o f students’ writing After each o f the guided writing lesson, the researcher collected the students’ papers If any students could not hand in their papers at the end o f the lesson, they could do it on the following day The researcher and

another teacher working as the second rater assessed the writing papers using the checklists employed by the English teacher group (Appendix H & I) and gave feedback at the beginning of the next writing lesson.

3.3 The participants

The study was conducted with 21 students from class 10 m at PHT High School

All of them have learnt English as a compulsory subject for four years The students who were selected had good attitude toward learning English However, not all o f them were motivated in writing as they were faced with many difficulties in writing and need help to improve this skill

3.3.1 The observers

Four teachers of English, aged from 28 to 52 of PHT High School took part in the study as observers One o f them has MAs and the rest hold BA in English All o f them have taught English for at least 5 years and they all have taught

English 10 for at least of 2 years.

3.3.2 The researcher

The researcher has been teaching English for 15 years, however, she has been

teaching English 10 just for two years.

3.4 Summary

Action research was chosen to apply for this study o f because of it can help the researcher to identify the problem of their teaching situations In order to solve the problems some ideas were suggested and implemented, after that the evaluation o f the suggested solutions were drawn Action research was carried out with the help of the data collection-instruments such as observations, teaching diaries, questionnaires, and document analysis of writing papers

CHAPTER 4: THE RESULTS

4.1 Initial data from teaching diary and Questionnaire 1 (Appendix A)

After the three weeks of teaching writing, the teacher self-reported what happened in her lesson in her teaching diary

With the aims to find the main problems with the students’ writing to help them, Questionnaire 1 was also administered

The teacher decided to chose 21 students whose w'riting papers in the previous term were poor and voluntary to take part in the new teaching sessions Moreover, to consider the gender o f the students, the new class consisted of four boys and seventeen girls as the scale of the original class (eight boys and thirty four girls).Those students were chosen to answer Questionnaire 1

4.1.1 Students’ attitude toward learning writing (Data from teaching dairy and Questionnaire 1)

The analysis of teaching diary, showed that during the writing lessons most of the students paid attention to the lessons; and that they tried their best to fulfill the writing task, which the teacher assigned to them All o f the students submitted their writing papers either in class or at the beginning of the following lesson Most of students were voluntarily took part in the guided writing session The facts above showed that the students had very positive attitude towards learning

When answering Question 1 What is your attitude towards learning writing

English'? (Questionnaire 1), a large number of them (85.7%) said that they liked

learning English, sixteen students (76.2%) thought that they liked writing and thirteen students (61,9%) said they had been interested in learning writing However, a large number o f the students (95,2%) admitted that they were not confident when writing the text types they learned

In summary, almost all o f the students had good attitude toward leaning English

in general and to writing in particular All of these pointed to the fact that