Improving 11th graders’ writing skills through process oriented approach at truong thi high school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANING TRUONG THI HIGH SCHOOL - - INITIATIVES AND EXPERIENCE IMPROVING 11th GRADERS’ WRITING SKILLS THROUGH PROCESS-ORIENTED APPROACH AT TRUONG THI HIGH SCHOOL Author: Le Thi Thanh Huyen Position: Teacher of English Field: Foreign Language THANH HOA - 2022 TABLES OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS POA: Process-Oriented Approach INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Among the four skills in English lessons listening, speaking, reading and writing, writing remains the commonest way of examining student performance, especially for examinations In addition to that, Harmer (2004) most exams commonly depend on students’ writing ability to test their knowledge and proficiency in foreign languages or other skills [3] However, according to recent test results from the Educational Testing Service (ETS), writing has been the most problematic to Vietnamese test takers According to Don Murray (1972), “Teach writing as a process not product” [7] Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Van Van (2007), the approach to teaching writing in high schools is a combination of a number of approaches, in which the communicative and the process approaches play a dominant role However, most language teachers in high schools still adopt the product-oriented approaches in the writing class because the writing tasks in the textbook are presented on the base of controlled composition and the paragraph pattern approach [4] These product-oriented approaches, therefore, have been the dominant mode of instruction in high school writing classes, emphasizing students’ final pieces of work rather than the way how they are produced As a result, students’ quality of EFL writing is evaluated on the basis of the final product and grammatical and linguistic accuracy so students pay little attention to the whole process of writing and they know very little about writing strategies Therefore, what English writing teachers in high schools need to is to improve the quality of students’ pieces of writing, give them a more cooperative learning environment, and encourage them to share their written products with their peers Based on these reasons, I am interested in conducting a study on ‘Improving 11th graders’ writing skills through process-oriented approach at Truong Thi High school, applied for “Unit - Celebrations” in Tieng Anh 11 textbook” in order to develop and apply it in teaching writing skills With the hope that POA can improve the students’ motivation and writing results 1.2 Aims of the study To see how the process-oriented approach can improve the students’ writing competence of grade 11 students at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa 2.To get how effective the process-oriented approach can improve the writing skills of grade 11 students at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa 1.3 Research questions In order to investigate whether the process-oriented approach can improve the students’ writing competence and how effective are the process writing approach in helping grade 11 students in writing skills at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa We would make an effort to find out the answer to the following questions: How can process-oriented approach improve grade 11 students in writing performance at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa? How effective is process-oriented approach in helping grade 11 students at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa improve? 1.4 Participants This study is carried out with 60 students in grade 11 at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa They are permanently arranged in two separate classes so the teacher randomly chooses one for the control group and the other for the experimental one The same teacher will teach two groups with 30 students in the control group and 30 students in the experimental group 1.5 Methodology The researcher uses the experimental method to conduct this study To collect data, the researcher uses tests to evaluate students’ writing skills and questionnaires to get students’ evaluation of the writing process-oriented approach Questionnaires and pre-test and post-test are conducted as follows: 1.5.1 Pre- and post-test on English writing To measure the quality of the participants’ written texts before and after the research, the researcher has designed a pre-test and a post-test on English writing The test types selected for this study are popular kinds similar to writing tasks in the students’ book Tieng Anh 11 to those in which students are instructed, and those which are often used in the high school classroom context 1.5.2 Questionnaire on students’ evaluation of the writing processoriented approach The questionnaire is designed for the experimental group to investigate how students like the writing process-oriented approach, how useful strategies and how students manage strategies after the program 1.5.3 Scoring the pre-test and the post-test To score the pre-test and the post-test, the researcher will use the same marking scale (See Appendix III) and marking sheet (See Appendix IV) This analytic marking scale with specific evaluation criteria was adapted from Jacobs et al (1981) and from Hoang (2007) [5], [4] The main reason for the choice of this analytic marking scale instead of a holistic scale is that it provides more useful diagnostic information about students’ writing abilities 1.6 Materials The materials used in this study will be the Tieng Anh 11 textbook published by the Ministry of Education and Training (2017) In the textbook, I choose “Unit 8: Celebrations - part D - Writing” as a topic for my students to practice writing 1.7 New points of experience initiative - Improve the quality of students’ pieces of writing - Give students a more cooperative learning environment, motivate them to write, and encourage them to share their written products with their peers - Find out how students like the writing process-oriented approach, how useful strategies and how students manage strategies after the program DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Reviews of Related Studies Recently, the teaching of writing has moved away from a concentration on a written product to an emphasis on the process of writing In the process approach, students are trained to generate ideas for writing, think of the purpose and audiences, and write multiple drafts in order to present written products that are able to communicate their own ideas Consequently, writing becomes a process of discovery for the students as they discover new ideas and new language forms to express them Montage (1995) says that the process-oriented approach refers to a teaching approach that focuses on the process a writer engages in when constructing meaning This teaching approach concludes with editing as a final stage in text creation, rather than an initial one as in a product-oriented approach [6] Bayat (2014) argues that various techniques should be used to eliminate the burden of writing accurately in a foreign language, and process writing appears to be a beneficial approach [1] Carolan and Kyppö (2015) assert that in addition to the first draft students write, the revising and editing stage is one of the most fruitful stages [2] Therefore, applying process writing could account for students’ achievement in writing while reducing the anxiety of getting a correct finished product without exhausting a proper process Additionally, it focuses on the process as a means to create the expected product 2.2 Some problems in teaching writing skills before applying POA at Truong Thi high school At Truong Thi high school, teaching writing skills seem to be the difficult part for teachers It is really a big challenge We find it difficult to teach writing successfully because of the students’ low level of English proficiency That is why they find it difficult to write and they often get bored and indifferent to the writing lessons Moreover, most of the students at Truong Thi high school are fed up with writing because all English tests they have to at exams are multiple-choice tests They have not been aware of the fact that writing is also an effective way to practice English grammatical structures and new words, and express their idea In addition, a lack of motivation also faces the students Teachers at Trường Thi high school seem to have a hard time motivating the students to write This derives from the fact that our students are not interested in learning writing 2.3 Solutions and implementation 2.3.1 Research Procedure The procedure of this empirical study is briefly presented as follows: Procedure of the research Time Research activities Preparatory week - Pre-test on writing performance Week Week -12 - Implementation: the writing processoriented Approach Week 13 - 14 - Post-test on writing performance - Questionnaire on students’ evaluation of the writing process-oriented approach Week 15 - Data analysis - Result report - Conclusion & Suggestion Group(s) groups Experimental group groups Experimental group groups - Stage 1: A pre-test will be given to students of grade 11 for both groups - Stage 2: After doing the above activity, the researcher begins to make the scenario of conducting the classroom activities to implement the processoriented approach in the experimental group - Stage 3: Both the experimental and control groups will be given a post-test in the - 13th week Stage 4: The scores of the pre-and post-tests collected from the experimental and control group and the questionnaires will be collected in the 14 th week and analyzed in the 15th week, come to the conclusion and suggestion 2.3.2 Stages in the writing process There are different points of view on the number of stages comprising the writing process Based on the process-oriented approach, I can construct five stages process-oriented approach: (1) Building Knowledge of Field The purpose of building knowledge of the field is to make sure that the students have enough background knowledge related to content, vocabulary, language, and mechanics (2) Modeling of Text The purpose of modeling of text is to recognize: (1) the generic structures of text; (2) the layout of text; and (3) the purpose of writing So, the students will be familiar with the type of text given – report text (3) Outlining The purpose of this stage is to recognize the two activities of outlining; they are guidance outlining and free outlining The guidance outlining is done by giving the students’ activity in making outlines in group or in pairs based on the text given while free outlining is making free outlines based on the students’ own thoughts that is done individually (4) Drafting The purpose of this stage is to give the students opportunities in making the drafts based on their own outlines (5) Editing The purpose of this stage is to give the students opportunities in being an analyst They have to analyze others’ drafts by underlining the mistakes and errors with red ink or a board marker The activities of drafting covered: (1) interchanging the text among the students; (2) evaluating the students’ text; (3) checking language components like spelling, tense, word order, etc; (4) reducing or adding text; and (5) correcting any mistakes and errors Placed in the Vietnamese classroom context, I think adapting analytic scoring is a better choice because our students are learning to write An exact and objective assessment will create the first motivation to encourage students to • • •   • • write better Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Van Van (2007) suggests a rating scale for marking a writing product which I assume is appropriate in the Vietnamese secondary school context It consists of parameters such as content, organization, language use (discourse, syntax), vocabulary, and mechanics (See appendix III) Content – 3.5 Organization – 1.5 Language use Discourse – 1.0 Syntax – 1.5 Vocabulary – 1.5 Mechanics – 1.0 Total 10 points 2.4 Implementation of POA in teaching writing for the experimental group To conduct the writing lessons under the POA, I would like to propose a design as follows: In every lesson, there are three stages done by the English teacher They are: (1) Pre-writing covers the activity of empowering the students by giving the step of building knowledge of the field, modeling of text as developing the aspects of writing that cover: content; organization; vocabulary; language; and mechanics, (2) While-writing covers the activity of outlining and drafting as the parts of the process of oriented approach, and (3) Post-writing covers the activity of editing of the students’ result of writing Based on the proposed design above, I would like to give an example of activities conducted in the experimental group as follows: Unit 8: Celebrations Part D Writing (page: 96) Writing task: Write a description of one of the popular celebrations in Vietnam Pre-writing Building Knowledge of Field I displayed the pictures of the Mid-Autumn festival on a projector and led in the lesson “Now, we are going to discuss about something new” “Well, look at the picture! What is it?” “It’s Mid-Autumn Festival, I think,” a student answered Firstly, I asked students to describe the pictures The students described the pictures using their own words as follows: The children carry candle lanterns, sing folklores, and parade on the streets They watch the lion dance parade Secondly, the teacher elicited the students’ experiences by discussing “the Mid-Autumn Festival” The students answered the teacher’s questions, such as 1) What is the Mid Autumn Festival in Vietnam? 2) When is the mid-autumn festival celebrated? 3)What people in the festival? 4) How is it celebrated? Then, the teacher distributed the text about “The Mid-Autumn Festival” Mid-autumn festival is one of the most important holidays in Vietnam The festival usually lasts for around 2-3 days and it takes place on the 15 th of August according to the lunar calendar Other Asian countries also celebrate this occasion which dates back thousands of years During the festival, children of all ages wear colorful masks, carry candle lanterns, sing folklores, and parade on the streets There are also those who perform lion dance to every house in their neighborhood with the hope that will bring fortune to these households When it comes to Mid-autumn festivals, the first thing that springs to my mind is the Moon cakes, which are a popular traditional Vietnamese food They are made of powder, pork meat, egg, peanut, and green bean Moon 10 20 REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Bayat N (2014), "The Effect of the Process Writing Approach on Writing Success and Anxiety", Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice 14 (3), pp 1133-1141 Carolan F., & Kyppö, A (2015), "Teaching Process Writing in an Online Environment.", Voices of Pedagogical Development - Expanding, Enhancing, and Exploring Higher Education Language Learning, pp 1330 Harmer J (2004), The Practice of English Language Teaching (3rd Edition) , Cambridge: Longman Hoang V V (2010), "The Current Situation and Issues of the Teaching of English in Vietnam" Jacobs H L A O (1981), Testing ESL Composition: A Practical Approach English Composition Program, Newbury House Publishers, Inc., Rowley Montage N (1995), "The Process Oriented Approach to Teaching Writing to Second Language Learners", Bilingual Educational Journal Murray D (1972), "Teach writing as a process not product.", Rhetoric and Composition; A sourcebook for teachers and writers, pp 89-92 21 APPENDIX I Some activities in the lesson The teacher builds knowledge of field The teacher distributes the text about the field 22 The students display their outlines The students report their results of proofreading 23 APPENDIX II The students’ writing products edited and annotated the mistakes and errors by students 24 25 26 APPENDIX III Marking Scale for Graders’ Evaluation (The scale consists of aspects with levels for each) Aspects Level CONTENT 3-2.25 2-1.25 1-0 ORGANIZATIO VOCABULARY N 1-0.75 0.5 0.25 1-0.75 0.5 0.25 MECHANICS USE LANGUAGE 1.75-1 0.750.5 0.25-0 0.75 0.5 0.25 Criteria Some knowledge of subject; adequate range; limited development of topic; mostly relevant to the topic, but lacks detail Limited knowledge of subject; little substance; inadequate development of topic Does not show knowledge of subject; non-substantive; not pertinent; or not enough to evaluate Somewhat choppy; loosely organized but main ideas stand out; limited support; logical but incomplete sequencing Non-fluent; ideas confused or disconnected; lacks logical sequencing and development Does not communicate; no organization; or not enough to evaluate Adequate range; occasional errors of word/ idiom form, choice, usage but meaning not obscured Limited range; frequent errors of word/ idiom form, choice, usage; meaning confused or obscured Essential translation; little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, word form; or not enough to evaluate Effective but simple constructions; minor problems in complex constructions; several errors of agreement, tense, number, word order/ function, articles, pronouns, prepositions but meaning seldom obscured Major problems in simple/ complex constructions; frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order/ function, articles, pronouns, prepositions and/ or fragments, runons, deletions; meaning confused or obscured Virtually no mastery of sentence construction rules; dominated by errors, does not communicate; or not enough to evaluate Occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing but meaning not obscured Frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing; poor handwriting; meaning confused or obscured No mastery of conventions; dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing; handwriting illegible, or not enough to evaluate 27 (Adapted from Jacobs et al.’s (1981) and from Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, 2007) 28 APPENDIX IV MARKING SHEET (for graders’ evaluation) Student’s name: Class: ………………………………………………… Date: …………… Aspects Score(s) Content Organization Vocabulary Language use Mechanics Final Results Grader’s signature Comment(s) / 10 APPENDIX V QUESTIONNAIRE (on students’ evaluation of POA) 29 Check () the statements that best fit your opinions according to the degree scale No Statements Somewhat The writing process oriented Much Not much approach How much you like the writing program? How useful is the program? How easy is the program? Strategies Somewhat How useful are the Useful Not useful useful following strategies? 1 2 2 Planning Brainstorming Drafting Revising Editing How easy it is to manage the following strategies? Easy Somewhat easy Not easy Planning Brainstorming Drafting Revising Editing 30 APPENDIX VI The detailed scores in the pre-test and post-test of the experimental group Pre-test and post-test results of the experimental group Pre-test Post-test Conten t Organizatio n Vocabulary Languag e Use Mechanic s Total Score s Lê Trung Anh 0.9 1.6 0.5 2.8 1.2 1.1 0.7 7.8 Lê Quang Hải 1.6 0.9 1.4 0.6 5.5 2.5 1.1 0.9 1.9 0.7 7.1 Lê Trung Cường 1.9 1.2 1.1 1.4 0.4 2.2 1.2 1.2 1.8 0.6 Trịnh Minh Anh 2.2 1 1.7 0.5 6.4 2.8 1.2 1.9 0.7 7.6 Lê Thị Hà 2.3 0.7 0.7 1.8 0.4 5.9 0.9 0.9 1.9 0.6 7.3 Lê Quỳnh Hân 1.7 1.1 1.1 1.6 0.5 2.5 1.1 1.2 0.7 7.5 Nguyễn Trọng Hưng 1.9 0.9 1.1 1.7 0.5 6.1 2.4 0.9 0.9 1.9 0.8 6.9 Nguyễn Văn Huy 2.8 0.9 1.9 0.5 7.1 1.2 1.3 0.8 8.3 Lê Châu Huyền 2.1 1.1 0.9 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.6 0.9 0.7 7.2 10 Lê Nhật Khải 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.4 2.5 0.9 1.2 0.7 7.3 11 Nguyễn Việt Khoa 1.6 0.9 1.6 0.5 5.6 2.2 1.1 1.8 0.6 6.7 12 Nguyễn Lan Khôi 1.9 0.7 0.6 1.7 0.4 5.3 2.1 0.9 1.1 1.8 0.6 6.5 13 Lê Thị Thanh Linh 2.1 0.7 0.7 1.8 0.4 5.7 2.6 1.2 0.7 7.5 14 Lê Thanh Long 0.9 0.9 1.9 0.6 6.3 2.6 1.1 0.9 0.7 7.3 15 Nguyễn Chí Nghi 2.3 0.9 1.1 1.7 0.4 6.4 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.8 7.8 16 Nguyễn Thế Nghi 1.9 0.8 0.8 1.7 0.5 5.7 2.3 1.1 1.2 1.9 0.6 7.1 N o Name of Students Conten t Organizatio n Vocabulary Languag e Use Mechanic s Total Scores 31 17 Đặng Ngọc Nhi 2.1 1.1 1.8 0.4 6.4 2.6 1.2 1.2 0.7 7.7 18 Nguyễn Bá Cường 1.6 0.9 0.9 1.6 0.5 5.5 2.6 1.1 0.9 1.8 0.7 7.1 19 Nguyễn Ngọc Phong 1.9 0.7 0.7 1.5 0.5 5.3 2.5 1.2 1.1 1.7 0.7 7.2 20 Nguyên Lê Ly 2.1 0.7 0.7 1.6 0.4 5.5 2.8 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.7 7.5 21 Lê Thuý Phương 1.9 0.7 0.7 1.9 0.5 5.7 2.7 1.1 0.8 7.6 22 Lê Thị Quyết 1.9 0.9 0.9 1.6 0.6 5.9 2.6 1.2 1.2 1.8 0.8 7.6 23 Phạm Đức Quỳnh 1.8 0.7 0.8 1.6 0.5 5.4 2.5 1.1 1.2 1.7 0.6 7.1 24 Lê Ngọc Sơn 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.5 2.8 1.2 1.2 1.8 0.7 7.7 25 Lê Phú Sơn 2.2 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.3 2.8 1.1 1.1 1.9 0.8 7.7 26 Vũ Khắc Tâm 1.9 0.8 0.8 1.9 0.6 2.6 1.2 1.1 2.1 0.6 7.6 27 Lê Mai Thư 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.6 1.2 1.2 1.8 0.8 7.6 28 Nguyễn Minh Thư 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.6 1.2 1.1 0.7 7.6 29 Nguyễn Linh Uyên 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.4 2.7 1.2 1.2 1.9 0.8 7.8 30 Nguyễn Hà Yên 1.9 0.8 1.8 0.5 2.5 1.1 1.1 0.6 7.3 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.5 2.6 1.1 1.1 1.9 0.7 7.4 Mean 32 APPENDIX VII The detailed scores in the pre-test and post-test of the control group Pre-test and post-test results of the control group Pre-test No Name of Students Lê Huỳnh Anh Lê Khắc Anh Conten Organization t Post-test Vocabulary Languag e Use Mechanic s Total Score s Conten t Organization Vocabulary Languag e Use Mechanic s Total Scores 1.6 0.9 0.9 1.4 0.5 5.3 2.1 1.1 0.9 1.6 0.5 6.2 1 1.6 0.6 6.2 2.1 0.9 1.4 0.6 Nguyễn Văn Ba 1.9 1.2 1.1 1.4 0.4 1.2 1.1 1.4 0.4 6.1 Thiều Băng Băng 2.2 1 1.7 0.5 6.4 2.2 1.1 1.9 0.5 6.7 Phạm Thị Bắc 2.3 0.7 0.7 1.8 0.4 5.9 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.4 6.4 Lê Trung Bộ 1.7 1.1 1.1 1.6 0.5 2.1 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.6 Nguyễn Giang 1.9 0.9 1.7 0.5 2.2 0.9 1.2 1.7 0.5 6.5 Trần Minh Hân 2.8 0.9 1.1 1.9 0.5 7.2 2.3 1.2 1.2 0.6 7.3 Phạm Đức Hiếu 2.1 1.1 0.9 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.2 1.1 1.2 2.2 0.5 7.2 10 Phạm Văn Huân 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.4 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.5 6.3 11 Lê Minh Huy 1.6 0.9 1.6 0.5 5.6 0.9 1.6 0.5 12 Đồng Trọng Huy 1.9 0.7 0.6 1.7 0.4 5.3 1.9 1 1.9 0.4 6.2 13 Trần Lý Khánh 2.1 0.7 0.7 1.8 0.4 5.7 2.1 0.9 0.7 1.8 0.4 5.9 14 Lê Huỳnh Khôi 0.9 0.9 1.9 0.6 6.3 2.2 1.2 2.1 0.6 7.1 15 Trần Thanh Kiên 2.3 0.9 1.1 1.7 0.4 6.4 2.3 0.9 1.2 2.1 0.4 6.9 16 Võ Duy Linh 1.9 0.8 0.8 1.7 0.5 5.7 2.2 1.2 2.1 0.5 33 17 Lê Văn Nam 2.1 1.1 1.8 0.4 6.4 2.1 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.4 6.5 18 Lại Ngọc Nghi 1.6 0.9 0.9 1.6 0.5 5.5 0.9 1.8 0.5 6.2 19 Bùi Ngọc Nguyên 1.9 0.7 0.7 1.5 0.5 5.3 1.9 0.9 0.7 1.8 0.5 5.8 20 Nguyễn Lê Nhân 2.1 0.7 0.7 1.6 0.4 5.5 0.7 1.6 0.4 5.7 21 Trịnh Thế Nhi 1.9 0.7 0.7 1.9 0.5 5.7 2.1 0.9 0.9 1.9 0.5 6.3 22 Hoàng Thị Nhi 1.9 0.9 0.9 1.6 0.6 5.9 0.9 0.9 1.6 0.6 23 Nguyễn Thu Như 1.8 0.7 0.8 1.6 0.5 5.4 2.1 0.8 0.8 1.6 0.5 5.8 24 Lê Uyên Phương 1.9 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.5 5.9 0.9 1.8 0.5 6.2 25 Hoàng Minh Quân 2.2 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.3 2.2 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.3 26 Nguyễn Văn Quân 1.9 0.8 0.8 1.9 0.6 1.1 0.8 1.9 0.6 6.4 27 Hoàng Trung Tâm 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.1 1.1 1.1 0.5 6.8 28 Lê Thế Tân 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.4 2.1 1.1 1.9 0.5 6.6 29 Hoàng Minh Thái 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.4 2.2 0.9 1.7 0.6 6.4 30 Nguyễn Đức Văn 0.8 1.8 0.5 6.1 2.1 1.1 1.1 1.8 0.5 6.6 0.9 0.9 1.7 0.5 2.1 1 1.8 0.5 6.4 Mean 34 ... the process as a means to create the expected product 2.2 Some problems in teaching writing skills before applying POA at Truong Thi high school At Truong Thi high school, teaching writing skills. .. grade 11 students at Truong Thi High School in Thanh Hoa 2.To get how effective the process- oriented approach can improve the writing skills of grade 11 students at Truong Thi High School in Thanh... interested in conducting a study on ? ?Improving 11th graders’ writing skills through process- oriented approach at Truong Thi High school, applied for “Unit - Celebrations” in Tieng Anh 11 textbook”