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English is now the most commonly used language in international business At addition, I am the one who is most frequently taught foreign languages in Vietnamese Tiếng anh hiện nay đang trở nên phổ biến trên toàn thế giới đặc biệt trong lĩnh vực kinh doanh.
THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY - - GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING SKILL OF FIRSTYEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT ENGLISH FACULTY, THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY, AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Supervisor : MA Tran Lan Huong Student : Nguyen Hoang Thu Trang Student code : 18D170341 Administrative class : K54N7 Hanoi, 2021 ABSTRACT English is now the most commonly used language in international business At addition, I am the one who is most frequently taught foreign languages in Vietnamese colleges Many students have realized the value of learning English in order to fulfill the demands of modern society However, mastering English is a difficult task Students struggle with the Writing component of the four basic English skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing As a result, even when students pay close attention to their writing, it is sometimes impossible for them to avoid making mistakes Writing is difficult for first-year students at Thuongmai University's English department The goal of this thesis is to investigate the challenges that first-year students frequently face when taking the test, as well as some potential remedies to such obstacles This study made use of data collection tools such as questionnaires and interviews The research project's findings will establish conditions for Thuongmai University students to notice their flaws and take corrective activities to improve their writing skills I have done my best to conduct this research to the best of my ability I expect that this research will result in effective ways for improving the writing skills of students in general, and students of the Faculty of Business English at the Thuongmai University in particular i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of doing this study, I have received a lot of necessary assistance, previous ideas, and timely encouragement from my teacher and friends This research could not have been finished without the help, encouragement, and support from them First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my supervisor – Ms Tran Lan Huong, the teacher of, who has always been willing to instruct me carefully and enthusiastically in each step, give me helpful advice and suggestions as well as support me every time I need so that I can accomplish this study I also wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, who have created this chance for me to work this study, learn and gain many valuable experiences I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, documents, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study Once again, thank you so much! Student Nguyen Hoang Thu Trang ii TABLES OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLES OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .v LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES .vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims and Objectives 1.3.1 Aims of the study 1.3.2 Research tasks .4 1.4 Subject and scope of the study 1.4.1 Research Subjects 1.4.2 Scope of the study 1.5 Research question 1.6 Research methodology 1.6.1 Research design 1.6.2 Research process 1.6.3 Data collection 1.6.4 Respondents 1.6.5 Data Analysis 1.7 Organnization of the study 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Definition of Writing 11 2.2 Importance of writing skills 12 2.3 Paragraph writing 12 2.4 Format of paragraph 13 2.5 Kinds of Paragraph 14 2.5.1 Desecriptive paragraphs .14 2.5.2 Example paragraphs 14 iii 2.5.3 Process paragraph 14 2.5.4 Opinion paragraph 15 2.5.5 Narrative paragraph 15 2.6 Sentences 15 2.6.2 Compound Sentences 16 2.6.3 Complex Sentences 16 2.6.4 Compound-Complex Sentences 17 2.7 IELTS TASK Writing band descriptors 17 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 20 3.1 Questionares 20 3.1.1 Screening questions 20 3.1.2 Main questionnaire 20 3.2 The Interview 28 CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 29 4.1 Solutions for students 29 4.1.1 Improve article structure 29 4.1.2 Rewriting and checking errors after writing .31 4.1.3 Cultivating knowledge capital 32 4.1.4 Practice translating 32 4.1.5 Get feedback 33 4.2 Solutions to teachers 33 4.2.1 Create a free atmosphere when teaching 33 4.2.2 Explain the difference between English - Vietnamese .34 4.2.3 Using flexible error correction methods 34 4.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 35 CONCLUSION 36 REFERENCES APPENDIX iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TMU Thuongmai University IELTS International English Language Testing System ESL English as a Second Language EFL English as a Foreign Language v LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES Chart Chart 3.1 First year writing skill Chart 3.2 Student’s self- rating to writing skill Chart 3.3 Practice writing skills Chart 3.4 Cause of difficulties Chart 3.5 Measures Table Table 2.1 IELTS TASK Writing band descriptors Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics of grammartical range and accuracy Table 3.2 Descriptive statistics of lexical resource Table 3.3 Descriptive statistics coherence and cohesion Table 3.4 Descriptive statistics of task achievement Table 3.5 Descriptive statistics of other problems Table 3.6 Cause statistics table Table 3.7 Statistical table of measures vi CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF STUDY 1.1 Rationale Writing and putting an accurate word on a paper is quite an easy task, but writing a sentence is a bit difficult Writing a paragraph is the most difficult academic activity It is much more required as compared to any other activity in the writing skill of any language To know and organize a paragraph in a coherent, cohesive and united way, it means that you know and have the command on the foundation in any pyramid of academic writing Writing a simple cover letter, an academic essay, thesis or dissertation is impossible in a case when youas a writer not have sound and practical knowledge on paragraph writing The length of paragraph depends on the writer It is varied from a single sentence to a full page Starting with a few simple sentences on a paper is not enough Instead, you need to make it sure that your paragraph is based on good coherence, cohesion and unity The writing ability of current Vietnamese students is not good According to the ranking of the EF English Proficiency Index in November 2020, Vietnam ranks 65 out of 100 countries and territories in the world in terms of English ability Of course, the above statistics are only relative, but partly speak to the problem of the quality of English teaching and learning in our country The latest evidence is that in the High School Graduation Exam Phase in 2021, English is a subject with a rather low average score (5.84 points) and especially, more than 40% of the total number of candidates (more than 349,000 students) achieved below point Students' writing skills are very important, as it is the foundation for later levels As a student of Thuongmai University, I want to be able to improve the quality of first-year writing skills Therefore, both teachers and students must identify the fundamental causes of hurdles when studying Writing to discover solutions to those problems As a result, I chose the following topic: “A study on difficulties in writing skill of first-year English-majored students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University, and suggested solutions” This not only highlights the obstacles that students face when studying writing, but it also suggests ways to help students gain confidence and write better 1.2 Previous studies When the author decided to choose the topic: “A study on difficulties in writing skill of first-year English-majored students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University and suggested solutions” The author found out and researched some previous studies related to the topic she studied There are many research topics in advance of foreign authors and Vietnamese authors After selecting, the author chose some of the following research: Studies abroad “ESL Learners’ Writing Skills: Problems, Factors, and Suggestions”(2016) Muhammad Fareed, Almas Ashraf & Muhammad Bilal The study sought to analyze difficulties in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners' writing as well as factors that impede their writing abilities It also sought advice on how to improve the writing skills of Pakistani ESL students The findings show that the key issues in the writing of Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners include insufficient linguistic proficiency (including mastery of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary), writing anxiety, a lack of ideas, reliance on L1, and poor structural organization Untrained teachers, ineffective teaching techniques and examination systems, a lack of reading and writing practice, big classes, low motivation, and a lack of ideas all contribute to these issues The research also offers light on remedial approaches such as increased reading, deliberate and incidental vocabulary education, writing practice, qualified teachers, examination system improvements, and writing competitions “Difficulties of writing in English encountered by Iraqi EFL learners at University level”(2020) - AwhamRasheed Mohammad, KhaladoonWaleedHusam AlMoft and Juma'aQadir Hussein, the University Of Anbar The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of Iraqi EFL university students concerning the problems they face when writing in English It also seeks to suggest strategies that students can use to solve writing challenges According to the findings, "incorrectness in employing mechanics of writing" ranks first among the obstacles experienced by Iraqi university EFL students when writing English, followed by "lack of evaluation rubrics and marking scheme instruments." The item "lack of ideas" was ranked third, while "Grammar Difficulties" was ranked fourth Other considerations The rankings for 'lack of teacher assistance,' 'lack of materials for consulting,' 'unsuitable ways of teaching writing,' 'topic inappropriateness,' and 'time restriction' were nearly identical The study suggested a variety of suggestions and solutions that may assist pupils in overcoming writing challenges “Students’ Difficulties in Writing English”- Kristy dwi pratiwi, Bengkulu University (2011-2012) This study shows that writing difficulties vary in terms of student score outcomes Writing difficulties associated with linguistic difficulties (language use and lexical aspects) were the most difficult compared with Cognitive difficulties (organizational and mechanical aspects) and Physiological difficulties learning (content aspect) Domestic studies Chu Thi Hanh with the study “Some problems on training effective English essay writing skills for students majoring in English at Hai Phong University” (2018) Research shows that in teaching and learning foreign languages in general, and teaching English in particular, one of the mandatory requirements for students must master the four basic skills of a language: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing It is easy to see that when students start learning to write English, they have few concepts or skills about essay writing, even though it is a very important subject, which is an essential basis for any language major student Therefore, it is extremely necessary to introduce students to the basic knowledge of essay writing, to help students majoring in English, Hai Phong University have an effective method of learning to write, contributing to consolidating and improving the quality of essay 4.1.5 Get feedback A teacher is one of the best people who can assist students in correcting their errors Students should rewrite after receiving feedback from them to ensure that they understand their mistakes thoroughly and can avoid them in the future Feedback is useful information that can help you improve your writing skills Teachers devote a significant amount of time to providing feedback to students Feedback is linked to student objectives It informs them of their progress toward their writing goals and what else they need to to meet them Students should go over all of their feedback During revision, however, focus on the comments that will clarify their ideas and help readers understand, then work your way down The teachers' comments are intended to assist students rather than to criticize them Their criticism is part of a conversation in which their teacher is attempting to help them and their writing development All of the input they receive When they receive a paper back from their teacher, many students only glance at the grade and not read the remarks made in the margins or at the end of the paper Even if they obtained a passing mark, it is prudent for them to thoroughly read all of the feedback they receive This may help them identify patterns of error in their writing that they need to fix, as well as enhance their writing for future papers and other classes 4.2 Solutions to teachers It is especially difficult to achieve the best results and maintain motivation levels unless the learners' needs are met in each class The teachers' responsibility is to meet all of their needs while also concretizing the course's intended aims and objectives in order to improve the quality of both teaching and learning That is why I would like to make some suggestions for teachers in the hope that they will sympathize with and support the students' studies 4.2.1 Create a free atmosphere when teaching It is undeniable that teachers' attitudes have a direct impact on the quality of learning Certainly, in the classroom, a friendly atmosphere is thought to instill a strong desire to learn As a result, during his or her teaching time, the teacher should 33 create a relaxed environment in which students can study without feeling rushed and have the opportunity to freely ask questions or express their opinions about various topics Teachers can help both teachers and students make progress in teaching and studying by providing students with useful knowledge and enthusiastically answering or explaining students' questions Every teacher has his or her own method of teaching; if the teacher wants his or her students to pay attention to his or her lesson and concentrate on studying, he or she must be strict in his or her instruction However, from the perspective of the students, his sternness limits their creativity in studying The students dare not state their thinking and be afraid to contribute their opinions to the new lesson, it is, therefore, one of the failures in the classroom 4.2.2 Explain the difference between English - Vietnamese For students, teachers should analyze the structural and semantic differences between certain features in English and Vietnamese When learning English, students should avoid imposing Vietnamese in English because, in the field of foreign language learning, all language impulses only produce unexpected results Students who are aware of these distinctions will be able to assist students in reducing errors Furthermore, teachers can provide translation exercises to help students reinforce these phenomena Students will learn new words and structures, as well as how to express them in their English essays, as a result of this 4.2.3 Using flexible error correction methods Teachers encourage students to work in groups on their assignments, and students will have the opportunity to practice together to improve their sentence writing skills They will also have the opportunity to speak English together, which will improve their speaking skills at the same time Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to correct each other Teachers can suggest a few more error analysis exercises to help students identify a complete sentence more accurately Furthermore, teachers can correct errors in pairs Students work in groups of two to shuffle papers and edit their own work As students become more involved in providing feedback on their writing, the atmosphere in the classroom improves 34 4.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies This study has some faults, despite the researcher's efforts and the supervisor's enthusiastic support To begin, various additional books, documents, and research relating to this study could not be addressed owing to time limits Second, because the number of interviewers is small, the results not apply to the full population As a result, the researcher proposes interviewing more students with various backgrounds and achievements in future research to acquire a better knowledge of listening strategies Furthermore, to acquire a deeper knowledge of the listening difficulties and methods, the study could be undertaken by witnessing some listening lessons and interviewing some teachers 35 CONCLUSION “A study on difficulties in writing skill of first-year English-majored students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University, and suggested solutions” was carried out in order to discover the most prevalent faults in the writing process of students at Thuongmai University's Faculty of English, as well as the causes of these errors, and to provide some remedies to improve their writing skill on that premise During my research, I discovered that freshmen at Thuongmai University's English Faculty made some typical writing errors, particularly in vocabulary, syntax, and word usage I investigated and determined the sources of these errors In addition, I provided some suggestions for improving pupils' writing abilities I thought that the research would assist students in overcoming barriers and improving their writing skills 36 REFERENCES Alice Savege, Masoud Shafiei, “Efective Academic Writing 1”, Graphic Art Center Publishing Company, 2007 Andersen, S (2014) Sentence types and functions San Jose State University Writing Center Anker, S (2010) Real writing with readings: Paragraphs and essays for college, work and everyday life Boston:St Martin’s Hart, A.W & Reinking, J.A (1990) Writing for College and Career (4th ed.) Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle Publishers Nunan, D (2003) Language Teaching Methodology – A textbook for teachers, Prentice Hall International Ltd, Great Britain O’Donnell, T.D & Paiva, J.L (1993) Independent Writing (2nd ed.) Reid, J.M (1994) The Process of Paragraph Writing New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Rosenwasser, David, and Jill Stephen “What is Analytical Writing?” Writing Analytically Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997 Print Wali, O., & Madani, A Q (2020) The Importance of Paragraph Writing: An Introduction organization, 3(07) 10 White, R and Arndt, V (1991) Process Writing Essex: Addison Wesley Longman Ltd 11 Wyrick, J (1999) Steps to Writing Well Florida: Harcout Brace & Company APPENDIX Assessment of the basic knowledge of writing skills of first-year students In your opinion, what is a simple sentence? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what is a complex sentence? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what is a compound sentence? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… How many parts does the paragraph have? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… What types of paragraphs are there? What they write about? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………….……………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX Name:…………………………………………………………………………… Class: K57N …………………………………………………………… Gender: Male/Female How you feel about your first year English writing skills? A Very easy B Easy C Average D Dificult E.Very dificult How often you practice this skill? A Never B.Occasionally C Somtimes D Frequently E Almost the time How would you rate your current level of English writing? A Very bad B Bad C Average D Good E Excellent The table below discusses some of the most common problems that first-year students face in the writing process Rate these difficulties according to the scale below: Totally Disagree Neutral Agree Totally agree disagree Problems Assessment From Grammartical You often use simple sentences the Range and You use complex and compound writer's Accuracy sentences, but are often less precise than side using simple sentences You are missing a comma or separating word (and) in a sentence with main clauses( run-on) You use the wrong tense You write missing parts in the sentence (fragments) Lexical Resource You not have enough vocabulary to describe the object You only use simple words, not use specialized/specialized adjectives with the object to be described You often make spelling mistakes You try to use rare words but not exactly Coherence 10 You have the main idea but don't and Cohesion know how to reinforce it with details, examples, steps or concepts… 11 You use very few linking words, ordinal or transitional words, which not show the connection between ideas (especially in the paragraph describing the process) 12 You state the main idea in a general way, or the topic sentence is not clear Task 13 You have not covered enough parts of Achievement a paragraph: topic sentence, explanation sentences for topic sentence, concluding sentence 14 You have not met the correct length of a paragraph (too short or too long) 15 You arrange the steps in the paragraph describing the process is not scientific 16 You have not given a compelling reason in the paragraph expressing your opinion 17 You have not included the emotional element in the narrative paragraph, making the paragraph dry 18 You answered less relevant or off topic 19 You use inappropriate style Other 20 You divide your time into uneven personal parts factors 21 You not specify the requirements of the topic (the topic has new words, the scope is too wide ) 22 You lack practical knowledge of the subject or thing to be described 23 You have a negative mentality (stress, anxiety, etc.) From 24 The scope of the topic is too broad external 25 Distracting space (noise, things outside ) factors The table below outlines the causes of difficulties encountered by first-year English majors You often experience the following causes: Causes Yes Subjective 1.The theory cannot be applied in the textbook Don't practice often Not regularly replenishing vocabulary 4.Social knowledge is still limited Don't make an outline before writing Not being careful during and after writing Abuse of automatic translation tools Less interaction with teachers Vietnamese influence Objective Assessment 10 Time and space pressure 11 Effects of learning English at high school 12 Teaching materials are no longer relevant 13 Lack of feedback after submitting the article No In your opinion, which of the following methods you often use to improve your English writing skills: Measure Yes 1.Practice writing with a variety of topics, different writing styles 2.Improve article structure: practice outline, mindmap 3.Read more books, learn more social knowledge 4.Translate Vietnamese to English and vice versa 5.Get feedback from your teacher and correct your writing 6.Proofreading and correcting after each writing No APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: How much time you spend on your writing per day/week ? Do you have difficulty with any chapter in the writing curriculum? What kinds of topic you often write ? What kind of paragraphs are you good at? How have you improved your paragraph writing skills? Find mistake: We spent last week at the beach and had so much fun on the sand and in the water exploring the coast we weren't prepared for the rains that came at the end of the vacation The best parts of the trip was the opportunities to sightsee and relax My kids are back in school to I find their are less things to worry about now that the kids are at school all day There is plenty of fun things to in the summer, but by August, I've running out of ideas I've excepted the fact that we'll have to think up brand-new activities next summer; hoping to round up some creative ideas soon APPENDIX Descriptive statistics from SPSS GENDER Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Valid Missing 6.1 6.9 6.9 121 81.8 93.1 100.0 Total 130 87.8 100.0 18 12.2 148 100.0 System Total CLASS Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 14 9.5 10.8 10.8 22 14.9 16.9 27.7 16 10.8 12.3 40.0 23 15.5 17.7 57.7 13 8.8 10.0 67.7 20 13.5 15.4 83.1 22 14.9 16.9 100.0 130 87.8 100.0 18 12.2 148 100.0 Valid Total Missing Total System Descriptive Statistics N Minimum Maximum Mean Std Deviation GRA1 130 2.68 891 GRA2 130 3.51 909 GRA3 130 3.45 872 GRA4 130 3.45 1.135 GRA5 130 3.68 981 LEX1 130 3.69 905 LEX2 130 3.63 890 LEX3 130 3.49 974 LEX4 130 3.73 979 COH1 130 3.65 904 COH2 130 3.40 1.008 COH3 130 3.71 952 TA1 130 3.65 1.025 TA2 130 3.52 908 TA3 130 3.57 980 TA4 130 3.55 997 TA5 130 3.67 1.022 TA6 130 3.81 1.012 TA7 130 2.99 1.023 OT1 130 4.08 881 OT2 130 3.72 1.136 OT3 130 3.95 1.163 OT4 130 3.90 1.180 OUT1 130 3.79 1.256 OUT2 130 3.85 1.277 Valid N (listwise) 130 ... of any language To know and organize a paragraph in a coherent, cohesive and united way, it means that you know and have the command on the foundation in any pyramid of academic writing Writing... reliance on L1, and poor structural organization Untrained teachers, ineffective teaching techniques and examination systems, a lack of reading and writing practice, big classes, low motivation,... some teachers 35 CONCLUSION ? ?A study on difficulties in writing skill of first- year English- majored students at English Faculty, Thuongmai University, and suggested solutions? ?? was carried out in