Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS difficulties encountered by grade 10 students at truong dinh upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the new textbook tieng anh 10

University of languages & international studies – vnu, hanoi Faculty of POST-graduate studies ============= KIỀU THU HIỀN DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY GRADE-10 STUDENTS AT TRUONG DINH UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LEARNING WRITING SKILL WITH THE NEW TEXTBOOK TIENG ANH 10 ( NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT TRƯƠNG ĐỊNH GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT VỚI SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG ANH 10 MỚI ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supersivor : ĐỖ TUẤN MINH, Ph.D Hanoi - 2009 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of the authorship i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of tables and charts vi PART ONE : INTRODUCTION 1 Background to the study Aims of the study Research questions Methods of the study Scope of the study 2 Significance of the study Organization of the study PART TWO : DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE : LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1.1 Different views on what writing is 1.2 Distinguishing features of written language from spoken language 1.3 The roles of writing in second language learning 1.4 Approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes 1.5 What makes writing difficult to acquire ? 11 CHAPTER TWO : THE STUDY 12 2.1 Overview of the teaching and learning of the writing skill at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school 12 2.1.1 Teaching and learning context 12 2.1.2 The schedule of learning writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 12 2.2 The study 14 2.2.1 Participants 14 2.2.2 Instruments 15 2.2.3 Procedures of data collection 15 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v 2.3 Data analysis and discussion 2.3.1 Survey questionnaires 16 16 2.3.1.1 Analysis of the questionnaire for students 17 2.3.1.2 Analysis of the questionnaire for teachers 24 2.3.1.3 Main findings 30 2.3.2 Observation 34 2.3.3 Interview 36 CHAPTER THREE : SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF THE WRITING SKILL AT TRUONG DINH HIGH SCHOOL 3.1 Raising the students’ awareness of the importance of the writing skill 37 3.2 Restricting students’difficulties arising from poor linguistic competence 37 3.3 Implementing good preparations for students’ writing 38 3.4 Carrying out appropriate collaborative activities 40 3.5 Making writing lessons well-equipped with conformable teaching aids 40 3.6 Setting a suitable time limit for each classroom activity 41 3.7 Providing effective correction work 41 3.8 Assigning more practical writing tasks 42 3.9 Establishing a positive and supportive learning atmosphere 42 PART THREE : CONCLUSION 43 Summary of the study 43 Limitations and suggestions for further study 44 References Appendices Appendix : Survey Questionnaire for Students I Appendix : Survey Questionnaire for Teachers IV Appendix : Classroom Observations VII Appendix : Interview Transcripts XIV Appendix : A sample lesson plan XX LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Tables Table 1: Types of difficulties students coped with in learning 10 th form syllabus Table 2: Teachers’ writing stage application Table 4: Teachers’ usage of writing tasks Table 3: Teachers’ implementation of pre-writing activities Table 6: Teachers’ application of work arrangement Table 7: Types of written texts difficult for students to write Charts Chart 1: Students’ feelings of the writing skill Chart 2: Frequency of students’ writing practice at home Chart 3: Students’ general thoughts of the 10th form – writing syllabus Chart 4: Students’ frequency of getting a problem with vocabulary Chart 5: How often teachers suggest key words or phrases in pre-writing stage Chart 6: Students’ grammar mistakes in their writings Chart 7: The ways the teacher used to make writing lessons more interesting Chart 8: Students’ writing under time pressure Chart 9: Writing assignments Chart 10: Teachers’ attitudes towards the importance of teaching writing skill Chart 11: Teachers’ assessment of students’ vocabulary Chart 12: Teachers’ remarks on students’ grammatical mistakes Chart 13: Teachers’ use of visual aids to make suggestions LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART ONE : INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY: Currently, as learning a second or a foreign language is paid more and more special attention to, there has been a growing tendency towards the emphasis on improving communicative competence in language teaching and learning Writing, therefore, is regarded as a productive skill which provides students with opportunities to put all the language elements they have learnt into practice and to show communicative competence effectively However, in fact writing is not often as important to many students as other skills such as reading and speaking and it tends to get rather neglected in many Vietnamese language classes In addition, writing itself is a very complex and difficult skill to acquire Thus teaching students to write well is one of the most challenging tasks in education In order to resolve this situation little by little, the Ministry of Education and Training have carried out comprehensive reforms of teaching and learning English at Secondary Education level by updating new and appropriate curricula with clear objectives The syllabus for high school students has changed completely and focused on developing both students‟ linguistic competence and communicative competence Accordingly writing is taught carefully in a separate class, which creates more chances for students to practise writing skills Besides these favourable conditions, there are still challenges faced by teachers and students at high schools since students have not got accustomed to new learning methods in the innovated syllabus and teachers have not got much teaching experience with the new textbook As a teacher of English at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school for years, I have been deeply aware of my teaching context in which my students have coped with a lot of difficulties in learning English especially learning the writing skill Among four skills taught in English textbook 10, writing can be seen as the most boring and hardest one so many questions about teaching writing always concern me a lot : „What problems might my students face when learning writing ?‟ „What should be done to help my students overcome those problems?‟ „How should each form of written text be taught so that students can learn it effectively?‟ „How can I make the lesson fun, meaningful and memorable?‟ I, therefore, decided to a research on “Difficulties encountered by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh upper secondary school in learning writing with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10” in the hope that the findings and solutions mentioned in this study will make a significant contribution to improving the teaching and learning of the writing skill at Truong Dinh high school as well as those at other high schools LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 AIMS OF THE STUDY The primary purpose of this study is to explore the learning of the writing skill by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh high school It focuses on identifying the major factors that badly affect students‟ writing learning The secondary aim is to propose some suggestions to deal with students‟ difficulties and assist them to learn writing more effectively RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study attempts to seek answers to the following research questions: 1) What are the major factors causing difficulties of the tenth grade students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning the writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 ? 2) What should be done to help the tenth-grade students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school overcome their difficulties and acquire the writing skill more effectively? METHOD OF THE STUDY In order to guarantee the reliability of research results, my study was conducted in the form of a survey research using both quantitative and qualitative method Three main instruments of data collection are questionnaires, classroom observation and interview  Two forms of questionnaires (one for teachers and the other for students) are designed to collect information about grade-10 students‟ attitudes towards learning writing as well as difficulty perception of teachers and students The questionnaires both consist of three types of questions: close-ended questions, open-ended questions and scaling  Observation and interview are used as other reliable sources of data collection Observation can help to get more insights into real situations of learning writing in some writing classes at Truong Dinh high school and interviews after observing probably provide more evidence for valid findings of the investigation SCOPE OF THE STUDY Writing itself is a broad and complex area covering a variety of issues for research Yet, this study mainly concentrates on analyzing difficulties faced by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 On the basis of the discussion and findings from collected data, some recommendations of solutions will be put forward LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Pedagogically, this study has brought lots of practical benefits in such a way that it may provide useful information about the source of problems that grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school encountered when learning writing The information can probably help the researcher and teachers at Truong Dinh high school identify the limitations in the teachers‟ teaching approaches and major students‟difficulties in order to find out relevant solutions Also, the results of this study may also be used as suggestions for teachers in other upper secondary schools as well as material developers ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The study is divided into three parts:  Part I ( Introduction ): includes the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study  Part II ( Development ) : consists of three chapters as follows - Chapter I ( Literature review ): presents the theoretical background of the study, which summarizes some views on definitions of writing, differences between written language and spoken language, roles of writing in second language learning, approaches to the teaching of writing in ESL classes and what makes writing difficult to acquire - Chapter II ( The study ) includes the context of the study, the research questions, the participants, data collection methods, procedures, analysis and discussion The analysis and discussion part discusses and analyses difficulties encountered by grade-10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 - Chapter III ( Solutions ) suggests some relevant measures to deal with students‟ problems and learn writing skill more effectively  Part III ( Conclusions ): sums up the study and indicates the limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Different views on what writing is Up to now, quite a few researchers have taken interest in the teaching and learning of writing and defined writing in various ways Generally looking into the nature of writing, Donn Byrne (1991:1) stated: “When we write, we use graphic symbols: that is, letters or combinations of letters which relate to the sounds we make when we speak On one level, then, writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols: making marks on flat surface of some kind The symbols have to be arranged, according to certain conventions, to form words, and words have to be arranged to form sentences” With a more profound view on writing, White (1991:3) assumed “Writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right” He also stresses that it is not a simple process but a complex one “writing is a form of problem-solving which involves such processes as generating ideas, discovering a „voice‟ with which to write, planning, goal-setting, monitoring and evaluating what is going to be written as well as what has been written and searching for language with which to express exact meanings” In language teaching, writing is considered as “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3) He also emphasized that “Effectively, everybody learns to speak at least one language fluently, but many are unable to write with confidence Why should this be so ? One of the answers must be that writing normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” (1996:11) Hedge (1988: 61) suggests that the way writing is taught should be close to life According to him, “Writing in the English language classroom can become unreal if it is only ever produced for one reader, the teacher, and if its purpose is limited to enabling the teacher to assess the correctness of the linguistic forms used Under these conditions students have to imagine context for their writing and motivate themselves to write appropriately for the imaginary readers It is far more motivating for them if their writing can become genuine pieces of communication with real audiences such as other students, visitors, the local newspapers, organizations, etc Then they can think carefully about the identifiable and particular context which will determine the exact message and style of their written communication” 1.2 Distinguishing features of written language from spoken language: In language classes, it is very necessary for students to make comparison between spoken language and written language for several reasons If students have a better LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com understanding of how spoken and written texts differ, they can be much better placed to become confident writers They also need to see how the different types of language are constructed and understand that written texts are not just spoken texts What is more, distinguishing writing from speech can help student understand some of the difficulties they experience when they write Thus almost methodologies highlight the main differences between spoken language and written language Byrne (1991:3) points out the advantages and disadvantages of writing compared with speech through their own distinctive features as follows: WRITING SPEECH Takes place in a context, which often Creates its own context and therefore has to makes references clear (e.g „that thing over be fully explicit there‟) Reader not present and no interaction Speaker and listener(s) in contact Interact possible and exchange roles Reader not necessarily known to writer Usually person addressed is specific Immediate feedback given and expected No immediate feedback possible Writer (a) verbal: questions, comments may try to anticipate reader‟s reactions and murmurs, grunts incorporate them into text (b) non-verbal : facial expressions Speech is transitory Intended to be Writing is permanent Can be reread as understood immediately If not, listener often as necessary and at own speech expected to interact Sentences often incomplete and sometimes Sentences expected to be carefully ungrammatical Hesitations and pauses constructed, and linked and organized to form common and usually some redundancy and a text repetition Devices to help convey meaning are Range of devices (stress, intonation, pitch, punctuation, capitals and underlining (for speech) to help convey meaning Facial emphasis) Sentence boundaries clearly expressions, body movements and gestures indicated also used for this purpose Sharing the same opinion that the two processes, speaking and writing, are not identical, Raimes (1983:4-5) also indicates some typical differences:  Speech is universal; everyone acquires a native language in the first few years of life Not everyone learns to read and write  Speakers use their voices (pitch, stress, and rhythm) and bodies ( gestures and facial expressions) to help convey their ideas Writers have to reply on the words on the page to express their meaning  Speakers use pauses and intonation Writers use punctuation LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com   Speakers pronounce Writers spell Speaking is usually spontaneous and unplanned Most writing takes time It is planned We can go back and change what we have written  A speaker speaks to a listener who is right there, nodding or frowning, interrupting or questioning For the writer, the reader‟s response is either delayed or nonexistent The writer has only that one chance to convey information and be interesting and accurate enough to hold the reader‟s attention  Speech is usually informal and repetitive We say things like, “What I mean is ” or “Let me start again” Writing, on the other hand, is more formal and compact It progresses logically with fewer digressions and explanations  Speakers use simple sentences connected by a lot of and‟s and but‟s Writers use more complex sentences, with connecting words like however, who, and in addition While we could easily say, “His father runs ten miles every day and is very healthy”, we might well write, “His father, who runs ten miles every day, is very healthy.” Due to some main differences mentioned above by Raimes, it can be seen that writing appears to be a difficult skill to acquire and students cannot just “pick up” writing as they learn other skills in ESL classes Hence writing must be taught and taught very carefully 1.3 The roles of writing in second language learning To master a language, obviously it is impossible for learners not to learn writing skill well As a basic productive skill, writing provides students with a chance to put all the language elements they have learnt into practice Emphasizing the significance of writing, White (1991:1) wrote: “Through writing we are able to share ideas, arouse feelings, persuade and convince other people We are able to discover and articulate ideas in ways that only writing makes possible.” According to Raimes ( 1983:3 ), writing is very important since it helps students learn in some ways “First, writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms, and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students Second, when our students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take risks Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved with the new language; the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eye, hand and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning As writers struggle with what to put down next or how to put it down on paper, they often discover something new to write or a new way of expressing their idea They discover a real need for finding the right word and the right sentence The close relationship between writing and thinking makes writing a valuable part of any language course” LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com IX OBSERVATION DESCRIPTION Lesson : The Story of My Village Writing task : Writing an informal letter: giving directions Class : 10 D5 Time : 45’ Teacher : T ; Students : Ss DESCRIPTIVE NOTES REFLECTIVE NOTES I Warm-up : - T called on some Ss to go to the board and follow - The warm-up activity attracted Ss‟ T‟s directions such as turn right, turn left, go ahead attention → High motivation Ss who could not follow the directions accurately would be the loser The winner would be given a small present - T led in the writing lesson quickly : “ Today, we - Ss listened to T attentively are going to learn how to write an informal letter of giving directions II Pre-writing : - T a big map illustrating writing tasks, presented the situation in the model letter, then asked Ss to work in pairs, read the letter and study the map carefully to find Ann‟s house on the map - T let Ss discuss in pairs and draw the directions on the map in the textbook - T told a pair to show the directions on the big map on the board and explain their choice - T checked with the whole class - T kept Ss in pairs reading the letter again and underlining the words and phrases Ss can use to give directions - T gave the instructions in English and checked Ss‟ understanding by asking the question “ What you have to now?” → good technique - All the students got involved in the activity T went round the class and are ready to provide when necessary - Ss followed T‟s guidance and quickly find out words and phrases of giving directions - T asked some to write the words and phrases they had gathered on the board - This technique made the lesson more - T showed the phrases of giving directions with illustrative pictures and provided more vocabulary interesting with visual aids and gave Ss LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com X on the screen necessary vocabulary for the next stage of writing practice - Before writing, T reminded Ss of the form of an informal letter through the model letter - The students were taught the organization of an informal letter -> Good point III While-writing : - T explained the task carefully and check Ss‟ comprehension - T gave instructions in English, then - T asked Ss to use suggested phrases and the model letter to write a letter of giving directions checked Ss‟ understanding Ss knew how to the task - The class kept quiet All Ss concentrated on doing their writing task individually independently - T set a time limit for Ss‟ writing - Good point - T called on a student to the writing task on the board while others did their own ones - During students‟ writing process, T went around the class to provide help when necessary - The teacher was enthusiastic and was always willing to assist students, which made students more confident to complete their writing IV Post-writing : - When the time for writing was up, T told Ss to compare their writing with their partner and have peer correction - T picked up some writings to correct in front of the class - Good technique The class turned noisy again when they had peer correction - T also told students to correct the written text on the board - For some mistakes the students had not discovered, the teacher gave suggestions to help writing -> the students took part in correction work actively and ebulliently - Students followed the teacher‟s suggestions and could find out the errors -> good technique - All the students attentively discuss the errors they had found in their friends‟ students easier to find the mistakes For example, the teacher suggested : „ Focus on the tense of this sentence‟ or „Is the word order here right or not ?‟ or „Pay attention to the meaning of this sentence‟ etc - Ss listened and corrected their own - When students‟ self-correction activity had writing finished , T commented on Ss‟ main errors and suggested ways of correction LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XI - After that, T showed a map of city on the screen, - High motivation The activity helps Ss had Ss work in pairs, ask and answer the directions to some certain places on the map - T called on some pairs to present their work in front of the class - T assigned further practice at home : Imagine practise speaking - Ss can revise the form of writing at your pen-pal who lives far from you want to visit home your city Write a letter of giving directions to your house from the railway station LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XII OBSERVATION DESCRIPTION Lesson 16 : HISTORICAL PLACES Writing task : Describing a chart Class : 10 A1 Time : 45’ Teacher : T ; Students : Ss DESCRIPTIVE NOTES REFLECTIVE NOTES I Warm-up : - The teacher led in the lesson simply by asking students to look at the chart in the text book and saying : “ Today, we are going to learn how to describe a chart” - The warm-up stage was so monotonous that all the students did not pay any attention to what they were going to learn at all II Pre-writing : - T asked Ss to study the given chart by trying to answer the questions in task - Ss were told to work individually to seek the - The class kept silent and followed the teacher‟s requirement The weather was rather hot The students looked tired and answers No pair-work or group-work activity was used bored -> Low motivation - The teacher should have exploited the effectiveness of pair-work or group-work cooperation - The students did not concentrate much - T did not set a time limit for this activity He stood near the board without moving around to check the students‟ work - After some minutes, the teacher called on several students to read aloud the answers one by one - For some questions, the teacher had to suggest the answers - After that, the teacher carelessly explained the form of written text for interpreting data from the chart - T also suggested a few word cues but they were on doing the task because they were asked to work out under time pressure - Some students could not answer the questions, which made the atmosphere in the class rather tense - Not many students listened to the teacher - It seemed rather difficult for students to understand He should have provided students with a sample of chart description to help students learn the form easier - T kept speaking all the time He did not LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XIII not sufficient for students‟ writing - T did not remind the Ss to notice the language check the Ss‟ comprehension -> It was easy to make students confused use in their writing of the chart description with different tenses that have to be used in this chart interpretation - The class kept quiet but looked tired The Ss seemed incomprehensible with what T was instructing Some asked T to repeat the instructions T gave explanation again but the students still seemed unclear about what they were going to write -> Ss were not motivated to get involved in the coming writing activity III While-writing : - T asked Ss to task in the textbook writing a description of the chart provided in Task based on the answers to the questions in task T did not restrict the time the students should finish the task - T called on one student to write on the board and others did individually IV Post-writing : - As a result of a badly-prepared lesson, almost all the students could not finish their writing Neither did the student on the board She was able to write only some sentences with a lot of mistakes in - The class became out of control when Ss started writing Some kept asking each other about vocabulary and the way to write Some talked Some others did their private things The teacher had to told them to keep silent many times but most of the students continued to neglect their writing - The teacher still kept sitting in his seat, and provided help if necessary He did not walk around the class to keep a close watch on the Ss‟ performances -> bad point - Post-writing activities were not carried out as expected due to lots of problems in the previous stages grammar, vocabulary and idea expression - T told some to hand in their writing but all of them were not completed so he just made some remarks on some errors in a few students‟ writings - The lesson was discontinued Both the teacher and the students felt disappointed and bored and asked Ss to finish the rest of their writing at home - No more writing tasks were assigned The homework for Ss was completing the writing task in class - The class got rather noise when the lesson ended Many students did not took note the homework LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XIV APPENDIX : PHỎNG VẤN SAU TIẾT DỰ GIỜ THỨ NHẤT Em nghĩ học viết vừa học ?    Học sinh thứ : Giờ học thật nhàm chán Học sinh thứ hai : Tiết học không thú vị Học sinh thứ ba : Tiết học tạm Em gặp khó khăn học vừa ?    Hs : Em mắc nhiều lỗi ngữ pháp Hs : Em khơng biết cách viết hướng dẫn giáo không rõ ràng Hs : Đôi lúc em khơng thể diễn đạt ý thiếu từ vựng Em có thích tham gia vào hoạt động cặp hay nhóm học viết khơng ? Em muốn tham gia hoạt động vào giai đoạn học viết vừa ? Tại ?   Hs : Có Em thích tham gia vào hoạt động nhóm vào giai đoạn trước viết chúng em trao đổi ý dễ dàng bổ sung thêm ý cho viết Hs : Vâng, tất nhiên Em thích tham gia vào hoạt động cặp vào giai đoạn sau  viết chúng em hỗ trợ việc sửa lỗi Hs : Dạ, em không quan tâm việc Cô giáo em có áp dụng phương pháp dạy học vừa khác không ?    Hs : Có ạ, Hs : Vâng, cô giáo thay đổi Hs : Vâng, chẳng có tiết học Em mong đợi cô giáo học viết ?    Hs : Em mong cô giáo gợi ý cho chúng em ngữ pháp Hs : Em muốn cô dạy cho chúng em dạng viết cẩn thận trước viết Hs : Cô giáo nên gợi ý cho chúng em từ vựng quan trọng liên quan đến viết LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XV INTERVIEWS AFTER THE FIRST OBSERVATION What think about the writing lesson you have just learnt ?  S1 : It‟s boring  S2 : The lesson isn‟t interesting  S3 : It is Ok What difficulties did you cope with in the lesson ?  S1 : I made many grammar errors  S2 : I didn‟t how to write because my teacher‟s instructions were unclear  S3 : Sometimes, I could not express my ideas because of lack of vocabulary Are you interested in taking part in collaborative activities (pair-work or groupwork) ? Which stages in the lesson you have just learnt would you like to participate in these activities ? Why ?  S1 : Yes, I enjoy working in groups in pre-writing stage because we can share our opinions easier and get more ideas about the writing  S2 : Yes, certainly, I prefer to participate in pair-work activity in post-writing because we can help each other to correct our writings  S3 : I don‟t care about this Does your teacher use the same teaching approach in every lesson ?  S1 : Yes, in all writing lessons  S2 : Yes, she changes very little  S3 : Yes, there isn‟t anything new in every lesson What you expect your teacher to in writing lessons ?  S1 : I would like my teacher to suggest the language use for the writing task  S2 : I want my teacher to teach us the form of the written text carefully before writing  S3 : My teacher should provide us with important vocabulary related to the writing task LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XVI PHỎNG VẤN SAU TIẾT DỰ GIỜ THỨ HAI Em nghĩ học viết vừa học ?    Học sinh thứ : Em thích học Học sinh thứ hai : Tiết học thật thú vị Học sinh thứ ba : Tiết học thật hay Em gặp khó khăn học vừa ?   Hs : Đôi em gặp vướng mắc từ vựng Hs : Em mắc số lỗi ngữ pháp  Hs : Em khơng gặp khó khăn Em có thích tham gia vào hoạt động cặp hay nhóm học viết khơng ? Em muốn tham gia hoạt động vào giai đoạn học viết vừa ? Tại ?    Hs : Vâng, em thích tham gia vào hoạt động nhóm giai đoạn mở đầu tiết học Hs : Dạ, em thích hoạt động sửa lỗi theo cặp sau viết Hs : Em thích làm việc theo cặp giai đoạn chuẩn bị trước viết chúng em hỗ trợ lẫn Cơ giáo em có áp dụng phương pháp dạy học vừa khác không ?   Hs : Không phải tất giờ, tiết dự Hs : Chỉ số  Hs : Không thường xuyên Em mong đợi giáo học viết ?   Hs : Em muốn tham gia nhiều vào hoạt động cặp nhóm Hs : Em thường hay bị mắc lỗi ngữ pháp nên em muốn cô giáo nhắc lại cho  chúng em điểm ngữ pháp dùng viết Hs : Em thích học tiết học có hỗ trợ giáo cụ trực quan LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XVII INTERVIEWS AFTER THE SECOND OBSERVATION What think about the writing lesson you have just learnt ?  S1 : I enjoy the lesson  S2 : The lesson is interesting  S3 : It is good What difficulties did you cope with in the lesson ?  S1 : Sometimes, I had a problem with vocabulary  S2 : I made some grammar errors  S3 : I did not face with any difficulties Are you interested in taking part in collaborative activities (pair-work or groupwork) ? Which stages in the lesson you have just learnt would you like to participate in these activities ? Why ?  S1 : I would like to work in groups in warm-up stage  S2 : I am keen on correcting our writing tasks in pairs in post-writing activities  S3 : I enjoy taking part in pair- work activity in pre-writing stage because we can help each other Does your teacher use the same teaching approach in every lesson ?  S1 : No, not all lessons but observed lessons  S2 : In only some lessons  S3 : Not often What would you like your teacher to help you in writing lessons ?  S1 : I want to participate in more pair or group activities  S2 : I often make grammar mistakes so I want my teacher to revise grammatical points before writing  S3 : I would like to learn with the support of teaching aids LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XVIII PHỎNG VẤN SAU TIẾT DỰ GIỜ THỨ BA Em nghĩ học viết vừa học ?  Học sinh thứ : Tiết học khó nhàm chán   Học sinh thứ hai : Em khơng thích tiết học Học sinh thứ ba : Em không hiểu học Em gặp khó khăn học vừa ?    Hs : Em không biểt cách mô tả biểu đồ Hs : Vốn từ em không đủ để phát triển ý Hs : Em gặp nhiều khó khăn cách dùng ngữ pháp Em có thích tham gia vào hoạt động cặp hay nhóm học viết khơng ? Em muốn tham gia hoạt động vào giai đoạn học viết vừa ? Tại ?    Hs : Có Em thích tham gia vào hoạt động nhóm vào giai đoạn trước viết chúng em trao đổi ý kiến với Hs : Vâng, tất nhiên Em muốn thảo luận ý kiến nhóm đặc biệt hoạt động trước viết Hs : Vâng, làm việc theo cặp giúp chúng em hỗ trợ dễ dàng đặc biệt hoạt động sau viết Thầy giáo em có áp dụng phương pháp dạy học vừa khác không ?    Hs : Vâng, hầu hết học Hs : Vâng, thầy giáo không thay đổi nhiều học Hs : Có ạ, thường xuyên Em mong đợi thầy giáo học viết ?    Hs : Em mong thầy dạy chúng em tổ chức ý viết kỹ Hs : Em muốn thầy cung cấp thêm từ vựng quan trọng trước viết Hs : Em mong thầy lưu ý chúng em cách dùng ngữ pháp viết LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XIX INTERVIEWS AFTER THE THIRD OBSERVATION What think about the writing lesson you have just learnt ?  S1 : It is very difficult and boring  S2 : I‟m not interested in it  S3 : I cannot understand it What difficulties did you cope with in the lesson ?  S1 : I did not know how to write a chart description  S2 : My vocabulary was not enough to develop my ideas  S3 : I had a lot of difficulties in selecting the language use Are you interested in taking part in collaborative activities (pair-work or groupwork) ? Which stages in the lesson you have just learnt would you like to participate in these activities ? Why ?  S1 : Yes, I would like to work in groups in pre-writing stage because we can exchange our ideas  S2 : Yes, certainly I want to discuss ideas in groups especially in pre-writing activities  S3 : Yes, of course Working in pairs makes us easier to help each other especially in post-writing activities Does your teacher use the same teaching approach in every lesson ?  S1 : Yes, in most of the lessons  S2 : Yes, my teacher does not change much in other lessons  S3 : Yes, very often What would you like your teacher to help you in writing lessons ?  S1 : I expect my teacher to teach us how to organise a writing text more thoroughly  S2 : I want the teacher to provide us with key vocabulary before writing  S3 : I hope my teacher will remind us of the language use before writing LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XX APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE LESSON PLAN UNIT 15 : DESCRIBING A CITY I Objectives : By the end of the lesson students will be able to describe a city of their choice, using structure and vocabulary they have learned in the lesson II.Time required : 45 minutes III Teaching Aids : - English textbook 10 - A projector with a prepared video clip of Hanoi city - Some handouts of suggestions and homework - Students pre-read some information about Hanoi IV Anticipated problems : Students may not have sufficient vocabulary to write about the topic Students may also have difficult with paragraph writing so the teacher should be ready to help them V Procedure: Teacher :T Teacher’s Activities Students : Ss Students’ Activities Warm – up : (2 minutes) - shows a video clip with some images about Hanoi - watch the video attentively city on the screen and asks Ss to guess the topic of the - answer T‟s question writing lesson by raising the question : “What are you - Suggested answer : „ We are going to going to learn how to write about ?” learn how to write a description of a - leads in the topic of the lesson after getting the city‟ answer from Ss : “That‟s right Today we are going to learn how to - listen to T carefully write a description of a city and Hanoi city is chosen for your description” LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XXI Pre – writing : (12 minutes)  Activity : - instructs Ss to work in groups of or exploiting the - read the model text and exchange the information in the model text about London and then answers in groups The group leader answer the questions in Task of each group writes down the group - walks around to check students‟ work and provide discussion help when necessary - calls on some to present their ideas and then asks Ss - present group answers to comment on the way the information is organized in - Suggested answers for the questions the model text T might facilitate Ss by asking in task : questions like It is situated in southern England, “ What does the first paragraph describe ?” on the River Thames “ What does the second paragraph describe ?” It covers an area of 1610 kim2 “ What does the third paragraph describe ?” It has a population of million - sums up the class ideas by drawing a mind map of It is the capital city of the UK the main supporting ideas on the board : It was founded by the Romans in 43 AD It is famous for its historic building, Location Weather theatres, museums and shops History city and are ideal places for people to A CITY get away from the noisy and busy city Famous Places Area The parks cover a large area of the Population life and relax - continue to work in groups discussing T‟s answers - Suggested answers for T’s question: + The first paragraph describes the information about location, weather, - Based on Ss‟ answers, T suggests the way of population, areas and history organizing ideas when describing a city There are + The second paragraph describes many ways to organize information However, a famous places in London common way is to combine “location”, “weather”, + The third paragraph describes the “population”, “area”, and “history” into one paragraph most outstanding features of London LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XXII as “general information” and then make “famous places” and the most outstanding characteristics of the city as a separate paragraph because these have to with “more specific information” - T might draw Ss‟ attention to the language in the - Listen carefully and take note model text that is used similarly for Ss‟ writing : - be situated / be located - be founded by in - covers an area of - has a population of - be famous for - the best thing about is  Activity - sets the scene : “ You are asked to write a description - follow T‟s guidance, work in groups of Hanoi city Work in groups of sharing your ideas discussing ideas which they have of information about Hanoi and filling your group prepared beforehand opinions in the table” - The group leader of each group - provides handouts and asks Ss to their task writes down their group ideas - goes around checking and offering help during - adds more ideas while T draws the students‟ work mind map - elicits the opinions from groups to develop ideas in - write down the full mind map in the mind map on the board their notebook - supplies more vocabulary and ideas if necessary While – writing : (20 minutes) - gets Ss to write up their description in groups of - work in pairs and write the three on a large paper using the suggestions in the description mind map - skim the letter and concentrate on the - walks around the class and provides suggestions phrases of giving directions when Ss need help Post – writing :(10 minutes) - haves groups exchange their papers for self- - correct each other‟s writings correction - asks some groups to stick their writing on the board LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com XXIII - tells the whole class to comments on the writings on - others find out errors in the writings the board T should draw Ss‟ attention to both idea organization and language use - then gives general remarks on major mistakes and - listen to T‟s general comments explain why these mistakes have been made carefully - asks Ss to correct their group writings - correct their writings Homework : (1 minute) - provides Ss with extra writing task ( given below ) - write down the homework - answers Ss‟ questions of the tasks and gives more suggestions of vocabulary and ideas if possible  1st Handout of the suggested table for information : Location Area GENERAL Paragraph INFORMATION Weather Population History SPECIFIC Paragraph Famous places Paragraph Most outstanding INFORMATION features  2nd Handout of the extra-homework : Write a description of Ho Chi Minh city using the suggested information below Name : Ho Chi Minh City Founding year : 1698 ( Nguyen Dynasty ) Area : 2,095 km2+ Population : 6.3 million Location : Southern Vietnam, near the Mekong Delta Famous places : China Town, Ben Thanh Market, Nha Rong Memorial House, Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Hall, Revolutionary Museum, Dam Sen Tourist and Cultural Park, Suoi Tien Cultural Park LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ... the study The study aims at investigating difficulties encountered by grade- 10 students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning writing skill with the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 In the. .. question: “What are the major factors causing difficulties of the tenth -grade students at Truong Dinh Upper secondary school in learning the writing skill in the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 ?”, a detailed... scale only at Truong Dinh upper secondary school, dealing with grade- 10 students? ?? difficulties in learning the writing skill, not covering students? ?? from other grades The results, therefore,