INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study
Aims of the study
This study is carried out with the wish of achieving the two primary aims:
- To find out what the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students are
- To suggest some solutions to the problems in teaching writing
These aims are shown clearly in addressing the following research questions:
- What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students?
- What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at HaUI?
Scope of the study
The study concentrates on problems experienced by teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry Besides, on the basis of the findings, some solutions suggested by these teachers are advanced to further improve teaching writing in Vietnam.
Method of the study
The study is conducted based on survey research which uses observation, questionnaires and interviews to collect data
- Firstly, observation is used to find out possible problems in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry
- Secondly, a survey for teachers is conducted to address the problems in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry In addition, some possible solutions to these problems are also concerned in this survey
- Finally, interviews for the teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry are carried out to get better insights into the research questions.
Contribution of the study
That the study is conducted not only finds out the problems in teaching writing and provides some possible solutions but also shows the reality of teaching writing in Vietnam in general and at Hanoi University of Industry in particular Moreover, this study is hoped to address the gap in the literature as well as to lay the foundation for further studies on teaching and learning writing.
Design of the study
This study is divided into four main parts to get better insights into different problems in teaching writing
- The first part – Introduction - introduces rationale, aims, scope, method, contribution of the study and provides an overview of the thesis design
- Chapter One in the Development reviews background knowledge of writing and problems in teaching writing with five minor parts: definitions of writing, the importance of writing, approaches to teaching writing, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing and solutions
- Chapter Two in the Development is wholly devoted to describing the study with details in the research hypothesis, rationale for using the survey method, participants, instruments, procedure of data collection, results and discussion
- Finally, the third part is the Conclusion of the thesis dealing with the summary, implications and limitations of the study Furthermore, this part also provides some suggestions for further studies.
DEVELOPMENT
The importance of writing
No one can deny the importance of writing in our society We write to record what we have seen, felt and thought We also write to celebrate experience In addition, we write to inform, to explain, to entertain, to persuade and so forth Therefore, in teaching and learning English, writing plays a crucial role Concerning about this issue, White (1987) pointed out:
(i) Writing remains the commonest way of examining students’ performance in English (all public examinations include a composition) Consequently, ability to write remains a key to examination success
(ii) In the eyes of both parents and students, ability to write may be associated with evidence of having learnt the language Writing is tangible parents and students can see what has been done and what has been achieved So it has high “face validity”
(iii) In classroom, writing may be used as one of a number of techniques to help add variety and interest to lesson
(iv) Teachers may use writing as a testing device to provide feedback on what students have learnt Students’ writing can provide useful evidence of successes or failures in learning, of confusions, and errors
(v) Writing requires thought, discipline and concentration It is relatively a permanent form and readers judge us by our style, content and logic So writing demands care and thought
Particularly, Raimes (1983) suggested three effects of writing in language teaching and learning: “First writing reinforces the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that students have been taught Second, when students write, they also have a chance to be adventurous with the language, to go beyond what they have just learnt to say, to take risks
Third, when they write, they necessarily become very involved in the new language, the effort to express ideas, and the constant use of eyes; hand and brain is a unique way to reinforce learning”
Finally, Byrne (1988) summarized all pedagogical purposes that writing served:
(a) The introduction and practice of some form of writing enables us to provide for different learning styles and needs Some learners, especially those who do not learn easily through oral practice alone, feel more secure if they are allowed to read and write in the language For such students, writing is to be an aid to retention, if only because they feel more at ease and relaxed
(b) Written work serves to provide the learners with some tangible evidence that they are making progress in the language It is not likely to be a true index of their attainment, but once again it satisfies a psychological need
(c) Writing provides variety in classroom activities, serving as a break from oral work (and is therefore a quieter and more relaxed time for both students and teacher!) At the same time, it increases the amount of language contact through work that can be set out of class
(d) Writing is often needed for formal and informal teaching Although in general oral ability should be measured through oral tests, in practice we are often obliged by circumstances, such as the amount of time we have at our disposal and the number of students there are in the class, to use some form of written test In some cases, of course, a written test may even be appropriate: for example, making notes while listening
With the in-depth analysis above, the importance of writing is undeniable Consequently, there is a need of researches on the teaching of writing in order to equip learners with good background knowledge of writing, being ready to become good writers.
Approaches to teaching writing
It is confirmed that teaching writing is really complicated work Teachers always have to choose what to teach, why to teach and how to teach Among these choices, choosing the suitable approach of teaching writing seems to be the most difficult one Therefore, in the range of an MA thesis, two most fundamental and popular approaches of writing are introduced with the hope of providing an overview of teaching writing approaches
Product Approach is a traditional approach which is a largely “prescriptive and product- centered” way of teaching writing This approach focuses on the final outcome of a writing process and supposes that students need to produce only one writing version of the task
The model of this approach was outlined by Nunan (1991) when he reviewed that the product approach favored classroom activities, preferred organization of ideas to ideas, emphasized on grammar exercises and correctness, and focused on the result of the final writing paper of learners
In addition, Tsui (1996) distinguished four stages of the product approach like generating ideas, drafting, revising and editing He also claimed that the product approach focused more on form than on content Also emphasizing on form, White (1987) considered the product approach as the emphasis on grammatical correctness and adherence to give models or guidelines
In brief, after reviewing some basic features of the product approach, it may be concluded that the product approach focuses on form, which prevents students from developing their creativity and confidence in the learning of writing On the contrary, this approach seems to be good for beginners of writing to formulate their skill Besides, the careful instruction of teachers in this approach is a good chance for students to improve their own writing
The process approach to writing, an innovation in a product-oriented culture (Cheung, 1999), has been seen as an improvement over the traditional method of writing instruction in recent years
According to Leki (1990), the process approach was an approach to teaching writing that placed more emphasis on the stages of the writing process than on the final product
With the similar idea, Badger and White (2000) defined: “Writing in process approaches is seen as predominantly to do with linguistic skills, such as planning and drafting, and there is much less emphasis on linguistic knowledge, such as knowledge about grammar and text structure” In this approach, students are taught “planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing strategies” at each stage of the writing process to help them write freely and arrive at a product of good quality
Sharing the same idea with Badger and White, Gardner and Johnson (1997) pointed out five stages of the writing process namely prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, in which they defined all of these stages Prewriting was the planning and idea-gathering stage
Drafting referred to time spent on composing a rough draft Revising implied the process of improving the draft while editing was the process of correcting mechanical errors Finally, publishing was accomplished in a wide variety of ways when the work is in final form
Additionally, Applebee (2000), Chenoweth and Hayes (2001); Flower and Hayes (1981), and Raimes (1991) presented some features of process writing as follows:
Firstly, it is increasingly understood that writing is a process of creating and extending meaning, rather than merely conveying pre-conceived information
Secondly, the process approach to teaching writing emphasizes the development in learners of the recursive strategies and techniques that expert writers use when composing
In the third place, learners plan an outline of what they intend to write about
Besides, “recursive” means that learners make several drafts before the final version
Finally, learners edit these drafts
In summary, the process approach pays more attention to content, creative writing and different drafts; therefore, it needs efforts from both teachers and students However, applying this approach is considered as a valuable opportunity for students to promote their creativity, independence and confidence in writing
1.3.3 Differences between the two approaches
Based on theoretical background of the product and the process approach, Steele (2005) distinguished the differences between them
Firstly, the process approach considers text as a resource for comparison while in the product approach, text is used for students to imitate Secondly, when process approach emphasizes the importance of ideas, product approach appreciates the organization of ideas more than ideas themselves Moreover, focusing on creativity, the process approach often has more than one draft; on the contrary, concentrating on the final product of writing, only one draft is used in the product approach Finally, in process approach, students or learners often collaborate with each other while in product approach, they work individually
From the distinguishing features above, it is likely that there is not much clear-cut separation between these two approaches Each of them has both strengths and weaknesses Therefore, in order to yield the most effective lessons of writing, integrating the product and the process approach seems to be a good choice for both teachers and students.
Factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing
In addition to the teaching approaches which properly affect the quality of the writing teaching and learning, there exist some other factors contributing to the success of the learning and teaching namely learners’ personality, motivation, the first language and culture, curriculum and students’ communicative competence
Second language acquisition is defined as the learning and adopting of a language that is not learners’ native language Once learners have acquired a foreign language, they have mastered that language For second language learners to make maximum progress with their own learning styles, their individual differences must be recognized and attended to A number of theories hold that personality factors significantly influence the degree of success that individuals achieve in learning a second language (Gass & Selinker, 1994) based on the assumption that some features of the learner's personality might encourage or inhibit second language learning (Cook, 1996) by enhancing certain facets of language learning while impeding others (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991) In the second language teaching and learning, finally, Ellis (1985) came to the conclusion that different personality characteristics are involved in promoting communicative and linguistic abilities
First of all, motivation was described as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal- oriented behavior” by Kleinginna and Kleinginna (1981) while Brown (2000) defines:
“Motivation is some kinds of internal drove which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something.” Having the same idea, Woolfolk (2001) said: “Motivation is an internal state that arouses directs and maintains behavior.” As stated in these definitions, motivation can be understood as the internal power that pushes people to pursue something
In the foreign language setting, motivation plays a fundamental role It is said to correlate most likely with failure or success in learning (Gardner and Lambert, 1972) With the same point of view, Yule (1996) insisted that there were several factors combining in a profile of the successful second language learner, among which the motivation to learn was important
Explaining the role of motivation in teaching and learning the foreign language, Oxford and Shearin (1994) pointed out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often students use the second language learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned (the target language), how well they do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they persevere and maintain L2 skills after language study is over… Therefore, motivation is crucial for L2 learning, and it is essential to understand what our students’ motivations are.”
1.4.3 The first language and culture
In the acquisition of the second language, the first language plays a crucial part In fact, foreign language learning normally takes place later than the first language acquisition with learners having already developed their subconscious competence in the first language This experience of their native language may be more or less helpful as they approach a new language since they have already learned how to do with language To a certain extent, universal features shared by languages may facilitate their learning a new language However, it is a fact that learners of different backgrounds experience failures to control the foreign language, and this has been for a time attributed to the native language habits and experience
People have believed and still hold that the mother tongue has something to do with these failures Some representative linguists like Lado (1957), Fries (1945) advocated this viewpoint They suggested a theory in which two types of transfers were described on the basis of behavior psychology: the positive and negative transfer Transfer was positive when foreign language learning was facilitated due to its similar features with the mother tongue and negative in the sense that their different features impeded learning Although this theory has been vulnerable to critical attacks from many linguists, the fact that the first language contributes to the success of learning and teaching a foreign language is undeniable
In addition to the first language, culture is also seen as a factor affecting the quality of teaching and learning the second language, especially teaching and learning writing Kaplan
(1966) claimed that oriental cultures wrote in a circular way and western cultures write in a linearly The idea of linearity was confirmed by the studies of Houghton (1983) and Hoey
(1986) and Leki, (1991) Furthermore, Scollon and Scollon's (1986) study of news items showed the circular way of presenting an argument by the Chinese, reflecting the classical structure of English texts produced by Chinese writers There are other researchers, especially in second language contexts, who have engaged with Kaplan's theory and allow that different cultures have different rhetorical techniques (Scollon, 1991, Connor 1990 and 1996) On the other hand, these researchers also concluded that people who are from the same or similar culture may employ different rhetorical structures and, consequently, write similarly or differently (Clyne, 1980, 1987, Scollon, 1995, Kirkpatrick, 1997)
Textbooks are a key component in most language programs McElroy (1934) stated that “the textbook is decidedly not the sole condition of an effective class; quality of teaching is more important” In detail, textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skilled taught and the kinds of language practice the students take part in In other situations, the textbook may serve primarily to supplement the teacher’s instruction For learners, the textbook may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from input provided by the teacher In the case of inexperienced teachers, textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training – they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use
In short, textbooks remarkably contribute to the quality of the second language teaching and learning as Rivers’ (1968) saying: “The importance of the textbook cannot be overestimated It will inevitably determine the major part of the classroom teaching and the students’ out-of- class learning.”
Firstly, communicative competence is based on linguistic competence, but it is different from linguistic competence As a major concern in language learning, grammar ability was seen as the reflection of linguistic competence For L2 learners, it is important to master generative grammar to communicate in the target language, because this type of grammar can provide rules for the formation of all possible sentences in a target language However, students who do well on grammar tests are not always able to carry on a conversation in the target language
Therefore, a distinction between linguistic competence and communicative competence needs to be made Generative grammar is called “a description of the ideal speaker-hearer’s intrinsic competence” in ideal settings (Chomsky, 1965, p 4) Communicative competence, however, is “the ability to function in a truly communicative setting”, and there is “a dynamic exchange in which linguistic competence must adapt itself to the total informational input” (Savignon,
1972, p 8) In other words, linguistic competence is about “rules of grammar”, but communicative competence is about “rules of speaking” (Cameron, 2001, p 55)
Secondly, communicative competence is associated with sociocultural factors In the study of communicative competence, the social dimension also needs to be concerned Communication is “a social interaction through messages” (Fiske, 1990), and it takes place in a social context involving transmitting not only information but also in communicating social values and interpersonal relationships (Thompson, 2003) Hymes (1972) pointed out that a competent language user needs to know more than just a set of rules for forming grammatical sentences; he/she also needs to know how to use language in a contextually appropriate way According to Hymes (1972, p 282), competence should be based on “knowledge” and “use”, and acquisition of competence includes developing both competence for grammar and competence for use All the components of communicative events need to be involved, such as persons, places, purposes and other modes of communication To produce an appropriate utterance requires a speaker to adapt to different communicative circumstances Consequently, communicative competence is regarded as a fundamental issue in teaching and learning the second/ foreign language, which serves as both a means of language acquisition and a goal of language teaching and learning process.
Problems in teaching writing
As stated in the parts above, the first language and culture play an important role in the acquisition of English as a second/foreign language Concerning about this role, Kaplan
(1967) insisted: “Language in the whole multiplicity of its forms – both shapes and is shaped by the experience of the society of speakers” while Ellis (1996) said: “Speakers of different languages view the world in different ways” Talking about the interference of the first language in the teaching of writing, in the study of English writing by Vietnamese immigrants to the United States, Byleen (1986) wrote: “Their first language may have predisposed them to certain interference errors in English” Besides, sharing the idea about the effect of culture, Furnham and Bochner (1986) said: “The directness of Western discourse styles might be reviewed by the Vietnamese as rude and uncouth.” Therefore, it may be concluded that the interference of the first language and culture is a problem in the teaching of writing
In addition to the interference of the first language and culture, lack of real motivation – both internal and external is another issue in teaching writing Firstly, without inspiration, writing becomes a harder struggle One would find it hard to perform a task well if he is not doing it out of will Secondly, the student writer generally does not have a concrete reason or purpose of writing for a real audience According to Bachman & Palmer (1997), areas of language knowledge consists of not only organizational but also pragmatic and socio-linguistic knowledge Without a real audience is rather difficult – the writer cannot identify what the communicative goals and the features of the language use setting are For example, the scholarship application letter students write when they know that their teacher will be the reader and the one they would actually write to be read by, say, the scholarship board of the university offering the grant will certainly be different from one another
There are lots of constraints in writing Firstly, unlike in speech, people do not have a direct
“hearer” in writing and it is the reason why writing is not an easy skill Secondly, one of the original causes that hinder students “writing efficiency” is time limit Gregory (1989) questioned: “Whether functional writing proficiency can be elicited or measured by tasks that do not ask for and allow time for prewriting and revising” After that, Weir (1990) gave a noteworthy remark on this question: “Time pressure is often an unrealistic constraint for extended writing and writing time essays is not normally done outside of academic life For most people the writing process is lengthier and may involve several tasks before finished a version is produced”
In addition to time, there are many factors causing constraints in writing like place, temperature, the writers’ physiological conditions and so on
As stated in the factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing, communicative competence is very important to the success of language teaching and writing It serves as the basis for the teaching and learning of writing In case of students’ poor communicative competence, students cannot communicate successfully They cannot use words to express their ideas As a result, there would be much difficulty for the teaching of writing
Not like other skills, in the teaching of writing, giving feedback is considered as the key to the success It shows the relationships between teachers and students However, there has been limited literature on the effectiveness of feedback According to Murphy (1994), it raised the question of whether teachers’ kind of correction and comment match students’ expectations
Besides, it is the way to improve the quality of students’ written work (Shrum & Glisan,
2002) Therefore, giving feedback is not a simple matter Firstly, correcting written work is very time-comsuming (Ur, 1991) Secondly, teachers have difficulty in deciding focus on form or on content when they give feedback to their students (Farthman & Whalley, 1990) Lastly, whether teachers correct all the mistakes in their students’ writing is another problem of giving feedback that Ur (1991) questioned
Although textbooks are very necessary to the teaching of writing, there still have been some arguments on their role Tomlinson (2003) argued: “Many ELT materials (especially global course books) currently make a significant contribution to the failure of many learners of
English as a second, foreign or other language to even acquire basic competence in English and to the failure of most of them to develop the ability to use it successfully” What is more, concerning about the importance of textbooks to teachers, Williams (1983) insisted: “In situations where there is a shortage of trained teachers, language teaching is very closely tied to the textbook […] The textbook can be a tyrant to the teacher who, in his or her preoccupation with covering the syllabus feels constrained” Similarly, Sheldon (1988) claimed: “ELT course books evoke a range of responses, but are frequently seen by teachers as necessary evils Feelings fluctuate between the perception that they are valid, labor-saving tools, and the doleful belief that masses of rubbish is skillfully marketed” Learning how to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a teacher’s professional knowledge in the way to the success of the teaching
This chapter has so far touched upon a number of issues relating to the topic of the study
They included definitions of writing, the importance of writing, approaches to teaching writing, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing Despite the fact that each linguists and teachers view writing from different perspectives, the importance of teaching writing is undeniable In addition, the differences in approaches to teaching writing are also one of the factors affecting the teaching of writing, which, to some extents, causes problems in teaching writing In short, based on these issues, especially factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing, the author hoped to provide the background knowledge for the study which will be discussed in the next chapter: The Study
CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1 The research hypothesis
The study is designed to assess the hypothesis that teachers teaching writing to English major students at HaUI experience lots of problems Besides, the study is also conducted for discovering these problems as well as solutions suggested by the teachers In detail, the study focuses on answering two following research questions:
- What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students?
- What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at HaUI?
Methodology
Based on Johnson’s theory (1992) that “a survey is usually defined, then, as a study of a large group through direct study of a subset of that group”, survey research was one of the research methods that the author could employ to explore problems in teaching writing experienced by English teachers in general and teachers at English major group, English Department, HaUI in particular Moreover, Johnson (1991) also insisted that survey methods had been used to study issues that impinge on language learning Therefore, with the aims of discovering problems in teaching writing and suggesting some possible solutions to English teachers, survey research was used in this study through classroom observation, a questionnaire and interviews In detail, all the data were collected, analyzed and interpreted both quantitatively (use means, percentage, graphs, etc) and qualitatively (interactive and thematic narrative analysis exploring inductive themes).
Participants and instruments
The subjects involved in this study include 12 teachers at English Major Group, English Department, HaUI They are all female from 27 to 30 years old, and have three or four years of teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry
In order to get the most exact information for the study, three types of research instruments were used
Instrument 1: Classroom observation was employed to discover the reality of teaching writing to English major students at HaUI
Instrument 2: A questionnaire was designed to collect data from 12 teachers teaching writing to English major students at HaUI The questionnaire included 14 questions divided into two main parts: Problems in teaching writing and solutions to problems in teaching writing The teachers were required to circle the suitable choice and give explanations or their own answers
Instrument 3: Twelve informal interviews with 12 teachers teaching writing to English major students at HaUI were conducted to support the data collected by the questionnaire Five questions were raised in the interviews
- The first question was about important factors in teaching writing, which was asked in the questionnaire but needed more explanations
- Question 2 in the interviews dealt with approaches that teachers employed in their teaching of writing This question aimed to provide the researcher with the reality of teaching writing as well as the background for the study
- The third question addressed teachers’ opinions about the textbook to get more information supporting the questionnaire
- Question 4 asked teachers about motivating their students which was a fundamental issue in teaching writing
- The last question concerned about other problems in teaching writing so that the researcher can both cover all important obstacles in teaching writing and understand them deeply from teachers’ perspectives.
Procedure of data collection
The collection of data was carried out through three stages
- Stage 1: The author of the study observed some writing classes at English Major Group to discover the reality of teaching writing
- Stage 2: The subjects were invited to cooperate in the collection process They took part in completing the questionnaire about problems in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI and some suggested solutions
- Stage 3: After the questionnaire was analyzed, some questions for interviews were raised The subjects were invited to answer these questions.
Results and discussion
All the data collected from the classroom observation, the survey questionnaire and the interviews are carefully analyzed in this section of the thesis
2.5.1 Problems in teaching writing to English majors students at HaUI
One of the most important factors in this thesis is the problems that teachers have to deal with
However, before teachers’ obstacles in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI are explored, it is necessary to have a look at teachers’ opinions on teaching writing, which is referred by two first questions in the questionnaire
Question 1: What do you think about teaching writing to English major students at HaUI?
Chart 1: Teachers’ opinions on teaching writing
With this question, most of the teachers (92 %) thought that teaching writing is very difficult because a majority of HaUI students came from English non-major high schools Besides, that English Department has just been established at HaUI is another reason Compared to the majority of teachers, only one teacher claimed that teaching writing to English major students was neither difficult nor easy She explained that her students were very hard-working and their proficiency of English was not too bad
Question 2: In your opinion, which factor(s) affect(s) your teaching of writing most?
The first language and culture
Factors affecting the teaching of writing
Chart 2: Factors affecting the teaching of writing
According to the information from the survey, seven out of twelve teachers (58.3%) regarded students’ communicative competence as the factor affecting the teaching of writing most while only two teachers chose textbook These figures are suitable for the data collected by the first interview question: “In your opinion, what are important factors in teaching writing?” Most of the teachers pointed out that teaching writing was teaching students how to express and connect their ideas using their own communicative competence, not depending on the textbook Therefore, in the teaching of writing, textbook does not have much influence
Based on results from the questionnaire and interviews, sharing the second position, motivation and the first language and culture were agreed to be another factors affecting the teaching of writing by 41.7 % of the teachers The role of motivation was shown in the quality of the writing class while the first language and culture were seen in the students’ writing
Three of twelve teachers claimed that their students, especially first-year students, used to express their ideas in Vietnamese styles like arranging words in Vietnamese orders More importantly, the indirectness in Vietnamese culture also contributed to students’ failure of writing
Finally, in the comparison with motivation, students’ personality seemed to have less effect in teaching writing One fourth of the teachers insisted that although students’ personality had influence in the quality of teaching writing, the ways teachers used to motivate their students were the key to the success of the teaching process
The third question in the questionnaire deals with the first problem in teaching writing – Lack of motivation
Question 3: How do students take part in your writing lessons?
As regarded the reality of writing classes at HaUI, all of the teachers asked chose the statement “Only some students work actively while the others take part in my lessons when I call them” This fact was similar with the result collected from classroom observation when students seldom volunteered or expressed their ideas in writing classes Most of them whispered with each other or did private things in writing classes Especially, when teachers raised questions about the lessons, they kept silent and stared at their book Giving the explanation for this fact, one teacher in the interviews said “The most important factor in teaching writing is how you can motivate your students because of the fact that most of students consider this subject as a boring one Therefore they don’t want to spend much time on learning writing”
2.5.1.2 The interference of the first language and culture
Chart 3: Vietnamese interference in students’ writing Question 4: “How often do you find any Vietnamese interference in the way your students write?”
As can be seen from the pie chart above, 58.3 % of the teachers answered “very often” while the rest chose “sometimes” In other words, no matter what more or less effect Vietnamese interference have in students’ writing, its interference is one problem that writing teachers have to encounter Interestingly, two of twelve teachers pointed out the interference of first language and culture when they answered question 2 in the questionnaire They claimed that the first language affected the way students wrote Sometimes, they use irrelevant words due to word by word translation Moreover, the first language influenced the way students think
Some students beat around the bush when writing Especially, the classroom observation also showed the similar conclusion when students use connectors like “because” and” so”,
“although” and “but” in the same sentence
Question 5: How does time affect your teaching of writing?
The fifth question in the questionnaire addresses the one of the biggest constraints in writing:
With 90 minutes for a writing unit in a week, all of the teachers agreed with the fact that they did not have enough time for teaching writing Moreover, thanks to classroom observation, time was recognized as an important factor in teaching writing at HaUI For example, the textbook of first-year English major students was College Writing written by Dorothy E Zemach and Lisa A Rumisek In 90 minutes, teachers and students had to complete eight pages of tasks, including composing a paragraph or an essay In fact, as a result of limited time, students had to write at home, which was very difficult when they were not motivated enough and lacked teachers’ control
Mistakes that students make most frequently
Chart 4: Mistakes that students make most frequently
As an important factor affecting the teaching of writing, students’ communicative competence was represented in writing through a variety of forms among which were word choice, grammar, organization of ideas and so on Consequently, students’ making mistakes became a noteworthy matter in this study
Question 6: From your point of view, what is/ are the mistake(s) that your students make most frequently?
83.3 % of teachers claimed that their students used to confuse with using words in writing interference Besides, according to eight of twelve teachers, Vietnamese interference also was the cause of mistakes in organizing ideas when students applied Vietnamese writing styles to English writing Therefore, their writings often lacked cohesion and coherence What is more, inadequate grammatical mistakes were also blamed for students’ failure in writing Among a large number of grammatical mistakes, teachers pointed out a typical one that students, especially first-year students, used to make: using “to be” before other verbs Finally, two of twelve teachers mentioned mistakes in expressing ideas in writing which were caused by Vietnamese interference too
Chart 5: The frequency of teachers’ giving feedback
Question 7: How often do you give feedback to your students’ writing?
Responding to this question, 83.3% of teachers answered “often” due to the effectiveness of teachers’ feedback in students’ writings According to them, feedback could help students know strengths and weaknesses in their writings; consequently, feedback could improve the quality of students’ writing Besides, feedback was considered as a means to motivate students to write However, considering students’ motivation, most of the teachers insisted that it was not necessary to correct or point out all the students’ mistakes or errors but focus on important ones
Although feedback had great influence on teaching writing, 16.7 % of teachers still hesitated to give feedback because of some problems in giving feedback which were concerned in the eight questions
Question 8: What are your problems in giving feedback to your students?
Problems in giving feedback to students Percentage a Written comments are time-consuming 41.7 % b The students often make the same mistake again 41.7 % c The students are not interested in my comments 0% d I find it difficult to express my ideas to my students 16.6%
Table 1: Teachers’ problems in giving feedback to students
As stated in the table above, two big problems that teachers had to face with in giving feedback to students were time and students’ mistakes with the same percentage of teachers choosing (41.7 %), among which students’ mistakes were blamed for their inadequate communicative competence In addition, 16.6 % of teachers had difficulties in making their students understand their ideas However, teachers’ feedback seemed to be a positive factor to students when there was no report that students were not interested in teachers’ comments
Despite the participation of the textbook in teaching writing, teachers did not think that it affected their teaching much (16.7 % of teachers considered textbooks as a factor affecting the teaching of writing – Question 2 in the questionnaire) This fact was similar to the results collected from question 9 in the questionnaire and question 3 in the interviews Giving comments on their textbooks of writing, most of the teachers satisfied with their illustration, orders of lessons, kinds of exercises and topics Nevertheless, three out of twelve teachers thought that writing samples needed some more improvement to be suitable with students’ level
CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the study
The study aims at addressing the two research questions about problems and solutions in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI Based on data collected from the classroom observation, the questionnaire and the interviews for 12 teachers at English Major Group, some results are gained
Research question 1: What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students?
From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that teachers at English Major Group, English Department, HaUI, meet with lots of problems in the teaching of writing namely students’ lack of motivation, Vietnamese interference, lack of time to teach and give feedback, students’ inadequate communicative competence, unsuitable writing samples and teachers’ limited qualification
Research question 2: What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at HaUI?
Dealing with each problem, there exist some ways to solve, which is summarized as follows:
- Teachers should use pictures and other teaching aids to motivate students Besides, creating competitive atmosphere and giving feedback regularly are other ways to promote students to write
- Teachers are suggested to combined using English most of the time in class with assigning students more reading tasks and giving lessons about English culture to reducing Vietnamese interference in students’ writing Besides, cooperating with foreign teachers is also recommended
- It is very difficult to use time effectively when teachers only have 90 minutes for each writing unit in the textbook However, teachers can spend time for their instructions while sometimes allowing their students to write in class, as this would motivate them
More importantly, the upper management should re-adjust teachers’ teaching time reasonably by giving teachers more time to teach writing or changing the textbook suitably with the reality of teaching writing
- The cooperation between teachers and students in brainstorming ideas for topics is suggested to both develop students’ communicative competence and limit their mistakes in writing
- In order to improve teachers’ feedback, it is recommended that additional exercises should be used to reduce students’ making repeated mistakes Besides, teaches also had better develop their own qualification
- In teachers’ opinions, textbook do not affect their teaching of writing much, except for the writing samples Therefore, teachers should choose suitable writing samples from various sources of writing such as newspapers, stories, reviews and so forth to adapt the textbook to their teaching of writing
- The first and foremost problem in the teaching of writing depends on teachers themselves Thus, teachers should be aware of their important role to improve their own qualification regularly In addition, the upper management is suggested to create opportunities for teachers to learn and exchange experience
Based on the findings of the study, there are some implications as follows
First and foremost, the teaching and learning process requires the cooperation of teachers, learners and other educational organizations Therefore, reducing problems in teaching and learning depends on all of these subjects
In addition, this study discovers problems in teaching writing which belong to the teachers firstly Therefore, teachers’ awareness of improving their own qualification is very important
Last but not least, although this study proposes some solutions to problems in teaching writing, not all of these solutions like re-adjusting teaching time, inviting foreign teachers and adapting the textbook could simply be done by the teachers In fact, these solutions are completed only in case of the participation of the upper management
The study has offered some insightful findings, yet, like many other studies, there are still some limitations
In term of methodology, the study is limited in the fact that data collected from the classroom observation, the questionnaire and the interviews might not fully reflect all aspects of teaching writing to English major students at HaUI in particular and in Vietnam in general Moreover, the participants sometimes seemed to contradict themselves in giving responses to the questionnaire and the interviews Especially, that all the participants are female also affects the reliability and validity of the study In addition, the data were collected at the end of the school year, so the classroom observation was conducted in a short period of time with limited choice of the lessons
Significantly, since English Department has just established at HaUI, the qualification of English major students is not as good as other English major ones at other universities Thus, it can not be said that the findings are generalized to all the other universities in Vietnam
Finally, teaching and learning is a large field; therefore, the study cannot cover all aspects in the teaching of writing but students’ motivation, students’ communicative competence, time, textbooks and teachers’ feedback
Based on some limitations of the study, there are some suggestions for further researches
Firstly, this study is about teachers’ problems in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI However, all of the teachers are female, which affects the reliability of the study very much Therefore, the gender of participants should be changed to get more adequate results
Secondly, within the scope of the study, the researcher has no chance to deal with other factors affecting students’ motivation and problems in other skills like speaking, reading and listening Therefore, further studies on these matters are recommended
In addition, due to the researcher’s limited time and limited knowledge, the study employs survey research, thus using other research methods like case study is suggested
Last but not least, further studies should take these findings and suggestions into consideration to get better results in English teaching and learning
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Date: 28/04/2010 Room 302 - A2 Hanoi University of Industry Writing class 1 for First-year English major students Textbook: College Writing (Dorothy E Zemach & Lisa A Rumisek) Length of Activity: 90 minutes
Descriptive Notes Reflective Notes Unit 5: Opinion Paragraphs
- - - - - - Seats for Students Seats for Students
- The Teacher (T) comes in, greets the students (Ss) and asks them about their homework: Write a paragraph about traditional food – Spring rolls in Vietnam
- T raises a question about facts and opinions – “What are the differences between facts and opinions?”
- T calls some Ss to answer the questions
- The class is so quiet, and the students are rather passive
- Only some students get involved in the lesson The others talk (in Vietnamese) or fall asleep
- The teacher uses English to give lessons
- Good PowerPoint Presentation and to give examples No-one volunteers
- T reads aloud some sentences and asks Ss to define facts and opinions in the whole class
- T introduces the outline of the lesson, using PowerPoint Presentation
- T gives definitions of facts and opinions through PowerPoint Presentation, and then asks students to read the letter in the textbook to answer questions in five minutes
- After 5 minutes, T asks questions in the book T checks Ss’ answers
- T asks: “Why do writers add facts in their writing?” Some Ss raise their voice to answer T’s questions
- The teacher keeps asking and saying, but
Ss are not active to give responses
II Facts and Opinions: Practice
Exercise 1 in the textbook: Read a letter to the editor of a newspaper Answer the questions
- T asks students to open the book and do exercise 1
- T goes around the class and explains if necessary
- T asks Ss to share their answers with their partners and to explain why
- T checks Ss’ work with the whole class
After that, T asks Ss to work in group of
- Although the teacher announce only five to ten minutes for Ss to do exercises, but the real time is rather long
- Ss don’t get involved in the lesson
- Most of the time T uses English She only uses Vietnamese when there is no response from Ss
- No other activities but doing exercises from time to time three or in pairs to discuss the question:
What kind of writing do we have? It is an opinion or a fact writing?
- T calls some Ss to give the answer T checks Ss’ answers and explains
Exercises 4 in the textbook: Decide whether the sentence is a fact or an opinion
- T asks Ss to do exercises 4 in the textbook in three minutes
- After three minutes, T asks Ss to work in the whole class T checks and points out some words that show opinions: “easier”,