Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS teaching writing in large classes through peer tutoring in university of economic and technical industries

Rationale of the study

Numerous methodologies have emerged in the field of education throughout the centuries One of the methods is peer tutoring “Peer tutoring refers to the concept of students teaching other students in formal or informal learning situations that are delegated, planned or directed by the teacher” ( Wagner( 1982-5)) A lot of researches states that peer tutors are effective in helping students with the different stages of the writing process which is considered to be the most difficulty and complex skill in teaching and learning English language

Moreover, Johnson and Johnson( 1975-37) showed that “ peer tutoring takes the pressure off the teacher by allowing her to teach a large group of students, at the same time, it allows the slow learners the individual attention they need.” Buckholt and Wodarski( 1978-50) added that “ peer tutoring can reduce anxiety caused by vast differences in age, status, and background between students and teachers A peer tutor can may possible communicate more easily with a student” Therefore, peer tutoring has advantages of teaching in multi-level large classes It creates communicative opportunities as well as additional motivation for learning Also, the teachers do not have to have difficulties in management and organization of large classes

In addition, I have been teaching English in University of Economic and Technical Industries (UNETI) for at least three years I realize similar issues also have appeared in UNETI, which encourages me to conduct the study “Teaching writing in large classes through peer tutoring in UNETI”

Aims of the study and research questions

This study was aimed to:

(1) Examine the current situations of using peer tutoring to teach large writing classes

(2) Examine the advantages of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes

(3) Examine the difficulties of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes

3 Research questions The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to 2 research questions

(1) How has peer tutoring been used in large writing classes in UNETI?

(2) What are advantages of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes?

(3) What are difficulties of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes?

The study is focused on only second-year college students whose major is economics and electricity because most of these classes are large classes of 60-100 students Yet, the study results cannot be true to all Vietnamese universities with large classes Thus, my suggestions of large writing classes though peer tutoring are only appropriate for second- year college students

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to carry out the study With the aim of increasing validity and reliability of the data collected, the survey questionnaires will be delivered The purpose of the survey is to collect data about the current situation of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes Classroom observations were conducted in two different classes After that, the interviews with two teachers were done to clarify aspects which were inadequate and vague in the survey questionnaires

It is hope that the study will help to better my own teaching and give the colleagues at UNETI and those whose are concerned with current situations, advantages and difficulties of using peer tutoring in large writing classes

The study is comprised of three parts

Part A - Introduction provides a brief introduction of the study

Part B– Development which is the main part is divided into 3 chapters

Chapter 1 – Literature review reviews the literature relevant to the study including aspects of teaching writing and peer revision

Chapter 2 – Methodology is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study encompassing the justification for using action research, the context of the study, the intervention, data collection instruments, data collection procedure, and data analysis methods

Chapter 3 – Data analysis, findings present significant findings of the study, It describes how collected data is analyzed and presented

Chapter 4: Recommendation provides recommendations for better teaching and learning English writing skill through peer tutoring in large classes

Part C – Conclusion summarizes the main issues addressed in the study Some limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher’s suggestions for further study were also pointed out in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides the theoretical background for the study It covers theories related to teaching writing, large classes and peer tutoring

1.1 An overview of teaching writing

Within the traditional higher education system, written output is often used as a vehicle for assessment of the individual, and collaborative writing can be problematic to assess However, in recent years there has been greater interest in writing as a device for improving learning and thinking, couple with the advocacy of “writing across the curriculum”, “writing centers”, and “collaborative writing” Therefore, writing is viewed more as a process and less as a product, which addresses teachers new challenges how to teach writing

Teaching writing, in language teachers’ opinions, is “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3) because teaching writing is an increasingly

“multifaceted activity” with some following ideas:

 People learn to write by writing

 Writing grows out of many different purposes

 Convention of finished and edited texts are important to readers and therefore to writers

 Writing and reading are related

 Writing has a complex relationship to talk

 Literature practices are embedded in complicated social relationships

 Composing occurs in different modalities and technologies

 Assessment of writing involves complex, informed, human judgment

(Writing Study Group of the NCTE Executive Committee (2004))

As you can see, writing is defined as a complicated language skill in association with speaking and reading skills For example, Ur (1996-161) mentioned that teaching writing seems to be more confusing than teaching speaking He stated that “most people acquire the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned” He added, “Writing normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill that is really picked up by exposure.” (p11)

Moreover, writing is defined as a social process by Candlin and Hyland (1999:

107) They stated that “Writing is therefore an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made” Hence, teaching writing is connected with communicational skills of which the relationship between writers and readers is a main role

In my opinion, writing skills consist of other skills such as reading, speaking, and communicative skills Therefore, teaching writing is overall one, which brings about teachers and learners’ difficulties in writing

Both writing and speaking are productive skills However, according to some researchers, writing is different from speaking in such terms of three criteria as linguistics, creating process and interaction

In terms of linguistics, Ur (1996: 160) distinguished writing from speaking based on “its explicitness, density and standard language” He asserted that the distance between the reader and the writer deprived the writer of speech-related advantages like the real context, paralinguistic feature etc The writing content, thus, was expected to be more explicitly, densely and universally comprehensibly presented than that of speech

In terms of producing process, these two productive skills are also different

Raimes (1983: 5) found out that while “speaking is usually spontaneous and unplanned,” writing process is “recursive, planned” and “time consuming” Harmer (2004:8) concluded that writing process with “its recursiveness and multiple drafting” is more complex than speaking process

In terms of interaction, according to Ur (1996), due to the “detachment” of space and time in writing, the writer tends to be cut short of “immediate feedback and interaction” with “known” audience, which are supposedly available to the speaker (p

161) Harmer (2004) also points out the two features of face-to-face interaction which writing is devoid of, i.e immediate verbal or non-verbal reactions and frequent role swapping between the addresser and the addressee (p 8) Consequently, the writers tend to encounter common difficulties in defining audience (Brown, 1994, p 326) and receiving feedback from readers (White (1981)

To conclude, regarding the three criteria investigated in previous studies including linguistic feature, producing process and interaction, writing and speaking, by nature, are two different stories This sheds more light on the characteristics of writing.

1.1.3 Approaches to teaching writing 1.1.3.1 Approaches to teaching writing

Raimes (1983: 5- 10) presents 6 approaches to writing, namely: The Controlled-to- Free Approach, The Free-Writing Approach, The Paragraph-Pattern Approach, The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach, The Communicative Approach, and The Process Approach

This approach stress upon three features: grammar, syntax and mechanics and on accuracy rather than fluency Thus, students are likely to have good grammatical competence and low communication skills

Design of the study

An overview of teaching writing

Within the traditional higher education system, written output is often used as a vehicle for assessment of the individual, and collaborative writing can be problematic to assess However, in recent years there has been greater interest in writing as a device for improving learning and thinking, couple with the advocacy of “writing across the curriculum”, “writing centers”, and “collaborative writing” Therefore, writing is viewed more as a process and less as a product, which addresses teachers new challenges how to teach writing

Teaching writing, in language teachers’ opinions, is “a language skill which is difficult to acquire” (Tribble, 1996: 3) because teaching writing is an increasingly

“multifaceted activity” with some following ideas:

 People learn to write by writing

 Writing grows out of many different purposes

 Convention of finished and edited texts are important to readers and therefore to writers

 Writing and reading are related

 Writing has a complex relationship to talk

 Literature practices are embedded in complicated social relationships

 Composing occurs in different modalities and technologies

 Assessment of writing involves complex, informed, human judgment

(Writing Study Group of the NCTE Executive Committee (2004))

As you can see, writing is defined as a complicated language skill in association with speaking and reading skills For example, Ur (1996-161) mentioned that teaching writing seems to be more confusing than teaching speaking He stated that “most people acquire the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned” He added, “Writing normally requires some form of instruction It is not a skill that is really picked up by exposure.” (p11)

Moreover, writing is defined as a social process by Candlin and Hyland (1999:

107) They stated that “Writing is therefore an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made” Hence, teaching writing is connected with communicational skills of which the relationship between writers and readers is a main role

In my opinion, writing skills consist of other skills such as reading, speaking, and communicative skills Therefore, teaching writing is overall one, which brings about teachers and learners’ difficulties in writing

Both writing and speaking are productive skills However, according to some researchers, writing is different from speaking in such terms of three criteria as linguistics, creating process and interaction

In terms of linguistics, Ur (1996: 160) distinguished writing from speaking based on “its explicitness, density and standard language” He asserted that the distance between the reader and the writer deprived the writer of speech-related advantages like the real context, paralinguistic feature etc The writing content, thus, was expected to be more explicitly, densely and universally comprehensibly presented than that of speech

In terms of producing process, these two productive skills are also different

Raimes (1983: 5) found out that while “speaking is usually spontaneous and unplanned,” writing process is “recursive, planned” and “time consuming” Harmer (2004:8) concluded that writing process with “its recursiveness and multiple drafting” is more complex than speaking process

In terms of interaction, according to Ur (1996), due to the “detachment” of space and time in writing, the writer tends to be cut short of “immediate feedback and interaction” with “known” audience, which are supposedly available to the speaker (p

161) Harmer (2004) also points out the two features of face-to-face interaction which writing is devoid of, i.e immediate verbal or non-verbal reactions and frequent role swapping between the addresser and the addressee (p 8) Consequently, the writers tend to encounter common difficulties in defining audience (Brown, 1994, p 326) and receiving feedback from readers (White (1981)

To conclude, regarding the three criteria investigated in previous studies including linguistic feature, producing process and interaction, writing and speaking, by nature, are two different stories This sheds more light on the characteristics of writing.

1.1.3 Approaches to teaching writing 1.1.3.1 Approaches to teaching writing

Raimes (1983: 5- 10) presents 6 approaches to writing, namely: The Controlled-to- Free Approach, The Free-Writing Approach, The Paragraph-Pattern Approach, The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach, The Communicative Approach, and The Process Approach

This approach stress upon three features: grammar, syntax and mechanics and on accuracy rather than fluency Thus, students are likely to have good grammatical competence and low communication skills

Unlike the Controlled Approach, the emphasis in this approach is on audience, content and fluency However, concern for accuracy and form is seen as of little importance in this approach This shortcoming has very likely negative effects on learner’s grammar competence in writing

The Paragraph-Pattern approach stresses on organization They copy paragraphs and imitate model passages This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways

Therefore, students should invest time in learning to organize their ideas well in the target language

Teacher adopting this approach often devises writing tasks which draw their students’ attention to organization while working on grammar and syntax For example, to write a clear set of instructions on how to operate a calculator, the writer needs more than the appropriate vocabulary He needs the simple forms of verbs, an organizational plan these vocabulary and structures are reviewed and taught In short, this approach is the combination of the purpose and the form of the writing

The communicative approach emphasizes the audience and purpose of a piece of writing In writing class adopting this approach, students are encouraged to ask two questions as if they wrote in real life:

Providing a reason and an audience for students may provide motivation for them to write well Therefore, this approach should be exploited to teach writing to secondary students as it can vary the situation and context of students’ writing

Large classes

Besides individual work in this stage, group work and pair work can be used

Hedge (1988) asserted revising and editing after composing was an integral part of the writing process There are two main post-writing activities The first, mentioned by Harmer

(2003) are self-revision and self-editing The second type of post-writing activity is rewriting based on the feed back or comments from the teachers or their peers (Harmer, 2004)

Teachers are required to guide their students’ writing systematically and flexibly

Hence, there are a lot of approaches to improve the quality of teaching ESL writing with many different purposes As we can see that process approach focuses on readers as well as process of writing as pre-writing (brainstorming, outlining, debating, interviewing), while- writing( composing); and post-writing ( revising, editing and publishing with the main role of audiences) This approach encourages students to fulfill WH questions: What, How, and for Whom in process of writing Thus, writers not only concern about purposes and audience but also have to make decisions on how to begin and how to organize a piece of writing They are given time to set out ideas, make plan, write a first draft, revise what has been written after a peer feedback, then they can edit their writing or write other drafts before the final version is produced

In addition, process approach is sociable so it can help students have better opportunities to discuss with each other Hence, relationships, academic knowledge and communicational skills may be improved

Therefore, my thesis mainly aims the approach of writing – process approach with three stages of writing: pre-writing, while-writing and post-writing

The first theory- teaching writing, its approaches and steps of teaching writing, is brought up clearly in my study Moreover, I would like to introduce the second issue: defining and related statements of large classes

What is a large class? The answer varies There are, of course, many very different notions of what constitutes such a class As we can see, it is not easy to provide an exact definition of what constitutes a large class Language classes also tend to be highly heterogeneous That is, students in many of our classes are of different genders, maturity, occupations, ethnicities, cultural and economic backgrounds as well as personalities

According to Rob Nolasco & Lois Arthur ( 1988), “ teachers who are used to groups of 12-

14 students might find a group of 20 to be rather threatening Others may be relieved when they have only 40….but we have seen very large classes of several hundred students in a university” More specifically, Natalie Hess (2005:2) defined large classes as “classes of thirty or more students in elementary, secondary, adult, and tertiary settings” In short, classes of 40 students are defined as large classes so English classes in UNETI are also large classes because of the number of 60-100 students

Teaching large classes fill with different genders, maturity, jobs, cultural and economic backgrounds as well as characters Therefore, many studies show that teachers in large classes may have some trouble in teaching math, reading and writing Teachers in UNETI have the same challenges

Challenges to teachers’ teaching Challenges to student’s learning

1 management of paperwork: assigning, marking and recording work

2 management of distraction: discipline( talking), late coming

3 Perceived anonymity of students: difficulty to learn names, engagement and participation, providing feedback

4 lack of flexibility of class activities: difficulty of variation of activities, arranging group work

5 diversity of backgrounds and preparation of students

1 hesitation of asking question or other ways of showing lack of understanding

2 Not knowing what is important and relevant

3 Perceived and feeling of anonymity that prevents them to challenges authority of the teacher

4 lack of access to the teacher’s attention and to share materials and resources

5 need to be self-driven with little external push from the teacher to complete tasks

Table 1: Challenges to teachers and students

Nakabugo, M G.;Opolot- Ukurut, C.; Ssebbunga, C M ; Ngobi, D H.;Gumisriza,E L.; Mbaga, R et al (1997)

As you can see, almost teachers are difficult to control large class, and arrange group work while students feel uncomfortable with the authority of the teachers Large class causes teachers and students some difficulties in lessons such as temporal and management aspects.

Peer tutoring

(2006) states that it may give teachers good chances to advance lecturing; it can also bring satisfying and fruitful achievements for teachers and learners Also, teachers can gain some achievements if they teach in large classes: “Organizational and managerial skills, interpersonal skills, teaching and presentation skills, evaluation skills”

In short, in order to assist students and teachers in large classes, a lot of researchers and educator have used peer tutoring as an effective instructional strategies

Peer tutoring has a long historical precedent in western civilization It reappeared in USA during the 1960s with popularity in every age group, subject and level of intelligence

According to Falchikov ( 2001:1) cited in Adams, J.( 2008): The term” peer” is now used to describe a variety of relationships in the context of teaching and learning

Relationship between tutors and tutees may be same- age or cross-age one Peers is defined by Cambridge Dictionary (2 nd edition) as “someone are the same age, or who has the same social position or abilities as other members of a group” Therefore, peer tutoring may be seen as interaction among same-age students while in cross-age tutoring, the tutor is older than the tutee However, sometimes the term peer tutoring is used to include both types

Moreover, Edward E Gordon(2005) defines that “ Peer tutoring is an instruction in which one child tutors another in material on which the tutor is an “ expert” and the tutee is a “ novice””

Besides, as Wagner.( 1982:5) cited in Deming, M.,P.( 1986) made a definition: “ peer tutoring refers to the concept of students teaching other students in formal or informal learning situations that are delegated, planned, or directed by the teacher”

In short, Peer tutoring consists of two partners: tutors and tutees- teaching and be taught, which may foster interaction among same-age learners It also makes classes’ atmosphere comfortable based on communicative approaches

According to Falchikov & Blythman showed that teachers choose tutors with some following criteria as:

 Matched by ability/attainment/gender

 All participate The two authors suggested how to match peers Therefore, my thesis focuses on three main aspects: gender, knowledge and ability to work together

According to National Center on Physical Activity and Disability( 2011), there are four types of peer tutoring First, unidirectional peer tutoring is that the trained peer tutors teaches the entire time, and the child with a disability remains the students in pair Second, Bi-directional , or reciprocal, peer tutoring is that a child with and a child without a disability form a pair, both of them take turns at being the tutor while the other serves as the students Third, class-wide peer tutoring involves breaking the class into dyads Each child participates in reciprocal peer tutoring by providing prompts, error correction, and help their partner Last, cross-age peer tutoring occurs when an older child is chosen to tutor a younger child

According to Topping, K.J( 1996:7), there are nine main formats of peer tutoring based on the nature of the tutor and the tutor’s role in the learning experience: Cross-year small- group tutoring, Same year dyadic fixed-role tutoring, Dyadic cross year fixed-role peer tutoring, Same year dyadic reciprocal peer tutoring, Same year group tutoring, Peer assisted writing and Peer assisted distance learning Cross-year small-group tutoring is defined when older students guides younger students Each tutor is responsible for a small group of tutees Same year dyadic fixed-role tutoring is between two students who are equal to age, year of study, point in the course, where a student takes responsibility as a tutor Dyadic cross year fixed-role peer tutoring in which more experienced students’ partners with and tutees less experienced students, in this case, the peer tutors are generally juniors and seniors who have performed well academically in the course they tutor Same year grouping take part in only a part of classes while the other may continue their regular work

In my view, four types of peer tutoring by National Center on Physical Activity and Disability( 2011) are divided based on organization, structure and age while nine formats by Topping, K.J( 1996) are really specific and clear for the researcher to study only based on the role of tutors However, participants of the study are merely second-year college students in UNETI, and peer tutoring is interaction among same-age learners Therefore, I decided to choose three following formats for our university such as: Same year dyadic fixed-role tutoring, same year dyadic reciprocal peer tutoring and same year group tutoring.

1.3.4 Advantages and difficulties of peer tutoring 1.3.4.1 Advantages of peer tutoring

A lot of advantages arise from the use of peer tutoring as an instructional method in the classroom, from which students, teachers as well as educational system benefit

There are five considerable advantages of peer tutoring for students:

First, students may gain higher academic achievement

Second, they can also establish good relationships in the classes of which there are individual, cultural and economic differences They have good interaction with those who sit next to them and personally explain the work in a way that is just right for them- not too slow and not too fast

Third, they may learn in more positive learning environment They have good chances to get feedback, get encouraged and get more fun with their partners, which make students active and motivated in large classes Also, they have more opportunities to talk about what they are learning, to practice what they are learning, to read aloud, and to write; or ask questions when they are confused, without fear of being embarrassed in front of the whole class

Next, learners may understand how to enhance personal and social development through peer tutoring In other words, they learns how to communicate and listen effectively

Last, students learn how to take responsibilities for both themselves and their partners during completing the tasks

In conclusion, peer tutoring creates learners a positive learning environment to gain academic knowledge and communicative skills

Large classes cause teachers a lot of challenges so peer tutoring is defined as an effective instructional strategy to deal with these challenges

First, peer tutoring has a positive effect on the instructional performance in the classroom It provides procedures for individualizing instruction, strategies to assist big classes, increase opportunities to control and examine student’s performance and their activities in classes

Second, teachers can teach not only academic knowledge but also new behavioral and social skills

In short, peer tutoring saves time for teachers’ instruction during the lessons while they can manage the participation as well as activities in large classes

According to Maheady(1998) cited in Moustapha( 2004), the researcher stated that peer tutoring provides comprehensive set of strategies for enhancing student achievement, improving general classroom discipline, reducing academic failure, enhancing faculty’s instructional capacity, promoting educational reforms, and introducing cost effective instructional interventions

In conclusion, effectiveness of peer tutoring is widespread at educational systems, and it contributes to handle challenges in large classes as well as teaching writing

As cited in Deming (1986), Bloom (1997) and Falchikov (2001) showed one of the weakest of peer tutoring is organization of peers while Allen( 1976) and Bloom( 1976) mentioned to the role of tutor and tutee, there are variables affecting the outcomes of tutoring: personal traits of the tutor and tutee Then, the effect of the peer tutoring, Harper et al (1999) says that peer-mediated strategies are occasionally criticized for their focus on the development of basic skills and factual knowledge It lacks the opportunities to develop the high level of cognitive development Finally, the logistic factors, Sheldon (2001): time, space, size and monitoring

Besides, Maheady( 1998) presented the following difficulties a lack of time lessens the systematic peer training and ongoing evaluation and monitoring b Amount of content coverage possible during teacher-led versus peer teaching methods c Required adaptations to curricula materials need more time and work d The choice of combination and the preparation of the tutor need time and good knowledge of the students e Peer tutoring may provide students a chance of cheating

The author added that most of difficulties come from the limitation of time available during implementation

Powell (1997) also stated that a lot of factors affected peer tutoring such as a testing and matching of tutors with students who had similar personalities b Disagreement of coordination among tutors and classroom teachers c Frequency and duration of tutoring d tutoring time e tutoring location f quantity and quality of training for tutors g levels of parental participation and support

Teaching writing in large classes through peer tutoring

Research in the 1960s and 1970s has shown that writing is a process concluding three stages: pre-writing, writing and re-writing Good writers followed all three stages and gaining insight along the way Hence, the emphasis in writing instruction is not the writing of a perfect product but instead is the working through of all three stages of composing.

1.4.1.1 Peer tutoring in Pre - writing stage

Prewriting activities are necessary for students because it helps students prepare ideas, materials and explore many things on the given topics In this stage students are often asked to brainstorm, outline, debate and interview, which requires students take part in either oral or written activities By doing this, students can develop linguistic skills Peer tutoring in this stage is an effective way to assist students in generating, sharing and focusing ideas, planning the content and organizing the text Peer tutors need to stress the importance of writing that is logical, well developed and interesting, while not overemphasizing the editing techniques of mechanics and spelling During the stage, they also quickly divide their analyses into higher order of concerns category includes thesis, voice or tone, organization and development On other hand, the lower order of concerns analyzes problems as sentence structure, punctuation, usage and spelling

1.4.1.2 Peer tutoring in Writing stage

During the stage, peer tutors help writers evaluate their higher order of concerns such as examining choice of word and sentence structures and style of composition Next, both tutors and tutees investigate the organization and structure of the writing paper, meanwhile, tutors can help their partners review some types of organizations Then, when peer tutors review the first draft’s organization, they may take notice of parts of the paper which need more development-the highest order of concern

1.4.1.3 Peer tutoring in Post - writing stage

During the rewriting period, the tutor can begin to address the lower order of concerns such as pointing out problems with sentence structure, variety, and length Also, the tutor could present mini lessons in usage, spelling and punctuation; and provide worksheets and other resources for the student to practice weak mechanical areas.This stage involves the procedures of giving feedbacks for the written version Feedbacks may be given by peers which can be done in groups or by teachers Peer correction is very important because it could help students develop their critical ability and understand how other readers respond to their writing

Therefore, peer tutoring is worthwhile during every part of the writing process, and peer tutors often provide listening posts for students’ personal and academic problems.

Effectiveness of using peer tutoring in large writing classes

According to Topping (1996), peer tutoring can be really flexible in time and place

Therefore, its objective may be so large that this kind of teaching method can be used to teach not only students/pupils but also those who are disable or dropped-out Moreover, according to Buckholt and Wodarski( 1978), peer tutoring can reduce anxiety by differences in age, status, and background between students and teachers

Moffet cited in Gebhardt (1980) suggested that peer tutoring is useful because it provided real audience for students’ writing, and chances for interaction between tutors and writers The tutors not only show the sense of audiences but they also gain insights into their own writing as they comment on the partners’ writing Peer tutors, besides providing a friendly and safe audience, also share the same undergraduate experience as their tutees Close in age to their tutees, these tutors are represented to have already mastered a skill that the tutee still needs to learn Consequently, the peer tutor-tutee relationship is a supportive, non-hostile one

In term of writing and collaborative learning, Bruffee( 1973) mentioned that “ learning to write differs from other types of learning because students are using skills and techniques which they have been using every day of their lives” Therefore, it is essential for the writer to support Peer tutors as supporters, demand clarity and logic in each other’s writing, meanwhile, they can improve their own academic knowledge Also, Bruffee

(1978) stated that: “peer tutoring is a way of involving students in each other’s intellectual, academic and social lives, an involvement which can benefit both tutors and their students”

In a word, peer tutoring is an effective instructional strategy because it gives real audiences to writers, then they have a chance to discuss and assist each other during the writing Besides, peer tutoring helps teachers and learners in large writing classes participate in a positive learning environment.

Summary

In short, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning topic of the study First, it concerns the concepts and ideas of teaching writing, the differences between speaking and writing and the different approaches used in teaching writing

Secondly, it focuses on definition and challenges of large classes Last, it mentions concept, formats, and criteria of choosing peers as well as advantages and disadvantages of peer tutoring The practical contents of the research, i.e research methodology, discussion of the results and recommendations concerning the specific research context, are to be described in details in the following sections

2.1 The context of the study

The study was conducted in UNETI, the most popular university in Nam Dinh

Most of UENTI classes are large with the number of 60-100 students, which causes uncomfortable atmosphere for students and teachers Also, these college classes seems not to foster learners’ motivation as well as participation because they are not nearly equipped with modern teaching equipment as data projector, PC, Laptop input, Whiteboard, Visualiser, DVD/VHS player, except for sound amplification

Besides, UNETI students’ specialties are not English language so their levels are at lower-intermediate Their purposes to learn English are to pass exams, which results in their mostly concentrating on grammar, vocabulary and translation skills

Moreover, there are twelve teachers in Nam Dinh Branch of UNETI, six of whom are at the levels of masters with at least five-year experience They handle the considerable challenges to teach four language skills, especially writing in large classes

In recent times, peer tutoring, the latest trend of teaching language skills, was studied by the whole English Group of UNETI The study was reported successfully at Annual Research Seminar in 2007 It attracted many teachers of UNETI so the teachers have applied peer tutoring in classes since then It is mentioned as practical instructional strategies to assist students and teachers, in which individual instructions can be delivered while missing the demand pressures on the teachers

The methodology conducted in the research including the participants, instrumentation, data procedures, data collection will be presented in the part.

Participants of the study consist of two groups

First, participants are six of twelve teachers who have just at least five-year teaching experience They are able to have experience of handling challenges of large writing classes than novices Moreover, four in five people are masters and they are currently teaching second-year college students

Second, the participants are second-year college students in four classes of 250 students These classes belong to three representatives of the whole university Moreover, they are large classes focused on my thesis instead of the other multi-level, multi-culture classes which are joined by two different majors Besides, learners’ majors are not English so their levels are pre-intermediate

Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 59) suggest that there are a large number of ways in which information can be gathered about target needs such as interview, observation, questionnaires and so on In this study, three instruments chosen to collect information are, the questionnaires, observation and interview

The questionnaires are designed for teachers and students (see appendix A,B,C)

Moreover, the questionnaire for the students was written in Vietnamese so that they would not misunderstand the questions while the questionnaire delivered to the teachers was strictly conducted in English Both of them aimed to find out students and teachers’ evaluation of current situations, advantages and difficulties of using peer tutoring in large writing classes:

Each question is only divided into three points in stead of 5 points This way is acceptable in that it does not affect study result, and is widely used in other studies (Kobayashi, 2002)

(ii) Instrument two: Classroom observations

It is a quantitative method of measuring classroom behaviors from direct observations It specifies both the events and behaviors that are to be observed and how they are to be recorded Therefore, I use classroom observation in KT18A1& DI18D conducted in June, 2011

The interviews help to get better insights into the research questions and classroom observations The interview questions, including 02 questions, were sorted out based on the survey questionnaires to get more information in details Only two teachers observed were invited to discuss for further information about the items raised in the questionnaires and classroom observation

The data collection was performed as follows:

For the survey questionnaire: Before directly delivering the questionnaire to the students, the author translated the students’ questionnaires into Vietnamese language

Then, the author asked students to complete it in classes for 20 minutes After that, the author collected immediately For the teachers, a survey questionnaire was delivered to six people who are currently teaching second-year college students at the beginning of the English Group Meeting-hold every Friday afternoon It was collected after the meeting ended in order for them to have enough time to respond to all the questions exactly and fully

For classroom observation: after collecting the questionnaires from students and teachers, it was conducted for two classes, KT 18A1 and DI 18A The observation was to examine directly how peer tutoring was taken place in classes I concentrated on students and teachers’ behaviors during three stages of writing: pre-writing, writing and post- writing Each class was observed for 45 minutes

METHODOLOGY

Summary

To conclude, this chapter presents the methodology of the study In other words, it describes the aims, context, participants and instruments of the study Given the collected data, Chapter 3 will depict the data analysis and the study results.

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Data analysis

This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey questionnaires conducted on 6 teachers and 250 students data analysis is also added by classroom observation and interview

3.1.1 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaire 3.1.1.1 Students’ evaluation of current situations of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes

3.1.1.1.1 Frequency of use of peer tutoring in writing classes in UNETI

The chart shows the students’ evaluation of using peer tutoring in large writing classes in UNETI As you can be seen, 58% stated that peer tutoring is always used in classes while 42% mentioned this strategy is sometimes applied in large classes Therefore, the chart illustrated that UNETI teachers often use peer tutoring as an instructional strategy in classes

Figure 1: Students’ evaluation of frequency of using peer tutoring in writing classes in UNETI

3.1.1.1.2 Students’ evaluation of use of peer tutoring in different writing stages

Stages of writing Very often Sometimes Never

Table 2: Students’ evaluation of Frequency of using peer tutoring in large writing classes According to the table, 48% said that they realized frequency of peer tutoring in writing stage while 40% told that their teachers did not use to apply peers in post-writing stage In my observation, students wrote for 20 minutes and two classes hardly had enough time for feedback in class because it took them much time in pre-writing stages controlled by their teachers

Stages of writing Very useful I don’t know Not useful at all

Table 2: Students’ evaluation of Effectiveness of using peer tutoring in large writing classes

As it can be seen, the highest effectiveness of peer tutoring is in writing at 70%, then, 60% at pre-writing stages Moreover, the percentage of “I don’t know” answers is not considerable so most of students consider peer tutoring as a useful strategy However, 42% stated that in post-writing stage, they had no ideas of peers’ advantages; meanwhile, 30% showed that there is no effectiveness during the stage Both of my observations were taken notes that the writing lesson ended when there was no time for post-writing stages or “no time for any peer group to edit” Therefore, students rarely have chances to evaluate the effectiveness of peer tutoring in post-writing stage exactly

3.1.1.1.3 Students’ evaluations of Formats of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Format Very often Sometimes Never

Same-year dyadic fixed- role

Table 3: Students’ evaluation of frequency of teacher’s using formats of peer tutoring According to the table, 62 % indicated that they participated in dyadic fixed-role tutoring and 40% realized that the teachers often asked them to work in same-year group tutoring

Whereas, 34% found that they have no opportunities to join in same-year dyadic reciprocal tutoring Moreover, it is shown the total of the percentage of using dyadic fixed-role and group tutoring is 90% and 82 % Therefore, these two kinds of formats are usually used in writing classes

Format Very useful I don’t know Not useful at all

Same-year dyadic fixed-role

Same-year dyadic reciprocal-role

Table 4: Students’ evaluation of Effectiveness of teacher’s using formats of peer tutoring

As it can be seen, the most effective format is dyadic reciprocal-role tutoring at 60% and the second is dyadic fixed – role tutoring at 58% The disproportion of percentage is not dramatic; however, it is opposite to the frequency of use of these two formats It is illustrated that students appreciated dyadic reciprocal-role tutoring more highly than dyadic fixed-role one Similarly, in term of using small group tutoring, 38% said it is very useful when 30% illustrated it is not useful In short, students seem to lean toward the dyadic reciprocal-role tutoring

3.1.1.1.4 Students’ evaluation of criteria for matching peers

Criteria Very often Sometimes Never

Table 5: Students’ evaluation of frequency of using criteria for matching peers

According to the table of students’ evaluation of criteria for matching peers, 100% of students realized that their teachers do not use gender to match peers Moreover, 82% indicated the “ability to work together” is not considered as a popular standard to choose a tutor Meanwhile, 84% of learners chose knowledge In a word, knowledge criterion always comes high on the teachers’ list of criteria of matching peers

Criteria Very useful I don’t know Not useful at all

Table 6: Students’ evaluation of effectiveness of currently-used criteria for matching peers

The table shows the Students’ evaluation of effectiveness of currently-used criteria of matching peers 70% stated that gender is not helpful for teachers to match peers while 86% found that students’ levels are the most effective to choose tutors and tutees Besides,

36 % said “ability to work together” is very useful while 40% stated that they did not know whether it is effective or not Generally, in the learners’ view, knowledge is the “first” choice for matching peers Moreover, if it is associated with “ability to work together”, matching peers will gain achievement

3.1.1.2 Students’ evaluation of Advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes

According to the chart of advantages of peer tutoring in classes, 90% said that they have close friends after peer tutoring 70% stated that they have real readers which can help them read their writing papers and focus on the given topic Improving composition skills and reducing discomfort in large classes are appreciated by students at about 50-60% of the students Besides, 20% stated that peer tutoring assists them to improve communication skills It is clearly approved in my observation that the students often use Vietnamese language to discuss and communicate without their teacher’s control

Establishingclose realationships providing real audience for writer improving communication skill improving composition skill reducing discomfort in large classes

Figure 2: Students’ evaluation of advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes

3.1.1.3 Students’ evaluation of Difficulties of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Limited time allowance Lack of facilities Lack of reliability ammong students

Figure 3: Students’ evaluation of difficulties of peer tutoring in large classes

The chart shows the students’ difficulties of peer tutoring in large classes 54% said that the most difficult issue for students is limited time allowance In my observations, two classes were nearly short of time for post-writing stage Moreover, 48% mentioned that reliability among students seemed not to be high while 40% found that the classes were not well-equipped Lack of facilities in class were reported in my observations, the two teachers could not move around the classes easily because of unreasonable organization of desks; then, the classes were not equipped with projectors to assist students and teachers

3.1.2 Data analysis from teachers’ survey questionnaire 3.1.2.1 Teachers’ evaluation of frequency of using peer tutoring in writing classes in UNETI

As it can be seen, none of the teachers said that they do not use peer tutoring, meanwhile, 67% showed that peer tutoring is often used in classes Also, 42% mentioned this strategy is sometimes carried out in large classes In short, peer tutoring in writing classes has been working at UNETI It is also proved clearly in my observation 2, for instance, students were accustomed to participating in peers without any the teacher’s requirement when the teacher was at pre-teaching stage

Figure 4: Teachers’ evaluation of frequency of using peer tutoring in writing classes

3.1.2.2 Teachers’ use of peer tutoring and stages of writing

Stages of writing Very often Sometimes Never

Table 6: Teachers’ evaluation of Frequency of using peer tutoring in stages of writing

The table shows that writing stage is used peer tutoring at 83.3%- the highest rank

Meanwhile, 33.3 % said that this strategy is used in pre-writing and only 16.7% stated that it is implemented in post-writing stage In addition, 66.7 % realized that teachers sometimes use peers in post-writing while 50% said that it is occasionally conducted in pre-writing stage In the observation, the teacher took a main responsibility in pre-writing stage and there was little time for post-writing Therefore, peer tutoring is often applied in writing

Stages of writing Very useful I don’t know Not useful at all

Table 7: Teachers’ evaluation of Effectiveness of using peer tutoring in stages of writing

In writing stage, none of the teachers realized that peer tutoring is not helpful and 83.3% stated that this instructional strategy is really useful for the classes Besides, 50% said that pre-writing is involved with their students through peer tutoring Meanwhile, 50% showed that they have no ideas whether this kind of tutoring is useful or not It is also demonstrated in my observations; there was little time for post-writing stage so teachers could not assess the effectiveness of peer tutoring in the stages In a word, according to the teachers’ opinion, peer tutoring is the most useful in writing stages

3.1.2.3 Teachers’ use of Formats of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Same-year dyadic fixed- role 66.7 33.3 0

Same-year dyadic reciprocal-role

Findings

in large writing classes in UNETI 3.2.1.1 Frequency of use of peer tutoring in large classes

Figure 7.a: Students’ evaluation Figure 7.b: Teachers’ evaluation Figure 7: Students and teachers’ evaluation of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes

According two charts, none of students and teachers reported that peer tutoring has never used in UNETI Generally, over 50% of students and of teachers stated that peer tutoring is often used in their writing classes Therefore, this tutoring is not quite new for teachers and learners in UNETI

3.2.1.2 Peer tutoring and stages of writing in large classes in UNETI.

There are three stages of writing: pre-writing, writing and post-writing According to the result, most of teachers and students appreciate highly peer tutoring in the writing stage Specifically, 83% of the teachers and 48% of the students mentioned that peer tutoring is used in writing stages by the teachers in classes According to the observation, Pre-writing is controlled mainly by the teachers; and there is not nearly enough time for post-writing in classes In conclusion, the effectiveness of peer tutoring is shown in writing stages while the strength of peer tutoring seems not to develop in post-writing stage because of limited time of writing lessons and teachers’ unsuitable activities in pre-writing stage

3.2.1.3 Formats of peer tutoring in large writing classes in UNETI

In terms of use of frequency of three kinds of formats, the opinion of the teachers is similar to that of the students For example, 62% of students and 66.7 % of teachers realized that dyadic fixed-role tutoring is used frequently in classes After that, same-year group tutoring is chosen by the teachers In my interview, the teacher said that she often use dyadic fixed-role and same-year group tutoring to take control and diversify the writing activities in large classes

In terms of effectiveness, 66.7% of teachers indicated that dyadic fixed-role, the most frequently tool, is the most helpful; 50% of the teachers told that group tutoring is also very useful Whereas, 60% of students made a statement that dyadic reciprocal-role is the most effective and the second effective tutoring is dyadic fixed-role Then, group tutoring is not appreciated by students

In short, teachers and students hold opposite opinions: students like participating in dyadic reciprocal- role tutoring while the teachers choose dyadic fixed-role tutoring

3.2.1.4 Criteria of matching peers in large writing classes in UNETI

Of all three criteria of matching peers, gender is never considered for teachers because it is suitable for UNETI context UNETI has been training variety of majors such as accounting, electricity and information technology Most of students of electricity classes are male while almost the students of economics classes are female Hence, the gender is not proportioned for teachers to divide or match peers equivalently

Besides, ability to work together is not used frequently by the teachers In my interview, the teachers told that both of them rarely had a chance to teach a class for at least two terms Therefore, it is not easy for them to investigate their learners’ characters or capacities In addition, a number of students may limit them to examine like that

Consequently, they choose a safe standard - students’ levels which are remarked by scores

In my interview, the first teacher designed her own test to choose tutors or tutees while the second matched peers by average final points of the previous term Being suitable with the context of large classes, and easy to implement for teachers, knowledge of learners is considered as a effective criterion by most of students and teachers

3.2.1.5 Advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes in UNETI

Establishingclose realationships providing real audience for writer improving composition skill reducing discomfort in large classes

Figure 8: Teachers & Students’ evaluation of advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes

According to chart 8, all of items of advantages listed in survey questionnaires were chosen by students and teachers For students, peer tutoring is a solution to create them a positive environment in large writing classes, for example, 90% said that they can establish close relationships, 70% has real audience for their writing and 68% reduces discomfort in large classes For teachers, they ranked the usefulness of peer tutoring from the highest to the least one: providing real readers for student writers, then establishing close relationships as well as reducing discomfort in large classes Generally, their evaluation of advantages of peer tutoring is the same as that of students’ Therefore, peer tutoring is quite effective in UNETI classes

On other hands, most teachers and learners states that communication skill is not improved as much as they have expected It is explained from my observations; students often use Vietnamese to discuss each other without their teacher’s control

3.2.1.6 Difficulties of peer tutoring in large writing classes in UNETI

Limited time allowance Lack of facilities Lack of reliability ammong students

Figure 9: Teachers & Students’ evaluation of difficulties of peer tutoring in large writing classes

According to the figure 9, 83.3% of teachers stated that the duration is not enough time for them to carry out peer tutoring, 50% added that lack of facilities in classes were troublesome At that time, 54% students found there is no time for the whole writing lesson, 50% indicated that reliability among classmates could not be strongly built

Generally, teachers and learners list two main difficulties: limited time allowance, and lack of facilities

In terms of limited duration, as a part of each unit, the time for a period is merely for 45 minutes In addition, if the teacher can not control the classes and design suitable writing tasks, time allowance for their writing lessons will be short Therefore, the time for the writing period is insolvable

In terms of lack of facilities in classes, there are two main problems First, the area of the classes is large but the amount of students is big; the desks are divided into 2 rows

A row consists of three fixed- arranged desks and the other has five ones If learners join in dyads, which is not problematic; however, they participate in group tutoring of more than three, of which at least a person does not have comfort On the other hand, large classes may lead a number of members in a group up to at least five For teachers, they hardly control peers in the latter rows and their movement in the classes is not flexible

Consequently, it causes the difficulty of implementing peer tutoring Last, there are no projectors in the classes, which may causes students and teachers a lot of difficulties in saving time in pre-writing and post-writing stages The teachers cannot present their lectures while the students are not be able to show their writing papers immediately in front of the class without writing on blackboards or large-size papers or reading aloud before classes

In terms of lack of reliability among students, both teachers and learners brought up this problem In my opinion, there are three main reasons First, the psychology of students brings about drawback According to the main scope of my study, I focus on same-year learners so some of students are afraid that same-year partners are not as high qualified as cross-age tutors right from the start Second, dyadic fixed-role tutoring is mainly used in classes by teachers so the writers’ great interest toward their tutors might be reduced

Summary

In short, this chapter has provided the information of data analysis and outcomes of the study Current situations, advantages and difficulties of using peer tutoring in large writing classes are encountered These findings would serve as the foundations for further recommendations, which is will presented in next chapter.

Upgrading facilities in classes

In terms of setting arrangement, the classes should be divided into three rows: Two rows consists of three desks, another row has two ones If the width of the class is not suitable for this change, its length can be demanded by doubling the lines of desks At that time, in order to avoid the far distance between students and blackboard, the classes should be equipped with head projectors as listed in above recommendation These two changes may assist teachers and students to do peer tutoring comfortably in positive educational environment of large classes

In terms of lack of time, classroom should be equipped with modern equipments like computers, overhead projectors and the library should be equipped with various writing materials The modern facilities will help the teachers use techniques in the pre- writing stage as well as save a lot of time in writing down everything on the board Also, the writing paper is shown clearly and immediately by groups or individuals without writing on Ao-size papers or blackboards Therefore, teachers and the whole classes can follow easily and correct their partners’ writing immediately and effectively

Besides, equipping the library with various writing materials is not only useful for the students to self- study but also help the teachers to design more interesting lessons

Moreover, making use of computers with the Internet in the library will be necessary for the teachers to make teaching plans or search for writing materials online Finally, other types of teaching aids such as pictures, sub-boards should also be equipped to stimulate the students to go in for writing activities more actively

Moreover, teachers should design detailed plans of writing courses, then, they deliver the handouts for their learners to understand writing/ English course’ requirement and syllabus Their learners’ responsibilities are to prepare every next lesson before classes, which is remarked by points to encourage the students If teachers and learners cooperate scientifically, saving time for large writing classes will be effective

In short, this problem requires comprehensive measures with five suggestions as listed

Improving some class activities

Teachers should associate three formats of tutoring Dyadic Fixed-role tutoring is to control the class, dyadic reciprocal – role tutoring is to satisfy learners’ interest, and group tutoring is to diversify activities in classes Dyadic fixed-role one may be used in rather difficulty tasks of writing while dyadic reciprocal-role can be used reasonable exercises

Moreover, each same-year group tutoring should consist of three members, which brings about convenience for students

4.2.2 Encouraging students to communicate in English

Teachers had better encourage students to speak in English as much as possible At first, they raise their learners’ awareness of important role of communicating in English

Then, they ask students to interact in English for at least 15 minutes at writing stage

During the writing stage, the teachers should move around the class to take control Next, they should promote students to make a presentation in post-writing stages by marking points

4.2.3 Bettering the activities of pre-writing stage

Through some years of teaching, the author of the study has gained some experiences in teaching writing with process writing

4.2.3 1 Identifying the purpose and audience

From the start, the teachers should ask students to work in peers to provide real audience for writers Moreover, the writers also receive sense of real audience to improve their writing papers when their partners read them

There are some basic requirements for students and teachers in this steps: requirement at home and in classes

First, the teachers and students should consider activities to be prepared for requirement at home To make teachers’ writing lesson more effective for students, teachers can find some extra sources besides the textbook Teachers should provide students with one or two more models text Then they make copies for students to enclose with writing/English syllabus as suggested at 4.1 chapter 4 part B as the homework for students before classes These models can be relevant to the writing tasks (in terms of topic, content, form, language, etc.) To help students to analyze model text more easily,

- Which sentence states the main idea?

- Which sentence directly supports that main idea?

- Has the writer used the listing words?

- Which of the followings did the writer do to support the topic: describe, divide into parts, explain, give reasons…?

- How did the writer end the passage? What did the writer do in the end- ask a question, summarize, introduce new point ?

- How many parts would you divide the passage into? What is typical/ special about these parts?

Second, in classes, students are asked to examine the models again through peer tutoring to analyze what they have seen it before

In conclusion, if the classes follow two requirements, the effectiveness of peer tutoring will be increase while time for peer tutoring won’t be consuming

Using brainstorming in the first stage of writing lessons is very useful The researcher would like to suggest some ways to organize brainstorming through peer tutoring

- Step 1: Teacher states the topic and writes it on the blackboard, then gives any explanations which may be needed

- Step 2: The teacher divides students into groups or dyads Ask them to discuss, guide and write down their ideas First, the teacher asks an individual or group to write down two or three ideas on the board Then he/she asks other peers to add any ideas that they may have on the board

- Step 3: The teacher asks peers to discuss the relevancy of the ideas on the board Then teacher may ask question about anything that does not make sense If some ideas seem too vague or general, ask the groups or dyads who wrote them to explain what they mean

- Step 4: The teachers ask each group or dyad to choose a given number of the items to develop his/ her own outline

In this activity, students are asked to interview other group members According to Raimes (1983), interviews can be done in many ways Students can interview each other and note down the ideas Interviews can be used to find out detailed information from students’ partners Then they write a report This kind of activity gets students to talk and motivates students to write in a relaxing manner

These questions - who, what, when, where, why, and how- are easy for teachers to help students to generate ideas They are especially helpful in writing an event

In conclusion, in my view, time allowance for all of these activities has to be restricted by the teachers

4.2.4 Bettering the activities of post-writing stage

The researcher suggests that Peer editing should be used because it has a lot of benefits to improve students’ writing skill Peer editing can be organized in some ways In one way, one student will edit the writing of another student In another way, students can work in groups to edit other groups’ writings All the group members have a number of the composition’s copies; then they can work together on the same piece of writing and contribute their ideas about it Moreover, students can have checklist of correcting a composition to assist them in peer editing (see Appendix E) Therefore, editing job could be done quickly and effectively

The author brings up two solutions to improve students’ knowledge First, teachers can choose same-year tutors They may choose three excellent students from each class based on the main criterion: English competency The teachers can their own design pre- tests or choose by final average grade of the previous term Besides, cross-age tutors are chosen from brilliant university students of accounting and business management classes

These tutors are trained before the term Each session of training courses is guided by each of 12 teachers so the duration lasts 12 days Also, the topic of training tutors in writing can be brought up as the activities of UNETI English club at the term Therefore, teachers need to prepare instructional materials and make a specific plan for the training course.

Summary

In conclusion, this section has provided the readers with the research and pedagogical implications The above-mentioned practical suggestions are hoped to greatly assist those who are making endeavors to better peer tutoring in large writing classes

In this part, recapitulation of the study is provided with a brief description of the study as well as the limitation of the study and some recommendations for further study

Towards the completion of this study, a general picture of investigation of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes in UNETI has been painted Through careful and detailed literature review together with appropriate methodology, the study has been successfully addressed the three research questions which are herein repeated:

1 How has peer tutoring been used in large writing classes in UNETI?

2 What are advantages of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes?

3 What are difficulties of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes?

The statistical analysis showed differences between students’ evaluation and teachers’ one toward current situations, advantages and difficulties of use of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Specifically, in terms of current situations, the author studied the use of this strategy in three stages of writing, formats of same- year peer tutoring, criteria how to match peers Because of large-size classes, writing stages is often used peers and teachers mainly use dyadic fixed-role tutoring and match peers based on their students’ knowledge

In contrast, students appreciated the effectiveness of dyadic reciprocal-role tutoring

In terms of advantages, both of them have the same ideas of advantages in peer tutoring such as: establishing close relationships, providing real audience for writer and reducing discomfort in large writing classes There is little contrast but it is not considerable

Besides, in terms of difficulties in peer tutoring, three most difficult issues are listed by both students and teachers: lack of facilities in classes and time

In order to improve the problems of current situations and difficulties, an effort has been made to save time, upgrade the classes of facilities, better pre-writing and post- writing stages, and training tutors as well as encourage students to communicate in EnglishResults from the findings shows that the advantages of peer tutoring are confirmed but the powerful achievements are not explored thoroughly in large writing classes of UNETI The detailed syllabus of each writing course is not designed so peer tutoring may be not a system approach at university In addition, information technology may be made use by students and teachers, which is limit to improve suitable materials and interesting activities for tutoring Last but not least, training tutors can not be taken care appropriately so the reliability among students appears

Although the researcher has made effort conducting this thesis, there undoubtedly exist some limitations

Firstly, the study only carry out an investigation into the reality of teaching and learning writing of four college classes at second-year course, so to some extent, the results may not be generalized for all students of the school

Secondly, the study combines survey questionnaires, observations and interview Because of limited time, the author only interviewed two of six teachers who are currently teaching English in second-year college classes Therefore, the results may not be generalized for teachers of English in UNETI

Last, the author’s practical experience in teaching writing with the textbook is limited; the suggestions to overcome difficulties are likely to be subjective and incomplete

On the basis of findings and limitations of the study, the main suggestion for further research is: Further studies can be conducted with larger sample size involving the whole spectrum of language capacity from new beginners to those with the highest levels of proficiency Such a study would help us to get a full idea of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Besides, many untouched issues can be interesting topics for further researches such as:

- A study on advantages and disadvantages of cross-age peer tutoring in large classes in UNETI

- A study on training tutors on peer feedback activity at UNETI

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This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “Teaching writing in large classes through peer tutoring” Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data

Thank you very much for your cooperation

Please give tick (√) or provide appropriate answer(s) for the following questions

Have your teacher ever used peer tutoring in teaching your large writing classes?

If answer is always or sometimes, please answer the following questions

Part 1: Current situations of use of Peer tutoring used in large writing classes

In which stage(s) of writing do your teachers often use peer tutoring?

Stages of writing Very often Sometimes Never

Pre- writing Writing Post –writing

How effective are these stages of writing used peer tutoring?

Stages of writing Very effective

Not effective at all Pre- writing

How often do your teachers use the following formats of peer tutoring?

Same year dyadic fixed-role

How effective are the following formats?

Same year dyadic fixed-role

What criteria do your teachers use for matching peers?

How effective are these criteria?

Ability to work together Gender

Part 2: Advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes

What are the advantage(s) of peer tutoring in large writing classes?

 Provides real audiences for writers

 Reduces discomfort in large classes

Part 3: Difficulties of using peer tutoring in large writing classes

Which of following difficulties do you have when you participate in peer tutoring in your writing classes?

 Time allowance for writing lesson is not enough

 Facilities of classes are not well-equipped

 Reliability among students is not high

 Tasks of writing are not suitable

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION!

BẢNG CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT (đối với sinh viên))

Câu hỏi điều tra này được thiết kế cho đề tài làm luận văn thạc sỹ của tôi về "Dạy kĩ năng viết ở lớp đông thông qua hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học tại trường Đại học Kinh tế-Kỹ Thuật Công Nghiệp " Vì vậy tôi đánh giá cao việc bạn trả lời câu hỏi khảo sát dưới đây Tất cả các thông tin do bạn cung cấp chỉ dành cho mục đích nghiên cứu và bạn có thể tin rằng các thông tin này sẽ không được đưa ra trong bất kỳ đề tài nghiên cứu nào khác

Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều về sự hợp tác của bạn

Xin vui lòng đánh dấu (√) hoặc vào các câu hỏi sau đây

Giáo viên đã từng sử dụng hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học ở trong lớp của bạn chƣa?

 Luôn luôn  Đôi khi  Không bao giờ

Nếu câu trả lời là luôn luôn hoặc đôi khi, xin vui lòng trả lời các câu hỏi sau đây

Phần 1: Thực trạng của áp dụng hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học trong giờ học viết tại lớp đông?

Giáo viên thường xuyên sử dụng hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học trong các giai đoạn viết nào ở lớp học của bạn?

Mô tả giai đoạn viết Thường xuyên Đôi khi Không bao giờ

Pre- writing Bắt đầu các hoạt động như suy nghĩ, phác thảo, tranh luận về các vấn đề liên quan đến chủ đề

Writing Bao gồm các hoạt động như: kiểm tra sự lựa chọn từ /cấu trúc câu và phong cách Viết cũng như việc sắp xếp ý của bài văn để người viết bản thảo thứ nhất

Post –writing Bao gồm hoạt động phản hồi từ giữa người học với người học trong các giai đoạn viết?

Mô tả giai đoạn viết Rất hiệu quả tôi không biết

Pre- writing Bắt đầu các hoạt động như suy nghĩ, phác thảo, tranh luận về các vấn đề liên quan đến chủ đề

Writing Bao gồm các hoạt động như: kiểm tra sự lựa chọn từ /cấu trúc câu và phong cách Viết cũng như việc sắp xếp ý của bài văn để người viết bản thảo thứ nhất

Post –writing Bao gồm hoạt động phản hồi từ

Giáo viên của bạn thường sử dụng các hình thức của hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học như thế nào ?

Hình thức Mô tả Rất thường xuyên Đôi khi Không bao giờ

Same-year dyadic fixed-role

Hai sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm trong khóa học, trong đó có 1 sinh viên đảm nhận là người trợ giảng

Same-year dyadic reciprocal-role

Hai sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm trong khóa học, trong đó họ thường luân phiên làm trợ giảng cho nhau

Same-year group Các sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm tương đương

Bạn đánh giá hiệu quả của hình thức của hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học như thế nào ?

Hình thức Mô tả Rất hữu ích Tôi không biết

Same-year dyadic fixed-role

Hai sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm trong khóa học, trong đó có 1 sinh viên đảm nhận là người trợ giảng

Same-year dyadic reciprocal-role

Hai sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm trong khóa học, trong đó họ thường luân phiên làm trợ giảng cho nhau

Same-year group Các sinh viên cùng tuổi, cùng số điểm tương đương trong khóa học được làm thành 1 nhóm

Giáo viên của bạn thường sử dung tiêu chí nào để ghép cặp đôi trong hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học?

Tiêu chí Luôn luôn Đôi khi Không bao giờ

Khả năng làm việc cùng nhau

Bạn đánh giá hiệu quả của các tiêu chí ghép cặp đôi trong hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học?

Tiêu chí Rất hữu ích Tôi không biết

Phần 2: Ưu điểm của hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học ở lớp viết đông học sinh

Bạn có nghĩ rằng ưu điểm của hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học ở lớp của bạn trong giờ dạy viết là:

 Có người đọc đọc bài của bạn viết

 Cải thiện kỹ năng giao tiếp

 Cải thiện kỹ năng viết

 Giảm sự khó chịu trong lớp học đông

 Tạo mối quan hệ thân thiện hơn giữa các học sinh trong lớp

Phần 3: Những khó khăn của việc sử dụng hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học trong giờ dạy viết tại các lớp đông

Bạn có những khó khăn gì khi bạn tham gia vào hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học trong giờ dạy viết tại các lớp đông?

 Thời gian dành cho giờ học viết không đủ để thực hiện hoạt động trợ giảng giữa người học với người học

Cơ sở vật chất trong lớp học không được trang bị tốt

 Độ tin cậy giữa các sinh viên chưa được cao

 Bài tập viết chưa phù hợp

CHÂN THÀNH CÁM ƠN SỰ CỘNG TÁC BẠN!

This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into “Teaching writing in large classes through peer tutoring” Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data

Thank you very much for your cooperation

Please give tick (√) or provide appropriate answer(s) for the following questions

1 Have you ever used peer tutoring in teaching your large writing classes?

If answer is always or sometimes, please answer the following questions

Part 1: Current situations of use of Peer tutoring used in large writing classes

Do you often use peer tutoring in which stage(s) of writing in your large classes?

Stages of writing Very often Sometimes Never

Pre- writing Writing Post –writing

How effective are these stages of writing used peer tutoring?

Stages of writing Very effective I don’t know Not effective at all

Pre- writing Writing Post –writing

Formats Description of formats Very often Sometimes Never

Same-year dyadic fixed-role

Students are the same age, year of study, point in the course; and a student takes responsibilities as a tutor

Same-year dyadic reciprocal-role

Students are the same age, year of study, point in the course; they take turn at being a tutor

How effective are the following formats?

Formats Description of formats Very useful I don’t

Know Not useful at all

Same-year dyadic fixed- role

Students are the same age, year of study, point in the course; and a student takes responsibilities as a tutor

Same-year dyadic reciprocal- role

Students are the same age, year of study, point in the course; they take turn at being a tutor

What criteria do you use for matching peers?

How effective are these criteria?

Part 2: Advantages of peer tutoring in large writing classes

Do you think which advantage(s) of peer tutoring in large writing classes are?

 Provides real audiences for writers

 Reduces discomfort in large classes

Part 3: Difficulties of using peer tutoring in large writing classes

Which of following difficulties do you have when using peer tutoring in your writing classes?

 Time allowance for writing lesson is not enough

 Facilities of classes are not well-equipped

 Reliability among students is not high

 Tasks of writing are not suitable

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION

Ability to work together Gender

1 Why do you often use same-year dyadic fixed-role and same year group in your large writing classes?

2 Why do you use “knowledge” criterion to match peers in your classes?

 Addresses the topic or question

 Accurately presents assigned author's or authors' viewpoint(s)

 Provides sufficient textual evidence to support your argument

 Is present in the paper

 Indicates how the paper is organized

 Contains a complete discussion and support

 Has a transition sentence linking it to the next paragraph

 Recaps the thesis statement and the essay's main points

 Presents a closing statement of the writer's position

Organization and Development The entire composition

 Has a solid argument with supporting evidence

 Are relevant to the thesis statement

 Is free of grammatical mistakes

 Is free of sexist language

 Is free of jargon and cliches

- Before writing help your friend to plan what to say

- Ask questions to help work out what to include

- Help to work out the order of ideas/parts

- think of the first sentence

- say it aloud You repeat 1 st sentence

- Does that sound right? Say it again

- How does the 1 st word begin?

- Say the sentence as you write it

- When a sentence is written ask your friend to check it before starting a new sentence

Note: When your friend has problems with a word, pause and count to 10 before you say:

- What is the word you want to write

Note: Say it slowly- stretch it out, what can hear at the beginning, in the middle, at the end? Keep saying the word while you write what you can hear in the try column

- Tick letters spelt correctly and fill in others….say: Now think of your next word or sentence