Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS the reality of teaching and learning english writing skill at tran nguyen han high school in hai phong and recommendations

INTRODUCTION

LITERATURE REVIEW

Writing versus speaking

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

In terms of linguistics, Ur (1996) distinguished writing from speaking based on “its explicitness, density and standard language” (p 160) 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) found out that while “speaking is usually spontaneous and unplanned,” writing process is

“recursive, planned” and “time consuming” (p 5) Harmer (2004) concluded that writing process with “its recursiveness and multiple drafting” , (p 8) 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 tend to be cut short of “immediate feedback and interaction” with

“known” audience, which are supposedly available to the speaker (p 161) Harmer (2004) also point 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, i.e linguistic feature, producing process and interaction, writing and speaking, by nature, are two different stories This sheds more light on the characteristics of writing.

Approaches to writing

According to Byrne (1979), there are three difficulties that a writer must face up while composing a text, i.e psychological problem, linguistics problems and cognitive ones

In terms of psychological problem, speech takes place with the interaction of both speaker and the listener Writing, on the other hand, is solitary without the possibility of interaction or the benefit of feedback, which makes the act of writing psychologically difficult for writers

With regard to linguistics problems, writers encounter the restricted use of means of expression Speech is spontaneous We have little time to pay attention either to organizing our sentence structure or to connecting our sentences We repeat, backtrack, expand and so on, depending on how people react to what we say, while incomplete and even ungrammatical utterances are tolerated Speakers have a considerable range of devices to help get their meaning across, while writers can only resorts to their own efforts and their choice of sentence structures as well as sentence linking to ensure that their text can be interpreted on it owns

Furthermore, writing also requires us to master the written form of the language for effective communication in writing and the methods of organizing ideas in a logical and comprehensible way that can be understood by not present readers or unknown ones

In conclusion, writing not only imposes on us a psychological effect but also causes us problem regarding its content both linguistically and cognitively

Raimes (1983, pp 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

1.4.1 The Controlled to Free Approach

The Control-to-Free Approach in writing is sequential At lower level, students are often given sentence-level exercise or controlled compositions to imitate, copy and manipulate

Students therefore make few mistakes Only at advanced level are students allowed to try some free compositions, in which they can express their own ideas

In short, 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, this approach emphasizes content and fluency Students are often given the topics and write with little correction from teacher Teachers may begin their classes by asking students to write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling Frequent practice helps them write fluently with confidence

Teacher does not correct these short pieces of free writing They simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer expressed Moreover, 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 effect on learner’s grammar competence in writing

1.4.3 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach The Paragraph-Pattern approach stresses on organization They copy paragraphs and imitate model passages They put scrambles sentences into paragraph order They identify general and specific statements and choose to invent an appropriate topic sentence or insert or delete sentences 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

1.4.4 The Grammar- Syntax-Organization Approach

Adding some improvements to the Paragraph-Pattern Approach, this approach stresses on simultaneous work more than only on organization of an essay

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 based on chronology; sequence words like first, then, next, etc In the preparatory stage, 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:

The traditional audience for student writing is the teacher, but since some methodologists argue that that writers do their best when they write for a real audience, teacher have extended the readership to other students in the class, who will do the work of responding and commenting, not correcting their classmate’s work Therefore, one topic like “describe your dearest friend” can take on new dimensions when the teacher sets a new audience to it:

 You are writing to a pen pal in London telling him or her about your dearest friend

You love your friend very much, so what you want to make the description as beautiful as possible

 You are writing to your pen pal’s mother in London, telling her about your dearest friend Your friend wants to change her style (hair style, dressing style, etc.) but you cannot offer any suggestion, so you need your pen pal’s mother to give some advice to your friend

 Your dearest friend and your pen pal are both attending a summer camp in London next month, and you want them to meet each other Write to your pen pal, describing your friend in detail so that he or she can recognize your friend when they are there

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

The teaching of writing has recently moved away from a concentration on the written product to an emphasis on the process of writing, which leads to the emergence of Process Approach

Process Approach to writing came to play in the 1970s This approach encourages students’ communication of ideas, feelings, and experiences It is more global and focuses on purpose, theme, text type, i.e the reader is emphasized Thus, writers not only concern about purpose and audience but also have to make decision on how to begin and how to organize a piece of writing

Writing in the communicative classes

If one writes to communicate, he or she must have in mind an intended reader and a reason for writing beforehand In other words, the communicative approach stresses the purpose of a piece of writing and the audience for it Students are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and to ask themselves the crucial questions about purpose and audience:

- What is the purpose of this piece of writing?

- Who am I writing this for?

The specific nature of a writing task in a communicative classes is formed by a combination of factors in which the purpose, form, and readership are of crucial importance

Purpose here used to indicate “the writer’s communicative intentions” (Harris, 1993, p.18)

Purpose, according to him, falls into types:

 Instrumental purpose: Writing is considered a means of practicing the grammar, vocabulary, discourses structures of the target language

 Personal purpose: Writing is a way of expressing the self and discovering though the act of writing something more of one’s individuality and social identity

Some consider the purpose of the text as its communicative function Therefore, texts can be grouped, for example, according to whether they are intended to entertain, inform, instruct, persuade, explain, argue a case, present argument, and so on

Feist thinks that defining your purpose helps you choose the information you need before start writing: “…what you say about topic largely depends upon your purpose for writing” (1996, p 24)

He also states that one’s specific purpose is likely to fall into one of five categories:

 To explain something: you might write a paragraph to explain why certain dresses are in fashion this spring

 To persuade your reader to do or think something: you might write a paragraph to persuade your customers to purchase new dresses in a fashion line

 To compare two things: you might compare this spring’s fashion with last spring’s fashion

 To describe something: you might simply want to describe what this spring’s fashion look like

 To give your opinion about something: you might write about why you like or dislike this spring’s fashion

Other authors believe that most good writing fulfills one of the four purposes: i to express oneself, ii to inform, iii to persuade, iv to entertain (Troyka & Nudelmen, 1994, p 22)

They state that once writers have a specific purpose for a piece of writing, it will help them to select the most appropriate ideas for their topics and to determine the most effective way to express those ideas to the reader

Thus, before any piece of writing is produced, the first and foremost question to be raised is “Why am I writing this?” The answer to this question will help the writer in deciding the contents as well as the form of the product

1.5.2 Audience 1.5.2.1 The importance of audience in writing

According to Troyka & Nudelman (1994), the goal of any pieces of writing is to communicate effectively with the people who are going to read them, or the audience

Audience can be as specific as your classmates, your instructor, your friends, your family, or your boss Sometimes, the general public who read your local newspaper is your audience Different audience will differently affect your writing’s content, vocabulary, and tone Therefore, as you write, ask yourself:

 Who is going to read this?

 How much do they already know about my topic”

 What are their attitudes about my topic?

1.5.2.2 Audience diversity in writing class

For a long time, writing by pupils was almost always addressed to the teacher seen either as an assessor or examiner – the person who told them whether it was a good or bad piece of work In an attempt to provide more flexibility and a greater sense of reality in the writing curriculum, a greater diversity of audiences was proposed One of such attempt is the classification formulated by the writing research team at the Institute of Education at London University (Britton et al., 1975) This identifies the following categories of audience:

Child or adolescent to self

Child to trusted adult Pupil to teacher, general (teacher- learner dialogue) Pupil to teacher, particular relationship

Expert to known laymen Child to peer group Group member to working group (known audience which may include teacher)

Writer to his readers (or his public)

When writers set about a task, what they need to know is the nature of their readership

There are, obviously, many writing tasks for which there is a clear and unambiguous reader or readership A personal letter is written to an individual known to the writer, an office memo is written to a known group of colleagues or an individual Sometimes, the reader is not known personally but by reason of his or her status – the head of a complaints department of a company, for instance In real world, there are many writing tasks for which the writer can have only a very generalized sense of the readership

In order for communication to be successful, writers need to know as much as possible about a target audience Harris (1993, p 23) thinks that four factors need to be taken into account:

- The formality or informality of the relationship between reader and writer

- The expertise of the readership – what degree of prior knowledge and understanding can be assumed?

- Cultural assumption – how far is it likely that the readers will share a common cultural background with each other and with the writer?

- Attitudinal assumptions – are the readers likely to hold attitudes in common with the writer or does the writer have to explain and justify his or her attitudes?

The writer’s awareness of each of these factors will influence a whole range of decisions that have to be made when writing In terms of classroom practice, Harris believes that it seems to be more immediately realistic and helpful to build up pupils’ awareness of such factors rather than to strive to create genuine “known” audiences or to postulate pseudo-audiences

Many attempts have been made to classify writing According to Harris (1993, p 16),

“…the most long-established is the fourfold division of classical rhetoric – exposition, argument, description and narration” In the system, pieces of writing are classified in relation to writer’s intentions: is he or she wishing to make a point, to report on something, to relate events and so on? This classification has determined the writing curriculum in schools with the focus on such text types as essays, compositions and reports

However, these types of writing, unfortunately, do not have any real place in society at large

For example, for the same intended purpose to persuade, writers can rely on many different text types Harris continues: “At one extreme, there are complex and lengthy reports about policy issues or such things as tenders for civil engineering projects These are full of technical details but are intended to persuade people to a course of action At the other extreme, there are simple texts such as health warnings or posters supporting anti-litter campaigns that are also intended to persuade people to a course of action” (1993, pp 16-17) Thus, the essays and composition, while highly valued in the world of education, play little or no part in the world out side Obviously, the traditional classification does not thoroughly cover all types of texts

Nowadays, a more satisfactory and relevant way of looking at types of writing has been devised By forms of writing, such things as poster, brochures, pamphlets, letters, recipes, sets of instructions, lists, labels, stories, reports, poems, essays, play scrip, and so on are meant

Responding to student’s writing, if limited to only teacher’s correcting students’ mistakes, loses a lot of its communicative nature To make this step more meaningful and communicative, Raims (1983) introduced three useful techniques as follows:

Comments on students’ papers that take a form of a paraphrase of the ideas expressed, praise, questions, or suggestions are more productive than an end comment like “Only fair”, “Good”, or “Need more word” Instead of filling students’ papers with all the red marks of correction, teachers should communicate with students through the writing in order to improve them

One of the best ways to help a student revise a paper is to discuss it with the student, in person One-to-one conferences are extremely time-consuming and, in some teaching situations, just not practical Often, however, a conference of just a few minutes can be so productive that some teachers hold very conferences before and after and even during class while other students are writing or working together in groups The virtue of the individual conference, however short it is, is that a real discussion takes place

1.5.5.3 Students’ responses to student writing (peer feedback, peer correction, or peer review)

To reduce teachers’ work load, students should be given the chance to give feedback to their peers In this way, they exchange papers and give written comments or even individual talk to one another about the writings as the teacher does Through this procedure, students learn a lot from each other and at the same time to get to know each other better Ur stated “Peer correction can be a time-saving and useful technique; also, critical reading for style, content and language accuracy is a valuable exercise in itself

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 differences approaches used in teaching writing

Secondly, it focuses on theoretical background of communicative writing classes with an emphasis on context and audience 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.

METHODOLOGY

The context at Tran Nguyen Han high school

The English language group consists of 10 teachers aged from 24 to 46 Three teachers graduated from English Department, University of Languages and International Studies

Four graduated from English Department, Haiphong University The others graduated from the in-service center in Haiphong city Half of the teachers were trained under the strong influence of the traditional teaching methods The rest - the younger ones - were trained to teach English based on communicative approach Their interests in teaching are different, not all of them are really motivated to their teaching job

The 11 th form students at Tran Nguyen Han high school are seventeen years old Although they have been learning English for four years at lower-secondary schools, their English knowledge is still limited Besides, they have no clear determination on English learning goal.

The new “ Tieng Anh 11” textbook

The new “ Tieng Anh 11” textbook composed by Van, H V et al., (2006) has been in use since 2006 as the official textbook to learn general English at grade 11.The textbook consists of 16 units in terms of 16 topics There are five parts in each unit represented through 5 lessons: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language Focus respectively The book adopts two new approaches: learner–centered and communicative, aiming at students’ better use of English “as a tool of communication at basic level in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing” (Van, H.V et al., 2006, p 33)

The aim of the course is to equip students with English writing skill for basic communication For grade 11 students, the objective is to develop students’ abilities to provide 100 - 130 word paragraphs on familiar topics

In the textbook, reading, speaking and listening lesson are divided into three parts: pre- task, while-task, post-task In contrast, 30% of the writing units consist of one topic and

In order to realize the course objective, the writing section focuses on daily and popular topics The required competences and objectives of the writing lesson in each unit are detailed in the following table:

2 Personal experiences Writing a personal letter to describe a past experience

3 A Party Writing an informal letter of invitation

4 Volunteer work Writing a formal letter expressing gratitude

5 Illiteracy Describing information in a table

6 Competitions Writing a letter of reply

7 World Population Interpreting statistics on population from a chart

9 The Post Office Writing a formal letter to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction

10 Nature in danger Describing a location

11 Sources of energy Describing information from a chart

12 The Asian Games Describing the preparations for the coming Asian Games

16 The Wonders of the world Writing a report on a man- made place

Research questions

The thesis is designed to seek answers to the following questions:

- What is the present situation of teaching and learning English writing skill at Tran Nguyen Han high school?

- What difficulties do the teachers and the 11 th form students encounter in teaching and learning writing?

- What are the suggested ways to effectively improve the current situation of teaching and learning writing at this school?

The participants

The study was conducted with the participation of 100 students and 10 teachers These students were selected at random from 100 students of 5 classes 11A1, 11A2, 11A3, 11A4, 11A5.

Instruments

To reach the primary purposes of the study, two main instruments were used and described as follows

(i) Instrument one: Questionnaires The questionnaire for the students was written in Vietnamese so that they would not misunderstand the questions The questionnaire was designed to investigate the students’ attitudes toward the learning of writing, the difficulties they encounter in learning writing, and the students’ expectations for better teaching and learning writing skill

The questionnaire delivered to the teachers was strictly conducted in English It aimed to find out the teachers’ attitudes toward the teaching of writing, the difficulties they encounter in teaching writing, the teachers’ knowledge of process writing, and the teachers’ expectations for better teaching and learning writing skill

(ii) Instrument two: Interviews The interviews help to get better insights into the research questions The interview questions, including 10 items, were sorted out based on the survey questionnaires to get more information in details Ten teachers and 25 students were invited to discuss for further information about the items raised in the questionnaires.

Summary

To conclude, this chapter presents the methodology of the study In other words, it describes the aims, context, participants, instruments of the study and introduces the new

“ Tieng Anh 11” textbook Given the collected data, Chapter 3 will depict the data analysis and the study results.

Data analysis

This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey questionnaires conducted on 10 teachers and 100 students

3.1.1 Data analysis from teachers’ survey questionnaire

Among the ten teachers taking part in the study, there are 1 male and nine females The teachers’ ages ranges from 24 to 46 There are 4 young teachers teaching English at high school for fewer than 5 years, 4 teachers with 5 - 10 years of experiences, 2 teachers with

10 - 20 years experiences, no teacher who has more than 20 years of English teaching experiences

They have spent from one to three years teaching writing skill to high school students

• The importance of writing as perceived by 11 th form students and the teachers

Figure 1: The importance of writing as perceived by 11 th form students

Figure 2: The importance of writing as perceived by the teachers

As can be seen from the figures, 18 percent of the students took writing the first priority

For the teachers, 20 percent of them considered writing the most important 20 percent of the teachers ranked writing at the second position

The low level of agreement about the importance of writing can be explained through my interviews with the teachers and the students The teachers and the students pay much more attention to the results of the final exam and university entrance examination which focus on grammar, structures and reading skill That’s why both the teachers and students neglect improving other skills such as speaking, listening and writing

• Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards students’ writing competence

Really bad Bad Quite good Good Really good

Figure 3: Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards students’ writing competence From the figure, it can be seen clearly that the majority of the teachers assessed their students’ real ability still bad 55% of the students agreed with their teachers’ ideas 20% of the teachers and 12% of the students responded that the students’ writing competence was really bad 28 % of the students thought their writing competence was quite good while only 10% of the teachers agreed with that Only 5% of the students thought their writing competence was good and no teachers agreed with the idea

• Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards appropriate time for teaching and learning English writing skill

What are the appropriate periods (45 minutes/ period) for teaching and learning English writing to 11 th form students? a 1 period/ week b 1- 2 periods/ week c more than 2 periods/week

Table 2: Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards appropriate time for teaching and learning English writing skill

As can be seen from the table, most of the teachers thought that the time for teaching and learning writing one period a week at Tran Nguyen Han high school was not enough In my interview, most of the teachers said that getting their students to make an outline and correcting their students’ errors were time-consuming Due to the students’ low level of English proficiency, the teachers spend a lot of time explaining new words and new expressions as well as instructing how to make an outline The students also commit a lot of errors in their writings so it takes the teachers much time to correct their students’ errors in class Some students with low level of English proficiency cannot recognize the errors and cannot correct them

Thus, they often write these errors on the board and correct them to save time

• Teachers’ opinions on the writing lessons

Type of tasks are various 2 8

Topics are interesting but the knowledge relating to the topics is not adequate

Tasks are beyond students’ ability 1 9

Writing section lacks particular context (purpose, audience) 8 2

Table 3: Teachers’ opinions on the writing lessons

As can be seen, the majority of the surveyed teachers thought that the writing lessons were good with interesting writing topics but the knowledge relating to the topics was not adequate Most of the teachers disagreed with the idea that tasks were beyond students’ ability Besides, most of the teachers thought types of tasks were not various Many of them said in many units, students just went through only one task which was based on given prompts This caused students to get more difficulties in writing Furthermore, many of them reported that writing section lacked particular context That means lack of purpose and audience

• Difficulties encountered by the teachers

Statements Yes No answer No

I have the most difficulties in teaching:

Table 4: Difficulties encountered by the teachers

As can be seen from the table, seven teachers stated they had difficulties in teaching the pre- writing stage In my interview, they said they found it hard to get their students to experience the stage due to their low level of English proficiency and their low background knowledge 5 teachers reported they met difficulties in teaching the while-writing stage They said they had difficulty in managing time in the while-writing stage Most of the teachers find it difficult to present the post- writing stage effectively In my interview, they said correcting their students’ errors was a big concern It took them much time to correct their students’ errors as their students committed a lot of errors in their writings Some of them added they sometimes missed the post-writing stage because of limited time

• Teachers’ personal views of causes of difficulties

What are your current problems with teaching writing skill? ( Rank them in order of priority: 1- 7)

3 Students’ low level of English proficiency

5 Teachers’ inexperience in teaching the new textbook

7 Time limitation According to the data collected, the teachers’ most problematic point is their students’ low level of English proficiency In my interview, most of the teachers agreed grammar mistakes were the most common mistakes in their students’ writings They also said that when writing, their students often lacked vocabulary or had difficulties in word choice They ranked their students’ low background knowledge in the second position The students’ low motivation ranked third They put time limitation, large and multilevel classes, lack of necessary facilities, their inexperience in teaching the new textbook in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place respectively In my interview, the teachers said large and multilevel classes were also a barrier to teaching writing Some of them admitted it was difficult to make sure who was on-task and who was off-task in a large class They also added that in the same class, some students who were good at English were active while many others were de- motivated during lessons Besides, they find it hard to facilitate writing tasks to students of different levels Lack of necessary facilities is also a problem Only 3 overhead projectors are equipped for forty classes; thus, they are not frequently used for teaching English except for special occasions Other types of teaching aids such as pictures, sub-boards are not equipped

The teachers often use only textbook, chalk and board in their lessons They said, to make their lessons more interesting, they have to create do-it-yourself aids In addition, there are not available writing materials in the library for students to improve their writing competence

• Things to identify before writing

Do you think it is necessary for students to write with an audience in mind? Why or why not? a Yes b No

In responding to the question, 4 teachers agreed that students should write with an audience in mind The main reason is that having a reader in mind while writing helps students define the purpose, style and language for their pieces of writing No teachers said writing with an audience in mind made students consider writing as a means of communicating their ideas 6 teachers said that students should not have audience in mind with no given reasons Obviously, it can be concluded that the teachers are not fully aware of the importance of audience in writing

• Teachers’ self- assessment of the effectiveness of their current writing instruction methods

Can you self- assess the effectiveness of your current writing instruction methods? a Highly effective b Fairly effective c Average d Ineffective When being asked about the effectiveness of their current teaching methods, 6 teachers considered it effective and 4 thought it average

• Teachers’ expectation for better teaching and learning situations

Agree Disagree Textbook Modifying, adding, omitting tasks, content and activities 9 1 Teachers Join more workshops to exchange experiences and methodology among the English staffs

Provide your students with more supporting materials (samples, guiding books,….) to study at class as well as at home

Offer students more instructions for their writings 10 Give more comprehensive feedbacks to students’ writings 10

Students Be active and motivated in lessons 10

Self-study to enrich background knowledge, improve English ability

Table 5: Teachers’ expectation for better teaching and learning situations

As can be seen, most of the teachers wanted to modify, omit or add the tasks, activities, and content They had a positive attitude They expected to offer students more instructions, give students more comprehensive feedbacks, create more chances for students to take part in group brainstorming, organize peer editing, provide more materials, and join more workshops In terms of student aspect, all the teachers agreed their students should self-study to enrich their background knowledge and improve their English ability

Moreover, they should be active and be motivated in lessons

3.1.2 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaire

The total number of the students chosen in the study is 100 of which 56 are male and 44 are female Most of them are aged 17 The number of years they have been learning English ranges from five to eight years They have experience of nearly five years in learning writing skill

• Difficulties encountered by the students

Statements Yes (%) No answer (%) No (%)

Table 6: Difficulties encountered by the students

According to the table, 70% said they encountered difficulties in the pre-writing stage In my interview, many students reported they found generating ideas and making an outline difficult due to their low level of English proficiency and their low background knowledge

41% stated they had difficulties in the while-writing stage Many of the interviewed students said they sometimes did not have enough time to complete writing tasks in class

It takes them much time to write drafts in class, especially when they are required to write a report about a man-made place, or describe a location or a chart 74% said they met difficulties in the post-writing stage Many of the interviewed students responded that their teachers did not correct the errors in their writings carefully Some admitted they had low level of English proficiency and this made them encounter difficulties when giving feedback to their peers

• Students’ personal views of causes of difficulties

My level of English proficiency is low 75 20 5

Teacher’s instructions are not adequate 55 35 10 Teachers’ feedbacks are not comprehensive 70 26 4

Table 7 : Students’ personal views of causes of difficulties

According to the table, the majority of the students stated that their low level of English proficiency was the most challenging In my interview, many students said that their vocabulary and sentence structures were poor They also added that they had the fear of making spelling and grammatical mistakes 60% admitted they lack background knowledge 56% reported their motivation for writing was low Many of the interviewed students said that the final exam and university entrance exam focused on grammar, structures and reading skill so they did not pay attention to writing This, obviously, decreased their interest in writing so much Besides, 63% said they lacked time when writing Moreover, many students (55%) responded that they needed more adequate instructions from their teachers Also, 70% said their teachers’ feedbacks were not comprehensive

• Things to identify before writing

How often does your teacher use these techniques in the pre- writing stage? a Ask students to identify the audience of the writing task

 Frequently  Sometimes  Never b Ask students to identify the purpose of the writing task

Findings

As can be seen from the result, writing is not highly appreciated by the students and even the teachers do not take the importance of writing seriously This is because of the main purpose of teaching and learning English at Tran Nguyen Han high school The results of the final exam and university entrance exam are considered the most importance of teaching and learning English at school so both the teachers and students there focus mostly on grammar and reading skill rather than on other skills such as speaking, listening and writing This certainly affects the students’ writing competence and prevents the improvement of their writing ability Consequently, most of the teachers and the students think the students’ writing competence is bad

3.2.2 Students’ difficulties in learning writing

From the data analysis, it is clear that the students have to face many difficulties These difficulties are from two causes: (1) from the students themselves, and (2) from the teachers’ lectures

In terms of the first cause, the majority of the students have trouble with writing because of their low level of English proficiency Their vocabulary and sentence structures are poor

Grammar mistakes and spelling are also a common fear for many of them Besides, their low background knowledge also makes them feel stressed when writing Many of the students said they found it hard to generate ideas and make an outline because of their low background knowledge Their low motivation is also a problem These students consider the result of the final exam and university entrance exam as the most importance of their learning Therefore, they care much about grammar, structures and reading skill This, trouble Many of them said they sometimes did not have enough time to complete writing tasks at class The main reason for this is because of their low level of English proficiency and their low background knowledge

In terms of the second cause, the students do not highly asses their teachers’ assistance

They find their teachers’ feedbacks are not comprehensive and their teachers’ instructions are not adequate

3.2.3 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching writing for grade 11 students

Not only the students but also the teachers cope with numerous problems when teaching writing

The first difficulty the teachers at Tran Nguyen Han high school are coping with is the English level of the students Most of the teachers find grammar mistakes common mistakes in their students’ writings They also assess that their students often lack vocabulary and have difficulties in word choice The students’ low motivation and low background knowledge are also other problems encountered by the teachers

The second difficulty is the problem of large and multilevel classes In multilevel classes, the teachers face difficulties in shortening a big gap between their students In the same class, some students who are good at English are active while many others are de- motivated The good ones usually dominate the activities that pair work and group work are needed while the weaker ones are shy and contribute nothing In addition, English classes at Tran Nguyen Han high school are very large There are at least 50 students in a class Hence, it is difficult for the teachers to give each of the students individual attention and make sure who is on task and who is off task

For the next difficulty, teaching equipments and reference materials are important in the teaching process; however, the teaching condition in the school is not good Only 3 overhead projectors are equipped for forty classes and thus, they are not frequently used for teaching English except for special occasions Other types of teaching aids such as pictures, sub- board are not equipped Teachers often use only textbook, chalk and board in their lessons The teachers said, to make their lessons more interesting, they have to create do-it-yourself teaching aids Moreover, there are not available writing materials in the library for students to improve their writing competence

The final challenge is the lack of theoretical and practical experiences in teaching the new textbook as well as being influenced by traditional teaching methods

According to the survey, Process Approach has not been applied effectively at Tran Nguyen Han high school This is may be because of many reasons The main reason is that the teachers do not have a full understanding of Process Approach They are not fully aware of the importance of audience in writing Besides, they are influenced by the traditional teaching methods This prevents the teachers from making use of Process Approach Teachers’ work during the while-writing stage is not suitable They still consider their students’ first writing drafts as the final writing product for grading and comments In my interview, the teachers said that correcting their students’ errors caused them a lot of difficulties The students commit a lot of errors in their writings and it takes the teachers much time to correct their students’ errors Some students with low level of English proficiency cannot recognize the errors and cannot correct them Thus, they often write these errors on the board and correct them to save time.

Summary

In short, this chapter has provided the information of data analysis and outcomes of the study The teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward the teaching and learning writing skill, the difficulties the teachers and students encounter in teaching and learning writing skill are presented These findings would serve as the foundations for further recommendations that the researcher would like to make in the next chapter.

RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Techniques in pre-writing stage

Identifying the purpose and audience

Through some years of teaching, the author of the study has gained some experiences in teaching writing and she is aware of the important function of identifying the purpose and audience of a piece of writing Thus, she would like to suggest adapting the writing section in the textbook by adding the setting to it as follows:

Unit 5 Setting: Imagine that you are going to write a report on “literacy rate of males and females in Vietnam from 1990 to 2001” to hand in to your teachers of geography

Setting: Your outdoor activity last week was studying a festival at the place you are living

You took in a festival of your province last week and you are going to write to report your form teacher to tell him/her what you have gained from this celebration

Setting: You have read on the Internet an announcement of a writing contest and you decided to take part in Imagine you have collected information about Cat Ba national park and you are going to write a description of about 120 word about this place to submit to the contest

Besides, teachers should emphasize the role played by audience and purpose in writing by guiding students to ask themselves such questions as:

- How do my readers expect me to treat my topic?

- What style should be employed?

The answers to these questions provide students with not only a sense of audience but also a sense of purpose.

Analyzing models

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 These models can be relevant to the writing tasks (in terms of topic, content, form, language, etc.) Then they make copies for students and elicit students’ discussion over the models Students are asked to examine the writing in pairs, individually, in small groups to analyze what they see To help students to analyze model text more easily, teachers could use some guiding questions:

- 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?

Brainstorming

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

From group to whole class

- 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 Ask them to talk and write down their ideas First, the teacher asks a group to write down two or three ideas on the board Then he/she asks other groups to add any ideas that they may have on the board

- Step 3: The teacher asks the whole class or small groups 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 group who wrote them to explain what they mean

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

In the kind of activity, the groups work together from the beginning When the topic has been stated, the class members say whatever ideas occur to them The teacher should not correct or comment but may ask for a more detailed explanation Then the whole class discusses the relevancy of the ideas Finally, the teacher asks each individual to choose a given number of the ideas to develop her/his own outline This kind of activity may be best for topics which will interest most of students in class like writing task 2 - Unit 14 ( English 11 textbook), in which students are to write a passage about their class’s camping holiday.

Interview

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 in pairs and note down the ideas Interviews can be used to find out detailed information from students’ partners such as: how their friend is like (Unit 1- English 11 textbook), how they celebrate their birthday parties (Unit 3- English 11 text book), how they prepare for Tet holiday (Unit 8- English 11 text book) Then they write a report This kind of activity gets students to talk and motivates students to write in a relaxing manner.

Asking journalists’ question

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 For example, in unit 2 ( English 11 textbook), students are required to write about their memorable past experiences and these questions can be helpful

- What is the name of the experience?

- Who got involved in the incident?

- How did the experience affect you?

4.2 Techniques in the while-writing stage

Collaborative writing is a good way of organizing the class It encourages students to learn from each other Besides, it saves time for writing class

The researcher would like to recommend some ways of organizing collaborative drafting

In the first way, according to the outline of the whole group, each member is responsible for writing one part of the writing, then the whole group will assemble all the parts together and make some necessary changes to make them unite

In another way, all the group members take part in writing at the same time One member as a secretary is assigned to taking note of sentences made by the whole group By doing so, the group can write and check their writing together

4.3 Techniques in the post-writing stage Using peer editing

Peer editing has many 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 Therefore, editing job could be done quickly and effective

4.4 Techniques for motivating students 4.4.1 Using oral presentation

Teacher can have their students present their ideas after brainstorming or their final product after finishing writing It creates chance for students to interact with their audience orally By doing this, student can get the sense of pride in their work and receive immediate feedback from their audience, which increases their motivation for writing

Games should be used in class more frequently If student are made to take part in games voluntarily, they will become more active and hard-working This makes a better studying environment For example, we can use word games in unit 12 and guessing game in unit 8 (see in the appendix (3), (4))

4.4.3 Providing an appropriate tone of feedback

Teachers can motivate students by giving them an appropriate tone of feedback on their writings An appropriate tone of feedback consists of comment of praise and constructive criticism Praise is of importance It motivates students to revise their writings

Constructive criticism is necessary for students as it points out what aspects students need to work more to improve their papers

To conclude, this chapter has dealt with suggestions to improve the teaching and learning of English writing skill at Tran Nguyen Han high school A number of recommendations such as techniques in pre- writing stage, techniques in while- writing stages, techniques in post- writing stage, techniques for motivating students have been discussed

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

Writing, one of the productive skills, through with students can convey and express their own ideas and make them become good thinkers Besides, writing helps students learn other skills Therefore, the importance of writing is undeniable

In the process of studying the reality of teaching and learning writing at Tran Nguyen Han high school, the attitudes of the teachers and students towards teaching and learning writing, the difficulties facing the teachers and students were studied

The results from the research reveal the present teaching and learning writing at Tran Nguyen Han high school is far from satisfaction The students face five main problems at writing class: the low level of English proficiency, low background knowledge, low motivation, teachers’ assistance and time limitation The research also shows the teachers face many problems such as the low level of English proficiency, low motivation, low background knowledge of the students, time limitation, their inexperience of teaching the new textbook, large and multilevel classes as well as lack of necessary facilities

In order to improve the situation, an effort has been made to present some useful writing techniques which hopefully can be employed to help the students at Tran Nguyen Han high school improve their writing skill

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

Firstly, the study only carry out an investigation into the reality of teaching and learning writing of grade 11 students, so to some extent, the results may not be generalized for all students of the school

Secondly, although the researcher used both survey questionnaires and interviews as the research instrument for data collections, the researcher should combine different tools for data collection like observation in order to make obtained result more reliable

Thirdly, 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 following suggestions are made for further research

- A study on the reality of teaching listening, reading or speaking to Tran Nguyen Han high school students

- A study on techniques and activities for Tran Nguyen Han high school students which help them improve their writing skills

Hoàng Văn Vân, Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Đào Ngọc Lộc, Vũ Thị Lợi, Đỗ Tuấn Minh, & Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn.(2006) Tiếng Anh 10: Bộ 1 Sách Giáo Viên Hà Nội:

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Techniques for motivating students

Teacher can have their students present their ideas after brainstorming or their final product after finishing writing It creates chance for students to interact with their audience orally By doing this, student can get the sense of pride in their work and receive immediate feedback from their audience, which increases their motivation for writing

Games should be used in class more frequently If student are made to take part in games voluntarily, they will become more active and hard-working This makes a better studying environment For example, we can use word games in unit 12 and guessing game in unit 8 (see in the appendix (3), (4))

4.4.3 Providing an appropriate tone of feedback

Teachers can motivate students by giving them an appropriate tone of feedback on their writings An appropriate tone of feedback consists of comment of praise and constructive criticism Praise is of importance It motivates students to revise their writings

Constructive criticism is necessary for students as it points out what aspects students need to work more to improve their papers.