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Output file HANOI, 2009 FIELD ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE 60 14 10 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Hanoi University of languages and international studies Department of postgraduate studies NGUYEN THI L[.]
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Hanoi University of languages and international studies Department of postgraduate studies NGUYEN THI LOI THE USE OF PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS FOR 11TH FORM STUDENTS AT TIEN DU HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH – AN ACTION RESEARCH (Sư DơNG MộT Số HOạT Động tr-ớc viết nhằm phát triển kỹ viết cho học sinh lớp 11 tr-ờng thpt tiên du số tỉnh bắc ninh nghiên cứu hành động) MA MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 HANOI, 2009 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES Department of Postgraduate Studies …………… …………… NGUYEN THI LOI THE USE OF PRE-WRITING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS FOR 11TH FORM STUDENTS AT TIEN DU HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH – AN ACTION RESEARCH (Sử DụNG MộT Số HOạT Động tr-ớc viết nhằm phát triển kỹ viết cho học sinh lớp 11 tr-ờng thpt tiên du số tỉnh bắc ninh nghiên cứu hành động) MA MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: PHAN THI VAN QUYEN, MA HANOI, 2009 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… iii List of Tables and Charts…………………………………………………………… iv Table of contents…………………………………………………………………… v CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of problems ……………………………………………………… 1.2 Aims and research questions of the study …………………………………… 1.2.1 Aims of the study … ……………………………………………………… 1.2.2 Research questions of the study …………………………………………… 1.3 Methods of the study ………………………………………………………… 1.4 Significance of the study ….………………………………………………… 1.5 Design of the study…………………………………………………………… CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 2.2 Theoretical background of writing ………………………………………… 2.2.1 Definition of writing ………………………………………………… 2.2.2 Types of writing … 2.2.3 Why students need to write? ………………………………………… 2.2.4 Factors affecting written communication……………………………… 2.2.5 Writing process ………………………………………………………… 2.2.6 The product of writing …………………………………………….… 2.3 Pre-writing stage and pre-writing activities … ……………………… 2.3.1 Pre-writing stage ……………………………………………….……… 2.3.2 Some common pre-writing activities ………………………………… 10 2.3.3 Benefits of pre-writing activities ……………………………………… 14 vi 2.3.4 A warning about pre-writing activities ………………………………… 15 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research method ……………………………….…………………………… 16 3.2 Overview of action research …………………………………………………… 16 3.3 Descriptions of the research …………………………………………………… 16 3.3.1 Description of the participants of the study …………………………… 16 3.3.1.1 The students …………………………………………………… 16 3.3.1.2 The teacher ……………………………………………………… 17 3.3.1.3 The rater ………………………………………………………… 17 3.3.1.4 The textbook …………………………………………………… 17 3.3.2 Planning-identifying the current problems and the causes of the problem s 18 3.3.2.1 Pre-test instrument ……………………………………………… 18 3.3.2.2 Questionnaire instrument ……………………………………… 18 3.3.3 Preliminary investigation ……………………………………………… 19 3.3.4 Hypothesis ……………………………………………………………… 19 3.3.5 Action, developing an action plan and conducting the experiment …… 19 3.3.6 Observation, collecting data and observing the effects of the action …… 22 3.3.7 Reflection, evaluating the action plan and the evaluated effects of the action 23 3.3.8 Data collection instruments and their procedures ……………………… 23 3.3.9 Summary ……………………………………………………………… 23 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.1: Data analysis procedures …….………………………………………………… 25 4.2 The results of the pre-test and post-test ……………………………………… 26 4.3 The results of the students’ pre- and post-attitudinal survey ………………… 27 4.3.1: The students’ attitude towards writing …………………………………… 27 4.3.2 The problems that cause the difficulties in students’ writing …………… 28 4.3.3 The students’ preferences for participating in the pre-writing activities … 30 4.3.4 The students’ assessment of some pre-writing activities ………………… 31 4.3.5 The role of pre-writing activities to the improvement of students’ writing 34 vii 4.4 The students’ comments on the pre-writing activities implemented …………… 35 4.5 Discussion ……………………………………………………………………… 36 4.6 Concluding remarks …………………………………………………………… 37 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 5.1 Suggestions …………………………………………………………………… 39 5.2 Limitations of the study and recommendations for further research ………… 40 5.3 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 41 REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix 1: Schedule for writing lessons of the second term …………………… I Appendix 2: Questionnaires for students before and after the action plan ……… III Appendix 3: Tests ………………………………………………………………… V Appendix 3.1 Pre-test ……………………………………………… V Appendix 3.2 Post-test ……………………………………………… VI Appendix 4: Results of the Pre- and Post-tests ….………… VII Appendix 5: Results of the Pre- and Post-study survey questionnaires ………… VIII Appendix 6: Sample lesson plan for applying pre-writing activities in class ……… X Chapter 1: Introduction 1.Statement of problems It is undeniable that English is the international medium of communication in the fields of science, technology, culture, education, economy, politic and so on It is also considered a means to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries in the world Since Vietnam officially joined WTO, the importance of English has been recognized more and more widely For its role, English has been not only a compulsory subject in almost all high schools in Vietnam but one of the three major subjects in the high school final examination and in the entrance exam to some universities and colleges as well Together with the development of English, there are many changes in the curriculum for high school students In the past, the contents in the textbook mainly focused on grammar, reading and speaking Listening and writing in contexts were almost neglected Students could practice listening skill only by listening to their teachers They rarely had a chance to listen to foreigners or listen in situations Their writing skill was even worse Although they were very good at doing exercises in structural forms, they could hardly write a topic in class Only when the new set of textbooks is used, students have more chances to learn writing skill To students in the school where I am teaching, writing seems to be the most difficult skill Many of them see writing lessons as times of sighing, pencil – chewing, foot – shuffling agony Some students even state that “Oh, I’ve no ideas”, “My palms are sweating, my heart is beating fast, and my mind is blocked”, “It’s not easy to get it started at all” Why is it that for large numbers of high school students, writing seems to be a great problem? As a teacher, I have thought a lot about this question There are many things that one can to aid in the writing process such as using visual aids, using multi-media, etc Among the three stages of a writing lesson: pre-writing, while-writing and post-writing, I think prewriting is considered the most important one It helps students to get starting to write easily It is the key in the development of a “good” essay and the “evolution” of good writing skills The above reason has encouraged me to investigate into different pre-writing activities I would like to something with the hope of improving writing skill for our students at Tien Du High School Therefore, the thesis title goes as “The Use of Pre-writing Activities to Improve Writing Skills for 11th form students at Tien Du High School, Bac Ninh – An Action Research” Hopefully, the activities introduced in this study will be of some help for the author and other teachers in writing lessons 1.2 Aims and research questions of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study The purposes of this study are to investigate the causes of the difficulties which 11th form students at Tien Du high school encounter in learning writing and to investigate the effectiveness of some pre-writing activities employed with a view to improving students’ writing To achieve the above purposes, the study has to follow the steps below: - To investigate the causes of the difficulties in writing lessons from classroom observation and classroom interaction - To devise some pre-writing activities and use them in writing lessons to solve the problem - To examine the effectiveness of these activities to decide whether they are helpful or not 1.2.2 Research questions of the study This study explores the use of different pre-writing activities for 11th form students in Tien Du High School The weaknesses in writing skills of those students have encouraged the researcher to investigate these activities in the light of the following questions: 1- What are the causes of difficulties in students’ writing? 2- How the pre-writing activities affect 11th form students in Tien Du High School in their writing? 1.3 Methods of the study The study was carried out using action research method The data were collected from survey questionnaires, class observation and interviews with students Questionnaires are designed as a means to make the researcher’s evaluation more objective The questionnaires are given to eleventh form students of Tien Du High School to find out their evaluation on the pre-writing activities implemented as well as their comments and suggestions for these activities 1.4 Significance of the study The study highlights the importance of pre-writing stage in the process of a writing lesson It may also provide some useful ideas for teachers and help them implement the activities in the pre-writing stage more effectively Finally yet importantly, the author of the study hopes that the suggested pre-writing activities can help students improve their writing skill in class 1.5 Design of the study The study consists of five chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Literature Review; Chapter 3: Methodology; Chater 4: Data Analysis; Chapter 5: Suggestion and conclusion Chapter 1, the introduction, presents the background to the study and statement of the problem, the aims, significance and design of the study It also expresses the author’s reasons for choosing the method to fulfill the study Chapter two, Literature Review, presents the main concepts relevant to the research topic such as different points of views about writing, definition of pre-writing, the importance of the pre-writing stage in a writing lesson, etc Chapter three presents the methodology used in the study The researcher attempts to improve students’ writing practice in classroom Therefore, the methodology employed in this study is action research Chapter provides detailed results of the survey questionnaires and class observation The students’ comments are also given in this chapter The comprehensive analysis on the data collected is supplied in details in this part The last chapter of this study, chapter 5, offers some major findings of using prewriting activities in class It also gives a “Conclusion” to the study, which emphasizes the key issues in the study, points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for the further study Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Introduction To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the review of concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic These are the theoretical background of writing, the stages of a writing lesson, and the factors affecting teaching and learning writing 2.2 Theoretical background of writing It is important to identify the skills involved in written communication to devise effective activities to teach writing To identify the skills we need to know what writing actually involves Hence the following parts review the different definitions of writing, the processes involved in writing and the factors that affect written communication 2.2.1 Definition of writing What writing is and how it is developed has been a subject of discussion and debate for centuries, from the time of Aristotle, Cicero, etc to present Through there are different viewpoints, it is commonly agreed that writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into written symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right It demands conscious intellectual effort, which usually has to be sustained over a considerable period of time Given below are some of the views of various writers on the definition of writing In “The world’s writing systems”, Daniels (1996, p3) defines writing as “A system of more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance in such a way that it can be recovered more or less exactly without the intervention of the utterer” According to Donn Byrne, “Writing involves the encoding of a message of some kind: that is, we translate our thoughts into language” (1979:1) It is obvious that when we write, we use graphic symbols: that is, letters or combinations of letters which relate to the sounds we make when we speak On one level, writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols: making marks on a flat surface of some kind But writing is clearly much more than the production of sounds The symbols have to be arranged, according to certain conventions, to form words, and words have to be arranged to form sentences As a rule, however, we not write just one sentence or even a number of unrelated sentences We produce a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain ways The page on http://web.mit.edu/writing/Writing_Process/writingprocess.html defines writing as followed: “Writing is a process that involves at least four distinct steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing It is known as a recursive process While you are revising, you might have to return to the prewriting step to develop and expand your ideas” The above quotation closely relates to the steps in a writing lesson That is, pre-writing, whilewriting and post-writing It is the teacher’s duty to make the writing lessons more interesting and useful for students 2.2.2 Types of writing There are different opinions about the types of writing Davies and Widdowson (1974), Rivers and Temperley (1978), and Pincas (1982) elaborated writing into six categories: (1) Personal writing is writing for oneself (diaries, journals, shopping lists, reminders for oneself, packing lists, addresses, recipes); (2) Study writing is also for oneself (making notes while reading, taking notes from lecturers, making a card index, summaries, synopses, reviews, reports of experiments/ workshops/ visits, essays, bibliographies; (3) Public writing is as a member of the general public to organizations or institutions (letters of inquiry/ complaint/ request, form-filling, applications for memberships); (4) Creative writing can include poems, stories, rhymes, drama, songs, autobiography; (5) Social writing is a category which includes letters, invitations, notes of condolence/ of thanks/ of congratulations, cablegrams, telephone messages, instructions to friend/ family; (6) Institutional writing relates to professional roles (agendas, minutes, memoranda, reports, reviews, contracts, business letters, public notices, advertisements, posters, instructions, speeches, applications, curriculum vitae, specifications and note-making 2.2.3 Why students need to write? Writing is one skill that students need to learn in class In the past, writing skill was almost neglected in language teaching in Vietnam Students could hardly be able to write a letter or an essay in English successfully Only from some years back to now, writing has been paid much attention to 11 Brainstorming can be used to: - Choose a topic - Identify a reason or purpose for writing - Find an appropriate form in which to write - Develop a topic - Work out a plot - Develop the organization of ideas * Listing and grouping This method requires students to list all words or phrases related to topic Students not stop until they have written a large quantity and completely run out of ideas They will not be in a hurry to cross out the seemingly unimportant, repetitive, or even unrelated ones as soon as they put them on the paper For example, students can first write such a topic as “Money” at the top of their paper, and then, either in pairs or in small groups, list words or phrases as follows: (1) traveling (2) savings (3) bribery (4) studying abroad (5) prostitution (6) beautiful clothes (7)stealing (8) loan (9)payment After listing all the items they can think of, students can begin to check the list, and together to decide to cross out the ones which not fit, and the ones which are repetitive After that, students can easily put the list into three subgroups such as: (1) Enjoyment (2) Banking & Finance (3) Evil things List making can be a boon when students know so much about a topic he/she feels overwhelmed With a list, students can narrow a broad range of possibilities Commonly, lists have no apparent order When students start placing ideas in order, he/she is beginning a scratch outline * Rapid free writing Rapid free writing, just like warming up before a game, flexes students’ writing muscles (Raimes, 1996) This pre-writing technique simply requires students to write as much 12 as possible about a topic In this activity, individual students can generate as many ideas as possible without worrying about spelling, punctuation, grammar, logic, organization or accuracy, in order to develop fluency in writing Of course, these above-mentioned elements of writing are important, but students’ concern about them can sometimes inhibit the free flow of their ideas, so students are better leaving those things for later consideration In free writing, for example, students should first write the essay topic at the top of the paper to remind themselves what the writing is about, and then begin to free-write on the topic within a given period of time without stopping so that they can let one idea spark another idea in free association What they write rapidly on the paper may be a word, a phrase or a sentence In this way, they will soon be surprised to find they have much to say instead of little *Clustering Start with a central idea and relate words, phrases, or ideas to it This activity is used to find a direction for thoughts Example: The topic is writing about somebody’s daily life Students can the clustering activities as followed - Co-workers - Meetings - Write report - Phone - Get up - Shower - Dress - Have - Breakfast - Bus to work Work Before work Daily life Meals Exercise - Walk before work - Play tennis after work - Breakfast - Snack - Lunch - Dinner 13 Clustering works like brainstorming: ideas should be jotted down quickly, without critique The writer begins with a single word closely associated with the topic that he/she places at the center of the page Then he/she jots additional words and phrases around it on the page Having lots of white space around short phrases and single words makes it easier for the writer to make links between the ideas he/she generated, adding circles to group ideas and lines to connect ideas in various ways This activity may be much more pleasurable if undertaken with a handful of felt-tip markers in various colors * Making wh-questions: Instead of staring at a blank sheet, students can quickly get started by asking themselves a series of who, why, what, where, when and how questions about a topic and providing possible answers This process is particularly productive because it stimulates active thinking It reveals a wealth of details for enriching the paragraph The whquestions can help students see what they want to say and what they don’t want to say For example, students can ask themselves the following Wh-questions: (1) “What” questions: What’s the problem? What’s my opinion? What’s the reason? (2) “Who” questions: Who was involved? Who did it? Who was affected? (3) “Why” questions: Why did it happen? Why did I it? (4) “When” questions: When did it happen? When did I realize this? (5) “How” questions: How did it happen? How can I change the situation?, etc * Simple outlining Simple outlining is an effective way to help students to write more quickly If students want to have a good idea in their mind of how they will begin and what major points they plan to discuss, they need to write a simple outline to check their ideas, to make sure that their points are well organized, and to use as a guideline to refer to as they write Once they have worked out a good outline for a paragraph or a short essay, they have completed 50 percent of the work With an outline, the actual writing becomes easier because students don’t have to worry about what they are going to say Hence, they can write more quickly Here is a sample outline: Topic: Money 14 Students can develop ideas basing on the three main points: Enjoyment, Banking and Finance, Evil things A Enjoyment: (1) Traveling around the world; (2) Buying beautiful clothes; (3) Studying abroad B Banking & Finance: (1) Payment; (2) Loan; (3) Savings C Evil things: (1) Bribery; (2) Stealing; (3) Prostitution * Percolating: Thinking about your topic Deeply examining, with the mind, what needs to be said * Reading/Researching: Find information about the subject * Discussing: Talk to other people, with varying levels of knowledge on the topic, about the piece * In addition, ideas for writing can be generated from multimedia sources (printed materials, videos, films) as well as from direct interviews, talks, surveys and questionnaires Students will be more motivated to write when given a variety of means for gathering information during pre-writing 2.3.3 Benefits of pre-writing activities In general, the main benefits of pre-writing activities are: Firstly, they can bring a lot of fun At this point, anything is possible A student may have many ideas and the ideas can be freewheeling or even idiotic It does not matter He/she just keeps brainstorming, playing with ideas, collecting resources and notes, doing all the other activities needed to finish this stage of the writing process At this point, the student’s writing may go in many directions However, he/she needs to explore the ideas until he/she hit upon (find out) the ones that feel right Secondly, a student can easily evaluate new ideas that come flooding into his/her mind Thirdly, pre-writing activities allow the student to write the first draft more easily because he/she knows what he/she wants to write at each writing session Next, pre-writing activities increase student’s self- confidence as a writer He/she will be able to determine if the ideas have merit, and if he/she will be able to finish the topic and actually write that topic 15 Finally yet importantly, by the end of the pre-writing process, the student will have a full outline of the topic With that outline, student will be able to see the whole project at a glance When spreading the outline across the desk and examine the creation, the student will be able to detect: Inadequate organization of the ideas Gaps in ideas and content Whether the student has one paragraph or more Whether the writing needs cutting down in size In brief, the main benefits in carrying out pre-writing activities are: (1) They help students stimulate thoughts for getting started and making writing easier; (2) They help students remove the mental block and distraction that prevent ideas coming out; (3) They help students write in a more motivating and stimulating way instead of pondering over an essay topic alone; (4) They help create a cooperative and enjoyable atmosphere in the writing class 2.3.4 A warning about pre-writing activities It is undeniable that pre-writing activities help students a lot when they start to write However, besides the above benefits, there is also a warning when implementing these activities in class That is, both the teacher and students may become so fascinated by this stage that they don’t actually move past it to create the first draft, and then on to revision In other words, like research, writers have a tendency to spend too much time planning and never get to implementation (drafting) Consequently, teachers may run out of time in writing lessons if they not prepare carefully ... the effects of the action …… 22 3. 3.7 Reflection, evaluating the action plan and the evaluated effects of the action 23 3 .3. 8 Data collection instruments and their procedures ……………………… 23 3 .3. 9... The students? ?? preferences for participating in the pre -writing activities … 30 4 .3. 4 The students? ?? assessment of some pre -writing activities ………………… 31 4 .3. 5 The role of pre -writing activities to. .. like to something with the hope of improving writing skill for our students at Tien Du High School Therefore, the thesis title goes as ? ?The Use of Pre -writing Activities to Improve Writing Skills