Luận văn thạc sĩ problems experienced by teachers in teaching writing to english major students at hanoi university of industry and suggested solutions

Output file i VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES  BÙI HỒNG VÂN PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING WRIT[.]

i VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES - BÙI HỒNG VÂN PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING WRITING TO ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (CÁC VẤN ĐỀ GIÁO VIÊN GẶP PHẢI TRONG VIỆC DẠY VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI VÀ MỘT VÀI HƯỚNG GIẢI QUYẾT) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2010 z ii VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES - BÙI HỒNG VÂN PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING WRITING TO ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS (CÁC VẤN ĐỀ GIÁO VIÊN GẶP PHẢI TRONG VIỆC DẠY VIẾT CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI VÀ MỘT VÀI HƯỚNG GIẢI QUYẾT) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng, M.A Hanoi, 2010 z vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Contribution of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of writing 1.2 The importance of writing 1.3 Approaches to teaching writing 1.3.1 The product approach 1.3.2 The process approach 3.3 Differences between the two approaches 1.4 Factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing 1.4.1 Learners’ personality 1.4.2 Motivation z vii 1.4.3 The first language and culture 10 1.4.4 The textbook 11 1.4.5 Students’ communicative competence 12 1.5 Problems in teaching writing 13 1.5.1 The interference of the first language and culture 13 1.5.2 Lack of motivation 13 1.5.3 Constraints in writing 13 1.5.4 Students’ communicative competence 14 1.5.5 Giving feedback 14 1.5.6 Adapting the textbook 14 CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1 The research hypothesis 16 2.2 Methodology 16 2.3 Participants and instruments 16 2.3.1 Participants 16 2.3.2 Instruments 17 2.4 Procedure of data collection 17 2.5 Results and discussion 18 2.5.1 Problems in teaching writing to English major students at HaUI 18 2.5.2 Suggested solutions 25 PART III: CONCLUSION Summary of the study 30 Implications 31 z viii Limitations of the study 31 Suggestions for further studies 32 REFERENCES 33 APPENDIX (Observation protocols) I APPENDIX (The teacher questionnaire) VIII APPENDIX (Interview questions completed by teachers) XV z ix LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES No Content Chart1 Teachers’ opinions on teaching writing 18 Chart Factors affecting the teaching of writing 19 Chart Vietnamese interference in students’ writing 21 Chart Mistakes that students make most frequently 22 Chart The frequency of teachers’ feedback giving 23 Chart Using teaching aids to motivate students in writing lessons 26 Chart Using time in the teaching of writing 27 Table Teachers’ problems in giving feedback to students 24 Table Ways to develop students’ communicative competence 28 z Page PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Of all four language skills, writing seems to be the most difficult one for both learners and teachers It requires both good communicative competence and logical thinking Despite these requirements, writing is very necessary In language learning process, it helps learners not only improve other skills but promote their ways of thinking as well Therefore, teaching writing plays a fundamental role in teaching and learning English as a second/foreign language However, there exist lots of problems in teaching writing, especially at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), where the author of this thesis works Most of the teachers, particularly teachers teaching writing to English major students, find it uneasy to motivate their students to write, to make their writing lessons more interesting and so forth In spite of these obstacles, there is a lack of studies on teaching writing As a result of the reasons above, the study “Problems experienced by teachers in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry and Suggested Solutions” is conducted in an attempt to address the gap in the literature and to offer English writing teachers, especially the teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry, some effective solutions to their current problems Finally, this study is also hoped to lay a foundation on which subsequent researches into this matter is based and developed Aims of the study This study is carried out with the wish of achieving the two primary aims: - To find out what the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students are - To suggest some solutions to the problems in teaching writing These aims are shown clearly in addressing the following research questions: - What are the problems that teachers at HaUI experience in teaching writing to English major students? z - What are the possible solutions to these problems as suggested by the teachers at HaUI? Scope of the study The study concentrates on problems experienced by teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry Besides, on the basis of the findings, some solutions suggested by these teachers are advanced to further improve teaching writing in Vietnam Method of the study The study is conducted based on survey research which uses observation, questionnaires and interviews to collect data - Firstly, observation is used to find out possible problems in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry - Secondly, a survey for teachers is conducted to address the problems in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry In addition, some possible solutions to these problems are also concerned in this survey - Finally, interviews for the teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry are carried out to get better insights into the research questions Contribution of the study That the study is conducted not only finds out the problems in teaching writing and provides some possible solutions but also shows the reality of teaching writing in Vietnam in general and at Hanoi University of Industry in particular Moreover, this study is hoped to address the gap in the literature as well as to lay the foundation for further studies on teaching and learning writing Design of the study This study is divided into four main parts to get better insights into different problems in teaching writing - The first part – Introduction - introduces rationale, aims, scope, method, contribution of the study and provides an overview of the thesis design - Chapter One in the Development reviews background knowledge of writing and problems in teaching writing with five minor parts: definitions of writing, the z importance of writing, approaches to teaching writing, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing and solutions - Chapter Two in the Development is wholly devoted to describing the study with details in the research hypothesis, rationale for using the survey method, participants, instruments, procedure of data collection, results and discussion - Finally, the third part is the Conclusion of the thesis dealing with the summary, implications and limitations of the study Furthermore, this part also provides some suggestions for further studies z PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of writing Writing seems to be a familiar activity to human beings and appears in all fields of our society Despite its familiarity, no one can say exactly what writing is because there have been so many definitions of writing, which reflects the complexity of writing itself According to Byrne (1988), writing is not simply the act of forming “graphic symbols”, but the production of “a sequence of sentences arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain ways” In other words, Byrne defined writing as the process of forming a text However, writing is more than that Also defining writing based on texts like Byrne, Candlin and Hyland (1999) said: “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” In this definition, writing is proved not to be the process of arranging “graphic symbols” to form words or arranging words to form sentences and arranging sentences to form texts But it is considered as the production of texts which connects to a social process embedding methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies Besides, the role of audience is mentioned as the goal of the writing From the different perspective, Murray (1978) and Perl (1979) defined writing as “a creative discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content” However, writing not only shows the reciprocal relationship between content and language and discovers the new content as Murray and Perl’s view but also is responsible for transmitting writers’ messages Lannon (1989) complemented this idea in his definition of writing - “a process transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial and error or whatever into a message with a definite meaning…, a process of deliberate decision.” Nevertheless, writing is complex, so different perspectives have different definitions of writing Many English teachers like Tribble (1996), Harris (1993) and Oshima & Hogue (1991) viewed writing as a language skill Firstly, Oshima & Hogue insisted that writing was a process, not a product This point of view was supported by Harris (1993) when he considered writing as “a process that occurs over a period z ... parts: definitions of writing, the z importance of writing, approaches to teaching writing, factors affecting the teaching and learning of writing and problems in teaching writing and solutions. .. Scope of the study The study concentrates on problems experienced by teachers teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry Besides, on the basis of the findings,... questionnaires and interviews to collect data - Firstly, observation is used to find out possible problems in teaching writing to English major students at Hanoi University of Industry - Secondly,