The difficulties in learning writing skills of the first year english majors at an giang university

AN GIANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LÊ LONG THUẬN DTA151105 DH16TA UNDERGRADUATE THESIS THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILLS OF THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: TÔ NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG LOAN, M.A An Giang, May 2019 AN GIANG UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LÊ LONG THUẬN DTA151105 DH16TA UNDERGRADUATE THESIS THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILLS OF THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY SUPERVISOR: TÔ NGUYỄN PHƯƠNG LOAN, M.A An Giang, May 2019 DECLARATION  I hereby declare that the thesis titled "THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILLS OF THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY" represents my own work and that it has not been previously submitted to any other university or institute in application for admission to degrees or other qualification _ May 2019 Le Long Thuan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  First of all, I would like to express my thankfulness to my supervisor, Mrs To Nguyen Phuong Loan, M.A, for her accommodating advice, steady help and thorough direction for the duration of the time I conducted my study I appreciate all instructors in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at An Giang University for their knowledge transmission to me Second, I show my unique gratitude to instructors of English classes as well as the students of DH19TA and DH19AV classes at An Giang University for their enthusiastic support during my data collection for the study Third, I really would like to give my gratefulness for what my best friends have done for me They all supported me a lot while I did the investigation Last but not least, I am extremely obligated to my family, especially my dearest sister, for their encouragement and whole-hearted help Without their encouragement, I could not have completed this thesis Le Long Thuan ii TABLE OF CONTENTS  CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rational of the research 1.2 The research aims and research questions 1.3 Scope of the thesis 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Limitations of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The definitions of writing 2.2 The difficulties in writing skill 2.2.1 Objective difficulties 2.2.2 Subjective difficulties 2.3 Approach to teach writing 2.3.1 Product-based approach 2.3.2 Process-based approach 10 2.3.3 Genre-based approach 11 2.4 Related studies 13 2.5 Summary 14 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Research designs 15 3.2 The participants 16 3.2.1 Students 16 iii 3.2.2 3.3 Teachers 17 Research instruments 17 3.3.1 Samples 17 3.3.2 Questionnaires 18 3.3.2.1 Questionnaire for students 18 3.3.2.2 Questionnaire for teachers 19 3.3.3 Informal interviews 20 3.3.3.1 The interviews for teachers 20 3.3.3.2 The interviews for students 20 3.4 Data analysis 21 3.5 Validity and reliability 21 3.6 Summary 22 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 23 4.1 The results from the questionnaires 23 4.1.1 The results from the questionnaire for students 23 4.1.1.1 The common difficulties in learning English writing skill of the freshmen English majors at An Giang University 23 4.1.1.2 The solutions for the freshmen English majors at An Giang University to develop their writing skill 31 4.1.2 The results from the questionnaire for teachers 35 4.1.2.1 The attitudes of students to English writing 36 4.1.2.2 The knowledge of their students about students’ grammar, structures and creativity 36 4.1.2.3 The recommendations of teachers to develop English writing for freshmen English majors at An Giang University 40 4.2 The results from the informal interviews for teachers and students 42 iv 4.2.1 Data gathered from interview for teachers 42 4.2.2 Data gathered from interview for students 43 4.3 Summary 45 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 46 5.1 Introduction of the discussions 46 5.2 Discussions 46 5.2.1 The common difficulties in English writing of the first year English majors at An Giang University 47 5.2.1.1 Discussion about the questionnaires for teachers 47 5.2.1.2 Discussion about the questionnaires for students 48 5.2.2 The solutions to make English writing better for the freshmen English majors at An Giang University 49 5.2.2.1 Discussion about the questionnaires for teachers 49 5.2.2.2 Discussion about the questionnaires for students 49 5.2.3 The recommendations for improving English writing in pairs and community 50 5.3 Implications 51 5.3.1 Suggestions for students 52 5.3.2 Suggestions for teachers 53 5.4 Suggestions for the further research 54 5.5 Conclusion 55 REFERENCES 56 APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for Students (English version) 60 APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for Students (Vietnamese version) 63 APPENDIX 3: The questionnaire for Teachers 66 APPENDIX 4: Interview questions for Students 68 APPENDIX 5: Interview questions for Teachers 69 v LIST OF FIGURES  Figure Teachers’ length of senior 17 Figure Having poor organization in writing 24 Figure Lack of vocabularies 25 Figure Using sentence structure incorrectly 26 Figure Using linking words incorrectly 27 Figure Having difficulties in checking spelling 28 Figure Having difficulties in expressing words in English 29 Figure Having difficulties in writing thesis statements 30 Figure Writing simply and clearly 32 Figure 10 Practicing writing in leisure time 33 Figure 11 Making outlines before writing any article 34 Figure 12 Spending less time cultivating vocabulary 36 Figure 13 Lacking knowledge about tenses 37 Figure 14 Lacking creativity in using words 37 Figure 15 Using sentence structures is not good 38 Figure 16 Translating words by words 38 Figure 17 Having difficulties in using the linking words 39 Figure 18 Writing rambling 39 Figure 19 Working in pairs and sharing experiences to others 50 Figure 20 Joining in writing community to improve English writing 51 vi LIST OF TABLES  Table Gender of students 16 Table Classes 17 Table Reliability statistics of the questionnaires for students 23 Table Using tenses incorrectly 25 Table Having difficulties in using passive voice in writing 26 Table Checking spelling of words takes a long time 28 Table Having difficulties in defining what items related to the topic 29 Table Cannot write the appropriate sentences to support the topic sentence 30 Table Using the simple words in writing 31 Table 10 Reading more English articles helped to improve vocabularies and grammar 33 Table 11 Practicing with favorite topics 34 Table 12 The opinions of students about writing down all ideas that come to mind 35 Table 13 Reliability statistics of the questionnaires for teachers 35 Table 14 The attitudes of students to English writing 36 Table 15 Cannot write the appropriate sentences to support the topic sentence 40 Table 16 Encouraging students to read many English books 40 Table 17 Brainstorming helps students improve their vocabulary and ideas for writing 41 Table 18 Getting students to correct their drafts in pairs 41 Table 19 Giving favorite topics for students 42 vii ABSTRACT  Four important skills that are indispensable for English learners are listening, speaking, reading and writing In particular, students think the most difficult is English writing To help students overcome difficulties in English writing, the researcher would like to conduct the study with the hope that its results would find the common difficulties in English writing and positive solutions on English writing improvement of the freshmen English majors at An Giang University The participants of the research are 68 students who are the first year English majors from two classes DH19TA and DH19AV at An Giang University and five instructors who are teaching English writing In the process of the research, the data is collected from two sources, which are the questionnaires and the interviews for both teachers and students The findings of the research show the popular difficulties in English writing that the freshmen English majors often face Moreover, the results of the research expose the attitudes of the freshmen to English writing Finally, from the findings of the research, some effective solutions and recommendations have been made for improving English writing skills of the first year English majors at An Giang University viii population for all students and teachers who are learning and teaching English writing not only at An Giang University but also at other schools or universities in many places 5.5 Conclusion Through the results of the study, freshmen English majors’ vocabulary was not sufficient for writing Besides, the first year English majors used tenses incorrectly, found it difficult to use passive voiceanddid not master the structures proficiently In addition, students could not express their ideas in English well and did not organize ideas related to the topic clearly In terms of the solutions to improve their writing skill, it was better for students to write simply and clearly to limit errors, which made the composition easy to understand Moreover, students enjoyed reading English articles which could help them improve vocabularies, grammar and ideas Besides, freewriting such as blog, diary or letter in leisure time was the best way to practice writing skill Also, their writing skill would be improved gradually if they started practicing writing with their favorite topics Additionally, it is efficient to make an outline before freshman English majors to write, which would help them organize their ideas more easily and writing the drafts of all ideas would make their writing more successful 55 REFERENCES  Alfaki Ibrahim Mohamed Dr (2015) University students’ English writing problems: diagnosis and remedy European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (pp 40-52) Atbara: International Journal of English Language Teaching Aronoff, M., & Rees-Miller, J (2007) The handbook of linguistics Oxford: Blackwell Badi, I A (2015) Academic writing difficulties of ESL learners The 2015 WEI International Academic Conference Proceedings (pp 65-78) Barcelona: The West East Institute Badger, R., 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62 APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for Students (Vietnamese version)  BẢNG CÂU HỎI DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN Mục đích bảng hỏi nhằm thu thập thông tin cho đề tài nghiên cứu khóa luận “Những khó khăn kỹ Viết sinh viên năm chuyên ngành tiếng Anh trường Đại Học An Giang” Mong bạn vui lòng đọc thật kỹ câu hỏi đánh dấu () vào câu trả lời hợp lý với thân nhất.Tất câu trả lời bạn sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu khoa học, khơng sử dụng vào mục đích khác Đồng thời người nghiên cứu không công khai thông tin cá nhân bạn Ý kiến bạn thật quan trọng việc tiến hành đề tài Rất mong bạn dành nhiệt thành để giúp đỡ Cảm ơn bạn Phần I: Thơng tin cá nhân Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ Lớp:  DH19TA  DH19AV Điểm trung bình mơn Viết học kỳ vừa qua:  4.0 – 5.4  5.5 – 6.9  7.0 – 8.4  8.5 – 10 Phần II: Bảng hỏi Những câu hỏi nhằm khảo sát khó khăn việc học viết tiếng Anh cách cải thiện thơng qua ý kiến đóng góp bạn Bạn đọc thật kỹ đánh dấu () vào mức độ đồng tình mà theo bạn hợp lý 63 Câu hỏi Hồn tồn Khơng Phân khơng đồng ý đồng ý vân Đồng ý Hoàn toàn đồng ý 1.Khả viết chọn đề tài để viết 2.Khơng có nhiều vốn từ vựng khiến tơi gặp khó khăn viết 3.Sử dụng khơng 4.Gặp khó khăn sử dụng câu bị động 5.Cách dùng cấu trúc câu (câu đơn, câu phức, câu ghép) không tốt 6.Các từ liên kết thường sử dụng sai nghĩa cấu trúc câu 7.Gặp khó khăn việc kiểm tra tả từ 8.Kiểm tra lỗi tả làm nhiều thời gian Khó khăn diễn đạt từ ngữ tiếng Anh 10 Gặp khó khăn việc xác định lập luận liên quan đến chủ đề viết 11.Gặp khó khăn viết câu chủ đề (Thesis sentence) 12.Không viết câu phù hợp để hỗ trợ cho câu chủ đề 64 13.Sử dụng từ đơn giản viết giúp tự tin 14.Bỏ phần thừa, lan man (viết đơn giản rõ ràng) 15.Chăm đọc thêm viết tiếng Anh để cải thiện từ vựng, ngữ pháp (đọc tác phẩm để xem cảm xúc, thái độ diễn tả từ ngữ) 16.Luyện viết vào thời gian rãnh (viết blog, nhật ký, viết thư,…) 17 Bắt đầu luyện viết từ đề tài tơi có hứng thú 18.Phác thảo dàn ý trước bắt đầu viết 19.Viết tất ý tưởng nảy đầu 20.Chỉnh sửa viết nhờ bạn nhận xét 21.Tham gia cộng đồng viết lách (Trò chuyện với người nhận phản hồi từ họ kỹ viết thân) Xin chân thành cảm ơn bạn! 65 APPENDIX 3: The questionnaire for Teachers  QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect the data for a study entitled “THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILLS OF THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT AN GIANG UNIVERSITY” Please read all the questions and choose the most suitable options for you by putting a check () in the box that best expresses the level of your agreement Your answers are only used for this research purpose Your completion of this questionnaire is very important to the success of the study Thank you very much for your cooperation Part I: Personal information Please complete the following blanks: How long have you been teaching English? ……………………………………………………………………………………… How long have you been teaching English writing at AGU? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… Part II: Questionnaire The following statements are to investigate difficulties in learning writing skill of freshmen English majors at An Giang University and how to help them improve through your input So please read carefully and put () into the box that best expresses the level of your agreement 66 Statements Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree 1.Students usually feel bored when studying writing 2.Students not really spend a lot of time cultivating vocabulary 3.Students have lost their knowledge about tenses 4.Students lack creativity in words 5.Students are not good at using sentence structures (single, complex, compound sentence) 6.Studetns translate words by words 7.Students have difficulty in using the linking words 8.Students write rambling, not focus on the topic Students cannot write the appropriate sentences to support the topic sentence 10.Encourage students to read many English books to improve language skills 11.Brainstorming helps students improve their vocabulary and ideas 12.Get students to correct their drafts in pairs 13.Give the topic that makes students feel excited 67 APPENDIX 4: Interview questions for Students  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS The interviews for students consist of questions as follows:  Do you like to learn English writing? Why (or not)  What are difficulties in writing that you faced?  What you often to improve your writing ability?  Do you like to use simple words or new specialized words to write?  Do you think if you join in writing community, you will improve your writing skill effectively? 68 APPENDIX 5: Interview questions for Teachers  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS The interviews for teachers include questions as follows:  What you often to help your students improve writing skill?  In your opinion, what is the most difficult in writing? Why?  What are the reasons why students cannot make supporting ideas of the topics?  To improve grammar and vocabulary, can you give some recommendations to help students? 69