Improving students english writing skills through teacher feedback and student self assessmant an action research at le quy don high school m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS THROUGH TEACHER FEEDBACK AND STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT LE QUY DON HIGH SCHOOL A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL by TRAN LAM NGAN VI Supervised by Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Ph.D HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2020 STATEMENT OF ORGINALITY I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH WRITING SKILLS THROUGH TEACHER FEEDBACK AND STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT LE QUY DON HIGH SCHOOL in terms of the statement of the Requirements for the Theses in Master’s programs issued by Higher Degree Committee This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, June 2020 TRAN LAM NGAN VI i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, TRAN LAM NGAN VI, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University pertinent to the retention and use of Master’s theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan, or reproduction of the theses Ho Chi Minh City, June 2020 TRAN LAM NGAN VI ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful for the support, help, and assistance of many people who have aided and stood by me during the time I conducted my thesis First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my research supervisor, Ms Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, Ph.D., for her valuable guidance, timely advice and strong encouragement She kindly gave me considerable inspiration, constructive feedback and generous encouragement when my enthusiasm for writing was flagging or when I got stuck in findings solutions for my thesis This thesis would obviously not have been possible without her support in every step throughout the process Indubitably, words fail me in expressing my indebtedness to her Secondly, I would like to extend my profound gratitude to all the lecturers at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their gifts of knowledge on my learning journey They were unwavering in their personal and professional support during the time I spent at the University, which equipped me with many skills in researching I am also grateful to all my students at Le Quy Don High School They were brave and eager to join the study Without their passionate participation in the study, this thesis would be far from being completed My particular thanks go to them Importantly, I would like to take this opportunity to send my huge thank to all my friends in Class MATESOL-2016A They have provided me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement We have together experienced many ups and downs in the past four years Without them, I could not successfully harness the motivation to complete this thesis My gratitude extends to them and our beautiful memories Last but not least, I must express my heartfelt gratitude to my family I am indebted to my parents for their unceasing support and encouragement I also place on record, my sense of gratitude to my sisters who cheered me up when I was ready to quit I could not have accomplished this thesis without their unconditional love and support iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORGINALITY i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF TABLES ix ABSTRACT x CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Rationale for the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope of the study 1.7 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 English writing skills 10 2.1.1 Definitions of English writing 10 2.1.2 Approaches in the teaching and learning of English writing 11 2.1.3 Skills for English writing 13 2.2 Transferable skills 18 2.2.1 Definitions of transferable skills 18 2.2.2 Importance of transferable skills 19 2.2.3 Transferable skills for EFL classrooms 19 2.3 Formative Assessment 26 2.3.1 Formative assessment and summative assessment 27 2.3.2 Teacher feedback 30 2.3.3 Student self-assessment 38 2.3.4 Guidelines for teacher feedback and student self-assessment 41 2.4 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on students’ English writing skills 49 2.4.1 Impacts of teacher feedback on students’ English writing skills 49 iv 2.4.2 Impacts of student self-assessment on students’ English writing skills 50 2.5 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on students’ transferable skills 53 2.5.1 Impacts of teacher feedback on students’ transferable skills 53 2.5.2 Impacts of student self-assessment on students’ transferable skills 55 2.6 Conceptual framework of the study 57 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 60 3.1 Research questions 60 3.2 Research design 60 3.3 Research context 63 3.4 Research participants 63 3.5 Data collection methods 65 3.5.1 Teacher journals 65 3.5.2 Semi-structured interviews 66 3.5.3 Classroom documents 67 3.6 Data collection procedures 74 3.6.1 Research cycle 74 3.6.2 Research cycle 75 3.6.3 Reliability and validity issues 77 3.7 Data analysis procedures 78 3.7.1 Thematic analysis 78 3.7.2 Analysis procedures 79 3.8 Research procedures 82 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 84 4.1 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ English writing skills 84 4.1.1 Impacts of teacher feedback on the students’ English writing skills 84 4.1.2 Impacts of student self-assessment on the students’ English writing skills 87 4.1.3 Teacher feedback and student self-assessment and their impacts on the students’ English writing skills 90 4.2 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ transferable skills 94 4.2.1 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ critical thinking skills 94 4.2.2 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ problem-solving skills 97 4.2.3 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ self-regulation skills 100 v 4.2.4 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ research skills 104 4.2.5 Impacts of teacher feedback and student self-assessment on the students’ time management skills 105 4.3 The advantages and disadvantages of the implementation 106 4.3.1 The students’ advantages 106 4.3.2 The students’ disadvantages and their suggestions 109 4.4 Summary of major findings 115 4.5 Discussion of findings 116 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 125 5.1 Conclusion 125 5.2 Pedagogical implications 126 5.3 Limitations of the study 129 5.4 Recommendations for further research 130 REFERENCES …………………………………………………… ………………….…………… 131 APPENDICES 154 APPENDIX A 154 APPENDIX B 157 APPENDIX C 160 APPENDIX D 162 APPENDIX E 164 APEENDIX F 166 APPENDIX G 167 APPENDIX H 168 APPENDIX I 172 APPENDIX J 173 APPENDIX K 174 APPENDIX L 175 APPENDIX M 176 APPENDIX N 179 APPENDIX O 182 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS E Entry EFL English as a Foreign Language ELLs English Language Learners ELT English Language Teaching I Item L1 First Language L2 Second Language LQDHS Le Quy Don High School S Student SLA Second Language Acquisition RQ Research Question SA Self-assessment SR Self-reflection T Teacher TF Teacher feedback W Writing vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The guidance and feedback loop 48 Figure 2.2: Conceptual framework of the study 58 Figure 3.1: Summary of research cycle 74 Figure 3.2: Summary of research cycle 76 Figure 3.3: Thematic network of the study 81 Figure 3.4: Research procedures 82 Figure 4.1: A student’s draft about a film review 92 Figure 4.2: A student’s revised paper about a film review 93 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Micro- and macro-skills for EFL writing 17 Table 2.2: Two key clusters of transferable skills 20 Table 2.3: Critical thinking skills for writing .21 Table 2.4: Problem-solving skills for writing .22 Table 2.5: Formative and summative assessment .28 Table 2.6: Characteristics of formative assessment 29 Table 2.7: Summary of characteristics of constructive feedback .37 Table 2.8: Analytic rubrics and holistic rubrics 44 Table 3.1: Structure and timeframe of the research cycles 62 Table 3.2: Summary of journal entries .65 Table 3.3: Summary of interview items 67 Table 3.4: Summary of writing topics 68 Table 3.5: Summary of assessment criteria in teacher feedback and student self-assessment forms .70 Table 3.6: Summary of student self-reflection items 71 Table 3.7: Student self-assessment and student self-reflection 72 Table 3.8: Summary of the uses of data collection methods 73 Table 3.9: Data and coding summary 79 ix APPENDIX H (continued) 170 APPENDIX H (continued) 171 APPENDIX I SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS We would like to ask for your opinions on how teacher feedback and student self-assessment activities that you have been engaged in during class helps develop your English writing skills and transferable skills How were your writing skills before the study? How are your current writing skills? How did teacher feedback help improve your writing skills? How did student self-assessment help improve your writing skills? What transferable skills did teacher feedback help you develop? What transferable skills did student self-assessment help you develop? What are your new learning goals? What you plan to to achieve those goals? What advantages did you experience during the study? 10 What disadvantages did you encounter during the study? 11 How did you overcome those challenges? 12 What are your suggestions to those issues? 13 Should teacher feedback and student self-assessment be implemented together in a writing class? Why? THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION 172 APPENDIX J REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS FOR TEACHER JOURNALS Reflection point Make notes on these ideas in a personal journal or diary How did I select my practical actions to improve my students’ writing skills? Why did I select these particular actions? How did the actions I selected work to improve my classroom situation? For me as the teacher? For my students (their writing skills and transferable skills)? Were the actions effective? Did I need to change them? Why? What were my students’ reactions to the changes that resulted from my practical actions? Were they positive or negative? Why? How did I deal with negative reactions? What impact did the positive reactions have? Note Adapted from Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners (p 143), by A Burns, 2009, New York: Routledge Copyright (2009) by Taylor & Francis 173 APPENDIX K SUMMARY OF DATE AND LENGTH FOR INTERVIEWS Interviewees Date Length S1 23 April 2018 25 minutes S2 23 April 2018 28 minutes S3 23 April 2018 23 minutes S4 23 April 2018 26 minutes S5 24 April 2018 29 minutes S6 24 April 2018 30 minutes S7 24 April 2018 28 minutes S8 24 April 2018 27 minutes S9 25 April 2018 29 minutes S10 25 April 2018 32 minutes S11 25 April 2018 28 minutes S12 25 April 2018 24 minutes 174 APPENDIX L SUMMARY OF THEMES Emerging theme Correct use of tense Correct use of prepositions Well-constructed sentences Variety of word use Specific, lively words Correct spelling Better handwriting Correct punctuation Use of relevant facts and details Use of original and clear examples Convincing order of ideas Better grouping of ideas Correct use of cohesive devices Correct tone and style Cognisant of purpose and audience Be sceptical about what to write Be analytical about points of view Analyse what the problems are Know what actions to take Try out different ways to solve problems Setting realistic goals Aware of one’s own strengths and weaknesses Adapt to new learning strategies Analysis of information from different sources Prioritising and scheduling tasks Feedback related to learning goals and needs Opportune feedback Topics related to daily lives First time doing self-assessment Interiority complex Having difficulties in revising papers More training and support Talks with students about their strengths and weaknesses Want to decide what to assess Basic theme Organizing theme Improved grammar Enhanced word choice Correct conventions Impacts on the students’ writing skills Clearer content Better organisation Better awareness Sharpened critical thinking skills Developed problem-solving skills Impacts on the students’ transferable skills Better self-regulation skills Enhanced research skills Improved time management skills Individualised, encouraging feedback Timely feedback Relevant topics Lack of experience Personality traits Low language proficiency More training Student-teacher conferences Students’ involvement in criteria setting 175 Advantages Disadvantages Suggestions APPENDIX M MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILLS Types of mistakes Coding Grammar W18 Word choice Excerpts from revised papers … prevent the aliens by invent and build a … prevent the aliens by inventing and building a robot robot which could be connect to … which could be connected to … W42 … I lives in a small beautiful house … … I live in a beautiful small house … W53 … my family always go walking and relax at … my family always go walking and relax there in the there in the evening … evening … W36 … it is stacked with crowd traffic … … it is stuck with heavy traffic … W49 … they are usually shouting and opening the … they are usually shouting and playing the music music loudly … loudly … … the Smurfs found the book containing the … the Smurfs found the book containing the spell to saying to turn the moon blue … turn the moon blue … … I liked the ending of the film I think most … I liked the ending of the film It made me remember people would feel the same as me … my carefree and happy childhood I think most people W7 Ideas and Content Excerpts from drafts W13 would feel the same as me … W27 … I liked Hyun Bin … … I liked Hyun Bin He was handsome, gallant and professional … W64 … My neighbours are not very friendly so I … My neighbours are not very friendly so I don’t like to don’t like to talk with them The thing I like talk with them They didn’t help when we first moved most about the area I live is … here The thing I like most about the area I live is … 176 APPENDIX M (continued) Types of mistakes Coding Organization W2 Excerpts from drafts Excerpts from revised papers … For me, the worst thing about the movie … For me, the worst thing about the movie was was the sound Nearly all the exciting scenes the sound Nearly all the exciting scenes lacked lacked background music The music was background music Worse still, when there was inappropriate The music drowned out the some music, it was played inappropriately characters’ voices I don’t recommend this Furthermore, the music sometimes drowned out film! … the characters’ voices Therefore, I don’t recommend this film! … W30 W62 Conventions … We thought the film was boring Besides, it … We thought the film was boring However, it was very nice and … was very nice and … … My neighbours are friendly and helpful But … My neighbours are friendly and helpful I cannot sleep at night They sing karaoke However, they sometimes sing karaoke noisily I They are noisy … cannot sleep at night … W33 … Isn’t that great! … … Isn’t that great? … W61 … My neighbourhood is not a very quite area … My neighbourhood is not a very quiet area … … W20 … Po helps his adoptive father, mr Ping the … Po helps his adoptive father, Mr Ping the goose in his noodle restaurant … goose in his noodle restaurant … 177 APPENDIX M (continued) Types of mistakes Coding Writer’s awareness W59 W10 W41 Excerpts from drafts Excerpts from revised papers … the group leader is very nice … (the student …In Vietnam, households are divided into meant ‘the neighbourhood headman’ but he neighbourhood groups In my area, the failed to explain this) neighbourhood headman is very nice … … ban the factories through air, which without … ban the factories which release toxic clear to the environment … substances into the environment … … the apartment where I reside is located in … the apartment where I live is located in district district 10 … 10 … 178 APPENDIX N MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STUDENTS’ TRANSFERABLE SKILLS Skills Coding Critical thinking E2 Excerpts The students encounter increasingly complex ideas A regimen of retrieval practice helps them to form more sophisticated mental structures that can be transferred and applied later in different circumstances in real life S4 I stopped to step back and consider my own belief, assumptions and knowledge about writing as I engaged in the self-assessment I raised and answered questions about improving my writing, such as what information should be included or what the best way to present that information and so on S7 Teacher feedback and student self-assessment improved my critical thinking, because I was able to view the problems from different angles, improving my analytic abilities I spent more time raising questions and finding answers on how to make my papers more persuasive and usable for its audience and purpose Problem-solving S12 I think that I learned to get information on my own and help my peers to solve the problems, and these are vital skills to live in real life! S11 I talked to people and learned from them I also learned how important to ask, argue, and share are in solving problems E2 By doing the research, I not only improved my classroom situation, but also built up a close contact with my students, which made it much easier to communicate with them, consequently it turned out to be easier for me to further improve my classroom teaching My students’ attitudes towards assessing have changed At first, assessing was no more than a painful task for them, but as time 179 APPENDIX N (continued) went by, they found that assessing was quite effective and enjoyable Every time when I saw my students solving problems on their own, or weak students actively discussing with their friends toward solutions It seems the job is worth it Self-regulation E1 Student self-assessment gives the students a focus, and ensures that I mark and give feedback regularly Washback so far has generally been positive in that the students on the whole continue to take learning seriously SR58 Evaluating myself was an enlightening thing and part of expansive learning, taking me to places I had not known I could go I learned to adapt myself to stick to my goals S6 After the study, I learned how to identify the gaps between the desired learning goals and my current learning status, how to create a plan of action to close those gaps and monitor my progress in meeting those goals I felt inspired and motivated to learn English Research S1 I now more research outside the classroom I read sources from the internet and books I learnt a lot from them They were useful for my writing problems SR34 I acquired the ability to develop and refine search queries to get better search results This helped me to make full use of search engines on the internet E1 They went beyond the surface to pursue information and to gain a broader perspective on their problems They also learnt to evaluate information found by using other sources Time management S9 I learnt to break down my school tasks into manageable parts, to make a deadline-oriented plan and complete each section of my plan by my scheduled deadline 180 E2 The students have displayed good time management skills after the study They learnt to plan, organise, delegate and prioritise tasks SR42 Teacher feedback and student self-assessment taught me to make to-do lists in order to avoid forgetting important tasks This helped me to better schedule tasks and overcome procrastination 181 APPENDIX O THE STUDENTS’ ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, SOLUTIONS & SUGGESTIONS Coding Advantages S4 Excerpts Your feedback was tailored to my learning needs and learning styles I could see just small difference between your feedback and my self-assessment, but in general I would say there is no big difference S11 Your feedback pointed out the strengths and weaknesses in my papers You knew that I was kind of shy Therefore, you also suggested some ways so that I could improve my English writing It was all quite enough and detailed, I reckon The feedback was also precise and easily comprehensible, I thus knew how to revise my papers SR63 It was an enlightening and thought-provoking project with encouraging and timely teacher feedback, and authentic student self-assessment Disadvantages E1 Even though the students can understand my feedback, some of them struggle to find out the solutions to their problems due to their lower level of English proficiency E2 My students are tenth graders, so I think it would be quite a tall order for them to self-assess They haven’t experienced self-assessment before I can notice a perplexed expression on some faces But I believe the self-assessment activities would bring them a lot of benefits S3 I would say that normally … when it comes to self-assessment, I think, some would be very proud of their ability, the other would feel awkward … because they are not confident about themselves 182 APPENDIX O (continued) Acceptance SR31 I had a lot of opportunities to improve my writing and the implementation really helped improve my writing skills I am very happy with the study S10 I like the implementation it isn’t really a feeling of mini assessments but something in between, uhm, we are learning a lot from it SR46 Solutions S3 The most fascinating assessment tasks that I’ve ever had I am quite shy in the class I am not good at writing as my peers, too I think writing is like engineering a product, I sometimes got stuck, and tried to figure things out by searching on Google or chatting with my friends about my problems in writing I learned how important communication is in solving my problems E2 The students seemed to lack of experience in self-assessing They were rather confused at first However, they quickly learned to adapt Some came to talk directly to me, some discussed with their peers, and some texted me on Messenger for further explanation Difficulties, indeed, unlocked their brain’s amazing ability to develop innovative solutions to their problems SR24 I am kind of weaker than my classmates I first felt overwhelmed when having to those mini-tasks, I mean, self-assessing and self-reflecting Those challenges really forced me to clarify my thoughts and think out of the box I learned a lot of learning strategies from you and my friends Those strategies have helped me to resolve the issues in my learning 183 APPENDIX O (continued) Suggestions S8 We can help each other even in setting up the criteria I think that is interesting We can show our involvement and responsibility We can co-construct our knowledge S4 If there had been more training and practices on self-assessment skills with some more different writing topics, I would have been more confident and comfortable S9 Instead of showing us how to find solutions, questions should be raised and we should spend time to discuss and find answers together during student-teacher conferences We should focus on the kind of work we agree, we need or want most, and spend time to talk more about ways to improve our papers 184