Difficulties in writing skill of english majored sophomore at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING SKILL OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORE AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph.D Student: Pham Nguyen Thien Thanh Code: 13D220201043 Class: Bachelor of English, course April, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study has been completed thanks to the help of many people from whom I have received support I would like to express my appreciation to all of them Firstly, I would like to send my sincere thanks to the University of Tay Do, especially, the teachers of Faculty of Linguistics and Literature for bringing me opportunities to study and conduct the research Secondly, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ph.D Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, for her support, guidance, and devotion during my study This is the first time I the research; therefore, confusion is always included She gave me encouragement at all the stages of completing my study Be supervised by her, I am not only instructed carefully, but also learnt many valuable things from the method of doing research, the way to consider and solve problems independently Without her guidance, help and support, I would not have completed my study Besides, I also appreciate 10A English majored sophomores because of their cooperation in data collection I am sure that I would not have completed my study without their enthusiastic participation Last but not least, I am grateful to my parents for their mental support and encouragement They gave me advice and encouragement They are the motivation for me to overcome all the difficulties in completing the study In addition, I would like to say “Thank you” to my friends, thanks for their being side by side with me COMMENTS ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 R ationale 1.2 R esearch aims and research question 1.3 T he significance of the study 1.4 T he organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of writing skill 2.2 The importance of writing 2.3 Definition of essay writing 2.4 Difficulties in essay writing skill 10 2.4.1 Difficulties in the content 11 2.4.2 Difficulties in the idea organization 12 2.4.3 Difficulties in the language 14 Vocabulary 14 Grammar 15 Orthography 16 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18 3.1 Design 18 3.2 Participants 18 3.3 Instruments 19 3.4 Procedure 20 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 22 4.1 Results 22 4.1.1 Results of the questionaire and the essay sample 22 4.1.1.1 The students’ background 22 4.1.1.2 Students’ difficulties in studying essay writing 25 a Difficulties in the content 26 b Difficulties in the idea organization 28 c Difficulties in the language 31 Vocabualry 32 Grammar 34 Orthography 36 4.1.2 Results of the interview 37 4.2 Discussion 39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 41 5.1 Conclusion 41 5.2 Implications 41 5.3 Limitations 42 5.4 Recommendations 43 REFERENCES 44 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS 47 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW FOR STUDENTS 53 APPENDIX 3: THE ESSAY SAMPLES 55 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Figure The importance of writing Figure Difficulties in essay writing Figure Difficulties in the content Figure Difficulties in the idea organization Figure Difficulties in the language Figure Difficulties in vocabulary Figure Difficulties in grammar Figure Difficulties in orthography LIST OF TABLES Table The importance of writing Table Difficulties in the content Table Difficulties caused by idea organization Table Difficulties in vocabulary Table Difficulties about grammatical points Table Orthographic dificulty ABSTRACT This study was conducted to examine the reasons why students met the difficulties in writing essays Especially, it investigated the difficulties of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University and aimed to help students overcome the dificulties relating the writing essays Three instruments were employed to collect data First, 50 participants in 10A English majored sophomore class responded 10 questionnaires with 21 closed statements Second, out of participants were invited randomly in this class to conduct an interview to supply more information In addition, 40 essay samples were collected to make clear and prove the difficulties that the students had in writing essays The data were analyzed by using descriptive approach Moreover, this research figured out the solution for these difficulties and gave a clear and specific view about difficulties in writing essays faced by English majored sophomore at Tay Do University CHAPTER INTRODUCTION This chapter presents in details (1) the rationale of this research, (2) the research aims, (3) the research questions, and (4) the organization of the study 1.1 Rationale According to Carroll (1990), “the most important invention in human history is writing It provides relatively permanent record information, opinions, beliefs, feelings, arguments, explanations, theories, etc” Boonpattanaporn (2005) also commented the importance of writing He said that writing is one of the necessary means for people to express their thinking or emotion and to communicate precisely Besides, in the aspect of a subject or skill, writing is also appreciated highly in comparison with reading, listening and speaking Writing is one of the most difficult tasks because writing requires the writer to master and use a complex combination of language skills, from vocabulary and spelling to the ability to organize ideas logically In addition, it can also reflect the competence of thinking, organizing and expressing In writing, essay writing is one of the important contents because it requires writers to have basic necessary knowledge and skills The essay is also considered as the standard form of writing Essay writing is not an easy work, and it is sure that essay writing is harder to writers who use English as the second or foreign language countries like Vietnam Most of students reveal that they always get problems in writing essay Grammar and vocabulary are the most noticeable problems; besides, a lack of unity in organization, a lack of coherence that writers have to confront Although English majored sophomore students at Tay Do University are taught writing skills from the first semester, they still complain that they face difficulties when applying these skills in their writing It is complained that it is not easy for them to write essays in English Perceiving the importance of writing skill and difficulties that students are confronting, the research "Difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University" is carried out to find out the difficulties relating writing essays that English-majored sophomore students at Tay Do University 1.2 Research aims and research question 1.2.1 Aims of the study The research aimed at investigating the difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University to help them recognize their own difficulties Besides, this study was expected that students could restrict their difficulties and improve their writing skill positively 1.2.2 Research question The research was conducted to deal with the research question: “What are the difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University?” 1.3 The significance of the study Writing essays is not only an important content in learning process at school, but also a necessary skill in working process in the future Problems in writing essays lead to many problems in different fields The study shows a clear and specific view about English problems and difficulties in writing essays confronted by English majored sophomore students at Tay Do University The results will give a general view to instructors about problems students are facing in the writing process as well as help students to have the perception on their problems themselves In other words, the findings of this study will hopefully be beneficial for instructors in their teaching and for students in learning writing English essays Besides finding the problems, the study also gives some suggestions for students to help them overcome their problems, improve their writing skills, and finally achieve their academic success 1.4 The organization of the study This current study consists of five chapters including: Chapter I presents background information and reasons for conducting the research Besides, this chapter also introduces the rationale, significance of the research as well as the organization of the study Chapter II reviews related literature as the previous knowledge to the present research Chapter III focuses on the research methodology including participants taken in, instruments used in the study, the research design and procedures of data collection for the study Chapter IV analyzes and shows the results of the study The data from questionnaire are first reported in table and bar chart Chapter V summarizes the findings of the study The findings are compared with the previous studies This chapter also presents the implications as well as the recommendations for further research related to the current one CHAPTER 10 REFERENCES References from books Ahmed, A H (2010) Students’ Problems with Cohesion and Coherence in EFL Essay Writing in Egypt: Different Perspectives, Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal (LICEJ), (Issue 4) Bacha, Nahla N (2002) Developing learners’ Academic Writing Skills in Higher Education: A Study for Educational Reform Language and Education, 16, 3: 161-177 Bean, J C (2001) Engaging Ideas San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers Boonpattanaporn, P (2005) Comparative Study of English Essay Writing Strategies and Difficulties as Perceived by English Major Students: A Case Study of Students in the School of Humanities, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce University of The Thai Chamber of Commerce Brandon, Lee (2005) Paragraphs & Essays (9th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company Cameron, L (2001) Teaching languages to young learners Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Clouse, Barbara Fine (1998) Transition (2nd ed.) USA: McGraw-Hill Companies Gu, Y (2003a) Vocabulary learning in second language: person, task, context and strategies.Electronic Journal TESL-EJ, 7, 2, 1-26 Gu, Y (2003b) Fine brush and freehand: The vocabulary learning art of two successful Chinese EFL learners TESOL Quarterly, 37, 73-104 10 Harmon, J M., Wood, K D.,,&Keser, K (2009) Promoting vocabulary learning with interactive word wall Middle School Journal, 40(3), 58-63 11 Huxley, A (1923) Collected Essays New York: Harper Publisher 51 12 Hyland, Ken (2002) Teaching and Researching Writing Harlow: Pearson Education 13 Hyland, Ken (2003) Second Language Writing New York: Cambridge University Press 14 Langan, J (2004) College Writing Skills Sixth Edition New York: MCGraw-Hill Companies 15 Laufer, B & P Nation (1999) A vocabulary size test of controlled productive ability.Language Testing 16, 33 - 51 16 Linse, C T &Nunan, D (Ed) (2005) Practical english language teaching: Young learners New York: McGrawHill ESL/ELT 17 Maximo, R (2000) Effects if rote, context, keyword, and context/ keyword method onretention of vocabulary in EFL classroom, Language Learning, 50, 2, 385-412 18 Meyers, Alan (2005) Gateways to Academic Writing White Plains: Pearson Education 19 Mukulu, E.,Indangasi, H., Mwangi, P., Gecaga,C &Okanga, N (2006.) KCSE revision English Nairobi.Kenya Literature Bureau 20 Nation, I S P (2001).Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 21 Nguyen, M (1998) Muốn viết văn hay Hà Nội: Nhà xuất giáo dục 22 Nunan, D (1999) Second language teaching and learning Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers 23 O’ Donnell, Teresa D., and Paiva, Judith L (1993) Independent Writing (2nd ed.) Heinle & Heinle Publishers 24 Rao, Z (2007) Training in brainstorming and developing writing skills ELT Journal, 61 (2) 52 25 Read, J (2000) Assessing vocabulary United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press 26 Reid, Joy M (1988) The Process of Composition (2nd ed.) Englewood Cliffs: A Simon & Schuster Company 27 Savage, A (2006) Effective Academic Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press Syllabus of English Major (2010) Can Tho University 28 Sokolik, M (2003) Writing In David Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language Teaching (pp 87-108) Singapore: McGraw-Hill Education 29 Tribble, C (1996) Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 30 Wyrick, Jean (2002) Steps to Writing Well (8th ed.) Orlando: Harcourt College Publishers 31 Zemach, Dorothy E., and Rumisek, Lisa A (2003) College Writing: From Paragraph to Essay Thailand: Macmillan Education References from the internet British Council (2006) Error Correction Retrieved January 6, 2006, from http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/error_correct.shtml Carroll, R T (1990) Students Success Guide: Writing Skills Retrieved August 14th, 2013, from http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/writingskills.pdf Wang, W & Wen, Q (2002) L1 Use in the L2 Composition Process: An Exploratory Study of 16 Chinese EFL Writers Journal of Second Language Writing Online, 11, Retrieved http://logos.unh.edu./jslw/vol11.html 53 July 30, 2005, from APPENDIX QUESTIONAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Pham Nguyen Thien Thanh and I am currently a senior of English major Firstly, I would like to give my thanks to you for spending your valuable time helping me This is the questionnaire for my research about “Difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University” used to collect important information from you Thus, please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because your answer is really significant and helpful to my research Part Student’s name: ……………………… Age:…………… years old Please read the following questions and circle the appropriate answer for each question Give the specific answer if needed How long have you been learning English? ……….years In your opinion, learning English is: a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important at all What you think about writing? a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important at all 54 What the difficulties that you face in the essay writing? a The essay content b The idea organization c The language ( vocabulary, grammar and orthography) d Others……………………………………… What the difficulties that you face in the essay content? a Lacking good outline before writing b Lacking knowledge about structure of essay c Influence of Vietnamese literature style d Others……………………………………… What the difficulties that you face in the idea organization? a Lacking background knowledge b Influence between mother language and foreign language c Lacking coherent ideas d Others……………………………………… What the difficulties that you face in the language? a Vocabulary b Grammar c Orthography d Others………………………………………… What is your vocabular difficulty in writing? a Lacking words b Word choices c Vocabular learning d Others……………………………………… 55 What is your grammatical difficulty in writing? a Tense of sentences b Article c Preposition d Others……………………………………… 10 What is your orthographic difficulty in writing? a Punctuation b Spelling c Contraction d Others…………………………………… Part This table is about your difficulties in essay writing skill Please tick (√) the column with the heading that best summarizes your reaction to each statement Statements Strongly disagree Learning essay writing subject plays an important role in your studying and job in the future If you have a good essay writing skill, you will master in learning English 56 Disagree No idea Agree Strongly agree 3.Writing is an essential component in the process of second or foreign language acquisition You have faced difficulties in the essay content You cannot write a good outline before writing essays You not know how to use the structure of an English essay, which consists of Introduction, Body and Conclusion Your essay writing is influenced by Vietnamese literature style You have faced dificulties in organizing ideas Lacking background knowledge that makes you not have enough information to express the ideas 10 You cannot write a good essay because of influence between mother language 57 and foreign language 11 You cannot organize and express ideas in a coherent manner 12 You have faced difficulties in the language (vocabulary, grammar and orthography) 13.You not have enough words to express your ideas, thoughts and emotions 14 You have faced word choices in a particular context 15 One problems of the with biggest your vocabulary learning is that what’s learned today is often forgotten tomorrow 16 You not understand how to write sentences using the correct tense 58 17 Using articles appropriately is one of the challenges for you while writing essays 18 Most of your sentences are not use preposition exactly 19 You usually meet difficulties in punctuation 20 Spelling is another difficulty that you face in writing 21 You usually have habits to use contraction forms in essay writing Thank you for your help! 59 APPENDIX STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW Dear students, My nam is Pham Nguyen Thien Thanh and I am currently a senior of English major Firstly, I would like to give my thanks to you for spending your valuable time helping me with this interview questions This interview is one of the instruments for my research about “Difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University” used to collect important imformation from you Thus, please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because your answer is really significant and helpful to my research Students’ name: …………………………… Age:……… years old Do you like writing? Why or why not? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, is writing English essays difficult? Why or why not? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… 60 What are your difficulties in writing essays in class? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Which factor has become your biggest difficulty in writing essays (essay content, idea organization, vocabulary, grammar, orthography, etc)? Why? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… What should you to improve your writing essays? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… Thanks for your help! 61 APPENDIX THE ESSAY SAMPLES Topic: Some people like to live in Ho Chi Minh while others prefer to live in Ha Noi capital Compare and contrast these two places Where you want to live more? After graduating college, I will move to another city to live and work, but I still don’t know choose to live in Ho Chi Minh city or Ha Noi capital I had consulted of relatives, some people like to live in Ho Chi Minh city while others prefer to live in Ha Noi capital, so I was still undecided But after I had analyzed the similarities and differences between the two city, I decided I would live in Ho Chi Minh city At first glance, it seems that Ho Chi Minh city and Ha Noi capital have a lot in common First of all, both cities are the important cultural, economic, educational centers of Vietnam If Ha Noi capital is considered as the cultural, politic center of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city will be known as the commercial center of the country Next, two cities have the largest population in our country so they keep an important role in the development of economic, cultural and social of Vietnam Every year, these two cities attract many investors in Vietnam and abroad Both cities have many companies, parks, schools, factories so that you can work, study and relax Besides, two cities have many beautiful landscapes such as temples, pogodas with impressive architecture, ancient churches from the French colonial priod etc Therefore, these two cities are very attractive for local and foreign tourists In addition, inhabitants in two cities are very friendly so that I think they will always help me when I need Especially, like Ho Chi Minh city, Ha Noi capital has many delicious and diverse dishes However, these two cities also have some differences For examples, Ha Noi is the north of the country and has seasons such as spring, summer, fall and winter 62 Especially, winter of Ha Noi is very cold but I don’t like being cold, while Ho Chi Minh city is the south of the country and just has seasons: sunny season and rainny season Next, the lifestyle of people in Ho Chi Minh city is very liberal, fair, tolerant and don’t care about form while the lifestyle of people in HA Noi capital is very delicate, fussy and discreet Culture of Ho Chi Minh city was influenced by many cultures around the world such as United States, France etc Therefore, Ho Chi Minh city has a modern and active beauty Unlike Ho Chi Minh city, Ha Noi capital has an ancient beauty But I’m a modern, active and expansive person so that if I live in Ho Chi Minh city, I will feel comfortable and fun Ho Chi Minh city will be known as the commercial center of Vietnam and have many companies, so I think if I live there, I can find a good job In addition, Ho Chi Minh city is known for high building with the foreign architecture such as Bitexco and walking streets while Ha Noi capital is famous for thirty-six streets, every street has an especial name and buys a different kind of goods such as Hang Ma street, Hang Trong street etc In conclusion, after comparing the similarities and differences of Ha Noi capital and Ho Chi Minh city I think I made a right decision Because I am a modern, liberal person and I’m southern so Ho Chi Minh city will more appropriate for me I will easily get a good job there But I see that although, there are many differences, both cities also have many enjoyable and fun things 63 Topic: Some people say that computer makes our life easier and more convenient Do you agree with this opinion? Give specific and examples support your idea Nowadays, computer has become an indispensable part of the human Some people say that thanks to the invention of the computer, human life becomes easily, comfortably and more interestingly I agree with them The essay will talk about some of the benefits of the computer for the human life The application of the computer in our daily life is endless First, you can buy whatever you want by clicking on a button (online shopping) Many housewives and busy person are very enjoy that because they don’t have many times in order to go to the market or go shopping But now have just have a computer connected to the Internet, they can buy everything such as foods, clothes, cosmetics, households, etc in everywhere and don’t need to gor far In addition, today, many people are working or studying at home due to computer technology The advent of the computer marked the development of information technology era Furthermore, the computer makes our life more interesting You can download your preferred music, movie or play game with your friends The computer also helps you to save information, video, image safety and long term It helps us to communicate with many friends arround the world and to get in touch with old friends or relatives For example, if you go to school away from home, the computer can help you to talk and see the face of member in your family when you miss them Besides, the computer can be used as a great education tool Thanks to the computer, students can find all information in order to study on the Internet Next, the computer are the good friend and always helps people not only in daily life but also at work In big factories, almost all jobs are done by the computer and employees just have to check and control them Moreover, the computer is being used in many field of life such as medical, airline, etc However, the computer is not only advantages but also disadvantages When you use it more than hours per day, it can influence to our health such as eye diseases, backache and many other 64 diseases Many people especially children are addicted to game on the computer, access social network These will make us waste time and lazy Some people just care about urtual world, forget friends and family in real world In conclusion, the computer makes our life easier and more convenient but we should use it effectively, sensibly and make our life better 65