Difficulties in writing of english majored sophomore at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUSTICS AND LITERATURE DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING OF ENGLISH-MAJORED SOPHOMORE AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervior: Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph.D Student: Nguyen Thi Thu Thao Code: 13D220201042 Class: English 8A May, 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is not undeniable that my research could not be finished without the support of many people I would like to express so much thankfulness to the following people who guided, helped me to complete this research First of all, I am deeply grateful to Tay Do University, especially, the teachers of Faculty of Linguistics of Literature, for their teaching, bringing me wide knowledge of English over past years and giving me opportunities to conduct this research Secondly, I sincerely express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph.D at Tay Do University She was very friendly and enthusiastic to give me many good directions, truthful comments, and give me valuable advice to overcome difficulties during conducting the research Sincerely, my research could not be completed without her enthusiastic guidance, thoughtless and informative Thirdly, I thanked for attention of 51 students from English 10A class for spending their time participating questionnaire and interview Their cooperation was extremely significant and helpful to my research Finally, I would like to express my honest thank to my family and all of my friends who always support me both materially and mentally I am really grateful my family that is the motivation that helps me to try to accomplish this research i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGE i COMMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims and research question 1.3 The significance of the research 1.4 The organization of the research CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Terms of definitions 2.1.1 Definition of writing 2.1.2 The importance of writing 2.1.3 Definition of essay writing 2.1.4 Types of essay writing 2.2 Difficulties of writing 10 2.2.1 Vocabulary 11 iii 2.2.2 Grammar 13 2.2.3 Idea arrangement 14 2.2.4 Background knowledge 15 2.2.5 Other difficulties 15 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHOLOGY 17 3.1 Design 17 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Instruments 18 3.4 Procedure 20 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSION 21 4.1 Results 21 4.1.1 Results of the questionnaire 21 The students’ backgrounds 21 The common difficulties in writing 25 a Vocabulary 26 b Grammar 29 c Idea arrangement 33 d background knowledge 36 e Other difficulties in writing 38 iv 4.1.2 Results of the interview 39 4.2 Discussion 41 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 43 5.1 Conclusions 43 5.2 Limitations 44 5.3 Implications 44 5.4 Recommendations 45 REFERRENCES 46 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS 48 APPENDIX STUDENT’S INTERVIEW 53 APPENDIX ESSAY SAMPLE 55 v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students’ self-evaluation on their English writing ability Figure 4.2 Students’ practicing time Figure 4.3 The common difficulties of learning English writing Figure 4.4 Difficulties in vocabulary Figure 4.5 Difficulties in grammar Figure 4.6 Difficulties in idea arrangement Figure 4.7 Difficulties in background knowledge LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The important of writing Table 4.2 Difficulties in vocabulary Table 4.3 Difficulties in grammar Table 4.4 Difficulties in idea arrangement Table 4.5 Difficulties in cultural background knowledge Table 4.5 Other difficulties in writing vii ABSTRACT Writing is an important skill in English that helps learners express their thoughts, emotion and viewpoint to readers However, students face some difficulties when writing Hence, this survey research presents the process of the study about “difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University” It was conducted to find out some difficulties in learning writing (about 200-250 word essay) of 51 the sophomore from Bachelor of English 10A class at Tay Do University Questionnaire and interview were the instruments of the study The results showed that sophomore had many problems in writing such as vocabulary, grammar structures, ideas arrangement, background knowledge and orthography Basing on the results, some solutions would be suggested to help students to get a good writing skill viii A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Chapter describes the rationale, the significance and the organization of the research 1.1 Rationale In the trend of globalization today, English communication is very important There are several factors that make the English language essential to communicate First of all, it is the most common foreign language It is not only as the foreign language but also as the second language around the world Actually, English is the most commonly used language among foreign language speakers Throughout the world, when people from different nationalities want to communicate, they commonly use English language That is why people like to call it “the language of communication” Moreover, English will be able to contact people from all over the world and to travel more easily Indeed, “firstlanguage speakers: 375 million, second – language speakers: 375 million and Foreignlanguage speakers: 750 million” David Graddol (1953) Therefore, Vietnamese have also recognized the important of learning English Actually, English is a new door to help people to integrate In modern life, English has been playing a main role in many sectors It is also considered the universal language for business and tourism People will have the option to apply for jobs requiring English Besides, as a developing country, the needs of using English as an effective tools to promote social, economic development as well as improve cultural exchange between Vietnamese and other nations in the world If learning English well, people can enjoy and learn a lot of knowledge in the world Furthermore, English also plays an important role in education If students learn English well will be the best way to improve their life A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University Therefore, English has been compulsory language in all colleges, universities and vocational schools and Tay Do University in particular However, English is not an easy skill to learn for many students When learning English, writing is the important skill which needs to be developed Writing helps to express thoughts, viewpoint and feelings to readers As “writing is one of the important skill because writing is a tools to express idea and record the important documents” Rogers (2005) stated In other word, Klein (1985) said that “writing is the ability to put pen and paper to express ideas through symbols This way, representations on paper will have meaning and content that could be communicated to other people by the writer” In addition, writing is an alternative that people communicate besides speaking Moreover, there are many jobs that require writing in English Thus, writing requires many factors such as vocabulary, spelling, rule of punctuation, grammar and ect Indeed, “writing is the most difficult language skill” Celce- Murcia and Olshtain (2006) From the previous study, English majored at Tay Do University still faced to difficulties because of many reasons Firstly, students cannot express their ideas in writing because they not enough vocabulary to show what they are thinking Secondly, grammar is a big trouble with them They usually make grammatical errors They have many perfect ideas and good motions to write However, they wondered, they not know how to organize their ideas Moreover, they lack background knowledge of fields when they face a new topic To check difficulties above, the survey was carried “difficulties in writing of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University” The study performed on the purpose of finding out difficulties of second year students when learning essay writing Moreover, from the result of the study, we can suggest some appropriate solution and help students to overcome their difficulties and learn writing better 1.2 Research aims and research question A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This chapter includes conclusions, implications and recommendation of the research 5.1 Conclusions In fact, English is indispensable in our life that is also the common language in the world Everyone knows that most reputable companies, corporations require their candidates proficient in English communication skills in life and work If we can use English fluently, we will have much good chances in work that requires English skills Writing skill is more and more necessary in communication and job, but students usually faced difficulties when learning English Especially, English writing skill is the most challenge for them Actually, English majored sophomores at Tay Do University are a specific example They recognize that there are many difficulties during process of learning writing skill After collecting and analyzing the information and data from the questionnaire and the interview that students responded, the research recognized that the second year students faced some common difficulties in learning writing such as vocabulary, grammar, ideas arrangement, background knowledge and collocation Besides above difficulties in process writing, students sometimes make mistake with other problems as orthography, poor memory and time practicing If having a poor memory and easily forgot vocabulary and background knowledge of what they learnt, they could not express ideas Finally, students rarely spend time practicing writing at home as they have no passion with writing To overcome their difficulties, learners should know their difficulties to find the way to improve their writing 43 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University In short, the study “Difficulties in writing skill of English majored sophomore at Tay Do University” intended to figure out the problems that the sophomore faced in learning writing English 5.2 Limitations Although this research was carefully prepared, there were some unavoidable limitations First of all, because of the time limited so the research was conducted only a small size people who were attending in 10A English majored class (fifty-one students) at Tay Do University Because the time of conducting to collect information by questionnaire and the interview was short It was not enough for the researcher to observe all of the students’ writing performance in their class This study would be perfect if doing a longer time Furthermore, from the results of the questionnaire, it seems not to provide enough evidence of the students’ actual behaving to the difficulties in their writing performance It might affect the results between the students’ motivation in learning to write in English and their writing Since the students were required to take park in many studies at the same time Therefore, the survey was still some limitations in the process conducting 5.3 Implications The students can reveal the important role of writing that is also a motivation for them who are passionate about learning English writing skill Moreover, they knew about their difficulties in learning writing skill after analyzing the results of questionnaire and the results of the interview Actually, the students recognized many difficulties in writing process from the study as their weak points in vocabulary, grammar structure, idea arrangement and background knowledge Therefore, the researcher hopes that the study can help students to find out the appropriate learning methods to improve their level in writing Besides, not only students but also the teachers that they can base on the results 44 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University to look out the teaching method accurately or the good materials that help students to learn writing effectively 5.4 Recommendations The other researches can be based on the result of this study to develop their research more large with other participants such as English majored freshmen, juniors and seniors about their difficulties in writing process, not only sophomores Besides the difficulties in vocabulary, grammar structures, ideas arrangement and background knowledge The researchers can look for other difficulties in the process learning to write of English majored students at Tay Do University The students will recognize the difficulties in their writing actual Hence, they can find out the effective methods to improve writing It will be a motivation for students to try practice more to develop their skill 45 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University REFERENCES References from books Rogers Henry (2005) Writing systems: A linguistic approach Oxford: Blackwell Petty, W.T., Jensen, J.M (1980) Developing children’s language Boston: Allyn and Bocon Charaverty and Gautum, C.r (2000) Teaching ESL writing Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall Regents/ Martynska, M (2004) Do English language learners know collocations Investigations linguisticae, 11, 1-12 Ferris, D (2003), Response to Student Writing Implications for second Language Students.U.S.A : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Steve Graham & Dolores Perin, (2007) Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high school, Alliance excellent education Nagy, W., & Herman, P (1987) Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: implications for acquisition and instruction In Mckeown, M., & Curtis, M (Eds), The nature of vocabulary acquisition Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 19-35 Mc Cathy (1990) Vocabulary Oxford University Press James D, William (2005:2) The teacher’s Grammar Book Soka University Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 10 Harmer (2001) seventh impression, How to teach English, Longman Publishers 11 Hyland, K (2002) Teaching and Researching Writing 12 Byrne, D (1996) Teaching writing skills UK: Longman Group 46 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University Reference from the internet 13 https://www.skillsyouneed.com/writing-skills.html 14 Klein (1985), writing in the Field of English language teaching Retrieved on December 2007, [cited 2015, January], www.heddatan.com/a-definion-ofwriting.html 15 Rababah, G (2003), Communication Problems Facing Arab Learners of English: A Personal Perspective TEFL Web Jounal, 2(1) Retrieved from http://facuty.sku.edu.sa/mdajani/Pages/ArabLearners.aspx 16 Qian, D D (2002) Investigating the Relationship between Vocabulary knowledge and Academic Performance: an Assessment Perspective Language Learning 52(3), 513-536, http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9922.00193 17 Background knowledge Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/113005/chapters/BackgroundKnowledge@-The-Glue-That-Makes-Learning-Stick.aspx 18 Types of essay Retrieved from http://www.time4writing.com/writing- resources/types-of-essays/ 19 Examples of essay Retrieved from http://examples.yourdictionary.com/essayexamples.html 20 Heaton (1979:138) in thesis The use of animation movies to improve students’ skill of narrative text by Nafix Fitriana (2011) http://eprints.uns.ac.id/ 47 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear friends, My name is Nguyen Thi Thu Thao and I am currently a senior of English major Firsly, I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me Now, I am carrying out a research entitled “difficulties in writing of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” This is questionnaire used to collect the necessary information from you, thus please take your time to finish there below questions carefully because your answers are important and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much! Part Student’s name: Age:……… years old Please read the following questions and circle the appropriate answer for each question Give specific answers if needed How long have you learnt English? .years What you think about English writing skill? A Important B Normal C Not important D Not important at all What you think about learning writing skill? 48 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University A Very difficult B Average C Normal D Very easy How is your writing skill? A Good B Average C Bad D Very bad How often you spend on practicing writing at home? A Usually B Sometimes C Rarely D Never In your opinion, which are your difficulties in writing? (You can choose more than one answer) A Vocabulary B Grammar C Ideas arrangement D Background knowledge E Others What are your vocabulary difficulties? (You can choose more than one answer) A Wrong words B Lacking words C Collocations D Others What is your grammatical mistake in writing English? 49 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University A The tense of sentences B Part of speech C The punctuations D Others What you think about difficulties in idea arrangement in your writing? A Having no ideas B Using redundant words C Lack of main ideas and topic sentence 10 What is your background knowledge difficulties? A Lack of background knowledge in fields B Real- around experiences C Others Part This table is about your difficulties in writing English Please read this following statements and mask (√) in suitable column to express your opinion Statements Strongly agree Writing is a form of communication that allows learners to express their feelings, thoughts and ideas Writing is not easy so you have faced difficulties when learning 50 Agree No idea Disagree Strongly disagree A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University Lack of vocabulary makes you cannot express your ideas logically and clearly You not know how to choose appropriate words in contexts You cannot remember collocation because there are many words You are afraid of using collocation because of their hidden meaning You not know exactly what the collocation mean and the way words go together You misunderstand the real meaning in usage homograph so it changes meaning the sentence You usually make grammatical errors in your writing such as tenses, word order and punctuation 10 You not know how to use tense appropriate in sentence 11 You make mistake in functions and rules of part of speech in grammar structure 12 You not know how to use correct punctuation marks 13 You often lack the topic and main idea sentence 51 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University 14 You often make mistake when writing a lot sentences which are redundant and unnecessary in the essay 15 You not have enough information about topic 16 You not have experiences 17 You not have a rich knowledge of fields 18 You lack background knowledge so you cannot build ideas 19 You often use acronyms in writing It makes the essay unclear and the readers cannot understand what you want to express 20 You often make mistake with orthography 21 If having a poor memory and easily forgetting vocabulary and background knowledge you could not express ideas 22 You rarely spend time practicing writing at home as you have no passion with writing 52 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University Thank you for your help! 53 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University APPENDIX STUDENTS’ INTERVIEW Dear students, My name is Nguyen Thi Thu Thao and I am currently a senior of English major Firsly, I am very grateful to you for spending your valuable time helping me Now, I am carrying out a research entitled “difficulties in writing of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” This is interview question used to collect the necessary information from you, thus please take your time to finish there below questions carefully because your answers are important and helpful to my research Student’s name: Age:……… years old Do you like writing? Why or why not? Do you think writing skill is the most difficult one? Why or why not? 53 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University Which difficulties you face in learning writing skill? Which is the most difficult factor that makes you cannot write effectively? Which solutions you want to suggest for solving those problems? Thank you for your cooperation! 54 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University APPENDIX ESSAY EXAMPLE Topic: “Today’s Lesson How to start a successful business” Read and write an essay on what made Park Soo Wong success? You have the dream, have unique ideas You aren’t afraid of failure of difficulty You like adventurously You want to be successful entrepreneur in the future Park Soo Wong is a typical entrepreneur like that In addition to, there are still some other elements to make the success of him successful “Park Soo Wong is typical of new type of entrepreneur The 35-year-old engineer entrolted at the High Tech Venture Center after quitting the government’s Agency for Defense Development, where he designed jet aircraft and combat helicopters Park has developed a software program that figures out in minutes the most efficient way for automated cutting machines or leather” He had a new and unique ideas and know how to turn them into reality However, the dream isn’t enough you must to have ready to face the difficulties and failures He refused to take a job with a large cooperation, rejected the security and prestige that comes with such employment He braved to refuse to table job at the corporation large so that realizing the dream of him and prove to everybody see that he had real entrepreneurial talent Besides, we can see that he likes creative, learning innovation research to explore new things Look what he created can see that he is very intelligent and has a wide knowledge about some fields of technology and research manufacturing He believed the lesson he learned at school will be the key to his success Certainly, so that created the jet aircraft and combat helicopter and software program he could fail many times However, he persevered, not give up He spends two years trying to convince his wife and family, find the investor for his project It’s not easy to find the investor Because, in Korea, it was hard to find venture capitalists 55 A survey on difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University “most are looking for a sure bit” and “in Korea you need collateral to get a loan” Entrepreneur who can’t prove they’ll repay cannot get money from banks But he needed more money for his dream that might be a problem There are many difficulties but he entered his business plan in competition and won Park hoped to take his program to markets next month and dreamed of one day listening on New York’s NASDAQ stock exchange He always dreamed and try to make the dreams despite experiencing many difficulties It proves that what he did perseverance and never give up brought success for him He believed that he had a winning product, and his program was so easy for everybody to use it even though “my seven-year-old son can it” said Park He believed in himself in what he did, on his innovation products and he succeeded To sum up, what made Park Soo Wong successful? That is perseverance, never give up, brave realize dreams and ideas, ad venturous and no afraid of failure, confidence and creativity In addition to, be always learning cultivate knowledge, expand understanding To combine the above elements you can become a successful entrepreneur On the way to success don’t have foot prints of lazy person or not try 56