Difficulties in writing essays of english majored sophomores at tay do university

TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE (Logo Đại Học Tây Đô) DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING ESSAYS OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph.D Student’s name: Pham Thu Uyen Student’s code: 15D220201073 Class: English 10A May, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENT It is sure that my research could not be completed without the support of many people I would like to express so much gratefulness to the following people who guided and supported me to finish this research Firstly, I am thankful to the teachers of the Faculty of Linguistic of Literature They brought me to extensive knowledge about English and gave me opportunities to conduct my research Secondly, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Hiep Thanh Nga, Ph.D who always encouraged and supported me She gave me many good directions, honest comments, valuable pieces of advice to overcome difficulties I could not fulfill my research if lacking her enthusiastic guidance Thirdly, my research would not have been possible without the enthusiastic participation of 53 English majored sophomores from English 12A and 12B classes at Tay Do University where the research was carried out I really appreciated enthusiastic cooperation and their helpful contributions to my research Finally, I also give my honest thank to my family and my friends who always supported me to fulfill this research i COMMENT ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT i COMMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research aims and research question 1.2.1 Aims of the study 1.2.2 Research question 1.3 The significance of the research 1.4 The organization of the research 2.1 Terms of definition 2.1.1 Definition of writing .4 2.1.2 The importance of writing skill 2.1.3 Definition of essay 2.1.4 Types of essay .7 2.2 Difficulties in writing skill 2.2.1 Vocabulary 2.2.2 Grammar structures 10 2.2.3 Ideas arrangement 11 2.2.4 Background knowledge 12 2.2.5 Other difficulties 12 3.1 Design 14 3.2 Participants 14 3.3 Instruments 15 3.3.1 Questionnaire 16 3.3.2 Interview .16 iii 3.3.3 Essay examples 16 3.4 Procedure 17 CHAPTER 18 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .18 4.1 Results .18 4.1.1 Results of the questionnaire and essay samples 18 Figure 4.1 Students self-assess the difficulty level of writing skill 19 Figure 4.2 Students’ practicing time 20 Figure 4.3 Students’ self-evaluation on their English writing skill 21 Figure 4.4 The common difficulties of sophomores when learning English writing 22 Figure 4.5 Difficulties in vocabulary 23 Figure 4.6 Difficulties in grammar structures 26 Table 4.2 Difficulties in grammar structures 26 Figure 4.7 Difficulties in ideas arrangement .30 Table 4.3 Difficulties in ideas arrangement 30 Figure 4.8 Difficulties in background knowledge 33 Table 4.4 Difficulties in background knowledge 33 4.1.2 Results of the interview 37 4.2 Discussion 38 CHAPTER 41 CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 41 5.1 Conclusions 41 5.3 Implications .42 5.4 Recommendations .42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX 1: STUDENT’ QUESTIONAIRE 45 APPENDIX 2: STUDENT’S INTERVIEW 51 APPENDIX 3: ESSAY SAMPLE 53 iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Students self-assess the difficulty level of writing skill 19 Figure 4.2 Students’practicing time 20 Figure 4.3 Students’ self-evaluation on their English writing skill 21 Figure 4.4 The common difficulties of sophomores when learning English writing 22 Figure 4.5 Difficulties in vocabulary 23 Figure 4.6 Difficulties in grammar structures 26 Figure 4.7 Difficulties in ideas arrangement .30 Figure 4.8 Difficulties in background knowledge 33 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Difficulties in vocabulary 23 Table 4.2 Difficulties in grammar structures 26 Table 4.3 Difficulties in ideas arrangement 30 Table 4.4 Difficulties in background knowledge 33 Table 4.5 Other difficulties .35 v ABSTRACT Writing skill is an important part of communication that helps people express ideas, experiences, and feeling exactly Good writing skill allows them to communicate their message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations However, students often face some difficulties when writing This survey research presents the process of the study about “Difficulties in writing essays of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” It was conducted to find out some difficulties in learning writing (about 200-250 word essay) of 53 sophomores from 12A and 12B classes at Tay Do University The questionnaire, interview question, and essay samples were instruments of this research The results showed that sophomores had many difficulties in writing essays such as vocabulary, grammar structures, ideas arrangement, background knowledge, and others Basing on the research results, students could recognize their difficulties and find ways to overcome them vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Chapter shows the rationale, the significance, and organization of the study 1.1 Rationale Language plays an important role in life because it is one of the main ways to help people communicate, interact with others around English is an example, it is the global language and has become the most important language to people in many parts of the world It is most widely used in communicating around the world, also it is spoken as the first language in many countries English as a lingua franca in many fields, including business, politics, science, technology, learning, and entertainment, etc English is also the working language of many international organizations, like NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union), WHO (World Health Organization), and it is easy to see that most advertising posters and slogans of famous brands in the world often use English It is also the most-used language of the Internet Learning English is a way helps people get access to a broader range of information, connections, and opportunities In the last 20 years, English is considered as an important foreign language, especially for the Vietnamese young generation Actually, it is included in the curriculum of most schools and universities Therefore, if wanting to have a good job with a high salary in international companies after graduation, students need to improve English skills However, English is not an easy learning skill for students, especially writing skill This is a skill that requires a lot of practice to improve According to Klein (1985) “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” Writing is considered a way to express ideas, experiences, and emotions into written form Writing is powerful The influence of words is known as no limits “Communicating by written language is a good way to allow you to express your message, your idea with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversation” Cited said (2005) Students can be good at speaking or listening skill but writing is a great challenge for them From the previous study “Difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University” conducted by Nguyen Thi Thu Thao – course in May 2017, sophomores faced difficulties because of many reasons First, lacking vocabulary made them unable to accurately convey their ideas and thoughts Second, grammatical errors made their essays lacking in coherence They had many interesting ideas but they did not know how to organize ideas that led to long and redundant essays In addition, when faced with unfamiliar topics, they felt confused due to a lack of background knowledge in many fields Therefore, the survey “Difficulties in writing of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” was carried in order to check whether the current second-year students faced these difficulties in learning writing essays From that, helping students recognize their difficulties and improve their English writing ability 1.2 Research aims and research question 1.2.1 Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to find some difficulties encountered by English majored sophomores in writing essays The implication of the findings contributes to the understanding of students’ writing difficulties, besides, the obtained information helps students have appropriate solutions to overcome difficulties and have good essays 1.2.2 Research question The study was conducted to deal with the research question: What are difficulties in writing essays of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University? 1.3 The significance of the research This study shows that writing is an important skill in many contexts in life that needs to be cultivated Moreover, students face many difficulties in writing but they not recognize the causes clearly Therefore, the research helps them to find common mistakes when writing 1.4 The organization of the research This thesis is presented in five chapters including: Chapter one is the introduction of the study which states the rational, the purpose and the significance, as well as the organization of the research Chapter two includes the definitions and importance of writing The next part indicates definition and types the essay of writing The last part indicates the difficulties of sophomores in writing Chapter three focuses on the research methodology which consists of participants, instruments and the procedure Chapter four is the results and discussion Chapter five includes conclusions, recommendations limitations, implications, and lacking the main ideas or topic sentence in paragraph and essay that were also difficulties for students In addition, sometimes they had too many ideas when writing leading to their paragraphs that were long, redundant or unnecessary Next, poor background knowledge made them unable to organize ideas well Therefore, they would feel confused when facing unfamiliar topics because they were not enough knowledge in different fields Another difficulty in the background knowledge was the lack of practical experiences in social life Finally, students also faced some other difficulties Orthography including punctuation, spelling, and contraction that were difficulties that students often faced Time was also a problem for students when they had to complete an essay in a short time In addition, students have rarely spent time practicing writing skills at ho teachers should encourage students to write articles in class, writing exercises then give the necessary instructions and vocabulary for students can have a more positive and proactive attitude when writing and help students understand the importance of English writing skill in life Writing is an essential skill for students who should master in learning English It is not only a means of communication where students can share their views and thoughts, but it is also actually a prerequisite to master other language skills because it is a difficult skill and they have no passion so that they cannot write well To sum up, English majored sophomores at Tay Do University faced many difficulties in writing such as vocabulary, grammar structures, ideas arrangement, background knowledge, and others Students need to find out their difficulties and find appropriate solutions to better write 40 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS This chapter includes conclusions, limitations, implications, and recommendations of the research 5.1 Conclusions English is most widely used in communicating around the world, also it is spoken as the first language in many countries English has become the lingua franca in many fields, including business, politics, science, technology, and entertainment, etc Speaking English fluently not only helps us work or deal with international companies and organization around the world but also allows us to travel to different countries Writing in English is important in our future career because if we work in a company which deals with international clients and suppliers, the company will rely on the employee who knows how to speak and write in English to interpret the day-to-day operations However, according to research results, students faced many difficulties in learning English writing such as vocabulary, grammar structures, ideas arrangement, background knowledge Besides, orthography, time practicing, and short time writing is also other difficulties If students want to have good essays, students should look for the difficulties they faced, find ways to overcome them and practice writing skills more often The purpose of the research “Difficulties in writing of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” is finding out the difficulties students met, but they often not know or pay attention and want to help them improve their writing skill 5.2 Limitations 41 Because the time was short, the research was only surveyed through 53 English majored sophomores at Tay Do University Finding difficulties, collecting information from students by questionnaires and paper interviews carried out in limited time, therefore, despite careful preparation, the research also could not avoid limitations If having more time, the research would be analyzed fully and more detailed The short questionnaire and its results not seem sufficient to prove the practical difficulties that students faced and their actual writing ability 5.3 Implications The research has shown the importance of writing skill in learning and career future It also helps students to realize their difficulties when writing through it to find out solutions to overcome the difficulties that help them improve their writing skill and write better In detail, the sophomores often did not understand the structure and usage of the tenses clearly, they lacked the vocabulary to express their thoughts and ideas so they could only keep them in mind Sometimes they did not know how to arrange ideas or have no idea when writing because they lacked background knowledge in different fields In addition, based on the research results, teachers can find teaching methods appropriate and more effective that help students develop their writing skill 5.4 Recommendations Based on this research, other researchers can develop their research with other participants such as freshmen, junior and senior who study English majors or other majors about their difficulties when learning writing In addition, when researching other difficulties in the process of learning English, researchers can refer to this study to supplement and develop their research Through the results of the study, students can recognize their difficulties, and also find the appropriate solution to solve their problem 42 REFERENCES References from books Charaverty and Gautum C.r (2000) Teaching ESL writing Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Dana R Ferris (2003) Response to Student Writing: Implications for Second Language Students 1st Edition, Kindle Edition Byrne, D (1996) Teaching writing skills UK: Longman Group Nagy, W E., & Herman P.A (1987) Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge: Implications for acquisition and instruction In M McKeown & M Curtis (Eds.), The nature vocabulary acquisition (pp 19-35) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates McCarthy, M (1990) Vocabulary Oxford University Press Zhang, X, and Chen, J.(1989) The techniques to teaching writing Elbow, P.(1973) Writing in the Disciplines NewYork: Oxford University Press Richards, J C., & Renandya, W A (2002) Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice New York: Cambridge University Press Brown (2001) Teaching by PRINCIPLES An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Longman 10 Nguyen Thi Thu Thao (2017) Difficulties in writing of English-majored sophomore at Tay Do University 43 References from the Internet 1.The organization of an essay Retrieved from https://www.jalc.edu/files/uploads/global/english/pdfs/writing_center_tutorials/0 3_the_organization_of_an_essay.pdf Shourafa A A The Effect of Motivation on Jordanian10th Grade Student’ Writing Skill In English European Scientific Journal, (22), 235-247 Retrieved from http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/view/429/578 Definition of writing Retrieved from http://eprints.uny.ac.id/9805/3/CHAPTER2%20-%2005202244187.pdf The importance of writing skill Retrieved from http://www.adlit.org/article/27894/ Definition of essay writing Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay Importance of English Retrieved from https://effortlessenglishclub.com/importance-of-english 44 APPENDIX STUDENT’S QUESTIONNAIRE Dear friends, My name is Pham Thu Uyen and I am currently an English majored senior Firstly, I am very thankful to you for spending your valuable time helping me This is the questionnaire for my research about “Difficulties in writing essays of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” used to collect important information from you Thus, please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because your answers are really significant and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much Part 1: Student’s full name: Age Gender: Male Female Class: How long have you studied English? …… years In your opinion, learning English is: a Very important b Important c Normal d Not important at all What is your favorite skill? a Writing b Listening c Speaking d Reading What you think about writing skill? 45 a Very difficult b Difficult c Average d Normal e Easy How often you spend on practicing English writing skill at home? a Always b Usually c Sometimes d Rarely e Never How is your writing skill? a Excellent b Good c Average d Bad (You can choose more than one answer) In your opinion, which are your difficulties in writing? a Vocabulary b Grammar structure c Idea arrangement d Background knowledge e Others What are your vocabulary difficulties in writing? a Lacking words b Word choices c Collocations What are your grammatical difficulties in writing? a Tense of sentences 46 b Part of speech c Subject-verb arrangement 10 What are your idea arrangement difficulties in writing? a Having no ideas b Redundant words c Lack of main ideas and topic sentence 11 What are your background knowledge difficulties in writing? a Lack of background knowledge in various fields b Lack of practical experience 12 What are your other difficulties in writing? a Orthography including punctuation, spelling, and contraction b Writing time is short c Have rarely spent time practicing writing skill Part 2: For each of the statement below, please mark agreement or disagreement in the appropriate box to make clear your opinion Strongly Statements 13 You difficulties have in the agree Agree faced essay writing 14 Lack of vocabulary makes you cannot thoughts express clearly your and understandably 15 The knowledge meaning 47 Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree of the word is large and not easy, you not know clearly the meaning and understand how to use it 16 You face difficulties in the way to choose appropriate words in contexts 17 You not know exactly what the collocations mean, the way words go together 18 You not know how to choose the appropriate tense in the essay 19 Do not understand clearly the functions and rules of part of speech leading you to misuse the function of the word making the readers unable to understand or the sentence is wrong meaning 20 Your sentences are ungrammatical because you lack the knowledge about Subject-verb arrangement 21 Your writing is not good enough because you have 48 poor ideas or a few ideas 22 You sometimes write redundant words in the essay 23 You often lack the topic or main idea sentence when writing 24 Poor background knowledge makes you unable to organize ideas well 25 You feel confused when facing unfamiliar topics because you are not enough knowledge in different fields 26 You have no real experience in life around 27 You often make mistakes about orthography such as spelling, punctuation, and contraction 28 You often place false punctuation marks that lead to unclear statements about meaning, sentences that are too short or too long 49 29 You have rarely practiced writing skill at home because this is a difficult skill 30 You feel anxious when you have to complete an essay in class for a short time THANK YOU VERY MUCH! 50 APPENDIX STUDENT’S INTERVIEW Dear friends, My name is Pham Thu Uyen and I am currently an English majored senior Firstly, I am very thankful to you for spending your valuable time helping me This is the interview question for my research about “Difficulties in writing essays of English majored sophomores at Tay Do University” used to collect important information from you Thus, please take your time to fulfill these below questions carefully because your answers are really significant and helpful to my research Once again, thank you so much Student’s name:…………………………………………………………………… Age:………………………… years old Do you like writing? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think writing is a difficult skill when learning English? Why or why not? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What are the difficulties that you face when learning writing skill? 51 ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what is the main reason that makes you cannot write successfully? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Which solutions you want to suggest for solving the difficulties? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! 52 APPENDIX ESSAY SAMPLE Topic: “What are the advantages and disadvantages of being born in a rich family?” Now, money very important in your life How you were born in a rich family? That is question that many people these concerned If you were born in a rich families, you are very advantage, on the other hand, it very disadvantages Here is reason about advantage and disadvantage when you were born in a rich family If you were born in a rich families, you feel comfortable because when a lot of money you can go to shopping, travel…do what you like You can study to abroad and you can learn culture in the world get use modern equipment supportive for study If you sick you can see a doctor and you spend for service help good health On the other hand, you were born in a rich family it very disadvantage Many people become arrogant, people far away Next, having money people often don’t save, go to bar drink a lot of wine to lead to social evils In short, you were born in a rich family a lot of advantage and disadvantage We need to save money and shouldn’t make social evils 53 Topic: “Should students wear uniforms? Why or why not?” Nowadays, most school around the world require student to wear uniform, each school uniform is different in style and color, many people think that shouldn’t wear uniform Moreover, the issue is still controversial In opinion, students should wear uniform First of all, wear uniform help student save time, money In the morning, student in the class soon, and can use again, parents don’t worry too much for our However, many students can eat breakfast Second, most people think that shouldn’t wear uniform because student don’t indivatry, many people think that can’t use again and too time for it, student wear don’t comfortable So, wear uniform make many people don’t want to wear In conclusion, wear uniform of emplenmating mandantory school uniform for student Uniform help student save time, creating unifit, solidarity and more requally with identity So, public school should wear uniform 54