TAY DO UNIVERSITY FACULTY of LINGUISTICS and LITERATURE THE DIFFICULTIES IN STUDYING WRITING OF ENGLISH MAJORED SOPHOMORES AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Wa Thai Nhu Phuong Student’s name: Ngo Quoc Vinh Student’s code: 0857010113 Class: English 3B May 2012 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I would like to express my profound gratitude to the people who helped me in both convenience, materials and spirit to complete the study First of all, I honestly thank my supervisor, Miss Wa Thai Nhu Phuong, who gave me useful experiences and necessary opinions during the time of my research In addition, she shared me helpful advices to help me know the way to make rightly a scientific research Moreover, she encouraged me when I got confused in the process of making this study Secondly, I would like to acknowledge Mrs Huynh Thi Ngoc Kieu and Miss Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang I completely admired their friendliness and helpfulness because they shared their time and gave me great chances me to observe their class to fulfill my questionnaires and interview questions Thirdly, I would like to thank my friends, Nguyen Thi Truc Lien, Phan Kim Tuyen and Ngo Thi Nhi, who helped me in going to observe the participants and who shared me useful opinions and materials Thanks to that, I could complete the questionnaires and interview Besides, I would like to sent my sincere thanks to the students of English 5A and English 5B, who helped me finish my questionnaires and interview by their all helpfulness, friendliness and cooperation Finally, I would like to acknowledge my parents, who born, nourished and deeply educated me Besides, I wished I send my thanks to my siblings who understood profoundly and reminded regularly me in during the process of making the study as my friends Moreover, my siblings who encouraged me to overcome every obstacle to stand stably and also to finish my study i TABLE OF CONTENTS Outline Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF CHART v LIST OF TABLES vi ABSTRACT vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Organization of the study CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of writing 2.2 The importance of writing 2.3 Definion of writing difficulties 2.4 Some factors which affect writing skills 2.4.1 School motivation 2.4.2 Prior knowledge 2.4.3 Time 2.4.4 Mother tongue 2.4.5 School facilities 2.5 Four previous scientific studies related to this thesis CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research aim 3.2 Research questions ii 3.3 Hypothesis 3.4 Participants 3.5 Instruments 10 3.5.1 Two questionnaires 10 3.5.2 The interview 11 3.6 Procedure 11 CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 13 4.1 General results 13 4.1.1 Results from the first questionnaire 13 4.1.2 Results from the second questionnaire 13 4.2 Detailed description on students’ writing difficulties 16 4.2.1 Problems with vocabulary 16 4.2.2 Problems with grammar 16 4.2.3 Problems with prior knowledge 17 4.2.4 Problems with organizing ideas 18 4.2.5 Problems with allotted time 18 4.2.6 Problems with teacher 19 4.2.7 Problems with mother language 20 4.3 Discussion 21 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 23 5.1 Conclusion 23 5.2 Implications 24 5.2.1 For the teachers 24 5.2.2 For the students 25 iii 5.3 Limitations 27 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 27 REFERENCES viii APPENDICES xi APPENDIX xi APPENDIX xii APPENDIX xv iv LIST OF CHART Name of chart Page Chart Students’ difficulties in studying writing 15 v LIST OF TABLES Name of tables Page Table Five degrees of each item 13 Table Students’ difficulties in studying writing 14 Table Problems with vocabulary 16 Table Problems with grammar 16 Table Problems with prior knowledge 17 Table Problems with organizing ideas 18 Table Problems with allotted time 19 Table Problems with teacher 20 Table Problems with mother language 21 vi ABSTRACT Writing plays an important role in studying a foreign language, especially English However, students have faced a lot of difficulties in learning English writing This study aimed to find out and analyzed the students’ difficulties in learning English writing skills The participants of this research were fifty students of English 5A and English 5B, who were English majored sophomores at Tay Do University The instruments used in the present study were two questionnaires and an interview The results showed that the students had seven difficulties in learning English writing such as difficulties with vocabulary, problems with grammar, problems with prior knowledge, troubles with organizing ideas, problems with allotted time, difficulties with teacher and difficulties with mother tongue Among these difficulties, “allotted time” caused the most difficulty to the students Generally, the results of this thesis stated that all of participants had difficulties in learning English writing, especially problem with allotted time vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter consists of two parts The first part is the rationale which shows the reasons why I carry out this research The final part is about the organization of this study 1.1 Rationale Nowadays, studying English is known as a world trend English has become an important language, perhaps the most important language of international communication Crystal (2003, p.1) states “English is the global language.” This trend is really suitable for the world situation, a situation of peace and cooperation Studying English offers a lot of advantages to learners and satisfies lots of people’s needs, from individual’s needs to organizations’ recruitment needs or companies’ recruitment needs This process is appropriate to the development of both society and humanity However, it is not easy to study English well because learning English depends on satisfying four main English skills, such as listening, speaking, reading and writing In addition, each skill asks learners for getting other small skills To reveal that, it is considered to the following example As the necessity and importance of English language, English writing is also interpreted as a skill that learners join in the process of studying Thanks to English writing, the learners can improve and can support other English skills because writing is known as the most difficult skill in English four main skills According to Yakhontova (2003, p 18), writing is a complex process that requires lots of different skills In fact, writing demands different and various small skills which are constructed from lots of levels such as sentence level, paragraph level, essay level, etc It is not easy for learners to satisfy the demands of writing Specifically, I studied English writing with the course book Interaction one, Interaction two and Mosaic one I got some writing difficulties and I try my best to overcome these difficulties Now, I would like to list the writing difficulties to help the readers, especially English major students at Tay Do University, identify and overcome the problems that they encounter in the process of studying English writing That is the reason why I carry out this research 1.2 Organization of the study The study includes five chapters The chapter one introduces the rationale and the organization of this study The chapter two presents the literature review This chapter includes the definition of writing, the importance of writing, the definition of writing difficulties, four previous scientific studies related to this research and some factors which affect English writing skills The chapter four is about methodology This chapter consists of research aim, research questions, hypothesis, participants, instruments, and procedure of the research The chapter four consists of the general results, detailed description on students’ difficulties and discussion The chapter five shows the conclusion, the implication, the limitation and the suggestion 4.2.7 Problems with mother tongue Strongly Degree agree Percentage (%) 17 Agree Neutral Disagree 43.5 14.5 22.5 Strongly disagree 2.5 Table Students’ problems with mother tongue From the above results, the percentage of the degree of “Agree” (43.5%) was the most prominent percentage which illustrated that the students were encountering with problems from mother tongue Generally, the percentage of “Strongly agree” (17%) and “Agree” (43.5%) was more prominent than the percentage of “Neutral” (14.5%), “Disagree” (22.5%) and “Strongly disagree” (2.5%) Besides, the results from the interview was shown as follows The seventh question of the interview was about the difficulty with mother tongue “Does your mother tongue (Vietnamese) have an influence on your writing?” Ten students stated that they agreed with the difficulty with mother language They thought they lacked of prior knowledge and strongly agreed with the differences between the language and sentence structure of two countries that affected their making tasks Le Thi Ngoc Lieu (English 5A) told “mother tongue affects studying and making tests The differences of two languages cause my confusion and uncomfort.” Truong Thi Huong Duyen (English 5A) expressed “I often find ideas in Vietnamese first, then I translate my ideas into English.” 4.3 Discussion The process of analyzing information stated that the results were suitable for the hypothesis Almost English majored sophomores at Tay Do University faced difficulties in studying writing The problems with allotted time, vocabulary and grammar were biggest writing difficulties that the sophomores encountered in studying writing in class The hypothesis of this study was hypothesized that the students had difficulties with vocabulary and grammar in their studying English writing in class By 21 the results of this research, the sophomores not only faced writing problems with vocabulary and grammar but also encountered writing difficulties with allotted time They strongly agreed that the time in class was short for them to study, to practice and to improve their writing The time in class was so short that the students got worriness, uncomfort and unconfidence, so they had writing difficulties in class Moreover, through analyzing of two questionnaires and the interview, it was recognized that not only the time limitation but also their prior knowledge caused writing difficulties for them Lacking of prior knowledge led the students to waste lots of time to complete their tasks Moreover, lacking of prior knowledge led them to poor vocabulary, bad grammar, bad developing and organizing ideas, uninterested in writing topics Therefore, they felt unconfident and they had English writing difficulties In addition, students’ interest, students’ try and students’ motivation in studying were also factors that affected their prior knowledge Those elements directly influenced on their writing abilities that mainly caused writing problems for the students Generally, the last factor_the main issue, or the biggest cause_deeply affected on sophomores’ writing problems that was allotted time 22 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, LIMITATION AND SUGGESTION This chapter consists of four main parts They are conclusion, implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies 5.1 Conclusion By analyzing and collecting information from the participants’ answers in the instruments, I had results which showed students’ difficulties in learning English writing There were following seven problems Problems with vocabulary Problems with grammar Problems with prior knowledge Problems with organizing ideas Problems with allotted time Problems with teacher Problems with mother tongue Especially, the difficulty with allotted time was the biggest problem that the sophomores at Tay Do University encountered Besides, through three times of collecting and analyzing students’ answers in two questionnaires and the interview, I would like to confirm that the difficulties of English majored sophomores could belong to two main reasons The first factor belonged to themselves They lacked of prior knowledge about vocabulary, grammar, social experiences and knowledge In addition, they sometimes lacked of great motivation and feeling to study well The second factor belonged to other elements such as the facilities, the study environment, the weather and limited time Those factors directly affected students’ ability in learning foreign language skills, especially English writing skill 23 Generally, thanks to the collected results, I could confirm that almost English majored sophomores at Tay Do University had difficulties in studying English writing 5.2 Implications It was necessary for Bachelor of English to study English writing which was an important subject As a specific evidence, the English majored sophomores at Tay Do University faced a lot of writing difficulties through this study, so I would like to offer some implications to teachers and students 5.2.1 For the teachers The teachers who play an important role in teaching as well as in instructing their students’ learning activities In education, both great controlling time, great making strategies of teaching and great help are interpreted as great gifts from the teachers to their students Firstly, great controlling time is an important factor towards each teacher In fact, their controlling time plays an important role in their teaching It is difficult for the teacher to balance between their content of subject and their short time in class A successful teacher is often a great controller in balancing between the content of the subject and the short time in class Thanks to great controlling time, the teachers can conduct their teaching more fluently and effectively Besides, if the teachers control their short time in class well, they ensure that they can conduct teaching activities well such as giving out great contents of subject, or great strategies, or great help, or great motivation Secondly, great making strategies of teaching ensures the content of the subject and satisfies students’ learning needs in a subject In fact, thanks to great controlling time, the teachers give out great making teaching strategies Specifically, basing on their short time in class, they give the students great writing strategies, samples of examples, exercises and tests Moreover, they also give their students the ways to study and to search information to serve for studying English writing skills 24 Finally, great help from the teachers is interpreted as great spirit presents for the students In fact, teachers’ help is delivered to students and is shown in various ways For example, teachers’ instructions are considered as friendly and necessary help for the students Lots of students agree that they need more teachers’ instructions about the writing contents or writing topics Besides, teachers’ comments are also great help for the students By teachers’ comments on each of students’ test, the students will study well and they will feel more confidently Thanks to that, the teachers create school motivation to their students as well as teaching method Shortly, the teachers give their students great gifts such as great controlling time, great making teaching strategies and great help The teachers who play an important role in teaching and they clearly know their students They not only evaluate the students by writing tasks but also help students by their teaching, or examples, or instructions, or comments Moreover, the teachers are people who mainly create motivation and help their students in class get English writing skills to take the last aim in education, great teaching and studying 5.2.2 For the students The students play an important role in success of a subject They are main members and contribute to the studying fact of a subject They are considered as a central factor, so they should have great learning strategies in each subject to satisfy difficulties from the subject or allotted time In the process of study, some learning strategies help students that are great controlling time, great motivation, great comments from teachers and great help from teachers and from friends First of all, great controlling time helps students ensure their works In fact, if students always control their short time well, they will finish their works on time For example, the students usually prepare their homeworks well before they go to school by their short time in class They will focus better on their tasks, so they finish their tasks on time Moreover, great controlling time also helps students have enough time to relax or to join other activities to study well 25 Secondly, great motivation helps students have a great comfortable spirit to conduct their works well In fact, great motivation from teachers that is shown in various acts such as good marks, great praise, good encouragement, etc Thanks to benefits from great controlling time, students can everything to achieve school motivation Besides, great motivation is interpreted as a factor that contributes lots of advantages to students’ success in during their learning process, because great motivation helps students overcome every difficulty in their works This factor helps students become to be more actively in cooperation Great motivation also motivates students work with teachers and friends more effectively Thirdly, teachers’ comments help students correct writing errors and perfect their English writing skills Thanks to teachers’ comments on each writing task, students can correct their mistakes on the tasks Besides, they can draw experiences and can know the way to perfect the writings in this subject In addition, teachers’ comments are considered as great instructions that help students recognize errors on their tasks, also help students find the way to correct and to perfect their writings Finally, help from teachers and from friends contributes to the students’ motivation In fact, the students receive a lot of help from their teachers and friends in during their learning process For example, students get teachers’ guidance in class that helps students perfect their skills necessarily Besides, students receive friendly help from their friends that motivate some good characteristics such as cooperation, solidarity, helpfulness, etc Generally, both great controlling time, great motivation, great teachers’ comments and great help from teachers and from friends help students in their learning process Thanks to above conveniences, the students can overcome the difficulties in studying English writing and can improve their English skills, especially English writing 26 5.3 Limitations The study was finished and there were some limitations First of all, the research time was short that lead the researcher got some unexpected mistakes Secondly, the sources for the study were limited The sources were found in the school library, from friends and were found on the internet mainly Thirdly, in the process of observing, some students showed their unsatisfation on the questionnaires and the interview because they had to finish their works in a time of finishing the schedule in class In addition, the schedule of the participants differently ranged in each week, so the researcher had difficulties in the process of observing Finally, the number and the gender of the students affected the research indeliberately In general, some limitations of this study was happened unexpectedly 5.4 Suggestions for further studies Through some limitations of this research, I hope that other researchers would find out great solutions related this topic to help the participants overcome and to remedy their writing difficulties Especially, in the process of analyzing data from the students, I recognize that the students’ writing difficulties are resulted from their lacking of prior knowledge Lacking of prior knowledge is a deep cause that leads students to difficulties in study and other factors, such as using time, getting motivation However, students’ lacking of prior knowledge is not only in writing but also in all English skills This is an important issue that other researchers should care 27 REFERENCES Amadieu, F., Van Gog, T., Paas, Tricot, A., and Mariné, C., (2009) Effects of Prior Knowledge and Concept-Map Structure on Disorientation, Cognitive Load, and Learning Learning and Instruction, 19, 376-386 Retrieved on March 10, 2012 from http://dspace.ou.nl/bitstream/1820/1964/1/Amadieu-etal_LI_200OP9.pdf Applebee, A N and Langer, J A., (2006) The State of Writing Instruction in America's Schools: What Existing Data Tell Us Center on English Learning & Achievement, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222 Retrieved on March 12, 2012 from http://www.albany.edu/aire/news/State%20of%20Writing%20Instruction.pdf Asuncion, Z S., and Querol, M B., (2009-2010) Writing Difficulties, Proficiency, and Traces of Interlanguage and Cognitive Processes of Tertiary Students in Picture-Clued Narration SMU 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10.1023/A:1003257430162 Retrieved on March 7, 2012 from http://www.springerlink.com/content/v707tur47j45m726/ Syakima, N., Sapri, M., and Shahril, M., (2011) Measuring Performance for Classroom Facilities 2011 International Conference on Sociality and Economics Development PEDR vol.10 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore Retrieved on March 14, 2012 from http://www.ipedr.com/vol10/39-S00036.pdf Turnquist, A E., (1991) State Guidelines for Educational Specifications and School Facility Adequacy Retrieved on March 14, 2012 from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICE xtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED448575&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&acc no=ED448575 Wen, W Y., (2007) Writing Strategies and Writing Difficulties among College Students of Differing English Proficiency National Pingtung Institute of Commerce, 2007 Retrieved on March 4, 2012 from http://203.64.120.207/ETD-db/ETD-search/getfile?URN=etd-0702107181739&filename=etd-0702107-181739.pdf Yakhontova, T V., (2003) English Academic Writing ©T В Яхонтова, 2003 ISBN 966-765M 1-8 Retrieved on March 3, 2012 from http://mpacademicwriting.wikispaces.com/file/detail/yakhontova_t_v_english_a cademic_writing.pdf x APPENDICES APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE My full name is Ngo Quoc Vinh and I am from English 3B I am conducting a research about “the Difficulties in Studying Writing of English Majored Sophomores at Tay Do University.” I would like to ask for your help Please answer the following question related to writing difficulties or writing problems that you are facing in studying English writing skill Thank you! Before starting this questionnaire, you fill in the following blanks, please A Personal information Class: Gender: Year of birth: How long have you studied English? …… years B Now, please specify your opinion about the following question What are some difficulties that you often face in studying English writing in class? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Thanks for your assistance! xi APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE My full name is Ngo Quoc Vinh and I am from English 3B I am conducting a research about “the Difficulties in Studying Writing of English Majored Sophomores at Tay Do University.” I would like to ask for your help Please complete the following questionnaire related to writing difficulties or writing problems that you are facing in studying English writing skill Thank you! Before starting this questionnaire, you fill in the following blanks, please A Personal information Full name: Class: Gender: Year of birth: How long have you studied English? …… years B Circle the number 5, 4, 3, or on your answer sheet to indicate the level to each of the following sentences The factors that influence on learning English writing skill Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly agree disagree (5) (4) (3) (2) (1) 5 1 In writing, your vocabulary is poor and repetitive You make some grammatical errors such as errors of tense, subject-verb and nounadjective agreement You find it difficult for you to start the beginning of your writing xii You not know how to put your ideas in a moderately organized format You skip some interesting ideas in your writing due to short of time Your teacher’s teaching method makes you confused You often write sentences/paragraphs/essays 5 5 5 5 5 English in the Vietnamese way There are often misspelled words in your writing Due to your habit, you write many illformed sentences 10 You feel you are not familiar with the topic 11 The sentences in your writing are disordered and not well-connected 12 The allotted time makes you worried and cannot focus on your writing 13 Your teacher’s voice is not loud enough, so it is difficult for you to focus on the lectures 14 When you write, you think in Vietnamese first then translate your ideas into English xiii 15 You get confused when you use some words in your writing due to part of 5 5 5 5 5 speech 16 You get bad marks in writing due to grammatical errors 17 Your writing is not good enough because you have poor ideas or few ideas 18 Your outline is not well-organized 19 Writing under pressure of time makes your writing poor 20 You need more guidance from your writing teacher 21 Your writing is full of grammatical mistakes and errors 22 You not know how to develop ideas for your writing due to your lack of background knowledge 23 Your mother tongue affects your English writing skill 24 You forget writing the topic sentence 25 Vietnamese writing style has an influence on your writing style Thanks for your assistance! xiv APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS My full name is Ngo Quoc Vinh and I am from English 3B I am conducting a research about “the Difficulties in Studying Writing of English Majored Sophomores at Tay Do University.” I would like to ask for your help Please answer the following questions related to writing difficulties or writing problems that you are facing in studying English writing skill Thank you! Before starting this interview, you fill in the following blanks, please A Personal information Full name: Class: Gender: Year of birth: How long have you studied English? …… years B Interview questions In writing, what are some problems that you often face in term of vocabulary? Please specify your answer What are some grammatical errors that you often make in writing? Why you commit such errors? Have you ever had difficulties in collecting ideas for your writing? Why you have such difficulties? What you often to get ideas for your writing? Do you often make an outline before you write? Why and why not? Do you like writing in an allotted time in class or writing at home (free time)? Why? Please specify your answer Have you had problems related to your teachers' teaching method in writing? If yes, what are the problems? Does your mother tongue (Vietnamese) have an influence on your writing? Explain your ideas and give some examples Thanks for your assistance! xv