Những phản hồi của sinh viên năm 2 chuyên ngành tiếng anh tại trường đại học ngoại ngữ huế vào việc học viết luận dạng argumentative

HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY OF ENGLISH -   - TRAN VU KHANH NGAN HUFL THIRD YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS’ REFLECTIONS ON LEARNING TO WRITE ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS GRADUATION THESIS SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong Hue, 2020 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP This study is claimed to be my own work All of data and statistics mentioned in the study are guaranteed to be authentic Tran Vu Khanh Ngan i ABSTRACT The purpose of study is to investigate Hue University of Foreign Languages (HUFL) third year English majors‟ reflections on learning to write argumentative essays in English To collect the data for the study, a survey was conducted with 100 third year English majors at HUFL doing the questionnaire In addition, among these 100 participants, 10 of them were invited to write reflective journals on the process of writing argumentative essays and to participate in the interviews The findings from this study reveal that the students expressed their positive attitudes toward learning to write argumentative essays Their reflections on the process of learning to write argumentative essays show that they learned with the product approach rather than the process one Besides, the teachers concentrated on correcting structures and grammatical points in the students‟ essays Last but not least, the results indicate that the difficulties faced by the students in learning to write argumentative essays were the lack of vocabulary, grammatical knowledge and ideas The difficulties were also reported from other factors, such as the limited time, boring activities, especially, the restriction of practice opportunities in class Based on the findings, suggestions to improve teaching and learning to write argumentative essays in English were given ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong for her insightful advice, professional guidance and warm encouragement during the planning and development of this research paper Without her assistance and constant support, this thesis could never have been finished on time She is one of the most dedicated, enthusiastic and knowledgeable lecturers that I have had opportunities to work with Next, I sincerely thank the third year English majors at HUFL for completing the questionnaires, reflective journals and interviews with valuable information for this research Their responses are important to help me to shape the findings of the study I also want to thank my friend – Tran Hoang Thien who helped me to collect the data In addition, special thanks should be given to the Faculty of English for allowing me to conduct the graduation thesis Hopefully, the outcomes of study will serve as a reference source for further research later on and make contribution on the quality of teaching and learning at HUFL Finally, I wish to express my special thanks to my family and my beloved friends who were always by my side, encouraged and loved me unconditionally while I was conducting this research iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF CHARTS viii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research objectives and questions 1.3 Significance of the research .3 1.4 Scope of the thesis 1.5 Structure of the thesis .3 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Definitions of key terms 2.2.1 Writing 2.2.2 Argumentative essays .5 2.3 The importance of writing .5 2.4 Writing approaches 2.4.1 Product approach 2.4.2 Process approach 2.5 Learning how to write argumentative essays .11 2.5.1 Characteristics of argumentative essays 11 2.5.2 Structure of argumentative essays 11 2.5.3 Common issues in learning to write argumentative essays in English 12 2.6 Factors influencing argumentative writing in EFL classes 13 2.6.1 General writing skills .13 2.6.2 Linguistic knowledge .13 2.6.3 Teaching argumentative essay writing 14 iv 2.7 Students‟ reflections 14 2.8 Review of related studies .15 2.8.1 Studies in other countries .15 2.8.2 Studies in Viet Nam .16 2.8.3 Gaps in the literature 18 2.9 Chapter summary 18 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Introduction 19 3.2 Research approaches 19 3.3 Research participants .19 3.4 Data collection .20 3.4.1 Questionnaire 20 3.4.2 Interview 20 3.4.3 Students‟ reflective journals 21 3.5 Procedure of the study 22 3.6 Data analysis 22 3.7 Summary .22 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23 4.1 Introduction 23 4.2 Third year English majors‟ perceptions of learning to write argumentative essays 23 4.3 Third year English majors‟ reflections on learning to write argumentative essays in English 25 4.3.1 Third year English majors‟ reflections on teacher‟s ways of teaching argumentative essays in English .25 4.3.2 Third year English majors‟ reflections on ways of learning to write argumentative essays in English .27 4.3.3 Third year English majors‟ reflections on teachers‟ feedback on their argumentative essays 30 4.4 Third year English majors‟ reflections on difficulties in learning to write argumentative essays in English 32 4.4.1 Difficulties from teachers‟ teaching methods 33 4.4.2 Difficulties due to language knowledge 35 4.5 Summary 37 v CHAPTER CONCLUSION .38 5.1 Summary of the key findings 38 5.1.1 Third year English majors‟ perceptions of learning to write argumentative essays 38 5.1.2 Third year English majors‟ reflections on learning to write argumentative essays in English .38 5.1.3 Third year English majors‟ reflections on difficulties in learning to write argumentative essays in English .39 5.2 Limitations of the study 40 5.3 Pedagogical implications .40 5.3.1 Implications for teaching practice 40 5.3.2 Implications for student learning 41 5.4 Suggestions for further study 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE 50 APPENDIX B: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL 55 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 57 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Third year English majors‟ perceptions of learning to write argumentative essays 23 Table 4.2 Third year English majors‟ reflections on teachers‟ ways of teaching argumentative essays in English 26 Table 4.3 Third year English majors‟ reflections on ways of learning to write argumentative essays in English 28 Table 4.4 Third year English majors‟ reflections on teachers‟ feedback on their argumentative essays 30 Table 4.5 Difficulties from teachers‟ teaching methods .33 Table 4.6 Difficulties due to language knowledge .35 vii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1 Third year English majors‟perceptions on learning to write argumentative essays 24 Chart 4.2 Third year Enflish majors‟ reflections on teachers‟ ways of teaching argumentative essays in English 26 Chart 4.3 Third year English majors‟ reflections on ways of learning to write argumentative essays in English 28 Chart 4.4 Third year English majors‟ reflections on teachers‟ feedback on their argumentative essays .31 Chart 4.5 Difficulties from teachers‟ 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argumentative essays Direction: For each of the following statements, please indicate your agreement by putting a tick () in the appropriate column according to the following scales: Students’ reflections on the importance of learning to write argumentative essays According to you, writing argumentative essays No Strongly Items agree helps to develop the critical thinking require skills us to because they analyze and evaluate develops creativity because we have to supply everything such as information, ideas to persuade readers, and the relationship between words and words offers learners to develop ideas and write about their beliefs contributes to reading comprehension that is academic creates learners‟ patience throughout learning 50 Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Part 2: How third year English majors learn to write argumentative essays in English Direction: For each of the following statements, please indicate your agreement by putting a tick () in the appropriate column according to the following scales No 10 11 12 13 Items Strongly agree The teacher shows the standard model of argumentative essays, then they teach and analysis the organization, vocabulary, and grammar points The teacher focuses on evaluating my vocabulary, grammar structures instead of communicativeness in my argumentative essays The teacher explains to us how to write an argumentative essay and then we practice writing The teacher often sees the final writing product instead of the process of writing to evaluate my argumentative essays The teacher leaves time for students to brainstorm ideas The teacher asks students to develop ideas The teacher encourages students to correct mistakes by themselves and write many drafts before going to the final product in argumentative essays The teacher encourages peercorrection 51 Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree 1) Students’ ways of learning to write argumentative essays in English in their writing classes No Items 14 I figure out the purpose of an argumentative essay before I write I write draft essays before the final one I examine the argumentative essay samples in course book 15 16 17 18 Strongly Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree agree disagree After writing an argumentative essay, I ask my teacher and classmates for help to revise it I employ lexical knowledge related to argumentative writing to persuade readers 2) Students’ reflections on teachers’ feedback on their argumentative essays No Items 19 The teacher should give me feedback by marks only The teacher should give me feedback by comments only The teacher should give me both marks and comments 20 21 22 Strongly Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree agree disagree The teacher focuses on the correct structures and grammatical points as well as the ideas and the content of the students‟ essays But the ideas and the content of the students‟ essays are more important 52 Part 3: Third year English majors’ difficulties in learning to write argumentative essays in English Direction: For each of the following statements, please indicate your agreement by putting a tick () in the appropriate column according to the following scales  Teaching argumentative essays No Items 23 Teacher‟s teaching method Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree makes me feel bored 24 The activities for argumentative writing are boring 25 I don‟t have enough time to discuss and share ideas with my classmates about argumentative writing 26 I have difficulties learning argumentative writing because of a crowded class 27 The students have few chances to practice argumentative writing in class  Linguistic knowledge No Items 28 I am not confident in my English competence in argumentative writing 29 I have difficulties in preparing and choosing language to express ideas 30 I often mistake grammatical points in my argumentative writings Strongly Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree agree disagree 53 31 Although I have ideas for topic, I cannot express them due to the lack of vocabulary and grammar 32 It is difficult for me to link sentences in a coherent whole and express my thoughts in convincing ways in argumentative essays 54 APPENDIX B: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL This journal is to collect students‟ reflections on the process of writing argumentative essays The following questions help you to focus on what you will write I appreciate your participation How did you learn to write argumentative essays in English in class today? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… How did the teacher guide you? Please describe clearly ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… What you think about the approach of learning to writing argumentative essays in English in your class? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… 55 What difficulties did you face in writing argumentative essays in English? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… What is your perception of writing argumentative essays? ………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… 56 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 1) How did you learn to write argumentative essays in English in your class today? 2) How did the teacher guide you? Please describe clearly? 3) What you think about the approach of learning to writing argumentative essays in English in your class? 4) What difficulties did you face in writing argumentative essays in English? 5) What is your perception of writing argumentative essays? 57 58