An investigation into difficulties in english writing by the third year english major students at ben tre college

CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study English has been a compulsory subject at many schools in Vietnam Most English textbooks are improved day by day to serve the communicating aims of learners in terms of language skills, language elements, and other aspects Writing and speaking are productive skills, so students have to use their background knowledge and their skills of writing and speaking to express what they want to say, which is very difficult for English-major students at colleges Whether they can find a good job or not, and whether their job is good or bad after graduating from colleges and universities Those depend on their ability of using English in real life According to many teachers at colleges, their students find it difficult to use cohesion and discourse in writing paragraphs, letters and essays, because of many reasons These are important for them in the process of writing, so the role of teachers in this part is also important They have to help their students develop writing skill by overcoming some obstacles and difficulties when their students learn writing Writing skills help the learner gain independence, comprehensibility, fluency and creativity in writing If learners applied these skills well, not only they would be able to write what they want to express, but also other speakers of that language can read and understand it Of course, each person knows that writing is very difficult for students to apply in reality But that is only feeling, not reality So the real investigation into the third-year English-major students at Ben Tre college is necessary to urge the researcher to carry out this study, entitled “An investigation into Difficulties in English writing by the third-year Englishmajor students at Ben Tre college.” The study will seek the problems related to ability of expressing and using Cohesion and discourse that the third-year English -major students encounter in the process of learning writing Therefore, the study will put forward some solutions for these issues Theoretically, the study hopes to contribute to the improvement of writing skill performed by students 1.2 Research questions This paper aims to answer the following questions: What are the students‟ difficulties in their writing in terms of perceptions? What are the students‟ difficulties in their writing in terms of implementations? 1.3 Scope of the study Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, the researcher is not able to cover all parts of writing skill for all grades in his college This study is only restricted to difficulties in using linguistic knowledge such as cohesion and discourse in learning writing of the third-year English-major students at college This research is applied in teaching students at Ben Tre college 1.4 Organization of the study Apart from the Abstract, the Table of contents, the References and the Appendices, This research paper consists of five chapters as follows: In chapter 1, “Introduction”, firstly, rationale of the research in which the background of and the reasons for the research are presented In addition to the purposes of the research, research questions and organization of the study are also mentioned Chapter 2, “the Literature review”, addresses a brief summary of the nature of writing in foreign language such as the definitions of writing, the conception of difficulties in writing, the importance of writing for in language class, and the criteria of a good writing, the necessary elements in writing, and the stages in teaching writing Next, as far as “Methodology” – the third chapter is concerned, the issues such as participants, the population that the study focuses on, procedures of the research and instruments for data collection as well as explanations for the author‟s employment of those instruments in the research are also given Chapter 4, “the Findings and discussion”, presents the reality of writing of students at Ben Tre college, as well as the discussion of research questions and the solutions to the problems that juniors in the process of writing Finally, “Conclusion and Implications” is the title of the last chapter – chapter As its name suggested, first an overall conclusion is presented After that, some pedagogical implications and suggestions for further studies are also provided in this chapter CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is to present the background theory underlying the issues, including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts, followed by a review of related studies in the same field 2.1 Nature of EFL writing 2.1.1 Definitions of writing According to the website [17], the free encyclopedia, “writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols-known as a writing system” Writing skills are specific abilities which help writers put their thoughts into words in a meaningful form and to mentally interact with the message It is one of the productive skills which seemed to be very difficult for students to learn 2.1.2 Conception of difficulties in writing Difficulties mean a problem; a thing or situation that causes problems: for example, “ the difficulties of English syntax”, (Oxford Learner‟s Dictionary, 2006) On the basis of this definition, the word difficulty itself implies problems in a certain subject In accordance with the information from the website [18]: “One of the reasons why writing becomes the most difficult skill is that writing requires good grammar” And the mistakes made by students and the role of the teacher in correcting students‟ mistakes are also considered as one of the difficulties in writing skill: “The teacher does not have enough time to correct students’ mistakes (…) Without correction, the mistakes may be repeated many times and become bad habits which are hard to adjust.” 2.1.3 Importance of writing for students in language class It seems that the art of writing is becoming lost which is why we need to emphasize the importance of writing in class so that students learn to love writing and understand the value of clear written communication However, writing has remained for most of its history a minority occupation since it really started long time ago This is in part because though almost all human beings grow up speaking their first language ( and sometimes their second or third) as a matter of course, writing has to be taught We know that for a child spoken language is naturally acquired as a result of being exposed to it, whereas the ability of writing has to be consciously learned The more our society develops, the more we need writing to communicate with the world outside It is not difficult to answer whether writing is a good thing or not We often take it as a fundamental right in our daily life In the context of education, it is also worth remembering that in most exams, when examining students‟ language knowledge and ability of using languages in reality, examiners often rely on the students‟ writing proficiency in order to measure their knowledge Being able to write is a vital skill for “speakers” of a foreign language as much as for everyone to use their own first language So , training students to write is what language teachers have to Because writing is used for a wide variety of purposes, it plays an important role in learning language to serve students‟ need of communication in real life 2.1.4 Criteria of good writing There is nothing mysterious about good writing As with any skills, writing requires practice and the mastery of certain basic elements To write well, students must master basic elements and demonstrate their abilities to use them in all papers they write Just as a cake would not taste good if several key ingredients were omitted from the batter, student writing would not be considered good if several key components were omitted from the paper With experience in teaching and judging student writing, instructor can base on the following criteria or standards: 2.1.4.1 Organization Organization is logical and effective Organization refers to the order of ideas and the way the writer moves from one idea to the next 2.1.4.2 Coherence The sentences within each paragraph should interlock so that the first idea leads to the second, the second to the third, and so on Coherence was mentioned in the following extracts: Coherence is traditionally described as the relationships that link the ideas in a text to create meaning for the readers Although coherence is crucial to effective writing, it is often considered an abstract, elusive, and controversial concept that is difficult to teach and difficult to learn (Connor 1990; Connor and Johns 1990) Research has found that in their writing, ESL/EFL students focus almost exclusively on the word and sentence levels rather than the level of the whole discourse, that is, textual coherence (Bamberg 1984; Ferris and Hedgecock 1998) The majority of ESL/EFL students feel that “their only sense of security comes from what they have learned about grammar” (Leki 1996:34) and that grammar is the only tool they can use in writing English essays (Silva 1992) It is important that students be taught alternative strategies to improve their writing A pedagogical focus on coherence can shift students‟ attention from sentence-level grammar to discourse features such as textual structuring and propositional unity, which are crucial to creating meaning in texts Indeed, helping students improve the coherence of their writing ought to be a significant aspect of L2 writing instruction ( Icy Lee 2002: p32) To further achieve coherence in writing, students should: - Repeat important words and phrases - Maintain a consistent attitude or stance towards their subjects throughout their papers They should not change positions within the paper - Integrate or join quotes, summaries and other information drawn from sources that the writing owns If students simply place sources one after another, the paper will seem choppy and unconnected 2.1.4.3 Conciseness Conciseness refers to the expression of ideas in as few words as possible It is writing that is free of needless repetition and useless words Students should eliminate words, phrases, and clauses that not further the purpose they established in the paper - Students should make every word count - Students should remove unnecessary expletives ( An expletive is the word “it” or “there” followed by a form of the verb “to be”) - Students should combine sentences to eliminate unnecessary words - Students should repeat words or phrases carefully for conciseness and also for clarity 2.1.4.4 Clarity Students sometimes try to pack too much information into one sentence When they this, they usually create a confusing or unclear sentence Lack of clarity can also result from faulty grammar or punctuation Errors in grammar and punctuation are discussed in another section of this part Conciseness and clarity go hand-in-hand Concise writing is clear writing 2.1.4.5 Grammar You may believe that students make many different types of grammatical mistakes in writing submitted to you But if you inspect their papers carefully, you will find that they not make a large number of different errors so much as they repeat the same type of error many times 2.1.4.6 Usage The English language is really composed of two languages: formal or Edited American English and informal or nonstandard English Formal English is the type used for academic writing and speaking It is also the type of English required in the world of work It has strict rules for grammar, spelling, punctuation, mechanics, and usage This type of English is marked by correct and appropriate vocabulary, and does not allow the use of slang, colloquialisms (informal or casual speech or writing), and contractions Informal English refers to any version of our language that deviates from the rules for formal English This is the type of language used in everyday speech It is characterized by a more informal and ordinary vocabulary in which slang, colloquialism, and contractions are often used Most students spend much of their time engaged in conversations in which informal English is the predominant language used To make matters worse, some students reduce this level of language to an even lower level which is characterized by grammatical mistakes and the predominant use of slang Because of this, many students find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to “switch channels” and begin to use formal English in their written assignments, their oral presentations, and their conversations and discussions in class 2.1.4.7 Discourse In recent years discussions of grammar have moved from sentence-based perspectives to more of a discourse based perspective Brian Paltridge‟s study (as cited in Hughes and McCarthy, 1998), for example, has argued that traditional explanations of grammar not adequately capture grammatical selection in longer, real world texts As they have shown, a number of linguistic items show quite different patterns of use when looked at from a discourse perspective Linguists such as Halliday and Hasan have also done work in the area of discourse grammar, although from rather a different perspective Their interest has been in patterns of grammar and vocabulary that combine to tie meanings in the text together as well as connect the text to the social context in which it occurs; that is, items that combine together to make the text cohesive and give it unity of texture 2.1.4.7.1 Grammar from a discourse perspective A number of linguistic items such as it, this and that have been shown to have quite different patterns of use when looked at from a discourse, rather than a sentence perspective Brian Paltridge‟s study (as cited in McCarthy 1994) found that it often signals reference to a continuing or ongoing topic in a text, rather than just something inside or outside the text, as more traditional explanations might suggest This often indicates the raising of a new topic or a new focus in the current topic, and that has a distancing or marginalizing function in a text, rather than just demonstrative functions Brian‟s study (as cited in McCarthy 1998) has also found similar differences in relation to the use of tenses such as the past perfect, the use of be to with future meaning, and other language items Wh-cleft constructions (as in „what you need is ) Celce-Murcia has, for some time, argued for contextual analyses that look at grammatical form in relation to where, why and how frequently it is used in written and spoken discourse rather than in isolated sentences She makes a similar argument to McCarthy about this and that showing how, in extended texts, this and that function in ways other than just pointing to something (Brian Paltridge as cited in Celce-Murcia 1997) She also shows how tense and aspect choices differ in extended discourse (Brian Paltridge as cited in Celce-Murcia and Olshtain 2000) discuss how be going to and will, when looked at from a discourse perspective, show different functions other than just the expression of future time They found „be going to‟ is typically used when English speakers narrate future scenarios, which they then follow with a contracted form of „will‟, for example They also found the present simple is often used alongside „will‟ to add descriptive details to the future event being recounted 2.1.4.7.2 The texture of a text The following extracts are about the texture of a text: Hasan (1989a, 1989b) discusses two crucial attributes of texts and which are important for the analysis of discourse These are unity of structure and unity of texture Unity of structure refers to patterns which combine together to create information structure, focus and flow in a text, including the schematic structure of the text Unity of texture refers to the way in which resources such as patterns of cohesion create both cohesive and coherent texts Texture results where there are language items that tie meanings together in the text as well as tie meanings in the text to the social context in which the text occurs Texture, then, is a result of the interaction of these kinds of features Hasan (1989b: 71) describes texture as being „a matter of meaning relations‟ A crucial notion in this discussion is that of a tie which connects the meanings of words to each other as well as to the world outside the text The basis for cohesion, and in turn texture, thus, is semantic It is both explicit and implicit and is based in the ways in which the meanings of items are tied in a semantic relationship to each other The interpretation of these items is found by reference to some other item, or course, within or outside the text ( Brian Paltridge, 2007, Discourse analysis, p130) 2.1.4.7.3 Cohesion and discourse An area of language in which grammar and discourse are highly integrated is in patterns of cohesion in texts The main patterns of cohesion are reference, lexical cohesion, conjunction, substitution and ellipsis These are discussed in the sections which follow 10 When asked about what teachers ask students to before writing, two third of them revealed that they ask their students to work in groups to collect ideas, That is the reason why all the interviewees said, “Before writing, I ask them to work in pairs or in groups to collect ideas, but some of them not take part in these activities They like working individually.” (T) “I ask them to work in groups, to consider the topic and find ideas suiting the given topic But a few write ideas unsuitable with the topic And I also ask them to read many materials relevant to the topic for ideas.” (T) The teacher doesn‟t ask their students to work in groups because they not have a lot of time That is the reason why all the interviewees said, “I ask them to find ideas and to draft their writing in English, but many in Vietnamese Because when they translate Vietnamese into English, they make grammar mistakes I also ask them to practise writing more at home to improve the writing skill I don‟t ask them to work in groups because it takes much time to work Moreover, the time in class doesn‟t allow us to group activities.” (T) 4.1.2.2 Results from the interviews with students First of all, when asked about what students think of their writing skill, 50 % of them revealed that they are not satisfied with their writing because they not have ideas and not know how to express ideas with correct English grammar “I am not satisfied with my writing I often get low marks The writing topic is difficult, so I not have many ideas for expression When I have ideas, I know how to express them with correct English grammar.” (S) (Students S1, S2, S5, S7 share the same idea) In addition, only 25 % of them admitted that the writing skill is not very difficult “I find it isn‟t very difficult, but my writing isn‟t very good because I not use the lexical cohesion.” (S) (Students S4, S3 share the same idea) 62.5 % of students revealed that writing discourse is too difficult for them 35 “My writing is usually poor I not know how to improve my writing skill more quickly Writing discourse is too difficult for me.” (S) (Students S2, S3, S5, S6, S7 share the same idea) And 85 % of them said: “I find it difficult to write good paragraphs with English grammar.” (S) (Students S1, S3, S5, S6, S7, S8 share the same idea) Next, when asked about What difficulties they have in writing, 100 % of students revealed that vocabulary, grammar, ideas and arranging ideas are difficulties they meet “There are four difficulties making us unsatisfied with my writing: vocabulary, grammar, ideas and arranging ideas.” (S) (Students S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8 share the same idea) 62.5 % of them not know writing discourse “I only use vocabulary, grammar that I was taught at high school I not know discourse at all.” (S) (Students S1, S3, S4, S7, S8 share the same idea) 25 % of them affirmed that they not find correct words in context for expression “Finding correct words in context for expression is the most difficult for me.”(S) (Students S3, S7 share the same idea) 37.5 % of them revealed that other difficulties of writing are the order of ideas and sentences “I think the texture of essay is important, and the order of ideas and sentences is also some of difficulties of writing.” (S) (Students S7, S4, S6 share the same idea) 50 % of them revealed that discourse is the most difficult in writing “I think there are may difficulties in writing Besides vocabulary, grammar, ideas, order of sentences , I think writing discourse is the most difficult.” (S) (Students S1, S3, S7, S8 share the same idea) Finally, when asked about what is their suggestion of learning writing, 62.5 % of students revealed that they need helping with vocabulary, grammar and ideas before writing 36 “I need helping with vocabulary, grammar and ideas before writing.” (S) (Students S1, S2, S3, S4, S8 share the same idea) 50 % of them suggested that the teacher should let us work in pairs and in groups “I like working in groups to collect more ideas for expression The teacher should let us work in pairs and in groups.” (S) (Students S2, S5, S7, S8 share the same idea) 50 % of them need to learn writing discourse, because their discourse is poor “I need teaching writing discourse I am very poor about discourse.” (S) (Students S4, S5, S7, S8 share the same idea) 37.5 % of them revealed that they want more homework to practise writing “The teacher should give students more homework I need to practise writing at home.” (S) (Students S5, S6, S8 share the same idea) 25 % of them suggested that they need to write more at school “The teacher should give students more writing exercises at school.” (S) (Students S6, S7 share the same idea) Half of them suggested that the teacher should provide them with materials and reference writings relevant to the topic “The teacher should provide students with materials and reference writings relevant to the topic.” (S) (Students S2, S4, S7, S8 share the same idea) 4.2 DISCUSSION From the above-mentioned findings in this chapter, the research questions will be clarified in the Discussion as follows 4.2.1 Common perspectives Students‟ common perspectives of learning writing skill at Ben Tre college should be discussed in detail 37 Table 4.3 (Ss‟ interest in writing skill) is about students‟ interest in learning writing skill 75 % of them like learning this skill This is a good thing It helps a teacher teach this skill easily Besides, 13.2 % of them not like learning it The teacher must manage to make her students like learning writing skill better She/He should something to enhance her students‟ motivation As the researcher said at 2.1.3 in chapter that “We need to emphasize the importance of writing in class so that students learn to love writing and understand the value of clear written communication.” Table 4.4 (the difficulty of writing skill) shows that a major number of students (69.7 % ) affirmed that the writing skill is difficult So they are usually afraid of learning writing skill at school The teacher should help her students love learning this skill with any various approaches As the researcher said at 2.1.1 in chapter that writing skill is one of the productive skills which seemed to be very difficult for students to learn Table 4.6 (the ability of writing) shows that 71.1% of students think their writing skill is not good This proved that most of students at Ben Tre college are not good at the writing skill The teachers at Ben Tre college pay attention to this issue The researcher found out certain basic elements of good writing such as organization, coherence, conciseness, clarity, grammar, usage, etc …and he said that “To write well, students must master basic elements and demonstrate their abilities to use them in all papers they write.” According to Table 4.6 ( the frequency of writing at home) over 60% of students not usually practise writing at home Only 26.3 % usually practise writing at home This is a noticeable issue for the teachers who are teaching the writing skill at Ben Tre college They should give many writing exercises to their students The researcher also said at 2.1.4 in chapter that “As with any skills, writing requires practice and the mastery of certain basic elements.” 4.2.2 Self-evaluation of writing skills Figure 4.1 ( the good writing because of vocabulary) proved that 86.9 % (22.4 % & 64.5 %) of investigated students admitted that their writing skill is not good because they not have enough vocabulary Therefore, when the teacher gives students a 38 writing topic, she should provide some new words concerning the topic Only 10.5 % (6.6 % & 3.9 %) not encounter the difficulty in vocabulary The researcher said at 2.1.2 in chapter that “the word difficulty itself implies problems in a certain subject.” Many students find it extremely difficult to use formal and informal English in a correct context (see 2.1.4.6 in chapter 2) As can be shown in Figure 4.2 ( the good writing because of grammar), 82.9 % ( 22.4% & 60.5 %) affirmed that their writing skill is not good because they not master the English grammar In chapter at 2.1.2, the researcher also mentioned the grammar element “one of the reasons why writing becomes the most difficult skill is that writing requires good grammar” Therefore, when the teacher instructs the writing skill, she should pay attention to her students‟ English grammar From Figure 4.3 (the good writing because of good ideas) 65.8 % (15.8% & 50 %) of students admitted that their writing skill is not good because they not have enough good ideas for expression Ideas are one of necessary elements in writing mentioned at 2.2.3 in chapter Therefore, The teacher should supply some ideas or ask them to brainstorm to find good ideas in pair or group activities As Figure 4.2, Figure 4.4 ( the difficulty of writing sentences with correct grammar) showed that 79.0 % (63.2 % &15.8 %) of students agreed that they find it difficult to write sentences with correct grammar So students at Ben Tre college are bad at English grammar Most of students (82.9 % (61.8% & 21.1 %)) agreed that they meet with difficulty in writing good paragraphs in English Figure 4.5 ( the difficulty in writing good paragraphs in English) proved that they maybe have difficulties above in vocabulary, grammar and ideas From Figure 4.6 (Cohesion in writing) 67.1 % ( 22.4 % & 44.7 %) of students affirmed that their writing is not good because it is not cohesive Coherence was mentioned at 2.1.4.2 in chapter This concerns the discourse We can see the following discussion 39 4.2.3 Current knowledge and practice of discourse Table 4.7 (the usage of Reference) showed that 71.7% (59.2 % & 11.8 %) of students admitted that they usually use the reference to make my writing cohesive 21 % of them not use the reference in writing So the writings of students who not use the reference in writing are not cohesive Reference is mentioned at 2.1.4.7.4 in chapter From Table 4.8 ( the usage of the lexical cohesion), we see that 46% (3.9 % & 42.1 %) of students ( the number is not small) affirmed that they not usually use the lexical cohesion to express their ideas in writing As the researcher said in chapter at 2.1.4.7.5 that “Lexical cohesion refers to relationships in meaning between lexical items in a text” Therefore, The teacher should provide them the lexical cohesion, which helps them write paragraphs and essays better As can be shown from Table 4.9 ( the usage of conjunction), most of students (76.3 %) agreed that they usually use the conjunction to express their ideas in writing The usage of conjunction is very good for writing paragraphs and essays cohesively Conjunction joins phrases, clauses or sections of a text in such a way that they express the „logical-semantic‟ relationship between them (2.1.4.7.7 in chapter 2) The substitution is also the important part of the discourse (2.1.4.7.8.1) However, 48.7 % of students (in Table 4.10: The usage of substitution) not usually use it to express their ideas in writing A substitute form is used to make a text concise, so students should be taught substitution And the ellipsis also makes the writing good, but students not usually use it in writing (56.6 % from Table 4.11) An ellipsis form is also used to make a text concise (2.1.4.7.8.2) In brief, a large number of students at Ben Tre college not know the discourse in writing 4.2.4 Ways of learning Figure 4.7 (the study of writing at school) showed that 55.2 % of students ( 52.6 % & 2.6 %) agreed that at school the teacher teaches them how to write English so often But they not usually practise writing at home (Table 4.6), so learning writing at school is not enough for them The teacher should give them more writing 40 homework It is very important to practise writing frequently Figure 4.8 ( working individually to collect ideas before writing) showed that 75 % of students (63.2 % & 11.8 % ) admitted that they work individually to collect their ideas for their writing, before writing That they said they not have good ideas for expression is true because they work individually to collect ideas instead of working in pairs or in groups Table 4.12 (the draft in English before beginning to writing) showed that 69.7 % ( 59.2 % & 10.5 % ) of students agreed that before beginning to write, they draft their writing in English That is very good, but there are also 26.3 % of them affirming that before beginning to write, they draft their writing in Vietnamese, and then they translate their writing into English The teacher should ask them to draft their writing in English instead of Vietnamese Figure 4.9 ( the arrangement of ideas while writing) showed that the number of students (44.7 % ) knowing how to arrange the ideas logically and in order is more than that of students (31.5 %) who not know how to so Students must know what ideas are more important and what ideas are less important As can be shown in Table 4.13 (the expression of ideas in English with correct English grammar) 61.9 % of students disagreed that they know how to express ideas in English with correct English grammar A very small number of students (17.1 %) agreed that they know to this Figure 4.4 also proved this issue After finishing their writing, most of students (47.4 % from Figure 10: the discussion with the teacher after finishing the writing) not discuss their work with their teacher to clarify the unclear problems about their ideas in their writing They will still repeat easily the mistakes which they made before From the website [18]: “ Without correction, the mistakes may be repeated many times and become bad habits which are hard to adjust.” The data collected from the interviews with students and with teachers are the same as those from the questionnaire for students They also confirmed that the difficulties in writing are vocabulary, grammar, ideas, cohesion and arrangement of ideas some of them said that the writing topics are difficult and strange for them, so they not have many ideas for their writing Therefore, they need to work in groups to collect more ideas When they have ideas, they not have enough words 41 for the expression Some of them said they don‟t know how to write sentences with the correct grammar and in context is correct Others said that they don‟t know to arrange ideas and sentences in their writing, so their writing isn‟t coherent And most of students admitted that their writing skill is poor, but they not have much time to practise writing at home They suggested that before writing, the teacher should spend more time helping them understand the topic better and collect more ideas, giving them some words that they not know and reviewing some points of grammar They also said that hours learning how to write in school is too little ( only two periods a week) Therefore, they suggested that they want to be taught how to write in school more 42 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS Overview This chapter firstly deals with making a summary of key findings that the research paper has recorded Next, implications based on the finding of the research are also suggested by the researcher Finally, contributions to study, notable limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are all mentioned in this chapter 5.1 Research questions What are the students‟ difficulties in their writing skill in terms of perceptions? What are the students‟ difficulties in their writing skill in terms of implementations? 5.2 Conclusion In order to conduct the study, the researcher used the questionnaires, books , articles, etc to collect the data Nevertheless, the scope is still limited because the researcher only found difficulties in writing related to ideas, current grammar knowledge and discourse in which students often use most in writing Moreover, seventy-five students and three teachers at Ben Tre college involved in the study are a small figure in relation to the whole population of nearly three hundred of the staff and students The quantitative method and qualitative method were used to analyze the survey results Despite a little reservation and shortcoming, both teachers and students were well aware of students‟ difficulties in expressing ideas, using correct grammar and using discourse in writing Firstly, the majority of students reported that how to write sentences with correct English grammar was too difficult for them to do, and they also reported that how to express ideas in English with correct English grammar is not easy Secondly, the reference, the lexical cohesion, the conjunction, the substitution and the ellipsis they found difficult to use in English A few students 43 ensured that they could use the discourse to express their ideas cohesively in writing In terms of the difficulties that the students encountered in writing, the researcher found out some of them Firstly, in term of perception, their current knowledge is not good as they not have a lot of vocabulary They not master English grammar They not have plenty of good ideas And they not know the discourse in writing, so their writing is not very cohesive Secondly, in term of implementation, their ways of learning also are not good although at school the teacher teaches them to write so often They not work in pairs or in groups to collect ideas They only work individually to collect ideas They not usually practise writing at home In addition, after finishing the writing, they not discuss their work with the teacher to clarify the unclear problems Finally, students may not think that English in general, writing skill in particular is important for them in communicating Or maybe because of having lost basic English knowledge, they thought that they could not be better despite trying their best to learn 5.3 Implications Based on the findings, the researcher would like to offer some implications for teachers and students at Ben Tre college in teaching and learning 5.3.1 Implications for the students Writing is one of the most necessary skills in English Students can develop ability of communication in English by developing writing skill One thing students should remember is that they should develop writing skill gradually by solving each difficulty from time to time From the findings of the thesis, it is hoped that students would grasp some essential information to enhance this skill Firstly, to avoid making some mistakes in ideas and some grammar points as well as the discourse they often encounter in writing, students should remember some tips below: 44 - Main ideas should be expressed in independent clauses, less important ideas in subordinate clauses - Discourse should be used in writing Students should read some model writings in books, magazines, newspaper, internet to learn the author‟s use of words, developing ideas, some structures as well as uses of the discourse they often make mistakes in writing - When the editor finds an error, they should not only mark it but find a relevant reference in their text that explains why this is an error and how to fix it Secondly, regular practice hones writing skill This suggestion requires a great effort by students themselves In other words, besides the tasks given by the teachers, students should practise on their own, for example, by doing some more writing extra-exercises Thirdly, students should be given pair work or group work exercises so that they can peer-correct Correcting each other‟s writing tasks required students to have a lot of knowledge about the topic of the writing and about uses of discourse the author is using Analyzing and correcting each other‟s mistakes has reciprocal benefits and will help them remember these mistakes and avoid making them later 5.3.2 Implications for the teachers To determine the most effectively for teachers of English to help their students write in English well is a still of concern at this time It is my hope that this study offers useful suggestions on teaching writing through explanation, demonstration of methods and suggestions for teaching writing In addition, it would be helpful if teachers gave their students more opportunities to practise in class in pairs or in groups in pre-writing and post-writing under their supervision and gave more practice exercises for the discourse they usually use in writing - Teachers decide methods which are suitable for each kind of students in class In other words, lesson plan must be feasible and not repeated in each class to avoid boredom 45 - Teachers should give their students more writing assignments at home so that they can usually practise writing at home - Teachers ought to be conscious of the importance of discourse Teachers should ask their students to use discourse in writing - In the process of teaching, teachers should notice a very important issue: that is the psychological factors of students Many students adopt a passive attitude to the classroom activity for fear of making mistakes, so they did not dare write down what they wanted in English Teachers should encourage them to participate actively, encourage them to express themselves boldly and finally make selfconfident - The students‟ needs should be taken into consideration Teachers should have a better understanding of the students Since the students play the main role in learning, teachers should care much about their needs, motivation, personal factors, their role in learning Only when teachers think of students as the most important ingredients in the teaching-learning process and adapt the teaching approaches to students and to their circumstances, teachers can manage teaching successfully - Teachers should utilize various activities, supplementary materials from the Internet to make the textbooks more communicative as Judith (1999, 34-35) concludes “However good the textbooks, it will be never perfect for every teacher‟s teaching situation In some respects, it will always need adapting, modifying or supplementing The only limitation for this is the teacher‟s time and imagination With a little of both, most objectives can be fulfilled” - Teachers should have the students exchange papers and evaluate each other‟s work by using the colored rubric sheets It is always hard to edit one‟s own work, so exchanging papers gives each writer a fresh pair of eyes and it also allows them the new perspective to apply their editorial skills - Based on the feedback they receive, teachers should have the writers correct their own papers When they turn the assignment into their teachers, they should staple or 46 clip together the revised paper and the editing sheet they received with a classmate‟s name on it - Teachers should use the combined feedback to plan future lesson If you see certain errors cropping up repeatedly ( for either the writer or editors) assign supplemental worksheets for the individual teams 5.4 Limitation Due to the limitations of time, energy, knowledge and other factors, the study has to bear some shortcomings Firstly, the limitation of the study comes from the limited population of the subject Seventy-five students in two classes of 12th course A1, A2 and three teachers at Ben Tre college involved in the study is a small figure in relation to the whole population of three hundred of the staff and students Secondly, the data of the study are mainly analyzed based on the quantitative method, so the results are unsatisfactory Thirdly, in this study, the research only gave the difficulties in expressing ideas and using discourse such as reference, lexical cohesion, conjunction, substitution, ellipsis In addition, the researcher only gave solutions for these two main problems Finally, it is impossible for the researcher to present all he wanted to express in the questionnaire, so the survey results might be less reliable 5.5 Further study The study can be done to find the causes of other difficulties that students often make in writing and solutions for teachers and students to help the third-year English-major students at Ben Tre college overcome these problems if the researcher has further study on this topic If possible, the study will have a further look at the matters such as an investigation into the difficulties in reading, in speaking, in listening by the third-year English-major students as well as designing activities to develop writing skill for the third-year English-major students at Ben Tre college 47 REFERENCES Brian Paltridge (2007) Discourse analysis University of sydney, Australia Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K (2000) Research Methods in Education London: Routledgrfalmer Connor, U.M (1994) Second-language processing: Writing In D Wilkins (Ed.), Encyclopedia of linguistics London: Pergamon Press Cooper, A (2005), „Make the first move‟, The Sun Haerald, February 2005, p S38 Fraenkel, J &Wallen, N E (2000) How to design and evaluate research in education (4th ed.) Boston: McGraw-Hill Green, P.S., and Hecht, K (1985) Native and nonnative evaluation of learner’s errors in written discourse System, 13, (2), 77-97 Harmer, J (2004) How to Teach Writing Longman: Pearson Education limited Icy Lee (2002), p32 Helping students develop coherence in writing Hong Kong Judith, M.L (1999) Making the Textbook More communicative The internet TESL Journal, Vol 5, No 1, January 1999 10 Kroll, B (1990) Introduction In B Kroll (Ed.), Second language writing: Research and insights for the classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Mackey, A., & Gass, S.M (2005) Second Language Research: Methoodology and Design London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 12 Mike Sharples (1999) How We Write: Writing as Creative Design Routledge 13 Selinger, H.W., & Shohamy, E (1989) Second Language Research Methods Oxford: Oxford University Press 14 Shaughnessy, M.P (1977) Errors and expectations: A guide for the teacher of basic writing New York: Oxford university Press 15 Thornbury, S (1999) How to Teach Grammar Longman, page 82-85 16 Zamel, V (1985) Responding to student writing TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-102 48 Websites: 17 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing 18 http://language123.blogspot.com/2008/04/writing-is-most-difficult-skills.html 19 http://www.education.com Dictionary 20 Oxford Learner‟s Dictionary (2006) Longman 49