Sử dụng phương pháp dựa vào thể loại văn bản trong việc day kỹ năng viết cho học sinh không chuyên môn tiếng anh khối 11 tại trung học phổ thông chuyên quảng bình

DINH THI NGOC THUY MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DINH THI NGOC THUY  MA THESIS IN EDUCATION USING A GENRE-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING WRITING TO GRADE-11 NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT QUANG BINH HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED MA THESIS IN EDUCATION  HUE, 2011 HUE, 2011 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DINH THI NGOC THUY USING A GENRE-BASED APPROACH TO TEACHING WRITING TO GRADE-11 NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT QUANG BINH HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.10 MA THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr TRUONG VIEN HUE, 2011 BÄÜ GIẠO DỦC V ÂO TẢO ÂẢI HC HU AI HOĩC NGOAI NGặẻ INH THậ NGOĩC THUẽY Sặ DỦNG PHỈÅNG PHẠP DỈÛA VO THÃØ LOẢI VÀN BN TRONG VIÃÛC DẢY K NÀNG VIÃÚT CHO HC SINH KHÄNG CHUN MÄN TIÃÚNG ANH KHÄÚI 11 TẢI TRỈÅÐNG TRUNG HC PHÄÚ THÄNG CHUN QUNG BỈNH CHUN NGNH: L LÛN V PHỈÅNG PHAẽP DAY HOĩC MN TING ANH MAẻ S: 60.14.10 NGặéI HỈÅÏNG DÁÜN KHOA HC PGS.TS TRỈÅNG VIÃN HUE, 2011 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis entitled Using a genre-based approach to tezaching writing to grade 11 non-English major students in Quang Binh High School for the Gifted is my original work The thesis contains no material which has been submitted for any degree in any other institution The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true with the permission from the participants and have not been published elsewhere Author Đinh Thị Ngọc Thúy My thesis owes its accomplishment to a number of people Without their support and involvement, this thesis would not have been completed I am deeply indebted to Associate Professor, Dr Truong Vien, my supervisor, for his enthusiastic guidance, continuous support and critical comment He was not only my supervisor but also my lecturer through whom I was introduced to Social Package for Statistic Sciences to achieve precise quantitative results I would like to express my gratitude to Associate Professor, Dr Tran Van Phuoc for his valuable suggestions in helping me with the choice of the title of this thesis I would like to advance my special thanks to Dr Truong Bach Le for his patience and assistance in the process of editing the thesis and providing me with materials related to my thesis I am greatly thankful to Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong for her suggestions, encouragements and being always there when I needed I am grateful to my friends, Arnoul Steeman and Moana Taofifenua for their generous contributions to proofreading and editing the thesis I would like to particularly thank the Board of Director and the teachers of English group at Quang Binh High School for the Gifted for helping me during the time I attended the MA course and throughout the process of the study I would like to thank 35 students of Math class of grade 11 who seriously did the writing tests and participated in the interviews A grateful expression of appreciation was due to my husband, Ngoan and my son, Dang for their understanding, encouragement and living with the mess around while I was writing my thesis Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my parents and siblings for their patience and unlimited support TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Pages ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF CHARTS LIST OF FIGURES ABSTRACT .7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview 1.2 Background to the research 1.3 Research context 1.4 Aims of the research 10 1.5 Research questions .11 1.6 Research scope 11 1.7 Significance of the research .11 1.8 Organization of the research 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 13 2.1 Overview of genre-based approach-related factors 13 2.1.1 What is context ? .13 2.1.2 Defining texts 14 2.1.3 The relationship between context and text 15 2.1.4 Notions of genres 17 2.2 Genre-based approaches to teaching writing .19 2.2.1 Definitions of genre-based approaches 19 2.2.1.1 The principles of the genre- based approach to teaching writing 20 2.2.1.2 The process of language learning in the genre- based approach 21 2.2.2 Genre teaching models 21 2.3 The comparison between the SFL genre-based approach and the process approach 23 2.3.1 The characteristics of the process approach 24 2.3.2 The genre-based approach versus the process approach 24 2.4 Reviews of the previous studies 27 2.5 The issues of teaching writing in Vietnamese high schools and Tieng Anh 11 textbook .29 2.5.1 Lack of socio- cultural contexts in teaching writing in Vietnamese high schools 29 2.5.2 Curriculum 30 2.5.3 Writing lessons in Tieng Anh 11 30 2.6 Assessing writing performance 31 2.6.1 Evaluating components 31 2.6.2 Rating scales for writing assessment 32 2.7 Summary 33 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 35 3.1 Research design 35 3.2 Participants 36 3.2.1 Teachers 36 3.2.2 Students 37 3.3 Research instruments 37 3.3.1 Questionnaire 37 3.3.2 Tests on English writing 39 3.3.3 Interview 40 3.4 Research site .41 3.5 Data collection and analysis .41 3.5.1 The questionnaires 41 3.5.2 The pre-test and the post-test of writing performance 41 3.5.3 The interviews 42 3.5.4 The treatment phase 42 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 44 Introduction .44 4.2 Teachers’ perceptions of using genre-based approach to teaching writing 44 4.2.1 The importance of using a genre-based approach to teaching writing 45 4.2.2 Teachers’ understanding of genre-based writing activities 51 4.2.2.1 Understanding notions of genre 51 4.2.2.2 The benefits of model texts and scaffoldings for teaching writing 54 4.2.2.3 For learners’ writing performance .56 4.2.2.4 Mean score of teachers’ understanding of the contents of genre-based writing instructions 58 4.2.3 Teachers’ opinions about the stages of genre-based teaching model 59 4.2.3.1 For teaching writing .59 4.2.3.2 For students’ learning style 61 4.2.3.3 Mean score for teachers’ opinions about the stages of the genre-based teaching model 63 4.2.4 The challenges of using a genre-based approach to teaching writing 64 4.2.4.1 For teachers 64 4.2.4.2 From learners’ learning style 66 4.2.5 Mean score of teachers’ perceptions of using a genre-based approach to teaching writing 69 4.3 The improvement of students’ writing performance 70 4.3.1 The improvement of students’ writing performance by comparison of the mean scores in the pretest and the posttest .70 4.3.1.1 Comparison of the mean scores of writing performance in the pretest and posttest 70 4.3.1.2 Correlation between the results of the pretest and the posttest 72 4.3.2 Students’ Interviews 74 4.4 Summary 80 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 81 5.1 Conclusion 81 5.2 Implications 82 5.3 The limitations of the study 84 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 84 5.6 Concluding reflection 85 REFERENCES 86 What is the purpose of the text? Who is the reader of the texts? What is the organization of the text ? What information was involved in the story? What years were mentioned in the table? What districts were involved in the table? Teacher clarifies the students’ answers about the questions above Teacher asks students to use a to organize the information in the text Write some main points that students read from the model text Introduction Summarize the topic and introduce the table The body State the main point and other striking features Conclusion Restate the main points Teacher asks students to perform the analysis of the texts A Grammatical cohesion a Referents: Pronouns: the other Demonstrative pronouns: the b Conjunctions: The contrasting conjunctions: In contrast, The comparison conjunctions: Likewise, Other connectors: and, opposite to, as can be seen from the table, as regards, overall, from…….to… c Grammatical features: Verb tenses: the present simple Descriptive adjectives and adjectives of comparisons Adjectives Comparatives Superlatives Equality large Larger the largest as large as few fewer the fewest as few as many more the most as many as much more the most as much as little less the least as little as small smaller the smallest as small as Verbs related to comparison: compare, in comparison with, double, rank Adverbs: half, twice, three times, two times, nearly Complex sentences: using embedded clauses with participle phrases B Lexical features a Repetition: population, the number of people, b Substitution: continent, regions Teacher gets students to write down the generic features and grammatical features discussed in their notebooks Stage 2: Joint construction (15 minutes) Teacher asks students to write a text together on the poster Alternatively, the teacher and students write an essay using a information report scaffold about the information shown in the table Teacher guides students to use some leading questions and a scaffolding provided in the second step of stage Teacher gets students to read the text and ask them to learn some important features of the text Teacher asks students to jointly construct a text Students can write an essay in pairs or in groups Stage 3: Independence construction stage (40 minutes) Teacher asks students to write their first draft of a description they have just discussed with their group members Students write individually and consult with their teachers and classmates Teacher asks students to exchange their drafts with their classmates, read and give comments based on contents, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics, then hand back to their friends Teacher tells students to revise their own drafts, think about their friends’ evaluation and then decide to delete or add information Students write individually Students complete their essays and present their written products APPENDIX RELIABILITY OF THE PILOTED QUESTIONNAIRE Cronbach's Alpha 754 Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items 740 N of Items 25 Item Statistics Mean Std Deviation N Teaching writing is important to help students use language in different contexts 4.20 447 The genre-based approach raises my explicit understanding of the relationships between culture, society and texts in teaching writing 4.20 837 The genre-based approach gets students write on the basis of purpose, organization and audience 4.00 1.000 The genre-based approach makes my students' writing effective to communicative purposes 3.40 894 The genre-based approach contributes to reducing limitations of process writing 3.40 894 Genre is an abstract concept related to culture and society which constitute texts 4.20 447 The classifications of genres facilitate my choice of 3.00 relevent texts to my students' levels .707 I consider the model texts of the same genres as a means 4.40 of supporting my students' organizing their ideas .894 I am in favour of using scaffoldings in order for my teaching to go smooth 4.00 707 I am confident to explain communication purpose, channel of language and cultural contexts 3.60 548 I am satisfied with the stages of genre-based writing activities 2.20 447 My students understand explicit textual conventions of English genres 3.60 548 I am satisfied with the stages of genre-based writing 3.00 activities 1.000 I am flexible with different activities 4.00 707 My students revise drafts for contents and clarity 3.80 447 My friends talk with their friends and consult with their teacher about unknown words 4.00 707 My students have clear instructions for their writing to go forward 3.60 894 They gradually write individually 3.80 447 My students don't want to evaluate their peers' writing 4.00 707 The types of writing in Tieng Anh 11 are unfamiliar to my students 4.20 447 My students only practice English writing in class 3.40 894 My students imitate model texts 4.00 707 Time-constraints hinder me to conduct all the stages of genre-based writing activities 3.20 837 I find it difficult to collect relevant materials served as model texts 3.80 447 I am confused with some socio-cultural features in some 3.80 texts .447 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / N of Mean Minimum Maximum Range Variance Minimum Items Item Means 3.712 2.200 4.400 2.200 2.000 244 25 Item 504 200 1.000 800 5.000 076 25 Variances Item-Total Statistics Scale Scale Squared Cronbach's Corrected Mean if Variance Multiple Alpha if Item-Total Item if Item Correlatio Item Correlation Deleted Deleted n Deleted Teaching writing is important to help students use language in different contexts Genre-based approach raises my explicit understanding of the relationships between culture, society and texts in teaching writing Genre-based approach gets students write on the basis of purpose, organization and audience The genre-based approach makes my students' writing effective to communicative purposes Genre-based approach contributes to reducing limitations of process writing Genre is an abstract concept related to culture and society which constitute texts The classifications of genres facilitate my choice of relevant texts to my students' levels I consider the model texts of the same genres as a means of supporting my students' organizing their ideas I am in favour of using scaffoldings in order for my teaching to go smooth I am confident to explain communication purpose, channel of language and cultural contexts 88.60 49.300 -.605 781 88.60 39.300 543 728 88.80 36.200 706 709 89.40 50.300 -.426 799 89.40 36.300 798 704 88.60 42.800 461 741 89.80 52.700 -.731 804 88.40 36.300 798 704 88.80 52.700 -.731 804 89.20 46.200 -.107 766 I am satisfied with the stages of genre-based writing activities My students understand explicit textual conventions of English genres I am satisfied with the stages of genre-based writing activities I am flexible with different activities My students revise drafts for contents and clarity My friends talk with their friends and consult with their teacher about unknown words My students have clear instructions for their writing to go smooth They gradually write individually My students don't want to evaluate their peers' writing The types of writing in Tieng Anh 11 are unfamiliar to my students My students only practice English writing in class My students imitate model texts Time-constraints hinder me to conduct all the stages of genre-basedwriting activities I find it difficult to collect relevant materials served as model texts I am confused with some socio-cultural features in some texts 90.60 42.300 550 738 89.20 46.200 -.107 766 89.80 33.200 998 679 88.80 39.200 678 721 89.00 42.500 514 739 88.80 39.200 678 721 89.20 39.700 461 733 89.00 42.500 514 739 88.80 39.700 617 725 88.60 42.300 550 738 89.40 39.800 452 734 88.80 43.200 215 751 89.60 46.800 -.157 778 89.00 42.500 514 739 89.00 42.500 514 739 APPENDIX RELIABILITY OF THE OFFICIAL QUESTIONNAIRE Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 742 742 25 Item Statistics Mean Teaching writing is important to help students use language in different contexts Genre-based approach raises my explicit understanding of the relationships between culture, society and texts in teaching writing Genre-based approach gets students write on the basis of purpose, organization and audience The genre-based approach makes my students' writing effective to communicative purposes Genre-based approach contributes to reducing limitations of process writing Genre is an abstract concept related to culture and society which constitute texts The classifications of genres facilitate my choice of relevant texts to my students' levels I consider the model texts of the same genres as a means of supporting my students' organizing their ideas I am in favour of using scaffoldings in order for my teaching to go forward I am confident in explaining communication purpose, channel of language and cultural contexts embedded in the texts I am satisfied with the stages of genre-based writing activities My students understand explicit textual conventions of English genres I expect my students to have good English writing style Std Deviation N 4.10 568 10 3.40 1.075 10 3.40 1.174 10 3.40 966 10 3.40 843 10 3.90 568 10 3.10 738 10 3.80 1.033 10 3.80 789 10 3.60 516 10 2.40 699 10 3.40 699 10 3.10 876 10 I am confused with socio- cultural features in texts I am flexible with different activities at each stage My friends talk with their friends and consult with their teacher about unknown words My students have clear instructions for their writing to go forward They gradually write individually My students don't want to evaluate their peers' writing The types of writing in Tieng Anh 11 are unfamiliar to my students My students only practice English writing in class My students imitate model texts Time- constraints hinder me to conduct the reviewing of my students' texts My students revise drafts for contents and clarity I find it difficult to collect relevant materials served as model texts 3.50 707 10 3.50 699 10 3.60 966 10 3.60 949 10 3.80 516 10 3.80 789 10 3.50 707 10 3.30 3.60 823 843 10 10 3.40 789 10 3.60 707 10 3.80 707 10 Summary Item Statistics Mean Item Means Item Variances Minimum Maximum Range Maximum / Minimum Variance N of Items 3.464 2.600 4.100 1.500 1.577 090 25 652 267 1.378 1.111 5.167 079 25 Item-Total Statistics Scale Scale Cronbach's Corrected Squared Mean if Variance if Alpha if Item-Total Multiple Item Item Item Correlation Correlation Deleted Deleted Deleted Teaching writing is important to help students use language in different contexts Genre-based approach raises my explicit understanding of the relationships between culture, society and texts in teaching writing Genre-based approach gets students write on the basis of purpose, organization and audience The genre-based approach makes my students' writing effective to communicative purposes Genre-based approach contributes to reducing limitations of process writing Genre is an abstract concept related to culture and society which constitute texts I expect my students to know how to express socio- cultural purposes when teaching writing I consider the model texts of the same genres as a means of supporting my students' organizing their ideas I am in favour of using scaffoldings in order for my teaching to go forward The classifications of genres facilitate my choice of relevant texts to my students' levels 82.50 57.611 -.142 754 83.20 46.622 609 705 83.20 48.400 425 722 83.20 57.289 -.103 764 83.20 49.067 587 712 82.70 49.789 824 709 83.50 59.167 -.264 766 82.80 50.622 342 730 82.80 53.289 243 737 83.00 57.556 -.142 753 I am confident in explaining communication purpose, channel of language and cultural contexts embedded in the texts My students understand explicit textual conventions of English genres I break my students' barriers at the first stage by generating their ideas I am confident in explaining communication purpose, channel of language and cultural contexts embedded in the texts My students will have a good English writing style My friends talk with their friends and consult with their teacher about unknown words My students have clear instructions for their writing to go smooth They gradually write individually My students don't want to evaluate their peers' writing The types of writing in Tieng Anh 11 are unfamiliar to my students My students only practice English writing in class My students imitate model texts Time- constraints hinder me to conduct the reviewing of my students' texts My students often integrate their cultural identity into my English written texts I find it difficult to collect relevant materials served as model texts 84.00 58.222 -.187 760 83.20 50.622 563 718 83.50 52.944 235 738 83.10 52.100 403 727 83.00 53.556 261 736 83.20 47.733 603 708 83.30 56.678 -.061 760 83.20 53.289 419 730 82.80 52.844 283 734 83.10 51.211 494 722 83.30 54.678 111 746 83.00 48.444 644 708 83.40 57.378 -.108 759 83.10 50.989 517 720 83.10 50.544 564 718 APPENDIX 10 RELIABILITY OF THE PRE WRITING TEST Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items 812 841 N of Items Item Statistics Mean 2.5429 2.5714 2.2000 2.2286 3.1143 5.3600 Contents Organization Language use Vocabulary Mechanics Pretest Std Deviation 70054 81478 40584 49024 93215 1.14275 N 35 35 35 35 35 35 Summary Item Statistics Maximum / N of Mean Minimum Maximum Range Minimum Variance Items Item Means 3.043 2.200 5.600 3.400 2.545 1.678 Item 622 165 1.306 1.141 7.929 180 Variances Item-Total Statistics Scale Corrected Squared Cronbach's Scale Mean if Variance if Item-Total Multiple Alpha if Item Deleted Item Deleted Correlation Correlation Item Deleted Contents 15.7143 8.034 762 682 745 Organization 15.6857 7.634 722 703 747 Language use 16.0571 9.644 691 601 787 Vocabulary 16.0286 9.852 473 485 807 Mechanics 15.1429 9.126 276 411 858 Pretest 12.6571 5.644 847 802 712 Scale Statistics Mean 18.2571 Variance 11.550 Std Deviation 3.39847 N of Items APPENDIX 11 RELIABILITY OF THE POST WRITING TEST Reliability Statistics Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items N of Items 819 849 Item Statistics Mean 2.5429 2.5714 2.2000 2.2286 3.1143 6.590 Contents Organization Language use Vocabulary Mechanics Posttest Std Deviation 70054 81478 40584 49024 93215 1.30057 N 35 35 35 35 35 35 Summary Item Statistics Item Means Item Variances Mean Minimum Maximum Range 3.177 2.200 6.407 4.207 687 165 1.691 Maximum / N of Minimum Variance Items 2.912 2.612 1.527 10.270 311 Item-Total Statistics Scale Mean Scale Corrected Squared Cronbach's if Item Variance if Item-Total Multiple Alpha if Deleted Item Deleted Correlation Correlation Item Deleted Contents 16.5214 9.332 737 653 764 Organization 16.4929 8.833 718 727 761 Language use 16.8643 10.873 724 634 795 Vocabulary 16.8357 11.173 477 523 816 Mechanics 15.9500 10.168 326 491 850 Posttest 12.6571 5.644 913 863 712 Scale Statistics Mean 19.0643 Variance 12.976 Std Deviation 3.60216 N of Items APPENDIX 12 APPENDIX 13 The proposed scoring framework Aspects CONTENT ORGANIZATION VOCABULARY LANGUAGE USE Level Criteria Knowledgeable; substantive; thorough development of topic; 3.5 – 3.25 relevant to assigned topic Some knowledge of subject; adequate range; limited development of – 2.25 topic; mostly relevant to the topic, but lacks detail Limited knowledge of subject; little substance; inadequate – 1.25 development of topic Do not show knowledge of subject; non-substantive; not pertinent; or 1-0 not enough to evaluate Fluent expression; well-organized; ideas clearly stated/supported; 1.5 – 1.25 logical sequencing; cohesive Somewhat choppy; loosely organized but main ideas stand out; – 0.75 limited support; logical but incomplete sequencing Non-fluent; ideas confused or disconnected; lacks logical sequencing 0.5 and development 0.25 Does not communicate; noorgzation; or not enough toevaluate Sophisticated range; effective word! idiom choice and usage; word 1.5 – 1.25 form mastery: appropriate mastery Adequate range; occasional errors of word! idiom form, choice, – 0.75 usage but meaning not obscured Limited range; frequent errors of word! idiom form, choice, usage; 0.5 meaning confused or obscured Essential translation; little knowledge of English vocabulary, idioms, 0.25 word form; or not enough to evaluate Effective complex constructions; fewer errors of agreement, tense, 2.5 – number, word order! function, articles, pronouns, prepositions Effective but simple constructions; minor problems in complex constructions; several errors of agreement, tense, number, word 1.75 – order! function, articles, pronouns, prepositions but meaning seldom obscured Major problems in simple! complex constructions; frequent errors of negation, agreement, tense, number, word order! function, articles, 0.75 - 0.5 pronouns, prepositions and! or fragments, run-ons, deletions; meaning confused or obscured Virtually no mastery of sentence construction rules; dominated by 0.25 errors, does not communicate; or not enough to evaluate 0.75 MECHANICS 0.25 0.5 Demonstrates mastery of conventions; few errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization Paragraphing Occasional errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing but meaning not obscured Frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing; poor handwriting; meaning confused or obscured No mastery of conventions; dominated by errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing handwriting illegible, or not enough to evaluate (adapted from Jacobs et al.’s (1981) cited in Assessing Writing by Sara Cushing Weigle (2002) and from Assoc.Prof.Dr Hoang (2007 cited in Ngo; 2009)