Trang 1 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKIL
HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILL OF THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI CHUYÊN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Duyen Student: Tran Thi Thanh Van Student number: 11317080 Hung Yen – 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON THE DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING WRITING SKILL OF THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG VIẾT CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM HAI CHUYÊN NGỮ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN Student: Tran Thi Thanh Van Student number: 11317080 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Duyen Hung Yen, 2021 i DECLARATION I certify my authorship of the study report entitled “A study on the difficulties in learning writing skill of the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” This graduation paper is the result of my research and the substance of this graduation paper has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution and that if this declaration is found to be false, disciplinary measures and penalties can be taken and imposed following university policies and rules Hung Yen, 2021 Tran Thi Thanh Van ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received much necessary assistance, precious ideas, enthusiastic guidance from guide teacher and timely encouragement from my teachers, family, and friends This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement, and support from several people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mrs Nguyen Thi Duyen, the English teacher of the Faculty of Foreign Language, who has always enthusiastically advised, instructed, and commented on what is necessary for me so that I can complete successfully this study I also would like to take this opportunity to show my sincere thanks to all my teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, who have handed me basic knowledge to complete this study I am so thankful to students of K17 at the Faculty of Foreign Language for their wholeheart participation in the study I would like to acknowledge my thanks to all the authors of the books, magazines, and the other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study I am equally indebted to my classmates for their suggestions and encouragement in the process of my study Last but not least, my particular thanks are given to my parents for their encouragementand support which played an important role in my graduation paper iii ABSTRACT Writing is an important skill for language production However, it is considered a difficult skill, particularly in English as a second language contexts where students face many challenges in writing Therefore, the present study was conducted with an aim to investigate difficulties of second-year English major students in writing skill It also aimed at obtaining suggestions on how to improve writing skill for the second-year English major students at UTEHY The data were collected by means of questionnaires which were delivered 67 learners in K17 course at UTEHY (67 students answer questionnaires and other students are invited to answer interview question) and teachers of English at Faculty of Foreign Languages, UTEHT to work out three issues of the research: 1) Students’ current situation when writing, 2) students’ difficulties that they have when writing, and 3) what students should to improve their English writing skill The results shows that English writing skill is an impotant and difficult skill Almost students lack of vocabularies, grammars and background knowledge Then this study gives some suggestions for the future, which help the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education improve English writing skil iv TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF ABBREVIATION vi LIST OF CHARTS vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of writing 2.1.1 Definition of writing 2.1.2 Characteristic of writing 2.1.3 Theory of writing 2.1.4 The types of writing 2.1.5 The writing Process 2.2 Overview of difficulties 12 2.2.1 The difficulties in learning writing skill 12 2.2.2 The causes of difficulties in English writing skill 16 2.3 Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 21 3.1 The writing skill course of second-year English major students at UTEHY 21 3.2 The research methodology 21 v 3.2.1 Participants 21 3.2.2 Survey questionnaires 22 3.2.3 Interview 22 3.3 Data collection: 23 3.4 Data analysis: 23 3.4.1 Data from questionnaires 23 3.4.2 Data from interview 40 3.5 Results and discussion for the study 41 3.5.1 Attitudes of students about learning English listening skill 41 3.5.2 The students’ difficulties 41 3.5.3 Some suggestions for students improve English writing skill 42 3.6 Recommendation 43 3.7 Summary 48 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 49 4.1 Summary of the study 49 4.2 Limitations of the study 49 4.3 Suggestions for further study 49 REFERENCES 51 APPENDICES I vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION UTEHY: Hung Yen University of technology and Education FFL: Factulty of Foreign Language vii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 3.1: The students’ and teachers’ opinions about English writing skill 24 Chart 3.2: The student’s interest in English writing skill 24 Chart 3.3: The students’ and teachers’ opinion about the important of English writing skill 25 Chart 3.4: The time students spend practicing English writing skill at home 26 Chart 3.5:Teachers give home assignment or topics for students 26 Chart 3.6: The students’ and teachers’ respond about of students having difficulty in 27 English writing skill Chart 3.7: The students’ respond about the activities that students often have 28 difficulty in English writing skill Chart 3.8: The teachers’ respond about writing activities in which students often have 29 difficulty Chart 3.9: The students’ respond about thesse difficulties students face in English writing skill 30 Chart 3.10: The teachers’ respond about students difficulties in English writing skill 31 Chart 3.11: The students’ and teachers’ opinion about the causes of the student’s difficulties in English writing skill 32 Chart 3.12: The students’ opinion about the activities useful for students to getting 33 ready to write Chart 3.13: The teachers’ opinion about the activities useful for students when getting 34 ready to write Chart 3.14: The students’ respond about the after-writing activities that can help 34 improve English writing skill Chart 3.15: The teachers’ respond about the after-writing activities that can help 35 improve English writing skill viii Chart 3.16: The students’ and teachers’ respond about the writing method that 36 students prefer Chart 3.17: The teachers’ and students’ respond about benefits of peer writing 36 Chart 3.18: The students’ opinion about some suggestions to improve students English writing skill 37 Chart 3.19: The teachers’ opinion about some suggestions to improve students 38 English writing skill Chart 3.20: The teachers’ and students’ respond about the activities that students should to improve English writing skill 39 50 Due to the limited time, the author’s knowledge is limited, so errors are inevitable It is hoped that this study is reliable for teachers, students, and others interested in this issue 51 REFERENCES Afrin, S (2016) “Writing Problems of Non-English Major Undergraduate Students in Bangladesh: An Observation” Open Journal of Social Sciences, pp 104-115 Al-Khasawneh, F (2010), “Writing for Academic Purposes: Problems Faced by Arab Postgraduate Students of the College of Business, UUM”, ESL World, Issue (28) vol 9, 2010 Available from World Wide Web: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/publications/downloads/pdfs/Nar_Sample.pdf Byrne, D (1988), Teaching Writing Skills, Longman Press, London Chakraverty, A., Gautum, K (2000), Dynamics of Writing, Forum, 38(3) Cho, K., & MacArthur, C (2011), “Learning by reviewing”, Journal of Educational Psychology, (103), p 73–84 Cho, K., Schunn, C D., & Wilson, R W (2006), “Validity and reliability of scaffolded peer assessment of writing from instructor and student perspectives”, Journal of Educational Psychology, (98), p 891–901 Davis, S (1988) “Creative Writing”, Forum Vol 36 (4), p 44 Doff, A (1998), Teach English: A training Course for Teacher, Cambridge University Fallahi, C R., Wood, R M., Austad, C S., & Fallahi, H (2006), “A program for improving undergraduate psychology students’ basic writing skills”, Teaching of Psychology, (33), p 171–175 10 Grab, W and Kaplan, R (1996), Theory and Practice of Writing, Addison Wesley Longman, London 11 Harmer, J (2007), How to Teach English, Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited 12 Hinkel, E (2004), “Rehtorical Features of Text: Cohesion and Coherence”, Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar, New Jersey 13 Holliday, A (1996) Large-and Small-class Cultures in Egyptian University Classrooms: A Cultural Justification for Curriculum Change In H Coleman (Ed), Society and the Language Classroom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 52 14 Kroll B (1993), Teaching Writing is Teaching Reading: Training the New Teacher of ESL Composition Reading in the Composition Classroom: Second Language Perspectives, Heinle and Heinle, Boston 15 Widdowson, H G (2001), Teaching a language as communication, Oxford Press, Oxford University 16 Williams, J (2005), Teaching Writing in Second and Foreign Language Classrooms, USA: McGraw Hill 17 Zamel, V (1992), “Writing One’s Way into Reading”, ESOL Quarterly, 26, p 463-483 I APPENDICES SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Hello everyone, my name is Tran Thi Thanh Van I am come from class TAK15.1, Faculty of Foreign Language at Hung yen University of Technology and Education This questionnaire is designed for my research on “ A study on the difficulties in learning writing skill of the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” This survey aims at finding out the difficulties and solutions to improving it for the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education I would be very grateful it if you could take a few minutes to complete this survey All of your information will only be used for the study purpose, and your identification will not be revealed in any discussion of the data To complete this survey, please choose the answer by putting the tick (✔) or circle on your choice, (it is possible to choose more than one choice Do have any more ideas, please fill in the blanks left) I General information Fill in the information where appropriate What is your gender? A Male B Female What is your class? …………… What is your age? ………………… How long have you been studying English? ………… Year(s) How long have you been learning writing skills in English? II …………Year(s) Student’s attitude toward learning English writing skill at UTEHY? (circle on your choice) In your opinion, English writing skill is ……………… A Very difficult B Difficult C Normal D Easy II How interested are students in English writing skill? A Very interested B Interested B Quite interested D Not interested What you think about the importance of English writing skill? A Very important C Quite important B Important D Not important How often you practice learning English writing skill at home? A Every day D times a week B Twice a week E times a week C times a week III The difficulties in your learning English writing skill How often your students have problem in writing skill? A Always C Sometimes B Often D Raraly How often you have difficulties in these activities? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Activities a a Write topic sentence b b Write supporting sentence c c Give typical example d d Use the standard words e e Use clear sentences, concise functions f f Write paragraphs with links g g Write the ending sentence Always Usually Often Sometimes Never III What difficulties you face in your writing lesson? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Difficulties Strongly Agree Agree Disagree You lack vocabulary to express your ideas You make many grammar mistakes You lack back ground knowledge You lack of ideas Your writing out of topic You not give specific examples and details You lack coherent You not how to use rhetoric Your writing has spelling mistake What you think causes students have difficulties in writing? (you can choose more than one) a You are not sure what you write b You not have enough lexical, tenses and structure, not use right spelling c You lack quality feedback for your text d You have time pressure to write e You lack technical writing f You lack available writing resources g You not practice often Strongly disagree IV h You lack guidance from the teachers IV Some suggestions to improve your English writing skill How useful are these activities to you when you are getting ready to write? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Activities Very Useful useful A bit Not useful useful a Discussing with partner b Reading Samples c Brainstorming d Free writing e Making outline f Drafting Stage 10 What activities after writing can help you improve your writing skill? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Activities Strongly agree Agree Neutral Checking for content Checking for organization Checking for clarity Checking for grammar and style Checking for spelling Checking for punctuation, and capitalization 11 Which of the following writing methods you prefer? Disagree Strongly disagree V A Individual writing writing B Peer writing C group 12 What benefits you think peer writing can bring? (you can choose more than one) a Peer writing helps relieve personal pressure b Peer writing helps student writers to develop a sense of audience c Peer writing gives students practice in analyzing writing d Peer writing encourages students to talk about their writing e When instructing their peers, students learn how to improve their own prose f Student may be stronger in critical thinking skills, may excel in organizing g Students learn from each other while they complete assigned tasks 13 What are some suggestion to improve your writing English skills? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Solutions Strongly agree Improve Gramma and Structures Improve Knowledge Enhance Vocabulary Practice Writing Everyday Avoid Spelling Mistakes Practice writing different types of text Read many samples Peer writing Read the topic carefully before writing Check after writing Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree VI Find someone to edit the article for you 14 What activities should you to improve your English writing skill? (you can choose more than one) a Read book, newspapers, and magazines to be able to know more new words, new structure, and useful knowledge b Discuss with partner when a topic appears c Practice writing on learning websites or apps, for example: Duolingo, Grammarly, Hermingway App Editor,… d Receive interesting topics from teachers and get instruction in how to write effectively e Buy a notebook, always carry it with you and take note of ideas that arise anywhere 15 What other suggestions can you give to improve your English writing skill? …….…………………………………………………………………………………………… …….…………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… ……………….……….…………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! VII APPENDICES SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE FOR TEACHERS Dear teachers, I am Tran Thi Thanh Van student of class TAK 15.1 of Foreign Language Faculty, Hung Yen University of Technology and Education Now I am doing “A study on the difficulties in learning writing skill of the second-year English major students Hung Yen University of Technology and Education” The aim of the questionnaire is to explore the difficulties in English writing skill of the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and find solutions to improve their English writing skill I would like to ask for your help, which serves as the major source of data for my paper Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All information provided by you is solely for the study purpose and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Therefore, please answer each question as honestly as possible according to your true situation Thanks in advance for your effort and cooperation! In completing this survey To complete this survey, please choose the answer by putting the tick (✔) or circle on your choice, (it is possible to choose more than one choice Do have any more ideas, please fill in the blanks left) I Personal information Your gender: Male/Female Your age: ……………… H ow long have you been teaching English? Year(s) II Your opinions on writing English Skill: (circle on your choice) What you think of writing Skill? A Very difficult C Normal B Difficult D Easy What you think of the importance of writing skill? A Very important C Normal B Important D Not very important How often you give home assignment or topics to your students to practice writing skill? VIII A Usually D Rarely B Often E Never C Sometimes III The difficulties in your students English writing skill How often your students have problem in writing skill? A Always C Sometimes B Often D Rarely How often students have difficulties in these activities? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Activities Always Usually Often Sometimes Never a b c d e Write topic sentence Write supporting sentence Give typical example Use the standard words Use clear sentences, concise functions f Write paragraphs with links g Write the ending sentence What difficulties your students face in their writing lesson? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Difficulties Strongly Agree Students lack vocabulary to express your ideas Students make many grammar mistakes Students lack back knowledge Students lack of ideas Students out of topic ground Agree Disagree Strongly disagree IX Students not give specific examples and details Students lack coherent Students not how to use rhetoric Their writing has spelling mistake What you think causes students to have difficulties in writing? (you can choose more than one) a Students are not sure what you write b Students not have enough lexical, tenses and structure, not use invented spelling c Students lack quality feedback for your text d Students have time pressure to write e Students lack technical writing f Students lack available writing resources g Students not practice often h Students lack guidance from the teachers IV Some suggestions to improve your English writing skills How useful are these activities to students when they are getting ready to write? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Activities Very useful Useful A bit Not useful useful 1 Discussing with partner 2 Reading Samples 3 Brainstorming 4 Free writing 5 Making outline 6 Drafting Stage What activities after writing can help your students improve your writing skill? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) X Activities Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly agree disagree a Checking for content b Checking for organization c Checking for clarity d Checking for grammar and style e Checking for spelling f Checking for punctuation, and capitalization 10 Which of the following writing methods your students prefer? A Individual writing 11 B Peer writing C Group writing What benefits you think peer writing can bring? (you can choose more than one) a Peer Writing helps relieve personal pressure b Peer writing helps student writers to develop a sense of audience c Peer writing gives students practice in analyzing writing d Peer writing encourages students to talk about their writing e When instructing their peers, students learn how to improve their own prose f Student may be stronger in critical thinking skills, may excel in organizing g students learn from each other while they complete assigned tasks 12 What are some suggestions to improve your students writing English skills? (Please indicate your choice by putting a tick (✔) in the space provided.) Solutions Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly agree Improve Gramma and Structures Improve Knowledge Enhance Vocabulary Practice Writing Everyday Avoid Spelling Mistakes disagree XI Practice writing different types of text Read many samples Peer writing Read the topic carefully before writing Check after writing Find someone to edit the article for you 13 What activities should your students to improve your English writing skill? ( you can choose more than one) a Read book, newspapers, and magazines to be able to know more new words, new structure, and useful knowledge b Discuss with partner when a topic appears c Practice writing on learning websites or apps, for example: Duolingo, Grammarly, Hermingway App Editor, … d Receive interesting topics from teachers and get instruction in how to write effectively e Buy a notebook, always carry it with you and take note of ideas that arise anywhere 14 What other suggestions can you give to improve your English writing skill? …….…………………………………………………………………………………………… …….…………………… ……………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… ……………….……….………………………… …………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! XII APPENDICES THE INTERVIEW QUESTION (FOR STUDENTS) What you think about writing skill? Which activities you often for writing? What are difficulties in learning English writing skill? Could you list some ways to improve your writing skill?