Writing skills difficulties & enhancing strategies for english students at van hien university

--- Page 1 --- MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY -------------- FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES FINAL TEST SUBJECT: APPLIED LINGUISTICS ------***----- WRITING SKILLS – DIFFICULTIES & ENHANCING STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY. Class: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 --- Page 2 --- Group 2: 1. Ngô Thành Phát – 221A140409. 2. Lê Ngọc Thảo - 221A140328. 3. Trần Thị Yến Nhi - 221A140181. 4. Trần Nguyễn Yến Nhi - 221A140173. Lecturer: PhD(c). MA. Nguyễn Trường Giang HCMC, July 2024 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY -------------- FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- Page 3 --- FINAL TEST SUBJECT: APPLIED LINGUISTICS ------***----- WRITING SKILLS – DIFFICULTIES & ENHANCING STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY Class: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 Group 2: 1. Ngô Thành Phát – 221A140409. 2. Lê Ngọc Thảo - 221A140328. 3. Trần Thị Yến Nhi - 221A140181. 4. Trần Nguyễn Yến Nhi - 221A140173. Lecturer: PhD(c). MA. Nguyễn Trường Giang ĐIỂM KẾT THÚC HỌC PHẦN (Học kỳ 3 – Năm học 2023-2024) --- Page 4 --- Môn học: Ngôn ngữ học ứng dụng (Applied linguistics) Mã học phần: 233ENG49103 & 233ENG49104 Họ tên & MSSV: 1. Ngô Thành Phát – 221A140409. 2. Lê Ngọc Thảo - 221A140328. 3. Trần Thị Yến Nhi - 221A140181. 4. Trần Nguyễn Yến Nhi - 221A140173. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, we gratefully would love to express to our lecturer, Nguyen Truong Giang. It is impossible to finish this article without your time, wise guidance, and the most important thing is your passion in educational maintaining path. Beside devotion of our lecturer, the knowledge from “the giants” from previous generations in researching industry are also a significant thing that assisted us in completing process of this article. Last but not least, we cannot complete this report without endeavours of the members in group 2. This studying article is proof for time, passion, motivation on the path to explore the endless prize of human: “Knowledge.” Last once more, we are thankfully to be capable of contributing a little piece to researching industry. Thank you! --- Page 5 --- THE TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page ABSTRACT: “WRITING SKILLS – DIFFICULTIES & ENHANCING STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT VAN HIEN UNIVERSITY” is an academic article supposed to report result, information collected from researching process about the hardest skill to learn in English – “writing skills”. Start with discovering its own definition, classic genres to understand why it becomes the most difficult skill to master it? By analyzing data based on four ways, inductive and deductive methods, data collection methods, qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods, we are able to be aware of problems , which English learners have to deal with when they are struggling with how to “write”. The results are based on the surveys and the participants are VHU’s students. This article’s reporters also give some suggestions in effort to assist the learners chase their goal or at least make their path easier. ______________________________________________________ CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Current background: L ong time ago, the human race defined themselves as the higher-life, because of linguistics’ abilities. 200.000 years have passed on Earth. Language is the most important thing that humans ever created. Humans have the capability to express their thoughts and feelings by using languages. This ability also provides for human society an essential order to develop everlasting civilization until present.   In all linguistics’ historical growth, humans witnessed the dominating position belonging to English, the most popular language worldwide and it is still maintaining. According to an analysis report of Berlitz, English is the most popular language in the world with a total of 1,425 billion speakers (372,9 million people use English as their mother tongue, and 1,4+ billion learners choose to study English around the world.) In common, English has become a requirement in some specific majors, a bridge to assist people expand their career path. English is capable of making connections between humans. On the other hand, we have the fundamentals to believe that English is able to make people’s lives better, it helps open their mind, and variety everything in life. English gives influence on almost all aspects of modern society. Due to its significant place in this world, people begin to build serious educational systems to sacrifice the high-quality’s needs of English. Development of English education is increasing incredibly per year. Thus, English curriculums are also getting larger. From here, the learning progresses are more various and easilier to approach depending on learners’ selections. English has four basic skills in the learning process. Included: “ Listening”, “Speaking”, “Reading”, and “Writing”. In the big four skills, “writing skills” is usually considered as the most difficult skill. What is “writing”?

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGVAN HIEN UNIVERSITY

Lecturer: PhD(c) MA Nguyễn Trường Giang

Lecturer: PhD(c) MA Nguyễn Trường Giang

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First of all, we gratefully would love to express to our lecturer, Nguyen Truong Giang It is impossible to finish this article without your time, wise guidance, and the most important thing is your passion in educational maintaining path.

Beside devotion of our lecturer, the knowledge from “the giants” from previous generations in researching industry are also a significant thing that assisted us in completing process of this article.

Last but not least, we cannot complete this report without endeavours of the members in group 2 This studying article is proof for time, passion, motivation on the path to explore theendless prize of human: “Knowledge.”

Last once more, we are thankfully to be capable of contributing a little piece to researching industry.

Thank you!

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THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10

3.1Sample and sampling procedures: 10

3.2Research instruments: 10

3.2.1 Questionnaires: 10

3.2.2 Interview: 11

3.3Data collection procedures: 11

3.4 Data analysis procedures: 12

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS & DISCUSSION 13

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Current background:

ong time ago, the human race defined themselves as the higher-life, because oflinguistics’ abilities 200.000 years have passed on Earth Language is the mostimportant thing that humans ever created Humans have the capability to expresstheir thoughts and feelings by using languages This ability also provides for human societyan essential order to develop everlasting civilization until present

In common, English has become a requirement in some specific majors, a bridge toassist people expand their career path English is capable of making connections betweenhumans On the other hand, we have the fundamentals to believe that English is able to makepeople’s lives better, it helps open their mind, and variety everything in life English givesinfluence on almost all aspects of modern society.

Due to its significant place in this world, people begin to build serious educationalsystems to sacrifice the high-quality’s needs of English Development of English educationis increasing incredibly per year Thus, English curriculums are also getting larger Fromhere, the learning progresses are more various and easilier to approach depending onlearners’ selections.

English has four basic skills in the learning process Included: “ Listening”,“Speaking”, “Reading”, and “Writing” In the big four skills, “writing skills” is usuallyconsidered as the most difficult skill.

1.2 What is “writing”?

In 2003, Nunan assumed “Writing skills” require efforts from both physical actions andmental thoughts at the simplest step of English learning, for instance grammatical, lexiconability to deliver thoughts, feelings, opinions of authors.

Begin with physical reality, this skill offers the learners about contents, words, andideas On the other hand, writing is a process of the mental realm From this view, Englishstudents have to prove their thesis, enhance ideas and their verification Therefore, thereaders shall have fundamental trust in writers' points

In addition, writing is divided into multiple forms In writing skills own many genres,for instance “narrative writing” is kind of writing, which applies mostly to storytellingability, or “descriptive writing”, etc., even “poetry” is a type of writing skills Because ofmany requirements, learners have to deal with numerous problems in their studying process

1.3Researching objects:

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Linguistics’ knowledge is never easy to consume like “eating a piece of cake”, language’slearning process requires patience, attitude and passion to follow To understand more aboutwhat problems the learners are facing Hence, we can suggest solutions not only in quantity,but also quality.

This report is supposed to “chew” the difficulties, challenges and ways to improve“writing skills” Research location shall be restricted after the walls of Van Hien University,English Major’s students shall be the participants of this study to figure out the solutions forthe question: “How to improve “writing skills”, and enhancing motivation in learning foreignlinguistics.”

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Planning:

The scientific paper will include detailed, specific requirements for each section.

 Article Title: The title of a scientific article is the first factor that practitioners need topay attention to.

 Introduction:Backdrop

Current Status of Research

Issues Problem definition or technical termCurrent knowledge bases

State missing information as well as existing gaps in knowledgePresentation of research objectives

Outline how to prepare research to answer research objectives Literature review:

Identify, synthesize, and evaluate scientific studies around a specific research problem orquestion.

 Material and MethodsStudy Design

Object of study

Time and place of the studyMeasurement method, reliability

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 Results: The results of the scientific paper are explained briefly, clearly, andcoherently.

 Discussion:

Summary of the hypothesisComparing results with studiesInterpretation of results

Generalization and meaning of resultsAdvantages and disadvantages

Conclusion so that the reader understands References:

This research aims to help VHU English-majored students better understand the importanceof writing skills and methods to fix errors when using writing skills.

2.2 Writing skills:

As stated by Ghulam Dastgeer (2015), writing skills is the one laborious and significant.Writing skills are currently a difficult problem for English-majored students Writing skillsrequire students to have knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure

Baker (2013) once said, Writing skills are crucial for educational success, as theyenable students to liaise their proposal effectively, arrange their thoughts, and enter intocritical thinking Research has been visible that students who acquire strong writing skillshave higher marks, better grip of course material, and enlarged retention of knowledge

Writing skills are not only major for scholastic and executive success, but they arealso crucial for cognitive development Writing promotes critical thinking, problem-solving,and creativity (Graham & Perin, 2007) Furthermore, writing enables individuals to throwback on their experiences, passions, and ideas, which enhances their self-awareness and

emotional intelligence Research has shown that writing can also have therapeutic benefits,as it permits individuals to convey their feelings and cope with tautness (Pennebaker, 1997).

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According to Maurice Williams (1972), when you create short paragraphs, you need to knowthe way to establish links between different sentences All of this helps to design meaning forthe sentence Meaning is an integral part of language but in text, one has to pay moreattention to meaning because if the information is not carried clearly, it is uncomplicated forthe reader to put a wrong interpretation on the writer's project Writing skills can even bedescribed as the act of creating meaning and giving coherence to ideas Writing points toexpress and communicate meaningfully Often, these goals are blocked out in the classroomwith an emphasis on "right" writing.

2.4 Methods:

For this research to be successful, there are 4 research methods outlined below Inductive anddeductive methods, data collection methods, qualitative research methods and quantitativeresearch methods.

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1Sample and sampling procedures:

The purpose of this research is to investigate difficulties and find out strategies to enhancethe writing skills of English-majored students This research included 31 English-majoredparticipants at Van Hien University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The majority of thosestudents have pre-intermediate, intermediate or higher proficiency; in fact, all English skillsinclude writing skills as an elemental aspect of student’ learning process Since this is anacademic institution where the researchers obtain courses, the researchers would like tocollect data from the population at this institution As a consequence, the researchers wereable to complete the essay more comfortably and efficiently.

Their English skills such as listening skills, speaking skills, reading skills, writing skills,were closely related to the courses in their classes Finally, the participants were surveyedusing a prepared questionnaire to obtain quantitative data, and five of them were required toparticipate in a small interview to collect qualitative data.

3.2Research instruments:

3.2.1 Questionnaires:

In fact, questionnaires and surveys were effective tools for data collection One of the mostbasic and popular proportional methods used in scientific research is the Likert scale (Likert,1932) Closed-ended questions required more than one answer, and they asked respondentsto select the most important problems they are facing from a list of problems Therefore, theresearchers used Likert scale questionnaires and closed-ended questions The five-point scalehas a simple structure and can produce highly reliable scales In addition, from theperspective of survey participants, it is easy to comprehend and complete Close-endedquestions may be realistic and the choice of options plays a very important role in thequestion Closed-ended questions save more time to complete and make decisions easier(Oppenheim, 1992)

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The questionnaire of this research acquired 8 items, divided into 2 parts Each sectionfocuses on the presentation and structure of the article or essay, and the difficultiesencountered when practicing writing skills In addition, the questionnaire items of thisresearch were provided using a Likert scale, their level of agreement with judgments rangingfrom “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.

3.2.2 Interview:

Interview is a way of collecting data as well as gaming knowledge from individuals.Interviewing is expected to broaden the scope of understanding about investigatedexperience, because it is a more natural and less structured data collection tool (Hamza,2014) Conducting interviews made the researchers feel that the data they collected wasgenuine, authentic, and original by nature due to their direct interaction with the interviewee.This study’s interview contained two open-ended questions to collect qualitative data.Therefore, the interview should not only be demonstrative, but also reflective and critical.These questions aimed to provide the researchers with a better understanding of theparticipants’ perceptions and validity of the study.

3.3Data collection procedures:

The primary data collection was carried out through survey questionnaires with the samplesize of 31 students and 3 lecturers and the analysis of student’ writing mistakes andobservations of lecturers to understand students’ difficulties during writing classes A pre-survey was conducted 10 students to consolidate the questions and the analysis of student‟swriting mistakes and lecturer‟s observationto examine student's attitudes and motivationduring writing lessons A pre-survey was conducted with 10 students for questionsconsolidation The survey data after being computerized was analyzed by descriptivestatistics and comparative methods The teaching observation records were synthesized andanalyzed in accordance with the analysis criteria and the research questions

At the beginning of the survey, participants majoring in business English were instructedto write a group essay on a topic of their choice Participants choose their writing topic

designated preparation period, participants turned in their work for the instructor to check.Teaching observation records were compiled and analyzed according to the analysis criteriaand research questions Following comments from the instructor, a questionnaire was sent toall participants and data were collected by the researcher for quantitative analysis Finally, adecision was made that five students from the group were randomly selected to participate inan interview that became the source of the qualitative data.

3.4 Data analysis procedures:

The author evaluated the quantitative data collected from the questionnaires supplied tostudents using the SPSS statistical program A thorough review of the survey results wasconducted using descriptive statistical data Meanwhile, qualitative data was collected byusing information obtained from participant’ interviews The interview information will besummarized into a group and then will be classified and counted A thorough analysis wasconducted on the data collected in this study, with special emphasis on studying thedifficulties in writing skills and measures to help students enhance their writing skills basedon the survey we have collected the problems as well as the participants’ opinions.

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CHAPTER 4 RESULTS & DISCUSSION

To explore the difficulties in practicing writing skills and how to improve writing skills ofEnglish majors, quantitative data were collected using surveys and qualitative data werecollected through interview versions.

To explore the difficulties in practicing writing skills and how to improve writingskills of English majors, quantitative data were collected using surveys and qualitative datawere collected through interview versions

Table 1: Demonstrate writing skills-Difficulties & Enhancing strategies for English studentsat Van Hien University.

Items N Minimum Maximum M SDTo have a good article, you need to make an outline before

writing

1 5 3.65

1.082You will impress the readers by presenting clear, concise

and coherent arguments.

1 5 3.68

.945It is important to structure the paragraphs and grammar so

that each sentence presents an idea and an idea that ismaximally controlled in each paragraph.

1 5 3.68

.909When arranging an essay during the outline phase,

determine the order in which you will present your ideas 31 2 5 4.13 .885Total 3

1 3.78 .967

Note: M: mean; SD: standard deviation.

According to Table 1, the means scores and standard deviations for each itemindication the assessment chart shows the difficulties that students majoring in Englishlanguage encounter in presentations are presented in Table 1 On a 5-point scale, the averagescore ranges from 3.65 to 4.13, indicating a generally moderate level of agreement withsolving the problem ‘When arranging an essay during the outline phase, determine the orderin which you will present your ideas’ (M=4.13, SD=0.885) had the highest mean score.When arranging an essay during the outline phase, determine the order in which you willpresent your ideas which proves that many English majors are facing this problem The itemswith the second highest mean scores (M=3.68, SD=0.909) ‘It is important to structure theparagraphs and grammar so that each sentence presents an idea and an idea that is maximallycontrolled in each paragraph’ and ‘You will impress the readers by presenting clear, conciseand coherent arguments’ (M=3.68, SD=0.945) This proves that for some students, arranginga logical essay is a quite difficult decision for them.

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