An analysis of the the third year students’ difficulties in writing an argumentative essay at the faculty of english, hanoi open university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS OF STUDENTS AN ANALYSIS OF THE THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING AN ARGUMENTATIVE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS OF STUDENTS

AN ANALYSIS OF THE THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS’

DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

AT THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCIENCE FIELD: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Hanoi, 2023

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECTS OF STUDETNS

AN ANALYSIS OF THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS’

DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY

AT THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

SCIENCE FIELD: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Student Representatives: NGUYEN THI THU TRANG Female

Class: A03

Year: 4”

Number of training year: 4

Field: English language

Major: English

Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Le Dung

Hanoi, 2023

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

INFORMATION ON RESEARCH RESULTS

- Number of training years: 4

- Instructor: Dr Tran Thi Le Dung

2 Objectives:

The study analyzes the difficulties of the third-year students when writing an argumentative essay at the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University, in order to propose effective methods for students to improve their writing skills

3 Creativeness and innovativeness:

Realizing that essay writing skills in English play an important role for each student of the Faculty of English in particular and universities in general, expressed through improving knowledge, understanding and professional expertise, especially is in Vietnam during the period of international integration, we conducted a study on the current situation of writing skills of major students at the Faculty of English Language at Hanoi Open University From there, survey, investigate and give results to solve the difficulties that students encounter in the process of applying them in practice

A Research results:

- Describe the characteristics of teaching and learning essay writing skills in English

- Identify the main difficulties that students face

- Provide solutions to overcome and improve students' weak essay writing ability and lack

of confidence

5 The research’s contributions to education and training, society:

The topic examined the current situation of English essay writing skills of students

at Hanoi Open University, thereby evaluating and proposing solutions to help most students improve their writing skills, after graduating from school, generally meet the needs of future employers, so that most of them are the younger generation, who largely hold the country's destiny in their hands in a particularly important way

6 Publications: (specify the author’s full name, title and publishing information, if any) or comments and reviews of the institutions that applied the research results (if any)

7" April 2023

Student Representative

Nguyen Thi Thu Trang

Comment of the instructor on the contributions of the student representative:

7st April 2023

Dr Tran Thi Le Dung

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY INFORMATION OF STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE

Phone: 0986874702

II LEARNING PROCESS

* Year 1:

Major: English Studies

Academic grading results: Good

* Year 2:

Major: English Studies

Academic grading results: Good

* Year 3:

Major: English Studies

Academic grading results: Good

* Year 4:

Major: English Studies

Academic grading results: Good

Certification of university

Anh 4x6

Email: thutrang.uchi@ gmail.com Faculty: English Faculty: English Faculty: English Faculty: English

7st April 2023 Student Representative

Nguyen Thi Thu Trang

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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1.6 The organization O the S{Udy ác nh Hình HH TH TH Hàng HH TH TT Hy 11 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW oni Hi HH KH HH 11 2.1 Definitions of writing and its Importance cece een eesee HH Hi HH HH ket 12 2.1.1 Definitions OÍ WFIITE cách HH TH Hà HH tk KHE TT ưyệp 12 2.2 ìn ố ố ố eee 13

PP oi on ìn ố ố Ắ 534 13 2.2.2 The basic structure of English €SSAYS ch HH HH HH tre 14 2.3 Definitions oŸ arguimenfafÏV€ €SSAY ánh HH TH HH TH HH TH TH hưệp 14 2.4 The difficulties in writing arguimenfafÏV€ €SSAYS cà nh nh HH hon 15 2.4.1 LinguIstl€ COID€f€TC€ ch nHh HH HH TH HT HH HT kệp 15 2.4.2 Background knowledỹe€ ch nh nh HH HH TH HH HT TH ng kh 17 2.4.3 Organization and development oŸ an argumenfafIV€ €§S4y cà nhe 17 2.4.4, Critical thinking ee teen en een renee i ene neni ener ners nie nne reese nae nesneeeneeeriesieeeeneees 19 2.5 PLeVIOUS SHUCICS HH HH HH HH HH HH HH KH HH HH KH ĐH KH HH TT HH 19 CHAPTER HI: METHODOLOOY nh Hà Hà Hà HH HH Hà HH HH Hy 22 3.1 Research qU€SEIOIS cành TH TH HH TH KT HH HT HT kiệt 22 3.2 Research design ốc ccốỐĩẶĩẶGẢ 22 3.3 Participants ảO ẼẽẼẽ 22 3.4 ÏnSÍTUII€TIS cu nh nh nh HH Hà nà Hà HH HH nn ĐH HH ĐT KH TH TH HT KT Y 22

EU n9 on ố eẮ.aă a 23 3.4.2 ÍICTVICWđ nh HH HH Hà HH Hà HH Hà HH gà HH TH gà HT HH HT gà HT Hy 23 3.5 PTOC€dUTC€ nh HH HH HH HH HH HH KH HH HH KH HT HH KH HT TH KH HH KT KH HN 23 CHAPTER IV: DIEEICULTIES AND SOLUTHIONS cà HH HH Hit 24 4.1 Data anaÏySIS nh HH TH TH TH KH TH TH Tà TH TH TT BE TH TT 25

=9 9 Ha 37 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ch Hà HH Hà Cà HH HH HH HH HH HH KH Al

›3818359)1 05110 a4 43 APPENDIXES einen ene HH HH HH HH HH HT HH HT HH HH LH KH 45

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

1 Column Charts

Column Chart 1: Participants’ opinions about the most difficult skill

Column Chart 2: Participants’ self-evaluation on their writing competence

Column Chart 3: Participants’ opinions about writing argumentative essay

2 Pie Charts

Pie Chart 1: Participants’ living environment

Pie Chart 2: Participants’ confirmation about practicing writing skill

3 Tables

Table 1: Basic structure of English essays

Table 2: Summary of the question’s / statement’s content

Table 3: Procedure of the research

Table 4: Participants’ English learning years

Table 5: High school subjects and skills learned by students

Table 6: Participants’ problems with grammar

Table 7: Participants’ problem with coherence

Table 8: Participants’ difficulties in term of background knowledge

Table 9: Participants’ difficulties in organization and development of an argumentative essay Table 10: Participants’ obstacles in term of critical thinking

1 CEFR: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

2 EFL: English as a foreign language

3 IELTS: International English Language Testing System

4 TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

One of the hardest skills to master is writing because you have to carefully choose words, pattern of phrases and punctuation Writing also allows us to learn effectively and think critically as it teaches us methods new ways to express one's thoughts, how to critically reflect on one's own behavior in autobiography and how to analyze truth from opinion in conceptual interpretation

English is a compulsory academic language and a common language of international communication Language learners must hone the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing English if they want to master this language properly Writing has long been considered the most important of the four skills for teaching and learning English as a second language Written English is used frequently in business correspondence, advertisements, job applications and company reports, so it becomes increasingly important to learn this ability In addition, since writing is an important component of all tests and exams, students who are proficient in writing English will find

it easy to pass all his courses Furthermore, they will have more job opportunities than other students, especially in private companies with an international presence Furthermore, writing is an important skill because it helps language learners stimulate thinking and organize their ideas It also improves learners' ability to summarize, analyze and critique (Rajoo [21])

Undergraduate students must deal with many different types of argumentative

writing, such as narrative, descriptive, exposition, and argumentative In short, an

argumentative essay is an important genre in literature, academic writing, especially at the university level Debate writing is an essential tool in an academic setting for students who must write persuasively to persuade others to accept their point of view on a particular topic Essay debating is a genre that requires candidates to write in different

tests or exams like CEFR, TOEFL, IELTS test, etc Individuals in the workplace may try

to convince others to support their suggestions or opinions Clearly, argument writing is especially important for college students However, researchers have confirmed that argument writing is the most difficult type of writing As English majors, we realize that English majors still face some challenges when writing argumentative essays Students don't understand how to write an argumentative essay More specifically, they cannot write clearly, orderly, and persuasively without the audience's perception, clear supporting evidence, and rebuttal Furthermore, linguistic competence (vocabulary, grammar and coherence) and background affect students' writing ability

Recognizing the difficulties of students when writing essays, previous researchers

such as Rahmatunisa [20] and Zhu [26] investigated and discovered other difficulties

each other in writing essays that students often encounter However, there are very few studies on the difficulties that third-year English majors students at Hanoi Open University face when writing essays Therefore, the study "Analysis of the third-year students' difficulties of writing a thesis at the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University”

is done in order to deeply understand the reasons and support English learners in general, and the third-year students in particular in English at Hanoi Open University in particular, in realizing his own obstacles in writing essays

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

1.2.1 Aims of the study

The purpose of this research is to assist the third-year English language students at Hanoi Open University in improving their argumentative essay writing skills by providing solutions based on the challenges they face

1.2.2 Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are as follow:

O Finding out how the 3rd year students of the English Department of Hanoi Open University have applied to improve their writing skills as well as their academic problems and common mistakes

O Using appropriate methods to overcome difficulties in learning writing

O Avoiding feelings of discomfort, boredom, stagnation in learning writing skills, improve language ability, increase interest in learning

1.3 Scop of the study

The purpose of this study is to find out the difficulties that the third-year English majors students at Hanoi Open University face when writing argumentative essays Furthermore, this study hopes to help students to limit their problems, overcome difficulties and actively improve their writing skills

1.4 Research questions

The study was conducted to answer the following questions about the third-year students of the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University:

O What difficulties do 3rd year English major students face when writing essays?

O How can they improve their essay writing skills?

O What strategies can the third-year students use to improve their argument writing skills?

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1.5 Methods of the study

In my research paper, I will use qualitative and quantitative research because they are considered as effective types We will use primary sources for my research paper 1.6 The organization of the study

The study consists of five chapters:

O Chapter I: Introduction

The rationale, goals and objectives, scope of the study, research questions, methodologies, research structure, and significance of the study outcomes will be discussed

O Chapter II: Literature review

This chapter provides the theoretical background related to the essay, the importance of writing skills in learning and practice

O Chapter IIT: Research methodology

Data collection, survey questionnaires, research subjects, and data collection tools will be

presented

O Chapter IV: Difficulties and solutions

The researchers will analyze the collected data carefully and discuss research questions in detail

O Chapter V: Conclusion, implications, limitations, and recommendations

The author's summary and closing remarks for the whole research are contained in this chapter

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of writing and its importance

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From the theories cited above, we understand that writing is a complex process to achieve high quality According to Nunan [19], writing is both a physical activity and a mental activity At the very least, writing means putting words or ideas into a medium Besides, writing is the mental work that helps to create ideas, ways to express and organize those ideas into text that readers can understand, capture information and make sense of meaning Abu Rass [1] emphasized an important thing that writing is a difficult skill for everyone, including native speakers because while writing, we have to balance many factors such as content, organization, purpose, objects, vocabulary, and mechanics means correct use of punctuation, spelling, and capitalization Furthermore, Byrne [4] and Heaton [17] demonstrated that writing is a complex process requiring proficiency in grammar, conceptual thinking, and judgmental elements According to Kassem [18], writing is a particularly complex subject in which we must control a variety of tasks, from letter writing and spelling to effective use of rhetorical patterns

In a nutshell, writing is a productive activity in which a writer uses language to express, analyze, prove or persuade about a particular subject in a structured form 2.1.2 The importance of writing

In order to have critical and insightful thinking in the process of studying in school, students need to pay attention to writing because it is especially important In the educational system as well as functions in society, writing is also an indispensable part If students have good knowledge and skills in writing, students will know how to express their ideas and share their thoughts with people around them through writing In the study

of Sajid and Siddiqui [21], it is mentioned that writing is widely recognized as a key skill for learners to improve their learning efficiency Not only that, Ferretti [13] stated that writing is one of the important language skills It plays an essential role in conveying an

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feelings, persuasion and persuasion with other individuals

Next, besides communication, to learn language forms, writing is also a useful and

necessary tool In the classroom, lecturers can use both types of teaching and can also organize activities that include both communication and language Writing is really a flexible tool, it helps learners organize their ideas logically and clearly, so that they can easily remember knowledge and express their thoughts and ideas

Besides, Crowhurst [11] said that compared to receptive skills and speaking skills, writing requires a deeper knowledge of grammatical structures When it comes to individual inputs for overall language learning, writing has both practical and communicative meaning To train long-term memory, students are always advised to write anything to practice and practice Some students think that when learning a language, writing is not necessary, but on the contrary, some think that grammar, vocabulary and sentence patterns are essential to learn Writing is really important because it is at the core of communicating thoughts clearly The improvement of writing skills is considered a complex cognitive process, full of difficulties and requires the learner's dynamism

2.2 Essay

2.2.1 Definitions of essay

Huxley stated in the Preface to Collected Essays that "the essay is a short passage.” Knudson [16] proved a simpler definition of "essay" by contrast "a paragraph” and "an essay", claiming that "an essay does the same thing as a paragraph.” The difference is that

"a paragraph is a series of sentences about an idea or main point, whereas an essay is a series of paragraphs about a main idea or point known as the central idea" According to Zemach and Rumisek [25], an essay is a collection of paragraphs written on a topic unique and central gist It must be at least three paragraphs, but the average length for academic writing is five paragraphs Thus, it is required to create an essay which consists

of an overall thesis statement and three supporting paragraphs beginning with a topic sentence Similarly, Wilkins [24] claimed that “essay is a piece of writing consisting of several paragraphs that cover of an introductory paragraph, a body, and concluding paragraph” (p.76)

We can conclude from the definitions of essays by previous researchers that an essay is a short, multi-paragraph essay on a topic in which the writer expresses his or her

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point of view or attempts to present an opinion make a certain point of view using details and facts to support each idea or point of view

2.2.2 The basic structure of English essays

Although there are different types of essays, they all follow the same format According to Nunan [19], a standard college essay in English, also known as a one-three- one essay The five-paragraph essay, which has three parts: an introduction, a body with supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion He provided an overview of the traditional essay format in the table below

Table 1: Basic structure of English essays

- Topic sentence 2 (supporting point 2}

2.3 Definitions of argumentative essay

Various researchers have given various definitions of argumentative writing According to White and Billings, it is "a type of discourse in which a writer or speaker presents a type of argument, which is reinforced try to substantiate detailed evidence and refute challenging claims, trying to convince the audience to accept the claim” (p.4) Argument requires the ability to take a stance, anticipate objections from an audience, refute those opinions, and convince the reader to believe it fully supporting evidence Furthermore, Connor [10] defined an argumentative essay as "an essay in which the writer agrees or disagrees with a particular issue and then uses reasons to support the opinion” (p.93) Students should be able to provide "clearly and logically presented facts (premises) to arrive at a valid conclusion” (p.102) when writing an argumentative essay

An argumentative essay also is defined as "a structured, logical evidence-based essay that attempts to persuade the reader to accept an opinion, act, or do both” cited in Zhu [26] Writing an argumentative essay is more difficult because creating an argument requires more cognitive effort than crafting a story (Crowhurst [11]) In the argumentative

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essay, the writer gives a stance on a controversial issue, gives reasons and opinions, clarify and illustrates those opinions, and tries to convince the audience to agree or disagree with the writer's position In a narrow sense, Applebee defined argumentative writing as "text that has an analytic, hierarchical structure and requires that critical arguments be systematically supported” (p 87) Connor [10] also gave a broader definition of argumentative writing: "persuasive written speech that integrates rational and emotional appeals as well as credible appeals" (p.185) According to Choi [9], argumentative writing is "a type of writing whose primary purpose is to persuade the reader" (p.33)

Based on the above definitions, an argumentative essay is a type of essay that is structured around a clear thesis statement The goal of the article is to convince the reader

to accept or agree with the person's point of view write about a controversial topic or issue To achieve the goal of an argumentative essay, the writer makes a position or makes a claim argument and uses logical arguments to support and disprove it omit any possible counterarguments

2.4 The difficulties in writing argumentative essays

Writing is a difficult skill to learn when learning a language Writing is the most difficult language skill to master for both first and second language learners, according to Umar [23] In particular, write an article Debating is one of the most common types of assignments in college and it is considered a significant challenge for students Most students face various challenges when writing essays Therefore, the following sections will discuss some of the difficulties in writing argumentative essays based on previous research papers

2.4.1 Linguistic competence

Language competence is one of the important factors to help students effectively approach the subject of writing practice Brown [6] defined language competence as "a person's basic knowledge of the language system, the grammar rules, the vocabulary of that language, all the parts of the language and how those parts fit together” (p.31) Thus, language competence is composed of many components such as grammar, vocabulary,

nothing can be communicated achieve” (p.111-112) That means that even if someone has good grammar, it is useless if they don't have a large vocabulary Therefore, developing a rich and varied vocabulary can assist students in conveying information their messages more effectively However, students face significant challenges due to lack of lexical knowledge Learning vocabulary requires not only learning the meaning of new words but also understanding the function and their applicability in different contexts and situations

As a result, students often have difficulty finding the right words when writing

2.4.1.2 Grammar structure

Grammar is essential for students to learn foreign languages as well as writing If students do not have adequate grammar knowledge, do not understand grammar rules, then it will be difficult for them to make appropriate sentences According to Rajoo [21], grammar plays an important role in students’ errors That's because students sometimes write sentences without thinking about grammar Good grammar, according to Heaton [17], will assist students in creating a high-quality essay Grammar strategies include how

to create good structure, how to link paragraphs, how to clearly explain each body paragraph, and how to create content relevant to the topic of the essay

2.4.1.3 Coherence

Several ideas can be used to define a coherent term The term "cohesion" is synonymous with "reasonably sticking together." Then, according to Gao [15], “the article coherent if ideas flow from sentence to sentence and parts of the text logically relate to each other” (p.134) Coherence, on the other hand, is the logical arrangement of ideas in a written work, in which all stated ideas are linked together The logical arrangement and connection of ideas will help readers understand easily and easier to follow ideas expressed in written work Gao [15] defined coherence as having three components: coherence (lexical and grammatical association), rationality or interpretability (semantic association between old and new information) and relevancy logical However, students ' writing is not coherent, not connecting ideas in sentences and paragraphs Zemach [25] wrote: “Incoherence is a recurring problem in students ' writing and can be a major obstacle to their success in writing classes” (p.101) To create a good argument, writers must use transitions to achieve coherence in their writing they will take turns fluently if they use appropriate transitions by Bram [5] Therefore, several elements, such as statements, reasons, examples or proofs, must be closely linked when writing an argumentative essay That is beneficial and conducive to the flow of thought of readers

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Background knowledge is a broad term encompassing many different types of knowledge General background knowledge, according to Proverb, includes knowledge of the target culture, knowledge of the subject topic of discussion and general world

knowledge of current affairs, art, politics, and literature According to Batteiger [3],

"background knowledge refers to concepts, experiences, and information and the structure

of the text relevant to the text under study" (p.20) According to Kassem [18], students should be encouraged to write an argumentative essay on a topic they are knowledgeable about He also considers "a lack of knowledge." background knowledge will lead to students making unfounded assertions, which may or may not be logically related to propositions, imperatives, or objections” (p.176) Therefore, background knowledge is very important for students to write argumentative essays Students lacking knowledge cannot express their thoughts and views on new topics or issues

Furthermore, one of the challenges for students is the influence of their mother

tongue on writing English Language is used as a second language (L2) writers clearly have difficulty writing in their own language target language because their mother tongue greatly influences second language use As a result, they can sometimes combine systems

of the two languages in writing L2 , which is called language transfer or syntax transfer

As Fromkin [14] reported that L2 learners are so dependent on Language used as syntactic properties of first language (L1) that they pass some L1 grammar rules in their L2 paper, end up causing such errors In short, students always use their L1 to think and plan to write before transferring their L1 idea to L2 As a result, when writing, students often make mistakes in vocabulary, grammar structure and word order

2.4.3 Organization and development of an argumentative essay

Argumentative writing, according to Bean and Johnson, is an undeniably complex type of text Students write argumentative essays that are unclear and unstructured because they have not yet grasped the structure of the argumentative essay argumentative essay and the function of each section in an argumentative essay Similarly, Umar [23] demonstrated that poor argumentation quality in argumentative essays cannot be separated from a poor understanding of essay structure and sharpness of argument Similarly, many students struggle to come up with essay topics They cannot generate ideas and cannot organize them properly

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The writer provides a brief description of the problem in the introduction It usually begins with a hook to pique the reader's interest in the first reading According to Nunan [19], the opening of essay is used to introduce the topic to be discussed as well as the

central idea, also known as the thesis statement in an essay The thesis statements in

argumentative essays are divided into two categories: arguable and non-controversial A controversial position is one that everyone may or may not agree with, while an undisputed position is one that no one opposes The thesis statement is very important because it informs the reader of what they will be reading Sajid [22] emphasized the importance of the thesis statement in an argumentative essay Therefore, the thesis statement must be clear and concise so that the reader can easily identify and understand the main idea of the essay However, one of the most common problems students face when writing is their inability to write a clear, understandable, and strong thesis

statement

2.4.3.2 Body

Each paragraph in this section should be arranged in a logical order This section, according to Meyers, also aims to develop and support the thesis by breaking down the argument into smaller points According to Elbow [12], each supporting paragraph in the body should begin with a topic sentence Similarly, according to Hogue, the topic sentence informs the reader about what they will read Then, the thesis of each paragraph should be supported by logical argument and evidence from reliable sources Therefore, effective sentence connection implies the importance of good language use According to Byrne [7], when writing body paragraphs, you should provide evidence, reasons and arguments to prove their original position (p.40)

However, when writing an argumentative essay, students often do not provide enough evidence or evidence to support their argument Students who want to write a good essay must provide strong evidence to support their opinion their ideas Fromkin [14] defined evidence as "information that supports a claim and convinces others to believe you" (p.32) Therefore, providing evidence is an important part of an argument; Without it, it will be difficult to convince the reader of your appeal Persuasion appeals must be addressed at this stage in order for the reader to believe one's position Students often have difficulty writing a critical paragraph in the body of an essay A critique is an opposing point of view You consider what people on the opposite side of the issue might

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say Then you provide an objection when writing an argumentative essay Connor [10] also reported that most students do not present opposing arguments, even ignoring them 2.4.3.3 Conclusion

The conclusion of an essay is just as important as the introduction It helps the reader summarize the writer's point of view and understand the issue the writer is arguing about This section often restates the argument and summarizes the main idea According

to Choi [9], the conclusion must be clear and evidence-based In other words, the

conclusion must summarize all the arguments and evidence used to support the writer's position On the other hand, study students do not clearly restate their thesis at the beginning of the paragraph The conclusion does not provide a brief summary of the main points According to Sajid [22], students often miss or skip the conclusion, this may leave

a negative impression on the professor

Furthermore, critical thinking skills include analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, evaluating or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems Therefore, it is clear that students must be able to think critically in order to write effectively When students can think critically, they can more easily gather and construct ideas to support their ideas opinions and arguments by choosing appropriate strong and persuasive reasons On the other hand, students with critical thinking skills are the ones who can prove ideas that are not based emotions or biases, but based on valid reasons to analyze and argue arguments to support their point Students must carefully gather reasons and evidence to make a good argument According

to Choi [9], students’ critical thinking ability is still low

2.5 Previous studies

Rahmatunisa [20] investigated "The problems encountered by English as a foreign language learners (EFL) in Indonesia when writing an argumentative essay" (p.20) with the goal of exploring the problems faced by EFL learners in Indonesia encountered while writing argumentative essays The participants were second-year students from the University of Indonesia attending the Faculty of English The researcher used qualitative

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methods, conducted interviews and assigned written assignments According to the results

of this study, EFL learners in Indonesia face problems of three types: language problems, cognitive problems and psychological problems Most problems the language problems students encountered related to grammatical structure (23.2%), word format (30.2%), word types (16.3%), word errors (9.3%), and use articles (21%) Second, cognitive problems are related to paragraph organization, difficulty retaining word layers, loss of general structure, drawing conclusions and punctuation Finally, language learners EFL British in Indonesia face psychological problems such as laziness, selfishness, bad mood and difficulty in starting to write Data analysis also reveals problem-solving skills, this will be useful for EFL lecturers in writing classes

Umar [23] performed another study Their study aimed to identify difficulties encountered by Thai EFL majors in writing an argumentative essay This study included

60 fourth-year English majors enrolled in the course Studying Advanced Essay Writing

at two Thai public universities in the academic year 2013/2014 Thinking out loud protocols and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data during the study Research results show that the main challenges faced by Thai EFL majors students are vocabulary, grammar structure, argument writing structure, providing solid evidence, limited in time, organize ideas, complete assignment requirements, understand questions,

transfer and translate L1, write thesis statements, explain questions, speed, assessment,

topic selection, and length In the context of Thailand, the main barriers to writing argumentative essays have been identified as vocabulary and grammatical structure Furthermore, Zhu [26] investigated the difficulties faced by a group of Mexican graduate students in completing an essay writing task, as well as their writing process and strategies Personal interviews with the participants and the written essays of the participants were used to collect the data He revealed that organizing and developing arguments became major challenges for students when write their arguments Another study by AI-Abed-AI-Haq and Ahmed found that the most difficult areas for Saudi students were quantity (fullness) sufficient and balanced in arguments and counter- arguments), argumentativeness (development, support, organization, and persuasiveness

of arguments), and thesis (clarification and qualification of the thesis and the direction in which the thesis provided to the reader)

These studies reveal that writing argumentative essays is a significant challenge for students in academic writing According to the results of these studies, the difficulties that students face when writing papers Debating arguments include many factors such as

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linguistics, background knowledge, organization and development of arguments Thereby, students identify difficulties and limit mistakes when making argumentative essays

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions

Learn about the difficulties faced by 3rd year English majors at Hanoi Open University when writing argumentative essays The following research questions were addressed by this study:

- What difficulties do 3rd year English major students face when writing essays?

- How can they improve their essay writing skills?

- What strategies can the third-year students use to improve their argument writing skills?

3.2 Research design

The study was conducted to explore the difficulties that third-year English majors students face when writing argumentative essays Instruments are used to determine the reliability and validity of the results research To achieve the stated objective, third-year English majors were selected as the survey sample Questionnaires and interviews will be used to collect data from the participants The data collected from these two tools will be analyzed to demonstrate the difficulties of third year English majors at Hanoi Open University in writing essays This study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative

methods

3.3 Participants

This study included 90 third-year English majors from Hanoi Open University They were selected at random They came in both male and female form Last name come from a variety of backgrounds, both rural and urban They speak Vietnamese as their mother tongue and English as a foreign language They will be provided with a questionnaire and an interview to learn about the difficulties difficulties they encountered when writing argumentative essays This helped provide evidence that increased the reliability of the study

In addition, two English lecturers from Hanoi Open University were invited to interview lecturers to share their views on students' difficulties in writing argumentative essays In recent years Here, they are all female and teach students English language skills

and academics

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3.4 Instruments

To achieve the goal of the study, the author used questionnaires and interviews to collect students' opinions on the difficulties of writing an argumentative essay, as well as lecturers’ views on the subject students’ writing difficulties

3.4.1 Questionnaire

A questionnaire is considered to be a very useful tool for data collection

Therefore, the questionnaire is used as one of the research tools The students are asked to

read the questionnaire and check Their answers in the options match their comments The questionnaire is divided into two parts Part A includes eight questions about the student's background They mention the student's hometown, years of English study, writing ability, etc Part B has a total of 25 Sentences are designed on a five-point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, no opinion, disagree and strongly disagree) In general, the questionnaire is classified as shown in the table below

Table 2: Summary of the question’s / statement’s content

Question/Statement Summary of the question’s/ statement’s content

Part A Question 1 to4 -+Student's background

Question 5to8 + Student’s attitudes in learning writing skills

Statement | to 11 + Difficulty in language ability

To achieve the research objective, the author also conducted interviews with

students and lecturers The interviews were designed to gather specific information about students’ difficulties in writing argumentative essays

3.4.2.1 Interview for students

The student interview consisted of four questions about difficulties in writing argumentative essays The purpose of this interview was to find out about the ability of third-year English majors students to write essays debates and difficulties faced by students Students may be allowed to express their own views

3.4.2.2 Interview for lecturers

22

This three-question interview focused on the argumentative writing ability of sec- year English majors, the students’ problems with argumentative writing, and identifying the biggest difficulty in the writing process based on the teacher's point of view and

assessment

3.5 Procedure

The process of carrying out the study has been described in this section It was completed in 12 weeks and was divided into three steps The research process is presented

in the table below

Table 3 Procedure of the research

[Duration (12

[From the 9th to the