an exploratory study on the teaching and learning of ielts task 1 in vietnam = nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1 của bài thi viết ielts ở việt nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES  GIANG THỊ TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu thăm dò việc dạy học luyện thi phần thi viết IELTS Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI- 2013 ii VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES  GIANG THỊ TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF IELTS WRITING TASK IN VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu thăm dò việc dạy học luyện thi phần thi viết IELTS Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Phương Nga HANOI- 2013 iii DECLARATION I declare that this minor thesis entitled ―An exploratory study on the teaching and learning of IELTS writing task in Vietnam‖ submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts is the results of my own work and that this thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any university, nor does it contain material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis Giang Thi Trang iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great many thanks to so many people who have supported me all the way throughout my study to this final achievement It is with deep gratitude that I wish to thank Ms Nguyen Phuong Nga, Associate Professor, Doctor of Philosophy for her wholehearted guidance, valuable suggestions and academic advice during the course of writing this thesis, without which this work would hardly have been accomplished I also wish to acknowledge all the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for giving me assistance and the lecturers who conducted the Master course for me with valuable knowledge I would like to extend my deep appreciation to my colleagues and students at EQuest Academy and my classmates who have encouraged me and helped me with the research data Last, to my family, words are not enough to express my gratitude I am grateful to my parents, my husband, and my little daughter Without their help and encouragement, I could not have completed this study v ABSTRACT There is now a growing demand for IELTS preparation courses in Vietnam since more and more undergraduate and graduate students wish to sit for the IELTS test in order to get a scholarship to study abroad or to apply for a job at a foreign company or in some English speaking countries Writing, especially writing task in the IELTS test has long been considered to be one of the most challenging tasks for the EFL learners However, it has been taken into less consideration than the other three skills This study is intended to explore (1) what are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task classes, (2) what difficulties Vietnamese learners have in learning to write IELTS writing task 1, and (3) what recommendations are made for Vietnamese teachers to teach their students to write IELTS writing task as required The participants selected for this study were 68 learners from IELTS classes and 17 IELTS writing teachers at EQuest Hanoi Through survey questionnaires for teachers and learners, the study found out that strategies namely understanding the graph, interpreting the graph, and choosing necessary information from the graph are focused in the lessons of IELTS writing task However, learners have difficulties in interpreting the graph, using various structures in expressing their ideas, and overcoming with anxiety in practicing IELTS writing task It is recommended that teachers’ activities in class should focus on instructing students to interpret the graph, to use various structures in expressing ideas to describe the graph Teachers should also check errors for their students’ writings, and provide students with common mistakes to avoid, and exercises on vocabulary and grammatical structures relating to visual information descriptions vi Table of contents DECLARATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study Methodology Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW The writing skill and academic writing skill in English Teaching writing What makes writing difficult? The writing task in IELTS IELTS writing task research 12 Affective factors in IELTS learning 14 Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam 16 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 19 Context of the study 19 Methodology 19 Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 22 Personal information 22 What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task classes at EQuest 26 Students’ difficulties in learning to write task of IELTS writing 28 Difficult expressions for learners 30 Common errors among students’ graph-based writings 31 vii Teachers’ recommendations and learners’ expectations for teaching focus 32 PART 3: CONCLUSION .34 Summary of the study 34 Implications of the study 35 Limitations of the study 35 Suggestions for further study 36 REFERENCES .37 APPENDICES I Appendix A: The IELTS 9-band scale I Appendix B: Writing task band descriptors II Appendix C: Questionnaire for teachers III Appendix D: Questionnaire for learners: VII PART 1: INTRODUCTION This part introduces briefly about the study including rationale, aims, scope, significance of the study, methodology used in the study, and design of the study Rationale of the study IELTS (The International English Language Testing System) is among the most popular and reliable means of English ability assessment with over 1.5 million test takers each year worldwide (In recent years, the candidature has continued to grow rapidly, with over million tests taken in the twelve months to May 2013.) Indeed, it has been widely used as a minimum or qualifying standard for international enterprises or universities to enroll their potential employees or students with 7,000 organizations in over 130 countries recognize and use IELTS for selection purposes Therefore, in Vietnam, more and more people irrespective of genders, ages, and occupation are taking the IELTS preparation course in order to get good scores in this test During my time teaching IELTS preparation courses, I got my interest in IELTS writing task In IELTS test, writing task 1, in which test takers are required to write a report based on some graphic information provided on the question paper, is very challenging for candidates IELTS writing task class, therefore, is to help them overcome those difficulties and achieve task requirement Indeed, my students and I have repeatedly experienced many difficulties in learning and teaching this task, so my Vietnamese counterparts and their students We are always trying to seek effective teaching methods in order to help their learners get as high score as possible in this task Accordingly, I have a desire to explore the situation of IELTS writing task 1learning and teaching in Vietnam, so much so, actually, that my empirical observations developed into concerns strong enough to carry out this study There is a fact that in Vietnam there are no state schools which organize courses for IELTS test takers at the moment In contrast, more and more private centers are founded in order to meet the increasing demand of learning IELTS preparation courses EQuest Academy is one of the currently large and prestigious English centers in Vietnam with its headquarter in Hanoi and nearly 20 branches in big cities such as Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang city, and other regions nationwide It was established by Vietnamese people to train English for Vietnamese learners, including English for Specific Purpose Courses, Oversea Study Consulting, International Tests Preparation Courses with its considered-the-mostoutstanding-field IELTS, and so on EQuest is attracting more and more IELTS test takers irrespective of ages, genders, life goals, and so on for its reasonable tuition fee and good quality of courses The center equips classrooms with modern teaching facilities like computers, projectors, and whiteboards Likewise, library is well-equipped with various kinds of books, material, newspapers, magazines and computers connected to the internet Moreover, there are also two informatics technology rooms with many internet-connected computers, which are often available for students to get access Equest’s teaching staff were qualified by prestigious universities like University of Languages and International Studies, VNU, Hanoi National University of Education and so on Besides, lecturers who are teaching at universities and colleges are cooperating as part-time lecturers in here The teaching materials are synthesized from a variety of global famous reliable course books and are continuously revised to suit learners’ demand and features around the different regions in the country For those features, namely, the large number of learners, wellqualified Vietnamese teachers, good condition of equipment and materials, I decided to choose EQuest to be the context for my research Aims of the study The study aims to explore the situation of teaching and learning IELTS writing task in Vietnam The focus is on the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning IELTS writing task and what teachers could to help their students improve their score in this task corresponding to their ability Three research questions will be addressed as follows: What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task classes at EQuest? What are the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning to write IELTS writing task 1? What should Vietnamese teachers to teach their students to write IELTS writing task as required? 3 Scope of the study Within the limitation of the scope of this study, it is not my ambition to cover all aspects of teaching and learning IELTS writing task in Vietnam Therefore, learners’ difficulties and teachers’ suggested activities in class to help their students overcome their problems are focused Also, the intention to investigate all the Equest’s houses around the country is not so feasible for many obstacles namely time, distance, expense and so on, the subjects of this study are learners of IELTS writing courses in Hanoi and teachers teaching IELTS writing task for those learners at EQuest Hanoi Significance of the study There are many different types of difficulties of learners when learning IELTS writing task 1; however, due to the limitation of time and the scope of the study, this paper aims to explore the most common difficulties during the process of teaching and learning of IELTS writing task The study conducts an insightful analysis of those difficulties so as to find out the causes and to identify suitable solutions of in class activities to help learners deal with those difficulties as suggested by participants Methodology In order to answer the three research questions, this study involves both qualitative and quantitative methodologies; specifically, it conducts document analysis and survey questionnaires The documents are relevant researches on academic writing, writing based on graph, and especially IELTS writing task as well as difficulties experienced by EFL and ESL learners The sample of the survey questionnaires consisted of Vietnamese teachers and learners from 10 branches of EQuest in Hanoi The detail of the methodology applied in the study is discussed in Chapter of Part II Design of the study The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion Part is Introduction which presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the significance, the methodology, and the design of the study The second part is Development which includes three chapters: Chapter 1, Literature review, deals with the theoretical background of the study relating to writing skill and IELTS writing task Chapter 2, Methodology, presents methodology of the study including data collection procedure and data analysis Chapter 3, 36 Suggestions for further study According to some limitations of the study, there are some suggestions for further researchers Firstly, this study found out that both teachers and learners need more consideration in interpreting the graph and choosing the necessary information from the graph Therefore, further researches may focus on how to interpret the graph or how to choose necessary information from the graph effectively In addition, other studies might be on the same issue but use other methodologies case study or class observation or interview Also, the similar studies might be conducted in a wider scope with larger samples in other contexts Last but not least, further studies might take these findings and suggestions into consideration to get better results in IELTS writing task teaching and learning 37 REFERENCES Bridges, G (2010), Demonstrating cognitive validity of IELTS academic writing task 1, Research Notes, 42, 24–33 Donald M Murray (1978), Write before Writing, College Composition and Communication, Vol 29, No 4, pp 375-381 Dörnyei, Z (2001) Motivational strategies in the language classroom Cambrigde Dr P Mickan and J.Motteram (2008), An ethnographic study of classroom instruction in an IELTS preparation program, IELTS Research Reports 2008, Volume ISBN 978-0-9775875-5-1 Gabi Duig (2001) Visuals, writing about graphs, tables, diagrams Academic English Pres Australia Garry Adams & Terry Peck (1999) 101 Helpful Hints for IELTS, Academic module Sydney, Australia Guoxing Yu, Pauline Rea-Dickins and Richard Kiely (2007) The cognitive processes of taking IELTS Academic Writing Task University of Bristol http://www.cal.org/caela/IELTS_resources/digests/SHANK.html (2005, Nov 27) Hui-Chun Yang (2012), A comparative study of composing processes in reading- and graph-based writing tasks, Language Testing in Asia Vol 2[3] IELTS Guide for teachers (2013) retrieved from http://www.ielts.org/teachers.aspx 10 Lil Brannon, Melinda Knight, and Vara Neverow-Turk (1982), Writers writing, Boynton Cook Publishers 11 Oshima, A.& Houge, A.(1991) Writing Academic English New York: Addison Wesley Publishing 38 12 Raimes, A.(1983) Techniques in Teaching Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 13 Schuman, J H (1998) Social and Psychological Factors in Second Language Acquisition, in J C Richards (eds) Understanding Secodn and Foreign Language Learning Pp 163-178 Rowley, MA: Newbury House 14 Shank, C.C and Terrill, L R (1995, May) Teaching Multilevel Adults IELTS classes Arlington (Virginia) Education and Employment Program 15 Swales, J.M & Feak, C.B (1994) Academic writing for graduate students: essential tasks and skills for non-native speakers of English Michigan: University of Michigan Press 16 Syndicate, Cleverley, J (1991) The schooling of Vietnam Alen and Unwin Pty Ltd Vol 22, No 17 Tribble, C.(1996) Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Ur, P.(1991) A course in Language teaching- Practice& Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19 Xinyu Qian (2010) A Balanced Approach to the Teaching of Intermediate-Level Writing Skills to EFL Students English Language Teaching Vol 3, No 2; June 2010 20 Y A Nik , A Hamzah and H Rafidee (2010) A Comparative Study on the Factors Affecting the Writing Performance among Bachelor Students International Journal of Educational Research and Technology, Vol [1] June 2010: 54-59 I APPENDICES Appendix A: The IELTS 9-band scale Each band corresponds to a level of English competence All parts of the test and the Overall Band Score can be reported in whole and half bands, eg 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0 Band 9: Expert user: has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding Band 8: Very good user: has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar situations Handles complex detailed argumentation well Band 7: Good user: has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning Band 6: Competent user: has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations Band 5: Modest user: has partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes Should be able to handle basic communication in own field Band 4: Limited user: basic competence is limited to familiar situations Has frequent problems in understanding and expression Is not able to use complex language Band 3: Extremely limited user: conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations Frequent breakdowns in communication occur Band 2: Intermittent user: no real communication is possible except for the most basic information using isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate needs Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English Band 1: Non-user: essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words Band 0: Did not attempt the test: No assessable information provided II Appendix B: Writing task band descriptors III Appendix C: Questionnaire for teachers Dear teachers, This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into difficulties experienced by learners in learning IELTS writing task at EQuest center and activities teachers could in class to help their students overcome those problems in writing task Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the 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 Please answer the following questions by checking (✔) the appropriate box Part 1: General information Gender: Female Age: 24-30 How long have you been teaching IELTS writing? 2-3years Male 31-40 3-4years 41-50 4-5 years 50+ over years Part 2: What are being taught and learnt in IELTS writing task classes at EQuest Which of the following you teach your students in writing class? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Check errors by teachers  Peer’s check among students  Provide common mistakes for students to avoid  Have exercises to consolidate vocabulary and grammar IV  Motivate students to write  Others (Please specify) _ Part 3: Learners’ difficulties in learning to write task of IELTS writing Which of the following difficulties you think your students have in learning IELTS writing task 1? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Avoid common mistakes provided by teacher  Peer’s check  Overcome with anxiety in practicing writing IELTS task  Others (Please specify) _ Which of the following expressions you think difficult for your students to remember and use correctly (Rank the options from the least difficult to the most difficult with for the most difficult):  Introductory expressions (The graph shows; It is clear from the table)  Time expressions (in, for, between, from-to/until)  Expressions of measurement (the total quantity, make up, high, approximately)  Expressions of similarity (similarly)  Expressions of contrast (in contrast to)  Expressions for trends (increase, rise, grow, fall)  Correlations (a cause and effect relationship) V  Modifiers (small, slight, scarcely)  Others (Please specify) _ Which of the following common errors your students usually make most? (You can tick as many as appropriate.) Tic Types of k errors Informality Specific errors/Examples Abbreviations there's; shouldn't; don't; there' Use ―a lot of‖ instead of ―many‖ or ―a great deal of‖ Begin a sentence with ―And‖ Write an incomplete sentence Use ―big‖ instead of ―large‖ Use the subject ―they‖ instead of a passive voice Narrative ―Here are two graphs They show that there were style many changes in the kinds of jobs the people of Alia mostly did in the last century In the 1920s, most people worked in agriculture, as farmers, and they continued in this way for many years.‖ Redundancy Redundant statement ―Twenty percent of car accidents happen after dark, while the other 80% happen during daylight tours.‖ (Only the first half of the sentence is necessary) VI Redundant phrase ―In contrast, the position of women was just the opposite to that of men.‖ (Omit the introductory phrase, in contrast) Repetition The graph shows the trend in two types of marriages in Japan between 1950 and 1990 The two types of marriages are love marriages and arranged marriages The proportion of these two types of marriage was inverted dramatically during the period of time Grammar Spelling Others Specify here: _ What other common errors your students usually make? Please specify here: Part 4: Teachers’ recommendations to teach students to write IELTS writing task as required Which of the following you suggest instructing your students to to overcome their problems in learning IELTS writing task 1? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Check errors by teachers VII  Peer’s check among students  Provide common mistakes for students to avoid  Have exercises to consolidate vocabulary and grammar  Motivate students to write  Others (Please specify) _ Thank you very much for your cooperation Appendix D: Questionnaire for learners: Dear IELTS learners, VIII This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into difficulties experienced by learners in learning IELTS writing task at EQuest center and activities teachers could in class to help their students overcome those problems Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the 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 Please use either English or Vietnamese Please answer the following questions by checking (✔) the appropriate box Part 1: General information Gender: Age: Male 20-21 18-19 Female 22-23 24-26 How long have you been learning English? 1-3 years 3-7 years 7-10 years over 10 years Part 2: What are being taught and learnt in IELTS writing task classes at EQuest Which of the following you learn in writing class? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Check errors by teachers  Peer’s check among students  Provide common mistakes for students to avoid  Have exercises to consolidate vocabulary and grammar IX  Motivate students to write  Others (Please specify) _ Part 3: Learners’ difficulties in learning to write task of IELTS writing Which of the following difficulties you have in learning IELTS writing task 1? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Avoid common mistakes provided by teacher  Peer’s check  Overcome with anxiety in practicing writing IELTS task  Others (Please specify) _ Which of the following expressions you find difficult to remember and use correctly (Rank the options from the least difficult to the most difficult with for the most difficult):  Introductory expressions (The graph shows; It is clear from the table)  Time expressions (in, for, between, from-to/until)  Expressions of measurement (the total quantity, make up, high, approximately)  Expressions of similarity (similarly)  Expressions of contrast (in contrast to)  Expressions for trends (increase, rise, grow, fall)  Correlations (a cause and effect relationship)  Modifiers (small, slight, scarcely) X  Others (Please specify) _ Which of the following common errors you usually make most? (You can tick as many as appropriate.) Tick Types of errors Informality Specific errors/Examples Abbreviations there's; shouldn't; don't; there' Use ―a lot of‖ instead of ―many‖ or ―a great deal of‖ Begin a sentence with ―And‖ Write an incomplete sentence Use ―big‖ instead of ―large‖ Use the subject ―they‖ instead of a passive voice Narrative style ―Here are two graphs They show that there were many changes in the kinds of jobs the people of Alia mostly did in the last century In the 1920s, most people worked in agriculture, as farmers, and they continued in this way for many years.‖ Redundancy Redundant statement ―Twenty percent of car accidents happen after dark, while the other 80% happen during daylight tours.‖ (Only the first half of the sentence is necessary) XI Redundant phrase ―In contrast, the position of women was just the opposite to that of men.‖ (Omit the introductory phrase, in contrast) Repetition The graph shows the trend in two types of marriages in Japan between 1950 and 1990 The two types of marriages are love marriages and arranged marriages The proportion of these two types of marriage was inverted dramatically during the period of time Grammar Spelling Others Specify here: Part 4: Learners’ expectations of what teachers should focus on to teach them to write IELTS writing task as required What you expect your teachers instruct you to to overcome your own difficulties in learning IELTS writing task 1? (You can tick as many as appropriate.)  Understand the graph  Interpret the graph  Choose the necessary information from the graph  Deal with unfamiliar vocabulary in the field the graph is about  Use various structures to express one same idea  Check errors by teachers  Peer’s check among students XII  Provide common mistakes for students to avoid  Have exercises to consolidate vocabulary and grammar  Motivate students to write  Others (Please specify) _ Thank you very much for your cooperation ... describe the visual information; thus, they can be more confident in interpreting, describing, and analyzing graphs and charts in the IELTS writing task Implications of the study Based on the findings... recommendations of learning and teaching the writing task All the findings from two surveys are presented in the previous part The summaries of the findings and the conclusion for the research... HANOI- 2 013 iii DECLARATION I declare that this minor thesis entitled ? ?An exploratory study on the teaching and learning of IELTS writing task in Vietnam? ?? submitted in partial fulfillment of the