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

This study is intended to explore 1 what are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes, 2 what difficulties Vietnamese learners have in learning to write IELTS writing task 1, an

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1

của bài thi viết IELTS ở Việt Nam)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

(Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy và học luyện thi phần 1

của bài thi viết IELTS ở Việt Nam)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

DECLARATION

I declare that this minor thesis entitled ―An exploratory study on the teaching and learning

of IELTS writing task 1 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

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

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 1 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 1 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 1 as required The participants selected for this study were 68 learners from 8 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 1 However, learners have difficulties in interpreting the graph, using various structures in expressing their ideas, and overcoming with anxiety in practicing IELTS writing task 1 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

Table of contents

DECLARATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Significance of the study 3

5 Methodology 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 The writing skill and academic writing skill in English 5

2 Teaching writing 7

3 What makes writing difficult? 9

4 The writing task 1 in IELTS 9

5 IELTS writing task 1 research 12

6 Affective factors in IELTS learning 14

7 Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam 16

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 19

1 Context of the study 19

2 Methodology 19

Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 22

1 Personal information 22

2 What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest 26

3 Students’ difficulties in learning to write task 1 of IELTS writing 28

4 Difficult expressions for learners 30

5 Common errors among students’ graph-based writings 31

6 Teachers’ recommendations and learners’ expectations for teaching focus 32

PART 3: CONCLUSION 34

1 Summary of the study 34

2 Implications of the study 35

3 Limitations of the study 35

4 Suggestions for further study 36

REFERENCES 37 APPENDICES I Appendix A: The IELTS 9-band scale I Appendix B: Writing task 1 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

1 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 2 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 1 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 1 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 do 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-most-outstanding-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, well-qualified Vietnamese teachers, good condition of equipment and materials, I decided to choose EQuest to be the context for my research

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to explore the situation of teaching and learning IELTS writing task 1 in Vietnam The focus is on the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning IELTS writing task 1 and what teachers could do to help their students improve their score in this task corresponding to their ability

Three research questions will be addressed as follows:

1 What are taught and learnt in IELTS writing task 1 classes at EQuest?

2 What are the difficulties faced by Vietnamese learners in learning to write IELTS writing task 1?

3 What should Vietnamese teachers do to teach their students to write IELTS writing task 1 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 1 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

4 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 1 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

5 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 1 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 2 of Part II

6 Design of the study

The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion Part 1 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 1 Chapter 2, Methodology, presents methodology of the study including data collection procedure and data analysis Chapter 3,

Results and discussion, states the findings from the study and discusses some recommendations The last part is Conclusion presenting the summary of the major findings, the conclusions and limitations of the study; implications as well as suggestions for further studies are included in this part

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews materials relevant to the study consisting of definitions of key items and previous researches on the IELTS writing task 1

1 The writing skill and academic writing skill in English

1.1 The writing skill

There are different definitions about writing skill in English depending on each linguist’s point of view Many researchers tended to focus on the nature of writing as an entity of linguistic creation For example, Murray (1978: 29) defined writing as ―a creative discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay of content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content.‖ From another view of writing, Brannon, Knight and Neverow-Turk (1982: 2) pointed out ―writing is a creative art, not as assembly line operation of locking words together into sentence and bolting sentences together into paragraphs in accordance with a predefined plan.‖ The Ministry of Education

of New Zealand (1994) also stated that writing is the act of using the language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it In this point of view, writing is related with experience and discovery new meaning of words and conveys it to the audience

In language teachers’ opinion, writing is one of the two productive skills including speaking and writing and is ―a language skill which is difficult to acquire‖ Ur (1991), (Tribble, 1996: 3) gave the similar opinion when adding that ―most people acquire the spoken language (at least their own mother tongue) intuitively, whereas, the written form is

in most cases deliberately taught and learned‖ (Ur, 1991: 161)

In short, writing is an art in which writers want to communicate with audience Writing is characterized with some basic features, i.e being linguistics, creative, progressive and interactive Besides, the word ―writing‖ itself may imply an act, a process, or a skill, which needs practice and study to develop It requires both physical and mental powers from the writers

1.2 Academic writing

Academic writing according to Oshima and Hogue (1991: 2) stated that ―Academic writing, as the name implies, is the kind of writing that you are required to do in college or university It differs from the other kinds of writing (personal, literary, journalistic, business, etc.) In several ways, its differences can be explained in part by its special audience, tone, and purpose

To make the definition of academic writing clearer, Oshima and Hogue explain the mentioned differences in more detail According to them, in academic writing, the audience plays an important part, as they are the people who will read what have been written, and only when specifying the audience the writers can reach their goal of communicating clearly and effectively Beside the audience, the tone of writing is also a crucial factor Tone reveals the writer’s attitude towards the chosen subject by their choice

of words, grammatical structures and the length of sentences The tone of a piece of writing

is determined more by its intended audience than its subject matter And the last difference

is the purpose of writing In academic writing, the purpose will most often be to explain It may also be to persuade or to convince the audience of the correctness of the writer’s point

of view on a particular issue And the organizational form and style chosen for writing will also be determined by the purpose of a piece of writing

Swales & Feak (1994) have another approach on academic writing by providing an overview of some important characteristics of academic writing According to their book, academic writing is a product of many considerations: audience, purpose, organization, style, flow, and presentation

Audience is the first things for the students to bear in mind The audience for most graduate

students will be an instructor, who is presumably quite knowledgeable about the assigned writing topic Audience, purpose, and strategy are typically interconnected If the audience

knows less than the writer, the writer's purpose is often instructional (as in a textbook) If

the audience knows more than the writer, the writer's purpose is usually to display familiarity, expertise, and intelligence The latter is a common situation for the graduate student writer Information is presented to readers in a structured format Even short pieces

of writing have regular, predictable patterns of organization You can take advantage of

these patterns, so that readers can still follow, even if you make errors Academic writers need to be sure that their communications are written in the appropriate style The style of

a particular piece must not only be consistent, but must also be proper for the message being conveyed and for the audience A formal research report written in informal English may be considered to o simplistic, even if the actual ideas and/or data are complex One difficulty in using the appropriate style is knowing what is considered academic and what

is not Academic style is not used in all academic settings Lectures are generally delivered

in a relatively non academic style It is not uncommon to hear lecturers use words and phrases like stuff, things, bunch, or a whole lot of, which would not be appropriate for an academic writing task They may also use elaborate metaphors and other vivid expressions

to enliven their speaking style While it is valuable to understand and acquire such language for personal use, it is not generally appropriate for academic writing Another important consideration for successful communication is flow—moving from one statement in a text to the next Naturally, establishing a clear connection of ideas is important to help your reader follow the text Most instructors tolerate small errors in language in papers written by nonnative speakers—for example, mistakes in article or preposition usage However, errors that could have been avoided by careful proofreading are generally considered less acceptable They suggest the procedure to avoid the

unnecessary in the presentation of their writing Those tasks are considering the overall

format of the written work, proofreading for careless grammar mistakes, and checking for misspelled words

The second approach of writing among two above is followed by the author of this research for its clearness, details and practicability

2 Teaching writing

In Raimes (1983: 5- 10), six approaches to writing, namely: The Controlled-to-Free Approach, the Free-Writing Approach, the Paragraph-Pattern Approach, the Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach, the Communicative Approach, and the Process Approach are presented

The Controlled to Free Approach stresses upon grammar, syntax and mechanics and on accuracy rather than fluency Therefore, students are likely to have good grammatical competence and low communication skills

The Free-Writing Approach focuses on writing quantity rather than quality, on content and fluency rather than accuracy and form The emphasis in this approach is on audience,

content and fluency However, concern for accuracy and form is seen as of little importance in this approach This shortcoming has very likely negative effect on learner’s grammar competence in writing

The Paragraph-Pattern Approach puts an emphasis on organization and students should invest time in learning to organize their ideas well in the target language

The Grammar- Syntax-Organization Approach stresses on simultaneous work which heightens not only organization but also grammar and syntax This approach is the combination of the purpose and the form of the writing

The Communicative Approach stresses on the authentic audience and purpose of a piece of writing and is suitable to teach writing to secondary students as it can vary the situation and context of students’ writing

The Process Approach is based on the viewpoint ―Process writing is learning how to write by writing‖ (Stone, 1995) Writers not only concern about purpose and audience but also have to make decision on how to begin and how to organize a piece of writing In this approach, writing is a process with stages (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) and learning to write is seen as a developmental process that helps students to write as a professional authors do, choosing their own topics and genres

Xinyu Qian (2010) puts forward a balanced approach to teach writing skill for EFL learners at intermediate level and I find it quite relevant to this research Some principles and techniques used in this balanced approach are (1) writing should be supported by other skills; (2) students should work as hard as possible; (3) students should work together; (4) teacher should monitor students’ work, give on-the-spot correction, give feedback on students’ work after they check their work themselves; (5) students should exchange their composition to do the peer-check; (6) teacher should apply some correction techniques such as using correction codes, focusing on local errors, that is, errors that interfere with comprehensibility such as poor sentence and paragraph organization, omitting needed information, misuse (including omission) of sentence linkers and logical connectors, breakdown in tense concord across sentences, and ambiguity of reference, giving students comments on their progress in each composition These techniques and principles are very useful for EFL writing teachers in general and IELTS writing task 1 in specific

3 What makes writing difficult?

Writing is never an easy task to do, especially when you write in a second language Raimes (1983) suggests that non-native speaker students need more than just creativity to form ideas in English These students needed great concern of grammar and syntax This means that, in order to compose and write their essays proficiently, students have to acquire the basic rules of grammar and know the correct syntactic structures

Nik, Hamzah and Rafidee (2010) in their study found that ―there are many factors affecting undergraduates writing performance in English as a Second Language (ESL), like content, vocabulary, organization, language use and mechanics in writing.‖ Among these factors, the most significant and challenging component in writing that they have to encounter is language use as they have to learn the grammar , syntactic structure, vocabulary , rhetorical structure and idioms of a new language (ESL) The acquisition of these things is added to their difficulties and makes their writing more difficult and complicated They believe that students who do not read and write well in their first language need to work harder on the new creative activity of forming ideas and thoughts in English for the readers to understand

4 The writing task 1 in IELTS

4.1 The IELTS: An overview

―The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) assesses the English language proficiency of people who want to study or work where English is used as the language of communication It provides a fair, accurate and relevant assessment of language skills, based on well-established standards, and covers the full range of proficiency levels, from non-user to expert user.‖ (IELTS Guide for teachers: 2)

Two versions are offered in IELTS test Test takers may choose either Academic (for linguistically demanding academic courses) or General Training (for less linguistically demanding academic courses) These two models have four parts: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing The two former are the same for both models but the reading tasks and the writing sub-test are different between the two This paper focuses on the Academic version only

IELTS results are reported on a 9-band scale (available in Appendix A) designed to be simple and easy to understand with demarcations in half bands for the Listening and Reading but only whole bands for the rest The four sub-test band scores are both presented separately as well as averaged into one overall band score on the candidates test report form The score is valid for two years

In keeping with this history of innovation, the IELTS partners (the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations) continue to be committed to the ongoing development of the test The current assessment criteria for the Writing Test were operational from January 2005

4.2 The IELTS writing

The writing component tests candidates’ ability to write a formal response which is appropriate in terms of content, vocabulary and the organization of ideas It consists of two tasks, takes 60 minutes: 20 minutes for task one with 150 words required and 40 minutes for task 2 with at least 250 words required

In task 1, candidates are presented with a graph, table, chart, or diagram They are asked to describe, summarize or explain the information in their own words They may be asked to describe and explain data, describe the stages of a process, how something works or describe an object or event In task 2, candidates are required to write an essay in response

to a point of view, argument or problem

Each task is assessed independently The assessment of task 2 carries more weight in marking than task 1 Writing responses are assessed by certificated IELTS examiners Detailed performance descriptors have been developed with describe written performance

at the nine IELTS bands which can be seen in Appendix B In general, examiners award a band score for each of four criterion areas:

Criterion Weighting Task achievement (Task 1)/Task response (Task 2) 25%

Grammatical range and accuracy 25%

(IELTS Guide for teachers, 2013: 8)

4.3 The IELTS writing task 1

According to 101 Helpful Hints for IELTS, Academic module (Adams & Peck, 1999: 55), Writing Task 1 is designed to test the candidates’ ability to interpret and present information that is given in short form, often as data within a diagram, graph, chart or table The candidates must present the information in their own words as complete sentences within paragraphs, that is, not in note form unless specifically requested The minimum number of words are required is 150 Test takers are not asked to give opinions,

make assumptions, or draw conclusions about the information given ―The skill to “read

the data” requires extraction of key ideas from the graphs; the skill to “read between the data” focuses on finding linkages from different pieces of graphical information; and the skill to “read beyond the data” which is the most advanced one that requires extrapolation from the data‖ are core rating criteria (quoted in Yang, 2012: 5) The information may be

presented in the test paper in a number of ways, for instance, as:

• a graph

• a diagram of the stages of a process or procedure

• a bar or pie chart

• a sequence of events

• a table of information

• a picture of an object showing how it works

There might be a combination of graphs, tables and charts, and the candidates may be asked to compare the information given Sometimes, however, even when the question does not specifically ask you to compare information, it might be necessary to do so, for it might helps with the description

Alternatively, the candidates may be asked to use the information given to support a written statement

The following are details of task 1’s assessment criterion areas:

Task achievement:

This criterion assesses how appropriately, accurately, and relevantly the response fulfills the requirement set out in the task, using the minimum of 150 words Academic writing

task 1 is a writing task which has a defined input and a largely predictable output It is basically an information-transfer task which relates narrowly to the factual content of an input diagram and not to speculated explanations that lie outside the given data

Coherence and cohesion:

This criterion is concerned with the overall clarity and fluency of the message: how response organizes and links information, ideas and language Coherence refers to linking

of ideas through logical sequencing Cohesion refers to the varied and appropriate use of cohesive devices (for example, logical connectors, pronouns and conjunctions) assist in making the conceptual and referential relationships between and within sentences clear

Lexical resources:

This criterion refers to the range of vocabulary the candidate has used and the accuracy and properness of that use in terms of specific task

Grammatical range and accuracy:

This criterion refers to the range and accurate use of the candidate’s grammatical resource

as manifested in the candidate’s writing at the sentence level

5 IELTS writing task 1 research

It is the overall aim of this section to establish a foundation on which to better grasp the significance of the research explained thereafter In researching the literature, not only the previous IELTS writing test researches but also findings relating to English language study

in general or with test-orientation in particular need concerning; in addition to this, it is noted that those studies pertinent to Vietnamese test-takers

First, we review relevant studies relating directly to the IELTS Writing test and writing task 1; however, there is a fact that, of the two tasks in IELTS Academic Writing, writing task 1 is the subject to less research than the other Writing task 1, actually, is among two kinds of integrated-writing, including reading-based writing, that is, composing writing from language input (e.g reading passage, lectures) and graph-based writing, from visual input (graphs, charts, diagrams) (Yang, 2012)

Of greatest relevance to this study is Bridges (2010), funded by Cambridge ESOL, a study revealing six processes commonly used to complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1:

macro-planning (task requirements are identified), organizing (ideas are arranged and

connected), micro-planning (sentence and paragraph-level plans are formed for sequent writing), translating (visual inputs are encoded into words), monitoring and

sub-revising (written products are reviewed and revised) The findings also showed that

macro-planning (e.g., goal-setting, task examination) and monitoring occurred more frequently for skilled writers than less skilled writers and organizing occurred not as frequently as other strategies, suggesting that the task may only require knowledge telling rather than knowledge transforming skills Although he made big contribution in identifying the cognitive process in which IELTS candidates take to write the graph-based writing, he did not focus on difficulties experienced by test takers during the process; therefore, the solutions for those difficulties

Another research, named ―Modeling the relationships between test-taking strategies and

test performance on a graph-writing task‖, conducted by Hui-Chun Yang in Taiwan in

2012 (Yang, 2012) also drew my attention This study examined second language (L2) writers’ test-taking strategies in relation to their performance on a graph-writing test administered to English learners in health science and medical majors by two methods of data collection which are a strategy inventory and open-ended questions The findings are quite interesting and useful for teachers of IELTS preparation course In fact, the study discovered that three strategies involved during the task response are graph comprehension, graph interpretation, and graph translation, which have positive impact on test-takers’ performance In addition, learners’ difficulties in completing the task are caused by lexical knowledge and use, as well as possible sources of construct-irrelevant variance including graph familiarity, topical knowledge, and test-wiseness strategy use The practical implications in this research are significant in IELTS writing task 1training Teachers may guide learners an active approach to visual decoding by identifying trends, extracting elementary information, relating data among graphs, and inferring from the data Also, learners are necessarily exposed to lexical and grammatical patterns related to data commentary and statistics in a graphical communication context in order to overcome their language obstacles

Next, a study was conducted in English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) centre in Adelaide, South Australia in 2008 focusing on classroom instruction in

an IELTS preparation program pointed out that in an IELTS preparation class, instruction

are given according to an eclectic teaching approach covering “information about the Test

format, practicing the Test tasks, awareness-raising of the constituent parts of the tasks, practical hints and strategies for doing the Test tasks, and recommendations for independent learning Language skills were treated separately in line with the design of the IELTS Test Much of the class work involved rehearsal for the Test with the teacher modeling and scaffolding exemplars of texts.” (Mickan and Motteram, 2008) The crucial

procedure and activities covered in this study is really realistic and typical in IELTS class

in general, not only in the study’s context but also in the situation of IELTS training courses in Vietnam

The article named ―The cognitive processes of taking IELTS Academic Writing Task 1‖ by

Yu, Rea-Dickins and Kiely (2007) is a report on the topic of the cognitive process of candidates taking IELTS Academic Writing Task 1(AWT1) The study found out that the candidates are affected by types of graphs, graph familiarity, their level of writing ability, their expectations and experiences in academic writing, and especially the IELTS-specialized training when understanding and following the the graphic information to reproduce it into written form in English in their test

Those researches, which were carried out in different parts of the world on the same subjects, revealed important issues on the teaching and learning IELTS writing task 1 and were of useful as background knowledge for my study when I am in an effort to explore the situation of my own country

Also, the much broader area of Vietnam educational practices and their implications for the Vietnamese language learners and test takers are taken into account in reviewing literature Unfortunately, there are few researches or articles on this topic for, maybe, IELTS in Vietnam have not received appropriate care yet though it came into the country for years

6 Affective factors in IELTS learning

Shank and Terill (1995) mentioned factors influencing second language learning as follow: Personal/individual Factors:

- Age and time of entry into the second language learning environment

- Personality and learning style

- Attitude and motivation to learn the new language

- A natural talent for learning languages

- Language ability in first language

- The similarity of the first language to the second language

Experience factors:

- Previous educational background

- Previous exposure to and experience in the second language and culture

Environmental factors:

- Adjustment and attitude of the family toward the new language and culture

- Community interest, resources, and parental environment in school programs

- The perceived respect for and acknowledgement of the home language and culture by the new community

- Maintenance of students’ first language in and out of school

- Supportive learning environments and skilled teachers who use a wide range of appropriately applied strategies

First and foremost, motivation is a key factor affecting learner’s second language learning which determines success or failure in any language situation Dörnyei (2001) claims that this aspect is related with the most basic components of mind, which are wills, desires, rational thinking and feelings; thus, our cognitive and affective functions He divides motivation into three sets of components during the learning situation The first is course-specific motivation components meaning that the learners’ interest and needs are in relevance to their expectations, success and satisfaction in the outcome These are related

to syllabus, teaching materials, teaching methods and learning tasks The second is lecturer-specific motivational components and concerns the motivational impact of the lecturer’s personality, behavior and teaching style contra autonomy-supporting, direct socialization of motivation such as modeling, task presentation and feedback The third is group-specific motivational components which relates to the characteristics of the learners’ group cohesiveness, classroom goal structure as cooperative, competitive or individualistic

In addition, anxiety is another crucial aspect of second language learning acquisition It is

―the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an

arousal of the autonomic nervous system‖ (Shank and Terrill, 1995) Anxiety can have both negative (debilitating anxiety) and positive (facilitating anxiety) effect; which means;

on one side, it can hinder learners from behaving as usually do and consequently, it causes emotional stress and lower self-esteem and self-confidence if they are afraid of being laughed at their making mistakes, on the other side, it plays an important role in the development of a second language, because no matter how accomplished the learners are, they are likely to experience at least some degree of anxiety over their own levels of language proficiency Some possible symptoms caused by second language anxiety are forgetfulness, less interaction with people, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and feeling unsure of one’s’ abilities (Schumann, 1998) In learning writing skill, there is little interaction between the writers and the audience; thus, learner’s anxiety seems to increase much more than other skills like speaking and listening since they have to be extremely serious to choose the most accurate language to express their ideas On one hand, this might promote learners to complete their language ability; on the other hand, learners are easy to be demotivated if they cannot attempt to find suitable ways to convey their thoughts to audience

7 Roles of teachers and learners in IELTS teaching and learning in Vietnam

Currently, there are no state-owned schools or colleges in Vietnam teaching IELTS courses officially For this reason, learners who want to study these courses have to take them in some English language centers with short-term courses in a few months In these classes, the roles of teachers and learners can be as followed:

Roles of teachers:

Teachers are often the first significant contact that IETLS learners make with English speakers and the IELTS learners’ perception of IELTS is mediated by this contact IELTS teachers play many roles, requiring a variety of competencies and strategies that facilitate learning and focus on the development of the whole learner (Schumann, 1998)

As nurturers, teachers establish an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance, and empathy in situations where learners of varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds are integrated As observers, teachers are careful and sensitive observers of learners as they interact and become accustomed to linguistic and cultural differences (Schumann, 1998) As participants, teachers share the challenges of learning while acknowledging the frustrations

of IELTS learners As facilitators, teachers act as interpreters for learners as they construct their own understanding of the new language As learners, teachers continually become more knowledgeable about language development and how IELTS learners’ cultural backgrounds affect their learning experience As evaluators and communicators, teachers communicate effectively on an ongoing basis with learners, and seek to bridge the language barrier to facilitate communication between learners A planners and managers, teachers modify activities and resources as necessary to reflect accessible language levels and cultural awareness As role models, teachers accept, respect and celebrate the varied cultural, physical, racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds of all learners and their family (Shank, and Terill, 1995)

Roles of learners:

Learners are supposed to be both learners and teachers in the classroom Teachers should initially construct opportunities for English-speaking learners who interact with their IELTS peers Through activities such as peer tutoring, ongoing interaction can foster friendships and increase feelings of belonging Appropriate peer tutors are academically strong, genuinely interested and have leadership qualities It is more effective, whenever possible, to place IELTS learners with same gender, older learners As continuity is important, an IELTS learner should work with no more than two different tutors and tutoring time should follow a regular schedule (Syndicate, Cleverly, 1991) IELTS learners are usually the recipients of sharing, but teachers should find ways for IELTS learners to share their developing knowledge and language skills It is important to be aware of how relationships are being formed Although IELTS learners may find comfort in relationship with other learners, it is important for them to integrate and form relationships with a variety of classmates (Shank and Terill, 1995)

In their writing, Shank and Terill (1995) claim that:

IELTS learners learn best when they:

- Are involved in identifying what works best for them; e.g how they are integrated into the class and what types of support are provided

- Are made aware of available resources and given the choice of materials, e.g a range

of books to choose from

- Are given realistic expectations

- Are acknowledged for their continued growth by teachers and peers

- Are in an environment where whisk taking is valued and where incremental growth as highly as the attainment of goals

- Experience a sense of self-confidence within their new peers and those with a shared first language

- Understand the new culture, clearly, and show respect for its values while maintaining and valuing their own cultures

- Are both learners and teachers, individuals and group members

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methods involved to answer the three research questions

of the study

1 Context of the study

The study was conducted at Equest As mentioned above, after taking the placement test, those who want to study at EQuest are arranged in a suitable class with 7 -

12 learners; therefore, the learners’ level of English is guaranteed to be nearly the same in each class The researcher surveyed learners in level A classes which require learners to score from 4 to 4.5 in the 9-band scores of IELTS in the placement test Each IELTS A course lasts for four months, with 3 two-hour lessons every week Writing lessons are arranged alternately together with other three skills In total, learners have 11 writing lessons during the course The writing task 1 is highlighted in the course with 6 lessons The very subjects are learners who are university students As a matter of fact, there might

be some learners in those classes who are officers, teachers, doctors, and so on; these people are not involved in my research Questionnaires are designed to get all necessary information of the learning and teaching during the course; hence, the suitable point of time to conduct the surveys is when the learners have finished training in IELTS writing task 1

2 Methodology

Document analysis and survey questionnaires are respectively carried out during the study procedure First, relevant documents are analyzed in corresponding to the objectives of the study This step is mentioned thoroughly sufficiently in the literature review This part mainly focuses on the second step which is collecting data through survey questionnaires

on learners and teachers at EQuest

2.2.1 Participants

The subject of this study was drawn from two sources divided into two groups:

The first group: 68 university students were chosen from 8 classes of IELTS A Preparation courses at Equest They came from different parts of the country, from the countries to the cities They were at the age between 18 and 26 and were still studying at

universities According to our observations and to teachers’ opinions, one of the fundamental advantages of target training is the keen interest of these learners in English Most of them are very studious and purposefully in studying IELTS courses Besides, due

to the fact that they have been familiarized with different foreign cultures, these learners seem to be active and confident; thus, it is of great help for teaching and learning English language

The second group is composed of 17 teachers of English teaching IELTS writing skills at Equest at least for 2 years These teachers, whose ages ranged from 24 to 42, were invited to join in this study The proportion of female teachers to male teacher is prominent, that is 14 female teachers and 3 male teachers

The reason for choosing these teachers was that they had experience in teaching IELTS for learners, especially teaching IELTS writing skills at EQuest

2.2.2 Instrument

In this study, quantitative data was collected with the use of survey questionnaire for it provides space for respondents’ thoughts, ideas, and approaches

Survey questionnaire for teachers

The aims of this questionnaire is to identify their perception of their learners’ difficulties in learning IELTS writing task 1 as well as what they suggest to guide their learners to learn

to write the task (The questionnaire is available in Apendix C)

The questionnaire is designed with four main parts including 8 questions The first part with first three questions contained the teachers’ general information, that is, their gender, age, and the number of years they had been teaching IELTS writing skill The second one including question number 4 was about the content that teachers teach their students in the IELTS writing task 1 class Part three comprising questions 5, 6 and 7 is to explore problems their students face during the course from their points of view The last question belonging to part 4 is their personal suggestions to teach their students to write task 1 of the IELTS test as required

Survey questionnaire for learners

The aims of this survey is to explore the learners’ difficulties in writing IELTS task 1 and their personal expectations about their teachers’ activities to help them overcome their problems (The questionnaire is available in Appendix D)

The questionnaire is designed with four main parts including 8 questions Part one consisting of first three questions is about the learners’ general information which includes their gender, age, the number of years of learning English and the reasons to take part in the course Part two including question number 4 is designed to explore the content that learners learn in the IELTS writing task 1 class Part three comprising questions 5, 6 and 7 investigates challenges learners face with in learning the IELTS writing task 1 Part four involving the last question is to find out their expectations on activities in IELTS writing task 1 class The questionnaire was conducted in English as these learners’ level of English

is good enough to understand all the questions correctly

2.2.3 Procedures of collecting data

The survey was conducted by the researcher herself During the procedure of data collection, a hundred copies of the questionnaire are sent to learners and 20 copies to the teachers of ten IELTS writing classes of EQuest The researcher goes to every class and instructs learners and teachers how to answer questions in the questionnaires Although both survey questionnaires are written in English, translation and explanation are utilized when necessary, especially for learners to make sure that the questions are understood properly The full translation for the survey questionnaire for learners is not applied for their level of English is good enough to perceive the core content of the questionnaire 2.2.4 Procedures of analyzing data

There are actually a hundred questionnaires were sent out to 8 branches of EQuest Hanoi but only 85 were returned, and 10 questionnaires are excluded for those correspondents are not university students, and 7 questionnaires were not properly completed Therefore, only

68 questionnaires were analyzed Besides, 17 teachers took part in the survey questionnaires For all their answers meet the requirements of the study, all these data are taken into analysis The responses are outlined and discussed in the next chapter Wherever possible, the information discussed is provided in diagrammatic form