Using a model-based approach to teach English writing to 10th graders in Ba Dinh high school, Nga Son, Thanh Hoa = Sử dụng bài viết mẫu để dạy viết tiếng Anh ch

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ANH USING A MODEL-BASED APPR

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ANH

USING A MODEL-BASED APPROACH TO TEACH ENGLISH WRITING TO 10TH GRADERS IN BA ĐÌNH HIGH SCHOOL,

NGA SƠN, THANH HÓA

Sử dụng bài viết mẫu để dạy viết tiếng Anh cho học sinh khối 10 trường

THPT Ba Đình, Nga Sơn, Thanh Hóa

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Ha noi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ LAN ANH

USING A MODEL-BASED APPROACH TO TEACH ENGLISH WRITING TO 10TH GRADERS IN BA ĐÌNH HIGH SCHOOL,

NGA SƠN, THANH HÓA

Sử dụng bài viết mẫu để dạy viết tiếng Anh cho học sinh khối 10 trường

THPT Ba Đình, Nga Sơn, Thanh Hóa

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Ph.D TÔ THỊ THU HƯƠNG

Ha noi, 2014

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DECLARATION

I, Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh, hereby certify that the thesis entitled ‗Using a

Model-Based Approach to Teach English Writing to 10 th Graders in Ba Dinh High School, Nga Son, Thanh Hoa‘ is the result of my own research in the

fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of english teaching methodology – University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Signature

Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would particularly extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ph.D Tô Thị Thu Hương for her precious advice, remarkable suggestions, kind guidance and careful correction

Next, I would like to acknowledge all my teachers at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, especially those who are working at the Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies for their interesting lectures which enable me to gain a great deal of theoretical knowledge and practical experience

I am also indebted to all the students and teachers at Ba Đình high school for their cooperation and participation in this study

Last but not least, my heart-felt gratitude goes to my family for their encouragement and support during the process of study

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ABSTRACT

Teaching L2 composition is not an easy task for L2 teachers since it is affected by the culture and writing conventions of the native speakers In an attempt to seek an alternative method to teach L2 writing, this paper reports the results of the empirical study in which the model-based approach/model-based teaching was applied to teach English composition to the Vietnamese 10th graders The study employed questionnaire, direct observation, reflective portfolio and cross-case analysis technique to discover various aspects of using the teaching approach in a Vietnamese context The results suggest that the teaching technique could be used productively in the Vietnamese EFL environment Several suggestions for applying the model-based approach into other similar pedagogical settings are provided

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

2 L1= Mother tongue or first language

5 EFL = English as a foreign language

v

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 1 Illustration of the concept of ZPD 9

Table 3.1 Writing tasks in English Textbook 10 18

Table 3.2 Classification of writing tasks in English Textbook 10 19

Table 3.3 Comprarison of the mean scores of the question items 20

Table 3.4 Comparison of the test-based scores 27

Table 3.5 Truth table of the Boolean configurations 27

Chart 3.1 Comparison of the mean values of the paragraph-level question items 22

Chart 3.2 Comparison of the mean values of the item ‗I clearly know how to cope with a writing task‘ 23

Chart 3.3 Test-based scores of the two groups 26

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LISTS OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS v

PART A - INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationales 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methodologies 2

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Thesis structure 3

PART B - DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definitions of writing 5

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing 5

1.2.1 The ‗Controll-to-Free‘ Approach 5

1.2.2 The Free-Writing Approach 6

1.2.3 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach 6

1.2.4 The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach 6

1.2.5 The Communicative Approach 6

1.2.6 The Process Approach 7

1.2.7 Writing difficulties 7

1.3 A model-based approach in EFL 8

1.3.1 An overview of MBA/MBT 8

2.3.2 MBT/MBT and EFL/ESL 9

2.3.3 MBA/MBT and Vietnamese EFL contexts 11

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1.3.2 Implementation of a model-based approach in a writing class 12

CHAPTER II: 13

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY 13

2.1 Setting of the study 13

2.1.1 English teaching and learning at Ba Dinh High School 13

2.1.2 English textbook 10 and writing lessons 13

2.2 Design and methodology 14

2.2.1 The participants 14

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 14

2.2.3 Data collection procedure 16

2.2.4 Data analysis procedures 17

CHAPTER III: 18

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 18

3.1 Writing tasks at the 10th grade and MBA/MBT 18

3.2 Students difficulties in writing tasks 19

3.3 Implementation of the model-based approach 23

3.4 Effectiveness of using MBA/MBT to teach writing to the 10th graders 26

3.5 Major findings 30

PART C: CONCLUSION 31

1 Conclusion 31

2 Pedagogical suggestions 32

3 Limitation of the study 32

4 Suggestion for further study 33

REFERENCES 34 APPENDICES I

The first is that English at high school, and nearly at all levels of the Vietnamese educational system, is primarily treated as a compulsory subject, so its learning and teaching is heavily exam-driven rather than communication-oriented despite the call for the use of CLT Multiple choice tests are extensively used to assess language learners‘ English competence, with a focus on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing–which only requires L2 learners‘ performance on a surface level like sentence-rewriting and jumbled-word activities This practice definitely cannot enhance students‘ written communication skills and leads to teachers‘ teaching of ‗non-communicative‘ writing skills

Teaching composition in the Vietnamese EFL context today emphasizes the assistance for students to produce the error-free texts based on the models of correct language by providing student writers with vocabulary relating to the required topic and some guiding questions to form their ideas into the finished paragraphs This predominantly language-based teaching of writing cannot help the student writer create compositions to serve the many purposes outside the classroom context The endeavour to seek innovative methods to enhance students‘ writing skills and building up their positive attitudes towards learning this skill is the very drive for us

to engage in this study entitled ‗Using a model-based approach to teach English

writing to 10 th Graders in Ba Dinh High School, Nga Son, Thanh Hoa’, which

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implements the model-based approach in an actual classroom to discover its down and up sides of the teaching technique in a Vietnamese context

2 Aims of the study

 Investigating the situation of teaching and learning English writing to 10thGraders in Ba Dinh High School, Nga Son, Thanh Hoa;

 Investigating the effectiveness and difficulties in using a model-based approach to teach English writing to these students;

 Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of writing teaching at Ba Dinh High School by using a model-based approach

3 Research questions (RQ)

(1) What are the types of writing tasks and topics provided for in English 10

textbook that 10th graders in Ba Đình High School (BĐHS) have to perform? (2) What are the difficulties that 10th graders in BĐHS most frequently encounter when performing those writing tasks on those topics?

(3) How is the model-based approach actually applied in my writing class? (4) How is the application of the model-based approach monitored and evaluated so that conclusions on its effectiveness, possible problems that may have arisen in the application and pedagogical implications can be drawn?

4 Scope of the study

Because of the limitation of a minor study, the author only carries out research on teachers and 10th graders at Ba Đinh High School The study also mainly focuses on the effectiveness and difficulties in using a model-based approach and the activities used in helping students work well in English writing lessons

5 Methodologies

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to carry out the study With the aim of increasing validity and reliability of the data collected, many instruments were used First, survey questionnaires were delivered The purpose of the

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survey is to collect data about the current situation of using a model-based approach in teaching writing at Ba Đình high school Informal interviews with the colleagues and the students were also conducted Besides, reviewing the related documents was also a method to establish the theoretical background for the study More specifically, to address each of the four research questions, the following methods are used:

For RQ1, critical review and analysis of the writing tasks in English 10

textbook were implemented; For RQ2, a survey questionnaire was employed; For RQ3, classroom observation and reflective portfolio were used; For RQ4, crisp-set

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA) is used with the assistance of the

TOSMANA software

6 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study systemised the theory of a model-based approach to teaching writing, together with its advantages and disadvantages The study also provides suggestions for successful application of the approach into teaching composition in a real classroom

Practically, the research provides language teachers and learners with a number of activities and exercises using the model-based approach in all stages of writing in English Textbook 10

7 Thesis structure

 Part I – Introduction; This part presents basic information like the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, significance, methods, and organization of the study; Part II - Development

a Chapter 1: Literature Review

The chapter provides an overview of the writing act, writing difficulties and MBA/MBT, which serves as a theoretical basis for the whole study

b Chapter 2: Design and Analysis of the Study

The chapter includes an overview of the approach used in conducting the study, with a thorough description of the data collection and analysis procedure

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c Chapter 3: Result and Discussion

The chapter reports the findings of the study and discusses the prominent aspects to answer the research questions stated in the previous chapter

 Part III - Conclusion

This part presents the conclusions of the whole study, pedagogical recommendations, limitations of this research, and suggestions for further studies

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PART B - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I:LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definitions of writing

Brannon, Knight and Neverow-Turk (1982: 2) hold that 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.‖

Writing is also viewed as a communicative process where purposeful interaction between the participants occurs; it is not a solitary act but the result of the interaction among people, contexts, and texts (Nunan, 1999) and a process of via-text communication between the writers (Oluwadiya, 1990) Therefore, writing

is ―a language skill which is difficult to acquire‖ (Tribble, 1996: 3) and ―a process that occurs over a period of time‖ (Harris, 1993:10)

To sum up, writing is creative, progressive and interactive; it needs practice and study to develop and requires both physical and mental powers from the writers

1.2 Approaches to teaching writing

According to Raimes (1983), there are six approaches to teaching 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

1.2.1 The ‘Controlled-to-Free’ Approach

In this approach, writing is sequential At low levels, students are given sentence-level exercises or controlled compositions to imitate, copy and manipulate Students therefore make few mistakes Only at advanced levels are students allowed

to try some free compositions, in which they can express their own ideas As a result, the focus of the teaching of writing is grammar, syntax and mechanics and accuracy rather than fluency, which likely results in students‘ good grammatical competence and low communication skills

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1.2.2 The Free-Writing Approach

This approach emphasizes both content and fluency Students work with given topics and write with little correction from teachers; they are often asked to write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling Frequent practice helps them write fluently with confidence Teachers do not correct these short pieces of free writing but simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer expressed, but this lack of concern for accuracy and form has very likely negative effect on learner‘s grammar competence in writing

1.2.3 The Paragraph-Pattern Approach

As the name suggests, the paragraph-pattern approach stresses on organization; student writers copy paragraphs and imitate model passages Consequently, exercises to recognise textual patterns, e.g., putting scrambled sentences into paragraph order, identifying general and specific statements, and inventing an appropriate topic sentence or inserting/delete sentences, are extensively used The principle underpins this approach is that people from different cultures construct and organize communication with each other in different ways so students should invest time in learning to organize their ideas well in the target language

1.2.4 The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach

This approach is, in fact, an extension of the paragraph-pattern one; it focuses on simultaneous work more than on organization of an essay only Teachers adopting this approach draw their students‘ attention to organization while working

on grammar and syntax In short, it emphasises students‘ recognition of the relationship between the purpose and the form of the writing in the teaching of L2 writing

1.2.5 The Communicative Approach

This approach emphasizes the audience and purpose when a piece of text is composed L2 students are encouraged to answer two questions: ‗Why am I writing this?‘ and ‗Who will read it?‘ when they write Traditionally, teachers are the

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audience for student writing, but the readership has been extended to other classmates, who will do the work of responding and commenting, not correcting their classmate‘s work Giving students a reason and an audience in advance may well motivate them to write This approach should, therefore, be exploited to teach writing to secondary students as it can vary the situation and context of students‘ writing

1.2.6 The Process Approach

This approach encourages students‘ communication of ideas, feelings, and experiences It is more global and focuses on purpose, theme and text type, i.e., the reader is emphasized Writers, thus, not only concern about the purpose and audience of their writing but also have to make decision on how to begin and organize their writing When writing in class, students involve in many stages: setting out ideas, making plans, writing a first draft, revising the draft after peer feedback, editing their writing or writing other drafts and finishing the final version

The viewpoints on the number of stages in the writing process vary Oshima and Hogue (1999) suggest five: pre-writing, planning, writing and revising draft and writing the final copy, but Tribble (1996) recommend four: pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing In practice, Vietnamese L2 teachers often divide the writing proccess into three stages: pre- writing, while- writing, and post-writing

1.2.7 Writing difficulties

A writer might generally encounter three obstacles, including: psychological problem, linguistics problems and cognitive ones (Byrne, 1991) In ESL/EFL, L2 learners‘ writing is affected by contexts, cognitive processing, affective factors, and constraints (Flowerdew, 1999) Also, Kellogg (1994) asserts that anxiety, motivation, and apprehension towards writing in the L2 have a direct effect on the development of the writing skills of language learners Practically, research shows that L2 learners‘ difficulties in L2 writing include limited vocabulary, problems with organization and coherence, and deficiencies in the L2 linguistic mechanisms (Hirose, 2001; Lee, 2002; Fujioka & Shi, 2003) and cohesion (Granger & Tyson,

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1996).Fan and Hsu (2008) found that students often give irrelevant examples or inappropriate supporting ideas in their writing and many claim to have ―the ideas‖ but neither the ability nor the skill in the L2 to express them (Khaldieh, 2000)

Besides, L1-L2 variations also impact on students‘ writing negatively Research states that L2 learners employ their L1 resources in their L2 composition (Berman & Slobin 1994) and inform their inability to free themselves from the influence of the L1 when they write in L2 (Williams, 1984; Zamel, 1983).L2 learners, in fact, use L1 for global organization (Friedlander, 1990) and pay less attention to revising and editing (Raimes, 1985) Further, L2 learners‘ problems in organizing their L1 writing affect their L2 textual organization (Hirose, 2003), and L1-L2 variations in composing processes and features of written texts likely lead language learners to troubles in their L2 writing (Silva,1993)

Finally, it takes L2 learners a long time to write an L2 text and they are restricted to a simple writing style (Flowerdew, 1999) Also, it is worth noticing that L2 learners proficient in speaking and reading may not show a similar pattern when it comes to writing (Khaldieh, 2000)

1.3 A model-based approach in EFL

1.3.1 Anoverview of MBA/MBT

Modelling is ―the act of determining the defining characteristics of a model text, that is, a text which is seen as being exemplary of its kind, and developing methods of duplicating these defining characteristics using different content‖ (Stolarek, 1994:154), and MBA/MBT is a theoretical approach to teaching that emerged from cognitive-historical research on mental models (Khan, 2011) It

is any implementation that brings together information resources, learning activities, and instructional strategies intended to facilitate mental model-building both in individuals and among groups of learners (Gobert & Buckley, 2000)

MBA/MBT is not alien to educators wordwide; it is, in fact, closely linked with the social theory of learning, where Vygotsky (1984) laid the foundation for the concept of release through his ‗zone of proximal development‘ (ZPD): the

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learner, with external assistance, progresses from his/her present state of knowledge to a more advanced one where she can function independently, illustrated as follows:

Figure 1 Illustration of the concept of ZPD

To enable learners to work well in their ZPD, ‗scaffolding‘–temporary assistance provided by the teacher in helping students carry out tasks or develop an understanding of the subject so that the students are capable of accomplishing the tasks by themselves (Hammond & Gibbons, 2001)–is needed In EFL, demonstration and modelling are important aspects of scaffolding learning (Burns

& Joyce, 2001), especially in a writing course (Cotterall &Cohen, 2003)

2.3.2 MBT/MBT and EFL/ESL

2.3.2.1 Benefits of using MBA/MBT

MBA/MBT benefits L2 learners in various ways It meets the requirement of writing in any culture, which consists of three basic forms of knowledge requisite for the writer: semantic knowledge, knowledge of models, and knowledge of social and cultural rules (Purves & Purves, 1986) Models provide exposure to the lexical items, structural patterns, and conventions of the target language at all levels of

What I can

do

with help

What I can do

What I can‘t

do

Zone of Proximal Development

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discourse (Watson, 1982) They also allow learners to stress their efforts on one

section of the essay at a time, while introducing them to the important rhetorical patterns Some may argue that this approach is overtly prescriptive, but the predictability of structure enhances learners‘ sense of sercurity (Cotterall &Cohen, 2003) Thus, models can ―still contribute a very great deal to the teaching of composition, especially in the second or foreign language situation‖ (Watson, 1982: 13)

Others might claim that MBT/MBA neglect students‘ self-sufficiency This

is not the case Many daily situations involve predictable and recurring patterns of language use, without which our interactions would be random and chaotic, and this requires us to recognize the generic expectations of various situations to produce an acceptable response (Derewianka, 2003) Thus, MBT/MBA does not neglect students‘ self-sufficiency but guarantee the use of their self-sufficiency to achieve their communicative purposes in various contexts

Finally, the availability of model texts could create a condition for students

to copy and become lazy in the process of learning Hare (1992) argues that introducing students to the rules of writing can, in fact, avoid their use of a low level strategy of copying Students are likely to copy the model if they do not know how and what to write This inadequacy can be easily avoided with a careful lesson plans and wise strategies used to scaffold students in the process of learning and teaching

2.3.2.2 Previous studies of using MBA/MBT in EFL/ESL

Previous studies cover various aspects of using MBA/MBT in teaching L2 composition Of the seventy instructors who responded to Stolarek‘s study (1991), 76% stated that they use prose modelling on a regular basis in their classes, with the largest number of respondents believing modelling was most effective in giving students stylistic models for their writing and in teaching rhetorical modes

Charney & Carlson (1995) found that models do influence the content and organization of students‘ texts since reading models seems to have reminded

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students of genre-specific structural patterns at the sentence level, paragraph level,

or higher discourse levels, thereby increasing the likelihood that the writer used these patterns while writing Also, MBA/MBT affects L2 learners‘ writing ability positively and it significantly improvetheir writing quality compared to those did not experience MBT (Crowhurst, 1991; Ferris, 1994) Especially, non-native speakers who had a higher subtopics to sentences ratio than the native speakers could benefit from learning how to analyze the topical structure of their essays (Ferris, 1994) Thus, it can be concluded that MBA/MBT has a positive impacts on L2 learners‘ writing ability and L2 teachers around the world strongly support the approach

2.3.3 MBA/MBT and Vietnamese EFL contexts

Presently, that the ―so-called‖ teaching writing approach of composition used

by Vietnamese teachers fails to help students realize and master such features as purposes, audiences, context and linguistic conventions of text which are the important features of any text-types (Tuan Luu, 2011), and this claims is strongly supported by a recent study carried out in a Vietnamese EFL context:

―[…] most students are not able to distinguish between a paragraph

and an essay Further, as regards the structure of a paragraph

(including a topic sentence, supporting sentences, a closing sentence),

many have not master it yet, so their ideas are arranged randomly and

unclearly and their writings are incomplete [ ] (Thao Lai, 2011: 20)

Non-native speakers normally come into composing situations with a different set of discoursal and rhetorical expectations as a result of differing in rhetorical conventions between L2 and L1 This is especially true to Vietnamese students, whose redundant and indirect style of writing is opposite to English native writers‘ (Thuy Nguyen, 2008) In EFL, Ferris (1994) claims that these differences need to be studied within the context of the non-native speakers' first languages, and need to be taken into consideration in the composition classroom

1.3.2.2 Teaching procedures

(1) Introducing a model: students read, analyze and examine a model text; (2) Focusing on a model: teachers and students discuss the model explicitly

by naming its stages;

(3) Jointly negotiating a model: teachers and students jointly compose a model under focus;

(4) Researching: students select materials and assess information before writing;

(5) Independent construction: students write a text individually

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CHAPTER II:

THE STUDY 2.1 Setting of the study

2.1.1 English teaching and learning at Ba Dinh High School

Though Ba Dinh High School is the only gifted high school in Nga Son, its English teaching and learning has several difficulties Firstly, the class size far exceeds the standard number for a language class, with approximately 40 students each Secondly, the number of technology-aided classrooms is very limited; therefore, teachers can not apply electronic lessons to the extent that they desire for Finally, there is lack of visual aids such as pictures and portable boards from the school Thus, the teachers and students are not offered the most convenient and modern environment to the teaching and learning of English

As regards students, they are strictly selected to enroll in the school, most are academically qualified There are 10 classes in the 10th grade with one English gifted class whose students‘ English proficiency are supposed to be better than those from the others In this study, the average level of the majority of the 10thgraders in the school was selected

2.1.2 English textbook 10 and writing lessons

CLT underpins the design of English Textbook 10, so the structure of each unit includes four skills: reading, speaking, listeningand writing Linguistic knowledge such as phonetics, vocabulary and grammar areconsidered the means

and condition to form and improve communicative ability In fact, the

learner-centered approach is also adapted in order to promote students' activeness and

creativeness, in which teachersact as theorganizer and facilitator in the class

The content of the book is theme-based, with 16 units covering different

topicswhich were contextualized to be suited to Vietnamese students Further,

learning is task-based, with the activities are designed in the way in which students are offered opportunities to interact and co-operate

―experimental group‖ All are at the age of 15 or 16 and have 7- year experience of learning English The experimental group were taught with MBA/MTB while the other with regular traditional approach

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

Data were collected through various techniques: observation instrument, a reflective porfolio and the particpants‘ writing tests–which were processed using Crisp-set Comparative Qualitative Analysis (csQCA)with the assistance of a computer software TOSMANA

2.2.2.1 Questionnaire

A questionnaire was designed to discover the difficulties which the participants encountered during their composition in English The questionaire consists of 13 items which are selected basing on the literature on the problems which L2 learners encounter in their L2 writing (see Appendix A) It does not aim

to investigate all kinds of the difficulties that language learners might have but focus on linguistic aspects of the writing process only, with some questions relating

to timing and the effect of L1 ways of thinking into L2 writing

2.2.2.2 Observation instrument and reflective porfolio

Since This study employs a n observation instrument and a reflective porfolio to collect data on the implementation of the model-based approach The observation instrument help collect data on the whole process of teaching students under the model-based approach (see Appendix B for details)

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Reflective portfolio–a kind of reflective writing (Hughes & Moore, 2007) to help the researcher to obtain better insights into her teaching by re-examining it This provides the basis for improvement in the next teaching segment Since a portfolio is a very personal document, it does not conform to any templates but varies according to individual needs In this study, the researcher employs Gibbs' (1988) reflective cycle (see Appendix C) as the guideline for her critical reflection

2.2.2.4 Crisp-set Comparative Qualitative Analysis and the TOSMANA

software

The csQCA belongs to Configurational Comaprative Methods, which

―allows systematic cross-case comparisions, while at the same time giving justice to within-case complexity, particularly in samll- and intermediate-N research design‖ (Rihoux & Ragin, 2009, p.20) The method is often used with computer software named TOSMANA (Tool for Small-N Analysis , which allows to reduce the complexity of data sets by using Boolean algebra A

To enable the csCQA work, an assessment grading tools was design to score the participants‘ writing and a set of characteristics of effective writing—which then becomes the ‗conditions‘ for the analysis using TOSMANA—were identified

 Assessment grading tool

The assessment grading tool was designed based on the Continua Model of a Guide to Making Judgments suggested by Grainger (2013) The tool consists of a continua set of criteria for marking students‘ writing and the equivalent grades for each set of criteria (see Appendix D) The assessment grading tool allows examining how better the experiment group perform than the control group, and it is the basis for later analysis using the TOSMANA software

 Charateristics of effective writing

Several characteristics of effective writing are suggested by researchers and scholars the available literature relating to L2 writing, including a right format (Purves&Purves, 1986), coherence (Liangprayoon et al., 2013;Rinnert & Kobayashi, 2001; Todd et al., 2004), coherence and cohesion (Bloor &Bloor, 2004),

 [LENGTH] (length): 0 if below 120 words; 1 if above 120 words;

 [MERROR] (mechanical errors): 0 if containing serious errors which might the intelligibility of the text; 1 if only containing minor errors;

 [TEXTYPE] (text types): 0 if unsuitable text type; 1 if suitable;

 [COHERSI] (coherence and cohesion): 0 if not coherent and cohesive; 1 if coherent and cohesive

 [FORMAT] (format): 0 if not including a topic sentence, supporting sentences and a concluding/ transition sentence; 1 if yes

2.2.3 Data collection procedure

The data on the implementation of MBA/MBT in the classroom were collected during the process of teaching Four experienced teachers at Ba Dinh High School were asked for help; the observation instrument was given to the teachers, with some explanation and clarification being given Besides, after each teaching period, the researcher critically re-examined her teaching experience by reflecting upon the whole teaching segment, analysing the data.observation instrument, and searching related literature for further understandings of the problems in the proccess of teaching

The data on students‘ performance were collected after completing the two writing lessons in the form of a writing test; all the participants were required to compose a 120-word paragraph about their chosen topic from the two topics given

by the teacher Totally, 70 writen texts were collected

Finally, the data on students‘ writing difficulties were collected after students‘ finishing the writing test; 70 questionaireswere delivered to the two classes and all returned

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2.2.4 Data analysis procedures

To answer the first research question, all of the writing tasks in English Textbook Grade 10 were critically analysed to assess the suitability of MBA/MBT

to teaching composition to the 10th graders

To answer the second research question, the data from the questionnaires were treated with the SPSS software to compare the mean values of each item, with some of the most striking ones graphicalised

To answer the third research question, the observation data and reflective porfolios were described, summarised and critically analysed to figure out the up and down sides of implementing the MBA/MBT in a Vietnamese classroom

To answer the last research question, the participants‘ writing tests were first coded and marked by two raters from Ba Dinh High School, with an assessment grading tool provided to assist the process of marking Later, the writings from the experimental group were processed with the TOSMANA software to examine the effectiveness of MBA/MBT

Table 3.1 Writing tasks in English 10Textbook

9 Undersea world A description of given information

10 Conservation A letter of invitation

11 National parks A letter of acceptance or refusal

16 Historical places A description of a chart

With careful consideration, it can be easily recognised that each writing task requires the 10th graders to deal with a particular type of text, and each of which has its distinctive text pattern, features, vocabulary, and signal words (connectors) For