Pre-writing strategies used by students at Center for International Cooperation and Training - Electric Power University

Pre-writing strategies used by students at Center for International Cooperation and Training - Electric Power University Mai Thị Thủy Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English language teaching methodology Mã số: 60 14 10 Người hướng dẫn: Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van Năm bảo vệ: 2013 Keywords: Ngôn ngữ; Tiếng Anh; Kỹ năng viết Content PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale “Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man and writing makes an exact man” is one of the most famous sayings of the philosopher and essayist Sir Francis Bacon. Actually, writing is a ticket for human beings not only to enter everyday communication but also to better college grades and greater academic achievement. In addition, in teaching writing, like in the teaching of other three skills, the necessity of conducting the pre-, while- and post-stages has been increasingly realized nowadays. The while-stage has been supposed most necessary and important. Recent studies have shown that pre-stage also plays an important role in the courses’ success, especially in the language classroom. Therefore, pre-writing stage, called the preparation stage, has been needed to provide learners with context motivation and necessary sub-skills to assist their writing. Moreover, it is to give full play to learners’ prior initiatives. Practically, there have been a number of studies on students’ writing strategies so far but now has been on strategies used by students at the pre-writing stage. That is one of the reasons why I decided to conduct this project in order to find out something meaningful to fill in the gaps. In addition, although the necessity of examining writing strategies is increasingly recognized recently, after entering the university, lots of students are actually unfamiliar with academic writing. At university, students were taught to speak, read and write through various approaches, methods and techniques in order to achieve proficiency in the language. Specifically, the main objective of writing is to enable students to write a composition during which they are guided through the process of writing, pre-writing-planning, drafting, revising and editing. This is to ensure that students are given proper guidance when producing a good piece of writing. Ironically, writing is still the skill most students are least proficient in. They still find it difficult to do any writing task, especially from very first steps of writing. Although a sizable portion of time is being given to develop writing skills yet students are unable to produce good pieces of essay writing. This problem becomes worse when there is no support on how to prepare the draft before getting into the full writing phase. What I notice in my students’ composition is that ideas are left out or ideas presented without being fully developed. Further, it can be seen that they lack cognitive strategies of generating and developing ideas in the topic they chose to write on. Thus, they lack the skills to elaborate on the points they are writing, and they lack cognitive strategies to reflect on what had been learnt. White and Arndt (1991) suggested questions will prompt to help stimulate thinking, to draw on experiences and to develop and shape ideas. As such students have the opportunity to openly express their ideas and thoughts and keep them actively involved in the lessons. In recognition of importance of pre-writing stage in the writing process, the current situation and the need of practicing pre-writing strategies in English classes, I decide to carry out this study in order to find out what strategies they often use and what they do not use in the hope of helping them improve the quality of their writing. 2. Research aims and research questions The research aim is to explore the strategies used by students at center for international cooperation and training, EPU at the pre-writing stage. In brief, this aim can be realized by the following research question: “What strategies are used by students at the Center for International Cooperation and Training, Electric Power University, at the pre-writing stage?” 3. Significance of the study As mentioned in the Rationale, it is a fact that many students struggle with generating ideas as well as how to put their thoughts into a cohesive product. In order to assist students in becoming better writers, educators need to thoroughly and explicitly articulate how to effectively complete each stage of the writing process. One of the most important facets of the writing process is the prewriting stage; students need to be taught on how to successfully produce ideas and once they have generated those ideas, tools need to be provided on how to turn the raw ideas into a complete draft. Therefore, this study can improve education because it will give students a multitude of resources that they can use in order to be successful in beginning a writing task. To overcome difficulties and frustration in generating a piece of writing, they can be equipped with strategies to deal with their roadblocks improve their writing skills. With this study, I hope to make a small contribution to teaching/learning writing effectively, which may help students retain prewriting strategies and help the teachers find appropriate approaches when teaching writing. 4. Scope of the study In carrying out the study, I do not have an ambition to cover a big topic, but just intend to concentrate mainly on strategies what are used by students at center for International Cooperation and Training, EPU at the pre-writing stage. The time limitation and ability is the small scale of research which is restricted to 50 third – year students at the center for international cooperation and training, EPU. 5. Methods of the study The research will use both quantitative and qualitative methods which are realized through the following instruments:  Document analysis: Reading materials of teaching writing in general, strategies students use during teaching writing process and strategies they use at the pre-writing stage.  Survey questionnaire: 4 out of 10 classes were invited to take part in the questionnaire- answering process. The selection process was taken according to cluster sampling basis, which means that 4 classes will be chosen at random. Questions are all in close-ended form to ensure the participants’ willingness to respond actively and truthfully.  Interview: 5 volunteers from these classes will be invited to take part in the interview with the aim of checking data collected from the questionnaire and gaining further insights into the research matters. 6. Design of the study The research is divided into three parts. The first part, Introduction includes the rationale for the study, aims of the study and research question, significance of the study, scope of the study, method and design of the study. The second part is Development which consists of three chapters. Chapter one – Theoretical and Practical Backgrounds to the study, looks at some issues related to writing, teaching writing, the writing process, previous studies on strategies students use at the pre- writing stage and context of the study. In chapter 2, Research Design and Methodology, reports on the participants and instruments of the research. Chapter 3, Research Findings and Discussion, presents the results and discussions of the results. Finally, part three, Conclusion, sums up the main issues studied, points out the shortcomings of the research and make some suggestions for further research. REFERENCES 1. Adeghija, E. (1991). 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Translating research into classroom practice. Virginia, ASCD 28. Zemach, D.E & Islaln, C (2006). Writing in paragraphs. Macmillan Education . intend to concentrate mainly on strategies what are used by students at center for International Cooperation and Training, EPU at the pre-writing stage. The time limitation and ability is the. following research question: “What strategies are used by students at the Center for International Cooperation and Training, Electric Power University, at the pre-writing stage?” 3. Significance. Pre-writing strategies used by students at Center for International Cooperation and Training - Electric Power University Mai Thị Thủy Trường Đại