an adaptation of the writing part of the new textbook english 11 at nguyen van cu upper secondary school

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Abstract PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter ONE: Literature Review An overview of teaching writing 1.1 Writing and Teaching writing in a foreign language class 1.2 Major approaches to teaching writing 1.2.1 The product approach …………………………………… 10 1.2.2 The process approach ……………………………………… 11 Adaptation the textbook 13 The English textbook 16 3.1 The aims of the New textbook of English ……………………16 3.2 An overview of the Writing part of English 11 …………… 17 3.3 Challenges of teaching and learning writing of English 11…18 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………19 Chapter TWO: DATA COLLECTION, FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS The context of the study … 20 v 1.1 Setting of the study 20 1.2 Subjects of the study 20 1.3.Methods and instruments 21 Data analysis 23 2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation on adaptation of the Writing Part of English 11 23 2.2 Students’ ideas on how their teachers adapt the Writing Part of English 11 24 Conclusion of the major findings .27 Chapter THREE: AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTATION OF THE WRITING PART OF ENGLISH 11 ………………………………………………………… 28 PART C: CONCLUSION Conclusion 42 Recommendations and suggestion 43 Limitations of the study 43 Suggestions for further study 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDIXES PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale English, one of the most popular foreign languages in Vietnam, began to be used widely in education and in daily-life activities As a matter of fact, the status of foreign languages, particularly English, was reconfirmed by the Order number 1400/QĐ-TTg, signed by the Prime Minister (September, 30th 2008) It is suggested that English should be taught from grade 3th It is obviously seen that the objectives of the new textbook provides adequate contribution to language skills, but in fact, for many Vietnamese students, learning writing and having a good writing production are substantial challenges They have difficulties in learning writing and may be anxious about having a writing lesson in class To the best of my knowledge, if teachers of English only use what is presented in the textbook, students usually find it difficult to study and are not keen on writing tasks Most of the students of Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school are at average level and have little background knowledge They don‟t pay much attention to writing in English, especially at grade 11th To some extent, all writing topics in English 10 are more familiar to students than those in English 11 English 11 requires students to be more active and spend more time for free writing than English 10 Students need to self-study more In many writing lessons, students are not supported models, just some useful language which is newly presented or was in the previous lessons That is the reason why this research “An adaptation of the Writing Part of the new textbook: English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu Upper-secondary school” is conducted The researcher would like to study teaching and learning Writing of English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school (NVC school) to find out students‟ and teachers‟ difficulties on teaching and learning writing as well as their practice on adapting this part of English 11 The researcher will show the facts of learning and teaching Writing part of English 11 and an adaptation of this for other teachers of other schools to reference Therefore, the intention in doing this research is that any textbook needs adapting to meet certain groups of students‟ needs and levels Aims of the study This study is aimed to: (1) Examine learning and teaching the Writing part of English 11 in NVC school (2) Explore some ways of adapting the Writing part of English 11 used by teachers at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school to help students study their writing skill better Research questions The study was carried out in order to find out the answers to research questions: (1) Do teachers of English and students in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school have difficulties in teaching and learning writing English 11? (2) Do teachers of English in the school often adapt the Writing part of English 11? (3) How teachers in the school adapt the Writing part of English 11? (4) What are the benefits students can get when their teachers adapt the textbook? Scope of the study The study is focused on only students from the 11th grade in Nguyen Van Cu uppersecondary school, their studying the Writing part of English 11 and the teachers‟ adaptation this part of the textbook The adaptation of the Writing part of the new textbook: English 11 is helpful to the group of teachers of English and students of 11th grade in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school It would be able to be a reference to teachers of other schools Method of the study This study is conducted in the combination of quantitative and qualitative method Data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation The combination of different methods to collect data could provide more reliable and valid information for analysis Questionnaires of 180 students of English at grade 11 are used to discover the facts of teaching and learning writing with some adaptation Interviews and classroom observation of teachers of English teaching writing English 11 are to find out their points of view on adaptation the textbook and to explore the ways to adapt this part so that they can help their students with better writing skill Design of the study The research consists of three parts The first part presents the rationale, the statement of the problem, the aims, research questions, the scope of the study, research methods as well as the design of the study There are two chapters in the second part Chapter presents some discussion the New Textbook, an overview of the Writing part in English 11, the need to adapt the textbook and some ways to this The readers also can find issues and ideas on approaches to teaching writing, challenges of teaching and learning writing Chapter presents the context of the study and explains the methodology used in the study including population information, instrumentation, data collection, data procedures, data analysis and findings The last part summarizes major findings and discussion, implications, limitations and provides recommendations for further study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW An overview of teaching writing 1.1 Writing and teaching writing in a foreign language classroom Man, in the form of letters, symbols, or words, write to express language They write for the primary purpose that is communication “Good writing gets your ideas out of your head and into the reader's head without losing or distorting those ideas" (Leki 1976: 4); "Writing can be said to be the art of performing graphic symbols" (Byrne 1990: 1) or simply writing is like "making marks on a flat surface of some kind" However, writing is far more complicated process of transforming the material discovered by research inspiration, accident, trial, error or whatever into the message with a decision Writing is also a difficult activity, both in the mother tongue and in a foreign language Murray (1978:29) and Perl (1979:43) 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.” Besides, according to Candlin and Hyland (1999: 107), writing is a social process, an engagement in a social process, where the production of texts “reflects methodologies, arguments and rhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of the claims that are made” In language teaching, writing along with speaking is defined as the two productive language skills Penny Ur (1996) said 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” (p.161) and “writing normally requires some forms of instruction It is not a skill that is really picked up by exposure” (p.11) In short, through writing writers can communicate with some certain audiences Teaching students writing skill is not an easy task for all teachers of language in general and teachers of English in particular Firstly, writing is not only an important form of communication in day-to-day life but also an essential skill for students preparing for further study At higher levels of education, it is a key aspect of academic literacy that aspiring scholars pursue as part of socialization in their disciplines Writing is usually a particularly challenging task for students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) The skills involved are highly complex, while at the same time students‟ cultures have their own norms for structure and rhetoric which are not always compatible with their current English From our personal experiences as classroom teachers in Vietnam, the author agrees with Hayashi‟s (2005) observation that EFL students‟ writings more often than not end up lacking a clear logical flow and unity, not to mention a persuasive linear argument A particular classroom writing task which is motivating and manageable to some can turn out to be daunting or impossible for others because students are linguistically of mixed abilities so that It is understandable that teachers of high school often complain that “writing is the most problematic skill to teach in such classes” (Hess, 2001, p 77) It is obvious that writing is a difficult skill because it requires many characteristics which are not necessary for speaking such as formality, well- planned, accuracy and time Secondly, the nature of writing causes many strategies for writers Candlin and Hyland (1999:2) pointed out that “every act of writing is thus linked in complex ways to a set of communicative purposes which occur in a context of social, interpersonal and occupational practice” And “Each act of writing also constructs the reality that it describes, reproducing a particular mode of communication and maintaining the social relationship which it implies” Writing is not only a personal but also socio-cultural act of identity whereby writers both signal their membership in what maybe a range of communities of practices as well as express their own creative individuality I absolutely agree with Raimes that “writing helps our students learn”(Raimes,1983:3) To her point of view, writing can help students reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that we have been teaching our students Students will have a chance to be adventurous with the language to go beyond what they have just learned to say, to take risks And writing can make students become very involved with the new language, the effort to express ideas and the constant use of eyes, hand and brain is unique way to reinforce learning In a foreign language class, among the four skills, writing and speaking are productive skills When we learn a language, we need four skills for to complete communication The four language skills are related to each other in two ways: the direction of communication and the (in/out) method communication of (spoken or written) Input is sometimes called output "reception" is and sometimes called "production" The purpose of language learning is to improve the speakers' four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, with the base of large vocabulary and good grammar, but this is not the final purpose The final purpose is to let speakers be able to use the language For instance, why people study English? If a man is only good at listening and speaking, can people say that he is good at English? No If a woman is only good at reading and writing, can people say that she is good at the language? No In addition, most of the speakers better in reading and writing than in listening and speaking They can read and write, but they can hardly communicate They can hardly express themselves with their own words We are not able to change the examination system, but we can improve our learning method So when speakers want to use a language well, not forget to know all the abilities of the four skills Among the four skills, Writing is one way of providing variety in classroom procedures It provides a learner with physical evidence of his achievements and he can measure his improvement It helps to consolidate their grasp of vocabulary and structure, and complements the other language skills Sentence is the base of an article So he should begin his writing with sentences For example, translation, sentence pattern exchanging, and text shortening and rewriting It helps to understand the text and write compositions It can foster the learner's ability to summarize and to use the language freely Writing is the final product of several separate acts that are hugely challenging to learn simultaneously Among these separable acts are note-taking, identifying a central idea, outlining, drafting and editing Both young and old people can encounter the discouraging „writer‟s block‟ if they engage in more than one or two of these activities at once It is difficult to start writing a report, for example, without a central idea and notes to support it Often, the more detailed an outline, the easier is the writing People frequently find that they can finish faster by writing a first draft quickly and then editing and revising this draft Generally the four skills cannot be separated People often say "First listening and speaking, then reading and writing." But this way of saying is not fit for the design of the new textbook of English In an English lesson at school, students reading, speaking, listening and then writing So, writing takes place the last Writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and make them visible and concrete Writing encourages thinking and learning for it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection When thought is written down, ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to, rearranged, and changed Writing is most likely to encourage thinking and learning when students view writing as a process By recognizing that writing is a recursive process, and that every writer uses the process in a different way, students experience less pressure to "get it right the first time" and are more willing to experiment, explore, revise, and edit Yet, novice writers need to practice “writing” or exercises that involve copying or reproduction of learned material in order to learn the conventions of spelling, punctuation, grammatical agreement, and the like Furthermore, students need to “write in the language” through engaging in a variety of grammar practice activities of controlled nature Finally, they need to begin to write within a framework “flexibility measures” that include: transformation exercises, sentence combining, expansion, embellishments, idea frames, and similar activities) To sum up, teaching writing is necessary for students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) because it “normally requires some form of instruction” and “it is not a skill that is readily picked up by exposure” ( Tribble,1996:11) 1.2 Major approaches to teaching writing Several approaches to teaching writing are presented by (Raimes, 1983) as follows: a) The Controlled-to-Free Approach: In the 1950s and early 1960, the audio-lingual method dominated second-language learning This method emphasized speech and writing served to achieve mastery of grammatical and syntactic forms Hence teachers developed and used techniques to enable student to achieve this mastery The controlled-to-free approach in is sequential: students are first given sentence exercises, then paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically by changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular They might also change words to clauses or combine sentences With these controlled compositions, it is relatively easy to for students write and yet avoid errors, which makes error correction easy Students are allowed to try some free composition after they have reached an intermediate level of proficiency As such, this approach stress on grammar, syntax, and mechanics It emphasizes accuracy rather than fluency or originality b) The Free-Writing Approach: This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality Teachers who use this approach assign vast amounts of free writing on given topics with only minimal correction The emphasis in this approach is on content and fluency rather than on accuracy and form Once ideas are down on the page, grammatical accuracy and organization follow Thus, teachers may begin their classes by asking students to write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling for five or ten minutes The teachers does not correct these pieces of free writing They simply read them and may comment on the ideas the writer expressed Alternatively, some students may volunteer to read their own writing aloud to the class Concern for “audience” and “content” are seen as important in this approach c) The Paragraph-Pattern Approach: Instead of accuracy of grammar or fluency of content, the Paragraph-PatternApproach stresses on organization Students copy paragraphs and imitate model passages They put scrambled sentences into paragraph order They identify general and specific statements and choose to invent an appropriate topic sentence or insert or delete sentences This approach is based on the principle that in different cultures people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways d) The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach: This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature Teachers who follow this approach maintain that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate skills which are learned sequentially Therefore, student should be trained to pay attention to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax This approach links the purpose of writing to the forms needed to convey message e) The Communicative Approach: This approach stresses the purpose of writing and the audience for it Student writers are encouraged to behave like writers in real life and ask themselves the crucial questions about purpose and audience: “Why am I writing this?, Who will read it?” Traditionally, the teacher alone has been the audience for student writing But some feel that writers their best when writing is truly a communicative act, with a writer writing for a real reader The readership may be extended to classmate and pen pals f) The Process Approach: Recently, the teaching of writing has moved away from a concentration on written product to an emphasis on the process of writing Thus, writers ask themselves: “How I write this? How I get started?” In this approach, students are trained to generate ideas for writing, think of the purpose and audience, write multiple drafts in order to present written products that communicate their own ideas Teachers who use this approach give students time to tray 36 Northern America Oceania Latin 2% America 6% 8% Africa 11% South Asia 32 % Europe 15% East Asia 26% Task 2: This is a chart which shows the distribution of world population by region Work in pairs, study it and write the answers the following questions What does the chart show? Is the world population distributed evenly or unevenly? Which region ranks first? How much percentage does it account for? Which is the second biggest region in population? Does Asia comprise more than half the population of the world? What can you compare the population of South Asia with that of Europe? How many people live in Latin America and Northern America? Which is the least populated region? Task 3: Rewrite all the answers, use the language provided below to make a complete paragraph - Provide useful language: + The chart shows/ describes … + As can be seen/ It can be seen that … 37 + distribute evenly/ unevenly + account for … per cent + more than double the population of … + half as much as/ nearly half of + rank first/ last You may begin with: The chart shows the distribution of world population by region… D Writing: Describing a celebration Write a description of one of the popular celebrations in Vietnam (e.g Mid-Autumn Festival, National Independence Day, Teachers‟ Day, Women‟s Day, etc.) Your description should include the following main points: Unit - name of the festival - time of the festival - purpose of the festival - main activities of the festival - your feeling about he festival (whether you like it or not and the reasons) D Writing: D Writing: Writing a letter to express satisfaction Writing a letter to express satisfaction (or Unit (or dissatisfaction) dissatisfaction) Task Work with a partner Imagine that Task Work in pairs Put the given words in you have been using some of the services the right place to describe the things that may provided by Thanh Ba Post Office (you make you satisfied or dissatisfied with the 38 have learnt about this post office in the services in a post office READING section) Discuss the things - too late, that‟s may make you satisfied (or - too early, dissatisfied) with the services there The - good quality, advanced technology, ideas below might be useful to you: spacious - bad/poor quality,  The opening hours of the post - needs repairing, office: too late/too early… - good security condition,  The quality of the equipment: - poor security condition, good/bad/ poor quality/needs - no one to keep motor-cycles or bicycles, repairing…  - pickpockets, The security conditions of the post - polite, office: good/poor security - helpful, well-trained conditions/ no one to keep motor or - rude, bicycles/ pickpockets… - arrogant,   The the staff: - low price, polite/helpful/rude/arrogant - high price, The attitude prices of of the services: - reasonable price, low/high/reasonable…  - punctual, The punctuality of delivery of - sometimes late, letters and always/never newspapers: - letters and newspapers are lost, punctual/sometimes - speedy and secure late/ letters and newspapers are lost Task After a year in the job, the director of Thanh Ba Post Office has invited residents in the neighbourhood to write The opening letters to him describing the quality of the hours services they have received Write such a The quality letter, using ideas you discussed in Task of the equipment The security conditions The attitude Express Express satisfactory dissatisfactory 39 of the staff The prices of the services The punctuality of delivery of letters and newspapers The money transfer service Task Work in pairs Rearrange the following sentences in the correct order of a letter 1.Dear Sir/Madam, I‟m satisfied with the staff of Thanh Ba Post Office I‟m writing to give comments on your post office‟s services They are always thoughtful and courteous to customers Yours faithfully, I know you and your staff have done well and this letter is written in hope that your post office will be a best place Task Imagine that you have been using some of the services provided by Thanh Ba Post Office (you have learnt about this post office in the Reading section) Answer the questions below, using useful language in Task 1 What is Thanh Ba Post Office equipped with? How are the staff of the post office? 40 How is the security condition of the Post Office? How are the services of Thanh Ba Post Office? How are the opening hours? Task You are invited to write letters to describe the quality of the services of Thanh Ba Post Office by the Director of the Post Office Write a letter to express your satisfactory or dissatisfactory to him, using all above language PART C: CONCLUSION Conclusion This thesis “An adaptation of the Writing part of the New textbook: English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school” initiated from the widely need to adapt or modify the given textbooks and other language teaching materials to fit the requirements of particular learning situations, and even particular students and the students of the 11th form at Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school have faced a lot of difficulties in writing lessons To have a thorough understanding of the problem, the study has reviewed the place of writing skill in teaching and learning a foreign language, some approaches to teach writing skill, the need to adapt the textbook in general and the writing part of English 11 in 41 particular The study has also presented some ways to adapt the writing part of English 11 as well as an adaptation of this part The main objectives of this study were to examine students‟ and teachers‟ difficulties on teaching and learning writing English as well as their practice on adapting this part of English 11; to investigate some ways of adapting the textbook The data was collected from interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires The major findings are summarized as the following: The teachers of English and students in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school have difficulties in teaching and learning writing English 11 They all recognize the use and the need of adaptation the textbook and often adapt it Adding tasks, supporting more useful language or a model are the most commonly used The teachers sometimes omit a or some of the task, reorder the tasks or leave the writing production as homework They all combine the two popular approaches in teaching writing, the process approach and the product approach Above all, on the help of adaptation of the Writing part of English 11, students are more eager to learn writing and their writing skill is improved The study has presented an adaptation of the writing part of English 11 to prove that to meet certain groups of students, good teachers of English should change some of the textbook It becomes obvious that the combination of the two popular approaches product approach and process approach help to teach and study writing English 11 in Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school Most of teachers of English who teach the 11th students adapt the writing part of the textbook Most of the students who were asked agreed that they would study better, have more interest and attention in writing lessons if their teachers changed something in the textbook Many of them like to write the writing production at home using all language presented or prewriting in class It will be better to help student‟s self- study and practice writing at home It is advisable that 45-minute tests at school should contain writing a paragraph, a letter or so on Teacher had better put writing of this kind into a 15- minute test Students will be encouraged to study writing more Above all, teachers would adapt the textbook in order to meet students‟ different quality and needs Recommendations and suggestions The following are some recommendations and suggestions to the teachers of teaching writing at Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school 42 First of all, in order to develop students‟ writing skill, it is advisable that teachers design and provide wide range of activities It is thought that pair or group work is difficult to manage or even boring in a writing lessons In fact, students enjoy working with partners or classmates to share ideas and group writing seems to be a good stimulation Also, teachers should brainstorm the ideas from the students and highlight the main points in a lesson, which helps students remember the lesson in a logical way Similarly, frequency feedback from the teacher with careful correction and clear comments is of importance Equally important, teachers should deliver handouts or some photocopied paper, reading materials from textbook Besides, model texts helps them feel more self-confident when they get to start writing Last but not least, teachers should change something in the textbook, maybe by adding, omitting, leaving the production writing as homework… in order to meet students‟ different levels and give them enough time to have a good written work Limitations of the study This study reveals some limitations due to the limit of time, scope, and knowledge In the first place, the survey questionnaire was conducted among only 180 11th form students at NVC School (five out of eleven classes) Although this number of participants is enough to ensure the validity of the data, a larger number would provide a more complete picture of the issues Moreover, the recommendations provided may be subjunctive and incomplete Other teachers may have different ways to adapt the Writing part of English 11 Despite all the mentioned limitations, the researcher hopes that this exploratory research will contribute to the better situation of teaching and learning writing skills at Nguyen Van Cu Upper- secondary school Suggestions for further studies If time had allowed, the researcher would attend more classes taught by all teachers of English to get all adaptation this part of English 11 made by all 11th teachers of English Researcher‟s recommendations should have been in practice, so the teachers can evaluate their effectiveness There should be further research on adaptation the textbook in general and the writing part of the new textbook in particular A similar study can be done in different schools to find out more about the situation of adaptation Besides, other researchers can 43 exploit other ways of adapting the textbook for all other skills such as listening, speaking and reading REFERENCES In Vietnamese Nhung, Nguyen Thi Mai 2003 Motivation and factors affecting motivation in learning English writing of the freshmen at the department đl English and Anglo American Culture: Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU MOET 2007 Tài liệu bồi dưỡng giáo viên thực chương trình, sách giáo khoa lớp 11 môn Tiếng Anh The Textbook: Tiếng Anh 11 In English Byrne, D (1990) Teaching writing skills, Longman handbooks for language teacher: Longman group, ltd Cunningsworth, A (1984) Evaluating and Selecting ELT Materials London:Heinemann Candlin, C.N & Hyland, K (1999) Writing: Texts, Processes and Practices New York: Addison Wesley Long man Limited Chunling Sun Process approach to teaching writing applied in different teaching models.Journal-Vol.2, No1.March 2009, Retrieved 15 June 2010, 44 From http: //www.ccsenet.org/ journal / index php /elt /article/ Cresswell, J(1998) Qualitative inquiry and research Design: SAGE Publications Gina, W (2001) The Postgraduate Research handbook: Palgrave, New York Grabe, W & Kaplan, R (1998) Theory and practice of Writing: London and New York, Longman Hedge.T (1990), Resource books for teachers, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press Krashen, S.D (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning Oxford: Pergamon 10 McGrath, I (2005).Materials Evaluation and design for Language Teaching Edinburgh University Press 11 Liz ,C (n.d) Contrasting Product-Process and Genre Approach to the writing skills, Retrieved 15 June 2010 from http//www.scribd.com/doc/2093836/ 12 Nunan, D (1988) Syllabus Design Oxford:OUP 13 Raimes, A (1983) Techniques in Teaching writing Oxford: Oxford University Press 14 Tribble, C (1996) Writing OUP 15 Tomlimson, B (1998) Material Development in Language Teaching Cambridge CUP 16 British Council-Vietnam English Now Issue 12-Summer 2006 17 British Council-Vietnam English Now Conference Edition Issue 8-May 2004 45 I APPENDIXES APPENDIX INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS (English version) A Personal information: Gender:  Age: Years of teaching English: B Interview focus: What adaptation the textbook is The experience of changing the language content in the textbook The reasons to change the language content in the textbook The frequency of adapting the Writing Part of English 11 Some ways to adapt this part Some benefits from adapting it The improvement of students’ level of writing skill after studying an adapted lesson II APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS (English version) This questionnaire is designed for the research “An adaptation the Writing part of the new textbook: English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu upper-secondary school” Your assistance in fulfilling the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided will be used for the research purpose only; so please respond to each statement or question thoroughly and as frankly and accurately as you can A Personal information: Please put a tick in the Gender: or write the answers briefly for the following information Male Female  Class: …………………………………………………………………………  Your English writing skill (according to your assessment) Excellent Good Fair Poor B Survey questionnaires: B1 Please put a tick in the for the following questions: Do you meet difficulty in conducting all the writing tasks in the textbook? Yes No Not sure No idea How often you meet difficulty in conducting the writing tasks in the textbook? Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never What types of difficulty you often meet when learning writing? Requirement of the tasks Logical content Genre Useful language 4.Which genre is considered the most challenging to you? Letter Chart description Table description Narratives III Has your teacher of English change the language content and the tasks in writing lessons ? Yes No Not sure No idea If yes, how often they change the tasks in writing lessons? Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never Do you find it easier to conduct writing tasks when your teachers change the tasks? Yes No Not sure No idea How often you wish your teacher change the writing tasks? Always Frequently Sometimes Never Not sure No idea Do you get progessed after your teacher’s changing the writing tasks? Yes B2 Please put a tick in the No to describe the ways your teacher use to change the writing tasks in the textbook Statements Always used Usually used Sometimes used Adding some tasks Reducing some of the tasks Omitting a or some tasks Modifying the tasks Re-ordering the tasks Adding useful language Leaving the writing production as homework Thank you for your cooperation! Generally not used Never used IV APPENDIX A SAMPLE OF AN INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (Teacher 1) Date conducted: April 4th, 2011 (Translation into English) H: the initial letter for Ha, the interviewer T1: the initial letter for teacher 1, the interviewee A Personal information: Gender: Female  Age: 29  Years of teaching English: years B Interview questions: H: Do you think the tasks for the Writing Part of English 11 challenging for your students ? T1: Of course yes H: Can you tell me why? T1: Because my students’ level of English is at average and most of the given language content is not easy for them to conduct a writing production H: Do you find it difficult to teach your students by using al the given language content in the textbook? T1: Most of the time H: For all ? T1: For many of the lessons H: For example? T1: Ah, when the textbook supports one or two taks only or without useful language or without a model H:What you in that case in order to make it easier for your students to learn writing? T1: I change the language content, change tasks, etc H: That means you adapt the textbook T1: I don’t know this conception V H:You are adapting the textbook when you change something in the textbook to meet your students’ need and level? T1: Oh, interestingly I see H: How often you that? T1: I adapt the Writing Part so often We usually share ideas and have agreement what to change for certain lessons in our group meeting You know this? H: Of course yes How you change? T1: Sometimes I add some more tasks, omit this or that one, reorder the given tasks, modify the language content, reduce some or give more useful language H: Have you ever left the writing production as homework? T1: Yes, when the writing production needs much time to be finished And students can share more ideas to complete it H: Do you check at the following lesson? T1: Always I usually collect 70% of the homework and mark as a mini test H: Do most of your students get progressed after you have changed like that? T1: Yes I find it easier to teach them They are eager to study writing more and their writing production is better H: So adapting the Writing Part of English 11 brings benefit to both the teacher and students T1: I strongly agree with you H: Thank you very much [...]... explained that all what they do to change the book meant adaptation, they shared the concept They all determined the benefit adaptation would bring to their students and their teaching writing English 11 in particular and the New Textbook in general Four out of these five teachers gave ideas that the tasks for the Writing Part of English 11 challenging for their students The reasons were that their students‟... the two popular approaches in teaching writing, the process approach and the product approach Above all, adaptation the Writing part of English 11 helps students learn writing more eagerly and their writing skill is improved CHAPTER THREE: AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTATION OF THE WRITING PART OF ENGLISH 11 27 The researcher would like to present in this part of the study some examples of adaptation of the Writing. .. Teachers of English and students in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school have difficulties in teaching and learning writing English 11 They all recognize the use and the need of adaptation the textbook and often adapt it They often add tasks, support more useful language and a model They sometimes omit a task or some of the given task, reorder the tasks or leave the writing production as homework They... their ideas 2 Data analysis 2.1 Teachers’ perception and evaluation on adaptation of the Writing Part of English 11: In general, none of the five teachers in the interviews were aware of the concept adaptation But all of them have ever changed the language content, the tasks of this part so that they can teach their students more effectively and their students can learn more easier When the researcher... the new textbook set after English 10, English 11 is taught and learnt in the academic year 2007-2008 3.2 An overview of the Writing Part of English 11 English 11 is written basing on the officially national curriculum of Ministry of Education and Training It follows English 6, English 7, English 8, English 9, English 10 As mentioned in the textbook, it is claimed to adopt a theme- based syllabus There... spoken and written channels 2 Master basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suited to their levels of proficiency and ages 3 Acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some English- speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect to the Vietnamese culture and language”... the five teachers at Nguyen Van Cu School who had ever adapted the textbook thought they didn‟t know about the concept of adaptation The reason for this limited knowledge lies in the fact that adaptation the textbook has not been properly investigated and introduced to English teachers and learners Besides, all five teachers in this study acknowledged the importance of adaptation the Writing Part of. .. teachers of English 11 by MOET- Education Publisher 2007) Students in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary School find it a challenge if they learn writing without a model or suggested language They may know the form but many of them are not sure about it and they often forget what the teachers taught them in the previous school year Most of them are at average level of English Besides, they are lack of background... organized according to themes to guarantee a high level of communicativeness while catering to the accuracy of the modern language system 4 Textbook writing, management of teaching and learning, testing, assessment and evaluation follow the curriculum guidelines (MOET 2006: 6) 17 The New Textbook of English for upper- secondary school is developed from this one for secondary school The following of the. .. Van Cu School adapt the Writing part of English 11 and the use of it in real teaching and learning Sixteen classes of writing in English 11 were observed During observations, the researcher was an observer and did not take part in any classroom activity The observer took notes focusing on ways of adapting and about how students were studying writing in order to make a report on adaptation Writing part ... thesis An adaptation of the Writing part of the New textbook: English 11 at Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school initiated from the widely need to adapt or modify the given textbooks and other... textbook The adaptation of the Writing part of the new textbook: English 11 is helpful to the group of teachers of English and students of 11th grade in Nguyen Van Cu upper- secondary school It... The study is focused on only students from the 11th grade in Nguyen Van Cu uppersecondary school, their studying the Writing part of English 11 and the teachers‟ adaptation this part of the textbook