Experimental Research on the Effect of Self-monitoring Technique on Improving Writing Skill among English-major Freshmen at a University in Hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - MẠC THỊ HUYỀN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THE EFFECT OF SELF-MONITORING TECHNIQUE ON IMPROVING WRITING SKILL AMONG ENGLISH-MAJOR FRESHMEN AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm hiệu kỹ thuật tự giám sát việc cải thiện kỹ viết cho sinh viên năm chuyên Anh trường đại học Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 HANOI 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - MẠC THỊ HUYỀN EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON THE EFFECT OF SELF-MONITORING TECHNIQUE ON IMPROVING WRITING SKILL AMONG ENGLISH-MAJOR FRESHMEN AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI Nghiên cứu thực nghiệm hiệu kỹ thuật tự giám sát việc cải thiện kỹ viết cho sinh viên năm chuyên Anh trường đại học Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN HANOI 2016 DECLARATION I hereby state that I, Mac Thi Huyen, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master Thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my pleasure to thank those who made this thesis possible Firstly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject Secondly, I would like to thank Ms Pham Thu Duong and Ms Le Thi Thu Thuy, two teachers of English at the research site (English Department, a Hanoibased university) for their invaluable assistance together with professional advice during the research time Thirdly, this thesis would not have been possible without the enthusiastic participation of 58 English-major freshmen at English Department of the university where the research was carried out Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study Mac Thi Huyen ii iii PART I: INTRODUCTION This part is dedicated to introducing the rationale of the study, the problem to be addressed in the study, the aims and objectives of the study, and the research questions to be answered It will also present the scope of the study, an overview of the employed methods and the design of the study Rationale Writing is considered a complicated and multifaceted task Good writing involves thinking that may lead the writer to express himself/herself in a more effective way For learners of English, writing is a vital skill, one of the main criteria to measure a learner’s second language proficiency Unfortunately, writing is a difficult skill which is not easy to be improved Therefore, various approaches to teaching writing have been recommended to help cope with this problem Of all, self-monitoring is a technique the effectiveness of which is a controversial issue among many researchers As a matter of fact, there exists some research on self-monitoring in teaching However, little attention has been paid to self-monitoring in writing teaching In Vietnam, self-monitoring remains a totally new concept which has not been researched in academic papers Hopefully, this thesis will help shed light on the effect of self-monitoring in writing class in the specific context of a university in Vietnam The context chosen by the researcher to conduct this research is English Department of a Hanoi-based university The participants all are first-year majors Of the four language skills taught here, writing is regarded as not only challenging but also boring by the mainstream first-year major students The students encounter numerous difficulties when being asked to produce in-class texts It is actually hard for them to produce a high quality text due to such reasons as language incompetence, lack of motivation and a traditionally passive way of learning They tend to ignore writing and pay more attention to the three other language skills As a result, the students have fewer opportunities of success at academic writing when they move to higher levels in the later years despite adequate oral communication skills This long term consequence is serious and worth being taken into consideration How to teach the first year English-major students to write well is a question posed in the many past years drawing a lot of attention from the teachers With the desire for enhancing the quality of writings produced by major freshmen as well as developing learners’ autonomy, the researcher decides to carry out the thesis “Experimental Research on the Effect of Self-Monitoring Technique on Improving Writing Skill among English-Major Freshmen at a University in Hanoi” by applying the self-monitoring technique in practice in two writing classes This study is hoped to be successful and bring about feasible applications towards upgrading the learning and teaching writing for English-major freshmen at this university as well as at other universities Aims and objectives The research aims at investigating the effect of self-monitoring technique on improving writing skill among English-major freshmen at a university in Hanoi This fundamental aim can be achieved when the two following objectives are met The first objective of the study is to find out the effects of self-monitoring technique on the students’ writing improvement Next, the researcher wishes to explore the students’ attitudes towards self-monitoring technique Scope of the study The scope of the research has been made quite clear from the title: “Experimental research on the effect of self-monitoring technique on improving writing skill among English-major freshmen at a university in Hanoi.” Firstly, the research focuses on “self-monitoring technique in writing.” To be more specific, it refers to the process in which students write notes or annotations on their writings before handing it to the teacher This will help students place themselves in the position of readers, not only writers As for teachers, self-monitoring technique gives them an opportunity to offer feedback REFERENCES (1) Arndt V (1987), “Six Writers in Search of Texts: A Protocol-based Study of L1 and L2 Writing”, ELT Journal, 41 (4), pp 257 – 267 (2) Benson P (2001), Teaching and Researching Autonomy in Language Learning, Pearson Education, England (3) Brannon L., Knight M., Neverow-Turk V (1982), Writers Writing, Boynton/Cook Publishers, Portsmouth (4) Byrne D (1991), Teaching Writing Skills, Longman, London (5) Chen X (2009), “Self – monitoring feedback in English writing teaching”, Research in 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many researchers As a matter of fact, there exists some research on self-monitoring in teaching However, little attention has been paid to self-monitoring in writing teaching In Vietnam,... learners’ autonomy, the researcher decides to carry out the thesis ? ?Experimental Research on the Effect of Self-Monitoring Technique on Improving Writing Skill among English-Major Freshmen at a University. .. learning and teaching writing for English-major freshmen at this university as well as at other universities Aims and objectives The research aims at investigating the effect of self-monitoring technique