DSpace at VNU: A STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF WRITING PORTFOLIO TECHNIQUE TO SECOND YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS: AN ACTION RESEAR...
VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ĐINH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF WRITING PORTFOLIO TECHNIQUE TO SECOND YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT HANOI COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND TOURISM Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng hồ sơ làm môn viết sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh năm thứ hai: Nghiên cứu hành động trường cao đẳng thương mại du lịch Hà nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi - 2016 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** ĐINH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON THE APPLICATION OF WRITING PORTFOLIO TECHNIQUE TO SECOND YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT HANOI COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND TOURISM Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng hồ sơ làm môn viết sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh năm thứ hai: Nghiên cứu hành động trường cao đẳng thương mại du lịch Hà nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Đỗ Tuấn Minh Hanoi - 2016 DECLARATION I, the author of this research, certify that this thesis is result of my own work and that I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi,2016 Đinh Thị Nhung ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my most sincere gratitude and thankfulness to my supervisor, Dr Do Tuan Minh, for his detailed instructions from the beginning of the thesis to the valuable comments till the end I would like to express my gratitude to all of my lecturers at faculty of post-graduate studies as well, who provided me with precious knowledge and helped me gained unforgettable experiences in pursuing my studies Certainly, this study would not have been completed without the participation of the students at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism I thank them for their enthusiastic attitude in learning and participating in the study Besides, I am deeply indebted to Ms Luu Thi Duyen, the Dean of English Department at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism, who helped and supported me all the time My deepest appreciation is for my husband who always supported and encouraged me with his love so that I could finish my thesis Without all their help, this thesis would not be completed as expected ABSTRACT This action research explores the effects of writing portfolio technique on second year students’ writing skill and the possible challenges encountering by both teachers and students during the application process Students created portfolios by including all the final drafts and rough drafts into a folder; and together with students’ submitted portfolios, two sets of questionnaires: pre and post-portfolio questionnaires, and interviews are also used to collect the data for the research The findings showed that the portfolio technique not only helped to improve students’ writing skill, especially in terms of vocabulary, and grammar, which meet student’s demands but also changed students’ attitude to the writing skill positively and contributed to the development of students’ other skills such as commenting, editing, reading, internet using, and group work skill as well However, during the process, there happened some problems For example, this method requires students to give written feedbacks to each other, which is quite challenging to them Especially, students quite easily got demotivated by negative comments from their peers Or, students felt boring and tiring when having to write up to three drafts for the same topics Nevertheless, the benefits of this technique outweigh all and prove to be effective in helping students learning writing PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the thesis Nowadays, it cannot be denied that globalization is affecting every corner of the world and that due to it most countries are experiencing changes in aspects like economics, politics, education and culture; and in that globalised world, English is considered a main medium of communication Therefore, it seems obvious that if a nation wishes catching up with others in those aspects, its government should raise public awareness about the significance of English and motivate them to learn and master the language Recognizing this social trend, Vietnamese educational authorities have implemented specific policies encouraging their citizens to learn and use English Now, English is a compulsory subject which is taught from primary schools to universities and an obligatory one in Vietnamese national exams Furthermore, various professional courses and conferences aimed at enhancing English teachers’ teaching skills and language competence are provided to ensure a better educational service Also, English teachers are required to get appropriate certificates aligned with CEFR to be qualified for the job What’s more? More and more state-owned or private companies, factories or organisations prefer and employ only labor who demonstrate their ability to use English at work and these employees are paid much higher and easily get promotion than others Apparently, English is one of measures for one’s career success The above reasons explain why teaching and learning English is recieving much concern from society Scholars, educators or teachers are continuously exploring suitable and effective teaching approaches and teaching methods to improve the English teaching and learning quality Especially, teachers who directly work with students and understand their needs, their intersts, their learning styles play an important role in helping students achieve their academic and future professional success Therefore, it’s the teacher’s duty to discover and solve problems which the majority of his students have Working as a teacher at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism and teaching four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening to English majors, there has always been a question for me that why students are not very interested in writing class and their performance in writing tests prove disappointing results Being aware of the unsolved problem and of a teacher’s responsibility, I would like to investigate the situation That is the reason why I am going to conduct this research with the hope that a new teaching method will benefit students, making them keen on the subject, and improving their writing skill 1.2 Objectives of the thesis This research intends to investigate the possible issues happening during the application process of writing portfolio technique and examine its effects on second-year students’writing skill at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism The specific objectives of the thesis are: (1) To find out what the effects of portfolio on improving learners’ writing skill are (2) To find out what problems emerging in the application process are The research hopes to benefit students and teachers at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism and to be useful for reference 1.3 Research questions The thesis is carried out in order to find out the answers to two research questions: (1)To what extent second year students at Hanoi College of Commerce and Tourism improve their writing skill through the application of writing portfolio technique? (2) What challenges may teacher and students encounter in using writing portfolio technique? 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