Applying portfolio to improve writing skills of 11th grade students at a high school in lang son province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI BÍCH NGỌC APPLYING PORTFOLIO TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS OF 11TH-GRADE STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN LANG SON PROVINCE (Áp dụng portfolio để cải thiện kĩ viết cho học sinh lớp 11 trường trung học phổ thông tỉnh Lạng Sơn) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI BÍCH NGỌC APPLYING PORTFOLIO TO IMPROVE WRITING SKILLS OF 11TH-GRADE STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL IN LANG SON PROVINCE (Áp dụng portfolio để cải thiện kĩ viết cho học sinh lớp 11 trường trung học phổ thông tỉnh Lạng Sơn) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Hương, PhD Hanoi - 2019 DECLARATION I certify that the work presented in this research report has been performed and interpreted solely by myself I confirm that this paper is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A Degree and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification Hanoi, 2019 Bùi Bích Ngọc i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It was a long journey with many challenges and difficulties but fascinating to work on this dissertation The dissertation required more efforts so it would never have been completed without the supports and assistances of many people First and foremost, I would like to send a special thanks to my academic supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Huong for her effortful support, prompt guidance and detailed feedbacks and especially, her helpful suggestions and encouragement which assists me to find out the right direction and complete this dissertation I also would like to express my appreciation to the lecturers of the University of Languages and International Studies for providing me with comprehensive knowledge and supporting me in my master course Finally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my family who always encourages and unfailingly supports me throughout my year of study and the period of doing my dissertation Also, I am thankful to all my colleagues (Nguyen Bich Hien, Phan Thu Huong, Du Ai Hue Chi, Nguyen Phuong Thuy, Nong Thi Hao and the others), especially thanks to my beloved husband, Nguyen Huu Duyet who continuously encourages and helps me cope with the difficulties at University as well as in my personal life Without their enthusiastic assistances and strong supports, I definitely cannot accomplish my dissertation and finish my master course at University of Languages and International Studies 30th September 2019 Ha Noi, Viet Nam Bui Bich Ngoc ii ABSTRACT One of the effective approaches helping students to sharpen their writing skills, which is currently being overshadowed by other skills in teaching and learning English, is Writing Portfolio However, this method has not been applied widely at high schools in Vietnam in general and Lang Son in particular Thus, this study is conducted to examine how Writing Portfolio influences students’ writing skills as well as how students think about its implementation The study adopts action research with the use of both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, including writing assignment evaluation, questionnaire, and interviews The research’s findings reveal some significant improvements in participants’ overall writing scores, as well as in each of the criterion, namely task achievement, coherence and cohesion, grammar and vocabulary By being given the marking rubrics, the educator’s regular feedback and chances to revise and rewrite the writings, the language learners can better monitor their progress in writing Apart from that, though most of the students think this activity has positive influences on their writing skills, they still fail to see the advantages of this improvement to their language acquisition process as writing skill has not been included properly in testing Therefore, they not think it’s necessary to apply Writing Portfolios in the next academic year Despite the positive outcome of the research, there is still a need for further studies to assess more Writing Portfolio’s effects and the best way to apply Writing Portfolio in official school curricular iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES .vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Writing skills 2.1.1 Definition of writing skills 2.1.2 Paragraph writing 2.2 Approaches to teaching writing 2.3 The role of teachers in teaching writing 2.4 Assessment of writing 10 2.4.1 Types of writing assessment 10 2.4.2 Scoring method for paragraph writing 10 2.5 Portfolio Assessment 11 2.5.1 Definitions of Portfolio 11 2.5.2 Types of portfolio 12 iv 2.5.3 The advantages of portfolio 13 2.5.4 Portfolio writing assessment procedure 13 2.6 Related Studies 14 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Setting of the study 17 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Research design 18 3.4 Data collection procedure 22 3.4.1 Writing assignments 22 3.4.2 Questionnaire 22 3.4.3 Interviews 23 3.5 Data analysis 23 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 25 4.1 Research question 25 4.1.1 Effects of writing portfolios on students’ task-fulfillment 25 4.1.2 Effects of writing portfolios on students’ coherence and cohesion 27 4.1.3 Effects of writing portfolios on students’ vocabulary 28 4.1.4 Effects of writing portfolios on students’ grammar 30 4.1.5 Effects of writing portfolios on students’ overall writing skill 32 4.2 Research question 33 4.2.1 Students’ opinions about the benefits of the writing portfolios in general, marking criteria and teacher’s feedback in particular 34 4.2.2 Students’ opinions about teacher’s instructions 36 v 4.2.3 Students’ opinions about the application of Writing Portfolios in the next academic year 37 4.3 Discussions 39 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 41 5.1 Major findings of the study 41 5.1.1 The effects of Writing Portfolios on students’ writing skills 41 5.1.2 Students’ opinions about Writing Portfolio implementation in class 42 5.2 Implications 43 5.3 Limitations of the study 43 5.4 Suggestions for further studies 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I Marking rubrics for writing assignments I Questionnaire V Interviews VI 3.1 Participant VI 3.2 Participant VI 3.3 Participant VII 3.4 Participant VII 3.5 Participant VIII Samples of student’s writing and teacher’s feedback IX vi LIST OF TABLES Table The percentage of students arranged by results of task fulfillment criterion 26 Table The percentage of students arranged by results of coherence and cohesion criterion 27 Table The percentage of students arranged by results of vocabulary criterion 29 Table The percentage of students arranged by results of grammar criterion 31 Table The percentage of students arranged by results of writing assignments 33 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure The percentage of students arranged by results of vocabulary criterion for the 1st assignment 29 Figure The percentage of students arranged by results of grammar criterion 32 Figure Students' opinions on their involvement in Writing 34 Figure Students’ degree of agreement in their improvement in all aspects 35 Figure Students' opinions on the appropriateness of the teacher's instruction 36 Figure Students' opinions on carrying out Writing Portfolios in the future 38 viii the percentage for students with weak and average scores declines, whereas there is a significant upward trend on that of both good and very good grades Concerning grammatical criterion, the whole class made profound progress This is seen as the criterion that students have to struggle the most when they are dealing with their writing assignments To be more specific, more than half of the students have weak scores in the first task, with the common mistakes being made in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and article usage This figure decreases markedly to 5.7% after the research is conducted Meanwhile, the most positive change can be seen in the good grade level, with a more-than-50%-increase From the questionnaire, approximately 90% of students also agree to different extent that they can see signs of improvement in their grammatical utilization As regards the last criterion, which is vocabulary, the statistics also reveal a significant improvement During the study, students try to use a wider range of vocabulary and minimize their inappropriate word choice Of course, the very good group is the one to make the least improvement as it takes the students a longer period time to build a broad range of vocabulary 5.1.2 Students’ opinions about Writing Portfolio implementation in class Overall, it can be said that the students have positive attitude towards Writing Portfolios since most of them think this activity has positive influences on their writing skills Furthermore, they have no trouble with the instructions of the teacher during the whole study However, a large number of students not see the advantages of the improvement in their writing skills in general, as a result, they not think it is necessary to apply Writing Portfolios in the next academic year Besides, in order to raise students’ awareness of Writing Portfolios, most participants in the interview share the same opinion that it should be made a graded activity officially in the curricula 42 5.2 Implications With regard to the results of the research, the implementation of portfolio assessment is proven to be able to enhance the writing skills of students in grade 11 at a high school in Lang Son city This successful study has some implications as described below - Writing assessment should place emphasis on the process that learners experience to produce the final versions - The use of portfolio assessment to assess the students’ writing improved the students’ writing skills in criteria of writing, namely task fulfilment, coherence and cohesion, vocabulary, and grammar It implies that portfolio assessment is very beneficial to the teaching and learning writing English - The implementation of asking students to revise their writing at home creates more opportunities for them to practice and experience the proper process of writing It implies that writing is recursive and practicing plays an indispensable part Besides, both educator’s feedback and students’ self-reflection are of great importance in teaching and learning this skill 5.3 Limitations of the study In spite of the researcher’s considerable effort to carry out the study, there are still some shortcomings in the study First of all, the study is conducted as an extra-curricular activity in writing lesson to the students; as a result, the chances are that some learners may not` try their best to complete their writing Consequently, there is need for Writing Portfolios to be viewed as an official graded activity in English writing lessons Furthermore, the study is implemented in class only out of 11th classes Therefore, it may result in the employment of descriptive statistics instead of inferential statistics, and the failure of generalization about the efficacy and perceptions of Writing Portfolios to a larger population.
 43 5.4 Suggestions for further studies First of all, further research can be carried out to investigate the application of Writing Portfolios in other classes in the same grade and other grades at this high school; thus, there would be sufficient data to evaluate Writing Portfolios’ effects on the whole school, which can be useful for the policymakers to determine whether Writing Portfolios should be applied to the official curricula of the school Secondly, it is better for the teachers to focus not only on the final product of writing but also on the process of writing so that students can experience the whole process of writing Of course, the educators should use assessment techniques that not focus on the products only One of them is Writing Portfolios The results of the research reveal that students’ writing skills can be improved if the assessment technique applied places emphasis on the process and the products equally Last but not least, Portfolios can be applied to teaching and learning other skills such as reading and listening So, there is a suggestion for other researchers to carry out studies on these skills so that students have varied activities to improve English at class 44 REFERENCES Andrew, M & Romova, Z (2011) Teaching and assessing academic writing via the portfolio: benefits for learners of English as an additional language Assessing Writing, 16(2), 112-122 Apple, M., & Shimo, E (2004) Learners to teacher: Portfolios, please! Perceptions of portfolio assessment in EFL classrooms In Proceedings of JALT pan-SIG Conference Tokyo Keizai University (pp 53-58) Aydin, S (2010) A qualitative research on portfolio keeping in English as foreign language writing The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 475-488 Barnard, S.E & Deyzel, L (2003) Career portfolio- the 21st century career management tool South Africa: University of South Africa Birgin, O., & Baki, A (2007) The use of portfolio to assess students’ performance Journal of Turkish Science Education, 4(2), 70-79 Brown, D H (2001) Teaching by principles New York: Person Education Brown, D H (2004) Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices New York: Person Education Burns, A (2010) Doing Action Research in Language Teaching: A Guide for Practitioners New York: Routledge Columba, L., & Dolgos, K.A (1995) Portfolio assessment in mathematics Reading Improvement, 32(3), 174-176 Douglas, D (2000) Assessing language for specific purposes Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Epstein, A (2005) Introduction to portfolios Retrieved April 27th, 2019 from http//www.teachervision.fen.Com/page/4528.html?Detoured=l Fahed Al-Serhani, W (2007) The effect of portfolio assessment on the writing performance of EFL secondary school students in Saudi Arabia Unpublished M.A thesis, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia 45 Harmer, J (2004) How to teach writing Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited Hirvela, A., & Sweetland, Y L (2005) Two case studies of L2 writers’ experiences across learning-directed portfolio contexts Assessing Writing,10(3), 192-213 Hyland, K (2003) Second Language Writing New York: Cambridge University Press Hyland K (2003) Second Language Writing Cambridge University Press Koshy, V (2005) Action research for improving practice: A practical guide Sage publications Le, V (2000) Language and Vietnamese pedagogical contexts In J Shaw, D Lubelska & M Noullet (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Language and Development (pp 73-80) Bangkok: Asian Institute of Technology Liu, Y (2003) A case study of selected ESL students’ experiences with writing portfolios in college composition classes Unpublished doctoral thesis Ohio state University Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (UMI Number: 3115767) Lounis, M (2009) Response to Teachers’ Feedback on Writing: The Case of Third – Year L.M.D Students of English (dissertation) MacIsaac, D (1995) An Introduction to Action Research Retrieved May 15th, 2019 from http://www.phy.nau.edu/~danmac/actionrsch.html Marefat, F (2004) Portfolios revisited Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics,7(2), 79 Moya, S., & O'Malley, J M (1994) A portfolio assessment model for ESL The Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students, 13, 13-36 Nhi, T T Q., & Mai, L X (2018) High school students’ perceptions of the use of Eportfolios in EFL writing: A Case in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam Studies in English Language Teaching, 4(8), 34 Oshima, A., & Hogue, A (1997) Introduction to academic writing New York: Pearson Education 46 Paesani, K (2006) Exercices de style: Developing multiple competencies through a writing portfolio Foreign Language Annals, 39(4), 618-639 Raimes, A (1983) Techniques in Teaching Writing Oxford: Oxford University Press Renandya, W A., & Richards, J C (2002) Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice New York: Cambridge University Press Shober, L S (1996) A Portfolio Assessment Approach to Narrative Writing with the Cooperation of a Fourth Grade Target Group Sweet, D (1993) Student portfolios: Classroom uses Consumer Guide, 8, 1-5 Tabatabaei, O., & Assefi, F (2012) The effect of portfolio assessment technique on writing performance of EFL learners English Language Teaching, 5(5), 38 Wang, Y H., & Liao, H C (2008) The application of learning portfolio assessment for students in the technological and vocational education system Asian EFL Journal, 10(2), 132-154 Wang, Y H., & Liao, H C (2008) The application of learning portfolio assessment for students in the technological and vocational education system Asian EFL Journal, 10(2), 132-154 Weigle, S C (2002) Assessing writing New York: Cambridge University Press Yang, N (2003) Integrating portfolios into learning strategy-based instruction for EFL colledge students International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 41(4), 293-317 Yurdabakan, I., & Erdogan, T (2009) The effects of portfolio assessment on reading, listening and writing skills of secondary school prep class students The Journal of International Social Research, 2(9), 526-538 47 APPENDICES Marking rubrics for writing assignments The following rubric is a grading tool that describes the criteria for the assignment The criteria including task fulfillment, coherence and cohesion, vocabulary and grammar are listed in the column on the left The numbers in the 1st column indicate the quality, with being the best It should be noted that this rubric is delivered to the students at the beginning of the action research so that they can use it as a checklist to determine if their writings meet the criteria of the assignment The grade given to each criterion represents students’ ability, with levels as following: is very weak, is weak, is average, and is good and is very good I Band Task fulfillment - Covers almost all the requirements of the task - Presents relevant main ideas but some may be not fullydeveloped or unclear Coherence and cohesion - Organizes information and ideas coherently Vocabulary - Uses a good range of vocabulary - Topic sentence clearly states the main idea - Errors occur but rarely impede comprehension - Errors occur but rarely lead to misunderstanding - Supporting ideas: well supports the main idea - The concluding sentence is strong -Partially covers the requirements of the task - Presents some main ideas, but they are not fully-developed and there may be some irrelevant details - Effectively uses basic linking words such as: and, but, so, because, etc - Organizes information and ideas coherently + The topic sentence clearly states the main idea - Supporting ideas: well supports the main idea Grammar - Uses both simple structures and compound structures including: present simple, past simple, future simple, modals, conjunctions, S-V agreement - Uses an adequate range of vocabulary - Errors occur, but not impede comprehension - The concluding sentence is quite strong - Appropriately uses basic linking words such as: and, but, so, because, etc II - Shows good control of simple structures - Attempts compound/complex structures but some are faulty - Errors occur, but normally not impede comprehension Band Task fulfillment - Partially covers the requirements of the task - Presents some main ideas, but they may be repetitive and are not sufficiently developed with relevant details Coherence and cohesion - Organizes information and ideas quite coherently: + Topic sentence states the main idea quite clearly + Supporting ideas: quite well supports the main idea + Concluding sentence is quite strong Vocabulary Grammar - Uses basic vocabulary - Uses most simple structures correctly with acceptable control - Attempts some compound/complex structures but unsuccessfully - Errors may be frequent, but not im- Errors occur and may impede comprehenpede comprehension sion - Uses basic linking words such as: and, but, so, because, etc but sometimes inappropriately - May not respond to the task - Presents limited ideas which are largely undeveloped - Presents information and ideas with some organization + The topic sentence may not state the main idea clearly + Supporting ideas: may not support the main idea, but still relate to the topic + Concluding sentence may not be included - Uses limited range of basic vocabulary - Uses some simple structures correctly - Frequently makes basic errors that may - Errors are frequent and distort the meaning may distort the meaning - Uses limited basic conjunctions such as: and, but, so, because, etc inappropriately III Band Task fulfillment - May not respond to the task Coherence and cohesion - Presents information and ideas with limited organization - Presents one or two ideas which + May not have a topic sentence are not developed +Supporting details: may not support the main idea + May not have a concluding sentence - Limited use of basic linking words Vocabulary - Uses a very limited range of basic vocabulary - Errors are dominant and distort the meaning IV Grammar - Can only use some memorized structures - Errors are dominant and distort the meaning Questionnaire PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA Nội dung trả lời: Học sinh vui lòng trả lời theo mức độ đồng ý em với phát biểu cách khoanh tròn vào mức tương ứng (mức đồng ý cao, học sinh cho điểm cao) Trong đó: Rất không đồng ý; Không đồng ý; Không đồng ý phần; Phân vân; Đồng ý phần; Đồng ý; Rất đồng ý TT Nội dung câu hỏi điều tra 1 10 11 12 Mức độ đồng ý Em cảm thấy thời gian dành để học writing nhiều trước nhờ có writing portfolios Em muốn tất tiết thực hành kỹ viết áp dụng writing portfolio Em cảm thấy việc áp dụng wiritng portfolio học kỹ viết tiếng Anh hữu ích Em cảm thấy sử dụng writing portfolio học thực hành viết tiếng Anh phù hợp với Em khơng có vấn đề để hiểu hướng dẫn giáo viên Em hiểu tiêu chí đánh giá hướng dẫn chấm Các tiêu chí đánh giá hướng dẫn chấm giúp em định hướng việc viết Em thấy nhận xét giáo viên hữu ích việc cải thiện kĩ viết Em thấy viết bám sát đề sau sử dụng writing portfolio Em thấy em cải thiện tính mạch lạc cách diễn đạt viết sau sử dụng writing portfolio Em thấy em cải thiện cách dùng từ sau sử dụng writing portfolio Em thấy em cải thiện ngữ pháp sau sử dụng writing portfolio Xin chân thành cảm ơn! V Interviews 3.1 Participant 1 What you think about Writing Portfolios in general? I think Writing portfolio is very useful It helps me to improve my writing skills, which I’m afraid of the most Do you think other students have the same opinion as you? Yes, of course We all see our own progress, but a lot of my peers didn’t understand why we need to improve their writing skills because they think we don’t have tests for it so we should cut these off and focus on studying to get a high score at the end of the semester Do you find it difficult to follow my instruction and requirements about the projects? I get no difficulty at all I think the objectives and your instruction are very clear We know what we have to What you think could be done to enhance the effects of Writing Portfolios in class? Why? We have too much homework so we could not focus much in the research I think you can reduce the amount of homework so that we can have more time preparing for the writing assignments 3.2 Participant What you think about Writing Portfolios in general? I think it helps me to write better It helps me to be aware of the grammatical mistakes in my writings Do you think other students have the same opinion as you? To be honest, I see that some of my peers think the activity is a waste of time because we would not use that for grading Do you find it difficult to follow my instruction and requirements about the pro- VI jects? The instruction is ok to follow because we are given the marking criteria with thorough explanations What you think could be done to enhance the effects of Writing Portfolios in class? Why? Well, if the teacher gives us real marks for our writing assignment, we will definitely try our best to write 3.3 Participant What you think about Writing Portfolios in general? I think Writing Portfolios are beneficial to students as we receive feedback from the teacher after every writing assignment Do you think other students have the same opinion as you? Well, it depends Some of my friends say they like this activity but some don’t Do you find it difficult to follow my instruction and requirements about the projects? At first, I guess we have a little confusion about the instruction because it is totally new to us But after receiving teacher’s feedback and studying teacher’s score for each criterion of the 1st assignment, we had no problem at all with the next ones We already know what to What you think could be done to enhance the effects of Writing Portfolios in class? Why? I don’t think of any way to enhance Writing Portfolios’ effects as it already provides us with what we need in a writing lesson: teachers’ feedback, marking criteria, and chances for us to revise 3.4 Participant What you think about Writing Portfolios in general? It may be helpful, I guess VII Do you think other students have the same opinion as you? Maybe yes Many of us get higher scores for our writing assignment over the time And most students are satisfied when their efforts are paid off, of course Do you find it difficult to follow my instruction and requirements about the projects? Well, I understand the instruction steps because it’s not so complicated I think I have no problem with them What you think could be done to enhance the effects of Writing Portfolios in class? Why? Sometimes, I dont have enough time for developing my writing produtcs as I have other subjects to learn and sometimes the time betwwen writing lessons is too short I wish I had more time to write 3.5 Participant What you think about Writing Portfolios in general? Writing Portfolios are time-consuming, actually Do you think other students have the same opinion as you? Absolutely Most of my peers complain that this consume much of their time, and they don’t see the point of practice writing paragraphs The entrance exam to university and others not have this section Do you find it difficult to follow my instruction and requirements about the projects? I don’t have much difficulty in understanding how to Writing Portfolios However, it takes me a while to remember all the criteria in the marking rubrics What you think could be done to enhance the effects of Writing Portfolios in class? Why? I hope we can use Writing Portfolios as a graded activity, so students like us will pay more attention and be more serious to carry out the project VIII Samples of student’s writing and teacher’s feedback IX ... demonstrator, a motivator, a supporter, a responder and an evaluator 2.4 Assessment of writing 2.4.1 Types of writing assessment In teaching and learning language, particularly in writing skills, in. .. using examples, telling a story to illustrate the idea, comparing and contrasting, and showing data 2.2 Approaches to teaching writing Product approach to teaching writing skills appeared in. .. writing skills of students in a language preparatory class at a secondary school in Turkey The findings indicate that portfolio assessment exerts a positive impact on writing skills Besides, Fahed